Ears pierced!

My big girl getting ready to get her ears pierced!

Getting her ears cleaned off

Marking them

Ouchie!!!! It's over!

Her come the tears

A sucker makes it all better!

My big girl with Hello Kitty earrings.

Carousel ride with grandma and mommy afterwards!

This summer, Emily also got her ears pierced. It was a rainy day and I asked her if she wanted to get her ears pierced and she said yes! Em, had been admiring mommies earrings for a while now and I always told her that when she was ready, we would go and get them done. I told her that there would be an ouchie. And she was ok with it. So we headed to the mall and the Claire's store. We picked out a pair of earrings and had to wait for another Claire's worker to get there so they would pierce them at the same time. She was such a big girl, she sat there while they cleaned her ears off and marked them. The big moment came and Ouchie! It was over. She sat there for a minute and then the tears came. Big old tears too! The nice Claire's worker offered her a sucker and she was all better. So cute!!!! Oh and the earrings she picked were Hello Kitty. That's my girl. Afterwards, we went on the carousel because she was such a big girl! In a couple weeks we get to change them! So my little girl now has earrings!!!! So proud of her.

Summer

Playing in the sand.

Mommy and her beach baby!

So cute!!!!

Tucker an Em in the pool.

Playground fun with our good friend Ellie!

It has been a while since I have updated my blog and I thought what better time. I can't believe it will be almost a year this September since I met my daughter. Where has the time gone? I still remember the phone call I received last June 21 telling me that I had a referral. Little did I know then what was in store for me. Emily is a joy and is loved by everyone who meets her. We have had so much fun this summer so far. We have been to the beach several times! Lake Michigan and West Traverse Bay too. Emily is getting braver each time we go. I love watching her exploring the sand and the water. We have been picking up beach glass now each time we go and hope to display it in a glass container of some sort when we have enough. Emily has enjoyed fireworks a few times too. We went for a mini vacation down to Yogi Bear campground in Fremont, IN. and Emily loved the pools there too. She is definitely my little beach baby!

Emily has come a long way. Her speech is coming along well too. She is talking up a storm. I love listening to her sing to the radio in the car too. She usually only sings along to a couple songs on the radio and I am hoping to get a video of it sometime soon to post. It is soooo stinkin' cute too.

We have been thrown a lot of curve balls this summer and are trying to keep our heads above water and praying for better times. Emily keeps me going and I am so thankful that I have that little cutie by my side. She can always bring a smile to my face and I love that about her.

We are looking forward to spending the next week together going to the beach and maybe tubing too. It is nice just spending quality time with my daughter this summer.

1st haircut!

Getting ready for first haircut!

Being such a big girl

Getting her hair blow dried!

Pretty haircut for a pretty girl!

Showing off her new do!

Emily got her first haircut today! We went to Sharkey's and she got to sit in the pink Barbie jeep. She loved it. Emily did awesome sitting there while she got her haircut. She wanted to sit in every vehicle chair too. Too cute, my girl looks so cute and is getting so big.

Surgery

Emily in her restraints with Tucker!

My sassy girl is not happy with her restraints on.

On Feb. 9Th, Emily had her surgery to close her palate, cut her tongue tie, fix a fistula and have tubes put in her ears. I know, poor girl! Emily had fluid behind her eardrums the last couple times we went to the doctor, but never an earache so we decided to put tubes in her ears. Also hoping that this would help with her hearing. Emily has always been very loud and I haven't got her hearing tested yet, but the tubes have done a super job at allowing her to hear better. She isn't loud all the time now and I love it!

