Energetic Eight!!

This sweet boy is 8 years old today!

You came into the world and immediately stole our hearts.

You were sweet and determined.

You were born in the early hours of the morning, coming at your own time, your own way.

You were either happy or mad, laughing or crying.

You were that way from the very beginning!

You were my most active baby. You were crawling up slides at 8 months, walking at 9 months and full on running at 10 months!

Life was never, ever boring with you!

Your smile can light up a room and you pay attention to those around you. You are fiercely loyal to your family and once you have made a friend, you are fiercely loyal to them as well.

You like to make us laugh, to be silly with your big brother and to have your little sisters giggling all day.

You have a mischievous streak in you, that usually involves something to do with food, especially sweets! I've cleaned more Nutella off of you than I care to admit. The picture below was not the first or the last time you snuck into the Nutella jar.

(While you no longer get it on your face, I am pretty sure this still happens!)

You love to be active and fell in love with soccer at a young age. I kept expecting you to grow bored with it, and to move onto another sport, but the opposite has taken place.

You are passionate and driven and you give 100% when you play soccer. That drive and ambition continues in everything that you do, whether it is school or tackling a new challenge.

I am proud of your dedication and teamwork. You insisted on attending games that you had to sit out due to your eye injury, because you are still on the team and you wanted to support your teammates.

Your dedication is inspiring.

You are always the first one to greet me in the morning and always make sure to say goodnight.

You give the best hugs.

We love you, Colin, with your sweet soul and fierce loyalty.

We like to call you our bulldog. You defend the weak and seek justice in everything.

We pray that your defense of the weak and doing what is right will carry on throughout your entire life.

Seek justice. Defend the hurting. Lift up the brokenhearted.

 Your love for your siblings is the best. Jack is your best friend and your friendship is something to value. You love your sisters,  helping and caring for them both. You are especially caring with Maggie, helping her around the house. Macy may never leave you alone, but that is because she loves you so!

 Happiest Birthday, my Colin. I look forward to watching you learn and grow this year, tackling new challenges and growing into the amazing young man you are becoming. We are proud of you and we love you so!

All the fingers: 10 years old!

Today, 10 years ago, you made me a momma. My first born, my boy. Everyone thought that you would be born on the 3rd, but you decided that celebrating on the 4th of July was a better idea.

It is so much more fun to celebrate a birthday with fireworks and celebrations!

You can now use all of your fingers to show how old you are.

Though, you probably will not.

That is embarrassing.

Your favorite thing is to be with friends, be social, be active.

You could be busy with friends from the morning that you wake up till the minute you go to bed, and it would not be enough.

You like to learn and read, but also play sports and be active.

This year, you are going to venture into the music world and learn an instrument.

I think that it will be a perfect fit for you.

 You have kept us laughing from day one, with your silliness and songs.

You have lots to say and love to share with anyone around you.

You are a fantastic big brother, with your younger siblings looking up to you and wanting to do everything that you do!

We love you so much, our dear first born.

You add wit and wisdom into our family.

You love those around you!

Our prayer for you, as you embark into the double digits of life, is that you will always remain kind.

Sincere with your words, and seek to lead those around you in kindness.

People look up to you, and we want you to be an ally to the hurting and befriend those who have none. To look for the vulnerable and lift them up.

Advocate for those others ignore, and stand up to those who mistreat.

Use those natural leadership skills for good, as we know you can!

Happiest 10th Birthday, Jack!

We are so excited to see where you will go, and what you will do.

But above all, know that you are deeply and truly LOVED.

Post Adoption: Month 9 & 10

The school year has ended and summer is upon us. Our sweet Maggie has been home with us for a full 10 months! We are starting to prepare our 1 year report and can not believe it! I remember last summer, being so close to bringing her home, but still so much to to do and so many miles between us. Now, we are home and ready for our first full summer as a family of 6!

Food and Growth:

Maggie is growing so much! We are down to 1 bottle in the morning now and she will drink from her cup without issues. She likes to use her fork, but still struggles with yogurt and a spoon! She loves fruit, cheese and more fruit. We are working on getting more varieties in her...but she is a very typical 2 yr old.

The doctors are pleased with her growth and that it continues to climb. She is still a bit small for her age, but has put on 5 full pounds in 10 months.

