Getting Ready for Easter....

So much has been going on around the Portie house and in Maddie's life - it's hard for me to write about everything. But here goes....

Maddie started pre-school this week at Episcopal Day School and I went back to work part-time. We decided to start her off slow and have her only go 1/2 days - 4 days a week. This will change after the Easter break when she will begin going all day and I will be returning to work full-time. Although we were a bit apprehensive about sending her to school, she did better than we ever expected. The first day was seamless - we pulled up at school, she grabbed her backpack, got out of the car, met the teacher at the drop off line, took her hand, turned and waived good-bye. She was so ready to start school and have that interaction with other children. At the end of the week I spoke with the Teacher who told me Maddie had a great 1st week and offered that she is a very bright little girl. As a mom, I was so excited to hear those few little words. She is the youngest in the class and was given an exception to start PK2 early, so I am very happy to hear that she is keeping up with the class and doing well.

In preparation for Easter, Maddie's class is having a Easter party this coming week. They will be hunting Easter eggs and having some snacks. WOW - it has been a long time since I attended an Easter party for one of my children or even thought about hunting Easter Eggs. It is so refreshing to be able to do all of those special things again! This time around I have both Christopher and Elizabeth to share in these special memories. They are having as much fun as I am with Maddie and all things that come with having a 2 year old.

Now that we have received for Maddie, both her US Passport and Certificate of Citizenship we ventured to the dreaded Social Security Administration Office to file for her Social Security Card. What an adventure this was!!!! I showed up with her COC, US Passport, official Adoption paperwork, Application for SS # and the guidelines I printed from the SSA website. After waiting for about 45 minutes it was finally our turn. I thought - this should be easy - I had already completed the application and I had read all of the requirements and brought every document that the instructions stated that I should. The lady behind the desk took one look at all of my paperwork and was immediately perplexed and did not understand why I had not brought her birth certificate. I went into an explanation about the State of Louisiana's requirements on issuing a LA Birth Certificate and that we would not have one until we re-finalized our adoption in a few months. I pointed out that the requirements for getting a ss# state that a US Passport can be used in lieu of a birth certificate. Several minutes of bantering back and forth about the paperwork ensued only for the lady to tell me that I did not have any documentation that showed I was her parent. I pointed to our Adoption Decree issued from the Chinese Government. She was unwilling to accept that document but told me if I brought a letter from her DAYCARE on their letterhead stating that I was her parent that I would be able to get the SS#. WHAT?! How crazy is that! In light of all of the official documents that I brought with me - she wanted a letter from the DAYCARE stating that I was Maddie's parent. What can I say - a shining example of our government at work! lol Needless to say I am not going to waste my time with bringing such a letter and I will just wait until we have a LA Birth Certificate before going back.

We have our appointment with the Craniofacial Team at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston tomorrow. We will see the surgical team first then see the Speech Therapy team. Keep watching the blog for more updates.

What a week!!!

It has been quite some time since my last post. Maddie has been doing quite well and is picking up English pretty quickly now. Over the last couple of weeks we have noticed that she is saying English words unprompted and still repeating everything we say. She is such a happy little girl and is very loving.

We have had quite a week last week. Keith father fell ill and was in the hospital last week. My mother had gone to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to a treatment center for Depression and other things on our advice and once there fell ill and had to be rushed to the Hospital. It was discovered that she had a large benign tumor on her brain that had grown (over the past 15-20 years) to a size larger than a grapefruit with tentacles down into her eye sockets. Needless to say this required emergency brain surgery. I flew down to Fort Lauderdale, FL to be with my mom and dad - leaving Maddie behind with Keith and kids. This was the first time I had been apart from her since our GOTCHA day. Matters only got worse when Keith's father passed away while I was still in Florida. Lizzy really stepped up to the plate and into my role in my absence. She was a great motherly figure to Maddie and cared for her very well considering all of the drama effecting her life as well. I was able to make it home to attend my father-in-laws funeral services. Maddie missed me so much and I missed her more. We hugged several times - it was like she couldn't believe it was me and from that moment on she didn't let go of me all day.

