Trying to catch up...a few pictures

OK. I know I have been TERRIBLE at blogging since coming home. No excuses except that it is just so much more fun to play with my girl and truthfully the first 3 weeks I was totally exhausted by the evening when she went down to bed.

I will try to go back and fill in some of the blanks but here is a synoposis of the past 3 weeks since we came home.

Evvy has been on and off again a good sleeper. She generally goes to bed by 7:30 and has been getting up at 6:30. Then she generally takes a nap at 10:00 and 2:00. Of course these are on a good day and night. There have been many nights that she has woken up at least once at varying times. I have learned after a few rough nights that I just need to give her a bottle (4-6 oz) and she will go back to sleep pretty easily. I got lucky last night and she slept until 5:30, took 4 oz of formula and then went back to sleep until 8:30! That has never happened before. But then she decided that she didn't need a morning nap. However, she took a 2 1/2 hour afternoon nap. But then she had trouble going to sleep tonight. I will give her a little credit though. I think she is teething. Hopefully she will sleep well tonight. Mommy is sure happier when she gets a good nights sleep.

I had about a week where I was sick...heartburn, vomiting and yucky poops. I went to the doctor last Monday and she gave me a RX for the nausea and something to sprinkle on my food to help balance my intestinal bacteria. Then they had me collect some "samples" to bring in for analysis to see if I perhaps picked up something in Guatemala. My intestinal system has not been quite right since I went down in November to visit. I got a call this past Monday saying that I have yeast in my stool samples. They put me on another RX (diflucan or something like that) that I will take for a week. It is supposed to clear up fungus I think. They also referred me to a gastroenterologist. I haven't made an appointment yet but will do it. I am just glad that the bad heartburn and nausea are gone. That was the week that my angel wasn't sleeping like an angel which made it tough on both of us. Thankfully I am feeling soooo much better this week and we are enjoying playing together again.

Evvy had her first doctor's appointment last Wednesday. She was pretty good. Definitely didn't like having her ears looked at. She peed on the doctor when she took the diaper off to examen her. Then came the traumatic part. They took 3 tubes of blood from her arm. She doesn't have very good veins but they finally found one to work with and she only had to get poked once thankfully. The lab tech was really good. Evvy screamed the whole times. It seemed like an eternity. She bounced back pretty well though when I gave her some fruit puffs. The girl loves those fruit puffs. They cure all! Now I am just anxiously awaiting the results of the lab tests. They run a whole battery of tests on all internationally adopted children to check for everything since we have no medical/family history. They also check the immunity levels from the vaccines that she received in Guatemala to see if any of them need to be readministered.

I will try to post more regularly with at least pictures because I know that is really what everyone wants to see anyway.

Susan

Pickup Trip Day 1 (Saturday)

Day 1 started very early. I think we were all up by about 3am (alarms were set for 3:30). We left for the airport just before 4am for our 6am flight to Houston. It was raining quite a bit and the forcast was for snow. By the time we got closer to the airport, it was like driving through a white tunnel as it was indeed snowing on April 14. Crazy weather. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and got the bags checked and through security with plenty of time to spare. Once we boarded the plane, they needed to de-ice it since it was cold and snowy. The flight was delayed about 40 minutes leaving. Luckily we had over an hour to connect in Houston. We arrived at the gate in Houston as they were boarding the flight to Guatemala City.

The flight to Guatemala City was pretty uneventful. The flight had 2 or 3 different medical missions going to Guatemala to do medical volunteer work. This meant that the flight was very full and there was a lot of baggage. Needless to say, not all of our baggage made it to Guatemala. Mom and Dad's suitcase of clothes didn't make it but their shoes and toiletries did. Mine and Evvy's suitcase made it but the suitcase of gifts didn't make it. I was somewhat sick thinking that the suitcase of gifts was lost as I had the quilt I made for Julieta in it and the thought of losing that was truly a horrible feeling.

As we were boarding the plane in Houston, a lady behind us in the jetway asked if we were going to pickup a baby. It was a family that had responded to a post on the adoption forum saying they would be staying at the Clarion and had an Embassy appointment on Monday also. It is amazing the people that I have met through the internet and adoption forum especially. This family also happened to be using the same agency as me. Fortunately for them, they had a great experience with the agency and this was their second adoption through them. They have a 3-4 year old daughter (Mia) and were picking up their 10-11 month old son (Rio). They are a very nice family. The wife's mother was travelling with them. We ran into them throughout our stay. Oh yeah, they also live in Missouri. Such a small world.

