Life With Ursula

The many faces of Nahla

2009-06-04T18:58:00.003-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our photo shoot today. Ursula was spending some time with GeGe and PawPaw, so it was just me and my little munchkin. Enjoy!

She must be having a nice dream....
Please, no pictures!

Power to the people!

Look at those chubby cheeks!

Ok Mom, I am sooo done with this!

Pics...even if they are in reverse order

2009-06-04T14:55:00.003-04:00

Start at the bottom first...these posted backwards. But at least I got some on here! More hopefully to come soon.

Getting ready to go home...
My little sunbather....

Like my "shades"?

Daddy and the girls...

Welcome to the world...

Best laid plans....

2009-06-01T19:07:00.003-04:00

Well, we are finally home with our little Nahla (though from what I'm told, at over 8 1/2 pounds, she's not that little) and we are doing well. We've had 2 nights with her here, one great and the other not so much. We came home on Saturday and I don't think I slept at all that night since Nahla decided to stay awake the entire time. Sunday night, however, after a few little adjustments, she fell asleep around 12:00 and woke up around 4:45am to be fed and was up around 6:20 to start the day....waaaay better! She has had her first Dr, app't and she is doing great! Today I had my first day home alone with everyone, Ursula, Nahla, 3 dogs and 2 cats, as Steve had to attend a seminar for work. I was a little nervous at first, but I have to say, everything went well and much better than I expected. Even the nurse at the Dr office commented that I must be doing well since I was dressed in something other than sweats, my hair and makeup were done, and both my children were dressed and looking great! Now I just hope it continues to go like this and it's not just a fluke thing! We'll see.
Anyway, I am going to now go into all the details of Nahla's birth for those that are interested, and to those that are not, you might want to stop here.

I went to the hospital on Wednesday morning at 8:00am to be induced and truly thinking I would have a baby on the 27th. Well, as you will read, not everything (I mean, NOTHING) went according to plan. I gave my nurse my birth plan which is basically a list of things you would like to happen during and after the birth and I did tell her I was flexible and that I already had to cross off the one that says "Would like labor to start naturally". That should have been my clue as to how things were going to go!
I started receiving Pitocin to start my labor at 9:30am and at that time I was about 1 1/2cm dilated. I went until 3:30 with just mild contractions and made it to 3cm . At that point, the midwife went ahead and broke my water, which instantly started my contractions to become pretty intense.
I labored on until about 6:30 with severe contractions that were less than 1 minute apart and they never came down from their peaks. The midwife wanted to see a nice wave pattern with peaks and valleys, and I guess the high level of Pitocin I was being given caused me essentially to have one sharp contraction after another with no break in between. So I decided to get checked again and thought if I had progressed a bit, I would still continue to try to go without pain meds, but I was told that I was still at 3cm. She also noticed that I had a lot of scar tissue around my cervix (apparently from all the procedures I'd had from my miscarriages) that she didn't think I would progress any more on my own, so I decided to get an epidural. What a relief! Other than the fact that my left leg felt like a beached whale, it was nice to get a break from the pain for a bit....and little did I know I would need it later!
I finally dilated to 10cm around 10:30pm and I didn't get the urge to push until about midnight, so my Doula suggested I do some small pushes to try to get her to descend. Finally around 12:15 (there went May 27th!) I was able to officially start pushing and was told it could take just a few tries, or it sometimes take hours....well, you guessed it, I had to push for 3 hours! At about 2:15am, the midwife found that Nahla was face up and on a diagonal, which meant that once again, I was not going to be able to do this by myself, so she called my doctor in for assistance. He arrived about 3:00 and after several more pushes with the help of a vacuum extractor, Nahla Eveliese was born at 3:24am. My poor girl had a big purple lump on the right side of her head and only now it is back to normal in color and getting smaller everyday.
We had a pretty easy time the first day in the hospital, except for the fact that she started refusing to eat. (I was starting to think that this wasn't my daughter, if she doesn't want to eat! :) So throughout Thursday and Friday, I had all of the doctors, nurses and lactation consultants trying to help me get her to eat. She lost over 7oz the first day and if she lost much more, she wouldn't be able to come home on Sat. Also, her not eating caused her to develop mild jaundice so we had to put her on a lighted bed overnight Friday in hopes that her levels would drop so we could take her home the next day. Friday night in the nursery, she took several bottles and her levels did drop along with another 3oz, but she was still able to come home at 8lb 4oz.
Ever since we've come home, she is eating well and she had her first check-up on Monday. The doctor says she is on her way back up in weight and that everything is perfect so far. Ursula has her 2 year check-up tomorrow, 6/4 and I'm going to take Nahla too to get her weighed to make sure she is gaining what she's supposed to.
She is such a good baby, she sleeps and eats all the time and rarely cries. If she does, it's only for a couple of minutes and it's usually if she's getting a bath or I can't feed her fast enough (now that's more like my daughter :)
Ursula is a huge help, getting out diapers and wipes and cream and she gives her sissy kisses all the time. She's so into baby mode that for the last 2 days, her Mr. Potato head and stuffed duck needed diapers because they poo pooed. The first day it was cute when she took off the diaper and insisted that it needed to be thrown away since it was yuck yuck, but I quickly nipped that in the bud after realizing that we would go through a ton of diapers that way!
Nahla wakes up about once or twice at night, which isn't bad, except she wants to be awake then, so we need to get her little schedule changed a bit so I can get some sleep eventually....other than that, she is a great baby and Ursula is a great big sister. Life is good!

Ok, so I just previewed this post and found that I repeated things, there are 2 different fonts used and some of it might not make sense. Life as a sleepless mother of 2...need I say more???

Nahla Eveliese is here!

2009-05-28T11:42:00.002-04:00

Quick post for now and photos to follow...

Nahla Eveliese Raab was born May 28, 2009 at 3:24am

She is 8lbs. 14.2 ounces and 19 3/4 in length

She's very healthy and doing well.

Progress....

2009-05-26T21:36:00.002-04:00

Well, I went in today for the start of my induction process and here's how it went... my appointment was for 2:00pm. The Labor and Delivery floor was bustling with activity this afternoon and my poor nurse was the only one on in the assessment center (outpatient area). I guess May is a popular month for new babies, at least in Harrisburg. Anyway, after hanging out awhile, the nurse midwife came to check my status and administer the gel. I had actually progressed to 1 1/2 cm dilated, 80% effaced and -1 station, so I had a little action over the Memorial Day weekend (even though I didn't know it). I finally received the gel around 3:45pm and after being on the monitor for 1/2 hour, I was able to go home. So now, it's been about 6 hours since I left, and nothing much is happening. I am having some contractions, at least I think that's what they are, but they are not painful so I am planning on going back in the morning for the big day!
Ursula is having a sleepover at Gammie's house, and I can't wait to introduce her to her new sister! I was actually a little teary eyed today thinking that it was her last day as an only child, but I do think she'll love her little sis.
It might be a little while before I can post again, so wish me luck for a smooth and painless (I can hope, right?) delivery. I will have Steve post the details soon!

Update...

2009-05-26T09:32:00.002-04:00

Hi all! Just a quick update on the baby front here...I go to the hospital today at 2:00 to start my induction process by getting Prostoglandin gel and if nothing happens by tomorrow morning, I will be admitted at 8:00am to start Pitocin. So it looks like probably sometime tomorrow May 27th, we should finally have a new addition to our family! It's funny, if it does happen tomorrow, because that is the original date I wanted her to be born...Ursula's birthday is 5/29/07 and tomorrow is 5/27/09. Just a cute little play on the numbers (those types of things amuse me). So, that's about it for now, I'll keep you posted!

What's going on.....

2009-04-29T16:30:00.003-04:00

Hi all! Back again from another hiatus, I seem to be averaging one post a month instead of the once a week I was aiming for. Oh well, I guess I'm not perfect after all...just don't tell my husband that :)
(I've been having a tough time loading pictures on here and that's the main reason I fall behind with my posts, so for now I'm just going to update and try to add pictures later to catch everyone up...sorry!)

Anyway, here's what's been going on around here:

We celebrated our first Easter together and Ursula loved it! She liked the Easter Bunny and would say "Hi" and give him high fives, but wasn't thrilled to sit on his lap by herself. We do have a picture with her sitting on his lap, but Mommy's also in it with Ursula's arms around her neck like a choke hold. I totally thought my Easter Bunny photos were over...guess not! She got so many Easter baskets that it looked like Christmas at our house! Luckily, the Easter Bunny is smart and did not bring a lot of candy...he brought little toys and puzzles and fun things instead. She did get a few mini Reeses PB cups and tried them for the first time...let me just say...they were a hit!

We celebrated Ursula's 2nd (can you believe she's 2? I can't) birthday a few weeks early this year (last year, it was a few weeks late...we'll try for on time next year :) Anyway, she had a ladybug themed party and she loved it! I wanted her to have her own special day before the baby comes and I think it went very well. She blew out her candle all by herself, and was so proud. She got lots of presents, including many ladybug items...dresses, game, plate/cup/placemat, and beach towel. She also got a small bat and ball set and is actually really good at hitting the ball when thrown to her...Mama is so proud! Another thing she got is a crab sandbox, that we're really excited to set up for her for the summer. So thanks to everyone who came and made her 2nd birthday lots of fun!

We haven't been doing too much these last few weeks as we are waiting for the new baby to arrive, so we don't have many exciting adventures to talk about. We've been going for walks pretty much on a daily basis (trying to start labor) and we've been to City Island several times. We've just been having some Mommy and me time, running errands, grabbing lunch, playing at home etc.

One sad note for me...I had to put my cat Pookie to sleep last week and I'm still pretty devastated. I got him when I first moved out on my own almost 16 years ago, so I always referred to him as "my first born". He was with me through my single years and through my married years too. The one thing that really bothers me is that he loved Ursula and she loved him, so it's hard to know what to say when she mentions him. He was actually healthy up until about a month ago, when he started walking like his back leg was paralyzed. I took him to see the vet and they did all kinds of tests and xrays, but really couldn't find anything significant. He was on steroids for 3 weeks and didn't get any better, in fact, his right front leg ended up the same way and he could barely get around. We would carry him to where he needed to go, but it was just a sad situation and I think it finally took a toll on him mentally too. I hated having to make that decision, but I think that's one of the things you sign up for when you have pets. Ok, enough sad stuff, onto our new addition....

