Monday, August 13, 2007

So Many Firsts!!!

The past 2 days have been fairly quiet from an “exploring” China perspective, but great days of our girls exploring many things (including us) and us getting to see many firsts in our daughters in such a short time.

New today is that Olivia now has a ready smile for us when we play (not as freely as Eliana but we’ll take all the smiles we can get!). The smiling for her is very new as she seems to be the introverted one that is analyzing everything and trying to make sense of all the changes in her life.

Some of our firsts include seeing the two of them go from lying on their stomachs to sitting up on their own (not completely stable yet though), seeing their beautiful smiles (no gut laughs yet…), seeing them respond to their names, we bathed them for our first time, watching them play on their own now, hearing their little sweet voices in self-talk (they are SOOO sweet), and seeing them reach for us to hold them or crawl to us to get the bottle.

Eliana has become a mommy’s girl very quickly that wants to be held by me whenever she sees me. She is very content with Daddy also – she just prefers mommy when she gets the choice. She will also crawl to where I am standing just to put a hand on my foot or ask to be picked up. Today she pulled herself up for the first time – cool to see!

Olivia has this great “flying” mode when she lays on the ground. She’s on her tummy with her legs and arms raised, flapping away. She has the greatest mouth/lip pucker thing she does – so adorable! She has frequent baby talk conversations now when she plays by herself.

The night sleeps are getting shorter as it seems one or the other is awake, or coughing which is turn is keeping us up. (the amazing thing is that one girl wailing loud will not disturb the other!) Both girls had a cold when we got them and we had to visit the hospital for a couple of related things. But Olivia’s cold is mostly gone, Eliana’s persists though which is making her and our sleep difficult. Eliana does also have a sore on her head (that is why the gauze in the one picture) that we are treating.

Their energy level is now amazing – wow – busy girls!!! Especially Eliana. Olivia seems a bit more independent, but interacts very well with us and loves our attention.

Enjoy some photos















8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Andrew and Margaret,
Thanks so much for letting us share this journey with you. We look forward to each update whenever you have to time and energy to do so. The girls look terrific and it is so neat to hear about all the little firsts. While I won't admit to tears ;-), I do notice that my eyes are a little more damp after reading the posts. We will be praying for the girls health this week.
Darren and Mary Ann

Anonymous said...

We can't wait to play with Olivia and Eliana and to enjoy their smiles. We love you and we're praying for you.

Love Elizabeth and Graham

Anonymous said...

Adorable!!

Jeanette

Anonymous said...

O Mag!
They are PRECIOUS.
Two little princesses.
How you and Andrew have been blessed. And how we too have been blessed.
God is SO good -- SO, SO good.
Kiss the girlies for us.
~Dorothy~

Anonymous said...

Margaret,

It is so wonderful to see the photos of you and your girls.

We all miss seeing you at Dare.

Continue to update whenever you can, as it is so inspiring to read about this journey you are on.

Cathy Haynes

Michaella said...

Hello Lucas family of 4,
We love the photos - look forward to seeing them so much! Kieran has lots of fun telling us who is who in the photos - just in case we were unsure! Kieran and Emmaleen are very happy to be home after their 10 hour car trip. I do hope you have as easy a trip(though much longer)(next week) as ours was. Emmaleen is showing off her walking skills to Matthew and grinning from ear to ear - we totally understand the "first" excitment you must be feeling so much.
Lots of love from the Stittsville Lucas family of 4 (together again)

Anonymous said...

Margaret and Andrew, just checked out your progress with John, Jamie, Alex. Looks like you are very happy and enjoying your time so far. We all send our best wishes and congratulations. Enjoy the rest of your visit!
Joanne

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone,
I've been away for a few days and couldn't wait to get home to see the girls. They are so beautiful! It's so exciting. No pressure but it would be really nice when the girls are practising Grandma and Grandpa's name, they spend a little time going over, "Pastor Marshall and Merrie's names too!!!