One month home

Mallie Grace has been home one month today. (Don't ask me when we'll drop the Mallie because it just fits so well right now!) I am continually amazed at how much has changed in one month....of how quickly she has adapted to our family and learned our way of life. I am so thankful we spent this month at home. It has given her time to adjust and become comfortable here. We have started venturing out, especially with the Christmas holiday, but we still have til the 2nd week of January before we'll be back in our "school" routine. A foster parent friend told me the first two weeks are always the hardest. She was so right! Those 2 weeks were a blur. I walked around in a cloud of exhaustion and just tried to keep my head above water. I won't lie...it was hard. But, slowly, every day is getting easier. Having Daddy home for these past few days has helped their relationship a ton. She is growing more and more comfortable with Robby and sat in his lap during the entire Christmas Eve service at church. It was a true gift for him. :)

She LOVES her brothers, especially Noah. He is so good with her. He takes her in his room and plays music for her while she dances around. The girl's got rhythm! I love the way she bosses him around. She may be small, but she's powerful! When we eat together, she won't let him get up from the table until she's finished. If he does, she yells, "Noah!!!! Sit down!!!!!" Then, she won't continue eating until he's back at the table. Pretty funny. I told her she doesn't realize the power she has! The boys have all learned a bit of Kreyole, too, and communicate with her so well. Sometimes she will spout off a long string of sentences that we don't understand, but for the most part, we communicate well. Context clues help a lot!

The LORD continues to give her peace and comfort in our home and we're so thankful. We still stay with her until she falls asleep at naptime and bedtime and she still sleeps in our room. I don't know when we'll start the transition to her room, but it doesn't feel right, yet. I call her Velcro Baby because she is stuck on me or by my side all day long. We do everything together...and I mean EVERYTHING!

I know she had a prayer she said at GLA because sometimes she'll put her babies to bed and say a prayer in Kreyole. But, we've taught her a short prayer that she prays at meal times and at bedtime. It's so precious to hear her say it: "Dear Jesus, I love you. Amen." I hope to get a video of it one day. The LORD is knitting her heart into the hearts of our family and we're so thankful.

Wonderful Christmas!

What a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas! All of our family is together and our hearts are so full. We actually kept it pretty low-key this year and Grace did great in every situation. We celebrated with my side of the family on December 20, celebrated at home on December 24, and at Robby's parents' on December 25. In a new environment with new people, Grace will stay in my lap and really quiet. But, she soon warms up. At my Mom's, she had Bailee to distract her and keep her busy. Those two are going to be best buddies! They already had a tea party and played Bitty Babies together. I'm so thankful Grace has THREE girl cousins that will be right down the road very soon. :)

This year we tried something new and had our family Christmas at home on Christmas Eve. It was wonderful! We had all day to be home together, stay in our PJs, and the kids could play with their new toys instead of packing up and heading out to visit family. Santa brought some very fun surprises. Grace got a trike, Noah got a sub-woofer, Luke got the bean bag he'd been hoping for, and Jonah got a scooter. Christmas with a toddler is just so fun. Each gift she opened was so wonderful to her. She could've taken all day to open her 3 gifts just because she wanted to spend time with each one. I think her favorite were the shoes she got for her baby. She's a SHOE girl in every way! :) Watching the joy she experienced was just so precious. We are so thankful we finally got to celebrate Christmas at home with her after seeing her in Christmas pictures for 2 years. God is so good!

First doctor visit

Doh! I'm so mad at myself. I was concentrating so hard on getting the stool sample to the doctor that I forgot to get a pic of Grace with him! We love Dr. Latortue. He's Haitian and we know that's not coincidence. Just one of the many reasons God moved us to MV and I love that He added that little detail. :) 

She did great and he said she looks very healthy. We're giving her a one dose med that will take care of any parasites in her belly and she needs one shot in January, but that's it. 

She was her shy self like she is around strangers and then talked the whole way home. ;)

Happy 3rd Birthday!

