Pictures from Sophie's 1st Birthday

So I can't seem to figure out how to post the pictures in order...anyway here is Sophie with her new toy and her beautiful Birthday dress.

Sophie enjoying her birthday presant first thing in the morning Sorry this is a repeat

Dinner with friends

She was less than happy about her cake, I chose to believe its cause I only give her healthy stuff and that's what she likes...right

Could also be it had been a long day with lots of excersie thanks to the new walker so she was exhausted

A Happy Birthday

Today was a wonderful day for our 1 year old's birthday. We went to church this morning, had a nice long nap this afternoon and had Chinese food with some friends for dinner. Sophie got her first cupcake (really her first dose of sugar) and thankfully wasn't that into it. She had eaten a big dinner so she was pretty full and mostly played with her cake.

She got a walker from her Aunt Chris and Uncle Doug and she is crazy about it. I hope you enjoy the video.

It's so amazing that our daughter is 1! She's done most of her first year of developing in the last 2 months and it's been awesome to watch. I just can't say enough about how blessed I feel.

I'll post more videos and pictures tomorrow.

Bittersweet

One year ago I had no idea that my daughter was being born, but I am thankful beyond words that God did. I might not have been there but He was. In fact He's been with my daughter everyday since her conception.
Psalm 139 says

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

God stitched every cell of my daughter together and the whole time He knew that circumstance would bring her to my arms. He created her to be my daughter.

Sadly that meant that the womb that grew and nourished my precious child would not be the arms that would hold her.

It's hard for me not to think about the woman who one year ago was feeling the pain of birthing a child she would not keep, but would be bring me such joy.

I have no idea what the actual circumstances were surrounding Sophie's birth. Maybe her parents already had a child (one child policy in China), maybe they were hoping for a boy, maybe they were just so poor they knew they couldn't take care of her.

What ever the circumstance, two things I know are true, they didn't have to have her at all, and they didn't have to place her somewhere she would be found quickly and be well taken care of. I choose to believe that they loved Sophie enough to want a life and a future for her.

I will probably never meet Sophie's biological parents, but I pray for them constantly and I love them dearly. God is in the business of making beauty from ashes and I believe that is what He has done for Sophie, and I pray that He will do the same for her Chinese parents.

So today is bittersweet, I am thankful beyond words for my precious little girl. She is joy wrapped in a giggle and a smile. I am also keenly aware that my joy grew from someone else's pain (including my daughter's).

So while tomorrow will be cupcakes and presents, today I honor Sophie's biological parents.

2 Months in Review

So we've been a family for just over 2 months (the 22nd).

When we got Sophie she was immobile. Now she's moments away from walking.

Sophie was about 14.5 lbs when we got her (we were told she was 18lbs). Now she is almost 17 lbs and her skinny little legs and perfectly plump. Thought she is only in the 1% for height and not even on the chart yet in weight, she looks good and healthy.

Her only source of food was 4 10 oz. bottles a day. Now she eats tons of foods (mostly veggies), chews and bites with her 4 teeth, and has 3 six oz. bottles.

She didn't pick food up and put it in her mouth. Yesterday she fed herself her entire dinner and was quite proud of herself.

When we got Sophie, she liked us a lot, but was content to be handed off to any smiling adult. As of last week, Sophie prefers Mom and Dad to everyone else (she still goes to smiling adults but only after a few timid moments).

Sophie has always been happy and giggly, but now she's affectionate and joyful.

2 months ago, Sophie couldn't care less about my cell phone or computer (unless she heard the skype music), but now she pitches (a perfectly normal) fit when I won't let her touch them.

Two months ago Sophie said mama and dada as consonant sounds, now she says them meaning mama and daddy.

Sophie used to giggle and cry, now she chatters constantly and repeats words back to you.

Two months ago BJ and I were like deer in a headlights as someone handed us an almost 10 month old and said "here, go." Now we feel like a family (though we still catch ourselves marveling that we have a daughter).

3 months ago our time was our own, BJ and did what we wanted, when we wanted, now we live around Sophie's (loose) schedule.

We used to sleep in, have leisurely mornings, go out to Starbucks, and enjoyed a matinee. Now Sophie is up around 7a, has breakfast and wants to play. Starbucks is always "take out) and though BJ (who is amazing by the way) enjoys some alone time with Sophie Saturday mornings so I can sleep a bit longer, mornings are definitely not the same.

2 months ago we loved our daughter, now we are head-over-heels, crazy, in love with her.

