For several days I've been aware that our first anniversary of Gotcha Day was fast approaching. But upon waking this morning and realizing what day it was I found myself tearing up. I have a permanent slide show of Gotcha Day in my head. I can still feel every emotion I had at that time - the nerves, the joy, the fears, the excitement, the tears. I can remember the smells, the heat, the chatter, the room full of video cameras. I remember the elevator, the nanny's gifts, the joy of watching so many people become parents right before my eyes. And then there's that one precious moment that I want to replay over and over - the moment Libby was placed in our arms. What satisfying, complete joy!
I have probably taken thousands of pictures of Libby over the last year. I want to capture every precious moment and there are just so many with her. Libby is captivating. She is beautiful, loving, brilliant, happy, content. To think that God created this little bundle of beauty on the other side of the world with Billy and I in mind is fascinating, humbling. What a mighty, amazing God we serve! How great are the gifts of love our Father has lavished on us!
This month Libby is fascinated with drums - and our drummer, Kevin. She asks about Kevin everyday and she bangs on everything she can make into a drum and says "dum, dum" and then she'll say, "King" - meaning - "please sing Sing to the King". And so, I'll sing her favorite song to whatever beat she lays down.
Libby loves to help around the house. She helps sweep, she helps put the water bottles in the frig, she helps put things in the trash. She feels so grown up when she's helping. Libby continues to love music and dancing. She recognizes different instruments in songs and will tell us which one is playing - whether guitar or drums or "singing".
Libby is freely climbing up and down our stairs and lately she really likes climbing up on the queen bed in her room and laying back with the covers pulled over her legs. She doesn't want to go to sleep - she just likes to sit there.
Libby loves to play with balls (still) and she's becoming quite the climber. She's beginning to talk in full sentences (some understandable, some not) and she's definately learning new words everyday. She can build towers with her blocks - up to 7 blocks high and she'll count them up to number 4. She's beginning to enjoy puzzles and she still LOVES to read! She eats just about anything we put in front of her - if she's in the mood. And she still can't get enough of Boz and Veggie Tales.
My little princess may be growing up, but today she suddenly wanted to act like a baby as she laid back in my arms and had me hold her sippy cup as if I were feeding her a bottle. Billy says it was her little gift to me for Gotcha DAy - letting me feel like she was a baby again - but I think she just saw someone feeding their baby recently and now she wants to be a little baby for fun. It's a good thing babies aren't on bottles at 21 months. Holding them for feeding would be difficult. Libby weighs in at 24 pounds. And she's still in the 80th percentile on height. She was feeling extremely heavy today on the plane when she fell asleep in my arms. We've been in NM, so we spent Gotcha Day on a plane flying back to TX. Also - Libby is sick right now. She has a lot of congestion in her lungs, a low grade fever and lots of sinus congestion as well. But even though she is sick, she was an amazing little angel throughout all our travels. She just amazes me!
So - take a look back over our time in China and see for yourself how much she's grown. I've posted a couple of pics from our first Gotcha Day below and the rest are from this month and today.
Blessings!
Cindy Foote
