Gotcha Day celebration...

Inspiration for the cake

The cake

Uncle Al


cake at the house

The 2 Grndma's

at dinner

Rachel's godmother Donna

mama & dada

My parents

my brother John & sister in law Michelle

Grandma Rose

The Infante Family

Me & Rach

It's hard to believe that one year ago today Rachel became a U.S. citizen when we landed in Houston. We traveled all day & she was a great traveler.. When we got to the luggage area to meet my mom, aunt & uncle Rachel began to cry uncontrollably & this lasted for about 4 hours. I remember it like it was yesterday... today we calebrated gotcha/homecoming day with dinner & cake at the house. I wanted to keep with the Guatemala theme cake, it isnt what i wanted but it looked good anyway. Dinnner was with Rachel's grandparents & godparents..& them we had cake at the house.. I also had a food basket& dinner sent to Telma, Rach's foster mother on Tuesday, it was a year that she gave Rachel to us forever. Here are some pics.. i realize everything is backwards but oh well...

Happy First Gotcha Day!!!!

Today is Rachel’s 1st Gotcha day.. what else could I say but OMG!!!! Where has the time gone.. I remember so well getting to the Westin to get ready for her arrival… We got into the room & about 30 minutes later we got the call that my baby girl was downstairs.. I just couldn’t believe that this time she was coming home with us FOREVER!!!! Telma (Rachel’s foster mother) looked so sad , I really felt for her, the baby she’d been caring for for all of these months was now leaving her. When we were in the elevator going back to the room, I just kept thinking WOW.. this is really happening…

To start of Rachel’s celebration, I used a service in Guatemala, not forgot in Guat & am having dinner sent to the foster family. They were a big part of Rachel’s life & I just wanted to show my appreciation.
Our celebration will happen this Saturday, the day we all came home..I am taking Rachel’s grandparents & Godparents to dinner & then having cake at my house afterward. I am really excited about her cake, it has a Guatemala theme… pictures this weekend..


Then



Now

happy first gotcha day Marla

Yesterday March 17th was Marla's(aka Lallie) first Gotcha Day. This is the day that Marla was given to the Maron family forever... Being that Annette doesnt blog anymore(hint hint) I told her that I had to post these pics.. I cant believe its been a year already that we were in Guatemala together... they are all so cute I cant decide which is my favorite.

HAPPY 1st GOTACH DAY SWEET LALLIE... we miss you !!!!!

Its Official...............

Chunk is now legally Rachel Carlisa. We had our court date for her legal name change yesterday. Rachel didnt even have to be there & it took all of 10 minutes. now we have to wait for the final judgement & then I can get moving with changing all of her paperwork to say Rachel.. I am ALMOST done with adoption paperwork..

Rachel's first Easter was good, nice & quiet. her basket consisted of books & puzzles, so if you ask her what the Easter bunny brought her, she says boops (aka books). The night before Easter, I told her that we had to leave carrots out for the Easter bunny, so I gave her the carrot to put on the dish, & in true Rachel fashion.. she popped the carrot in her mouth.. she figured, hey its food, so its for me. I didnt want her to have raw carrots so I had to pry it out of her mouth.

In other news, Rachel has the snotty nose this week, its the first time shes showed any kind of being sick since her birthday, shes not cranky at all but HATES to have her nose wiped. Last week we had an "incident" rach dislocated her elbow.. I was swinging her & then she threw herself back so I grabbed her & so it goes..
I felt so bad for her, she was just laying on my going ooooooouuuuuuuch!!!
the next day we took her to the doctor & she was fine.. poor baby.

I had her evaluated by Early Intervention for speech therapy & they willl be starting in a few weeks, she says a few words & does lots of her animal sounds but shes not talking real well., but her new favorite word is STOP!!!!, especially when shes having her diaper changed.
pics soon

One Year Ago Today......

I got the call that we were OUT of PGN... here is my post from last year...

Well heres how the story goes.... major meltdown yesterday.. (annette can attest to that one) today I called PGN like 100 times (so cant wait for the phone bill) & I finally got through to Laura who told me that my file was ready to be picked up, but she couldnt tell me if I was approved or kicked out... so I called carol & left her a message.. I waited & waited what seemed like forever & she told me the GREAT NEWS!!!!! our file was approved by PGN....

1 Year later.... I remember that day like it was yesterday, I was really in a bad place the weeks before we got the wonderful news, there was doom & gloom news coming out of Guatemala regarding adoptions & I couldnt wait to get my baby home. I told Sam that if we were out by the following week, I was going back to visit.. People have asked me what was the best most exciting part of the adoption process, (of course bringing Rachel home) but the process itself.. for me it was the OUT call.I was at work when carol called me back & I remember my heart pounding out of my chest when I answered.. her voice sounded off so right away I just assumed that we were kicked out & not OUT OUT.. I couldnt have been more wrong.. I just remember crying & crying & crying... I hung up with Carol & starting making my calls.. its was the BEST feeling.. & here were are 1 year later, WOW, where has the time gone??

.Here are a few of Rachel's Easter pictures, she cooperated to an extent, when she was DONE she was DONE, we did get a few good shots.. all the girls in the studio know how tempermental she cn be..

On a few side notes, I got a call from our lawyer today & our hearing for Rachel's legal name change is on April 11th... I cant wait to be done with all the paperwork.. now I have to get all her documents changed to her legal name..

Last weekend I decided to try out a mommy & me gymnastics class, lets just say that I am so glad I didnt have to pay for it. It was 45 minutes long & boy was it a LOOONG 45 minutes. Rachel is waaaaay to young, I'll try again whwn shes 2. I wish I had her on video, it was a sight boy... at her age following directons is not one of her strong suits.. I decided on music class, lets see how that goes.. stay tuned

Our day with the Maron Family

Yesterday we spent the day with the Maron's (Annette, Tim, Chloe & Lallie). We had such a great time. This time both the girls are walking. It was such gorgeous day outside so they played in the yard.. Chloe was a bit under the weather because her mean mommy(LOL) wont let her have a puppy... She did manage to perk up enough to play the piano for me, i feel so special, b/c Annette told me that she doesnt play for many people. I think we all need to pressure Annette into saying yes to the pup. It was such a relaxing day of lunch,& dessert of course.. & just playing with the girls. The men were watching sports & drinking beer of course.. Isnt it great to spend a fantastic day with friends? Thats exactly what we did. I am so glad that we live close enough together that the girls can grow up as friends. Here are pics from the day, I realized when we left that there were no pics of Tim. Sorry Tim




My absolute favorite!!!


having a grand old time

the girls playing with shadow

cruisin the driveway

the sweet faced Lallie

Rachel rooting around the yard

Sam with the swwet Lallie

the 4 of us having a Great time together

Sam & Chloe

Annette with Rachel

Me with the sweet Lallie

Rachel was passed out on the way home from all the fun she had