Saturday, November 21, 2009

Finally Uploading Photos

Phew, who new it would be so hard to find time to upload photos. Three months later... this is what we all look like... hope you enjoy their sweet faces as much as I do!!!

Mina the sweet is a strong sitter with no more wobbles. She's started solid foods and so far green beans are her favorite. The sides of her hair are growing in but her daddy still thinks her mohawk is pretty hard core awesome...










Lydia the brave had surgery this week. Tonsils and adenoids. She is recovering well with still quite a bit of pain...it's only been 2 days. The boys are out of town with Daddy so the girls have been enjoying lots of movies, junk food and pedicures.



Lydia got to wear her jammies for the surgery and this is us before we walk out the door. I was as much of a wreck as she was until they gave her that sleepy medicine and she was all goofy grins and cuddles. Then it was just me biting my nails. She was happily smiling as they wheeled her away to the OR. What a sweet girl.



The boys got up early to say goodbye to Lyd on surgery day. I just love them all in their jammies, so warm and snuggly with crazy hair and morning breath.



Showing off her nails...



Relaxing with a book...



We set up an air mattress in our room for Lydia so I could help her through the night and give her pain meds. She likes sleeping in it and getting it all set up with her snacks and drinks and stuffed animals. Mina stopped in to check out Lydia's cool setup and to make her sister smile...



Going out for a special night with Dad last week as a reward for finishing her Language Arts workbook... Lydia's favorite place...Godfather's pizza buffet... and some much needed alone time with Daddy.



Stay tuned... more pictures of the boys to come, maybe...

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Three Months of Blog Free Family Life...

In case you were wondering, I didn't take an oath to avoid the blog for three months. It's just that I seriously don't sit anymore. And if I do sit, I'm liable to fall asleep and even if I can stay awake it is difficult to think clearly with all of the activity around me. The couple of time I did sit down I couldn't come up with words for all the emotions I was feeling at the time and stared at the blank screen for a while and then walked upstairs to embrace my pillow. So how are we doing since we have become a family of six? Our life is full of fun and laundry and laughter and setting boundaries, and bottles and doctor's appointments and medicine and games and soccer and hugs and smiles and grumpy faces. Our life, MY life is GOOD. I thoroughly enjoy my family. Each of one my children are amazing and unique and my husband is a helpful and wonderful person to be living this full life with.

As far as the adjustment goes... I can sum it up by saying the first month was new and exciting and fun, yet exhausting. The second month was really difficult for everyone as we fell into our new roles, established new boundaries and forged new relationships. The third month has had easy fun- filled days as well as difficult adjustments, but overall each day gets less stressful as we all learn how to be a family.

Hailemicael is a really funny kid... like stand- up comedian kind of funny. He's very talented in every sport he attempts from bike riding to baseball with soccer and shooting marbles being the pretty amazing talents he brought from Ethiopia. He's a fast learner. He can read some 2 and three letter words in English and he picks up on Math really fast. His conversational English gets better everyday and he has a spirit of joy and laughter and goofiness that we all benefit from every day. He can definitely get me laughing. He's gained 10 lbs. since we met him and it think it's all muscle. Hours for soccer and bike- riding will do that to you, I guess. His fav food by far is my homemade whole wheat cheese pizza and he asks for it every day at all meals as well as at snacktime.

Mina has been the easiest baby and sweet as maple sugar. She can now sit up unassisted and babbles REALLY loudly. She so adorable and fun and she loves her brothers and sister and has big smiles for her mom and her dad all day! Definitely a ray of sunshine in our family. She weighed 10.8 lbs when we first met her three months ago and didn't even lift her head. She's now 15.6 lbs. and strong and healthy. Did I mention that she's SUPER sweet and beautiful?

Noah is doing really well and is sharing a room with his brother. He's doing great in school... we just started a section on map reading and he is really into drawing his own treasure maps in make- believe lands. But he'd rather be reading that doing anything.

Lydia has really enjoyed having her Ethiopian brother around as they are both very active and social. Of course, that also means they get at each other quite a bit too. She loves to communicate with Hailemicael and explain the English language to him. She has also picked up a bit of Amharic, due to her love of talking, and enjoys using her Amharic words with Hailemicael. It's pretty obvious that it drives him crazy when she does this, but it's cute, nonetheless. Both she and Noah just love to spend their days playing with little Mina and making sure she has everything she needs. I'm pretty sure they are teaching her to make a bunch of noise when she wants to beckon them as every time she makes a peep they are there with a song and a dance and a new toy.

OK, so time to feed my sweet little Mina, but I will leave you with a few pictures of the fam. Thanks for reading and God Bless...