PAT + post-placement + re-adoption

no pictures today, but i did want to post a quick update :

+ we had our first parents as teachers visit last week. it went surprisingly well! stella is not as far behind as i thought! i guess i've been focusing too much on the fact that she isn't walking yet. she is about half way through the 12-24 month list of tasks she should be doing, which is about right! she is more and more interesting in walking and gets closer every day!

+ last night was our LAST post-placement visit with a social worker. it feels amazingly good to be done with those. not that they were hard, or terrible, or negative in any way . . . i am just ready for all this STUFF to be over and for us to just go on with our 'normal' lives, whatever that is. adoption is so exhausting at times. there is just SO much extra STUFF that must be done. and even after our children are home, there is still much more to do.

+ speaking of much more to do - we have our first appt with an attorney today to get started with our re-adoption. since we didn't visit stella in guatemala before our pick up trip, we have to re-adopt her in our county of residence. another annoying task we must complete. i really think this will be the LAST step though. but honestly, at this point, i wouldn't be surprised if something else comes up.

life with stella is amazing. we can't remember what it was like before we brought her home. she will be 18 months soon and i can't believe it. she already doesn't look like a baby anymore.

funny story : stella and i were in the car waiting on daddy earlier this week and she was pointing towards the floorboard and said 'book'. of couse i almost screamed 'did you just say BOOK???' so i handed her the book and she got SOOOOOOO excited that i understood her! she squeezed her little hands into fists and wrinkled her nose up and laughed and screamed! it was so funny!