Happy July 4th at daycare! Which one is Bella? She is simply ado(red) by her mommy!

It is also Sarah’s (New York) 3rd birthday. She is one of Bella’s roommates from the orphanage in our adoption group.

We went to see the fireworks at Jack London Square. It was so crowded, she had to stay in her stroller, which she did not like at all. Surprisingly, she didn’t mind the very loud fireworks or the passing train. In fact, we can hear the distant sound of the train from our house and she’ll say, “Choo-choo train!”

Today is the one year anniversary of our Gotcha Day (the day Isabella was placed in my arms in China). I can’t believe she’s been my baby girl for a whole year! God has been so good to us! She’s such a big girl now! We just went to the doctor last week and she is 35″ tall and 22 lbs./15 oz.

I dressed her up in her Gotcha Day outfit, complete with sandals and lead-painted “bear-bear” toy. She said, “Too big!” Perhaps she’ll finally fit it next year. I asked her if she remembered the room full of screaming babies in Hefei and she just laughed.

A year ago on Gotcha Day…Bella and the other Bengbu girls arrived at the CCAA office with their traveling nannies. It was almost time to hold my baby girl for the first time!

She didn’t cry at all! My Little Angel had found her Forever Family! I was sweating bullets, not only because of the anticipation of meeting my new daughter, but because there were a lot of bodies in the room with faux Chinese AC.

It wasn’t any cooler outside, but there was room to stretch her little legs after the long trip from Bengbu to Hefei. The others are heading back to the bus behind us with their little ones. What an amazing day it was for all of us!

We took this picture just before leaving for school this morning. Of course, getting her to cooperate made us even later than usual. BTW, Mommy has matching shoes. How cute is that? (Gag!)

It’s time for our one-year (and final) post-placement home visit by our social worker. I will be re-adopting Isabella in the next few months.

Bella has been going to school without diapers at the request of her teacher. I wasn’t sure she was ready for “big girl underwear,” as she still has accidents at home. However, I think she does better at school, since they have little toilets and they all go together. We’re working on it…

It was Bella’s first baseball game - Oakand A’s vs. L.A. Angels. She really had fun and liked getting her hand stamped to sit in the BBQ plaza. She would point to it and say, “Baseball!” She even has her own bobblehead! Be sure to turn up the tunes!

She cheered on her team, even though they eventually lost 1-3. There’s always next time! Auntie Eva really enjoyed the all-you-can-eat BBQ. Looks like she loves Hello Kitty, too.

Bella always has a great time at the cemetary. It is beautiful and serene with panoramic views of the bay area.

We seem to hang out there quite a bit. This time it was for Father’s Day.

We’ll be back…

Always the drama queen, here she’s pointing out her first band-aid. “Tek, tek.” (Hurts!). Yeah, well if you didn’t always run around like a wild child, you wouldn’t fall down so much!

It’s Mommy’s birthday, so Auntie Irene invited us over for breakfast. Bella’s having a great time with Alice and Rachel.

Hey, what’s going on?

Time for your first bang trim! We’ll let the rest of it grow and see what happens.

It’s my first Mother’s Day, but I’m all fussy and don’t want to pose with Mommy…

…so it’s all about me, me, me! But we already knew that!

Mommy’s birthday again - this time at Auntie K’s house with Aunties Cecilia, Kay, Janet & Sharon.

Aiyi treated us to a Mother’s Day weekend in Palm Springs. We were V.I.P.’s at the Rancho Las Palmas! The pool was refreshingly fun, as was the lazy river.

She tried to chill in the courtyard, but it was hot, hot, hot!

Bella loves the rides at the mall. I usually try to distract her when we walk by them, but I succumbed and let her drive the ice cream truck.

We returned to Nut Tree where she loved the carousel last year, but this time I think it was too cold.

I love the Olympics (sans politics). The torch relay of the 2008 Beijing Olympics was to occur in San Francisco, just blocks from my office. So I checked out the protests at lunchtime. There were plenty of supporters out for both sides of the China-Tibet conflict, but it seemed like a lot of the protestors were just hopping on the protesting bandwagon.

The Olympic mascots were patiently waiting for the closing ceremonies, which never occurred because the torch route was changed to avoid any violence.

Wheeeee! Bella loves to swing. We try to go to the park every weekend.