Got Shoes?

Up until this point, Eva only had about 2 pairs of shoes, both of which are WAY to big for her to wear right now. She's been walking around the house in slippers, and the weather has been so cold and yucky for so long, that it didn't dawn on me that she would need shoes this soon. As each day has gone by, she's been motoring along faster and faster. And while she still wants to be held a lot, she is ready to see what the world has to offer her....way down there! :-) So off I went to a really great second-hand store that sells baby/kids everything with items that have either never been used or very rarely used. I went a little beserk but in the end, SHOES!!

Poppi & Gaia

About 10 days ago my parents came up from Florida to meet in person their one and only grandchild. They had seen Eva several times on Skype. What did we ever do before stuff like Skype and video calls? It got to the point where Eva would see them on Skype and get totally giddy. Everyone had such a wonderful time. It was so great to see my parents in their element. They are both totally over the moon for their Eva!

My dad plays the bass guitar and was so excited to bring Eva her 1st musical instrument...a whistle. I actually thought it would be a while before she caught on but she is such a quick learner. A few minutes after my dad showed her how to make sounds, she was doing it! I was so moved I started tearing up right then and there. I was so proud of her. I wish that I would have gotten it on the camcorder!!

Eva loves playing with these blocks. They are one of her favorite toys. Before long, she was showing her Gaia how she could match up the block with the shape on the lid and put it in the bucket!! You go girl!!

At first, Eva was pretty wary about her Poppi. There was not a whole lot of interaction going on. It took her a couple of days to warm up to him. But like any smart grandparent, my dad knew that they way to win her over was through food.....snacks!! Before long he had her eating out of the palm of his hand....LITERALLY :-) It wasn't long after that that Eva was letting her Poppi hold her.

The day before they left, Mom and I took Eva to the mall to get some portraits done. I was so excited, first of all, because I finally had a chance to use the stroller. So this is our first stroller outing! Eva loved it; she loved being on the move and seeing all the sights. Every store that had music playing, she was bopping her head to the beat.

We got to the floor where the portraits were being taken but we had to wait quite a while for our turn. Eva did not have the best experience on her very 1st photo shoot so I was glad we had this time to let her get her energy out. She walked and ran around, headed to where she heard the music and started dancing right there! Gaia was right on her heels every step of the way. It worked too...she took some great protraits.

The day finally came, a bit quickly I might add, for Poppi & Gaia to head back to sunny Florida. What a great visit we had. Eva had such a good time. I know she can't wait to Skype with them again...soon.

14 Months Old!

Today my baby girl Eva is 14 months old! I feel so proud and blessed to have been a part of this little miracle girl's life for the past month. So many things have been put into perspective for me in the last 24 hours. I just praise God that he's still watching over me, protecting me, protecting us and still willing to teach me and train me up!

Today was also special for one more reason. Look closely....

 She was already tired of me snapping pictures and the day had just begun :-)

At the pediatrician's office for a check up and one other thing.....the nurse had me mark her ears...

I made Daddy help the nurse and hold her still during the process

This was just 1 minute after. Clearly she is not happy with her Daddy and is still trying to get over being sad. And just 2 minutes after this picture, she was ALL smiles :-)

She's a real trouper!

They didn't have anymore earrings with her birthstone, so we went with my favorite color....blue!

It took me a long time to get this pic...I'm so glad it turned out clear!

AHA! Moment

These last several weeks have definitely been about me learning: learning about Eva, what makes her laugh, what she doesn't like, what her squeals mean, what her cries mean, when she's tired, when she's hungry or thirsty. You get the point.

I have been trying to stay on top of my organization around the house. I know me. If things start getting away from me in the house, then I'm done for. It will spiral and I won't be able to catch up on laundry, dishes, etc. I have used a cleaning schedule for a while now; well over a year now. I do a couple of things each day instead of trying to do everything in 2 days. I thought for sure that I could get back on track when we got home with Eva. I mean, really, how hard could it be? Just stick to the schedule.

I was determined to get things done while she was taking her naps. That lasted for a few days. Then I found myself needing to nap when she napped. Well there went my things to do. Because John works long hours, I had to wait until he came home so that I could get the rest of my chores done. Eventually, that kind of fizzled out too.

Before we went to Ethiopia for our 2nd trip, we bought a baby carrier. I thought I would use it mostly in Ethiopia and then eventually on walks when it got warm enough. But John told me that I would be using it around the house to carry the baby in. Although I agreed with him, in my head I thought "I won't need to use that. She'll be fine. I'll be able to get what I need done."

Well yesterday I finally got my

Eva was really clingy. Things that I would normally be able to go into the other room and do and come right back proved difficult. She whined every time I left the room and cried every time I had to put her down. We were up in my bedroom and I decided to put on some praise music so she could dance to it. By the middle of the 1st song, God said "Put on the baby carrier." I strapped her to my back and she was totally content for the rest of the day. She did not have to worry about being in one place because I was all over the house. The rest of the day went so much better. We were both happy.

Why am I so hardheaded sometimes? Why didn't I really listen to my husband? Praise God for teaching me. I'm still willing to learn. 

Food, Glorious Food!!

We have officially been home for 4 weeks now. There are some times when I can remember picking Eva up from HH like we just did it yesterday. And then I remember how 4 weeks really isn't that long a time in the grand scheme of things. But to see how far she's come just amazes me!

When we took our 1st trip to Ethiopia, we tried to get an idea of what kind(s) of food she was eating. It turned out to be a mixture of sweet potatoes, carrots, rice, and flaxseed (for protein). They ate a small bowl of that twice a day and then they had formula bottles the other times of the day.

We agreed that we would not change her food. With everything in her life being turned upside down, we didn't want to cause further trauma by changing her food and thereby dealing with food issues. However, as we learned during our second trip, Eva didn't care anything about sticking with the same kind of food she had been eating. The really cute thing about it is that even if I feed her something and she doesn't like it (evidence by her scraping the food off her tongue), she still opens her mouth for another bite. It's like she's processing the taste, texture, or something and making the decision then whether or not she likes it.

She still downs her bottles of formula and rice cereal/formula. We have also introduced her to juice/water and vitamin D milk. So far so good. No adverse reactions to the lactose to date. We are also giving her quite a bit of just water bottles to help her stay hydrated.