The Party

Party party Party!

We had such a wonderful day filled with family friends and love.

Why did mommy wake me up and who are all these people?

My friend Chase.

Oh my, I like presents.

Look what I got here.

I am a true guatemalan princess today.

Grandma and Grandpa thanks for the spot to rest.

I can blow this out mom.

What did you say you called this stuff again? I just feel so energized!

Playing with my friend Dani.

A little Nonnie rivalry.

If that other birthday princess won't wear her hat this princess sure will!

Birthday girl

Dear BeeBee,

Today is your 2nd birthday. I am amazed at all of the new talents you have and how you fit our family like a pair of comfy slippers or the nicest pair of gloves. You are the daughter I always wanted and have made our family complete. As you enter your second year you have many likes and dislikes and are not shy about how you feel. You love animals especially your nonnie's dog gug (chug) and our puppy stewey. You have a recent attraction to all things motherly. You could spend all day walking your babies in your stroller. When you pick them up you pat them on the back and kiss them lovingly. You like trains and cars and horties (horses). As we pass choo choos in the car you blow them kisses. You give all of us love on your terms and give kisses and hugs sparingly. You keep them like a fine treasure, we feel quite honored when we get love. You love to give family hugs and will give those out any day, any time. We have bought a potty for you but you will only sit on it fully clothed and I am not ready to push the issue quite yet. You are starting to build a vocabulary and you surprise me with words you know each day. You are also starting to put words together. You will tell us Dada milk or all done. You say please and thank you although for some reason thank you sounds like monkey. It makes daddy and I laugh when we hand you something and you smile and say monkey. You have an infectious giggle and when you get really tired you laugh at almost anything. The moments before I put you to bed are the moments I treasure the most. First you get super giggly and daddy and I play with you then you tell dada milk and you sit in my arms and drink your milk. (It's in a sippy cup, I promise) You are so cuddly in those moments and it is hard to let you go to bed. Most nights as I lay you to bed you give me a kiss and tell me two two. Which means you want me to cover you with your two blankets. Then you say night night and most nights there is not a tear shed. (Most nights.) You are a strong willed little being and when we ask you to do something, you don't want to do, there may be no changing your mind. I know I have my hands full. You have learned to scream at the top of your lungs. It is a shriek really that pierces my ears and is so hard to ignore. I am trying my best not to give in to that shriek but I must say I want it to stop. Most of the time you prefer to be carried and my arm has gone numb on many a shopping trip. But even with your strong will you are a quiet one and it takes a while for you to warm up to people which is a behavior I understand as I am the same way.



Around this time of year I think often of your birth mother Petrona. I wonder if she is well and I know she must be thinking of you. I want to tell her what an amazing spirit you have and let her know you are all right and that she has given our family this gift we can not even begin to put into words. You have your birthmothers eyes. Sometimes I see her in photos I take of you. I wonder how much you will resemble her. I wonder how much you will wonder about her. I want to do this right and hope that we will be able to navigate our family ship in the right direction. The direction that makes you feel whole and complete even with so much loss and so much unknown. So on this day of your birth I want you to know my dearest beetle bop that mommy and daddy are truly greatful for your presense in our lives. Truly honored to be your parents. And truly hopeful that we can give and be enough. Love Mommy


Today we took Lily to a pumpkin patch a little out of town but well worth the trip. We rode a train, toured a petting zoo, and had a hay ride where we picked our very own pumpkins. Lily like the hay ride the best. She found some pumkins just her size. It was the perfect day spent as a family oh and I played hookie from work shhhhhhhhhhh.

Tamales!

It is nearing Lily's birthday celebration so it was time to make tamales. This is my 3rd attempt at making these delectable treats and 3rd time was not a charm. The chicken was not thawed in time and I folded the tamales wrong this year so when you unwrap them from the husk it is not a nice neat package but instead a jumble of ingredients, but as they say practice makes perfect and I learned some valuable lessons for next year. By the time Lily is old enough to help I will have perfected the craft for her. While Nonnie and I made tamales Lily perfecter her craft of multitasking as you can see below.

Look mom I can chew, talk on the phone, and wear extraordinarily large flip flops. Do you remember thinking I would never walk. Look at me now!

I can also talk on the phone, watch Caillou, and cuddle with Nonnie and Chug. I am amazingly talented little person.
In case you were in doubt here are the tamales being prepared. Even if they do come out a mountain on the plate they are still yummy to eat.

My Halloween Bear!

I know it is a bit early, but we are thinking practice makes perfect. Lily is not so much into head gear. She likes her hair flowin' wild and free. When I chose this costume I knew it would be a struggle, but she is my little cuddle bear and I couldn't resist so I decided that we are only a toddler once. So each night we put on our costume and walk the 7 houses up to Nana and Papa's house and practice our very best grrrr!!!!! She wore the costume for almost 20 minutes tonight a real accomplishment and I suggested we take it off before she shouted all done all done all done! One of these shots there is even a smile :) We may make it trick or treating yet!

And look who is 4! Ava turned 4 recently and we went to her house to celebrate. I love 4! She is inquisitive and smart and head strong and just oh so darling. So to my favorite neice and my darlings big sis happy birthday!

Favorite photo Sunday!

So I stole this idea from many other blogs. It is usually a favorite friday photo but since I don't think I will ever get to the computer on a friday night sunday will have to do even though it does not have the same catchy ring to it. This is my beautiful girl in February of 2006. She is four months old and I was agonizing over what kind of mother I would be and would my precious girl be happy and healthy and was her foster mother taking good care of her. Then I recieved these pictures and my heart melted and I fell even more in love. These pictures were taken by our agency during a visit and they were not the grainy pictures we usually recieved but clear and bright. She was sitting on her fostermothers lap and I could see the love and the bond they had. I knew she was loved and I held on to that as I waited. To all waiting mothers, especially those waiting for children in Guatemala during these turbulent times, my thoughts are with you!

Accident Prone!

Today was a day prone to accidents. This morning I got a text message that Lily had been doing some shopping of the local adds and when she got up she slipped on said adds and bumped her face on the ottoman. She got a black eye and a scrape on her cheek. My mom assured me that she was in good spirits she just looked worse for the wear.

Then 15 minutes later I get another phone call. It is my mom again and she said Lily needs stitches. I couldn't quite figure out how a bump from earlier could lead to the needing of stitches but I said I would call her back. My boss came to take over my class and I drove home. I live 5 minutes from work. It was the longest five minutes of my life. I still was unclear about what had happened. I walked in to find my baby laying in my moms lap. She had quite the cut on her forhead but she was very subdued. I was already on the phone with the doctor. Lily started throwing up and so I told the lady at the doctors office we were heading for the emergency room. I couldn't tell how bad the cut was because the bleeding had stopped and it was drying, but I know enough to know that throwing up with a head trauma is not a good situation. So we drove to the ER.

The doctor was able to use glue on her cut so she should not have too bad of a scar and she is on watch for a concussion but she seems fine. She is very alert and remembers who we are and all her body parts and such. I am going to leave the details of how the accident came to be private as my mom already feels terrible without me advertising the events on the internet. The day is now a little over half done wish me luck that we can stay surefooted the rest of the day!