We caught the shuttle to the hotel and got checked in by about 12:30 or so I guess. We went up and got settled in the room and chilled out a bit. I didn't have specifics about when the foster family would be coming. I was told to expect around 3pm. This gave me a chance to lay down a bit and relax (yeah right). I felt that mom and dad couldn't change clothes but they took it in stride. We walked around the neigborhood for a few minutes and bought some water and diapers. I also picked up some roses from a street vendor to give to Julieta since her gifts didn't arrive and I wanted to give her something. When we got back to the hotel, I decided to go ahead and change clothes (I was sweating like crazy) and lay down for a few minutes. I had no sooner laid down than the phone rang (1:10 pm). It was "Stephen" and Johnny (the facilitator and adoption agency rep). They said they were downstairs with the paperwork that we need to go over and that the foster family should be there within about 30 minutes.

It was really hard for me to bite my tongue and not call Stephen a liar. He had lied right to my face in November saying we were in PGN when he very well knew we weren't. At that point the Social Worker interview had not even been done. But I decided to just let it go, get the paperwork and bring my daughter home. It would have done no good to cause a scene at this point. We went over all of the paperwork for the Embassy appointment on Monday. They gave me a her passport and the visa pictures. I LOVE the pictures. The family dressed her in the pretty pink dress that I had sent down for her. I knew that there was a reason I bought that cute dress. The pictures are really sweet. She looks very serious. They also gave me a copy of Evvy's adoption file in Spanish and English. Then I was also given a sealed envelope containing her final medical report from the Embassy doctor which had to be presented at the visa appointment. We then sat and made idle chit chat for a few minutes and then in walked Julieta, her mother, Jeaneth (daughter), Gustavo (son), Julieta's niece and little girl and of course my beautiful Evelyn. It is all such a blur in my mind.

We sat on a couch there in the lobby with Julieta and Evvy sitting next to me. The rest of the family sat in chairs around us. Dad took some pictures and mom was taking video. I really wanted to take Evvy in my arms and hold her immediately but Julieta held onto her for almost an hour to let her get used to me. Mom had gotten a little beanie baby for Evvy and that was wonderful. She LOVES rattles and this has a rattle in it. They had her dressed all in pink: a pink pair of cords that I had sent down, a pink checked onsie and pink sandles that I had taken down on the visit trip. The sandals were from a 3-6 month outfit but they are still fitting her. She has tiny feet. Guess that means she might be short.

My dad actually held Evvy before me. He was so anxious to held the smiley girl, that he just went and took her out of Julieta's lap. I don't really remember what we talked about. I just remember the whole family saying how much they loved her and would miss her. They said that whenever they took her out of the house, everyone commented on how cute and sweet she is. They kept telling me what a loving baby she is. We also talked about what she was eating (what doesn 't this girl eat!). They demonstrated how even though she only has two teeth, the girl thoroughly chews her food. They broke off a piece of french fry that they had bought for the cousin's daughter and put it in Evvy's mouth and she chomped it right up. I feel so blessed that we were able to have email contact because I felt like I already knew my daughter and her habits and what she ate and what she could do and what she liked. I also felt like I knew the family. I know that so many (most) families are rushed to try to learn as much as they can about their child and the family they have lived with for the first months/years of their lives.

Jeaneth gave me a disc of all of the pictures (and video clips) they had taken of Evvy since she came to live with them. As I went back and looked at them, they are treasures. I have pictures of my beautiful daughter from the time that she was 9 days old. The video clips are short but show how she changed over the 10 months she lived with this wonderful family. They also brought a cute little wall hanging for Evelyn of a little girl swinging. It has her name painted on it. I am going to hang it on her bedroom door.

I finally took Evvy from Julieta after Julieta had given her most of a bottle. She was starting to get a little fussy as it was close to naptime. Evvy looked at me very seriously and just studied me. She is a very inquisitive, curious little girl. She didn't cry or try to go back to Julieta which made me feel some relief. We visited some more and took a bunch of pictures. I wanted to make sure that I had pictures of Evvy with the members of this wonderful family.

I explained that since the suitcase with the gifts didn't arrive, we would like them to come back for dinner Sunday evening. They agreed to come back. I knew it would be hard for them to say goodbye again but it would also let them feel confident that she was doing OK and was happy (I was hoping this was the case at this point).

After saying our goodbyes, we went up to the room. Evvy was very perplexed. She looked around and didn't see Julieta and the rest of the foster family. She cried for a few minutes. Then I gave her the rest of her bottle and she went to sleep. She fussed when I put her down so I just laid her down on my chest and she went sound asleep and I put her in the crib. She took about an hour nap.

