Miss Us?

No, I haven't forgotten to blog. Just sometimes there is not enough time to even think around here. Mari is into EVERYTHING! And she can move fast. I left her for less than 30 seconds tonight, she was standing in the bathroom watching the tub fill up for bathtime (she loves to watch the water run), I grabbed her PJs and a towel and when I came back, she had unrolled all the toilet paper. And was SO proud of herself.

Our trip to St. Louis went great. We had so much fun meeting everyone. The only glitch was sitting for over an hour on the runway in Cincinnati waiting for weather somewhere over Virginia to clear. They actually boarded us and taxied out to the runway knowing that we were delayed. Mari was good, considering. She was restless and fidgety but we managed. I ate about 300 "hand-me-down" soggy cheerios and she drank all of my 16-ounce water bottle (it had a squirt top--SO COOL!). Somewhere in America there are 15 National guardsmen who will probably shoot themselves if they hear "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Sorry!

But we had a great time with all our new friends. I got a couple more tidbits of info from some of the families that met Mari in Ethiopia before I went. I found out that, during tummy-time, my daughter would roll over the other babies...sounds about right! I also got a couple of pictures from one mom this week (after she did some digging in her trip pix) that absolutely touched me to the very core of my being. I can't really share about them, but I got a glimpse into the future and Mari has a treasure that I can't wait to show her one day. Thanks C.H.!!!! It's amazing how random picture-taking can mean so much to someone!

So now that we are home, it is back to the old routine. Mari is having a blast at daycare. They had sprinkler day on Friday and Mari was the only one that would get in the water--big surprise! They are also doing art every day and it is hilarious to see some of the things she is doing, I'll have to take pix and post them. Can you imagine doing art with a roomful of toddlers? Brave souls! She is learning sign language at daycare and I was very surprised by the signing she does, I wasn't even aware they were teaching her. Needless to say, the furious signing for milk took me a little bit to pick up on (I had a baby sign book and looked it up after I finally thought "I wonder if they are teaching her sign?"). So her sippy cup of milk was very appreciated, if not timely. She discovered that her finger fits nicely in her nose...I just hope she doesn't figure out that other things fit in her nose.

So, on to some pix.

Mari's new hairstyle. I got some great advice on haircare while in St. Louis. Just being able to get my hands on a great head of hair helped (thanks S!). The moral of the story--product and lots of it. I was being too skimpy. So now her hair is healthy and curly and soft. Yea!!! It is getting very long but the curls are so tight that you can't really tell and we are not doing relaxers yet.

Here is what $9 will buy you at the dollar store. I don't think we will need barrettes or rubber bands for years to come!


Just a little messy. I finally learned to just take the shirt off.
My backpack that Kaili got me. Don't I look so grown-up.
This picture was taken a little over six months ago. The first meeting of the cousins.
And here they are last week. Haven't they gotten so big? Soon there will be three!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fun Times...coming soon!

Okay, I promise a run-down of our St. Louis trip with lots of pictures but I'm still trying to catch up on everything. It was exhausting but unbelieveable. To tide you over until more pix of all the kids, I thought I'd give you one picture. The look on Mari's face sums up the entire weekend. She LOVED it! This picture also sums up her general personality. I fall in love with her more every minute of every day.

Thanks to Jen Newcomb (from CHI) for taking this picture.

Am I going to regret this?

Hopefully at this time tomorrow night, Mari and I will have landed safely (and on time) in Cincinnati and should be boarding our plane to St. Louis. We leave Richmond at 6:15 and hope to be in St. Louis at 9:15 (10:15 our time)...please pray that everything goes smoothly. Since Mari's bedtime is usually 7ish, I'm hoping for some night-night time during travel. And I'm praying that the first flight will be on time because we only have about 50 minutes in Cincinnati between flights. Augh!

We will be picked up at the airport by Mari's younger boyfriend, Mamush. We are all staying at the same hotel and Jenni and Jim are being lifesavers and playing chauffeur for the weekend. That way, I did not have to worry about renting a car and carseat or lugging a carseat around the airport. Thanks guys! On Saturday, we are going to the CHI Reunion Picnic where we will meet up with lots of close friends we've never met (kind of weird how the adoption/blogging friendships work!). We will get to spend lots of time with some familiar faces...Mari's older boyfriend Micah, J & S & E, Spud (who I met in Ethiopia and can't wait to see how he's grown), Anna, Ash, and Nataly. It will be interesting to see who else shows up and who I recognize from their blogs.

We will fly home on Sunday, leaving St. Louis at 12:00 (1:00 here) and should land in Richmond at 4:45. Again, only a 50 minute layover in Cincinnati so let's hope everything goes smoothly. I won't have bedtime to help me out but maybe naptime will kick in. Or maybe Mari will just be super good and content to fly, she certainly was a stellar flyer coming home from Ethiopia. But that was before she could wiggle and scream and throw fits and run away from Mommy and need constant Cheerios, etc.

So I hope to have lots of pix to share when we get home but I have to be at work bright and early Monday, so it may take me a few days to post.

6 Months Home!

Wow, it is so hard to believe that we've been home for 6 months. So much has happened, Mari is growing so quickly. She has just come alive lately. Or maybe I should say she has become "lively." She is full-throttle now. She is very spirited and mostly a happy baby. Her tantrums are short but very loud! She is talking all the time now and getting more intelligible. If you tell her it is bath time, she will walk to the bathroom and stand next to the tub to watch the water. She has finally really taken to reading and will sit and look at a book on her own (in one of the very brief minutes that she sits still) and she now will carry a book over to me and wiggle her little butt until she is sitting on my lap, pushing away anything I may be working on or petting (in the case of a certain dog). She has started to use a spoon and gets it right about 1 out of every 4-5 bites...messy, but she is getting more resistent to Mommy feeding her.

I bought a sippy sup with a straw to try; it took her about 20 minutes to figure it out, she got the sucking part down but kept wanting to flip it up so the other end of the straw wasn't in the milk. She finally got it but then I noticed that the combination of soft plastic and sharp teeth was not so good...so it got trashed right before she bit the straw in half. We also tried crayons, Crayola Tadoodles. Again, the teeth thing was an issue so those will be tried again later.

So life is moving forward in the fast lane. She was supposed to stay in the infant room at daycare until sometime in August but they called today and want to move her now. They said that she is so lively (I think she is running over all the babies) and they feel she will be happier with the toddlers. She apparently stands at the gate that separated the two rooms and watches them all day.

Impressive, huh? Modern art? Turtle under the duck's hat--maybe the duck was hungry?

I showed Mari where to sit her toys (instead of throwing them out of the tub) and she now lines the tub with them. I love the sweet, innocent look on her face.


I put Mari down for a nap the other day and kept checking on her. All I could see from the door was her head as she sat in the crib playing. After about 30 minutes of wondering why she hadn't gone to sleep, I went all the way in the room and found her sound asleep. Looks comfy, huh?

My first July 4th!! Maybe next year Mommy will have gotten her act together and made me a citizen!!

Great picture...falling, falling, boom.

Sippy cup with a straw. Too bad I bit right through it!

My How Time Flies!!!

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