Adios!!

Its been fun but its time for a new family blog now that our family is complete!!!
A fellow Guat adoptive mom Jaimee did an awesome job helping to create our new blog layout. Its bright and funky and just plain fun. THANKS Jaimee!!!!
I will be updating it with new photos soon and will probably post there frequently with crazy stories that will certainly come with having 3 kids.

We got the kids pictures taken last week and those will be coming via snail mail soon to our family and friends.

Thank you to everyone who gave us so much support during Nora's journey home. Weve met alot of great people along the way and we feel so fortunate to have crossed their paths.
To our real life family and friends, sorry weve been hermits of sorts and been hiding but now that she is home and things are adjusting well, our lives will get back to normal I think. :)

So please visit us at....

www.fiestaof5.blogspot.com

We are still here

Im back at work so its busy of course. I will post new pictures soon. Im actually creating a new family blog so hopefully that will be done in the next couple of weeks.

Evan and Nora

I know I havent posted many pics of Evan and Nora and they spend the most time together as both are home all day. Its not that Evan wasnt adjusting, hes just really hard to get a good photo of. Evan was happy to share his rice with Nora and just throw it on her high chair tray and Nora was pretty darn happy to eat it.
You can see her big chompers (and tooth #7 is breaking thru now).
If you havent voted yet for Nora, see below and please vote. Voting goes thru May 15th.

Please VOTE for NORA!!!

PLEASE VOTE FOR NORA!!
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Voting is free, prize package of $1000

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3. Forward to page 23, # 358 (second row)
4.On bottom lower left box under package pricing (scroll down)
Choose “VOTE cutest” and “ADD to shopping cart”
5. “CHECK out” and complete some of the personal info.
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Thanks for voting. Again its FREE.
Please forward if you can. Highest number of email votes
Wins this nice prize package.

Shes crawling

Shes been going backwards and sideways for a couple of weeks now. But as of last night shes doing the official forward crawl. Not too far and not too fast yet luckily for us. Shes doing much better after being sick. Had 2 rough days this week of not napping and get overtired during the day but sleeping better at night which helps. And I finally remembered to have someone take a family of 5 photo. It was impossible to get all 3 kids to look nice at the same time though. Either Evan was being goofy or Ryan wasnt looking at the camera. Heres one of a few attempts.

9 months old

Ends up she had roseola. Fever is gone and her rash is barely there anymore too. Shes back to her happy self and sleeping at night.
We put up Evan's big boy bed last night. He loves it!
Because we seem to have quite a few asking as she gets older, no she will not start talking spanish. Her first language will be english and we hope to all learn more spanish as she gets older. We do use both spanish and english with her when we can.
She does understand a few spanish words now though and Im sure shes learning english too. She knows kisses in spanish (besos) and that makes her smile and laugh. And saying dance in spanish always gets her legs and body moving. She knows the Guatemalan word for bottle (pacha or pachita)-which is different than other spanish speaking countries. She makes lots of sounds but no real words yet, shes a bit young.

Spring Fever

Literally for poor Nora. Last couple of days shes had fevers around 104. Took her to the doctor today and ears, throat, lungs, urine are all clean/clear. He thinks it might be roseola or maybe just a plain old virus. If she gets a rash in the next 48 hrs we will know for sure. It seems to be breaking (as the doc thought it would) so shes getting back to her more usual self vs. Miss Whiny Diva that she has been the last few days.
When Nora came home she wasnt really fond of her new brothers in her personal space. We would try to explain to Evan that she just didnt know him that well yet. So now several times a day we hear from Evan... "Look Mom, Nora's starting to know me. Shes smiling." Yes, Nora IS getting to know her new family and its fun to watch. Shes even tolerating Evan sitting on her today so she must be feeling better.
Shes perfected the backwards crawl and scoot around so even though shes not officially crawling, shes pretty proud of herself for being able to get to what she wants.
The weather was great this weekend. The boys got out riding their bikes and playing baseball. Evan goes fast on his motorcycle tricycle. Ryan will be playing coach pitch this year and hes excited. Evan loves to dig for treasure too.

3 weeks

Time flies when you are having fun! I took Evan and Nora to the zoo today. Weather was sunny and warm but a bit windy. Nora loved watching all the people and just being outside I think.
Ryan is practicing some spanish by reading some of the books we bought for Nora. He sounds so cute trying to say the words. He LOVES reading to her at bedtime.
Nora is still doing really well. I think the worst of the teething is over as both eye teeth are mostly thru (along with her 2 tops and 2 bottom teeth). Shes back to waking up just once a night for the most part for a bottle (but often still wakes up early in the am just to be rocked back to sleep). She still seems to be attaching to us so again no major issues there yet that we can tell. I can be away from her and shes fine but when I come back into the room and if I dont pick her up immediately she has a fit. Shes pretty leary with most people and lets very few hold her (and if we are around barely anyone can hold her lately).

2 weeks

And still doing well. She did have 48 hrs of fussiness this week in which she woke up every 2 hrs in the night but now shes back on track. She gets so angry when she cant crawl but shes getting closer. As you can tell from most of the pictures, she has her favorite almost tripod like pose.
Evan as usual has to try out all her toys.

Welcome Home Party

We had Nora's welcome home party last night. We had so many people which made for a very nice time. People brought Nora such pretty things. Nora took all the people and noise in stride and seemed to enjoy herself. A huge thank you to all those who brought food or helped with setting things up. We are so lucky to have so many people who love and care about Nora. Thank you all.
We lucked out with good weather finally so the older kids had a blast playing outside playing ball and jumping in the bounce house.
I keep forgetting to have someone take a family photo, oops. Eventually we will have to remember. But getting 5 people to smile for the family is pretty tough (especially with our boys). I tried just getting a nice pic of the 3 kids and you can see how those turned out (poor Nora).
Nora's grandma Judy made the cake (which was very good).

Home a week

Shes starting her I want to be held all the time phase but otherwise shes still a happy girl. Top 2 teeth are mostly in and now cutting both eye teeth. She LOVES food. She seriously has a fit if she sees anyone eating. She cant crawl yet but will scoot a bit on her belly spinning herself around. She gets mad that she cant quite move yet, its cute. She loves bathtime and splashing around.
The boys are awesome big brothers.

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.