The Belk Family:Somewhere Out There: 2014

July 22, 2014 - Gotcha Day one year anniversary

July 22, 2013 - a very scared Sophie

It has been one year since the hand off. Boy, did the time fly. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. However, Sophie is not that scared, quiet, reserved, little girl anymore.

Not so little anymore....Sophie started out in size 18 month clothes. Now, she is in 3T. She has grown a lot. Her hair is also growing. Sophie is so excited about her hair finally getting long enough to wear pig tails and/or a pony tail.

Not so scared anymore.....Saying Sophie is a social butterfly is an understatement. She loves to tell everyone "hey". She doesn't know a stranger. She also has become more affectionate. She loves to give her family kisses. She will give people at church hugs in the hallway. She still loves going to church; she loves wearing "twirly" dresses and bows. She can now say her prayers. She always thanks God for her family.

Not so quiet anymore....Sophie is a T-A-L-K-E-R. Learning English was NOT a problem for her. She can say anything now and will hold a conversation with you all day if you let her. I think she would even talk to a wall. She will hold a conversation with herself while we are driving down the road. David Ryan is not use to someone who talks nonstop. He tells her to be quiet all the time. And she is a loud talker. We are trying to teach her what an inside voice is, because she takes her loud voice with her to stores, church, libraries, and restaurants. I can always find her and my husband in a store if I separate from them. I can see a lot of notes in the future from her teachers saying "Sophie will not stop talking during class." This girl loves to sing. Currently along with millions of other little girls, her favorite song is "Let it Go". She loves to sing it at the top of her lungs, and the poor thing does not have a chance as a singer in the future.

Not so reserved anymore.....I don't think this girl has the word "still" in her vocabulary. The first day when we got her she just sat in the floor of the hotel room in one spot and didn't move. Now, she can't do that. She isn't even still when she sleeps. This girl is constantly moving. Even strapped in her car seat, she is constantly moving her arms and legs around. Sophie and David Ryan are night and day. He is quiet, laid back, and reserved. She is loud, hyper, and sassy. She is also very clumsy. She will fall about five times from the house to the car. Let's go back to her being SASSY. I was a tomboy when I was little; I didn't like wearing dresses or having my hair pulled back in anyway at all. So, I know, the sassiness is not coming from me. Her bio mom must have been real girly. Sophie has to wear dresses, bows, pretty shoes, and jewelry. Sometimes, she cries when I put shorts on her and says she wants to wear a dress. One day I called her a diva and she started singing back to me "I am not a divaaaaaa!!!" Yeah, right. That just proves that you are a diva singing that back to me. She still doesn't that have much interest in toys yet. However, she does like to play with her mermaid doll and look at books. She loves to play outside! She is has no fear in swinging high or going down a big slide. Another thing that makes her a diva is that she complains a lot. She would complain constantly at her brother's tee ball games. She would say: "The sun is in my eyes," "I am hot", "I am hungry," I am thirsty", "The wind is messing up my hair," "I don't like tee ball," "I am tired," and "I am sweaty".
She is also now fully potty trained, yay!!!!

Again, Sophie experienced a lot of firsts this year. She experienced her first snow. She loved throwing snowballs at momma and daddy. She had her first Easter, of course, her favorite part was her Easter dress. She had no problems hunting eggs. She loved her Disney princess basket. Sophie went to the zoo for the first time. She also experienced Walt Disney World. She loved it and she did great. We left during the night so the kids would sleep the drive there. She slept most of the way. She was a little apprehensive at first with meeting the characters, but by the end of the first day, she was hugging and kissing them. She was not afraid of the rides. She actually loved the rides. She is a little thrill seeker. Her favorite ride was Goofy's Barnstormer, which is a kid size roller coaster. She loved it! The first time she rode it, she was giggling the whole time, and she said she wanted to ride it again. Her favorite characters were Minnie Mouse and Ariel. She had to buy her an Ariel doll. Sophie loved eating with the princesses! She wore her Belle dress and she was curtseying the whole time. We also went to a water park while we were there. And she loved that! She even loved the big water slide where you rode a raft down. She loved splashing in the wave pool. She got a nice little tan, too! After Disney, we meet up with my family at Cocoa Beach. So, Sophie also experienced her first beach. At first, she didn't know what to think about the sand. She did not like the way the sand felt and kept on saying she was dirty. Day two on the beach, she was playing in the sand and in the water. She never would go that far in the water. The ocean wasn't the same as the wave pool. She loved playing with her cousin Kennedy on the beach. Her favorite beach activities were sitting at the shoreline letting the water cover her up and eating a picnic on the beach. Sophie also celebrated her first 4th of July. She loved doing Sparklers!! Next month, Sophie will experience another first. She will start going to preschool. She is already very excited. The first thing she said was "Yay! Homework." I guess she thinks her brother enjoys doing his homework. She is excited about carrying a backpack, too. She wants to grow up so fast. We are still having trouble teaching her her letters, numbers, and colors. She just doesn't want to sit still long enough to learn. So, I will be praying for her preschool teacher and hoping she can get her still. I know she won't have any problems making friends. Sophie is also very excited about turning four next month, she wants a Disney Princess birthday party!

