Getting Real . . . .

My friend Angel has posted a challenge on her blog (www.thevoiceofadventure.blogspot.com) to get REAL. hmmmmmm I've often thought about how real should I get on this blog!? This is after all supposed to be the happy go lucky story of our little Tia to share a bit of her life with our family and friends. It is her very own story/blog that she will read some day and will give her a bit of history where she previously had none. I am going to attempt to be real, as much as I feel is appropriate under these circumstances. Let me start with one of the definitions of "REAL" I found in the dictionary:

real
1 |ˈrē(ə)l| adjective • Philosophy relating to something as it is, not merely as it may be described or distinguished.
2 (of a substance or thing) not imitation or artificial; genuine : the earring was presumably real gold. • true or actual : his real name is James | this isn't my real reason for coming.
6 Optics (of an image) of a kind in which the light that forms it actually passes through it; not virtual.

So I will try to describe how the adoption of our precious, adorable, Sweet Tia has affected our lives - genuinely, truly, actually.

Genuinely . . . . we adore Tia. honestly and without any other feeling. We feel totally blessed by her addition to our family. This feeling is not because we are wonderful people, it is because Tia has the type of personality that draws you to her. She charms us, and everyone, not an attachment disorder type of charm (ok, hopefully not . . . . :) but a 'says hello to people as she passes them while in her stroller' type of charm (she would never let them get too close or pick her up or hold her . . . ), 'a big kisses on the lips when she comes out of a deep sleep' type of charm, she has all of us charmed and she is generally funny and cute and happy.

Truly . . . . we are exhausted. Tia does not sleep very well. If she goes to sleep at 8 pm she will normally wake up once or twice to cry - the first time she usually goes back to sleep on her own but the second time (anywhere from 11pm until 3 or 4 am she screams and cries until we bring her into our bed, where she tosses and turns and kicks and snuggles and looks into our faces and says "HI" until 5 or 6 am and then wants her bottle. Tia has taken a 2 hour nap 2 or 3 times. Mostly her naps are 1 or 1.5 hours. That totals about 11 hours of sleep total per day/night, is that normal for a 23 month old????????? She is happy & sad, sassy & adorable and TRULY, she is wearing us out.

Actually . . . . Tia is a terrible eater. We always say Tia has 5 food groups: Rice, eggs, yogurt (including go-gurt -see photo above- which are her favorite and a real reason to scream until she gets one. . . .), noodles, and crackers with peanut butter or nutella - see photo below - (if she is in the mood which is actually rarely). She also likes chocolate, candy and ice cream and screams if she sees them and doesn't get them immediately! (and screams and screams and screams and . . . .) and lately has added chicken nuggets (YEAH!). Every single day, much of the day she screams to go in the pantry and check out the food choices. Truthfully I didn't think it was a bad plan in the beginning when she couldn't say what she wanted and would only eat rice and yogurt but it causes a lot of stress and now I am not letting her in the pantry anymore. . . .
I think that is as real as I can be for now. Tia has been on antibiotics lately, she has been prescribed an inhaler for asthma and she is almost 2 years old - sooooooooo each of those bring a very REAL set of challenges on their own. We adore this little girl REALLY, and some days are REALLY exhausting. We really would go to China and bring her home to be our little monkey all over again in a heartbeat - REALLY we would :)

The last part of the definition of REAL: 6 Optics (of an image) of a kind in which the light that forms it actually passes through it; not virtual. I found this very inspiring. My prayer is that God's love would be REAL, and would be that light that forms my children, that passes through them (and stays with them) and that God would be so REAL to Tia and to all my children. REALLY, If it were up to me to be the model of the perfect Christian I know I am so far from that goal, but thankfully and graciously, God is perfect in his love towards them, towards us and he is oh so very REAL! :)

In the past 2 hours Tia has woken up 3 times, fallen out of our bed, held her breath until I thought she would pass out, and screamed for go-gurt. She has now climbed up onto my lap and is saying Mama in her little one year old voice (so cute:) . . . . . It is almost 12 :30 am. I hope this post is real enough for you :) and now I am hoping to go to bed . . . I wish I knew if it was for real.