On the 9Th, we got up very early and headed to the hospital. My mom came with us and I was glad to have some company during the wait. After we checked in we were taking to a room where they checked her vitals and we changed her into hospital pj's. We were visited by Dr. Schultz (the ENT), Dr. Doerr (the plastic surgeon), several nurses and the anesthetist too. Emily did so well, she was a little frightened but warmed up to everyone quickly. The time came for them to take her back and thankfully they didn't start any IV's until she was sleeping. That made mommy very happy. The only bummer was they took her out of my arms and didn't let me say goodbye, it broke my heart. I understand that they don't want the child to get worked up, but my baby and her first surgery, really? Give me a moment with her, it was very upsetting for me. We waited about 2 1/2 hours and then they let me go to the recovery room to be with her. I walked through the recovery door and heard her crying immediately and the mommy in me came out, where is my baby girl NOW! Poor Emily, she was crying and all upset. There was blood dripping from her nose, due to the hole going up into her nose. They were trying to give her oxygen and she just couldn't get comfortable. Oh, how I wanted to make her pain go away. They let me hold her and we tried to lay down, but she was so upset and crying. They finally gave her some medicine to calm her down a bit and she fell asleep for a little bit. Dr. Doerr came in and talked to me which was very nice and said everything went well and now we just needed to heal. When Emily woke up she was a lot calmer and we got to go home. My poor peanut just sat with me and grandma all day. Her arms had to be in restraints so that she would not suck her thumb and ruin the surgery. Her nose continued to drip for a few days but finally stopped. And the next 3 weeks Emily was on pretty much a liquid diet. I have gotten very creative with baby food, making soups and smoothies. She is doing so well. She is used to the restraints and finally eating better too. She has lost 4 pounds and down to 22 lbs now. She is so small already it is hard to see her lose more weight.

On March 1, we went for our follow up appointment with Dr. Doerr and he said that we had to be on liquids for another 3 weeks. Her palate is healed partly, but there is an area that he is not sure if it still has a hole or not. UGH! My heart sank, I thought it looked good, but I guess not. So we are still using the restraints and eating liquids. I think it has been harder on me than Emily. She is such a trooper and doing so well, it is amazing. I am so proud of her and how strong she is. We are praying that she will heal in the next 3 weeks so we won't have to do another surgery this year. It is hard to believe that Emily has been home 6 months already! She has changed so much and I couldn't be happier with her. She is such a joy to have in my life.

Sleigh Ride

Brandon and Jacob

Brandon showing Emily the horses, she called them doggies!

Mommy and Emily

Brandon and Jacob having hot cocoa by the fire

The crazy dog that did laps on the sleigh

Reindeer

Jacob and Emily, precious!

For my birthday this year we went on a sleigh ride in Williamsburg. It was a lot of fun! My nephews, Brandon and Jacob came along with us. The day was beautiful even though it was cold, the sun was out and the snow looked like crystals all over the ground, just beautiful! Our sleigh was pulled by two horses, a mom and her son. The owner said that even though the son is 4 years old he still nurses from his mother. Oh my goodness, too funny! We also had the owners dog come along on the ride and she did laps around the sleigh, over your legs and under your legs...what a crazy dog! The ride was fun and we stopped in the woods by a fire with hot cocoa and roasted marshmallows. When the ride was over we stopped and looked at the reindeer too. I have to say that it was a great birthday with my daughter.

Chinese New Year

Emily's favorite face!

Yummy, egg drop soup!

Mommy and Emily

Grandpa gave her some hot tea.

Grandma and Emily

Grandpa and Emily

My favorite pic of Emily and me

Who's a cutie?

My China doll!

I haven't posted in a while and thought I better update my blog. We celebrated our first Chinese New Year with Emily! I dressed my little China doll in a traditional Chinese dress and did her hair too. She is such my girly girl, I love it! She loves having her hair done and getting dressed up pretty. It is so cute. After we do her hair she always looks in the mirror and smiles and says awww. Too cute!

So this year, we decided to go out to China Fair for dinner. Grandpa and grandma came with us too. Emily loves egg drop soup and then I got her some noodles too, another favorite of hers. The restaurant was packed and we all enjoyed our dinner. I hope that in a few years when Emily is old enough that we will make home made egg rolls and dinner at home. We will make it our Chinese New Year tradition. I get excited just thinking about it! My little girl is changing so much in the first 6 months she has been home. I love being Emily's mommy!