One Year...and a month

Did I really just write those two words together?!?!?!  How in the world is it possible that we have had our little man in our arms for an entire year?  It seems crazy!  In some ways, it feels as though he has been with us forever, and in other ways, I feel like I'm still learning so much about him and his little personality that it could've very well been last week that we just laid eyes on one another.  Our little guy...he's an amazing little human!  Sometimes...maybe even often times, I hardly give him enough credit.  I get caught up in comparing him to other kids...either his age, or adopted, or both, and think to myself, "Oh man, H is doing this or that," but I have found myself more recently as we were approaching our one year family day anniversary taking a step back to see all that my guy has done.  He can run...and pretty well!  He has made great improvements in using his right arm and hand as well, and I know there will be more improvements made in the future as well.  And speech.  He blows me away every day!  See, with him we don't see these amazing quantum leaps.  Honestly, we never have since the day he entered into our family.  He wasn't one of those malnourished children who has gained 15 lbs and grown 6 inches...nope not him.  And for a long time, I felt guilty about that.  Like he wasn't receiving enough love, or food, or who knows what!  He definitely has grown, but for him, everything is in bite sized pieces :)  Well, except for when he's literally eating, and then it's not bite sized at all...dude can eat!  Anyway, he's been the slow and steady type.  Little improvements with movement or new words can be seen each day.  Seeing it each day is a new blessing, and I'm so thankful to bear witness to this little one's life.  We have been truly blessed! 

We've had LOTS going on this past month, and very very soon...like later this week soon, I will have more updates on our newest Schaadt, but that can wait for now.  Right now, let's just all take a moment and enjoy the cuteness that I get to see every day!

Barbells for Baby Schaadt and More!

Wow!  So SO much has been going on in the world of adoption lately!  It has been A-MA-ZING!  First off, a few weekends back, (because I'm THAT good on keeping up with life lately,) was Barbells for Baby Schaadt.  If you haven't heard of that, then that means you probably aren't on Facebook!  Some history on it...a few months back, we were approached by an amazing young man from our church about organizing a fundraiser crossfit competition that would be his "18th birthday celebration."  We were completely blown away that this guy had such an amazing heart that he wanted to do such a selfless and giving thing for his birthday!  I can only hope that our boys grow up to be as focused on serving and helping others as this guy is!  Ok, so back to the story...a Crossfit competition was what was decided upon, as that is a big time hobby and interest of this young man.  I had never been to a Crossfit "box" or competition before the event...and let me tell you people, those "crossfit types,"...they don't mess around!  It was absolutely astounding to see how many people competed during the day, and how many additional people came out in support of the event!  It blew our minds!  We felt so loved and supported!  When the totals had come in, we raised over $1,500 towards our adoption through the competition!  I'm seriously still in shock as I write those words now.  I can't wait to one day share with our precious girl how all of these strangers had come together to help bring her home.  And yes, I'm getting teary eyed just typing that now!  Are you new to the Crossfit world?  Well, here is a little taste of what the day entailed...

It.was.awesome.  I might even try crossfit one of these days now....maybe :)  The week after Barbells for Baby Schaadt was the little man's tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy and dental work combo.  Booo!!!!  We tried to prep him as best we could without scaring him half to death.  I told him he was going to go see the doctor who would help him to not snore anymore.  This is what he told the Mister the same night after coming home from work:

Little Man : Daddy me go doctor and no (insert the cutest snoring noise you have ever heard)

It was so beyond precious!  I don't think that post surgery, he felt it was really necessary to go to such extreme lengths to help him to not snore!  The doctor said his tonsils were enormous, and that without them there, he should see quite an improvement in sleeping, breathing, etc.

 This was him, "driving under the influence" on the way out of the hospital.  He loved it, although I'm sure he doesn't recall driving out at all!

Recovery went well for the first two days...and then it went bad.  We had a really rough time for the next full week, and actually it wasn't until yesterday that he really started eating again, and tomorrow will be 14 days post op.  All is good now, and the appetite that we know and love has returned!

We are also gearing up for our online Adoption Auction coming up at the end of this month.  We have gotten some absolutely awesome and adorable donations that I'm so super excited to share with all of you!  Be on the lookout for the preview week and then the actual auction dates!!!

One of my favs...how cute is this baby outfit?!?!

