Gracelynn Turned Four!

We are way overdue in posting this, but wanted to close out our adoption blog with Grace's first birthday celebrated here in the US.

On December 7, 2008, our little girl turned four!!! She probably now thinks that birthdays last a few weeks, since we celebrated with my family at Thanksgiving, Mike's family before Thanksgiving, at Chuck-E-Cheese's with a few friends the day before her birthday, and with us ON her birthday. :-) She had a great time blowing out candles and eating cake. She also loved opening all of her presents!

Here she is at Chuck E Cheese's:

Playing on the phone (a favorite thing to do) with Chuck E Cheese.

Popping in the window to say hi, while crawling through the tunnel. Ryan, a neighbor, is peeking from behind.

Mommy and Grace with the birthday cake!

Gracelynn, all dressed in her new cooking outfit.

Gracelynn at home (ponytails off), blowing out a birthday candle before opening gifts from Mommy and Daddy.

Now that Grace has been home with us for over 7 months and is adjusting quite well, we are officially ending our posts on this blog. She is now speaking as well as Tommy on most occasions and usually in complete sentences, understands most of what is spoken to her, enjoys school, loves to sing and talk on her phones, plays with Barbies and blocks and markers and dolls, misses Mommy and Daddy when a sitter steps in, loves to show off her school crafts and projects to everyone, can tell you that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, can tell you she's from China, loves to play with the neighborhood children and her friends at school, hugs her teachers and family members, is getting along well with her siblings (and sometimes too well with her partner-in-crime Tommy), and has much fewer and shorter tantrums than just two months ago. She eats almost anything and still sneaks food daily (... we just found a dozen GoGurt wrappers under the sofa cushions last week!). Hopefully the sneakiness will end soon, since it's obvious that she is getting plenty of food. At her four-year-old check-up, she did great! Not only did the tears quickly end after FOUR shots, but she was healthy and doing well. She's in the 75th percentile for both height AND weight!!! After raising children on the small side, this was a surprise. We had her examined by the county Child Find, and they were amazed at her achievements thus far. So, assuming all goes as planned, she'll be on target for kindergarten in the Fall of 2010.

We have been so blessed by having Gracelynn in our family, and we thank God for the opportunity to raise her as our own daughter.

To follow her progress and to catch up on the family happenings, continue checking in on our family blog: www.spaghettiontheceiling.blogspot.com

Thank you so much for all of the well-wishes throughout our adoption and for following our journey to four children!

Love, Christy and Mike