One month home!

Kellsey has been home for one month today! She is settling in so well and getting comfortable! She has experienced SO many new things in the last month... bowling, shopping malls, trips to Wal-Mart, Target, and several restaurants, lots of car rides, CHRISTMAS!, the church kid's area, staying up until midnight for New Year's, and much more!

Overall Kellsey is fitting in well here! She is getting more and more comfortable every day. She is still not speaking many words in English, but she understands everything we say. Like any 3 year old, there are times that she follows directions, and there are times when she will look us in the eye and do the opposite of what we want with an oh so defiant look on her face! HA! She is testing her limits and learning her place in the family.

Kellsey is eating MUCH better! We've found lots of stuff that she loves now and she looks forward to meal time immensely! We have noticed that she's slimmed down some though, probably because she's not eating so many carbs and starches like she did in the orphanage. She is also finally drinking more! It took awhile, but we finally found a cup she loves. She prefers water to anything, which is fine by us!

Our hardest time continues to be night time. She goes to bed easily and goes right to sleep, but she still wakes up in the middle of the night most nights and rolls around and scratches on her bed and just makes a lot of noise. If we tell her to stop, she will, for about 15 minutes or so, but she's often awake up to two hours. It's hard, but we're praying it's a short lived phase.

Kellsey loves any toy that involves music and she loves to sing songs. As soon as she hears music she will start dancing. She has the cutest dance which involves just bopping her head to the beat and not moving her body at all. We now call this "The Kellsey" and we all do it often! HA! I'll have to try to get it on video soon. She knows the hand motions to "itsy bitsy spider" and is learning to point out all her body parts.

Kellsey is very affectionate towards us. She loves to give hugs and kisses. She loves to lay in someone's lap and have her head rubbed. If we make her mad though, or if she gets into trouble, she will roll her eyes at us. It was cute the first few days... now... not so much! HA! Pretty sure she'll be rolling those beautiful eyes at us forever.

The kids are all adjusting great! Kennedy is very loving toward Kellsey... she gives her lots of hugs and kisses and dotes on her often. We still say, "Stop petting her!" a lot! LOL She still gets frustrated that Kellsey won't play babies with her, but that day is coming, I'm sure!

Keeghan and Kellsey love to play with their musical toys and run all over the house making a mess together. They also love to fight over the same toy at the same time! HA! Many times though, Keeghan will give a toy to Kellsey and proudly say, "We're SHARING, Mommy!"

Kassidy is the ultimate awesome big sister. Kellsey already thinks the sun rises and sets in her. She watches Kassidy closely and looks up to her a lot. Kassidy is always available for lots of hugs, kisses and love... and sometimes she'll even share her iPod ;).

Kameron is the fun, goofy one. He'll wrestle with Kellsey and tickle her and make her laugh... when she's had enough though she is sure to let him know! They take each other on in small doses! :)

In some ways it feels like Kellsey just got home and in others it feels like she's been part of our family forever! I am so thankful she is here, even when I'm exhausted from no sleep, it's ALL worth it! I can't wait to see how she grows in the next year!