Mmmmmmm, Cake and Ice Cream!

First bite















'What the?"
















'Hey, that was good, give me another!'

















An evening stroll before the party


















The Birthday Girl


We had a birthday party for Kat's Mom last night and Sophia got to have her first taste of cake and ice cream. Not surprisingly, she loved it! Having said that, the expression on her face when she first tasted the cold ice cream was truly priceless. It was this myriad of expressions. Apprehensive, suspicious, contemplative and finally, sheer delight.

My Mom later said that she had a wonderful birthday but that clearly Sophia stole the show.

Sophia has been doing well. She is settling into a routine and is starting to fuss when other people want to hold her. That is good news because it means she is probably starting to form an attachment to us. We'll have to see how intense her reaction becomes to tell if there is a bad side. Of course, we want her to feel attached, secure and safe, but we would also like her to feel comfortable with all of our family members.


She apparently feels safe and secure with Kat's parents. It is hard to tell in the photo, but she has Nana's and Oompa's fingers in a death grip.









There have been a couple of questions that my friends who have yet to meet Sophia have been asking me lately.
1) Does Sophia ever cry?
I am guessing that is mostly based on the pictures that I have chosen to feature on our blog. They tend to show a smiley, giggly, happy little girl. She is absolutely all those things but she also has a moody side (don't we all)? One of the nicknames we have given her is Jekyl and Hyde. One moment, she is all smiles, and a split second later, she is wailing and protesting. A mere two seconds later, she is all smiles again. The main reason we have not posted many pictures of her 'Hyde' side is that when she is having a bit of an emotional meltdown, running for my camera isn't ordinarily my first thought! Nor my second or third for that matter. On those occasions, my main focus is 'fix what is wrong, and fast!' because boy, does this girl have a good set of lungs.


Meet Mr. Hyde......













2) Are we going to continue to post to her blog?
Yes, time permitting, we are planning on it. Look for weekly or bi-weekly installments though. I think this blog is a great journal/photo album for our family and for Sophia. I also love keeping everyone current who is interested in this continued journey. So many of our friends and family don't live in close proximity to us and it is a wonderful way to stay in touch.


Additional news:
Sophia had a battery of tests two weeks ago to establish a baseline on her health. The results? She was diagnosed with Crypotsporidium (a water borne intestinal parasite) but is being treated with antibiotics. Hopefully only four more days of that because the medicine is not fun to administer and it doesn't agree all that well with her.

Otherwise, all her tests came back normal, yeah! Her ears will be re-checked on Monday and in another month, she will have to have her one year vaccinations. I don't especially look forward to that experience. Neither the injections or the fever that seems to go with them.

She is crawling at lightning speed and pulls herself up on any surface she can find, including Mommy's bare legs (Yikes, I guess that says something about my skin elasticity!) She does not seem inclined to want to walk solo yet but will stand for a couple of seconds on her own before collapsing on the ground. She is suddenly very fond of biting and I have several teeth marks and bruises to prove it.

80% of the time, her disposition is easy-going and happy. The 20% sometimes proves to be challenging but we all have a cranky side. I also have to admit, from time to time, I'm to blame if I get her down late for her nap. She is growing more hair and seems to be getting taller, but that may just be my imagination. She is very open to trying new foods and scored big points when she downed my homemade spaghetti sauce that I had pureed in the blender.

Our trip to China seems to be ages ago and yet, I realized today that 'Gotcha Day' was only just shy of a month ago. Wow! Still harder to believe is that in just three weeks, she will be one year old. This is especially hard to believe given that we received her first photos when she was 8.5 months old. It is true, time really flies with little ones. Okay, it flies for adults too :)



Sophia models her 'Toby the Horse' bathrobe before she bids the party goodnight