1st complete physical

Finally! ShiYu's first full physical at the pediatrician. I have to say I love the doctor! She is very caring and very thorough. ShiYu is much smaller then what I thought. I felt she was tall for her age but she is actually in the 5.29 percent range of the growth chart. Her weight is in the 7.22 percent range. Wow! She received her baby shots (even though she got these in China it is recommended they are given again due to the possibility they might have not received the right amount, the could have been expired, or never given). She also received her flu shot. Poor little thing. The shots in one day. You can see in the picture how ShiYu felt about the shots. You can also see Daddy and how much he loves his little girl! The doctor is also referring her to a neurologist, orthopedic doctor, ophthalmologist, and speech therapist. She also suspects that ShiYu does in fact have mild cerebral palsy.  All in all poor little ShiYu had a very hard dayand its sleeping peacefully right now.She is the sweetest, happiest, baby. 

Shi Yu has loved to pretend she is stirring good since day one. I think she may have seen this done often. Today she is making breakfast. What would you like lol

They told us she may be afraid of dogs as she had never seen animals.

Sound asleep

1st art project

Today Shi Yu made her very first art project! Yes the forever traditional old faithful handprint turkey.  Shi Yu wasn't quite as thrilled as Mommy and Daddy though. She wasn't to sure about all of that weird colored stuff on her hands. Being the trooper she is, she allowed herself to go through the yucky process. I think she was very proud at the end result.  Well, Mommy and Daddy were very proud. Lol

Just had to share the precious children from or group AGAIN

They once were lost and now are found

Did I mention?

Shi Yu's favorite toy is paper! Now I know that most kids like the paper and boxes from gifts better then the gifts when they are young but this is very different.  I think most of the children that were adopted loved paper. Not to just shake, crinkle, and ball up without thought. Paper is treated as delicately as a baby or toddler is capable of.  It's examined, turned over, touched. Then it can be folded in so many ways. Then unfolded, examined again. Shi Yu originally could play with a piece of paper very calmly for an hour. After much of this play it was finally time to gently tear pieces of paper off. Each piece that was separated from the original piece was sill just as precious. It was not to be discarded. It was in essence a whole new toy. After the papers were torn they would each be examined one by one and placed in a pile. This is done over and over again. I say all of this because it is so reflective of how poor these orphanages are. Giving paper as a toy.  I sometimes wonder if there were enough pieces of paper so that each child would get one. The odd thing is Shi Yu is very content with a piece of paper and I can see the use of her imagination growing. The mind of a child is so amazing. Yes I know. Thus is probably an odd blog entry. But its something I want to remember. Shi Yu loves when the mailman drops the mail through the door! All that junk mail is finally handy for something lol. Btw, she has paper (an advertisement) in the pic.

My favorite pic so far.

I love working with photo programs. One of my regrets is turning down the offer by Abby studios to send me to school in Chicago (that was 38 years ago lol and all I wanted to do was be a housewife and Mom). But I did love the retouching I did for them. I hear not to many people can do it anymore. Of course with all the computer programs now days its probably obsolete. Sorry, went in a tangent lol.

My late one month update!

