We're Back!

Well we made it back. In fact we've been back from our amazing, emotional journey for three weeks. I apologize we weren't able to post on here once we arrived in Ethiopia. We couldn't get onto any blogs. In addition email was a bit unpredictable, but facebook seemed to work well. Those of you who are friends with me on facebook were able to share in our journey as we tried to post there fairly often.

The idea of updating our blog has been daunting, as I feel like I left so many of you hanging for over a month. Where to start? .....I'll share a few highlights and an update.

We met our daughter one month ago today -on August 3. It was such an amazing experience. This is the first time we held our daughter.


We couldn't even begin to describe in words how intense meeting was, but Olivia took it like a champ. She was so calm and cool. She cried for just a bit when Sean first held her, but soon was fine. She seemed to snuggle right in, although she didn't show much expression in the initial days.

We were able to visit her for a few hours on each of three separate days. During these times we held her and played with some of the other kids at the WACAP house.

I'll try to post a bit more on our trip later.

For now, just wanted to let you know that we're home and adjusting. Olivia is a very easy baby. She cries when she's hungry and tired, but otherwise is pretty low-key. She now likes to smile a lot, is getting really good at holding things in her hands and is working on her leg muscles by putting some pressure when we stand her up. At her five month doctor visit she weighed in at 13 pounds, 14 ounces and 26 inches long. She seems very long to me, but I am used to shorter kiddos!!! She loves both of her sisters, tummy time and Mommy snuggles. She loves it when Daddy holds her up in the air. She is a drool monster, so is probably working on getting some teeth, but doesn't have any yet, and she rolls over both from her front to her back and her back to her front.

Abigail & Emma both LOVE her and very much enjoy helping her anytime she makes a sound. They like to make her smile and let me know when she's hungry. Both of the older girls are just amazing with her.

We had two weeks off of work together before Sean went back to work. We tried to make that time together very special for Abigail & Emma. We attended a family reunion in WA the day after we arrived home, we had visitors including Sean's mom from OH (who took care of Abigail and Emma while we were gone), my Dad and step-mom from AZ, and Sean's sister Heidi from NY. We went camping with some amazing friends for four days less than a week after returning home. It was so great to be away from the house and all the things we were needing to get done. We made a trip to the zoo (two times actually), attended a baseball game with some great friends from church and spent a wonderful afternoon playing at Sean's aunt & uncle's house. We also went to the coast for two days where we played on the beach and swam in a pool. It was an amazing couple weeks and so fun to have a more carefree time with the family together. Olivia of course was a trooper through it all.

Sean is now back to work, but I am still off work for a few more weeks, which is WONDERFUL, especially since I still have so many things on my TO DO list to get done. Thank you to my dear long-time friend Edie for helping me to stay accountable -by encouraging me to update my blog, edit our pics, put together the baby announcements, plan our WELCOME HOME OLIVIA Open House, update my status on FB, and schedule a time to make some meals to put in the freezer for the coming weeks. This has really helped! Thank you also to our amazing Sunday School class at SEC for bringing us meals. This has been a wonderful blessing to our family!

Here are a couple more pictures of my Mom and step-dad holding Olivia while we were in Ethiopia.