18 months old

It's hard to believe tomorrow, September 23, will mark four months since our arrival home from China and the first night our new family of five spent together.  What an amazing four months it has been!  Ashlynn is thriving.  We see more and more of her personality each day as she gets comfortable with our routine.  She's developing a great bond with her big brothers and us.  She melts our hearts when we tell her we love her and she throws us a kiss. 

She has hit many milestones in such a short amount of time.  Derek and Mason enjoyed marking her half birthday yesterday, September 21.  Ashlynn is now 18 months old.  She is crawling everywhere!  She continues to impress her physical therapist as she masters each new technique.  Ashlynn really wants to be walking but she's just not quite strong enough.  We know it won't be long.  We feel so blessed to be a part of this amazing transformation. 

It's a big week.  Ashlynn's lip and palate repair are scheduled for Tuesday, September 24 at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.  It's a four hour surgery and likely 3 - 4 days in the hospital.  It won't be an easy week for any of us, especially Ashlynn, but we hope she won't remember it and we know she will someday be glad we did it.  Please pray for her plastic surgeon and the medical staff to help Ashlynn through surgery and for us to help her through her first days of recovery.  We are planning to post updates on surgery day and the days that follow.  We so appreciate all the support we have received during this journey!

Here's a few of our favorite pictures of our sweet girl taken at the end of June (15 months old).

 

And here's few snap shots from the last few weeks.

First Day of School