Hallooween Fun

We had a blast this Halloween. At our neighborhood swim and tennis club Sophia took first place in her age group in the bag decorating contest. See pics below. We had a good time decorating. First we stripped her down and put paint on a brush and handed it to her. Once dried, we gave he a bunch of stickers to stick on. She needed a little help with this, they would get stuck on her fingers and couldn't figure out how to stick them to the paper.

She also loved trick-r-treating. She would not sit in her stroller and would not let us hold her bag. At first, she wanted to hold as much candy in her hand, but gave up on that. Sophia ate her first piece of chocolate and seemed to LOVE it. She also had a blow pop, and we were all sticky. Lucky for us she accidentally dropped it, and didn't seem to notice it was gone.

We are still fighting the perpetual ear infection. She now is going in for a series of three antibiotic shots. It is really taking a toll on her tummy. We will see tomorrow if there was an improvement in her ears, if not our pediatrician will refer us to an ENT. I think I would like to see an ENT anyway. The thing is when Sophia gets these ear infections she may wake at night, but other than that no symptoms. So we don't know if the waking at night is because of teething, or a cold, or just something else.








Sophia with a neighbor's dog dressed as a chick-fil-a cow

Ear Infection Go Away

Poor Soph has had a lingering ear infection. It has been about 3 weeks, and is on her 3rd antibiotic. Except for being whiny at daycare and waking up early she is still a happy little girl though. She had her 18 month check up, and will be tested for TB and AIDS again. This is just a precaution our doctor takes with children from developing countries. She now weighs between 25 and 25.5 pounds and is 32 1/4 inches. This makes her about 60th percentile for both.

With this ear infection we have missed a lot of fall activities. She had a fever for about 4 days, and wanted to keep her from running around too much until her ears clear up. Praying that this new antibiotic does the trick!

One year ago today

We saw this beautiful face...



... and fell in love!

One year later, we wake up to see this beautiful face every day...




... and fall in love more and more each day! We love you Soph!

Referralversary

Our referralversary is this Wednesday! I cannot believe it has already been a year since we first saw our daughters face. The wait was excruciating, but well worth it. Sophia is doing well, popping more teeth, and starting to say a lot more that we can understand. The girl loves to dance! We can play music or sing and she will stomp her feet and sway her body usually with a big smile on her face.

Well the weather is getting cooler, and we are looking forward to sharing the fall and winter holidays with Sophia. Last year during the holidays, we had our referral, knew who our daughter was, but she was not home yet to be a with us. She was definitely in our minds though.

For Halloween she is going to be a Buffalo Bills cheerleader. I am so stoked that my parents found a costume back in Buffalo.

Here are some updated pics. In the first two Sophia was helping clean up all the dirt that washed into our driveway in the heavy rains. The next three are from a recent afternoon where Steve was out for a couple of hours and she was getting into everything. I had to take pictures so he would believe it. The others are just some cute pics of her.

Is this thing on?

I've been a blogger. I just can't find the time to update regularly. But I am vowing I am going to start again. :) Is anyone out there still checking?

A lot has been going on. We completed our re-adoption to domesticate the adoption in the United States. So we are FINALLY done! Sophia had a great summer, and has changed so much. She is such a sweet little girl, but has hit 17 months. She absolutely lets us know when she is frustrated. She is starting to get a little emotional about the little things, like when she cannot have the toy she wants instantly. She is also getting taller. I didn't really notice until the weather got a little cooler and she wore pant PJ's. The 12 months are like floods now. In the spring, they would drag on the floor and she would slip. She is also talking up a storm. One of her favorite words right now is milk. Whenever she has a sippy cup, or sees us with a water bottle she repeats milk over and over again. I usually have to give her my water bottle (see above getting emotional when she cannot have something instantly). Right now she loves shoes, she alsways wants us to put shoes on her feet and she will help by bringing them over and lifting her foot. In the mornings, she carries her shoes to Daddy while I finish getting myself ready.

In daycare, she has moved to the toddler room. They transition from the infant room to toddler over a period of time for a few hours a day. She did pretty good, no major issues. She was really attached to the afternoon teachers in the infant room. But she is bonding with her new teachers. She also can play a lot more. In the infant room, she did "help" to take care of the babies, but I think she likes playing with the kids her age better. It amazed me that they sit at little tables and feed themselves with utensils and have an open cup of milk. I just cannot believe that they sit there. I cannot believe wither that Sophia stays still for story time or snack. At home the only time she is still, is when it's time to sleep.

Now for some pics. Here are some from court for re-adoption. The judge gave her a squeeze heart, and Sophia kept putting it in her mouth for pics. the judge was awesome, and let us take a few pictures eventhough he had a courtroom waiting for him. Also a few random shots from summer.

Jumping for Joy

The pediatrician already receieved the results on Sophia's thyroid test. Everything came back normal. Yah!!

Since Sophia has been sick last weekend with a fever, her appetite has changed. She no longer is interest in milk, and it's hit or miss with the veggies. Uggg.

Getting A Lot Accomplished

First, Sophia is feeling much better. She didn't have a fever on Monday, but still did not have her appetite back. Now she is feeling good again.

Whew! We've been getting some stuff done the past couple weeks. We met with an attorney to complete our wills and file the paperwork for the re-adoption. The re-adoption is easy, but since Steve belongs to a legal plan at work we thought we would take advantage of someone else filing all the paperwork. We already have a court date set. I was excited to see it scheduled on my birthday, which is also the day we will be home with Sophia 6 months.

Today we had our appointment with our social worker to complete our 6 month post placement report. After that, I finally took her for follow up blood work. The doctor ordered a follow up back in May, when it appeared her thyroid hormones were stimulating a little low. This could have been due to stress, so we had to give it another check. She did well this time getting blood taken. I was dreading it, since last time she screamed the entire time. This time, she got to sit in my lap. I turned her head away, and she cried a little bit, but did not become frantic.