Sophie has become a sassy little spitfire, but we love her dearly. She has changed our lives forever. Somewhere out there, there is a woman probably wondering about her baby girl. I hope she knows that her baby girl is well cared for and is loved very much.

Celebrating the Chinese New Year at a friend's house

Sophie's first snow!!! (Mississippi snow)

Sophie hunting eggs.

Sophie meeting Belle in her own Belle dress!

She loved Minnie Mouse!

Teacups!

Enjoying the Beach!

American Cutie!

At the zoo, visiting the pandas!

Sophie Wei

Here is a video of Sophie riding the Goofy coaster. It is dark,

but you can hear her laughing.

July 22, 2013- Gotcha Day!

January 22, 2014 - 6 month Gotcha Day Anniversary

It's crazy how time flies by so fast. It seemed like it took forever to get Sophie during the adoption process. Sophie has really adjusted well. She can just say about anything now in English. Just sometimes we can't always understand her English. She is only using one Chinese word still. Whenever she sees an elderly man, she calls him Yeye which mean grandpa. If you ask her who she is, she will say "Sophie" (She is now saying Sophie instead of Fefe). However, if you ask her what her name is, she will say "Weina." She is still calling David Ryan Bubba, but here lately she tries to say his name and it sounds something like Davarye. She isnt quite potty trained (more on this later) yet.

Sophie Wei has experienced a lot of firsts in these six months.

Last blog update was 2 months after being home with Sophie and celebration her 3rd birthday. I mentioned in the last post that we were going to go visit my sister during Fall Break, which is a four hour drive. However, Sophie did great in the car. Although she did talk/babbled the entire time which made for an interesting car ride. DR just played video games and maybe said about 10 words total during the whole trip. Not only was this Sophie's first road trip, it was also her first sleep over. She did great with this as well. She had a ball playing with her cousins. My sister also took our family portraits while we were there. She loved posing. I will post some below.

Another first of Sophie's was going to the Pumpkin Patch. This is a tradition that we started when DR was a baby. Sophie loved the hayride and picking out her own little pumpkin. She wasn't too keen on the feeding the barn animals. DR is just now where he will actually feed them. However, I think her favorite part of the day was putting on an orange tutu; this girl loves some clothes. She gets real excited every time she gets dressed in the mornings. She especially loves going to church because she gets to wear her dressy clothes and dresses. Sophie also had her first Halloween. She went as Sofia the First. She loved dressing up like a princess, which she tends to call herself often. At first, she was hesitant about going up to some stranger's door, but once she saw big brother do it and that the end result was candy, she was all about it. We also trick or treated with friends of ours who has a little girl around Sophie's age. They would stand back and let David Ryan do all the knocking, door bell ringing, and saying trick or treat, but they were there in time for the passing out of the candy. She also told everyone thank you.

Sophie celebrated her first Thanksgiving. I think this is going to be her favorite holiday. Not only does she love clothes, but she loves to eat also. Her favorite words include, " I am hungry," "I want more," and "Momma, I want a snack." ( her favorite are fruits and vegetables, she loves salads) There wasn't anything she didn't like. We caught her several times after she ate sneaking back in the kitchen and having someone give her some more food. This end result won't be too pretty, which I will explain later. We have two Thanksgiving dinners, one with my husband's family and one with my side of the family. After having been stuffed with 2 Thanksgiving dinners, she had an explosion in her diaper. This is the not too pretty result. I actually wasnt home for it, Dustin was at home watching the kids while I ran errands. When I came home, I could smell it as soon as I walked through the door. Dustin said Sophie had pooped so much that it came out of her diaper and she was wiping it all over herself. She was covered in it from head to toe. And this wasnt the last time it has happened. Here lately, it's becoming her thing. Instead of telling us she has to go #2, she goes in her diaper and when she's done, she plays with it and gets it all over herself. Adoption has its nice and dirty. So, sorry to talk about this, but the bad and dirty comes with the adoption journey. We had no attachment issues or really main issues that come along with adoption. So, I guess this the one obstacle we have to overcome (DEFEAT). Despite all the "mess", Sophie really enjoyed Thanksgiving!

