SIX months HOME!

SIX months! Miss Lila Mei has been a Clemens for half a year!

6months

Can you believe the change? The first photo was taken just a couple of hours after we met her on June 29, and the picture on the right was taken today! When I look at pictures from our time in China and first month home, I can’t stop the tears. She was just so sad, so broken, covered in scabies and so tiny. Now she is smiling and thriving and happy and full of JOY. She really is the happiest kid I have ever known! Every morning she still wakes up so happy, smiling, kicking and she has even started to say “Momma, Daddy” when she wants out of her crib!

This picture represents so many things. When I asked them to sit down on the porch, she sat right down in between Chloe and Jack and grabbed their hands. SHE initiated that. She truly loves her sister and brother so much and is so good about giving them so much affection and love. I always love taking pictures of the kids on our porch. It represents home. Lila Mei has a home, her home, and a family, her family. She is no longer lonely or scared, but instead she is loved and cherished and wanted. Her smile in this picture means so much too- she feels safe, she is connecting, she is starting to feel secure.

I shared with you some challenges in my last adoption update and we are definitely still working on the same things like attachment and communication, and we will be for a very long time. BUT, this last month she has grown leaps and bounds in both areas! I think it has so much to do with just time- the longer she is home the more she trusts, the more she learns, the more we connect. I also think it has a lot to do with Trey’s and my attitude about it all- this last month we really tried to just relax and LOVE her well and not really worry about her attachment or push her in the area of communication…and it turned out to be a much better approach for all of us! This is a learning process for everyone involved, and I am thankful that I have such a great partner in Trey to process all of this with. It has definitely been challenging adding a third kid and then add to that the unknowns and challenges of adoption- and it has been a crazy six months. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way and can’t imagine our life without our sweet girl! She makes our days so much brighter!

Here are a few pictures from this last month…

{Lila Mei and her cousins Avery and Ashley were born just three weeks apart! When we got Lila’s referral and found out her birthday, we were so excited that she was so close in age to the girls!! They are going to be the best of cousins- they had so much fun together with my family for her first West Texas Christmas!}

{Lila Mei got to experience her first SNOW! She LOVED it and begged to go back outside even though her hands were soooo cold! She would sign the word outside and look out the window at her big cousins playing. I am hoping for more snow this winter so we can have more fun with her!}

{I threw this picture in to show you how crazy she is! She is always trying to make us laugh!! Oh, and that BELLY!!}

{Christmas deserves a post of its own— it was such a special time celebrating her first Christmas together! She got a Minnie Mouse and her own chair from Santa, but her favorite present was a Fisher Price Pink iPad! She didn’t let go of that thing all day!}

{These two have become quite the sisters. They love playing together and Chloe is just THE BEST big sister in the world. She is so patient with Lila Mei and is always ready to play with her and help me with “mom stuff” like diaper changes and bottles. She is going to be a good Momma one day and Lila Mei already thinks she hung the moon.}

{First pigtail! Y’all- her hair!! It has grown sooooo fast! Now when I ask her “where is your pigtail?” she will tap the top of her head. She LOVES having it in and doesn’t mess with it at all, just like her bows. Such sweetness!}

We are so thankful to have our Lila Mei with us to start 2016! She is going to make this year so much sweeter and we can’t wait for all of the fun times to be had! Happy 6 months Lila Mei!!

Comments

  1. Lillian Hernandez

    Sherry and Trey, she is so precious! She is so blessed to have you as her parents. I enjoy reading the latest of how Leila Mei is growing and progressing . She is part of one of the best families ever, with the best grandparents, aunts and cousins, not to mention siblings! I am so happy for you and hope to meet her one day soon. Love you guys!

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