The Burt Clan

39 weeks 2 days and...........

2012-02-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

We're having a baby on FRIDAY!

I went to the doctor this morning for my 39 week appointment. I had not dilated any more. My doctor asked me if I wanted to have a baby this week. I kind of freaked out in my head a little when he said that. Then I said "SURE!" He said we could do it tomorrow or Friday. I chose Friday hoping that Garland and Noah will both be a LOT better by then.

We took Noah back to prompt care last night. His croup is now bronchitis. He's on an antibiotic now and a steroid. Garland just went to the doctor again this afternoon and his bronchitis is now a sinus infection. ACCCCCCKKK!!!!! I woke up with a slight sore throat this morning, but I'm chugging water and downing lots of oranges in hopes that I don't get whatever they had.

Still so surreal to think that we are having a baby!

38 weeks 5 days

2012-02-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

Another week down! At my doctor's appointment this week, I lost two pounds. YAY! That puts me back down to about 5 pounds gained I think. I was dilated to a three. Tuesday evening I had contractions for about two hours. They were 4 minutes apart, but there was very little pain with them, so I knew it wasn't really labor. I wish! Since then, I've had a few each day, but still not really any pain. I guess Emma isn't ready to come yet! I'm ready for her to come, but do hope that she waits until everyone is healthy. Garland has been sick with a sinus infection and cough for a few weeks. Noah was diagnosed with croup today. I'm hoping and praying that I stay healthy like I have been the entire pregnancy.

I did finish her room this past week, and I think I have everything we need for her. Garland and I have our bags packed. Grandma has a bed set up for Noah. The car seat is installed. We just need everyone healthy and labor to start!

Here are some pictures of her room.

37 weeks 3 days

2012-01-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

18 days left!!! Well, give or take a few. I can't believe we are in the "teens" now! I had my 37 week doctor's appointment yesterday. It was supposed to be today, but on Monday night my right leg and foot were swollen much more than my left leg. Because I have a blood clot disorder, the doctor wanted to see me a day early to check it out. It was better Tuesday morning, but was still noticeably bigger than the left leg. He sent me for a doppler scan to make sure there was no blood clot. Nothing was found, so I guess it's just a weird pregnancy thing.

I did progress a little more from last week. I'm now 2cm dilated and 70% effaced. Emma was very wiggly for him and her heart rate was 170. That is the highest it's been, but he said it was because she was moving around so much. He joked and said his crystal ball still hadn't told him when she would be making her appearance.

We are pretty much ready here. Well...as ready as one can be when expecting a newborn! Last night, I stayed up late and got the bassinet bedding and bouncy seat cover washed. I have one shelf left to put up in her room. Also waiting on a few last minute things to be delivered today and tomorrow from Amazon. I'm sure I have forgotten something. Oh, I still need to get some baby meds like Tylenol, Motrin, gas drops, Gripe Water, etc.

I'm going to try to finish up my hospital bag today or tomorrow....get the camera batteries charged and make a list of last minute things to grab if we have to rush out the door to the hospital.

Noah is doing good. He talks to Emma in my belly a lot. Okay...more like yells at her. We're trying to teach him that he needs to talk softly to her, but he prefers the yelling method. I don't think he realizes how his world is going to be turned upside down soon! I'm sure he will be fine with her in the long run, but we know it will be tough for a while.

36 weeks 3 days

2012-01-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

I had my weekly appointment this morning. The doctor checked and said the baby has definitely flipped and is no longer breech. She is head down and sitting pretty low. I am dilated to one and 50% effaced. I was not expecting to have any noticeable progress yet, so I was very happy to find that out! My doctor did say that I have a small pelvis and he is not sure that a vaginal birth is going to be possible. We will have to wait and see. I don't care how she arrives as long as she is healthy!

I go back next Wednesday for another check.

35 weeks 4 days

2012-01-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

As of today, I have ONE MONTH until my due date! So hard to believe still that this is happening. I had a doctor's appointment a few days ago. I've gained six pounds total, so I'm happy about that! My blood pressure has been in normal range. Next week the doctor will start checking for progress.

The baby room is coming along. I just have to get wall art hung and a few baskets for diaper organization and we'll be all set. I have one more baby shower coming up next week. There are a few things that we still need and several things that I want. I really need to get the baby book ordered in case she decides to make a surprise early arrival (have to have her foot prints in it!). I've started throwing a few things in suitcase, but haven't fully packed yet.

