Somebody pinch me... is all of this for real?

Wow, it is still hard to grasp that we have a daughter.  We waited sooooo long but then it seemed to happen so fast.  Sometimes it doesn't even seem real.  But it is real and it is awesome!  I still cannot figure out how we could be so lucky and blessed.  Chloe is just so perfect.

I am so excited about Christmas this year.  I am reflecting on Christmas and how the gift of a child can have such an amazing influence and impact on people's lives.  God gave the world the gift of a child, His son.  A gift that has changed my life forever.  This year God gave me another gift of a child, my daughter and she too has changed my life forever.  I am forever thankful and grateful for that.  I hope I can continue to remember that as I go through all the activities of Christmas.  Praise God for his goodness.

We have been super busy at our house with the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  Caleb and Chloe went to see Santa and let's just say that Chloe was terrified of him.  At first I think she was a little intrigued, at least from a distance. But then the girl in front of us started to cry when she got to Santa and that seemed to upset Chloe. Chloe did ok walking up and talking to Santa but when we tried to put her in his lap, she would have none of that!  Maybe we are asking too much of her to go through so many first time experiences in such a short time!

Chloe has her speech therapy assessment on Thursday.  A couple of weeks ago we had the Early Childhood Intervention come out for an assessment.  If she qualified, they would come to the house for speech therapy.  To meet their criteria you have to have at least a 25% deficit.  After about 2 hours with her it was determined that she is a normal toddler.  Her motor and socialization were right on target and even her speech only had a 23% deficit, not quite enough to qualify.  It is really amazing to me that a child with a cleft lip and palate and only hearing English for 4 months could do so well.  She is such a bright little girl.  I really enjoyed watching the assessment.  Chloe was so interactive with them and she showed me some skills I did not even know she had.  So I guess the good news is Chloe is pretty normal.  The bad news is we will now have to drive to Fort Worth for speech therapy.  So we are off to the children's hospital clinic for another assessment on Thursday.  She continues to progress on her speech.  Although still not saying a lot of words, she is really trying to mimic what we say.  I can't wait to see the progress with some formal therapy.

We continue to cross paths with strangers who have adopted children from China.  Just yesterday I met a man who has adopted 2 girls from China.  It is so fun to share stories.  Chloe has been such a conversation starter on numerous occasions.  When we first came back, many people would stop us and share their personal story of someone they knew who had a cleft lip repair.  They would be encouraging about the amazing results and some would even show us pictures.  We have also talked to many people who have adopted.  Kevin and I tend to be to ourselves in public places, but Chloe has given us the opportunity to open up and share.  I guess I am now the one showing off the pictures of amazing results. 

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year!  I guess that goes without saying.  What an awesome year.  It is still so hard to believe she is here!  We feel so blessed.

The past couple of weeks I have had a lot of frustration.  We were suppose to receive Chloe's certificate of citizenship within 45 days of our arrival home.  We did not receive it.  So, a few weeks ago I called USCIS to find out how we could get that sent.  The person took down all of the information and said they would get back with us in 15 days.  I called back a couple weeks later and gave them the reference number they had given me from the first phone call.  The lady on the phone said they had no documentation or paperwork on file for her and that we needed to call the port of entry and see if they had her paperwork lying around from when we came through customs and immigration at the airport.  Are you kidding me?  They wanted me to call the Los Angeles airport and see if they had paperwork lying around that was 3.5 months old!  Although I thought completely ridiculous, I did what I was asked to do and guess what? They did not have her paperwork.  Big surprise.  I also sent a couple of emails to see if that would be helpful.  I have been completely upset by the process.  Our adoption agency told us they had never heard of this happening before and therefore did not have advice on how to handle this problem.  Then miraculously the day before Thanksgiving, her certificate of citizenship came.  What a wonderful thing to be thankful for.

We are spending our first Thanksgiving in Vail, Colorado.  Chloe thought packing was a lot of fun so she jumped into Kevin's suitcase and we pulled her around the house.  She loved it.

Having fun on the plane

Kevin and Caleb up on the mountain

Caleb and I on the mountain

Caleb skiing with poles

Chloe having fun in the snow

More playing in the snow

Chloe has really enjoyed the snow.  Caleb has done great skiing.  He took a couple lessons and even graduated to getting poles!  We have had a great time spending time together as a family. 

