Five months at home

     Wow--Lily Kate has been a part of our family for five months now.  We are amazed at all the changes in her (and us as a family) since we first met her in China in early July.  She is such a sweet, vivacious, lively, happy, and beautiful little girl.  She fits into our family perfectly and we love watching her grow everyday.
     At the end of September, she had surgery to repair her cleft palette.  It was a huge surgery and we were thrilled with how little pain she had in the days after the surgery.  The biggest difficulty we all faced was that she could not eat any solids for three and a half weeks.  She could only eat what could fit into a syringe.  That was a very tough time for all of us but we made it through.  Basically--nobody ate in front of her.  Luckily, all the sacrifice was worth it because the palette healed great and she is beginning to talk, even in short phrases.  Her favorite thing to do is yell at the dog.  It was hard for her to form words prior to surgery because of the hole in the roof of her mouth.
     For Halloween, she was Little Red Riding Hood.  Drew was supposed to be the Wolf but whenever he put on his costume, Lily Kate cried.  It did not go over well.  She did, however, love the concept of Halloween.  She loved getting lots of candy!!!
    For Thanksgiving, we took Lily Kate on her first cruise.  She is beginning to get a little bossy and she thought she was in charge of the entire ship.  Her favorite thing to do was be in charge of the elevator doors, pressing the open and close buttons constantly, in between her six meals a day, of course-LOL.  All joking aside, she had a great time.  She even kissed a dolphin.
     We look forward to our first Christmas as a "party of five."  This past weekend we took her to see Santa.  She was so excited about the candy canes that she "forgot" to cry.  We could not ask for a better gift this year than our new daughter.  We look forward to seeing Christmas through her eyes.   Merry Christmas to all!!!!