Ladies & Gentlemen, the news you've all been waiting for....

That's right....We're OUT!!!!!
I got the call Monday at 4:21pm (4:21 on 4/21, cool, huh?) Anyway, just wanted to announce that yes, Ursula will be coming home soon, after thinking it was never going to happen for us. I'm still in shock...happy that we are finally nearing the finish line, but freaking out about all the things I need to do! Of course, I am pretty prepared, but anyone who knows me, knows that I will find about 500 more things to do before she comes home. Luckily for Steve, there are no rooms in my house that need redone yet, that's usually what I do, and I end up tearing it all apart only to run out of time and have it a mess, however, it IS Spring now and the yard could use some work.....
So for everyone's information, this is what we know: Ursula's birth certificate needs to obtained (with our last name!), we are hoping to get that in a few days (the municipality she was born in usually takes several weeks in issuing BC's, but we paid extra to rush it), then she gets her 2nd DNA test done to prove she is still the same baby (DUH!), then the results go to the Embassy who issues us our "pink slip" or Embassy appointment which we have to take her to in Guatemala. We will probably get about a weeks notice to book our trip and get down there, so needless to say, I'll probably be packed next week :) We are estimating that from this point, we will travel in about a month or so, but as we all have seen, nothing is a guarantee, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. We should be able to bring her home sometime around her 1st birthday, and that would be awesome! I will post as I know more and try to keep you up to date, however, I might not know too much until we get closer to "pink".
We are hoping to have an open house weekend soon after we get home so anyone who wants to can drop by to meet The Princess in person. We hope to see you all very soon.....

April Visit

Last Visit Trip....(we hope!)

Buenos tardes everyone!

We're back from what we hope will be our last visit before we can bring Ursula home. We found out while we were there that we are supposedly on the final desk in PGN waiting to be signed off, so hopefully we'll get "out" soon and can finally start working on bringing her home!

If this is confusing or babbly (is that a word?) in any way, keep in mind I'm working on about 4 hours sleep from last night and I haven't had a decent night's sleep for almost a week! Oh, Ursula is a good sleeper and all, but I share a bed with her and I always sleep with one ear open (that's the paranoia in me). And I forgot to mention that she is all over the place when she sleeps, so I get about a sliver of bed to myself!

So, Ursula and her foster mom were already at the hotel when we arrived and it was a great welcome for us! She was happy to see me and meet her Gammie for the first time. After all the introductions, we went to our room and chatted a bit with her foster mom and caught up on all of her new antics. She can now crawl everywhere, pull herself up and walk around as long as she has something to hold onto. In other words....she's BUSY!!! It's interesting for me, being a first time mom, learning about what babies should be doing at each stage of development, I feel like I'm using the cliff notes version of Babies 101. We're just zooming through the whole 1st year!

We had a wonderful time with my little peanut (did I mention that she is still only 16 lbs?), we went to the mall and the pool and I think she had a fun time with her new little friend Karina. Ursula is on a pretty good schedule so I think the transition home won't be too difficult for her. She loves to be with me (which does my heart good!) and have me sing to her before her naps. My favorite times with her are the morning when we wake up and bedtime. We get to just hang out and take comfort in each other...it's awesome! She's definitely gotten taller, but still needs to fill out a little in the middle (don't we all wish we had that problem?)

She is starting to get into 6 month clothing, the 3-6 month stuff fits but is a little short in the arms and legs. She still has just 2 teeth on the bottom, and I don't think the top ones will be far behind. She is starting to mimic me and loves to clap her hands when you say "Yaaaaaay!" She's very social when she's been around people for a bit, but is more reserved around new folks initially. All around, she is just an awesome little kid and I can't wait to bring her home for everyone to meet her! I happen to think she is the absolute cutest Guatemalan princess and I am just in awe of her! I think you all will be too!

Until next time....