Gia and Maya in matching outfits: Friends Forever

Just Chillin'

This Holly and Gia. Holly lives 5 minutes away from me, in Somerset. I met Holly's husband in March right after receiving Maya's referral. Normally, I would be fired for violating HIPPA laws, but Holly and hubby Zo tell me it is okay...I was one of the pre-op nurses the day Holly gave her kidney to Zo. I saw them both showing off Gia's pictures before Holly went into surgery. I had to run around and admit all my patients before I could get to them. By the time I did, they had already whisked Holly into the OR. I introduced myself to Zo and told him we were adopting too!!! They had just visited Gia and had wonderful pictures. I had just gotten my referral a few days prior, and was trying not to tell co-workers. After talking with Zo, I was on Cloud 9 thinking of Maya. I got my Maya pics and showed everyone!!!

Maya likes to "stand"

Maya is checking Gia for cavities

Say "ahh" Gia, I know you have been hitting Cinnabon a lot lately

Holly, look closely at Maya. Gia has her using the finger.

This picture is probably my personal FAVORITE. This is what she looks like. This is her. We know you all want to meet her, but for now, look at this picture. It captures her personality.

Watch out Daddy, this is MY REMOTE!!!

Maya loves to fall asleep on her belly. How precious is this position? You should see it in person. We turn her on her back once she is good and asleep at night. That is what her foster mother does, so we continued that routine.

She was sitting up very nicely posing for me in this picture.

Maybe her and Bryan could start modeling.

Mama's on strike-WEEK 3 !

Maya loves the pool ! That makes 4 of us now!!!!

Can you tell Daddy and Maya are happy here?

This picture was taken in honor of her teething drool

Maya...eating, again...

Mommy and Daddy were "just ducky" on our trip

Maya loves to be on her belly !
My baby

Maya grabs at toys now, no problem!

I loved the way Maya looked at George and the way he looked at her

Maya loves The Marriott/ Mommy cut my bangs!

Please, please, no more pictures MOMMY

I am ready for MORE FOOD!!

She is sitting up pretty well, but still a little wobbily

Yes, She can wave now!

Sorry the pictures are not in order everyone! This was taken our first night. Mommy and Daddy took the 5:45am plane to Guatemala. We were as tired as babies too!

All the Forum Mommies and Daddies met

They are all so cute!!!

Yoohoo, babies...anyone want to look at the camera???

Daddy Time

We are standing across from the gift shop at The Marriott in this pic. The lady who works at the gift shop LOVES Maya!!! She remembered us from our last visit. Maya waved at her. We will try and get a pic of her and Maya on pickup.

This little girl could eat. She eats anything and everything you try and give her!

Sleeping Beauty

Pretty in PINK

Banging on the table again, cracking herself up

HOW CUTE AM I , REALLY????

Maya really enjoys slapping dinner tables

She took onto Daddy the first day

Hey, man, what's up???

She smiles so easily now

MAYA'S FIRST TAGGIE BLANKET

(My Mom made it for her!)

Mayita says "THANK YOU, NANNY!!!!"

YES, SUE DID HAVE HER BABY

TODAY I RECEIVED VERY HAPPY NEWS !!!! SUE IS NO LONGER PREGNANT! SO SAD, I KNOW SHE ALWAYS LOVES HER 10TH MONTH OF PREGNANCY!

Colin Patrick Donoghue

was born Sept 1, 2006. He weighed in at 7lbs 13ounces and 21inches. He came with a full head of black hair.

Colin is the lucky little brother of Erin, 3 years old and Matthew, 1 year old

Sue is one of the few ladies left who leaves the sex of her babies a surprise...so thank you so much for the news!!!!