Yes, for everyone wondering, I am STILL pregnant and could be for quite some time (and yes, my due date is Friday the 22nd) I went to the Dr's last Thursday and there was no activity and the Dr told me I was a fingertip dilated (I think he just told me that to make me feel better). So I went again today...I had a different Dr and I told her what the Dr last week had said. So, she checked me and confirmed that yes, I am indeed a fingertip dilated! Well, that wasn't what I was hoping to hear! She also checked my fluid and we almost had a bit of a scare when she couldn't find any, but in the end she totaled up plenty...it is just getting crowded in there and the fluid had shifted a bit around the baby so it's in sporadic pockets around her. She suggested to get put on the schedule for the end of next week for an induction, if I don't go sooner, which at this point, I'm not too optimistic about. So, I go home and get a call from the lady who does the scheduling...next week is all booked up and the soonest she could get me in is Sunday May 31st...WHAT???? She told me she'll call tomorrow and again next Tues and every day after that to see if they have any spots open up, so I can get in sooner than that. She said spots usually do open thanks to people who go before their date (I'd like to be one of those people please!), so keep your fingers crossed that I can get a spot sooner! The Dr's estimated the baby at 7 1/2 pounds about 3 weeks ago and if continue to stay pregnant, I'm afraid I'll have a 10 pound baby...Yikes! That's what Steve weighed when he was born, and come to think of it, that's almost half of what Ursula weighs at 2 years old! So that's the status here...I am glad that she is happy and healthy in there, but I am sooo ready for her to make her appearance, both to meet her and so I can have my body back! :) I guess this is my payback for a pretty uneventful pregnancy.

I will try to post again next week as we celebrate Ursula's one year homecoming on the 29th (which happens to be her actual birthday as well). I can't believe it's been a year already that she has been home with us! I never would've imagined that a year ago we were a childless couple and within that year, we'll be a family of 4! Life is so unpredictable sometimes!

I'm also in the process of changing our blog, but really can't until the new baby arrives so we can add her pictures. So stay tuned for a new look and also a new site name...we obviously can't say Raab party of 3 anymore! By the way, I haven't settled on a new site name yet, so if you have any cute suggestions, I'd be open to hear them. I'm looking for something similar to what I already have, maybe incorporating a family of 4, or something about the girls. I just need something that people can remember and that isn't terribly long. Let me know if you have any ideas! Thanks!

I will try to get some pics on here soon and keep you all posted on the baby front.

Change of plans...

2009-03-10T18:48:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, I got a great idea to take Ursula to the mall to the Build A Bear Workshop. When we got to the mall, however, they were having a Read Across America night with lots of local news achors reading to kids in the middle of the mall and there were some fun characters there as well. The Cat in the Hat was there and Ursula's personal favorite, the Auntie Anne Pretzel guy was also circling around. Much to my surprise, Ursula soooo preferred the pretzel man to making any type of bear, cat, dog, whatever...even after I went through the entire stock with her 3 or 10 times (I guess I'm the one who really wants to make a bear). Ursula did make out with a little heart (the ones that go inside the bears) and some stickers from the bear shop, a few books, a group of balloons and plenty of stalking time, of the pretzel man, I mean, and after a few hours, she was pooped and ready for bed....and we didn't even spend any money! I guess I still have to learn a few things about what an almost 2 year old is really interested in :)

The first meeting....
Hey, where are you going???
Sneaking up behind him...
A high-five for the Cat in the Hat...
Ursula is now starting to be very opinionated about certain things...she likes to tell me things she'd like to wear, like, hats, bows, sunglasses, etc. As soon as we put one of these things on her, she says, with a wave of her finger... "doh, doh, doh" which stands for don't touch, or don't take off. She would always have a habit of leaving these types of items on for about a nanosecond, which does not make Mommy very happy.
Another thing she likes to do now is help with anything and everything. She empties her garbage can in her bedroom about 3 times a day (even if there is only one small thing in there) and loves to pick up "yuck, yuck", which is anything that goes in the garbage like dust bunnies (and with 6 pets, this keeps her very busy!). She is starting to want to help me with anything in the kitchen, such as making meals, putting dishes away, groceries, you name it. I actually love the help, she's really quite organized, but right now, it is wearing on my back to constantly pick up a 20 pounder just to press the buttons on the microwave. I might have to invest in a step stool :)
She has recently begun to climb on everything...she can scale the dining chairs in less than a second and for awhile I was moving any item she wasn't supposed to have to the middle of the table until the other day I found her on all fours crawling across the table to get to them :( She is totally fearless and is very trusting which that combination, I'm afraid, is going to lead to many bumps and bruises.
Anyway, here is a pic of her in her pretty headband that we bought for her in Guatemala, made from worry dolls. She wanted to wear it the other day and was so proud to show it off...(Doesn't she look so big? Where did my little girl go???)

So onto baby sister's update...Not much to mention, everything is going well, I have another check up next week and this Friday will mark the start of my 30th week...can you believe how fast it's going??? I know I can't! I was thinking the other day the we are into March already and that May comes right after April (I know, I have been called a genius!) but seriously, it's only two months away!!!
Steve has decided now that he really likes one of the names I had picked originally (perfect timing, I know), so we are still considering that one also. We are keeping both in the running and might wait until we see her to see which one suits her more.
I have been shopping quite a lot, now that I have the time to, and have been picking up a lot of the things I need for a newborn, since we never needed these items previously. I think I'm pretty prepared, I guess I'll see how it goes after she's here :)
Last week we started our Prepared Childbirth classes and have 5 more to go. Steve really enjoyed it and is looking forward to taking the rest....I'll give a status update after we get into the graphic parts, I believe his enthusiasm will change :) Steve is going to be in the room with me, of course, and my friend Tina along with my doula will be my support system throughout the labor and delivery. My only apprehension right now is the fact that I am having some major back issues lately...the baby has been putting pressure on my sciatic nerve and there are times that I can barely walk :( I am feeling pretty good otherwise, but that really can make a good day turn bad very quickly. I'm a little concerned how that might affect labor, but I am keeping all of my options open in case things don't go the way I'd like.
That's about it for now...I'll update this weekend with a fun little surprise post! Stay tuned!

Where do I begin....

2009-02-16T17:47:00.008-05:00

Geesh! Has it been a month and a half since my last update? Well, yes it has and a lot has happened in that short time, so I'll try to remember everything and get you caught up (if you're still out there :)
Ok, this all might not be in order, but, here goes....
First up, on Jan 16th, we went to the Pennsylvania Farm Show, which is a pretty big thing around here. Lots of animals and agricultural information to be seen/learned. And some good food too! The milkshakes are a must!
Anyway, Ursula had a great time checking out all of the livestock and here are some pics...

Looking at the bunnies...
Petting the bunnies....
Just a couple of my favorites, and yes, it's a bunny!
Next we decided to redo our dining room floor (well, I decided to tear up the carpet before Christmas, insisting that we had nice hardwood underneath). To my disappointment, the wood was not what I was expecting and was in horrible condition! I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to do, so we suffered through the holidays with ugly floors and finally decided on laying laminate over the existing wood....and we did it ourselves!!!! I think it looks great and the only thing we are going to get help with is the finishing trim around the edges, we know we won't be able to do that part. Here's a look at the before and after...
We received the car seat and stroller for "Baby Sister" and have it all ready to go. Ursula was happy to try it out for me and it got her seal of approval :) She is all ready to put her snack and drink cups to use and I had to pry her out of it to put it away!

Now onto Daddy's proud moment....his trip to the Superbowl where his beloved Steelers won!!! Not only did he get to go watch the Superbowl in person, which in and of itself is exciting, but his team was playing in it and they won too! Urs and I watched on TV like most, but we were so excited for Daddy to be there, he said it was the trip of a lifetime!
Participating in the NFL Experience before the game...
View from his seat...
Being presented with the trophy after winning their 6th Superbowl!

The day that Steve left to go to Florida, I had an unexpected surprise happen to me. What I thought was going to be a bad thing, actually turned out to be wonderful! I now have a new job title...Stay at Home Mom! That's right, I got laid off from my job on Friday, January 30th and have been home with Ursula ever since. I now have an extended maternity leave and to top it off, the way things worked out, I will be making more money than I was recently making, go figure! I have, for so long, wanted to leave there, but it was just easier to stay than to look for something else. Now, the decision was made for me and it was the push I needed. I am enjoying being at home with my little girl (soon to be 2 little girls), and I can't believe the differences I've seen in Ursula in just the last 2 weeks. She is learning so much every day and it's great to see her development and share it with Steve when he gets home.

Some other random notes...we went to a local mall for their family fun day and waited in line for a balloon animal. We waited probably an hour or so (I know, I'm crazy, but Ursula loves balloons and I thought she needed one). Anyway, we ended up being the very last customer and he made Ursula the biggest, girliest thing he knew how to make. I think it turned out really cute! Also, everyday the mail comes, Ursula always thinks it's for her and is really disappointed if she doesn't get something (we actually look forward to junk mail just for her :). Here's one day she was soooo happy getting her mail for the day, she actually got a credit card! (No, not a real one, but we won't tell her that!)
We had our first Valentine's Day as a family this year and it was really nice. Usually Steve and I don't do much, but this year, we actually got to go out, just the two of us! It was the first time we've been out by ourselves in a very long time, probably our pick up trip for Ursula is the last time that I can think of :) Anyway, we had a nice dinner and the rest of our day together was interesting. I wouldn't call it romantic, by any means, but it was very family oriented...we became the proud owners of this little number....
I know, I know, you are all jealous, I mean, who wouldn't want this parked in their driveway? Well, after much deliberation, we came to the conclusion that a minivan is the best option for our growing family and many pets. I had to come to terms with the fact that my coolness factor has now completely gone out the window, but really, being in my mid thirties, married 6 1/2 years, with almost 2 kids, how much coolness do I have left anyway? I guess this just seals the deal :) I do have to admit, it is the most comfortable vehicle I've ever had, with cushy leather heated seats (it's nice to have your bum warmed when the temps outside are in the 30's :) and tons of other options I've never had before and I love, love, love the power side doors for the ease of getting kids in and out...I'll stop there, since it sounds like I'm trying to talk everybody into a minivan (then I won't be the only one :)

Finally, I'll update on baby #2. Everything is right on track with her, she is becoming quite the little kickboxer and growing as she should. I go this week for my Glucose test and Rhogam shot and have another appointment next week. In March and April, my appointments with increase to every other week and then in May, they will go to every week. This Friday will be the start of my 3rd trimester and I can't believe how fast it is going...only 3 more months until she arrives! We did finally pick a name and I wanted to thank you for all of your ideas, but we won't be announcing it until she is here, so you have a little while longer to wait. I will say it is a name that fits all of my criteria and I personally do not know another person with this name, so we are happy with our choice. Well that's enough for now, I'll be back soon, I promise!

Ursula has an announcement.....

