I'm a SUPERMODEL!

Sophia had her first photo shoot.  I think she wants to be a supermodel.  Thanks to a great friend and co-worker Mary to taking the pictures for us.  Here are some of the great ones from the shoot, we have about 70 more and they are all awesome!

Not quite sure what she is doing here but it is the GREATEST PICTURE EVER!

She was so happy during the entire shoot

awwwww

The bright colors are so great on her!

KISSES!

Sophia is from AFRICA!

A friend of ours who is also adopting from Africa made this onesie for her

Catching Up!

I want to get you all caught up to present so we can really start blogging!

The first 6 weeks were eventful.

Sophia came home with a double ear infection, most people would say “OH NO!”

It is a blessing in all honesty.  She was quite run down so she slept all but about 8 hours out of the first couple days.  This allowed her to adjust to the time change fairly quickly and allowed Mom & Dad to settle in.

The first night was great up until about 3:30AM (9:30 AM DRC time) she would wake up screaming and want a bottle, simple enough…

We would then put her back in her Pack ‘n play which was in our bedroom, she wanted nothing to do with this and would only sleep while in Andrea’s arms.  The next night was my turn, with the same result.

On day 5 we decided to try out her crib in her room….SHE LOVED IT!  And now sleeps through the night

Don't worry the blanket and pillows did not stay in with her :)

She had her 1^st doctor appointment, she was 29” long and almost 20 lbs 95^th and 75^th percentile respectively.

We also visisted Tufts Floating Children’s Hospital in Boston because they have a clinic specializing in international adoptions!  She saw a behavior specialist to determine how far along she was.  She was 10+ months in all her motor skills, but a bit behind in language development (although she was very quiet there).  But that is about what we were expecting for someone coming home to us who has not heard out language yet.  She will be caught up soon enough!  The staff absolutely loved her, one of the docs kept bringing other docs in to see her!

Sophia also met her new brother and sister (2 cats and a dog).  The cats really did not care much about her, but were a little annoyed that we came home with something new that can grab their tails.  Herky (the dog) on the other hand fell in love.  She is very gentle around Sophia, always careful where she walks, and is very protective.  Whenever Sophia takes a spill Herky is right there beside her to make sure she is okay.  Sophia pulls on Herky, slaps her on the back, rides her and Herky never cares, she just takes it, or if she has had enough, she will walk away…What an AMAZING dog!

Sophia got to see her first Hawkeye Win!  Unfortunately she had to endure a loss or two, but that is all part of being a Hawkeye fan!

The toughest day for me was the first day back at work.  Sophia came to visit me and meet all my co-workers, and it was great.  But the greatest thing was when I got home.  I came through the door, called her name and she hopped out of my wife’s arms and crawled right to me smiling and giggling all the way, IT MELTS MY HEART EVERY TIME!

December 10^th we had an open house for Sophia and had lots of great friends stop by and say hi.  Sophia was a trooper she was awake almost the entire time.  We thought most people had finished coming so we put her to bed for a nap, 15 minutes later another friend showed up, we went upstairs woke her up and she played for another 4 hours while people stopped by.  How many kids will do that and never cry once!  She is AMAZING!

So that is the brief highlights of her first 6 weeks home. I probably missed some stuff, but those are the important ones!  Now I will keep up with this and get posts out a few times a month!

Gotcha Day!

Finally, we are at the end of the beginning.  Gotcha Day!  There were some bumps along the way, the major one being that her passport had the wrong birth date on it which had to be fixed, thus delaying her trip home by a few weeks.  Without our amazing Congolese lawyer Marie, it would have been a lot longer wait!

On October 17^th, 2011, we found out that our daughter had been cleared to come home!  We did not have an itinerary until October 18^th, the same day I had a big interview for a promotion at work, so needless to say I had quite the day!  She would arrive on October 26^th (her 8 month birthday).  We immediately started making plans to go pick her up in Chicago.  Our first order of business was to book airfare. We originally wanted to stay a couple of days and get home quickly, but after looking at prices of flights we decided to stay a few days extra. Little did we know how lucky we would be to make that decision!  Flying home with her would be three other children coming home to their Forever Family, unfortunately one of the kids coming home had trouble with getting the Visa printed and Sophia’s trip home would be delayed until the 28^th.  Thankfully we did not have to change any plans, but it would mean limited time for our parents to meet Sophia.