Another fav...the Starfish Story, "One Matters" necklace.  This wonderful shop owner custom designed it for our auction AND sent me a matching one too! 

In adoption news for our little starfish, we are waiting.  Ahhh!  Our home study update is completed, and we are currently waiting for our home study agency to finalize the update and get copies to both our agency and us so we can move along to our next step.  I'm really ready to move on to the next step.  It seems like we have been in the same place forever!  Because things have been taking so long, I'm thinking we won't be sending our dossier to China until early November at best.  Very best.  Please be praying for the next few steps in getting our dossier to China to go quickly and smoothly so that we can get our arms around our little starfish as soon as possible! 

And She Shall be Called.....

So you may or may not caught a glimpse of our little sweet pea over these past few weeks or so.  You may have seen her face and not even realized it!  Well, the Mister and I were trying to wait to formally introduce our girl to you when she finally had a name.  Ahem...well, the original plan was for that to be not much longer after we announced the adoption.  I should've known that wasn't going to happen!  After going through about 500 names that I had suggested, along with suggestions from family and friends, we finally agreed!  Seriously people, this is BIG stuff!  Why?  Because the name game has always been torturous for us...this is how it typically goes:

 Me : "What do you think of you fill in the blank with whatever name I was throwing at him at the time?"  

The Mister: "No." 

 Me: "Do you have any suggestions?

The Mister: "No."

Repeat this 499 other times and you will have what our life has been like over the last few weeks!  So, now that I've totally built her name up way too much, let me be the first to formally introduce you to....

Nyah T***

 Before we go any further, because I know you are trying to figure out pronunciation, It's ni (like hi,) -ah.  Her middle name will remain her current name, which I cannot share at this time.  Hence the reason for all of the asterisks!  Now that that has been cleared up, onto why we picked Nyah.   Well, there's the fact that I've always loved the name, and once we discovered the meaning of the name, it kind of sealed the deal for us.  We've never been much into name meanings, but the name Nyah is actually of African origin and means, "one with a purpose."  Done.  That was all I needed to read.  My girl...she has a purpose.  I can't wait to get my arms around her so we can watch her beautiful life unfold in front of our very eyes.  

Oh yes, so now that you know her name, let me introduce you to her.... 

 Our beautiful princess!

....and yes, you will notice that in the younger picture below, she has more hair.  They are shaving my poor girl's hair!  Um, can you say, hair bows?!?!?!

As far as where we are in the process, we are waiting for our home study to be finished up. We are praying that our home study will finish up within the next 3-4 weeks, and wrap up a few other things so we are able to send our dossier to China by the end of October.  Maybe???  Hopefully???  Man, I sure hope so!  Don't you just want to squeeze those little cheeks too?

The Story of #4

In case you missed it, which I doubt anyone who is reading our blog has, we are on the road to adoption once again!  We are so excited, overwhelmed, nervous, you name it!  This time we will be going back again to that “large Asian country,” but this time, to return with a beautiful little lady!  Our sweet girl is currently just 17 months old, and this momma is doing everything I can to get our arms around her before she turns 2…which I think may be a long shot, but you never know!  

The Mister and I had been going back and forth on if a fourth was in the cards for us as a family.  Because the Mister was considering the possibility, I conveniently let our agency know that we could quite possibly be searching for a little girl over the coming months.  Well wouldn’t you know it, around early July, our agency presented us with a file of a sweet little one, just 16 months old!  The Mister and I talked and prayed about her and the decision, and decided that she was to be the newest member of our family!  

Now backing up to the month of June, I was approached by a friend to consider writing a guest post for the website, No Hands But Ours, about our little guy’s special need…cerebral palsy.  She had mentioned to me that they were looking for someone to write on that specific need, because apparently many prospective adoptive families considered it to be one of the more “scary” needs.  It sounded funny to me that anyone would call it a scary diagnosis!  I prayed about the post, knowing it would reach a much bigger audience than my little blog here, and also since I don’t consider myself to be nearly as good as a writer as many of the mommas whose blogs I follow, but I felt like God was calling me to write what was on my heart.  I won’t repeat the whole post for you…you can read it here, but I wrote these words just days before receiving our little one’s file.  Why does that matter?  Well friends, it all comes down to God’s perfect timing.  I say that because I genuinely feel that He used what He had laid on my heart to write to comfort us in making our decision about adding that little one to our family.  Why?  Because our new little one will also be diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when she arrives home…and her scans…they are scary to me.  Yep, I said it.  Scary.  The word I had thought was so funny to use in conjunction with my precious little man was just the word that came to mind when I was reading over my little love’s file.  If you have stopped and read my guest post on No Hands But Ours, you are probably getting the connection here!  That post, if not written for any other person’s benefit in the entire universe, was written for me.  God was whispering just to me, “I’ve got this.  You need to trust me.”  We were called by God as a family to adopt, and I do know that He’s “got this,” but it’s hard.  It’s not just hard in the adoption related world to trust God, it’s hard lots of the time.  Because if you’re like me, you’re a control freak, you like to try to plan for things to go according to your plan.  But people, the sooner we realize it’s not our plan, faster it will be when we submit to God’s will and purpose for our lives, which is of course 1,000 times better than anything that you or I could ever imagine.  

