Friday, January 20, 2012

Sammy Update

I know it has been awhile since I've updated this blog.  Sorry!  Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!!  I hope everyones holidays were great.  Life has been busy, crazy busy.  Five children is a wonderful blessing and a lot of work!

Sammy has been such a blessing.  He is adjusting wonderfully.  It's like he's always been a part of our family.  We have experienced very few issues and what we have seen have been more our issues, not his.  He is an early riser (like 5am early) which has been a HUGE adjustment for this night owl mommy. The others still sleep until 9am.  I'm really hoping he catches on to the family sleep schedule soon. Thank God for coffee, but I'm not sure even the amount I'm drinking can keep me going much longer.  Any helpful tips on how to get him to sleep later in the am?

When he first came home we thought he had a milk allergy, but it turns out it was Giardia (FYI other Shanghai families)  We treated him and he is doing great.  He can now have dairy and has grown so much. He is growing and thriving!  He weighed 19lbs in Guangzhou and  is now 24lbs!  He loves food and will eat almost anything.  He hates italian food which is totally funny given where his dad works, Carrabbas Italian Grill.  He still refuses to eat most cold things.  We finally got him to eat ice cream last week and it was like we were torturing the poor guy. He liked it but acted like it was fire in his mouth.  He was done after about 4 bites.  The big kids were happy to let him feed them the rest.  Raman Noodles is still his favorite food and tries to get us to make it for every meal.  I

He is really picking up ASL quickly.  He is scary smart.  I'm sure it won't be long before he knows more signs  than we do.  He mimics many signs and can understand most things I sign to him. He can follow simple directions and very clearly signs no when he doesn't like what we're telling him to do.  He and Malachi have gotten into a few silent arguments signing no repeatedly back and forth.  It is adorable watching them communicate and very peaceful.

Sammy has a very gentle spirit.  He is so very sweet and is always happy.   I can not wait to see what God has in store for our little guy.  Here's what I know you guys really want to see, pictures!  Unfortunately we had some technical issues with the computer recently so most of the photos are from my phone.  The next update will have better quality photos.

Family photo 2012

Addie and Sammy

Sammy's 1st time playing in the snow.

Handyman SAmmy

1st Christmas (sadly this is the only picture from Christmas because of computer problems)


Happy guy
1st time at the park