Whew! What a whirlwind! Every day is a crazy adventure here at the Smith house. Life as we know it, is vastly different than before we boarded our plane to Korea! I have struggled with my desire to embrace it and the reality that every moment with 3 toddlers just is not always embraceable. Not a huge surprise, but does take some getting used to. While this is the honest truth of what I, as mom(who has, for some reason, set the bar really high for myself) am grappling with, we have made so much progress in 2 months. In honor of this milestone, I have some awards to give out!
Let's start with...
Most Improved- :) That award would go to.....
our Sophie girl! The last two weeks have just been great for her(and this Mama). The tantrums that were so frequent and came with screaming that could bust an ear drum are no more. She will still whine and cry but not nearly as much and at a much more tolerable tone. Since Harrison has become the aggressor, :( 95% of her aggression towards him has stopped. She will go to Brandon about 1 out of every two attempts at he or I initiating their interaction.
This is HUGE! I have a feeling she is going to be a Mama's girl through and through and I can't really complain about that!
She understands SOOO much. She is just so so smart. I can send her to the trash can with a diaper, ask her to pick up something she threw off of her plate from the dinner table, to wipe her hands, to bring me my keys, or to put her blanky in her bed and she's got it!!
Whiz kid for sure! She cherishes any one and one time that she can get. Even doctors appointments!
Her English is incredible, in my humble opinion. Here are some of her words:
tate to (thank you), Mama-Mommy-Mom-Ma (she LOVES to call my name just so I'll look at her and smile...like it is so cool that she can get my attention with that word (i really do LOVE it too) and she also likes to play the Sophie Says: "Maaaaaaama" and Mama Says: "Soooooophie" back and forth game. She also says, Myna(Mya our dog), open, Kay (ok), bye bye, cookie, cracker, eat, juice, milk, please, help, hold me, up, please, keys, ipad, Daddy, Greer, poo poo, shew!, mine, play, lud you (love you), stop, bath, night night, uh oh, teeth (she loves to brush her teeth!), bow, no, nack(snack), i-cream, piper (diaper). I know there are many I've forgotten. If I ask her to repeat it, she will do so, but these are the ones she uses spontaneously.
She and I are in a good good place!!!!
I am so thankful, I can't say I wasn't worried for a brief period there. She just needed me to be her reassurance there for a bit and it was so hard to have to share me when it was such a desperate time for her.
The next award goes to, our Prince of Personality….
our Greer baby!! He is doing so well. He is our easy peasy lemon squeezy child! Every day, he does something new. It does take us pulling it out of him....but as long as we are making the effort, he is putting out results.
I am so proud of him and know that when we get him into therapy(soon) he will blow us away! His daddy has been the apple of his eye from day 1!!!
We went for vision testing today and all was clear! We went to the neurologist last Tuesday and he gave us the diagnosis of the type of Cerebral Palsy that Greer has.
He said not to weigh too much on it, but that it gives us a starting place for all that needs to take place to get him the help he needs.
He was very hopeful with regard to Greer and his development. It was such a relief since WE ARE TOO!! Greer loves to eat, be the recipient of attention, babble, ride in the stroller, laugh at his sister and brother, and to be in motion.
This next award goes to….. our Biggest Trooper…
our Harrison!! He handled it well for as long as he could. I think that he has had the hardest time over the last few weeks. He has been sick, for one, and on steroids (Lord help me!)
and Sophie had put him through the ringer and he just had enough. Between him being sick and "getting Sophie back" it has been rough. This is a session of “attachment therapy” I created just for the two of them.
They could have that sweet treat but only if they held hands while enjoying it! 
oh and there is this one where I just bribed them to hug with a drink of my tea
I can't allow Harrison to be mean to Sophie just like I didn't allow her to do it to him, but it is so hard for me to see him struggle and so hard for me to not feel a ton of guilt for the new expectations we (necessarily) have for him.
Life was pretty sweet for him two months ago and I miss that for him. There are new patches of sweetness for him now though.
He loves Greer like NO OTHER! Every morning he wakes up and asks "where brudda" or "where Ohpa" He holds his hand every car ride
and earlier this week, we went to eat lunch with him at preschool and he was so proud to have Greer there!! He was rubbing on him an exclaiming...."Gree-dah" hugging him and kissing him!!! I teared up!! He even shared his chair with Sophie which must have been for his teacher’s benefit.
if Greer crys (which is rare) He runs to him and pats him and says "it okay brudda" He has moments where he tolerates Sophie and I adore the way he calls her "Fophie!" It is THE sweetest thing. I think and hope that Harrison will adjust to our new normal soon.
It is just his turn to have an adjustment period.
The award for Most Accommodating goes to BRANDON!!
He has worked his tail off at work. He is staying until close all month at work (that is until 6pm people!) so that he could put major focus toward reaching some goals with his crew. He does that and comes straight home to help me finish up whatever is left to do for the evening with the kids and the house.
He is all hands on deck for the weekends and is very level headed ...which balances me out *most* of the time!! He is everything I hoped he would be as a father and then some! Saturday, he napped with Harrison and when he woke up, I told him he had 5 minutes to get out of the house for a night "off" before I changed my mind! I wanted him to have some down time!! 5 minutes after he left I was convinced that I was crazy, but I wanted to do that for him!!
and the last award….Most Likely to Succeed ONE DAY- that is this Mama!!
I can feel the progress as I adjust too. I can do it…I'm caring for them day to day(laundry, keeping the house up, and the car not looking like a garbage can is a different story) I am getting places….even to the grocery and to the doctor with the 3 of them. My goal is to move forward doing so with more love, more patience, and more ease! I am being grown and stretched in new ways. Like all mothers, I just want to be good at this, not ok at it, not just getting through each day….really and truly doing a job that I can be most proud of.
Through all of this, the Lord has been faithful to sustain me ....
Sophie exclaims, "mommy!!!" with a sparkle in her eye, that makes all my work with her worth it.
Greer puts 3 blocks in the cup and takes them back out, that fuels my dedication to help him thrive and grow !
Harrison and I sneak away for some one on one time where he can be himself and get my full attention, that relieves some of the guilt I have for rocking his world.
Brandon and Harrison are napping and I find them like this....(one of the only ways Harrison would sleep on his steroids)
and my love for Brandon grows EVEN more!
Someone hands Brandon a generous check, last week, and prays over him and our family just as we were starting to feel overwhelmed and that is a perfect God Wink. He's got this. This is HIS plan for all 5 of us and we are blessed to be following it!
