It's hard to believe that our first month together has flown by already. It has been a month of adjusting for all of us! We are settling in nicely as a family of four and are all learning our roles...including the girls. We have 2 very smart girls who try to work on the system but hopefully are also learning that they're parents are smarter (for now) or you might say more stubborn than they are. :) Matt and I keep saying that we are glad that Ella was not our first child or she'd have us in tears everyday. LOL!! She is super ornery, tries to get a rise out of her sister and parents, and pushes the limits all the time. As parents, we at least feel better prepared to handle this and to not let her crying and tantrums get to us as much as it did with Ava. At the same time, we love her orneriness and feistiness!! It's one of favorite traits about her! I know that we are going to eat those words one of these days!
Ella, we are so thankful and blessed to have you in our family. This is your FOREVER family!! I'll never forget our first month together...so many beautiful memories while getting to know each other better. I'll also never forget how sad you were those first several days we were together. I cried right along with you because I so badly wanted to fix what you were going through and I couldn't do anything to make it better. As a mom, I feel like I should always have the answers and be able to solve the problem. I hate when my babies are sad and would do anything to take it away. Under that tough exterior you have a very tender heart my baby girl. I'm tearing up just thinking about our memories together and what to write for this blog. You are an amazing, beautiful, strong girl!! Never forget that! And I will remind you everyday :) I love you more than words baby girl!
Ella's One Month List:
1. You are sleeping in your own bed and sleeping through the entire night!!!! I can't even describe my excitement for this. Your Mama needs her sleep :) You're not always the happiest about going to bed at night and will cry but typically calm right down with some warm milk and your blanket.
2. You have fallen in love with your blanket just like your big sister Ava did and I love that!! It didn't take long for you to decide that it was a great comfort when you were sad or scared or mad. Ava still sleeps with hers and takes it whenever she can. I have a feeling that you might be on the same track. Those blankets are very special. They're from Nai Nai and Grandpa and have your names embroidered in them by Nai Nai.
3. You love to eat!! You are a little picky but will try everything once or twice. And meal times tend to take you at least 45 minutes- an hour, even for a sandwich! I think you are just a master procrastinator!! You are loving yogurt, pasta noodles, cheerios, chips, popsicles, apple juice, milk, and fruit snacks. And most days you think we need a snack at least every hour ;)
4. You are your big sister are starting to act like sisters in the last 2 weeks. You are both learning how to be sisters. It's hard for you both to share and take turns, but you've made a lot of progress in this area lately. You love to copy and follow Ava around. And she loves to teach you new tricks. It's fun to watch you 2 interact, laugh, and play together. And even though it can be frustrating, it's even fun to watch you girls argue and figure out your differences. I know you'll be doing that for a long time to come.
5. You are so smart!! You are very interested in figuring out how things work; you're not satisfied just watching things be done for you. And typically you only need to be shown something once and you've got it down. You are working on learning your shapes with the shapes ball toy. You are also working on matching colors.
6. Miss Independent!! That is you! If you can do something by yourself, that is how it is going to be done and not with any help from anyone else! This is a blessing and a frustration all at the same time for Mama. Sometimes it'd be easier if you let me help, but easier is not the goal! Ha! I know I will appreciate this big time down the road though.
7. You don't sit still unless you are sleeping! I remember this stage with Ava but I had forgotten; LOL!! I mean you don't even sit for a minute! I am getting all the exercise I need chasing you around the house. You are always busy exploring and honestly looking to see what kind of trouble you can get into or how much you can push the rules!
8. Let's talk about you and getting into trouble ;) You're Baba and I are already preparing ourselves for the many incident reports and principal calls that are sure to come our way! You are ornery all the time!! When we first met you had a bad habit of scratching, hitting, and pinching. Knock on wood, the hitting and pinching is much better but you are still testing the scratching. It's not uncommon for you to get our attention, put your nails on our skin to see what we will do, and how far you can push your luck. Trouble with a capital T!!
9. Physically you are running, jumping with both feet off the ground, walking up and down stairs, throwing balls, and learning to ride a bike. You are also coloring and finger painting with both your left and right hands.
