The Blessings of our Children

The blessings of our children seem endless. Even the tough days can teach us so much about our selves and perserverance and complete reliance on God. Through this season of adjusting to a new blessing of little Maya our family is growing together and learning to be completely united. Maya is adjusting wonderfully - of course we still have the 2 year old tantrums, but she seems to daily get more and more comfortable. Sydney and Mackenzie are enjoying being a part of teaching Maya how to play Ring around the Rosy, The wheels on the Bus and more. Maya loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Some of her favorite things to play with are a stuffed dog named Giger and a tea set. She is so silly and full of funny faces. And to listen to her giggle is priceless. Rich and I seem to be giggling at her giggling. The girls love to make her laugh as well as they chase her around the house.

We are enjoying the last days of summer and have picked lots of berries and are preparing our garden for a fall crop. Maya likes to wash the weeds in a bucket of water after we pull them from the garden.

Mackenzie is getting ready to start up in Fall Soccer and Sydney is enjoying photography. Maya is getting used to BaBa going to work each day and has accepted it a bit better than when he first went back. She is also accepting the cats a bit more. Each day we go out for a walk and Maya loves to ride in the stroller and look around for birds and other animals.

The Joy of the Lord is our strength. We rejoice at our growing family.

Maya has been with us a month!!!!

Today marks the one month anniversary. Hmm, has me thinking I should do some special sort of celebration to mark her with her forever family. I will be pondering what I will be doing. Maya is adjusting well with typical regression. She is taking control in a few areas of her life - eating, sleeping and potty. She came fully potty trained and now is not. She isn't resisting it, she will sit on the potty, she will also just go in her pants and not care about it. She has opted to not take naps which creates some mighty fine tantrums due to exhaustion, and she is very selective what she will eat - fruit and veggies are very rare for her to eat. I imagine this will all work itself back out as she realizes this is the real deal. We are a family - HER family and will never ever abandon her. She is here to stay, we just have to get through this phase and let her come to believe and trust in her time that this is indeed for real. We love her so much and the girls are great with her. Not to say that Mackenzie and Sydney haven't had their own adjustments as well. Maya is definately a daddy's girl and is his little shadow whenever he is home. He is beaming over having 3 daddy's girls!!!! We are slowly getting settled at home and rearranging to accomodate another family memeber. Mackenzie has requested to move into her own room for some space and alone time. We will be making that happen in the next few days. Mackenzie and Sydney have shared a room for quite a few years and the extra room was a play room. Eventually when Maya is ready to move out of our room she will share a room with Sydney.
My mom and dad have been an amazing asset to us with helping and supporting us. She has taken Mackenzie by herself (yesterday) and they had great one on one time sitting and talking, soaking their feet, foot massages, making and painting a birdhouse, etc. She was able to spend the night and be spoiled by mamaw and Papa. Sydney's turn is next. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!

Happy one month anniversary Maya!!! We love you so much and are in awe that you are really here. The amount of energy you have is amazing, the giggles and smiles make us laugh and smile and the hugs and kisses melt our hearts!!!

Home and almost settled

We have been home for over a week and are getting settled. Each day Maya is more and more comfortable. She seems to take most things in stride and has adapted quite well. We still experience some great tantrums from her, but overall she is an energetic happy toddler. Both Mackenzie and Sydney love having her around and playing with her. Today is the 3 week mark of having her!!! She is still extremely afraid of our cats and chickens still and is loving them from a distance. She is sleeping much better, which makes for much happier parents!!! For the most part we seem to be over the jet lag and enjoying the hot summer days with evening strolls, trips to the park and swimming in the pool!!