Happy 4th of July!

Mia Day Videos

Tonight I was looking at the videos from the day Mia officially became my daughter. What memories they bring back. I still get overwhelmed with all the emotions of that crazy, magical day.

It was the day that all my dreams came true. Five difficult years worth of waiting ended that day. That day... wow. Seems so far away now. Was it really just 36 days ago?

This is the moment she was handed to me. There's not much because my sister was trying to video and photograph at the same time. They literally handed Mia to me and rushed us into the next room to start the paperwork to complete the adoption. It wasn't exactly how I expected it to go. And really... more video would have just shown Mia crying, screaming and thrashing around in my arms for another hour anyway.

Luckily, she settled down after we finally figured out how to get the bottle just right. My girl was not only stressed but was starving, too. To see the progression of how that happened you can see the photos on the Mia Day post.

This video was taken as soon as I turned her around after that bottle was gone. She was an entirely different baby. Now after knowing her for 5 weeks I can say this is her true personality. Only one hour after meeting me and she showed me who she was.

And she hasn't looked back. This last video was taken just a couple hours later at the civil affairs office as we were waiting to complete more paperwork. 

I have no idea how or why she's handled the transition so well. Other than to say she's a remarkably amazing little girl. She's resilient, strong, smart and so full of happiness. I'm truly blessed beyond measure.

I've loved her since the day I signed the paperwork with the adoption agency back in February of 2006. But now I know HER and I love HER. This child. And I couldn't imagine my life without her. She makes me happier than I could've ever imagined.  

An Update

Tomorrow marks 5 weeks that I've been Mia's mom. I'm amazed at how much she's changed in such a short time. I'm also amazed at how fast it started to feel like she's always been here. We've found a pretty good groove us two.

Mia sleeps well in her crib. She goes to bed anytime between 7-8:30pm... depending on how tired she is. I shoot for 7:30pm but she sometimes has other plans. LOL! She's basically sleeping through the night. I have a 4-5 oz bottle ready to be made every night if she wakes and doesn't settle with some pats on the back or rocking. That seems to do the trick.

Every now and then we have a bad night where she cries and refuses to go to sleep. Those nights we struggle. But I really can't complain. I expected the sleep deprivation to be the worst of it. But so far I'm doing okay. Ask me again in mid-August after I've gone back to work though and it may be a different story. LOL!

She wakes between 7-8:30am every morning. Generally closer to 7am unless her bad mommy has kept her out too late. She's gotten to where she'll play and talk to herself in her crib for awhile. I watch her on the video monitor. Sometimes she'll peek her little head over the side of her crib looking for me then lay back down and talk to her feet some more. We've made a game of it now. I usually peek my head in the door and wait for her to see me. Which cracks her up. I love starting my mornings with her thousand watt smile. :)

Like clockwork she gets fussy at the 2 hours awake mark. That's when a morning nap happens. We haven't quite gotten that routine down yet. Sometimes she sleeps in bed with me if I want to nap, too. I like the snuggles. I think she does, too. Sometimes I just rock her a little but lay her on the living room floor or the couch. There's no telling how long she'll sleep. Sometimes only a half hour. Sometimes almost 2.

We've started the afternoon nap with going into her crib. Those naps last longer. At least an hour but usually more. I may start trying to get her to do the morning nap in her crib as well. But I'm hesitant to give up spooning her. Those moments won't last forever. :(

While in China, I was told Mia was only on a formula-rice porridge mixture in her bottle. So I chose not to give her any solids with the intention of starting all of that once we got home. We just started solids this week. So far she's only had peas. I'm giving it a few days to make sure there's no reaction. But she loved them.

She mastered rolling over on day three in China. Now she's sitting up strong, jumping in her Jenny-Jump-Up, and army crawling all over the place. She still can't sit herself up from a laying down position. But my girl is strong and determined. I have no doubt she'll accomplish anything she sets her mind to. I think she's gonna be an athlete. Just a guess. We'll see.

Our bonding is going great. She absolutely knows who mommy is. She looks for me when she hears my voice. She doesn't like having me out of her sight when we're out someplace. She's gotten a little more comfortable just in the last week and will play independently for short periods of time while I leave the room. Sometimes.. but not always. And only if it's just her and I alone at home where's she's familiar.

She knows her name and will look when you speak to her. She knows her doggie's name and will look for him if I ask where he is. They're getting along well. He still wants more of my attention and I try the best I can to divide it between them both.

Mia is completely in 12 mth clothes and even some smaller cut 18 mth sizes. She looks to me like her weight is distributing itself differently. She doesn't have as many neck rolls as she did in China. I have to keep those creases clean so I know I'm not imagining it. Her face looks different to me, too. I can't describe how. She just looks a little older to me. Not as roly poly and chubby cheeked as when we first met.

She has 2 teeth up top right in the middle and the same two on the bottom have now also poked through. She babbles incessantly when we're at home. But I talk to her all the time, too. So that's probably part of it. I read somewhere once that babies are faster to talk if they're talked to. Right now she only says ma ma ma ma. Sometimes it comes out as mama. As much as I'd like to believe that she's referring to me... I think it's just her favorite syllable.

All in all...she's doing fabulously. She's got a very laid back, easy going personality. She just rolls with everything. As long as she's with me, I've found we can do just about anything. She's been with me to a hair appointment that lasted 2 hours. She sat and played in her stroller, charmed the stylists, had a bottle and then a nap. She shops like a champ just hanging out in the cart checking everything out. 

 We've taken walks in her stroller around the neighborhood. 

