TidBits

We bundled the kids up a few weeks ago and headed to Light Up the Summit!  It was a fun short parade complete with Batman, Santa on a Firetruck, and Fireworks!  The kids all enjoyed it and Mommy and Daddy survived.

That same weekend, Kate also got her ears pierced.  I honestly did not think she would go through with it, especially after Daddy went into graphic detail about it, but she is a persistant one...just like her mommy, who is just like her Dad!  Once we get our mind on something...there is no truning back! 

Onto Sisterly love! 

Kate adores Avery.

Avery adores kate. 

Challenges

Challenges of 5 kids!

1.  It is very difficult to go ANYWHERE!  especially on time!
2.  I cannot quite remember to snap pictures as often
3.  My laundry has tripled with 1 additional child?!
4.  Daily trips to Walmart for something I don't have or that I forgot yesterday.
5.  Lots of sibling rivarly
6.  An ridiculously high grocery bill  (see #1 for why!)
7.  getting 1 full uniterrupted nights sleep, MAYBE once a week. 
8.  We are very cozy in our mini van
9.  The noise level in the house has seemed to double
10.  I can NEVER finish what I start, finish a complete sentence or a complete thought for that matter.
11. I cannot seem to keep my eyes open past 9:00!

A List

The 3 month mark with Avery home has brought about a huge change in Avery.  Keeping in mind that she spent the first year of her life in an orphanage, these are some major milestones, blessings and God's amazing grace we have seen in the 3 short (but long) months she has been part of our family!

1.  She can walk behind her push toy!
2.  She WANTS me to rock her and sing to her before I lay her in her crib.
3.  She loves her Daddy and can now say Dada!
4.  She will let our dog come close to her.
5.  She doesn't want to get in her crib anymore!  She use to love to be put down because she felt safe and secure in her crib, but now she shakes her head when I tell her it is time for a nap!
6.  She nods back at me when I say "I love you"
7.  She climbs on EVERYTHING!
8.  She can say Mama...to ME!
9.  She doesn't scream and cry when I pour water on her head in the bath.
10. She doesn't have a constant snotty nose...thanks to allergy meds
11.  She tries to sing along with me
12.  She lets me walk out of the room without her crying hysterically
13. I can get really good pig tails now!
14.  She will wear bows and shoes!
15.  She LOVES her siblings and looks for them when they are at school and squeals with delight when they get home!
16.  She cries out for me when she wakes up...she used to just lay in bed until I would finally check in on her and see she was awake!

Strides

We have made huge strides with Avery!  We finally figured out she needs to be on a daily dose of allergy medicine..hence the runny snotty nose we have dealt with since her stepping on U.S. soil. 
She is also allowing me to leave her with others a lot easier. She stayed with my mom for a few hours while I ran some errands and we had a babysitter on Saturday night and she did great!  It has been a big relief to know that she is ok when I am gone and happy to see me come home!
One more HUGE stride is she is walking when pushing a walker.  It is amazing to think she came to us just starting to crawl and now we are seeing her take steps while pushing a walker.  She is still walking in an unconventional way, which we will address at some point, but to see her up and walking is amazing!
Up date on all my other sweet kids...

Gray is on a batman kick.  He refuses to wear anything other than shorts and hates to wear underwear.  He prefers to wear his batman shirt or any other shirt that is way too big for him!  He also is really into layering his clothes...a few shorts on top of one another or 3 shirts is pretty common around here.  I pick my battles and believe me, this one is not worth fighting.  He has a unique fashion sense!
Kate is begging to get her ears pierced!  I have no idea why!?  We are planning to go next weekend.  I tried to scare her and told her it was going to hurt, but she said she didn't care.  She drew a picture of her with earrings on and they were BIG red hoops with dangles on them!  She might be very disappointed when she gets her gold studs.
Owen is all over the place....hence the nickname "hurricane".  I feel exhausted just thinking about writing about him.  He is my extremely logical and gifted child which makes it quite a challenge to discipline and parent.  I am doing my best and am so thankful he is also my child who needs lots of touch and hugs.
Wills is as naive as ever and such a sweet kind little boy.  He is growing up on me, way too fast. 
I pray daily that he will rise up as a leader in school and with his friends.  We started basketball last week and he has gotten a lot more coordinated this year, so I hope we can find something he enjoys doing...and yes, deep down inside I hope it is basketball!  ha!
As I write about my kids, even though at the end of the day I am tired, exhausted and want to crawl in bed....I am reminded of how blessed I am.  5 healthy children that God has entrusted Matt and I with.
I know I am doing exactly what God has called me to do at this time in my life!

