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!

First time finger painting. We see this face a lot when she tries new things and is unsure.

Sisters swinging in the back yard

Hadley has figured out how to climb,

And stand in the chair.

Happy baby

Watching Curious George one morning

Dressed for the St. Paddy's Day parade. She loved the people watching!

Rocking on her elephant.

Snuggles with oldest sister Olivia

Sleeping in the car. She had to block the sun out of her eyes to fall asleep. Poor girl.

Afternoon snacks on the deck

Swinging and eating at the same time. Two of there favorite things combined. She was in heaven!

Olivia swinging

Isla climbing

Feeding the giraffes at the zoo.

Cool chick!

Hadley sliding. She didn't like the mulch at first but now loves to play in it.

Cheering on the Cards!

Hadley's First (really 18-month) Birthday

Our sweet Hadley turned one and a half a few weeks ago and because she was not home with us to celebrate her first birthday we decided a one and a half birthday party was in order. Once all the girls are older I pictured us telling stories and sharing pictures of their first birthdays and how they loved or hated their cakes. I know we already missed a lot of Hadley's life that we will never know about so I thought this was one way to make up for all of the other firsts that we missed. We had our families over and celebrated with a breakfast and cake party. Hadley is happiest in the morning so a breakfast party was perfect for her. She loved the food and cake (of course) and her sisters loved helping her open her presents. I am so glad we took this day to celebrate our special girl and now I know how she will react on her second birthday. I am sure we will go all out and have a big bash to celebrate our special girl this August when she turns two!

Hadley and Uncle Matt

Birthday Girl!!

She loved her presents!!

She loved when we sang and danced along

She loved the cake after she got over the initial shock of the sugar

I promise she liked it. We apparently only got pictures of her making this face.

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!

.