A huge THANK YOU to....

.....my good friend and DTC buddy for both adoptions, Marla! I got an envelope addressed to The Proctor Cuties the other day with her return address. Wondering what could be inside I riped it open on the way back from the mail box. Inside was a little note and barrettes for both girls with their names on them. This is not the first time we've gotten a little unexpected gift from Marla. I have been wanting to send something for some time to her brood and I have just the thing for her girls but I need to think of something for her boys to send. So, thank you my friend. I look forward to watching your children grow up even from here in Kentucky. I Love Ya, girl!!!!! I will post some pics tonight.

Speech and hearing update

Hearing - Today I took Sophia for a hearing test. Yes, I know she had one in China (LOL) but with her speech delays they wanted to check and make sure she is hearing okay. She passed with flying colors. So I asked the doctor when I clap my hands behind her head and she does nothing that means she is just ignoring me, right? And his answer was YES! Oh boy am I in for it.

Speech - We met with Sophia's therapist last week and we discussed our plan for getting her to talk and her therapy sessions. We are going to start therapy on October 3rd and continue with it once a week until our (the therapist and our) goals for Sophia are met. The first 3 weeks are going to be hard because Olivia is taking Chinese class and they start at 6:30 with therapy being over at 5:00.

Then and now photos

Last night I played around and created a then and now photo of Olivia and Sophia. Olivia's then picture was taken in China when she was 11 months old. Her now photo was taken at the state fair last month at almost 3.5. She has changed so much.

Here is Olivia in China and now.

Sophia's was taken on her adoption day about 5 minutes after we met. She was in her daddy's arms - no tears unlike Olivia who wanted nothing to do with him for 3 days. She was 10.5 months old in the photo. In the now photo, she was 20 months old

Sophia then and now

They are.......

......their father's daughters!!! David is one that has to clean every crumb up as soon as dinner is finished - well sometimes before but that is a whole other story. I made supper one night and we had very messy cornbread. I went and got the broom and dust pan and set it on the chair. I turned around to do something else real fast and Sophia decided to clean up her own mess.

Sophia sweeping up the cornbread - look how messy it is under her seat!

A quick smile for the camera!!

Not to be outdone by her baby sister Olivia gets into the act. Now if I could just get her to clean up her toys!

One year ago today......

.......we found out about our youngest daughter. I was at home with the laptop on chatting with some friends and at 10:35 am I got a call from our family coordinator, Ebbie. As I was talking to him I posted to my Feb DTC group that I was on the call hoping to be first but one of my travel mates actually had the honors. He said I am looking at the pictures of your daughter. He said her name is Yue Yu Xi and she was from the Yugan SWI in the Jiangxi Province - the same as Olivia. He said her birthday was 12-11-04 and that he was waiting on the translation to tell me the other things. I asked about our other friends babies and how many referrals our agency got - we were DTC and LID at the same time with 2 other families we traveled with the last time. He said there were 4 babies from Yugan and one from Fuzhou also in the Jiangxi Province. I called my (then) best friend to tell her to come to the house so we could drive to Lexington but did not tell her anything about Sophia. I then called my hubby and told him about our new daughter. While I waited for my friend to get to my house, I called my dear friend Susan and she e-mailed me the pics of her daughter Lainey. I was so blessed to be able to share this day with her as well as the call that came nearly 2 years before. Once I got to the agency, I found out that Sophia was in foster care. She weighed 14 lbs and was 29 inches tall. She had hair! It was amazing to be staring at her pictures. After we left our agency, we went to our dear friend Teri's house. She was so excited that I was able to share with her our happy news. We then went and made copies of the pictures. Olivia had gymnastics so thankfully Daddy was able to meet us there so he could finally see the pictures. My mom was at gymnastics but I refrained from telling her anything until I could tell her and dh's parents together. They met us at Dairy Queen where they found out about their newest granddaughter together. We had an enjoyable day and it is one I will never forget.

