Fun Pics

Daddy and his big girl

Laughing with Daddy aka Jay Leno (see below)

Smile


Gracie helping Grandpa lower the babies' cribs

Look at me!

Definitely prefers sitting to tummy time

Before bottle....

After bottle

Doing really pretty well the later part of this week and weekend. Gracie, after having a very rough couple of days, is listening much better. She continues to play with her babies. It is funny because she never plays with just one, always two. Always two babies to get dressed, two to feed etc. etc. I wonder why? The other night, a commercial with Jay Leno came on and Gracie pointed to him and said "Daddy". Don was disappointed it wasn't Letterman. Hee hee.

Lily and Lola doing well, doing some good sitting, eating well, and good baby babbles. Lola likes to fake cough at people and have them cough back. She thinks that is great fun. She has also started this yell that is super loud, with all her might-just because she can. She isn't in distress or anything, just doing it because she can.

Gracie can now say "funny", "bye", "hello" all in context which is great. It does seem as if her English receptive language is getting better too. For sure, our Spanish is getting way better. You gotta love Google language tools.

Love, Mel

Gracie and Yoga

Downward facing dog

Child's pose

Namaste everyone!

Too cute to not post!

Love, Mel

The Babies That NOBODY Forgot and A Girl and Her Shoes

Happy as Ever!

Hello everybody!

Ain't life grand!

For anyone going thru twin baby girl withdrawl, above pics are for you. Funny note, the girls now smile anytime I get the camera out and smile bigger when I say "Party Pic!". They are ready for college already (those of you from OU understand). Both Lily and Lola continue to do just great and we just fall further in love with them each day.

Gracie is doing great, although currently she is testing me (ahhh, 3 year old behavior). Last night, I asked her to please put her houseshoes up in her closet (in Spanish). I sat and watched her as she did the most amazing thing. She has a shelf in her closet for her shoes, around 8 pair total (keep in mind some were loaned as we didn't know her shoe size when I traveled to Guat.), including the infamous boots. She stared at her shoe shelf for awhile and then began rearranging her shoes to fit in her houseshoes. I was just dumbfounded to think that two weeks ago, this precious child had not a cent to her name, no family capable of parenting her at this time and now here she is with a huge family and so many shoes that she has to organize them.

We are trying very, very hard NOT to make life seem as if it is Disneyland. She does get overwhelmed with "stuff" at times and produces behavior we would rather not encourage. It is a hard balance. It truly makes you realize that how much children need families and a sense of belonging and a sense of what is theirs.

Don continues to be a great dad to all of his girls, yet longs for a bit more testosterone in our house. Sometimes we just look at each other and laugh at how crazy and different our lives have become in the past year.

Me, you ask? Well I am just sitting her in full makeup, hair fixed and clothes pressed. I have only eaten near Gracie's weight in chocolate today, but it is only 2:30. I will be up to my own weight in chocolate probably very soon...

Have a good Monday! Love, Mel

A Girl and Her Boots

Pretty face and the new haircut

Eating pudding with her boots on



The full effect

Gracie received these black boots as a gift on Thursday and has worn them ever since. They are the first thing she puts on in the morning when she wakes up and she puts them on again after her bath. They are very cute, but make a seriously wonderful little-girl-dressing-herself fashion statement when worn with pajama shorts while eating chocolate pudding.

I am sure you all agree...

Love, Mel

Quick Update

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input about Miss Gracie's language and communication. We are very fortunate to have so many great friends and family members.
Gracie had a great day yesterday-slept and played great.

We are going for our first haircut today. I prepared her as best I could last night with telling her in Spanish that we would go in the car (big smile) to a place to get her haircut (flat expression).
Heehee, well it has to be done no matter the expression. Her bangs are hanging in her eyes and I am too chicken to cut them myself.

New Gracie tricks: almost doing I'm A Little Teapot from start to finish,
dancing, dancing, dancing and telling Don that I am her "Mama" (!Mi Mama!!!) when he says that I am his "esposa" (wife). Heeehee.

Have a good day, Love, Mel

Language

First, before I forget we are running way behind on returning phone calls and emails, but are reading/listening to them. It is just hard to find time when you can actually talk to someone without crying in the background or other baby/toddler excitement.

We are hanging in there, some moments better than others. Don and I said last night that we feel our biggest challenge is the language barrier. We always knew this would be hard, but it is really hard at times. The longer Gracie is with us, the more you can tell how developed her receptive language is in Spanish. Her expressive language in Spanish is also more developed than I initially realized, but carries with it a three year old quality. Also, sadly I don't think anyone had any time to work with language with her so she frequently does not finish a word, for example says "adio" and won't say the "s" or similar things. Much like an English speaking 3 year old, you don't always know what she is trying to say even if you do know the Spanish.

The language barrier is particularly difficult when you are trying to set limits. She is trying to find them and pushes them and us, so we are full boar into 3 year old behavior with a child who is adjusting to her new life and language.

She is starting to want to try and say the English for body parts etc. and is singing a few songs from playhouse Disney when I start them. (Those of you familiar with Soul Cho Cho train and equally "catchy" jingles :)
I have a fairly decent vocabulary in Spanish but have difficulty thinking on the spot to form a good sentence.
We have found a good internet quick reference that is on our "favorites" and have several friends available for help, but still in that moment when you need to effectively communicate to your 3 yr. old, it is tough on everyone.

We are looking into bilingual preschools and feel fortunate that there are actually at least 2 to choose from. Don and I feel we want her to get started ASAP to help her adjust, but also don't want her to get confused about home vs. school vs. orphanage. So, we are still trying to decide the best timeframe for beginning preschool for her and us and bonding etc. Also, we very much want to preserve her Spanish as much as we can, but again neither Don or I are fluent. However, both of us continue to learn and practice more every day so surely that will help with carryover.

She had a Dr. appt. yesterday and did very well. We ended the afternoon by going to the aquarium and she had a great time. She was really into the bigger things (otters, beavers, sharks) and the colorful fish. It was fun for us to just watch her take it all in. I watched her as she watched other kids with their families. I just can only imagine what she is thinking. I loved that she jumped right in there (after a bit of quiet observation) to touch the glass the fish/otters were behind.

Well, I had better go. I am hearing babies and still trying to get Gracie to go back to sleep after she woke up from a 10 minute nap. We need more than that, all of us!
Love, Mel

Don't worry

We are trying to change around the blog to reflect our new family, so don't worry-it will be more balanced with all the girls. just FYI...