Life with Three Girls Three and Under Isn't Easy

Our Airport Homecoming

Our first family hugs!

Livi and Isla were so excited to meet Hadley

Livi wanted to hold Hadley. Hadley did not like that very much.

Sweet Isla. These two are seven months apart and I think they are going to be very close friends.

My favorite picture from the day!

More hugs from Isla.

We have been home for nine days now and we have been busy. I have always said I was busy in the past before we had Hadley, but I didn't realize there is a whole other level of busy. Somehow having one more small human in our house has drastically increased the amount of laundry, dishes, food consumed and overall time it takes to get anywhere. I feel like I have four extra kids to get dressed and get out the door. It takes a long time to get three girls, ages 3 1/2, 2 and 1 1/2, fed, dressed and out the door. It doesn't help that it is freezing and won't stop snowing outside so we have to get boots, hats, and heavy coats on everyone. We haven't really even had to be any where on time because school was canceled all week and Aaron was off of work. It is going to be really hard when I am home alone and both big girls have school. Don't expect to see us anywhere on time for the next several months (possibly years). I apologize now for our tardiness and general appearance. I cannot promise clothes will always match or hair will be brushed (both mine and all the girls). We have been settling in well and staying cooped up at home to avoid the frigid temperatures. Hadley has been a few places including Target, Chic-Fil-A, the toy store, the doctors office and the children's hospital (for lab work, we will get to that story later). Otherwise we have been home and she is doing great. She is adjusting well to our schedule, seems to be attaching to both Aaron and I and generally enjoys her older sisters. They get in her face a lot and she is easily annoyed and overwhelmed with them but otherwise she likes them. They love her and do not seem to have a lot of jealousy towards her which was an obvious concern of mine. The first question out of Olivia and Isla's mouths when they wake up is "Where's Hadley?" They like to keep track of her every move and our very interested in everything she does. Hadley's personality is coming out more everyday and we are beginning to see more and more progress from her. She loves crawling around the house and is getting very fast. She pulls up on anything and everything that stands still and is taking some steps with the walking push toy and while holding onto our fingers. I think she will be walking before we know it. She continues to be an excellent eater and has enjoyed everything we have offered including chicken chili, quesadillas, meatloaf, prunes, green beans, Chic-Fil-A, chicken pot pie, bbq chicken and coleslaw. Her favorites so far seem to be eggs and mashed potatoes, although she has literally cleaned her plate at every meal. Yesterday she even licked her plate clean! You would think we are starving her, but I promise we are not. We have found one food she will not eat, pickles. She does not like pickles. I don't either, so I can't blame her.

We had one warm day before all the cold and snow hit last week. Hadley loved being outside. She will fit in well with us because we spend the majority of our spring, summer and fall playing outside.

She was very interested in touching and crawling on the concrete

She loved the rocking chair and watching our cat walking around

I am so excited we can finally fill all three wagon cars!

Hadley likes Chic Fil A as much as the rest of us

Playing with water. She is still very nervous in the tub and with water in general so we are making an effort to get our hands wet every chance we get. (Yes, I realize those tiny bears she is playing with our a choking hazard and I supervised closely). She is tolerating the bath if Aaron gets all the way in with her. 

Biggest sister Olivia always wants to hold Hadley. Hadley is not up for the idea.

We had our first doctor's appointment with out pediatrician a few days ago and it went great. He had nothing but good things to say and thinks that she looks healthy and seems to be on track. She is weighing in at 20 lbs and is in the 7th % for her weight, 10% for head size and 3% for height. That is all on the American growth chart so that is a decent size given that she will likely be smaller being that she is Chinese. She received two shots to catch her up to where she needed to be for her age by US standards. We are waiting on blood work to confirm the immunization record that we got for her from China. Assuming she had everything they said she had, we are caught up. She had a TB skin test that came back all clear. We had blood work done Friday as well as a stool sample, so we are waiting on confirmation that all that looks good.

