Happy 2nd Birthday Kelsey

Maya attended Kelsey's birthday party today. It was Elmo themed--so Maya kept singing "na na na na" from the Elmo's World song.

Two months since Gotcha Day!

It has been two months since Maya was placed in our arms! She is thriving better than we could have ever imagined. I took her to get her ears pierced yesterday. She was a trooper.

Portraits of Maya

Maya had her first professional photos taken the other day. We chose to have her wear a Chinese outfit to celebrate where she is from and a USA outfit to celebrate where she lives now.
She did a great job "posing" for the camera.

Our Pal

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of my stepfather, Al Julian. We nicknamed him Pal during our adoption journey. He had been sick since December and had complications with his lungs. Pal was so excited to meet Maya. We brought her to see him on Monday and for the first time-she walked up to him and rubbed his arm while he laid in bed--it was so sweet.

Pal and my mother were married for only two years--even though there time together was short--it truly was special and the memories will last a lifetime.

Patrick and I loved and respected Al and will miss him dearly.

May God hold you in the palm of his hand!

Cassandra Annabella Fiore enters the world!

Hooray! We are so excited to announce the birth of our "fairy god-daughter" Cassandra Annabella Fiore. She was born at 7:08 p.m. in Boston. Proud daddy Paul said both Cassie and mom (Kate) are doing well. We excited to see them next week. Gianna is now a big sister. Congratulations Fiores-we love you!

Maya loves to read

Maya loves to read. Tonight she chose Cinderella. Usually we read to her when she sits on the couch with her bottle. However she decided to sit at her table and read herself!

Maya meets Uncle Chris

Maya got to meet her uncle Chris this past week. He came down with Nonnie and Papa for a visit. She had fun playing with him. He bought some baby legos for her to play with. She loves them!

Maya has graduated!

Maya finished Kindermusik this week and will move on or I should say "graduate" to the next level in August. She will be in the class for 1.5 to 2.5 year olds. Patrick got to come to Maya's last class. She was proud to show him how to bang on the drum.
We will miss Ms. Erin-Maya's teacher--she is moving to Oklahoma this summer. Ms. Katherine will be her new teacher in the fall.

Parade photos

Maya attended her first parade today. Our favorite waitress from Market Street Cafe was dressed for the 80's themed celebration!
Patrick and Maya looked so cute together watching the parade.
Nana Birdie was very patriotic wearing red, white and blue. We both agreed that Papa Iles would have been in his glory watching Maya today with her flag. He loved the 4th of July.

Happy 4th of July and Happy Birthday Jack

Maya celebrated her first 4th of July today! She was holding an American flag while sitting in her highchair--it was too cute.

Happy 4th Birthday Jack--we hope you have a great day and we will see you soon.


The Dunns

30 days home!

Wow-I couldn't belive that we have been home with Maya Lily for a month. So many wonderful things have happend in such a short period of time. Today, Maya got her big girl bed-no more crib for this one! She is walking all over the house. We swim pretty much everyday-she has a great tan!
We also had our first post-placement visit with our social worker last week. It went really well. Lisa was impressed with how well Maya has transitioned to life in the US and how well she has attached to both of us. We are truly blessed.

Happy 32nd Birthday Annemarie!
We will see you soon!

Maya meets Katie and Caroline

Maya met her cousins Katie and Caroline for the first time this weekend. Katie and Caroline are my uncle Kevin's daughters. Katie was born in Ningbo, China and Caroline was born in Zhanjiang, China (near where Maya is from). The girls were so excited to meet Maya. They enjoyed playing with her and kept saying how cute she was.
It was a great weekend and we look forward to seeing them when we travel to Boston.

Sitting in her rocking chair

Maya loves sitting her rocking chair. This chair was given to my mother by her grandfather back in 1953. My mom then gave it to me when I born and now it is Maya's. She has figured out how to stand up on the seat and rock back and forth.

Maya loves Jake

Maya loves playing with Jake the Ape when she visits Pal at the rehab center.

Maya's first trip to the beach

We spent the weekend in Melbourne and she had a blast. She tried to eat the sand--didn't taste so good!
She loved playing in the sand and using her beach toys.

Happy Father's Day-Pop's b-day

We spent Father's Day at the beach in Melbourne. Maya was up early enough so we went to the beach at sunrise to take these pictures.

Happy 1st Father's Day-Patrick-you are the best daddy in the world.
Happy Birthday Pop-we can't wait to see you this summer in New Jersey.

Fours weeks on cloud 9

It has been four weeks since Maya was placed in our arms and we have been on cloud 9 ever since!

Look at me I am walking all by myself

Maya is really getting good at walking on her own. She stands up, walks a few steps and falls down!
She will soon be walking all over the house.

Making music

Maya attended her first Kindermusik class today. She loved it! Our neighbors twins Addison and Ava are also in the class.

Maya's first wedding

Maya finally got to wear the blue party dress that Patrick bought for her two years ago. We attended a wedding on Saturday-she had so much fun dancing with her Dad!

Birdie and the bathing beauty

Maya loves swimming with her Nana Birdie.

Three Dunns swimming

We went swimming at Nana Birdie's pool. Maya loves the water. She was putting her face in the water-no fear!

Pretty Princess

Maya was pretty as a princess in her pink dress and Mickey ears. She is so darn cute.

Where Dreams Come True!

Maya is certainly our dream come true! We took her to the Magic Kingdom on Thursday with her fairy Godmother-Jill.
It was so much fun.

Maya meets Grace

Maya had a play date with Grace today. They had lunch and shared Cheerios. It was fun having Grace over for a visit.

It has been three weeks since Maya has been with us!

It is hard to believe that we have been a family for only three weeks. It truly feels like we've been together forever.
Today, we took Maya to visit my school. There she had lunch with Auntie Jill. Later we went swimming in town. Maya loves the pool. She is like a little fish.

Nana Birdie, Maya and Nonnie

Maya is lucky to have both her Nana and her Nonnie here with her.

Maya with Nonnie and Papa

Maya with her grandparents before dinner at the Grand Floridian Hotel.

Family photo

Here we are at the Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World. We ate dinner there tonight. Maya does great while out at restaurants-must be all the practice she had while we were in China :)

Papa's girl

Maya has had a great time getting to know her Papa. She reaches up to have him hold her and tonight she wanted to sit in his lap.

Maya's first play date

Kelsey has been waiting for months for Maya to come home. Today she came over and the girls had a play date. It was so cute watching them interact with each other. They ate mac & cheese with peas for lunch. They were too cute.

Bathing beauty

Maya loves the pool. Here she is lounging poolside in Celebration.

Dorchester Day!

Couldn't be there to celebrate-but I had visions of the Avenue on my mind. My brother called to say he was on the wall with a cooler of beer! Gotta love it.
Remember you can take the girl of out Dot-but you can't take Dot outta the girl!

We've been home for a week-wow!

Being in China seems like a blur. Maya has been home for a week now and things have gone better than expected. We had one night when she woke up at 10:15 p.m. and stayed up until 6:30 a.m.--yikes--thankfully her sleeping has returned to what it was in China.

She has been busy meeting friends and family-especially her Nonnie and Papa. They arrived from NJ on Thursday. She also met Nana Birdie and Pal-who will only be 10 minutes away from us in their new home.

We are still on Cloud 9 and don't plan on coming down any time soon!

Today, Patrick's Non would have been 98 years old. He was very close to her.
Happy Birthday Non-we love you!