One Month Since Court!

I can't believe today is May 2nd, exactly one month after our final court date. A month ago today Shawn and I stood in a tiny court room in Ukraine holding hands experiencing new nerves and new excitement! Fast forward one month and we are home still wondering if this all really happened!

We've been so busy! Zoya took a trip with me to the school I teach at.  Everyone there was so happy to see her...she was like a celebrity for sure! She gave lots of hugs and waves and smiles.  Everyone just loved her :)  She was so excited to see all the kids.  She was just so curious and just kept staring in amazement! We were there for an hour and a half and could have stayed longer but Zoya was getting sleepy and still hadn't eaten lunch.  My 2nd graders were so excited to see me again and to meet Zoya.  I can't believe how much my kiddos grew in 6 weeks!

We had a photo shoot with Zoya's new bathing suits!

Yesterday we went down to the bayfront to visit our sailing buddies.  Shawn and I volunteer for an adaptive sailing program during the summers.  It's an awesome program and when Zoya is older she will have a chance to sail on Lake Erie every Friday:)  Our sailing group was meeting to work on the sail boats and get them ready for the start of the sailing season in June. 

Here are a couple pictures of Zoya in her first boat...not on the water though:)

Last night, we took Zoya to the mall for her first of many shopping trips.  We didn't buy much but she enjoyed looking at all the people and waving to them as they passed by.  Some people smiled at her and waved back and said "Oooo, how cute." Others just ignored her or looked at her funny.  I said to Shawn, come on, if you saw a cute baby waving at you would you NOT wave back??? Some people are just too busy to stop and smell the roses I guess! Zoya is changing the world one person at a a time :) When Zoya is in new places she mostly just stares with wide eyes taking it all in.  She loves being out and about and seeing new things.  I would imagine she would, especially after seeing only the 4 walls of her orphanage for almost two years!

Zoya really wanted to buy a riding lawn mower but Daddy said No! Hehe.

In the mall we went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner.  This little girl is always well behaved when food is involved.  She had a mini burger and some mashed potatoes :) She waved to everyone that passed by our table.  Are you seeing a common action here? Zoya waves to lots of people! She loves to get attention from others and we are so excited that she has learned an acceptable way to do so (instead of hitting/grabbing/biting-which we still see sometimes but fading). 

We had to buy a new Baby Einstein music toy as the one from Ukraine bit the dust from overuse! It is still her favorite toy and we take it with us to all new places incase she gets overwhelemed with the "newness." This toy seems to comfort her no matter where we are. 

Big girl standing herself up!

She loves shoes...

Zoya enjoys looking out windows and doors.

Zoya is starting to be nicer to Mya! In fact, last night I was laying on the floor and Mya snuggled her head into my neck and just layed there.  Zoya came over and nicely pushed Mya out of the way and did the SAME EXACT thing Mya was doing.  She snuzzled her head right into my neck. Shawn and I were laughing so hard! Zoya just looked at us like "what?" Like I said, this girl is smart figuring out how to get attention!

Here she is reading all about Down Syndrome.  She has big plans to write her own book one day!

Zoya and Moma time on the couch! She loves flying.

Snuggles...

Silly Girl!

She fits in her Daddy's arms perfectly!

Zoya's favorite time of the day....lunch! I've started taking her shirt off to feed her because she is one messy girl! She doesn't seem to mind!