3-17-08 St. Patrick’s Day!! First thing I did was wake up and open the St. Patrick’s Day card Joe had put in my suitcase… he also had one for mom and one for Emma~her 1st card! ;) I also remembered, that I had with me, the diary I was keeping at home so once I knew Emma’s birthday, I could refer back to it and see what I was doing on the day she was born. As I leafed through the pages I was saying “oh please let me have written an entry on May 1st” and sure enough!! It was actually the day I finished my autobiography for my dossier, the day my sister read it, the day I asked Patrick to be her Godfather, and the day I got my final reference letter (from next door neighbor Carrie), the day I filled out all my financial forms and got my first document notarized! It was actually the longest entry I had written! Gives me goosebumps! The final sentence in it was, I worked on adoption stuff all day, did nothing else. For a day that was “insignificant” at that time, its amazing how my mom, brother, and sister will ACTUALLY remember that day. Amazing. Emma lights up when she sees us now. Yesterday she was in the walker and started coming toward me. Today she smiled and reached up for me to pick her up. Its so exciting to see her getting attached to us and recognizing us when we walk in. There is a couple there who arrived before us, they say she's changed SOOOOO much since they got there, and saw her, to now~that we've been with her, she's like a completely different child. They said she always sat there in the nursery, never smiled and hardly moved, just looks sad all the time. Now she’s all smiling and very active. I had gotten her a full blown St. Patrick’s Day outfit. Little shamrock dress, white tights with frilly lace on the butt (was covered up by the shamrock panties that came with the dress), a “my 1st St. Patrick’s day” bib and of course a green barrette in her hair. I had on my green “Kiss me I’m a Jersey girl” sweatshirt too! Everyone was saying “oh Emma!! You’re so pretty! And loved the outfit! All the caregivers get the biggest kick out of seeing her in cute and different things. They usually have her in the same jean dress, a yellow sweatshirt, or a white sweater. I’ve actually asked if I could buy another sweater and jumper to exchange for those ones she always wears so we could have them. It’s what we’ve seen her in so often there, it would be nice to have. I let Emma open her card from Joe and she got a kick out of ripping the envelope. Then she played with the card most of the morning. I took many pics of this. She holds your fingers and pulls herself up then loves to walk (with you holding her hands above her head) she's a speed demon now. She still enjoys looking in the mirror and was giving herself kisses in it! So cute! Many pics an video of this as well. There is a ball “pit” in one of the rooms, so we surrounded her with all the green balls and again, took many pics. Hahahaha that’s what we do most of the time! The caregivers there are so wonderful and she gets a smile on her face when I return her to them, which does make me happy b/c it would kill me if she was crying not to go to them. In b/t visits, while our maid was here (wow wouldn’t that be great at home!??!) Mom and I played about 17 games of Sequence, which mom is getting better at b/c I’m barely beating her now.