Christmas 2012

Wow, it has been a super long time since I have updated this blog. So sorry and I will try and do better. We reached another milestone with Chloe. We have now had her longer than she was by herself. We got Chloe when she was 17 months old and we have now had her over 17 months. When you ask Chloe where she is from she says "I China.". If you then ask her how did you get all the way over here?  She explains how I came over and Kevin and Caleb came to get her.  She will often add that she was waiting for us to come and get her. How sweet!

She continues to adore Caleb. She copies just about everything he does. If Caleb is sitting a certain way, she will sit that way. Recently Caleb had a performance at school and Chloe was trying to copy the dance moves at our seat. The person sitting next to us said she had a hard time deciding who to watch because Chloe was so cute.  Despite her love for Caleb, she continues to be extremely jealous of him. She still does not like it if I hold Caleb or hug him or give him a lot of attention. She will often sit herself between the two of us so that she separates us. Caleb has learned to joke around with it and he is extremely tolerant of her. For the most part they get along really well.   It is fun to watch them play together.  Often when I watch them play, I think of what a blessing for both of them it is to have a playmate.

Chloe's speech continues to improve. She is talking a lot now. Sometimes Kevin thinks it is harder to understand her mostly because her thought processes are so much more complex. We still go to speech therapy once a week. For most sessions she works really hard and usually amazes me of what she will accomplish at a session.

For Thanksgiving we went to Vail Colorado. Chloe loved playing in the snow. This year she even tried skiing. She only lasted about an hour total, but she did really well. She enjoyed riding the magic carpet up the bunny slope and then would ski down into someone's arms.  She looked so cute in her pink helmet.  We will likely put her in ski school next year.

Chloe enjoyed Christmas again this year. She is however, afraid of Santa. When we went to go see Santa, the only way I could convince her to get her picture taken with Santa, was if she just stood next to his chair and we asked Santa to not touch her. She held Caleb's hand but was still very nervous and upset. Interestingly, she was not afraid of Mrs. Claus and readily climbed up into her lap and sat for a long time. A fun plus for us on Christmas was that it snowed. The kids had a blast playing in the snow and making a small snowman.

Chloe at her church dedication

Witch and Vampire

Kids on the gondola

Chloe riding up the magic carpet

Chloe skiing

Chloe with her pink helmet

Chloe skiing

Chloe riding the magic carpet

Chloe skiing

Kids with Santa

Kids in front of Christmas tree

Chloe with gift

Kids with their stockings

Chloe with a new doll

The snowman the kids made with the Christmas day snow

One Year Anniversary

I cannot believe it has been a year since we met our dear Chloe.  Wow, what an amazing year!  One year ago we spent the day sitting in a small hotel room with nervous anticipation trying to kill time until we met her.  Our last moments of waiting for this child that we had been praying about for so long.  Boy was the pay off great!  Now as we think back, the four year wait before this day seems like no time at all.  Funny how life is like that. 

This last year has been wonderful and I could not imagine a life without Chloe.  We certainly have faced challenges, but those are the same challenges anyone faces with raising an independent 2 year old.  She has her own opinion of how things should be and so do I.  Those ideas do not always match and can lead to conflict and sometimes crying and fits (usually hers not mine).  But the fits are usually short lived and most of the time she is easily distractable to other topics.  She has learned so much in the last year.  Anyone would agree that she is a smart little girl.  She has learned a new language and continues to progress on her speech. She can count to 10 by herself.  She can complete puzzles and read books (and even "read" them to you).  She has learned to swim and many other things.  Most importantly she has learned what it means to be part of a family.  

As I reflect back on the year, the thing that stands out to me more than anything else is how adaptable she has been, even from the very beginning.  When you think of all the things she has gone through in the last year it is pretty unbelievable.  I hope this is a character trait that will follow her through life.   

Just like a 1st birthday for a child, I wanted to do something special in honor of her first year with us.  I was going to write a summary here over her past year, but if you really want to know that, you can just read over my previous posts.  I decided to create a video that seems to adequately summarize her first year with us.  We have appreciated your support and prayers and feel honored that you are interested in our lives even though many of you have never even met us or Chloe.  Please enjoy.

