The Girls

I wanted to share a quick glimpse of what everyday life is like right now for me, Nathan, and the girls. I don't know if it's really any different with adoption than with having a natural child, but we definitely went through a transition period, probably close to six weeks, of truly becoming adjusted to life as a family of four. We knew that Marianna was going to go through something when we brought Adrienne home - we just didn't know what that something would be. As it turns out, there wasn't any one thing in particular, but rather a whole series of behaviors that showed us that her little world was rocked by the addition of someone else to split her time with us. But a little time does wonders, and before long, Adrienne settled, Marianna settled, so Nathan and I were able to settle into the wonderful, busy, never dull life we are enjoying to the fullest.

Adrienne is doing better than great. She is the sweetest, most content baby I could ask for, and to top it off, she seems perfectly suited to life as the second child. I guess I'll just chalk it up to a crazy blessing from God, but she just seems to have an internal clock that knows when it's bedtime! Her most pleasant hours of the day are the two before bedtime, after which she slowly drifts off to sleep on her own. I am not lying when I say I have never once had to work to get her to go to sleep at night. I know, it just seems wrong, but I'm running with it without asking any questions! She is content being held, content on the floor, content in the swing, and pretty much anywhere else except for her car seat, and she is definitely not content there. She is smiling, and we are hoping for a giggle in the next week or two. At her last doctor's appointment the report was all good. She is small, weighing in at the 4th percentile, but the doctor said that didn't really matter since she was healthy and growing. Right now she is 3 months, happy, healthy, and doing as well as I could have dreamed.

Marianna is a great big sister, and her love to do things with and to Adrienne has not diminished a bit, so I keep busy trying to come up with things they can do "together." Marianna likes to go outside in the late afternoon so that Adrienne can watch her riding her bike, strolling her baby, working in her garden, or blowing bubbles. She likes Adrienne to go to gymnastics and watch her class. She loves to lie on Adrienne's play mat in the morning and watch Super Readers together. She picks out Adrienne's clothes, helps with diaper changes, and assists me at bath time. It has taken a little creativity, but we have found that Marianna can do more than you think with her 3 month sister.

Life is busy, but it is wonderfully busy. I wouldn't trade any of it for a moment, and you're prayers for us as we have travelled this road have meant everything to us. God has been so, so good!