Exciting News About Samantha

We have been busy running to a lot of doctor appointments with Samantha and Sofia. On Friday I took Samantha to Upstate Hospital for the EEG that we needed to have done. Sammy did great while the testing was being done. She sat very still for a long time and did a really good job of not squirming since she had many electrodes attached to her head. You may remember that Samantha was diagnosed with Epilepsy since she had a couple seizures when she was first brought into her SWI around 2.5 years ago. Well, we went back to the doctor today to have Sofia's 3 year check-up and the girls had to get their N1H1 vaccinations and while we were there the doctor got all of Samantha's test results back including blood, stool and EEG. The doctor told us that everything is completely normal and Samantha does not have Epilepsy. What a joy it was to receive this news. Of course, we would have done whatever we needed to do to to help Samantha with Epilepsy if she did indeed have it but we are so glad that our daughter will not have to worry with that. This was a wonderful surprise. It just breaks my heart that she had to spend 2.5 of her 3.5 years in the SWI. Samantha has really turned a corner in the past week with attachment. She used to wake up sort of sad in the morning and now she is happy each morning I go into her and Sofia's bedroom. She also seems to be happy during the day and evening. She is also speaking so many words in English. Samantha has been through so many changes in her short life and we are working hard to make sure she knows how loved she is.

Hello From The Trenches

Holy crappers, I finally got a few good nights of rest! I have been so tired lately and gone are the days of returning emails and phone calls. I am doing well at this point just to blog occasionally. Who knew going from one to two kids could be so tiring and zap every bit of energy out of my body? I wake up around 6:00 am and fall into bed as soon as John and I put the girls to bed around 8:00 pm. I think I fall asleep even before my head hits the pillow.

Other than being tired and falling asleep while standing, things are going good. Samantha has been transitioning really well and I can't believe how similar her and Sofia's personalities are. Of course Sofia is always a little more cautious about jumping into things while Samantha jumps right in. Here's a few things Sammy is doing...

• She will go to John with no problems now. You may remember that while in China she would only hold my hand or we risked some serious Linda Blair type behavior.
  

• We think we may now have a southpaw in the family. We think she is left-handed. She will occasionally use her right hand for things but seems to prefer her left hand.

• She and Sofia just love each other. Sofia actually loves Sammy so much that I have to eventually pull Sofia away from Sammy because Sofia doesn't get that Sammy does not want to be hugged 24/7. I give Samantha a lot of credit for the patience she has shown Sofia (lol).

• Samantha is modeling a lot of her language after us and also loves to say Mama, Daddy, Sofia & Samantha. I think it helps her to define the members of our family. She also counted to 8 in English the other day. 

•  Even though Sammy is potty-trained, we still put a diaper on her at night since she tends to have accidents while she is sleeping. 

• Samantha has a habit of putting her hands in her mouth when she is nervous. She can almost fit her whole hand in it. Now, Sofia has started doing the same thing. I have tried to get Sofia to stop but I am not pushing it with Sammy since this is her way of coping with all the changes. Both of the girls love to copy each other.

• My mom came into town last week to meet Samantha and we took Sammy to have her ears pierced on Thursday October 8th at Claire's in our local mall. We took her to the same place that Sofia has her ears pierced at shortly after we brought her home in 2007. Samantha cried a little, but LOVES her new earrings and points at them every day, She is already a girly-girl.

• Both Samantha and Sofia went to their first dental appt. last Wednesday. Samantha has one cavity on her bottom right that will need to be filled and the dentist also thought that he could create a veneer for her front right tooth that was chipped off in her SWI. I don't think Samantha had her teeth brushed much while in her SWI. The first time we brushed her teeth in China, they turned bloody and luckily that does not happen anymore. Both girls really love to brush their teeth, so we are happy for that. Sofia's teeth looked good and both girls got their teeth polished and got to pick prizes from the treasure chest. I have to take Sammy back in November to have the cavity filled and the tooth veneer applied to her chipped tooth.All in all a great visit.
  