I'm feeling pretty good other than having pelvic pain from the bones and ligaments spreading and stretching. Walking is more of a chore these days and looks more like waddling. The picture below was taken over a week ago when we were in a hotel. I feel like I've ballooned up more since then.

Noah is doing great. He is going to start speech therapy in a few weeks. He's saying a lot of words, but hasn't figured out how to pronounce several letter sounds. He tested at a 30 month level on development, but at a 21 month level on speech. He runs around the house saying "Emma's Yoom" all the time (for Emma's room). He says a ton of words and can count to ten...again...you just can't understand it all that well. I think once he figures out the sounds, then the words and phrases will start coming fast.

32 weeks 2 days

2011-12-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

I had an ultrasound today. It's funny how little you can see on the ultrasound as the baby gets bigger. The tech took a few measurements and tried to get some pictures, but Emma was facing down so we couldn't get a shot of her face. Based on the measurements, the tech estimated that baby is weighing in at 4 pounds 12 ounces already. This puts her in the 71st percentile (above average).

After the ultrasound, we went in to talk to the doctor. He said she is above average, but if she keeps up at the current growth rate, she should be around 8 pounds 4 ounces at birth if I deliver at or around my due date.

I can't believe I only have 53 days until my due date! Seems so crazy how fast time is flying.

Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound.

The past two weekends, I had two baby showers. I received lots of wonderful outfits and baby items. So excited for Emma to get here!

29 Weeks 4 Days

2011-12-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

Just a pregnancy update...I am 29 weeks 4 days today. I can't believe I'll be 30 weeks already on Sunday. That means I just have 73 days left until my due date! I had a doctor's appointment last week. My doctor said I'm still a boring patient because I didn't have any complaints. No swelling, no high blood pressure, no gestational diabetes, etc. He was very happy with everything. The best part is I've only gained three pounds!

Baby girl moves around a ton and has the hiccups several times a day it seems. Poor thing! I hate having the hiccups! I have several Baby Sprinkles coming up in December. I'm very excited for those. I'm anxious to get her room all put together and clothes put away. Right now, she has a crib, changing table/dresser, and a baby swing. I bought all of them on craigslist and got the most awesome deals on the swing and dresser. All three things look new. The swing was only $15 and sells for over $100 new. The dresser was only $30 and sold for over $200 new. The crib looks more red in the picture than it really is. It actually matches the dresser perfectly.

Noah is doing good. He had his first "boo-boo" this past weekend. He wasn't watching where he was going and ran straight into the corner of a ping pong table. He had a deep scratch just under his eye, but it has already almost healed completely. It never seemed to even bother him much.

Spiderman

2011-11-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

Noah experienced his second Halloween this past week. He didn't much care for the trick-or-treating though. He went to two houses (reluctantly). He has a major fear of strangers right now, so we didn't actually plan on going door to door. He had a lot of fun passing out candy at Grandma and Pa's though...unless someone came with a scary costume, then he ran from the door.

Happy Birthday, Noah!!!!

2011-10-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

Noah turned TWO years old this past weekend. I really cannot believe he is two already. He is growing so fast and time is flying by us. We had a wonderful weekend and a great party with all our family. He got way too many toys of course. I think he would have been fine with just tissue paper. After the family party at my in-laws house, everyone except mom, dad, and grandma went on to Bloomington to our favorite Mexican restaurant for supper. Noah wasn't quite sure what to think at first when the guys all started singing a Mexican birthday song, but as soon as he got the sombrero on, he was all smiles.

I had a doctor's appointment last week. I am 25 weeks 1 day today. The doctor told me I am a boring patient because I didn't have any complaints....except for two...heartburn and insomnia. I'm now taking Pepcid AC for the heartburn and it has taken care of it. I still can't sleep, but I guess I'm just getting into practice of being awake every two hours. I finally gained some weight (two pounds) at this appointment which is my first gain since I found out. I go back to the doctor in three weeks, then after that I will start going every two weeks. The doctor estimated that the baby was about 1.3 pounds last week.

She has been very active and this past weekend, my mom and sister got to feel her move. She was really kicking them. I'm finally starting to buy a few baby things, but I still feel completely overwhelmed when I start looking. My few baby things I have bought consist of a crib (off of craigslist) and two binkies. Hey, it's a start!

Still no name for baby girl yet. One of these days we'll figure that out!

It's a...........

