One Year Ago

One year ago today I met my sweet little girl.

I had plans of posting pictures and writing about each day of our trip... but we have had one illness after another at our house and I have not had the time or energy. I also plan on writing about Christmas... oh, I am so behind.

This video will have to do...

One year ago the phone rang...

and we got our travel call!!!! The call came sooner than expected as we were told the wait for travel would be around four months from referral. The call came in the later part of the morning while I was at work. How I managed to keep it together I will never know.

After the kids went to bed we spent several hours figuring out our travel plans. We had to work around Ron's work schedule, Christmas, and my nieces baptism... not to mention crazy prices for flights. It was so stressful because I was ready to just hop on the next flight! It is a very good thing that there were so many events to keep me busy until our departure day... January 1st.

20 Months Old

Eden turned 20 months old on Friday.

Two nights ago Ron and I found ourselves laughing out loud as we lay in bed recalling all of the funny things Eden has been doing lately. She is a funny girl. Her newest and funniest thing she is doing lately is pretending to walk into something and say, "Uhhhh" with this strange inflection... over and over again... to make you laugh. She is putting on a little show.

Another super cute things she does is.... She will throw her typical freak out when she wants something screeching, fake crying, stomping her feet. We will then ask, "What do you want?" She will immediately stop and in the most girlie sweetest softest voice say, "dink." (drink) The way she says it is just so sweet and cute... so the opposite of what she was doing just seconds before.

More good stuff...

* She totally knows what, "What do you want?" means. WHICH IS GREAT!!!!!

* She is saying too may words to list anymore!

* She is still into Elmo and we have added two new Elmo movies to our collection. She knows the Sesame Street logo too. Today while at church there was a Sesame Street book face down with only some words and the logo showing. As soon as she saw it she said, "Elmo!" She also recognizes Christmas carols from her Elmo Christmas movie when she hears them on the radio. If one comes on she will say "Elmo!"

* She has a new nickname... The Claw. She scratches. Sometimes she will scratch other kids if she thinks that someone will take her toy. Sometimes she scratches if a child has a toy she wants. And sometimes she will scratch for no reason at all. She has drawn blood. I now have to be vigilant in keeping her nails trimmed down to nothing. I have mentioned before how much she enjoys getting her nails cut. Ugh. Can't wait till this phase passes.

* So far Christmas is a hit. She likes this waaayyyy better than Halloween. She loves the decorations, music, and cookies. We decided not to put our tall tree up in our family room this year because I figured I would find her 1/2 way up the tree one day. Instead we removed our chandelier in our dining room, took the furniture out and now it just holds our smaller Christmas tree and some decorations. She loves to go in there and look at the tree and stuffed animals. She was napping when I put the tree up. When she came downstairs the first thing she said was "Wow."

* Ron's parents came in from New York to celebrate Christmas with us. Eden unwrapped her first Christmas present. It didn't take long for her to figure out what to do. She was into it!

* Eden is now outgrowing most of her 12-18 month clothes. I hate that she can no longer wear some of my favorites. Good thing I have my two little nieces to pass her things on to.

* She calls all babies "Mia."

* She has the WORLD CUTEST run. Tippy toe, bouncy, happy little baby run.


I love this little girl so much!!!! She is just so precious. I love seeing her personality come through. We may have another class clown on our hands!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Another Step Forward in Attachment

Yesterday I had an appointment after work but needed to stop home real quick before leaving for my appointment. My in-laws were in town and were watching Eden. When I walked in I was greeted with a screaming, running, smiling, sweet hello. She was so happy to see me. :) I gave her a quick hug and then turned to leave. Well... then the tears came. "Maaamaaaaa... Maaaamaaaaa!" This was a first! I thought that maybe it was a fluke... but then this morning she cried for me again as I left for work. Same sad, "Mama"... with real crocodile tears.

