Always Have Hope: Hadley Updates

We met Hadley 11 weeks ago today and have been home about 9 weeks now. It is a very surreal feeling to think that 12 weeks ago we had never met her. She fits right in to our family and it seems like she has always been here. Hadley has made a lot of progress and continues to impress us with new tricks everyday. Last week she learned to stand up on her own in the middle of the room, without any thing to hold onto. She will now stand up on command and is very proud of herself and laughs every time she does it which causes her to fall back down. She is so close to walking and is bound to do it very soon (although I have been thinking that for the last two months). She is also making great progress with her language, both receptive and expressive. She is able to point to several body parts when you ask her where her nose, hair, belly, etc are. She has started calling me "mama" and her daddy "dada" and seems to know that she is talking about us. She is also saying several other words, all beginning with the letter "b". She correctly says and understands the meaning for bubble, ball, bye bye, and Bible. Our two year old, Isla learned to pat the Bible in the nursery at church and thinks that any small, thick, chapter book is a Bible. We recently snuck out for a quick date night to a local restaurant where we picked up a copy of "The Urban Bourbon Trail" which lists local restaurants and bars that carry different types of bourbon (we live in Kentucky remember). Isla is convinced that this book is the Bible and has carried it around for weeks having everyone in the family "pat the Bible." Fortunately, none of our kids can read yet so they can innocently go on thinking that the bourbon book is actually the Bible. Sweet little Isla has patiently sat with Hadley and showed her how to pat the Bible and now Hadley will do it on command and says "Bible". So sweet!

Isla's Bible. It is well loved already. One of them has clearly chewed on it in addition to patting it.

Hadley continues to sleep like a champ (about 12 1/2 to 13 hours a night) and a naps for about 2 hours every afternoon. Somehow, we have been blessed with three awesome sleepers. Thank you God for that! Hadley continues to eat well, although is getting choosier and not clearing her plate on occasion if it is something she is not crazy about. She continues to clear every speck of food off of her plate about 85% of the time and then begs for more. She is not drinking very much, which is somewhat concerning, so we need to continue to work on that especially before it is hot and we are outside a lot of the day.

Hadley has a great personality and is happy most of the time. When she is tired, hungry or wants to be held she will let you know it but is otherwise happy to follow her sisters around and get into trouble. Poor Hadley has become the scapegoat for Olivia and Isla. Who pulled all the toilet paper off the roll?... Hadley (It was actually Olivia, our three year old, go figure). Who pooped?... Hadley (usually it is Isla). Who spilled the dog's water?... Hadley (that is usually true). Who threw sand, rice, any small, messy item all over the playroom?... Hadley (which is amazing since she was in bed. I think that was a joint effort by Livi and Isla). You name it and poor little Hadley has been blamed for it. I can't wait until she is really talking and able to tell her side of the story.

We have enjoyed the break in the freezing cold weather and have been able to go to the zoo, the playground at the park, for long walks through the neighborhood and on the swing set in our yard. Hadley loves to go out and about as much as the rest of us and has enjoyed all of our adventures. Let's hope she feels this way about the pool because I hope to spend the majority of the summer wading through the baby pool and watching Livi and Isla jump off the diving board. Isla has been watching a video of Livi jumping off the board last summer and talks about it all the time. She has decided that she is ready to jump as soon as she has the chance. I am excited to get these girls back in the water this summer.

Our oldest Olivia jumping off the diving board last summer. She looks so little! They all love to watch this video on my phone. We have to watch it over and over.

We are also looking forward to a family trip to the beach in May. We are going to go to Hilton Head Island for a week. It will be Hadley's first time on a road trip (aside from the 8 hour van trip in China where she was not strapped in a carseat and could hardly crawl) and her first time sleeping away from home. She seems to be very easy going and adaptable and I think she will do great with it. I am not looking forward to the 11 hour road trip with a 1, 2 and 3 year old. If anyone has an extra $1000 laying around and would like to fly the girls and I down that would be great!