4 Month Update!

Calli Faith was placed in our arms four months ago today! It seems crazy to us to think that it was only four months ago - so much has happened since then and she has changed so much. Several people have asked us why we aren't blogging as much, but we are - just not on this blog. Our family blog is where we do most of our blogging, so you can see more updates there, at www.theymakeuslaugh.blogspot.com. We'll continue to update this one periodically with news just about Calli and how she's doing, but it won't be as often as the other one.

Calli really is changing so much, and even in the past week or two has started doing so many new things! She is officially 23 months old now and we are on the countdown to her second birthday on August 31. She and Cooper will be having a school bus party (Cooper's request) and we are so excited about that! Remember, she and Cooper share a birthday, so Calli will turn 2 and Cooper will turn 3 on the 31st. :)

She is communicating so well and understands absolutely everything we say. Even when we don't use gestures or do anything special to try to get her to understand, she hears and picks up on everything we tell her. She's pretty amazing! And she is telling us a lot, too. She has started shaking her head yes or no, and she has more words and signs. She can do the signs for more, all done, please, thank you, you're welcome, wait, and help. And she can say mama, baba, Kengal, Coop-Coop, Moll, help, all done, thank you, night-night, uh-oh, and just this week she copied me when I said "I love you!" We just loving watching her learn and try new things and we are so proud of her.

She is a busy, busy girl. She loves to play with her big sisters and they just love her so much. Cooper and her fuss at each other sometimes, but just typical 2 and 3 year old stuff. She love, love, loves the bath, and still love, love, loves to eat. Her attachment to food has gotten better though in the past month - she doesn't have to be eating all the time and will even leave food on her plate sometimes. She is awesome at riding in the car and sleeps from 8-6:45 every night, with a 2 hour nap every day. For bed, we turn on her music, rock her a little, lay her down awake with her baby and her quilt and she just puts herself right to sleep!

One week from today is her cleft palate surgery. Her lip was closed on May 15th, but her palate has still been open all this time. That means there is basically just a big opening into her nasal cavity, so we definitely still see food come out her nose a lot! It also means she has no roof of her mouth, and still can't suck or make some of those sounds that require your tongue to press against the top of your mouth (esp "d"). Her lip surgery was just day surgery, so we were in and out, but our doctor told us with this to expect a 3-4 day stay in the hospital. Boo. She has just done so well this far, that we really expect her to bounce back pretty quickly and maybe we will get out in less time than that. You can pray with us for her recovery from this surgery. She's got a birthday to get ready for!

We also have an important appointment with a different specialist on Monday, to get the results from her latest round of blood work and the MRI she had a couple weeks ago. We are ready to hear next steps in that area.

Finally, an update on bonding and attachment with us and with Calli. This has gone so, so well. I read back in my journal yesterday from the weeks right around when we first had her, and I just wept in amazement at where God has brought us. We are a different family than we were then. She loves us so much and we believe she really does understand that we are Mom and Dad and we are the most important people to her. And as far as how we feel about her - I'm at a loss for words. She is our daughter. Like Kendall and Cooper are our daughters. She is our Calli Faith. We love her to pieces and are so thankful God gave her to us. I still pray for her birth mother and father every day, that they would know the Lord and know his peace. And I look at Calli in amazement, thankful for the parents that wanted so much for her and risked so much for her so she could be part of our family. It's hard to wrap my mind around, and all I can do is praise God for his hand in her life. Thank you for loving her, too, and for your part in helping her become part of our family. We have the best family and friends and are so thankful!

We'll update the blog next week after her surgery. Thank you for your prayers for her!