Seven weeks home!!!!

Well, today marks the seven week point of our arrival home with Ursula and I have to say, we have a great kid! She is so much fun to have around and we get compliments from people wherever we go on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis :) People stop us at random to comment on how beautiful she is, how well behaved, happy, content, you name it, the list goes on and on. People are surprised at how well adjusted she is and how much she understands us for only being home a short time. I, myself, am pretty amazed at what she comprehends. I'll ask her to do something not really expecting her to do it, and out of the blue, she does! It's funny, because I was reading the "What To Expect" book for toddlers and they said that now is the time to work on language comprehension and to "remember, your child has only had 1 year of English to this point, so don't get discouraged if they don't understand you right away". Funny, my daughter has had about 2 months of English and understands plenty :)
So, we've been working pretty hard on getting her to say more things, so far, we think she is starting to say doggy and/or Sadie...kinda sounds the same. There have also been random moments where she says something that sounds EXACTLY like a word or phrase or song we used earlier, and Steve and I will look at each other like, did we just hear that???? I at least feel better when he hears it too, so I don't look completely crazy all by myself!
She is taking more of an interest in her surroundings, really noticing trees and birds (she loves birds) and other fascinating things. We are using sign language for common words that we use often in the hopes that she'll be able to communicate with us and not get to the point of grunting, whining or pointing and us playing the "is this what you want?" game. So far, she can sign birdie, more and eat herself and understands drink/juice, kitty, sleepy/tired and a few others. She's also able to feed herself with utensils, though still needs some practice, and she is so proud to do it on her own.
We've been working on a schedule change here for when I go back to work late next week (UGH!), and it hasn't been going too badly. She originally was waking up around 7:30/8:00 and we've been waking her up now by 7, soon to be 6:40 or so. Since she likes to sleep about 12 hours, we figure there might be a time where she's going to be at dinnertime :) Naptime is proving to be a challenge, sometimes she does down without a hitch and other times is takes a little bit of time and some crying to get there, but we're still working on it. We're trying to get a good routine down for Gammie who will be watching her while we work....thanks Gammie! And G-pa too, we don't want to forget him!
Cute thing....I wanted to post a couple of pictures from this morning....what do you get when Daddy is in charge of dinner and bedtime? See pics below. Many of the guys on this blog will say...What? What's the problem? Whereas the women who visit our site will probably notice right away like I did...did Ursula pick out her own jammies? I even noticed the fashion faux pas in the dark! :) Anyway, I'm just poking fun...she did get her belly filled and got to bed in one piece, so all is well.

On a different note....last night I was coming home from running errands and a short visit with Aunt Tina, when I came upon an accident that just occurred. Myself and one other guy were the first to arrive and the collision was a pretty bad one. Luckily, no one was seriously injured, although the people that were hit, a woman about my age, her little boy, about 2-3 yrs old, and her mother, who has a pacemaker, were taken to the hospital to get checked out. The other driver, a man in his late 20's - early 30's, caused the accident by turning into their path and pretty much hitting them head on. Both cars were totaled and the man was eventually taken into custody for driving while intoxicated. Usually I'm not too weirded out by these things, but for some reason, it really hit me this time, knowing that if I were to leave Tina's 1-2 minutes earlier, I could have been the one that he hit....scary! And luckily, I was by myself and didn't have Steve or Ursula in the car with me! Just a quick realization how life can change in an instant.....

Ok, back to a happy blog...this weekend is pretty jam packed for us. Friday, Ursula and I are meeting friends for dinner. Saturday, we're going to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park and Sunday, we're getting Ursi's pictures taken and she'll get to meet her Great Gammie for the first time as she's coming here from Pittsburgh to stay for a few months. Then, on Monday, we're headed to Pottstown to visit a friend I met through my agency in Minnesota. She has 2 little Guatemalan beauties, a son, who has been home about 1 1/2 yrs and a little girl that has been home for a few months and happens to be exactly 2 weeks older than Ursula. She was my lifeline throughout this process and I'm so excited to finally get to meet her and the cuties in person. I'll be sure to post pics next week!

Mommy, look what I found....It's not pretty, but we actually got 2 ponies!What do you mean they don't match?My morning ritual...playing with my best friend Sadie.One of my other friends, Jake, doing what he does best!