Things are getting back to normal slowly here. My mother will be coming home today and will require only outpatient therapy. The arrangements that we had previously made for Maddie to be cared for by my father, of course were tabled and we needed to go in a different direction. Lizzy's school has PK2-8th grade classes, so I inquired about putting her there starting next week. We went and had an hour visit this morning. I dropped her off in the classroom and she never missed me. She was so excited with all of the toys, kids and stuff to do, she didn't give me a second thought. I returned in 1 hour to find her playing on the playground with all of the other kids. After a few minutes she noticed me standing there watching and made her way to me to give me a quick hug and then it was back to the playground. I had to make her leave. We went back into the classroom to gather her things and the other kids were returning to the room and she decided that she wasn't ready to go home and politely sat down at the table with the other kids. She reluctantly left with me and will return on Monday when I start work again part -time for a few weeks. I can't imagine that she will have a problem with school. She appears very ready to start interacting with other children. I would imagine her language skills will improve tremendously being with other children. I am very excited for her and am completely at ease with putting her in school.

We received her Certificate of Citizenship, which we have been waiting for since we entered the country with her. We also, unexpectedly received her passport, which I thought was delayed waiting for her COC. I did write a letter to the passport office and this must have helped explain the documents that we did submit with her application that also met the issuance requirements. We are over that hump and are looking forward to Finalization of our Adoption and getting her a social security card.

Thanks to all of my friends and family who offered prayers, support and made themselves available during this difficult time for our family.

Huge Milestone reached....

We have reached a huge milestone!!!! Maddie sat down in the bathtub tonight and actually played with her toys and splashed around!!!! YEAH! When we started she hated the bath and didn't want to get in and now the tide has changed.... She doesn't want to get out! LOL

1 month home

Time has flown by since we have arrived home. I can report that Maddie is doing great! She has fit right in to our family and we can't imagine life without her. Just this weekend we have noticed that her language skills are improving by leaps and bounds. Today walking out of the restaurant - she exclaimed "Oh its cold!" In the car, when we turn onto our street she points and says "Our House". She is still repeating everything we say and do - but has begun saying things unprompted in English.

We have had such a great time with Maddie over the past few weeks. She has become increasingly more comfortable with visitors. My sister and her family have visited the past 2 weekends and she has enjoyed their visit each time. We celebrated my brother-in-law's 40th birthday this weekend at a local Hibatchi Japanese Restaurant. She was very entertaining, just watching her eat with chopsticks brought about much laughter at the table.

We had our 1 month required post placement visit with our social worker this past week. Maddie was quite entertaining to all and the overall visit went very well.

We had beautiful weather this past weekend and so she definitely enjoyed being outside. We had bought her a scooter and up until this point she only would stand on it and want us to push her. The kids had continued to show her how to ride and push the scooter. This weekend she finally got the hang of it and had a fantastic time.

We have noticed over the past weeks that Maddie flips, climbs and rolls over everything. This fall we will find a gymnastics class to enroll her in. She also loves to DANCE. We love to watch her! We turn on the music and she starts to dance. It is hysterical - and she doesn't want to listen to the nursery rhyme songs - she wants to listen to what the kids are listening to. She mimicks their dance moves. Quite funny.

We are having a little bit of trouble getting her a US passport. I am pulling out all the stops and contacting, hopefully, the right agencies that can help me. We had a cruise booked for Christopher's sweet 16th birthday to Europe. I am holding out hope that I can get things sorted out and get Maddie a passport so that we can all go. We still have more adoption stuff to take care of in the coming months. We are pacing ourselves. LOL

Making Progress...

We have had a very good couple of weeks and each day gets better. Her language skills are improving each day. She can repeat alot of words in English but cannot ask for or answer simple questions in English yet, but we are working on it.

We have mastered the bath although she is still standing up. I have been working with her the last couple of nights to learn to enjoy the water, as we hope to have a pool put in this summer and want her to enjoy swimming. Tonight was the first night that she really enjoyed getting in the water and splashing around. She still did not sit down but did let go of the side of the tub and bent down close to the water. This week I am taking her to the pool at SPAR and see how she does.

Today we had a Doctor visit for a "well baby" check up. I wanted our family Pediatrician to look her over and make sure she didn't have any issues. I more importantly wanted to make sure she did not have any evidence of an ear infection, as CL/CP children are really prone to suffer with them and some even require tubes. She had a great check up. Her ears looked clear, lungs sounded clear. She weighs 24 pounds - which the Dr. said is a little slim for her age but is 35 inches tall, which is quite tall for her age. Now the true test will be how she fares at her next appointment with Texas Children's Craniofacial Team. We will see that comprehensive team on March 29th. I am really looking forward to talking with that team and determining what is next in Maddie's plan of care.