George and I love the name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2006-WE ARE IN MAYA HEAVEN

Our trip to Guatemala is totally worth it. Maya has changed so much. She is so strong and has a lot of quirks. We have come to realize that soon we will have 4 stubborn people living in our house!
She is so funny. Her eyes tell you everything. She would much rather have my french fries than her formula. I did not give her any but I know that is what she wants!!!
Today we had company. Holly and Gia came to visit us. Holly is taking Gia home soon. She has fostered over here for 3 months and is excited to bring her home. We also visited with Ann and Elianna(and Ann's sister-in-law)...and had a GREAT time. Elianna was born the same day as Maya(2/24/06). Elianna is going home too. We hope and pray that Maya can come home soon. Nothing would make us happier than coming back here this month...PLEASE LORD?????
We are anxious for our family to be together at home. Speaking of which, Poppy and Nanny got Bryan to use the potty today!!!! He did #1 and #2!!!! Trust me this is very exciting!!! Good job !!! We are so excited to see Bryan. We miss him!!!!

Well, we will post more pictures as we get them. We took a lot of cute ones!!!!!!!!!!

Today we were lucky enough to have Holly take pictures for us. She emailed them to us so that we could put a few on our blog until we get all of our pictures uploaded. THANK YOU HOLLY!! Mommy and Maya time...Maya loves to move. She only likes to stay still to eat or sleep. As you can see, she gets her way.

Don't you love her eyes??? Wait until you see them in person...she uses them to her advantage!

Maya awakening from an outdoor nap...

Holly and Gia, Ann and Elianna, Me and Maya

Daddy is distracting Maya from her teething pain

Gia and Maya: Friends Forever

Maya asks Gia to say "AAH"

DID SUE HAVE HER BABY??????

Will someone please email me if Sue had her baby???
I do not have my email addresses with me!!

Thanks!!!

PS Maya is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are here in Guatemala with MAYA!!!!!

Hello to all!
We arrived in Guatemala yesterday at about 12:30pm. Our flights were fine. We had Maya in our arms by 3pm. She came to us without any problems. She is so smart! We spent a lot of time talking with her fostermom, Debbie and Debbie's two children, Shari and Baroni. Baroni is Debbie's son. He speaks good English and translated for us until our agency representative got there. Debbie had gifts for us! We received a fan wall hanging from Guatemala for our home. They also gave us individual gifts. I was given a small handbag. George was given a flute. They gave us a drum for Bryan. They are all Guatemalan and mean a lot to us.
Once we had Maya to ourselves, we did some major bonding. We were all so tired. We had dinner at the sports restaurant here. Maya was an angel.
After getting back and settling in, we noticed Maya was begining to feel hot. I took her temperature and sure enough, she had a fever. She also recently had a little diarrhea. It reminded us of how Bryan was everytime that he got a tooth. We had just had a report this week that Maya had no teeth yet, but I checked anyway.
Guess what????? That is right...Mommy found Maya's FIRST TOOTH!!!! It just cracked through the gums on the bottom in the front. What were the chances of us being here for the first tooth???
Unfortunately, the fever has continued but it is coming down with Tylenol as needed.
We hope it is just teething, she is acting so happy.
We were all asleep before 10pm and we all slept really well. Maya did get us up at about 1:30am. We did not mind, and she went right back to sleep then. We all awoke at 6:50am.
Maya enjoyed 2 helpings of rice cereal. We could not shove it in fast enough. What an eater!
Then we all went to breakfast. We love the food here!
Maya just had a nap. When she woke up, she had some veggies and pears....loved everything!
Right now she is laying with Daddy coo-ing...she really loves Daddy.
We will be heading down near the pool to meet a bunch of other adoptive couples shortly.
The weather is rainy, but probably not as rainy as New Jersey.

We are very sad to say that we cannot post any pictures right now. Either myself, or Bryan lost our Sony cable on Wednesday. That means that we cannot upload any pics to the computer. We are hopeful to meet someone today who has the same camera as us. We will see. For now, you will all have to take our word for it...she is adorable!!! Her hair is totally out of control but she is adorable!!!