Our Portugirl

My husband is from Portugal, and I lived there for eight years. While I was there I caught the bug for international soccer and the Portuguese national team. About a month before we moved to the States, Portugal hosted the Euro Cup. Filipe wasn't working much anymore, and so for three weeks our whole lives revolved around watching futebol, hanging out with fans from all over Europe and partying with each victory. It was an amazing experience and a wonderful last good bye to the country we loved before we moved.

Hanging out with the Portuguese fans before a game

Meeting some fans from Spain.

Well, it is that time again. I can't believe it has already been four years! We made sure to get all the right channels so we can watch the games live, and made mini Portugal shirts for the kiddos. We had a party for some of our family and cheered Portugal on as they started the tournament by winning their first game! For the next three weeks we will live and breathe soccer and bleed red and green. Viva Portugal!!!

Two little Portu-girls.

Celebrating as a family
The three cutest Portugal fans ever!

We have been kept pretty busy around here. We are slowly but surely starting to get a bit into a routine and I am starting not to be quite as tired all day long. Shiloh comes out of herself more and more every day and showing more of her little personality. She crawls around and plays. She is always singing to herself, especially in the car. She is such a crack up and such a drama queen! She has the fakest whine that she does when she wants something. My mom just laughs and says I was the worst whiner when I was her age, so what goes around comes around. We had our first dr. appointment today. She is between the 75%-90% for height and 10% to 25% for weight, so she is tall and slender. She is also doing good developmentally, which is always good to hear.

My nephew Malak came home yesterday! I will post some pictures when I get them out of the camera. He is so cute and smiley! I think he and Shiloh are going to be great buds. It was so weird being at the airport on the other end of things. I felt like it had been forever since we came home even though it has only been about a week and a half.

This is our adoption announcement that we sent out (the white Raquel looks funny because I blotted out our last name). I will post some real pictures later when I get a chance.

Homecoming

Ok, I am finally getting the chance to post our homecoming pictures. This girl keeps me busy! These are all pictures my friend Megan took for us (thanks Megan! They're great!). Our flight from Guatemala to Atlanta went really well. As soon as we got onto the plane, Shiloh got so excited an super hyper, bouncing all over the place. It was so fun to see, but exausting. The flight went pretty quickly. We took forever to get through immagration and then caught our flight home to Oklahoma. By this time it was late and we were all exausted! Shiloh started fussing and crying as soon as we got on the plane. The only thing that kept her quiet and semi happy were the Gerber puffs. The flight, although it was less than 2 hours, felt like forever! Shiloh finally fell asleep right as we were touching down. We were then stuck on the plane for about 30 minutes because we were early and they didn't have a ramp ready for us. Finally, we got off and went to meet everyone waiting for us. There were about 30-40 friends and family all waiting, holding pink balloons. It was such a sweet sight. Shiloh was asleep at first, but woke up when we passed her to my mom. I was expecting her to be fussy, especially because it was so late, but she happily was passed around and took it all in stride.

Everyone waiting for us

Here we come

Meeting most of the family (I didn't get any pics with Kim, Andre, Jenna or Tara if anyone out there has any.)

I can't believe it has already been a week that we have been home! I have to admit, I feel like I am living a different life, like there was my adopting life and now my baby life. I am so thankful she is home with us that it brings tears to my eyes. I am praying hard for all of you who are still waiting for your babies to come home!!!

Picture blitz

I know I haven't posted pictures lately, but I have an excuse. Somewhere along our trip we lost the power cord to our laptop where we have been putting all of our pictures. We finally emptied the camera out onto the desktop, so here are a few random pictures we have taken over the last few days. I'm warning you, there are enough of them that I probably should have spread them out into several different blogs, but honestly, this girl is keeping me busy enough that I probably wouldn't and then I would be behind agan. Enjoy!...

Here are a few pictures with my parents and younger brother. I didn't get any with the rest of the family, those will have to come later. Everyone is completely smitten by her and she has taken real well to all of them! Who could resist all that love.

Filipe and I are Borders and Barnes and Noble freaks. It is our favorite past time t go there and chill out with some coffee and a book. We used to talk about how we would have to enjoy it while we could, because it would be all over once Shiloh came home, but I think we are breaking her in quite nicely.

My neice, Jenna, has long held all of the attention of everyone around her, but she has done great sharing some of the love. She is such a sweetheart. Whenever Shiloh cries, she says, "Is ok, Shi Shi." She loves to share her food and her "munchy" (her blankie) with her. It is very cute!

Yesterday, we went to Kim and Andre's house for some fun in the sun. They have a cute little kiddie pool for Jenna to play in. Shiloh wasn't real thrilled with the idea at first, mostly because she had to sit in it without us holding her, but she eventually got the hang of it. Jenna kept running around her, playing and stopping to give her kisses. Very cute!

This girl is a crazy sleeper! She flips and turns all night long. The picture of her laying on top of me is actually how she fell asleep. Crazy, but cute.

And last, but certainly not least, this is my little beauty on her first Sunday morning after church. Her sweet little face just kills me! I just want to eat her up!

Hope this wasn't overkill for you all! I am a little behind. I should have the homecoming pictures tomorrow. Also be praying for Eric and Tara. They should have Malak in their arms tomorrow!!! It is so crazy and exciting!

Home!!!

We're home!!!! We got in last night at about 11:00. She did great. I was worried she would be fussy or nervous around so many people on the plane, but the second we got on, she got super hyper excited. She was up and down, looking out the window, looking behind the seat, rocking back and forth, and jumping up and down. It was pretty funny. She hasn't been crazy about taking a bottle, so we fed her those gerber graduate puffs during take off. I figured she would have to swallow them at some time and it should help with her ears. During the whole take off she was laughing and talking, so it must have worked. The second flight was a little harder. By then she was so exausted she didn't know what to do with herself, but once again the gerber puffs were a lifesaver and the only thing that kept her happy for those last two hours. I highly recomend them!

She as been sleeping much better since that first night. She is only waking up once or twice during the night for a bottle and then she will go back to sleep. She is also coming out of herself a lot more. She is very smily and talkative. She has us both wrapped around her finger! We had a friend take pictures at the airport, and I will post them once I get them.

Day two- Embassy day!!!

Last night was a pretty rough night. We ended up having to sleep holding Shiloh, and she would still wake up every hour or so crying and we would have to rock her back to sleep. Needless to say Filipe and I didn't get much rest last night. I think she was just feeling skiddish with the new surroundings and people. I was a little worried about what today would look like with the was she was last night, but she woke up smiling and laughing. It was so fun! The Embassy appointment went by easily and we have been chilling out today. Shiloh has gone from being smiling to fussy and back all day long. I think she is a little constipated, so isn't feeling her best. Be praying that we have a better night tonight and that she continues to adjust and feel better!

Day one!!!

We are here with our little girl! We woke up this morning very anxious and excited. We went to pick her up at the hogar at 10:00. She was fussy for a minute while her nanny handed her to me, but calmed down quickly. She started off really slow and mellow, but as the day wore on started playing with her toys and even dancing to music. She cries whenever we set her down, which is proving to be a bit of a challenge trying to get her to sleep, and she isn't eating real well, but I'm sure it is all because of the big changes she is going through. Hopefully tomorrow she will feel a little more comfortable and adjusted. Keep praying for us! Here are a few pictures from the day.

First moments at the hogar.

Playing around.