Emma's Adoption Scrap Book

After my nightmare adoption with Emma and nightmare first month home, it should come as no surprise I never did anything with all the photos I had taken while in Vietnam. (For the record, I haven't done anything with Ryan's either.) When I want to see the photos, I have to hook up my external hard drive and search through my photo files.

My friend and travel mate Tommi didn't leave the photos of her daughter Anabelle on her laptop . Last year she learned how to digitally scrap book and made the most amazing photo book of her adoption journey to celebrate her one year Gotcha anniversary. And she didn't stop there. She made books for Christmas, Anabelle's birthday, and other memorable moments.  Then she moved on and made books for her friends and family, loving every minute of  helping people get their memories into something tangible.

A couple of weeks ago, Tommi took pity on me and offered to make an adoption book for Emma. She told me to send her the important and memorable photos from my adoption journey and any significant snippets from the emails I sent while I was gone (I didn't update my blog on Emma's adoption journey.) She asked if there was anything specific I wanted her to include, what color preferences I had and then she got to work, often showing me what she had along the way to make sure I was happy with what she was creating. About a week later Tommi had created this:

(This is a slide show of the actual book that Tommi created. You can check it out more here.)

I can't tell you how exited I am to have this book!  I don't have to beat myself up anymore for neglecting our memories.

During the process, Tommi and I realized that I'm not the only person out there who doesn't have the time or talent to create a book like this. Other people need someone to help them get their memories out of their computer files and onto a book they can hold in hands and show off to their friends, family and their children. I'm so excited to tell you that Tommi created Ladybugs and Red Thread Scrap Shoppe! She is now offering her services to others to create lasting memories in several different forms. From brag books, to memory pages and digital scrap books (like Tommi created for me) Tommi can come up with the best option for your needs and your budget.  Also, 5% of all her orders goes to Moms for Vietnam, a non profit group by a group of adoptive mothers who are currently focusing on the immediate need for tsunami relief.

Be sure to go check out her site and see what she can do for YOU!

Reunion

On Thursday afternoon I drove to the Kansas City airport all alone. As astounding as the alone part was, the exciting part was that I was picking up my friend Mindy and her two little girls, Nadalyn and Jayde. They were flying in from Utah and on their way to a wedding in Oklahoma. We were lucky enough to get to have them spend a night and day with us before they were on their way.

I hadn't seen Mindy and her girls in a year and a half. The last time I saw them was in Hanoi, Vietnam. Mindy was one of two other women in my adoption travel group. Jayde was her newly adopted baby and thankfully Mindy didn't have any difficulties getting a visa for her baby.

When we arrived home from the airport all five younger kids had a great time playing outside together. Nadalyn (who is 3 1/2) and Jenna hooked up and in a surprise twist, Ryan and Jayde stuck to each other's side. Emma was the odd one out, not that she cared. We all know that Emma walks to the beat of her own drummer. Shoot, she stole the drum from the drummer and makes her own beat.

For bath time we threw them all in my big tub.

{Yes, I've been busy drawing fig leaves again.}

Five children fit in my tub just fine. Guess I have room for two more. Hahahaha!

Jayde giving Emma a hug after much coercion. Jayde is about 10 days older than Emma yet is so much taller. And she seemed so much older too.

The next day, Mindy and her daughters left.

As Mindy prepared to go, Jayde had just woke up from her nap and was upset. Ryan, the comforter, is rubbing Jayde's back trying to make her feel better. How was I so lucky to get such a sweet boy?

Earlier, we got a picture of the four younger kids outside. Left to right: Nadalyn, Ryan, Jayde and Emma. Notice that Jayde's head is on Ryan's shoulder. I told Mindy that I didn't have any problems with arranged marriages and feel free to start discussing the details of Ryan's and Jayde's marriage at any time.

The best picture of MANY taken of Emma and Jayde. Notice Mindy's hand in the foreground.

