Thankfully, I have some sweet adoption momma friends who are here with their kids and they are such an encouragement to me. It's so nice to have other mom's who know how it is!
Anyway, say a prayer for us.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Blood day catch up!
It's blood day again so here I am catching up! It's currently 1pm, we've been here since 7:30am. We're about half way finished. It's been a ROUGH day. Mia is super moody and that makes things difficult. As all get out. She and I spent the night in Birmingham last night because she needed to get labs and we had to be back this morning for blood. Everything was great until she decided she wasn't going to eat her pizza for lunch and she only wanted chips. She pitched the mother of all fits. Twice.
Thankfully, I have some sweet adoption momma friends who are here with their kids and they are such an encouragement to me. It's so nice to have other mom's who know how it is!
Anyway, say a prayer for us.
Thankfully, I have some sweet adoption momma friends who are here with their kids and they are such an encouragement to me. It's so nice to have other mom's who know how it is!
Anyway, say a prayer for us.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
All the Things
Today is blood day so I'm going to attempt a "catch up" around here!
Miss Priss is doing well for the most part! I feel like(I know this is weird) we have turned a corner lately. Yep, almost 16 months into this adoption thing and it's good now. YES, it was good the whole first year. But OH MY it was HARD. I feel the need to share this because I feel like not enough people do. And after talking with lots of my adoption friends we pretty much all feel this way.
Here's the thing. When you bring a cute little Chinese baby into your world everybody loves said baby so much that they want to give her anything and everything. Never tell her no. They all feel sorry for her/him. Which is understandable. But, here's the thing, while I DO feel sorry for Mia I'm also her Mama. I don't want her growing up feeling sorry for herself and sitting around waiting for others to do things for her because she's different. Yes, it sucks that she has to get blood every three weeks and be poked and prodded on. But, she's tough because of it and I want her to always be that way! I feel like I spent the first year wading through water of all the things for her and us. Let's face it, she(and Reece) just look at Josh and he's a puddle. BUT, I'm that way with Brooks(and Griffin and Peyton) so I understand. It's just different with an adopted child because there's SO MUCH. But at the same time, it's the same because she's ours the same as the others.
SEE WHAT I MEAN?! ALL the things. So complicated.
I feel like I spent last year more stressed than ever. I felt like it was all on me. I drank too much wine(where's that monkey emoji with his hands on his eyes? lol). And I gained TEN pounds. (Monkey again!! lol) But, lately I feel like things are finally clicking along! She gets us and we get her. Completely.
She tells me she loves me with all her heark(heart) and that's how I know that it was all worth it.
Miss Priss is doing well for the most part! I feel like(I know this is weird) we have turned a corner lately. Yep, almost 16 months into this adoption thing and it's good now. YES, it was good the whole first year. But OH MY it was HARD. I feel the need to share this because I feel like not enough people do. And after talking with lots of my adoption friends we pretty much all feel this way.
Here's the thing. When you bring a cute little Chinese baby into your world everybody loves said baby so much that they want to give her anything and everything. Never tell her no. They all feel sorry for her/him. Which is understandable. But, here's the thing, while I DO feel sorry for Mia I'm also her Mama. I don't want her growing up feeling sorry for herself and sitting around waiting for others to do things for her because she's different. Yes, it sucks that she has to get blood every three weeks and be poked and prodded on. But, she's tough because of it and I want her to always be that way! I feel like I spent the first year wading through water of all the things for her and us. Let's face it, she(and Reece) just look at Josh and he's a puddle. BUT, I'm that way with Brooks(and Griffin and Peyton) so I understand. It's just different with an adopted child because there's SO MUCH. But at the same time, it's the same because she's ours the same as the others.
SEE WHAT I MEAN?! ALL the things. So complicated.
I feel like I spent last year more stressed than ever. I felt like it was all on me. I drank too much wine(where's that monkey emoji with his hands on his eyes? lol). And I gained TEN pounds. (Monkey again!! lol) But, lately I feel like things are finally clicking along! She gets us and we get her. Completely.
She tells me she loves me with all her heark(heart) and that's how I know that it was all worth it.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Mia's First Gotcha Day!