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. ²¹ Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21

So glory to God…glory because He knit together my beautiful and precious little girl in her tummy momma, glory to Him because He knows her story and can make beauty from the ashes, and glory to Him for continually showing me what amazing blessings are the result of just trusting in His plan.

#Managingblessings

Being real now, we all have “those” days.  The days where the kids get up an hour earlier than they should (of course after being up an hour too late the night before,) within the first 20 minutes of being up, you have to deal with spilled milk, a potty accident, and if you are like me, a dog crisis.  Those days when just nothing seems to go the way that you anticipated when you went to sleep the night before.  And deep down, ok maybe not so deep down sometimes, we wish we could just pull a Dorothy, click our heels together and be transported away to some fairy world with munchkins…as long as they aren’t our munchkins!  People…I have these days…and if you are a real person, I’m sure you have these days too.

A few weeks ago, a friend had posted this quote on Facebook that was taken from Lysa Terkeurst.   

 

 

It hit me.  Hard.  I can be really good at seeing the bad in a day, and not focusing on all of our giggles, peaceful playing times, and “I love you’s.”  Those words though…they.are.real.  These little people that I have, they are nothing but my own personal posse of blessings.  For me.  Every single day.  And I forget that altogether too often.  I realized I want to and need to change my negative mom attitude and focus on managing my blessings.  The reality is, right now this chaos may seem like it’s too much and unmanageable, but I know 20 years from now, when it’s just me and the Mister, (and maybe a dog or two,) that I will be wishing that I had more days like this…

Yes, you are seeing that correctly.  That is a naked Barbie in decorative grass.  I will miss these days.  I honestly believe that right now, in this crazy, beautiful mess we are in, that these are the absolute best years of my life.  From now on, I vow to focus on managing my blessings, and forgetting about things like spilled milk.  Because one day, not too long from now, I’ll be wishing that I'd see that Barbie without the clothes on, stuck in my decorative grass, and she won’t be there.

A little late

No excuses...we've just been plain busy!  First I was going to start back up after 6 months home, then I thought, let's wait until his birthday...then vacation...and that was Memorial Day.  It's now..ahem...the 4th of July?!?!?  What???  Time has flown by!  A friend actually said to me the other day, "Can you believe in 4 months, you guys will have been home for a year?"  No, I absolutely CANNOT believe that!  Where has this year even gone?  Well I'm not sure I can even begin to summarize what we have been doing the last few months, but here it goes...

Our little man is still doing amazing!  Therapy is going great, we did get a brace for his wrist that we try to wear as much as possible, and we are working on AFO's for his feet.  He is speaking more and more English every day, and just loving life!  He is a huge fan of Big Hero 6, so I think we have acquired every.single.item sold related to the movie.  He has also turned into the kid who has a drawer of 30 t shirts, but chooses to wear the same one every day...yes, his Baymax shirt!  Neither of the other kiddos ever had such an obsession with one item of clothing, which can drive me crazy, but deep down inside I think it's cute!  We have discovered he also LOVES swimming and the water.  He could swim all day, everyday I think! 

We had a pretty intimate birthday party this year for him.  We didn't want to overwhelm him, and I think it was for the best.  A few weeks after his birthday, we headed south to a family wedding in New Orleans, but not without a quick stopover in Destin.  SOOOOO glad we decided to be crazies and take the gang to Florida!  They had a blast playing in the ocean, even though it was only for two days!  Can't wait to go back!  The look on their little faces was priceless! 