Photos

 Chloe at the beach



Having fun in the water

 Building a sand castle

 Having fun with brother

 She liked riding on great grandma's walker

 Having fun at the State fair

 Feeding an animal at the State Fair.  She was not afraid at all.

 Dressed up as a black cat

 Hedwig the owl

 Our happy Hedwig

 Harry Potter and Hedwig

 Ge ge and Mei mei



Chloe's Adventures

Chloe had her first trip to the beach a couple of weekends ago.  Kevin's grandmother lives near Galveston.  She had not met Chloe, so we took a 5 hour road trip to see her.  Kevin and I were a little concerned about how Chloe would travel in the car.  After short distances she gets fussy about being in her car seat.  We decided to travel at night with the hopes that she would sleep.  She did sleep some on the way, and overall did great.

Chloe loved the beach and loved being in the water.  I couldn't believe how comfortable she was in the water.  She was not afraid at all.  Her and Caleb had a great time playing in the sand as well.  This is kind of a funny story about her.  I was sitting on a towel just watching Kevin and the kids.  A lady walked by and from the back Chloe thought it was me.  Chloe started to follow the lady down the beach.  Then when the lady turned around, Chloe burst out into tears because it was not me.  So sweet, she does love her mother.

We made our annual trip to the State Fair.  Chloe had a blast.  I definitely think she fits in great with our family.  She was able to hang with us for the 7 or 8 hours we were there without getting fussy.  And of course, there is lots of eating at the fair which she enjoyed too. She had her first carousel ride.  She was a little apprehensive at first, but by the end she had stopped holding onto me and was holding onto the horse.  There were lots of animals which she enjoyed.  At the petting zoo part she loved feeding the animals and was not afraid one bit.
Halloween was also a lot of fun.  Caleb dressed up like Harry Potter.  He wanted Chloe to be Harry Potter's owl Hedwig.  Not exactly the girlish cute costume I was thinking of, but if that is what Caleb wants, I could go with it.  When we first got the costume, she would only have it on for a minute and then would take it off.  But with time, she really liked the costume and even took a nap it in one day.  Chloe loved trick or treating.  The first house we went to, Caleb and his friend said "trick or treat" and got candy in their pail.  When Chloe saw that, she got down and held out her pail too.  She immediately wanted to eat it.  For the night she ate a package of pretzels, fruit snacks, smarties and 3 lollipops!  I think she would have eaten more if I would have let her.  That girl does love to eat.

She is also doing great at church.  Tonight was the first night that she did not cry when I dropped her off at the nursery!  Wow!  Even when Caleb was that age, he would cry when I dropped him off for almost a year.  We still are amazed at how adaptable she is. 

Chloe has been such a blessing in our lives.  When I reflect back on the whole journey it amazes me.  Kevin and I felt like God was calling us to adopt a child from China.  We went out on faith to be obedient to that calling.  The waiting was not easy and the bumps in the road were frustrating, but the outcome has blown me away.  What I have learned from this experience is that if you follow what God calls you to do, you will be blessed beyond what you could even think imaginable.  It may not be easy or immediate, but if you stay the course, the pay off can be better than you ever dreamed.  Chloe is an absolutely amazing child.  So smart, funny and sweet.  For those of you that have spent any time with her, I think you would agree that she fits in perfectly to our family.  There is no way that it would be humanly possible to pick such a perfect match.  I am so thankful that God paired us together to be a forever family.  

Photos

Chloe playing with the microphone

At the Zoo

Looking at animals

Laughing at the animals, having a good time

Too much fun. She wore herself out!

Sunday dress

So cute!



Continued Progress

Chloe is doing great.  She can now say Mama, moo, meow, night night, uh oh, and something that sounds like hi.  When she says meow, she also tries to do the sign language with it that is sort of like miming whiskers.  It is so adorable.  I am going to try and video it and post it because I think it is so cute. 