2009-01-03T23:01:00.003-05:00

That's right....there will be another girl in the Raab household in a few months! We are super excited to have a little sister for her and also, it should make things a little easier for us, as we can use all of the things we already have and just add the newborn necessities that we never needed before.
Everything looked good during the ultrasound, she looks healthy and alert. She is also very limber as her one knee is almost touching her forehead and her foot is extended above her head (which is bothering Steve, as he thinks it is hurting her :) Anyway, I have a follow up appt with my doctor next Friday and I shouldn't need another ultrasound until the 32 week mark. I do believe at week 28 or so, I am to get an injection of Rhogam, for those of you not familiar with that, it is a shot to provide me with antibodies so that if my blood would come into contact with the baby's, my body would not try to fight it off as foreign. The reason for this for me and not most people is that I have rh negative blood type. Nothing serious, just a normal precautionary measure that is taken, I've had injections with every miscarriage, so I'm used to it by now.
On another note....the one "bad" thing about us having a girl is that we can't agree on a name. We had a solid choice for a boy, but we just can't find the perfect one for a girl. Since I have some time and every time I search the books and internet I get a headache, I'm going to throw it out to everyone and ask for suggestions. Here are the "guidelines": it can't be too trendy, too popular (in the top 100), and should sound good with Ursula. I like to try to find a name that I can picture on a baby, a preschooler, a teenager, and an adult and still sound good. I prefer somewhat unusual (if that's the right word) but not unheard of names, like Ursula. It's different enough that it hasn't been used for some time, but most people have heard of it. So, there you go....send me your ideas! You can either leave them in the comment section or email me if you don't want them read by all.

A Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.....

2008-12-28T20:47:00.009-05:00

We are all recuperating from a busy Christmas and are winding down our 2008 holiday season. Ursula had a wonderful time meeting Santa and was thrilled with all of the gifts he left under her tree. We started Thanksgiving weekend by making a trip to Hershey Candylane where she saw real reindeer and met Santa at his "Cottage".

Is that who I think it is?
It is who I think it is!
I like this guy!
Next up, Ursula got to see Santa twice again on the 20th, 1st with him coming by our house on our local firetruck...every year we get a mini parade right in front of our house the Saturday before Christmas (I think Mommy is more excited than anyone in our family :) Although Ursula was fascinated by the sirens and horns and Santa waving to her from the top of one of the trucks!
Then she went to a VFW function where her Pappy belongs and she sat with him again and received her 1st present. Obviously by this time, she was more comfortable with him (even if he and Mrs. Claus looked a little shady)...she didn't care one bit!
So then it was onto our long Christmas weekend and we decided it would be better to let her take a couple of days to open all of her gifts since Mommy went a bit overboard this year and we knew she'd be getting gifts from others as well. We let her open her stocking on Christmas Eve and then half of her gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. We went to Nana and Pappy's house for breakfast and there she opened more presents. After that, we went to Gammie and Paw Paw's house where there were many more gifts to be enjoyed and then one more stop at a family friend's house for dinner and a few more gifts. Going all day with no nap, she actually did very well and not 2 minutes into our final car ride home, she was out like a light and didn't even wake up when we got her changed for bed, which is a first! The following day, we put away all of our gifts and organized her newly redone play area and she finished opening the rest of the loot. I've included a few pics of her enjoying one of her favorite new items, her table and chairs and tea set. Over the last few days, her Daddy and I have had more cups of tea than I can mention :), and I don't even like tea! All in all, we had a great time celebrating this first and last Christmas with our family of 3, next year we look forward to a Christmas as a family of 4!

Just a few of her presents from Santa under her very own tree...
First one, going kinda slow....
This is actually pretty fun!
Starting to get into the groove...
Showing Daddy her new cell phone.
At Nana & Pappy's house helping to clean up. As a side note, Ursula is a very organized present opener. Every single piece of paper that she ripped off had to be given to someone nearby to throw into the garbage bag and if anybody happened to miss a piece, she stopped everything to go pick it up and put it in. Very helpful!

Once everything was open, it was fun to try out the paper as a necklace and/or headband...All tuckered out after a very long day....

A few of her playing with her favorite toys, her new table and chairs and tea set...

So as you can see we had a blast this Christmas and we're already thinking ahead to the next couple of holidays that Ursula wasn't home for last year...Valentine's Day, Daddy & Mommy's birthdays and of course, Mother's Day (we just missed that one last year!). It's hard to imagine that she has been home 7 months already, the time flies by so fast, but she is doing so well, and understanding so much in her short time in America, we couldn't ask for a better little girl.

We also want to wish everyone a Happy 2009! We were going to go out to a friend's house, but decided to just stay home and be homebodies this year. Neither of us were really in the mood for any big celebration, and besides, I'm lucky to make it to 10:00 anymore :) We had a relaxing evening and a nice dinner at Gammie's house this afternoon, so it was a very peaceful transition for our family. I'm actually exhausted just thinking about how 7 short months ago I became a 1st time mom and in a few more short months, I'll be mom to 2 kids! Whew! Speaking of that, I go for my 20 week ultrasound tomorrow afternoon and we will be finding out whether Urs will have a little brother or sister...I'm just excited to be able to start buying things in the appropriate colors! I am so not a yellow and mint green kind of person! I can't believe that I am halfway through my pregnancy already, again, how time flies! So, I will make a post this weekend and we'll see how many of you voted correctly! You have 1 more day to cast your vote, looks like the boys are the favorite of our viewing crowd....guess we'll see.....

Little Post...

2008-12-12T20:12:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know that all is well so far on the pregnancy front. Just had a check-up today after a month long hiatus from the doctor's office (seemed like forever!), but everything was fine and we all got to hear the heartbeat again on the doppler...going strong! I go for my 20 week ultrasound on Jan 5th, so I thought it would be fun to set up a poll to record predictions of the baby's gender. So go over to the left hand side of the blog and cast your vote, there are only 23 days left!
Steve and I have our own ideas, but we'll wait to post them until right before we go...I don't want to influence any votes!
Have fun!

Halloween, 1st snow, and a surprise.....

2008-11-23T20:01:00.009-05:00

Hi all! It's been a long time since my last post, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy! Let me fill you in....
We celebrated Halloween with a week full of activities. 1st up was the annual parade in our community. It only starts a few blocks from our house, so we were able to walk to our watching post and be some of the first people to see the parade from the beginning. It all worked out well, the weather was great, and we were able to be home in time for Ursi's bedtime too. I think she enjoyed herself...she absolutely loves anything that involves balloons and the many firetrucks with flashing lights were a big hit as well. She was a little unsure of all of the kids in costumes, but the fact that they threw out candy to everyone, made it ok :)
Next up, was the Halloween party at the community center. (Our boro did away with trick or treat last year) So, we went to the party and Ursula got to see McGruff the Crime Dog and the Dare Lion in person (not sure what she thought about them) but she did really well and again, collected a bag full of candy. A few days later was trick or treat night in Steve's parents' neighborhood, so we went over to let Urs put all of her "dih, dih, dih" (that's trick or treat to you and me) practice to good use. It only took her about 2 houses or so to catch on, and after that, she was diving into the candy dishes like nobody's business! It was like she knew exactly what she was looking for in there, even though she's never had a piece of candy in her life! It was cute though, she had a little bag that came with her costume that held about 2 pieces of candy, so I had to keep emptying them into a bigger bucket, which after the first screaming tantrum, had to be done secretly without her knowledge :) We all had a fun time and can't wait to do it again next year!
A few weeks later, we celebrated our 6th anniversary and 1st family day. When Ursula gets older, we are going to let her choose what we do on that day, but this year, we combined with Gammie's birthday and went over to their house for dinner and just all spent time together enjoying our newest family member! It was a very nice day for everyone.
So here are some new things that Ursula is doing now....she can now climb onto "big people" furniture all by herself, of which she is so proud :) she is saying tons more things, some of her favorites include: Paw Paw, bowl, bone (for the dog's bone), spoon, milk/drink (both the same word), book, pillow, star, didee, jingle(for earrings), that, and dwarf. I'll explain the last one...she has the 7 dwarfs from Snow White, that I got in Disney a few years back and right now they are her favorite toys. She actually calls them "ghoul" or something that sounds like that, but we know she really means dwarf. I know, she has a very random vocabulary, but we are able to understand a lot of what she is saying on a daily basis.
She has become very independent, preferring to feed herself, and complete tasks without any help, even if she needs it. She is also turning into a perfectionist in that, when she's putting things away, they need to be in the exact spot and things need to all face the same direction, it's cute to watch her get it "just right" :)
She loves all of her four-legged buddies and can say 4 of their 6 names. You can see a couple of pics below with her and her favorite kitty. He actually stayed still for a couple of hugs, usually she runs toward him yelling his name, which sends him quickly bolting from his comfy spot.
She is still a dancing fanatic and is not too proud to bust a move in the middle of a store, a restaurant, the car, well, anywhere for that matter. She is now accompanying that with song, for if you ask her to sing a song, she will belt out the newest "La la la la" or "rum pa pum pum" that comes to her mind. Obviously, we have started listening to the Christmas music here in our house :)
Another thing she likes to do right now is mimic people, and this can occur anywhere at any time as well. The other day I was in Target and there was a lady in the aisle across from us obviously suffering through a bad cold....she was looking for medicine and coughing like crazy. Of course, you and I would try not to pay attention and feel bad for her knowing how awful it is to have to go out for medicine when you feel so horrible. Yeah, not my daughter. She completely turned around in the cart so she could see the lady, and started doing her fake coughing. She didn't do it quietly either, no, it was loud and she was not stopping. I had to go to another lane and come back later. Pretty embarrassing. She does this too in places with unhappy children. She'll hear a kid either crying or really throwing a fit, and feel compelled to mimic their every sound. Again, another embarrassing situation, especially if the parents are right beside you trying to calm their child down.
We are getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving together on Thursday and that weekend we are going to decorate for Christmas and hopefully go to HersheyPark Christmas Candylane. Urs should be able to get her first glimpse of Santa, she can tell you that he says "ho,ho,ho" although she sounds more like Mrs Claus since she always says it with a very high pitched voice :) Then we'll move on to getting ready for our 1st Christmas with her home. I'm so excited to experience everything with her, as this will be the 1st one she'll really enjoy (she was only 7 months old last year).
She has her 18 month check-up on Dec 3rd and I can't wait to see how much she's grown. I know for certain she has gotten taller, and she might have gained a little weight, but she's still pretty thin. She is finally starting to fit into 12 month pants (they fit even better with a onesie underneath :) But she is very healthy and eats great so we are not concerned. She is finally getting her 1st year molars and so far, they're coming in without problems. She now has 12 teeth and her hair is getting longer, so she just looks like such a big girl now!
See below for new pics and I promise I'll update soon!!!!!

Getting ready for the party....

Taking it all in...

McGruff the Crime Dog & The Dare Lion
My first real house to trick or treat at (even if it is Gammie's house)
What Daddy and I do for fun....
My first snow experience (wasn't too impressed)

Oh, I guess I forgot to say what the surprise in the title is....well, I'll let Ursula tell you...

