6 Months, Really?

The calendar says it's been 6 months since we met Hadley -- how did that happen?  The 6 months between getting her referral and traveling to China took FOREVER, so it's hard to believe that it's been 6 months since she was placed in my arms.  It's certainly been an awesome 6 months.  The changes in Hadley are unbelievable.  She couldn't walk, she didn't talk, and she was so solemn.  Now she is happy and her laughter is infectious.  She rarely walks, she runs everywhere, and she jabbers constantly.  She's even started talking at daycare.  Her speech is coming along and she will repeat anything I ask her to say.  She's beginning to name things spontaneously.  Speech sounds are still an issue -- totally normal for a child with a cleft palate -- but she's making more sounds everyday and her syllable patterns and intonation are great.  I imagine that when she actually starts getting speech from someone besides me, she will make even more progress.  I've said before that we couldn't have gotten a better match.  She is the perfect fit for our family and she has totally taken to being part of our family.  Her adjustment and attachment have gone far better than we could have hoped.  There are still days when I look at her and think, "I can't believe you're really here."  But I really can't remember what life was like before she joined our family. 

People (crazy people apparently) are always asking if our lives have changed since she came home -- um, yeah!  My house isn't as clean as it once was.  There may be dust on the furniture and toys in the floor, but I'm ok with that -- ok, to a point.  We do pick up the toys every night and I try to keep the dust bunnies and fur balls under control.  Things get done when they get done, the schedule is long gone.  My friend told me that trying to clean house with little kids is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing -- I believe it.   I still make lists -- believe me I need them more now than ever -- and try to stay organized, but we go with the flow. 

One other awesome bit of news.  We went to see a geneticist yesterday.  Hadley's plastic surgeon wanted us to see one to rule out anything syndromic and make sure that there wasn't anything else we needed to be concerned about.  The geneticist was able to confirm that everything is exactly what we thought it was.  There are no syndromes involved -- just 2 midline clefts that happened to happen together.  We couldn't have gotten better news.  I didn't even have time to worry about it, thanks to a miscommunication, we didn't learn we had an appointment until Monday.  But it wouldn't have changed anything -- she would have still been Hadley and I would have still loved her just the same.  But I'm still praising the Lord that everything is good.

I would post pictures, but our computer has been attacked by a virus and I can't get to them.  Hopefully that will be taken care of soon.

1 Year Ago Tonight...

After attending a memorial service for a friend who had been murdered by a crazed co-worker, I came home to find an email from our agency -- saying there would be no more matches from the January list.  So I went to bed feeling depressed -- I just knew we would get a match from that list.  But it was Friday and the list had been released on Monday night, so I knew that the chances were pretty slim.  At about 12:30 the phone rang.  After I figured out what that noise was, I looked at the caller ID and I knew.  There was no other good reason our out of state agency would be calling in the middle of the night.  You see I had told them they could call anytime, day or night, if they locked a file for us.  Sure enough, they had locked a file for us.  A file for a baby girl that would become our daughter.  It was a crazy weekend -- getting a file reviewed by a doctor on a weekend, that's fun.  But we managed to have it reviewed by 2 doctors.  I had searched for a second doctor while I was waiting for Jeff to come home because I wasn't at all sure we would hear from our local IA doctor on a weekend.  I'm so thankful we had them both review the file.  That second doctor was so supportive and a "glass half full" kind of doctor.  Our local doctor was more of a "glass half empty" kind.  She was a bit freaked out by the eye lid cleft and was concerned that it indicated clefting of internal organs and all sorts of scary stuff.  She sent the file to a geneticist but didn't think we would hear back before the 48 hour deadline.  Now, if we hadn't contacted that second doctor, we would have been thinking that this wasn't our daughter.  What a mistake that would have been.  From the timing, we know that her file had been locked and unlocked twice.  Had our agency locked the file first, or even second, we wouldn't have contacted that second doctor (it would have been during the week).  Praise God that they locked it when they did!  We did hear back from the geneticist and he gave us the all clear, but we were prepared to submit paperwork requesting permission to adopt this little girl whether we heard from him or not.  I can't believe it's been a year -- it seems like yesterday and forever ago at the same time.  One year ago (in an hour or so) I saw my daughter's face for the first time.  Now hers is a face I know as well as my own.  And now, that little face smiles!  What a difference a year makes.

The first picture we saw

Hadley today

Our family

Christmas Recap -- a little late

Just before Christmas we had our final follow up with Hadley's surgeon.  Everything looked good -- no fistulas -- he cleared her to eat anything!  He also gave us the go ahead to try using valves in her cups and to try drinking from a straw!  We couldn't be more pleased with her palate repair.  We'll be seeing him again for her lip revision and her eye surgery.  We don't go back until April!! Hadley wasn't too sure why she had to sit with him.

I let her try feeding herself.  She's messy, but pretty smart.  Her macaroni kept getting away, so she dipped her spoon in mashed potatoes to make them stick.

Getting ready for Christmas -- she needed lots of festive shirts, here are just a couple.

Christmas at my parents.  This was her first gift opening adventure.  She wasn't sure what was going on -- it was a bit crazy.



Christmas at home.  Still not sure what it was all about.  She loved her stocking -- but wouldn't reach all the way to the bottom.  She wanted to read the books and watch the videos that were in there. 

This was as close as she came to "tearing into" her gifts.

Shoes!

 Slippers -- notice a trend here?

Christmas at Jeff's parents.  Aunt Debbie got her new cups -- with straws -- and she can do it!  We've been working on this and she can drink from these cups and now from a regular straw!!  Her suck is still not quite strong enough to use the valve in her cup, but she's getting there.  

A new phone

She's still so attached to her stuffed dog that she got while she was in the hospital.  Goldie even had to help her open presents.

Showing Papaw how to use my new laptop

Giving Daddy a shot...

The other good use for a "shot," lip gloss

I just love this shirt!

Even though she wasn't quite sure what it was all about, Hadley had a great Christmas.  She's been playing with her new toys and wearing her clothes since.  I'm sure next year she will be much more into opening presents.  She loved all of the decorations, but was OK when we took them down.