6 Months a Family!

Six months ago today, our lives were forever changed and we became a family. I am amazed when I think about how far Caitlin has come since those first days. She is thriving- happy, independent, active- and smart as a whip! She keeps me busy and constantly challenged, but I cannot imagine my life without her. She is such a blessing and I am so thankful for the past 6 months... and I look forward to the lifetime we still have before us!

It has been a crazy month since our last update! We are getting settled into our new home after moving 9 hours away, and looking forward to our 2 years here. We are all in love with San Diego and our new house! We now have a big back yard for Caitlin and Libby to run and play in, and the house is bigger than our old house, meaning more room for "the girls" to play inside, too!

Caitlin will be starting "school" soon; we have found a preschool right down the road from our house that seems to offer an excellent program. Caitlin will go for a few hours a day, twice a week, as a chance to socialize with other kids her age. She goes on Thursday for a trial period to see how she likes it, and if all goes well, she will start next week!

We also met with Caitlin's new pediatrician last week, who is going to give us the referrals we need to get her started with her specialists here. Her doctors at Stanford gave us recommendations of colleagues down here, so we will be able to just pick up where we left off- a major blessing as we won't have to lose any time starting from scratch! I am eager to get her speech therapy started as soon as possible.

Here are some pictures from the past month:

Giving her "Lala" lots of hugs (her favorite pastime!):

Caitlin is still happiest when eating!

First ice cream (frozen yogurt, actually):

First spaghetti:

First time eating with a real (full-sized) fork- and she did great... until she put about 7 carrots in her mouth in one bite!

Caitlin loves ladybugs ("bug bugs," as she calls them)! Here she is playing "dress-up" in her ladybug costume:

Posing in the cactus garden at her daddy's school:

At the beach, tyring to catch the wind with her tongue:

These pictures are from today:

Heading to church in style!

Posing outside the restaurant where we went for lunch to celebrate our "Gotcha-versary":

Caitlin loved watching the koi fish: