She's moving out...

...or so she thinks!!! Kristina was so surprised 2 weeks ago when her friends, Tricia and Riley, were generous enough to give Kristina their playhouse and quad "car". As soon as Santa Christopher delivered it, I got busy and washed it down and started to assemble it so she could move in.

We cleared out an area on our front porch and now Kristina has her very own guest house complete with kitchen and bathing area for her babies. Thank you, Laura, for offering it to us!

Kristina cooking up some hot dogs and chicken on her new bbq outside her new house.

As for the quad, we swear....Kristina has been on this earth before. She hopped on and took off without any instructions regarding how to drive it. Helloooooo, girl - you aren't even 3 years old yet! Before we know it, she'll be asking Papa for the keys to his truck.

From her Ekaterinburg hat down to her red rhinestone boots, Kristina chose her clothing and donned it herself!

This past week was really, really good. November was very tough sleep-wise but as of December 1, Kristina has been falling asleep again within 15 minutes. The new tactic: I can't be in the room with her and I can't leave her bedroom door open. I have to say "night-night, I love you, baby" -- and then walk out closing the door behind me. She cries and cries. I see the light going on - then off - on - off... I hear toys singing and bleeping ---- but then there's silence. It rips my heart out to hear her cry but the next morning, she greets me with a HUGE grin saying "Hi" and ready to start the day without a memory of the trauma from the night prior. I know for attachment reasons it's been said that we should NOT let them "cry it out" but I have a feeling we're doing a-ok in that area.

Everyday, JD and I see our little girl growing up in front of our eyes. Last week, I braided her hair for the first time. It was such a joy!!!! It was at that moment I realized I need lots of practice but hey, not bad for a novice.

And the video below is just an example of our little Miss Independent. She loves to cut up everything -- from her noodles, to fruit, to Pirate Booty (like puffed corn). No worries, Grammy and Nana -- she uses a [dull] cheese knife or her "kiddie" knife.

OK, mom....how's that for a quick update? My mom's been checking daily to get a peek at her little "Tina" as the once-a-week blog posts just aren't enough. So -- from here on out, I'm going to try and do more frequent updates...but they might be brief. Stay tuned...the excitement of the holidays is almost upon us!

Two weeks ago, we attended our first Christmas celebration -- the Metrolink train rolled into the Chatsworth station covered in over 20,000 lights with a special visit from Santa Claus.

Kristina didn't know what to make of the singing reindeer but she loved the lights.