Sometimes a girl...

...just needs her momma! (and her daddy too!)

This past weekend/week I was so happy to have my mom and dad come for a visit. Some people reading this blog may not know that I am the only one in my family to permanently break away from the pack and move long distance [my sister, Kelly, ventured out for a few years but was drawn back in to the allure? of St. Jo Mo.] I will say that my family is alluring and each time we have a visit I do have that pang of homesickness. [but please don't tell my mom and dad this because their ultimate dream would be for us to move back and it's just not happening.]

So anyway, mom and dad drove out to visit us and meet Desalee for the very first time. I wasn't sure how Des would do....would she be freaked out by new faces or by my dad's wheelchair? [a wheelchair can be a very intimidating thing for a kid...and it also begs the obvious question of "why don't you walk, papaw?" to which his standard answer is "because I'm lazy." The humor is surely lost on a child, but we all think he's funny.]

As it turns out, Des warmed up faster than either Jake or Emily did at her age! She especially liked my dad and we joked that it was because he was brown and she might be thinking he looked familiar.... :)
[I know it's because he gave her a Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie!]

The first night of our visit was the first chance that I really had to sit face to face with my mom and talk about how hard this adoption transition has been for us. I'm not a big phone talker, so we really hadn't had a good conversation about it. It was so good to be able to pour out my heart and hear my mother's wisdom! Like I said, "sometimes a girl just needs her momma."

I think that this visit is just what I needed...it felt a little bit like a vacation, a break. The kids were more interested in getting the attention of Grandma and Papaw Vinny than mommy. We relaxed outside under the shade trees in the front yard while the kids played, made homemade salsa, ate, talked, skyped with my sister, etc. etc. It just felt so good! It felt so good, in fact, that it felt really hard to say goodbye this time. Harder than usual. I can't believe that I have to wait until Christmas to see them again... :(

While mom and dad were here Desi started a trend [I hope I don't jinx it by calling it a trend...it might be too early for that.] :she's really started to do better with sleep. I can almost always put her down in a drowsy, half-asleep state and get her to fall asleep. And in the night when she starts to wake up if I "ssshhh" at her from across the room she'll go back to sleep. This is great for me! A huge stride in the right direction. My presence in the room is apparently a very big deal to her because the times I've tried to leave while she's awake makes her go hysterical. Our next step will be to bring Emily back in and eventually I'll go back to sleeping in my bed....oh, that will be one glorious night!

She has now also mastered the sign for "more" and does it quite willingly. I dare say that I thought I even heard her say "more" today, but I'm not sure enough to declare it her first audible word. [I'm trying not to push to hard for her to speak english words yet...a session of trying to get her to say "mommy" left this mommy in a huff of frustration and her in a melt- down of tears the other day...choose your battles, Shannon, choose more wisely!] We are now working on the sign for "please" which should come more easily since I think she gets that when we're sitting in front of her pantomiming like fools that she's suppose to copy us!

Today I took Emily to the meet and greet/orientation at her new preschool...which just happens to be at Papaw's church and where Jakey went to preschool for 4 years. When we got there we met Aunt Jenni and the cousins walking in. It was so cute when Jilli and Lo each took Em's hands and they walked in together! I can't believe I missed that photo op! She did great meeting her teachers and new friends and I am excited for her to start next week. [I think it will give her something to focus on besides how much she dislikes her new sister. ;) We're still working on their relationship and looking forward to it becoming more of a friendship.]

So that's what we've been up to this past week....a wonderful time with my family and more progress in our journey back to a new normal. We are looking forward to the long weekend!

Happy Labor Day, friends!