How We Grocery Shop These Days...(Captions Only)! :)

Buying fresh fruits & vegetables from our local grocery store, Dillon's. To help Emma cope with hearing the public noise that is loud to her I let her push her own little cart. She LOVES it & attracts a lot of smiles from others. Of course it took us an hour to do our shopping at Dillon's yesterday!

Sophie is more than happy to just sit in the big cart and hold my shopping list. At least I still have one "baby" in the cart for awhile longer. :)

Then we were off to Walmart for the rest of our shopping. Walmart is sensory overload for ANYBODY...especially for Emma though. I promised her that if she could control herself while we shopped that she could ride Mickey when were were finished. Sophie HATES this ride and said "No Thank You" insisting to stay in the cart. :)

"OUCH"!!!

So, I am learning that some kids are just more prone to mishaps than others. Emma is very active and she has not had 1/2 of the bumps and bruises that Sophie has!

My poor baby has had her fair share of minor injuries in less than 5 months. Sophie has a small scar by her left eye from a run-in with a board book---courtesy of Emma. She has a matching scar by her right eye from falling on the sidewalk over the fourth of July...I am using Mederma Scar Cream in hopes to make the scars fade a bit faster. :( She also has a fading bruise by her left eye from falling against her tricycle handle and YES she was wearing a helmet!!!

My sweet pea has acquired TWO new boo-boo's (her words :)) in the past 48 hours. The first happened on Wednesday when playful roughhousing resulted in a bloody lip and VERY bruised chin. No, don't flame Greg....it was MY FAULT. :( I was tossing the girls onto my king size bed & somehow Sophie catapulted over the bed and onto the floor landing face down. The guilt over that is KILLING me......

Then last night as I was cleaning up the kitchen the girls were settling into our bed to watch Strawberry Shortcake. I heard a loud *CLUNK* and found Sophie crying on the floor. According to Emma (who always tells the God's honest truth even when she IS at fault) Sophie was trying to jump and fell off of the bed. Unfortunately she hit her forehead on the night stand resulting in 2 large goose eggs.

After some TLC, Motrin and an ice pack Sophie was back to her happy self. I am sure that she woke up with a heck of a headache this morning though. Hopefully that is the end of her injuries for a while...a LONG while!!!

Early Morning Company

I was up bright and early on Saturday morning. And, so was somebody else!!
I foolishly thought for a moment that I would be able to enjoy a hot cup of coffee with my online USA Today newspaper & maybe even catch up on some emails. ALONE.
The moment that I stepped into the kitchen I heard this little voice calling out "Mommy? MOMMY"?! Sophie was awake.
Well, at least I had some GOOD company with me!! ;-)

The Last Week of July with Emma & Sophie!

I hope that you enjoy the VERY random snapshots of Emma and Sophie taken this week. :) I am very lucky to be able to spend each day with them as each day contains a small blessing...you just need to know where to look.

We are completing Sophie's 6 month home study update for China this Sunday. Of course we will not be celebrating our 6 month anniversary with her until September 9th, but we need to have the information submitted to China BEFORE then. It quite honestly feels like Sophia Grace has been with us for much longer than that...then again I saw her picture for the first time on November 8, 2007. So, that explains why-I think?! :) Sophie is doing VERY well. She has gained 4 pounds since coming home...that is a pound a month as my Mom put it. :) She is still very much a baby. Yet at the same time incredibly smart!! She is learning English at an impressively fast rate. She adores and idolizes Emma & could not be any more loving to Greg and I! She babbles NON STOP and makes me smile every day. Sophie had blood work for the second time just this month to monitor her Hepatitis B status. We were thrilled to learn that her levels are stable and her next appointment with the lab will not be until January 2010! :)

Emma has matured A LOT over the past 6 months. Her determination is incredible. We are so very, very proud of her. She has also regressed at the same time. Does that make sense? If not, don't worry. It is hard for US to understand sometimes too. We have yet to learn what it takes for Emma to simply function every day. I think that it takes A LOT though. It appears to be an immense effort for Emma to cope with simple every day things. And, she DOES try. We had to leave the grocery store today with a partially full cart. It was just too much for her...and for me. (I assume Sophie as well). It has just been one of THOSE weeks.

We have an appointment next week with a colleague of our Neuro-Psychologist. We want her to test Emma for whatever she CAN test her for. Greg and I need answers for Emma. It is our privilege and duty as parents to advocate for her. Likely the upcoming tests will be developmentally and neurologically based. I will update this area when we learn more.

My daughters are beautiful. I can say that because this is my blog. Enjoy the pictures.

A Busy Afternoon Outside! :o)

*THEY BOTH HAD FUN PLAYING SOCCER.

*EMMA LOVES RIDING HER BIKE AND SOPHIE STILL CRIES.

*SOPHIE LIKES TO DRAW WITH CHALK AND EMMA NOT SO MUCH.