When she got up, we walked down the street to TacoTento to have dinner. She definitely liked being outside walking around. She was an angel at the restaurant. She sat on my lap and flipped the pages of the menu. The girl likes books and will read anything! She ate some baby food and then also sampled pieces of chicken from our taco platter. When we went back in the hotel room she looked around again and got sad that Julieta wasn't there. She cried a little but then settled down with a bottle and went to sleep for the night.

What a long day! Up at 3am and to sleep at 9pm for me. But what a great end to the day putting my sweet girl to bed.

New Pictures from coming home trip

Bella is a little jealous of all the attention Evvy is getting.

I have a new album of pictures from the trip to bring Evelyn home. Click on the link to the left and you will see the new album. I am also working on uploading an album of pictures from a disc that the foster family took over the last 10 months that Evvy lived with them. Some of them are one's they sent to me during the process but there are a lot of new ones.I apologize for not updating the blog but I am finding myself a little busier lately :) Lots of time spent playing on the floor with my sweet girl, taking stroller walks and reading books and of course the occasional nap.Evelyn is adjusting very well and is very happy. She is eating well and sleeping pretty well. She is sleeping better than mom I think. She has been waking up a little earlier the past couple of mornings which makes for a bit of a tired mommy.I will try to get the blog updated soon.

Susan and Evvy

We are family!

Hola from Guatemala!Mom, Dad, and I had a very early start yesterday morning. We were up shortly after3am and left for the airport right before 4am. It was raining and then it startedsnowing as we got closer to the airport. Our flight was delayed 40 minutes out of Kansas City because they had to de ice the airplane. We arrived at our gate in Houston right as they started boarding so it all turned out fine. It was a bitof a madhouse in Guatemala getting luggage recovered. There were 2 or 3 medicalmissions coming down and they had LOTS of stuff. Subsequently two of our bags didn´tarrive. I warned mom to pack a change of clothes in my carryon but she didn´t sothey had extra shoes and some of their personal items in the bag that arrived. My big suitcase with my clothes and all of the baby stuff arrived but my suitcaseof gifts did not arrive. I was a little worried but they assured us they would arrive on the flight last night and sure enough they did and they brought them tothe hotel about 9:30 this morning. I think dad is feeling a little more human nowthat he has had a shave.OK. Now to the part you really want to hear about. The lawyer called from the lobbyabout 2¨10 right after I had changed clothes and said he was there with the paperworkto go over and that the family would be coming soon. The foster family arrived about 2:45. Evvy is so beautiful. She has grown so much but she is still a baby.She is absolutely wonderful. We sat in the lobby for almost 2 hours visiting. I gave the foster mom plenty of time to say her goodbyes. It was very hard for her and her daughter and son. Mom and dad took some video and pictures. Finallywe said goodbyes and there were a few tears shed. Evvy came to me just fine anddidn´t cry. She cried when we got up to the room and looked around and didn´t seethe foster mom. She was pretty sleepy so I rocked her and she went to sleep. Ilaid down on the bed with her on my chest for a while til she was sound asleep andthen laid her in the crib. She had a little confusion waking up. We went out walkingand to dinner and she was wonderful. She came home and was a little fussy but settled right in.Today she has been perfect. She is happy and smiley and eating well. She is nappingright now which is why I came down to the computer quickly.I am attaching a few pictures and will post more on my blog when I can.

Susan

Leaving on a Jet plane!

The alarm is set to go off in exactly 6 hours. We have to be up at 3:30 and out the door by 4:00 to be checking in at the airport by 5:00 and take off at 6:00. What an insane day tomorrow will be. I know I will be dead tired but at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon, I will forget all about it when I have my baby girl in my arms FOREVER! It hasn't really hit me yet. I have had a few moments of panic but not too bad.

Mom and dad got here on Wednesday night and we spent today really not doing too much. Mom and I ran a few errands and visited with my good friend Peggy. Really all in all pretty relaxing. I am soooo tired and should be sleeping but I am afraid to sleep for fear of not hearing the alram. I will lay down here and leave the TV or DVD on so I have noise to keep me partially awake. I think I packed everything but the kitchen sink. I really thought I had been pretty conservative until I put the suitcase on the scale and it said 65#. The limit is 50# so I ended up having to take a small one too. I pretty much just put gifts for the foster family and other gifts I am taking for other families in the small suitcase and then all of Evvy and my stuff in the other one. Then I have a small carryon bag with the cameras and paperwork.

I will try to post a few pictures from Guatemala so you can see my sweet baby girl.

Can't wait for you all to meet my sweet girl! Pray for her that she will be comforted and have a relatively easy transition from her foster family to me.

Susan

Minutes keep ticking down!

One day closer to Guatemala and Baby Evvy. Mom and dad are supposed to arrive tomorrow and I am sure things will go faster once they are here. I think this week has gone by the slowest of the last year.

I had a nice treat tonight when my friends Mike & Julie came over with their two girls Katelynn and Hannah. They brought Hannah home from Guatemala back in November when I was visiting Evvy. It was so wonderful to see how well Hannah has transitioned and settled into this wonderful loving family. Her big sister just adores her and she adores her sister. Katelynn really makes Hannah laugh and smile. I am taking a photo book and DVD down to Hannah's former foster family. I was able to meet the foster family and translate for Julie & Mike when the foster mother and family brought Hannah to the hotel. It will be neat to see her again and be able to tell them how happy Hannah is in her new family.

I received an email from some friends in the Chicago area that used the same agencies as me to let me know that they are finally home with their two beautiful daughters from Guatemala. They are 11 months old and had a rough few days but seem to be settling in well. Welcome home to Danee & Jim's girls!

I finally received an email from J last night. Their internet is not working again so she emailed me from an internet cafe (probably after school). Evvy is doing well. She started moving around in her walker the last couple of weeks. She has also started mimicking words like mama and "nena/e" (little girl and boy). I hope they are showing her my picture when they tell her to say mama. It is going to be so hard for the foster family and I expect Evvy will probably have some anxiety and transition too. Her whole world is being changed. I just hope and pray that she feels how much I love her and makes the transition without too much stress. We are going to go to dinner with the foster family either Saturday or Sunday which will be nice so that we can visit a little more in a less stressful situation. I am hoping to do the dinner on Saturday so that Evvy doesn't have to go through the separation further into our trip. I am glad that mom and dad will be there to help support me in this great event.

I will write some more about my feelings about these wonderful foster families another time. They are truly wonderful people.

Susan

This week!

My best friend Peggy emailed me this morning and said, y0u know you are leaving this week! Not in two weeks, not next week, but THIS WEEK!!

I can hardly believe the day is almost here. I have three more days of work before I take my 2 months leave. I feel pretty confident about leaving my work in capable hands but still have plenty to get done this week.

Packing....Evvy's things are all in a suitcase but I think I will have to upgrade to the larger suitcase when I add all of my stuff to it. I am planning on packing pretty lightly but will probably still have too much. Of course I want to have enough space to bring some souveneirs back also although I don't plan on getting too much more as I have tons of stuff from previous trips. I would like to get a few more traditional outfits for Miss Evvy.

I am looking forward to spending time in Guatemala with my parents and for them to get to know their newest granddaughter.

I just hope that all goes smoothly on our trip and that the lawyer comes to the hotel with the paperwork and that the Embassy appointment goes smoothly. We are hoping to go to the zoo and maybe meet some of my forum friends while there but mostly just planning on kicking back and enjoying my sweet baby girl.

More to come....

Susan

One week to go!

I can't believe I can finally say, 1 week to go! I only have 4 more days of work and then I am off to bring my precious little girl home forever. I teared up a little today when I was telling someone that I would have her in my arms one week from tomorrow and never had to give her back.

Last weekend I cleaned the carpets and got new tires on the car. This past Tuesday I got rearended so I have been dealing with insurance companies which is not very fun. Luckily there is very little damage to the back bumper (at least visibly). I will have an insurance adjuster look at it next week and decide if I need a new bumper or not. I want to make sure I get the alignment checked since I just had that done last Saturday. The biggest pain (litterally) is my neck and shoulders are pretty sore and I have a constant headache. I went to the chiropractor and got x-rays and have had 2 adjustments so far. I will probably need to go a few more times to get back to feeling like new. Just want to feel 100% or close by next weekend.

Last night Peggy and I laid out all of Evvy's clothes and other stuff to take with me. Tonight I put it in a suitcase. I was hoping to take my smaller suitcase but I think I am going to end up needing my bigger one to take my stuff too. I also have a quilt I am taking to the foster family which takes up 1/2 of the smaller case.

Tonight and tomorrow I am doing laundry and probably some last minute errands. I can't believe how ready I am. I only have a few small things left on my list which all relate to the trip and things I am taking or need to get ready to take.

Mom and dad should be at my sister's house by now (in Nebraska) and they will be at my house by Wednesday or Thursday. We will then have Friday to rest and get ready and then we are off bright and early to the airport next Saturday morning.

I made a countdown chain for Peggy's kids the other night. Erica is getting pretty impatient for baby Evvy to come home. We have been saying "she is coming home soon" for so long that she told Peggy this week, "baby Evvy is coming home." Peggy said, "yes, baby Evvy is coming home soon." Erica replied, "NO NOT SOON!" Peggy said, "yes soon" Erica was very upset and Peggy asked her if she wants baby Evvy to come today and Erica said, "YES today." Hopefully having the visual of the chain getting shorter she will understand when Evvy will be home. She is so excited to play with Evvy and watch Baby Einstein DVDs with her. She is really excited to go swimming at the waterpark with Evvy. Of course, I am too! They are going to be great pals. Erica just bounces with excitement when she talks about her little friend coming home. It is really touching.

OK, off to eat dinner and then do some more laundry.

Happy Easter!
Susan

The list is getting shorter

Finally sitting down to breath tonight. I went and got new tires on the car this morning. Not an expense I really wanted to have but they were pretty bad and with baby on board, I wanna make sure we are safe. The car rides so much better and is so much quieter now. I ran a bunch of errands also (exchanging some stuff, picking up a couple of new things). I restrained myself on a VERY cute sundress and bonnet at Babys R Us. I may still go back and get it but I didn't have my Babys coupons with me as I was just going in to exchange a thermometer. I had bought a $20 digital "ear" thermometer. I decided to test it out and within a 5 minute period it read my temperature from 99 to 103 degrees. Not really the kind of accuracy I would have expected. But I am glad I tested it out before I really need it to be accurate. So I decided to go with a much less expensive thermometer. It is Red Cross brand so it should be good. I'll be testing it out.

I also rented a Rug Doctor and just finished cleaning the carpets in the house. I am glad that I don't have carpet in every room. It is a lot of work getting everything off the floor, vacuuming and then cleaning. I guess tomorrow will be spent putting everything back where it belongs. But then I will have checked two things off of the list--clean carpets and clean house!

Next weeks tasks:

• Call pediatrician for appointment
• Call parents as teachers to get enrolled
• Make copies of visit trip DVD and pictures

The list is getting shorter as the days grow shorter. Thankfully time is going by pretty quickly. Work is going well. My replacement is really picking up on the testing very well and I am confident that she will do a great job. The good thing about being in the testing phase at work is that the days just fly. I can't believe that there are only 9 more days of work!!! Don't get me wrong, I do LOVE my job but I LOVE my daughter more and she is my #1 priority now. Thinking back on the past 10 years it is interesting to see how my priorities and focus have changed. I used to really be a workaholic. Now I focus on doing my job the best that I can in the amount of time that I have at work. I don't bring work home much anymore. I am on-call for support but the system has been pretty stable and the users are more comfortable with it so I don't get many after hours calls anymore. That could change after the June rollout to the rest of the center but hopefully we have enough experienced people that will make the transition go smoothly. I hope so as I will miss the first week after go live.

I am now going to put my feet up and relax. Maybe pull out a quilt to do some handwork. Maybe I should go ahead and get the label sewed onto the quilt I am taking to the foster family.

Still hoping for an email from J this weekend. It has been almost 2 weeks since I have heard from them. Of course, this happens periodically when she gets busy with school, the computer goes down or her brother needs the computer. Hoping all is well in Guatemala with my little angel girl.

Susan

Counting Down

I guess the new countdown clock at the top of the blog says it all! I can't wait to bring the love of my life home. Our receptionist at work commented yesterday that I look happier every day. I FEEL happier every day that I get closer to bringing my baby girl home. I am in a little withdrawl as it has been almost 2 weeks since the last pictures from J. I am hoping to hear from them this weekend.

I still want to find something special for J. She has been so wonderful about sending me pictures and updates this past 8 months. She is going to culinary school and also taking an art class. She is just the sweetest young lady and I know Evvy loves her very much. I finished making the label to go on the quilt that I made for J's family. I think it turned out very nicely. I will get it sewn on tonight and then I will take a picture. Not sure if I will post it yet as I have given this link to J to see pictures that I post.

Mom & Dad will be here two weeks from yesterday and two weeks from today I will be going over all of my final checklists and getting ready to leave. Two weeks from tomorrow we will be getting up VERY early for our 6:00 AM flight. And then by 3:00 that afternoon, the family should be bringing Evvy to the hotel. We will then have the weekend to laze around before getting up EARLY on Monday to go to the Embassy. We will then have the rest of Monday and until 3:30 on Tuesday to go siteseeing or whatever. Then we will be back home Wednesday night.

It is such a wonderful feeling. I haven't had any moments of panic yet about becoming a mother full time. I feel totally ready and can't wait.

All right, back to work. Lunch break is over.

Susan