So sorry it has taken me so long to post again! I hardly know where to start. I guess I’ll start with the disclaimer that this post will have no pictures…sorry!
We are doing really well….just tired and overwhelmed at times. Lily is doing great and I really can’t complain. I will just say having 4 children is a lot of work! I think in general the adjustment to 4 kids is difficult especially when one of them doesn’t know you and you don’t really know her either. We are thankful that everyday we are getting to know Lily more.
Here are some things we are learning/have learned about Lily:
When she is tired and going to sleep she sucks her thumb and with her other hand she rubs her ear.
She can be a neat freak….she doesn’t like for any crumb of food to be on her fingers, clothes, highchair tray, etc.
When she gets tired…she is tired…and it happens quick. If she is not in a bed quick…she has a major (and i mean MAJOR) meltdown.
She LOVES her sisters! She loves to chase them around our house. The feeling is mutual. Madison recently asked our friend who was driving carpool if she could drive faster because she was ready to get home and see her sister. (How cute is that?!)
She does NOT like having a bath…no matter how fun we try to make them look. She will watch her sisters in the bath and no matter how much I tell them to laugh and smile, she will not get in voluntarily.
She is super smart…she remembers everything you tell her or show her. She is starting to talk more in Chinese and English. Her favorite Chinese word is “Bao Bao” which means to hold her. She calls Travis “Baba” and me “Mommy”. She has learned “More” and “No”. Thankfully she uses “no” in reference to something being all gone…like when the corn is gone she will say “no”.
She is following in her sister’s footsteps and loves shoes! She has two new pair that have squeakers in them and she loves to take them on and put them back on….again and again.
She can not fall asleep unless someone (me or Trav) is in the bed with her. We started out having her sleep in our room in a pack n play, but that wasn’t working so well. We would have to lay down with her in our bed for 30-45 minutes…once she was asleep we would try to get up and move her to the pack n play. This usually didn’t work very well and she would wake up and end up staying in our bed…which meant neither Travis nor I slept well. So, after about a week at home, we moved her into her room in the big bed there. We still lay down with her but don’t have to move her. She is sleeping great…usually about 12-13 hours each night!!!
She really likes the carseat. I was afraid that was going to be a disaster.
Her eyes really do look like Travis’. Dark Brown and beautiful!
She prefers playing with cars, noisy toys, or stackable toys. She is kinda scared of baby dolls….even the very cute Chinese one that I bought hoping she would love.
She likes to run around with kids but kinda runs with her chest out and I’m always afraid she is going to fall.
She likes to be carried and her sisters will carry her all around if we let them…she is definitely the little princess.
We are so thankful for her and really pray that we all attach to each other as quickly as possible. Most people say it takes about 3 month to a year for it to happen…I hope it is more like 3 months!
I am back in Guangzhou with her right now for 4 days. We had to come back for her Consulate Appointment. This is the very final step in the adoption process….this is where the US gives her a visa that allows her to be a US citizen from the moment she 1st enters the US. Today we went to the US Consulate (like an Embassy but not in the capital city) with about 30 other adoptive families to take an oath that all the info we have submitted to the US government on our adoptive children’ behalf is true and accurate. It was a “raise your right hand and repeat after me” type of thing and it was very moving! Here we are standing in a big room with about 100 plus American parents and 33 Chinese children all repeating an oath together. 2 of the parents were adopting 2 children at a time and one lady was completing her 4 adoption in China!! The Consulate Officer even wished 2 children “Happy Birthday” from the front….and one of them was Lily! (Her birthday is on the 29th.)
So sorry if this post is all over the place. I will post again with pictures when I get home. Also, I really hope this post will leave the spaces in. For some reason when I go to post the blog to my blog it takes out all the spaces…sorry….I know it makes it difficult to read.
