Home 8 months...

Wow, time has flown. Vera has now been home with us for 8 months. It is so weird to think back to this time last year. We still had no idea when we would get the call that they had a child in mind for us. What a difference a year makes!

Vera is still doing well. She is as active as ever. She still isn't speaking a whole lot. She maybe says 15 words. I am going to have her evaluated in September. I am sure she will be fine, I just want to make sure there isn't anything we should be doing to help her.

Vera is almost 34 inches tall at 22.5 months old. That is the same height that Kiara was at 2 years old. When we brought Vera home, she was 30 inches tall. Vera is 27 pounds now and was 19 pounds when we brought her home. It seems she gains 1 pound for every month we have her home.

We verified this month that Vera is allergic to dogs. After being around and playing with two dogs for 20 minutes, the picture below shows what she looked like. Poor thing, she LOVES dogs, I feel bad for her. But, I am happy to have an excuse to not get a pet.

When we were in Russia, I bought traditional Russian dress for both of the girls. We got the dresses out and tried them on girls. I think they look pretty cute!

Also, this month, we got to meet one of the many wonderful people I have met along our adoption journey. Tamara and Nathan have 2 children they adopted from Russian. Their second was adopted from the same baby home as Vera. They were probably in the same group for 6 months or so. Tamara and Nathan were such a help to us, especially while we were in Russia deciding whether to accept Vera's referral. It was nice to discuss it with someone who had been through it two times already.
Vera is just like her sister and loves to dance. Kiara has been practicing her song for the Pumpkin Princess Pageant and Vera loves to practice with her. She will do the moves before you are suppose to. It is adorable.

Vera also loves to swim. She has no fear, which is scary and kind of stressful when you are in the pool with her. She has mastered being able to use her water wings and she doesn't want you to touch her. She has to do it all by herself!