Softball final party

Laurel and Hope swinging!

Hope is quite the climber now!

Eater

One week, Andy told the kids that we'd have dessert again on Wednesday.  We didn't talk about it anymore and on Wednesday, Hope-e asked, "is it Wednesday?"  I said, why do you ask? And, she said, we're eating dessert tonight!  Ha!  She is an eater.  The first to ask about snack or what are we having for dinner.  She's started "savoring" her sweet snacks lately to the point that everyone else is finished  and she will ask if she can save some for later.

She is also usually the messiest eater at the table...she is just so focused on eating that she can't seem to remember to eat carefully and keep her mouth shut.  I thought she would have grown out of this by now, but she still talks with food in her mouth.  Self control is our main focus right now.

Hope-e Quirks

She loves and always has loved, to be tickled.  It’s a strange thing to me because I’ve never known anyone else who even likes it, but she does.  She also loves her cousin, Alex!  Alex tickles her and talks about as much as her, so they have lots in common!

In the castle village, Hope-e ran a candy store and a spare parts store.  She actually built a couple little buildings, which is not the norm.  You can see here that she was explaining the intricate details of her store and Caleb’s eyes are glazing over.  “She could talk the hind leg off a mule!”

She likes to be active but is kind of lacking coordination.  She is getting very good at running though!  It used to be that her arms would fly behind her or all around, but she’s begun to focus and hold them in.  She’s gotten to where she and Caleb beat each other off and on.  Bravo you strong girl!

Future Photog!

Hopee loves to take pictures!  She asks me constantly, "can I take a picture of you cooking eggs," "can I take a picture of Ruby playing blocks," or whatnot!  It's crazy!  Between her and her Dad, I have to edit three to six HUNDRED pictures every week!!  I love it though & sometimes she captures such a perfect moment or expression that I would've hated to miss out on!

My Spring Baby Girl

When Caleb was five months old, we decided to begin foster care again.  Shortly after, a baby girl was born in the city who was meant to be in our forever family.  Hope came to us at three days post-womb and has stayed with us ever since, except for one overnight visit with her maternal adoptive grandmother when she was three months old {who has talked to me on the phone since then, but never seems to make it when we schedule a meet up}.  Anyway, Hopee and Mr C have been buddies, compadres, opposing warriors, and brother and sister from day one.  He was amazed at this tiny bundle of noise and spit up.  She spit up pretty much constantly until she was seven months old.  Whew, that was NOT fun.  No one wanted to hold her because she almost always spit up on everyone.  We tried different formulas and she breastfed tandom with Mr C for almost two months.  Nothing made any difference.  She liked to watch everything.  She would lay and watch Caleb play or me working around the house.  I used a maya wrap and a mei tai with both Caleb and Hopee, but less with her because of fear of spit up sadly.  I wish I had just done it & gotten nasty...can't change the past though.  She was beautiful with her curly hair and bright, observant eyes.  Once she learned to move, she was into everything like Mr C, and nothing was safe.  Ha!  It was and is exciting with Hopee in our family!