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!

Christmas 2010

Not ready for Santa yet!

Did someone say Santa?

Bath done!

Ready for Santa now!!!

Loving her new baby stroller!

Santa's toyshop!

Mommy and Emily!

Brandon and Emily

Em modeling her new jewels!

Well the year is almost over and Emily got to celebrate her first Christmas at home with Mommy and Brian. I think I was more excited than she was. She really doesn't understand Christmas and Santa yet. Next year I think she will totally get it and be waking us up. It was a nice peaceful morning showing Emily what Santa had brought her and opening presents as a "Forever Family" at last. I couldn't have asked for a sweeter girl. She woke up on Christmas morning hair all over and tired. Soon after a quick bath and shampoo she was sporting her Santa shirt and pigs for the day. Emily loves to look in the mirror at herself after I finish doing her hair, especially when she get pig tails put in. She always giggles and says oh! Too cute!

She loved all her gifts from Santa and us. She especially liked her doll stroller. I got her a view master as well and it only took a couple tries to figure out how it works, now she is a pro at it.

She had a lot of fun at our family Christmas with the boys. She was too cute saying her cousin Jacob's name. The day was filled with lots of excitement and fun for her so it was no wonder that she was exhausted after day two of no nap and fell asleep very quickly on Christmas night. It was a beautiful morning with my baby girl, one that I will never forget. Merry Christmas to all and a very Happy New Year!

Visit with Santa

Meeting Santa for the very first time.

Santa was so good with Emily.

Perfect picture of Santa and Emily!

My sweet pea loves Santa Claus!

We took Emily to see Santa Claus tonight! I couldn't believe the prices they were charging for a picture with Santa. The cheapest package was $20 for two 5x7's. Wow! I could see if a portion of the proceeds went to a charity of some sort, but it didn't. Thankfully, I brought my camera and was able to get a few pictures of my own.

Anyways, Emily loved Santa!!! She walked right up to him and grabbed a coloring book and sat on his lap. It was absolutely adorable. She touched his belly and then touched his mustache. So sweet and Santa was so good with her! He told her that he loved her so much, aw! I think she would have sat there all night if I would have let her, but said good bye and blew him a kiss. Emily's first visit with Santa was perfect!

Home for the Holidays!

Emily and her reindeer!

So sweet!

Emily got so excited when she saw the reindeer antlers!

They all were getting tired!

I can't believe how fast my time off with Emily went. Time flies when your having fun! I had to go back to work this weekend and I am very sad about it. I miss our family time at home on the weekends with Emily and Brian. Hoping that someday in the future I will be able to get off the weekends so we can have our family time back again.

The Holidays have been so much fun so far, we can't wait for Christmas, visiting Santa and all the firsts this Winter. So this week I decided to take some pictures of Emily with the dogs for our Christmas card this year. I brought our the reindeer antlers with bells on them for Tucker and Hayley to wear and a cute little pink Santa hat for Emily to wear. Emily got all excited when I brought them out. I did my best to get everyone situated in front of the x-mas tree too. Ya, that was fun! Two dogs and a rambunctious 3 year old, not pretty!!! I did manage to get everyone somewhat in front of the tree and now the trick was to get all three of them to look at me and Emily to smile. Oh the joys of being a mom, lol! I got some cute photos and chose one for our x-mas card this year too. My friend Jill, who adopted her little Ella from China a year before me posted on facebook a song that I would listen to every year at this time and cry. It is called "Merry Christmas" by Third Day and it is about a little girl in China waiting for her family and a family waiting for her. If you get a chance listen to it, it is a beautiful emotional song. I am so happy to have Emily home for the holidays this year. Thank you God for finally making my wish come true!