3 months home.....

We have now been home exactly 3 months with our precious daughter.  

Wow, what a crazy 3 months, time has flown by.  I remember thinking we would never get to China......

Olivia continues to do well, she talks constantly and still gets around like she did before the casts, they haven't slowed her down a bit.  She is very feisty, I have no doubt that she will one day walk and excel in this world.  

We leave next Tuesday to go back to Philly for her Achille's lengthening surgery and she will also have some tendons in her hips "released" to give her hips a little more flexion.  

I am not looking forward to it at all......

I just keep thinking about how uncomfortable she will be. 

 I can't imagine having surgery and then being confined to casts.  

Yes, she will have casts put on after the surgery.  Then we will start the weekly castings again the following week.  

As of now we are scheduled through the first week of June.  The doctor said she may need the Achille's lengthening procedure done again after the castings are complete, so it may be July before she gets them off for good.  

Looking like a long summer.....

I must admit this traveling and working full time are a little harder than I expected.  I honestly don't mind traveling, I have always enjoyed traveling, but having to work my lovely night shift on top of it has made for one tired mamma.  

 Olivia is also pushing limits....a lot. 

 I think she knows she can.......

 so she does......

 like most 3 year olds.  

I try to remember that she 

1.) is 3, 

2.)has only been home 3 months, and 

3.)has casts all the way up her legs.  

In everything I've learned about adoption, any big change is a lot harder on these kids than a child who has been in the same home with a family their entire life.  

She has her moments, I have mine, we get through them and move on......

She is still a very sweet and loving child.  

She LOVES to snuggle, especially with me.  

I went from being her least favorite in China to her most favorite here.  I am so thankful that she has bonded so well with me, with all of us.  She loves her brothers and sister, and has no problem telling them to leave her alone when she's had enough of their constant.affection.  And of course she still loves her Daddy.  He gets the biggest grin when he comes home, she'll say "Daddy's home!".  It's precious.  And if you dare mention talking to him on the phone, she will pitch a fit to talk too and run up some minutes!

As I mentioned earlier, she talks a lot.  She'll talk to anybody who will listen, or not, she'll keep talking.  

Somethings we can understand, some we can't, but she knows what she's talking about and she knows exactly what we're talking about.  

We can tell her anything and she will understand it.  

She's so smart. 

 I'd say the hardest thing has been her eating. 

 She still does not eat well.  Some days are better than others, some days are just plain horrible.  

For example, yesterday she inconspicuously threw all her food on the floor for the dog to eat. 

 I worry because she's so tiny, but the problem is that it has become a power struggle between us.  This is the only thing she can control, so she wants to control it.  

Again, I have to relax and leave her alone.  I seem to only make it worse, especially when she'll be eating well and I sit down, then she's done and just wants me to hold her......

So things continue to go well, but things get hard at times.  If anyone goes into adoption with the thought that it will be perfect, thinking "we will show this child love and give it all it needs, so how could it be hard?" is only lying to themselves and everyone else. 

Adoption is hard....at times....but it is beautiful......all the time. 

 This precious little life has been such a blessing on mine and I am so thankful to have her. 

God adopted us just as we adopt these children, it is an amazing sight to live and understand.  God loves us and wants us to love Him.  We're not always easy to love, we mess up a lot, but He never leaves us, He fights our fights and answers our prayers.  He wants to be the only reason we exist, He IS the only reason we exist and for that I am thankful!