Time is flying - four months!!

Month four ended up being the best month yet!! We've had lots of fun with a trip to the US, followed by lazy days at home with Dad and Brother. I was so impressed with how well you did traveling and with all of the new people who wanted to hold you. I hope you continue being a great traveler - tentatively Nicaragua is next in March! You are talking up a storm and laughing a lot. It's so cute! Last month you would make a creaking sound. This month you're all about the vowels - aaaaaa, ooooooo, uuuuuuu, aaoouu. I think next month you'll start ba, da, la. I can't wait! You've started tentatively reaching for things and grabbing onto them and you love to be on your feet, checking things out around you. It's amazing to me how much you've changed even just from the beginning of month four to now. I can't wait to see how you continue to grow!!

You've slept through the night three times now. We like that a lot! Even when you aren't sleeping through the night, you mostly just wake up once, which isn't bad at all. The first time you slept nine hours straight, I have to admit I missed you. :) That was the longest I had gone without holding you! 

You've decided the pacifier isn't a bad thing. We kept trying and trying and eventually you took it. I'm still conflicted about it - I don't like covering up your sweet face! - but if you like it, I want you to have it. And at least when you use it you aren't sucking on your fingers! :P

Pretty sure the pacifier is why you slept 10 hours straight last night. Somehow it never fell out. I'm not complaining! You still love to kick your legs up, even though you aren't in a swaddle blanket anymore. You love your zip!!

Starting Tuesday, I'm going to be volunteering at Brother's school three days a week. I hate the idea of giving up time with you before I really have to (aka when I get a job, which hopefully will be sooner rather than later) but at the same time I think it will be good for me to ease into being apart from you, versus jumping right into a job where I'm gone Mon-Fri for 8+ hours a day! Plus, you and your dad can practice being together without me around. So it will be good for all of us, but I'll still be sad too!!

Fancy party dress your abuela Enma got you. 

Daddy loves to make you laugh. Playing at the pediatricians office. 

Happy after sleeping 10 hours straight!

Tummy time is still not your favorite, but you are much stronger now than you were! 

Honoring both your heritages - Latino inspired dress and John Deere socks. Perfect combo! (So much leg chub! Love it!!)

Your great grandma Gilbert crocheted this sweater. I love that we were able to take pictures of you in it!

Such a great holiday

The last few weeks back home with the boys have been so nice.  We've taken it easy for the most part, hanging out at home and playing our new board games.  (We all LOVE board games!)  Eduardo has been able to play with the kids in the complex most days, which has been nice for him.  And he started back at school last week, which he was very excited about.  To celebrate his last day of vacation, we went to another new beach.  We're trying to go to a new beach every month - there are so many, I think we could take years and not go to all of them if we just go to one a month!  This one was my favorite so far.  It was almost completely empty, had awesome tide pools when the tide was out, and was the best for finding shells.  It was our best beach trip yet - and, even better, I was able to make the trip and not freak out before hand / during / after.  Love being on meds!  :)  I've made the comment many times the last two weeks that things are just so much better for me and I'm so glad that I made the decision to get help.  I feel so much more centered and on top of things and I'm no longer crying every day.  :)  Pluses all around!

2015 is off to a great start!

Davie's mom got Kalynn this beautiful dress.  Be on the look out for Valentine's Day cards come February - I don't know what else to do with this dress and we have to do something!  :)

Davie loves to baby wear.  And I love that he loves it!

Kaylynn got in the pool for the first time.  She was way cute!

Playa Esterillos Oeste (Esterillos Oeste beach)

Some of the shells we found at the beach.  So cool!!

Home again

I can't believe we're on our way home. It's been a wonderful trip. I have to say I'm pretty impressed that Kaylynn and I pulled it off almost flawlessly. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us along the way!! I feel much better about making future trips now that the first one is out of the way and considering it went really very well. Kaylynn started crying as we were waiting for the first flight to take off on the 26th and I had a moment of panic that she was going to end up unhappy the whole flight. But she was a champ and fell asleep before everyone even finished boarding and she slept an hour before waking up to eat. She's proven herself to be a great traveler, which is good since I foresee many more trips in her future! :)

This visit to the US has been interesting for me. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. I was more than a little afraid that I really was not going to want to leave when the time came! But, in reality, I think the trip helped show me that I am where I'm supposed to be. While the US will always be home, and we'll still end up there again one day, it's not a magical land without problems or things I don't like. It's a place, just like any other place, with pros and cons. It was cold! And dreary a lot of the time. I missed the Costa Rican sun and the flowers. I missed watching the hummingbirds in our backyard. I missed the beach! :) Most of all I missed Davie and Eduardo. My family is not complete without the boys. 

Of course one thing the US has that Costa Rica doesn't are my friends and the rest of my family. It meant so much to me that people went out of their way to visit us and meet Kaylynn. I miss you all so much.  But, I've decided I'm lucky to have people to miss, so it's a good thing to be sad when it's time to leave. It means I have people who care about me and who I care about in return and I've realized I don't have to always be with those people to keep them in my life. 

I guess what I want to say is that while I may be sad to leave the US, I'm also excited to be going back to Costa Rica. I know I've been emotional about being in Costa Rica, but that doesn't mean that I regret my choices or that I want to move back tomorrow. If anything, being in the US solidified my decisions even more, as I spent the whole time missing Davie and Eduardo and I'm just not able to give them up, even for the US. :) So, in case anyone was, don't worry about how I'm doing. I'm sure I'll still have days where I miss the US, but I think that's normal. When we move back, I'm sure I'll have days where I miss Costa Rica! It's not always easy, but I am happy. 

Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible and to everyone who visited or sent thoughts / prayers our way or who wanted to visit but couldn't get it worked out this time. We are so lucky to have all of you. 

*** REQUEST *** If you got pictures with / of Kaylynn could you please email them to me? I know I didn't end up with pictures of her with everyone and I would like to add them to her Moment Garden so she has pictures of everyone she met. The ones below are what I have and I would like more please. :) Thank you!!!

Sleeping on her first ever airplane ride!

Gram with Kaylynn, Grady and Norah 

Alice, Rebecca, Kaylynn and I 

Gram and Grumpy with Norah and Kaylynn 

Rachel, Kaylynn and I 

Mike and Kaylynn 

CJ loves the littles!

Great Aunt Pattie with Kaylynn 

Great Grandma and Kaylynn

The Orr girls with Kaylynn

We love her John Deere socks. Thanks Grumpy!!

Such a good traveler!