First off, 09/02/08 aka The Trip That Would Not End didn’t happen.  We will never speak of that day again.  Second, if you have a 5 week old constantly nursing baby and an active 2 year old and you are considering a car trip that would normally be 8 1/2 or 9 hours – don’t.  ‘Nuff said.

Moving on.

Being home (notice I didn’t say getting home) was fabulous.  Even with the loss of routine, a bazillion new faces, copious amounts of sugar (thanks Uncle Mike), sleep disruptions, and constant overstimulation, the girls were amazing.  We made it to Ohio around 7pm on Friday evening and stayed until Saturday evening.  I didn’t hook up with any of the friends I would have liked to have seen but it was quite nice having some quiet time with my family.

Aunt Rusty could hardly wait to get her hands on Tessa and see Sabrina.

We call Uncle Mike the baby whisperer…and he charms the slightly older crowd with unmonitored amounts of sugar.

Grandma Frieda with Tessa, me, Aunt Rusty with Sabrina, Uncle Mike (my  nephew Ricky must have already left):

They built a water park in the town my step mom lives in so we walked down to take a look.  Sabrina wasn’t impressed.

In PA, we visited with friends (and I took no photos) and family.  Again, it was a really nice visit.  Our niece and nephew were also in town for a visit with Grandma and Pap pap.

Sabrina and Tessa loved hanging out on the king sized bed in the hotel.

I don’t have permission to post a photo of my niece (I obviously don’t care if adults want to be posted) but here she is admiring her new little cousin.

The weather was simply gorgeous all weekend.  We spent out time in PA on the screened in porch.

Men and babies seem to be able to sleep anywhere.

Aunt Lulu and Tessa (Aunt Lulu send us a link to the photos you took this weekend)

Sabrina was obsessed with this little car (she is actually a little obsessed with cars in general).  Steve has declared she must have one.

Enough for today.  Tessa has decided that food must be obtained every 2 hours at the bare minimum and we are apparently pushing that deadline right now.  And Sabrina seems to be on strike from eating anything that isn’t crap so I need to go encourage some eggs into her.  Mommy needs a coffee IV this morning but there is only enough milk in the house for Sabrina’s breakfast.  It feels like Monday.

I was so bummed out yesterday – no one in blog world seemed to be writing. My bloglines stayed stubbornly empty most of the day. This morning I had a plethora of reading – most of it from yesterday. Stupid bloglines.

This evening we leave to go home for the holidays. I’m quite excited for 3 reasons. First, it seems like forever since we’ve been home (only 3 1/2 months in reality). I miss the area and I miss our friends and family. Second, this bed resting lady is ready for a change of scenery – even if it is just a new couch from which to view it. I am tired of staring at my 4 walls and look forward to staring at some new walls. Third, I can’t wait for everyone to get the chance to enjoy Sabrina. She is such a joy and I feel a little selfish that we keep her all to ourselves since we live so far from home now.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to check in or not. My in-laws are the last hold outs – no internet at their house. I hope each of you has a fabulous Christmas (and those who celebrate Hanuka – a belated Happy Hanuka to you). Enjoy your beautiful kiddos if they are home and keep those who aren’t home yet in your hearts. Count your blessings and spread some joy!

I want to share my favorite photo first – out of chronological order but it is my blog so I can do what I want.  I mentioned that Emma was a fan of Sabrina – but Emma moves fast so documenting it wasn’t easy.  But I finally got her in action – this photo is the best of the whole trip:

It is hard to believe one photo can contain so much cute!  Okay, back to a more orderly picture show.

Sabrina enjoyed the wide open floor space in Abuela’s family room.

But also appreciated the table to hang on to:

She thought the booster seat was a pretty cool alternative to the high chair:

I’ve seen this darling 1st birthday party hat around blog world.  We came upon it in a party store and I thought better late than never so we snapped a photo:

Then I was tempted by this Thankgiving head band but she wouldn’t keep it on longer than 15 seconds and I couldn’t stop laughing so probably a silly purchase:

The Houston Aquarium was pretty lame I must say.  But the Emma/Sabrina lovefest was worth the price of admission (that and getting to meet E’s very cool parents):

The touch a stingray experience had a little tunnel you could crawl into and watch from under the water:

I’m noticing in every photo of myself these days, I always have spots on my clothes.  Maybe when she gets into high school I can be spot free again.

The aforementioned way cool parents of Emma.  Is it wrong that the aquarium has a seafood restaurant?

Our attempt at a little group photo:

Miss Sabrina enjoying a park across from the aquarium while we waited for our ride:

And finally a couple with Abuela and Sabrina:

The flight home today was LONG.  Sabrina wasn’t being her usually easy going self at all but her “bad” is probably most kids normal so I won’t really complain.

We miss you Abuela!

Sabrina and I had the great honor of meeting Carla, Chris and Emma today!  (Carla, you may recall, was the originator of using chickenbus as a substitute for other non-child friendly words after a chickenbus clipped Emma’s head in the ‘Mala.)  Yes, Carla is every bit as cool in person as in blog world.  And Emma?  The cutest and sweetest whirling dervish I’ve ever met.  I was exhausted just watching her run around while my kid kicked back in the stroller and calmly observed.  Emma was quite taken with Sabrina.  It was so cute watching her hug and kiss Sabrina.  Sabrina wasn’t sure what to think but took it in stride until Emma mistook hug for enthusiastic headlock when we were watching the tigers.  Speaking of tigers – what are tigers doing at the aquarium?

