Beautiful Children

Here is Alexander looking very cool. He is developing a special relationship with Rosie. She often goes to him, even when she gets an "ow-ey" and is crying. It is so wonderful to see him so mature and able to take care of a baby. He took a bath with her yesterday (he wore his swimsuit) and they had such a great time. I don't know what else to hope for, these relationships between the children are just so wonderful. Alexander told me yesterday that he wishes he had grown up with his brothers. He feels like he missed so much. That is such a wonderful thing to say because I know they bug him a lot and the boys argue a lot and get on each other's nerves. They are now home all day together doing school so I guess that is normal. They also play a lot together though and I'm so grateful that Alexander is starting to see the true value of that. Here they are; the Fabulous Four. I love this picture. No mama could be more proud. Max and Daniel are learning so much about growing up in watching their little sister. They ask me so many questions about her development and they worry about her choking on things and they are constantly taking 'dangerous' things out of her hands. An incredible development is that these two boys have learned a little about unconditional love. It was something I just couldn't prove to them before. But, now they see that I love Rosie no matter what and they also can feel that she loves them just as they are, no matter what.

Okay. This is the bomb. I love this fabric, it is "China Doll" by Michael Miller. My mom made us a baby quilt using this fabric and I searched ebay and every fabric store I could find looking for more. Nothing. I get to China, go into this store (A Gift From China -- by the old US Consulate) and they have tons of stuff made out of this fabric. So, I got another quilt, this too, too cute outfit and the diaper bag. I love it and Rosie looks so adorable - and she matches her room!

Look at this sweet face. She is perfect. When I look at her I often think, what could I change to make her cuter or more beautiful and there just isn't a thing. She is now really understanding us too. She says, "Mama", "DaDa", "Dora" (the explorer), "DogDog" (Alexander's stuffed dog), "BackPack", "Bye-Bye" "All Gone", "Daniel", "Max" she hasn't got "Alexander" yet, but she understands so many phrases - it is miraculous.

More Beautiful Children

Rosie wearing the dress we got her in China. It is all white and we got it for the Temple. We will take her to the Temple to have her "sealed" to us. It is a wonderful ordinance through which we believe that families can be together forever. Literally, for eternity. When we had Max and Daniel sealed to us, the Priest who performed the ceremony told them that they were now just like our biological children. That was so fantastic for them and for us too. Now, they will get to go with us to the temple to watch this same promise being given to their sister. We are all so excited and think we will go when Robert gets back from Russia. The photographer really had to struggle to get any smiles out of her. Actually, I'm not sure how he did it. She is very suspicious of strangers and it takes her a long time to warm up to "newcomers". Especially when we had these photos done, mid-February, she still wasn't laughing/smiling all that much.


Mom and Rosie Daniel - I love this picture- this is just how he looks.
Max - I got a nice closeup shot of him too

Finally....an update

We were having some techincal difficulties with the blog and then I just could never get a chance to get back on. Things are going so well around here. We are settled into our routine and Rosie is doing wonderfully. Homeschool is going well though the boys are still struggling now and again to keep focused and keep the routine going. But, I guess that is normal.

Rosie has developed some interesting likes and dislikes and we can really see her personality blossoming. She keeps us laughing and can be a bit of a clown sometimes, much to the endless delight of her brothers. She is doing much, much better with the dogs although she still doesn't care for it when they start barking right in her ear -- go figure.

We have some amazing news. Robert is traveling to Russia the first week of April to go see Anastasia. Since it has been so long since we saw her last, they are insisting that we "view" her before going for the final court date. Robert will be there about a week or so doing the preliminary paperwork and getting some short visits with Anastasia. Our agency thinks we should go back for our court date around the end of June. Our lives our changing so fast now and we are so grateful that the transition with Rosie has been such an easy one. We are quite sure that it won't be so easy for Anastasia. We are really excited about bringing her home and I'm going to get started fixing her room up right away. Yippee.

We are counting our blessings everyday.