Attachment:

We are doing well on this area. Maggie knows we are her people and she will look for us while we are out in public. She gets very excited when she sees her brothers get off the bus and when she sees her dad at soccer practice. She is well loved by her siblings, each one trying to get the most hugs and kisses good night. Each of the kids have a special bond with Maggie and it makes me so proud to be their momma.

Health:

While Maggie is doing great, we will be doing a small eye procedure for her in July. Both of her tear ducts are blocked, so she will have out patient surgery to have those opened up. Because of her age, she will have to be put under, but it is a simple procedure with no post-op issues. I am nervous for the anesthesia, as I am not sure how she will react when she comes out, but I am thankful that in 10 months, we will only have had one small procedure.

Development:

After weeks of evaluations and meetings, we have finally started speech therapy for Maggie. She is slooooowly adding more words, but not at the speed she should be. So, we are hoping that this will help her communicate with us. Macy is anxiously awaiting the time that she will be able to have full conversations with her sister!

Maggie is so fun and is coming into her own. She still loves to snuggle with her mom and dad when she wakes up. She has a very strong opinion and is not afraid to let it be known. If she is tired, she will climb up in her chair and put herself to sleep (as pictures above) If she wants to be held, she will let you know. If you have food, she wants a bite. She wants to do whatever everyone else is doing and she refuses to be left out.

We can't believe that we have had this sassy fun thing for 10 whole months, but yet, it feels like she has always been with us. We are looking forward to summer with lots of sibling time, trying to get her to like the pool and seeing our China friends next month. So many things to look forward to! 

Happy Summer, friends!

Maggie is TWO!! {Post Adoption: Month 8)

Maggie is TWO today! Our sweet girl has been with us for 8 months and we are so excited to celebrate her birthday with her.

While Maggie's story is her own, and we will let her share the details herself, we are very lucky to know that April 26th is her actual birthday. This is not common in international adoptions and we are so glad that we get to celebrate her on the exact day, and not estimated.

While we will celebrate together as a family, a day filled with presents, balloons, cake and decorations, it is a day that will hold much more than that for me. It is my prayer that her birth family knows that she is loved, that they know that she is safe and healthy.  I think about her momma so much. I think about her birth family and if they have some of her traits, some of her sass and humor.  I do not know if we will ever meet here on earth, but I am so thankful for them. I know that they made the hardest decision in the world for their child and that they did it out of love. Maggie will always know that her birth family loved her so much that they made the hardest decision. So, today, on the day of my girl's birth, I pray for her momma, her momma heart and I pray that the Lord will whisper words of peace and love to her, that she may know her girl is loved and happy and healthy.

Attachment:

We keep making great progress with attachment and I feel confident that Maggie knows we are her family and she is our daughter. She will let people hold her, but definitely prefers her family. If we are in her sight and we tell her it is ok, she will let people hold her and play with her. So, we are pleased with her sense of security with us. She has even chosen me over Ryan a few times, which had not happened since we have been home. Ryan was not such a fan of that, but this momma sure was!

Food and Growth:

We have her 2 year wellness appointment coming up next week, so it will be interesting to see how she has grown. We are going to look into her eyes, teeth and hopefully no blood work! 

Food and using utensils is still a slow upwards battle and something we will probably work on for some time.

Physical development:

She is moving around well and tries to run. Wobbly toddler runs are just the best. She has started to climb up on some furniture, another development milestone. She has also taken some tumbles with this new found freedom, but nothing to dramatic. It hasn't seemed to stop her at all.

She is doing well with her fine motor skills when it comes to writing and drawing. We have found quite a few places where she has "practiced" on our walls...so pens and markers are more carefully monitored these days! She has also gotten a hold of the boys' homework a few times and they quickly learned to keep things out of her reach.

Verbal Development:

Maggie has added a few more words, but is still very far behind for her age. She is using around 5-10 words and she should be at 50. Her receptive language (understanding English) is amazing. She understands everything we say, will get things that we ask and will obey simple commands. It is amazing to think that she has only heard English for 8 months and she comprehends all of it. Her speech will come, but we are applying to start speech therapy so that we can help give her extra tools for her to use to communicate with us. Her latest word is "Guys!" which she will yell to groups of kids to get their attention...whether they are waiting for the bus or in the middle of a soccer practice.

