What I have learned about Jordyn since my last update:
1. She LOVES her brothers. (ok, we already knew that!) When she hears them in the morning, she just about jumps out of her crib to go see them.
2. She is a bit of a drama queen if Dan doesn't say "HI" and pick her up the MINUTE he walks in the door from work. (Like palm facing out, hand over forehead, pouty lip type of drama). Is this girls?!
3. She loves shoes. She will bring me her shoes and insists on wearing them all day long. 4. She sings...A LOT. It is the first thing I hear in the morning and the last thing I hear at night.
5. She will do anything to be outside. If there is an opportunity to escape with her brothers out the back door, she will attempt it! It is a good thing that she takes about 3 minutes to get down the 2 inch step down onto the patio...otherwise she would be a free girl! ;)
6. Hide the batteries! If Jordyn sees one...right into the mouth it goes! She will even throw the remote on the floor to get the batteries out.
7. She loves to blow kisses. :)
8. She does not like getting her hair done each morning, but she loves headbands and bows being put in.
HIGHTLIGHTS from the past few months:
- Jordyn started walking!!! (at 16 months)
- She says a handful of words: shoes, Nana, Hi, Hot, "Shh," uh oh.
- She can feed herself with a fork or spoon (kind of)
- Warming up to "men." They often get the VERY cold shoulder from her and sometimes some tears.
- Eating more of a variety of foods and textures.
- Using a straw to drink.
- Getting more teeth!!!
- Growing two shoe sizes since coming home!!! Jordyn was an itty bitty size 2 when she came home and now she is rocking size 4. (I even had her feet measured when we got home. I was convinced that the size 3 shoes I had ran big.....but nope, she was just tiny).
Ups and Downs in the last 3 months:
Good ol' attachment. If you are in the "adoption world" this is a word that you hear often. Jordyn had to adapt to new caretakers a few times before coming home to us, so she knows how to go with the flow very well. Even though she was only 1 year old, she still needed to learn that we were mom and dad and that we aren't going anywhere.
I really believed that Jordyn was "doing well" in this department during the first three months. But then something changed and she seemed to be "detaching" from me...and only me. We had some big changes in our routine for about 2 weeks and I think that was one factor that triggered this change. (But I am not an expert...so it could have been a million things.) After a great 3 and a half months home, she wanted nothing to do with me and everything to do with ANYONE else.
I took this rejection personal at first and didn't even want to acknowledge it. However, it was obvious to my husband that his two girls were very sad. I didn't understand and it hurt to love her SO MUCH, show her affection, take care of her needs, and still experience her leaping out of my arms and into strangers' arms and then swatting at me when I took her back. I kept getting sick and I really think it was from the stress of trying to "fix" this with my own strength. This was something that we had prepared for before she came home, but now that we were in the middle of it, I didn't know what to do. :) Thankfully, I have an amazing husband that was willing to help in any way possible, friends who had been through this already, and more friends and family supporting us in prayer. Most of all, I have an awesome God that wasn't going to call us to this and then leave us high and dry.
After a month+ of hibernating (again) with Jordyn, I started to see positive changes. I am still careful not to push her beyond her comfort zone at this point, but we are definitely on the upswing right now. During that time of hibernation, I was trying to be at home as much as possible. I was also rocking her to sleep again each night and visiting her in the middle of the night when she would just spend hours hanging out. Most importantly, I was praying over her while she slept. We spent many mornings listening to Hillsong United's song ,Oceans. It was one of the few ways (at the time) that I could get her to relax in my arms. She would just lay her head on my shoulder and I would rock and hit repeat on the song....too many times in a row. And cry. And pray. And cry. And pray.
So many lines in this song are encouraging, but I especially love the reminder of, " my feet may fail when fear surrounds me, but You've never failed and you won't start now." God is not going to call us or you to ANYTHING and then just leave you when times get tough. I know that our journey of healing Jordyn's little heart is not over. I am just thankful that we don't have to do any of this in our own strength.
God pours out His love on us, wants to take care of our needs, be our friend, and to be our Father. He keeps loving and loving and loving us. And we keep rejecting, rejecting rejecting. I finally got to feel the hurt that my Father in Heaven feels when His children don't respond to his amazing love. Looking at it with different eyes definitely helped. And Jordyn was not trying to hurt me. She was just expressing the hurt and loss that she had already suffered.
(If you want to know more about attachment in adoption there are so many great articles and blogs out there. There are 2 that I have in mind right now, but am having a hard time locating them. AHH! :) So I will add those when I find them. But here was one that I did track down. HERE
And if you wanted more information on everything adoption, "CHOSEN" adoption ministry has an amazing Facebook page full of resources, information, and good reads. I encourage you to check it out HERE.
Happy Jordie!
Everyday life with 3 brothers......
Watching their little sister "jumping" on the trampoline.
Strutting her stuff!
Easter Egg hunt at church
Hanging out with her big brothers.
The Videon Family plus Mudge :) The matching colors were NOT planned...ha. Too funny.
Here is a short video we took for our agency's 6 month post-adoption report.
It is fun to watch how far she has come. :)
Thank you for sharing in our journey.
God is still writing our story
and I am excited to see where He takes us from here!!
It is fun to watch how far she has come. :)
Thank you for sharing in our journey.
God is still writing our story
and I am excited to see where He takes us from here!!
CANNOT believe our babies have been home for 6 months! After the months passed so slowly during the wait, half a year has flown by! She is just precious! Your words show the right attitude and faith…thanks for the reminder. We are so blessed with these little people!
ReplyDeleteMeaghan, I can't believe they've been home that long either! And at the same time, it feels like they have been a part of the family MUCH longer, right?! Thank you for your sweet words! Need to catch up some time :)
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