Truly Scrumptuous

from the mouths of babes

This morning when Oli woke up the first thing she asked me was "Did Gianluca arrive?" (we will name the baby Gianluca if it's a boy, Valentina if it's a girl). I told her "Not yet, sweetie, why do you ask", and she proceeded to say she had dreamt that she was holding him in her arms . . . .

so sweet. . . .

I truly believe children have a special connection with God, angels and spirits, and I always tell Oli how she was an angel in heaven before she was born looking down at all the people who want to be moms and dads and that she picked us to be her parents.

At night before going to sleep we pray and I always ask her to talk to her baby brother or sister and let him/her know we are waiting for then to come join our family. I guess she really did so last night.

Long Day

THIS IS A COPY OF AN EMAIL I SENT TO SOME FRIENDS FOR THANKSGIVING. I WANTED TO POST IT SO I REMEMBER THAT DAY WHEN I TURN THIS BLOG INTO A BOOK !

What a long 24 hours I have had! First of all I woke up at 5am to take a 7am flight, I spent the whole day in Tampa for work. I got home at 11pm at night and there were friends of there family that are visiting from Italy waiting to see me so I could not go to bed until about 12:3o am.

A couple of hours later Oli climbs into bed with us and a while after that she starts coughing, making strange noises and proceeds to throw up. So off I go, wash Oli up, change her and myself (how come Anthony did not get thrown up on?) and while she dozes off on the little couch in our room we change all the sheets. Finally we are ready to sleep. We all head to bed and get about 3 minutes of rest until. . . .

she throws up again. Yes, that's what I said, let me repeat it just in case any of you missed it, she threw up again. And this time it was more, no one was saved. I wound up having to give her a bath at 3:45am, dry her hair, change her and us and replacing the sheets one more time.. . . . what a night.

This morning, the truth came out, Anthony admitted to giving her all kinds of junk yesterday afternoon and into the evening. And that, my friends is what happens when you go out of town. . . LOL

I wish you all the best Thanksgiving and remember. . . . even in the worst moments how fortunate we are to have these little blessing throwing up all over us.

Love,

Zita and family

Halloween!

Here are photos of Ollie and her cousins on Halloween day (Oli was princess Jasmin) with her good friend Francesca. Talk about a sugar rush! The following day Anthony and I went to a costume party where I went as. . . black beans and rice!

Orlando!

The weekend before Halloween marked the 3rd year some families that have adopted from Colombia got together to celebrate our children. We had a FABULOUS time going to the "Not So Scary Halloween Party" in the Magic Kingdom, playing in the splash park of our amazing resort (Ginn Reunion-highly recommended!) and spending some time just catching up. We are blessed to have such dear friends who have come to us through the act of adoption!

New York in October

Anthony, Ollie and I spent six glorious days in New York with beautiful weather, pumpkin picking and having a great time with Nonna and our dear friends the Vidals who also happened to be visiting there at the same time.

Where does time go?

I cannot believe it is October. Soon the year will end. Soon the decade will end! My Goodness sometimes it seems the new millenium just began! It is so true when they say that time flies even more quickly when you have children. Ollie is growing by leaps and bounds, she loves her preschool and now that she has learned to swim all by herself she asks to go to the pool every afternoon. She can swim to the bottom and pick things up from the floor of the pool and is so proud of herself. What a joy this child is in our lives.

I am also happy to say I have been hired as an "Inter Country Outreach Coordinator" for Gladney, which means I will be giving seminars to families that are considering adoption. It is basically what I was doing for CAII and I could not be happier to have been given this opportunity. I truly am very passionate about this work and love having the opportunity to speak to others about the possibility of adoption and how it has changed our lives.

better late than never

These are pictures from Olivia's 3rd Gotcha Day (Aug 1st). The 3 of us spent 4 gorgeous days in Captiva, on the beach, in the pool and totally enjoying our little girl. The first one is of Ollie enjoying her Gotcha Day muffin. . . lol

Butterfly World

Hi all! Olivia, my mom and I spent a day last week at Butterfly World. It was a nice way to spend the day together before Ollie began school this week. Here she is with a lorikeet on her head. There is also a large screened area filled with thousands of butteflies, hummingbirds and classical music, it is amazing...highly recommended if you are in the area.

We were lucky with Gustav, let's hope Ike and Josephine pass us by too!

Summertime in New York

Here are some pictures of Olivia and her cousins this July in Riverhead where Nonno and Nonna live.

Olivia's school performance

Ollie was a swing dancer at her summer camp. She applied her own makeup that day and looked so grown up. She did a great performance "jumpin' and jivin'" to Louie Prima (one of my personal favorite singers. Here she is with proud mom, dad and Abu (my mom) who were cheering every step of the way!

Face Painting

This is a picture of Ollie in Sea World having her face paited for the first time (a couple of months ago). She was very serious and SO still while it was being done!

Day One

Well, it was bound to happen, I've decided to join the thousands of bloggers out there. This site will be primarily to share with friends and family about our journey to adopt our second child from Colombia, but I guess I can use it to share/vent/discuss just about anything so we shall see where it takes me.

A little about us, my husband Anthony and I adopted our precious daughter, Oliva Isabel through Commonwealth Adoptions(CAII) in 2005 and we have begun the second adoption process. CAII just closed and we have been transfered to Adoptions by Gladney to complete our adoption. From the little I know about Gladney, I feel this will be a very positive thing, they seem to be a well establised agency and from the first phone call we had with them last week, they definitely seem to know what they are doing.


I have to learn to post pics and as soon as I do I'll put some up!