We took Maddie to the park for the first time this weekend. On our first visit she was a little apprehensive about getting on the playground equipment without her sister close by her side. The second visit she had a blast! She mastered the slide and had a great time sliding down time after time. She didn't like the swings but loved the climbing equipment. She also liked the ice cream that she got after our visit to the park. Cold Stone Creamery - YUM!

I am trying to keep her on a pretty strict schedule, especially with nap time. It doesn't always work with the kids schedules and after school activities but for the most part we have been pretty successful. It definitely makes for a happier little girl. Christopher's high school basketball team has made it to the State Tournament, so we will have an out of town game in Baton Rouge this Friday. This will make for a long day and will require a bit more planning on my part for Maddie. We are all excited and can't wait to go and see him. She is so good during the games and loves to point out her Bubba on the basketball court!

She is continuing to have a STRONG bond with both her brother and sister. Each of them are very caring and sweet when dealing with her. Christopher is sharing his pudding cup with her as I type this entry into our blog. I love watching her interact with them!

Enjoy the pictures!

Another Video

1st week Home

Today is Sunday - Valentine's Day. We have been home a little more than 1 week now. Maddie has done very well this week and each day things get a little better for her and us. In my last post we were having some sleeping issues as well as issues with meeting other adults outside of our immediate family. The sleeping issues have resolved themselves and she is sleeping in her own bed (in my room) and is sleeping through the night void of any night terrors. She goes to sleep on her own and wakes up around 8ish. I am thankful that she is a good sleeper - both of my other children were good sleepers (and still are LOL).

We started the week off very slow and limited outside visitors to just immediate family (only my dad) and allowed her a little breathing room to get adjusted and settle into a routine. By the end of the week I was able to go to Keith's office for a couple of hours and Maddie played with her Aunt Suzanne and Ashley (another girl in Keith's office). They entertained her, brought her Chapstick and allowed her to write on paper with pens and highlighters. Something that shocked me was when Suzanne gave Maddie a pair of kiddie scissors and some paper. Maddie immediately took the scissors, put her fingers in the appropriate places and was able to cut paper. I can't remember my other children being coordinated enough to cut with scissors at this age - I could be wrong. I guess I somewhat expected a little development delay with Maddie and I do not see any signs of delay in terms of development. Just a few more examples of what we have witnessed over the last week:

- Keith gave Maddie his Iphone to play with. She quickly found the button to push to bring the main screen up and then ran her finger over the slide button to open the features. When looking at pictures on the iPhone she knows how to flip through the pictures with her finger - how does she know this? My dad doesn't even know how to use the iphone. lol

- Riding in the car and sitting at a Red Light. The light turns green and Maddie from the back seat points at the green light and grunts (as if to tell me "Go, its green).

We also brought her to Christopher's basketball games this week. Tuesday's game was at Washington Marion High School and we sat right below their BAND. She is NOT afraid of loud music - lol - it was definitely LOUD!!!! She sat through 4 1/2 hours of game time and never gave me ANY trouble. She was content with sitting in the stands and pointing out her Bubba on the court. She was an angel. Friday's game she was a little braver and didn't necessarily stick to me like glue but was equally well behaved. I had several different people (friends and family) that joined us at that game and she was very open to connecting with them. She gave kisses freely and even left me and walked to the concession stand with my Uncle.

We have been slowly allowing her to unwrap her Christmas presents. There was no doubt that she knew what to do with a present - she ripped open the paper and made sure all of the paper was off the box before examining the contents of the package. She has loved all of her new toys and they entertain her for hours. Tonight she unwrapped a baby doll that cries and when given a bottle, she makes a sucking noise. She has carefully carried her baby around, feed her and played sweet with her. She is a good mommy. lol We are down to only 2 presents left and she is eyeing them now as I type and wants to open them.

She is continuing to say many more english words. The kids have helped her learn to count, say her ABC's and many other words. They taught her to give "Knuckle bump, high five and thumbs up" and she loves to perform for them. It has been quite entertaining. Maddie has definitely attached to both Christopher and Elizabeth and has a very strong bond with them. They are great with her.

We are still working with her to share with other kids as they come and play. This could be more of an "age" issue rather than an adjustment issue.

We are anxious to see what this week will hold. We can't wait for the weather to get warmer so that we can spend a little time outside with her.