Its such a funny thing to be celebrating having Hannah in our arms 6 months yesterday, when it feels like she has always been here, like there was never a time she wasn’t a Motley. We looked back through our pictures and videos yesterday morning from August 13th and it takes my breath away to reflect on the miracle that is Wan Qing Li – Hannah Hope! We can’t imagine our lives without her, she fits so perfectly…she is so sweet, loud, opinionated, funny, stubborn, independent and joyful…only God could orchestrate such a perfect match for our family.

Bonding & Attaching
Its hard to think back to the first couple days when Hannah wanted nothing to do with me. Now she is my little shadow, never more than a couple steps away. Always wanting a cuddle and to play. She misses the girls when they are at school. And demands every morning for Hannah to go to (s)chool. Emma and her are best friends, they miss each other so much during the day, which might be the cutest thing ever. She is finally warming up to Amelia…Hannah loves for her to read her all of the books, of course Amelia is up for the task! McKayla is still second mama, she has been since we brought Amelia home 6 years ago…she is so much more than a big sister, so thankful for her and her help.  Since Jay works from home, Hannah is used to having full time access to both of us, and when mama doesn’t give her the answer she is looking for she will go butter up her daddy. Everyday watching her play, Jay and I get tickled that we get to be her parents. She still gets overwhelmed if we pop up to the girls school, she is fine in the moment, but the sensory overload rears its ugly head later in the day or even the next day…so we try to break up our visits.

Sleep
Baby girl is definitely sleeping better than our first 4 months home…she teased me with good sleep for a couple weeks back in December, then regressed most of January, but we are back in a good rhythm. She only wakes 1-2 times a night 3-4 days a week! Praise Jesus!

Heart
We had another cardiology appointment last week.  They repeated her echo and EKG…most has stayed the same, she does have one valve that is regurgitating significantly more than it was in October, so we are going to keep a close eye on it.  We sent her file to Boston Children’s Hospital in December and finally got their opinion back last week. The team of doctors at Texas Childrens and in Boston agree that Hannah is a candidate for a complete repair (Bi-vent) which should make the decision an easy one. Unfortunately her anatomy is so complex that each surgery comes with its own set of possible complications. The doctors are torn on which route we should go…they are all 50/50. So next Tuesday we are sitting down with one of the surgeons to talk through the pros and cons of each surgery. We will need to make a decision shortly after that because she is needing to have surgery this summer/fall. As you can imagine, I am always a hot mess after we see our cardiologist. It makes no sense to me how the sick child they speak of is the same child sitting in my lap, happy and “healthy”.

Please pray with us for God to make it clear which surgery Hannah is supposed to have and that we will have peace in that decision. Continue to pray for good sleep and for God to continue to draw us closer together as a family of 6 and closer to Him.