We had a wonderful day today! Mallie Grace turned 3! We are so thankful she celebrated with us at home.
Her first birthday at GLA

 Her second birthday at GLA

And finally, here we are today, celebrating at home. Thank you, LORD. We had a pretty low key "party". After talking about it all day, practicing "3" with our fingers, and icing the cake, she was definitely in party mode. She had fun blowing out the candles before I could even get them all lit. After several practice rounds, she finally let them stay lit while we sang. I think she loved having all of the attention on her.

We gave her an American Girl Bitty Baby. I bought this baby over a year ago and she has sat in my closet waiting. I'm not sure who was more excited....me to give it to her or her getting a new baby. She LOVES babies. She loves to pretend with them---feed them, bathe them, give them naps. This baby is special because she has brown skin like Grace. :)
She also got a "See 'n Say". I remember loving mine as a kid. We've been working on animals and their sounds and she loves to talk about them. The cookie set she got is also quite fun. It's a "slice and bake" cookie set with velcro. It has a pretend knife so she can slice them and then icing to decorate. She put them all on the pan and immediately took them to her little oven to bake them. We've been talking a lot about hot ovens and hot stoves and she was very animated with the oven mitt, telling us all to stay back and "SHOH!!!", which means hot. What's so amazing is that this precious one has never even baked cookies! She just understood that they're food to be baked because they're on a pan and I showed her the oven mitt. You better believe we'll be baking REAL cookies tomorrow. :)
Another fun gift was a high chair for her baby. She has had so much fun feeding her baby and baby must eat with us at every meal. It's so fun to watch her talk to the baby in Kreyole. Her Nana gave her a quilt today that she made. It's super soft and Grace immediately took it to naptime with her. Tonight she used it to swaddle her new baby. Such fun times.

Today she experienced another first....her first trip to a grocery store. I only needed a few things and we were in and out pretty quickly, but it was amazing to watch her. She was just trying to take it all in. I put her in the child seat of the buggy before she could protest and she tolerated it ok, but asked to get out a few times. I am so thankful that so far, she's handled transitions well. It was even a misty, grey afternoon. I think she had more to say about the rain than the store. :)

All in all, today was a wonderful day. Yesterday was a very  hard day with quite a few challenges, so I'm extremely thankful for today. I know no child is perfect and I don't expect her to ever be, but we can see her adjusting and growing more comfortable with us each day. There were no power struggles at all today. No "time ins" either (a "time in" is different than a time out because she's on my lap and not alone in her room). I am prepared for whatever tomorrow holds, but I'm so thankful for the joy of today.
Happy Birthday, precious girl!

The hair

Oh, the hair! I thought I had read enough. I thought I had studied enough and watched enough YouTube. I thought I had enough products. Nope. Nothing prepared me for the UNdoing of the beaded braids. After 2 days, tons of conditioner, a few tears, and a wooden skewer, they're out. Thanks to Sesame Street, I got a new style in....then had to redo it 2 days later! We'll see how long this one lasts. 

One week home

In some ways, it's hard to believe our little Haitian Sensation has been home for a week. In other ways, it seems like she's been here forever. I am completely amazed at how she has grown and adapted to our family in just 7 days. Children are so routine oriented and part of the cocooning process is teaching her to follow our routine. I know she was in a very strict routine at GLA. One thing we've found is that the bath time routine must lead directly to bed. She is really enjoying baths now and loves to pour the water on the rubber duckies and splash around. But, immediately after bath, she loves her lotion time, puts on her PJs, tells everyone "Bon Nweet" (good night) and jumps straight in bed. There are never tears at bedtime. Thank you, LORD! I always stay with her til she falls asleep, and sometimes it takes a while, but she's very calm and relaxed. Naptime, however, is another story. She MUST still have a nap (she sleeps for 2 hours) but she fights it hard. 