What a difference 2 months can make.

Why is My Daughter Obsessed with Standing?!

Seriously! I understand that she is almost 1 year old, but I've only had her for 2 months, I am not ready for her to walk!
For the last several days she's been pulling her self up on anything and everything and once she's standing she tries to let go. Thankfully (I thought) she hadn't had the balance so she had to immediately grab hold again or fall on her behind. Well last night BJ said that she had stood for him for a second by herself and called him a big fat liar cause she's a baby and babies can't do that.
I warned him should she even attempt anything so grown up again that he should knock her down : )
Well today she was up to no good again. 3 times today she pulled herself up and then let go only to balance for a second or two! I am NOT ready for my baby to walk!
I haven't held her enough. I haven't gotten to carry her around long enough. I'm not tired of holding her yet. What if she learns to walk and doesn't need me anymore? I feel like she might go to college next week...I just got her!
Okay I know I am totally over reacting. BJ promised me that even if she does learn to walk (apparently it's inevitable) that Sophie will still want to be held. He swears he has seen "big kids" wanting to be picked up my moms and dads. It's some consolation but right now I just want to hire someone to knock her down when she stands up (clearly I don't want to be the bad guy)

The Truth About Bonding

Yesterday Sophie and I had a major step forward along the attachment path!
Bonding is not something that happens over night (not even with biological children). All relationships develop over time and can sometimes be 2 steps forward 1 step back. Sophie had 10 months of history before we became a family, so we got a late start on bonding. Sophie needs to learn that daddy and I are trust worthy, that we will meet her needs, and that we will keep her safe. We need to prove to her that we different then the nannies at the orphange who took care of her for 10 months. How are we teaching Sophie that we not just caregivers but that we are mom and dad? We show her we are trust worthy, we meet her needs, and keep her safe and until she is rooted and secure in our family we are the only ones.
We let our friends and family hold her, and play with her, but when Sophie cries its mom or dad who comforts her. When she's hungry its only us who feed her. BJ and I are the only ones who change her diapers or put her to sleep. We are the only ones to meet her needs.
When we are in public we hold carry her (though we do put her down at home so she can play, crawl and soon walk) so she feels protected and safe and when she feels overwhelmed (like at the grocery store or mall) we leave rather then push her too far.
When she reaches we pick her up, when she cries we soothe her. Right now we aren't (too) worried about over indulging her, the most important thing is to show her that we are trust worthy.
SO...
yesterday morning I was sitting on the couch while Sophie was playing on the floor and pulling herself up on the couch. After a few minutes she pulled herself up right next to me, gave me a big grin, let go of the couch and (still smiling) let herself fall backward!
I had not been expecting this but thankfully managed to catch her with my foot. She thought that was hilarious, promptly pulled herself back up and fall backward again.
SHE TRUSTED ME TO CATCH HER!

Wanting to Walk

So I had set Sophie down on the far side of the living room with her toys and ran into the kitchen to fill my water bottle. It took less then 30 seconds. When I came around the corner she was standing up at one of the chairs on the other side of the living room looking quite proud of herself! She is amazing!

Sophie has made such amazing progress since we brought her home. Its hard to believe its been just over a month that we've been a family. That first day, when they handed her to us she barley moved. She was perfectly content to sit in my sling while we wondered around China and though she figured out rolling around pretty quick she really wasn't mobile.

When we got home she was already beginning the combat crawl, and now I think she might skip right over regular crawling in favor of walking. She just wants to stand up all the time now. She will climb up on anything to get to a standing position. She will even try to let go and stand on her own, but for the moment she isn't balanced enough, so she immediately has to catch on to something to right herself. I figure though its only a matter of weeks, maybe days before her determination wins out and she is standing all by herself. She is that amazing.

Lunch Time

One of my more favorite times of day (of course that's like picking between chocolate ice cream and tiramisu) is lunch time. Sophie is a really good eater, at least if it's something she wants to eat. If she doesn't like whats on the menu then she won't open her mouth and she'll wave her hands in front of her face to protect her little mouth from the offending food, it's quite funny. However I have figured out what she likes to eat and that no matter what I feed her if I mix it with sweet potatoes, pumpkin, or butternut squash she will eat it. She has rejected most jar food (which I had been buying only the ones with meat in them since I'm less comfortable making the meat purees), but if I mix in enough home made sweet potatoes she eats them right up. It makes me feel quite cleaver (even though I'm hardly the first mommy to hide food in food).