Guatetot Friends!

Last night we had another one of our 'guatetot' friends over! This was yet another friend that Isabelle had already "met" in Guatemala but had yet to play with state-side. When I was visiting in February (same trip when we "met" Isabella), Susan was staying at the same hotel as us and was bringing her daughter Gabriella home. She also lives in Winston :)

Oh, and no, these things aren't all coincidences - we worked with the same agency, who asked us to stay at a particular hotel and then helped us connect while we were there! The girls had a good time together - I doubt they actually 'remembered' each other, but Isabelle did try to give Gabriella a kiss as soon as Susan got her out of the car!

It was cute and Isabelle was asleep within 10 minutes of them leaving - bonus for me!



Gabriella turned 1 just after she got home, so she's only about 3 months older than Isabelle.

Here's a pic of right when Susan got Gabriella and the girls met for the first time (in Feb). At the time, Isabelle was MUCH bigger than Gabriella, but Gabriella is now taller (although I think Isabelle still outweighs her!)

Here's a pic of their "Guatemalan playdate" in our hotel room! At the time Isabelle was starting to crawl but Gabriella wasn't and we had to keep Isabelle from plowing over her!

And here they are last night! It was hard enough to get both of them looking at me - asking for smiles would have been WAY too much to expect :) They really were having a good time...

It's funny. When I first switched countries from Russia to Guatemala, I was aware that the decision would forever mean we would have a multi-racial family. I was okay with that but wanted to make sure that Isabelle wouldn't always be the only "non-white" kid in the group.

When I signed her up for preschool I asked about the racial make-up of her class. There will be one African American little girl and a little boy whose parents were in adoption classes with me who adopted from Vietnam. At church we have a good mix, especially when it comes to the nursery.

But my friends? Mostly white. Well, let's say just about all white with the exception of Monica, who is from El Salvador. So I knew I'd have to do some work for Isabelle to have a mix of playmates!

Well, one of the blessings of the adoption process taking so long has been the friends I have made who have also adopted from Guatemala! So yes, most of the time when we get together with friends the mommys (and sometimes daddys) are white, but so far none of the kids have been! Pretty funny. Don't get me wrong, she'll have white friends as well, but I have gotten to be such close friends with others who have truly BTDT (been there, done that), that those are the folks we have seen thus far!

Tomorrow we are off to the Natural Science Center with Stephanie and Joseph, another guatetot friend. Joseph and Isabelle "met" on my May visit when his foster mom brought him to where I was staying so I could take pics and video for Stephanie! She also has an almost 3-year-old as well, and he's the only kid I know who truly thinks it is normal that I got on a plane and brought home "his Isabelle." Very cute!

Sunday Jamie and Allie Maria came over to play and visit ... you get the theme for the day... Allie Maria isn't that much older than Isabelle but is about a season bigger, so many of the clothes you've seen in the pics are Allie Maria's hand-me-downs! No good pics of that visit - too much activity!

Yesterday Isabelle got a great package in the mail from yet ANOTHER guatetot friend, Amelia of some of Amelia's favorite things. Only difference is that she hasn't met Amelia yet :) Soon though! Just need weekend time to do it...

This coming Sunday is Joseph's baptism, so stay tuned for pics of the whole crew :)

This playdate stuff gets hectic. I'm keeping a calendar. Not my church calendar. Got a different calendar :)