Three Months!

Sarah: Hard to believe Adele will be three months tomorrow, as my newborn is transitioning into the "infant" stage. We have begun putting her 0-3 month clothes away, and it's a good thing she has some really cute 3-6 month clothes because it's sad to put away her cute newborn outfits!

In the last month, Adele has continued to grow and change a lot. We all had to survive her first set of shots - David did the best out of all of us, though he had the difficult task of holding her hands down as she looked up at him with her big eyes that said "you'll protect me, won't you daddy?"

On a much happier note, Adele is an incredibly easy, happy baby. She smiles all the time, and has begun to "talk" by cooing and testing out new sounds. She will now take a break from nursing just to smile or talk to me, and it makes my heart melt every time. She's very interactive now, and likes to kick me to get my attention. And when she's on my lap, she'll stare at David until he looks at her and then she'll give him a huge grin.

This month Adele and I have started taking a daily walk down the road and back. It's a great way to enjoy the beautiful sunshine (sorry to those of you experiencing tons of snow and cold weather!) and also to greet our neighbors. I put Adele in the wrap, and as soon as I step outside she lays her head down and goes to sleep. Our friends in the valley love seeing her on a regular basis.

A few other highlights: Adele has started taking her pacifier! This may not seem to be a huge accomplishment to some, but to us it is a big relief. I realize we'll go through struggles in the future of getting rid of that pacifier, but for now we are so thankful that she's much easier to calm down in public or in the carseat by a simple paci. Also, Adele continues to improve her sleeping habits. She now takes almost all her naps by herself (besides our morning walk), and will at least start off each night in her crib. Sometimes she'll only sleep at night by herself for a half hour, but some nights like last night it's a full 5 hours before she ends up back with me.

This past week Adele and I have been in charge of hosting a group of 26 students who were here with the Organization of Tropical Studies (OTS), while David has been in Nicaragua with our students for a study trip. We survived, but are very much looking forward to seeing David this week! While here on our own, Adele and I went to a wedding in the valley and spent Valentine's Day with our Nicaraguan friend Nancy and her family.

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Semester happenings

Sarah: It hardly seems like our semester has begun, and yet we're over a quarter finished with it already. We've had two professors come and go and many more to come still.

Bruce Hoagland, from the University of Oklahoma, was here for about 2 1/2 weeks. He was here to help the students get going with their research projects, and also to teach a week on Botany. The students really enjoyed having him around, and he and David worked incredibly hard during those weeks. In addition to teaching, Bruce and David spent a lot of time in the field searching for aguacatillo trees, setting up weather stations, and building an orchidarium. It was great to have Bruce here and be so productive.

After Bruce left, the students took advantage of a free weekend and headed to the beach. Most were anxious to get there, after having been in Costa Rica for a whole month and having yet to see the ocean. They took off on their own adventure and rode public buses, found places to stay, and enjoyed some hot beach weather.

Last week we had Carrie Bentley from Southern Nazarene University come for the week to also help with research projects and to teach Tropical Medicine. Her week included a day field trip to San Jose, where the Tropical Medicine class visited two hospitals - the public one called San Juan de Dios, and the private one called Clinica Biblica (where Adele was born). The students were able to talk to doctors at both locations and see the difference between public and private hospitals in Costa Rica. They had a fantastic experience on that field trip.

Adele continues to do well, and here is a video of her showing off her dance moves - in case anyone missed it on facebook!