Hello, everyone! Yes, we are doing wonderfully! We apologize for taking so long to post on our blog. Believe it or not, things have been very busy. And, of course, we have wanted to spend every moment with our beautiful daughter, Grace.

Everyday, we are more and more amazed at how well she is doing. She is eating well, sleeping (pretty) well, and gaining weight. Her personality is probably the most amazing thing that we see develop everyday. She is always smiling, laughing, and talking (in her one year old language). She loves to blow kisses to everyone! She waves hello and good-bye. Most of the time, she can point to her nose and her hair if you ask her where they are. She is taking about five or six steps by herself. Greg and I sit across from each other and she walks back and forth between us! Usually, she ends up getting so excited that she is walking by herself that she falls into our arms. She loves music! Of course! I’m sure you’re not surprised to know that music is happening in our house almost 24/7. Either I’m playing the piano and singing, or her Sweet Pea 3 player is playing some of her favorite songs. She dances and moves to music every time she hears it. She has beautiful long fingers, so I just know that she’s going to be a pianist! No pressure here though!

Since we’ve been home, we’ve celebrated her first birthday. Here is a picture of her trying her cake. She was having fun, but wasn’t really into the cake.

We celebrated her first Halloween. She was the cutest ladybug ever! We didn’t go out trick or treating, but she helped pass out candy to those who were trick or treating. She also carved her first pumpkin. Here she is by a pumpkin patch, too.

She loves to take a bath! She splashes the water everywhere and practically floods the whole bathroom! My clothes end up soaking wet by the time that she is done. She touches her face to the water and thinks that it is so funny. She has some squirt toys in the tub with her and she loves to squirt herself with them. She just laughs and laughs!

My parents bought her a wagon. This has been her favorite thing to ride in so far. She hasn’t been super crazy about strollers! She has tolerated them, but not for very long. But the wagon, she can ride in forever. The weather is pretty yucky and cold here in Michigan now. But we had some beautiful days a few weeks ago. We went for 2 to 3 mile walks together with me pulling the wagon. Whenever I’d pull her up the driveway and the sidewalk to our front door, she would hang onto the sides of the wagon like she didn’t want to get out. So I’d just keep on walking!

We received her Certificate of Citizenship in the United States of America a few weeks ago! I just cried when I opened it. What an amazing thing this all is! We just received her Russian passport back with the stamp from the Russian embassy. I have ordered her Michigan birth certificate, but haven’t received it yet. Should be soon! The next steps will be to get her a Social Security number and U.S. Passport.

It’s funny that we’ve only been home seven weeks. It seems like Grace has been with us forever! We can hardly remember what our life was like without her. All that matters is our lives together now!