It's still totally surreal to me to even write those words "One week HOME!" My brother, Uncle Douglas was here for a quick visit last night and asked me if it had really sunk in that "she is home, the wait is over" and the truth is, it's still very much like a dream. Part of that might be the slight sleep deprivation we are living in :-)
People have asked how Lovely is doing? How the boys were dealing with the arrival of their sister? How we are? So quickly: Lovely is adjusting amazingly well! I totally believe the cocooning we choose to do with her is paying off already as she is quickly very bonded to her Papa, Mama, Elijah and Baby M! Wow, what an answer to prayer that is to see her run to her big brother and say "Elijah!" as she throws herself into his arms to dance, or have him swing her! Love it!!! She is rattling off in Creole to all of us while at the same time picking up English so fast it makes your head spin! LOVES music, loves to dance, loves books~she and Baby M both, puzzles....oh how cute to see Baby M quietly just point to where the piece goes and tell her "turn it, turn it" till she gets it in the spot just right! Loves to eat~Thanks Grandma for having a huge batch of Haitian bean sauce and Brown rice ready in the fridge for her it is a standby she has at least twice a day with her Oatmeal and rasins or Maypo for breakfast every single day! HATES water, so bathing has been "challenging", Loves to brush her teeth,Loves to sing (OH how Mama LOVES this and we have spent many hours already at the piano bench!) Loves to dress up and SHOES are her favorite possesion with the all the way to your knees black boots from Gracie some of her most favorite :-).....puts up with me messing with her hair, LOVES to decorate her hair, loves to draw-color-create,wrestles with Papa and the boys like a wild woman, can NOT stand one piece of veggie in anything I try and serve her with ONION being a very dirty word,only will eat bannan's for fruit but would eat 3-4 of them every day (and did try a slice of apple tonight, loves cheese like her Mama,kisses and hugs all of us over and over every day while saying "I LOVE you, I LOVE you!" MELTS OUR HEARTS!
She and Baby M are getting along just about exactly how you would expect two 2 year olds to get along :-) They adore each other, they can't stand each other all within a period of just a few minutes! We have decided they are both trying to determine who is going to be the dominant one in their relationship and I actually think they will trade off in that role......and for just being together for one short week I am so impressed with how God is bonding them together already!
We are working to quickly get Lovely's health stable and take care of the medical issues she had in Haiti and love our Pediatrician so much who just dove in with us and is just doing great with us and Lovely. NO tears the first dr's visit....now, the bloodwork~that's a different story!
Our days start EARLY with the "twins" waking between 4-5 AM every single day and they go strong with a quick nap break where they may or may not sleep until between 7:30-8:00 PM! Oh my, so thankful I found my Mega-Energy vitamins I had misplaced! :-)
I have joked that our schedule right now is: "feed the babies, then play~M's turn, Lovely's turn, share kids share, change a poopy diaper, share please, feed again, change another poopy diaper or two, M's turn,Lovely's turn....."please do not throw that at your sister/brother",feed again, diaper again.....sleep??? Repeat!"
Again so very thankful for the gift of Family Leave that has allowed Papa to be home until now and for 3 more weeks, and Elijah to be home until now (he will go back to school next week he thinks but being here this last week has just been so good for us all)
So, we are happy we are tired we are blessed beyond words!
Please keep on praying for this time in our families life! We know it is those prayers that are sustaining all of us!!! One specific thing you can pray about it Elijah's dog returned home yesterday from staying with Uncle Douglas and Lovely is not just scared of the dog she is Heart stopping TERRIFIED!!!! It is the only time we have seen/heard her with this amount of intense fear and is horrifying to say the least and so upsetting to Elijah. For now we are keeping the dog on the opposite floor than we are on with Lovely and praying that she will ease into the idea that dogs are ok...............but, Elijah is very worried she will not and he is very upset about her and his dog he loves.
Ok, been up for way too long already and both babies are asleep so I must sleep too!
Love you all, aprreciate you so much~
Shell and family
WOW! You do have long, busy days! I can't imagine being up at 4 am and having to go hard. I have tried to prepare myself for that possibility, but am praying it won't be so as my 3 year old likes to sleep until 8/9 am. Love that! Could all be coming to an end though :)
ReplyDeleteYay! Thanks for the update. I'm excited to meet her. She sounds so precious!
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