Hi everyone...I'm so excited to say.....That's right....our little Ursula isn't going to be the littlest one in our house for much longer....I'm PREGNANT! Can you believe it???? I know Steve and I couldn't :) I'll go into more details later, but to satisfy everyone's curiosity, next week I will be into my 4th month and my projected due date is May 22nd, exactly 1 week before Ursula's 2nd birthday! So far, I've had 4 ultrasounds, many blood tests, and a not-so-pleasant 1st trimester, but I've made it through with no problems and everything is going well. I have another prenatal appointment in about 2 1/2 weeks and on January 5th we get to find out whether we're going to have a boy or a girl (not that we're telling anyone though) so I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as the baby grows. Talk to you all soon!!!!!!

Pumpkin pickin'

2008-10-08T19:16:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, we had our first family outing to the pumpkin patch to let Ursula pick her own pumpkin. We went to a place called The Country Barn and they had a little market where we were able to purchase homemade apple butter made fresh the day before...YUM! They also had lots of animals including: goats, chickens, roosters, sheep, miniature horses that were giving pony rides, and a bunny village with a total of 3, yes, I said 3 bunnies. I'm thinking they were all the same sex :) There was also a little mine with a tunnel slide in it, and a corn maze too. We had a great day with friends and hopefully we can continue this tradition for years to come!

Ready to go in my pumpkin pickin gear...
Here's me with my friend Kylie....
Look at those goats!
Cute sign....
I posted all of the pics we took of Ursula's first pony ride to show her expression...it never changed the entire ride! I think this is hysterical, whenever she rides a new ride or tries something new, she is always soooo serious and concentrates until the ride is over. Take a look....
Here's the mine....
And here's Daddy and Urs coming out of the slide....
Children of the corn....
Let's see how much I grow til next year...
On our way to the pumpkin patch (notice the facial expression)
Eying up the choices....
Look! Over here, I think I found one!
Heading back with her prized pumpkin...

Life with a 16 month old....

2008-09-28T20:50:00.004-04:00

Hi!!!! Yes, we're still here, and we have been busy! Today Ursula is 16 months old and has been home for 4 months. Can you believe it's been 4 months already???? I know I can't. To start with, this week has actually been the worst week for all of us, Urs has been sick since Tuesday and her daddy and Gammie have been sick too. She started out with a runny nose and sneezing the week before and I attributed that to teething, since her molars seem to be bothering her. Then on Tuesday, she was feeling out of sorts and started running a fever, which has been going off and on since then. She has been on Motrin and the doctor couldn't really find anything but a little redness in her throat, so she thinks it is viral and did give me some Amoxicillin, that Urs has been taking since Friday. I do think she's finally feeling a little bit better, but now we have some other issues to work on....since she hasn't been feeling well and has been irritable and clingy, we bent the rules a bit to comfort her. We have given in to her more than usual and even let her sleep with us a few nights. So now we are back on our regular family rules and sleeping schedule...I think she liked it better the other way :)
Whew, who said being a parent was this tough???? Your poor little girl is upset and doesn't feel good, so you want to make her happy, right? So, sure, it's understandable if she isn't very nice to the dogs, or if she wants to throw her toys, or if she wants us to stay in her room until she falls asleep or maybe even sleep in our bed. Now, we are the bad parents because, since you're feeling better, you now have to be nice to the dogs, it's not nice to throw your toys, and you have to go back on a sleep schedule. Boy, life is rough.
Ok, now onto nicer things. A few weeks ago, Ursula and I were able to get together with a friend of mine and her daughter, who live in New Jersey. We don't get to see each other very much and it was wonderful to get together for a few hours so we could catch up and the girls could play. I've attached a few pics below.
We also went to our first MY GYM class. This is a place for kids and their parents to go to interact with other kids in their age group and spend an hour climbing and exploring and having fun with all of the gym equipment they have there. Ursula is in the Waddler group, which is for kids aged 14-22 months. I think she did ok for her first time, she did well in the individual time, but had some issues when it was time to sit with me and participate with the group. She just wanted to keep doing her own thing, but I think after going a few more times and getting into a routine, she'll get it.
Ursula is going through a very independent stage. She wants to do everything on her own and doesn't need help. She has started throwing tantrums and making noises I've never heard from her before (some grunts and groans and screams...sounds like something off the Sci-fi channel :) She also loves to help us with anything we do, she loves to help with the groceries (she can carry a full size laundry detergent in each hand across the room, Steve believes she has superhuman strength ;) she loves to help us feed the dogs (see pics below) and her favorite thing right now is throwing things in the garbage. Usually it is actually trash that she is throwing away for us, with our supervision, but every once in awhile, we have to do random checks as she likes to surprise us by dropping a toy or stuffed animal in there as well. The other thing we have to watch is that the trash stays in the can, we sometimes find her peeking in and stealing something back out. It's nice to have such a ready helper, but we have found we need to add time to all the regular chores we do...throwing one piece of paper in the garbage could take 15 minutes, as she has to walk very slowly to the can, swing the lid and peer in for awhile, I guess making sure the conditions are suitable for the paper, and then holding it over the edge for a few minutes as if saying a final goodbye, then finally dropping it and checking to make sure it actually went in there. It was really cute the first few times, but we really need to get more done in a day :) Same with the groceries...we sometimes have to put the same items away several times as they mysteriously make their way back out of the cabinet or into a different location. Please let me know if any of you need some help with these things at your house, I'll be glad to bring her over ;)
She's learned how to say the words cheese, ball, Pup Pup (one of our cat's names...I know, weird name for a cat) and we've been practicing "trick or treat", which is coming along, kinda sounds like "de de de". She also says her version of "row, row, row your boat" and makes noises to identify things like: lawnmowers, buses or trucks, and dogs. She learned the sign for cookie and we're going to keep trying to add one or two here and there. The signing has been a big help to us in understanding what she wants, she tells us when she's hungry, thirsty, sleepy, when she wants more and when she's finished. She seems to totally understand us when we talk to her, which still amazes me after such a short time. She helps to put away her toys and knows where they go too. We're also starting to be able to read an entire book to her...up until this point we could keep her attention long enough for a page or two, so it's fun to have that bonding time with her now.
So, that's it for now...enjoy the pictures!

Having fun with my new friend...
All of us together...
A few pics from MY GYM class...
Helping to feed the dogs(with mixing spoon in hand)....
Having fun outside....
Daddy, I can do it by myself....
What do you mean I can't jump off of here?

I know, I know....

2008-09-07T21:09:00.004-04:00

Has it really been that long since I've posted? Well, let me just say, it's not for lack of trying. You see, I have been trying to figure out how to post a video and I just can't seem to figure it out. They don't seem to have "Uploading Video for Dummies" anywhere! So, instead of seeing a video, I'll try to catch you up on all that has been happening....hopefully video will come later.
Since my last post, we have had another play date with our friends from Pottstown and we had a great time! They came to our house for a bit and showed Ursula how to really play with her toys (more on that later) and we went to ZooAmerica at Hersheypark too! We enjoyed a nice Labor Day weekend with family and friends with a cookout and Kipona, a large outdoor Artsfest downtown on the riverfront.
This weekend, Gram (Great Gram to Urs) went back to Pittsburgh and will probably not be back until Spring....we'll miss you Gram!!!! I'm interested to see how Ursula reacts when she goes to Steve's parents on Tuesday, Gram has been there to play with her for the last 8 weeks and now she's gone home. I think they really enjoyed each other and we hope she comes back soon!
A lot has happened in such a short time...Ursula is finally getting her 4th tooth on the bottom (she's only had 3 for the longest time, now it will look even) and her molars are starting to sprout too! She definitely has a lot going on in there! She now loves to brush her teeth and would do it 24/7 if we let her :) She is constantly running to the bathroom and signing (in her own way) that she wants to brush her teeth. I only hope the interest continues into her teenage years :)
Ursula had her 15 month checkup last Wednesday and gained a whopping 1 pound, 1 ounce! That means she is now tipping the scales at 18.5lbs now...I really don't think she's going to have a future in Sumo Wrestling. She did, however, grow 1 1/4 inches, which is actually a little more than average growth for those 3 months, Yippee!!! She really likes her doctor, even after he gives her 2 vaccinations :( , which is a pretty good thing. He is very satisfied with her development and was impressed by how well she is doing after such a short time home. He even gave her a stuffed bear to take home....told you she was special :)
Now, back to the part about her learning how to use her toys...when Ursula's little Guat friends came to visit, one is 2 weeks older and one is 11 months older, they were loving her little slide/jungle gym/ball pit toy and were climbing all over it, every which way. Up to this point Urs would only ask to be put in the balls and be taken back out when she was done. Needless to say, when her friends were somewhat "showing her up" on her own toy, she had to take notes and get on the ball (no pun intended). She studied every move they made and was soon following suit, climbing up the slide, over the bars in and out. This actually was a good thing for us, since she wasn't "getting" Mommy and Daddy trying to show her how to do it and talking her through...Duh! The only downside to this new learning experience is that is has sparked a whole new trend for her...she now climbs anything and everything! I was actually just getting used to the fact that I could be in one room and be pretty sure she was safe and sound...not any more! One of her new "favorites", that she hasn't had an interest in the whole time she's been home, is the dog's water dish. She thinks it's fun to "stir it" with her utensils, take her stuffed animals "swimming", and if nothing else is available, it's just plain fun to splash your hands around in it too! She has actually received a time out for this new antic, and that was yesterday...I'm going to go on thinking that it worked and my parenting skills are up to par because she didn't go near it once today. Just let me relish in that for a little while....I do know tomorrow is another day :)
Another new thing she is "trying out" is tantrums. If she doesn't like something, she'll just plop herself on the floor and throw a mini-fit. I say mini since she is finding out that we either don't pay attention to her, or we may even walk out of the room, to which she just gets back up and moves on with her life. Steve said to me the other day "I know that she's a good kid...but I think we're going to have our hands full with her". Cute.
She's starting to say more things if we ask her too and even sometimes when we don't. Example: In the car the other day, I'm behind a lady at a red light. The light turns green and she just sits there. I, being the patient person that I am :), say "Gooooo!" which was followed up by a faint "Ooooo" coming from the back. Now my car is pretty sound proof, so I don't think my voice was echoing...well, you get the point. At least I didn't say anything bad!
So, that's some of what's been going on here....enjoy the pictures and I'll post more soon...really!

A few from my play date....Later that night....
I'm a fast learner!
Some random daily antics....Labor Day with a friend...This one makes Daddy laugh :)
Hangin with Daddy at Kipona Trying on his shades....

A trip to the fair....

