Swimming with Daddy on his birthday!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!  Ava and Mommy sang birthday tunes to Daddy this morning and then everyone had a fun day at the pool.  Our little girl is quite the swimmer!  She kicks, laughs, and loves to splash.  We had such a good time watching her play.  Can't wait to enroll in our Wednesday swim class!

Our first two weeks at home!!!

Life is so good!  We have settled in at home and are all doing well.  Ava has had a big two weeks.  She has started eating cereal, fruits, and vegetables like a big girl!  She loves bananas and apples and really likes them mixed in with her cereal.  She has a strong dislike for green beans and made Mommy and Daddy laugh with her funny faces. 
Mommy is proud to say that Ava has her first two teeth!  We are working on keeping them really clean.  Ava is so interested everytime we brush our teeth with our Sonicare toothbrushes, so maybe she will have to try one out soon!
Last Wednesday we had a great first check up with Dr. Matt and she even did pretty well with her first shots.  He told us that she is "a perfectly healthy baby girl" and that she could be one of his cutest patients!  Mommy and Daddy sure think so!
We are also so thankful for our wonderful nanny Lea.  She loves our baby girl so much and is helping us take great care of her.  She speaks Spanish and we are speaking better and better each day! 

We are Home!!!

The McDonald family is home in St. Louis!  Many of our family members were anxiously awaiting our arrival at the airport and greeted us with a lovely welcome celebration. It was so great to see everyone and introduce our baby girl to our family and friends.  We are so thankful for all of the support and help that we had during our time in Colombia.  We had a great first weekend home spending time with our family.  Ava is one well loved little girl!

 We have been working hard to get settled into our home.  Ava is doing great- sleeping well, happy as always!  She made us laugh when we put her in her bed for the first time.  She looked around and immediately started rolling around to check things out.  I think she likes how big and spacious her new crib is!  She is really enjoying her new toys and spending time with Mommy, Daddy, and her new nanny Lea.  We love this little girl so much and wonder what we ever did without her.

Our first family photos!

We found a great little studio in Bogota to get our first family photos taken! Ava did a great job with her first photo shoot!  We are so happy to be a family and can't wait to come home and introduce our little princess!

Today is our last full day in Bogota! Tony will pick up Ava's Visa from the US Embassy today, which is our last and final document that we need. We were so pleased when we were told yesterday that paperwork was completed perfectly and we could pick up the Visa today (Thank you to Jean and Luz Clara!!!)  Our time here has been amazing and we hope to return for a visit in a few years.  Maybe for a new sister or brother????  We will just have to see!
PS.  Ava is now 6 months old (as of yesterday!)  It is amazing how quickly she is growing! 
Can't wait to see everyone!!!

It's official, We are approved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are happy to say that our adoption case has been approved!  We are officially Ava Luisa's parents!  We could not be happier!!!  Our little world traveler even got her Colombian passport on Friday!  Only a few papers and appointments left and we can travel back to St. Louis.  Hopefully at the end of this week we will be relaxing at home!
We celebrated with a trip to the Science Center.  We went to a 3D movie and our little angel watched the whole movie with amazement and was quiet as can be!  We are such lucky parents!

Fun and Games!

Yesterday was our one month anniversary of meeting our Ava Luisa!  We are still having a great time getting to know her.  All of the other families we meet are amazed at how happy and content she is.  They always ask, "Does she ever cry?"  We are extremely fortunate to have Ava as our baby and love her more and more each day!