Although I really hate leaving her upset (she calmed down with her favorite distraction... food) and it breaks my heart to leave her.... I can't help but smile. See... up until now she hasn't shown a real preference towards me. She seems to tolerate me and seems to like me alright... but nothing more than that. She let me into hear world, but not into her heart. I felt like she knew I would meet her needs and was a comfort to her, but if I left tomorrow she wouldn't really care. I was replaceable. She never put up a fuss when I have had to leave her before. Although she is happy to see me, my "hellos" pale in comparison to the ones she gives to Daddy. There were even days when I would get home from work and she would grab my mom's leg and cry because I was home. Talk about rejection. It's been tough. For a while I felt like a servant.. feed me, clothe me, comfort me, get me what I want. All the while I keep waiting for something. Some little sign that I have have broken through and have entered her heart... that she didn't just want someone to be with her... but that she wanted ME to be with her.. that I have something that no one else has... that she has set me apart. I know it is selfish.. after all she has been though... focusing on my need to feel "special." I wonder how long it would take me to love again if everyone and everything I have ever loved and known was taken from me. She has done remarkably well, considering.

Honestly, what makes me even happiest is knowing that she feels confident and safe enough to let me in a little bit... to start to love me.

19 Months Old

Eden celebrated her first Halloween this past month. It took me quite some time to find the perfect costume... a strawberry, Little Red Riding Hood, Minnie Mouse... but I ended up finding the cutest pumpkin costume on Etsy! I have to say she looked adorable!!! She really seemed to like her costume too! Other than that... Halloween was a bust. She really disliked the whole pumpkin carving bit... she actually was spitting and gagging when we cut it open. She didn't seem to care for the smell and wouldn't touch the seeds/guts. Eden is going through a phase where she hates having he picture taken. She will be fine and the minute to take the camera out she will start to throw a fit! Sooo it took forever to get a decent picture of her in her costume. I needed LOTS of distractions! Plus she is so very busy that it is difficult for her to hold still long enough to even take a picture. Thanks to Uncle Jay I did manage to get one good one! She didn't get into trick or treating... not that I figured a 19 month old would. She just wanted to pull the wagon. I am curious to see if Christmas will be more her speed.


More cool stuff...




* She continues to be a super funny kid! I can't help but laugh when she crinkles her nose up and smiles.

* She still loves to be chased and will screech and scream but then runs into your arms instead of away from you.

* She LOVES Adrian. She asks for him all the time. If she doesn't know where he is she will say, "A-den ho-keee." She must have figured out that if Adrian is not home, chances are he is at hockey.

* She has a great sense of direction. She will start calling out, "Nonna, Papa" when we pull into my parents subdivision. She will also say "hockey" when we pull into the rink. She really freaked me out though when we were driving and were stopped at an intersection near my sister's house. She started saying, "Tee Tee" and pointing in the direction where we would need to turn to get to her subdivision.


* She is starting to put two words together... Mama All Done (I guess that is three!), Mia Night Night (three again)

* She does the same thing each day when we arrive home. We will get out of the car and she will start saying, "ReeeRoooo" (Hero) and will run to his crate. She will then let the dog out. Next she will start saying, "Elmo" over and over and over and over... until you put the Elmo DVD in.


* She LOVES her BFF and cousin Mia. She asks for her daily. She will go to her picture and say, "Mia" and then run to the front door and reach to open it. It's her way of saying that she wants to go to Mia's house.

* She has a new love in her life besides Barney... Elmo. She has one Elmo Christmas DVD. We basically have it playing on a loop. She will watch it for just a few minutes but if you turn it off she will go nuts. This morning as I crawled out of bed one of the songs was playing in my mind over and over. "It's almost Christmas, It's almost Christmas, It's almost Christmas Daaaayyyyyaaayyyyaaayyy." Ugh.

* She hates to have her hair done or nails trimmed and will throw a giant fit when either needs to be done.

* She loves raspberries with a passion.

* She loves to "help" me do laundry. She will help put the clothes into our out of the washer and dryer. Her favorite part though is shutting the big door.

* She is in a scratching phase. She actually drew blood on a child at church last week. She will grab and dig her nails into faces. Nice. She will do this if someone has a toy she wants or if another child looks interested in a toy she has. Sometimes though she will just do it for no reason at all. I hope this phase passes quickly.



Eden has been home with us for ten months and the days are just flying by. I can't believe how much she has changed when looking at pictures of when we first brought her home. It seems that time seems to move 15 times more slowly when you are waiting to bring your child home. Once your child is finally home time seems to move 15 times more quickly!

We are so blessed and honored to have this beautiful child as our daughter. She is more than I ever dreamed.

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday.

Creation Groans from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.