¡Tios!

Meeting Aunts Anne, Mary, and Jane, and Uncle Robert

Four of Lois’siblings came last week to meet Clara, and she LOVED meeting them. They just left on Sunday and Clara is pretty disappointed today to discover that she is alone again with just Mom and Dad to play with her. We had a great week together, showing them the mission and San Lucas, putting Jane to work with Lois’ patients, and enjoying some family time for Clara with her aunts and uncle.

Uncle Robert is great at helping me eat!

Out walking with Aunt Jane...sideways, sorry.


Boat ride!

Yum!

Hello! It feels like it has been a long time since I last updated the blog. We have less access to internet these days so it takes a bit longer to put up posts. We are all doing well, though, and Clara has been busy growing and changing. It is hard to believe the laughing little girl sitting at the kitchen table with us at meals is the same person as the tiny baby we stared at sleeping in our arms almost 6 months ago. For one thing, she rarely falls asleep in our arms anymore! And she’s huge! Recent height and weight estimates are 24.5 inches and 15.5 lbs.

Clara started eating solid foods a couple weeks ago, and now has avocado, carrot, rice cereal, and sweet potato in her repertoire. We thought avocado was a great first food, but when women in town found out, they were concerned that avocado was too cold. One friend even brought over a squash that she recommended as a more appropriate first food, with instructions on how to cook and prepare it. Clara is a pretty messy eater, and I am beginning to wonder if the resistance to feeding a baby avocado has more to do with the stains on her clothing than the temperature of the food. 

February 14th

Today is a special day in several ways. Clara is now 5 months old. It is hard to believe how fast the time has gone, how much both she and we have changed, and how much we are still baffled by this new little person that is living with us full time. 5 months to us means: better naps, longer naps, falling asleep without help, better eye contact, fun sounds, louder sounds, sitting by herself kind of, and the terror of imagining trying to feed her real food. Today is also Valentine´s Day. Cassie, our old Newton House floor mate and now volunteer coordinator at the Parish is babysitting for us. We had a wonderful lunch just the two of us and decided that we really wanted to try and catch up on some email stuff since the computer has fried. A lot of our work here is with coordinating visitors, donations, and ideas from the States via internet, so its been kind of challenging with no computer in the house and also having Clara around to actually get to a computer together and work. Its nice to have a little while today. And finally today marks the beginning of the 3 month count-down. We are planning on returning to the USA on May 14th. We´re trying to not think too much about that right now, but we can´t help but be both excited, terrified, and nostalgic when we think about the major life change that is just around the corner. Life here has been so fulfilling, but there are so many people in the States we miss and can´t wait to see.

Catching up

Hi again. It has been a while....combination of the death (rest in peace) of our computer and a great visit with friends from Minnesota.

Clara continues to baffle and delight us. She is fascinated with her feet lately and working on some interesting new sounds. She has also started "standing" with a little help. Super cute. Here are some photos.
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