Our American Girl

It was fun to celebrate Chloe's first 4th of July.  We were really not sure how she would like the fireworks.  She gets scared with the thunder and so we were worried she would be scared of the fireworks.  We tried to show her some videos of fireworks before and explain that they can be loud.  To our surprise she loved the fireworks! She even did sparklers and held Roman candles.  She was not afraid a bit.  Here are a couple photos of my American girl.



As I have posted on previous posts, Chloe loved our dog Bailey.  This spring we found out the Bailey had a terminal bone cancer in her shoulder.  We explained to Chloe that Bailey had a boo boo on her shoulder.  Chloe is all about boo boos and always makes a big deal when she or someone else gets one.  She would say Bailey boo boo and point to her shoulder.  It was really cute.  We finally had to say goodbye to Bailey on Monday July 9.  It was a sad day at our house.  I was crying and Chloe was so sweet to come over and sit in my lap and wipe away my tears.  She would say Mom happy, as to say, Mom be happy.  We did not know if Chloe was going to understand that Bailey was gone for good.  That Friday we picked up her ashes which came in a nice cedar box.  Caleb was explaining to Chloe that Bailey was in the box.  Chloe wanted to hold the box and she very sweetly held it and started to pet it and then gave it a kiss.  Maybe she does get it!  Here are a few photos of the kids and Bailey.

Looking forward to the one year milestone of getting Chloe this Thursday!



Chloe's Talking and Swimming

I know I have not posted something in a long time.  I am posting a couple of videos of Chloe talking.  She is doing amazing with her speech.  We are continually impressed with her progress.



Chloe also recently completed a session of swim lessons.  She is doing great.  She loves the wa wa as she calls it.



We are coming up on our one year anniversary of our Gotcha Day!  I cannot believe she has been with us for almost a year.  My how time flies and how things change.  

Chloe's Personality

Chloe seems to have a way with entertaining people.  I'm not sure if it is because we forgot how cute toddlers are to be around or if there is something different about her.  Her personality seems to shine more and more each day.  She is still pretty quiet and apprehensive in new surroundings, but when she starts to feel comfortable, watch out.  She has a laugh and a smile that are contagious.  Anyone that spends a little time with her falls in love with her.  I love to watch her tell a story.  Despite the fact that she still is unable to say many words, she has an amazing gift of communication.  The other night she fell off a chair and hit her head.  When she tells that story she makes the cutest face and hits her head with her hand and says bonk.  Then she points to the floor and then she pretends to cry.  It is amazing how expressive she is.  Her speech continues to progress by leaps and bounds.  Every day it seems like she is doing more word approximations.  I'm amazed.  I'm sure there will be a time soon when we will wonder if she will ever be quiet.
 
We have really been working on the potty training and now she mostly goes in underwear.  When I started to get serious with this, I would give her 2 M&M's (one for being dry and one for going on the potty) as a treat.  When she goes, she points to the cabinet and says treat, then she holds up two fingers and says two.  A few weeks ago Kevin's parents were watching her and Chloe told Carolyn she got three treats and held up three fingers.  Carolyn of course gave her three.  She is so smart.  She knows three is more than two and she had just the right person to try it out on.  Now she asks for three and occasionally five, but I am more of a stickler and stick to the 2!

Chloe does things that Caleb never did.  The other day I had baked some cookies.  Chloe loves cookies.  I gave her one along with the rest of the family.  Then she asked for another.  I gave her another half.  Then I needed to get ready so I went back to the bedroom.  Next thing I know Kevin is asking me if I gave her another cookie.  I said no.  We went into the kitchen and she had pulled a chair to the counter, climbed up and helped herself to another cookie.  She has also pulled the chair to the door and tried to unlock it and go out.  She is quite clever and we have to keep our eyes on her all the time. 

One of her cute new things is "taking someone's nose off"  She takes her hand up to your nose and then puts her thumb between her index and middle finger like it is your nose.  She has to concentrate so hard to put her thumb in the right place.  It is so funny and the first time she did it to me I laughed so hard.  I had never seen her do it before and I had no idea where she learned it.  Thanks to Kevin for that adorable trick.
 
