There have been so many major events that I cannot decide which to lead with so I decided to go with Samantha's readoption...She is now officially Samantha Tsang after nearly 11 months home! It happened last week just two days after her baby cousin, Sunny, was born! The readoption actually went really well considering I was still ill with pneumonia and Sierra was still ill from the flu/bronchitis and now asthma, along with some sort of tummy bug (which only lasted 24 hours and may have been from all of the steroids and meds she was suddenly on). Samantha did really well, the judge was really nice (even when Samantha YELLED at him to give her his pen NOW) and we even got to go into the courtroom first so we had very little waiting time (there were four other families told to appear at the same time). Afterwards things didn't go so well. We tried to get her Passport and SScard and were told we didn't have the right paperwork certified by the court so after spending the day trying to get documents I headed back out to the courthouse and they were closed - our courthouse closes at 3:00, not 5:00 like any normal courthouse. But hopefully we'll get that all sorted and get her a passport before we head to England next year and a SSN before tax time!
Now for baby Sunny...she's so cute. She was 8lbs.1oz. and 19" long. So she's actually the biggest at birth of all four cousins but she's still sooo tiny!! She reminds me of Sierra - very alert and wanting to look around all of the time. However, unlike Sierra she has a very quiet, non-urgent cry and she is very laid back. She has a full head of brown hair and a tiny, perfectly round face and head...I'll post photos rather than try and describe her! Yesterday I tried to get a Christmas card photo of the four of them but only Sierra and Sunny were cooperative! Samantha mostly looked sad or mad with only one smiling photo and Logan mostly screamed or scooted out of the photo, also with only one smiling photo - of course, they were not smiling in the same photo!!
Saturday we went to a party hosted by FCC and it was great to meet all of the kids, those adopted from Asian countries and siblings. We then headed over to the Christmas lights downtown, which we have done every year since Sierra was one year old. Both she and Samantha, and Jeremy and I, thoroughly enjoyed the fabulous lights! Samantha literally oohed and aahed at the lights because Sierra oohed and aahed at one particularly spectacular house and Samantha then did it at every house, which caused everyone who heard it (we were walking) to laugh!
Yesterday was also a big day for Samantha because she stayed in the church nursery for the first time. She is very mommy centered and separation sensitive. We were very pleased when she stayed for nearly a half hour. She was VERY clingy once I picked her up, but it's a start. It's funny how you spend months doing everything you can to get them attached to you so that you can later spend months doing everything you can to get them to separate from you!! Literally the first four months Samantha was home I rarely took her out of the house and never left her with anyone and never even let anyone besides the three of us hold her, as we bonded and formed what became a very, very deep attachment. After that point I started taking her out more but still made sure only we fed her, she was never left with anyone other than my mother or my sister and never near nap or bedtime because we were still very aware of the bonding and attachment process (basically everything they tell you to do in attachment class!!). The orphanage was very traumatizing for her as was the move from there to us, which was very obvious in her early months. Although she would have stayed and probably been very well behaved in a group setting I was just never willing to put her in that position. If you didn't know her well you might not even notice her "orphanage" persona come out but she becomes stiff and uncomfotable and extremely well behaved. She is usually not well behaved but a naughty little sprite! After all of that bonding and attaching we are now working on getting her to be secure and happy away from home, and mom, specifically in a pre-school setting, which is why I'm so pleased at how well it went yesterday because that stiff, uncomfortable persona did not come out (well it did at first but only briefly) and although she was very clingy afterwards she was still happy when talking about her big morning!
Today is also a big day for Logan. He is having a scan today to check on his cancer and how well his chemo is doing as well as a scan to check how his hearing is (two, of the four, chemo's he is on have high rates of deafness as a side effect). If you are reading this please say a prayer or a good thought for Logan. The scan determines the rest of his treatment.
I also want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for me since I have been sick since September. It took over two months but most of my more serious issues have been resolved, at least for now, and I will probably have to have surgery in the new year. I am thankful that the doctors were able to help me after me being rushed to the hospital twice and collapsing twice, it was a very difficult and scary time. I followed that with getting the flu for nearly three weeks followed by secondary lung problems (which Sierra also got but she ended up with asthma, which is really upsetting to us) but I feel so much better now it's like I have a new life! So, again, Thanks!!!!
Now for the photos of all four kids and all of our exciting happenings. I am feeling so much better after three months in a fog of illness that I just feel like only good things will be happening from now on. At least that is my hope! I hope everyone who reads this has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and the HAPPIEST NEW YEAR ever!!
Samantha's First Thanksgiving:
Sierra was still ill and I wasn't doing great so our Thanksgiving was very short and without much celebrating. However, we did manage to have a nice meal and say what we are Thankful for, and we have much to be thankful for! Sierra came up with the idea for, and did most of the work, for the pumpkin/flower centerpiece. It was made with a pumpkin we grew ourselves!
Me with my girls before Thanksgiving dinner - you can really see the sickness in Sierra's eyes. Samantha eating her first Thanksgiving dinner - Turkey and cranberries were her favorite along with our family recipe - YumYum Salad!! Well, until we got to pie! You can see in these photos what I have to be thankful for!!!
Decorating for Samantha's first Christmas with us:
Sierra made us all wear Christmas gear...thankfully I was taking the photos and not in them!! This is Samantha's first Christmas with us and last Christmas we thought she'd be with us so this year is so much more fun and joyous for all of us than it was last year. Samantha LOVES to decorate, loves to look at the decorations and loves the Christmas music. So do Sierra and I so we're having a great time! Jeremy is our Scrooge, which is why we bought him a Bah Humbug shirt a few years ago!
Sunny's first hours with Auntie and cousins Sierra and Samantha:
Sunny in my arms at around 18 hours old. Sierra and me with Sunny. She is very alert and interested in what's going on around here which reminds me of Sierra at this age. She is also very laid back and has a sweet, quiet cry, which does not remind me of Sierra at all!!
Look how sweet she is and how cute they all are!!
READOPTION...she's finally, officially, Samantha Jade Yue Ling Tsang!!
It's official now!! Samantha is who we've been saying she is for nearly a year!! She is also a US Citizen now and will get a California birth certificate. Aren't my girls are too cute in purple!? Sierra was very ill this day but managed to really pull herself together...the judge gave Sierra the paperwork to take to the clerk to be filed, with instructions to guard it carefuly, and Sierra took this duty so seriously she wouldn't let me hold it or even look at it!!
Macaroni Grill was Samantha's very first restaurant ever, on pick up day in Taiwan, and she loved it then and loves it more now. It is her favorite restaurant and it is also Sierra's favorite restaurant so although it is not our fav we end up going there for most special occasions, including this one! Finally relaxing at home after a very long day!
Christmas Photo Day:
Sierra and Sunny at one week old...Sunny is wearing Sierra's strawberry hat from when she was newborn and Sierra's elf hat from the day after she was born!
The girls...how cute are they OMG!! Samantha did not want to sit for photos so she was sad and pouty for most of the photos but perfectly happy when the camera was down!
The four of them...Logan was the problem as he did NOT want to sit, pose, smile or cooperate in any way, not even for a cookie. These were actually the best photos of Logan and they weren't great of any one else! I'm thinking of trying to photoshop Logan into a better picture!
FCC Christmas Party:
Caught:
Samantha was being quiet, not like her, so I turned around and she had poured almost an entire container of powder all over her room including rubbing into her rocking chair, on top of her diaper pail and all over her carpet and all over one paci, which she found under her crib. She was actually very proud of herself until I told her it was a no no at which point she started denying doing it!!