• Last Friday (10/16/09) Samantha had her first doctor visit. I think her weight and height were a little off in China. According to her doctor, she weighs 32 lbs. and is 36.5" tall. That places her in the 50th percentile on the American growth-chart. I am going to bring the Chinese growth-chart to the Pediatrician at our next appt. on Monday. Sammy received 3 shots on Friday. Luckily, one of the shots contained two different vaccinations, so she was spared one shot. Our Pediatrician wants to start from square one with immunizing Samantha, just like we did with Sofia. Even though we have Sammy's immunization record, our doctor cannot be sure that the immunizations in China were 100% reliable, so she wants to reimmunize. On Monday Samantha has to have blood drawn for a panel of tests, including lead. She will also need another vaccination on Monday. Poor baby, I am dreading Monday since I know how scary it will be for her.

I think that's about all for now. Here are some pics from the past couple of weeks. By the way, we woke up to a small dusting of snow a few mornings ago. I have a feeling it is going to be a LONG and COLD Winter.

Samantha getting ready to get her ears pierced. She always sucks on her fingers when she is nervous.

Sofia telling Sammy that it is really cool to have pierced ears and not to worry.

Sammy with her beautiful new pierced ears that she absolutely loves.

A cute picture of the girls wearing their new winter coats Grandma C. bought. Putting on Grandma and my shoes was their idea! :)

The girls at this year's LaFayette Apple Fest. It was in the 40s, so we did not last long.

Sofia getting ready for her first dental appt.

"Okay I'm ready for my close-up."

Samantha getting ready for her turn.



The girls did great at their first dental appt. :)



Our wonderful dental hygienist Peggy.



The girls picking a treat from the treasure chest.



The girls outside our dentist's office.

Our fun playdate at the MOST with our good friends Erin, Grace and Joseph. We also traveled with Erin's husband and her father to China a few weeks ago when they traveled to bring Joseph home.

The kids had a great time.

Erin and Joseph under the big brain.

Samantha and Sofia had a great time in the indoor playground.

Beautiful Grace.

Erin having fun with Joseph and Sofia.

Sofia getting up close and personal with an iguana.

The girls looking at a model replica based on a nearby town here in upstate NY. They loved when the train came around the corner and rolled down the tracks.

Checking out an exhibit.

Sofia holding Samantha's hand before Sammy's first doctor's appt.

Sweet Sammy

Can You Spare A Square?

I have been so bad with getting all the quilt squares and good wishes collected for Samantha's quilt and figured I better add this to my ongoing list of things I am trying to accomplish right now. If anyone would like to exchange quilt squares and wishes I would love to trade. Heck, even if you want to exchange many squares, I can do that too. I have lots of fabric and since I only have about 50 squares and wishes right now, I really need to collect the rest as soon as I can. If you are interested, please email me at jonni@twcny.rr.com. Thank you, I really appreciate it.

Happy 3rd Birthday Sofia & Welcome Home Samantha

I had to backdate this post since I have been too tired to do much blog posting lately. I think I am just about done with the worst of the jet-lag. John has been doing much better with it than I have and I really owe him a huge thanks for pulling a lot of the weight around here lately. I have been so tired and hope that the worst of it is behind me now.

Thanks for all the nice comments we have received and a special big thanks to my dear friend Hayley who gifted us with the awesome Sandbox Threads t-shirts for the girls. You are so good to us. Samantha is making huge strides and becoming more and more comfortable everyday. Sammy is even starting to pick up new words. She and Sofia love each other so much and each time one does something, the other has to do it too. It is really very cute. Here's a few pics of our day at the pumpkin farm and Sofia's 3rd birthday/Samantha's welcome home party. Grandma and Grandpa S. came from Long Island to bring our dog Nullsy home and to meet Samantha.

Grandma got licked by a cow

Sofia & Sammy picking out their own pumpkins

Happy girl

We joked that Grandma was a hit with the farm animals. They all wanted to lick her.

Happy 3rd birthday sweet Sofia. Where has the time gone?

Sisters forever

A new grocery cart for the girls

Sammy's new doll

Sofia's new Hello Kitty CD/Tape Player

Our Timeline to Sofia & Samantha

OUR TIMELINE TO SOFIA

2/15/06 - Completed Preliminary Application.

