2 years!

Gotcha Day Celebration 2019

Two years!  It's been two years since Lily Grace sneaked into that hotel lobby while we were checking into our hotel in Fuzhou, China.  I can remember some of the details like they were yesterday.  Other details have become fuzzy with time.  I am so glad for the videos we have, although I wish there were more.  She was so quite and shut down at the time but silly us. . we just thought she was being a good baby those first few nights! ha! Her playful personality certainly started peaking through while playing, but also came the signs of grieving which were so difficult to see her go through.  China will always hold such dear memories for me.  We met such amazing people prior to and during our time in country.  It's so comforting to find friends who just "get you" and the path you are walking.  While everyone's journey looked a little different, it was such a blessing to find some many others with the same heart for adoption and to find encouragement through each of their stories and friendship.

Gotcha Day 7/30/2017

One year home, 2018!

Two years home, 2019!

I realized when starting to write this blog that I apparently never wrote a blog for a year home.  That sounds about right. . . it was a pretty busy year.  Three kids in three different locations for school/daycare, work, church, activities, etc.  I still laugh when I think about a friend from work who also has three kids (now grown), asking me shortly after returning from maternity leave how I was doing with three.  Was it hard?  Crazy busy?  I naively said, "Things are going really well right now." LOL and then it got CRAZY.  The first year home was FILLED with doctors appointments and therapy appointments for Lily Grace during each of my days "off" of work.   Not to mention the other girls and myself.  But we are so thankful that those days of follow up appointments and early intervention are behind us!  So grateful to have the services, but also thankful to no longer be needing them.  To be honest, three is sort of kicking my bootie currently (and to friends with more than that. . . you are my hero and I'm a weanie).  I'm not sure if it's their ages or Lily Grace's "zest for life" ;) but momma and daddy are pretty emotionally and physically tired most of the time.  We are having a lot of fun along the way though!  Summer has been such a wonderful break from pace-I'm not really ready to get back in the swing of school but ready or not here it comes! 

Over the past year, Lily Grace has continued to blossom in her outgoing personality.  She is a busy girl and doesn't miss a beat or adventure!  She adores her sisters and other family members and loves to ask where each one is by name in the mornings when she wakes up or at random times throughout the day.  "Where's my daddy?  Where's my Maddie? Where's my Taylor?"  She also LOVES her blanket from Aunt Sharon.  She would carry it everywhere if we let her!  She also loves riding bikes, swinging, reading books, playing dress up and putting on make-up.  Her favorite foods lately are strawberries, grapes, cereal and milk, popsicles, chicken nuggets, pizza and yogurt.

Her favorite blanket from Aunt Sharon

4th of July Fireworks!

We have had some great trips in the last year.  Over Christmas Break we took a (now annual I think) trip to Opryland Hotel in Nashville to stay a couple nights and enjoy the exhibits and Christmas decorations.  We spent Spring Break in Texas visiting family in Houston.  We even brought two of our cousins, Ty and Allie, along for the trip!  It was so wonderful for the kids to see their only Great Grandparents still alive as well as Aunts and Uncles and cousins.  We went to a rodeo and played and even enjoyed the bluebonnets that were blooming! In May, we took a trip to Disney to celebrate all three girls (and Daddy's, ha!) birthday!  In true money saving fashion, I wanted to squeeze in one more trip before Lily Grace turned 3 (which is when you have to pay for park tickets and food) so we literally left the day before her birthday and had some fun with Mickey and friends!  Lily Grace loved all the characters!  She would run up squealing when she saw each character.  She gave hugs and kisses and high fives to all of them.  So fun to watch.  (On a side note,  I would not recommend going to Disney during the last weeks of school craziness.  Crowds were great, my brain and such. . . not so much!)

When you are at Disney for your birthday, you get ice-cream with breakfast!

Mickey and Minnie even dressed up in birthday outfits on Lily Grace's Birthday ;)

The fall and winter season (and even Spring) was full of illness for this family of ours!  I have never in my life see a child get a GI bug so many times, and keep it for as long as Lily Grace did.  The only positive thing was that it slowed her down enough to want to lay around and snuggle with us.  However, she was such a pitiful thing.  We were grateful for the summer break from school bugs!  Hoping she is a little hardier in the coming year!  

She was every bit of a two and three year old in the last year.  Certainly a bit rowdier than Taylor and Madelyn at her age.  I laugh all the time about the orphanage answering a few questions for us before we came to get her in China with "she likes to climb the things higher than her" and "we have not found what she is afraid of".  This is Lily Grace to a "T".  We plan to enroll her in gymnastics this year to help channel this energy in a positive way. ;)

We have finally (mostly) mastered potty training.  Holy.Moly. there might have been a slight meltdown in the kitchen one night by me.  There also might be a google search one time by Matt on "how to potty train your child".  I sweetly reminded him that we had done this twice already.  She didn't care about any of the treats or stickers or happy things you do for too long.  So that was a joy.  Our fabulous babysitter, Grace, gets major props for helping us complete this task this summer so she can go to Preschool!    

1st day of Summer Care-prep for Preschool!

Adoption is such a dance between wonderful times and difficult times.  This past year was certainly not all rainbows and roses.  We had a lot of issues with sleeping, which has been Lily Grace's main source of grieving.  Just when we would feel like we were out of the woods she would get back into a difficult cycle again.  I'm here to tell you, a two year old who is not tired between the hours of 11-4 AM and loves to climb is not a good recipe for tired working parents.  Many times we had no idea what to do to help her or figure out what was going on in that little head of hers and it was super frustrating.  But, the Lord saw us through it and is faithful to provide us the strength we needed even if we felt like utter failures at the time.  It is so easy to see how well she is doing and forget the fact that the first third of her life was spent in an orphanage without a family and loving sisters and a momma and daddy and family to dote and love on her.  I am forever grateful to the nannies who did love and care for her while she was there, but it is a far cry from a family.  She has learned her place in our family and is loved so very much.  But there are times when we are reminded of the reality of her difficult start in life.  Thank you Lord for the people you have provided in her life to show her love and healing!  Lily Grace YaXuan, you are a  beloved daughter, sister, friend, cousin, grandchild and more!

So on to year three together!  Here's to more fun, more sleep, less illness, learning so many fun things in preschool, making new friends, more shenanigans, maybe a little less climbing, fun in gymnastics, and new adventures awaiting us!  Happy Gotcha Day (a day late) Lily Grace!  We love you so very much!!!