Two months (and two days) in our arms. . .

Chillin' with daddy before bed!

So here it goes.  The honest truth.  This.month.has.been.hard.  Like really hard.  We have had a doozy of a month.  Don't let the cute pictures (and they are CUTE if I do say so myself) fool you into thinking all is stress free and easy peasy here in the Wallace household.  But I will also say that we have had many beautiful moments as well! The Lord is continuing to knit Lily Grace more tightly and perfectly into our family and the girls and Matt and I are growing stronger and stronger together as a family of five.  But growing comes with growing pains.  And adoption adds another element of unknown territory.  And then there is life.  Life has it's way of throwing you crazy curve balls and bringing you to your knees at times.  But when we are on our knees, we see the Lord work in the most amazing ways.  And that is what He is doing.  Waiting for the Lord to work things out takes time, something that we are learning more and more to persevere through.  I wake up nearly every morning and say to myself "His mercies are new every morning.".  Such a true and simple truth to be reminded of.

We have had our share of illnesses around here lately, but it looks like everyone is finally on the mend!  Lily Grace had her second trip to the Pediatrician which included her first round of immunizations to get caught up.  She was not a fan.  :(  I think the immunizations mixed with all sorts of new germs, curtesy of the US of A got her a little under the weather.  She was sick with fever for 6 days straight and so puny!  I usually don't bat an eye when my girls have fever but something about this one had me feeling uneasy.  I think a few of my friends and sister nailed it when they speculated my uneasiness was likely related to us not knowing anything about her past and how she usually responds to illness or other potential underlying things that may or may not be going on.  After another trip to the Pediatrician for reassurance (and a CBC), she was starting to perk up and finally feel better.

Fishy kisses :)

And then there is the sleeping issue. . . I may have spoken too soon speaking of the fabulous sleeper that she is.  ;)  Well she is a fabulous sleeper when she actually gets to sleep.  She ended her peaceful run of letting me rock her to sleep and gently lay her in bed.  Now we have had nights (thankfully not too many) that she is up for hours upset and crying.  Almost inconsolable crying.  One night (around the time she was sick) I literally got dressed with plans to take her to the ER after hours of crying and then she just snapped out of it and started playing happily on our bed as if nothing had ever happened.  IT WAS LIKE 2AM.  Holy moly Lily Grace!  Give your parents a heart attack!  We had another issue like that recently.  I think if her schedule gets the least bit off she loses all ability to cope and can't unwind until hours later.  We try EVERYTHING.  It is so hard.  But the Lord is right there with us every step of the way.  Matt tells her, "Its ok, we know it's hard.  But we are never leaving you ever.  We love you so much."  It is so sweet to hear him console her while he leans into her and kisses her sweet face.  It's so hard to know if there is something hurting her or if it is adjustment issues or what.  But then there are nights when she goes to sleep beautifully.  So we will keep pushing through and reading what we can and learning our sweet girl and helping her to learn us and that we are here and safe and not ever leaving.

Lily Grace isn't so sure about these crazies!

Celebrating Buddy and Ty's birthdays!

Lily Grace was loving it and Madelyn was on the look out for that scary Chucky Cheese mouse!

And now the medical appointments have kicked into gear.  We have had and will have at least two appointments for Lily Grace a week for the next several weeks.  All I can say is, "Thank you Lord for maternity leave!".  Adoption from China is almost completely for children who have some sort medical need(s).  For Lily Grace, the two "medical diagnoses" listed on her file at this point are either non-existent or not concerning.  Saying that, there could very well be something unknown (see above concerns) that has yet to present itself or we have not discovered.  But so far, her records show a healthy girl- Praise God!  I do have a few concerns about her GI system that we are looking into and between that and delays/issues related to life in an orphanage for 14 months our "pretty healthy girl" is going to be quite busy for the next few months.  We met with the craniofacial team to evaluate her head (likely from laying on one side too much early in life), had her evaluated by early intervention, and still have GI, speech, audiology, ophthalmology, and follow up pediatrician appointments.  We are thankful to have her in a place where we have access to so many amazing services to help her thrive! It's an odd thing to list "unknown" for so many questions when filling out medical history.  I have read so many adoptive parents talk about the issue but to be the one writing it on my daughters forms was very surreal.

Zoo day!

Lily Grace is walking all over the place.  She has learned to say "night night" and "banana" and Pepaw says she says "Pepaw" ;)  She loves to say "bye bye" and wave.  She is still a carb fan and loves bananas, casseroles, cheerios, cheetos and pancakes.  She loved her trips to the swimming pool, but always wanted to be close to daddy in the water.  She loves playing with coozies and climbing in the cabinets in the kitchen.  She loves to go in the pantry and pull out all the bags of food!  She plays so well with her sisters now (even though not according to their rules at times) and smiles so big when they greet her in the morning.  Taylor and Madelyn LOVE to go get her when she wakes up.  She doesn't mind her carseat now which is a win!  Not a fan of ice-cream which hurts this momma's iceream lovin' heart! ;)

She's excited, not angry here! :)

Spectating is so much better with snacks!

Two months.  Two months of growing and learning and laughing and crying and climbing and hugging and kissing and playing and so much more.  I will take all the tough times we have had for this sweet girl again and again.  The Lord is writing such a beautiful story for her life.  He is teaching us all to love more deeply and to be grateful for everything.  To be patient in affliction.  To bear each others burdens.  To hold tight to the ones you love.  To love well.  To find joy in the simple moments.