As usual, I haven’t updated the blog in quite some time – somehow I never seem to have the time J A certain little black haired beauty seems to keep me quite busy. How is she these days? Awesome. She’s growing like a weed and continues to amaze us. She is a hoot and keeps us on our toes (more on that in a minute).
Summer was great – our first summer break together. We swam and played and had a great time. Then school started again. We are so fortunate this year to have Hadley in a small (think 5 kids total, 2 in school) in-home daycare. She absolutely loves it. We’ve had no tears and she talks about Mrs. Tina and her friends all the time. We are so grateful that Tina is able to keep her this year. It certainly makes it easier to leave her. I have no doubt that she is well taken care of and happy – which was not the case last year. We finally took her to the horse park this fall and she rode her first pony. She loved it and wanted to take the pony home with her. She looked so grown up riding a horse. Jeff walked beside her, but she held on and sat still. She talked with the big horses and was always ready to introduce herself – “Hi horsie, I name is Hadley.” One horse talked back to her and she wasn’t really sure what to think about that. She tried to get him to do it again (from the safety of her Daddy’s arms), but he wasn’t very cooperative.
She had her eye surgery in October and has done great. Her awesome surgeon was able to close the cleft in her lower eye lid without having to do any type of grafting. He also did some work on her tear ducts and opened them up. We still have a little more work to do on that, but nothing major. We think her eye looks great and as it continues to heal it should be even less noticeable. So – palate repair, check; eye lid repair, check; only the lip revision remains for now. Of course we know that she will have to have her gum line fistula repaired later but we have a few years on that one. So far, her palate appears to be long enough. She is able to make all of the “back” sounds and we don’t hear much nasality that would indicate that her palate is too short. We couldn’t have asked for her surgeries to go any better.
We moved in November -- nothing like moving less than 2 weeks after your child has surgery -- and I was worried that she would be upset by the transition, but she handled it very well. She woke up scared a few times the first couple of nights, but loves the “new house.” She is especially fond of her room as she has tons of room to play and stars on her ceiling. She thought it was pretty cool that Grandma and Mommy painted her room, just for her – thanks Mom! She would check on the progress and say “Grandma (or sometimes Mamaw depending on her mood) painting Hadley’s room pink (or green, depending on the day).”
This time last year, Hadley really didn’t say much. She didn’t really start talking until after Christmas – and she hasn’t stopped. Her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds. Her speech is pretty good – really good when you consider that she heard only Chinese for 15 ½ months and had a cleft palate that wasn’t repaired until last November. She talks constantly now – “quiet” is definitely not a word I will likely ever use to describe her! She has something to say about everything and it really doesn’t matter if you answer her, she will just keep talking. She’s happy talking to the dogs but still isn’t quite sure why they don’t answer or always do what she tells them to. I’ve overheard her several times trying to get Heidi (our chocolate lab) to say “please” and “thank you.” So far that’s not working too well.
She has asked for earrings (like Mommy) for months. I promised her that she could get her ears pierced after her eye surgery. So, we took her to the mall to get her ears pierced. She was so excited about it. Jeff tried to talk her out of it because he didn’t want to see her hurt, but she would not change her mind. So the ears were pierced and she cried – until they pulled out the mirror and let her see. There were no more tears and she was thrilled. “Hadley got earrings! Hadley got ears pierced!” over and over and over. She has looked at them almost every day and shown them to everyone she knows! I’m pretty sure we have a little diva in the making.
It seems like she has grown a foot. She’s getting size 3T clothes for Christmas (and it’s a good thing as the 2T pants are getting short). Her waist is still tiny and I have to pull the waist in as far as they will go on most things to keep her pants up. She’s nearly potty trained and loves to wear her Minnie Mouse panties. She gets pretty irritated if she has to wear pull-ups for some reason. She is ok with pull-ups for night time and if we are going somewhere, but don’t suggest she wear them at home!
She is beyond excited about Christmas and loves the Christmas trees and decorations. We managed to get 3 trees up this year – a minor miracle with the move. She loves them all and tries to steal the ornaments. She is a huge fan of the tree in our room that has all of the ornaments we’ve picked up on our travels. We got her a set of Disney ornaments to add to the collection and she couldn’t have been happier. She had definite ideas as to where each one should go – “right there!” – all at her level, of course. So far, we’ve only broken one. She is really intrigued by the stockings hanging over the fireplace. She tried to claim them all, so we’ve labeled them and she will gladly tell anyone who will listen about the stockings and the “surprises” that they will soon contain. She would really like for the surprises to show up soon! Wrapping presents has been interesting – she has to know all about them and she was really disappointed that I wasn’t letting her “help” wrap any of hers. After 4 presents for Mamaw and Daddy, she said, “Mommy, find a surprise for Hadley, please.” There are plenty for her, of course, but I don’t think I want her to help wrap them. She has stolen a few from under the tree – always exclaiming “I found a surprise!” only to be told that it’s not hers, please put it back. She talks about Christmas and “Santa, Santa, Ho, Ho, Ho” a lot. We’ve also been reading books about the true meaning of Christmas. I know it’s a process and it will take a while before she really understands -- right now her version goes like this – “That a mommy and a daddy and a baby Jesus. Him sleepin in a barn with a horsie and a donkey and a sheep and a goose.” At least we’re headed in the right direction! I’m pretty sure she will really enjoy Christmas this year – especially opening all of her “surprises.”
Some cute Hadley comments from the past couple of weeks:
“Mommy, don’t touch anything – it nasty. And stinky! Dn’t touch it Mommy!” – in the bathroom at Kohl’s.
“Mommy, come back here with Hadley’s candy cane!”
She has a fondness for chocolate – M&M’s (a.k.a. him and hims in Hadley land) and Hershey’s kisses are near the top of the list. “Mommy, me need kisses – 2 kisses please”
“Mommy, I talkin to Bai (Bailey, our other dog). I pettin her…. Get back here Bai….Mommy, her not wistenin.”
My parents sent her a Christmas card. She was really excited about getting mail – she opened the envelope to find a card with picture of a kitten in a stocking. Her response, “there a kitty in a stocking, that so silly!” Then, “kitty, get out that stocking, that so silly!” Apparently kittens do not count as surprises for stockings – and I’m pretty sure that’s not the reaction my Mom had in mind when she picked that card out. J
I found her digging in the pantry cabinet and asked what she was doing – “I getting Heidi bones. Heidi want some bones.” She then proceeded to steal one of the bones and run through the house with Heidi chasing her – cackling the whole time.
We hope that you have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the true meaning of the holiday. We are so thankful that our baby girl is home safe and happy. We are enjoying seeing the world through her eyes and enjoying the magic of Christmas!
