Where Has The Time Gone???

It has been almost 3 years since we brought that scared little girl home! Now she is 4 years old, takes dance lessons and goes to preschool. She is sooo smart and absolutely baffles us most days at what she knows. Song lyrics from a Jason Mraz song come to mind as I type: " When I look into your eyes It's like watching the night sky Or a beautiful sunrise Well, there's so much they hold And just like them old stars I see that you've come so far To be right where you are How old is your soul?" Her level of understanding has had me describe her as having an "old soul". Her speech is perfect and she will eat anything. She weighs 33 lbs now! Huge improvement from the 17 lbs at 14 months old when we brought her home! She eats like a bird though and most days seems like she eats 1 good meal and then picks at the others. Her favorite "go to" food is fruit---any kind of fruit. She also likes salad and yogurt and tomatoes. She knows what is healthy food and what is not. She will eat junk food but knows its not as healthy! She tells me I need to drink more water and exercise more! She bosses her brothers around reminding them to wear their seatbelt, etc. I overheard Andrew, 18, tell his friend that he is Lila's little brother rather than Lila being his little sister! I also frequently hear him tell her "You're not the boss of me"! She does have some control issues that are common in kids that have been in an orphanage. It's a coping skill--she feels safe when controlling her environment. It seems really cute and funny right now and we will seek help if it begins to affect her socially. She likes to pick out pjs, cups, plates etc that her 2 younger nieces will use/wear. It's a good thing they are both very laid back and are ok with her picking stuff out for them. She also just now became potty trained completely. It is very normal for a child with her background to be developmentally delayed. She is catching up quickly. I was a little concerned though as her wearing a pullup was about to start affecting her socially. It was as simple as buying her Hello Kitty panties. She loves them and wants to wear them and be a big girl!Her Minnie Mouse panties were outdated I guess?! She is very social at preschool and is liked by all. She goes to a small private catholic preschool where there are many many different nationalities. She loves school! Wakes up ready to go with a smile on her face! She also wants to begin gymnastics and martial arts. When she turns 5 she will start "Chinese school". It's an extracurricular activity where she will learn mandarin and about Chinese culture. Here a few recent pictures of her

Found this

I found this link--it is very powerful and thought provoking. I wanted to share it with you.......

It's Been 5 Months!

Whew!! Where does the time go? We've been home 5 months now and boy has it been a busy 5 months! Lila is now walking and has been for a few months. She is exploring her surroundings and is a very curious little girl. Until about Thanksgiving she has gone through what I believe to be seperation anxiety. When we got home in the afternoons she wanted to be held all the time and would follow us around crying if we couldn't. She is now doing much better and feels more comfortable with us. Or maybe she trusts us now. She is a shadow to whoever is walking around and is so stinkin cute!!

She is eating everything now! Thank the Lord!! She trusts me enough to take a bite out of anything I offer her--she may not take a second one but will at least try it. I kept her on the bottle until about a month ago. It helps with bonding but also it made me feel better because I knew she was getting full at least a couple times a day. She is now totally on table food and thriving! She got off the bottle very easily--I reduced her bottles until it was no more!

Her speech is really her only issue--but what are we to expect with learning a new language and adjusting to what she has had to adjust to. We have taught her sign language for some simple commands--which she caught onto very quickly. But we are also bombarding her with vocabulary. We can be pretty dramatic with naming everything as we come across it. Her vocabulary is progressing and will just take time. She gets frustrated with us at times when we don't get what she wants.

Her personality continues to emerge and it is a cute one! She has her brothers and daddy wrapped around her fingers! I feel as though she has always been with us. Here is a picture video I put together showing her from beginning until now. Obviously I screwed up her birth date--she was born in 2010 not 2011. With as many times as I previewed I did not catch it until it was too late!!

