Emalyn: Four Months in our Arms

Today marks four months since we first held Emalyn in our arms.  The last month has brought alot of growth and firsts for Emalyn.  It is such a joy to watch her change and mature.

She is talking more and more.  We still cannot understand everything she says, but she babbles in full sentences now and has at least 50 words that she uses regularly.  Some of her most common words are hi, night night, bye bye, up, down, okay, sure, more, please, help, bow, ouch, cat, eat, snack, cup, bite, bubble, pool, and bird.

She remains an adventurous eater.  She definitely likes a lot of things I would have never offered her if she hadn't said "bite".  Some of the most surprising things she enjoys are guacamole, dates, and blue cheese.  I find it very funny that she will eat things like those, but not drink milk or juice...she does love green smoothies, though.

She is anxious to use the potty like Adair does.  I worry that I am missing an opportunity to potty train her, but I am just not ready.  Every night before her bath and during most diaper changes she asks to sit on the potty.  She hasn't put anything in the potty yet, but I think that day is coming and when it does I will have to seize the moment. 

She has learned to take off her pants and put them back on and enjoys doing it over and over again.  When she started that, we knew it wouldn't be long before the diaper came off.  We were right!  I was at the doctor with Myla Grant one day and got a text from my mom of Emalyn asleep in her bed with a naked bottom.  After that, I started putting her in footy pajamas for nap and bed times, but it didn't take long for her to figure out how to unzip those and take them off.  Now, she is sleeping with her diaper taped on and her pajamas pinned up.  I am loving her new skills as much as she is, but sleep time isn't the ideal practice hour.

In addition to communication and gross motor skills (ie dressing and undressing herself), she learned to swim and slide this month.  As adventurous as she is, some activities still make her nervous, but she warmed up gradually to the pool and slide and now loves both.  She doesn't mind putting her face in the water at the pool and will kick her legs and move her arms, too.  On the slide, she no longer timid and will go down all by herself now.  She also loves to play pretend with her play kitchen and baby dolls.  It's so neat to watch her imagination flourish.

We also celebrated Emalyn's second birthday this month.  She had the best time and needed no help ripping into her gifts and eating her cupcakes.  We are so thankful for this sweet little life that God has entrusted to us.  We are thankful that two years ago, her birth mom made the decision to spare her baby girls life despite the difficulty of that decision.  We cannot imagine life without Emalyn and it certainly feels like she has been in our arms far longer than she has!

Emalyn's very first birthday party

Having so much fun

 

Loving on baby sister 

Loving on big sister

Wearing Adair's panties on top of her diaper

Keeping her diaper on with green painters tape

Sliding

Swimming with Daddy

Father's Day

Today we celebrated the wonderful Daddy at our house.  Hank is truly the best Daddy these three little ladies could ask for.  He is fun, compassionate, loving, kind, energetic and patient. 

When we were expecting Myla Grant, people would often show pity for Hank because we weren't having a boy.  While I know he would love having a son, he never showed any disappointment at adding a third daughter to the mix.  I tell him all of the time that he is a great girl dad.  He is such a good sport when it comes to dress up, tea parties and baby dolls and I know he wouldn't have it any other way! 

These three have their daddy wrapped around their finger and we all love him so very much!

Myla Grant is Two Months Old

Our sweet Myla Grant is already two months old!  She has grown to 11 pounds, 4 ounces and 21 inches and has started grasping a finger or a rattle here and there.  She warms our hearts with her occasional smile and has all four of us wrapped around her little finger.  Her older sisters adore her and when she lays on her playmat to stare up at her "friends" they quickly join her. 

She is struggling with acid reflux, so we are trying to figure out what formula is most gentle on her tummy and have added a daily medicine to her routine.  Hopefully, we are getting close the right combination of things to soothe her pain when she eats.

Until last night, she was sleeping in the nap nanny in various rooms downstairs.  Last night, she moved to her crib in her room upstairs.  She is getting really close to sleeping through the night, so we are hopeful that the quiet, motionless, dark atmosphere of her nursery will be good for her. 

First real bath

Her umbilical cord stump hung

around until she was almost seven weeks old!

Loving the playmat

Sharing the playmat with big sisters

Making an appearance at Emalyn's birthday party

First smile

Swimming, Swimming

Over the last two weeks, Adair and Emalyn have been taking swimming lessons.  Adair took last year, as well, and it was a test of my sanity.  Last year, Adair cried every single day for two weeks for at least an hour prior to leaving and through the entire lesson.  She negotiated with her teacher over how many times she would swim and where she would swim like it was her job.  We stuck with it, although I wanted to give up many times, and Adair learned to swim.  I was truly amazed that despite the tears, she was swimming and willingly going under the water.

This year, I fully expected Emalyn to be my tearful swimmer and for Adair to jump in ready and willing to learn.  Boy, was I wrong!  While Emalyn was weepy in the water, she went willingly each day and didn't cry alot in the water.  I actually think the worst part for her was the cold pool.  Adair, on the other hand, was terrified and screamed and cried.  She loves to swim and would beg to go to our pool to swim, but was very anxious about the lessons for some reason. 

