First of all, I have to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS as Sylvie and her family left today for Haiti, and will be coming home with their beautiful little girl in their arms! They are the first Canadian family to have completed the process from GLA, and their success story gives much needed hope for those of us still waiting.

 I brought an album for Giselle with pictures of our previous trips to Haiti. I’m not sure if she recognized herself in the photos (she doesn’t see herself in a mirror very often), but I tried to make a big deal of pointing out that “mamma” was with Giselle in this picture, and “pappa” was with Giselle in that picture… There were also family photos of us at the end – pictures of Kylar with Amara, and Darren and I with Amara. I don’t know how much of it clicked with her, she seemed more fascinated by turning the pages than spending a lot of time looking at the photos.

 I think it was THE favorite “toy” that I brought for her though. She spent a lot of time flipping through that book. Occasionally she would see a photo of Kylar and Amara, and she would turn to look at Kylar, so I think she was starting to put two and two together. I am going to have an album ready for her when she comes come – with all the favorite photos of our trips to Haiti. Hopefully she will be able to understand that we do have some history together.

 This is Rachel – the amazing women who runs Rivers of Hope. When I showed Amara this photo, she said “Nana!” and strangely enough, Rachel does look a lot like my mom. I wonder if Giselle will see the resemblance as well and how she will react to that?

 After the disappointment of waiting at the Judge’s office for 3.5 hours (the first time) we went to the Baptist Mission for lunch where this photo was taken. Silly me – this is the only photograph of all 3 of us together :(

 Twice the nannies let me bath Giselle in the evening. I loved it – even though they stared at me like I was crazy the first time because I didn’t know their system of how they do things. I was told that Giselle cries when the nannies bath her – but she was great for me! They also say she cries when the nannies do her hair, but she doesn’t make a peep when I do it :)

 I love doing these normal “mom” things for Giselle. Bathing, changing diapers, changing clothing… making sure her hair is presentable. It makes it all so much more real that she really is my daughter. I can’t wait until I am able to do these things for her all the time.

Although… I might change my mind about the diaper changing very quickly!

She loves her belly. When I change her diaper, she likes to pull up her shirt and show me her belly so I will kiss it and blow rasberries… but gets very annoyed with me if I take too long. I’m sure she is used to the nannies whipping her on and off that change table quickly as they have so many babies to look after.