Sorry it has been so long. I just checked, and my last post was December 19th!!!! WOW! Forever ago. Obviously, we have been through a lot these past few months, and I just couldn't seem to either find the time, or bring myself to get back onto the blog.
Obviously I won't go into detail about everything that has happened in the last few months...I'll just give a short re-cap and let you all know where we're at today, and of course how my chunky princess is doing! :)
The holidays seem like a blur now. Christmas ended up being a wonderful time. We went up to Jersey with our friends, Pete and Jess to spend Christmas with Jess' family. They are all so wonderful, and made us feel right at home. Love them all, and am so appreciative to them for taking us in! :)
Christmas and New Years came and went in a flash! December 31st we had to be out of our place in Germantown, so we had everything all packed up, and moved over to Anthony and Camille's. We were with them for about two weeks, before we took off. Again, so grateful to them for taking us in as well!!! Such great friends we have. It was such a joy to be there in their home for those last two weeks, especially to see Sofi everyday and to love on her!!! I LOVED IT! :)
Aliyah and I flew out January 12th... The goodbyes were especially hard. Not only did we leave "home," and all our dear friends, and the life we new....but we also left Beto, not even knowing when exactly we'd be seeing each other again. Agh, a very emotional time it was for me.
We arrived to Canada...and all had gone well. Aliyah did awesome on the plane (for which I was eternally grateful to the Lord for!!! ha!!). It was such a happy reunion to be with family, and for Graham and Susy to meet Aliyah for the first time. It was also wonderful to see my parents reunited with her, after having missed her so much!
The day we landed though, is the day that everything turned upside down and inside out. Suddenly, I had completely taken her out of her environment, and away from any and everything that was familiar to her. Poor baby. She started waking up multiple times in the night...She would almost refuse to sleep during the day. She was wired 24/7, tired all the time, became VERY difficult to feed...was fussy at times, but for the most part, remained a very happy baby, despite it all.
We ended up being up at my parent's house for exactly a month. Much longer than I had anticipated. It was all due to hold ups that Beto kept having. The more he got held up, the longer our wait became...and that's just how it went. We can plan all we want, but things don't always seem to go the way we'd like.
We had a wonderful time at my parent's. Aliyah eventually got adjusted...and loved being with Grandma and Grandpa. She got spoiled rotten in their arms...Ha!! Which, of course, is totally allowed, because they're Grandma and Grandpa! ;)
Throughout all the joy though, my heart still ached. It was one of the most difficult times I had ever been through. I had just gotten rid of everything we owned, cherished and loved...it had been weeks since I had had my own home, kitchen, bedroom and any kind of order in my life. I had just said goodbye to all my friends, knowing that no time soon would those aches and pains in my heart be healed and mended. I longed to be with Beto...especially on the days that Aliyah really struggled. She missed her Daddy and I missed my husband. The wait became, what seemed to be eternal. Every day was a waiting game. Woke up everyday just wondering, hoping, and waiting for us to be a family again. I had no idea when we would have our own home again....when my baby girl could sleep in her own crib again. Everything was up in the air. I could do nothing, plan nothing....just hope, pray, and wait on the Lord for His perfect will to be done, throughout it all.
All that came to an end eventually. Aliyah and I booked our tickets for February 9th. The wait was finally over! I won't even go into detail about Beto's trip down from Texas. He drove down with his cousin and one other guy from Guate, and they had quite the adventure. He would probably call it more of a nightmare, not adventure! :) Anyway, they made it, that's what is most important.
My Dad, being the gem that he is, booked his ticket to come down the same day as Aliyah and me. He and I both knew that there's no way I could've done it alone this time around. You have to understand...when I say that her whole life and way of being had completely turned upside down and inside out....I really, truly mean it! She was NOT the baby that I had flown up with by myself just four short weeks before.
So Dad flew with me to Mexico City (where my connection was). He had to actually fly on to Guadalajara for some meetings, so we parted ways in the Mexico City airport. But boy, am I EVER glad that he was with me on that five hour flight from Calgary to Mexico. You can't even begin to imagine how restless Aliyah was. Ha, I took some video, maybe eventually I will get around to posting it. Anyway, we took turns holding her, standing up with her, letting her talk to the whole plane. I have never, to this day, seen her on quite the high, like she was that day. I wish I was a good enough writer to let you all capture exactly what it is I am talking about...but I'm not quite that good. Trust me, it's hard to imagine....it was a lot of work, let's just say that! :)
We arrived to Guatemala City late that evening. Beto's whole family was so anxious to see Aliyah. It was again, a very happy reunion, and it was so awesome to get to see them all meet Aliyah for the first time. It was great to see Beto again, although our "reunion" couldn't quite be all that we would've wanted.... We didn't really get to get caught up all that much, in spite of all the excitement of finally being here, seeing all the family, and just being thrown right into the day-to-day hustle and bustle of normal life in Guate! :) The lack of re-connection made things difficult at first. Everything was all very overwhelming. Aliyah had once again been pulled from anything normal, and thrown into a whole new environment, YET AGAIN. Although we were finally together again, we didn't know when we'd have a place of our own. We were going on 7 weeks living out of suitcases...7 weeks that I hadn't cooked in my own kitchen, 7 weeks that Aliyah had been out of her crib and away from her things, 7 weeks, 7 weeks, 7 weeks!!!!! AH! I was on the verge of desperation. Inches away from going completely crazy!!!! Ha!!! I laugh now, but I wasn't laughing then. Beto's family was wonderful, they were all so helpful and kind and so willing to do anything to make things easier for us. We stayed with his brother, Estuardo, and his wife, Paula, for the first two weeks, and they were so so wonderful to us! But it was just TIME. If there was any chance at all of me being able to put my head on straight, get over the emotions of starting a new life, I needed to GET ON WITH IT! I needed my own space, my own place, that I would eventually be able to call "home."