Where have I been?

I have never gone this long without a post!  Where have I been?  Right here!  I just could not find the time to sit and blog and when I did have the time, I was way too tired to pull out my computer and "think" or pour my thoughts out.  I hope I am back.  I hate to think all the wonderful, funny, frustrating things that have happened over the past month, that I will probably never remember again because it is not in print. 
Oh well....I am not going to focus on what I haven't done....for now we move forward!  Coming up on my favorite time of year and lots of new memories to make as a family of 7.
Enjoy some pictures from October!

She Did it!!!

So, look who took a few steps FORWARD with a walker today!!!!
She did it.  She moved her feet , as if walking forward, a few steps. 
It made all the therapy worth it!  It was amazing to see and to know that she will walk one day--SOON!!!
Her muscles do not have the strength to go very far or very long, but that fact that she took some steps is HUGE!
Avery's PT let us take home the walker to practice at home.  It has been a big hit with all the kids!  It is like a new toy and Avery is very protective of it.
Look at these pictures...and big sister to help along the way!

I am so proud of her.

Happy Day

Kate had her very best friend spend the night.  The first for both of them and guess what?  They did it!  She stayed the entire night and they actually fell asleep at a decent hour!

There were lots of giggles.

 This past Saturday, we also got to celebrate Lifeline's (the adoption agency we used) 30 year anniversary.  There were 22 Chinese delegates that attended and lots of families, those who have adopted, those who are going through the process, and even those that have not all celebrating the lives that have been changed over 30 years.  It was very cool to see so many other families that look like ours.  There was a ton of stuff for the kids to do and we all had a great time hanging out as a family--even amongst the craziness of our kids all over the place.

AND  I got pigtails in her hair for the event!!!  YAY!

 so glad she is ours!

 This is actually the V.P. of adoption affairs in Chonquing (the providence where Avery is from).  She spoke Chinese to Avery and I could see the look of confusion on Avery's face....I am sure it brought back some memories for her upon hearing it.  As you can see, Avery was not too thrilled to be next to her.

 Can you believe I am in a picture? 

Here we are eating lunch!

 Kate and Owen

 These 2 (wills and Kate) are by the far the sweetest with Avery.  They love her to death and give her lots of attention.



An Off-beat post

So, I am about down to a once a week posting lately, and although so much happens in a week that I could blog about, it cuts from other things that I need to be doing.  I kind of wish there were more hours in a day, but then again at the end of the day, I am so exhausted and drained that I wonder if a few extra hours would be a good thing?!
We have had a little bug make it's way through our house this past week.  I have had the company of 3 extra school aged children at one time or the other throughout this week. 
We also are slowly getting the hang of this party of 5 thing.  Things are looking  up.  I find that Avery does so much better when she has one on one time with me, and then when everyone is home she tends to scream more and be very needy.  I am trying to be patient, as she is learning that she has siblings that I need to take care of too...like it or not!  I have noticed that she is trying to say things now, which is so cute.  We are starting speech therapy soon, so I am hopeful to see some strides in language.
Kate is doing cheerleading and that poor child got the rythmn of her mommy.  She cheered at the school pep rally and when I got there, she was on the front row.  I kept asking Matt, "why is kate on the front row?"
True to her roots, she was totally delayed in her claps and off beat, but she smiled and loved every minute of it....atta girl!
We got our Halloween costumes recently and now Gray thinks he is Batman.  If you remember this summer, he wore his polyester Superman costume for 20 days straight.  Well, now we are on to a better super hero ....batman.  So if you are out and about and you see a little boy in full Batman costume...it might be me   (not in costume, but with the child).
My big boys are playing tennis and complaining the entire way to practice every time.  Once we get there, they love it.  I am trying to enjoy the crowded car ride to the Y with 2 kids moaning about how they will never pick tennis for their sport again and the other 3 screaming about something.
I hope this blog post encourages you in that Your kids are either normal or better than mine!

