We are having a great time with her.  Now that we are all sleeping more we can play more.  Yesterday we took my new bike and hooked up a cool yellow trailer to the back and took Hanna for a bike ride on the Silver Comet Trail, a converted railroad bed that is now a bike trail.  The trailer is made especially to contain a toddler with a padded seat, windows, bug screen, and plenty of room for stuffed animals, sippy cups, and snacks.  Speaking of sippy cups, Daddy discovered that he had remembered everything for the trip except WATER for himself and Debbie.  So here I am stealing drinks of water from my daughter when she is not looking.  Debbie couldn't bring herself to do it but I have no shame. 

 

Today we had our first trip back to church since China and we had Nursery duty!  Hanna was not happy about being in a room with a lot of small boys.  She is not used to boy behavior and she spent most of the time in mama's lap.  She did like the little girls (all were 2 and 3 years old), but that involved getting down where the boys could run over her.  So she was a bit rattled by the experience.  But that did not last long as we took her to a Mexican buffet for Sunday lunch and she ate a ton of rice and melon and smiled and played peek-a-boo with other people in the restaurant.

 

Earlier this week we took Hanna to a Chinese buffet and she amazed the waitresses with her use of chopsticks.  Just like in China she picked them up in these impossibly tiny hands and began to stuff her mouth with noodles.  Then a big smile and more noodles.   What a treat!

 

She is really doing a lot better as you can see from our pictures from home.  I made the mistake of letting her take a picture of her bear with my new camera and now she loves to take pictures.  I guess we will have to get her a little camera soon.

 

The family is doing well.  Cassie has finally stopped barking at Hanna (she could care less) and at least comes up to the fence to sniff her hand.  She loves to feed Cherrios to Maggie who seems to really like her.

 

So far so good.  As the days go on I sometimes steal a look at Hanna while she is sleeping or playing or smiling at me and I cannot believe how lucky we are to have this precious little girl.  And when she calls out "Da Da" and lifts her arms for me to pick her up....well that is when it is all worth while and I feel very glad that we stayed the course and went for it 2 years ago. 

 

Well, that's it for now.  Stay tuned for more as we get closer to Hanna's first Halloween.