As Daddy went back to work this week, I have been challenged by her each day. One thing we already knew about Grace: she's a fighter. In the beginning of her life, she had to fight to survive. By the NICU nurse's account, her little body didn't have much fight left when she was brought to GLA. The strong-willed fighter in her has helped her survive in an orphanage for almost 3 years. Now we must teach her that you don't have to fight to survive in our family. As exhausting as it is to teach her this, it saddens my heart so much to have a glimpse of her background. First of all, she's LOUD. She will just scream---ear piercing screams---to hear herself. Luke has invented the "Scream-o-Meter" to rate them. Thank you, Luke. I'm sure that in a community of 40+ kids, you had to be loud to get your needs/wants met. I'm also sure that there was fighting amongst the kids to get your own way, too. On a daily basis, we have spitting/hitting/defiance showdowns. She knows the stove is hot. I tell her it's hot in Kreyole. She smiles at me, tells me it's cold, and walks right up to touch it. So, I pick her up and try to redirect her. Sometimes, there's no amount of redirecting that can be done to make her forget this idea and she'll constantly keep going back, smiling at me, and moving toward the stove. Just an example. Other times, she'll throw toys at me. It's always with a smile and if I react with an "OW!" she laughs. More redirecting begins. Redirecting usually involves a major meltdown of crying, screaming, and flailing about because she's no longer getting her way. This is so hard and so exhausting. Every day is getting better, though. There are less frequent battles each day. 

So, there you go. If you've made it this far, you are seeing the "realness" of adoption. That's why Jen Hatmaker's "After the Airport" post is so meaningful. The Airport Party is what I dreamed of for so long---the joy of finally bringing Grace into our family---but this is the real part we signed up for, too. All of the adoption books we've read and the conferences we attended are coming to life now. Thank you, LORD, for equipping us with the knowledge of what she needs. I have no doubt that our unconditional love will continue to soften her little heart and help her to understand what it's like to live in a family. 

Ok, I just went back and reread this post and realized I started with the "blech" and didn't mention any joys. OH, the joys!!!! The joys DAILY triumph the challenges. Miss Grace has the biggest personality and best sense of humor. She makes the silliest faces and keeps us all laughing. She loves her Daddy, too, and asks him to hold her hands while she jumps on our mini-trampoline. She's a girly girl, too. We painted her fingernails and toenails this week and she was so excited and showed everyone how our nails match. :) If there's music on, she's dancing. Her dancing is hilarious and involves silly faces, too. She has so much joy in her heart and we are having a blast learning her little personality! :) 

Grace loves to write/color and has a GREAT pencil grip for a 2 year old. This was a Sonic receipt that she found. Then, she found the pencil, and sat down for some serious writing. Resourceful, this kid.

Sittin' on top of the world!

A Whole New World

Mallie Grace (she's responding really well to that name right now) is getting braver each day. It's such a blessing to see her relaxing each day and trusting us more and more. Naptime has gotten MUCH better. Today there were no tears at all! This is huge! Since the day we were reunited with her, naptime has been a big challenge (crying, kicking, yelling, etc.). She is starting to enjoy outside, too. The first day, I couldn't put her down. Yesterday, she walked a little, but was still very leery of her surroundings. Today, she was running up and down the hill chasing the basketball. She still wants me very close to her, but is starting to get brave. She even put her boots on today! As you can imagine, there are no fur-lined boots in Haiti. So, these boots really freaked her out when I tried to get her to wear them on the plane. I think she thought they were a live animal! She jumped back and was terrified of them. So, today I got them out again and she was fine with them. Every girl needs a good pair of boots. Yesterday afternoon was our biggest challenge so far. Robby took the boys to a movie and we never dreamed she'd get so upset. She tested every boundary possible and even cried for "Daddy" many times. At this point, we are just redirecting when she acts out and trying not to say "no no". That's very tough when you're talking about a toddler. Kids from hard places need to hear "yes" as often as possible. This is especially important in the beginning when she's learning to trust us to meet all of her needs.
Our hearts are so full and we are so in love! She gives the best "tee-bohs" (kisses in Kreyole) and we love that! When Robby got home from church today, she kissed him and said, "I love you, Daddy!"....totally unprompted. It was precious!
Sometimes it still feels like we're living a dream by living in the same house with her after gazing at her picture for so many months. We are truly blessed.

