Every other year we head out to Colorado with hub's family to one of my most favorite places..Deer Valley Ranch. It's so nice to escape the 100 deg weather in Texas.
Unfortunately, I didn't make the cut this year. With David's arrival only 3 weeks prior, it wasn't in the cards, so Hubs took the girls only. It took all I had not to sneak into one of their suit cases. When I say, I HATE missing this trip, well it's 100% TRUE!
So I'm posting borrowed pics...thank you Mandy!
The kids had a blast. They talked about it all day.
Allie loves to ride, and Mary has always refused. Not this year. She was so proud of herself.
Hubs sent me this pic one day as I was sitting in the hospital with my sister. (She's doing great...just had a little episode of contractions mid pregnancy). We both had a hard time not wanting to wring his neck (from jealousy) for this pic.
I can't even explain my relief that they are all home. I am SO GLAD they went. The girls had an amazing time. They needed a break from David's adjustment. On the flip side, because they were gone..WOW, what a difference it made in the dynamic of the house. Garrett was forced to interact with David, and visa versa. The buffers left town on a plane, and I didn't really see it coming. The prior three weeks, the girls happily played with David and catered to him even.
It made for a very difficult week. There were a lot of battles between the boys. There was a little pushing and punching on David's part (and a lot of screaming). Garrett finally said "he didn't want him to be his brother." It's part of adopting a toddler. As my friend who has gone before so eloquently said, when a toddler "explodes on the scene" it can turn things upside down. Garrett JUST turned 4. Most 4 year olds who have a 2 year old brother, have had 2 full years to see the storm com in'! NOT THIS ONE! Poor Garrett feels like the storm has rolled in and is not letting up. It's been a very difficult month for G. He's no longer the baby of the family, and David is all in his business and guess who usually gets deferred to? Not Garrett:( It is what it is, and it'll get better, but it's been one of the more difficult realities that I've been facing.
I brought all this up to just give an update on our month.(Today is the one month marker.) There are have been some VERY HIGH moments and VERY LOW moments. I would honestly say from a mom perspective, this has probably been the hardest adjustment I've made as a mother. That first born is pretty hard though because of sleep deprivation, so they may cancel each other out! I am just SO SO SO thankful that sleep deprivation has not been a factor because it very well could have been!
I don't want to give the wrong impression. Just because it has been hard doesn't mean that it's not been GOOD. We've seen some REAL progress and turning points in David's security and attachment. He's honestly done better than we expected. My point is on a good day, toddler adoption is hard. We are trying to squeeze a first born, only child personality in the fourth born slot. My attention and time is divided incredibly thin among four very different personalities, and finding the patience and endurance to attach to him, nurture him, pour into him, discipline him, communicate with him, etc. is draining. It is not my intent AT ALL to discourage adoption. However, I think it's fair to paint a realistic picture in case you are ever considering it. It's only been a month. I can't imagine how this time will fly by.
David is doing well. He is so expressive. He is communicating quite well with his hands, and he understands quite a bit of English as evidenced by following commands appropriately. He's pretty chill. He becomes a little more secure every day and with that has brought on the normal toddler tantrums. He only has a few daily tantrums that are difficult (car seat and bed time). Those are definitely the worst. All the rest are short lived. He is very clingy to me still, but since the girls and hubs are home, he will readily take them. He's the boss of the house already, did I tell ya? He eats very well, and that's never been an issue. He's also sleeping in his own big boy bed. He fights bed time, but sleeps all night normally. This week he was up 3 different nights, but that's pretty unusual. He loves the pool, loves riding his tricycle, and watching Signing Times.
Mary taught him to ride a horse this afternoon:) If you can't tell, he's saying giddy up.
This week would have been so very hard with hubs being out of town, but my BFF Beth Ann showed up early in the week. My sweet sisnlaw, Melissa flew in Thursday to help, and she's also been so helpful. Garrett LOVES both of them! That's a whole separate post!
Happy one month at home David:)