We went up to Michigan for the 4th, and go to spend time at my parent's cottage.  The kids all loved it, but the little man just couldn't get enough.   He even went tubing for the first time and LOVED it!  He kept saying, "Faster, faster!"  He's my little daredevil for sure!  We have a few more fun things planned for the crew this summer before it's time to head back to school.  The two littles will be off to preschool part-time this year...sniff sniff!  Yes, I will be hysterical I'm sure, but I know they will be loving it! 

We have been so blessed this past year and have so much to be thankful for! 

I Live with a Rock Star

Seriously people, this little man of mine has been through a boat load of change in the past 3 months and he has been AMAZING!  Someone asked me the other day how everything has been going for him, and it really made me stop and think about it.  We have put him through a laundry list of doctors appointments, therapy twice a week, and shuffling back and forth to the babysitters since I started working, and he seriously has done spectacular!  We are so beyond blessed...(especially this overwhelmed mama!)  We had his hearing and vision screen today, which he did great with.  He was sedated for the hearing screen, so he was a little unhappy with that appointment, but again, he really did great!

Language-wise he has also been doing awesome!  He probably has about 30-40 words, can count to ten on occasion, (we often leave out random numbers between 5-7,) and has been forming 2-3 word sentences.  This is just what he speaks though...what he understands is far more than that.

We often get people that tell us how wonderful we are for welcoming him into our home, but it's actually just the opposite.  We knew we wanted more children, and adoption was just the route we decided to go.  It wasn't because we felt bad for him, but that we wanted him.  I don't mean that to sound harsh or rude.  It is true that his situation was definitely far from ideal in every way possible, but really we are the "lucky" ones in the sense that he has welcomed us into his heart.

We can't wait to see what the next few months hold in store for our little man.  The Occupational Therapist is getting ready to fit him with a flexible brace for his hand, so hopefully he won't mind that too much!  Here are a few shots of what this guy has been up to with the other littles....

2 Months in Our Arms?? What?!?!?!

Can you even believe it?!?!?!  To be technical, it's actually been a two months plus a few days.  Blows.my.mind.  Seems so short and so long all at the same time.  Our little man is such a perfect addition to our family!  If you have had the chance to meet him, or even glance at one picture of his yumminess, you would know that he has to be one of the smiliest and happiest kids ever!  He gives me a new set of eyes to see our world through!  We have been truly above and beyond blessed!

So what has happened over these past few weeks?  Wow, well aside from several major holidays, just a few things!  The little man started physical and occupational therapy in December, which is twice a week.  He also had his MRI, which he was a rockstar for!  That has now lead us to several other referrals, which we will be taking care of over the next few months.   We all had a beautiful Christmas together, and he finally got the hang of the whole present thing by the time we made it up to the Mitten for his ahem, third and fourth Christmases.  I was so concerned about putting presents out under the tree early, thinking he would want to tear into them.  It wasn't until a few days after I had finally put a few presents out to "test the waters," that I had realized why they still sat there, untouched.  It was most likely because he had no idea what those pretty little packages under the tree were.  Did our little man ever receive a gift?  I didn't want to dwell on the thought for too long.  There are many, many gifts in his future, and I am now confident that he is very well aware of what a present looks like!

Christmas break was an awesome time for all three kids to get to hang out and play, and we got to spend time with lots of family, which was also awesome!  He is so loved!  His language is slowly coming along, which the doctor did mention could take longer for him specifically.  He is so observant though of everything around him, and just today, helped me to put away some dishes.  I honestly don't think the other two would've known where some of those items are kept!

Prayers are welcome for both him and for I.  Unfortunately, my time away from work is drawing to a close, and we are going to have a HUGE transition ahead of us.  One that neither one of us is prepared for I'm afraid.  Please pray that our little man does well going to the babysitter and staying with grandma on my work days.  Also pray for the Mister as well.  Juggling three kids before and after work is no small task, and since my days are so long, that unfortunately includes several meals and the beginning of bedtime.  Ewww!  The little man is also not a huge fan of going to sleep with anyone but momma these days either, so that is a whole other challenge.

My heart has been overflowing with joy from all of the love and support our little man, and our entire family has received over these past few months!  Thanks to all of you!

Finally becoming buddies!

Christmas morning!!!

Mom's XMas Elves :)

Two party animals!

Grammie hid the presents...he caught onto the game quickly

Annnnd....the Little Lady got her first haircut!