Maya at the Villa Borghese

She had a blast running through the grass at the villa Borghese. Every time she saw a statue laying down--she said "Na-night" like they were sleeping. Too cute.

A diva in Roma

Maya in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel Grand--she was too cute with her diva shades on.

Eating gelato in Roma

Maya enjoyed eating gelato in Roma!

New pictures of our sweet girl

The diva in Roma!

8 months since Gotcha Day!

I still can't believe that it has been only eight months since Maya Lily was placed in our arms. She is truly an amazing human being! She has grown so much and has learned more than I could have ever expected.
We are so grateful for this precious gift and love her more than words could ever say. I tell her all the time how smart and beautiful she is.
Maya has brought us so much joy in such a short amount of time.

Nonnie Dunn is here for a visit. She and Maya Lily have had a great time bonding.

Maya's photo shoot with Jim Straka

Maya had her first photo shoot with Jim Straka--a dear friend of ours--who is launching his own photography business.
If you would like to see 72 of the cutest pictures ever--go www.jstrakaphoto.com. click on client. see the one that says the dunns--type in the password: Lily. then click on gallery 2.
Gallery 1 is of her baptism in case you want to see those as well.

Christmas photos

These were taken on Christmas Eve. We went to Chef Mickey's for dinner.
Maya had a blast with the characters.

Happy 2008-hope it's great!

The highlight of 2007 was of course the arrival of Maya Lily! There was also the births of Finn in February, Cassie in July and Luke in September. Taking Maya to Rome was also very special. We had a blast. Photos to follow!
There was also a lot of sadness in the past year. We lost many of our loved ones including Pal, Papa Jimmy, Ella, Karren, Steve, and Papa Fountain.
However, 2008 looks very promising!
Maya will be 2 in March. We will celebrate our 1st anniversary of Gotcha Day in May with several Lianjiang families. My brother Jason and his girlfriend Narelle are expecting their first baby in May.

It's freezing cold in Florida today--40 degrees--yikes--where are my winter clothes--no flip flops today.

Here's to a healthy, happy 2008 to all!
The Dunns

Maya is 21 months old today

I could just cry! My little one is getting so big so fast! She is still our baby though.
We are so amazed at how far she has come in the past seven months.
This morning she ate a bowl of cereal--with my help--for breakfast. She loves Special K with vanilla soy--no Fruit Loops for this kid!

Making Christmas cookies

Maya donned an apron to help us make Christmas cookies. She really enjoyed the frosting!

Happy Holidays from the Dunns

Maya is certainly the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for!
We baked cookies tonight-she was such a great helper.
We will be heading to Rome for our annual Christmas vacation. My mom and dear friend Mary Linn will be joining us.
We are so excited to be bringing Maya there.

Have a wonderful holiday!
Love,
Aleisa, Patrick and Maya Lily

Ballerina girl--you are so lovely!

Maya is so adorable in her ballet outfit. She loves to twirl around. I have already had to buy her a new pair of ballet shoes--her little feet are growing so fast!

Thanksgiving has come and gone!

It was a busy week getting ready for Thanksgiving. We had a dozen people over for dinner and dessert--it was a lot of fun.
Maya fell asleep right before dinner--no turkey or stuffing for our little one. She ended up eating my meatballs for dinner when she woke up two hours later.

We put up our Christmas trees today while she was napping. When she came into the living room--she went "OOOOOOOhhhhhhh" it was too cute.

We are planning to take her to get her picture with Santa Claus next week-hopefully it will go smoothly!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Love,
A, P and MLD

Happy 8th Anniversary!

Today Patrick and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! Our gift was of course Maya Lily. We were so happy to have her to share our special day. We had dinner at Citrico's at Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel--it was lovely. She was so good!
We have been blessed as a couple, as parents and as a family of three.

Maya meets Emily and Andrew

Jill's family from Georgia are here for the week. Maya got to meet Emily and Andrew and Jill's grandmother Mama.
We ate at Kobe for dinner. Maya loved the shrimp and noodles.
Here she is with the kids looking at the koi fish at the restaurant.

Princess Maya Lily is 20 months old today!

It's hard to believe that in four months Maya will be 2! Here she is playing Princess dress up!

The two Disney Princesses!

Maya Lily and Grace love going to Disney. We have taken them to the Magic Kingdom and to EPCOT. We hope to get them over to MGM and the Animal Kingdom.
Living in Florida with Disney in your backyard certainly has its advantages!

