Update

Things are going well over here.  I'm busier than I ever thought I could be.  But I'm also happier than I ever thought possible.

Agnes and Mya are adjusting great so far.  We haven't had any challenges as far as their concerned aside from the influx of "Whys" and "What is that?" that comes with having a 3 year old :-).  Curiosity should be her middle name.  Agnes has been very well behaved and has stepped into a big sister roll for sure.  She loves to help and is great at following directions.  She's a good sleeper and although we anticipate some behavior challenges as time goes on, we hope that our consistency right now will pay off down the road.  We love her dearly, she has brought a lot of joy and smiles to our home.

Mya is a handful.  She is sweet as can be and way ornery.  I call her my little spiderman.  Everytime I turn around she's scaling something and getting into things she shouldn't.  It reminds me of how low key Anthony is!!!  She is quiet and doesn't talk much but when she does, she speaks clearly and in 2-3 word sentences at just 16 months.  She's pretty much like having another Anna all over again.  Right down to the bowed legs and the sassy attitude.  She's active and busy and she is very attached to me already.  She's been unsure of Jeremy until yesterday.  I went to run errands and she woke up early from her nap so Jeremy got her up and they got to bond :-).  She's an awesome sleeper, sleeping 13+ hours at night and usually 3+ hour naps.  And Mya being part of our family means we finally have a child that will sleep in the car.

Anna's not adjusting quite as well as the others.  She's having a hard time sharing her daddy.  She's a total daddy's girl and sharing him has caused many a meltdown.  She also is having a harder time falling asleep (she already had a hard time...) at night, causing a little lack of sleep.  But we're trying some different things to make sure she gets her 1 on 1 time and some alone time to help her calm down.  Anna's first reaction to everything is to scream.  She CAN use her words and she certainly has the words to use.  But she chooses to scream despite our constant reminder and modeling to ask nicely.  So really she's just acting like her usual sassy self, just a little more so.  She does love having two new sisters and her and Agnes play great together.  They call each other their "friend" and have a blast sharing a room.  They woke up giggling at each other this morning and I couldn't help but be happy to hear it at 6 am.  Hopefully with time we can mold that drama into something more constructive.

Anthony's doing great and started walking mostly full time this week.  He loves all the action and enjoys all of the people at the table at dinnertime.  Agnes and Mya have already started calling him BroBro like Anna does and they think he's just so cute.  He's as laid back and sweet as ever.

Agnes asked us a few days ago if she could call us Mama and Daddy and Mya is calling us that too.  It's sweet and yet a little sad that they so quickly can call someone new "Mama".  We're so happy to be their parents and have had a blast with our not so little family.

Having 4 toddlers certainly keep us on our toes.  They're busy and there's rarely a moment when someone's not crying or whining or being loud.  However, we've gotten naps down to an art, giving ourselves a 1-1.5 hour window with all four sleeping.  And by 8:30 they're all asleep at night.  Keeping up with my house is going to be challenging, I used to sweep the kitchen once a week.  In the last 24 hours, it's been done 2-3 times.  And the dishes and laundry have multiplied by like 10 with two more kids.  But we've finally gotten all of the kids' rooms put back together and all of their clothes sorted and put away.  There's still a pile of Agnes and Mya's stuff in the garage that needs sorted but it's mostly toys and frankly, we have an over abundance of those to begin with.

We have family pictures this afternoon (they had already been scheduled!) and Agnes is very excited to get some pictures of herself on the wall.  She keeps asking why she's not in our family pictures.  We will have to get those up ASAP.

We enrolled her in preschool starting the week after next and she's very excited.  Getting all these littles up and dressed and out the door each morning will be quite the feat but we're excited to get started at the school.  It's the school I went to for elementary and it's wonderful.  I'm so excited to be entering that phase!

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch and each kid picked out and painted their own pumpkin.  We've also hit up the park and the mall playground this week.  We've taken countless walks and trips to our neighborhood park.  The kids love being outside.  The fence we put in this summer is WONDERFUL and it's been fun to play with everyone.  Each of our kids has a built in friend in our house.

Overall everyone's adjusting nicely and we're ready to get back into our routine next week.  Here's a few pictures.  No faces allowed online until their final adoption, but these will work for now!

AA and Anna

Pushing Anthony, wearing Mya (her favorite place) and walking with Agnes and Anna

Agnes and Mya at the pumpkin farm

Anna and Agnes watching the ducks