It has been 4 years today that we finally held our little Madeline. What a four years it has been….mostly absolute joy in raising her yet many rocky times as she has dealt with learning to completely trust us after not being cared for as an infant in the way a child NEEDS to be cared for…..breaks my heart.
the first picture we saw of her
So tiny, our guess is that she was about 2 months old in this pic
Our very first glimpse of our Madeline
Taking her in my arms, look at that stare down……what we soon learned was how she took every little thing in….does this now, does not miss one little thing!
I was in love immediately…she is such a precious little soul
Here she is with her Daddy, who was scared to death of John David the first few months (it was always kind of a joke as to what he thought a little baby could do, he just did not think he could fix it), he never flinched with this sweet baby:)
Red couch pic
Madeline has come such a long way in these four years. From not sleeping through the night for a few years, yes that is correct a few YEARS, she is a master sleeper. That is unless Mommy did not put her to bed. If I am not home for some reason and Daddy or a babysitter put her to bed she is by my bed at 2 am asking for Mommy to cuddle with her:) NEVER FAILS! She needs consistency, transition is hard……..but she has come such a long way during the past years……
The past few months we have seen her run and throw herself into her teachers arms, run up to her friends with joy, want to go with her sister somewhere by herself, freely hugging and kissing us, randomly telling us that she loves us……..what seems normal to other parents is miraculous to us, brings tears to her Mommy and Daddy’s eyes when she does these things as we were worried that we may not see this. SHE is a miracle of God. She is overcoming her fear and lack of trust……..as a 10 month old she was hesitant to trust and remained so until recently…not so much with me and Hank but with her brothers, sisters, friends, family ect. I see much of that hesitancy gone now….get glimpses of it, but not as often. She has learned that she is loved and we can be trusted……an answer to many prayers said by her Mommy and Daddy. Our desire for Madeline is for her to love and live with abandon…to know that God loves her as the child he made her to be!
On to her gifts….when we were in China I bought her a gift to open each year on her family day. I went through them a month ago and realized I need more gifts that are appropriate when she is older…so she is getting 2 this year and I will shop again when we go get Janie:)
Happy family day sweet girl. We love you as big as the sky and the clouds, with a cherry on top….and chocolate sauce, kit kats,,,ect she adds more each night:)
Happy Family Day!! What a sweet, sweet baby Miss Madeline was! Can you even believe its been four years!?!?! We are about to celebrate our THIRD and it just doesnt feel like it could have possible been three years ago that we met 🙂
LOVE the gifts from China!! I cant wait to go shopping on Shamian!! Wish we were going together!
Ohhh, is that a new tea set? Does this mean I'll be getting rainbow tea on Sunday!?