Happenings...

Where do I even begin?  It has been a busy month for all of us!  We have been home now for almost 8 months, and it is so hard to believe.  Karlye has changed so much over these past 8 months!  We thank the Lord every day for our precious daughter and what she means to our family.  Here is a list of some of the "happenings" that Karlye has been up to lately...

• She is continuing to wear her brace for 16 hours per day, but we are hoping that this time will be reduced to 12 hours per day (nap and nighttime) at the beginning of March.  She is really a trooper about wearing her brace during awake hours, but it is frustrating for her
• We have started a "Mommy and Me" gymnastics class together and she absolutely loves it!  It has been really good for her overall balance and gross motor skills, but most importantly, she enjoys it so much
• She is beginning to put 2 and 3 words together for communication!  "I need down", "up please", etc...
• She is now running (and walking) through the house without any difficulty
• She will begin Mother's Day Out in September
• She is pretty much potty trained ( except for nap and nighttime) with the exception of a few accidents here and there
• Her favorite things to do are...read books, puzzles, babies, play outside, and sing
• She is sleeping in a toddler bed and loves it so much more than the crib
• She is still working on sleeping past 4:30 am and sleeping through the night, but we are making some improvements in this area over the past few days.  Needless to say, we are still exhausted after being home 8 months
• She is still working on playing more independently and tolerating being in another room from us, but this is improving every day
• She is beginning to attend the church nursery.  We have only left her for the sermon at this point, but she is making some nice improvements with this.  She continues to become upset when we leave her, but the teachers say that she only cries briefly and then begins to play with the other children.  She continues to have difficulty transitioning to riding in the bye bye buggy each week.  She is so excited to see our faces when we come to pick her up
• She loves us to rock and sing to her before bed
• She has one more round of immunizations and she will be caught up with other peers her age.  Praise the Lord!
• Her attachment is coming along beautifully!  She has really made some wonderful improvements in this area.  We continue to have some restrictions at this time, but we are making great progress
• She can eat more than Nathan and I at one meal.  She is on the charts for height, weight, and head circumference (25% for all three)
•  She continues to be on an iron supplement for "low average" iron studies
• She has the most hilarious personality that I have ever seen.  I laugh until my stomach hurts at least one time per day
• She is beginning to make improvements with overall behavior with less controlling/manipulative behavior.  We think this improvement is happening because she feels more secure/safe and trusting of us.
• She does a pretty good job feeding herself with a spoon
• She loves to attempt to undress/dress herself

I am sure there are many more "happenings" and I could go on forever and ever, but these are the ones that we don't want to forget!

On another note, please be in prayer for a family in China right now meeting there daughter for the first time.  Also, four additional families that we know from the "Red Thread Mom's" group will be traveling over the next couple of weeks, please be in prayer for them as they prepare to meet their daughters! 



My Aunt Shirley made this beautiful dress for Karlye!  She looked so pretty!




Loving some spaghetti!



Karlye's new helmet.  She refuses to take it off, so we wear it as we play, eat, and go to the potty!  Fun times!

Getting ready for gymnastics