Monday, September 8, 2008

Feeling Reflective...the "Then" versus the "Now"



Cafe next to the White Swan Hotel....


Maybe it's because we recently passed our 2nd anniversary of our referral (August 24th--which is also Ed's birthday!!). Or maybe it's because they seem to be at the sheer pinnacle of what I think "thriving" is all about. Whatever the reason, I've been feeling unusually reflective lately so I dug-up some old China and Early-Days thereafter pictures.....just to kind of "compare" and jog my memory of the "Then" and the "Now".....

Forbidden City, of course.....



Um...guess what...I'm thinking this is Nicki 'cause I'm more sure the next pic is Sammi but....I think I may always be unsure on these two shots which is completely unusual for me!!


Wonderful Welcoming Committee at the airport when we returned from China...


Ooofff....we were so beyond-belief tired after 45-50 hours non-stop travel from White Swan to RDU...


Here is Colleen and me on our first evening home....Colleen and all our friends were just wonderful...Ed and I were so exhausted and our friends all rallied around us and helped us out for quite some time.....


Ah, I'll never ever forget what our team of pediatricians (who specialize in Chinese adoption ) said to us those throughout their first two months home: "Your daughters have quite a lot of issues going on right now." Whew, and were they ever right. They came home with double ear infections (both), exotic skin fungus problems (Sammi), severe bronchitis (both)...and oh yay, RSV (Nicki). On one of our practically daily doctor's visits (which happened to be Christmas Eve), Dr. Foster took one look at Nicki, slammed-on a pulse ox monitor and immediately called the EMS as Nicki's reading was right at 89-90%. Poor little thing and poor us. As the EMTs were whisking Nicki away, I overheard one of the nurses say to another nurse that RSV can absolutely be fatal. Oh my....there we are below in the ER waiting on her room as she had to be admitted for a few days. And, I'll never forget what Jeannette and the Ks did for us.....I called Jeannette crying and in need of immediate help to take care of Sammi and Jeannette dropped everything she was doing (on Christmas Eve!!) to swoop in and take care of Sammi while Ed and I stayed at the hospital with Nicki....wow, pretty awesome, huh! Ah, our dear friends are indeed our "family".....


A few weeks later, things started to get better....here we are at the Mall...


Oh, so tiny....they weighed 13 pounds when we came home....and gained just a whopping 8 pounds over the year. Now, at 3 yrs old, they still just weigh 26 pounds...Tee-nine-eey....



And....here they are now.....simply awesome, happy, fun, funny, capable, mostly pretty sweet, they play so very well together....and they are both just our bundles of joy....Wow, Then vs Now. What a journey.....


Hugs,
Cindy

9 comments:

Kim said...

Thank you for taking us down memory lane... the girls are sooooo beautiful..
And wow you did go through some trying times but they came out of it.. and you can tell they are soooo HAPPY ..
Have a Great Week..
Hugs..

k1 said...

What is RSV? It sounds pretty bad, whatever it is. So glad it was diagnosed quickly and that she recovered from it.

They really are beautiful girls.

insanemommy said...

Oh babe, I had forgot about the RSV!! Crap. I think Sen's girls had that too... very scarey stuff. Katie and Abbey both had raging ear infections when we got back from China. At one point thought Katie was going to have to have tubes. Seems to have cleared up. Thank goodness. BUT, boy do I like going down memory lane with you. They were and still are too stinkin cute... I'm with you on the picture.. I don't know which one is which and I can usually tell your girls apart. And for two identical (really identical) twins I think that's pretty amazing... But, like Katie and Abbey your two have very different personalities too.

Aren't you glad they'll always have one another?! Abbey told me tonight that Katie was her best friend. Ahhhhh.... it was so worth the wait, right friend!?!? Too cute. Too fun! I can't wait for how much fun we're going to have in less than 2 weeks!

Truly Blessed said...

Oh, I love journeys down Memory Lane.

Your girls were beautiful as babies, as toddlers and now as big girls. Love all of the pictures (and man, do I have a little clone of theirs living at my house!)

Just gorgeous. What a wonderful family you make!

taylorchloejake said...

Beautiful post. It's amazing how healthy and full of life they are now! We had the same Bronch. double ear infections and RSV scare when we came home. Both girls rushed to the ER with low oxygen. I remember crying and crying when the couldn't figure out what was wrong. And the days we spent in the hospital by their side. Your girls look beautiful as always. Love the 3rd bday pics too!

insanemommy said...

I just got chills looking at these pictures again.....days girl... days we will be together!

Dianne said...

What a fun trip down memory lane. It's great looking back and seeing how they've grown. Such beautiful and happy girls!

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Kim said...

Hope all is well with you and your family..
Have a Great Week..
Hugs girly..