7 Month Update

I missed posting an update on our Mia at 7 months home. So, I will post a little update now. Better late than never. 

 At 7 months home Mia's loves are: 

Dressing like a princess

Playing with her brothers

Pretending to put on make up with Mommy

Playing with the sweet friends in her MDO class. She can now name all the kids in her class.

Her #1 favorite food is pizza. I have never seen a kid love pizza as much as she does and we are a pizza loving family. She wakes up asking for pizza. When I serve her a meal other than pizza she will look at me and say,  "where's the pizza? " 

Foods other than pizza she enjoys are cheerios, strawberries, yogurt, apples, pb&j sandwiches, chicken and dumplins and edamame. 

She does not enjoy eating raisins and broccoli. 

Her favorite disney princess is Cinderella (rella).

Before this month she didn't like tv at all, but now she loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Yo Gabba Gabba on the Ipad. 

Her favorite character is Minnie Mouse. 

She is speaking in sentences more and more. One of her favorite sentences is, "Why did you do that?" when I do something she does not approve of. 

She also says, "I happy. or I sad." to describe how she is feeling. 

She does not like being told no or sharing the Ipad with her brothers. 

She is making lots of progress in PT, OT, and speech. 

We have such a busy schedule this fall. Mia has therapy on Monday/Wednesday morning and afternoons. On Tuesday/Thursday we go to MDO. We usually spend Fridays trying to catch up on things we weren't able to do earlier in the week. Mia is doing really well with all of these activities, but since all of this started she has had some trouble at home. She has just been more irritable and easily upset. I am sure part of it is that she tired from our busy schedule. I am not totally worried, because I know this is normal for a kid her age and it really shows me that she is attached to me and feels safe in our home. I know I miss our time at home together, so I'm sure she does too. This week I decided to cancel most of her therapies and any other activities I could.

It was just me and my girl all day Monday and it was such a good day. I just focused all my attention on her. We did puzzles, read books, had a picnic, and spent time cuddling. It was so good for us. I never thought I would miss our cocooning days, but I really do. This week we are cocooning as much as we can and it has been good for both of us.

A Party and A Referallversary

On Saturday, we celebrated our middle child. Jaxon requested a lego cake and party for his 5th birthday. I am not a very crafty in the kitchen or anywhere for that matter, but I saw a lego cake on pinterest that looked doable. My grandma came over Friday afternoon to help me. Actually, she did most of the work and I was the helper. She used to make cakes for me when I was a kid, so it is pretty special to be able to make cakes with her for my kids.  We had a lot of fun and I think the cake came out pretty good. 

 I think my baby boy looks so grown up in this picture. We had his party at our church's children's building. Jax said it was his best birthday yet. He also said he can't wait for his 6th birthday because it will be even better.

 I thought the cake turned out pretty cute. Jax was excited about how it looked, but he is not a big cake eater, so I don't think he even tasted it. He did enjoy the marshmallow off the top.

 I also made cheese and cracker legos. Just gotta love pinterest.

 Sawyer came to help us set up for the party and he created this Lego Car. He was pretty proud of himself.

 My mom and dad came in for the party, too. It was fun to spend the weekend with them. Mia loves her Nana and Poppy.

 This week was one year from the day that we accepted our referral for little Miss Mia. Wow! It has been quite a year. I'm so glad we said yes to our princess. Just like her name means, her life has certainly been a reflection of God's grace.

 As I think back on the past year, there have been a lot of highs and lows. The joy of meeting her for the first time, the ache of leaving her in Africa for 2 and a half months while we waited for our embassy appointment, the relief of being cleared to get her, the pain of seeing her grieve as we took her from the only home she  knew, and the great joy of seeing her become a daughter and sister. This journey is not always easy, but it is a privilege to be this beautiful girl's momma.