Chloe has had a hard time sitting and listening to books.  Some of my favorite times with Caleb were nighttime story time.  We would sit and rock and read books and we both loved it.  I have tried to do that with Chloe and it has been hard up until this last week or so.  At first she would grab the books and try and turn the pages and close the books.  Over time, we have gotten her to sit and listen, but she has usually been holding a book of her own and plays with it while we read another book.  Anyways, last weekend she sat still and paid attention to 4 books!  I was so amazed.  Since then she has done great sitting and listening.  I hope she loves to read as much as Caleb does.

Another area I have really seen Chloe progress on is interacting with other people.  For the longest time Chloe would really only go to us.  Now she seems to be getting more and more comfortable and she will even let people she barely knows hold her.  She is also becoming more comfortable at the church nursery.  The first few times we left her she had a hard time.  At our church, if a child is having a hard time, they usually put them in a stroller and stroll them in the hallways.  I guess Chloe was put in the stroller and strolled the first few times.  Anyways, she seemed to feel comfortable and secure in the stroller.  Over the next few weeks she progressed to being in the room sitting in the stroller, to her teachers holding her to playing and having a good time.  Wednesday night when I went to pick her up she was so excited and having a great time because her teacher was blowing bubbles which she loves. 

She is also enjoying music and is learning motions to some songs.  She can now perform the head, shoulder, knees and toes song and the wheels on the bus.  At night after reading I usually sing her some songs and I swear she is trying to sing along with me when I sing the alphabet song.  Won't that be amazing the first day she can sing her A,B,C's.  I can't wait!

Her gross motor skills also continue to develop.  She can run some now.  She can also climb up this slide we have and slide down.  She loves to climb up and down stairs.  To bad for her we have a one story house.   She is also doing a lot of walking.  Our nanny and her walked around our block the other day 3 times. 

Last weekend Chloe and I had a great time with a girl's weekend.  Kevin and Caleb were on a father/son YMCA camping trip.  On Saturday morning Chloe and I went to the zoo.  She seemed to enjoy herself so much at the zoo in China, I thought it would be fun to do.  The weather was great and she loved it!  Most of the animals were out and active which made it even that much more fun.  That evening we went to dinner with a friend and then went shopping.  It was really fun.  I am looking forward to many more girls weekends.

I am going to try and post more photos.  She has healed well from the surgery and from a distance it is hard to even see the scar.  Everyone that sees her is amazed at the result.  It is hard to believe her surgery was just a little over one month ago.  She has done great!

Long time since last update

Well it has been a long time since I have posted anything.  Things seem to be going really well. Chloe continues to amaze us and make us laugh.  My cousin and aunt came to visit last weekend.  They are speech therapists.  My cousin works with children and she has given us some things to be working with Chloe on.  Chloe seems like a fast learner and we are hopeful for speedy progress.  One of the things we are working on is having her blow air out her mouth.  Seems like a normal thing to do, but she had not done that for 19 months.  We have been blowing bubbles, playing with pin wheels and blowing fuzz.  She is also able to suck out of a straw for the first time in her life.  She really likes it and usually drinks most of what is in her cup when she is using one.  We are also trying to encourage more verbalizing.  She is consistently saying Mama now and knows it refers to me.  She is also saying something that sounds like night night at bedtime.  We also think she was trying to say Ge ge today, which is big brother in Chinese.  We often call Caleb that so she was trying to imitate us.  I would love it if she would say it and I know he would too.  Her sleep continues to be an issue.  Of course tonight she fell asleep in no time flat and has yet to wake up. But last night it took over 1.5 hours to get her to bed despite her being extremely sleepy.  She is however, sleeping through the night better than she had.  So that too is making progress.

Caleb and her and getting along really well.  They are fun to watch their play together.  Caleb has created this chase game where Chloe is chasing him around the house.  It is so funny because she squeals in delight when she gets him.  We are also continuing to work with Caleb on reading her body language.  As all siblings do, he often seems to antagonize or bother her when she really should be left alone.  She still has a lot of on the edge fussy times and we are really trying to work with him to leave her alone and not stir up the pot.  He just loves her so much, I think it is sometimes hard for him to leave her alone.

It is still amazing to me that we have only had her for just over 2 months and tomorrow we will have been back in the States for 2 months.  So much has happened in this time. And yet, it seems like such a long time ago that we were in China.  I guess life is funny like that.