A New Girl

First, I must share some news with you all which in one breath makes me so happy and in the other, makes me so scared.......Hadley got her driver's license yesterday!  Yep, hard to believe but she is very excited!!  Every time Cole talks about some new accessory for his truck, I always kid him that Hadley will love it next year when he's gone to college.  Cole picks her up from school most days and he told me today that he's going to start having her drive home so he can take a nap.   No joking, all parents can do is pray, pray, pray.

Annie has had an amazing week! I could tell something was going on with her a couple of weeks ago but I just couldn't put a finger on what it was.  I thought it was probably adoption related and that she must be grieving.  But as the days went on, I knew something wasn't right.  Sure enough, I took her to the doctor last Tuesday and she had an infection.  After 24 hours of antibiotics, the transformation was amazing!!  She has been a different girl!  She is so happy and joyful.  She is sleeping through the night :)  She is not only tolerating Mei Mei, but actually liking her.  The other day when we were driving Mei Mei to school, Mei asked her, "Who do you want to unbuckle you, me or Mommy?".  I wish I would have had a camera when Annie responded "Mei Mei".......Mei's face lit up with the hugest, happiest smile.  Annie laughs at her and will even give Mei a kiss now.  Things have really been going great between those two and I am so happy and thankful.   Annie is talking a ton.  Our favorite thing now is that she will say "I love you" back and she will make the kiss sound when she kisses you-it's so precious!  One night when I was taking her to bed, she said she wanted to "kiss the kids" goodnight.  Either she is super sweet or she's already figured out how to  postpone bedtime--maybe both.

Here's some things about Annie: she loves to be read to, rocked, snuggled, she likes to put bandaids on imaginary boo boos, hates carseats, likes music ("sing" as she calls it), likes to look for "big trucks" when we drive, likes to tell me "all done" when the kids get out of the car in the morning and we still have a 15 minute drive home, will not touch any  food except yogurt and granola or cheerios, chocolate milk, fries, and chips,  she loves baths, lotion, and brushing teeth, and she loves Lilly and "meow meows".

I remember this time last year being so hard....the waiting and waiting and not knowing if she would ever be our daughter or not.  I am just in awe that she is here with us!!  A day doesn't go by that I don't thank God for allowing us to be her family.

Press On!

Deb