Fun in the Park

Auntie Ki took Elizabeth to the park Sunday and they had a wonderful time! Love this picture of Elizabeth in the slide - isn't she adorable?

Chrissie went on her first business trip since bringing Elizabeth home in May, so this is going to be a tough couple days for everyone... hopefully Chrissie is too busy with the work stuff to miss her adorable daughter.. in the meantime the aunts and grandmother are having fun spending time with our little angel. Grammy brought little E to church - she squealed hello when she recognized Aunt Ki singing up on stage! And everyone was so excited to see her again - she's definitely a charmer!

Aunt Days!

This week Grammy went to the beach, so GrammyDayCare was transformed to AuntDayCare - Aunt Jenny watched Elizabeth on Tuesday, and Tia Sarita on Thursday. On Tuesday Aunt Jenny took Elizabeth to Longwood Gardens then to the library - it was a fabulous day! She was full of smiles and had a great day!

Her First Car!

I'm sure you think Elizabeth has everything - well, she didn't before, but she does now! Thanks to one of Chrissie's co-workers whose daughter has outgrown some things, Elizabeth now has a toy kitchen (with a sink!) and a car! Yep - a car... at 14 months the kid has her own set of wheels! She went for her first ride in the car today and she LOVED it (check out the pics in the slideshow)! Giggled and squealed as I ran her up and down the street, and cried when her Mommy made her get out and go shoe shopping... can you believe it, a girl not wanting to go shoe shopping!?!? Aunt Jenny was quick to try to instill a love of shoes, but it was past snacktime, so priorities had to be reorganized... we'll be working on her stamina, but she did get one pair of shoes - adorable little blue mary janes with flowers on the toes.

Elizabeth at the Beach

Mommy, Auntie Ki and little E drove out to Long Island yesterday to visit Papi and the beach! This is E's first time and she loves it! She loves to watch the water and have the wind in her hair! :) All the neighbors are excited to finally meet her!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Elizabeth's 1st birthday!

Here is what the cake looked like BEFORE Elizabeth got her hands (literally) on it.. and to the right you can see her just beginning to really taste it! I think she likes it - especially the icing, just like her Nana and Tia Sarita!

4th of July!

Elizabeth enjoyed her first 4th of July in patriotic style this week, attending her first parade! She was not impressed by the tractors, beauty queens, politicians or even ponies.. but she did enjoy bobbing to the music!

Waving the stars and stripes (left) while wearing her very cute dress with stars on it, Elizabeth gets into the spirit of the holiday. We went to a cookout at Greg's house and to the right you can see she's in her booster seat all ready to enjoy some good stuff fresh off the grill!

Bikini Babe!

Last week Chrissie's coworkers had a baby shower for her and someone gave her this fabulous bikini complete with hat and sunglasses.. and apparently Elizabeth took to it quite well! :)

Elizabeth starts "school" (daycare) next week as Chrissie eases back into work with a week of half-days... thankfully the daycare is close to Chrissie's office, and with the 4th of July holiday on Wednesday it should be a pretty quiet week..

Time Flies!

Wow, the past 3 weeks have flown by! It's been a fabulous time of getting to know Elizabeth and getting settled into life... Elizabeth is now crawling and pulling herself up! :) She has made the rounds of various offices, meeting the coworkers of her mom and aunts, and making everyone fall in love with her!! She's a ham (LOVES the camera) and a joy - she seems to like people, especially when they are enthralled with her! She still loves music and enjoys chewing on stuff, as she adds to her inventory of 8 teeth. Chrissie is transitioning beautifully into a busy mom, making the most of opportunities to sleep or do laundry - in fact this afternoon I believe Elizabeth was dropped off at Grammy and Papi's for play time, and so Chrissie could go grocery shopping.. one of the many blessings of having the whole family close by!

We'll try to update the blog with pictures.. we have some great ones - the first Mother's Day with a 4-generation picture needs to get posted, along with the first time on a swing, etc... so much to do, and now there is no time! :)

Baths and Dinner

Tonight Elizabeth discovered the joys of taking a bath! Grammy took her up for her bath tonite and the aunts went too, and for about 10-15 minutes we were thoroughly entertained as Elizabeth kicked and splashed and scooted herself around in the tub having a grand time.. we all laughed so hard our sides hurt! Check out those huge waves she's generated with her kicking! This is one HAPPY and JOYFUL baby! Grammy marveled at the difference in her - just 2 nights ago on Monday when she gave her a bath in the Guatemalan hotel she didn't even splash - tonite she was so animated and excited... how fabulous!


For months whenever our family has gathered around the dinner table and said grace a blessing was offered for Elizabeth... what a joy when grace was said tonite that Elizabeth was here with us, sitting in her highchair at the table!

To quiet the rumors that I've been making this up, here's a picture of Elizabeth with Aunt Jenny - to prove to my friends and coworkers that yes, I really do have a niece! :)

Isn't she wonderful!

HOME!!!!

Yeah! Elizabeth is finally HOME!

An excited Papi, Aunt Ki, Rachel (right) and Aunt Jenny (behind the camera) met up at the airport complete with ballons and gifts... there was confusion over which terminal they were arriving into so the welcoming committee almost didn't make it to greet the travelers, but the Lord was gracious and we made it! How exciting to see Chrissie walking down the ramp holding Elizabeth!

In the confusion we ended up meeting up with a woman who was waiting to receive her 10-month baby girl from Guatemala! We were able to capture video of a new mom holding her baby for the first time!

Papi finally got to hold his first grandchild.. Elizabeth thinks he's fabulous - check out the thumbs up! :)

   I prayed for this child,
  and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him.
               - 1 Sam 1:27

It's late, we're all tired, but soooo thankful for this part of the journey to be over, and for "real" life to get started.. what a blessing! We couldn't be happier! :)