10. Your speech is difficult for you to produce and for us to understand with the cleft but you are very good at making your needs known. You point a lot and we are working on sign language. You are also making your own signs for things you like. For instance the need for chap stick is signaled by motions across the lips. It gets the message across! You have learned how to say apple juice and milk. This will get easier as we get to know each other better and as you continue to learn a new language. You've made tremendous progress already.
11. You enjoy being outside (most of the time...as long as it's on your schedule). You are still deciding about whether you like the pool, lake, and splash pad. At those places you are perfectly happy on the edge with just your toes in the water. Otherwise just give you a bucket of water and sand and you are set. The water table however; you love!! You can spend hours playing with the water table and have no problem drenching yourself. I am hoping you learn to love the water but even if not you like to be outside so we can find lots of things to do for all of us!
1. You are sleeping in your own bed and sleeping through the entire night!!!! I can't even describe my excitement for this. Your Mama needs her sleep :) You're not always the happiest about going to bed at night and will cry but typically calm right down with some warm milk and your blanket.
2. You have fallen in love with your blanket just like your big sister Ava did and I love that!! It didn't take long for you to decide that it was a great comfort when you were sad or scared or mad. Ava still sleeps with hers and takes it whenever she can. I have a feeling that you might be on the same track. Those blankets are very special. They're from Nai Nai and Grandpa and have your names embroidered in them by Nai Nai.
3. You love to eat!! You are a little picky but will try everything once or twice. And meal times tend to take you at least 45 minutes- an hour, even for a sandwich! I think you are just a master procrastinator!! You are loving yogurt, pasta noodles, cheerios, chips, popsicles, apple juice, milk, and fruit snacks. And most days you think we need a snack at least every hour ;)
4. You are your big sister are starting to act like sisters in the last 2 weeks. You are both learning how to be sisters. It's hard for you both to share and take turns, but you've made a lot of progress in this area lately. You love to copy and follow Ava around. And she loves to teach you new tricks. It's fun to watch you 2 interact, laugh, and play together. And even though it can be frustrating, it's even fun to watch you girls argue and figure out your differences. I know you'll be doing that for a long time to come.
5. You are so smart!! You are very interested in figuring out how things work; you're not satisfied just watching things be done for you. And typically you only need to be shown something once and you've got it down. You are working on learning your shapes with the shapes ball toy. You are also working on matching colors.
6. Miss Independent!! That is you! If you can do something by yourself, that is how it is going to be done and not with any help from anyone else! This is a blessing and a frustration all at the same time for Mama. Sometimes it'd be easier if you let me help, but easier is not the goal! Ha! I know I will appreciate this big time down the road though.
7. You don't sit still unless you are sleeping! I remember this stage with Ava but I had forgotten; LOL!! I mean you don't even sit for a minute! I am getting all the exercise I need chasing you around the house. You are always busy exploring and honestly looking to see what kind of trouble you can get into or how much you can push the rules!
8. Let's talk about you and getting into trouble ;) You're Baba and I are already preparing ourselves for the many incident reports and principal calls that are sure to come our way! You are ornery all the time!! When we first met you had a bad habit of scratching, hitting, and pinching. Knock on wood, the hitting and pinching is much better but you are still testing the scratching. It's not uncommon for you to get our attention, put your nails on our skin to see what we will do, and how far you can push your luck. Trouble with a capital T!!
9. Physically you are running, jumping with both feet off the ground, walking up and down stairs, throwing balls, and learning to ride a bike. You are also coloring and finger painting with both your left and right hands.
10. Your speech is difficult for you to produce and for us to understand with the cleft but you are very good at making your needs known. You point a lot and we are working on sign language. You are also making your own signs for things you like. For instance the need for chap stick is signaled by motions across the lips. It gets the message across! You have learned how to say apple juice and milk. This will get easier as we get to know each other better and as you continue to learn a new language. You've made tremendous progress already.
11. You enjoy being outside (most of the time...as long as it's on your schedule). You are still deciding about whether you like the pool, lake, and splash pad. At those places you are perfectly happy on the edge with just your toes in the water. Otherwise just give you a bucket of water and sand and you are set. The water table however; you love!! You can spend hours playing with the water table and have no problem drenching yourself. I am hoping you learn to love the water but even if not you like to be outside so we can find lots of things to do for all of us!
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