Adding One Mohr: One Month Post Cate

Wow it's hard to believe we been a family of five for one month today. David had his first trip and was gone for a week. He returned home Friday night, late and although it was an off track sleeping day for Cate, I kept her awake to see him, she was tired, but got very excited to see her daddy she got some hugs and love then off to bed. I am one of those moms that truly believes sleep is a gift for children. John David and Wyatt were so sleep trained as toddlers they would ask for their naps when they were ready. The miles away were tough for David, being this was his first trip since returning home from China. I definitely had my hands full with singular charge of a little one who is realizing that since she wakes up here every day, surely this is her kingdom. John David and Wyatt are very helpful, but there are some things only a mom can do. Cate is an explorer, a lover and most of all a a tinkerer. She absolutely loves to study what something is, how it works and how many uses can she find for it. John David is blowing her mind with little science experiments, oh the look on her face "how do it do that? and of course there's the "let's do it again" Finally comes the "I wanna try ". The adjustments are still happening and we are still busy making a "place for Cate" in more ways than one. She is in our bedroom for now in a full size crib that was donated to our family from a complete stranger. Her clothes now have places between two rooms. She has a few things to grow into for fall mostly from the Greenberg's, Marla. I am so glad we did not go crazy, she has just enough, not too much, just enough. We live in very tight quarters and are going to need to get creative when she needs a room of her own. It is really sweet to see and hear Wyatt contemplate any upcoming changes because Cate will either share a room with him for awhile, enclose our upstairs back porch or David has even mentioned building up a story. I was getting a pedicure and talking with a man from Vietnam, he commented how little space his family lives in back home and although they have the money they are content with very few material possession, nice reminder that sometimes less means more.

We had a dinner party with a few friends, Paul, his wife Adelle and a surprise visit from Angel who just returned from Bali. Cate was great with all the people and activity, but still seemed to get a little over stimulated at times. Her coping strategies and cues are becoming more apparent to us as time goes by.

We also had our first post adoption home visit Monday, with our social worker Melissa, the visit went well and we will see Melissa again at the 6 month mark. Hague convention requires that adoptive families are followed for a minimum of five years, we couldn't ask for a better social worker to be involved in our adoption.

Cate absolutely loves water, she is a true water baby. I gave her the hose yesterday with the spray nozzle locked on low and she played with it for about an hour, reminded me off Wyatt and he loved the hose. I have pics of Wyatt doing exactly the same thing in the same front yard when we first moved to D. Street.

Attaching pics from the last few days.