I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. Time has flown by and with all the holiday hustle and bustle it seems to go even faster. We enjoyed our holiday with Ellie so much! She is truly the best gift we could ever receive. Such an incredible blessing. She had a lot of fun opeing packages and exploring her new things, but by lunch time she was on overload and began to meltdown from all the excitement. Once she woke from her nap she was ready to go again and continue playing with all the new toys Santa brought.

She is talking/babbling a lot now. Her new favorite word is apple which she pronounces "bapple" and then says "ummm" which means yummm. It is so cute! She loves to eat apples and when she see it in her books she also says it. We can tell her to go and get her socks or her baby or whatever and she does it. It is great to see that she is really understanding the language now...I think she understands way more than we even realize. She loves to try on shoes and actually put her own shoes on last week...they were even on the right feet! They were velcro mary janes and easier than some, but she was so pleased it was priceless! Her favorite shows are the Wiggles and Barney...she likes to dance and twirl with the music. She also loves Elmo...she calls him "Lala", because of his "La, la, la, la" song. For those of you who are not educated on the finer points of Elmo...I am sorry this won't make sense to you.

Jim and I continue to be amazed every day at her and the incredible progress she is making in such a short time. It feels as if she has always been here most of the time, but there are still those moments when I can't believe she is really here. Do you remember one of my early posts after we brought her home about her not being very snuggly and me having to teach her how to hug me and let me soothe her? Well, I am happy to say she has turned into quite the snuggle bunny! She loves to hug and be held and when I can't hug her she will get Barney or Bear and snuggle. On that note I have to share something funny. Ellie's caregivers were all very round, plump, busty women. That is what she was used to. I am sure when she first met me she was thinking, "where's the beef?" This woman is hard to hug...something is missing. Well, she has learned to improvise...she puts Barney or Bear on my chest and then leans over it and holds me and snuggles right on up! Haha!

I hope and pray you all have a wonderful and blessed New Year and decade! Thank you so much for your love and support. I know this will continue to be such a special time for us. 6 months from now will mark the anniversary of Ellie's homecoming. I can't wait to see what she is up to then. Stay tuned!


Love Always,
Donna