Goings On

Look who got a haircut!  She wanted it short, like her cousin Caroline.

I think it turned out so cute AND it is so easy to fix.  Less tangles and quicker to fix in the morning.

I have a hair appointment Friday, so maybe I will follow suit.

On another note.  We are having a much better week--even with Matt out of town a few days!  Avery is making huge strides in so many areas.  I feel like she is getting so much more secure with our family.  I can actually cook dinner or do the dishes and she will play on the floor close by, but at least she is ON THE FLOOR and not in my arms.  She is also getting stronger daily with her PT.  I am seeing her do new things  everyday.  It is so exciting to watch.  Today we got her to climb the stairs and climb up onto her ride-on toy.

She was so proud, as is her Mommy!

Gray continues to be my clothes horse. I am not kidding when I say the kid changes clothes 10 times a day.  I really do not care what he wears, so I don't feel that it is a control issue, but I am getting tired of walking into his room and it looking like a teenage girls room with clothes strung everywhere.

Wills and Owen continue to get more independent and need me a little less everyday.  They are on this kick of "exploring" the neighborhood.  I am allowing them to venture out a little further on their own.

They have enjoyed some neighbors play sets (so I have heard). In fact, today Wills came home and told me that he told this man that "we were interested in buying his play set from him".????

Life is good!  A day at a time.  God is good.  All the time!

Just a Swingin'

Here are a few snapshots from our new backyard tire swing.  It goes really high and is a lot of fun!  The kids have been pretty much playing on it all weekend. 

 Here I am.  Finally got a turn.  Matt got me going so high and with all the kids pushing me all over the place, I actually hit that tree to the right a few times.  Ouch!

 This is my favorite picture.  Owen said,

"Daddy, you look like a scary old man"

car drama = new backyard toy

I am finding that having 5 kids doesn't leave me too much time to do some of the things that I enjoy...like  blogging!  I cannot believe it has been a week , and honestly I have not had one spare second to sit down and just pour out words.  I miss you!
I have found that this season of my life...nothing is going to be easy.  I am thankful it is just a season and optimistic that the Lord is working on me daily and teaching me a lot....most importantly to trust and lean on Him.  Daily I wake up and just say the words, "God, thank you for another day".  That is how I am getting through it...taking it one day at a time and really, the weeks are flying by.  Can it really be October?

Our latest adventure began this morning when I was happily on my way to Atlanta with the 3 younger kiddos.  The boys were hanging with Daddy and had some cool "big boy" things to do and I was taking Avery to meet her cousins (most for the first time) and for Kate and Gray to get some cousin time.
I packed the night before.  Loaded the car.  We were on the road at 7:58 a.m.  Our first road trip with Avery!  As I sped down hwy 459, my friend calls me and says "mallory, are you driving down 459?"
me..."Yes"
friend..."You need to pull over NOW your back right tire is about to blow it is so flat.
So, off I pull and lo and behold my tire is flat flat flat!
Ugh...really God?  Really?  Come on!  Remember I adopted a baby?  Can you cut me some slack?
A nice young kid pulls behind me and offers to look at it.   Meanwhile, my darling kids are not being all that darling , and he tells me that my tire is pretty much shot because apparently I ruined it by driving on a flat tire.
You think I would have noticed that?  Nope!  Not me.  I guess I am way too busy throwing juice boxes and snacks back to the kids, and changing out the kid's music and putting on a new DVDs to notice that I am driving on 3 wheels.....Atlanta, here we come, with a full fledged flat tire.
I call my family in tears that we will not be coming.  Call Matt who is not too happy because just 3 weeks ago I had to get a new front tire. I sit and wait.  I cry.  Kate cries because we are not going to Atlanta.  Gray cries because his shirt is wet from spilling his drink.  Avery cries because she is in our family (ha). 
Matt saves the day.  We get to a Chevron.  Hang out for an hour or so while he puts on the spare. 
I take his car home and he drives mine to get a new tire.

I don't want to be Debbie Downer on this post, so I will end it on a high note.  We will never ever forget this adventure because look what we have in our backyard now!

A new tire swing.  More pictures tomorrow!