Happy 4 months!

Our sweet baby girl is 4 months old today! I so wish we could be celebrating that with her in person. I keep thinking about all the milestones we are missing out on as we wait for court. All of her little firsts that I want to share with her. I am missing all her babyness (spell check is telling me that's not a word). It's funny though because I never imagined I would care about that. When we received her referral it came as a little bit of a shock to us that she was so young. The whole time we were on the wait list I had been preparing myself for and expecting a toddler so I honestly wasn't quite sure what to make of an infant. But now that we have a 4 month old I wouldn't change it for the world! Oh how I wish for time to stop so that she stays the same until we can go get her.

Yesterday we received our first developmental update from Gladney. This really made our day because we had been worried about some of the milestones she was not achieving. I know it's normal for these kids to be somewhat behind developmentally, but that still doesn't make me worry any less. Additionally, we know that her medical condition can put pressure on her brain and lead to delays. Much to our amazement, in the six weeks since her last assessment, she has met so many new milestones and has far exceeded our expectations! She smiles, laughs, and squeals with delight now. It makes my heart so happy to hear that!

We also received our first updated picture of our cutie from Gladney yesterday. All our previous pictures were over a month old and she has definitely changed quite a bit in that time. I thought she had chubby cheeks before; but oh my goodness, somehow they got even chubbier! I don't think I've seen an Ethiopian baby with such smooshy cheeks :) They make me smile and I love them!! At least we can be sure she is well nourished!