Home a Month

We have been home a month now! Lila is doing great--adding more food to her "will eat list". We started her out on stage 1 babyfood and have now progressed to stage 2 with snacks of vanilla wafers and baby cheese puffs!She will eat any babyfood fruit but only sweet potatoes and squash babyfood veggies. sounds like she has a sweet tooth! I can't complain though because I was prepared for the worst with feeding and she is progressing right along! According to my scale she has gained 2 lbs in a month! We took her to to the International Adoption clinic at UAB--they did bloodwork and gave her a full examination. She is a little underweight but otherwise checks out fine!

She is attaching to us--and we are totally attached to her! She sleeps with Darren and I right now to help with the bonding (good excuse anyway!)--we love snuggling with her. It is great having a baby around the house again! She keeps me running though and whew! gets into everything!!! She acts like she has always been with us--I am so proud of her and how far she has come in 1 month. I look into those dark eyes and I don't see that sadness anymore--her eyes sparkle now. But with what she has had to deal with and overcome in her short life has made me realize even at 15 mths she is a stronger person than me. We feel blessed to have her in our life!

Her 3 older brothers have totally spoiled her rotten! By all means she deserves it! She even has this little drama queen cry/whine --you know the kind with no tears---but she knows one or all of her brothers will come running and pick her up. She gets excited when one of them comes in the room because it is play time! They twirl her around and bounce her up and down--she will have the biggest grin on her face--I'm trying to get a picture of it. But here a few pictures of this past month home....and yes that is a pink Alabama football jersey!

We are home!

Well after a full 24 hours of travel, we are finally home! By the way Lila did great! In my opinion everyone on the big 14 hour flight should have given Lila a round of applause--she could have made the trip miserable for everyone and she did not!!

We all have jet lag once again. Tougher this time because Lila is so young. She is trying to get adjusted to instantly having a big family with 3 brothers, a niece, and 2 sets of grandparents. Not to mention aunts and uncles on both sides. Right now she is pretty scared and fussy. I am glad we had 2 weeks to bond before coming home....
I am anxious for everyone to get to know that cute, funny personality we were getting to know.
I will post some pictures of her being home soon. Have to take some first!

Almost there!

Well Lila has had her medical checkup --she checked out just fine. Thank goodness as this is a requirement/another step to finish the adoption and enter the US. We visited the Guangzhou Zoo which was very large and nice--also has a panda bear that was asleep so really didn't get to see! We did see some red panda though. We have been shopping on Shaiman Island where stuff is just dirt cheap! i got her some shoes for like

$3.oo each! This is a pic of us on Shaiman Island. I can not even begin to tell you how hot and humid it is here. I didn't think anything was more humid than Alabama but this has got that beat by a long shot! We were soaked within just a few mins outside! We have our American Consulate appointment at 7:45 am wednesday to take the oath and obtain Lila's visa/passport--the last and final step! This is what this whole stay has been leading up to! We will take a train on thursday for HongKong (a 3 hr train ride) and then our flight leaves friday morning at 9:20. We arrive home friday afternoon--as we are traveling back in time! That is neat--it would appear to be just a 8 hr flight--but actually it is 15 hrs from HongKong to detroit--we have a 3 hr layover in Detroit then 2 hr flight to B'ham! I got Lila a few cute traditional chinese outfits--these are few pictures.

Shopping!

We went shopping today at Liwan Plaza--a mall that local people visit. It's not the overpriced tourist attractions. Really great prices--esp on traditional chinese dresses which I got Lila 3! Different sizes as she grows. Also most pearls come from here --south china. so those prices are good also as well as jade. Jade mines are located in south china and I believe our guide told us Jade mines are only in china. It was alot of fun but very exhausting. There are alot of people in china--and I think about 1 million were at the mall today! But Lila did great--she is getting more nd more used to us and is showing more of her personality everyday. She even walked back and forth from Darren and I! Very touching moment--she is developing quickly! Now if we can just get her on solid food! We will worry about that when we get home. I do offer her whatever I am eating and sometimes she will give it a lick--so that's a beginning. These are pictures of the shopping mall and random pictures of Lila playing this morning. You can see the happiness coming to her eyes.