navy battleship. & misc updates...

we've had another fun week. we've spent a lot of time with the other family that is here, michelle & darrell (& their teenage son, evan and new baby sam). darrell flew out last night so esme and i went to the airport to see him off. it's always sad to see someone leave. michelle, evan and sam will be here while their papers take the same route ours did. they are a couple of weeks behind us and then will be home. they are a great family and have become good friends. i can't wait to see sam & esme grow together.

i've spent some time with others that i have met as well (not adopting). i've had lunches and dinners with people and now can't believe we're down to just days. it will be weird to leave since i've created some great friendships here. of course however i want nothing more than to get home. but i'm really enjoying the end of my trip and really looking forward to my last weekend here.

this week the taiwanese navy were in RMI. two huge battleships were docked for a couple of days and we were able to tour one. also the day before there was an event that included a basketball game between the taiwanese & RMI, a marching band show, and a martial arts show. a few of us went together and ended up watching all of it. it was really fun and esme did great. i guess she's ready for memorial weekend.

esme is certainly growing - cheeks, thighs & arms are really filling out and she's definitely longer. i haven't had a chance to get her weighed. i was at the post office yesterday getting a mail box set up for her birth mom and i almost asked the guy if i could put esme on the mail scale. i didn't think he'd go for it, and i'm quite sure ezzy wouldn't be too cool with it either. but it was tempting.

oh, and yesterday was one month since our court date!


i should point out that my child does not sit in that bouncy chair thingy all day. she actually will only do a short time in it. i feel like every photo i post she's in it but it's the only way for me to take shots of her. the last few days she has just discovered her thumb. she's been looking for it for a while and i think she was quite please with herself for finding it. up until then she would put her first to her mouth and lick, but her thumb was always inside her fist.

one last thing.... thank you so much for everyone that has emailed or posted comments. i haven't been able to respond to everyone but i have been able to read them and it's helped me so much while i'm here. i'm not ignoring you if you haven't heard back from me - i just have to load the emails and read them offline, then try to get back on to reply so sometimes it takes me a while.

but please still send me messages even though i can't always get back to you, i can't say enough how much it means. it's the highlight of my mornings to read the comments & my emails.