Thank you, Doodaddy!

About 2 weeks ago, I took Danielle with me to get me haircut - total disaster! Danielle cried the entire time - and she was sitting on my lap! Thank goodness I have a great stylist, Brynn, who stayed focused and did a great job, despite the distraction. I kept trying to reassure her that I was enjoying myself, but she didn't listen (next time I will go alone). So, you can imagine how I was dreading a dentist appointment for today!! How could I tell her that I liked getting my teeth picked at - NOT! Well, Doodaddy came to the rescue (when Liz was a baby, she couldn't say Grandaddy, so she came up with the name Doodaddy, and it has kind of stuck)! He offered to meet me at the office and watch Liz and Danielle while Stephanie and I had our teeth cleaned. We were both a little nervous, but all went well! Danielle cried at first, but only briefly, and Danielle and Liz remained happy for the full 45 minutes that I was in the dentist chair! This was technically Danielle's first time with a "babysitter" - other than me or Steve!! They came back to check on me a couple of times, but no more tears!! It does help that I have an awesome dentist that insists I bring my children and enjoys it when they run around the office. Dr. Ashley wants the kids to LIKE coming to the dentist and they do! Liz is very excited to have her own appointment in July! I am so grateful that Doodaddy lives close by so that he was able to help - thank you, Doodaddy! After our appointment, we met Nana and Doodaddy for lunch and playtime at McDonald's. And now, all 3 girls are peacefully napping - God is good!!

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First Chinese New Year party!!!

On Saturday, we attended our first FCC-Atlanta event (Families with Children from China). We went to their Lunar New Year party and we all had a great time!! We were a little worried as to how Danielle would handle it, but she did great! Only one little melt down during lunch, but that was because she was beyond tired and not overwhelmed. The girls loved to watch the dancers, but they especially loved to watch the traditional Lion Dance! Liz even joined in the parade with DooDaddy (aka Grandaddy). I was so amazed at how well all of our girls did in the crowd - there were over 500 people at this event. Nana and DooDaddy came with us, and I think that they enjoyed themselves as well. Oh! Stephanie won the raffle! One of the vendors at the event was raffling off a handmade quilt, and Stephanie won! I was amazed. She was so excited and has slept with it ever since!

Danielle continues to do remarkably well here at home. She has survived her first ear infection, and is now on her second cold (hopefully it will stay out of her ears this time). She is tolerating riding in the car, and is beginning to enjoy shopping - she has to, since we often run errands together while the other girls are in school!! She is also trying to say new words, which is great to see. Over the past week, she has shown a huge love in books and she wants us to read to her all the time. This is great, except when I am in the middle of cooking dinner! We are getting involved in playdates and having lots of fun together. I must say, it warms my heart to see all 3 of my girls playing, running and laughing together. God really blessed our family by sending this little girl into our lives - she adds so much to our family. It has been good for our other girls as well - Liz is learning to be a great big sister. Life is good - we are just grateful that God is taking such good care of us!

Danielle is a US citizen!

Yesterday we received Danielle's Certificate of US Citizenship! We knew it was coming, but it was still amazing to receive it! It was more emotional than we expected. Along with the beautiful certificate, came a letter from President Bush - it was pretty cool! Now we can go ahead and get her social security number and US passport! She is officially an American! Techinically she became a citizen when we landed in Detroit and the Immigration officer opened her packet, but now we have it in writing - praise God!

Danielle continues to transition nicely into our family. She truly is a Tanski!! We continue to be grateful that God allowed me to quit my job this past fall - it has been good to be able to stay home and take care of the girls. In fact, if I still worked for the school system, I would already have had to call in sick for 3 of my first 5 days back! Liz and Danielle have had colds, and unfortunately, Danielle's cold has progressed into an ear infection and bronchitis. So, IF I had gone back to work, I would already be out of sick time for the rest of the year!! Praise God that I am a full-time mom so that I can take care of my sick kids! They are both doing better, especially since Danielle is taking antibiotics....which wasn't easy at first! She threw a fit and didn't want to take it, but when we clap for her, then she is motivated and takes all of her medicine! This little girl loves praise - and she gets it too, as long as she isn't get into something that she is not suppose to!!! God has truly blessed our family - we have 3 beautiful girls, who we love deeply. Every day is a new adventure - some days are happy adventures, some days are learning adventures, and some days are whiney adventures - just wait until they are teens! The Tanski household will be quite interesting!