Finalization and photos

Yesterday I got word from the court that they received the report required from our adoption agency for us to schedule finalization of Clara's adoption.  Good thing too since I have been calling the probate clerk every morning and afternoon since last Thursday when our caseworker told us she had sent the report.  We are especially excited that we are just in time to be part of the court's big event for National Adoption Day.  Normally adoptions are finalized on Tuesdays in our county but since National Adoption Day is Saturday, November 19th, the court is pulling in extra judges and scheduling families for finalization the day before, on November 18th, to celebrate adoption. 

The other really exciting thing about finally having a finalization date is that we are now able to schedule a date to take Clara to the temple with us and be sealed as a family.  For those who are not members of our church, please feel free to email me or visit mormon.org if you have questions about what a sealing is and why it is so meaningful to us.  Clara will be sealed to us on Tuesday, December 27, 2011 and we are so looking forward to that day. 

And speaking of our little girl, is she looking darling and so big these days or what?

I bought her these little mesh pouch things attached to plastic rings that I can put slices of apple, blueberries, grapes, bananas or whatever in and she can chow down on it without getting pieces of food that are too large for her.  Plus, the ring is so much easier for her to handle than the slippery food.  This is her new favorite thing.

"Mom, stop taking pictures of me - I'm focused on eating a Honeycrisp here!"

The other night I read one too many books and sang one too many songs to Clarabelle and she ended up asleep in my arms, which hasn't happened for a while.  Our pediatrician says that it is best to put her to bed while she is still awake so that she can learn to go to sleep on her own and we have been pretty good about sticking to that.  But she was so sleepy that she just drifted off.  I whispered to Paul over the baby monitor to bring the camera in and take these photos of her.

I have all these random photos of Clara on my computer from the last few weeks, so I might as well keep going.  I thought it was so sweet how she was sitting on the couch next to Paul "reading" her book while Paul was surfing the internet working.  Paul's mixing of plaids is cute, right?

And finally, I was putting the Halloween decorations the other day and decided to take some photos of Clara with our big spider.  Paul and I stick this spider all over our house during the month of October in an attempt to scare each other (in the shower, in each other's closets, over Clara's crib, etc.).  Clara wasn't scared a bit even when I stuck the spider right on top of her.