Our Family...: Changing daily...

It is hard to believe that we have been home for just over a month! So much has changed since Hannah became our daughter on April 11. I am saving her "medical" update until we have a few more appointments, so this will just update about her time in our family. I will say that we are slowly piecing together the complicated parts of Hannah's body. Her records from SFCV were pretty accurate, so we are thankful for that relationship and their willingness to share so much with us before we adopted her. We go back to Cincinnati two more times in June, and then we will have a clear vision on what we need to do with her moving forward.

Hannah is changing daily and seems so happy. Her language is developing. She is just like a toddler learning to talk. Tons of babble with an English word thrown in there. She repeats everything Emma says (even in the same whiney voice...) and I have heard her use several phrases spontaneously on her own. The language is becoming less of a problem although it is still not great. She understands all of my basic commands (go get your shoes, where is your shirt, where is your baby, are you hungry, are you thirsty, go throw this away, etc.) She says these phrases frequently:

I'm hungry

That is mine

Stop it!

No, No!

I want it

That is baby

owwwwww (when I change her diaper-LOL)

It amazes me how observant she is. If I pull my hair back in a pony tail, she turns to run to the bathroom... finds her rubber bands in the drawer and brings it to me for a pony tail. She always remembers where she leaves her baby and her shoes, her memory is great! If Timmy hits her in the head, she comes to me... points to her head and says "Timmmmmmyyyyyyy." She figured out how to tell on him really fast!

I have noticed this past week that she is starting to run with more ease. When we first got her, it was like a fast walk... but she is picking up speed! When we first got home she was terrified of the swing, slide and the trampoline (as you can imagine!) Just this week she can climb into the trampoline on her own and she laughs HYSTERICALLY when her siblings bounce her all over the place! We went to the park today and she climbed to the top of the play set by herself without asking me to come with her. She hit the top of the slide and smiled, but wouldn't go down. I climbed up with her and let her sit in my lap and she LOVED it!! Every time we got to the bottom she said, "Again!" and pulled my hand to climb with her. Tonight I saw her playing k'nex with her brothers and I was shocked at her fine motor skills. She was putting these tiny little beads on a pole and was so accurate each time she did it. I realized the other day that her balance is much better... she hasn't fallen off the bench in our kitchen in several weeks. As a matter of fact, she is climbing on top of the table in the kitchen and living room. She is definitely acting like a 2 year old with her curiosity! Here is the best milestone so far- she went to sleep by herself today!!!!! Normally I have to lay down with her and it takes 45 minutes before she finally dozes off. This causes me to miss saying good-night to my other kids. I also doze off when I lay down with her, so when I wake up I am not motivated to do anything. I promised Emma that I would lay down with her first tonight. Rick put Hannah in her room and went to lay down with her, but she pointed to the door for him to leave!! She fell asleep without crying. Not sure if this will continue, but I sure hope so!

She spends most of the time smiling and laughing. She is learning how to play with her siblings but sometimes gets a little rough... as in biting and hitting. When she gets in trouble, she cries and goes to sit by herself. It makes me a little sad, because she won't come to me, but I am sure this is something that will change over time.

I still need to update about my other 4 kids, Andrew's 8th birthday, Emma's referral day and other special memories but that is all for now. School is out so I will have more time to update. I don't want to forget everything that happened in our family!

Matthew's last day of kindergarten! I can't believe he will be in 1st grade.

Emma wanted pig tails... so Hannah did, too. Then they crawled around the floor barking like dogs because I said they looked like puppies. Hannah loves her sister!!