Lizzy meeting Amy for the first time. I like her shirt :)

Lizzy and her cousin Brooklyn.

Lizzy watching the action of the party.

The birthday boy...Dylan Matthew Kwiatkowski

I think the baby loves me. I have known for awhile that she loved Matthew-she jumps and smiles whenever she sees him, but she does not react this way for me. We are almost never separated, so there is little surprise or jumping required. But today, Lizzy wanted to cuddle more and when she usually doesn't want to-during feeding and playing. I think this might be because Lizzy has just spent a couple of overnights with her grandparents so I could go stay in the hospital with Matt. Everyone has said that she looks for my voice and follows me around the room, but until tonight I did not see any "real" evidence of her attachment to me. I love this baby, and I am glad that finally she can feel it too.



This weekend Lizzy and I celebrated her cousin's birthday. Dylan turned three this year, and Mike and Miranda had a family party for him. As always, it was wonderful to see our family, and Lizzy LOVES her cousins. Mostly she watches them in awe because our house is so boring and doesn't have as much action.



We also got to see my good friend Amy and her husband this weekend. They live in Virginia, and this was their first experience with Lizzy. So took to them right away...how could you not?

This has been an interesting week for us...Matthew is back in the hospital to get ready for his surgery this Weds. We are hoping it is a shorter stay than last time because Lizzy and I are missing him all ready. We also meet some new friends this week. Lizzy finally got to meet Angelina Borowiak after a month of illness in her family, and the meeting went well. Lizzy, like her mother, has a problem with being loud, and she continually screamed "A-da" at Angelina trying to gain a response. Of course, Angelina, like most women, was frightened by this volume:)

Lizzy and I are both trying to work on our inside voices :)

Also, to add insult to injury for poor Angelina, Lizzy is apparently not good at sharing. Angelina had the nerve to grab for Lizzy's favorite toy, and as you can see Lizzy did all she could to get it back.

Here are some pictures from Lizzy's first swim class last week. She LOVED it, and hopefully she loves it again today! Please ignore me in my bathing suit. I am not summer ready-emotionally or physically :)

Lizzy had a party this weekend. Okay...she didn't have a party, but it was a party for her. Matt's mom, Dianne, threw a beautiful party for some of her friends and family to welcome little Lizzy Lee to Valpo. It was held in the same room where we had our wedding and in the same restaurant that Matthew proposed. It has become a special place for us, and it was wonderful to have so many people AGAIN be so excited about our little girl. When you adopt, you hope that your child will be welcomed and loved just like all parents do. We have been so blessed to have so many people love us and be generous to us all through our lives. It was a WONDERFUL party.

The best part, for us at least, was getting to see our niece and nephews. They have been very sick this winter, and as you can see Lizzy loves her cousin Brooklyn who is one month younger, but luckily for us bigger-lots of hand-me-downs!

I am sorry that I haven't written or updated you all in a little bit. Lizzy keeps me rather busy!!

This week Lizzy had her first swim class. She LOVES the water, and she did her kicking motion (her sign that she is excited) almost the entire time. What a natural! Some family came to watch her swim, and shortly before (after I realized that I would be in a swimsuit too) a friend reminded me that maybe I should stop inviting people to the swim class :)

We have been attempting to stay busy. Mostly we hang out with our friends Jenn and Ione Skafish (also on maternity leave), we go on walks, and we clean. I am still amazed at the number of times a week I do laundry, and I am terrified of what this house will look like when I return to work in a couple of weeks :(

Lizzy is still not crawling, but she has perfected her roll and it seems to get her everywhere she wants to go. She stands for long periods of time while holding on to things. And she seems to want to step while standing, but no major movement yet.

She, like her mother, talks constantly. Frequently in resturants she tries to play the game we play at home where she screams and then we scream back. At home it is cute because she laughs, I think at the fact that she can get us to perform for her, but in public I think it might be too much for others! She has started squealling at strangers to get their attention, and when they look she cocks her head to the side and smiles-all ready aware that she is the prettiest girl in the room.

She still loves her activity center and her jump-a-roo, but now that she is more mobile she seems to want to be out of them more than in. This makes my life a little more difficult, but I am sure her mobilty now will seem tame compared with what is coming.

Matthew was recently in the hospital for almost two weeks for his infection in his ankle, and it looks like he will have surgery on the 14th of this month. We are looking forward to it because we all hope this means we will be on the road to healing again. He has had trouble with his ankle for so long, and it would be nice to take walks as a family together.