Our first weekend

We took Nora to her first baseball game on Saturday. How American is that? We saw the Brewers play a game at Miller Park with Nora, the boys and my parents. She slept thru most of it. Guess shes not a baseball fan.
Today we went to the grocery store with all of them and the boys behaved (although Evan wanted to go in the grocery cart where Nora was).
Ryan gives her love all the time. Evan thinks her toys are pretty cool. Shes slept thru the night the last 2 nights (knocking on wood).

Doctor visit

She had her first doctor visit with our ped today just to make sure all was well. He said she looks great and very healthy. Shes just under 17 lbs. She did get 1 shot but she stopped crying as soon as I picked her up. She needs a bit of bloodwork but we will get that done in a few days. Boys are still doing well. Ryan fed her all by himself this morning. Such a good big brother.

First night

Went well. She was up twice which is pretty normal for her. She actually let some family hold her for a bit without crying. No real jealousy from Evan yet. More just him being overtired and needing us to help him get back on schedule. Ryan is a huge helper. He insisted on feeding her lunch today. As you can tell it was messy but he enjoyed it and she thought it was great!
My digital cameras are not working well so most of my photos are blurry. Going to have to run out and get a new one asap! AND the day before we left for Guatemala, in a rush to do last minute laundry, I forgot and left my cell phone in my jeans pocket and it went thru the washer and dryer so I have to buy a new one of those too.

Nora is HOME!

We flew in yesterday the 26th. She did great on the flights. Cried on the descent into Houston but then slept the whole way from Houston to Milwaukee. Going thru Immigration was easy and quick. The boys adore her and she is adjusting so well. Just busy now getting settled.

Embassy Day

Went well. Nora was an angel. It took about 2.5 hrs but no problems. We will get our Visa tomorrow. Nora was the best dressed there. :) It rained a bit this morning but now is clearing up. We are going to go shopping with a fellow FTC gal.

Happy Easter!!!

Another sunny day here in Guatemala City. The pool was less crowded than it has been all week so we spent most of the day there. Nora did not like the water as she doesnt tolerate being too cold. Thanks to Ruth, a fellow FTC member, for reminding the easter bunny to show up here in GC for Nora. Very sweet of her. After Nora wakes up we are going to head down for dinner. Of course will update with pictures when I can. She's doing well again today. She has a stuffy nose and is actually cutting her 2 top teeth so those are bothering her so we are keeping her comfy with the meds they gave us. Last night she slept from 9pm to 3am, took a bottle and woke up at 7am. Not bad at all! Tomorrow is Embassy Day and we have to get her up a bit earlier as we have to be dressed and ready downstairs by 730am. Embassy will probably take a few hours. As someone described it, its like a bad DMV visit where you cant bring in anything, theres not many places to sit, and theres screaming babies and sweaty adults all packed in. Sounds fun huh?

Forever in our arms!

We got the call to come down at 10am. It went really well. Nora just sat and looked at us for a bit. She let me hold her for a little while then started crying a bit and went back to Corina. Jim was able to then hold her and Nora was fine. We thanked Corina and she quickly left, a bit teary but you could tell it was very hard for her to leave.
Nora has been doing really great. I was so afraid of a horrible transition but after about an hour of her just being held quietly and looking around, she opened up to her normal happy smiley self. She has her 2 bottom teeth totally in and shes getting a top tooth. A bit more hair than Februrary even. She has more filling in the back. Already shes looking for us if one of us walks away. I got her to nap by walking her around in my baby carrier like I did last trip. I think it was comfortable and familiar to her. She ate some baby food for lunch, laughed and played while we ate our lunch, then took a bottle finally and is napping again. Shes a talker which is cute.
***Photos added: We only took a few today and left her in the clothes FM brought her in until bedtime. Shes now sleeping again and hope she sleeps more than 3-4 hrs at a time like FM says.

Good Friday

We spent Good Friday in the city of Antigua. We took a guided tour set up thru the hotel. It was very nice, only 6 of us. We learned alot about the festivities going on. They have many processions that day and these beautiful "carpets" made out of sand, colored sawdust and flower/fruits. They have active volcanos in Guatemala and we got to see a mini eruption while we were there which was neat.
Jim got sunburned on Thursday sitting out by the pool. Weather is around 80. Sounds much better than the 14 inches of snow we got back home.
I will update with photos later. With Evans birthday happening just before leaving I forgot to throw the connection cable for my dig cam into the luggage. We are waiting the call to get Nora. Nervous and excited at the same time. I hope she adjusts well.
***Photos added:
People take great honor in being able to carry the platforms during the processions. They go on most of the day. The bigger platforms take 80 persons to carry them. They switch at every block so many people are dressed up in robes to celebrate. Families come out and make "carpets" for the platforms carriers to walk on. It takes hours to do some of the bigger more elaborate carpets and they are destroyed in a matter of seconds. But again, they take great pride and honor in being able to do this.
Ive added just a few photos.
THANK you Carol from the Netherlands who lent me her cable so I could upload these!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN!!!

Our sweet smart little guy is 3! We had his birthday part on Sunday.

Room is ready

We have to pack yet. And my camera isnt working. Had Evans party yesterday. We leave on Wednesday. Childcare and house/dog sitting is set. Hard to believe we are going to pick her up soon!

NORA IS COMING HOME!!!

Although she fits nicely in the suitcase, we dont need to smuggle her in. We got our Embassy appt this afternoon for Monday March 24th. Looks like we will be spending Easter in Guatemala. Im rushing to check with our agency and airline to see when we get get fly down and back around that Embassy date.
But she IS COMING HOME!!!!!!!

Yeah for Natalie!!

Another visit trip amiga is coming home. Natalie got her pick slip today. HURRAY!!!
And also super great news. Our second DNA results are now at the US Embassy in Guatemala City!! This means we are officially waiting for our pink slip email and might even have the date to go pick her up forever by the end of the week!!
COME ON PINK SLIP FOR NORA!!! Better come quick or we are going to have to smuggle her into the US in our suitcase. :)