Ramblings...

I am such a slacker when it comes to blogging. I have good intentions but it just never gets done. So here is my catch up for January and February. I will post in two parts since it will get soo long. The past 2 months have been spent with everyone being sick and busy dealing with house stuff.

Miss Faith's nose has not stopped running since the first day we got her. Dr. Soong treated her for a sinus infection in January and a week later had me bring her back for her 18 month checkup so that we could start getting her shots caught up. During her initial evaluation at the IAC they took bloodwork to see which immunizations were given in China and which ones 'worked'. So needless to say, Faith had a 'few' to get caught up on. She was given 5 shots....one at a time!!!! She was soo pitiful, broke this Mama's heart. We go back next week for 4 shots then she will be caught up. She has continued to keep a cold so we started her on Zyrtec then changed her to Claritin. Zyrtec started affecting her sleep and we do not want to mess with that. She definitely fits in with our family...we are all on allergy medicine :( Last week I took Faith to get her eyes checked. This is one of the evaluations they recommended her having due to her Cleft Lip/Palate. She did great and he said "she is seeing like a hawk". The doctor did say Faith is nearsighted and would probably need glasses by 1st to 2nd grade. If he is right, I think she will totally rock the glasses.

The house...We had our home for sell by owner before traveling to China. We decided to stop showing our house as we were getting ready to bring Faith home. Brian cancelled the MLS but forgot to take it off of the For Sale By Owner website. After we brought Faith home, we continued to get calls from the website. I kept telling Brian to cancel the listing so people would stop calling. One Sunday while I was home with Faith a man called and asked to see the house that afternoon before he left for Alaska. I told him we were not selling it because we had just brought our daughter home. He went on to explain that they would not need to move until July. I called Brian and he said we could show it after the kids napped that day. A few days later we received an offer. We were kinda in shock. After trying to sell our home for soo long we had finally decided we would stay here for a few more years. After all we love Owen's school, we have wonderful friends in the neighborhood, we love our home and we had just brought Faith home. But, God had other plans. His time had come! We will be closing next week (fingers crossed) and will move early summer. I must say I am ready to be back in the heart of town. Quick trips to Target and Publix. 1 minute less in the car with kids is worth it for me :)

Family Time. Brian has been working a lot lately but we are trying to make the most of our time together. Faith is still learning what this whole family thing is all about. Last weekend we took Rex and the kids to a local park. We were the only people there and really enjoyed letting Rex run free, the boys ride scooters and push Faith in her little car. We played on the playground and walked around the track. So simple but nice. It has been neat to watch Faith interact with the boys. She is your typical girl...she plays hard to get. When they want to play she is moody. When she wants to play she will chase them around and bug them. It can make life interesting. Owen still loves his Faith to pieces!! As I tucked him in tonight, I told him how well he plays with Faith and how much she loves him. He grinned from ear to ear and said "I know". I could see the love all over his face. I will remind him of that tomorrow when she is in his desk getting into his stuff. While Owen is at school, I have been nurturing The Cade and Faith Relationship. They are a mess. Translating for those two is by far the challenge of my day. They have their moments of sweet hugs and kisses but Cade really just goes about his day in his on little world...which means Faith follows him around trying to get his attention.

We are working on Faith staying in her Sunday School at church. I have been staying with her just leaving the room for 5 minutes here and there. Last week I left for about 20 minutes to go to our class. As I was on my way back a friend was coming to get me. When I got to the room Faith was doing the sad cry. Her teacher said she was playing happily and then just started crying. She just realized I had been gone for a while. It just breaks my heart to know what could be going through her head. At this age babies are already sensitive to their mommies leaving them but for Faith she doesn't have that reassurance I will come back. I told her over and over that I was back and will always come back. I talked to my friend, Amy, that works at the IAC and we came up with a plan to help Faith get transitioned into the class. So next week instead of staying with Faith in class and then leaving, I am going to let her see me drop off the boys and then I will drop her off just like them. Amy said it will be ok for Faith to cry some and if she doesn't calm they can get me. We will just do this each week until she is able to stay the whole time. As much as it hurts to let her cry it comes a point when she is just crying because that is what 21 month old do when they leave their mommy. Amy has watched Faith interact with me at church many times and she feels that she has bonded very well. She told me last week that she acts as if she were one of my own. This makes me feel more confident to let Faith have some space from me. I sound as if I haven't been leaving Faith's side at all but I have been good at waving the white flag and leaving Faith with Brian so I can have my girl time.

Faith is such an amazing little soul. About a month or so ago she started giving me spontaneous hugs on my legs. She will run up and squeeze my legs and say 'UmmmUhhh'. She has become so loving and affectionate. It has been neat to watch her learn to show affection. She will see Owen or Cade come up to me and give me a hug. A few seconds later she will walk over and hug me. She is so observant and copies everything, even the things I don't want her to copy.

The 23rd of January was Chinese New Year. We had fun celebrating our 1st Chinese New Year with Faith home. I remember last year being upset because the offices closed for WEEKS and that slowed our paperwork down. Now we have our sweet girl home and celebrated with her! 2012 is the year of the Dragon! Owen's school learned about China the week leading up to the New Year and celebrated the Friday before with 'traditional' Chinese food. We made Chinese dragons & lanterns and went out to eat at our favorite local Chinese restaurant. A friend of ours whose little girl is 4 hosted a New Year Party and invited us to attend. We were so excited about going so we could meet other adoptive families. The week leading up to the party Faith came down with the tummy bug and was sick for a week and a half. We were so disappointed. To commemorate the NY I took pictures of Faith in her Chinese silk. While we were adopting, I soo longed to see Faith smile in the pictures. I found peace knowing I would soon see her sweet smile in person. When we met her on Gotcha Day I remember how special it was. She melted my heart and I kept repeating "Oh, she is soo cute". In China she smiled every time I pulled out the camera. She was in that stage of pleasing us with whatever we wanted. Once we got home that quickly stopped. We do anything and everything to get her to smile for that camera and it totally just depends on her mood. So, I never know what I am going to get. BTW, Faith's smile is just the sweetest smile I have ever seen. It turns me to mush. Her eyes just light up!