She loves to swing and can even say the word. Of course the "s" is not pronounced strongly, but you can figure out what she's saying.
Let me take a few minutes to update you from where I left off.
On Thanksgiving we spent the day with my friends and neighbors, Alli, Josh and Ewan. This is a pic of me and Sam on turkey day. Samantha and Ewan are six months apart.
Christmas was a blast with a little one in the house. Samantha and Avery had fun opening gifts, and they were just adorable in their Christmas outfits. Avery loved giving Samantha her bottle when she visited. Here is Samantha in her red Santa dress.
Between gifts my family and I purchased for her and some toys we inherited from my friend Deb at work, there were lots of gifts under the tree. I can't beleive how much she still plays with most of them.The new year came and went. I had sinus surgery in February and took some time to recover. Samantha was a trooper, though. She did really well not bothering my bandages. She understood that I had an "owie."
She continued to grow so much. At her 18-month checkup, the doctor told me that she was at 86th percent in height for American babies and around 15th for weight. She eats really well and now even holds her fork/spoon better than many adults I have seen. ;-) Looks like she's going to be a tall thin little girl. She appears to have a preference for using her left hand these days... maybe a leftie. I am so blessed that she is healthy and happy.
Easter with Samantha was a real treat! We went to an Easter egg hunt at Erica and Brian's house and taught her how to hunt eggs. She did a great job, but when she learned there was CHOCOLATE inside some of those eggs, you could not stop her. Too cute! She's just like me and loves chocolate.
Samantha enjoyed being outside this summer. She asks to go "outside" a lot. I got her a little slide/climber set for the yard through Craig's list, and she loves it. She loves to climb and jump like Tigger. That's her favorite. She does really well in the hiking backpack carrier and often takes a nap while she's on a walk.
A hospital visit and another surgery for me this summer... This time in Salt Lake City. Samantha was a trooper!! My mother came out and helped me tremendously through this rough time. This was the first time I had to spend a night away from Samantha. I'm impressed with her ability to be able to handle the bumps in the road. Another blessing...
Samantha has been home a little over a year now. I just finished putting together a booklet of pictures from several families who adopted babies from the same orphanage where Samantha lived. It turned out really neat, and now we have a good way of keeping in touch with one another over the years as our beautiful children grow up. Here is a picture of "gotcha" day from last year to celebrate our first year together. (One of her nannies holding her as she slept)
If you're reading this one day, Samantha, we've come a long way, baby. I love you so much!
