settling in at home!

time is flying. two months home already! elizabeth is 9 and a 1/2 months old. we are all settling in to being a family of 4. in fact, we love it! reese often counts the number of girls and boys in the room, and it is always 3 to 1; sorry mike. we love our little girls. they are doing great. they love each other SO much. we are so proud of the way that both of them are handling this new transition in life. i can hardly believe how well elizabeth has adjusted. she quickly recognized her new name (turns when called); she definitely knows who mommy and daddy and big sister are. she laughs hysterically when reese kisses her and smiles all day long at her daddy. it is safe to say that this little lady has also stolen our hearts.

family and friends have been super welcoming to elizabeth with a welcome baby party and many visits and gifts and meals, and lots and lots of love! we even got to attend a local ethiopian adoption potluck and show her off shortly after we returned. very fun. :)

great news-two couples that we know are now planning to also adopt from ethiopia: a couple whom we know through church and a couple who live nearby! yea! we are so excited about this because (1) since we wanted to take all of the little kids home with us from the orphanage, but obviously couldn't; at least we can see more of them find wonderful new homes, (2) we LOVE the idea of elizabeth having more friends who are also adopted from ethiopia---ESPECIALLY if they live in our neighborhood and (3) this has been such an amazing experience for us, that we can't help but hope that others will have the same great journey.

we got to meet the bottomly family in person and their CUTE CUTE CUTE little boy, silas, when they came through DC on the way back from ethiopia. they had a horrible experience traveling home, but we enjoyed meeting them if only for a moment and reuniting silas and elizabeth. their beds were right across from one another in the gladney home and i got to hold silas a bit back in march when we were there. they are a super sweet family and we are so grateful to have built a new friendship with people half way across the country through this common experience that we share! the internet is so great for adoptive families! :) i am also so impressed by amy's vulnerability and the way that she shares so much about her adoptive experience with the world. impressive and helpful to other families, like us!

in the past two months, we received elizabeth's green card in the mail (sweet...she can get a job now! just kidding, obviously). we will start the re-adoption process here soon. going to try to do it without a lawyer. we have taken her to the doctor several times, and had blood work re-run and submitted stool samples (YUCKO) and she appears to be healthy as a horse! it's a amazing, really: no parasites, blood work looks great...everything is great! we feel fortunate for sure. she is on a great sleeping schedule...we had to teach her to get through the nights, because we feel confident that in the gladney home all the babies woke each other up and since elizabeth isn't into pacifiers, she probably got a few extra (probably not needed) bottles. so, that habit has been officially broken now. she is sleeping 12 long hours at night and two 2 hour naps during the day. YES! we have also been to 2 doctors regarding her sorta flat head. poor thing. we aren't sure if we'll be doing one of those helmet/bands yet because she is just on the edge of the normal/abnormal range and of course, insurance is making this decision harder by refusing to pay anything. lovely. they apparently only cover medical conditions that we'll never have, b/c they tend to deny a lot! frustrating.

more updates later...