3 Months Ago Today...

in a non-descript room in Changsha our lives changed forever when a very scared baby was placed in my arms.  What a difference 3 months makes!  Hadley is the light of our lives.  She is always on the go, always busy, and always ready for a hug or kiss.  When she was placed in my arms, she didn't cry -- she just stared at me with those big dark eyes.  It is obvious that she was well taken care of -- she was healthy and clean and had obviously been fed well (which is not an easy task with a cleft baby) but she wasn't loved.  She didn't even acknowledge when the nanny left or react to her departure in any way.  Having known her for three months now, she was scared to death, but she was willing to take a chance.  It didn't take her long to decide that these strange looking people might not be so bad.  She still gets very quiet (which is NOT her normal) when she is not comfortable, but she clings to us.  She cries every morning that I take her to daycare because she doesn't want me to leave.  I doubt that she had ever been hugged or kissed or told that she was loved or she was special or beautiful -- she hears that everyday now and she just eats it up.  She greats me with hugs and smiles every afternoon after work -- there is nothing better to come home to.  She continues to amaze me.  If it's possible, I fall more in love with her everyday.  I can't wait to see what she will be into next!

Surgery day is getting closer and closer -- just 6 days now.  I'm getting more nervous everyday -- I'm ready for it to be over with.  Please keep her, us, and her doctors in your prayers.

I'll close with some pictures...

The Fall Carnival at my school was last Friday -- my parents brought her up so I could see her and show her off (THANKS!).  She's dressed in her Minnie Mouse costume but kept taking the ears off.

Yes, that's a dog bowl on her head!

This smile says it all

Halloween Costume and a Quick Update



Is this the cutest Minnie Mouse you've ever seen, or what?  This was the closest thing we got to a smile -- she just wasn't having it.  As soon as I took her to change her she was all smiles.  I can't really complain, that just shows that she's a typical 18 month old. 

In other news, we are 13 days from palate repair surgery and yes, I'm beginning to freak out.  I know that she needs the surgery (obviously), but that's my baby and they are going to put her to sleep.  It just makes me nervous. 

Since my last update, we've been to see more doctors and everything looks good.  Hadley weighed in at 23 pounds and is 31 inches long at her 18 month well child check up.  Developmentally, she's making great progress.  Of course her speech is still an issue, but I'm OK with that.  She is learning more signs and putting them together and she is talking more.  The opthamologist was very pleased with her eye movement and vision and felt like everything could be repaired.  We still don't know if she has tear ducts or not -- well, we know she doesn't have the external ducts on her lower eye lids, but we don't know about the internal structures.  But there is a pediatric eye plastic surgeon returning to UK this summer who can create them if they aren't there.  All of the doctors are pleased with her development.  We really couldn't ask for more right now. 

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend.  We took Hadley to have Halloween pictures made -- she wasn't very interested.  She just stared at the photographer -- no smiles.  We got a few cute pictures, but nothing great.  I'll have to upload them later.  Yesterday after church we took her outside to pose with my fall porch decorations -- I'm still amazed that she didn't try to jump off of the hay bales (Jeff was ready to catch her if she tried)!  I had to include a picture of her outfit for church yesterday because I thought she looked like an angel. 

This blog is my attempt to chronicle the adventures of our daughter, Hadley, who we adopted from China in late July 2010.  If you want to see the beginning of our story, click here:  www.myadoptionwebsite.com/oursweethadley.  I just posted our final update on that site, so check it out.  I'll post more pictures soon.

Alison