Six months since Gotcha Day!

Wow-it is amazing to realize that we have had Maya for six months. She is doing so great. We signed her up for baby ballet classes--she loves it.
We have been going to Disney once a week with our friends Rachel, Grace and Luke.

Halloween pictures

Maya was a cheerleader during the day. Then she was a ladybug that night. She and Grace went trick or treating together. They had such a good time together.

Playing dress up

Maya and I love to play dress up. I had her put on these party dresses to see which one she might wear for her next photo session.

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween tonight with our good friends. We had a pizza party and then we took Maya and Grace trick or treating in the neighborhood. The girls were too cute.
I will post pictures later.

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Way to go Red Sox!

For the second time in a decade the Boston Red Sox have won a World Series! For a Bostonian like myself--this is amazing!
Maya watched the games with us and learned how to say "Out," "Safe," and "Go, Go Go,". She also loves to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

Way to go Red Sox!

Home for five months

We celebrated being home for five months with a visit to Downtown Disney. Every year before Halloween we get caramel apples. So last night we shared the tradition with Maya. Our traditions have so much more meaning now that she is here.

Playdate with Grace

Maya had a playdate with Grace. The girls had so much fun playing on the horses and with the princess dolls.
The Vieras' gave Maya a beautiful bracelet for her christening. Grace has a similar one. So the girls sat together and held hands with their bracelets on.

First pig tails

Maya's hair is getting long enough to put up into pig tails. She looks so grown up with them.

Just being sweet

Maya now loves having her picture taken. She then wants to see the image on the camera when its done.

Hey Mon

Maya looks like a little rhastafarian with her Daddy's Halloween wig on.

Playing with dolls

Maya is turning in quite the little girl. She played with her baby dolls the other day and even gave them a bottle.

A Red Sox Prayer

As we head into game 2 of the World Series--this prayer may be what it takes for our team to win!
Not sure who wrote it--but it is very funny!
A RED SOX PRAYER
Our Father, who art at Fenway…
Baseball be thy game.
They Kingdom come,
Playoffs need to be won,
On Earth, then on to the Cask ‘n’ Flagon.
Give us this day, a perfect Papi,
And forgive us our losses,
As we forgive those,
Like Bill Buckner.
And lead us not, into desperation,
But deliver us from any losses.
For thine is the Power,
And the Glory,
To beat the Indians,
Forever and ever….the Yankees suck
A-men

Green Meadows Petting Zoo

Maya holding a baby chick at the petting zoo. It was a great day.

What a difference a year makes!

Last year at this time we were on the Disney Cruise for our best friends wedding and laughing through tears that we had been logged in at the CCAA for a year. We had no idea who Maya was--that she was 7 months old and waiting for her Mama and Daddy!
Yesterday we went to Green Meadows Farm in Poinciana--I actually milked a cow. Maya rode a horse for the very first time. It was great seeing so many beautiful children from China. We were especially happy to see the Poches--it had been almost a year and half since we last saw them--Natalie is too cute. We hope they will get a referral for another little one soon.

I will post pictures very soon.

Official photo with the judge!

Here we are with the judge in the Osceola County court house. Maya is officially recognized by the state as our daughter!

19 months old and legally ours again!

Today we appeared in court in Kissimmee to have our foreign adoption recognized by the State of Florida. It was just a formality since Maya has been ours-legally since May 16th. However, this recognition allows us to get birth certificates in English.
Attorney Paul Consbruck, an adoptive father, represented us for the hearing. The whole process was so easy and worth the money. We left the courthouse feeling very confident that everything has been completed and our adoption is finalized.

Maya Lily turns 19 months old today. I have to admit that I am a bit emotional. She is growing up so quickly. I know we have been blessed. My thoughts are with her biological parents. I pray they have peace of mind and somehow know that she is with a family who love her more than anything in the whole world. We are forever grateful to them for the beautiful life they created and are honored to be her mother and father.

Five months since Gotcha Day!

It has been five months since we got Maya--she has grown so much. I want her to stay little forever :)
Tomorrow we are doing our re-adoption with Judge Apte in Kissimmee. This will allow us to get birth certificates in English.

Patriots fan

Maya watched the Patriots stomp the Cowboys today. She wore her Patriots dress! She learned how to do "touchdown".

Favorite book

Maya's new favorite book is "Happy Adoption Day!" She picks it up everyday and has us read it to her.

