First, let me apologize - I've been remiss in my blogging. Of course, I have all kinds of excuses, but they're really just excuses. I cannot believe it is almost 2009!
We've had a busy couple of months! We went out to visit Traci, Matt, and Malcolm in Seattle in mid-October. Our time in Seattle was great but the plane rides were horrible. Gabby was pretty much a total nightmare - crying, whining, squirming, throwing things, etc. Thankfully there was an empty row in the very back of the plane on both legs of the trip. I'm pretty sure that the lady sitting next to me on the way to Seattle wanted to strangle Gabby. About halfway through the flight Daniel turned to me and said "Never again." I think the problem with Gabby and airplanes is that she is an extremely active kid and it's just too much for her to be confined to a tiny little airplane seat. We may not be leaving Denver again (at least on a jetplane) for the next several years!
At the end of October we came home on a Wednesday to find that our house had been broken in to. In addition to taking ALL of my jewelry, a Bose aviation headset, our camera, and lots of other little items, they took our checks, so we had to close our bank accounts and open new ones. That is a HUGE hassle and I would not recommend keeping your extra check books in your underwear drawer, as that is apparently the first place burglars look for valuables!
We have also been busy doing some home improvement projects. We finally pulled up the 50's-style 1-inch tiles in our entryway and re-tiled. We also had our carpet pulled up and the hardwood underneath refinished, which required that we move out for a week (the timing was perfect in that my parents were out of town and we were able to stay at their house). Next up is our pink bathroom, which really is pink (pink tile, pink walls, pink sink, pink toilet, pink tub... I think you get the picture) and REALLY is in need of a makeover.
On the adoption front, we had our second post-placement visit in mid-October, which went really well. Around that same tine, we finally submitted the paperwork for our validation, and we just found out today that the court approved it. The adoption was finalized in Colombia and Gabby was a U.S. citizen when she set foot on U.S. soil, so the validation is just a formality. The main benefit is that Gabby will get a Colorado birth certificate, which will make things easier down the road.
On the Gabby front, she continues to learn and grow and fill our lives with joy. She is at a very fun age (difficult at times, but fun). She is full of personality and so unbelievably smart! She is talking like crazy - she probably has 30 or 40 words right now that she really knows, plus she repeats everything we say (naughty OR nice). Right now she repeats the last few syllables of just about every sentence. For example, if I say "Should we go change your diaper?" she says "Diaper." If I say, "What do you want to do now?" she says "Do now." And, if I stub my toe and say "Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!" she says "Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t." She understands almost everything we say whether it's in Spanish or English and she follows instructions in either language (as much as 19-month-olds follow instructions). And she makes these amazing connections - the other day she brought me a picture of Matt and Traci and exclaimed "Baby!" Mind you, she's only seen Traci a couple of times since she had the baby and the last time was several weeks ago! She recognizes herself in the mirror and in pictures and calls herself "Dabby." We marvel each and every day at how lucky we are to have her. She is the absolute light of our lives and we are so proud of her.
I don't have any recent photos to post right now because our camera was stolen. It had several weeks worth of pictures that we hadn't loaded onto the computer yet, so the last photos we have are from September. I don't know why we haven't replaced it yet - that's definitely on our "To Do" list and I think we're finally going to do it this weekend. In the meantime, enjoy this random, silly video that we took a couple of months ago.
We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. I promise to post some photos soon.
Love,
Leslie, Daniel, & Gabriela
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