Celebrating 2 Months as a Family

2 months together~Really?!!?!!  I cannot believe we have spent 2 months loving on each other and getting to know one another.  In many ways it seems like we have been a family forever.  Ava is a perfect match for Matt and I and having Ava with us seems so natural.  In other ways we are still learning a lot and adapting to our new roles of parents and child.  We thank God everyday for bringing us together so that we could be a family.  It's unbelievable to think that we come from 2 different continents, thousands of miles away from each other BUT God had big plans for all of us...plans that could only be accomplished by bringing us together and HE made it all possible.

Ava's 2 Month List:

1.  Dance Party!!  You LOVE to dance!  We have family dance sessions almost nightly and many other break out sessions during the day.  This is one of my favorite things to do with you and it is also really good exercise for mama~it takes a lot of energy to keep up with your moves :)

2.  Favorite Movie:  Baby Einstein videos.  You will rarely watch any other TV show/movie for more than 2 minutes, but the Baby Einstein videos are something that you will watch all the way through.  It's fun to watch you sing, dance, and laugh along with the video.  

3.  You love books!  This is equally as fun for mama and baba.  Not always will you sit and listen to the book being read but you are listening even when you're walking around the room.  Your favorite book is "I Love You Stinky Face".  You bring this book to mama or baba at least 4 times daily :)  We have recently started going to the library for toddler story time.  You have so much fun sitting (or walking around the room) with the other kids, listening to stories, singing, and dancing.  

4.   Favorite Foods:  You go through an entire pint of Banana/Strawberry yogurt weekly.  You also love whole milk, Goldfish Crackers, Raisins, and Icecream!!   

5.  You went on your first road trip during the last month when we went to Kansas for Easter.  Mama and Baba were really nervous about how you would do since you get antsy just going across town, but you did fantastic!!  You definitely got tired of being in your carseat after a while but for the most part you sang along to the radio, watched DVDs, and read books.  You slept for only 30 minutes on the way to Kansas but slept for 3 hours on the way home.    

6.  You enjoyed your first Easter celebration with both grandparents, lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins.  You spent the weekend meeting and getting to know your extended family at the farm.  It was so fun to watch you interact and play with your cousins.  Lots of Easter Egg hunts with Lau Lau and Pappy and they also found out you love pinwheels and wagon rides.  You also enjoyed a city wide Easter Egg hunt where you gathered lots of candy and brought home a stuffed bunny.  Luckily you are not that into candy yet (probably because Mama and Baba don't offer you any) so we have lots of left-over candy.   

7.  One of the not-so-fun new things for this last month has been your innate ability to throw tantrums.  I say innate because I certainly didn't show her how to do this ;)  It doesn't happen a lot, but we probably see at least one tantrum a day~some days are worse than others though.  Communication is definitely improving between all of us, but it seems that a lot of tantrums are occurring because you are not getting what you want.   Sometimes this is because you can't have want you want, but other times I am sure we are not understanding exactly what you want.  We anticipate that as our communication continues to improve, so will the tantrums.  Believe it or not, we are very thankful for our strong, independent daughter who feels free to voice her opinion even if she has to use a tantrum to do so.   

8.   Sleep has definitely improved over the last month, but you are still not sleeping through the night every night like you were in China.  Typically you wake 1-2 times during the night.  You are fully transitioned into your own room and going to bed is no longer a battle.  There seems to be a pattern of waking around 12 and 4am.  Sometimes you wake us up crying, but other times your cry sounds more frustrated/mad and it can take a little while to get you calmed back down so that you can fall back to sleep.  I have a hard time imagining and thinking about what your sleeping situation was most likely like in the orphanage.  We want you to know that no matter what time of day you need us we will always be there for you~even in the middle of the night.

9.  You and Jack have become good friends.  You both still need your space at times and don't hesitate to let each other know when those times are.  However, for the most part you love being around each other.  You get lots of kisses from Jack daily and it's fun to hear your laugh when you are being attacked with Jack kisses!!  You love to pet Jack and laugh with joy when you get to pet him for a longer time.  You and Jack frustrate mama because I am trying to keep your's and Jack's stuffed animals separated but you guys keep sharing with each other!!  I think mama is loosing this battle :)

10.  You are talking/singing non-stop!!  It still sounds like a lot of babbling to us, but sometimes you look so much like you know what you're saying that we often wonder if you are talking in Mandarin to us!!  LOL!!  You are learning more words all the time and will often repeat words back to us.  Some favorite new words this last month are:  light, fan, cluck-cluck, more.  