She even sat on my lap while I had a pedicure. She got a little squirmy towards the end when she started getting bored but she was absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe it. Of course, one of my besties was there as back up. I wasn't brave enough to try that alone.

I love being a mom. But it's hard work. Some days I'm just happy to have her go to sleep so I can have some down time. But then by morning I miss her terribly. I know this sounds crazy because I really do love my sleep... but sometimes I even secretly hope she wakes in the middle of the night for some rocking. I love sitting in her room in the dark and feeling her just melt into me. It's so peaceful. It's everything I dreamed of. And I know those moments will be gone all too soon.

Watch Out World...

It's official. She's gone mobile. It gets blurry when I zoomed in but you get the general idea. And she couldn't even roll over just 4 weeks ago!

Oh and those large wrought iron candlesticks you see in the corner in the opening wide shot.. were a great motivator for learning how to semi-crawl. They're now gone.

More?

I need some opinions. Today was the fourth morning in a row where Mia has done this thing with her hands in response to me asking and signing "more" to her.

So am I reading too much into this? Is she trying to sign "more"? What do y'all think? 

And for those that don't know the sign for "more" ... a demonstration.

Blessed Sleep - Part Two

Tonight marks 9 nights in a row of sleeping in her crib in her room. I think it's safe to say that's how things are gonna roll at our house. Her foster mother didn't co-sleep with her. Mia slept by herself during her time with the foster family. She also preferred to sleep that way while we were in China together.

We tried co-sleeping when we first got home but just because that was easier for me. We were both so jet lagged and exhausted, sleeping at odd times. It was easier to just lay down together in mommy's bed. I also think it helped her during that first week as we transitioned to yet another new place for her. I was her familiar something. The only familiar something really. So it worked for us.

After she fell asleep on the living room floor after a hard day of playing, I decided to see what would happen if I put her in her crib. And we haven't looked back. We still do naps downstairs on the couch or the floor. Sometimes if I'm gonna nap with her we'll end up in my bed just cuz I can't resist snuggling with her.

Like this particular day. We were all cozy and Griffey decided he wanted a little snuggle time, too. I'm so glad I had my I-Phone laying on the night stand so I didn't miss this moment. He's finally starting to accept her into our pack. Total cuteness.

But at bedtime, she's in her crib 100% of the time. We have a bottle, read a few books, snuggle in the upholstered rocker in her room and then rock until she falls asleep. Her foster mother also rocked her at night... but in a cradle... not in her arms. Mia had two foster sisters. One a month older and one a month younger. So her foster mother did the best she could while basically juggling triplets.

I hope that someday we'll get to a point where I can kiss her goodnight, put her in her crib and she'll drift off to sleep on her own. But we're not there yet. Probably not for a long while.

She generally goes to bed anytime between 7:30 and 9pm. We shoot for 7:30 cuz that's what she seems to need. But not every night is easy. Sometimes it takes her until 9 to fall asleep. She doesn't always want to give in to sleep. Even though her body says otherwise. Her eyes will be rolling back in her head... but she'll fight to stay awake. And this child is stubborn! She'll fuss, sometimes just flat out cry, pull her hair, kick her legs, move her arms. Just anything to keep her body moving. Because once she's still... that's all she wrote.

I never let her cry it out in her crib. Never. I stay with her until she falls asleep. No matter what. And most of the time, I'm rocking her. There have been nights where it exhausts me. My back and arms ache. But I never leave her alone to cry it out. It's way too soon for that. Right now the most important thing is for her to know that I'm here. I need her to learn to trust that. It's a work in progress. 

I've heard the fighting sleep thing is common for kids. Especially adopted children transitioning into their new life. I don't know why she does it. Is she just too nosy? Afraid she'll miss something? Or is there anxiety somewhere under the surface?

She's a fabulous sleeper.... about 95% of the time. She'll stay asleep until sometime between 7-8:30am. She may whimper a couple times throughout the night. But it just takes me popping her pacifier back in and rubbing her back and she's back out within a minute or two.

I really can't complain about the sleep thing AT ALL. I've heard friends talk about how they struggle with sleep issues. I was prepared for that. But so far... I've been so blessed. Knock on wood. LOL!

Once she's out... she sleeps really well. I watch her on the video monitor. Usually she sleeps like a rock, barely moving. Which makes me believe it's not so much anxiety or stress keeping her awake. I'd think her sleep would be restless with a lot of waking up if that were the case. But I don't really know.

I just know I say little thank you prayers to the sleep gods for blessing me with such a good sleeper. Even when I'm in my second hour of struggling to get her asleep, exhausted, hot, and ready to cry myself... I know once she gives in I'll usually have 8-12 hours of peace. So I hang in there. That is So Much More than I ever imagined was possible. I'm sure we'll have our moments with rough nights here and there. But right now... I couldn't be happier with how well she's doing.

Mia and her T's

Those of you who migrated over from the other blog have heard me speak of the T's many times over the years. But for those who don't know... these are my sister's 5 kids. All of their names begin with the letter T.... hence the nickname of "the T's". They range in age from 14 to almost 3.

It's crazy to think we waited for Mia for more than half Tatum's life. Teagan for most of his since he's only 6. And Tess... wasn't even thought of when the wait for Mia began. They're all very excited about the addition of their new cousin.

Mia and I went over to hang out with them yesterday. The kids are thrilled just to be near her. They all want to hold her and love on her. I had to remind them several times to go slow and not overwhelm her. But I can see Mia's gonna love them as much as they already love her.

The video is of the three youngest T's mentioned above who insisted Mia should check out their swing set.