Olivia and my first look at Sophia

Don't we look proud!

Sophia holding her referral picture one year later - My has she changed!

Look at that cute little smirk.......

Cute pictures from Sunday

I love this outfit. I bought it in China for Sophia but it is a little big in the top for her.


Look at Sophia making a kissy face. I love it!!


Ready for church.......

 

First Day of School.....

Monday was the first day of "school" (really a Mother's Day Out program at a local church). Olivia went part of last year - mid-January to May - and loved it so I thought I'd send both girls this year from the beginning. Olivia did well. She was just a tad clingy Monday morning but did not shed any tears. Sophia also did well. She went right into her room, started playing with a toy and wouldn't even give me a kiss or a hug. Today, she went into her room and started playing but did stop long enough to kiss me good-bye. She is still in her crib for nap and bed so I was unsure how she would do taking a nap on a mat. Monday she did fine but today she was having no part of that. Her teacher said she laid down with her and Sophia took her blanket and covered Ms Gilda's head, kissed her hand and waved bye-bye.


Sophia with her backpack and lunch bag.


Olivia with her backpack and lunch bag.


Both of the girls looking ready to go.


Out the door...... 

Sophia and her speech

I have been concerned about Sophia and her speech for some time now. At 20 months she only says 5 words. KY has an early intervention program called First Steps. Well, I contacted them and she had her evaluation today. They checked not only her speech but also her fine motor skills, development and a few other things. She excelled at everything but speech so she will be getting some speech therapy in the near future. Now, I have the daunting task of finding a speech therapist on their list.

Just some cute pics......

Olivia and Sophia after church


Sophia just cheesin' it up for the camera!


And again......


Sitting in the "time-out" chair - even though she wasn't in time-out 

Collage of vacation

 

More vacation pictures......

Olivia and her tye-dye shirt (she enjoyed doing this)


The girls and the grandparents


The girls and their Aunt Donna


Olivia and the sand castle

Vacation Pics

Sophia playing in the sand.......


Olivia and Sophia playing in the sand.......


The girls in an outfit we brought home from China.......


In the sand castle Daddy made them...... 

Vacation!

Well, we went on vacation last month and had a wonderful time. We went with my in-laws (MIL, FIL and SIL) - a real family vacation. They have a timeshare and it was great. We actually had a one bedroom condo to ourselves so we had lots of privacy. It was the first time the girls saw the beach and they loved the sand and Olivia loved the ocean but Sophia didn't. We spent the week relaxing, swimming, going to the beach, shopping and tye-dying shirts. Olivia really got braver in her swimming. We have been working on jumping in the pool to me or dh but she wanted the comfort of your hands being right under her arms. She started doing what our friends E. and K. call "monster jumps" from the side, letting 2 adults throw her back and forth between them and lastly holding her breath, blowing bubbles through her nose and touching the bottom of the pool with mom holding her hands of course. Here are a few pics from vacation......

Well, I have saved this post trying to add pics but Blogger won't let me. Soooooo, my good friend Sam gave me a tip and I will be posting pics separately. Thanks Sam!

Sophia's eye exam

Well, Sophia had an eye exam last month as I thought she might have a lazy eye. It is something I noticed in her referral pictures but talked to her pediatrician about. She thought that it was that the bridge of her nose was wider and that is why it looked that way but she gave me a card for a pediatric opthamologist and said if I wanted to be certain to check it out. I thought it wouldn't hurt to do that so I did (after sitting on the card for a few months). It turns out that she does not have a lazy eye and the ped was right that the bridge of her nose is wider than the norm. She is, however, nearsighted. She is to go back in 9 to 12 months to see if her vision has gotten worse or if it stayed the same. He said if she were in school and needed to see the blackboard he would give her a prescription for glasses. So, I will be making an appointment around the first of the year for sometime from April to July for her to get rechecked. She did really well at the doctor office and let him do whatever he needed to do.

