3 Lloyd Boys and Our Journey To Mayleigh Wei: It's been awhile....

Life has hit a new level of crazy around here so I apologize for not keeping up very well with the blog. Since we found out we are moving we have been spending a lot of weekends in Chicago looking for houses. We also have our house on the market so you can just imagine showing a house with 4 kids. We have been lucky and have had a lot of showings but that means a lot of cleaning. It has been exhausting!

I am excited to say the house hunt is officially over!!! The long days of being in the car for hours and dragging Mayleigh in and out of houses is done. (the boys stayed with family but she is not ready to be away from us all day yet) As much of a pain as it was dragging her into 28 houses (one weekend), she did so great!!! We started off not really knowing which suburb we wanted to be in. There were so many choices. After doing research on trains to the city and the length of time Jeff's commute would be, we decided against Naperville. We originally thought that is where we would end up. After being in the Wheaton/Glen Ellyn area, we fell in love. It is such a cute area. I swear every single street you drive down is full of charm! Both Wheaton and Glen Ellyn have the cutest downtowns. The two suburbs are basically right next to each other and at times seem to intersect. Glen Ellyn has great schools and that was very important too!

I had a certain vision for what I thought our new house would be like. BIG yard like we have now, newer house, big neighborhood with lots of kids running around, etc. But after being in Glen Ellyn, Jeff and I started to see a different way of living that could be an exciting change. A TINY yard, a detached, yes I said DETACHED garage (WHAT AM I THINKING!) :) a house that is a little older with lots of charm, and not really a neighborhood. We are about 5 min. walk to the downtown, the library is just about 20 steps from our front door and Jeff will walk most of the days to the train station. When we were deciding on this house Jeff said, "how cool will it be when you and the kids can come down and greet me when I get off the train and we can all walk home together." We are excited about that!

But this is going to be a HUGE lifestyle change for us. My kids are used to an acre lot right now where they are riding on jeeps and tractors all over and having TONS of space to play. We live on a quiet culdesac now and I feel 100% comfortable with the kids playing outside alone (with me checking on them frequently of course). But now the kids will not be in the front playing and only will have a small space in the back. We will have to get used to walking to the park more and not having a neighborhood to play with other kids. The houses behind us have play sets and I do hope the kids meet other kids. It is just going to be walking them to friends houses until they are older...not just running there through the grass like they do now on their own! It is for sure going to take some time getting used to it but we are looking forward to walking to the downtown on Sat. mornings to the Farmers market or walking to Einstein Bagels which is about a 3-5 min. away.

With all this uncertainty of when we sell our house and where we will be living at times throughout the summer, we decided it was best if we put off Mayleigh's surgery until late fall and we are settle in Chicago. Once we officially made this decision about a week ago, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders! I just couldn't imagine with life this crazy that we could give Mayleigh the kind of care she will need after surgery. I dont think adding another huge stressor like that to our life right now would have been healthy for anyone! She is doing great and there is no rush for her surgery. We have talked to her surgeon and we are still going to do the 5 days of testing sometime in June. That way that part is out of the way and we know what to expect when it is time for surgery.

Speaking of Mayleigh....She is doing fantastic. She is doing so great with her talking. Tries just about any word you ask her to (and says it pretty clear) and says about 20 words. She is still sleeping like a champ!! Takes great naps and we never hear a peep from her during the night. That has been such a huge blessing. Mamma's can appreciate good sleep! ;)

Mayleigh has such a huge personality! Loves to jump on the trampoline with her brothes, loves to swing, and read books! She is not fond of dogs. Still cries sometimes when I put her down outside, even when there is no dog in sight. But yet her first time at the zoo she pointed at every animal saying dog, dog!! She loves her Daddy!! It is a pretty sweet relationship that they have. Pretty much melts me watching him with her!! The boys adore her. I see them holding her back when they think she might fall, making sure she is ok if she is acting scared, and they are always ready for kisses at bedtime. She has just fit perfectly with us....its amazing to me that she has really only been home just over 3 months. She has come SOOO FAR!!!

If I am completely honest... I still have some struggles emotionally with some stuff with her. Our bond has grown so much since we first met in China and I think our bond will only get stronger with time. It has been a pretty crazy time in our life with a lot of stress and I need to remember that. It hasnt helped! But one thing I know for certain, God chose her for our family and I wouldn't change that for the world!! We are now complete. Am I ready for life to slow down a little (as much as it can with 4 kids), absolutely...but I am so grateful for our crazy life!!! We are beyond blessed!!!

Here are some pics from the last month or so!!!

Silly girl!!!

It was a rough day with her blood drawl at the St. Louis International Adoption Clinic. Poor girl was stuck about 6 times. Blood work came back fine and we now know which vaccines she needs!