Quinn's Little Sis

On this day, 6 months ago, we met our little girl. It is hard to believe this much time has past, yet there have been so many significant changes in this amount of time. Lilah has grown in so many ways, especially in the past few months. If you compare the China photo to more recent ones, you can see that she has developed quite the cheeks! Her palate has definitely expanded (which includes a variety of fruit which she shunned initially) and she has recently been weaned from the bottle. The only part of her that hasn’t grown much are her tiny feet!

In the past few months, Lilah’s attachment to Brad and Quinn has hugely improved. She now sees her dad and brother as a couple of goofballs who love to make her giggle. There is no better sound in the world than when Lilah belly laughs. It is contagious!

On the social front, Lilah and I joined a toddler co-op group about a month ago and she has already made a few friends. She loves all of the activity and keeps herself very busy when we are there.

Lilah’s language has definitely progressed. Half the time we don’t quite understand what she is saying, but she will “talk” to just about anyone: the checker at the grocery store, anyone behind us in line, other moms and dads at the Co-op, etc. She seems very proud of herself.

Life is good these days. Sometimes I have those moments when I think to myself, How could anyone be forced to abandon a child, especially this bright, loving, beautiful, funny little girl? Quinn said to me on Chinese New Year’s Day, with tears in his eyes, “ Mom, last year on Chinese New Year we didn’t have Lilah and now we do. I like being a big brother.” Of course, now the tears were flowing on my part.

The past 6 months have not gone by without struggle. We have definitely had some rough times, have survived on little sleep, and have had our patience tested. With all of that said, we have grown in so many ways as a family. Let us only hope that the next 6 months brings us many more adventures!