Sunday, October 15, 2006

An update - finally


Well, it's been two months since we've been back and this is our first post. For all those who've been waiting for news anxiously, I apologize. I've been busy (and a little lazy I confess). We'll try to post on a more regular basis, likely once a week.

Now for the good stuff.

Sophie is settling in very well to our family, in fact it's almost like we've had her since birth. She is eating well and sleeping well and is just a huge bundle of energy. Where Stephanie was quieter and less adventurous as a baby, Sophie knows only one speed (fast and straight ahead). She is very curious and loves to explore her surroundings. We have her enrolled in a swim class (with her friend Mara) and in playgroup and we try to do many activities with her on the weekend.

She has already passed a number of developmental "milestones" since we've been back including:

3 new teeth - (teething has not been fun)
eating a wider range of food - She now eats from a spoon and likes all sorts of pureed vegetables and fruit, her favorites are peas and pears and she loves graham crackers and cheerios. We have her on regular milk but still give her formula as per the doctor's suggestion that she needs to put on some weight.
Crawling, standing and almost walking -She can now pull herself up and walk around the room holding onto objects (or our hands) - It won't be long before she's walking on her own.

She also babbles more and has said "momma" and "dada" and she just loves to point to her own picture on the fridge. She waves and blows kisses and just the other night she crawled over to me and gave me a kiss - a truly heartwarming moment.

Yes, Sophie is growing both physically (she's gained 2lbs since our return) and emotionally/developmentally. She's a real sweetie but has her moments (like any other 1 year old). She loves music and strangely, the Teletubbies (Darn I thought we were through with those weird characters when Stephanie outgrew them :) . Her musical tastes are quite varied (Sharon Lois & Bram, to Coldplay to Black Eyed Peas) but her favourite seems to be John Denver's "leaving on a jet plane" - maybe because we all have a soft spot for that song (David our guide in China sang it to us as we were leaving Guangzhou).

We've all settled into a sort of routine. It was hard dealing with the jet lag at first and we were glad to have a few weeks before school started for Stephanie, to enjoy some family time together. Stephanie is settling into school well - her stories of her summer were the best of the class (I mean who can top going to China to get a baby sister:). Stephanie has been a really good big sister and is so helpful around the house and in looking after Sophie (even when Sophie accidentally whacked her in the nose with the remote!)

As for me, I found it difficult going back to work as I don't get to see much of Sophie during the week. I think we also miss China and the friends we made. We all feel a strong connection with the families we travelled with and are hoping to get together with them sometime in November.
Enough of the babbling. Since what most of you really want are some pictures, I've included a few. I don't have many yet but will go back and add some over the next few weeks. Briefly, the first picture above was taken at my dad's, we're on a boat on the St. Laurence River. The picture on our left was taken on Stephanie's first day of school and the next two were taken at a dinner for my Grandparents 75th birthday celebration. I'll try to post more pictures shortly.

Well, that's it for now. There's plenty more to talk about but I'll save that for another time.

Check back weekly.

CCSS.
 Posted by Picasa