Last weekend we celebrated 3 years with Raelen! She is growing up so fast! She turned 3 in September and is talking in full sentences, cutting with scissors, bossing her older siblings around...I don't know how many times in the past few weeks I've heard her say "You're not the boss!" She fits right in our family, that's for sure!

I will post pictures from Gotcha Day #4 as soon as I get them off my mom's camera:) For now, I'll post some recent pictures of her.

She has said so many funny things over the last year, I wouldn't have time to post all of them. Today is her Daddy's birthday & she asked me if we were going to put a Kindle on the cake. She said, "you know...Kindle Fire?" Too funny. She's very dramatic too, talking with her hands and showing us one of her 100 different facial expressions. We've heard a few funny comments in the last few months...One guy said "what a cute little Mexican girl you have!" Of course, I corrected him, but did think it was kind of funny. Then when I said she was adopted from Colombia, he said "oh, they make coffee & pot (marijuana)." Again, I corrected him that Colombia is a beautiful country with wonderful people (and that it's cocaine, not marijuana) LOL!

Things people come up with ! Anyway, that's all for now! I'll try not to wait ANOTHER year to post!
Saving...

Gotcha Day #3

Last Friday we celebrated TWO YEARS since we became Raelen's mom & dad! We went out for supper and had balloons and cake. We kept telling her "today is a special day!" but I know she doesn't understand it yet. She enjoyed the party..although she kept thinking we were going to Pizza Hut rather than the White House!



Every month that passes I try to hold onto a memory, because it is all going by way too fast! I think we'd become adoptive parents again in a heartbeat if we didn't have to wait so long and if we knew the next one would be as wonderful for our family as Rae has been. Whether it's the funny thing she's said or tattling on Reese or Logan, we wouldn't want to miss it for the world:)

Wow, I'm embarassed that it's been over a year since I've updated! When I was with Raelen in Colombia, I had all kinds of time on my hands, and I complained about it! Hard to believe that now.

This past September we celebrated Raelen's 2nd birthday already! She has developed into a little girl, no longer a baby, right before our eyes. She is keeping us busy with her 2-year old curiosity. She is saying lots of new words every day, and is now speaking in almost full sentences. Some of the things she comes up with make us laugh. She asked one day "Where Emily go?" so I said, "she's at work," and she responded with "In the combine???" If you know Emily, you'll know why that was so funny:)

Last month we had our final follow up placement visit with our social worker. Everything went really well and everyone seems pleased with her progress. Now if we could just get potty training down...

It's really hard for me to believe that in less than 2 months, we will have had her for two years! I do think about her birth mother occasionally, like on Rae's birthday and wonder how she's doing. Now is the time of the year we reflect on all the things we are thankful for, and I certainly don't forget about her. I could never express how grateful we are for the precious gift she gave us. I think she would be at peace knowing how much Raelen is loved.

One year old!

Hi everyone! Things continue to be crazy at the Manderfield home! We celebrated Raelen's 1st birthday last month, and Tuesday marked 8 months since we brought her home to Iowa. It has gone by incredibly fast. It feels like she's been with us forever:)

Raelen is just starting to walk, but is still pretty unsteady. She does better on carpet though. She eats really well, and although she hit a rough patch in terms of sleeping earlier this week, she's back to her usual 12 hour nights. This makes for a much more rested Mommy too!

I think she's up to 10 teeth, including her molars which just broke through. Seems like she's young for that, but it's hard to remember when the other 2 got theirs, since it was over 5 years ago! She's started saying a few words, Reese, Mommy, Daddy, puppy, Papa, and TRACTOR!!!

Our homestudy caseworker comes next week for our 9 month post adoption update. I'm sure she'll be surprised how big she's gotten...she's 13 months old and weighs almost 26 pounds! It's hard to believe she was just a little over 6 pounds when she was born.

Anyway, that's all for now!!!

Finally, an update!

Hi! I figured after4.5 months, I should try to update you on how everything is going! Honestly, I tried updating a couple times, but it wouldn't let me sign in for some reason!

Raelen is getting so big...and into everything! She's pulling herself up to stand & just learned how to climb steps! Needless to say we are utilizing the baby gates a lot lately. I can't believe she'll be 1 next month! The time has gone by so fast, partly because she's been such a good baby. She's been sleeping through the night all summer & sleeps 12-13 hours a night.

She's had a couple of ear infections, but I hope once we have her off the bottle in a few months that will help. Otherwise, she's been very healthy.

We spent last weekend in Chicago and went the zoo, aquarium, and to a Colombian adoption picnic. There were 12 children there from Colombia! It was really neat to share our stories with each other & reconnect with one of the families who were in Bogota with us.

This summer has been full! We went to several parades, the pool a few times, played outside in our pool, and much more. I will post new pictures soon, I promise.

The kids start school next week, so I'm ready for some sort of schedule again! I'll be working 3 days a week, so the other 2 days I'll be home with Raelen, which will be nice.

Anyway, that's all for now, so watch for more pictures!

Update

Today marked four weeks since Raelen and I have been home, and things are going extremely well. We are all adjusting to having a baby in the house again, and Logan & Reese to having a little sister! Raelen started sleeping all night last week, so that's made the adjustment even better:)

She's grown so much in the last few weeks, and has even started doing the "army crawl" on the floor. This frustrates Logan a little, since he can't just hang out with his toys on the living room floor any more, or baby sister gets ahold of them!

We got our family pic taken last week, so I'll post that too. Things are going well and I am enjoying my last week off before heading back to work on the 6th. It's hard to believe my 12 weeks is almost over already!!!

Love,

The Manderfield 5 :)

Home Sweet Home!!!

OK, so I'm sorry I haven't posted for over a week, but I do have a good excuse! I have been very busy...but I'm definitely NOT complaining! I am so happy to be home so I can be busy with 3 kids:)

The 5.5 hour flight to Newark from Bogota went extremely well. Raelen was an absolute angel. We made it to Newark a few minutes later than scheduled, which was fine because we had a 4 hour layover, and I didn't feel rushed. Well...then it turned into a 5 hour layover, and we finally left Newark at 9:40 PM, when it was supposed to be 8:05! THEN, to top it off, when we got to Minneapolis, there weren't enough runways cleared, so we had to fly around Minneapolis for 40 minutes, and then go to Des Moines to refuel from all that extra flying! We were supposed to land at MSP at 10:30 PM, but it ended up being 1:30 AM (which was actually 2:30 AM to us, since we were an hour ahead in Bogota.) But we finally made it, and we came down the escalator & Donnie didn't see us until I got right behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. It was really a neat moment. I cried because I was so happy that the journey was finally over!!!

So, we slept for a while at a hotel & left in the morning to head back home. My mom was with my sister and the kids at our house, and we told the kids that we wouldn't be home for another hour. We were actually almost home, but wanted to surprise them. I walked in the house really quietly with Raelen in her seat, and peeked around the corner in the living room, where Reese & Logan were sitting on the couch. Then they saw me, and everyone in the room was crying:) It was another neat moment. That night, Raelen slept for 12 hours straight without a bottle! She must have been tired.

Since then, things have been going extremely well. Raelen goes to bed around 8-8:30 when Reese & Logan do, gets up around 2 AM for a bottle, and usually sleeps until 8:30-9 AM. She is so good! Reese & Logan just love her to pieces, and have both been huge helpers for me. It's wonderful to have our family all together finally!

Better get going...kids are sleeping so I need to get some things done. I'll update again soon on how things are going. Love from ALL of us...Donnie, Lyndsey, Reese, Logan and Raelen:)