2008-08-25T20:24:00.002-04:00

This past weekend we took a trip to a local fair in Elizabethtown, about 25 minutes from us. Steve and I usually try to go every year, and this time we finally got to take Ursula with us. It was so much fun seeing things through her eyes....funny, we seem to be doing and enjoying so many more things since she's come home :)
I won a goldfish for her, but unfortunately, Fred died overnight in his sleep (do fish sleep?) Anyway, I'm not sure if he was already on his way out (goldfish from fairs never seem to last long), or if Steve or I accidentally contributed to his demise, but either way, at least Ursula is still a little too young to understand what happened. She was very happy seeing him swimming around his bowl in her bedroom before she went to sleep, and never even realized he wasn't there when she woke up.
Ok, onto some happier things....in the first two pictures, you'll see that Urs was able to play some games herself and win her own prizes...one of which she was not about to let go of. Even though it was bigger than her, she carried (well, Mommy carried) it with her the whole time! She also got to meet some new friends, several baby fawns and piglets were in a pen and Mommy, uh, I mean Ursi, was so excited to go in and pet them :)
All in all I think she really enjoyed her 1st fair experience.....

Which one should I choose....
Look at my prize!!!!
A few new friends.....

Where's Ursula????

2008-08-20T13:53:00.002-04:00

Do you see her? Where could she be?Wait, I think I see something....
Yep, that's her alright!
There she is!!!!

Family photos....

2008-08-19T22:04:00.002-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our "unofficial" photo shoot on the beach with Uncle Ryan posing as photographer. Thanks Ry-dog!

Until next year....

2008-08-19T20:50:00.002-04:00

We're back from our last family trip to the shore for this year and we had a blast! It was a very relaxing, laid back time spent with 2 of Ursi's "Uncles" and "Nanny the Great". We stay at Nan's condo every year and a big THANKS goes out to her for her hospitality and generosity! We can't wait for next year!
Urs loves the water and I believe she is going to turn into a fish someday...we can't get her out of the pool! She walks around the baby pool by herself and doesn't mind going under in the big pool. At the amusement park we found a ride that she loved...she actually gets bored with the standard kiddie rides that only go in circles. You can see a pic below of her and her Daddy in ride concentration :)
So what's new with Ursi? Let's see, she can snap her fingers (though no noise comes out yet :) she knows what to do when we sing "If you're happy and you know it...." I'll let you figure that one out. She is definitely more affectionate lately, giving hugs and kisses to anyone who asks. She hugs really tight when you tell her to squeeeeeeeze! Not too many more words yet...she does say Woo Hoo (I know, I know, but at least it's something!) She is a dancing fanatic, stopping instantly to bust a move as soon as she hears any type of music, she even dances when there is no music. She does this thing with her arm waving in the air, I'll try to get it on video...it's hilarious!
We did finally find a food that she is not particularly fond of last week....raisins. I think it's a texture thing because she will eat some of them but after a couple, she just chews on them and spits them out. So, that's about it on the Ursi front...more later. Enjoy the pics!

Playing in the baby pool.....
(Doesn't she look good in orange?)
Mommy and Urs with Mr Peanut on the Boardwalk...
Focus, focus, focus....
With my Uncle Leroy....
And my Uncle Ryan....

Hello....is anybody home????

2008-08-08T20:56:00.003-04:00

Hi! I know we've been missing in action lately, but rest assured, we're still here!

Our summer has finally calmed down a bit, I have settled back in at work, all is great in the Raab household, and as I look at the upcoming month ahead, we are booked with things to do! This weekend we are visiting with friends and next weekend we're making our last family trip to the shore for the year. The weekend after that, Ursula's new friends from Pottstown are coming to visit and we'll be playing and trekking to ZooAmerica at Hersheypark. Then we're already heading into Labor Day weekend, and before you know it, another month is gone. Where does the time go?
I've started thinking about how we want to celebrate some upcoming events...Monday will be the 1 year mark since I first saw Ursula's picture on the website photo listing and knew that she would become our daughter. When we are at the beach next weekend, we will celebrate the 1 year mark of Ursula being "placed" with our family, and November 9th will be 1 year since we met our daughter for the first time! Most people call this "Gotcha Day", but I think we're going to call it our "Family Day". It was the moment we became a family and since it is also our wedding anniversary, I think that name is very fitting. It's not official yet, so I'm open to suggestions....
I've also started to think about our first Christmas together, I can't wait to share and experience everything with her, she is really starting to take an interest in her surroundings and enjoys discovering new things. As much as I am sooo not a snow person, I wouldn't mind maybe 1 snowfall so I can marvel in it with her :)
So, onto your Ursi update....I believe she is getting a little taller, but, I still don't think she has gained much , if any, weight since she's been home. She is very healthy and strong and eats a ton, but still has a teeny tiny little waist! I wish I could say the same :) She has some favorite foods that include, fruit (pretty much anything ending in berry, rasp and blue being her 1st choices), cheese, flavored applesauce, pasta, bread and YoBaby yogurt. We don't go to the pediatrician for another month yet, so I won't have any stats until then. Her hair is definitely getting longer, and we are able to do more things with it. I'm having a good time, but I can't speak for Ursi, and since she can't tell you herself that she doesn't enjoy it, I'm going to say she does :)
She is saying a few more things...her latest random words include, hi (said sometimes in a cute two syllable manor, sometimes in a shorter Southern version sounding like "Ha"), boo, and she has her own version of A B C. The newest signs we've been working on are help and where. She can point to her feet, toes, legs and shoes, so now we have the top and bottom, we just have to learn the mid section! She can bring a specific toy to me when I ask her to, even if it's in another room. Her newest interest is the stairs...she can go up them on her hands and knees, but insists on coming down standing up (with our help of course!) I'd feel better though, if I could get her to go down on her bottom or even backwards. She has started exploring around the house (see pics below) and loves to climb on things, anything.
Our newest accomplishment started just last night...we have eliminated her bedtime bottle, with no objections from her (ok, I have to give her Daddy credit for that one...). So now we're down to one small bottle at naptime only and I'm hoping to get rid of that after she gets more used to going to Gammie's house, maybe a couple more weeks or so.
Well, enough for now....I will try to update more often and actually get some video to post!

Here a couple pics from our nature walk...
This is how Urs keeps Mommy busy...playing "Where's Ursula?"

Is she under the dining table? Yep!
Is she hiding in the corner beside the cabinet? Found ya!
What about under the crib? There she is!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go.....

2008-07-30T20:30:00.004-04:00

The party's over...yes, the time has come for me to go back to work! I've been back almost a full week now and things aren't going too badly. Ursula has transitioned well, which is more than I can say for myself :) I was really starting to enjoy the stay at home mom thing. I do have to say though, being able to go to the bathroom whenever I want is actually a nice perk. The absolute highlight of my day is the reaction I get when I walk in the door to pick Ursi up after work. She gets sooo excited and today she actually threw herself on the floor with excitement and just rolled over and over....so awesome to receive a welcome like that! So, other than being away from my little girl for hours a day, things are as good as they can be. Steve is enjoying his "Daddy time" on Saturdays and he is in charge of bedtime every night, so they have plenty of bonding time.
I haven't taken a lot of new pictures lately, but I will post one that we took this weekend...it is of Steve, his mom, his grandmother and Ursi to show 4 generations in their family. Gram is the only great-grandmother that Ursi has and his parents are her only grandparents (technically, no offense Nana and Pappy!) so it's pretty special to us that she is able to get to know her Great Gammie!
So, there are many new things going on in Ursi's world....let's see, she can now do the signs for eat, more, birdie, all done/finished, sleepy/tired, and juice/drink. She is still only saying a few things clearly. Kitty and uh-oh are easily understood, and she is working on thank you, doggie and some other random words. She can point to her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, legs and feet when asked and also to many things around the house. She says "bock, bock", when asked what a chicken says, and we're trying to get her to do the sounds for the doggies and kitties too. If you ask her if she is one, she holds one finger high in the air, she's so proud. She's also starting to know when people ask her questions...if you say "Are you cute?", she nods her head up and down...it's priceless! I wonder if there will ever be a day that she doesn't do something that amazes me....

Four generations...

Our fun filled weekend...

2008-07-22T10:28:00.004-04:00

This weekend we had a great time...we had something planned every day, from Friday evening to Monday night. We met some friends for dinner on Friday and on Saturday, we went to Lake Tobias. Other than the fact that it quite possibly was the hottest day of the year here in Harrisburg, we had a great time! We loved the safari tour, which was almost completely in the sun on a bus with the top cut off. We saw some really cool animals, all of which were able to come up to the bus to be hand fed. We did not buy any food to feed them, since we wanted to keep an eye on Ursula and take pictures too, but the people around us had food for them, so we enjoyed the animals at close range. We did a small walking tour of the exhibits and hit the petting zoo before calling it a day and retreating to our air conditioned car...whew!
Sunday, we had Ursula's pictures taken and later in the day she got to meet her Great Gammie who arrived from Pittsburgh. They loved playing together and shared some silly time before we went home to bed. We got up early on Monday to head an hour and a half to our first real playdate with friends we met on our adoption journey. We stayed almost the entire day and had fun playing in the pool, with the slip and slide, on the swingset, and with the many toys they had that were new to us. It was a long, but really fun day and we hope to get together again soon! We send a great big thanks to our new friends Nathan and Rylie and their parents for the hospitality and an overall great day!
Now we are just enjoying our last few days before I go back to work on Friday.
Enjoy the pictures!

My 1st headband...Did we have to come on the hottest day of the year?
Wow, look at that thing...Oooooh, here comes a Zedonk...No, Mommy, don't feed me to the goat....Another friend I met at the petting zoo....Here are my new friends...aren't we cute????Here we are about ready to fall asleep on the swing....Saying goodbye....

Seven weeks home!!!!

2008-07-17T09:31:00.002-04:00

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!

Hersheypark happy......

2008-07-08T12:19:00.003-04:00

We made in back from Hersheypark late last night and boy, were we all tired! We started our day with breakfast at the local diner near the park around 9am and we didn't finish dinner until close to 10PM! Ursula was awesome, she didn't take any sort of nap until 4:00 and only then it was about 1/2 hour. She started to crash during dinner, so we brought her stroller into the restaurant and I put her down there (see last pic). She rode lots of rides, all of which I think she liked, including the Coal Cracker, which is a "big people" flume ride. The weather once again was pretty sweltering and we even took her over to the Boardwalk area to get splashed from some of the water rides, but that still didn't keep us all from sweating like piggies! We're really excited for next year so we can actually take her in the Waterworks Park, this year she was just a little small to really enjoy everything. She was fascinated with all of the BIG roller coasters, so I believe we're going to have a future coaster addict on our hands :) Get ready G-pa and Pappy!
A big THANK YOU goes out to Nana and Pappy for our annual trip to the park and we can't wait for next year!

Riding the carousel with my Daddy!Now a jet ski....(no, not really!)Being silly with Aunt Tina.Our family with Mr Milk Duds.Hersheypark pooped.

Happy 4th!

