Toothless Grins

Minna is teething. Come on little toofers... break through already! Little mouth...BIG OUCH.

Nine Month Check-up

Minna was in for her nine month check-up last week and she is doing great! She's up to 17.1 pounds! Way to eat Min! She's in the 25th percentile for height, 15% for weight and 75% for head circumference. And the best news is that she's finally gardia-free! Yeah for a happy, healthy baby!

Oh and she's got skills too... She can clap her hands, blow kisses, cluck her tongue, pitch a royal fit, self- feed puffs, say mama and dada, scoot around on her tummy (usually in circles), play peek-a-boo with a blanket, and be as cute as you can imagine.

My favorite time is at night when we snuggle up for her bedtime bottle and she snuggles her face into me and then looks at my face and gives me the sweetest grins and snuggles some more. She really is the happiest baby I have ever been around and she is such a sweet blessing!

We've been home just over six months now and Haile (high-lee)is doing really well too. Every day I feel like we all fit together and understand each other so much better. We have a lot of fun together and love to laugh with each other. He is understanding the flow of the family and we are understanding what makes him tick. Everything is seeming more normal now and behavior issues are no longer an everyday battle. We are gel'in.

Haile and Lydia have started an indoor soccer instructional class that they both enjoy immensely. Haile received his first pair of soccer cleats as well, which was super fun to watch. He was so excited that he kissed them and tucked them in at night. The next day he put them on as soon as he woke up and wore them all day long. Every Tuesday he gets dressed in full soccer gear (including cleats and shin guards) straight out of bed and sports this look all day until his class ends at 8:00pm. I just love his smile. I love that he and Lydia can play soccer together too. They are always either the best friends you could ever be, or the most bickering, competitive brother and sister you every met. It's like a switch. I'd like to duct tape it in a certain direction, never to be switched again. But I guess I'll take what I can get. They sure are adorable when they are switched on to best buddies.

All the kids are doing well with school and Haile's English has improved drastically. He still says some funny things like "oooooch" instead of "ouch" and they are so cute I hate to correct him, but I suppose I better get on them before they stick.

Thanks for reading, I hope to update more often than I have been but of course, we'll have to see how it goes...

Until next time, be happy and blessed!

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...

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...

Home

We are home. The kids are great...so precious and wonderful. Hailemicael has really taken to his Daddy. All three big kids plus some neighbors are out playing soccer (futbol) in the front yard. Ben is the goalie. Minalush is happily napping in her room. She seems to be handling the time change (7 hours) just fine with a tendency for one long nap in the afternoon and another long nap or two through the night. She slept from 9pm-3am and 4am- 8am last night, and mommy was very thankful. We all crashed pretty hard last night after nearly 30 hours of travel.

Here are a few pictures for now. I'll write more later... I have so much to tell I don't know where to start.

More Photos

So... the connection here is a bit slow for all these photos.  I'll give it another try and hope they post...  I can't get the nicest ones to download tonight... I'll try again later.  One more bottle for Minalush and then it's off to bed with me.

Adding Andrews Photos

Ben and two of our wonderful children are sleeping and our tour guide doesn't have us running around anywhere so I thought I'd post some pictures.  Immediately before meeting the kiddos I thought that I would surely faint or throw up or something equally embarrassing but I pulled it together an just cried a muffled cry.  I was trembling uncontrollably and overwhelmed with emotion.  We have had the children at the hotel with us almost 6 or 7 hours and they have been absolutely wonderful.  Hailemicael is very polite and was obviously raised to obey and respect his parents.  He was very excited about his new shoes and was eager to take a shower in the hotel shower.  I think he thought it looked fun... he look a LONG HOT shower and was all grins.  Minalush has not cried once.  She smiles and laughs and make cute noises.  I feel like I am in a dream...and I don't want it to end.

 

These photos are from when we first met on Monday afternoon, and no, I did not pass out...