Bringing Lacey Home: October 2012

Wow – where did the time go? I haven’t updated this thing in over 2 months? We’ve had Lacey for 3 months now? Yikes – my age is showing, I guess! Two days ago, Cindy and I were sitting around when the date hit us – October 16, which was the three-month mark. It is really hard to believe all that has changed in our lives and in Lacey’s during that short amount of time. I look at pictures from that first day together, and it all seems so far in the past now. Sometimes it’s even hard to believe that we went half a world away to bring our girl home, but we have the proof with us 24/7! I guess part of it is due to the fact that we were nutso busy once we got home. We had our church’s week-long Vacation Bible School in mid-August, which Cindy and I typically run. Thank goodness for folks (you all know who you are) that took over for us this year!

So what has changed, you ask? Well, pretty much everything. It’s interesting going through these months in my mind and recalling those same months with Lexi & Ava when they were born. Everybody is buzzing around you stating things like, “Oh, she’s so good!” or “She never cries!” or “She looks just like you!” or “Isn’t it just the most amazing thing ever in the history of ever…ever?” Meanwhile, you’re in full-time zombie apocalypse mode because you aren’t sleeping well, there is this new human being taking over your life, and your other child(ren) slowly begin turning into full-blown jealousy advertisements. Well, adoption is nothing like that! Wait, that’s not right – it’s pretty much exactly like that. In the beginning, everyone else sees Lacey when she’s trying to adjust to new people and, therefore, is relatively quiet. We see her at home where she is completely adjusted…and, yeah, she cries! And our other girls have been amazing, but there is that definite rivalry between all three of them for their parent’s attention.

We’ve been through so much already, and can look back at some incredible milestones we’ve passed.

1. We took our first “pack up the car and drive forever” trip with Lacey over Labor Day weekend. We went to the wedding of our dear friends Rob & Julia McMichael in Pennsauken , NJ , which is about a 570 mile drive each way. So that was definitely interesting! The trip up was pretty good, but the trip back was _____. That _____ is brought to you by our good friends crazy, nuts, long, and frustrating. There were several moments when Lacey just didn’t want to be in the car. There is no other way to explain it! It’s kind of hard to blame her, though, because I was pretty sick of being in the car at that point, too. But the overall trip was great. We stayed with our cousins Dave & Susie Curran and had a wonderful time with them. The wedding was also wonderful, of course. She needs to get used to traveling, though, since we have part ownership of I-77 between NC and Cleveland , OH . We’ll be hitting that bad boy up in October, November, and December.

2. You may be wondering about the sleeping thing from that last blog. When we got home from the wedding, we decided to rip off the Band-aid. We had been (and by “we,” I mean Cindy) sitting in the room with Lacey until she went to sleep at nap time and night time. It was pretty tiring, especially at night when all the girls are in bed, I’m sitting in the living room, and Cindy is sitting in Lacey’s room in the dark. We even went so far as messaging each other on Facebook (she took an iPod Touch in with her to keep boredom at bay for 15-20 minutes) asking things like, “Does it look like she’s asleep yet?” Such exciting evenings! And then, of course, you have to get out of the room without her waking up – because, if she did, Conniption Central dropped by for an extended stay. Predictably, those were the times that the floorboards decided, “You know what? I haven’t creaked really loud in a while – I think I’ll give that a shot right now.” So, basically, we said “Enough.” We started putting her down to sleep and leaving. The first time, it was pretty trying. She cried for about 5 minutes, and Cindy went in and put her back down. She cried for about 10 minutes, and Cindy went in and put her back down. Eventually, she got tired of crying and went to sleep. That was at nap time. That night, we did the same thing. However, she cried for about two minutes and then gave up and went to sleep. Within 2-3 days, she had stopped crying altogether. This, of course, led us to say, “WHY DIDN’T WE DO THIS EARLIER?????” So this has been a tremendously wonderfully awesome thing.

3. Cindy and I went on our first date since the adoption! We were pretty nervous about the whole thing, of course. We hadn’t left Lacey yet, so we really didn’t know what to expect. So our incredible friends Kelly McMichael and Beth Skates came over a little early to help her adjust. It turns out she’s just like Lexi and Ava – when Kelly & Beth show up, Cindy and I might as well not even be there anyway! We immediately lose status. So we went to Dressler’s using the gift card my kind co-workers gave us when we got home from China and had a great night out. With that behind us, we left the girls with my parents for a Friday night’s Teen Bible Study that we help lead. And she did great there, too. So this is just another milestone behind us that makes us understand how the new normal has pretty much arrived!

I guess the best way to encapsulate it all is that life really has gotten into a new, comfortable groove. We all have adjusted to being a family of five. She’s learned so much so quickly, and has nestled herself right into our family. When I get home from work, Lacey is right there at the door to greet me with her little lips puckered up for a kiss. When I give Lexi or Ava a hug, she gets in line for her own. She’s learned to hug and kiss, which she probably didn’t do much of in China . Her vocabulary continues to expand – she can say words like no, Mommy/Mom, Daddy, Lexi, Ava, please, her version of ‘thank you,’ her version of ‘love you,’ salvation (from a Sunday School song), among a few others. She clearly understands almost 100% of what we say to her – simply amazing! She loves family time. She adores her sisters, and really does try to be like them all the time. Watching them all play or dance together is a joy beyond explanation. She loves bath time. She loves going to church, especially walking around after meeting and playing with all the other kids. She loves singing Sunday School songs. She obviously loves the young folks from church that come over on Monday nights – just like her sisters, that’s the night (more than the rest) that she hates to be put in bed. She loves my family. She loves Cindy’s family – even though she hasn’t seen them face-to-face since early September, you should see her FaceTime with them! And, as parents, it brings us great joy to realize – she loves us. She still loves junk food. She laughs when she farts (don’t all kids?). And, apparently, she loves germs. I guess I didn’t mention that? She hasn’t met one yet that she hasn’t given a happy home in bloodstream! I’m sure it’s a product of getting introduced to American viruses. But I’m equally sure we are single-handedly keeping pharmacies and Soutlake Pediatrics in business these days!

So it’s been a whirlwind for the past few months, but life is always a whirlwind. Every day hasn’t perfect, but every day before that wasn’t, either. This is our family. We brought home our baby, and we love her beyond words. We’re so thankful that God brought her into our lives and us into hers. She has enriched us. And, man, is she cute. Getting a squeezy hug from her is…well…uh…. OK, here is the best way I can put it – she is completely, totally, entirely 100% squishably smushable.

Thanks for reading,

Daniel