Update and a Note on Timing.

Brae Update:

That boy's language skills have just skyrocketed over the last several weeks. He's using prepositions and complete sentences, and is learning and using new words each day, literally. He's also recently catching on to his favorite phrases, which he then applies to everything. For instance, he's learned "it's too scary." He learned it when we took him on the roller coaster ride at the local amusement park. The first time around the roller coaster, he was stunned. The second time around the roller coaster, I became one of those parents who force their screaming kids to go on amusement rides. In that moment, he learned the phrase, "it's too scary."

Well, now he applies it to everything. For example, yesterday morning he insisted on NOT having his hot cocoa in the purple cup with butterflies on it. Why? You guessed it. "It's too scary."

Sienna Update:

The girl LOVES her baths. She can be screaming bloody murder right before I put her in, but the second she melts into the sudsy water, she is in pure heaven. If there wasn't that whole silly thing about drowning, I'd just leave her there for hours.

She's recently discovered her hands. They go in her mouth. This is a blessing because she does not like binkys.

She's starting to smile, and can actually roll over from her stomach to her back already.

We're still dealing with evening crying spells, which we're trying to combat by just putting her to bed early. Sometimes, that can be an hour long plus process.

Tygh/Britney Update and a Note on Timing:

We were recently interviewed by Biola University for a study they are doing with NEDC about our experience. The interviewer actually flew up from California and then drove down from Seattle just to interview us. She mostly just wanted to hear about our journey to Sienna from start to finish. It was so surreal to re-live the process from the beginning and it made me realize just how far we've come, and the story that God wove together for Sienna.

It also caused me to think about two very interesting timing "coincidences" God weaved in. When we think back on Sienna's life (from conception), God has put together quite a masterpiece intertwining all of her time spent waiting in limbo, just waiting to be born, with all of our time waiting to get her. But it also recently dawned on me two very interesting dates that are just too coincidental to be accidental:

-- September 18, 2010: date of our transfer
-- September 18, 2011: last date of our maternity leave (coming full circle)

... and

-- June 6, 2010: first appointment with NEDC in Tennessee
-- June 6, 2011: my due date
-- June 6, 2011: date my water broke

Isn't that cool? It's also cool to think that just 6 weeks after I gave birth, Sienna is already 6 weeks old. Oh. Wait. I guess that's not so coincidental.