One Month!

One month ago today we welcomed Audrey into our family.  Wow!  We have been home 3 weeks, and I can't believe how fast these weeks have gone and how much she has started to come out of her shell.  Audrey is full of expression, funny, busy, sharp, charming, observant, and busy!  And we think she is the perfect addition to our family. :)

Some firsts (at home) for Audrey this month include:
- meeting Aunt Suzi, Uncle Paul, and Grammy, as well as cousins Mark, Jen, and Maddie. 
- cheering for Ian at some of his basketball games.
- enjoying Daddy's biscuits and pancakes for breakfast.
- visiting the doctor a few times and getting amoxicillin for her ears
- visiting the dentist
- getting a little haircut
- meeting new friends at church
- bundling up for Illinois winter
- eating lots of yummy new foods, with the the most consistent approval going to oatmeal, bananas, broccoli,   goldfish crackers, and yogurt.  Oh, and ice cream. :)
- drinking successfully out of a sippy cup.
- learning to enjoy riding in the carseat - the trip home from O'Hare was not so fun!
- learning to enjoy taking a bath - splashing and tub toys are now fun, not horrible!
- riding in the stroller
- having a playdate with friend Elijah
- playing with fun toys.  Stacking cups are still a hit, as well as a little toy that plays a different song each time she hits the button.
- playing the piano with Erica
- laughing and making funny faces with Ian
- holding hands and praying at dinner time
- saying 6 words in English: Mama, Dada, up, apple, bye-bye, and hi!

 

 

 

 

 

In the interest of keeping things real, I would say the one big thing that has not been blissful since being home is sleeping.  Audrey absolutely, positively does not want to sleep in her crib, so she spends part of her night in the pack and play in our room, and the other part of the night in bed with us.  She wakes up at 2:30am almost every night, and is usually hungry.  We know that in the big scheme, everything is still very new to her, so we will wait this out for awhile and see if her sleep patterns improve.  We have read that many, many little children who are adopted do have some sleep issues, so we know that we are in good company on this issue.  In the meantime, we are meeting her needs right away, loving her to pieces, and are thankful that her cuteness during the day more than makes up for the sleep deprivation at night.

I think my favorite moment of the month happened just this week.  I have been working with Audrey on saying, "hi," but had not heard it at all.  Audrey was sick much of the day on Monday, having thrown up four times, and it was just a long day overall.  She was feeling better by bedtime, and I had gotten her jammies on, sung to her, laid her down and told her it was time to go night-night, etc.  It was dark in our room, but I could see her face, and was giving her one last kiss goodnight.  She looked right at me, and in a little whisper said, "Hi."  That erased all of the stress of the long day, and reminded me why I love being a mom.

Home!

Will try to sleep tonight, and we are excited to begin our new life at home tomorrow.  J