We finally visited the Oakland Zoo, although we’ve had membership since last December. Bella’s favorites were the elephants and monkeys. She’s quite a little monkey herself!

She really enjoyed the choo-choo train ride. I can’t believe she’s carrying her own stuff - had to document it with a photograph!

Somehow she managed to pass the height requirements for the car ride, even though some other operators would not allow her on their rides. Look at that steering action!

We jumped on the lilypads, but she missed and got her foot wet! That’s OK! It was a hot day and rather refreshing!

My little monkey enjoyed climbing on the giant purple spider.

Bella doesn’t enjoy being photographed at all. Here, she is literally running away from me, but I caught her! Heh, heh…

We met Viva Yiyi at the DeYoung Museum for a photo session. She is an up and coming professional photographer. Justin, from Florida, tried to make a move on Bella at the apple sculpture yard.

Uncle Ben went to the Chihuly exhibit with Aiyi and we met them afterwards. Viva Yiyi is making googly eyes with Bella.

We had a belated birthday dinner for Auntie Stacey because we had to wait for Auntie Ginger to return from her Hong Kong missions trip. Bella practiced singing “Happy Birthday, Auntie Stacey,” but did not deliver at the event. However, a couple days later she was singing it while sitting on the potty.

We had high tea at the Garden Court in the Palace Hotel for Aiyi’s birthday. The waiter was so nice, he offered Bella a complimentary tiara, candy sceptre and hot chocolate. Looks like we have to work on more ladylike table manners.

Bella was intriqued by the pianist and his piano. However, he was not as nice as the waiter and did not like her touching his stuff. Notice that he has closed the cover on this keyboard to avoid any sticky fingerprints.

She found a chair that’s just her size at a boutique on Fourth Street in Berkeley. Does someone need a haircut?

Bella never shows any affection for inanimate objects, so I thought it was unusual that she wanted to sleep with her “baby,” Baby Alive, a gift from Uncle Tom.

Rachel met us at the park on one of her rare free Saturdays. Bella LOVES Rachel and wanted to go home with her on the bus!

It was Bon Voyage for Uncle Jimmy (actually, he’s my second cousin so he is Bella’s cousin of some kind), who was relocating to Beijing to study Mandarin for nine+ months. His sisters threw him a party at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. What’s better than that?

Bella got to see Cousins Joanne (top) and Jennifer (bottom), who we don’t get to see very often.

Cousin Jimmy is very popular with the children: nieces and nephews Tony, Jessica, Brandon, Ethan and Annelise and Cousin Bella, too! Unfortunately, I don’t know all the children in this photo. Perhaps someone could help me identify them?

Here’s the whole gang! Have a great trip, Jimmy, we’ll miss you at Bella’s birthday party!

We went to the A’s game with Auntie Stacey, Ellie Jie Jie, Auntie Kay and Uncle Craig. The girls seem to enjoy the Stomper Fun Zone more than the game itself. They LOVED the carousel and appear like a 2-headed child on the elephant ride.

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.

Vroom, vroom! All aboard Uncle Jon’s beamer with Mikayla and the twins.

We attended U.C. Berkeley’s “Eggster” egghunt. Bella got the hang of it pretty quickly, stuffing her basket full of eggs. Look at that concentration!

The Berkeley fire department came by for a visit, then it was back to Round 4 of the egghunt! It was an egg-cellent opportunity to teach her about not hoarding  and taking eggs from other children! The taiko drummers were warming up behind her. It was a beautiful day for a very fun event!

We spent a couple of days in San Diego and and visited Legoland.

Everything there was made with Lego.

It was pretty cool.

Bella was too little to ride most of the rides, but she could ride the boat and the train…

…and there was a munchkin area with slides and, of course, Lego. Bella likes to wear her cap in this manner. (She puts it on herself.) I’m not sure if it’s due to the functionality of avoiding to see from under the bill or the fashion sense of a transplanted Oaktown girl.

“Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you’re my only hope.”

“And now, your highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden rebel base…”

“The Force is strong with this one.”

We stayed at the Hotel Solamar near Petco Park. Bella’s in the lobby getting ready to go on safari at the Wild Animal Park.

We saw giraffes and rhinoceros among other animals on our “Safari into Africa.”

We made it home for Easter and our annual homage to Grandpa’s grave. Bella enjoyed stomping on the headstones at the cemetary.

Bella got a great big Easter basket from Aiyi.

Uh-oh! Too much Easter candy? Actually, it was a decayed malformed tooth. Bella got gassed up at the dentist. She did really well, as she clutched her bribe of bubbles and a toy mirror (just like Dr. Gloria’s!). That’s my Little Angel!

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Chinese New Year (Year of the Rat) was on 02.07 and Baby Dedication Day at church was on 02.10, so we combined both events and Bella wore her cheongsam that Sunday. Bella got all excited when she spotted Aiyi in the audience. She LOVES Aiyi!

Pastor Steve prayed a prayer of dedication for her. Hey, no peeking!

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:5-7

 ”Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” Isaiah 60:1

Bella was so happy that Aiyi came to her dedication ceremony.

Bella’s enjoying another ride on Ginger in her cloud nine jam-jams (Mommy has a matching pair). What’s so funny, Baby Girl? It was so long ago, who knows what it was!

Bella likes to be glamourous, even if it’s just at breakfast in her high chair. I’m surprised she didn’t insist her wearing her pearls.

I think we were all pictured-out from December because this is the only photo I took of her in January.

I realize that, because I am such a terrible blogger and am 5 months behind, this is jumping ahead, but I just wanted to commemorate the 1-year anniversary of falling in love with my Baby Girl. This is the most current photo of Bella, taken 04.12.08. She’s quite a little swinger!

One year ago today I “met” my daughter via emailed photographs. See “May 2007″ post below. These were the referral photos and my first glimpse of my Bengbu cutie. I cried when I received these and instantly fell in love with her. My, how my Little Angel has grown!