One year since Gotcha Day!

Emily on Gotcha Day 2010

Emily today Gotcha day 2011

Mommy and Emily 2010

Mommy and Em 1 year later!

I can't believe it has been a whole year since I met my little Emily. One whole year since she has been my daughter. I cannot tell you when I look back how much she has changed. You would never know she was born in China. She is an American girl 100%! Last year at this time she couldn't hardly say Momma, now she is talking up a storm. My girl is growing like a weed...well, she has grown 2 inches taller and gotten 7 lbs heavier since Gotcha Day. So she is still my little peanut and always will be.

Emily is a very independent little girl, loves people and loves to eat! She is attending preschool and loves it. She gets to ride the bus too. I get asked every morning if she is going to ride the bus, lol...silly girl. Emily fits into our family so well. She loves her Mema and Beba (Grandma and Grandpa) as well as Aunt Chimene, Uncle Michael and the boys. We call her our Polish Chinese Princess!

I owe a gratitude of thanks to my Mom, Dad and my friends for helping me watch Em, while I am at work...it has meant so much to have them take care of her for me while I work.

I couldn't have asked for a better daughter. God has truly blessed me with a keeper. She is sensitive and caring and the apple of Mommies eye. I thank God everyday for Emily and the happiness and joy she brings me. She truly is a blessing and I love her so much. Happy Gotcha day peanut, Mommy loves you!

One year ago today...

One year ago today, my sister and I were on a 13 hours plane ride to China. I can't believe it has been a year. Where does the time go. It is amazing to see how much she has changed in just a year. This past year has been incredible and I wish I could do it all again. God is good, that is for sure.

1st day of preschool!

Emily and her piggies!

Mommy and Em

Cheese, ready for school.

Loved her shadow

Saying "Hi" to Ms. Deb

Off to school she goes, sniff sniff

Today was Emily's first day of preschool. She was a little tired this morning, but was so excited to ride the school bus again. Of course she wanted her hair done in two piggies. It's so cute, she will always say to me "No mom, two piggies, k?" And when she says it she always holds up two fingers. I love that, it is so stinkin' cute. After breakfast we took some pictures and then went outside to wait for the bus. I was happy to learn that Deb was going to be her bus driver again this year. Emily already knows her from last year, so it was perfect. We happily waited for the bus and I can't tell you how excited Emily was when she finally saw the bus coming. Deb and Martha the bus attendant greeted us with a smile and were very happy to see little Miss Emily. As the bus drove away, I have to say that mommy was a little sad seeing her go. I was very happy when she got home to tell me what a fun day she had. My little girl is getting so big. I am so proud of her.

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.