One Month Today

It is hard to believe it, but it has already been one month since Grace was placed in my arms. It makes my head spin to think that time has passed so quickly. She is adjusting beautifully to life with us. She seems to enjoy the chaos of a household with two three rowdy boys.



Here are some of the milestones that we have passed this month:
1-Daddy is no longer the Yeti :)
(If you don't understand this, read THIS POST)
2-Two new teeth
3-Learning to sit up from a lying-down position
4-Learning to push up and support weight with her arms when lying on her belly
5-Learning to crawl
6-Learning to take some unassisted steps (I've counted 12 in a row so far.)
7-Learning to Clap when we say "yay"
8-Learning to give kisses
9-Learning to wave goodbye
10-Saying "uh oh"
11-Learning what "no" means :)
12-Learning to respond to her new name
13-Learning what it means to feel full, and pushing food away when that happens
14-Becoming secure enough in her food supply that she will refuse food that she dislikes.
15-Learning that Pasta is her favorite food

There have been so many things. These really are just the tip of the iceberg. I could not have imagined that she would do so well.

She's done all of this, by the way, with a chronic double ear infection which our doctor suspects that she has had for a very long time. She has been on some form of antibiotic for nearly 3 weeks. (This would explain the miserable 15-hour plane ride home.) We hope that this third antibiotic has done the trick.



We will be taking her to Washington DC on Tuesday to meet with all of the specialists on her cleft team. The appointments will last from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM. We will meet with an ENT, a Plastic Surgeon, and 5 or 6 other specialists. We hope to come away with a good idea about her future medical needs and treatment. We also hope to have her first surgery scheduled. We were expecting, before finding out that her lip had been repaired, to have 2 surgeries in the first 6 months. It appears that she will only need one. There will be more surgeries when she is older as well.

Our current focus is learning how to live life in a house where we are outnumbered (a friend told me that we'd gone from "man to man defense" to "zone defense"), and learning all about this new little person that God has blessed us with. What a personality she has! She is a strong little girl, what plans must God have for her life? We sure are glad that she has two incredible big brothers to help watch after her.


Here's our crew: The Cowboy, The Jedi Knight, and The Ballerina

Our Baby Girl's First Birthday

We received Grace's pictures and information on April 24th. Just eight days later, on May 2nd, she had her first birthday...

Of course, we had to celebrate!

We shared a fresh strawberry cake ('cause it's pink and all), and sang Happy Birthday. She also got a couple of presents which we will take with us to China in a few months.

It was a bittersweet celebration. We are so excited to have found her, and to know that we will be together soon. But, it was really hard to know that we were missing this milestone. I have lots of photos of both boys on their first birthdays. I especially love the tradition of getting their own cake to play in. Maybe we will do that with Grace on the 1st anniversary of her Gotcha Day!

Big Brother blew out her candle...

Her gifts: Some clothes, a "teetheable" photo album so that she can start learning the faces of her family, and


Her first baby doll.

This was the first thing I purchased after we decided to pursue the adoption of a daughter. Her name is Magnolia, and she was designed by the adoptive mom of two sweet girls from China. You can learn more HERE. (A portion of the proceeds from these dolls goes to assist children in orphanages around the world. And, I've just discovered that Magnolia has a lot of new friends, too!) Very few Asian dolls are on the market today, especially dolls for young children. Magnolia has been sitting on my desk for 10 months as a daily reminder of the blessings of this journey. I cannot wait to give her to our baby girl.

(By the way, the quilt she is sitting on is Grace's bedding. We will begin preparing her room soon. There will be pictures!)