Busy, Busy

We have done several fun things in the past few days. Saturday Karla's cousins, aunt, and uncle came over and brought birthday cake and presents. Grandma and Grandpa came over too. It was exciting to finally have Karla meet these special family members. Her cousins (ages 9, 6, 2) were happy to see her and we were all sitting around staring at her. I think everyone wanted to get their hands on her but knew they had to wait until she warmed up. She was very shy at first but by the time they left she was running around the house and screaming happily with the rest of them! It was so fun to see! I'll have to talk about the cake in another post...gotta get Karla to bed soon.

Sunday we went to church together as a family for the first time! We weren't sure if it was the best idea since it was cold out but Mommy and Daddy were so excited for her to meet her church family. She did really well there too. She was quiet and clung to me and first. She sat through the songs at the beginning of the service (well, stood with me) and then I went with her to the 2-3 year old Sunday School Class. She sat and listened and attempted some singing. By the end of sunday school she was playing without being in my lap and was starting to interact with some other kids.

Today we went to Pap-Pap's school over his lunch time. He is a teacher and he has told his coworkers about Karla and shown them pictures for the past 2 years. So, before Jason goes back to work we wanted to go to the school to introduce Karla in person. She went into the teacher's lounge and wanted to sit in one of the teacher chairs. So I put her in one and then two of the teachers shared their lunch with her. (I did feed her before we left) It was pretty funny and cute. She is saying Pap-Pap and likes when he gives her attention!!

Tomorrow we are going to Jason's office to see his coworkers. Then we have Karla's doctor's appointment. It will be a busy morning!

We've had lots of fun but there are certainly some difficult things too. Overall I think Karla is transitioning VERY well. However, she only wants me to do the caregiving and comforting. She is getting better about this but it is not as fast as we would like. Jason was hoping she'd be more "attached" to him before he had to go back to work - Wednesday. It is hard for me because I get so tired - especially my arms. My one shoulder is really hurting and I am hoping I can go to the chiropractor tomorrow afternoon. They've helped me with my shoulder before. It is hard for Jason because he wants to help me but she gets upset when he does something that I usually do. We are going to talk with the doctor about this tomorrow (she specializes in adopted children) and see what she says. It is so hard to tell what is "transitioning" and what is just being a 2-year old.

We had a scare today at our house. This morning our house smelled like gas. Long story short, Jason sent Karla and I to Grammy and Pap-Pap's house while he stayed home to figure out what was going on. It was something with our furnace and it is now fixed - and it wasn't a big, expensive problem. Whew. I was worried we wouldn't be able to sleep at home tonight. We've had enough "new" beds.

I will post more pictures in the next day or so. We've taken tons! :)

Here is a picture to hold you over. It is Karla with my brother. It made me so happy to see them together..hope he doesn't mind I post the picture. Love you Eric!