Our pediatrician sent us to the local children's hospital, Kosair Brownsboro Children's Hospital (if you are in Louisville and haven't been you must go if you ever have to take your kids to the hospital. We have been once before when our oldest fell down the stairs and busted her eye lid open as a toddler and it is amazing. It is the most kid friendly place I have ever been and if it weren't for the circumstances of the visit, it is a very enjoyable experience. I will never go to another hospital, even though it is a little further away, it is worth the extra few minutes drive). Anyway, I couldn't figure out why they didn't just take the blood at the doctor's office. Now I know why! Our poor 20 lbs. girl had to have 8 vials of blood drawn. they said that is the max amount for her weight. I hopped on the hospital bed with her in my lap. They have a Child Life Specialist come in with an iPad with kid's games and music to try to distract them during the procedure. This worked for the first 20 seconds before they ever touched her. One nurse started with her left arm, tied the rubber band thing around it and the screaming began! They hadn't even stuck her yet. She was so angry at being held down by me while they tied that band around her arm. I could tell this wasn't go to go well. I held her down on my lap, while another nurse held her arm and the third nurse stuck her arm and tried to get some blood. I guess she couldn't find a vein. I didn't watch for fear of passing out. Well, that nurse left after her failed attempt and lots of loud screaming from Hadley. A man came in and explained that he was going to try. He grabbed the right arm, as another nurse held her arm and I held her body down. The screaming continued for the next ten minutes or so while they managed to squeeze 8 vials of blood out of an IV they stuck in the back of her hand. She was flailing the entire time and pulling her hand and arm away from them so blood was going everywhere. I was not watching the whole process, but saw the aftermath once we were done. There is blood all over the bed, the floor, the nurse and doctor, and Hadley and myself. The doctor doing it said he had only seen this happen one other time and that was in Iraq. It did look like a war had occurred in that exam room. The doctor and nurses were surprised that Hadley was as strong as she was and they said they liked her spunk! That's my girl! She is still worn out and sleeping a lot even several days later.

She was so happy while we were waiting to go back to the exam room. She clearly did have a clue what was about to take place.

Sunday we attended church for the first time as a family of five. We did not even attempt to sit in the sanctuary with our noisy little friend and instead sat in the atrium and watched on TV. Hadley charmed people all around us and made a lot of friends as she seems to do everywhere we go.

On the way to church. Aaron thought she looked like an Eskimo in her white coat

Hadley looking preppy at church on Sunday

Sunday was also our sweet Isla Kate's 2nd Birthday. We celebrated with a small family party with cake and ice cream. The girls all had fun and our family enjoyed seeing Hadley. She did great with the small crowd and charmed everyone as usual. I love a big, elaborate birthday party and look forward to this summer when Hadley is more comfortable and ready to party for Olivia's 4th birthday and Hadley's 2nd!

Martha Stewart Raspberry Cream birthday cake. Her's was much prettier but mine was very tasty!

Happy 2nd Birthday Isla Kate!

Today was the first day Aaron returned to work and I was left to get everyone up, dressed, fed and out the door on time. We did it and were even a couple minutes early! GO Mommy! I am sure it will be the last time we are early for a while. We just got lucky I think. The little girls and I went to the mall in search of curtains for Olivia's new room (didn't find what we were looking for) and outfits to have family pictures. I am so excited to get a good picture of all five of us as well as some professional shots of Hadley. I have always loved having professional pictures taken of the girls as babies and am sad we didn't get to do that for Hadley. We will have to make up for lost time and take a lot of pictures taken in the next few months. We got our first few comments while we were out at the mall this morning. One older woman stopped me to tell me how beautiful my children were. Thank you lady! Another woman asked how far apart the girls were and I told her they were seven months apart. She looked confused and said "So they aren't yours?" I explained one was adopted. Did she not notice she is also Chinese. I look forward to people's funny comments like this and welcome the opportunity to talk about adoption. I am sure I will feel differently in a few months after I am getting it all the time. I am sure I will be more annoyed then but for now I think it is amusing to watch people try to figure it all out.

Hadley playing on the mall playground. I was surprised she crawled that far from me. She turned and crawled quickly back after I took this picture. 

I hope to be able to blog more regularly but these little ladies are keeping me busy! I think we will get into a better routine this week with Olivia (3 days/week) and Isla (1 day/week)  being back in school (assuming they don't cancel due to the extreme cold. That is definitely a possibility these next couple of days).