On December 5th we celebrated our first Mia Day!! Some families call it Gotcha Day, but at our house it's Mia Day! :)
Yes, I'm just now posting about it because I forgot to post it. I have five kids, cut me some slack! haha!
Mia had to get blood that day so most of our day was spent at Children's Hospital. But, that meant that I got to hog her all day...no school for her or working for me! After we were done we met Josh and the other kids at a local Chinese restaurant to eat Mia's favorite....rice noodles!
Our first year with Mia was a busy, busy year. It was full of ups and downs, easy times and hard times. It was full of doctor's appointments and blood transfusions. It was full of learning about her and learning about ourselves. Through it all we have been SO SO blessed! I still can't believe our baby was born all the way across the world. I still can't believe the Lord called us to this.
Adoption will change you like you wouldn't believe.
If you feel that nudge, please reach out to me! I would LOVE to talk with you! We can talk on the phone, text, email, have lunch(y'all know I love chips and salsa!!!)...how ever you feel like talking! :)
Yes, I'm just now posting about it because I forgot to post it. I have five kids, cut me some slack! haha!
Mia had to get blood that day so most of our day was spent at Children's Hospital. But, that meant that I got to hog her all day...no school for her or working for me! After we were done we met Josh and the other kids at a local Chinese restaurant to eat Mia's favorite....rice noodles!
Adoption will change you like you wouldn't believe.
If you feel that nudge, please reach out to me! I would LOVE to talk with you! We can talk on the phone, text, email, have lunch(y'all know I love chips and salsa!!!)...how ever you feel like talking! :)
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Nine Months with Mia!
Nine months ago today we got our Mia!
Right now we're getting blood. We went four weeks between transfusions again but this time her blood count was way lower than we'd like. We are going to try one more time and if she's low again, it's back to every three weeks for little missy!
It's going to be a super long day for us. We got here at 7:30am and it's currently 12:00pm. We JUST got her blood started and it's going to take 5 hours. She was ready to leave an hour ago. Yikes!
I mentioned last month that she started school. Yea, that didn't go well at all. She did a lot of crying. I did a lot of stressing. Doctor's did a lot of trying to tell us what and how to do it. In the end, I listened to my mommy instinct and guess what?! Mommy instinct was right, again! About a week or so ago she quit crying. Now, she waves bye to me and shoves me out the door! haha!
Mia still loves the food. I've decided that's never changing. She has started drinking milk, finally!
I haven't said it officially on here but she's a daddy's girl! Those two have it real bad for each other! She loves me but he's her jam! And, that's ok!
That's about all I have to report on Mia this month. She's really just been a busy little bee keeping up with all her sibs and their after school activities. Speaking of, Reece is cheering this year and Mia LOVES watching her and doing the cheers with the big girls! :)
Right now we're getting blood. We went four weeks between transfusions again but this time her blood count was way lower than we'd like. We are going to try one more time and if she's low again, it's back to every three weeks for little missy!
It's going to be a super long day for us. We got here at 7:30am and it's currently 12:00pm. We JUST got her blood started and it's going to take 5 hours. She was ready to leave an hour ago. Yikes!
I mentioned last month that she started school. Yea, that didn't go well at all. She did a lot of crying. I did a lot of stressing. Doctor's did a lot of trying to tell us what and how to do it. In the end, I listened to my mommy instinct and guess what?! Mommy instinct was right, again! About a week or so ago she quit crying. Now, she waves bye to me and shoves me out the door! haha!
Mia still loves the food. I've decided that's never changing. She has started drinking milk, finally!
I haven't said it officially on here but she's a daddy's girl! Those two have it real bad for each other! She loves me but he's her jam! And, that's ok!
That's about all I have to report on Mia this month. She's really just been a busy little bee keeping up with all her sibs and their after school activities. Speaking of, Reece is cheering this year and Mia LOVES watching her and doing the cheers with the big girls! :)
Monday, August 7, 2017
Eight Months with Mia!
Mia has been all ours for eight months now! Time is flying and I'm working on her 1st, 3rd Birthday Party! Yep, you read that right. It's her very first birthday party but she's turning three! Of course we plan to blow it out of the water! It's only fitting!
Currently, she's sitting in my lap getting a blood transfusion. This time we were able to go four weeks between transfusions instead of three like we have been. Thankful for that but keeping in mind Thalassemia is a marathon not a sprint!
