So many people to meet

I've had good intentions every day to maintain this blog. I made a vow to continue until Natalie's first birthday - which is next week - 4/23/09. Well, life just gets in the way, or an occaisional nap! It will be made into a journal for Natalie to keep when she is older.

Natalie has been meeting a lot of people over the last several days. Everyone has been so patient waiting to meet her. It's so difficult not to just say 'come on over' to everyone that calls/emails. We've been careful not to overwhelm her with too many new faces. It can cause confusion and stress for little ones. Especially when you are adopted and have had so many adjustments in such a short time. You are just learning who your mom and dad are, then you add sisters, and after that aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, neighbors, daycare providers, and the list goes on. We so love that she has such a 'village' to rely on.

Saturday evening the Grant's came over to visit. Natalie was so at ease with them. She even held her arms out to Karen - much to Karen's delight! They brought her a gift - her first (American) Barbie. There is a story to go with why you would buy a Barbie for an 11 month old. Kelsey, Amanda, and Nicole spent hours on end playing Barbies together. Kelsey and NIcole would take an entire Saturday creating the 'set' and dressing them just to get ready to play! Natalie was very interested in the Barbie - even though she didn't make it out of the box (yet).

Sunday was Easter and she met SO many people at church. As I've mentioned before, the people at FBC have been and continue to be wonderful! They are really an extension of our family. They have supported us through the difficult wait and have relished in any news we've had. So on Sunday many were able to meet Miss Natalie for the first time. We began by meeting Luke and Elizabeth Willette before church. If you look back at my earlier post you'll hear mention of Elizabeth. She's 4 years old and is a great helper. Luke is her younger brother who turned 1 just this week. I don't dare try to list everyone else she met lest I leave someone out!



No Easter Bonnet, but isn't she smiling pretty?

We brought Natalie into the sanctuary to start. She really enjoyed the music - she swayed and sang along. Then it was off to the nursery. I stayed with her and will most likely do the same for the next several weeks. She really liked the kids and all the different toys. Unfortunately she poked her good friend Luke in the eye and made him cry.

After church Amanda and Kelsey tried their hardest to keep Natalie awake on the ride home. Her heavy lids just couldn't stay open. We put her to bed once home and I started getting Easter dinner ready. She slept through dinner, but was up when family came by after dinner. She got to meet Aunt Janet, Uncle Mike, Matthew, Annabelle (Tracy had to work), Brian, Uncle Tom, Aunt Mari, Jared, Danny, and Sarah. She was very intrigued by her cousins - especially the ones her size. It will be such fun for her to have cousins her own age to play with!


Sarah (11 mos) , Natalie (11 mos) , and Annabelle (8 mos)

Monday we took it easy. This was Natalie's first stroller ride. She was not impressed. Hopefully she'll get to like it. We have plans to jog while she happily sits there. We'll see...

Tuesday we went to visit her daycare. She will be going to Ocean House Day Care on Spurwink Ave in Cape Elizabeth. They have a great facility with fields in the back and separate playgrounds for the different age groups. Her main care giver will be Davorka. I'm not sure of the spelling but she is from Serbia and has a degree in early childhood development. Natalie went to her without any problem. We played outside for a bit, then went inside and witnessed their 'yoga time'. It was really cute to see 2 year olds doing yoga and liking it. We will continue to visit the day care once a week until I go back to work in May. Hopefully this will help her to be comfortable in (once again) different surroundings, and with different care givers.

Wednesday, Luke decided to give Natalie a second chance. Jen, Elizabeth, and Luke came for a morning visit. It was sweet to see them interact - not yet one and they were having trouble sharing the precious stacking cups! I'm hopeful Natalie will learn a lot from Luke since they are the same age. Luke is walking and starting some words. He's able to feed himself - he actually helped himself to a slab of banana bread when our heads were (briefly) turned. Too funny!


Elizabeth (4), Luke (1 yr), and Natalie - is it me or does Natalie seem to be planning her next move?

Today Jane and Nikki Laplante came for lunch and a visit. While holding Natalie on her lap Jane said 'I will name you squishy and you shall be my squishy' like in the movie Finding Nemo - maybe you needed to be there, but it was very funny. Nikki was a good playmate as she quickly retrieved all toys Natalie dropped on the floor. This made Natalie very happy.

Tomorrow we have plans to stop by Gilchrist Scott, my employer, to introduce her to the staff there. They've all been so wonderful during the wait, and during our time in China with comments, emails, phone calls. It will be fun to have them finally meet Natalie. I've been there for almost 10 years and they are very supportive. Again, another 'family' in my life. Alicia