4 Months

Hannah has been home for four months already, which is hard to believe! Time has this strange way of going by quickly, yet it feels like she's been a part of our family for much longer than four months. She is continuing to pick up on many words and starting to put words together. Some of the words we hear a lot around here are "no" and "mine." Since she has two big brothers, these words are quite necessary. :) She also started saying "I do it" recently! She's an independent little girl for sure, trying to do everything herself and only asking for help when absolutely necessary.

I continue to fall more in love with her every day. She's my princess & I am so blessed to have her as my daughter.

Fundraiser-Monkeys jumping on the bed!

Our friend, who is a professional photographer, is very graciously holding a fundraiser to help us cover our remaining adoption expenses. She is going to be doing a unique photo shoot this Saturday from 3-5. Expand the image to full size to get the details. If you're interested, you can email her directly to reserve your spot!

Two Months (a few days late!)

It's hard to believe that it's been two months since we met Hannah for the very first time. It's amazing how much she has changed since that night in the hotel room two months ago where she was throwing toys and screaming at the strangers who were now her parents. I can't blame how she reacted to us, we were perfect strangers to her, besides seeing our pictures, that was all she really knew of us. After only two months, the little girl who was saying less than five words in Chinese, her native language, is now repeating countless words in English. On her own she says over 20 words-I've lost track because she keeps learning new words every day. The same little girl who was afraid to let anyone touch her or get close to her, will now give hugs and kisses and high fives to people. She understands almost everything we say to her even though two months ago she hadn't heard any English before. She wants Mommy to kiss her when she gets hurt and runs to the door squealing with joy when Baba gets home from work. She jumps out of my arms to get to her brothers when we pick them up from school. Yes, this is the same little girl who not too long ago didn't know the stability of a forever family. We are amazed at how quickly she has become a natural part of our family. She fits in so well and adds so much joy to our home.

New Words

Hannah seems to be picking up on new words every day! I started writing down the words she knows, and I can think of at least 13. She says: mama, more, ge ge (Chinese for big brother), up, ni-ni (night night), shoe, bubble, no, uh-oh, go, bi ba (diaper), ear, nose. Isaiah sees me teaching Hannah different names for body parts, and then on his own I'll hear him teaching her them. I love it! With such great big brothers, she's going to learn English really quickly I'm sure!

Unknown History

I'm filling out a patient medical history form for Hannah's appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. I didn't know filling out a form could be so hard. I don't know my own daughter's birth weight, her family history, or even the exact date of her heart surgery. It's so sad to right the words "unknown" under all of these boxes. So much will always be unknown. If it's this hard for me, how hard will it be for her to not know anything about her biological history? My heart is sad for my little girl and all of the unanswered questions she will have someday. I pray that her security in God's love and our love will help her overcome these difficult realities.

One Month

Today marks the 1 month anniversary since Hannah joined our family. I can't say that every day is perfect, but for the most part, she is adjusting well. She definitely loves playing with her brothers! She still has quite a few tantrums (she is two after all), but most of them happen when she doesn't get her way, versus the ones in China where we had no clue what was causing them. We are still working on bedtime. She really struggles to fall asleep at night, but naps aren't a problem at all. She isn't talking much yet, but she gets her point across through pointing and some signs. We still hear a lot of grunting, but I'm hoping she picks up more on signing and words soon to ease the frustration. When you consider all she has been through, she is doing very well!

Update

Many people are asking how Hannah has been doing. I posted on our family blog today a little about her communication, but I wanted to include some details here as well. She is adjusting extremely well as far as we can tell. The past couple of nights we put her in the pack and play in our bedroom, and that seems to be working out really well. She is definitely attached to Mommy, and we know over time she'll attach more to Daddy as well. It's strange because in China she definitely preferred Daddy. We aren't sure exactly why she's changed to preferring me so much, but we do know she was constantly moved from orphanage to the foster family and back since January, so it's really hard for her to trust anyone. She probably thought for the first days or weeks with us that it was temporary, and that she would be sent back to the orphanage, since that's always what has happened in the past. She may have first attached to Jason in China because the women in her life haven't been very trustworthy (she's mostly been around women). But then over the couple weeks in China she began to trust me and then attached more to me, probably because she is more used to women. We do know that she was close to the foster dad, so maybe that loss was really hard for her, so she's struggling to attach to Jason. We'll never know for sure, but this is our reality right now. It is very painful to be the parent who is being rejected, so please pray for Jason during this time. We know it is only a matter of time, but it is still very hard to deal with day by day. Hannah certainly loves playing with Baba, and giggles so hard when they play together (as you can see from the video below)!

I've posted a picture of our happy girl below. She seems much happier now that we're home, and it's so great to see her face light up when we are able to understand what she wants! We are loving her smiles, giggles, and laughs. It's so nice to hear more giggles and less grunts as we are able to better communicate with each other!