Reflections- SIX Months since Love's First Embrace

Hi Everyone,

Six months is it a long time or a short time? I know-- everything is relative. I'll just leave it at that because I don't really know how to answer the question.

All I really know is that after waiting for 2+ years, it certainly has been a whirlwind-- both a lifetime of changes in the past 6-months, yet it seems like yesterday. I guess that is why they call it a whirlwind.

Please click on the media player to hear some nice music while traveling with us down memory lane.

These pictures aren't in a particular order. I've sort of grouped them by a category (like eating etc) so that the first picture of the category is from the earlier days that we gladly became Josie's family to more recent pictures (earlier days-- it's only been 6-months. Wow! It's already been SIX MONTHS??!!)

The day we first met Josie was followed by many days of Mommy holding this new bundle of joy.

Josie first introduction to Gabrielle and Xavier, learning how much fun it is to have siblings to play with or just hang out with.

When we first met Josie she was always wide mouthed, ready to eat. As she became more assured that there was plenty of food to go around, she began displaying this behavior less and less. She now rarely opens her mouth like this for food.

Josie had a huge aversion to sand at the beginning of the summer. After a few trips to the beach she learned how much fun it is to play in the sand and now LOVES the beach and playing in the sand.

Josie has always loved to play, from her days in the Orphanage to her days now at home.

Josie new how to crawl when we met her and she was VERY reluctant to walk. She wanted to be held and carried all the time. She still likes to be carried-- Mostly, I think she likes to know that she has access to being carried.

With some coaxing Josie soon began tottering around on unsteady feet, then walking with sure steps, and before we knew it, she became a master of stair climbing.

Josie has also learned how to not only walk up her slide but also recently started climbing up the ladder to her slide as well. She is really becoming a big girl at walking and climbing.

Josie was very demanding about me picking her up and carrying her. To be honest, she still is a lot of the time. But (a good but), now I sometimes get a happy face asking to be picked up instead of the once typical (only method of request) whining and crying.

The information we received about Josie indicated that she didn't like baths and was afraid of the water. Hmmmm . . . what do you think?

Josie was extremely shy when we first met her. The first picture was taken in China while shopping at WalMart. The 2nd picture was taken at a party a couple months after we returned home. She is certainly blossoming into a little social butterfly.

Josie was scared of Wim when she first met him-- there were no men at her orphanage-- and he is one big guy. We often joked that he is the ugliest Ayee that she ever met-- Ayee is Cantonese for auntie and is what the babies call their nannies in the orphanage.

The road can still be a little rocky with the two of them sometimes, but Josie has come realize how much fun her "Dathy" is.

So here we are, her referral pictures and pictures taken recently. What a difference.

Very fitting for her 6-month Milestone-- March 23rd, Josie Dong Dong threw a fit about sitting in a high chair. This picture is of her first dinner (after the fit) sitting at the table-- still in her high chair but with it scooted up the the table-- without the high chair tray.

That's it, in a nutshell. There is so much more- I simply don't have time to sit down and write out all the wonderful attributes about my wonderful daughter and all the precious changes we've shared these past few months. It's taken me a week to compile this much.

Josie Dong Dong is truly the Sunshine of My Life!

The past 6-months have been the happiest of my life till now-- I suspect the next 6-months will be even more so-- and so on --and so on.

I can hardly wait experience with Josie all of the new and exciting things coming her way, while at the same time I want to freeze time, if only for a moment-- maybe a long moment.

Reena