Is it really almost spring?

I certainly get no blogger of the year awards for my lack up updating on here, do I? :-)  But oh my, time has flown these past four months that Darya's been home with us!  She is just blossoming and thriving and living life, and keeping us on our toes!

Here are a few random tidbits about her:

* She's put on over 6 pounds
* She loves lasagna!
* She hates bananas (unless they're mushed up in her oatmeal)
* She signs about a dozen or so words
* She has the most contagious laugh...but she knows how to put on a seriously cute pout, arms crossed and all when she's not happy
* She's super ticklish
* She has three certain little boys wrapped around her chubby fingers

Darya has finally started therapy. The therapists all seem to be pretty surprised at how far she's come in the short time she's been with us, especially transitioning from Russian to English. We are focusing mostly on speech therapy because who likes a frustrated toddler who can't fully communicate?  Darya did actually say "book" the other day during therapy!  We are hoping to continue teaching her signs and work on verbalizing new sounds.

I don't think I posted about our California trip, did I? Well, we had a wonderful time seeing family and friends!! It was a very packed 2 weeks seeing everyone and Darya did amazing on her West Coast Debut.  I think everyone unanimously loves her :-)  She met 4 grandparents, 2 great grandparents, loads of aunts and uncles and cousins (some from Sweden!), and lots of friends!!  We even got a day at Disneyland in there (thanks Jillian!!!).

When we arrived, we were first with Joel's family.  His sister and her family came all the way from Sweden so it was very special seeing them.  We saw our friends, the Naves, who just had their fourth boy (our boys loved being at their house). Then we saw the Franciscos - remember Andrew who was our inspiration for Darya?  As usual, we had a great time with them! Then we saw my family for a few days.  That was a lot of fun.  Darya is the first girl cousin/granddaughter in my family!  She has three brothers and 5 boy cousins on my side.  We're trying to balance that :-)

Unfortunately, I only took a few pictures on my phone. Hopefully we can get more pictures from other people (and I think Joel has some on his phone):

 We were delayed at Jacksonville for almost 7 hours before we could take off!  Thankfully the boys were pretty well entertained when Joel read to them, and Darya loved the moving walkway.

Ben and his awesome toothless smile at Disneyland (he has since also lost his other top middle tooth)

 Darya in the hot tub with Dad, brothers, and cousins

 Oceanside pier, CA

Darya, big brother Sam, and bigger cousin Peter

Well, I think I'll call it a night.  I really do hope to post on here more frequently.  I want to keep updating on life with Darya as well as share my heart about orphans, adoption, and Down syndrome.  So many times things will pop into my head or I'll see something that I want to blog about, so hopefully I'll do that more frequently.