It's Been a Busy Six Weeks

We arrived home from China 6 weeks ago today. It is strange to think we have known Hadley for less than 8 weeks. She fits into our family really well and her older sisters are absolutely in love with her. The last few weeks have been busy with kid's birthday parties, play dates, ear infections and a brief stomach flu outbreak that hit our house. Add in the day to day distractions and messes that happen with three little kids and we are ready for winter to be over and to get outside and enjoy some room to run and fresh air. There was a couple of warm days that teased us last week but we are back to the bitter cold and there is a winter storm warning for this coming weekend.

Biker chick!

Swinging in the basement

Hadley finally got brave enough to climb into the ball pit and loves it. It is one of her favorites places to play in the basement.

I made sensory boxes for the girls. This is usually what ends up happening. Unfortunately I did not get a picture the day our two year old Isla was standing on a chair, throwing handfuls of rice out of my colored rice sensory box all over the room... totally naked!

Enjoying our play date at the Louisville Science Center with buddies Cole and Kaden. We were shocked that we were able to get all five kids in one picture!

Isla driving the bus at the science center.

Isla's passenger in the back of the bus. The "Wheels on the Bus"song was playing so Hadley was standing there dancing.

Sisters contemplating the slide.

Isla doing a little shoe shopping today! She loves high heels and unfortunately she will not find many pairs in my closet these days (Or ever really. Who am I kidding?)

I realized I didn't have any pictures of three year old Olivia, so here is a video of her. She is our climber and has great balance so I was not at all surprised to find her in the position. (She does not sit still and let me take her picture very often so that is the reason for the lack of pictures of her. She is getting better but for the last year or so she has been very hard to photograph).

Hadley continues to adjust to our family and our day to day schedule and we continue to see her make progress and experience new things. She is cruising all over our house and is bound to walk soon. Her latest trick is to pull up on something in the kitchen and cruise all the way around the perimeter of the kitchen, holding onto the cabinets, dishwasher, oven, and ending at the freezer door handle. She is over her fear of the bathtub and is excited to get in the tub and plays happily for awhile. She doesn't even mind water being dumped on her face. What a drastic change from 4-5 weeks ago.

I am so glad that the bathtub screaming has ended! What's not to love about bath time?

While she continues to be a good eater and eat a variety of things she is beginning to slow down and show more preferences, occasionally leaving behind a few bites of something. As of a week or so ago there was not a single meal where she didn't clean her entire plate. I think she has realized that we will feed her and she can start to be a little more selective in her food choices. If I had to choose I would say her favorite foods are eggs and bananas, but she will eat just about anything that we offer.

Hadley continues to babble and says "dada" and very occasionally "mama" although I am not convinced she is actually directing it at us. I have noticed that she is understanding more and more things that we say to her and even in new and different context. For example, Isla was playing the other day and told me she was going to take her baby doll in the stroller and go to the library. I said to Isla,"Okay, see you later" and as Isla walked out of the room. As she walked away, Hadley waved at her. She would wave when we said bye bye or she saw us wave but now she is putting it all together and knew that it was appropriate to wave to Isla as she left. She is starting to make connections and it is really neat to see how quickly she is catching on and understanding English. Hopefully she will start talking and saying a few words soon.

Hadley turned 18 months last week and we had her 18-month check up with the pediatrician this week. The doctor was happy and did not have any concerns with her growth or development. She was impressed that given her circumstances she is doing as good as she is and although on the later end, she is still considered to be on track for a typical American child for her physical, gross motor and speech development, which are all areas I had some concerns since she is not walking or talking. I was reassured to hear she is doing great and making good progress! We will reassess this at her two-year appointment or at any point if we have concerns before then.

We have recently renovated our house and moved our older girls upstairs, which opened up a downstairs bedroom to become our new playroom. I am so excited with how it has turned out. The girls have enjoyed it so much and I love having the majority of toys and mess contained in one room. We just got our new floor mats today. Hadley has enjoyed crawling very quickly all over the mat. It is the perfect, softest place for her to take her first steps one of these days

Our awesome bookshelves built by daddy (aka Aaron)!

The desk is our latest Goodwill find. The same kind I used in grade school!

I love this armoire more and more all the time. They umbrellas from China work nicely on top and stay away from all the little hands that would love to get ahold of them.

Old crib mattress repurposed for our cozy reading nook in the closet(often used as a bed when playing house, a trampoline or a nap time place for daddy while he is playing with the girls in the playroom. More than once I have found him tucked in there catching a few minutes of shut eye)

Our new SoftTiles play mat is an awesome addition to the room. So comfortable and perfect for absorbing all the loud noise that happens in here. Olivia has figured out it makes a good gymnastics mat too.

Chinese counting cards. I love these!

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