One of the best things about bringing Grace home is having all of my friends and family come and visit. Below, my golf-buddy Laure is playing with Grace. And even better... Laure brought dinner with her! Lynn, Laure's mom, and Melissa, another golf-buddy also visited that day.

Grace likes even the simplest toys. We had a lot of fun with a brown paper grocery bag!

Here's a shout out to my fellow adoptive mom - Christy! Can't wait for you to bring Katie home! Congratulations on becoming a mom! Katie is beautiful and you two look so happy! It truly is a wonderful journey. Grace and I are still learning from each other every day. God bless!

Grace and I visited her cousin Noah and her Grandpa Piper last weekend. Everyone had a really good time! Thank you Uncle Greg, Aunt Krista and cousin Ryan. Your home is a fun place to stay!

Grace ate her first pizza and really enjoyed it. She even likes pepperoni! But, no sausage. I'm happy that she's eating well.

OK. I have to admit that Grace is definitely growing on me. There were a few tough moments last week, but this week is much easier for me. For one thing, I'm healthy again and rid of the jet lag. For another, Grace is a GREAT sleeper (with the exception of one nap) and allows me to get the sleep that I need. It seems like we're really getting used to each other. I understand her more and can anticipate some problems ahead of time. Not all of them... she has poor behavior during most diaper changes but I'm going to find a special toy to distract her.

I think that I'm falling head over heals in love with this little one. She's got me wrapped around her finger! I'm so blessed to have her.


Tomorrow we're having professional pictures taken, so we were practicing smiling tonight... it's hard to capture the exact moment on film! I'm sure the pros will do better than I did.
She really likes to mimic me. Below, Grace is wearing my shoes. If she starts babbling, I mimic her and change it slightly. We're working on all of the consonants.

Notice that she stands well below the height of the kitchen-island counter top. I hope she starts growing... that reminds me that I need to pick up a growth chart to document this.