We have been so lucky in meeting stranger friends – not only in number but in that they have all been such great ladies!  Carla – if we lived closer, I would love to hang out regularly.

More on our Houston adventures, with photos, when we arrive home tomorrow evening.  Looking forward to checking out the patting down technique at the Houston airport once they see my expired drivers license!

We are in TX visiting Abuela. No photos until I get home – didn’t bring the cable for the camera. Looks like things are going well with Sig’s raffle – thanks to all participating (see post below if you don’t know of what I speak).

I learned a valuable lesson at the Nashville airport yesterday and I’m all about sharing my knowledge with my friends in blog world. Having an expired drivers license = immediate flag as terrorist by security. I didn’t know it was expired until the afternoon before we left so I wasn’t able to do anything about it and it honestly slipped my mind. First, Sabrina and I were sent to a little roped off area to wait. Then we had to stand in a little plexiglass box. Finally, we were escorted to the area where they pat down the trfuly suspicious.  Both Sabrina and I had to remove our shoes which totally cracked me up.  I never thought about having to take her shoes off for security.  Then they brought a female agent over who patted us both down.  An agent went through my purse and diaper bag very thoroughly.  Another man got out this high tech sniffer and ran it all along the crevices of Sabrina’s stroller.  When he finished, he looked at me in bewilderment and asked how to unfold it.  When I did it with one hand while holding Sabrina in the other he looked amazed.  Yep, undergrad and grad school and you too can master the fine art of multi-tasking like a mom.

Moral of the day kiddies:  Check your drivers license before heading to the airport.

Otherwise, we are enjoying ourselves in TX.

Lots of photos to follow so get your coffee and have a seat. First I should say that we arrived a day later than everyone else and left a day earlier – we were only there for just over 24 hours. Because of this, I didn’t get a meet a good number of families. I did get to meet Kelly and Alleen – the 2 I most looked forward to finally meeting in person. (Hey P – where were you girl? I’ve met you but haven’t had the pleasure of meeting M and missed you guys!) We even had a couple of lovely non-Guat adoptive families (hi Muriel! hi Dorie!).  But Atlanta seemed like a lovely city with a lively downtown area. Our hotel was next to the aquarium and across the street from the Bicentennial Olympic Park.

Self Portrait:

At one point we took over a very large portion of the park with strollers and beautiful Guatemalan babies. This was the last wave of strollers arriving:

Kelly and Kathlyn:

Alleen chasing after Gabriella:

Sabrina thought it was all kind of cool for a while but then started to get a little tired and overwhelmed:

So we grabbed some dinner and went back to the hotel. The beds sucked so no one slept well except Miss Sabrina (and that is what counts, right?). The next morning we wandered down to breakfast and it felt like very familiar – it was like going down to breakfast at the Westin and looking around for other families, asking how the night went, etc.

Sabrina and Gabriella made friends during breakfast – Gabriella even let mommy sit down for a little while and chat!

After breakfast, we returned to the room so Sabrina could nap before the aquarium. Unfortunately, she fought the nap so we had to wake her early to check out. For those who think my child smiles all of the time – I give you the result of waking her early from her nap:

On to the aquarium – which was very cool but very crowded.

I loved the beluga whales

Sea lions swimming by:

We left after the aquarium. Thanks to Julia and Kerry for organizing this (and anyone else who was involved)!

After our 4 hour ride home, Sabrina, who had spent 90% of her day in the stroller or the car seat, proceeded to go insane. She crawled all over the apartment like a mad woman and played with every single toy that she could get her hands on until we put her to bed and she passed out.

I’ve been quiet because our borrowed internet connection has been sketchy.  Today was sadly the last day of our beach vacation.

Sabrina chilling at the beach:

Sunset tonight:

Saturday and likely Sunday will be travel days.  See you all on Monday!

The accused:

The crime:  That wasn’t a Baby Ruth floating in the kiddie pool.

You couldn’t possibly think it was me?

Look how cute I am…would I do something like that?

How embarrassing to be accused of such a thing.

Okay, you wore me down coppers.  I admit it – it was me.

And I would do it again if I had to.  What are you going to do about it?

Sabrina is breaking my heart this week…she is growing up so fast! My baby has only been with me for 3 months and I want to freeze her at this age.  She is doing all sorts of new things this week.  She has started eating table food.  She has started pulling up to stand.  She is bonding more to Daddy, which is a good thing.  She is so busy now playing that she at times doesn’t want to stop and cuddle with Mommy – normally she was perfectly happy to stop any activity if it meant that she would be held by mommy.  I just feel like in a blink of an eye she won’t be my baby anymore.

Daddy’s attempt to get her to stop watching the fish behind them and look at the camera.

Pulling up on Mommy:

Cooking for a group of 20 is a challenge!

Even the little ones are charmed by Sabrina

Sabrina was mesmerized by the ocean today. She just quietly stared at the water while I held her for an hour.

Most of our crew at the beach: