Miscellaneous updates (T=7 months)

This has been a very long week. It started with David having very weird stomach pains all night long. Of course we thought it was what he ate, but the way this manifested was very different from all the 'stomach bugs' we are used to. We started consulting with some docs and considering other things, including appendicitis. He got blood tests and scans, and though by day one the worst was over, the pain lingered and lingered. It is now the weekend again and he is finally well. So thankful.
We think it was something he ate :)

Tobin is now 7 months old. He can sit up, if you put him in that position, but does not get there himself. He is all over the place with the inchworm/army crawl, and does get in the real crawl position and just rocks back and forth. He has been waking up EARLY, around 4-5 a.m. He has done this consistently and I actually feed him at this time, he is hungry. But the boy does eat. This week new on the menu was carrots and peas.
I am certainly missing a full nights' sleep, don't remember the last time I had one.



Bella loves to play with Tobin, and because she has a perpetual cold (allergies, who knows?) we are usually telling her to stay away. But not lately. Bella also loves playing with her Chinese tutor (xiao chen ayi, seen below). She likes reading books, and is quite the talker. Her favorite toy is by far her little baby doll. She takes care of her baby very well. She can speak some Chinese and goes back and forth on whether she wants to go to school next year (she won't have a choice, but it is fun to hear her reaction). My favorite phrase of hers lately: 'yes, I think so' (in almost a British accent).


Sophia is here with my friend and her tutor. We just restarted this. She comes every day and plays with Bella on MWF for an hour and on TR with Sophia. This has worked out well so far. She is great! David and I have a plan to work in some of our own refreshing of Chinese with her, we hope she is game for it.
Sophia is loving school and does well with our homeschool k4 stuff too. She loves making friends, we are very proud of her for making friends wherever she goes. She loves princessy things, playing chase/tag, playing hide and go seek, dance, and when we go to the track she loves to kick the soccer ball around the track (her record high is 5 laps at one time with a good dribble of the ball too). Her favorite movie right now is Beauty and the Beast. Her favorite story? There are many, but at night we are reading 'The Magicians nephew' and she is liking it, she is anxious to get to 'The Lion, the witch, and the Wardrobe".