Baby L in the headphones she wore to the show I was in. She's so cute! I love how they smush her cheeks together! Ha!
Little A's school had the Cat in the Hat come one day. She was thrilled to have a "meowy" nose and whiskers just like on Halloween. She is still talking about how she is a "meowy". :)
They also had a BOGO book fair. I bought WAY too many books, but we've really enjoyed reading them. All the cute ladies passed Baby L around while I looked at books, ran out to the car for my check book, and back to the car to drop the books off. A really nice thing about small towns is that you know pretty much everyone, and there's always at least one person there that you know enough to leave your baby with if you need to. Although, when I came back in from dropping the books off I couldn't find Baby L. The teacher (who is the sweetest lady) had to gather her class, so L was in the hall with all the kids, who were fawning over her.
We also got a whole bunch of girl scout cookies. Yum! Little A was over the moon about them. She shared them with her friends when they came over to dance one morning, lol! They got caught in the kitchen snitching cookies!
We've really been enjoying the warmer weather. Baby L loves to swing just like Little A.
Baby L turned 9 months old! She is getting so big! She also started babbling! It is the cutest thing! Every now and then she'll mimic something we say. So far she's said "ready" and "oh, wow". Ha! She also says Mama and Dada. Mama is almost always if she's mad or in distress.
I cut my hair! It was a much needed change. I've been talking about it for the last 2 years to get Allan adjusted to the idea. Last time I chopped it he about had a heart attack. He actually really likes it this time. I thought Baby L and Little A might react badly to it, but when I came back the both laughed at me! They also laugh at Allan when he shaves his beard, lol!
Little A is still taking pictures. She took this one of the picture of Jesus in her room. She calls Him "My Jesus."
These two funny girls are buddies.
They adore each other. Baby L loves it when Little A will sit and play by her or with her.
A loves to give her soft kisses over, and over, and over, ha! Sometimes it drives L batty! Also, Little A picked out Baby L's outfit in this picture. I thought it was hilarious!
Both the girls just love it when Daddy with give them piggy back rides or toss them in the air. A calls them "neigh rides" and "high". Allan is such a good Daddy. He loves to play with them and is really good at playing with both of them together.
I let Little A pick out a treat for Family Home Evening. She picked some sugar cookies from the bakery at the grocery store. When she was done eating them she called herself the "cookie monster", ha! At school she is the "muffin monster". They make things at school sometimes (muffins, pancakes, etc.) for their snacks. Little A loves to eat anything she makes. One particular day they made chocolate chip muffins that I guess were quite large. She ate the whole thing (and I'm sure was a big mess after because she is still a very messy eater) which earned her the title muffin monster.
Baby L loves to play with things that she can wave around. She's a very expressive baby (except when the camera is out, then she refuses to look). When we give her something long that she can wave like a ribbon, stick, the toy pictured,
or this tube from our ball pump, she grins ear to ear and gets sooo excited waving her hands and bouncing up and down.
She also started giggling lately. She has had this really deep belly laugh for months, but now she giggles too. She actually likes to experiment with different giggles, it is soo funny!
Little A had a doctor appointment in a nearby city. While A and I were there Allan took Baby L to the store to stock up on some things. Afterward we went to a restaurant for lunch. Baby L was looking out the window. She suddenly squawked at Allan and then about 30 seconds later was sound asleep doubled over his arm.
When Little A comes home from school she is completely exhausted. She almost always asks to lay on the couch and look at stories and then quickly falls asleep. If she doesn't do this then she falls asleep at the table during dinner.
Allan was playing with Baby L one day and put her on top of his head. She immediately grabbed his hair and started gumming his head and growling/giggling!
I recently taught little A this fun game. She loves it! I'll get her up there, and we'll sing "She flies through the air with the greatest of ease, that daring young A on the flying trapeze." Then I'll cause some turbulence and set her down. She will do this over, and over, and over.
Baby L likes to get in on it too.
We got a late Christmas gift from Great Gram which was very thoughtful! In it were these darling hats!
Baby L has started to enjoy being read too. She's also learned how to turn the pages, although she doesn't always like to let go after she turns them.
Daddy was putting Little A down for a nap and they took this darling selfie.
Grandma and Grandpa gave little A a Cat in the Hat card game for her birthday. We love it and play it often. This time she drew the instructions to crawl to the bathroom and back with the fish on your head.
We had spring break and celebrated by having some fun play dates with friends we hadn't seen in a while. Little A was so happy to see her friends! We also celebrated World Down Syndrome Day. March 21st (for the 21st chromosome). We sure love our sweet girl!
We went to see the Lion King! We've been waiting for this for a year! We were very concerned about Little A getting overwhelmed and having to leave, but we thought we'd try. We talked about it a lot, about how there'd be clapping and cheering, lots of people, loud noises, scary parts, etc. We also watched the clips that they have online. I told her stories about "a little girl with brown hair, blue eyes, and the cutest dimples you ever did see" going to a show. We had a friend make her a head band to try to make her headphones more comfortable (which she ended up not needing) and bought her a treat to eat during the show, and made sure to sit as close to the aisle as we could. We were as prepared as we could possibly be.
She absolutely loved the show! The opening scene she was pointing at all the animals and was so excited. She got bored during the second act, but got right back into it whenever there was a song. We are so, SO proud of her!!! Allan and I also LOVED the show! The puppetry was amazing! All the performers were so good. We went with Nana and Pops and all the sisters and cousins. It was a really fun trip. (Also, a HUGE thank you to Grandma who watched Baby L for us so we could go!)
The biggest news for this month is that we got to finalize Baby L's adoption! We were so, SO excited! Some of our family were able to make it up to the hearing. Little A was so excited about our family coming she asked every day that week if they were going to be there that day. She was so thrilled when they finally came. She loved showing them the room we got set up for them.
The family got to sit in the jury seats which was fun for the kids. The judge is one of the leaders in our church congregation (the second councilor in the Bishopric of our ward). It was fun to have someone that we knew, it made it more like a special family gathering.
Our social worker said some very nice things in our home study. It made us feel really good! We've loved getting to know her and having her in our home. We're going to miss her visits. At the end the clerk ran out and came back with a bear for all of the kids and two special bears for A and L that the Judge picked out for them. It was the cutest, sweetest thing! The kids played with their bears all weekend! Little A has made sure that she doesn't go to sleep with out "my bear!" by her side.
We are so grateful for Baby L's birth family. We're so grateful for the sacrifice they made for her, for the kind and loving people they are, and we hope that we can do their sacrifice justice by giving her the full and happy life they hoped she would have.
