The letter B

First the important stuff... it is 12:35 and I have 3 our of 4 children asleep and #4 is quietly playing Gameboy. WHOOO HOOO!!!

Now on to the title of this post. Today is evidentally all about the letter B...
Baylor learned to ride his Bike last night!!!!


My girl loves her some cut up Bananas!


And who needs Baby toys when there are so many Boy toys around?

My first day ALONE...

The truth... it was HARD! She did wake up last night about 2:30 AM. I am not sure why other than the need to be sure I was there. I fixed her a bottle but she just played with it for a minute and fell asleep. She tosses quite a bit in her sleep and grunts so everytime she does (because she is by my head in the Pack-n-Play)I am awake checking on her. I try not to grab her immediately, but try to let her drift back out which she always does, but it still wakes me. My hubby gets up at 5 and I am his alarm clock, so the alarm wakes me and I wake him. He gets up gets ready, kisses me by around 5:40 and he is off. Silas was the first to wake up at 6:30. Now that is not that bad, but before I left for Guatemala I was waking him up at 8:45. His "hollerin" woke up Callan and so then we were all up. I tried to have a quiet morning on the couch ( because Eliza was still asleep) but at about the 42nd "I-ONT JUICE" I knew it was a done deal and we were running full force for the day. Eliza and Baylor soon followed with getting up. The rest is a blurr until lunch. I did manage a shower after breakfast, but it hard to relax when you have a small audience. Eliza is not sleeping well during the day so when she went down about 9 I tried to scramble to fix hair and makeup... then took the boys outside for bug hunting. Just when I thougt all was well and she was going to sleep, she woke up ( after only about 20 minutes)so we had only been outside for about 5 minutes. We played still for a little while(and pestered my neighbor who was trying to plant her flower garden) and then tried to go inside ( all the while making phone calls for adding Eliza to insurance, making her first well visit appointment, and calling the DRYER repair guy to see when he was coming). By the time I got lunch on the table, Eliza was again rubbing her eyes and a sweet friend was coming by to bring dinner. When she left, I got Eliza down followed by big and bigger brother. I asked biggest to work on his "summer-work". Just when I thought I had succeeded as a mom and all was right with the world as Bay and I were reading a book together, Eliza finished her 15 minute nap and was ready for action again. We entertained until I had to yank the boys out of bed so that we could go to Callan's dreaded ( by him that is) swim lessons. Callan cried the whole way there ( he went last year and was not excited about returning). Callan did great at swim lessons but it being my first time out of the house alone with all of them, I had a little trouble. The fact alone that I yanked Silas out of bed was enough to rock his world, but we were sitting outside under trees waiting on the hour long swim lessons and Silas wanted to sit in my lap and to "hold you momma". Seeing that it was not the easiest place to put Eliza down, we struggled a little until I turned on "Cars" in the car DVD player. Eliza fell asleep on the way home and I hated to take her out and wake her up, so she took her best nap so far in the car in the garage with all the car doors open ( maybe because it was warm and that is what she was used to). She slept about an hour and a half ( while we ate and checked on her every minute)and woke up ready to eat. We ate some bananas and mixed vegies and went back to work on bike riding outside. She loves watching the boys, but cannot figure out what she wants to do, so she is quite squirmy. Baylor almost has the bike thing down pat and give Silas a ball, bat, tee and helmet and the boy could play for days.
I need some time getting used to this 4 kid thing... I do not think I went to the bathroom today and I had chips and m&m's for lunch.

AHH... it is 9 PM and all is quiet. Until tomorrow. Sorry for the play by play... I did leave some stuff out. But once I started typing... it just all poured out. If you made it this far you deserve a picture... so here is the one for the day...

Just a few shots

Still she is doing remarkably well. Her luggage arrived about 11PM last night so she is loving having her formula back. Now I just have to figure out how to wean her off of it. She still has a little congestion mostly in her eyes, but it does not seem to bother her, just me as I am always wiping them out. She is eating very well and has tried several new things. She really is the best baby. She really does not fuss and just loves to be down in the floor with the boys... right in the middle so she can take it all in. She is, however, having a hard time taking an afternoon nap. It is almost 6PM and she basically just went down. There is just too much to see and hear and do, just when she is about out, she finds something to focus on and just will not go to sleep. But HEY... I will take that over a child who is scared and having trouble. Here are a few shots from today. I praise God for her and the way we have all adjusted to her, really it is only by His hand!!!

A fresh from the bath picture



"I want my daddy"

Silas stealing a kiss. (You know Silas has been my baby for 2 years now... now he looks like a big bruit monster next to her, and when I hold him... I just do not know how I packed that load all the time every day.)

And Nommie's two babies... Silas spent all weekend on Nommie's hip. He would not let her go. Nommie got to steal a little Eliza time here and there, but as you can see Eliza loves her Nommie too.

One day home...

Eliza is doing great... as are the boys. Seems like she was always here, just trying to manage figuring out naps and quiet times. First official day home and what does she do??? Take a look:

HOME

We made it! Unfortunately ELiza's bag did not, so we are trying to force her to eat ( because her formula cans were in that bag and we used up all we carried on). She is doing great! She has a cold in her eye, but besides looked red eyed and goopy, she is all smiles. The boys love her and had a hard time going to bed last night. They just did not want to leave her. They are so excited. Callan wants to feed her and change her diaper... he is surprising me. Silas is unsure, he loves her dearly and kisses her... but is keeping his distance.
We are worn out... emotionally and physically and have lots to do with unpacking and such ( and should I mention that the NEW washer and dryer I bought before we left has a faulty part in the dryer and does not work... and they came to check it yesterday but needed a part and will not be back to fix it until Tuesday. So I guess no laundry until Tuesday and then I will have a mountain of it to do)

Anyway... pics of the new family... we are so blessed and so happy!

Off we go...

We are about to put the last things away and finish getting ready to head out the door. Our angel is asleep on the bed where she slept between us all night. It was not an easy night. Let's just say we will never eat Sweet Potatoes again!!! She was up late and tossed and turned quite a bit. She cried like we have not experienced and her little belly, hard as a rock.

Pray that today goes smoothly, and last night was not an indicator of things to come today. We are exhausted already and really not knowing what to expect.

See you in a few hours.

Just a lazy day

We have not done much today... just kind of slept in ( until 7:00) and played. After breakfast we went upstairs and changed to head out to the pool for a while before the rain appeared again. It was fun and relaxing...

Right now, I am waiting on someone from my agency to bring us her Visa and Passport. After that we are going to do some shopping and eat dinner and hopefully have an quiet night so that we are ready for the plane ride tomorrow. Prayers would be appreciated. She is a good baby, but like all the other children I have she likes for me to be standing up and bouncing... sitting will just not do. And well... I just do not think that the airlines will make acceptions for us.

OH... and her FIRST tooth broke through yesterday. I could feel it on Monday, but I could see the pearly white last night. Thank goodness I brought teething tablets just in case. Her second one is pushing on the skin. My boys got teeth pretty early so this seems late to me... but I am so thankful that God gave me a "first" to share with her!!!

I guess unless somthing funny happens... this will be my last post from the Land of the Eternal Spring (which I will really miss). Our flight leaves at 8:40 in the morning so that means we need to catch the 6:10 AM shuttle to the airport to have plenty of time. We should arrive in Dallas around 1PM go through customs and immigration with Eliza's special sealed "DO NOT OPEN" envelope. Our flight out of Dallas leaves at 4:10 and if all goes well, we should touch down in Nashville at 5:55. OH I CANNOT WAIT for my boys to meet her... for you all to meet her.

In the meantime...ENJOY