I got back a week ago from Northern California where I was babysitting my brother's kids while he and Jaime were in Congo adopting a little boy. Matteus is officially adopted (yay!) and Phil stayed in the country to finalize all his paperwork so that Matteus can come home to his new family. I can't wait to meet him.
I will post a picture of him soon along with my other nephew who should be born any day now (to my other brother and his wife, Jen). Wow, I get two new nephews in about a week's time! Pretty exciting. Can't wait to meet both of them.
It was quite an experience for me to be in charge of 5 kids. It gave me a deep appreciation for mothers out there with more than one child. With one child, it can be hard to get things done around the house, but it is still possible, especially when she's napping or playing happily by herself. With more kids, there is constant activity and many times where I need to step in to help solve problems... It was hard to get anything done and the house was constantly getting messy... I really cherished the evenings when all the kids were down for the night. I found myself staying up really late, just to have time alone, even though I knew I would regret it the next day when I had to be up early for the kids... :) I bet that sounds familiar to many of you moms out there. Anyway, I'm so glad I could be there for my brother and sister-in-law while they were gone. It was fun to get to know my nieces and nephews better and it was really good for Julia to be around other kids. She really enjoyed it.
The 5 kids I was in charge of for about a week... Adam, Annalee, Georgia, Ella, and my Julia
Annalee and Julia
Julia loved playing with their toys. However, it was not always appreciated by Adam when Julia would take apart his "train" or whatever he was making with the big Legos.
Georgia and Adam making a giant tower with Legos. I remember building towers with my brother Mike when I was a kid! So fun.
Julia likes being home with her daddy. By the way, notice how in this picture Julia is pointing? Julia loves pointing at things and saying, "duh!"
Julia has 3 teeth. If you look closely at this picture, you can see them. All 3 came in in about 2 weeks. There are two on the bottom and one on top.
She is officially "crusing" now. She's getting pretty sturdy on her feet and loves to pull herself up on anything she can.
Say what?
Ok, maybe it was because I was a teacher, but it still melts my heart everytime Julia opens up books as if she is reading them or looking at the pictures. I hope she will love books!
My sweet girl, making a mess wherever she goes.
Doesn't she look a little chunky here? She still has a little frame, but her belly is getting quite large. She has a good appetite for such a little thing.
Julia said her first word today - "All done!" She repeated it after me several times and did the sign with it. The first time she said it, she said it so clearly that I was kind of shocked and wasn't sure if she had really said the word. So I got my camera out to see if she would say it again and this is what I got. You'll hear her say it 3 times, the second time being the clearest (too bad I was saying something at that moment so it is hard to hear).
I love hearing her laugh... Excuse her runny nose in the video; she is recovering from a yucky cold (her first cold, amazingly!)
