CCAI Guide's

So when we were in China although we were only in Beijing a short amount of time, I must admit Helen and "Mr. Money" left a huge impression on us. Helen did everything possible to make us comfortable and help us in anyway. Our first day there, we arrived before all the other families, but only by a couple of hours, so we hung out with Helen at the airport. The other flights were a little late, so by the time we got to the hotel I just could not think....I didn't want to think. So figuring out how to set up the Internet or even make an international call was simply not doable at that time for me. So what happened....my daddy calls Helen on her cell in the middle of the night..."Where's my Daughter?!" he says. Helen, having an overprotective mother herself was very helpful to my dad and came to see me first thing in the morning to tell me to call my daddy. So any way that was our first 24hrs in China and Helen's smile and awesome personality made it great! I promised her I would email after we got home....well 10 months later and I finally did it! It was great to hear from her too. I hope she'll still be doing it in about five years from now.

Summer Vacation

The 4th of July is coming up and this is the first time in years that we have made no major plans. On one hand I'm itching to get outta here, on the other, a week at home catching up sounds good too! We might drive to the beach a couple of days, but that's the extent of our vacation this summer. William wants to spend Christmas in Gatlinburg, we'll see about that. Anyways I'm really missing China. Not the long monotonous plane ride.....but the sights, sounds, and yes even the smells. Weird huh? It would be awesome to go back in a few years....maybe a homeland tour with our travel mates (hint, hint) I know we were there for two weeks but at that time it was all about what Sophie needed and touring, well it won't it! I'd like to spend more time in Beijing and Guangzhou. Maybe we'll get to do that when we go back to get Sophie's little brother:)

Happy Father's Day!

What a wonderful day. I have always cherished Father's Day. My Daddy and I are very close. Every Father's Day I try my best to come up with something special to give my Dad. Some years it would be a photo album or one year I got all the kids to take a portrait together. Other's would be maybe a fishing rod or just something for him to enjoy just so he would know how much he means to me... NOW we understand why parents always say "you really didn't need to do this." Cause we really didn't....The best thing about Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas...is just being together and that feeling of love that you can just see in their eyes. It's like the phone call William got this morning wishing him a Happy Father's Day, the person also asked if he got anything good. His answer...."Yes, my daughter!" Happy Father's Day everyone!

Well Child Visits

Sophie went for her 18th month DR visit this week. They never fail to amaze me with their three page questionnaire that supposedly determines her development in different areas. She is right on target for her age, its just neat to see all the new things she is doing or has discovered all together. Boy these kids pick up ALOT and fast. She mimics almost every thing she sees me do. Not so much on the sounds yet but she still has acquired about 25 words to her vocabulary. "HOT" and "fishes" being the latest two. She now weighs a whole 23.2 pounds and is the most precious cargo ever! Here are some more pictures that I promised.

"See Ya!!"

For those of you wondering how Sophie did yesterday, I think this picture says it all! I'll post more later.








All this folks won't in here last night!

Toddler Stages

Right now, Sophie's favorite word and thing is blankey. Pronounced...bank-eeee! She is becoming more and more independent. Wanting to drink out of a regular cup or put her pants on herself. She's going through the frustration stage that quickly turns to anger. Ed Young is doing a series right now on anger. It seems there's almost always an emotion that comes before anger. And there is good anger and bad anger. But what matters the most is how we process that anger. I've been watching her harder this week as she throws her little 30 second fits, that soon turn into a smile. As a first time mother I probably over think some of these things, but I do want her to have healthy emotions and to know how to handle them. I'm sure most mom's worry about the same kinda things.

.......So next weekend Sophie's gonna be a flower girl. I'll post lots of pics. This past weekend we were the recipient's of a slightly used swing set. Sophie will remedy that!And of course there was more time in the pool!

Sophie's First Salon Visit

What a trooper! "Still" is not Sophie's favorite thing to do, but she did awesome today. Miss A's* experience with children was a huge plus!