The Lord knew my heart. He knew what I needed. And He made things happen, right away! The day after we got here, we went to look at an apartment, and two weeks later, we moved in. It is the perfect place for us. Perfect location, perfect size, perfect everything! Praise God!!! He had it hand picked for us, since before we arrived. He is so good.
So FINALLY, after 8 weeks of not having a home of our own, we moved into this wonderful place on Saturday. It is completely and totally empty, but it is ours to live in. Yay!!!! We did bring Aliyah's things, so her room is beautiful and set up, just like it was back home. We also brought our bed, so at least we have a place to rest our head at nights. And I brought all of my kitchen things...so I can be back in my OWN KITCHEN!!! YAY YAY YAY! All of these small things bring such happiness to my heart. It makes starting over, just a tad bit easier....and at this point, I will take any "tad-bit" that comes my way! :)
Aliyah has adjusted wonderfully. She has relaxed and settled down SO much... She is still her happy, smiley, and laughy self! :) Everywhere we go, people comment on how 1) chunky she is, 2) white she is, and 3) most wonderfully - how SMILEY and happy she is!
What a testimony of how great God is. He sent us Aliyah, to be a constant joy in our lives. He knew that we would need her and her happiness. He knew I would need her. She is a constant reminder to me of God's faithfulness, love, and joy. Although there are times throughout my day that I wish I had all of our things from back home. I wish I had our couch, our table, a wash machine, a dryer, a fridge.........I just have to step back and look at what I do have. I have my husband, and I have our precious baby girl. Truly, I am content with what I have. For I know, that never will God leave us, nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5 -Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.")We've been in our new place for almost a week now, and I am feeling somewhat settled. We're hoping to be able to get a washer and dryer this weekend. That will make life easier, especially with an infant. I'm almost out of clean bibs, and on her second set of sheets (she pee'd through two nights ago, haha).
Aliyah is a wonderful baby. She is so very big. I took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday. She weighs a whopping 18 lbs 3 oz. She still prefers to stand, like always. Ever since she was about a month and half old and discovered her standing legs, that has been her constant and steady, preferred way of being! :) She's sleeping again during the day now. She usually takes a long nap in the mornings, and then one or two shorter naps in the afternoon. She is so enjoying the beautiful weather of Guate. No more jackets, hats, sweaters, and snowsuits!! She's all about dresses and short sleeves to show off those chunky legs, arms, elbows, and wrists! :) She has been eating solids now since we arrived to my parent's. She has cereal, and banana baby food. She loves them both....although, since I introduced bananas about a month ago, she's not been so fond of plain, old boring cereal. Ha!! So that's not good. She seems to have a sweet tooth already (of course that statement doesn't really make since in her case, since she has no teeth...but you all know what I mean!)
Everything goes into her mouth...everything. She's been in that stage for a while now. She drools like crazy. We go through bibs like nobody's business (thus the URGENT need for a washer and dryer!!) She laughs all the time.
It's been funny how things have worked out. Since things have been so crazy, and I haven't even had her baby book with me for the last few months to keep track of so many of her "firsts"... Ironically, a lot of her "firsts" have happened on holidays or special occasions....that way, it's been easy for me to remember and now I can record them all in her book! :)
Christmas Day was the first time she laughed out loud..like really big laughs!! (It was in a tickle session with Jess. I actually missed it! Ha! I was upstairs getting ready).
January 18th (my cousin's birthday) was the first time she ate cereal with a spoon.
Valentine's Day was the first time she rolled over. Now there's no stopping her, she rolls turns, pivots, scoots. She's all over the place.
Her hair has grown oodles since she was born. It is still very short compared to most little ones....but slowly but surely, it's coming in! :) It is very light brown, and looks like it'll be curly. With the little that she does have, she still has messy hair syndrome. Poor thing, she has no way of escaping that one. I am the queen of messy hair! :)
I'm trying to remember other things that I could share... I'm running out of steam though, ha! Hopefully I don't get so tired from writing this blog, that I take another 3 month break from blogging!! :) Nooo...don't worry! It won't happen! I have my home, my computer, and my camera all at hand. I'll be back on track in no time at all!
To save myself too much trouble though...I will save pictures for the next blog. I must go get something productive done now! A sleeping baby is like golden time, it can't be wasted!!! :) So I am off.... Off to do the dishes in MY kitchen! Yay! Ha... Never was cleaning my kicthen such a happy and wonderful thing.
Love you all....thanks for praying for me and my family during these difficult months... You are all so very special to me.
