3 Months Home!!!

This might be a marathon post, so hang in there with me.  I didn't want this milestone to pass by without doing a blog about it.  As you've noticed, my postings have been more sporadic since Kylie has been home.  By the time she is in bed and I have a few hours to myself (more like 90 minutes), the only thing I want to do is read.  As an aside, a few years ago, I read like a book a week.  It was ridiculously crazy.  After that year, I stopped reading.  Books...magazines...newspapers.  For the first time, I was burned out.  But I'm slowly starting to get back into it and as such, at night, I spend a few minutes with the iPad, but the rest of hour before bed, I read.  So anyway, blogging has taken a back seat.  And I'm not going to apologize for that.  I have a blog remodel in the works and once that is done, I'll try to be better about blogging!

So, back to the point of this post...Friday marked Kylie's 3 month homecoming.  Many adoptive families tell me that the 3 and 6 month marks are the biggest turning points in the adoption.  As we neared the 3 month mark, I really started to wonder if that would hold true for us.  Yes, we have definitely seen some progress in some areas, but it just didn't seem like Kylie was fully HAPPY.

The last 2 weeks have really been encouraging though.  2 Sundays ago, we attempted to leave Kylie in the nursery during worship care.  Well...a few minutes in and they had to come get me.  Last week was our church's VBS week and it was all hands on deck!  Steve had already committed to volunteer and Jenna was already signed up.  For volunteers with littles, there was childcare.  Honestly, I wasn't sure how VBS was going to go with Steve dropping Kylie off.  I emailed my social worker for direction and she told me not to give up on VBS quite yet.  We went out and bought a new forward facing carrier so Steve could wear Kylie and still do his volunteer duties if needed.  Our SW suggested we try and drop her off every day with instructions that if she went 15 minutes upset, to come get him.

I think Steve and I were both nervous wrecks on Monday...I waited at work for the text...and when it finally came, it was that she did GREAT!  She didn't cry at drop off and they reported back she was playing and doing fine. 

BIG.  SIGH.  OF.  RELIEF.

Then Monday night, she was literally up almost all night long.  And I figured it had everything to do with her feelings of abandonment etc.  Because she wasn't just pat-you-back-to-sleep-for-30-seconds awake.  She was HOLD-ME-I'M-AWAKE awake.  ALL.  NIGHT.  LONG (off and on). I was up most of that night with her because Steve just wasn't in the frame of mind to be awake and had also had a long day (first day of VBS=CRAZY).  We prepared ourselves for Tuesday VBS drop off not to be great.  But Tuesday came and went...no problem.  Part of the great thing about VBS was what we affectionately refer to as the Bye Bye Buggy.  We used to have them at the main campus, but they are bulky and we have no room to store them here.  But we got them for VBS.  Here's  photo my friend Elizabeth took...that's her baby girl, Wylie next to Kylie (yes, Wylie and Kylie right?!  SO cute!)

See Elizabeth hiding there to the left of the picture?  That's so Wylie didn't see her and freak out.  LOL!

Kylie was worn the heck out every day after VBS and started actually falling asleep AT VBS towards the end of the day on Thursday and Friday.  I take that as a good sign that she felt like it was a safe place.  So yesterday, we tried to drop her off in the nursery (the room NEXT to the one I work in, which she really is better in anyway).  Steve dropped her off during first hour (while I worked next door).  She fell asleep about 20 minutes in, but then woke up before the end and was playing happily.  I knew she wouldn't nap again in church so I decided to leave her and she did wonderfully!  I got the happy privilege of picking her up and I was so happy to see her and she was so happy to see me!  All of this is huge!

Saturday night, we spent some time playing with the Elizabeth's girls and we noticed that Kylie really enjoyed their little kitchen.  Later when we got home, I checked out our town's online buy/sell/trade FB page and there I found this awesome Step2 kitchen...the girl wanted $35 for it and it had 3 bags of food and utensils/pots/pans with it.  It had been posted back on June 11, so I was sure it was gone.  Imagine my surprise when I got an immediate response that it was still available.  I picked it up Sunday after church and it's been the best purchase yet!

Both of the girls played with it AND it retails on Amazon for $149!  SCORE!

Kylie has also been sleeping a little better.  She's still waking up in the night, but every other night or so, we'll hear her cry out, but she soothes herself back to sleep without us having to go in there.  Turns out, last Monday night, she was congested...had gotten somewhat choked and I think woke herself up terrified.  We, at the doctor's suggestion, gave her Benedryl (like 1/5 of a tsp!) and she cleared up in 2-3 nights not to mention slept like a LOG!  But even not on Benedryl (which she hasn't had since mid last week), she seems to be sleeping better.  Sunday morning, she woke up without crying for us...and this morning, Steve woke up with a start at 8:00 after not having heard her at all.  Turns out, Jenna heard her babbling and moving around and went to get her and took her downstairs to feed her!  I mean, I am BLESSED with some fabulous girls!

Steve even mentioned to me last night that she just seems HAPPIER.  And I agree...she does.  I believe much of that is due to the fact that she is beginning to trust us and maybe even love us.  I know my love for her is growing.  I also think Kylie is a social girl.  She is not yet at the age where she will play WITH other kids, but she does like to be around them.  If nothing else, this past week and weekend have given me a sense of peace about Kylie ever going to daycare.

And just to leave you with a few fun pics from the weekend...it's been SO hot that we finally forced our outside hound, Fred, inside.  He is a hound and hates being inside, but temps have been over 100 for a while now, so we put him in his crate for a while to cool off.  After a while, we let him out to roam the house and within minute, this is what we found...

All weekend long, it's been in and out, in and out.  What is it about dog crates that kids love?

Also, I have attempted to put Kylie's hair up in ponytails/pigtails/etc.  Steve snapped this shot and captioned it with a comment about having a bad hair day...I still think it's hilarious!

And no, that's the way her hair STUCK after the rubber bands came out!  Something else we've noticed is Kylie is now smiling on command, which makes this photo-mama's heart HAPPY!

Happy Monday all!!!  Stay cool!