We flew to Chicago on Tuesday the 25^th and spent some time with our families and got ready to become our own family of three.  The night before Sophia came home, we slept better than we thought we would, and in the morning we got together with both of our parents to have breakfast and then head to the airport!

The family at breakfast before we headed to the airport!

We got to the airport early and proceeded to wait.  It was great to have our parents there to talk with and share our excitement. It was also nice to meet a super amazing woman from our agency. Unfortunately, our program director was unable to come to the airport with us, but meeting this other woman was just as great! We spent the long wait chatting with the other family, too.

Us with Jason & Jen Lee the other family that had three children coming home!

Us with Andrea's Parents Martin & Janey

Us with Frank's parents Frank & Lorna

Waiting....and waiting...

We constantly watched the monitors waiting for the status to change. First, it went to Landed, and then FINALLY to Arrived!  We headed over to the exit from customs B (there are two exits for customs at O’Hare, A & B….the monitor told us to go to the B exit) and waited…and waited…and waited for about one and a half very long hours.  Every group that came out we got excited, but she did not come out.  She would not be hard to miss as Marie her escort (and our Congolese lawyer) stood 6 foot 5!

LANDED!!!

SHE HAS ARRIVED!!!

Waiting for her to come through those doors!

Waiting...

The waiting area was “T” shaped and we stood on the side waiting and watching. Then Sophia came through the doors, held in a sling by Marie. I heard Andrea scream “There she is!” and in the 2 seconds it took for me to register what was going on and get the camera on for my dad she had made it through the crowd, around the barrier, and over to Marie to get our baby girl!

The doors opened and they had ARRIVED!

Marie is carrying her in the sling

I was still on the other side of the barrier realizing what was going on, Andrea had already made it around the barrier and over to Marie!

The first look at our little girl in the flesh.

Meet your Mama

Mother and daughter

My Favorite picture of Mother and Daughter

Yeah, that is your Dad with the camera, time for me to put it down an see my girl!

LOVE THIS!

I passed my wife's test, I held the baby (previous to this she had never seen me hold any child)

So Tiny!  Love the little ponytail!

 

From there it is a blur, all I remember is thinking how much smaller she was than we thought, how much she needed a bath, and the fact that she went to Andrea and I and was so calm and quiet.  That did not last long.

She soon realized that we were different, and we were NOT Marie.  She started crying and did not stop.  Every time she saw Marie she cried louder.  Marie calmly told us that she would probably do this for a couple days.  My mom took Sophia so that Andrea and I would be able to talk with Marie.

Marie told us that she had taken Sophia to her home a couple of times during the weeks before she flew so that Sophia could get used to her.  She is a happy baby (despite her current crying fit), she has fruit and a bottle in the morning, pureed food at lunch, a bottle a bit later, a dinner of pureed meat and vegetables, and then a bottle around bedtime.  Seems simple enough.  She typically sleeps through the night.  Her Congolese name Tshikota comes from the word Tshikota, which is a part of the plant that is crushed and used as a meat tenderizer.  Such a fitting name as she melted our hearts!

Some of the foods that came home with her

When we were done we went back over to our still crying daughter who was surrounded by her Grandparents who were all teary eyed.  They were amazed by how observant she was, she watched everyone who walked by, she loved the colors and lights.

We headed out to the car for my first car seat experience, and I was successful on my first attempt!  She immediately fell asleep.

We got back to Andrea’s parent’s house and we reluctantly took the sleeping baby out of her car seat, and thankfully she did not stir, and Mother and Daughter headed to the bedroom for a bit of snuggling, bonding time.

During dinner we placed her in the Pack ‘n Play and again she did not move.

We then headed back to the hotel, again she barely stirred.

Sophia got her first bath and Andrea could not resist putting her in her arrival outfit.  She also got to put Sophia’s new earrings in (she had pulled one of her old ones out on the flight due to her double ear infection that she came home with).

Welcome home to your Forever Family, Sophia!