Happy Birthday Mia!

Happy 3rd birthday sweet Mia! My beautiful girl turned 3 years old yesterday! She has talked about her birthday for the past month due to her brothers reminding her that her birthday is "next." For a month she would talk about her "Dora birthday and her Dora birthday cake." So of course we delivered much to her delight! It was such a joy to watch her excitement as she opened her gifts and tried on her new clothes! The clothes and shoes were a bigger hit then the toys! She is her mother's daughter after all!

I simply cannot put into words the complete JOY that this child has brought into our family. It is just indescribable! The "3 s" are one of my favorite ages! I can't wait to see how my little girl blossoms this year!

December and updates

Here I go again trying to update my blog after nearly a 3 month absence. I have struggled with what to do with this blog. I have considered closing my little corner of the blogging world due to, and I am just being honest here, my lack of desire to post. Facebook has taken over and all of my updates end up there. It seems like since Mia has joined our family this blog has taken a different turn and I am just not sure what I want to do with it. I love reading updates and seeing pics of kids who are growing and flourishing in their forever families. Some of my favorite blogs are families I have followed since we first began our adoption. Of course I love to follow the blogs of families on their journey to meet their child for the first time! That's part of the problem I enjoy reading others blogs but posting to my own has taken a back seat. For now I think I will try to post monthly updates so those few followers I may still have can continue to see how much sweet Mia has grown and changed! I am still astounded by her transformation!

Mia was released from PT and had her last evaluation in September. She recently started "mommy and me" gymnastics and loves it! I can't believe a year ago she was 21 month old "infant" not even sitting up and now she is in gymnastics! She loves to go to "bible class" as she calls it and will wave and blow kisses as we drop her off saying "bye mama, see you later." It is such a change from a few months ago when she would scream and cry when we would drop her off. It warms my heart that she knows we will be back to get her after class. The fear she had of being "left" has subsided.

We are looking forward to the upcoming holidays and spending them with friends and family. The winds of change are blowing and we can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for our family!

Cardio update

Mia had her one year post op surgery appointment yesterday. As we got off the elevators, one of the areas of the hospital that families wait during surgery was overflowing. I remember a year ago sitting in those exact same chairs and feeling so overwhelmed with emotion and uncertainty. Last year I could only hold onto hope and faith that we would be where we are today. It was all good news from the cardiologist yesterday! The small VSD that was discovered after her surgery has closed and the cardiologist still believes Mia's heart is making its own rhythms without the use of the pacemaker! Mia does not have another appointment scheduled for 9 months!

On another note Ethan, Mia, and I visited my brother and his family in California two weeks ago. It was great to see them and meet my nephew for the very first time! Here are some pictures from our trip.

One year ago....

my sweet girl underwent open heart surgery to correct her TOF defect. The memories of that day and ultimately the weeks that followed have faded with time though I will never forget the H*LL my daughter went through. I will also never forget how in awe I was of her strength and spirit. It is difficult to go back and read the posts from a year ago and the days that followed but I look at Mia now and I am thankful for the journey and surgery that ultimately saved her life. It is funny how the passage of time brings a different perspective. In a few days we will make our way back to the hospital for her one year check up. I am praying that everything looks good with her heart and we can say adios to the cardiologist for a year.

Pre surgery

Happy girl on the road to recovery

Mia~one year later

Mia has been home with us for one year now and oh what a difference a year makes! She is a completely different child! A year ago she was a "baby" who was fragile, scared, and in desperate need of medical attention. When she was first handed to me she took my breathe away not because she was beautiful but because truthfully her appearance scared me. She was thin, malnourished, and bald. None of the pictures of those first few days truly captured how scared I was. In every picture I was hiding my fears behind my smiles. My fear continued to grow as Mia experienced "tet spells" due to her heart condition after breakfast almost every morning. By the second or third spell I was able to tell the signs that she was about to experience one and I would quickly put her knees to her chest and hold her while I walked up and down the hall trying to console her until she passed out in my arms. A blue coloring washed over her face, hands, and feet. I was scared and anxious to get home where medical attention was waiting for us. Sadly, because of my fears and all consuming desire to get home I wasn't able to enjoy China the way I wish I would have. Here are a few pictures from our first few days together.

Fast forward to a year later. The year certainly has not been easy and it has been full of numerous adjustments for all of us but it has been one of the most blessed and life changing years of my life! Mia is everything we could have hoped and prayed for in daughter! The little girl who was once so fragile is now healthy and full of life! She has overcome so many challenges both medically and in her development and it has been inspirational and a joy to watch her grow and blossom! It warms my heart to watch her play and hear her exclaim "I'm happy!" One year ago an empty place in my heart was filled when Mia was placed in my arms. I am forever blessed to call her my daughter! What an incredible gift she is!

Vacation pics part 2

Our vacation recap

We vacationed this year at Hilton Head, SC with my parents and sister. Oh how I love that place! It is a little bit of heaven on earth! We biked on the trails, sat on the beach, dug in the sand, swam at the pool, visited Pool Bar Jims(a couple times), and enjoyed some relaxing family time! We also had our family pictures taken on the beach. I have always wanted to have professional family beach portraits taken but since I knew it would be costly I wanted to wait until our family was complete and unless God says otherwise we are "complete." I also purposely scheduled them on our one year anniversary of having Miss Mia. I was mostly happy with the results though I do feel that some of the extra editing fees I had to pay could have been prevented if the photographer paid attention to detail (ex: Mia's diaper is showing in a couple of the pictures and we had to pay to have them "lengthen" her dress to cover it). Silly details like that but also costly adjustments.

Mia and Logan loved the beach but Ethan and Christian preferred the pool which worked out great because our condo was right on the beach! Logan and Mia would play in the sand and in the ocean most days while Ethan and Christian would swim at the pool. Dan is more of a pool person and I love the beach so we were all happy!

I took over 300+ pictures so I will post a few of my favorites over the next couple of days!