Happy 5 month birthday baby girl!

La princesa is 5 months old today. I've been fighting off tears all day and have shed quite a few. It's really beginning to sink in that she's not home. I wish we could just fly down, give her abrazos y besos (hugs and kisses), and come right back. Sigh. I miss her so much. All in God's timing . . .

The little man started his first day in the "young 3's" room at daycare today. He's just really growing up fast. I was a little emotional about that, too, but when I picked him up to go to the doctor this afternoon, he was having a great time and talked about "Miss Maudia (Claudia)" all the way to the doctor's office. It was sweet. I met both his teachers and they seem really great. What a relief! He has an ear infection AGAIN, so another 10 days of antibiotics start tonight. Poor little guy. Anyway, that was our day--pray for a better day tomorrow!

More Matthewspeak

Oh how my little critter cracks me up. You might recall that we recently needed to go to "Guatemawa" to get some milk--today we need to go to Guatemawa for ice cream, chicken nuggets, you name it. The kiddo is hooked on Guatemala lately. It's so sweet, but sad too, because I think he knows something is missing, and we're going to get that missing piece in Guatemala. My beloved hubby pointed out Guatemala on one of the many vinyl placemats we have for the critter. Now he can proudly show you where his baby sister is! So sweet! He has talked non-stop about that country today, even calling the mall Guatemawa as we were leaving. It's a hoot. Also, he's been calling money "pennies" and "50 dollars". He even calls coupons "50 dollars"! I wish, buddy, I wish!

He likes to play hide and seek, but he always does the hiding. He'll go hide somewhere and we act worried like we won't be able to find him (there is usually some part of his body sticking out from his hiding place, too! hee hee) and we ask where he could be hiding. Then he tells us where he is! Hilarious! Just now he took all 8 pillows off the daybed and hid among them. He said "come find me mommy!" I looked around, pretending not to know where he was, then said, "hey buddy, where are you hiding?". He yelled "I hiding in the piwwows!" That little guy is so much fun. We'd be truly bored without him!

As promised, here are some pics of our little prince hunting Easter eggs at his Grandma and Grandpa's house. He had so much fun we re-hid the eggs about five more times. It was a great day. Enjoy!

La Princesa's room . . . check!

We finished her room! I still want to move the R in her name on the wall down a bit, but the room is DONE! The only thing it lacks is la princesa. Check it out!

The little man's room is another story. My other half is building him a bookcase headboard in the garage even as I type. It will probably be awhile before it's finished, but when it is, that means it time to move the critter across the hall in to his new room. If I haven't said it before, I'm a little sad about it. We worked so hard on his nursery, but it's such a small room and he is running out of space. We've already bought the paint and the letters to spell his name on the wall, but I'm stalling for some reason. I'm just not ready for him to grow up.

Still no news on the adoption front. Our facilitator told the agency on Monday that we are still in PGN and he is hopeful that we will come out soon. La princesa turns 5 months old on Monday and it's starting to hit me that I haven't seen her in 2 months. I wish we could swing it financially for another visit, but that's not really an option right now, unless of course we encounter lots of delays. If I haven't asked before, please pray that things are going smoothly with our case. Abrazos y besos baby girl. We love you!

Is no news good news?

We're going on 6 weeks in PGN with la princesa, and no news at all to report. I'm praying and trusting that this means we're almost out and one step closer to bringing her home. Either way, as a friend so nicely put it last week, every day is one day closer to having her with us forever.

Believe me when I say that I'm eating my way through the stress of not knowing how our case is going. I have been soothing myself with food and I need an intervention! Mark has lost over 50 pounds since the beginning of the year (I'm so proud of you honey!) and I've probably gained 10. I hope when la princesa gets home I can get back on the wagon!

If you hear screams of joy and feel the earth shake from me jumping up and down in the next couple of weeks, you'll know we're out of PGN. Keep your ears peeled and keep an eye on the blog. We pray for good news soon.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the binky has left the building

Yes, you heard right, I said the binky has left the building. It's been over a week since the little man had his most prized possession to fall asleep. If you're a parent of a binky addicted kiddo, please know that they WILL NOT go to college with their binky. Pull ups, maybe, but not the binky!

The little man came home from the hospital addicted to his binky. The NICU staff said it was important for him to learn to suck and to stay calm, so the binky stayed. I vowed that it would bite the dust by the time he was 6 months old. Yeah, didn't happen. The next goal was by one year. Ummm, what can I say, it just really calmed him down, so it stayed. By this point, I really didn't care anymore how long he kept it. I dared people to judge me for letting him have it. By about 18 months, we were down to extreme fit and falling asleep use only. Now, just under 2 months until the critterboy turns 3 years old, it's gone for good. I must admit that it makes me more than a little sad that he's growing up. At the same time, though, I'm so proud of him for hitting this milestone! Next item on the agenda, potty training. We'll wait until he's ready (he's pee'ed on the potty quite a few times, but usually waits to tell us he needs to go until after the deed is done), since I'm not up to a fight over it, and anyone who knows him knows that's a smart move. I'm really not in a hurry for him to grow up. It'll happen soon enough . . .

Flippers, and other Matthewspeak

If you don't already know, my kiddo is a real hoot. Really, he makes me laugh all. the. time. Saturday he wanted to go outside to play. He said, "Mama, let's go outside!". I told him I needed to put my shoes on, and he asked me, "Mama, you need your flippers?". I looked at him curiously, looked at Mark, who was trying not to laugh, and said "What honey?" He promptly said again "your flippers!" He calls flip flops flippers! It's hilarious. Everytime he says it, I laugh so hard and picture myself with actual flippers on my feet, clopping along in the back yard. Did I tell you it's hilarious??!!

Our dog is named Gidget (you know, after the old movie with Sandra Dee? I always wanted to get a boy dog and name it Moondoggie, so then if they had puppies, the parents on their registration papers would be Gidget and Moondoggie! I digress . . .), but to the critterboy, it's "Jidjit". He LOVES to give her treats and she's getting really fat in her old age because of it.

I could go on and on about the many silly things this amazing little boy says and does. But instead, I'll stop boring you and just give you a pic of his majesty! TTYL

We're in PGN!!!

Okay, for those of you who don't speak the Guatemalan adoption language, PGN is the last step on the Guatemalan side of the adoption. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but our agency thinks we might be "out" by the end of the month. I'm still thinking mid-April, but you never know. What comes next, you ask? I updated the timeline on the right side of the page to list all of the steps to be completed before we can have la princesa in our arms forever. Basically, as a general rule, most families pick up their babies about 6 weeks after getting out of PGN.

La princesa will be 4 months old on Friday. Wow--time flies! Seriously, if you would have asked me a year ago if we would ever be to this point, I would have laughed at you. We have a long way to go, and alot can happen politically that can affect our case, but please pray that everything goes smoothly. Specifically pray that we get through PGN without any "kickouts" (the technical term is previo, but to me, KO works just fine--too hard to explain, but just know that they are BAD and we don't want any!) and get out quickly. We're ready to bring our baby girl home. Well, ready except her room isn't done, she has no clothes, etc., but ready none the less!