Gotcha Day 1st Anniversary

One year ago today we celebrated the arrival of our third child into our family. Each time a very different experience, but each time a very special time in my life. What a gift it is to be a parent. My children have given me so much joy that words could never express. Leah's arrival was a long time coming. For so many years we prayed for her, cried for her, and the wait was very difficult. Many times I felt it would never come. But on June 30th, 2008, she was placed in my arms, rather, I grabbed her from the director of her SWI before the poor man knew what was coming. I laugh about it now, but I imagine he must have thought this poor child was going to a lunatic. But at that moment, after waiting for so many years, then on top of it all, Leah was the last baby in our group to arrive, I just wanted my baby. It seemed like forever that I watched and enjoyed and cried with other families in our group as they experienced their moment. Now it was my turn, suddenly all I could hear was my heart beating and Leah crying. She was scared and confused but she never once rejected us nor did she ever try to pull away. I felt that although this was so confusing to my littlest angel, she could feel how much we loved her and knew we would always love and take care of her and somehow trusted us. Despite the fact she loved and missed her nannies, I knew she knew we were her forever family when just hours with us she would not go to strangers or anyone but us three. I have very mixed feelings about this day. It will always be a very special and important day for me. How can it not? I love this child more than life. But at the same time, it was a sad moment for all of the children. We all knew their lives were going to change for the better, but they did not. They were all scared and confused and for this my heart aches.

David's Birthday Party

This is the first time Leah sat by herself at a birthday party and ate with all the other children, like a big girl! The party was at the Little Gym and after they played in the gym they went into the party room, sang Happy Birthday, and ate pizza. Yes, Leah ate it. But what excited her the most was using a regular cup. She was so happy that we did not give her a sippy cup in front of her friends! Now, everytine we are at the gym, she points to the party room and sings Happy Birthday.

Leah's Spring Photo Shoot

The Sunday before Mother's Day we finally got around to getting Leah's first professional pictures done. This was the third attempt. The first had to be canceled due to a hurricane warning, for the second Leah was very sick and nothing was going to get in the way this time. It was 91 degrees, she was cranky, and a sinus infection was lurking its ugly head, but we got through it and the results were great. There were too many to choose for this post, my favorite ones were her serious expressions where you can capture her stunning features. Am I bias? But isn't this one beautiful child?

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

Leah is into everything! There are no barriers great enough for this child. We have tried every type of baby-proofing available and she has figured out how to get into the cabinets and drawers. We have now resorted to trickery and boobietrap-like, homemade devices. My favorite has to be the simple ribbon we have to tie in knots to keep her out of the kitchen cabinets. Here is our Houdini, first a cookie theft where she hid behind her sister's bed where I snagged her, then she got into the watermelon I was preparing to cut up for her.

Cover Girl Leah

This picture was chosen as the "Photo of the Month" in one of Broward County's neighborhood magazines called the Advisor. No one needed to tell us we had a supermodel on our hands! My friend Lidi submitted the photo and the rest is history. What a proud Mommy and Daddy we are!

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

A year ago today, we saw Leah's face for the first time. We were so not expecting a referral. Referrals at the time had a LID of January 12, 2006, and we were LID October 19, 2006. Who would have guessed that a simple phone call to Stephanie at GWCA simply to inquire about the special needs program would turn into our referral two days later. Only the hand of God could have led to the gift that is our Leah. The only special need this child had was a desperate need for a family, our family. There aren't words to express the emotion and love I felt for my daughter when I opened Stephanie's email to retrieve Leah's file ( at the time Chen Xiao Xiao) and see her pictures. What an amazing sight she was, and is. People always tell us she is so lucky, but in reality, I feel we are the lucky ones. Of all the children in China, God chose this one to be our daughter, and we could not have chosen a better fit for our family. Every parent thinks their child is special, but Leah is a walking miracle everyday. She was not expected to walk, talk, or develop normally. But I guess love has cured all of her ills. She not only walks, runs, and says more words everyday, she is a "normal", active toddler who keeps us busy and makes us laugh everyday. She is developing within normal range and seems a little advanced in some areas. We have been home for 9 months and she understands both English and Spanish and says words in both languages. The other day, in Spanish, I asked her to say "gracias" to someone who gave her something at the grocery store, well apparently she knew gracias meant thank you because she replied "thanks" in English.

Happy Easter

Coloring Easter Eggs

Leah found coloring Easter eggs was quite interesting. She was very serious and was concentrating on what she was doing. I have never seen her sit in one place for more that a second. The first few eggs were not so lucky. She put her finger through the first one, then smashed 2 by tapping them together as she cheered for herself for walking over to the table without dropping them! Once they were dry and it was time to put stickers on them, she preferred the stickers on her hand.

Update

Wow! I have been a terrible blogger, well truth of the matter is, my daughter Michelle has been a terrible blogger. She started this blog for her little sister due to my limited computer skills and has failed to keep it up, so I thought I would. Please be patient with me as I learn how to do this. Posting pictures is another thing! Don't expect them too soon!

OK, the official update is: the Suita home has been quite busy. I am taking a college course to renew my certification, lots of homework, Danny had the flu, we finally finished moving my mom to Century Village, Leah continues going to "Gymnastics" and her Friday "Art" class. Luckily she only has Speech and Occupational therapies once per week and a behavioral specialist sees her once per week as well. Michelle has been really busy with work and school. Leah is doing remarkably well. Developmentally she is just about all caught up. Speech is the only part taking longer but is coming along. She is hearing bith english and spanish at home and seems to understand everything is just 7 months. We are awaiting the date for her hearing test and the Dr. thinks she has mild(correctable) hearing loss. which explains part of the speech delay. (Then again, her brother did not speak until close to three and look, he's a genius now!) Ed has been busy at work and also catching up on lots os stuff around the house. The dogs are there, Chloe getting old with attitude, and Roxy is the only one in the house as wild as Leah. Well, hopefully this entertains you for a while, Leah is getting into everything while I do this, so I will post more later

American Apparel Model???

The Suita Family wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas. For the first time in 20 years, we will not be hosting Christmas Eve dinner, it will be at my sister's house. Although it felt odd, I am very grateful to not have all the extra work on Leah's first Christmas home. I will be able to enjoy it peacefully, as the Birth of our Lord should be celebrated.

Readoption

1st Day at School

Leah started preschool in November. it was traumatic for mommy, but we knew it would be good for her and she really missed being around other kids. She only goes 3 times per week for 3 hours. She cried for only a few minutes at drop off but her teacher says she would be fine the rest of the day. It took exactly 4 weeks for her not to cry when dropped off. She seems to really like it now. these pictures are of her first day getting ready to leave the house for school, like a big girl, with a back pack.

1st Trip to the Zoo

We took advantage of great weather and drove to Metro Zoo. Leah's favorite part were the flamingos at the entrance. She kept pointing at them and didn't want to leave the area once we had had enough of "flamingo watching"

Our 2 girls at the zoo

Carefully studying the zebras

Although we have a house full of giraffes, the real ones were a little bigger than Leah imagined. She decided mommy would feed and she would watch