I'm amazed at her coloring ability. She has great grip on the pencil/crayon and works meticulously to stay in the lines. My boys NEVER spent this much time coloring at her age.

This girl LOVES to eat! So far, she's gobbled everything put in front of her, but our Thanksgiving leftovers of Turkey Noodle Soup and Turkey Pot Pie have been among her favorites.

One big welcome

Best Thanksgiving ever!

Yep...today was the best Thanksgiving ever! We all enjoyed just having a fun play day as a family. We all find ourselves just staring at Mallie Grace at times in complete awe and wonder. It's still so hard to believe she is here and here for good. She was looking at her baby pictures on the fridge today and asking me about them. Oh, sweet girl....if only you knew how long we gazed at those pictures and dreamed of this day.

We are very thankful that she's such a good sleeper. Once she's asleep, she's out. When you sleep in a room with 10 other kids, you learn to be a good sleeper, I guess. I heard her rustling around about 5:00am, but she eventually went back to sleep, I guess, and when I woke back up at 7:30, she was awake. The kids at the orphanage were taught not to get out of bed until they're told. So, even when she wakes up, she just lays there until I get her up. We'll see how long this lasts, but it sure is convenient for now. She has a toddler bed in our room and we'll keep her with us for a while. She needs to know that we're right there, always with her and ready to meet her needs.

The word of the day was definitely "Noah". She quickly learned his name and began bossing him around---"Vine, Noah!" which means "Come here, Noah!" It's pretty cute! Mostly, we played and ate today. This girl can EAT! Her Thanksgiving supper was turkey, sweet potatoes, pinto beans, and corn bread---and she cleaned her plate! It was pretty amazing! Now I know why kids from GLA grow so much and gain weight so quickly when they come home.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. We are still struggling with naptime, but I know it will get better each day. She really puts up a fight, but doesn't fight bedtime at all. Strange. I got lots of kisses and "I yuv yous" today. We are so very thankful our daughter is home.

First breakfast at home....corn flakes. She ate half the bowl, got down to play, and came back an hour later to finish the soggy ones. Yum!

Mallie Grace loves playing in her new room.

She was very clingy when we took her outside for the first time, but she did like the wagon ride from Noah.

Coming home--Miami to DFW to Mt Vernon!

This girl seemed to be a pro at traveling.  You never would've guessed it was her first time to be on a plane, in a hotel room, on an airport shuttle, on a people mover, and more! She was awesome in every way!

It was great to not have to get up early and rush to the airport on Wednesday morning. We played a little in the hotel room and she started to really relax with us. She is just so goofy and giggly. I love watching her little personality coming out. Again, she did great on the flight. Thankfully, it was naptime, so she slept a good 2 hours in my arms. Then, she wanted to sit in her own seat. Such a big girl! She even was leaning out into the aisle to get people's attention. Such a little charmer!

We had quite a group waiting for us at the airport. It was a sweet sweet time. Pictures to come! Robby and I are just overwhelmed at the love and support we have had through this whole process. Miss Grace is so loved and one day she'll understand that.

Before we left the hotel room, I made a little video (can't figure out how to upload that yet) as I was trying to teach her "Mallie Grace". She was so cute saying her name. She is really responding well to that. We'll drop the Mallie eventually. Small steps.

I was very concerned about putting her in the carseat after the airplane/seatbelt experience. Every time we rode in a car in Haiti, she was in my lap. But, again, she was great! I know it helped to have her brothers in the backseat with her. She just watched out the window so intently. Again, I'd love to know what was going through her little mind as she whizzed through the metroplex for the first time. We stopped at Culver's for supper. None of us had eaten much at all during the flight. She INHALED a corn dog and all of her french fries and then stole Jonah's chicken. Missy can EAT! Then, she climbed up in the window (so as to have the attention of everyone in the restaurant) and began singing "Happy Birthday" in Kreyole. Yep. Big personality, this girl!

It was way past her bedtime when we got home, but she was great as we showed her around her new bedroom and the rest of our home. After a quick bath, she immediately fell asleep. One thing you should know about me: I love taking pictures of sleeping children. Home sweet home!