Mia started preschool last week! She is going to the same school that Brooks goes to, which is the same one that the other kids went to as well! It went as well as I expected it to. I'm hoping this week is better! We only left her for a few hours a day each day last week to help her adjust.
Last week we had her follow up with the International Adoption Clinic. Everything went well there! She's doing really well in all departments! One of the therapists suggested she start speech therapy. As soon as the other kids get settled into a new school year we will start that! She is doing really well with English, especially since she was only introduced to it eight months ago! The speech therapy will just be to help her catch up to other kids her age.
She still loves food. BUT, several times in the last few months she will say, "I done" without a clean plate. She FINALLY realizes food is not going to be taken away. This is not the same with drinking, but we are still working on it!
This baby LOVES to SING! and DANCE! She loves the movie Trolls and the movie Sing!
Now for some random pics from the month!
Our power was out one morning so these three made a tent with Reece's gymnastics mat, her practice beam and some sheets! haha!
Still can't keep his lips off her cheeks...
Mia likes to take one of her siblings with her to get labs drawn, this time it was Peyton's turn!
I have no words for this...
Currently, she's sitting in my lap getting a blood transfusion. This time we were able to go four weeks between transfusions instead of three like we have been. Thankful for that but keeping in mind Thalassemia is a marathon not a sprint!
Mia started preschool last week! She is going to the same school that Brooks goes to, which is the same one that the other kids went to as well! It went as well as I expected it to. I'm hoping this week is better! We only left her for a few hours a day each day last week to help her adjust.
Last week we had her follow up with the International Adoption Clinic. Everything went well there! She's doing really well in all departments! One of the therapists suggested she start speech therapy. As soon as the other kids get settled into a new school year we will start that! She is doing really well with English, especially since she was only introduced to it eight months ago! The speech therapy will just be to help her catch up to other kids her age.
She still loves food. BUT, several times in the last few months she will say, "I done" without a clean plate. She FINALLY realizes food is not going to be taken away. This is not the same with drinking, but we are still working on it!
This baby LOVES to SING! and DANCE! She loves the movie Trolls and the movie Sing!
Now for some random pics from the month!
Our power was out one morning so these three made a tent with Reece's gymnastics mat, her practice beam and some sheets! haha!
Daddy's turn to take Mia for blood!
I have no words for this...
Celebrating EIGHT months with our girl!
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Potty Trained!
I totally missed posting a 7 month update on Mia. Just never got around to it and now we're almost at the EIGHT month mark! But I DID want to drop in to say that this girl...
...is potty trained! YAY YAY YAY!
I literally put her in panties on a Saturday a few weeks ago and SHE HAS NOT HAD ONE.SINGLE.ACCIDENT. Not one. Nada.
Boom Shakalaka.
That's what happens when you are the 5th kid. Plus, she's a genius.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Six months with Mia!
Mia is such a sweet girl! I think my favorite thing right now is that when she wakes up in the morning she tells everyone "Good Morning!" and the way she says it melts me!
I feel like this month she's finally "getting it". She knows who her people are and where they are at all times. She knows all about our routine! She knows that after we take Brooks to school in the mornings we are headed to the office. She knows after we go to the gym we are headed to eat lunch and then probably Target! haha! She knows at the end of the day when we leave the office we are headed to get Brooks at school! She knows when we pull up in our driveway that Daddley(yep, still calling him that!), Griffin and Peyton are home waiting for her. She knows that after dinner it's bathtime! See, she gets it!
We spent more time at the beach this month! She LOVES it! She plays and plays in the sand! She loves the water too! We got our kayaks out for the first time this year a few weekends ago and she went on her first ride and LOVED that too!
I can't think of anything she doesn't love except for sleep and time-out! haha! She DOES sleep all night like I have said before but she doesn't like to be put in bed. (What kid does?) And nap time, well, she might take a cat nap.
For the most part Mia is a really easy kid, but I don't want anyone to ever think it's all peachy and rosy. Adoption is HARD. It's full of good stuff but don't think it's easy ALL the time! :) Her coping skills when she gets in trouble are not so great. Josh mentioned that it's kind of like a baby and he's right! But, it's getting much better!