Special people to Maya

Ally and Dennis Spellman


Jim and Jill Straka


Kim Yoho and Sara Schumacher


Auntie Jo-Jo and Uncle Paul


The three grandmas
Nana Birdie, Granny Linn and Nona

Disney with Nona

Maya and Nona spent the afternoon at the Magic Kingdom before Nona went back to New Jersey. They rode on the Sleeping Beauty ride, Dumbo and the carousel.

Picking pumpkins

Maya had a ball picking out the pumpkins. It is amazing how much fun we have just watching her.

Fall Festival

Maya enjoyed this weekend's Fall Festival in Celebration. We finally got her the pumpkins she has been pointing at!

Pictures of Maya Lily

Thanks to our dear friend Jim Straka--we have amazing photos of Maya Lily on her first day home from China and her baptism.
If you would like to view the photos--you need to go to jstrakaphoto.com
the current password is Lilly--Jim will change it to Lily later today.
The photos are beautiful!
Thanks Uncle Jim-we love you!

Maya's baptism

Maya was baptized on Saturday at the Corpus Christi Church here in Celebration. Paul and Kate Fiore are her god-parents. Kate was unable to attend because she recently gave birth to their second daughter, Cassandra. My dear friend Allison Spellman filled in for Kate and did a great job!
Maya was so funny with Fr. Gregory. She started clapping when he picked her up and introduced her to the church.
We were so happy to have our family and close friends here with us to celebrate this special event.
Tomorrow we will be having our final post-placement meeting with our social worker. We have also received a court date to have Maya re-adopted here in Florida. This will be done on October 18th at the Osceola County Courthouse.

I will post pictures of the baptism later this week.

The best birthday gift ever

Maya certainly is the best birthday gift ever! She is daddy's girl and loves him very much!

Happy Birthday Daddy Dunn and Uncle Peter

Today is Patrick and Peter's birthday!

We spent the day at school with Patrick. The teachers and students all made/bought him cards and gifts. They had cake and cupcakes--it was so much fun and so thoughtful.

Happy Birthday P and P! We love you both!

Home for four months

Can you believe it? Maya has been home with us for four months today! Where does the time go? Maya will be baptised next weekend. I can't wait for her to wear the dress we bought for her in China--it is so beautiful.
We will also be doing her re-adoption on Oct. 18th. We will be able to get her birth certificates in English that day--very cool. We are still waiting on her US Passport--we applied for almost three weeks ago and paid extra to get it sent back sooner--however it still has not arrived.
Thanks to all of you who continue to follow our journey--we're happy to share our joy with you.

The Dunns

A future chef

Who knows? Maya was too little to bake cookies at EPCOT but they let her have a chef hat anyway. She is so darn cute.

Hanging out in her room

Maya has just discovered the window seat in her room. She can climb up and hang out with the stuffed animals and dolls that are on there.

Oooh la la

Maya was too cute wearing this pink Parisian hat at EPCOT the other day.

So long summer

Hard to believe that summer is over, that Maya Lily is 18 months old and that we have been home for almost four months!
Here is our sweetie trying to walk in my shoes--she loves putting on our shoes and trying to walk around the house.

Maya turns 18 months old today

My gosh--she is getting older by the minute. I beg her everyday to stay my little baby--she of course just laughs at me!
We had her 18 month check up today. She had to get three shots--not fun. Maya is now 22 lbs. and 27 inches tall. So she basically has only gained three pounds since being home--all it is pasta :) and she has grown three inches as well.
We tried to get her hair cut yesterday--she screamed so we ditched the idea for now.

It's a boy!

Our dear friends Jody and Ronnie Robinson shared the good news that their son, Robert Thomas, was born today. They live in Indiana. RT weighed 10.8 lbs. and is 21.5 inches long--oh baby! Ronnie said both Jody and RT are doing well. They also have a two year old daughter named Amelia.
We miss you guys and hope to see you soon. Ragazzi!!!

Four months since Gotcha Day!

Where does the time go? It was been such a crazy summer since we got home from China. Maya Lily continues to amaze us. Our love for her is deeper than we could have ever imagined. She lights up our day and has brought so much joy to our family.
I still can't believe it has only been four months since Maya was placed in our arms. I really feel like she has been with us forever.
We have finally gotten her social security card and applied for her US Passport. We also hired an attorney to assist us with our re-adoption. We should have a court date in October.
Maya Lily will be baptised on Saturday, Oct. 6th. Her god-father Paul will fly down from Boston for the ceremony.