*met her Mommy's good friend Rachel and her son Aidan. She also met Aidan's (real) rabbit. She was excited to see it but afraid to get too close.
*saw her friend Austin and Lola again
*had a family and a friend from church come over to spend a little time with her (and give her gifts - she got a beautiful handmade stocking, pajamas (one pair came with a tutu - you know there will be pictures of this in the future), 2 pairs of shoes (a big hit!) and some books)
*spent some time with "Nana Shirley". Wednesday afternoon Karla and I went to my special friend, Shirley's house. I have spent a lot of time at Shirley's over the past 3 years - crying, praying, talking, having tea and being fed brownies (my favorite). It was a special day for me to be able to take Karla to Shirley's house. When I got there Shirley asked me if I had brought any toys. Oops. I told her I didn't even think about it. Shirley doesn't have any toys but has lots of pretty and breakable things. I was so excited to go to her house I didn't think about taking toys. Turned out Karla was ready for a tea party and didn't need any toys! It was so neat because as soon as we got to Shirley's house Karla walked right into the kitchen and hung out with Shirley while she was making tea (Karla had only seen Shirley twice at church). It was like she'd been there a hundred times. I wanted to cry but I didn't. :) Karla was fine without toys, drank her OJ while we had tea, ate cookies, and we made several trips to "Nana Shirley's" bedroom to see her cat, Sugar. Karla would talk to Sugar but was afraid to get too close to her.
Difficult things this week:
NO, I DIDN'T JUST PUT MARKERS ON MY FACE AFTER I WAS TOLD NOT TO. MOMMY ONLY LEFT THE ROOM FOR ABOUT 5 SECONDS!
*I guess maybe I took Karla too many new places. So far we've been having people come to our house. This week we went to other people's houses. Wednesday evening and all day Thursday were NOT good times. I am guessing it is because Karla fell asleep in the car on our way home from morning "visits" and then didn't want to sleep when we got home. It totally threw off her sleeping schedule which made her extremely cranky and me exhausted - and that is NOT a good combination. I don't know if that is what was going on or not. It's my guess...so of course I'm feeling a little bad about it. Right now Jason (and Grammy and Pap-Pap) are entertaining Karla while I "hide" upstairs. I needed some time to relax (and blog). :) All three of them are singing "Rock-a-bye Baby" to Oso...while Karla listens. It is funny.
*I was also feeling stressed about Christmas. I finally got the cards in the mail today and I'm still not done shopping. I was going to take Karla with me today to finish up but after how yesterday went - we stayed home all day. I'll have to go out this weekend... :( I decided this morning that is what I will do and just go tomorrow knowing it will be busy. So I'm trying not to stress too much.
*During nap time today I was reading on my favorite adoption forum (Guatadopt) and it sounds like many families are having similar transition issues. The kids are older coming home now so there are more "threads" on the topic. I was SOOO relieved when I read some other people's thoughts and struggles - because some are exactly like mine! I'm including some examples below in case any potential or fellow adopters are reading this. :)
*child always wanting physical closeness (I want this too but sometimes my back or arms just hurt too much! I never would have believed I would want or have to put my baby girl down because I was in pain)
*predictable routine that you use every day - to help child feel safe (hard during this time of year and when I am really wanting to see people or go places - since I was in Guat for a while and then mostly at home for a while)
*your child is testing you - they are trying to determine if they can trust & depend on you (I think this would happen even if a child wasn't adopted -but boy were those first 2 weeks in Guatemala rough- lots of testing!!) I don't know if this is true or not but I think she knows when I am tired - and does extra testing! Is she really that smart? :)
*feeling guilty for taking a break (like I am doing right now-but at the moment I am not feeling guilty-I can hear Karla having fun downstairs)
We had fun at home today. I uploaded some pictures to flickr this evening so you'll have to check out what all we got into! Here is a picture of Karla in a pair of high heel shoes she found somewhere in my closet - she barely took them off all day. I wonder if her back is hurting. :) Check out her first pedicure - given by her Mommy.
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