Again, we stuck with it.  At the beginning of the lessons, Emalyn was doing the "dead man float".  She would hold her breath (very well, actually) and just float face down in the water.  A few days ago, she finally started kicking and moving her arms.  Her kick is adorable and looks alot like a frog.  On Wednesday (after seven days of tears), Adair was finally excited about swim lessons, went willingly, stopped crying and spent the entire hour in the pool.  Today, she begged to go first and was swimming long distances in the pool by herself and learning to take breaths in the water.  Both girls came so far in two short weeks!  We are so proud of our little guppies!

Emalyn's First Birthday Party

Don't let my title mislead you, I know this wasn't Emalyn's first birthday, although I wish we could go back and be there with her for that milestone, too.  I do believe this was her very first ever birthday party, though, so we wanted it to be special.  We had such a sweet day celebrating our little monkey (lovingly nicknamed that because of her adventurous spirit and ability to climb anything) with family and friends. 

As I planned her celebration, I often wondered how she would respond to a house full of people and a lot of attention.  Despite her outgoing personality, she can be shy and reserved at times and I didn't want her to be overwhelmed.  Well, I worried for no reason.  This sweet thing was in her element.  She knew the day was all about her and she made the best of it, ate up all of the attention and walked around with a skip in her step.  She was hilarious!

We invited close friends and family for brunch and backyard play to celebrate Emalyn turning two.  We had a great time visiting with those who have been most supportive and encouraging through our journey to Emalyn and since bringing her home.  The outpouring of love for our daughter has been truly amazing to see and we wanted to celebrate, not only her birthday, but her life and her being home.

Surprise!

Digging for dinosaur bones...not something my girls would think of,

but they loved the idea once it was introduced by the boys.

"Happy birthday to you"

So much personality

Sweet friends: Mamie, Emalyn and Mei Sims

Myla Grant

Happy 2nd Birthday, Emalyn!

Yesterday was Emalyn's second birthday!  It was such a special day filled with fun and reflection.  Obviously, I couldn't help but think that this time one year ago, we had never even seen her sweet face and yet, one short year later, we get to swoon over her on her birthday.  As I look back on our journey to Emalyn, I see God's hand in each detail.  She was born on June 7, 2010...just a week and a half after Adair's second birthday and as we longed for a second child.  Just eight months later, God led us to pursue our second daughter through adoption from China.  Just six months after that, we saw her face for the first time, fell in love with her and accepted her referral.  And less than six months after that, we held her in our arms.  Now, three and a half months after holding her in our arms for the first time, we can't imagine life without her and got to celebrate her life...and most likely give her her first birthday gift celebration and party that she has ever had.

On her birthday, I also couldn't help but think of her birth mother, who, I am sure, was thinking of her on her birthday, too.  I can't imagine that she doesn't think of her everyday, but on her birthday, her heart probably aches a little more than usual.  I imagine that she wonders where she is, how she is, what she looks like, if anyone loves her and if all of her needs are being met...among a million other things.  My prayer is that she knows deep down in her heart that Emalyn is loved beyond belief and I pray God gives her peace and comforts that ache in her heart.  We believe with all of our hearts that God created her for our family and we are so thankful for her birth mother, for the brave choice that she made to give Emalyn life and that we have the honor and privilege of being her parents.

Emalyn's birthday countdown was right on the heels of Adair's, so she knew exactly what to do when we presented her with her first gift.  She loved pulling off the ribbons and tearing into each package.  She also loved her happies...goggles, a See and Say, an animal noise puzzle, a water shooter, an elephant ball popper, a toy car, a water table and her add-a-pearl necklace.

She loved wearing her goggles so much that she wanted to keep wearing them while opening gifts.

On her birthday morning, she woke up to a house covered with balloons and ribbons.  She was thrilled by all of the color and excitement the balloons brought. 

Since we were too lazy to wrap the big box that her water table came in, we covered it with a quilt.  She was eager to see what was hiding beneath it.

After naptime, we pulled out the water table, put it together and started having fun.  I must say, the birthday girl loves it, but it was also a hit with her big sister.

Loving being tossed into the balloons and ribbons.

For dinner, we treated her to Chinese at our favorite place, Mr. Chen's.  I know it seems cliche to take our Chinese daughter out for Chinese food on her birthday, but we haven't had it at all since bringing her home and we don't make alot of rice for meals anymore, so we thought it would be a fun treat for all of us. She was totally in her element.  She has remained a good eater, but she loved her dinner.  She tried everything and didn't turn her nose up to anything.  After finishing her fried rice, she began to put steamed rice, our chicken dish and our beef dish all together in her little bowl and wanted soy sauce on top.  She liked it all together.

After dinner, we visited a Southern favorite, Krispy Kreme.  Emalyn had her first doughnut just a few days after coming home and loved it.  We stuck her candle in a creme filled doughnut, sang "Happy Birthday" to her and all enjoyed a sweet treat.

We had such a special day celebrating our sweet Emalyn.  She brings so much joy to our lives!  We are thankful to God that she was home in our arms where she belongs for this birthday.