BLAKE IS 10 MONTHS OLD TODAY!

Hello everyone! OK, I'm a bit more rested today even though Blake decided to get up at 5:45AM. Lots has been going on, so here is the latest. My mom, Rosalie, arrived on Tuesday afternoon! It is so nice to see her again and have her see how much Blake has grown. He did not take to her immediately, but today was a breakthrough and he actually let her hold him and play for about an hour while I rested. Blake is going through the phase where he has to be with me EVERY second and if I go out of his eyesight or set him down, he freaks. It's so sweet, but a little tedious! He continues to do his uncontrollable arm flapping when he's excited and yesterday when he was on my lap, he laughed till no end while Grandma made funny faces. I was in tears from laughing so hard. Blake has also figured out how to go up 20 stairs in our apartment (of course with us right on him)! Yahoo! He is a mover and a shaker and I'm telling you, he will not sit still for anything. When he's on a mission, he's gone (see the look in his eyes in the picture as he wanted to climb DOWN the stairs off of Grandma's lap). Of course I cannot find ANY type of baby gate in all of Guatemala and even if I did, it wouldn't hook to anything at the bottom of our stairs. So, instead, mom and I have rigged suitcases and dressers to block off the top and bottom. It's pretty humorous.

Yesterday we walked around town and did a few errands. Now, my mom is shopping on her own while Blake naps. Tomorrow, we are taking a taxi ride to Lake Atitlan (2 hours away) and staying for the day. We will even take a short boat ride while we're there. This is supposed to be one of the prettiest tour attractions in all of Guatemala. We are looking forward to it. Blake has been quite the trooper hiking all around town. Hopefully, tomorrow will be another good day. We are also interested in hiking up the Volcano Pacaya soon. We won't be able to take Blake on this trip though because of the actual toxic gases in the lava pools that you can pretty much touch. As long as we're here, we want to see as much as possible. It definitely keeps things moving.

The latest with our adoption is that our agency has decided to try a different angle to get us approved before January 17th. Robert, our facilitator, typed up an outstanding "special consideration" letter that states the facts of our case as well as asks for "thoughtful consideration" of expediting our file. This seriously is our last resort. If he takes the letter the wrong way or is having a bad day when he receives it, we will be out of luck and still have 6 more weeks (now) to wait for approval. Let's cross our fingers that it works. We've inserted pictures of our family together as well as me with Blake as he saw me when I met with him earlier. Hopefully he'll remember us.

Oh, Blake has almost 8 full teeth now (4 on the top and 4 on the bottom). He looks like he's a year old with all of these teeth and people cannot believe he's just 10 months. This morning he looked like he'd grown to me. It is amazing the changes I notice every day. We are so lucky to have Blake in our lives. I can't even tell you how happy he makes us every day.

Chris will be coming after my mom leaves from December 17-January 2! It will be great to have Christmas together and have him spend more than 4 days with us this time. We are thrilled.

We heard about the crazy weather and flooding in Woodinville. I hope no one was affected by it too bad. I watched the video clip on King5.com and couldn't believe it.

Let's see. Oh! We are fully moved into the new apartment now. We have decorated it a bit for Christmas and actually had a small artificial tree, but left it in the box at McDonald's the other day. We are getting a new one today. It will be fun to decorate it with all of the cute Guatemalan ornaments we've purchased! We'll post pictures of it as soon as it's done. The apartment is nice, but it's a very small space compared to the house we were in before. It will do though for 2 more months or so. The stairs just give me and my mom a heart attack with Blake every day! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. Love to you all. By the way, the yellow onesie Blake's wearing in the picture with my mom was a gift from her and it says, "I'm kind of a big deal." How cute is that?!! One more thing. Will you please email me your addresses a/s/a/p (that's to everyone who has been reading our blog) so I can send you Blake's first Christmas card? My mom brought them here for me to address and will then send them once she returns to the states. My email is: cowgirlwilliams@comcast.net Thank you!