Mia finally realized just the other day that when I leave her, I AM coming back! Momma's not gone forever and I'm never going to leave her for good! That's a major milestone! :) It happened Tuesday. I was headed out the door to spend some time with some girlfriends. I carefully(and quietly!) told everyone else bye and that I would see them in a bit. I kissed the hubs and told him bye...Mia was eating supper and I kissed her little head but didn't say bye because that causes her to freak the frick out. Well, she looked up and said, "Bye Mommy!" CUE THE HAPPY DANCE RIGHT ON OUT THE DOOR! :)
She's still all about the food. Even after she has eaten, if someone else in the house is eating she will just stand in front of them and stare at them to see if they will share. We are working on that! Also, we have to really pay attention to her when she is drinking something or she will just drink whatever is in her cup non-stop until it is gone. Most of the time she prefers to drink water so that's not really a problem as far as drinking so much of it, we just need to get her to the point that she realizes she will always have it so she doesn't have to drink it all at once!
We are still pushing through in terms of her health. It's a lot, really, but I feel like we are getting into a routine with it as much as we can. Last time she went for blood she and I went to Birmingham the day before to get labs drawn and since we had to be back super early the next morning we got a hotel and spent the night! She was excited to have me to herself but we were both a little bored with it so quiet! hahahaha!
Mia and Brooks had a little cuddle time before bed one night and his little arm around her MELTED us!
Our first Mother's Day! :) Watching Paw Paw skydive! Mommy's going to skydive VERY soon! Eeeks!
It seems like 6 months warranted a comparison picture! On the left, gotcha day and on the right 6 months later! :) We sure do love our girl!
Friday, May 12, 2017
Five months with Mia!
Mia has been with us for FIVE whole months now! Thinking back to the day we picked her up in China blows my mind. She's come SO far in five short months! I was looking through our gotcha day pictures and video the other day and it's crazy what a difference there is. Even her little cry is different. It was like a baby cry the day we got her and now she doesn't cry like that at all! (Yes, I will share the video soon!)
We moved Mia to sleeping in her room this month! It has gone SO well! She cries a little when we put her to bed but soon falls asleep and sleeps all night!
Food is still her all time favorite thing in the history of ever. Give the kid all the food and she's happy! haha! Here she is eating a quesamia! That's what she calls a quesadilla!
Her English is making huge strides! We were just shopping for groceries earlier today and we were in the fruit section...every time I would put something in the cart she would say what it was! Apple, banana, grapes, strawberries, etc!
Not sure if I have mentioned it on here but Mia goes with me to work everyday! :) She pretty much runs the office. Bossy little lady!
She's really spoiled. Oops. Like, to the point that when we pull up to get a coffee at the Heritage House drive through she starts yelling, "Tookie" because she knows she'll get a cookie! haha!
She's also SUPER smart. I know everyone thinks that about their kids but um, she's gifted. Case in point, we had a little incident in my car last weekend and there is some significant damage. I had to meet an insurance adjuster this morning to get things started and had Josh meet us there. Because he knows all the things about cars. We pulled up to the place we were meeting and she saw Josh's truck and started saying, "Dadley truck!" We had to meet up with the adjuster later in the day to pick up a check. We pulled up and she said, "Dadley truck not here." We went there ONE TIME and she stayed in my car the whole time and remembered where we were. She's TWO. :)
Mia is doing pretty well health wise. She's still going every three weeks for blood but it is what it is. It's not fun. It's a long day. She needs it.
I was finally brave enough to get a friend who is a photographer to try and get some pictures of Mia! She still can be a little standoffish and shy and moody so I wanted to just see how it would go! At first she wasn't sure, but then she warmed up and we had fun!
That sums our Mia up for this month!
We moved Mia to sleeping in her room this month! It has gone SO well! She cries a little when we put her to bed but soon falls asleep and sleeps all night!
Food is still her all time favorite thing in the history of ever. Give the kid all the food and she's happy! haha! Here she is eating a quesamia! That's what she calls a quesadilla!
Her English is making huge strides! We were just shopping for groceries earlier today and we were in the fruit section...every time I would put something in the cart she would say what it was! Apple, banana, grapes, strawberries, etc!
Not sure if I have mentioned it on here but Mia goes with me to work everyday! :) She pretty much runs the office. Bossy little lady!
