Project 52: week nine

August 25-30


Sunday Snapshot:

Usually it is the girls in the picture because Declan is sleeping, but this time just Dec got his picture taken! This was actually taken before church and Elliana was napping. So just a picture of the big boy WALKING!  Yep, he's officially a walker now:)

 And he is also a climber....but we already knew that :)  He is always looking to see how he can just get a little higher or be a little more daring.

My sweet Raelynn.  She is so thoughtful of others and it is beautiful to see her caring for others develop.  This was an evening mommy's legs were really bothering her, so I was planted on the couch.  Elliana was in the discovery center and Declan was on the floor.  Raelynn went upstairs and came back with 4 little board books.  She gave one to Elliana, one to Declan, said "This one for Raelynn and here is one for baby brother" and she came and put it on my belly.  So precious.

What was even sweeter was when I told her she should read it to him.  Brent captured in the picture her showing my belly the book and then picks up my shirt and says directly into my belly button "Are you listening?" haha.  Never a dull moment with this girl!

We had a play date on Wednesday this week!  Asher Olmstead came over to play.  They ran around for the most part, but here they are playing play dough:

While daddy was shoveling rock one day, he had the kids in the pool with no water. They had toys and the water bucket to play with.  And look where Declan ended up:)

 

A special visitor came on Thursday! Auntie Kacia had painted Raelynn's nail a few weeks ago and it all wore off.  Mommy offered to paint them, but apparently I'm not skilled enough.  She wouldn't accept my offer and only wanted Kacia to do it:)  (Probably because Auntie Kacia has a cool pen that can make flowers on the nails!)
It was great to have Kacia come by and stay for a while.  She ate lunch with us and helped make cut out cookies with us later in the day.  It was a lot of fun!

 

Update on Elliana--

This week we had some highs and lows.  Elliana is getting better and better and the pincher grasp and can get things into her mouth.  She is also putting things in her mouth when she is on the floor--which as funny as this sounds, that is good! She was only licking things before, which indicates some sensory issues (which we expected she would have) but now she is starting to explore her new found senses and is putting papers and toys in her mouth as she plays on the floor. 

 

Getting a good grasp!

 Now we just need to work on chewing:)  She gets peas and corn in her mouth but then it pretty much sits there until she smiles big enough for it to fall out.  Puffs are good because they dissolve...but corn, not so much.  We continue to spoon feed her for a while anyway, so this isn't a major issue right now.  But hopefully she will learn this skill as her teeth come in.

 

 Grasping again!  And also a shot of the 27 week old baby boy. And my feet are under there somewhere:)

 

Elliana is also continuing to become more comfortable in her surroundings and learning to move around.  She will be the completely opposite direction in her crib some days when we get her.  And she is doing the 'backward scoot' across the room and usually ends up with her legs trapped under the couch.  She is still getting up on her knees to rock a little bit, but only when she wants to of course.  A lot of the time she isn't interested.

 

She LOVES the Johnny Jump Up now and jumps all around! Her legs are getting so strong-she pushes back a lot when I'm changing her diaper and has a strong kick to my belly too!

 

She's doing pretty well with sleeping, though it is inconsistent.  Sometimes she naps, sometimes she doesn't.  She gets SO SO happy when we go in there, so that is sweet to see. 

We started putting her to bed a bit earlier than the older two because she gets pretty fussy at night.  Especially when she didn't take a third nap of the day.  One night this week, she went down before Bible time.  Brent was being quite animated and loud and woke her.  She was startled, you could hear it in her cry.  I went in and picked her up to soothe her and she sort of grasped on to my arms and put her head down.  A sweet moment that hasn't happened before and was very very special.  She is often fighting us when we hold her, so it was very sweet and I didn't want to put her down:)  There have been moments of that during the day since, but only lasting seconds.  She just isn't interested in being held on our terms, but yet she seems to want to be held and likes being carried around on my hip.  But when we hold her in a more intimate position or kisses are placed upon her cheek, she gets very upset.  It's hard.  Hard to know how to handle it and hard to deal with.  But God gives grace and the sweet moments just have to be savored.

 

A friend who adopted a long time ago reminded me today that we are no comfort to these children. Not yet. 

They are under so much adjustment and stress and someone who is of no familiarity is trying to comfort them. We know she had only 2-3 nannies, so there was some regularity for her. And we ripped it all away. All the smells, sounds, lights, tastes, everything. Every single thing. 

 But she needs to grieve and we will be there for her. We will show her our faithfulness that no matter how much she pushes away, we are here. With open arms ready to soothe her and giving her what she needs.

She can't see it now. But our plans and intentions are good for her.  I bet you know where this is heading.  God is so good to his children and so faithful to us. He never leaves or forsakes us and though we doubt the plans he sets before us at times or wonder why we are struggling and suffering through something, his way is good and perfect.

Just another way that adoption on a horizontal level can reflect the great love and mercy our father gives us on a vertical level through his adoption of us.