Early Lessons In Parenting

When asked if I was ready to be a mom before we brought Ava home I would often say something like, "I can't wait to have my little girl home, but the parenting stuff I guess we'll figure out as we go."  I mean how do you prepare for parenting before having kids?  In a sense, I definitely think that Matt and I are learning as we go and praying that we are not messing up too badly!  Parenting is very different from what I thought it would be.  It is truly the most challenging job that I have ever loved.  It is not like  being an aunt or babysitter where you can play and have tons of fun AND then give them back to their parents when you need a break or when they start to fuss!!  LOL!  Now we are the parents who get to enjoy the fun part but we are also the ones who work with Ava to get through the more difficult times and are hopefully traversing these times appropriately and with grace.  I always thought I was a patient person, but being a parent has taught me that I need to pray for extra patience every day.  I love Ava so much, but boy does she know how to test my patience already.  I have learned over the last couple of months that: All kids have tantrums and fuss.  This is not a personal attack from Ava on us.  Since  I have learned (or maybe am still learning) not to take her tantrum sessions so personally it's easier to have a patient, loving approach towards Ava during these times.  Sometimes her tantrums are due to the fact that she is a normal toddler testing her boundaries and sometimes due to the communication gap that we are all working through as a family.  She is learning quickly how to communicate with us and we have learned a lot about what words/signals mean so that we can understand what she is wanting.  But I have to remind myself of where Ava came from and that she hasn't even been with us for 2 months yet!!  She meshes so well with us that it seems like she's been a part of our family forever and sometimes I have to remind myself of what our beautiful little girl had to endure prior to us.      

Being a parent is teaching me a lot about what true love is~what unconditional love is.  I love this joyful, courageous, beautiful~inside and out~ girl with all my heart.  Even though she sometimes tests my patience, she is making me a better person for it and she is a huge blessing from above.  Thank you Lord for our baby girl!!

Being a parent has made me even more thankful for the amazing example my parents and Matt's parents have set for us.  We have learned so much from their guidance and example.  We love you guys so much!!

I can't wait to uncover what God has yet to unveil to us regarding parenting lessons and loving our daughter.  Parenting is absolutely the adventure of a lifetime!!

Happy Easter 2013

We were able to celebrate Ava's first Easter with lots of family in Kansas.  Yes, we also took our first road trip as a family.  :)  Matt and I were really nervous about this since Ava often times gets tired of her car seat just going across town.  But she did really well.  Good thing, because Ava's parents love to travel and don't stay in one place for long very well.  It was so great to be home with family and for Ava to get to meet her Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins.  So much fun!!

Pinwheels with Lau Lau!!

Pappy fixed up the old wagon and gave rides!

Hunting Easter Eggs

First 4-Wheeler Ride with Baba

Riding with Uncle Dave, C, and K

City Easter Egg Hunt

Happy Easter!!

Riding tractor with Grandpa

Lovin on Nai Nai

C, Ava, K

Pappy and Ava

Bedtime Smiles

Ava has been sleeping pretty well once she gets to sleep. She sleeps some nights all the way through til 7/7:30am but most nights she wakes up for 30-60 minutes in the middle of the night. Getting her to sleep at night is getting a lot easier; often times without any crying. Ava gets her only formula bottle at bedtime each night. This is one of Matt and I's favorite time of day now. Which ever one of us gets to rock her and give her bottle at night, sits in the recliner with her. Ava typically gets about half way through her bottle and then pulls it out of her mouth just long enough to turn her head and give us the biggest smile. Often times with the sweetest little giggle as well. Then she goes back to her bottle for a short time before she turns to smile and giggle again. I love this beautiful little girl more than I ever thought possible and I think every night I put her to bed that love just continues to grow. I love how happy and content she is in our arms. Every night I pray over her and ask God to help me be the parent she deserves. She is so precious and I know that I can't give her what she deserves on my own power. I need God's strength, patience, creativity, and love in order to give her all that she deserves~ everything good.   

My Little Picasso

I have been working with Ava on coloring with crayons for several weeks but she is much more interested in trying to eat the crayons than actually coloring. Most of the time I end up coloring while she moves on to something else that interests her more!! I've even tried the toddler grip crayons but those really just make her mad ;) This week I thought we'd try finger painting instead. This way she easily sees the results of her “handy” work. I had her in the high chair to prevent paint getting all over my house. Once she got over the issue of dirty hands, she loved it. She was pretty dainty about it at first but by the end she really seemed to love it. She kept pointing at the paint asking for more!! I'm pretty sure we had 15-20 master pieces by the time she was done! We both loved the finger painting and I LOVED watching her experience this new activity and have success with it. Finger painting will definitely be a regular activity at our house from now on.   

Baking 101

Ava and I have been trialing different activities at home to see what she likes and to allow her to experiment with different things. One of her favorite new activities is baking cookies. She loves to sit right up on the counter and is fascinated with the mixer. She quickly learned how good cookie dough tastes and even started licking the mixing spoon without my prompting~smart girl!! We've baked cookies twice in the last 2 weeks. We decided that neither one of us need to put on 50 pounds of sugar so we are also enjoying sharing the finished project with our neighbors. Cookies are always a good reason to go visit!