Goals: 

We are starting to wean her off her bottle. It was used more for fluid intake than calories and nutrients, so we are hoping to start using cups more for her fluids and hopefully have her eat more solid foods.

Now that it is finally starting to warm up here, we are trying to get Maggie outside more and help build more of her muscle tone. While she is walking well, she still seems weaker than she should be and the uneven outdoor grounds will help build up that muscle tone that she is lacking in.

Words! Lots more words! We are hoping to add more vocabulary to her arsenal in the coming months.

Happiest Birthday, dear daughter. We are so happy that you are ours and that we get to celebrate you every day for the rest of your life. We pray that you know that you are deeply loved and we can not wait to watch you grow. You will do great things, my dear. Great and mighty things.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Margaret Li Ya!

Post Adoption: Month 6 & 7

On February 7th we hit the half year mark of meeting our Maggie. And that six month mark slipped into 7 months and here we are today. Over half way through our first year with our girl.


Month 6 was a busy one for her and for us! Maggie started walking! She decided to show off at our 6 month post-placement home visit (that went very well) and start walking around like no big deal.
Since that day, she has slowly added more and more steps and now she walks 100% of time and is getting very quick! So quick, that we now have to watch her at basketball and soccer games so that she does not  dart onto the playing field!

Our sweet girls in their qipoa, traditional Chinese silks, for Chinese New Year.

Life has been very full lately, with every night booked with an activity and every weekend filled with multiple games. Added on top of a school commitment, and one of the largest work projects that I have done in recent years, and you have a momma that is barely keeping her head above water.

BUT! The end is in site and an easier schedule is upon us. Maggie has just rolled with everything. She attends 75% of those practises and 100% of the games and she makes friends wherever she goes. We are so blessed that our soccer "family" loves her and everyone is willing to help out...even if that means chasing her down the sideline while Ryan and I were busy watching a corner kick at the other end of the field! Everyone likes to engage with Maggie, and we are so grateful for that.

Attachment:
Things seem to be going well. We definitely hit some regression sleep-wise. She wakes up crying some nights, which she has not done before. We can usually comfort her and put her back to sleep, but it is probably trauma related.
She is now going to nursery at church and doing well. She fusses briefly when I leave (which is good! It is good that she doesn't want me to leave) and she is happy when I come to get her. It helps us establish that even if we leave for a little while, we always come back.

Food and growth:
We are working on getting her to use utensils. She will sometime, but prefers her hands. I am trying to give her things that she HAS to use a spoon with, like yogurt or cereal, but it is messy, slow business! Cups or sippy cups are still hard. She CAN drink from them, she just refuses to.

Health: We've had a healthy two months with no doctor's appointments and no issues! In this cold and flu season, we are especially grateful for that!

Physical and verbal development:
She is walking! She is definitely on the move now and is trying to climb onto furniture, which is a next developmental stage. She is getting better with her gross and fine motor skills, but it is still something that we will work on for awhile.

Verbally, not much has changed. She is saying "See ya" when people leave and sometimes "bye". She spent most of the last two months working on physical skills, so we are hoping that her verbal will start to catch up.

 Goals: We are still wanting to hear more words. We will most likely sign her up for speech therapy around her 2nd birthday, just to help her along.
Eating more independently, as well as getting more fluids from a cup and not the bottle is next step.

She is definitely doing well and thriving here at home. She is very much a toddler and has a very strong will and opinion, so we are both learning how to handle this stage. She wants to do everything that she sees others doing. Are you eating? She must eat the exact same thing. Are you putting shoes on? She must put shoes on. Are you sitting? She must sit. Did you take your jacket off? Her jacket must come off.

While the behavior is usually cute and she is a little sponge that picks everything up, it is also trying at times. Not everyone wants to share bites of food every. single. time. So we are working on communicating needs and wants. Her siblings really do well with sharing with her...but her high pitched scream to get her way also motivates that sharing. So we are trying to find a balance, while also teaching her to how to communicate her desires in a way that does not include screaming. Wish us luck!

Maggie is lively and funny and silly and we can't wait to see the changes in the next few months and years, as we settle into becoming a family of 6.