Samantha is ONE YEAR OLD!!!! From Sierra and Lori

Please send Samantha Happy Birthday wishes for Sierra's special surprise scrapbook for Samantha!

FROM SIERRA: Samantha is the best little sister ever! Every day we play and we love to play together! We usually play school or restaurant. She is the student or the waitress. I am the teacher or the restaurant owner. Mommy and Daddy are the customers. Every day when Samantha and Mommy pick me up at school Samantha yells my name and jumps into my arms giving me hugs and squealing! It is very cute! We sent her picture into a TV station and they told how she screams my name and jumps into my arms every day. Samantha is very smart and she learns the most from me. She can say 10 words and 12 signs. I will list them here after we put up the pictures of her birthday. She had a really fun birthday. On her real birthday she had her first bite of cake. It was a vanilla cupcake that Mommy and I made the night before. She really likes cake! I picked out a Raspberry cake with purple flowers for her birthday party. She liked that too but she liked the cake we made the best. Being a big sister is even more fun that I thought. Now Mommy wants to say something and then we will have pictures.

FROM LORI: Samantha had her first weight check and she gained just over TWO POUNDS in the ONE month since we picked her up, after only gaining only ONE POUND in the ENTIRE SIX months before. The doctor said another month like this and she won't need weight checks anymore! She is not yet on the weight chart - for her height she is still underweight - but she is not so underweight that we are worried. She was obviously underfed because we are not doing anything special just giving her four bottles (which she also got there but she actually finishes them here and I don't think she ever did there) and three normal baby meals a day. She actually has a very small appetite, eating a few tablespoons per meal, but loves food and already has her favorites (chow mein or any noodles, dumplings, tofu, chicken casserole, chicken divan, teriyaki chicken, peas, carrots, avocado, prunes, applesauce, blueberries, peach yogurt, jam sandwiches and Organic O's cereal. At the end of every meal she asks for O's with a sign. Sierra thinks it's a very funny dessert! Onto the photos and then Sierra's lists of words and signs! Don't forget to wish Samantha a Happy Birthday! Sierra is going to save her cards and birthday wishes and make her a little scrapbook of her first birthday!

First Birthday!!!
The night before Samantha's birthday - making birthday cupcakes and cupcakes for the school bake sale.

I'm One Year old today!

Samantha loved Macaroni Grill! She thought the food was yummy, especially the birthday whipped cream (we didn't give her the cake they brought because we wanted her first cake to be the one we made!) and then they sang to her, which she loved! Today was also our one month anniversary as a family of four, and we ate at Mac Grill in Taiwan on pick up day too.



Cake is yummy!!!!


The perfect end to a perfect day! I LOOOOVE bathtime (one month ago I was terrified of bathtime but I got over that super fast!!); This is how tall I am next to our antique sewing maching (and Sissy JeJe). We still like to wear our matching pj's!


First Birthday Party!!

Family and Friends sharing a yummy meal to celebrate Samantha's First Birthday! For those curious we had Dim Sum and various Chinese/Taiwnese dishes. We try and incorporate Taiwanese food into our meals whenever possible. It would be terrible if Samantha goes back to Taiwan someday and doesn't like the food!


The cake and the family!

Note the smashed part of the cake, which Samantha got to just as we were taking our family photo. Notice how nicely Samantha wore her birthday crown for the first photo (actually several) before deciding it wasn' t her style and she'd take it off and throw it!

Cake is still yummy!


Sierra and Samantha opening the Licee from our friends; Logan helping Samantha open her presents! Note the chubby legs. One month ago her thighs were the same exact size as her calves and I could put my finger and thumb around her thighs. Now she's a little chunk!! Or as her doctor says she's getting age appropriate fat stores!!


Tube fun! I don't know who likes the tube better, Sierra and her friend Elizabeth or Samantha and Logan. I guess tube crawling is fun for all ages (Daddy even got stuck in it!!!!).


The kids

FROM SIERRA: Here is the list of Samantha's words and signs. I am keeping track of them for Mommy so we can write them in Samantha's scrapbook when we have time.
Words:
1-Mama for Mommy
2-Ss day day (or just day day) for Sissy Je Je (me)
3-Da for done (also uses a sign with this word)
4-Dada for Daddy
5-Ma for more (also uses a sign with this word)
6-Miiiii for her bottle of milk (also uses a sign with this word)
7-Dantha for Samantha
8-Ahh for yea (also claps with this word)
9-Da for Dog (looks at the dog when she yells this word)
10-Ki for Cat (looks at the cat when she yells this word)

Signs:
1-She always waves when someone says HI (even if they're not talking to us!)
2-She claps when anyone says yea
3-She hi-5's when you ask her to or put your hand up
4-She shakes your hand if you say shake
5-She sticks her tonuge out when you tell her to
6-She shakes her head no when she doesn't want to do or have something
7-She puts her hands together when she wants more (and says Ma)
8-She tries to make an O with her fingers to get O's cereal
9-She puts her hands up and down to say done (and says Da)
10-She puts her hand to her face when she wants her milk bottle
11-She beckons to me when she wants me to come - She yells my name at the same time
12-She puts her hands up when we say hands up when we're putting her high chair tray on

Sierra thought we should put Samantha's stats here too so here they are. We have been very lucky. Samantha has Not had any illnesses at all (despite being warned over and over most babies come down with a respiratory illness after pick up she has stayed healthy-knocking madly on wood as I say that!), she was tested by her Pediatrician for every disease known to man and everything came back perfect and she got the shots she was overdue for (she was only partially vaccinated) and she had no reaction to the shots other than sleeping a little more than usual that day (and that was not a bad thing!).
Here are her numbers: age: 12 months; weight: 16 pounds; height:27&3/4"; shoe size: 2; clothing size: 9 month but 12 month is fitting better and 6 month is now getting too small! I think that's it. She's doing really well, growing very quickly and happier and healthier than we ever imagined. She's also bonded to Sierra and me much better and quicker than I ever expected and she is beginning to bond to Jeremy too! Samantha has changed so much in the past month it's unreal. She was always a smiley baby but now she's truly happy. She was very anxious and tense when we picked her up and she was not demanding and seemed to give up before really trying to get anything, even attention. Reading over everything the orphanage said about her she is nothing like that either. According to them she was quiet, didn't like to play or crawl, didn't like interacting with the other babies, didn't sleep or eat well etc. NONE of that is true at all now!She is active, loud, demanding, knows what she wants and knows how to let us know, loves to play, loves to interact with other babies or kids, sleeps pretty well and eats great!

Miscellaneous Photos:

Our Neighbor's, whom we do not know very well, threw us a shower/first birthday for Samantha the week of her birthday. It was good to get to know my neighbors a little more!


Sierra made this radio (totally from scratch) that works really well. I was amazed since I have no idea what she was saying as she was telling me how she made it and she is very excited about it!