Every year since Caleb was a baby we have taken family photos in the bluebonnets.  It was fun this year to have Chloe be a part of it.  Here are a couple pictures from that and some recent ones I took of her.

My sweeties

The Family

Chloe concentrating on putting her thumb in the right place to show the nose she just took off

How adorable is that?

Posing for the camera

Picking the flowers

So happy

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today we were matched with Chloe!  What an amazingly exciting day.  I was at work when I received the email from our adoption agency.  The subject line of the email said in capital letters CALL A HELPING HAND ADOPTION AGENCY ASAP!  My heart rate soared and the excitement built as I clicked on the email that told us we were matched with a child and to call the office as soon as possible.  I think that may be the best email I have ever received.  I was in such disbelief as I listened to our case worker tell me about Chloe.  Here we had waited for almost 4 years and within a few minutes my life was drastically changed forever.  I had tried to call Kevin at that moment and kept getting voicemail.  I just kept calling and calling hoping eventually he would pick up so I could share the news.  He called back a few minutes after my call with the agency.  He told me that he had been on a business call and when he saw that I kept calling over and over, he had to tell the person that there must be something important because his wife had called repeatedly that he was going to have to call him back.  Little did he know what I was about to spring on him!  Caleb was equally excited.  He was finally going to be a big brother.  The emotions of that day were overwhelming.  It was hard to believe that there was a beautiful little girl with big brown eyes on the other side of the world that would be ours forever.  I wonder what they told her if anything on April 26th last year.  Did she know she was going to have a forever family?  Did she know she would have a Mom and Dad and big brother who would love her?  I hope so.  Now fast forward to today.  So many things have happened in her little life. She met us.  She moved half way around the world.  She has had surgery (now twice since she just had another set of ear tubes placed).  She has adjusted to a new way of life.  And she is flourishing.  April 26, 2011 changed our hearts and our lives forever.   Praise God!

The first picture we got of Chloe with our referral on April 26, 2011

Chloe now

Chloe's 2!

Birthdays last a long time at our house.  We like to celebrate, celebrate, celebrate.  And this year we had something great to celebrate.  We had to make up for the fact that she probably did not have a celebration on her first birthday.  We started celebrating her day at breakfast with pancakes.  We put 2 candles in the pancakes and sang Happy Birthday to her.  She loved blowing out the candles.  Later that evening we had cake and ice cream at the house followed by opening presents.  She seemed to have a great day.  That weekend my family came up and we celebrated again.  She got to blow out more candles and open more presents.  Finally, Aunt Joy arranged for us to go to Medieval Times and celebrate the kids birthdays with a show.  It was fantastic!  Chloe was a little fussy before the show, but the minute the horses came out, she changed her attitude in a hurry.  She was mesmerized by the show and sat relatively still for the entire 2 hours.  I think we all had a great time.   

Chloe continues to entertain us.  She has learned to tell you how old she is.  She can say something that sounds like two and holds up two fingers.  It is so cute.  I have tried to upload different videos, but the file size always seems to big.  Here was one video I was able to upload.  It is of Chloe practicing her me which was one of our homework words for speech.

Here are some pictures from her birthday.

Breakfast pancakes with candles

Opening presents

Playing with a bubble maker, one of her presents

Chloe and Caleb

I made a butterfly cake since her Chinese name means little butterfly

Grandma and the kids

Chloe with her smash cake (since she didn't get to have one at her first birthday)

Chloe and her cake

The kids playing with ipads

Medieval Times

Grandma and Caleb at Medieval Times

Chloe waving her flag

Chloe had her 2 year check up.  She has really grown since she has been with us.  We did find out that she had a urinary tract infection.  I have been feeling kind of guilty about it.  I was concerned months ago that she may have an infection.  She has had some random fevers and her urine has had a strong odor.  I talked with the doctor about it 3 months ago and he gave me a specimen container to collect a specimen.  I never did.  (That's what happens when your mother is a doctor.)  I decided I we would collect one and take it to her 2 year check up.  The urine dip in the office was clear, but the culture was positive for an infection.  She had to take some antibiotics.  She also had to have a kidney ultrasound to make sure there were no underlying problems.  She was so scared she cried for the entire test.  Thankfully everything came out ok.  So now we are good and she is healthy.  