2/16/06 - Completed Application for Adoption.

2/18/06 – Started Paperchase.

3/23/06 – 1st visit from our Social Worker.

3/26/06 – 2nd visit from our Social Worker.

3/30/06 – 3rd visit from our Social Worker.

4/3/06 – 4th visit from our Social Worker and he gives us the final copy of our homestudy.

4/21/06 - Received our I-171H & the Paperchase is done.

5/1/06 - We attended a “Waiting Families” party at our agency.

5/24/06 - Our Dossier is sent to China.

7/21/06 – Received LID (Log-In Date) of 5/31/06.

3/9/07 – Started renewing paperwork as requested by our agency.

6/10/07 – We decided to pursue a SN (Special Needs) adoption.

6/11/07 – We were matched with our daughter. Her Chinese name is Jin Yu Hua.

6/12/07 – We wrote our LOI (Letter of Intent) to adopt Jin Yu Hua who will be named Sofia Marie.

7/30/2007 – Received LOA (Letter of Approval) from China. Went to our agency to sign it so we could send it back to China right away.

8/21/07 – Received TA (Travel Authorization).

8/26/07 – We left for China.

8/27/07 – Sofia & our Family Day! We were surprised because we received our baby girl 20 minutes after we arrived at our hotel in China (Gansu).

8/28/07 – Sofia’s adoption is finalized.

9/7/07 – We arrived home from China.

11/25/07 – During our ride home from Thanksgiving on Long Island John mentions that we should start paperwork for a sister for Sofia. I about fall out of my seat since I am so excited. Here we go again!



OUR TIMELINE TO SAMANTHA

1/08 - We start paperwork to adopt from China again and complete most of the paperwork except for the Home Study when we are told it may take a while for our agency to get invited back into the SN program with the new shared list. We decide to cancel our dossier but we receive our I-171H since we had already sent away for it.

6/08 - We decide to start the process again since our agency feels confident that they will be receiving access to the SN shared list in the near future. John and I decide to start the process again and we are grandfathered in with our Pre-Hague I-171H .

9/08 - Dossier to China (DTC)

12/22/08 - Log-In-Date (LID)

5/4/09 - First day our agency had access to the list, we went to our agency and looked over the list but all minor SN children were already locked.

5/6/09 - A friend told me to check back after the 48 hour lock was up and many times a few children with minor SNs are back on the shared list. Our daughter was released after the initial lock and we locked her file right away.

5/7/09 - We wrote our Letter of Intent (LOI) and took it to our agency along with photos of John and I. Our agency emailed it to China on the same day.

5/26/09 - I received an exciting call from our agency that we had received our Pre-Approval (PA) for Samantha's adoption via the online CCAA system. John was on a flight to Philly for business, so I left him a voicemail we were approved! Our agency said they would scan the PA and send us an electronic copy. I then arranged to send a birthday care package including a cake through Ann at Red Thread since we could not send it to on her actual 3rd birthday on 5/8/09 since we did not have PA at that time.

7/21/09 - Received phone call that all of the travel group that we planned to travel with received LOA except for us because the China said that our I-171H was not authenticated. Our agency promises that they did it. This was not a good day for us.

7/30/09 - Our agency receives our authenticated I-171H and FedEx's it to China for overnight delivery, which means that China will receive it on Monday and we are hoping that we will get our LOA quickly and get our TA at the same time as the rest of our group.

7/31/09 - We go to the local USCIS office to be refingerprinted since our fingerprints will expire September 1, 2009. This time we received a free extension. We also went to our agency to sign the travel letter to bring Sofia with us to China. Our agency made an exception to the rule of not bringing additional children to China.

8/10/09 - YAY! We received our LOA. It only took China 2 days to return it to us after they received our re-authenticated I-171H from our agency.

9/1/09 - TA Finally! :)

9/19/09 - John, Sofia and I left for China

9/20/09 - We arrive in China (Nanjing) and checked into our hotel for a good night's rest before our Family Day.

9/21/09 - Samantha & our Family Day!

9/22/09 - Samantha's adoption is finalized.

10/01/09 - We arrive home from China.