We're closing in on a year as a family of 4. Honestly, I don't know how that happened!! In so many ways the year has flown by so quickly and in many other ways it's hard to remember a life before Ella. A life before both girlies seems a life time ago. I have no idea what we would be doing without these beautiful girls in our lives but I can say that I don't want to know. They were worth all the heartache, all the prayers, all the sleepless nights, all the tears, and all the stress. I would not change a moment of our lives leading up to this point because every moment led us to you. I know that sound very cliche, but I mean every word down to my inner core.
Ella, we are so unbelievably thankful that you joined our family almost a year ago...honestly you joined our family from the second we said "yes" we are adopting again. And then that bond just continued to grow from the time we saw your picture to the first time to our nightly prayers until we saw your face to every step that got us to this point. We love you more than words.
11 Month List...And it was a BIG month!!
1. You turned 3 this last month. We celebrated big! Not only was it your third birthday but it was your first birthday with your forever family. This makes me tear up now just thinking about how special that is. We celebrated with a big party with family and friends over the weekend. We celebrated with treats with daycare friends. And then we celebrated again as a family on your actual birthday. We loved every minute of celebrating with you!
2. We refinalized your adoption in US court during the last month. This was the last step in your adoption. We went to court on your birthday! Our lawyer is amazing and loves adoption court. He has 2 children from Korea himself and is awesome to have on your side. The judge herself was amazing as well and let the girls help with paperwork. We celebrated twice on your birthday!! Such a big day with lots to celebrate. Your birth certificate should be coming any day as the icing on the cake.
3. You are still a pro at pushing your sister's buttons. You know just where to push at just the right time to get a reaction from her. Just yesterday you were coloring alongside Ava and all you had to do was draw a tiny black line on her paper. Not nice of you but seriously you could hardly see it...sent Ava through the roof. You know exactly how to get a reaction out of her...
4. That being said, you adore your sister. You want to do everything she does. She is your number 1 always. If you can be next to her you're a happy camper. You love giving each other good night hugs and kisses, playing for hours in the tent make-believing all kinds of different magical things, having sleep overs, and laughing together. I love watching you play with your sister and interact with her. This is truly the joy of my life!
5. It's warming up and you are loving life outside. You love to be in the sand box, at the park, going for a walk, and playing with bubbles. We eat outside a lot too when it's nice for dinner and you love that.
6. But as much as you love the outside, you love TV even more. If we'd let you, you'd be content watching shows for hours at a time. We have limits for that reason :) We don't have cable so we watch everything streamed. Your favorites are Super Why, Daniel Tiger, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Strawberry Shortcake.
7. You've grown over an inch and a half during the last 6 months. You are growing too fast!! You go in spurts where you eat a lot and other spurts where we can barely get you to eat more than applesauce. But either way, you are growing and are definitely not a toddler anymore.
8. Your dad and I joke all the time that we need to have an apple orchard and make our own applesauce. Seriously, I can't tell you how many applesauce packets you eat in a day but we put the limit on about 4 of them most days. We seriously need to go into business just to maintain your applesauce needs.
9. You are talking more and more all the time. Unfortunately mom and dad can't always understand you which is really frustrating to you at times...I totally get it. We work really hard in those moments to figure out what you're saying through gestures and pointing. We're getting there and your determination is going to pay off.
10. We adopted a puppy Sammy during the last month. You were a little slow to warm up and depending on the day you still may have very little patience for his puppy antics but overall you love this bundle of energy. You still tell us and show us every time you get a kiss from Sammy. You love playing fetch with him and you love that he sneaks in your bed in the morning to catch a few more zzz's. You love working with him on sit, stay, drop, and watch me commands. You three are going to be best buddies.