Daddy's Girl

Chloe has become Daddy's girl.  When we first got back from China, Chloe was not interested in Kevin in the slightest.  She always wanted me to do everything: hold her, play with her, put her to bed, etc.  Back then I would tell Chloe that she was really going to like this guy and that he was staying around so she should warm up to him.  My how things change in a short period of time.  Now it is pretty much the opposite.  If Dad is around, she prefers to be with him.  It all started one night about a month ago when she essentially pushed me out of a room saying night night and shut the door in my face.  I am use to the door shut in my face thing now because it seems to happen almost nightly.  She wants Kevin to help her do everything including putting her to bed.  When I try, she starts to wave to me then leads me out of her room and shuts the door in my face saying night night and blowing me kisses.  I must say that if this would have happened with my first child, I may have had my feelings hurt, but I am much more comfortable as my role to know that she does love me.  Plus, it has kind of been a nice break.  It has been a good opportunity for me to spend more time with Caleb. 

One of the things Chloe loves to do is scare Dad when he comes home at night.  We hide around the wall by the door.  Chloe is so funny, she puts her finger to her mouth like the shhh sign so that we will be quiet.  The only problem is that on most days she has a hard time remaining quiet herself.  When Kevin walks in we jump out and yell boo!  She gets so excited and kicks her legs.  It always makes me laugh.  

Chloe continues to be busy.  She finished her first swimming lessons which I think she enjoyed.  She is loving her music class and continues to take speech.  I am not sure how to rate the progress from her speech.  I guess we will know things are good when she is speaking in recognizable sentences.  We are still trying to get her to vocalize more.  She can say Mama, no, yeah, night night, me, and pseudo words na na (which is Dada), Meme (which is baby).  But, just because she cannot talk, does not mean she cannot communicate.  She always amazes me how she can tell me what she wants without words.

Chloe turns 2 on Monday.  We are excited about celebrating her first birthday with us.  We are having a family party the following weekend.  She does not know what a birthday is, but she certainly knows presents and cake, so I know she will enjoy it. What kid doesn't?!?

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!  I guess we are starting a new tradition and celebration in our house, Chinese New Year.  I had been working for that last couple of weeks on a menu for our celebration.  Last weekend we went to the local Asian market and picked up some supplies.  I had read that Chinese dumplings are an important dish for Chinese New Year.  Caleb and I practiced making them last weekend and we perfected them for the dinner.  We ate Chinese dumplings/potstickers, chicken fried rice, a chicken noodle dish, sweet and sour pork and Chinese almond cookies for dessert.  We also decorated the dining room.  We invited some friends over who adopted a little albino girl from China 10 months ago.  Unfortunately, in addition to being an albino, she has some significant neurologic issues that were not disclosed to them until they were in China.  The officials in China tried to talk them out of adopting this child.  I could not imagine how hard it would be to go over and then not come back with a child.  They already considered her their daughter from the day of her referral.  She was 2 when they got her and she was not sitting or eating solids or walking.  She was only content when she was left alone and did not like being held.  The doctors here now think that a majority of her issues are due to neglect.  Although she has made significant progress in 10 months, they still have a long way to go.  This family helped us prepare before our travel to China.  They shared their stories with us and gave us some great pointers before we went.  They have a son close to Caleb's age that is very similar to Caleb.  They seem to have similar personalities and picky taste buds, so it was nice to get some eating tips from them for Caleb before we went.  They also prepared and gave us a note to open every day while we were in China.  It has been fun developing our relationship with them and so seemed very appropriate to share our first Chinese New Year together.  Below are some pictures from our day. 

Caleb making Chinese dumplings

Chloe making Chinese dumplings

Our Chinese dumplings

The dining room decorated

Chloe

Chloe

Mom and kids

Dad and kids

The group at dinner

Katie

Chloe

Katie and Chloe

God bless these children and all the orphans in China and around the world.  I am so thankful God placed these children in our homes.  What a blessing they are to us!  Happy Chinese New Year!