One month home would have been Oct 13. But pretty soon we will be on our 2 month anniversary of actually receiving her. So maybe I an early and late lol. It seems Shi Yu brought a nasty little Freind home with her called mollusca.  She had it from the day we met her and it want to bad but it eventually spread and blew up! Finally after the 3Rd doctor (from 3 days ago) I feel like we might be getting somewhere. poor little thing is not a happy camper and looks like she is covered with measles. At least now we have a prescription cream that helps the itching and we can give her Benadryl.  So beside that little disaster everything is going well. She has her first full pediatrician appointment next week so hopefully we can get to the root of problem concerning her legs, balance, muscles etc. and we can get in the road with the correct medical path to take. She had already come so far I have no doubt this little girl is going to do great!  I have never seen a 2 year old that will beg for vegetables but she loves them!  She has the best manners!  One day while getting a napkin to wipe her mouth she put her hand out, took the napkin, wiped her mouth and hands, and the proceeded to wipe the high chair tray off. She must have been taught that at the orphanage. The other thing she learned there was to stay still when she is going to get her diaper changed. If I lay her down and tell her I am going to change her diaper she will lay there until I go get her diaper, come back, and put it on her. When I think of the horrible things she had been through, the lack of love,  care, attention, encouragement... I am astounded at this little girls ability to love, laugh, and be happy. She had been from one orphanage to the other and foster care (that is a joke in China) and bank to the orphanage, to hospitals where they have no parent to console them and the doctors and nurses are so cold and indifferent, yet this little girl had a smile on her gave almost all the time. She adores her Daddy and he adores her. I think she its pretty find of me too lol. Such a happy little girl. Such a blessing to us. Ooh, and she loves the dogs. She is very affectionate and gentle with them. Lots of gentle hugs for them..

Sitting pretty

Bundled up for a walk in the fall brrr

Hair grows so slow lol

Life is amazing!

I have never seen a happier child! Shi Yu is adjusting so well. She is blossoming in so many ways.  We are still holding strong to not letting people see her (besides immediate family) and it sometimes feels isolating but I can see how helps the bonding process. Any one that has seen her probably find the things we say about all her baby talking, laughing etc, unbelievable because when they see her she still curls up in a ball and doesn't say a word. My mother is an exception to the rule. But as I said before my Mom and I act and talk so much alike that I think she senses the closeness. So far she has seen 2 doctors. We are still waiting for our appt with the pediatrician but in the mean time we had her to a dermatologist for the rash she has had since China. It recently started spreading so we were concerned (even though 2 doctors in China blew it off). We found out it is something called Molluscum (sp?). It is contagious mostly only to children though as most adults have built up immunity.  And having it won't ban a child from going to school or any other activity except wrestling lol. He also said you would pretty much have to have skin to skin contact. It is common even in this country where there are many children together so it is most likely from the orphanage. He gave us a prescription that its actually green tea extract and promotes the skin to wake up and fight the rash. The down side is that it can take a year to go away. Or biggest concern are her legs and walking. She had xrays as they suspected hip dysplasia but that was rolled out. She had an appointment to see an orthopedic doctor in a few weeks. We can see she had muscle spasms in her legs at times and its sometimes in a little pain. But she has still made amazing progress!  She can crawl on her knees whereas before it was a combat crawl. She can sit on her knees. She can stand if we hold her hands. She is doing a great job at holding her head up. She had become very vocal. She can baby talk up a storm! And screech in laughter!  The hardest pray had been her sleeping. Since we are in the bonding stage and trying to build up her security we can't just put her to bed for a nap or at night. It terrified her and she had no way of knowing if she its being abandoned again. Thus to me odds the biggest difference in having biological children. And since she can't walk yet it means someone (mostly mama) is carrying or holding her she sleeps in the bed at night (this is recommended by all professionals in these situations) and at least does well with that. Throughout the night she will reach out and touch you  to make sure you are there. Maritime means rocking her to sleep and if she is in a deep enough sleep I try to get up so I can do some housework (lets not discuss the house urgh lol). She its getting beret with that though. Today I was able to lay her in the rocking chair and stand next to it and she feel asleep. This was a huge accomplishment! It means she is starting to trust that we won't disappear on her. She loves the blanket my sons fiancee crochet for her and always wants it at Nap time. If I don't get it first she will point to it and baby talk that she wants it. She gives you a huge smile when she gets it and then rubs it on her face. I have to give my husband a lot of credit. He is a natural Dad. Shi Yu adores him.  This is the first time I have had the experience of my child having a good Dad. (if you don't know me I was married before...a long long time a go. If you do know me you know what I am talking about). He is so involved and wants to be part of everything in her life. He never complains about anything. His life is totally dedicated to her. It is an amazing feeling and I am so appreciative of it. I think that is pretty much it. I am posting some random pics from China just for the heck if it lol.