Preparing For Our Second Blessing

I am so sorry for the posts being so few and far between. We have just been having too much fun! I will start out with an update on Karlye and then update on the next little blessing.

Karlye is doing wonderful! I think we are finally settled in and have gotten to our "new normal", whatever that exactly means. Yes, it has taken almost 11 months to get here, and it has definitely not been easy, but no one ever said it would be. I know that we will look back another year from now and once again be in awe of how far she has come, but for now, we are so blessed with how well she is doing! We have had many ups and downs throughout the past 11 months, but we would not trade a single minute of anything we have experienced.

• Karlye is now only wearing her brace for 12 hours per day, which consists of only nap and night time. We continue to do her stretches 3 times per day.
• Doctor's appointments are becoming less frequent! We are down to an appointment every 6 months for orthopedic and immunizations will be caught up after one more visit in October. Her iron levels continue to remain low, so we will continue to give her extra iron and have it checked in October as well.
• Karlye will begin Mother's Day Out in September. She will go two days per week. We are continuing to do gymnastics together and she continues to love it! She will change to the 3 year old class in September when she begins school. No more mama in gymnastics. There goes my only workout for the week!  She is getting so much stronger and her gross motor skills are quickly improving.  She is loving the church nursery on Sunday mornings!  She squeals with excitement when we pull into the parking lot.   
• Karlye is now communicating in 3-4 word sentences. It is so crazy how fast this milestone happened! I don't think she ever stops jabbering! We love her sweet little voice. Notice I said voice, not scream.
• We continue to have some meltdowns for no explained reason, but this has improved. She continues to exhibit 2 year old tantrums, and amazingly these always happen when I am trying to talk on the phone.  Her behavior has improved so much, probably due to communication.
• I know I have said this before, but she has the most amazing personality! She is just so funny, and yes, she knows it too!
• Karlye has learned so may new things...she can count to ten, name most of her colors, cut, draw a circle, sing many many songs, say her animal sounds, and is currently very interested in what sound the letters make!
• She loves to pray and read her bible! She asks to pray several times per day, mainly for her new sister, and will not go to bed without reading her Bible.
• Karlye loves to play outside! I think she would live in a swing if we would let her!
• Karlye and our dog Ryan are beginning to get along better!
• She continues to sleep well in her toddler bed!  This has been great for all of us!
• Favorite toys...tea set/cooking set, babies/stroller, play doh, tu tu's, purse, books, and stuffed animals.
• She is completely potty trained, except for night time, with few accidents!  Yipee!  She is now in the phase that she wants to pull up/down her pants/panties and wipe (fun!).  It.takes.forever!  She is in a very independent phase...wants to brush her teeth, put on her socks, potty, get dressed, etc...  We have to begin every activity very early to get finished in time!
• She has become a typical 2 year old picky eater.  Having to be creative!  

Now, some updated info on our next little blessing. We are currently waiting for our Dossier to be authenticated and certified, hopefully another week or less. After this step is complete, we will be DTC (Dossier to China)!! At that point we will wait about 3 weeks for a log in date and then be waiting on a match! This is so exciting! So, in a nutshell, we hope to be logged in by the end of June and be waiting on a match!

If you will begin to pray with us about our next little girl that the Lord has chosen to be a part of our family. Also, please pray for Nathan and I as we prepare Karlye for this transition of adding another little girl to our family.

Whew! That was a lot to catch up on. I guess that is what I get for waiting over a month to post! We love you all!

Sorry for all of the pictures...I have a lot of catching up to do.

She really got into hunting eggs at the second Easter Egg Hunt!

Drawing with Kendaddy.

My new favorite activity!  Hard at work.

Funny face taught to her by Daddy.

Bubbles!

Hunting eggs with Nana!

SUGAR!

Licking the spatula with Aunt NeNe!

Can I have some now?

One of the many funny faces!

Before immunizations.  Yes, she wore these into the doctor's office!  Needless to say, we got a few stares.

Driving with Daddy and Pops!

Karlye's favorite thing to make with Play Doh.

Playing on the smart phone. 

Easter dress a week late!  Karlye was not feeling very well on Easter Sunday.

Having fun with Grandma Grace!

Pretending to have a cane like MeMe.  It is a long shoe horn if you can't tell.

Fun in her drawers in the sprinkler!

Karlye's dream...surrounded by goodies at MeMe and Pappy's

Dusting!

Karlye and Pappy.

Daddy's shirt.

New bike seat!  She loves it!