Opening Presents / Abriendo Regalos

It's been already a week since we arrived from Guatemala!!! It's been great despite not feeling well yet and despite all the adjustments we are going through. Elizabeth is doing fine. Today she had her doctor's appointment and they are doing all sort of tests on her. Tomorrow we have to go back to the lab for more blood work. All these tests are expected to be done once an adopted child arrives in The States so we are making sure that Elizabeth is okay and that if anything is not okay, we can take care of it as soon as possible.

I haven't had a chance to really blog and post all my thoughts and feelings about our baby being home with us but I've been so busy with her and also I'm still coughing and sneezing and my energy is way down that I cannot spend long time on the computer. But once I feel better, I'll write more.

These pics are of Eli opening beautiful presents from friends and family. Greg and I have enjoyed so much seeing her all excited and happy with her packages. She really is a happy baby and we love that.

This week cousin Rachel and soon to be "Godmother" is with us. She is on a break from College and decided to come and visit the new member of the family. We've had so much fun together. My camera did not work for two days and I really missed very nice pics of Rachel and Eli together but I'll try to catch up tomorrow.

This coming weekend is going to be pretty exciting for baby Elizabeth. We are going upstate NY and she will be meeting more family members including gramma Joyce, aunts Kathy and Beth, uncles Tim and Barry, cousins Jake, Hannah, Kaleigh and last but no least Brett. We are all very excited about it and hopefully I'll get nice photos to post later on.

Elizabeth is eating and sleeping pretty well. She is getting into a routine and we all like this. She usually goes to bed at 9pm and wakes up at around 4 or 5am to ask for a bottle and then she stays in bed and keeps sleeping until around 8 or 9am.

That's right, the stroller is for the doll "Chloe"...
But wait, something happened herre and baby Elizabeth is on the stroller instead...
Okay, at least she is carrying the doll with her...

Arriving home / Llegando a Casa

Eli did great on the flight Guatemala City to Atlanta. She slept for about two hours and woke up right after we had landed. She even did great at the airport waiting for immigration to process her docs. And three hours later, still at the Atlanta airport she did fine too. She observed everything. There was no detail she missed and her cooperation given the circumstances was great. We on the other hand, were tired and frustrated but Elizabeth's positive, happy attitude made us calm down and enjoy the moment. We missed the connecying flight and had to stay overnite in Atlanta.


This is her last look at her land who knows for how long. We would love to go back soon but it won't happen that quickly though.
This is Guatemala City from the air.
Baggage claim area at the Atlanta airport.
Manchester airport on March the 19th. Elizabeth was already coughing and sneezing plus she was coming from a city with an average temperature of 75 degrees so we didn't want to take a risk and we dressed her very warm before leaving the airport. She didn't like any of this big and heavy stuff but what she hated the most was the pair of mittens.
In the car on the way home...
Who knows what she is thinking or if she is thinking at all. She changed cities and places so often for the past week that she must have been pretty confused at this point.

Arrival and Departure / Llegada y Regreso

Here we are when we arrived at the airport in Guatemala on the 11th of March, and then on the 18th, our non-stop walking baby is with us waiting outside the lobby for the van to take us back to the airport. (There are new postings from Friday and Saturday as well).

Aqui estamos el dia que llegamos al aeropuerto La Aurora en Guatemala. Y 8 dias mas tarde, nuestra incansable caminante Eli nos acompana en la espera de la camioneta que nos llevaria de regreso al aeropuerto. (Tambien hay nuevos comentarios de Viernes y Sabado).

Thank you Guatemala / Gracias linda Guatemala

Gracias quiero darte por ser la tierra madre de nuestra hija y sus antepasados y por darnos un pedacito de ti en Elizabeth. Quiero volver pronto para que mis ojos y los de nuestra nina se iluminen con tus paisajes de lagos, volcanes, playas y montanas, para que ella aprenda y valore su cultura, para conocerte mas y para que Elizabeth se sienta siempre orgullosa de sus raices y su gente. Gracias por bendecirnos con nuestra adorada hija!

Este es el antiguo Convento de las Capuchinas.
Nino tocando un instrumento musical.
Esta es la Plaza Principal en Antigua.


I love this hat that we bought her in Antigua
Se encuentran fuentes muy bellas por todos lados.

Iglesia de La Merced
Cross up in the mountain


At the hotel we stayed in Antigua. Nos hospedamos en el hotel El Convento, muy lindo y pequenito, tan solo 12 habitaciones.


When we visited the market in Guatemala City, we tried a fruit named "acerola". Elizabeth liked it very much and so did I. It's juicy and crunchy at the same time.

Cuando visitamos la plaza de mercados en Ciudad de Guatemala, probamos esta fruta que no la conocia siquiera el senor conductor y guia guatemalteco que nos acompanaba. A Eli y a mi nos fascino la fruta "acerola", de contextura como la de una manzana pero mucho mas jugosa y menos acida.

Street in Antigua

Este rostro solo dice: Gracias Senor, estoy feliz con mi nina.