Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Interesting facts and PHOTOS

First the facts...
*Our daughter is more and more precious!!!
*We found out today from our Family Court documents that Eliza is auctually Mayan Indian decent. We know that because her birth mom spoke an indigenous language and not just Spanish. So some day when it is time to check those boxes on those forms... Eliza will check Native American ( I guess... or other whatever she chooses)
*Eliza likes Gerber puff things.
* Our agency is awesome and goes above and beyond.
* Eliza only woke up once during the night and then we had to wake her at 6:15 to leave
* Eliza likes small bites of the best Banana bread ever.
*M & M's make and excellent lunch ( for mom and dad... not princesea)
* Eliza is very smart and I am thankful for the attention she was shown with the foster family. She holds up her hand when you say bye. She tries to crawl but her little arms are not strong enough so she falls on her face. She will blow raspberries and stick out her tounge if you do, and if you disappear (like hiding for a game) she knows exactly where to look for you.

I am sure there are more... but here are the pics instead. Notice her tiny feet... ALL the shoes I brought her are too big. (Thanks again for the outfit Sonja... we tried the hat, could not even get it to stay on long enough for a pic)



And finally the first mommy and daddy ELIZA photo... we had to go into the Family Room and ask someone to take it for us... our self portrait attempts were just not working.

Just for fun...

Embassy Day

A quick pic before we left. I know it is not the family photo you asked for, but we were not allowed to bring the camera and no one on the floor was up and out at 6:30 this morn.

And... our own little party after!!!

Monday, June 4, 2007

Details

Okay so some of you have asked for details. So, while she is again sleeping... here you go.

The room phone rang just after 10AM... we went down to the special room and there she was...precious as ever, but looking so big. I eased into taking her and holding her. They woke her up to meet us and say goodbye so she was red-eyed and SLEEPY. She immediately put her head on my shoulder which was a big sigh of relief for me. She went to Brent no problem and we played for a while in the room talking to her and thanking her Foster Mom and giving her the gifts.

When we left we went up to the room. She was exhausted. I usually give her a bath immediately, but she was too tired. So, I tired to get her to sleep. She started crying and getting very fussy. She seemed almost too tired but at the same time afraid to go to sleep. She was confused and a little scared. She finally went to sleep when Brent took her bounced her and sang to her ( he is so proud of that). She woke up still tired and unsure. We decided to go ahead a bathe her and change her she did okay, but was still unsure. After she was ready, I tried to go down to the rocker in the family room and feed her a bottle. When we got there, there was a little girl eating jar food. Eliza saw her and started grunting and kicking her feet. I immediately went back to the room for bananas, bib and spoon. I *THINK* that might have been the breaking point where she decided I was not bad and that I understood her and what she was trying to tell me. She ate the whole jar. We went for a little walk, called the boys and came back to the room for her bottle where she fell asleep for about an hour and a half. She woke up a little confused, but played and laughed with us both. She loves peek-a-boo and us kissing and "eating" her hands and feet. So we do that almost non-stop.

Brent and I wanted an easy night in, so we ordered Domino's... it was really good. It is the same, but different. They told me she only ate at breakfast and lunch, but I thought HEY...WHY NOT... she is 9 months old almost it might help her sleep through the night if I give her more. So we tried some squash. She seemed to like it, but only ate about 1/2 of it. We played some more and then I decided to take her back to the family room to visit some other kids and spread out to see what she could do. UHHHH... we are in trouble. She sits up great with AWESOME posture. She is so flexible ( she can bend in half to eat her toes) and she is trying to move. She scooted forward a little on her hands and knees, but her favorite thing to do is pull up on Brent when he is sitting on the floor. I was not ready for that!!!

We said our goodnights and went back to the room for a night time bottle. She went right to bed and to sleep... Easy!!! But, she woke up about 45 minutes later. I heard her stirring and went to peep in and she was just sitting there. So we rocked and patted for about an hour and she went back out.

I think she is doing better than I expected. We will see how she does tomorrow when she realizes she might be stuck with us. I did not really get any good pics, because she either does not sit still long enough to take one, or... she is being held and since we were up listening to the local jazz late and the birds woke us up at about 5... we are looking a little weary. I will post some of the ones we got. Sorry if too much info, you asked and now I will not have to journal it to remember.

OH and PS... it is raining buckets here right now... I am going to try to set a jar out to see if I can bring it home!



Okay...here you go

Not a lot of time to type now that the pics are here... Eliza is up...

The view from our room in Antigua

At the Casa Santa Domingo

Me as a Guatemalan woman
Brent in coffee plants
The band playing for us... Victor told them we were "Muy Importante"


BEAUTIFUL... La Mercid
Guatemalan textiles

Brent's favorite pic... the Arc a reflection taken from a puddle on the cobblestone streets in Antigua

Brent's seeing his daughter for the first time since she was 12 days old

ANTIGUA IS AWESOME

Well...it was. We left this morning but spent an awesome day touring everywhere yesterday. Our tour guide, Victor, AMAZING... he has even toured Pres. Clinton.
I wish I could tell you all about it now... but we have just arrived at the Westin and have about 15 minutes until they call us to get our baby girl. We are so excited!!!!!!!! When time permits tonight... I will share some pics from our trip yesterday and of our angel today!

Again... we are changed people!

Friday, June 1, 2007

Last Call... Jones, Party of 5

Well... here it is. We leave tomorrow. I am so excited that I do not think sleeping is an option. I wish I had the words to describe my feelings but I do not... I just thank God that he has given me His PEACE for the past year. I do not know how I would have made it without it!

Tonight Baylor played in the 6 year old All-Star game. He did awesome and had a blast. We used the opportunity to grab a photo when we got home... our last family photo as a family of 5. Next time we take a family photo... we will be JONES Family of 6. ( Not the best pic... but it was late)