And The Journey Begins

We have closed the chapter to her adoption process (minus re-adoption - which is a piece of cake). But... the journey has now begun with adjustment. We are all doing well.

Since Nati is pretty much fantastic at all that he faces, he is probably doing the best. Braegan and I are trying to keep up with adding a new child with new needs.

She (at this time) is the most different from Nati and Claire. Nati and Claire are extremely outgoing and fairly loud at times. Ada is not. She will go to anyone, but will not talk to anyone. When she does talk to us, she is very quiet. She gives kisses and we can make her laugh easier than we could in the beginning. She's terrified of the dogs, but has made big progress with that since Nati and Claire took a lot of time yesterday to show her that the dogs aren't scary. She doesn't like naps. (Claire told me today that she used to cry during naps also when she was a baby - I guess she means just a few weeks ago.) Ada is adjusting very well all things considered. Where we notice the most that she is still working on adjusting is that she does not actively go play with Nati and Claire. She follows me everywhere in the house instead. I took her to Claire's daycare this morning to meet the teachers and her classmates. She did wonderful! Braegan and I have been so nervous about starting her in daycare so soon (next week), but today's visit boosted my confidence quite a bit. The teachers are amazing. They let me know that they are going to do everything possible to make the transition easy. Next week she will begin, but just like Claire will only be there part time.

Claire has been interesting to watch. She actually has behaved exactly how we thought she would. She really likes Ada. She really likes being a big sister. She also is very well aware there is another girl/sibling in the home. Anything we do for Ada, Claire wants done for her as well. This weekend was a little rough, but today we have turned a corner. I know there will be sisterly fights. But, Claire is showing today she is adjusting well also. I have the girls at home with me this week, where they can have a chance to bond with each other. Before lunch they ran races throughout our house several times. Ada was following Claire, which was huge!

I know I'm cutting this short and I know I have so much more to blog about. I will eventually get to it. We are just really busy right now beginning an awesome journey of a family of five.