2011-10-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

It's a GIRL!!!!! We're very happy and excited. She let us see her parts today and confirmed what everyone already suspected. We also found out that she is developing right on schedule and all her organs and bones are measuring perfectly. The doctor also said my amniotic fluid is above average which is great for the baby, but will probably mean that my belly will be growing bigger than someone with average fluid. As of right now, I haven't gained any weight though! The tech estimated that she is 1 pound 1 ounce right now.

Here are a few pictures. She was face down so they weren't able to get a picture of her profile or face.

22 Weeks

2011-10-09T12:48:00.001-07:00

I am 22 weeks today. Everything is going fine so far. I am feeling a lot of movement from the baby now. It still feels so surreal! This Tuesday we go for our big ultrasound. We are hoping the baby cooperates and let's us see the goods! About three weeks ago, we got really antsy and decided to go get an elective scan to find out the gender. The tech tried for 25 minutes and never could get the baby to uncross it's legs! So hopefully we will have better luck on Tuesday!

Here is a link to some of the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGR5MyubNkA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Noah is doing fine. He is getting so tall. Most people guess he is three and are surprised when we say he isn't two yet.

I will update again on Tuesday!

18 Weeks and 2 Days

2011-09-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. The doctor said everything looks great. They did my one-hour glucose test, but I won't have the results of that until later today I think. My next appointment will be on October 11th and that is when we will have our anatomy scan and find out what we are having! Finally!

I've been feeling pretty good the past few weeks. My energy level is a lot better than it was several weeks ago, and I am finally sleeping better too. This past Saturday I felt the first movements from the outside of my belly and again felt it on Sunday. Garland hasn't yet caught it when it happens though. I can't wait until the movements are a little more consistent.

Noah is doing great. He is quite the handful some days...especially when we are out in public. He has recently developed a fear of PEOPLE. He can't stand for someone to say hi to him or to talk to him while we are shopping or eating. I am hoping he grows out of this very quickly!

Here are a few recent pictures of him.

Training for the X-Games

2011-08-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

Noah is becoming quite the daredevil. This is his new favorite thing to do with his four wheeler.

He is also quite a ham still. He is constantly making this funny smile.

I don't think Noah really gets that he is going to be a big brother in the coming months. I will ask him from time to time where the baby is, and he will point to my belly....but sometimes also points to his own belly. It's going to be a big adjustment for him when the baby comes!

Everything is going fine with the pregnancy so far. I am 15 weeks and 1 day right now. I was very tired for a few weeks, but this weekend my energy seemed a lot better as did my appetite. I still can't stand the thought of raw chicken and certain other foods, but I have been able to eat more. I'm really glad that I ordered the fetal heart monitor for home use. It provides such peace of mind when I get those twinges of fear and worry.

Doctor Visit

2011-08-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

I had a baby-doctor appointment this afternoon. Everything was fine. The baby's heartbeat was thumping away at 160 beats per minute. Such a relief to hear that awesome little noise. I didn't know that it could take a little bit to find it, so I started to panic when she didn't get it right off the bat. When she found it, I started bawling.....again. These pregnancy hormones are horrible sometimes, but I know it will all be worth it in the end.

Our next appointment isn't for about a month and the next sonogram isn't for about seven weeks. That is when we'll get to find out the gender of the baby. We don't really even have a preference....just a healthy baby is what we want!

*Edited to add a video I took this morning, August 18th, of the baby's heartbeat. I bought fetal doppler monitor for peace of mind at home.

A HUGE shock!

2011-08-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, I decided to make a routine OB/GYN appointment. I hadn't been in almost six years. I hate going and had avoided it for a long time. Our insurance changed recently, and I had to chose a new doctor anyway, so I thought I would just get it over with. I wasn't experiencing any pain or problems. I have polycystic ovarian syndrome and don't have regular cycles like most women do. Some years I will only have two a year. This is what caused most of our fertility issues. We have been married almost 12 years and started trying to have a baby right away after we got married. We ended up going through fertility treatments, IVF, etc. I got pregnant with twins, but lost them early in the pregnancy. Long story short, we decided to adopt and FINALLY brought our precious Noah home in May 2010 from Ethiopia.

People have asked us if we were going to adopt again. We always said no. We were good with just one child.