2008-07-06T21:02:00.003-04:00

We went to our annual 4th of July picnic at Nana and Pappy K's house this year with Ursi in tow and I think she had a blast! There were many kids there this year covering many different age groups so everyone had someone to play with, which made it nice. The weather once again wasn't very cooperative and it rained most of the time and even ended up being the reason for the cancellation of the fireworks display that Pappy puts on every year....oh well, hopefully next year will be better! At least we didn't have the tornado sirens that we had last year, that's a plus! Hovering in a concrete block garage was memorable, to say the least, but not something I'd like to do again anytime soon :)
Ursi ate lots of great picnic food and played all day, finally crashing into bed a mere 2 hours later than usual. Mommy and Daddy did enjoy sleeping in the next morning until 9!
As you can see by the pictures, she was dressed in her most patriotic gear and it was very fitting since the day before, we received her COC (Certificate of Citizenship) in the mail! Yippee! Now we can get on to getting her a social security number and start with our re-adoption process to legally change her name and get her a US birth certificate.
Short post this time...we're off early tomorrow morning to Hersheypark for another of our annual traditions. I'll let you all know how Ursi does and what rides she likes the best! Until then, here are pics from the 4th...

Enjoying some goodies before everyone arrives...Where's Ursi?Checking out the weeds...Why is everything almost as big as me?Mommy, I want out of here!!!!

Ursi's first beach trip.....

2008-07-04T14:23:00.002-04:00

Well, we are back from our first trip to the beach and we had a great time! After the first 1/2 hour in the car with Ursula being a not-so-happy camper(she needed a diaper change and bottle for bed) we did ok. We are still working on how to keep her happy during car rides...she doesn't like the fact that she is confined and gets bored very quickly! It also doesn't help if the car is not moving, so I was thinking of getting a flashing red light for on top of our car for traffic jams and such :)
Anyway, we got to the shore pretty late and got everybody settled in and to bed. The girls woke us up early every morning, anywhere between 5:30-7 am, so needless to say our days were pretty full! We went to the pool several days, the beach a few times, in town for shopping and one day went to Smithville which is a cute little village with quaint shops. We do the boardwalk several times a day for food, exercise, shopping, mini golf and rides for the kids. The weather was hot and humid and we had some rain overnight, but all in all we had a great time. Ursula loved the pool and liked the beach the first time we took her, and I think she prefers wet sand over dry as does her Mommy :) She didn't want to stay too long the second time we went, which was ok with me. I actually prefer the pool too! She loved her ladybug float toy and we even practiced putting her under the water a few times, which she didn't seem to mind. Hopefully soon we can get her into swim lessons for next year!
She loved the excitement of the goings on on the boardwalk and watching all the people, again, just like her Mommy! We go back again in August for a long weekend and we're going to take her to Cape May then and maybe walk around Atlantic City too.
So, overall, I think we had a great first family vacation and I'm excited for all the future trips we'll take with her!
Let's see, a few new things for this week....she can now say "Uh oh", instead of her old version "Uh" without the oh. She still points to lights and now points to ceiling fans too. She knows how to blow bubbles, though doesn't do it very well yet :) If I ask her "do you need a huggie?", she comes over to me and gives me a big hug! Also, she now gives kisses when asked and puckers up her lips and goes...."mmmmm" first, it's so cute! She knows where her nose is and we're working on her eyes next. She knows how to turn lights off and on, though she needs a lift to get to the switches, and her reaction to this new discovery is priceless! It's so fun to see her learning and discovering new things everyday!
Here are some pics from our first vacation as a family of 3.....

Splashing around in my ladybug floatie....
Playing in the grass.
My first time touching the sand...
Cute piggies!
Trying out the water...
Mommy and me.Playing with my friend Kylie. No! Not the baby! :)(yes, I know only some of the captions are underlined and others aren't...I still don't know how to work this yet! ugh!)

Summer fun!

2008-06-25T20:46:00.005-04:00

Well, summer is here and Ursi and I have been out enjoying the weather. It's been really nice here in Central PA, not the stifling upper 90's like a couple of weeks ago! So, after Daddy's many attempts to blow up her new frog pool, Aunt Tina stopped by and finished the job...thanks Aunt Tina! (by the way, Tina bought her the pool for her birthday...good choice!) So, Ursi had a great time in her pool and I got a chance to work on my photography skills, or lack thereof. My new digital camera holds literally about 1800 pictures, so I just happily snap away! Here are a few from her first dip....

So, here are some Ursi updates from her last week....she absolutely LOVES her crib! When it's time for bed, she reaches for her crib and if we don't get our kisses quick, we might as well forget it! :) She plays with her stuffed friends and pillows for awhile and eventually falls asleep on her own and stays there for about 12 hours! When she wakes up in the morning, she just babbles and plays until we come in and get her, which we love so we can ease into our day....we are soooo not morning people! Although, we do both try to be the first one in her room...the reaction to seeing us every morning is priceless! (I'll try to get it on video) She has also become a little cuddle bug! She willingly gives hugs and kisses to us and her animal friends here at home and loves to kiss babies and animals that she sees in books...it's so cute! She blows kisses now, and sometimes prefers this more than waving bye-bye. She really loves our menagerie and I am saying that her official first word (other than dada) is kitty. Now, Steve doesn't believe that she can say it and I agree it's not a clear pronunciation, but she uses the same sounds and tone whenever she sees Lucy (our extremely lovable cat)or we ask her to say it. So, I'm going with that. Ok. Done.
She is pretty much walking on her own now, does not even look for anything to hold onto, just cruises right down the middle of a room. And she's pretty quick too. If she falls, she just goes right into a fast crawl and doesn't miss a beat. She also follows directions that we give her...come here, no thank you...you eat that, give Sadie her ball, no touch, etc. She knows the difference between her toys and the dog's toys...if we can only get the dog to know the difference.....
Let's see, what else? She is becoming quite a little ham, she gets attention everywhere we go and just eats it up! She loves to talk to people or show them all the things she knows how to do. So, my early predictions for her are: actress, singer, or gymnast/dancer. (I'll have this on record here so I can check back and see if any of them are right :)
Oh, and she loves going up and down steps. Not on her own, of course, which makes for some wicked backaches...right Nana?
Well, that's enough for now...I'm sure I'll have tons to post next week after our first vacation as a family of 3! We're off to the beach! I had to add these pics....I just love the puckered lips!

They say it's your birthday.....

2008-06-19T20:24:00.008-04:00

We had Ursula's 1st birthday party last Saturday and it was a big hit! We had it at Gammie's house since she has a carport and they were calling for severe scattered thunderstorms. It turned out that we actually had NO rain (well, I take that back, a few drops fell a couple of times), but it was a great, very hot day. I think it was in the mid 90's. Anyway, it was a low-key affair, only about 30 people ;) and I think everyone had a great time, especially the birthday girl herself. She loves being around a lot of people and enjoys the attention. She opened her presents, with Mommy's help, and ate her birthday cupcake like a champ. She started out only using one hand and delicately ate all of the icing, then when she discovered that there was strawberry filling, dug in and there was no turning back! She had it all over her hands and face, and even put her hands in her hair...much to Mommy's dismay. Oh, how I wanted to wipe her face! But I held back and let her, AND everyone else, enjoy the show! Ursula had fun hanging out with her "Aunts" and "Uncles" she had met before and a few new ones that came to meet her along with some "cousins" and family friends too. I think we've made most of the rounds, there are only a few more people she hasn't met yet, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks, we'll see them as well.
Let's see, a few new things for this week...she is walking across rooms on her own now, though she still prefers holding on, she is walking on grass and even crawled on it the other day, but she's still not 100% liking it yet, most of the time she'll sit with her hands in the air and whine to be helped up so she doesn't have to touch it. She knows where lights are if you ask her and she does a lot of things with me during the day that she doesn't seem to repeat for others. Examples of these are.... making animal sounds, like "What does a kitty say"? I say meow and she says something similar in a high pitched voice, even sometimes when she sees the cat she'll do it too. She makes a panting sound for what a doggie says, and says "bock, bock" for a chicken. We made up a game the other day that she has yet to do in public, but it goes something like this...I say "patty cake, patty cake" and she claps with me, but instead of going any further, she just dives on top of me! So it goes "patty cake, patty cake, yeaaaaaaay" and we just laugh! I guess the song is just too long right now for her :) Also, her new thing is climbing on top of things. Mind you, she isn't completely walking yet, so mastering climbing wasn't something I was expecting. She's done it twice now, once she was actually standing on top of one of her new riding toys she got for her birthday and I swear I saw her no more than 2 seconds before just trying to put her leg over the thing. I glanced over again and she was balanced fully on top of it with both feet! I ran over quietly, so I wouldn't scare her and send her tumbling backwards, but I whisked her off of it and told her how we don't do that and put her on the floor, to which she just looked at me and went...."Wahhhhhhhh". So much for not scaring her!:) Then this morning, I was getting ready in the bathroom and she was in there with me. We have a pedestal sink, which she clears by the way, and there is a little stool in there on the floor next to it for when we give her a bath (Easier on the knees!). Anyway, she was just walking around and all of a sudden I kept hearing this sound...thump, thump, thump and felt the movement on the sink. I look down and she is on her knees on the stool and every time she tries to straighten up, she plunks her head on the sink. Now I know what they mean when they say you can't take your eyes off of them for a second!
I've learned a few things this week as well. I've learned that all the expensive toys in the world don't stack up to: empty milk jugs, soda bottles, utensils, measuring cups, magazines, and cardboard boxes. We actually made a trip to the dollar store for some of her very own kitchen ware that she has in a basket in the kitchen to play with every morning. I'm learning more and more about her personality and I like to think I know her pretty well. We are having a great time together and I'm enjoying my time off to spend with her...it's been invaluable to our bonding!
This weekend we are going to a local fair, and to see Daddy play in his jazz band. We're also taking Steve's dad out for dinner for a belated Father's Day dinner and then to a friends' daughters' birthday party. So after a pretty packed weekend, we're hoping for a calm week ahead and will be packing for our big beach trip the following weekend! We are so excited to spend several days down at the shore with our friends and their family! We do this every year and this year it's even more exciting with our little addition. Ursula's "cousin" Kylie, who is 2 1/2 is anxious to show Ursi around and get her familiar with all the "hot spots" we frequent while there. So for anyone in the Ocean City NJ area between June 28th and July 2nd, look us up!
Here are some pictures of the last week and Ursula's 1st birthday. Enjoy.....

My look pre -party....

Now I'm all ready for my party in my birthday outfit!Presents, presents everywhere!Want some?Outside on a beautiful day...My big girl!Hello? Hello? You only wanted half a cup of sugar?

Settling in.....

