Hope: One Less: Day 8

Merry Christmas! So thankful for the birth of our Savior and grateful for an extra blessing this season. From the bottom of our hearts, we say "thank you" (which seems so inadequate) for the outpouring of kind words, support, and prayers. Our adventure is going better than we could have ever imagined.

We finally had success at bedtime = no tears. She was pretty wound up but eventually fell asleep with Chris in her bed. This morning she was up bright and early at 7:00 saying, "bye bye bah bah." Chris brought her into our bed while I was sleeping. She did not want to lay down; she kept pointing outside (as if to say, look its daylight) and saying "up." Breakfast started as scrambled eggs and ended with a fried egg. Nana and Smitty brought our dog back this morning for a visit for a few hours. There were moments where we almost had tears but as soon as I would say "no" she would stop. We spent some time in the same room with the dog and she even walked over to Chris while he was holding the dog. Also threw some cheerios at the dog to share. Glad to be making some progress before we head to Chicago for the weekend with extended family and the dog is going along.

Early naptime before company arrived - she fell asleep and slept by herself. Late lunch included leftover italian beef, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. We spent some time playing with a Melissa & Doug reuseable sticker book and it was a big hit. No concept of placing stickers in right setting, but fun all the same. We enjoyed a visit with my childhood friend, Stephanie, and her husband, Steve, who were in town for the holiday. They have been keeping up with the blog so I'm sure it was fun to see her in person. She even showed them her room.

We were originally supposed to have Christmas at my mom's but since she has two dogs, we relocated Christmas to our house. Grandma (Gigi) and Grandpa Barker arrived for their first meeting with her. Then Brooke, Dale and Kinsley. I had purchased matching Christmas outfits for the girls weeks ago and Miss Kinsley showed up in hers. She immediately went to her room, opened her dresser, pulled out her matching outfit (the one she wore to church last night), and wanted it on. She would not wear her white tights because Kinsley was not wearing tights. Then Nana and Papa Gene arrived and the girls were ready to party. Kinsley was nice enough to bring her dress up clothes from Santa so the girls got all decked out in princess attire. The high-heeled shoes were difficult to walk in so this was pretty short-lived. Once the princess clothes were removed, they ran around naked and laughed, giggled, and squealed on Mama/Aunt Kelsey's bed. Nana brought some cool toys for them to play with too (like a princess magna doodle). Grandpa Barker brought both girls a small green tractor. They both know how to run their tractor motors. She really took to Brooke this time and wanted her to take her potty. We kept dinner simple with Subs, chips/dip, veggies/dip, fresh fruit, and Christmas sweets for dessert. She had already eaten chinese noodles and fried rice but wanted to sit down with the rest of us. She ate some chips, cucumbers, and a deconstructed sub sandwich (ham and mayo). Kinsley would only eat the bread so we just should have shared a sandwich. There were a couple of presents for the girls to open. They both opened a pair of high-healed princess shoes for dress-up from Nana and Papa Gene. She got pink and Kinsley got purple (which is her favorite color). Kinsley opened a box of princess bangle bracelets from Gigi and Granpda Barker and was nice to share with her. We also had her open one toy she can take back to the orphanage which is a small tablet-sized magna doodle and also a purple rolling backpack for her return trip. They had fun opening and helped the grown-ups open their gifts too. I think a great time was had by all. My family may be partial, but I think everyone was impressed with how much she is communicating and understanding. The girls were getting cranky so we called it a night. Bathtime with me. Of course, she wanted congee before bed (I lose track of how many "meals" this girl has in one day). And bedtime and reading with Chris. There was plenty of stalling (I need a drink, my skin itches, where's mama?, etc.), but I think she is out with no tears.

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas day.