To Tell of His GRACE: Kaylee's First Doctor Visit

We took Kaylee to her first doctors appointment today. Dr. Martin thinks that she seems to be doing well considering how dramatically her life has changed in the last week and a half... Hard to believe that it hasn't even been 2 weeks with her yet...she is such a part of us! She had a ton of bloodwork done for all the testing they need to do :(. She did great- the second they were done she just laid on my shoulder and stopped crying right away. Dr. Martin couldn't believe how safe she seems to feel with us as he watched her get calm as soon as I held her and as he watched her "help" Brodie as he was getting her dressed after her check up (she helps by lifting her leg up to your hand when you are putting her pants on, etc) We were concerned with her diet (formula and rice cereal) and how she won't even let us put a spoon to her mouth to get her to try other foods---he thinks a couple more weeks with her being surrounded by love may make all the difference- if not we will go back to him for plan B ;)

Kaylee seems to be doing well now that we are home- maybe because we are more relaxed and comfortable??? She slept great last night! Only woke up a couple of times to climb back on top of me---this is HUGE progress- the last 6 nights before that I could barely get her to sleep and she never really got into a deep sleep until the early hours of the morning...thank you to all of you who are praying for sleep for us! We will see how she does tonight - I have been trying to get her to sleep for a few hours now and she wakes right up when I try to roll her off of me....so I thought I may as well update the blog while I try to get her to sleep ;) Brodie keeps saying, "Babe, you are so patient...I don't know how you're doing this with her never letting you put her down all day and night." Honestly, it is all Jesus and His strength and patience. I do fine as long as I set my daily expectations to 0 ... I have to keep reminding myself that this is just a season (and as my friend Jami reminded me today to just get through one day at a time). And what an important season it is for Kaylee! Her first time ever of having love and beginning to learn what love is. It is a season of allowing God to use us to cover her first years of trauma and pain. I keep hearing in my mind, "It's not spoiling - it's meeting needs." I also keep remembering God's promise that we will see His glory! We already have! Every small victory is celebrated! She spent most of yesterday with her head down on my shoulder; pretty much just shut down. Today she had her head up looking around and watching the big kids most of the day...we got a lot of high 5's, she threw the ball a lot and we even got a few smiles. Jesus is helping her to feel safe with us little by little and every little bit counts!

My mom came again today to help with laundry and watch the big kids while we went to the doctor- such a WONDERFUL blessing! She does all the things I would be doing if my hands weren't full ;)
Kaylee is making progress with Brodie- she still screams when I first hand her off (and arches her back and kicks ;). But she calmed right down this morning and laid on his shoulder while I got dressed and brushed my teeth :)

We have changed the attitude hand swipe (from the video we posted in China) to "Kaylee, blow kisses" - so if she blows a kiss from her nose, you will know why ;). We were encouraging the sassiness a little too much so we're changing it to something sweet ;)

She seems to do ok with visitors ~ she may even give a high 5 ;) Nana Carol is coming tomorrow and we are all excited to see her! We are still really just keeping her world small - so many changes for her in the last 12 days...new people, new county, new sights and smells (today we were walking our friends who stopped by out and the wind blew on her face - she wasn't quite sure what to think of that...at first it bothered her, then she thought it was funny. We just have to keep remembering that pretty much everything is new to her!)