Christmas recap

We had a very merry Christmas complete with presents, family, and lots of good food! The boys woke up at 4am on Christmas morning all ready to open their presents. Call me a scrooge but I told them they needed to go back to bed for a couple more hours until they tore into their presents. I *think* they ended up camping in the living room and not so patiently waiting until we woke up and gave them the go ahead. Mia woke up around 8:30am and saw her presents and was all ready to dive into the fun! Santa was very good to the kids this year and I think they were all happy with their gifts.

We spent Christmas day at my parent's house. My sister and brother in law were there along with my grandma. This was the first time my grandma has met Mia so it made Christmas even more special! My sister and brother in law surprised us with a video of Mia's homecoming and of the last few months with her. It was so special and I cried watching it remembering everything that has happened in the past 5 months and how far Mia has come. I can say it over and over again but it is nothing short of miraculous how much she has changed and grown. Looking at the video I was reminded of the fragile condition she was in. To look at her now I am so amazed by her and in awe of the work that God has done in her life and continues to do. How blessed we are to be part of her story!

It's Christmas time again.....

and now you're HOME

Your family is here so you will never be alone

so tonight before you go to sleep I'll hold you in my arms

and I'll tell you from my heart I

wish you "Merry Christmas"

~ Merry Christmas

Third Day

Mia update

It has been 5 months since we have been home with our sweet little Mia. It feels like she has always been here with us. I remember praying during the wait that Mia's little heart would accept our love and that she would bond supernaturally to us. God has blessed us beyond all expectations! Dan asked me the other day if I ever "forget" that she is adopted and I answered him "all of the time." I am not sure if this makes sense but I do not even think of her as being "Chinese" meaning that is not what I see of when I look at her. I look at her and just see "our beautiful, strong, amazing, daughter." She is and always will be our daughter first. So what has little Mia been up to?

~She had her cardiologist appointment last week and she is officially off all of her medicines. She also has gained 3 lbs since surgery! Still a tiny little girl but she is gaining! Her EKG showed that she was not using the pacemaker and was making her own heart rhythms! She still has a very small VSD but her cardiologists expects it to close on its own and has said that even it it doesn't it is so small it will not affect her. She was very happy with Mia's progress! Our next checkup is in March.

~She does both occupational and physical therapy each once a week. She enjoys when we "go play" and is making great progress! She is up on all fours and we are hoping she starts crawling soon. In the meantime she has her own way of being mobile. She sits on her bottom and scoots. It is hilarious to watch! I am sure we will wear out the bottoms of many pairs of pants!

~Her language is also exploding! She says mama, dada, bye bye, Dora (as in the explorer), Bob Bob (as in Spongebob), mine, all done, thank you and the list continues to grow daily.

~Her eating habits have also improved. No more chipmunking her food~yeah! She will eat pretty much whatever is put in front of her but when she is done she is DONE! She loves banana cream pediasure and drinks about 2 1/2 a day!

~Her biggest entertainment besides her brothers is iCarly. Yes iCarly. Not your typical toddler show but she prefers iCarly to any other show. Gotta love those brothers and an extended hospital stay which =lots of TV!

We have had so much fun preparing for the holidays with her!. For the past two Christmases it has been hard to decorate the tree with the ornaments we have been collecting for her. This year her ornaments were the first ones placed on the tree. I was teary eyed holding her and letting her decorate the tree. She is FINALLY home! Praise God!

Family pictures

We returned to the photo studio this past weekend to have our family pictures taken. It had been (gulp) six years since we have had our family picture taken and since we now have our sweet little Mia we were in desperate need of a new photo. Oh how I dread, seriously dread, getting family pictures taken! Did I just type that!? I love the result (usually) but it is so much work! Coordinating outfits, getting everyone dressed, trying to keep outfits clean and ironed until after pictures, and oh yeah getting six people to smile or at least make it appear that we all like each other (just kidding!).

Anyway I really should go downstairs and scan these pictures so the "kiddie kandids" stamp is not on them but truth be told I am too lazy and I need to get Mia to PT. I also need to do an update post on Miss Mia because she really is progressing nicely but I will save that for another day very soon I promise.

*Ugh and I just realized "the stamp" is right across Mia's face in the kids picture!