Happy Birthday Grandpa Bill!

 

Nighttime sleep issues

Hello everyone!  We have been very busy.  I begin work in 1 week.  I can't believe my 3 month maternity leave is coming to an end.  

Zamara has been working on cutting her 2 front teeth the last couple weeks. That has put her in quite a cranky mood lately.  She is the most cranky in the middle of the night.  Last night was one of the worst for us.  She woke up at 1:45am and kept us up and down until 4:30am crying.  We tried everything, Ibuprofen, diaper change, rocking her to sleep, singing, a small bottle, etc...nothing worked! At 4:30 Craig and I both decided to just let her "cry it out".  We closed her bedroom door, closed our door, turned off the baby monitor, put in earplugs, and went back to sleep!  We turned on the monitor briefly at 5:15am and all was quiet. We didn't turn on the monitor again until 7:30am.   She was awake and crying just slightly.  I went in and she seemed like the usual old Zamara. Smiling and happy (although a little extra tired all day) So I am guessing she slept for at least part of the time we had the monitor off.  

All of this may not seem like a big deal, but this was the FIRST time we have let her cry it out before.  To be honest, I cried a little bit last night too.  It was hard to just let her cry!  People have been encouraging us to do this when she doesn't want to sleep at night.  Up to this point, we just haven't been ready to do it yet.  Since she was adopted we worried that she really didn't know if we were going to come back or not.  At this point, though, she has bonded very well with us and I don't think we need to worry about that issue so much.  

Friends and family have encouraged us all day.  After Craig went into work today I went over to our friend Brian and Debbie's house for breakfast.  I told them the whole saga from the night before.  They were so encouraging that we did the right thing.  I cried a little bit before breakfast at their house too!

Hopefully tonight will be a good night.  If not, I feel like I may have a little more confidence to allow her to cry herself back to sleep.  

Well that is what has been going on lately.  Not too exciting for most people, but it has been a big deal to us.  

I hope everyone had a good halloween. We will be posting some more pictures soon.

Blessings,

Laura

Halloween Fun!

This weekend we got ready for Halloween.  We "helped" Zamara carve her very first pumpkin. Well, she thought it was interesting for about 2 minutes and then Laura spent the next 1/2 hour carving the pumpkin while Craig entertained our daughter.  It turned out pretty cute.  The close up picture was Craig trying different settings on our camera.  She looks so beautiful in this picture, we just had to add it to the blog.  

We have been working on this video since we arrived home from Ethiopia.  We wanted to share some of Zamara's history with all of you...and hopefully for her when she is old enough to understand. We know very little of Zamara's background, however  we feel so blessed to have her as a part of our lives.  Craig and I prayed that God would prepare the right little girl for our family.  And He did!  I hope this video gives you a little insight into who she is and where she came from.  (It is a little long, but worth it.  Let us know if it is too long to process on your computer.  We hope everyone can watch it)

blessings,  Laura

Snowbowl pix

Like any good, law-abiding Flagstaff family we were obligated to take our new baby up to Snowbowl to try and get some cute family pix amongst the changing Aspens.  Well, the changing Aspens part didn't really work out but I think we at least got a few cute family pix.  Enjoy!  CLICK ON THE PIX TO MAKE THEM BIGGER--ESPECIALLY THE THIRD ONE--MUCH FUNNIER WHEN BLOWN UP!

MORE VIDEO!

I promised more video and here it is.  Zamara loves to play Peek-A-Boo.  She is genuinely surprised each time--which is really quite impressive since we play it probably 7 times a day. Zamara was at the top of the stairs (I was working on laundry as you can see in the background) and Craig crept up the stairs to play peek-a-boo.  She got quite a kick out of it.  I love the surprised look on her face each time.  Of course,  she also looks so cute in just her diaper (or as our friend's daughter, Alana, calls it "maked").

Sorry it's been so long...

Hi everyone!  Sorry it has been so long since our last post.  We have been busy.  My mom came back down to Flagstaff to visit for a week.  I was feeling lonely and needed a little help with Zamara.  She was amazing!  I wish she could have stayed longer.  She helped me a lot and I miss her.

Zamara is doing great.  She had her first immunizations last week.  She did fine but got a little sick from the Flu shot, but nothing too bad.  She is growing like crazy and does new things each day.  She is right on track for a 7 month old.  Her hair continues to fill in.  I cannot wait until it is long enough to really have fun with.  

She loves to eat whatever we put in front of her.  Last night she tried pasta for the first time--real grown up food.  She is also learning how to feed herself which is pretty funny to watch.  We shot this little video of her trying to feed herself yesterday and thought you might enjoy it.  

We have some more video and pictures but we will save it for another day.

blessings,

Laura