The Last Few Days

We're still at the stage where I feel like every day is blog-worthy. Every day brings some kind of progress or surprise and no 2 days look alike around here, even though we are finding a rhythm and seeing our daily schedule take shape...at least for now while I am at home with the kids.

I am very fortunate to have a job that is very flexible...very! In fact, I'm able to stay in contact and serve my clients from home even during this transition which basically boils down to 2 glorious words....PAID LEAVE! I really thank God for my job and being able to have this time off. After a visit to the office last week though, I have to admit that I miss my coworkers a lot and am looking forward to getting back there...eventually.

I feel like this week has been all about the sleep patterns...it is, of course, our biggest struggle. We are finding Desi to be doing really well during the day. She is less clingy and throws a lot fewer fits these days. [yeah!] I'm even being able to sneak some veggies in at meal time! So days are good. we are making progress every day. Nights are still a work in progress...

Every night is also a little different and we have yet to see any emerging patterns, so you never know what to expect. Here are the signs of nighttime progress that we have experienced these last few days....

• She has on 2 occasions only woken up 1x the whole night!


• I've been able to sooth her to sleep a couple of times without picking her up...rubbing her bare back did the trick...I hope we can see a repeat of this tonight!


• On a couple of occasions I have observed her awake in her bed, playing around with her pillows and blankies...no crying! yes!


• A couple of days ago, I rocked her at nap time and then put her down awake. I stayed in the room for over an hour as she fussed on and off before finally falling asleep. I've suspended this until after my mom and dad leave, but am looking forward to using nap time as a time to start working towards putting her in her bed awake and letting her fall asleep on her own. [this is sure to be frustrating, but hopefully fruitful!]


• To go along with falling asleep on her own...one night a very full bladder forced me to put her down in her bed awake...I expected her to start screaming but to my surprise she was quite still...even after I came back to the room she just laid there awake before finally just falling asleep...it was strange! But I was very encouraged.


• She has also, for the most part, been sleeping later in the morning.


• She can [reluctantly] be rocked to sleep by Ryan now! Yay!

These may seem like small steps and technically they are, but anything that gives us hope that we'll sleep again is big stuff to us!

On another front, I think that we have finally mastered the sign language for "more". She was being so stubborn about doing it, even thought we knew she knew how. She wants to just point and grunt, a technique that must have served her well until now. Just today, we got her to really start signing it without having to make a huge deal about it. This little thing just means a lot when you have a language barrier. We just want to be able to communicate with her and for her to be able to communicate with us, so we are so happy that she's starting to get it! We can't wait for words, but signing is good for now. I think that the next sign we'll work on is "please".

I am also super excited to have my mom and dad in town for a visit! We were a little worried about how a visit would go this soon after returning...we originally thought we would have a couple more weeks before the visit, but we ended up having to wait to travel. But Desi is doing great! She loves my mom and dad and having them here actually gives Ryan and I a little bit of a break! Jake and Em are loving playing with them too. Mom and I took the kids to Toys R Us today and she got them whatever they wanted! [That's not something that happens too often!] I really love having my mom around to talk to about all this adoption stuff, there really is nothing like talking to your mom! I wish they could visit more often! I'll just enjoy it and relish it while they are here!

Here are a few pics of our visit so far....



Dad finally gets a kiss off of Em...

...and Jake

mom and Desi...

Dad and Desi....

Dad and Desi reading books...

I might get in trouble for posting this one, but it cracked me up! Dad falling asleep under a tree in our front yard! We've got a pretty peaceful place here... :)