I feel like every post I’ve written in the past few months starts out with me explaining my absence. Yikes, this last one was a long one. I know that many of you have been thinking about us and worrying about how we are doing. Oh boy, has this been a journey. Thankfully it really and truly seems like we are over the hump. I’m getting used to living the dairy and soy free diet and Briar is feeling much better because of that. She’s been able to tolerate some of the things I was avoiding, like egg, and I’m happy about that. We’ve got a good evening routine and she is sleeping well at night just waking 1-2 times to eat.
Let’s see what I can catch you up on. First of all, we have decided that I am going to stay home for the remainder of the school year. We had such a hard, hard first 10 weeks that I couldn’t imagine not being there to console her. It was a last minute and unexpected decision but one that I am so thankful for. Odette is going to preschool three days a week to maintain friendships, have a break from being stuck in the house and to continue to grow socially and academically.
Odette is a SUPER STAR big sister. Her favorite thing to do is dance and sing for Briar while she is in her swing. She is great at gently playing with her and does an awesome job calming her fusing in the car or out and about. She is loving that Briar is more sturdy now and can sit on her lap.
Can you believe that Odette is registered for kindergarten in the fall? She is very excited about it. She’s doing an amazing job starting to read and write a bit. She is signed up for softball this spring. Having played for many years myself, I am quite thrilled about that. We are hoping to also get her into a theatre camp. That girl was born for the stage. The tooth fairy has frequented us a few times lately. Odette is missing 4 teeth at the moment and has a six year molar popping through. My little girl is growing up way too quickly!! She asks about A coming home almost daily as she is looking forward to the playmate. (Unfortunately, we need a correction done on all the Congo paperwork. You can pretty much take all the progress made in 2013 and erase it. We are sad about that and holding on to the hope that it is God’s plan for him to join our family.)
Briar, Briar, Briar. She’s finally getting used to being out of my womb. Haha. She is learning so many new things and growing quickly. She’s close to doubling her birthweight. Yay. She has found her hands and sucks on them a lot. She also drools like a fountain. I haven’t noticed any real signs of teething. She most definitely recognizes our faces and voices and seems confused at times when looking at our large canvases of us. We are working on getting those daytime naps in our routine. Along with naps, she’s not too fond of tummy time. She is getting better at it and is really strong. Our favorite time with her is first thing in the morning. She is full of big, cheesy smiles and giggles.
I’m one blessed mama!
