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!

December was a busy month for us. We had been home 6 months - it had just flown by - and it was time for our six-month post-placement visit from our social worker (for a report required by the CCAA) . Of course, she thought I was a fabulous mother! She assured me that all the “terrible twos” behavior was perfectly normal.

We attended an event to meet Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants pitcher, under the dome in San Francisco Centre. Barry was kind enough to sign Isabella’s Oakland A’s Zito jersey (sorry, Giants, but I grew up in Oakland) even though he is currently playing for S.F.

Bella LOVED her photo op. In fact, she would not get off his lap for 40 minutes! I had time to step away and enjoy a cup of coffee! I even had time to shoot a short video. Barry is not a bad babysitter, but his rate may be a little high. When I decided it was finally time to leave (there was shopping to be done!), I tried to bribe her with her favorite goldfish crackers, to which she responded with “Nooo!” and a tantrum on the floor. We were out of there!

We peeked at the kitties in Macy’s windows and then headed over to Union Square for a photo in front of the tree. It’s not as cold as it looks - we are just California weather-wimps. We have to settle for faux snowflakes (the lights at Saks).

We had our annual Oakland High School (Go, Wildcats!) Christmas gathering at Rob & Grace’s in Orinda, as usual. Yes, when you have not moved your entire life, you still see your friends from high school. We all reconnected at our 20th reunion and have celebrated Christmas together every year since then. Isabella was the youngest party girl there, as everyone’s else’s children are nearly off to college!

Bella’s first public performance was at her daycare’s Christmas program. This photo is not very sharp (hey, aren’t these things supposed to be auto-focus?), but she ”clearly” was not a happy camper and had to leave the stage.

The pressure’s off, so no more tears. She prefers to be a spectator.

Of course, she’s all smiles when it’s time for presents.

I haven’t had a Christmas tree since childhood, so it was fun decorating one for Bella’s first Christmas. We didn’t have any ornaments, but I had a few strings of Hello Kitty lights, which lit up the tree beautifully. She loves Hello Kitty, but who doesn’t?

Bella is not an easy one to photograph. Sometimes I wish she would just ham it up, but these are a couple of decent shots out of hundreds (at least it felt like it). Bella received lots of presents. Thank you, everyone, for thinking of my Little Angel on Christmas! We enjoyed celebrating Jesus’ birthday together.

Our California Golden Bears were playing the Air Force Falcons in the Armed Forces Bowl on New Year’s Eve, so of course we had to christen Ed’s new widescreen TV with all the other Cal fans.

Bella and her fellow cheerleader, Olivia Jie Jie. Go, Bears!

Bella had a “ball” with Ken’s team-autographed pigskin. She thought the wasabi chips were hot, hot, hot! - but that didn’t keep her from eating them.

It was Isabella’s first Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for! I thank God every day for bringing Bella and me together, connected by the red thread of destiny, as the Chinese proverb says. We are perfectly matched. She is obsessed with shoes, too! As usual, Po Po (Grandma) roasted the best turkey ever! (Why didn’t I inherit her fabulous cooking skills?) The turkey is almost as big as Bella!

Having a child will not cramp my shopping style, so it’s off for post-Thanksgiving shopping on black friday. We hit Staples and Target. OK, so it may cramp the QUALITY of my shopping style. We were at the “exciting” Bayfair Mall and encountered LaToya London from “American Idol,” promoting “The Color Purple,” and stopped for a photo op.

Who could have ever imagined that Bayfair Mall could be so fun?

Well, fun for SOME people!

After all the thrills at the mall, it was time for Ellie Jie Jie’s 4th birthday party at Pump It Up! More jumpy fun!

Isabella was turning 2 years old on 10.07, so Sis and I decided to take a trip to take advantage of her free airfare status. Our destination of choice: the Hawaiian Islands!

We stayed at the Wyland Hotel, which was newly renovated with the artist’s sculpture and paintings. Bella’s favorite activity was the bubble pool (jacuzzi).

Ooooo…birthday dim sum! What? No candle for my nai wong bao?

I bought her a couple of birthday leis, which she promptly threw down on the floor. Anyway, at least they made a nice backdrop on her bed in the hotel.

She LOVED the beach. I was hoping she’d spend more time in the ocean, but she preferred the sand, which (yuck!) just got into everything!

Back home (unfortunately, we had to return to reality), Uncle Craig and Auntie Kay met us for breakfast and they brought bubbles! - and other toys, too. Looks like she mastered the bubble-blowing!

We met Xinran at her book signing. She is the founder of Motherbridge of Love, an organization which promotes cultural awareness to adoptive families of Chinese children.

Halloween was rather uneventful for us. Bella had pee-pee’d on her costume at school, so by the time we got home and had dinner, it was too late to change and go out trick-or-treating. They did have a party at her daycare where she started attending on 10/15. Can you spot Bella in her U.C. Berkeley cheerleading outfit (pre-pee-pee)? Go, Bears! Her teacher (Yi Yi) is on the upper left.