Chaos AND Cuteness!

Okay so amidst all the hardness and gnashing of teeth we have some really fun moments too and I want to make sure I share all of those moments as well, lest this be a Debby Downer blog about the post adoption process. Tomorrow marks the 3 months home milestone. Yay! I hear things start to improve from here and 6 months is really super…if you live that long. (Wait that smacked of Debby Downer didn’t it…) Things here in the Williamson household are actually going fairly well. We see light at the end of the isolation tunnel and can handle visitors pretty well now. The going out to other place thing is still kinda dicey though and we really missing our church family. 

Yaya still has a lot of anxiety she is dealing with, we see it during the day with off the chart clinginess (is that a word) and in the nights with night terrors and multiple waking throughout the night in addition to the terrors. She and Eden are playing more together and Yaya loves to mimic and follow Eden around. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it is not; it depends on Eden’s mood at that specific moment in time. Yaya, PRAISE THE LORD, is eating baby food like a real trooper. We aren’t up to 2 jars per meal but we are fast approaching it: 1 to 1.5 each meal! She has an affinity for pears, mango and sweet potatoes. She also likes sweet corn casserole and carrots. She isn’t a fan of the greens…now really…what child is? But she will eat the mixed vegs. All of this of course is thickened with rice cereal. We are also officially down to 3 bottles a day! YES!!! And that was our goal. So we are doing GREAT on the eating front. It is a blessing and miracle wrapped up together! We never thought we’d get her off the bottle to solid food. Occasionally I think to myself, “She’ll never get off this baby food and eat real food.” But then I slap myself for doubting God and remember that we were able to get her onto baby food and take away one bottle in only 2 months time. So before she is 14, I’m sure we will have her eating normal food. Yaya likes water play,dancing, music, puzzles, zhu-zhu pets (who knew), books, and sadly….Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Darn the TV and hallelujah at the same time. If she hears the theme song or Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse…she will run to the living room.

Eden is doing sooooooooooooooooo much better. Mommy and Eden have really reconnected, now we are working on her and Daddy and it is coming, albeit slowly. Since Daddy is the primary caretaker of Yaya and Yaya’s personal favorite, I think Eden resents him more. FINALLY, I get to be somebody’s hero! Eden’s anger level has decreased dramatically with just introducing “one-on-one dates” with Mommy. She has had only two dates with Daddy. Daddy will need another one soon. Her mother’s morning out program starts next Wednesday and she isn’t fired up about it. If you say school she verbally protests. So I am trying to talk it up big and make it a special thing. Her “meet the teacher” is Monday and I hope that helps us. We have been advised to send her in hopes that the familiarity of the school and routine will also help settle her down. We see a play therapist next Friday to see if there is anything else we need to be doing for her. But really, she is doing so much better. She likes shoes (anyone’s shoes) and she likes water play, swimming, dancing and music. We just stared a Parent and child gymnastics class last night and she LOVED it. Can’t wait to go back and hopefully send Daddy with her next time.

Noah is great! He is losing a bit of sleep with Yaya waking up and screaming so much, he doesn’t actually wake up but he stirs so I know it’s affecting his sleep. But he would rather sacrifice sleep than to leave us right now. We tried splitting up one night where I went to sleep in his room with him and he just didn’t sleep well, he wanted us both near. He started school this past week and currently his description of school is: Awesome! (Mommy sighs big) Whew! So thrilled that he is happy at school. Right now he is on a Grandparent getaway weekend and it will be great for him. His gymnastics are coming along super. I can’t believe the things he can do now. He is freakishly strong. We are praying for a successful competition year. All in all Noah is doing fabulous.

Eric and I are still married. Whoo-hoo! And we still love and like each other! Double whoo hoo! Not that there were problems but WOW this process can strain a marriage, so I am thankful that God continues to hold us together as a team. And let me just say…I have the best teammate on the planet!

Enough Chaos…bring on the CUTENESS…

Eden was having a baking soda soak for a red sore booty and Yaya couldn’t stand it that Eden was getting to play in the water. We drained the sinks 3 times in order for them to let the faucet run to play in.

I snagged this idea for flour-doh from my friend Julie’s blog who got it from some other person’s blog. It is so much fun! It is 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil. Then you knead it with your hands until it sticks together when you squeeze it in your hands. It can take 3-5 minutes to thoroughly get the oil worked into the flour. It stays soft like flour feels and it smells wonderful like baby oil. It is, however, very messy. I should have got a bigger bin to house it in; but the girls dump it all out on the ground anyway. This stuff is like Moonsand but better and not gritty. I didn’t think Yaya would go for it but she played in it a little. It isn’t her favorite, but it certainly is Eden’s favorite. Yaya enjoyed peeking in and out of the front door more than the “doh”. I can’t wait to make it with Noah, he is gonna love this stuff!

Bring on the Bubble Bath! Okay so Eden used to be really afraid of bubbles so I didn’t know how this would go over with her. But Yaya loves to play with my hands right after I shampoo up her hair, she loves the soapy suds. So I took a risk and bought some bubble bath. Oh. My. Word. We had to drain the water half out of the tub so we could do the bubbles a second time!!

Here’s Hollywood! It needs to be said that the heart shaped glasses are Eden’s favorite so Yaya is not going to somehow inherit them from Eden. But Eden didn’t want them this day. It’s a good thing since Yaya wore them for about 20 minutes!! She loved them! Especially when I turned them upside down like Eden wears them because they stay on her nose better!

Seriously…what is cuter than Eden in a pink and white polka dotted leotard with her pigtails in?! Love it and so does she! In the second picture she is giving Daddy, “The Eye”. He asked her to do it.

And that is all the Chaos and Cuteness for now. Blessings to all that still follow this crazy family!