Fast forward to this past Wednesday. I went to the ob/gyn for my annual exam. The doctor discussed all my past issues with me. He even said if we wanted to try to have a baby again, we could still do that. I said "No way. We are good with one and I don't want to go through all the infertility treatments again, because it was just too stressful." I told him it had been several months since my last cycle. We discussed different medications I could take to stimulate a cycle. I also told him I had been trying to lose weight, but all it seemed I could do was gain. He said he would give me a prescription that would help stimulate my cycles and would also help my metabolism.

After that, he did my exam and said we should do a pregnancy test just to rule that out before he prescribed anything. He said something to the effect of we both know that it will be negative, but let's just do it to make sure. He left the room and said he would be back with my script. A few minutes later, he came back in and said "We aren't going to give you that medicine after all." I said "Why not?" He said "You're PREGNANT!!!" I think I said "SHUT UP!" or something like that. I was in complete shock (still am!). I just kept saying "No way! Are you sure? Where's the test strip??"

The nurse asked me how I was going to tell Garland. I said I would probably call him at the first chance I had. She said I should wait and tell him that night and come up with some fun way of doing it. I said "It's taken almost 12 years for this to happen. I don't think I can wait a minute longer!" After a blood draw, I left the office and stood in the hallway and called him. He was very shocked when I told him (and still is). I also called my mom, sister, and mother-in-law. Everyone was in complete shock.

The next day, I went in for a sonogram so that they could figure out how far along I was. I bawled like a baby when I saw our little one moving around on the screen. This Sunday I will be 14 weeks along already. I am due February 12th. We are hoping and praying for an uneventful pregnancy.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

Summer Update aka Extremely Long Picture-filled Post

2011-07-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

Things are going great here at home. Noah had his first trip to the beach in June and loved it. He didn't care for the 14 hour car ride, but loved the beach once we got there! Our condo had an adult pool and also had a large kiddie pool. We spent a lot of time in there as there was no other small children his age using it. He liked playing on the beach, but occasionally tried to eat the sand.

Since we have been home, Noah has spent a LOT of time outside and in the pool. He LOVES swimming and as long as he has his arm floats on, he will go all over the pool by himself. He loves for me to throw him up in the air and then let him go down under the water and then he bounces back up and shouts "GIN" for again.

This past weekend, Noah went to his first parade in Hopedale for the 4th of July. He liked seeing all the firetrucks, police cars, and horses. I didn't allow him to go out for candy as he has no sense of needing to stay back from the vehicles and animals. He had fun anyway and I don't think he realized what the people were throwing.

Sitting with Grandma and Grandpa

These are a few miscellaneous pictures in case you haven't seen enough!

Almost Wordless Wednesday - A Day Late

2011-04-28T05:11:00.000-07:00

My heart just can't take this much cuteness in one picture!! That stinkin' binky drives me nuts, but sometimes it just looks so, so cute! Noah only has the binky when he is in his crib. When I get him out of it, he throws it down and says "yuck!" He occasionally has it in the van when we're on long rides if he gets cranky and tired. Other than that, he's binky free. One plus to this, is he doesn't complain much when it's time to go to bed because he knows he'll get the binky then. I'm going to try to break him of it after we get back from our trip to Gulf Shores in June. Until then, I will just melt in the cuteness of it. It's pictures like these, that make me want to scoop him up and rock him in the chair all night. Unfortunately, he is such a light sleeper, he would wake up and think it was time to play.

One Year Ago Today....

2011-04-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Famiversary to us. I cannot believe that it has been a year already. It seems like just yesterday that we were packing and getting his room ready. The past year has gone so smoothly and there is no question in my mind about how attached Noah is to us.

Here is a video I finally made of our trip to Ethiopia.

The Non-Blogger Blogs

2011-04-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why I keep this blog going anymore because I always forget about it. I guess I'll keep it going and just occasionally post for those people who aren't on Facebook.

Everything is going great with Noah. He's growing way too fast and getting way too ornery! He is definitely all boy and LOVES being outside. When we pull into our driveway and get him out of the van, he tries to sneak off and run to the backyard to play. It doesn't matter if it's day or night.

He's outgrowing all of his clothes. A week or so ago, we had a very warm day....in the mid eighties. I had to scrounge around to find something cool for him to wear. I don't mean in the "cool dude" sort of way either, because the outfit we came up with was definitely not the "cool dude" type. It was more of the dorky kid next door type, but we made due. It was a pair of bibs and they were pretty much too small for him. Every time he bent over, the snaps came undone and then it just looked like he was wearing a dress.