Jayde and Emma are from the same orphanage. At one point on Friday, I had picked Jayde up and was holding her outside. As I looked at her sweet little face, I realized that there was a 1 in 3 chance she would have been mine. There were three women who received referrals of three babies, the only three babies available. It was by the grace of God that Mindy received Jayde's referral and I received Ella's. I'm not a big "what if" person. After Darrell's accident I realized that Jenna almost went with Darrell on that fateful flight and I allowed myself 5 minutes to freak out over it and then I told myself I was done. Yes, she almost went but bottom line was she didn't. So I admit that I was a bit surprised with myself for going down the "what if" road as I held Mindy's baby. I realized that had I received Jayde as my referral I wouldn't have suffered the pain of Ella's death, receiving Emma's referral, being stuck in Vietnam alone and frightened, dealing with Emma's RSV. And as I thought of all that I looked at my own angel sitting on a swing and my heart ached at the "what if" of not getting my precious Emma. Emma Linh Joelle is worth every moment of pain and more so. I can't imagine life without my Tasmanian Devil. I can only thank God that He's worked out all the details so perfectly.

Emma is a big girl!

Emma went for her well baby check up last week. I can't say it was her 8 month check up because she was 8 1/2 months and 8 months isn't usually a bench mark visit. But as most people know, Emma was adopted from Vietnam and the babies in the orphanages aren't usually given vaccinations. When Emma came home she was a couple of days shy of 4 months and was sick with bronchiolitis. Ten days later she was hospitalized with RSV and spent 10 days in the hospital, 6 of which were in ICU and on a ventilator. Fun times. What was also fun was giving her history over and over again to every new nurse, resident and attending doctor and explaining that I really wasn't a lazy, neglectful mother; there really was a reason that my daughter was 4 months old and hadn't had any vaccinations. Nothing made me happier than that day in early December when she received her first shots. Well, other than her crying.

My baby is now 18lbs and 12 ozs (50th percentile) and 26 1/4 inches long (20th percentile). What can I say? My baby likes her bottles. Bottles were all she liked until a week and a half ago. Emma was 8 months old and refused any kind of baby food. I was really beginning to get worried. But then at our Easter dinner she was sitting on my lap and she was doing her usual watch me pick up food with a fork and put in in my mouth. Talk about make you paranoid while you eat! How would you feel if someone watched every bite you took with such intense interest? So this time, just one of many, I put my fork up to her mouth and tried to get her to taste what was on it. In this case it was a green bean. Amazingly enough, she ate it and wanted more. Now she's an eating machine. This afternoon for lunch she had macaroni and cheese and green beans. Yesterday it was baby diced carrots and a baby chicken stick. That's my girl. Skip baby food and just jump into big girl food.

Here she is in her new high chair that we got only a couple of days ago. I really didn't see a point in getting her a high chair if she didn't eat anything. We just put her in her Bumbo.

This was taken yesterday morning with one of her favorite foods: Cheerios. The fact that they are on her tray is a bit deceiving. It gives the appearance that she can feed them to herself. While occasionally one or two will make it into her mouth, its usually by accident. She hasn't gotten her pincher move down yet (thumb to finger) so she grabs them in her fist and then trys to get it into her mouth. It works for now. Plus they keep her busy while I stuff them one by one into her mouth.

The Bumbo worked well but the tray was pretty flimsy and was getting squirmy and could get anything around her on the table. I was starting to get worried that she would fall out of the Bumbo and roll off the table.




Emma loves her exersaucer. The girls picked this out if you couldn't tell from all the pink. Its a Tea Party exersaucer. Notice the tea pot, cake and there's a purse in front of her.

She's eating her hand because its obvious that I don't feed her enough. Note her weight above.
Emma doesn't crawl yet although we do try to entice her. We'll set her on her blanket and put toys far enough in front of her that she really has to reach for them. Occasionally she will fall forward and then be on her tummy but usually this really makes her mad and she'll cry and look at me as if she's saying "This is all YOUR fault!"

Within the next couple of days I will tell our Vietnam adoption story especially in light of all that is going on withVietnamese adoptions right now.