2008-06-12T21:53:00.003-04:00

Well, here we are after 2 weeks home with Ursula and I think we've settled into a nice routine. Ursi is sleeping 11+ hours a night, and most days she is taking a 1-2 hour nap. We get up in the morning and get ready and we are off and running. She has been to almost every store this side of the Mississippi...ok, slight exaggeration, but really, we've been hitting every mall I can find since it's been in the upper 90's here. I'm trying to get her out as much as possible so she can get used to her car seat and stroller (ok, you got me, I really want her to enjoy shopping as much as I do), they do not use these things in Guatemala. After our morning outings, we come home for her nap then spend the afternoon playing around the house and wait for Daddy to come home.
Some new highlights this week: readily waves hi and bye to just about anyone, pats her legs to music in the car, actually sits still to have ponies put in her hair, loves to look at pictures of herself, walks more and more on her own (not sure if I'm ready for that yet), plays ball with her new best friend Sadie on a daily basis, and we've made some progress on her constant attachment to me.
This Saturday we are having her 1st birthday party at her Gammie's house and of course, after I bought all the decorations and invited all the people, I read an excerpt from Baby 411 about how you should keep the 1st b-day party low key with minimal decorations and people so as not to overstimulate the baby. Oops! Well, we'll see how she does. At least I scheduled it in between her nap and bedtime!
Anyway, I'll post some pictures of the big day this weekend, but for now, here are some shots from this week...

Reading the Sunday paper with DaddyJust lookin cute!Ready to hit the mall!Fun on the swings!

One week down...

2008-06-05T21:12:00.003-04:00

Well, we have been home one week today...I can't believe it! Ursula has made a wonderful transition, she is a happy little girl who eats everything I put in front of her, sleeps about 10 1/2 hours every night, takes a 1 hour nap in the afternoon and I think overall, just loves her new home. Some highlights for the week...Friday, Saturday and Sunday had visitors galore, all of which came bearing wonderful presents. Thank you, you know who you are! Monday thru Thursday, visited people at work, (big thank you to GB, Steve's work, for the exorbitant GC to Baby Gap!!! Ursula will be sooo stylin!) ran errands and started getting into a routine. This makes for a happy mommy as I'm starting to figure out how to get some things done in my home life, cleaning, laundry, pay bills, emails etc.
I'll insert our one and only issue here...Ursula is very attached to me, and I mean attached with a capital A. I can barely leave the room before she starts whining or even full out crocodile tears crying. We're working on this slowly....I'll keep you posted.
Here are a few things that Ursula already knows in the week she's been home...she can wave hi and bye, both opening and closing her hand and the "beauty pageant" wave too, she says mama and dada (dada being the word of choice),but we're still working on that! She can blow kisses and sometimes give kisses to the chosen few, she mimics almost everything we do, can blow great raspberries, and I swear she's gonna be an opera singer, although she only sings in the car (kinda like her mom), so maybe there's no future in it. She claps a lot when we say "yeeeeaaaahhhh" and she rubs her hands together if you ask her if she needs lotion (we put lotion on every morning and night).
We bought her a ride/push musical lion the other day and she is pushing that guy around like a champ. After she pushed it the very first time, she actually let go and took her first steps to me on her own! Now that she's getting better, she'll take 5-6 steps to someone as long as they are there to catch her. I think she'll be cruising on her own in no time!
As I said before, that she eats everything, I haven't found a food she doesn't like, however, when we went to the pediatrician on Monday, we found out that she is 40th % for her height and only 5th % for her weight....at least there are 5% that weigh less than her :) She weighs in at a whopping 17.4 pounds....man, when Steve was born he almost weighed that much!
So, I don't know if I covered everything so far...she's accomplished a lot in her first week, I can't wait to see what the weeks to come have in store.....
Here are a few pics from our last 2 days. Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home...

2008-06-01T21:46:00.003-04:00

These jammies say it all!
Family outing at the Guatemala zoo.
What we found in our front yard when we got home...
First nap in my new crib.

Well, I know I've been a little late in posting about our homecoming, but my days seem to go by so quickly following a little certain someone around my house all day and by the time I turn around it's bedtime and I'm pretty exhausted! :) We made it home just in time to catch the tail end of Ursula's birthday and were greeted by dedicated friends and family strung out on coffee at the airport. It was a wonderful homecoming! Most of them came back to the house with us and stayed until about 2am! We eventually made it to bed around 2:30 and were back up again at 8 to start our first day together. I'll go back a bit and say that our trip home was great, Ursula was awesome on the flights, slept about 1/2 hour on each and never fussed, in fact she hardly ever fusses at all (so far :) The only glitch we had was our immigration experience...we had a 2 hour and 10 minute layover, thinking we'd get through Charlotte pretty quickly, get something to eat and head for our connecting flight to Harrisburg. Boy, were we wrong. We got off the plane, waited in line in immigration for what seemed to be forever, had to reclaim our bags, wait in a small waiting room for them to process her visa (some of the people in there had been waiting HOURS!), Ursula had a poopy diaper which we HAD to change in the room (we couldn't leave, poor people.), had to recheck our bags at which time our plane was already boarding, ran to security...Ursula loving every minute of it, security yelled BAG CHECK for ALL of our bags (keep in mind we were literally the only people there if you don't count the 5-6 security workers!), then ran again to the gate and were the very last people to board. So, we did make it, but we were dripping with sweat and didn't eat a thing! I think our excitement took over and we made it through our last hour flight just anxious to finally get home. It's so surreal to actually have Ursula here with us, but we are adjusting well and each day is getting better. We are trying to work out somewhat of a schedule. Ursula doesn't really nap much, but is a very content and happy baby and sleeps 10-12 hours each night, which we absolutely love! She does great riding in her car seat and strollers and is making fast friends with our 3 cats and 3 dogs. She's never been around animals before and they haven't been around kids, so it's fun to watch all of them interact. She loves to mimic things we do and is starting to already understand some things we say to her in English. She is just so much fun and we are having the time of our lives!
I've attached a few pics from our trip home, so enjoy and I'll update soon!

We are family...come on everybody and sing!!!

2008-05-27T19:59:00.002-04:00

Hola, from sunny Guatemala! It is Tuesday evening here in Ursula's birth country and we had our Embassy appointment this morning....it is complete now, Ursula is a Raab! The appointment was really no big deal like everyone said...the biggest task was keeping 15 to 20 babies entertained for 3+ hours! It's not a very big room that we are all in and everyone was working on little to no breakfast and not a lot of sleep. All in all, it went well and the process was a piece of cake. We waited for awhile until we were called to go into door number 10, which literally was a closet with a woman behind a glass window. Steve had to answer a few questions like...was he ever married before and was he ever denied citizenship. Then he initialled afew things and we were back out with the lot of unhappy babies to wait some more. Once we were called the 2nd time to window number 7, the lady there verified that Ursula was the same baby as the one on the passport, again asked some different questions, such as, is she our only child, are we going to change her name, when did we meet her and the agency that we used. We raised our right hands and swore that all the info they had was true to the best of our knowledge, and she said...Congratulations...you can come pick up your visa tomorrow afternoon. That's it...I guess all the really important stuff was gone over throughout the process and that's what took so long...It seems to me that they just have to ask something while you're there to make it official, I don't know!
So we're off to the zoo tomorrow, yes, I said zoo...I know you're all shocked! I can't even get out of a foreign country withour hitting a zoo! Steve will go over with our translator tomorrow to get the visa and then we are all done. Our flight leaves on Thursday and we are so ready to come home. We've met some new families this time, some picking up and some just visiting with no idea when their day will come. We met a woman at the Embassy that is adopting a little girl who is going to be 8 in June and she is sooo cute. She's very shy and doesn't speak English, but she is so happy to have a new mommy and they seem to get along great. They are actually going to be on our flight to Charlotte, but will travel onto Jersey from there.
So this experience has been a tough and trying one to say the least, but one that we wouldn't trade for anything! We can't wait for you all to follow Ursula's journey once we get home! So, this is going to be my one and only post from Guat...we'll see you in the US!

Leaving as 2, coming home as 3....

2008-05-24T22:46:00.002-04:00

Well, the time has finally arrived and in a few short hours we will be leaving for Guatemala to pick up our little girl! I've checked and rechecked all of my bags and paperwork, so hopefully you won't hear me yelling all the way from Central America that I forgot something! :)
I have very mixed emotions right now...I am so excited to be starting a new journey in my life with Ursula, but at the same time, I know that there is a family that is saying goodbye to her and will miss her terribly. Even up to this point, it is still a roller coaster ride. Also, my thoughts are with all the other families still in process...for those who do not know, Guat adoptions have been pretty much at a stand still after we got out of PGN. They are now requiring all the cases still in PGN to have birthmother interviews to make sure they gave up their babies legitimately and under their own will. They have been saying they are not going to release ANY cases until ALL interviews are done. We could have easily been one of those families still waiting and not knowing when our child would come home. It's all so sad.
On a happier note...Susie, the girl I traveled to Guat with in April, has her Visa appointment on May 30th and they are coming down on Monday! We will meet one more time in Guat, this time we each will be leaving with one more than we came with! We are planning to go to the zoo and market together and also to get together sometime when we get home.
So the moral of my story is....even though the road was long and bumpy, the rewards so outweigh the tough times. We will have a beautiful daughter and have met some very special people that will be a part of our lives forever.
Keep checking back...we will post from Guat in a few days!!!!

Our last week as a family of two.....

2008-05-17T17:59:00.003-04:00

Well, we are entering into our last week as a family of two, next weekend we travel back to Guatemala one last time to be reunited with our daughter and finally become a family of three! Just as throughout this entire process, I am still having my ups and downs...I am happy, still in shock that this is actually going to happen, anxious, to think that life as we've known it will never be the same, and scared, hoping I will be as good a mom as she deserves.
We do have our travel plans set: we leave Sunday May 25th and return on May 29th...yes, she will be coming home on her 1st birthday! Right now we are finishing up all the last minute cleaning and organizing around our house, packing and getting all of our gifts and paperwork in order for the trip.
I will probably post one more time before we leave, but until then, enjoy some pictures from Ursula's 1st year.....

Guess what we got.......

2008-05-14T21:03:00.002-04:00

That's right, no matter what shade you prefer, it's still all PINK!!!!!!
Our DNA test results were only to get to the US Embassy today, so I wasn't expecting to hear anything for a few days, but when I got home this evening, the email we've been waiting many many months for, was right there in my inbox! Our Embassy appointment is Tuesday May 27th at 7:15am! We can pick up her visa on Wednesday the 28th and if all goes as planned, we will bring Ursula home on Thursday the 29th, which I might add is her 1st BIRTHDAY!!!! What a present, she'll come to her new home and become a US citizen on the same day she turns 1! Not that she'll remember, but it will be very special to her daddy and I!
I'll keep you all posted on our travel details, but I have to go celebrate now.....

Almost home......