She's really spoiled. Oops. Like, to the point that when we pull up to get a coffee at the Heritage House drive through she starts yelling, "Tookie" because she knows she'll get a cookie! haha!
She's also SUPER smart. I know everyone thinks that about their kids but um, she's gifted. Case in point, we had a little incident in my car last weekend and there is some significant damage. I had to meet an insurance adjuster this morning to get things started and had Josh meet us there. Because he knows all the things about cars. We pulled up to the place we were meeting and she saw Josh's truck and started saying, "Dadley truck!" We had to meet up with the adjuster later in the day to pick up a check. We pulled up and she said, "Dadley truck not here." We went there ONE TIME and she stayed in my car the whole time and remembered where we were. She's TWO. :)
Mia is doing pretty well health wise. She's still going every three weeks for blood but it is what it is. It's not fun. It's a long day. She needs it.
We went to the beach this past weekend and it was finally warm enough for some beach time! I kept thinking to myself about this time last year. I was hoping and praying that this year we would be sitting in this exact same spot that we love so much with our brand new little girl and well, here she is!
That sums our Mia up for this month!
Monday, March 6, 2017
Three Months with Mia!
Yesterday we celebrated 3 months with Mia! Time is flying and it feels like she's always been with us!
Mia has slowed WAY down on the food train! She still LOVES to eat but it's not as important to her as it was in the past. That's good because it tells us she's more secure!
She is still doing well in the sleep department. She's a light sleeper and she doesn't really nap but she sleeps well at night!
Her English is improving more and more! She fully understands us and can communicate with us, if she feels like it. No really, the moody little thing sometimes acts like she doesn't know what we are saying BUT PLEASE, she's not fooling me! haha!
Speaking of moody, she's a typical two year old little girl. So, saying she's moody isn't meant to be a bad thing, she's right on track in that department as well! :) Peyton nicknamed her Moody Judy while we were still in China!
Health wise she is doing pretty well! We had a port placed after her last transfusion. Hopefully this will help. She will still have to be stuck each time because the port is completely under the skin but it will at least be a "sure thing" every time now! Tomorrow is her first transfusion with the port!
I haven't had time to blog about our new baby goats(SOON) but Mia LOVES them! She just pets and pets them and says, "Ohhh babyyyy".
What a short update! There's just not much going on that's different than a typical two year old for her right now! :)
Mia has slowed WAY down on the food train! She still LOVES to eat but it's not as important to her as it was in the past. That's good because it tells us she's more secure!
She is still doing well in the sleep department. She's a light sleeper and she doesn't really nap but she sleeps well at night!
Her English is improving more and more! She fully understands us and can communicate with us, if she feels like it. No really, the moody little thing sometimes acts like she doesn't know what we are saying BUT PLEASE, she's not fooling me! haha!
Speaking of moody, she's a typical two year old little girl. So, saying she's moody isn't meant to be a bad thing, she's right on track in that department as well! :) Peyton nicknamed her Moody Judy while we were still in China!
Health wise she is doing pretty well! We had a port placed after her last transfusion. Hopefully this will help. She will still have to be stuck each time because the port is completely under the skin but it will at least be a "sure thing" every time now! Tomorrow is her first transfusion with the port!
I haven't had time to blog about our new baby goats(SOON) but Mia LOVES them! She just pets and pets them and says, "Ohhh babyyyy".
What a short update! There's just not much going on that's different than a typical two year old for her right now! :)
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Airport Homecoming
I just realized that I never posted our pictures from our airport homecoming! We ended up getting stuck overnight in Detroit due to one of our flights being delayed. It was a complete bummer because we were SO ready to be home. And also because we didn't have our luggage so I only had the bare minimum of makeup and we didn't have enough clothing for the inches of snow. YUCK. We ended up being gone a total of 17 days.
None of it mattered when we arrived in Birmingham and b-lined it off the plane and straight to our friends and family waiting there for us! We were SO happy to see our people!!!!
THIS PICTURE MAKES MY LIFE, LOOK AT THE JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These two missed each other SO much!
None of it mattered when we arrived in Birmingham and b-lined it off the plane and straight to our friends and family waiting there for us! We were SO happy to see our people!!!!