Clara is 1!

Clara celebrated her first birthday this weekend with a great party. She had lots of fun and it was so nice that her Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and Cousins came. We are so lucky to have this little girl in our family. She is happy, smart, beautiful and has a great little sense of humor. Liah continues to develop a very good bond with Clara and Clara squeals with delight when she sees Liah every morning. Here are some pictures from the party...

Pictures and Update

I can't believe we have been home for just two months with Clara. She is doing so well and has fit into our family perfectly. I get why we had to wait for over four years now... she just was not here yet. Liah is doing very well in her big sister role and Clara adores her! Clara is now walking... a lot, she can say the following: yes, hi, bye, fish (she says 'sh' but we understand what she means), mama, da, and maybe a couple of others that I am forgetting. She can jump, bounce, clap (she claps for herself whenever we give her praise), dance and is ready to have a good time almost always. She does not have much regard for the rules in the house and generally goes to the things that are off limits to her. She loves to grab the remote, shoving it into her month before we can get to her. She understands the word 'no' but gives it no respect... and we love her so, so much.

This week in pictures round 2

 Taking Christmas pictures...

 Pretty girls.

 Clara really loves Merlin

 ... and mashed potatoes

This week in pictures

 Clara loves to smile...

 and play with her dogs...

 uh-oh, and take their toys...

 Liah is a great big sister

 and a wonderful Christmas cookie baker...

 and she is beautiful...

We love this child...

Happy Thanksgiving

We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Home!

Yay! We are home! The flight was just fine. Clara slept for almost half of it and cried for just a couple of hours total through the almost 15 hour flight. She was very happy meeting her big sister and other family who met us at my dad's house. She really was all smiles and seems very happy with her life right now. We continue to get acclimated to our time zone. She fell asleep last night at 7:00 p.m. and slept straight through to 11:00 p.m.! She woke up ready to start her day... we were not so we traded on and off for the rest of the night. She needs time to get used to our routine but hopefully this will happen soon.

Liah is being a very good big sister and Clara stares at her and laughs at her all the time. Liah is a huge help and is being very sweet to Clara and that makes us all very happy. Liah told me yesterday that she did not feel like a big sister and we talked about how this will take time and as long as she keeps doing what she is doing, she will feel like a big sister in no time.

Clara's personality continues to be outgoing and happy. She fusses when she is tired and hungry, other than that, she is a happy baby. We feel so lucky this holiday season!