17 months old

Today, Alesha, turned 17 months old. With every passing day we feel so blessed that she is a part of our family. She makes us laugh daily and is such a bundle of energy. Here is a rare moment of her kicking back and relaxing around the camp fire. We went on our first camping trip as a family of 5 and stayed in a yurt. We had a great time, but had to cut the trip short as she wasn't feeling well......more on that in another post.

Here is one of the waterfalls we hiked in to. It was such a beautiful day.

Some things we have learned about Alesha in the last month -
1. She doesn't like berries or really anything sweet.
2. When you tell her NO she will say uuuuuu-oooooooooo!
3. She loves to blow kisses.
4. She is quite the climber. She motored up our 13 steps to the upstairs (us CLOSE behind) The gate will be put up pronto!
5. She loves to walk around holding onto our hands. She pushes her little baby carriage around and walks pretty good while holding on to it.
6. She can stand in one place for a good 30 seconds.
7. She says "HI" to everybody and it is simply adorable.
8. She waves bye-bye and if really excited waves with both hands!
9. She still loves WATER.
10. She is eating much more and eats much faster...this is a huge blessing.
11. She weighs in at a whopping 16 pounds and wears a size 6-9 month clothes.
12. Still not a fan of cold things. When given ice cream the faces she makes are hilarious, but you would have thought we gave her dirt or something really gross.
13. When finished eating, bath time, or diaper changes she will say AAAALLLLLLLL Done.
14. She adores her brothers and watches their every move.
15. Her favorite things to say is AAAHHHHH-DAH. Sure wish I new what that meant, she says it constantly.
16. She has 4 teeth on top and 3 teeth on bottom. One of the three is a HUGE molar....OUCH! She is working on the other molar and couple more teeth, too.
17. Her favorite foods are bananas, squash, crackers, Indian food, and trying bites of new foods all the time.
18. She has finally figured out how to bite stuff. She will take a bite of a cracker now.
19. She has several little games she plays with her daddy. It is so sweet to see them together. She definitely has daddy wrapped around her finger :-)
20. When I change her diaper I always count to three and then rip off her pants, shorts, skirts, really quick and toss them up and she cracks up EVERY time. Then she takes them and plays peek-a-boo with me. When I'm done changing her diaper I will say give me your legs and she will lift them up so I can put her pants back on. Super fun and cute.
21. Playing peek-a-boo will provide hours of entertainment.
22. She loves to clap her hands and say YAY!
23. This girl LOVES music!!!! All kinds of music. She loves to watch her brother, Martin play the guitar and every time she hears music she starts rocking back and forth and if she is standing up she swings her hips from side to side. We may have a dancer on the horizon :-)
24. She can crawl wicked fast when she sees something she wants.
25. Her favorite pass time is emptying out the diaper bag or anything that is filled with something.

Alesha is so much fun and we look in awe at her daily. We are so thankful she is home and we can watch her grow-up right before our eyes. I am so thankful for her birth mother who chose life her baby girl. The decision to put her up for adoption must have been SO difficult. I think of her today as the first of every month she must wonder where her baby girl is and how she is doing. To her I say thank you for your gift of Alesha and know that she is loved beyond measure and is a very happy little girl. I love you Alesha!