TWO months

Sarah: Last week Adele turned 2 months. Now that we are busy with our semester program, it feels like we've had Adele for much longer than only 2 months! This past month marked some big changes for her (and us). Highlights include:

~Adele smiling!
~(finally) switching her days and nights to normal
~7 plane rides
~high-pitched squeals when hiccuping
~still being passed around by all of our Costa Rican and Nicaraguan neighbors
~dealing with dry air in the States accompanied by dry skin and a stuffy nose
~meeting the rest of her family for the first time!
~attempting to scoot forward during her tummy time
~still working on sleeping on her own (3 days in a row napping in her crib alone!)
~enjoying being pulled up in the standing position
~starting to dance to her mobile in her crib
~cutting down to (usually) only one dirty diaper a day!
~tracking the hummingbirds that visit the feeders
~sleeping "through" the night (a whole 5 hours!)
~still refusing both her pacifier and a bottle (hopefully that will be a 3-month accomplishment!)

We are really enjoying our time with her and sharing her with the students and also with the community. Here are some pictures from the last month:

Enjoying bath time!

Loving her new Christmas present - her bedding.

Bundled up for a day out with Mommy

Sporting the hat that Costa Ricans love most. :)

Smile!

Being goofy with Daddy

Not sure what to think of Mommy lovin' on her...

Enjoying a day outside while Mommy and Daddy work

Another beginning

Sarah: Upon arriving back in Costa Rica from our Christmas travels, we had only a day and a half to get ready for our new group of students. We frantically tried to get the building in top shape, finish some shopping for supplies and food for the next 2 weeks, and even sleep a little bit. Then it was off to the airport to meet the new group.

This year we have 10 students - 6 from Southern Nazarene University (SNU) and 4 from Northwest Nazarene University (NNU, David's alma mater) to live with us at QERC and study abroad here in the cloud forest for this whole semester. Meredith has also returned as our intern for the next 4 months. So far, the students are awesome. We spent the first week doing an orientation for them out at QERC and also in San Jose to get them a little familiar with their surroundings. Here at QERC we did some cultural activities and got them out into the community to get to know the places and the people around us. Then we took them on a bus into San Jose and split them off into groups to do a scavenger hunt which took them all over the city. They were forced to interact with the Ticos and get directions, buy things, try new foods, and use the public transportation. Though many in the group have limited Spanish knowledge, they all did well and returned to QERC enthused about their experiences and motivated to get to know the language and the people even more. Adele did great being hauled around in the wrap and passed around to new arms as she too is getting to know what life will be like during the semester program!

This week began classes for the students. David has them each morning and is doing a research orientation with them to get their research projects going and to get them familiar with the trails and resources they have available throughout the semester. They also have had Skype sessions with professors back on campus to go over the various syllabi and get their other classes started. Evenings have been filled with homework and games and getting to know each other. We are very excited for this semester and being a part of such a huge experience in these students' lives!

La Navidad

Sarah: Over Christmas we were able to go back to the States and visit our families. Because all of her paperwork was in order, it was possible to leave the country with Adele. We began our two week trip in snowy and cold Iowa, with the Gosselinks. Adele had only met Grandma (my mom) and was excited to get reacquainted with her. She was also very excited to meet the rest of the family for the first time. At the airport we were all greeted by Grandma and Grandpa (my parents - I'm clarifying because it's still sort of weird for me to refer to them in that manner!), Aunt Katie, and Aunt Rachel. Everyone took turns holding her briefly before we headed home.

Aunt Emily and Uncle Greg and cousin Ash (4 months) joined us a couple days later and we all had such a wonderful time celebrating Christmas together. It was a strange but good new scene at the Gosselink household to see cribs, bouncers, swings, etc. in the house to accommodate the babies, and we all enjoyed the new entertainment that the babies provided. It was fun for me to see my parents as grandparents - both were always wanting to hold one, and my dad in particular enjoyed taking naps with the sleeping babies. It was also neat to see my younger sisters adjust to being aunts and enjoy playing and interacting with both babies.

Did I mention it was COLD in Iowa?? There was lots of snow, much to our enjoyment, but the cold was quite a shock to our systems. Adele did an excellent job traveling on the planes, but the cold dry climate was something she didn't do super well with. She was very congested the first night, causing my parents to invest in a humidifier, and soon after that her skin began to get dry and develop rashes. I understood all too well - my body was reacting the same way!

In addition to my immediate family, we got together with my dad's family on Christmas Day and my mom's family the day after. It was fun to show off our daughter and see family members that we often only see once a year.

After Iowa we flew out to Spokane to visit David's family. We were greeted by Nana and Popa (David's parents), Aunt Jenna, and cousin Gracelyn (almost 6 years old). Adele hadn't met any of them before and loved being passed around and welcomed in new arms. It was again bitter cold in Spokane, though without any snow for the time.

On the way home we stopped by Aunt Jordan and Uncle Rusty's house so they could meet their new niece and ended up staying up rather late visiting with everyone. The following day Adele got to meet the rest of the family, her cousins Gabriel (4 years old) and Benjamin (1 year 4 months). All of the cousins enjoyed holding Adele, and even Benjamin worked up the courage to give her a kiss by the end of the week!

In Spokane we didn't have much to do, and it was really nice spending some of the days holed up inside, relaxing and visiting with the family. Adele had a little difficulty adjusting to yet another environment, but we were so thankful that there were many open arms to pass her around and help keep her fussiness to a minimum. David and I weren't the only ones who lost sleep that week, but everyone enjoyed the quality time they had to spend with Adele.

We had an open house Christmas gathering with the extended family, so many more family members were able to meet our daughter. We had the Hille Christmas at the end of our week and it was even accompanied by a beautiful dusting of snow outside. At the end of 2 great weeks with our families, it was sad to have to say goodbye to everyone. It seems it's even more difficult living so far away now that we have a daughter who wants to get to know her other family members!