2 Months With Laila

Two full months.

62 days this little girl has been with her forever family.

And what an amazing two months it has been!!

 

From frightened, grieving baby to happy, joyful little firecracker with one heck of a stubborn streak!

She is just such a little firecracker!! We are still figuring her out a little bit more day by day...

 

Her smile is BIG!! It can just light up a room!! :)
She gives hugs & kisses to everyone in the family.

Knows the first two lines of our 'night night' song.

Loves to take a bath.

Loves to have Mommy fix her hair, but prefers Daddy for getting dressed, putting pajamas on, and for 'eeeee' (brushing her teeth).

Has a preferred person to put her shoes on (still calling them "zee hihi"), but will really allow anyone to do it so that she doesn't have to.

Follows Mommy around at the busiest moments insisting she needs picked up.

Enjoys playing with both Katie & Chengbin.
Chooses someone who should help her eat at each meal because seriously, it is too much work to feed herself ALL of it... lol

Does NOT want to take naps (but still needs to).

And if any of these things she enjoys aren't handled to her exact princess specifications she WILL let you know about it.  And if you try to make her take a nap the same... Cue the scream then tantrum. ;)

 

Daycare is finally starting to get better after three weeks.  She's become more secure that Mommy will come back.  She also got a new teacher that she really likes this week so I think that is helping.

Thalassemia treatment is going well.  She has received three transfusions since coming home and her body is starting to settle into them so that she can soon go to a 3 week transfusion schedule.  We've also seen the pediatrician to get our oh, so many referrals and had an echo & EKG for her heart.  So far, we know that this little one is teeny, tiny and delayed yet is also smart and capable.  Most of her delays are due to the extreme exhaustion that comes with non-transfused thalassemia major.  When every breath is a struggle, things like walking & talking become far less important.  Her Nanny clearly loved her and carried her around, knowing that she was just too tired to do much else.  We are SO grateful she's home!! 

We still have eyes, ears, endocrine, physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, & a trip to Atlanta's blood disorders clinic to go... (Sigh). We just want to make sure we are covering all our bases to ensure she is tracked and intervention can be made, if necessary, to help her reach her full potential.  In the meantime we are enjoying family time, keeping life small, and enjoying getting to know this sweet little girl.

 

And language, I know many people have asked us if she talks and what she can say...

Well- she can repeat almost anything word for word, but so far speech has come slowly.  She knows most of what we say, but only expresses a few words on her own...

Her favorite is 'no' (of course), but she also says bath, shoes, hot, kitty, hi, up please,  bye bye, & see you soon.  She is starting to say more words just over the last few days.

We are blessed!!!  Amazingly blessed!!!  And wondering what God is up to with this little one.  What plans does he have for her?  I have no doubt they are going to be great!!

Happy two months of forever baby girl!!  Your forever family loves you SOOO much!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Fannie, Matt, & the Wilks Kiddos

Day Five: A trip to Beihai

Wednesday in Nanning was our opportunity to visit Laila's orphanage and the place she was placed by her Mama to be found.

We took the speed train to her town, a beach town in Guangxi province known as Beihai.

We took a trip to Walmart to buy supplies for the orphanage.  We were also very happy to give them all the supplies you guys sent! The asst director said the kids LOVE the gummy vitamins. :)

We weren't allowed to go into the orphanage but the asst director walked us around the grounds and we were able to talk about how our girl was in the orphanage vs what she had been like since we got her. It was very insightful

And we were glad we had the opportunity to visit.

We also got a chance to say goodbye to one of her nannies. She was very nervous and unsure but posed for a picture.

Next we went to see where she was left to be found.  It was a beautiful place & we are so glad we have that history for her one day when she's older.

It was a long & tiring day!  We are so blessed to have this little one with us!! We were told she was the only child with thal in her orphanage so we were very glad God put me in just the right place to bring her home as our daughter where she will get all the medical care she needs.

Night night from Guangxi!!

Fannie, Matt, & Laila

Day Three: Laila Day!!

We arrived in Nanning after another flight delay- this one was over 2 hours and got into our hotel just in time to go to bed.


So Monday morning before heading to the Civil Affairs office to get Laila, Matt & I decided to go get a little “area fam” as we call it.  We found the important things- toys/baby supply store & a great coffee shop.  We grabbed a couple things that Laila might be into, spent an hr or so of relaxing at the coffee shop, then headed back to get things ready to pick up Laila.

We headed over to the office where we would get her, and to be honest, we were a little more nervous than last year without Katelynn there to just be a kid.  Kids are always less threatening than grown ups! Haha!  Either way, it was time, so we went into the office, filled out paperwork, and waited for Laila to arrive.

This week only 3 families were picking up their children.  Not sure if this is just due to the National Holiday in China and lack of consulate appts or not…

Finally we saw her walk into the child playroom with her Nanny.  We gathered our cameras quickly and it was time to sign papers & get our girl.

She was EXTREMELY unsure about us.  Nothing made her wanna play with us- not bubbles, not my little ponys, not even a sucker.  Our stubborn little one stood there completely unwilling to be friends with her new Mama & Baba.  So it came time to just grab her up & hope for the best.  Mama picked her up and she SCREAMED.  And SCREAMED.  And CRIED.  And tried to push that Mama away.  Poor Baby, who could blame her???  But after Mama was the bad guy who took her away and wouldn’t let her go, she suddenly decided that Baba must be better than Mama.  So she put her hands out for Baba and immediately started to calm down as he grabbed her up.

We headed back to the hotel to settle in and try to help our girl adjust to her new parents.  She continued to take comfort in Baba, though another fit and tears occurred as our guide went to leave the room.  After a few hours we decided to take her down for some dinner.  It was risky, but we thought the change of pace & familiar food might help her.  We’d been told by the orphanage staff that she loves to eat meat, so it was worth a shot.

We went down, sat her in her chair,  and as she looked around at all the people eating she starting dancing in her chair.  She was excited about this!!  We even saw a glimpse of a smile…

Back at the room she finally asked for Mommy & I was more than happy to rock her to sleep.  SO THANKFUL God sent us here to bring home this precious little peanut.  And as she woke us up every couple hours crying & screaming as she'd wake up in our bed and realize where she was, I found myself even more grateful that she didn't have to wait another minute or day in her temporary home.  That she was here in our arms, and while her adjustment will be difficult and has been traumatic, she is now with her forever family.  She doesn't have to worry about when her whole life will change again- at three years old she finally has the gift of a forever family!!

Please continue to pray for our sweet girl.  As much as her orphanage's Half the Sky program is a tremendous blessing, it is also what makes the transition difficult.  She had a grandma who came & played and cared for her every day.  She loved that special lady very much.  This means she knows how to bond and attach to us, but it also means she grieves the sudden loss of her grandma.  We sent her a photo album back in early April, but we found out that she never received it.  She wasn't prepared for us the way we had hoped she had been.  So keep your prayers coming for our sweet little one.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fannie, Matt, & Laila