Happy New Year

It is New Year's Eve here, 9:30pm, we are about off to bed, seriously. It will be 1 p.m. on our 1st when the clock strikes 12 a.m. in the US (EST). We did go to a friend's house and watch a the new video on J. Frasier which was great, it even included a friend of ours commentating some! Super cool.
Tomorrow I am cooking Chicken for lunch and then David's old teacher is coming over and we will hang out in the afternoon and for dinner.

Here is more silly Sophia. Sometimes while David works he will leave the door open to his office, but not often. Here Sophia just ran in and plopped right down in between his legs and stayed there for a few minutes, until I snuck in with the camera:


Yes David now stands at his desk to help his shoulders neck and back, he is so ergonomically savvy. He loves it.





NEW GLOVES.
A dear friend gave Sophia these new gloves. They are too big but she still loves them

18 months old...

check out this adorable dress from Poppy and CC


Sophia is 18 months old today. Amazing. What is she up to now?

• she can run pretty well but not all out
• she can walk up stairs with a railing
• she can repeat almost anything you say, and understands on a ton of stuff
  
• she can say a handful of Chinese words and understand the use of them
• she can name her body parts and so many animals and make their sounds
• she can help us sing a few songs
• she can help put her toys away (sometimes)
• her favorite word or thing is still 'airplane' and saying 'bye bye + whatever she is walking away from at the moment)
• she will do something like put a puzzle piece in correctly and then tell herself 'good job' and clap her hands
• she prays with us, holds our hands and bows her head, and says amen really loud when done
  
• she is starting to put a few words together
• she loves to laugh and joke around, hide, play 'airplane' with daddy (he flies her around way up high above his shoulders
• she just started giving this sly grin and pointing at you with her fingers as if to say 'gotcha,' it is adorable
• she thinks she can count but she really just says 'two and five' and motions her hands like she is counting
• she still LOVES dogs and is not scared of them, she also still just uses the Chinese word for them
  
• she eats a lot. And since we dropped her bottle, she really only gets milk/dairy in her yogurt and cheese, but we are still trying to give her milk in a cup and through a straw...
• she can eat 12 chinese dumplings (probably more but we stop her there), I eat about 20 or less
• she has 8.5 teeth
  
• she can shriek/scream really loud when we take something away that she really wants (like when a random person on the street gives her their cell phone to play with)
• she still naps a little in the morning, maybe 20-30 minutes but I keep her in her crib for 45 usually, and naps at least 2 hours in the afternoon
• she now has a third snack right before bed, usually a little oatmeal with wheatgerm and applesauce, so, she has a small morning snack, a little left over yogurt (to put her medicine in), then a slice of cheese and possible cracker, afternoon snack is bigger, usually fruit with cracker or if we have some peanut butter on bread, the girl can eat.
• she still goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps until then too (usually)
• she is affectionate, she gives great good night hugs and kisses
• she still loves her books
  
• there is so much more she is doing but that is the gist of our little toddler, we are so thankful for the past 18 months...
  

Earthquake...and more

Thanks for the emails we have been receiving. Yes, there was another earthquake, 4.9 or so about an hour from here in the border town. No one was killed and about 20 hurt, some old schools and buildings damaged. It was in the middle of the night and we did not even feel it. Which is pretty crazy since it was closer than the last one but not as strong. We must have been sleeping pretty good, because it woke other people up that we talked to...

Anyway....

Last night we went out with this lady and some of her friends. Her name is Victoria, she owns a coffee shop in town. We have been friends with her since before we even moved here. I don't really see her much since we moved to the other side of town, but every Christmas we get together for a meal. She took us out to a really cool restaurant with some of her friends. We ate some interesting things, including eggs cooked in really strong liquor (I did not partake, after a sniff), chicken cooked inside a pig stomach (I didn't eat the stomach part,but the chicken and soup was really good), and goose meat (taste a little like duck).

In Daddy's closet

David and I did an organizing day. We started in Sophia's room and went through her clothes and her closets (our only storage in the apartment, so everything is in there). While we did this we turned her highchair into a chair and table (it is supercool like that) and had her draw for a little while. Then while I went to the supermarket, David cleaned out his side of our closet. Sophia meanwhile stayed in his closet while he did this. It is not a built in closet, but more like a wardrobe...we caught her being so funny, because that is what she is...


one of my favorite pics of Sophia, ever.


with daddy's new NC state hat and her new cell phone she is quite the busy girl


yes, I know I am too cute


The line is busy, haven't they heard of call waiting...


I love the closet

More Christmas...

new outfit from Poppy and CC


New Christmas dress from Poppy and CC, I know I look cool


Caleb gave me a little doll baby, my first real doll baby. Mama is trying to teach me not to shake the baby or throw it down, but I have trouble with that...


check out those curls, this is Sophia's most talked about feature

Christmas day pics

peering out of her tent, she likes it closed sometimes, and then yanks it open


giving daddy a swig of her 'water'


closed please


Just me and George Monkey in my new tent, I love it.


none of our family pics turned out well this year, oh well...
(also this is not in our house, not our tree)

Celebrating

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went with some friends over to another friend's house and had a delicious Chinese meal with peach cobbler for dessert. The children (she has two girls), performed a play, even including Sophia as the sheep (because she can 'baaaa' on cue, though she did go astray here). It was such a precious time with friends. We sang carols and hung out before going home to do our own family time of celebration.


Young Mary with her new baby...



The Angel, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and a straggling sheep


Back home we did what we have done every night since the beginning of Advent, We read a devotional that has to do with some aspect of the Christmas story, we talk about it, pray together, and then sing a song. Next we let Sophia take the picture out of the pocket on the calendar and put it on the quilt, David then retells the story, getting Sophia to help with animal noises or telling us what certain things are. This has been a precious time as family (Sophia not sitting still the whole time of course, but always shouting a big 'Amen' at the end of prayer).




The baby has arrived! It is Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone!