Evvy's puppy

No, we didn't buy a dog. Several months ago I bought Evvy a pull toy dog. Lately, her imagination has started to really bloom. She plays with her toy farm and dollhouse and the people. But the funniest thing lately is that she really has developed a bond with this fisher price plastic puppy dog. She cuddles it, she walks it. The other day while I was cleaning the house, I came out and she had a q-tip. I didn't say anything, just watched to see what she was doing. She lifted the puppy's floppy ear and put the q-tip behind it to clean it. The only time I use q-tips for Evvy is to clean around her earrings with alcohol.


Then yesterday when we were playing outside, she wanted her puppy to come outside with her. She then decided that the puppy would like to slide down her slide. She carried the puppy carefully up the steps of the slide and then let the puppy slide down all by itself. She just giggled so gleefully. She would then slide down and pickup the puppy and they would go up again.


Here are a few pictures of Evvy and her puppy.

She is growing up too fast!

OK. I have been horrible about posting on the blog. Keeping up with an almost 2 year old just doesn't allow it. We are loving the nice weather that seems to be finally here.


Here are a couple of new things for my big girl...


You have heard of children starting to climb out of bed about Evvy's age but what about climbing INTO bed. It was the funniest thing to watch. Bella (her favorite cat) had jumped into the crib and she wanted to get in with her. She absolutely adores this cat and calls for her all the time. She won't do story time before bed without Bella being in the room to hear the stories. The funny thing is that Bella actually sits on my lap and listens to the stories (probably more about having her head scratched than the actual stories). Anyway, Evvy did not succeed in climbing into the crib.




I have to share this second picture too. Evvy is still working on potty training. I decided tonight to start bribing her with left over jelly beans from Easter and some star stickers we picked out at Wal Mart last night. It worked twice tonight! Usually she tells me an emphatic "NO" when I ask her if she needs to go potty (followed by her slamming down the potty chair lid). Tonight I got her to potty twice for jelly beans and stickers! But the girl does like her privacy. She has taken to wrapping the shower curtain around her when she is on the potty. I finally caught it on camera tonight.

One year ago tonight....

One year ago tonight (almost to the minute) we were touching down on our final leg of the journey to bring Evvy home. My parents and I left April 14, 2007 for Guatemala to pickup my sweet angel baby. She was brought to the hotel by her loving foster family and our new life began together. We spent 5 days in Guatemala and flew home on April 18, 2007. Evvy was a wonderful traveler and slept almost the whole way. She didn't fuss or cry at all. She was a perfect angel. I was so grateful to have my parents with me on the trip. Evvy LOVES her grandma and grandpa so much and it has to be because they were there to meet her and help her transition to her new home.

This past year has flown by so quickly. The previous year waiting for her to come home went so slowly so I can't believe how quickly this year has passed. My life will never be the same. I have never been so happy (or tired) in my life. I wouldn't trade my life for anything.

One year ago, Evvy was an infant who could barely sit up, couldn't crawl, roll over, pull up. She has come so far. She is no longer a baby. She is now an almost 2 year old toddler. She moved quickly past walking and now runs, jumps, climbs. She is always on the go and I love keeping up with her. We love playing outside together. She is a great little helper. She helps me with the yard work, even helps me vacuum, clean the carpet and has recently become my little helper in the kitchen.

Most of all, Evvy makes me smile, laugh and feel pure joy. Even as she enters the terrible two's it is hard to be mad at her. She is just learning the limits. She is very playful and just full of joy. I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I know I am not a perfect mommy all the time but we do OK and I think becoming a mom after wanting it for so long and being "older and wiser" has helped me appreciate my little girl oh so much more. I think I have a lot more patience than I would have at any earlier stage in my life. She came into my life at the perfect time and I am forever grateful for her.

I think about her birthmother often and hope she is OK. I am forever grateful for her for the sacrifice she made. I can't imagine the pain and sorrow that she might feel. I hope that she has peace in her heart and knows that her daughter is loved and well cared for. I have sent pictures to her through Evvy's foster family and hope that they made it to her. I feel so blessed to have been entrusted to be a mother to this beautiful child. She has a beautiful, strong, smart loving spirit. I only hope she always knows how much I love her.

Here is a picture of my angel on the airplane one year ago tonight (looking oh so serious) and a few pictures taken this past week.


Susan

A long overdue update

I know I have been a horrible blogger this year. I won't promise to be better about posting but I will post when I have time. Having an almost 2 year old (yikes!) and working full time keeps us on the go a lot.


We just finished a month long session of mommy & baby swim classes. I have a fish on my hands. She LOVES to swim and be in the water. We did get sick in the middle of the classes and missed a day and then had a snow day which was good because we were sick that day too.


We met a new friend through our swimming class and we went to the zoo this weekend with them. The weather was gorgeous after some very cold and yucky weather. The weather only lasted for Saturday and 1/2 of Sunday and now it is back to winter cold with possibility of snow.


Evvy is getting big and learning new words every day. I need to write down all of her words & phrases because her vocabulary is really growing.


All done
All gone
I don't know
Grandpa
Grandma
Mama (the most important of course)
Hi Bella (cat)
Hi Duchess (cat)
No
Elmo
Cookie

Apple

Orange
Milk

Elephant

Cock a doodle doo (more like cocka cocka coo)
Nose
Arm


Signs she knows and uses:
Cat
Dog
Monkey
Fish
Bird
Elephant
Eat
Drink
Baby
more
all done


Those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.


She knows most animal sounds and responds to questions in both English and Spanish when asked about animal sounds and body parts.


She is full of energy and spunk. She is going to keep me active and young. She is sleeping better these days but not perfect. She is down to one longer nap in the afternoon. This is nice especially on the weekends because it means that mommy gets an occassional nap with my snuggle baby next to me.


Here are a few pictures. Even though I am not blogging as often I am adding pictures to our photo albums . Oh and another thing. When I chose a new layout I lost all of my links so I will try to work on getting them back on the side-bar.


If I have any readers left, thanks for stopping by!


Susan

Checking out the chairs at the zoo deck.

Pitching a fit, I don't want to get back in the stroller!
New friends on the hippo!
This goose bit my girl trying to get her apple.
Asleep mid-bite.

Rockstar Evvy!

One of my nephews got a "rock star" video game that included a set of drums. They already had the 2 guitars and then there was also a microphone so that someone could sing along (sort of like Karoke). Four people could play the game together to form a rock band. It was a lot of fun for everyone.

Evvy decided that she wanted to give it a try also. I got a snipit on video and you can see her in action. I think this girl has music in her future. She liked the piano, drums and loves to sing and dance.

Our First Christmas Together

Fast forward one year. Evvy has been home for 8 months and is totally a part of our family. I can't imagine my life without her. She has brought so much joy and happiness to my life. We have so many more Christmases to look forward to together as a family. My life has been so blessed this past year.

Evvy was the first one up on Christmas morning. I don't think it had anything to do with being excited about opening up presents and seeing what Santa brought her. It is just that she is always up at 6:30 (if not earlier) so no sleeping in on Christmas. We went downstairs and put on a quiet video (Baby Einstein) and she was quite content. We waited about an hour and then my niece came downstairs and Grandma and Grandpa woke up. Then my niece woke up my brother and SIL. I am sure they were thinking that all of their kids are older and they should get to sleep in. The joys of having house guests for Christmas.

Evvy was actually pretty laid back. She just sat on the couch and had presents brought to her. She opened them. She didn't really know what do do because some of them required assembly and batteries first. She got the cutest little pink "cat pack" backpack that she really liked. She would walk around with it on.. Very cute. I think we/I did a good job of not going overboard. Of course I gave her two of her big presents several weeks ahead since I knew we couldn't bring them with us. She had also had a little present opening when we had our Christmas with P and her family. It was a very nice day and I just basked in the joy of having my daughter with me and tried to not think of the sadness of last year.

Here are some pictures from this year's Christmas joy.

Susan

Last Christmas--Evvy's first Christmas

This Christmas was such a contrast to last Christmas. Last year I had visited Evvy in November and was waiting anxiously for news that she could come home. I had not made any plans to go anywhere for Christmas because I was expecting the call to go back and get my girl.

Last Christmas I was missing my angel baby and wanting her so badly. I remember hitting the send/receive button on my email hundreds of times hoping for pictures of Evvy. Thankfully she was with a wonderful foster family that was good about sending me pictures but the pictures didn't arrive until after Christmas.

I spent Christmas Day with my good friend P and her family. It was fun watching her kids open presents. Her daughter was just over 2 and got a kitchen for Christmas with all the stuff that goes with it. It was a magical Christmas for her. I could only imagine the magical Christmases to come with Evvy. I knew they would come.

I don't know much about Evvy's first Christmas except that she was with a very loving family that adored her and took such good care of her. I know that they took her to see all of the different Nativities that were displayed at the different Churces in Guatemala City. I also know that she liked the fireworks that they shoot off Christmas (and many other times) in Guatemala. I was told she wasn't afraid at all.

Here are a couple of pictures of Evvy from last Christmas.

Evvy with her foster father.

Visiting Nativities at various churches.

My happy girl.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve day, we went to the horse farm where Evvy's cousin Abby has a horse. Evvy was in heaven. She had no fear of the horses and even fed the horse a couple of carrots. As you can see in the pictures, Evvy decided that if the horse liked the carrots that she would like them too. Don't worry, we watched her carefully to avoid choking hazards. She was in heaven hanging out with her Grandpa. If you can't tell, she totally adores him. Abby and Ally were both really good on the horse. This is a new horse for Abby and he is gigantic compared to her old horse. She rides in shows and had to have a bigger horse so that she would be in proportion with the horse. She is tall and very lean.

Christmas Eve night we all hung out and worked a puzzle and then read the Christmas story and had hot cocoa. The kids all went to bed and then Santa came and filled the stockings and left some more presents.

What a beautiful day.

Susan

Want some carrot Grandpa? The horse liked it.

My turn.

This is so cool.

Evvy and cousin Ally

Dad, Evvy & Jack

Abby riding Jack
Ally riding Jack
Sweet moment
Ally on Jack.
Evvy LOVES dirt!

Finally arrived in TX

We got back to the airport about 8:00 am and headed down to the baggage claim area. Thankfully our luggage was all there. The wonderful agents actually helped me carry it back down to the ticket counter. I pushed the stroller and dragged the big suitcase behind me and the agent carried the carseat and other suitcase. I couldn't have done it without her help. We boarded our flight on time. Gotta love the pre-board with small children option. Evvy was good and just sat and read her books while we waited to take off. We ended up being delayed about 45 minutes cause the water tank was leaking so they had to drain and refill it. Then there was a passenger count discrepency and then they had to de-ice the plain. Evvy started getting fussy but it was mostly cause she was tired. She finally snuggled in and went to sleep before we took off. She slept until we started our descent into Austin. She didn't fuss at all.


My brother was there to pick us up. We grabbed some lunch and then headed up to meet the rest of the family. My brother introduced Evvy to the big dogs so that they knew the new kid and knew their place in the pecking order. They were really good with Evvy. My brother has a German Shepherd and Golden Retriever. The German Shepherd was so gentle with her and she really loved the dogs. Don't get any ideas Evvy, mommy still says no to dogs.


My brother had spent the previous day baking like crazy to make gingerbread for gingerbread houses for all of the kids and a couple of neighbors. They made one for Evvy too. So we spent time decorating gingerbread houses. Evvy liked licking her fingers after smearing the frosting around the roof. I let her do 1/2 the roof and then she was done. Silly me forgot to take a finished picture with the designer.


The rest of the afternoon/evening we just hung out. Evvy went across the street to the park with grandpa and her 2 cousins.


Here are a few pictures from today.


Susan

Who is this guy? Poor uncle Allan. Most kids love him.

Piano lessons with grandpa.

Yum. Gingerbread scraps.

Hmm. This is fun and sticky.
Isn't this pretty mommy?