Sophie's first Christmas was a success! I was a little worried at first because one day when we were in Target, DR wanted to show Sophie the Christmas trees. When we went to where the Christmas trees were, she started crying and didn't even want to look at them. We put our tree up Thanksgiving weekend and she was fine with it. She was even saying it was pretty. She fussed at her daddy when the lights weren't turned on. She pretty much left the ornaments alone also. I was also worried about her seeing Santa Clause. I don't know if seeing big brother not afraid of him helped or not, but she did fine. She didn't cry sitting in his lap, but she didn't smile either. We had about five Christmases this year since everyone wanted to see Sophie, but she did great at all five of them. She loved the attention! She doesn't know a stranger, but she knows who her momma and daddy are. She had no problem tearing into her Christmas presents. I think she liked opening the presents more than playing with them. She really doesn't know how to play with her toys. I guess there wasn't much to mimic in the foster family or orphanage. She does know how to play with a tea set. On Christmas morning, she did know that Santa brought her toys, but I don't know all what she understood. She loved the trike and doll house that he brought. She knew what to do with the trike by watching big brother. I had to show her how to play with her doll house at first. She really enjoyed the candy that Santa like I said she loves food. She went crazy when someone gave her a Dress Up Princess dress.

Now about Sophie's little personality. She is a "spicy" little thing. I guess that's nicer than saying strong willed. She is very well acquainted with the time out chair. She thinks her cuteness can get her out of a lot of trouble. We are having trouble with her thinking it is funny when she gets out of time out. Being in a foster family with boys has really influenced her. She is rough and tough. She has broken several of her toys and broke our front door handle clean off with the screws still attached. I really didn't experience the terrible twos with my son. He was so quiet, laid back, easy going. Sophie is the total opposite. I am hoping this is just a stage. She doesn't like to share with the kids at the babysitters. She will even take a toy away from them. Sophie is very independent and wants to do what she wants to do. She wants all the attention all the time and if she doesn't get it, she will let you know. She is a very talkative thing. She talks nonstop. DR likes playing the quiet game with her because he always wins. She is going to be a little social butterfly when she does start school. I can see the teacher sending me a note already about her talking during class. She is a little bossy, she likes to tell the kids at the babysitters and her brother what to do. David Ryan tells her "you are not the boss, momma is." Sophie is a backseat driver. She likes to tell you which way to go. Also, I think she has a little bit of road rage; she yells at the cars telling them to move out of the way, lol. However, she does have her sweet side. She has gotten more affectionate. She loves to give hugs and kisses (especially after being in time out). She loves to cling to your legs while you walk. She is a little goof ball. She will laugh at anything, she especially likes to laugh at what her Bubba does. Her smile can light up a room. She has the cutest dimple when she smiles. She thinks she is grown. She loves to sing (off key, LOL) and dance. Sophie wants long hair so bad. It's slowly growing, but it's growing. She loves her Bubba. She gets excited when he comes home from school. The roles have changed between them. When Sophie first came home, DR tried to play with her but she didn't want anything to do him. Now, Sophie is all about DR and he treats her as annoying little sister, which she does like to pester him. But, isn't that what little sisters are for? She has to give Bubba a kiss every night. They do get along sometimes. They like to team up together against their daddy and "beat" him up. They play really well together outside, but its been so cold, we haven't been able to go outside much. I am hoping their bond grow more. But, it has only been six months where he has been an only child for five years. I am hoping once she gets older and can actually play (know how to play),they will become great playmates. I know they will have their sibling fights, but I also want them to enjoy each other at least some of the time. I think since Sophie is just demanding right now, DR is not all about Sophie. She loves her daddy. She is crazy about him, you wouldn't think that six months ago. She will go up to him and just kiss him all over his cheeks. She likes to help her daddy unload the dishwasher. Every Sunday morning, she has to go show daddy what she is wearing as soon as she is dressed. She doesn't like her food touching. We went out to eat to Outback Steakhouse and I ordered her steamed veggies and she had to separate all the vegetables before eating them. I just she was this particular about keeping her room cleaned and in order.

We are still working on the potty training. We are wanting her to go to at least two days a week at a Preschool next school year, but she has to be potty trained. She was potty trained in China and a couple months after we got home. She will tell us when she has to go #1, and goes to the bathroom. I am telling to teach her that she doesn't have to tell us when she has to go, just go. Well, you already read the going #2 part, so I wont talk about that again.

We took Sophie to the movies the other day to see Frozen. We had already seen it twice before with DR, but we wanted to try taking Sophie and see how she would do. While Dustin and I were discussing it, I said something about her not being able to sit still. DR chimed in and said "yeah, she will be yabbering, too." But, we did take her. She sat in Dustin's lap, she did move around the whole time in his lap. She was quiet about 30% of the time. I wouldn't say she was great, she did okay. She would get really excited when the princesses came on screen, she would tap me on my and yell "look, Momma, Princess!"

Enjoy Sophie's journey over the past 6 months: