Forever Family Day...A Year Later

What a difference a year makes!! In the throes of adjustment, sleep deprivation, and PADS after Sophia came home last year, I never thought I would make it through another day, let alone a whole year!  But as so many of my dear friends encouraged me in those hours and days following Sophia's first "Forever Family" day, the outlook did get better and is totally different now.  I thank God for those dear friends who cheered me through those rough days when I wasn't sure what in the world we were thinking...you know who you are!!

Sophia on her first "Forever Family" day, one year ago.  Her foster mother felt as though she was "giving one of her children away as in marriage", thus the white dress.

So, it's time for a one year update.  We've been so busy, I didn't keep up too well with my monthly updates, but I'll try to recap what Sophia has accomplished recently.  She is a totally different little girl then the one we brought home a year ago.  There are still many areas in her life where growth is needed and expected, but she has certainly made a lot of progress in one year!

Mobility:  When Sophia came home, she wasn't walking.  She now runs everywhere, including on uneven surfaces, without blinking an eyelash.  I have to make sure I stand between her and freedom, because she will take off on me in parking lots and stores!  She loves life, and will often hop and skip with joy when she's happy or excited about something.  She does not use her sure step inserts in her shoes currently because she has outgrown them.  We are awaiting our next doctor's visit to see if she really still needs them.  The only physical issue we are really still dealing with is a little bit of spasticity in her right arm and hand.  She received one round of botox a few months ago which has helped loosen those muscles, and she has started occupational therapy at Hershey Medical Center to strengthen the muscles while they are loose.

Vision:  Sophia received glasses a couple of months after coming home.  She did really well with them for awhile, but in the last couple of months, she won't keep them on.  We are planning a follow up visit to see if her vision has changed or perhaps she has grown to the point where the glasses don't fit properly.  But she seems to be seeing fine without them!

Eating:  This was a HUGE issue when we came home, as Sophia was only drinking a thick, gooey substance that we made from rice powder and cereal from a bottle.  She quickly adjusted to milk and some solids, and with the help of a feeding clinic, she is now pretty much eating anything.  Just in the past month we have totally given up the bottle and are drinking from "big girl" cups!  That was a battle, but we survived it!!  We are so proud of Sophia in this area!

Communication:  This is our biggest area with Sophia right now, as she does not really talk.  However, she can communicate her desires with little problem!  From whining to crying to all out temper tantrums, developmentally Sophia is in the "terrible two's and three's".  However, it is encouraging to see her at this point, because it is a natural progression in her development.  She will pull you to what she wants and use a few words like "num-num" to indicate what she wants.  Her receptive language is much more developed; we know she understands a lot of what we say to her.  We are working with her speech teacher at school and in private therapy to develop pre-communication skills to prepare her for talking in the future, however that might look for her!

Overall Growth:  Sophia came home barely able to keep 2T clothes on her little body.  She has grown several inches and gained weight accordingly.  She is now in 4T clothes!  We totally missed using her 3T summer clothes, as she skipped those entirely!  She no longer looks like a toddler, but very much like a preschooler.  Her eye contact and interaction with others outside the family has improved so much as her confidence has increased along with her bonding and attachment.

So, as you can see, our little girl is growing up!  We are so grateful to God for the blessing He gave us in our daughter.  She has made a difference in our family and we love her so much.  We will forever be thankful to her foster parents and the investment they made in her early life...they laid the foundation on which we have been building the last year.  We look forward to seeing how Sophia grows and develops in the future.  God has a special plan for our Taiwanese princess, and we are so humbled and grateful to be able to be a part of it!

Sophia two weeks ago at the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh.  This outfit was handcrafted for us to be used a year ago when we brought Sophia home.  However, it didn't fit (too big!).  Now, it's perfect!!

We love you, Sophia Elizabeth Chia-Lin Fisher!

Five Months Home!

Yesterday was Sophia's five month home mark!  So many times in recent weeks I have commented to people that sometimes it seems as though she has been here forever, so I have to remember that she has only been in the U.S. for five months.  She has accomplished so much in such a short time!!

This past month we continued with Sophia's various therapies, but we also had a myriad of appointments that were scheduled close together.  This month Sophia had an EEG, an MRI, an orthopedic appointment and an opthamologist appointment.  All of this has resulted in orthotics and glasses and a return visit to the neurologist in a week or so.  Never a dull moment!

In other news, Sophia got to meet our dear friend, Aunt Sharon (Metzger) this month, and she got her ears pierced!  Below are some photos from the last month...enjoy our beautiful princess!

Sophia with Aunt Sharon

Showing off her shades!

In her beautiful fall outfit for Kindermusik dress up day

My happy girl!

Finally using her push-along toy the right way!

The bag says it all...

Little pink sparkly studs...what else??

4 Months Home!

Yesterday marked four months that we have been home with Sophia.  It really is amazing how far she and we have come in four short months!  She is such a blessing to our family and fits right in so well.  That is such a testament to God's faithfulness and grace in adoption.  You never know how things are going to work out when you bring a child into your home to be part of your forever family, but so often God knits hearts and lives together so tenderly and seamlessly that it was as if that child was part of that family from the beginning of his or her life.  We have seen this with Sophia and are so thankful for her fairly easy transition to life as a Fisher!
This past month we started the rounds of medical appointments for Sophia, as well as her therapies through our Intermediate Unit here in Lebanon.  We visited the neurologist and subsequently had an hour EEG to rule out any continued seizure activity (we don't know the results yet).  In a couple of weeks she will also have an MRI so we can compare her data from Taiwan when she was a few months old with her current brain situation.  I'm so glad that Sophia was home for three months and made so much progress in that time before I visited the neurologist.  I know this little girl has HUGE potential no matter what her charts say!!  God has been faithful in her life and will continue to be so!

Sophia is now walking all over the place independently...she is definitely relishing in her new found freedom!  She is saying "mama" and "dada" and "baba" (bottle) and "numnum" (food) pretty consistently.  We are also teaching her the signs for these words and many others so that she will be able to communicate effectively either way.  She now meets with a special education teacher, speech therapist, physical therapist, and occupational therapist once a week (whew!) and we are looking forward to seeing the progress she will make with all of these wonderful professionals working with her.  We are very blessed here in PA to have these services at our disposal.  It's very interesting to be at the receiving end of services instead of the giving end when I was a teacher!  This past month Sophia also began attending classes at church with her same age peers instead of being in the nursery, and she is doing great with that.  She is very observant of others and is learning a lot by being able to watch her peers.  She is usually with her brother Nathaniel, and that seems to be working out well, thankfully.  He's (usually!) a good role model for her!

We look forward to another month with Sophia and seeing all that she will do as she continues to acclimate and adjust to her new family and surroundings.  She has brought such happiness and joy to our home.  We love her so much and are so proud of her!  Thanks for continuing to follow our journey!

Three Months Home

Today marks three months since we landed in New York and began forever with Sophia in the United States.  Some days it seems like she has been with us forever.  She was definitely hand picked by God for our family, as she fits in so well.  We were told before we got her that she didn't like loud noises and we were a bit concerned as we have four very loud sons.  Well, this girl can make noise right along with her brothers, let me tell you!  She's just a Fisher through and through!

This month--in fact, literally this past week!--Sophia has made made some huge steps in her development.  No pun intended...she literally got up spontaneously last Monday night and started walking across the room all by herself!  It caught us all off guard, but we were so excited, and she is SO proud of her accomplishment!  She continues to walk regularly, strengthening her legs and her confidence daily.  This is all without any therapy yet, as her IEP meeting is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, and therapies will begin after that.

Last weekend we also moved Sophia out of the pack 'n play and into her twin bed.  She has done wonderfully with the transition, and we are so proud of her.  Additionally, in the eating and drinking department, we changed her bottle to one that makes her suck harder to get the milk, and is squatty like a sippy cup, in hopes that she will eventually wean to a sippy cup instead of the bottle.  She immediately noticed the change and stuck her nose up at it, but eventually took the bottle since she wasn't going to get her beloved milk any other way!  We have totally run out of the rice milk powder from Taiwan and are just putting baby cereal in her milk for fortification, and she doesn't seem to mind.  Our baby girl is growing up!

At the pediatrician this month, Sophia showed a weight gain of about 4 pounds and a 2 inch height increase.  Her doctor was very pleased by this.  We have several appointments coming up for Sophia in the next couple of months including a neurologist and a feeding clinic.  We have found that Sophia is quite resistant to doctor and therapist "types", not matter if she is the patient or someone else, so please pray for good visits with minimal meltdowns!  :)  We don't expect to find out anything new from these visits, but they will help us understand her better and give us baseline data that we can then build upon as she grows.

I will leave you with some of my favorite photos from this last month.  We are so thankful for our beautiful daughter.  She is a joy and delight, and we feel privileged to be her parents.  Thanks for your continued encouragement on our journey!

Sophia celebrated Labor Day in this beautiful dress embroidered with the flag of her new home country.

This isn't the best picture, but it shows how beautiful Sophia is in the color brown.

This was at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's house...she made the kissing motion for the first time on this bear!

My happy girl!!

Just Because...

Isn't she beautiful?

She's had a busy week...stay tuned this weekend for a three month home post to see what she's been up to!!

She Calls Me "Mama"

Sophia's language skills are minimal.  We were told that she had receptive skills in Chinese, but was not producing any words yet.  Now we have switched her primary language.  Over the last six weeks, she has slowly begun to "talk".  While we usually have no idea what she is saying, it often sounds like she is singing, or reprimanding, or just shouting happily.  We have worked with her on words such as "Dada" and "Mama" while pointing to ourselves, but we were never sure if she equated the word with the correct person.  Today, however, while at a friend's house, Sophia crawled towards me saying, "Mama, Mama".  I'm so glad my friend was there as my witness...what a joy it was to here my baby girl calling my name!

Watch out world...Sophia's speech is on its way, and once she starts, I'm not sure that she will stop!