7 months home...yesterday

As of yesterday we have been home 7 months with Cassie. Or Zhen-Zhen as we still call her.

On Monday she had 3 more vaccines -- she was not at all thrilled about it. But she is now up to date on all her vaccines -- including the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines. She's up to about 23 lbs -- she refused to be weighed at the drs office so they had to weigh me holding her, then weight me alone. Nice. Not. So we didn't get an exact weight.

She knows about 25 words now. Can put two words together, and tries to say things like "I love you" and "strawberry" when coached.

Her stuffed animals are still her favorite toys. She actually sleeps with about 8 of them and both Sonny and I have to kiss them all goodnight each night. It's the new bedtime routine.

Zhen-Zhen and I go to play & learn classes 2 - 3 times a week. The classes have really helped Zhen-Zhen with her core muscle strength, her balance and her climbing skills. She's really started to open up at class and show everyone her true personality. Which is silly, giggly, and pretty fearless.

She's still on the bottle -- has no interest in a sippy cup. And I have found that if a sippy cup is thrown across the room the value comes loose and then it leaks. Because of that, we'll stick with the bottles for a while longer. At least until we get Chloe home from China.

Speaking of Chloe -- no new news. Yet. But the phone could ring at any time. I'm beginning to think that the all important phone call isn't going to happen until after the New Year. I'm trying to be patient. Really -- I am.

I did finally hear back from the USCIS office, by email. We actually don't need a new I-171H. We can travel with the one we have since it's up to date and is for 2 children. I wish it wouldn't have taken 12 weeks to learn this information. But at least we now know.

Otherwise things are good here. Getting ready for Christmas and finishing up and starting more projects around the house. More on those in another post. Still no snow here. The pictures here are more from our Santa/reindeer/petting farm visit on Sunday. Zhen-Zhen loves the animals there.


More soon on the many projects around the house. And of course another post as soon as we get our LSC.