Here is a picture of Sophia on the 4th of July.

Next installment - our vacation to the beach.........

So much to catch up on.........

Well, so much has happened in the last month and a half I don't know where to start. We went to the AHH picnic the last weekend in June and had a wonderful time catching up with various travelmates and friends. The girls are changing so much.

Then we went camping and Holiday World for a weekend and had so much fun. There were 5 couples that adopted from China and the girls were great. These are friends that we met through our local Families with Children from China. We hope the girls will remain lifelong friends. Olivia has really let her guard down when it comes to trying new things. She rode rides that I never thought she would ride because they go fast or 'round and 'round. Sophia is as always my dare devil. She will do just about anything.

Sophia's 18 month check up and other stuff

I took Sophia for her 18 month check up last Tuesday. She weighs 23 pounds (same as her 3 yo sister!) and is 31.5 inches tall. She got an overall good report and 4 shots. She goes on July 5th to an opthamologist. I am thinking she has a lazy eye but am unsure so I am (finally) going to have it check out for my own peace of mind.

Yesterday I was cooking supper and noticed Sophia was extremely quiet. That isn't too difficult since she doesn't talk much. I came into the living room and she had gotten a book out of Olivia's room and was sitting on the couch "reading". She is really getting into reading.

Sophia reading

Sophia and Olivia reading Phil and Lil Go to the Doctor

Father's Day 2006

I am a bit late in posting but Father's Day was great! David had an awesome day with his 2 daughters and even got cooked breakfast - not in bed as he is ALWAYS up before me. He got his favorite though pancakes and bacon. His parents, brother and sister came over after church for lunch and it was good to be able to spend some time with them even if they didn't get to spend much time with the girls as it was nap time by the time lunch was over. Derek also came over that evening. David was married to his mom and he is the only father Derek has really known so it was good to see him although I wish I had taken a photo of them. My wish for my hubby is that he knows what an awesome dad I think he is and that he KNOWS his girls love him - all 3 of us!

Why do I have to be Mom so early?

Olivia in the last week has taken to calling me only mom. I thought I would have a few more years of being mommy so with her calling me this I have been out of sorts this past week. What makes children make this change without asking? Is it that they are getting more independant? Getting older? I have tried telling her that she can't call me mom until she turns 9 but that isn't really fair but I don't want to be mom right now. I want to be mommy for a little longer. Can I be mommy a little longer? According to Olivia, the answer is NO!

At least I still have Sophia. She has very few words and momma is one of them. She knows and understands everything you say but she just won't say the words. She says momma, dada, bye-bye, and something most people won't understand for tickle, tickle, tickle and doggie. Maybe she will call me mommy until she's 9......

Josh's graduation

Well, Saturday was a sad day. My oldest nephew (my brothers oldest child) graduated from high school. I remember the day he was born. I remember that I had to wait until he came home from the hospital before I could hold him. I lived with his mother for several years. He walked on his first birthday. He was a joyful child and is very dependable and responsible. He graduated with honors but did not get recognized because he didn't want to pay for the cords. I wish I'd have know about this because I would have paid for them! He is starting college in June. He is taking business classes. Saturday was great but I am NOT looking forward to the day my girls graduate from high school!



Josh's senior picture

The granddaughters - Olivia, Alexis, Bailee and Sophia

Josh after graduation

My Dad with his children and grandchildren

And she sleeps......

Well, about a month and a half ago I was trying to cut out Sophia's morning nap. The 2 days I did she fell asleep eating lunch and then one of the days she fell asleep during supper too. She is an excellent sleeper. She sleeps from 9:00 pm to 9:00 am or later. She then sleeps for an hour about 11:00 and then about 1.5 hours in the afternoon. Here is some photos of Sophia sleeping during supper.......

Starting to fall....

Let me get one more bite.....

And she's gone!!








All of this happened in less than 10 minutes.