A few thoughts and my "AHhhHa" moment

So, grab a cup of coffee/tea (whichever is your drink), cookie, muffin, cake (whichever is your treat), etc and settle in as this post is a bit lengthy.

I was catching up on blogs this evening and was reading about how one of my dear friends' was reminiscing through the progress her daughter has made in these past 5 months that they have had her and it made me think. Today, Abigail is 14 months old and when I think back just 2 months ago when we were celebrating her 1st birthday with her in China...well let's just say you would hardly recognize the little sweetheart that we have living in our home now.

I was reminded yesterday from a friend of mine just how far Abigail has come in the 10 weeks that she has been a part of our family. From that little girl who would resist physically from being hugged, screaming bloody murder for diaper/clothing changes, refusing to look either hubby or me in the eye during her first few days with us ~ to the little girl who smiles and giggles peeking around the corner at us, can no longer stand to crawl anywhere and insists on walking, lays her head on my chest for a snuggle, waves and says "bye-bye" at the appropriate moment, waves "hi" when greeted. She IS making great progress! She IS finding her family! She IS home!


After her nap today she wanted to look at pictures I have on the wall (totally normal as she is captivated by photos). She kept saying "Nah, Nah" and I couldn't understand what she was meaning so I got up close to the photo and said "Okay Abigail, what are you saying". She pointed to her brother Minie (Noah) and again said "Nah, Nah". I was shocked as I praised her for getting it right and trying to say his name! So I decided to test her a little and asked her where Mommy (MaMa) was? She looked around at the photos and then took her little hand and patted my chest and said "mama"! I screamed (with her in my arms of course), danced, twirled, cheered as it was the first time she associated "mama" with me. Talk about a defining moment ~ total elation. She IS my daughter.

So...now for my "AHhhh HA" moment. We had just finished dinner and I began to clean up the dishes when I had to stop because baby girl was being herself and getting into things. I distracted her and steered her to her toys, returning to my dish duty. Only minutes later she is at the back door playing with the blinds and it hit me! My dinner dishes have not been getting done each night as it is quite the challenge to do anything productive when baby girl is around! So here I stand with my mouth hanging open and my thoughts would go like this, "how dumb can you be. Do you realize you have 4 able bodied family members in your house right now doing who knows what (as they seemed to vanish after dinner) and you are stuck here doing dish and baby duty. NOT!!! Get a clue and get some help.!" So I scoop up baby girl and head to Mynies bedroom where him and Meanie are playing on the computer and I say, "I have 2 choices for you boys. First, you can wash, dry and put away the dinner dishes or Second, you can watch baby girl." I will let you all guess which option they chose. I could not believe I had been so dense all these weeks since I've been home. Don't get me wrong the boys are great at helping out with her when needed and even when not. I suppose I thought it was my job to do so I didn't ask anyone else to take it.

BUT, it's a whole new world now. Need to make lunch ~ "okay boys, you have 2 choices..."