Home From China

Today (9-18-05) marks the two-month anniversary of the day we met Lydia and the three of us became a “Forever Family”. Truly, it seems like we have had her much longer than only two months! Since our return home Lydia has grown by leaps and bounds! The first three weeks were difficult for all of us as we struggled to adjust to each other amid difficult circumstances (I had a horrible sinus infection, Jonathan was gone to Chicago for a week with his job, etc.) However, we made it through a rough beginning and are now much more relaxed and content. Although Lydia still has struggles from time to time, she is very comfortable with her home and her mom and dad. As her confidence has grown, more and more of her personality has come to light. She is a happy, playful, VERY curious, still independent little 14 ½ month old! And VERY BUSY!!!

She has had many “firsts” since arriving home. Here are just a few:

First Steps: We got home from China on a Friday and the following Wednesday, Lydia took her first steps on her own. She has been going non-stop ever since!

First Trip to Medicine Lodge: Labor Day weekend Lydia visited Medicine Lodge and met lots of family and friends for the first time. She was very popular!

First Birthday Party: Aunt Janet hosted a birthday party for Lydia during our time in Medicine Lodge. Surrounded by family and friends, Lydia opened tons of presents and enjoyed her “Winnie The Pooh” birthday cake and Aunt Janet’s homemade Oreo ice cream. It was a BIG day for Lydia!

First Boo Boo: Lydia is a “climber” and very brave. She is constantly bonking her head, but she rarely cries. However, one day she fell backward on one of her toys and hit her head, which caused her to bite her lip. Yes, there was blood and crying involved. But she survived without too much trauma!

First Trip to the Park: Lydia and Mom joined our friends Jenelle, Caden and Devin at the park. Although Caden and Devin are energetic little boys, they were very sweet and patient with Lydia. We hope they can come play again soon!

First Animals: The day we got home from China, Lydia was introduced to our cats. At first she was intrigued, but now she ignores them—unless they are on mom’s lap! The cats are really not too impressed with Lydia. Of course, if someone pulled my whiskers and yanked my hair out by the handful, I wouldn’t like them much either!

First Wedding: Lydia attended her first wedding on September 3rd. We never had to leave the sanctuary, but it was close! Congrats again to Michelle and Joe!

First Professional Pictures: Not the best experience for any of us! Lydia is not fond of posing for pictures. We can also add “First Episode of Projectile Vomiting on Dad” to this event. Fortunately it happened after the pictures were taken!

First Trip to the Zoo: Mom took Lydia to the zoo just a few days ago. Lydia’s favorite animal is a human—she loves people and is distracted by anyone who happens to walk by. Still, she paid more attention to the animals than I thought she would and was very wide-eyed when she saw the elephants! She loves being outside so the zoo was a definite hit!

First Teeth: Well. . . not exactly. Lydia had four teeth when we got her. But two more have shown up since then, bringing the grand “tooth total” up to six!

There is so much more we could tell you about our “beautiful treasure”, but I think at this point we’ll let some pictures do the talking for us. (For a little more information about Lydia, go to the FAQ page of the website!) We’ll try to do better with updating the website—many of you have requested this! HA! If you would like an email notification when we add something new, please let us know by sending an email to chinababynews@hotmail.com. We’d be happy to add you to the list!