8 Months Today!!!

I woke up this morning, glanced at the calendar and realized that today, January 22, marks exactly 8 months since we arrived home in the US with Savannah! I can hardly believe that our sweet baby has been home with us for 8 months, that's over half of a year and soon, we will be celebrating her second birthday! I cannot wait until the day when we can say that she's been home with us for over a year! Since Savannah came home on May 22, she has really blossomed into an amazing little toddler, although I will always refer to her as my baby girl! My 4-year-old, Mackenzie, is also my baby girl....forever! Here are some major milestones that Savannah has accomplished in the past 8 months since arriving home:

*She learned to crawl after just 3.5 weeks home! When we picked her up in Guatemala, she could only sit and roll over, but she was nowhere near being able to crawl!

*She went almost straight from crawling to walking and began taking her first steps after about 3.5 months...she was about 15.5 months old when she began pulling up & walking around furniture, and it wasn't long after that when she was able to walk fully unassisted! I think her desire to follow Mackenzie around the house was a real motivation for her!

*When she came home at almost 1 year old, she only had 2 small little teeth poking through on the bottom. Now, she has 4 on the bottom, 4 on the top, and is working on getting her first set of molars! She is such a trooper though and you would never know it when she is cutting teeth, unless you take a chance and stick your finger in her little mouth and risk being bitten!! She definitely has sharp little teeth!

*Savannah has learned an entire new language! In Guatemala, she only heard Spanish for her first year of life. It was obvious that she fully comprehended Spanish when we brought her home and she wasn't so sure about the English. Now, she fully understands everything we say to her in English (I think she has also retained some of her Spanish language too, because if she hears a song in Spanish or someone speaks to her in Spanish, then she looks up at me and sort of turns her head like she's trying to say, "did you get that too, mom?").

*She is starting to say a few words in English. When she came home 8 months ago, the only word we could understand was "mas" (Spanish for "more") and she would always use this word at meal times. She now says: mama, dada, dog dog, baba, baby, again, please, thank you, nana, papa, me too (whenever Kenzie is getting something to eat, Savannah will run up to me and say "me too," it's so cute), night night, hi, bye, chicken. She has also said these words, although not in my presence: uncle & green bean. Her vocabulary is broadening every day...we think she is capable of saying a lot more, but for some reason, she chooses not to speak very often! She's getting better though!

*She has transitioned from eating very little solid food and being on formula & a bottle, to eating big people food and drinking milk from a sippy cup! We waited until she was 18 months old before taking away the bottle though because we wanted her to have some extra time to adjust to all of the changes in her life! Then, one day, we just stopped offering the bottle and only gave her a sippy cup....she didn't even fuss (except for a couple of occasions at night time when she obviously preferred to drink her water from a bottle for the soothing factors!).

*She has grown quite a bit in the past 8 months. When she arrived home, she was barely 18 pounds and she has now grown to almost 21 pounds! She's also grown a couple of inches taller, although I cannot remember he exact height when she came home until now. There were a couple of months this past fall where she had actually dropped weight, which caused the doctors some concern, but at her last appointment, she had gained weight again! She is still super tiny for her age, but she's just perfectly proportioned for her little self! She's now moved up to almost the 10th percentile for her height and weight and her head is still so tiny that it's not actually on our American charts! She also has the tiniest little feet & hands, and even my 8 month old niece is almost as big as Savannah now! At almost 20 months old, she's still wearing mostly 12 month size clothes, but she also has a few 18 months that fit nicely as well (that will give you an idea on how small she really is!) She fits in perfectly with our family though because we are all "small" people!!

*She loves animals now! When she came home in May, she was deathly afraid of our little dog, Newman. And, now, they are the best of friends! Dog dog was one of her first words in English too! She will now chase him around and play and giggle with him as she takes his toys. She also loves to walk up to him and give him a big hug! It's really adorable!

*She has bonded/attached herself so well to our family that most people are shocked when they hear that she has only been home with us for a few months and that she came home at almost a year old (just 5 days shy of her birthday). To be honest, we were very worried at the time, that she wouldn't bond well with us since she was so much older than we had originally hoped. When we started the process, most babies were coming home at 4-6 months of age. Looking back on things, we can see that God's timing was perfect though (as it always is) and that he brought Savannah home to us at the ideal time. We know that He had a purpose for her life in Guatemala for those almost 12 months, and we are thankful that she was able to live with an amazing foster family in her birth country for the time that she did! God truly blessed us with her foster mom, it was something we had always prayed for, that Savannah would be loved and well cared for in Guatemala and God truly answered our prayers! We still stay in touch with her foster family and we send them pictures of Savannah all the time! We hope to always remain in contact and we hope to one day reunite Savannah with her first family in Guatemala! They will always hold a special place in our hearts!

*As I'm typing this blog post, I'm holding my little bundle of joy on my lap as she catches a few more minutes of sleep before waking up for the day. Sometimes I can hardly believe that she's actually home with us. The pain of the process truly does disappear the moment your child is placed in your arms forever. All of the waiting and not knowing is erased and those uncertain feelings are replaced with pure joy and contentment in knowing that it was God who ordained that very moment in time to be your "forever family day!"

As I finish up this post, I am reminded of the fact that God is in control of every aspect of our lives. So often, we want to take control of things ourselves, and when we do, we often screw everything up and cause more pain and stress on ourselves. I am so thankful for the lessons God taught me through our adoption journey. I know that I would not have learned these lessons any other way than by experiencing adoption. He taught me so much about myself and about trusting in Him completely, and for that I am thankful!

Thank you God for all of my answered prayers and even for those that were not, because through it all, you taught me to be more like you and to trust you more completely with my life! Thank you for the journey of adoption and for allowing me to experience another miracle! I praise you for my 2 little miracles and I thank you for choosing me to be their mother. I know I don't deserve this honor, but I am forever grateful for the time you've given me to raise them here on Earth. I will do my best to raise them in Your ways and teach them to love You with their whole hearts! Whatever the future may holds, I thank you for the present that is today!