The Dynamic Duo at Play

Life is a whirlwind and I am trying to keep up with these girls.  Sometimes I feel like I have lost control of my life.  The house is a pit, my work desk is piled high with papers and I know there is something at the bottom of each pile that I have missed a deadline on.  :(  My hair goes unwashed for days and there are days I don't get a chance to even "think" of sitting down to relax, except to sit here at my desk and work at my job and grab a few minutes to blog and facebook while I am suppsoed to be working! 

Somehow in spite of this mommy's crazed state, Noelle is a happy girl. ;D  She is bonding and attaching very well with all of us, especially me.  I pretty much have to rock her at night now every night and that means working at my job until 2 or 3 a.m. after I lay her in the bed.  She sleeps through the night and I cannot remember the last time she woke crying.  Our sleeping situation:  Wayne and Emma over on the full bed mattress that we have layed by our king bed to make one super size king bed - then Noey on 3/4 of the king bed and me on 1/4 of it off to the other side of Noelle.  The girls are "together" in the bed.  It works well.  I am guessing we probably won't start trying to transition the girls into their bed in their room until after the first of next year.  In the mornings after Wayne gets out of bed, I will awake to find Emma by my side.  Noey will wake up around 7 a.m. and her and I play - she is a happy one in the mornings, that is unless her and Emma get into a tussle over who gets to lie by Mommy.  Then since I have only had 4 or 5 hours of sleep by that time, I pick up Noelle and carry her to the stairs with my eyes half open - yell "Wayne!" and sometimes Noey will yell "Aaayyyne!" also - lol - Wayne who has been up working since about 5 will come and get Noelle from my zombie arms and I crawl back into bed and Emma and I doze for another hour or two.  Craziness right but it works for us!

Noelle does mouth words back to us all the time but when you ask her to specifically say a word, she will not do that - she just mouths words randomly out of the blue, but still no sentences or words put together - just words and sounds.  She knows what everything means - I said the other day as I was holding her, "What's that on the floor?" talking to myself and she looked down immediately to look for what I was talking about. 

She is physically STRONG, a little bulldozer as I describe her.  Elle has gained 4 pounds since bringing her home and you can sure see it and feel it - she now has about 3 chins and she is heavy to carry!  Compare that to Emma who barely gained 2 pounds in that same amount of time upon bringing her home.  Noelle has become a picky eater after discovering that she can get all the food she wants, any kind of food she wants, any time she wants.  Sigh.  I would have to say that Emma is a better eater than she is now and that's not saying much!  Ha.  Emma is 27 pounds at 4 years of age and Noelle is now 24 pounds.  Hello.

As for the sibling rivalry - some days good and some days bad.  Sometimes Emma can be a little beastie to her sister and other days it brings tears to my eyes watching her play and take care of Noelle.  No matter what, they will be there for one another when they are grown, whether they believe that or not when they are younger.  "Blood" is thicker than water.  :D

"Elle" is also mentally strong and I am constantly amazed at her pretty smooth transition into her new family after spending 19 months in a huge institution.  Of course we know there will be/are problems because of her life's beginnings. 

It is not a happily ever after scenario when you adopt which a lot of people do not realize.  Of course is it happily ever after with anything?  Really?  No.

Noey has brought such joy to our family AND a lot more work for this Mommy.  It is so worth it.

 Whatever Sissy does, Noey does.

 It's Daddy tummy tickling time!!

 Emma has a cuteness and a beauty all her own.

 Look at the divot in her upper cheek!  Adorable.  She also has shallow dimples on both lower cheeks which are hard to see.

 Cuteness personified and photos don't do her justice.  We have people gasping and saying "Oh my goodness, how cute is she?" which of course bothers me for Emma but that is how it goes with little ones in a family - I remember the same thing going on with my nephews - people would gush over Zach when he was 2 years old and poor Josh would stand there like "What about me?"  Broke my heart.  It does't help the sibling rivalry thing one bit!

 Noelle has now surpassed Miles by weighing 1 more pound than his 23.  :D

 Noey had her first dentist appointment and as I suspected, her bottom jaw is out a bit and her bottom teeth come further out that her top teeth but not by much.  The pediatric dentist said that this can be fixed with spacers and braces someday without surgery, but I wonder.  Sadly what I think this is from is Noey having a constant state of distress in the orphanage where she would cry and put that bottom jaw out.  Oh man that just stabs me in the heart thinking about it.