A Mini Update

Life is SO incredibly busy. Having four children is SO incredibly hard. The days are long and full and busy and tiring and fun and frustrating. There are moments of bliss like today....having a picnic lunch on our front lawn watching a cement mixer truck make a new pathway for our neighbors yard. Joaquin napping peacefully after a busy morning of therapy. Sofia playing with her hands and her shadow on the picnic blanket. Diego and Mateo getting along, giggling, eating their lunch happily, mesmerized by the construction project going on across the street. And then there are moments of complete CHAOS...a huge dirty diaper explosion from Sofia right before needing to get all the kids in the car to drop off the big boys to soccer camp in time. Joaquin escaping out the door after destroying every room he came in contact with on the way out the door. Diego and Mateo fighting over who is better or faster or smarter or gets to go first or gets to go last, you name it they fight it.

It's hard work being a stay at home mom to four children ages 7 and under. It's exhausting. But I signed up for this so I show up to work every day and put in my best effort. Sometimes I do a pretty good job, some days not so much. But I try to go easy on myself...this is an adjustment for me and for Hector as well as for the kids and for Sofia. We are all evolving as a family of six now.

There are days when I get in a bit of a panic about Sofia's delays. She is making incredible progress and everyone agrees she is doing so well, but I can't help but worry and fear that she has so far to go and is so far behind. What I see at her core is a girl who is smart and capable and strong and determined when she wants to be...but sometimes I also see her lethargy or apathy for things...ghosts from her past where her little spirit may have been damaged and still needs repair. An orphanage is no place for a child...especially a child with special needs.

Sofia is still in the process of having all medical related issues checked out and ruled out. We have seen her pediatrician and an endocrinologist but we still have her cardiology appointment, ENT appointment, audiology appointment and opthomology appointment. She is currently receiving 2 hours of Physical Therapy a week and 1 hour of Occupational Therapy a week and a 1/2 hour of Music Therapy. Starting next week we will add 1 hour of Speech Therapy a week and we will see an Oral Motor Therapist once a month. She is eating all sorts of different foods and textures. And she just started self feeding this week. She learned that she can hold a cracker and put it to her mouth and eat, seems so simple but she never knew this before as everything she ever ate in the orphanage came in a bottle. We are working on the straw drinking but no luck yet. It will take some diligence and effort on my part to switch over to a sippy cup but that is her next goal for feeding. She is still VERY verbal and has excellent mimicking skills. We are still working on independent sitting...she prefers to sit in a tripod. She just started army crawling as a form of transportation...maybe up to 3 feet or so to get to a toy or food. We have so many goals for her and I try not to get overwhelmed.

Most importantly she is loved and is not lacking for love. She's also a bit famous here in Sacramento. I've had strangers stop me and ask "Is that Sofia?" and I've had people stop us in doctor's offices saying they saw Sofia on TV. She has a cult following and if you meet Sofia in person you will see that she takes the job seriously. She puts on her best smiley face and will wave to the crowds. You should see her in the stroller...waves like she's on parade. She's hilarious!

Anyway, just a little update on our baby girl. She continues to grow in our hearts each and every day. I'm still getting used to saying "the kids" instead of "the boys" and it's becoming more and more real that we have a daughter now.  I hope to share more about some deeper thoughts on adoption and special needs and having a girl with DS versus having a boy as time permits and when I get a moment to really assimilate everything that has happened since the beginning of the year. I have so much more to share and talk about. Oh boy, it's been a big year for the Sanchez family. At the end of the day, we are SO blessed and SO fortunate and for that I am SO grateful.