Day 2

Saturday, we got up and immediately started with the monthly update pictures. Before going down to Guate, they told us we could come up with a theme if we wanted.... my two goals were to show as much "skin" for the adoptive families as possible and make sure the girls looked girlie : ) So, we decided on a "Hawaiian" theme with the lays... seemed appropriate with summer approaching.

We felt confident God had given us the right daughter when she wouldn't comply with our desire to get a good picture : ) lol!! We had a lot of fun... but even more amusing was watching all the mamas. Boy, they can work fast!! Whipping those outfits off and on... and they all tried SO hard to get their babies to smile! I had NO idea what an ordeal those monthly updates are to get done!! It took us 5 hrs. from start to finish! I will appreciate my monthly updates of Sarah now with a whole new perspective : )

David, Sarah and I all went back after the picture taking and took a LONG nap : ) She is a great sleeper!! Woo Hoo! After that, we moved into a different apartment. Ron and Beverly mentioned the apt. next to them for the adoptive families when they come to visit. I said, "wow, I didn't know about that, how do you get to have that apt?" Long story short, we got to use the other apartment for our last 3 nights there : ) It was much more accomodating with a highchair and thanks to the Allums family, a little excersaucer too.

You can see from the next string of photos that Sarah became more and more comfortable with us! She is quite the ham and has the most hilarious expressions! Even funnier though, is that you would expect all kinds of babbling and giggling with her goofy faces... but not a sound. She was the quietest baby I've ever been around. I suppose with all the noise and commotion in the orphanage it probably isn't uncommon for them to be so silent.

My favorite expressions were when she'd crinkle her nose like this!!

This one just cracks me up!!

Just like my firstborn, she loved to play with my hair... and pull!!

I could kiss those cheeks all day long!

On the "real" side of things, our first couple days reminded me a lot of when we first brought Caleb home from the hospital. My stomach was in knots with nerves, emotions, and fears. I remember thinking with Caleb, "they aren't really going to let me go home with this baby, are they?" After the initial exhiliration and joy of meeting Sarah, reality set in and I had all those 1st time mommy thoughts and feelings. By the end of this 2nd day though, I was more and more relaxed and falling harder and harder for my sweet baby girl!

Thanks for joining us on our visit... more to come later : )