Grins, giggles, and more than you probably want to know...

Well, our precious, quiet little angel has sprung into action! She's a talker, a busybody, on the go, and her expressions are hilarious. She likes making us laugh...Barry's sister, Vicki, had said she didn't want the big Blake clan to scare her. Not to worry! She'll fit right in!



















And to answer some of the questions I'm getting...As you see from the pictures, much more smiling going on, no snoring, and pray for this to continue - at nap time she gets a bottle and goes down easy for at least 2 hours, then at bed time (between 7:30 and 8:30, I'm trying to narrow that down) a bottle and she's down for about 12 hours!! She's sleeping well through the night. She's eating eggs, toast, and congee (best described warm soupy rice pudding) for breakfast, cereal (with added fruit when we can sneak it in) for lunch, and noodles, veggies, and congee for dinner and 4 bottles a day (sometimes a little extra) She absolutely LOVES Cheerios throughout the day. Uh...how can I put this nicely...she "recycles" very well - no troubles there, Nana :) And lastly, no rashes anywhere!! She did have very dry, itchy skin on her legs, but I've been giving cornstarch baths and using the lotion Kim gave me. It looks so much better.

We miss everyone so much and can't wait for you to meet Sophie. She may be shy at first, but it won't take long for her to show you her bright personality. We learn more about her every day.

Good night and Love to all,

Quick pics from Sophie's Birthday

Here's some pics from her day...yes, I cried...a little less each day, though.

Catching up!

We've had internet connection issues..and still can't get Skype to work, so our phone calls are very limited, since Barry needs to use the phonecard for business.

On the actual Gotcha Day, there is very little paperwork. The chinese officials match paperwork, to baby, to parents and presto magico - we have a baby. It's the next day when we go back for the interview that the adoption becomes official in China. Each family goes into a room where we are asked questions about why we wanted to adopt from China...do we still want to adopt this child (duh???)...do we promise never to abuse or abandon her. Again, it was hard for me to hold it together. The orphanage director sat in on the meeting and all I wanted to do was jump up and give him a huge hug. They took such good care of our daughter...of all our daughters! They truly are so healthy, in mind and body. Turns out they had moved each of our girls from the orphanage to foster homes, I think at the end of September. This was intended to get them used to family life, more attention, maybe less production line feeding, etc. Brilliant!!!

This first picture above is right after the meeting, the next two on the bus ride home, then all the families back at our hotel, and yep, it was all final on Sophie's 1st birthday!

Love to all!!

Especially, to the another new addition to our family - Katelyn, Mandy's new daughter. We hear Mandy and Katelyn are doing well, and can't wait to see you both! Hey Mandy, Sophie loves her thumb just like Rilyn...

Happy 1st Birthday Sophie

We were able to have a little party in the dining room of the hotel. Five other families were able to join us. The cake was delicious and Xixi said Jackie Harrah covered the cake for us! It was beautiful - Thanks, Jackie!!

More pictures to upload soon.
Love, Love, Love...

Hours after Gotcha!

Here's a quick little video..only two hours after Gotcha. She's doing so well and we are so in love with her.

Love to all,

The Gotcha Moments

If that doesn't work, try copying and pasting the info below into a new window...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l06Z9wmE7Gs

How very blessed we are!! Love to all...

Gotcha Day!!

Thanks, Kim, for the nite nite meds, I never would have slept last night without them...we left for the civil affairs office at 2:30 and started getting our babies about 3:15. We were #2 of 8 families. Another parent video'd us and it's perfect! I have to work on getting video uploaded. She did great coming to me...was a little standoffish, but quickly started to warm up. She wrinkles her nose when she gets excited. She just did absolutely fantastic....I got all my crying done with this morning and up to the second before I held her and am proud to say I held it together with her! Here's the pics....Oh, one last thing - Tracey...she did great in the tub, no salon shampoo's needed here!

We're all exhausted...tomorrow, back to the civil affairs office for about 3 hours of paperwork, then we'll be free the rest of the day. It's so true...it's all worth it, the painful, difficult wait is just a blip now. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. Look forward to seeing you soon!

P.S. Logan, our first grandson, lost his first tooth - you go boy!!! How much money did ya get??