2008-05-13T20:23:00.004-04:00

Hi all!
We received word this morning that our DNA results should get to the US Embassy in Guatemala tomorrow!! Woo Hoo! That means anytime after that we can stalk our email for our Embassy appointment. We could get our appt in as little as 48 hours to up to a week. The trend lately has been that the appt is scheduled for one week later....we should have her on or before her 1st birthday!!!! How fun is that?
I will post again once we get our appointment!

One small step in Guatemala, one giant leap toward Ursula's homecoming...

2008-05-06T15:09:00.002-04:00

Hi again! I am writing with exciting news....Ursula's birth certificate has been obtained and we are now on our way to getting her a passport! WooHoo!!! This is a major accomplishment for us since she was born in Mixco, a municipality that can sometimes take weeks, even months to issue a birth certificate. We got ours in about a week and a half. We thought we'd get it in about 2-3 days, but at this point, I'm just glad we can cross another thing off our list!
Next up...she gets her passport and her 2nd and final DNA test is ordered. The test is done in Guatemala (birth mother already signed the final adoption decree, so is not needed for this one), the sample is sent to the US and the results are sent back to the US Embassy in Guat. At that point, they will review and issue us our "pink slip" or Embassy date, which is when we get to go get our daughter! So, we should be looking at no more than a few more weeks (we hope!).
I'll post more news as I receive it!

April flowers bring May showers...no wait, that's not how it goes!

2008-05-06T09:52:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone! Just a little update on our wait for Ursula...on Sunday May 4th, three of the bestest girlfriends a girl could have and my mother in law, aka Gammie, threw a shower for me. And believe it or not, I was actually surprised! For those of you who don't know me very well, I somehow find a way to ruin every surprise, but I have to give them all credit, it worked! I walked in to a room full of friends, friends from work, bowling buddies, friends of Gammie's, and also my other moms (you know who you are).
It was beautifully decorated in all pinks and browns for a "diva baby shower" theme. Boy, do my friends know me :) We received many gifts, including great things from our registry, lots of cute stuffed animals (one bigger than Ursula!) and some colorful outfits for Spring and Summer. Oh, and did I mention that she got tons of hair bows? A girl can never have too many accessories!
The food was great, we had a double chocolate cake (mmmm!) and we played fun baby games....I learned a lot! All in all, it was a great celebration! I am just thrilled that she already has so many people who love her, one can never receive too much love (that kind of sounds like Confusious says...).
Anyway, a great big THANK YOU goes out to my peeps, Tia Tina, Tia Kristen, Tia Lara, and of course Gammie!!!!!! You guys are awesome and I'm so glad Ursula will have Tia's like you! (by the way Tia means Aunt in Spanish)

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

2008-04-22T11:58:00.004-04:00

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

2008-04-17T19:54:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-15T14:22:00.006-04:00

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....

Your Gammie is coming, your Gammie is coming!

2008-03-30T20:50:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone...yes that's right, Ursula's mommy and Gammie are coming down for another visit! I'm really hoping that this is the last visit before our pick up trip! We are leaving April 10th-14th and we are going down with a friend we met on our 1st trip from Ohio. She is going down to visit her little girl who is exactly 3 weeks younger than Ursula. I'm really excited to see everyone, especially my baby girl, and I think her Gammie is pretty excited too! She will finally get to meet the grandchild she has been wanting for so long!
We did find out on Friday that we are with the 2nd reviewer in PGN (which is our last BIG step of the process). I'll fill you in on the whole process later, but in a nutshell, PGN is the last step that involves 3 reviewers who look over our case and make sure everything is complete and ready for the stamp of approval. This is a process that normally takes an average of 8 weeks to complete, however, we have been in and out since the beginning of December. Ugh! Oh, and I forgot to mention that at any time, a reviewer can "kick you out" or give you what is called a "previo". These can occur for any reason: a missed signature, paper not filled in correctly, he's having a bad day, whatever. After you get "kicked out", the attorney must correct the problem and resubmit the paperwork to start all over again. We have been kicked out twice and the last resubmit for us was Feb 29th. So for all of you mathematicians out there, that means we've been back in for about 4 1/2 weeks. Guatemala shut down for almost a week for the Easter holiday, it's very big down there. So, like I said before, we made it to the 2nd reviewer, which means someone has looked at our file and approved it! It's progress!
So, we are trying to be optimistic that the 3rd time's a charm for us and we will get "out" soon. Once we get the final signature and our case comes out of PGN, Ursula is officially our daughter! We will then have approximately 4-8 weeks from then before we can go get her, the attorney has to get her new birth certificate (with our last name!), her passport and 2nd DNA test authorized, and then we'll get a notification of our visa appointment at the Embassy. So, I will definitely post before we leave if I hear anything.

2nd visit trip....

2008-03-30T20:09:00.004-04:00

Since our process was starting to take longer than we had hoped, we set up another visit to see our little princess. We went down in the middle of January for another 4 day trip. I really think that Ursula remembered us from the first time (at least I like to think so :) because she went right to her daddy and again, never had any separation issues from her foster mother. She is almost always pleasant (see picture below) and happy and easily entertained. She does occasionally have what I like to call a "mini meltdown", that lasts approximately 1 minute. She just scrunches up her little face and lets out her "I'm not happy" cry and within seconds, she's back to her cheerful little self. I have to admit, I'm probably a bad parent, in that, I sometimes let her cry a little longer than I have to, just because she looks so darn cute when she's having a tantrum. I know, I know, once she's home I probably won't be doing that, but for now, I enjoy seeing all the different sides to her personality, good or bad.
So once again, we toured every inch of the hotel and actually shopped at the mall. We had a great time bonding with her, but after 4 days, it gets difficult keeping 2 adults and a busy baby entertained in a hotel room :) We did get to hang out in the pool area, it's really pretty and makes you feel like you are outside, but it's actually glass covered.
Her foster family says they are calling her Ursula, and after she was with us for about a day, she definitely responded to her name, when we called her. It's pretty funny because with their accent, her name comes out sounding like Orr Soola, so even though they are calling her by her name, it is still completely different than how we say it. I think it's cute though that they are trying. During the drop off and pick up of this trip, we were definitely able to see just how much her foster mother cares for her. We are so thankful to have them in her life and ours as well. Even though it was difficult to leave her again, we know that she is in a loving environment and that she is being well taken care of while we are waiting.

Peek a boo! I'm almost crawling....
And standing!
Here I'm happy....
And here I'm not!

The first meeting....

2008-03-15T13:58:00.004-04:00

After receiving our first update and getting Ursula's 1st DNA test done, we were able to set up a visit trip to meet our little girl for the 1st time! We left for Guatemala on November 9, 2007, our 5th wedding anniversary....what a gift! This was the first time either of us had flown out of the country (we'd been many places before on cruises, but never by plane) so it was an interesting trip. Flying into Guat was awesome, we saw several volcanoes and from the air it was breathtaking. We stayed at the Grand Tikal Futura Hotel in Guatemala City and that was pretty much our home away from home while we were there. Our attorney doesn't allow us to leave the hotel with the baby, so we were confined to our hotel and the adjoining mall. At least we were able to eat "regular" food from the food court...McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Pollo Campero(the equivalent to KFC), you know, the stuff we actually eat.
So, enough of that. Back to meeting Ursula. After an unsettling hour long wait (the foster mother was late bringing her to the hotel, stuck in traffic), the doorbell finally rang and there was our translator, Blanca (the FM), and our sleeping baby girl. Blanca laid her on the bed and we unwrapped all 4 layers to see how small she really was. She must have felt Steve and I hovering over her oooing and awwing, because she woke up and immediately grinned from ear to ear as if to say "You're finally here". It was like she was waiting for us.
We couldn't have asked for a better baby, she is so pleasant and easy going, she didn't cry once. She definitely made it easy on us, being 1st time parents. For the next 4 days, we just enjoyed getting to know our baby girl and we had a blast! It was such a great experience and even though we had to give her back, we wouldn't have traded that time with her for anything.

Now the wait begins.....

2008-03-12T20:25:00.002-04:00

So, I called the agency that was representing this sweet little girl on Monday, August 13th and by Tuesday she was put "on hold" for us. After we got all of her information about when and where she was born, and her medical reports, we sent in our application and on Friday, the 17th, we got the call to say she was "placed" with our family!
We completely switched gears, not to mention countries, which meant MORE paperwork! Guatemala's dossier preparation required an entirely different set of forms, all of which had to be put together in about 2 weeks and sent off to our attorney in Guat. One saying we've learned that best describes both countries and the whole adoption process in general, is "hurry up and wait". Every step of the way, we do what we need to do as fast as we can, only to wait for the agencies/attorneys/governments to do their thing in a timeframe that, let's just say, isn't as quick as we'd like it to be.
That said, onto the fun part of our wait...the updates! Our agency rep goes down to Guat several times a year and visits with the babies and foster mothers to get the latest information on the children. We get a DVD with a short video and lots of pictures with a little "report card" of how our baby is developing, her current weight, what she's eating, what she can do and her disposition. Each time we send little care packages down for her with toys, books, outfits and anything else we can fit in a one gallon ziploc bag :)
These pictures are from our first update DVD from the end of September when she was 4 months old. Until next time.....

How it all started....

2008-03-12T19:38:00.005-04:00

Welcome to our new blog! We thought we'd set up a site for all of our friends, family, co-workers and anyone else interested in the life of our little Ursula to be able to follow along with her journey to her new home here in the US, as well as all the milestones she'll be reaching in the years to come. Some of you may already know the beginning of our story, but for those who do not, I'll start there. After a long 2 1/2 years and 4 miscarriages, we came to the conclusion that a "homegrown" family wasn't meant to be. We decided to explore adoption and went to a local agency for an introductory meeting. We had done a little research on the different options and had decided that international adoption was the choice for us. We narrowed down the countries to 2...China and Guatemala. I was set on Guatemala and Steve on China. So, to make a long story short, even though I "knew" our daughter was waiting for us in Guatemala, I reluctantly went along with Steve's preference and we submitted our application to enter the China program. The next few weeks brought on a flurry of activity...a home study with a social worker who came to our house to make sure we'll provide a safe and loving home for a child, we compiled a dossier consisting of personal autobiographies, bank records, net worth, employee verifications, physicals, name affidavits, personal references, fingerprint records, passport photos, photos of us and our house, oh, and we had to get everything notarized, certified and authenticated, whew! So finally, after all of that, our paperwork was sent to China and "logged in" June 13th, 2007. By this time, the wait time for the program had increased from the original 12-18 months to 18-24 and based upon reports would only get longer and realistically we would possibly get a referral in 2-3 years! Yikes! On August 12th, after searching the website precious.org, I came across a photo that would change my life. I've been on the website many times before, but that day I came face to face with my daughter! Check out the pics and I'll pick up here next time....