His vocabulary is really coming along. Here are some of the words he says now:

cah (car)
'gin (again)
sis (six)
kah (clock)
tah (star)
kee (kitty)
cat
bah (Yo Gabba Gabba)
boo (Blue)
poo (spoon or poop)
mama
dada
duck
yeah
and a bunch of animal sounds

I bought a potty chair recently and he will sit on it a few times a day. He usually always will go in it. He's not ready for full-on potty training yet, but he knows what it's for and will go in it. He just hasn't figured out that he needs to tell us when he has to go. A lot of times, I can catch him when he starts to go in his diaper and we'll run into Mr. Frog (it is shaped like a frog) and he'll go. He gets one mini-Oreo if he goes. He LOVES that so he usually tries to go.

Here are some recent pictures.

Waiting...it's for the birds!

2011-03-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

Garland had to work this morning, which is not his normal Saturday routine. He texted us to let us know what time he would be home, so Noah was waiting and watching for him...on top of the couch.

Come on dad. Hurry up and get here!

Nope, that wasn't him.

Mommy, when dad gets home we're going to read some books.

This waiting is for the birds!

I'm so bored I'm just going to lick the window.

Maybe if I bang on the window, he'll hear me and will get here faster.

It worked!!! There he is!

First Haircut

2011-02-26T08:01:00.000-08:00

Last night, I finally bit the bullet and cut Noah's hair. I was a little nervous since he rarely sits still long enough to even pic his hair. Earlier in the day, I tested out what I was going to do to get him to sit still long enough to cut it. I turned on BLUE'S CLUES and sat him on my lap facing the TV and I sprayed it down. Then while he watched Blue's Clues, I pic'd it out. He sat still for the whole ten minutes or so that it took for me to detangle it.

Last night we went to Walgreens and I picked up some scissors and a comb. When we got home, I spread out a beach towel on the living room floor, turned on Blue, and sat him in front of me and snipped away. He was curious as to why there was a pile of hair on the floor, but he did sit pretty good for the majority of the time I was cutting it. His hair was SO fuzzy before I started cutting. On the top of his head, the hair was about four inches long when it was stretched out.

Here is a picture of him a few days ago. You can click on it to make it bigger to see how poofy it was.

Here is the amount of hair I cut last night.

I forgot to have Garland take a picture while I was cutting it, but here are the after pictures.

Bathtime

2011-02-23T20:04:00.000-08:00

Noah absolutely LOVES his bath time. I give him a bath every other day. I always ask him: "Are you ready for a tubby?!" and he will drop what he is doing and run to the bathroom. Tonight I decided to capture a little bath time fun on camera.

We found these fun color fizzy things that you throw in the tub and it changes the water color. Noah LOVES them. Here is the color he chose tonight.

When I am running the water, Noah loves to run around naked. He especially loves to dance when he's naked. It's the funniest thing.

He always tries to escape out of the bathroom and run around the house.

Then, into the tub he went.

Onto his back to KICK KICK KICK!

OH.MY.GOODNES....that face!

Here he is kicking up a storm.

I forgot to take a picture after he got out and all dried off and lotioned up. He was worn out from kicking so much and went right to sleep.

New Backpack

2011-02-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

One of the kids I watch started going to pre-k a few weeks ago. Noah has been so obsessed with E's backpack that I decided to get him one for Valentine's Day. Okay, so I am kind of a bad mom and forgot that I should be buying a Valentine's gift so I just ordered it a few days ago and it came today.

Noah was pretty excited to have his very own backpack and wore it around the house for quite a while. It just made me sad to look at though because I know time will go so fast and he really will be wearing one to head to school with before we know it. I need a slow motion button for life these days!

Fifteen Month Update

2011-02-17T07:48:00.000-08:00

I usually post all my pictures of Noah on Facebook and since most of my family and friends are on there, I kind of forget about posting to the blog. To fix this, I'm going to try to post more on the blog and then just put a link to the pictures on Facebook. Try that is.

My last blog about Noah I think I mentioned that he was sick. He is fine now. It was just a bad cold. We had our fair share of snot and I hope to not see that again for a very long time! Last week we also had Noah's 15 month doctor visit. He is doing so well. When we got home last May, he wasn't even on the growth charts. Now, he is in the 70th percentile for height and 40th for weight. It's pretty amazing to look at all the sizes of clothes he has gone through in nine months. He is wearing 24 month or 2T in most shirts and 18 month pants. I can't wait for garage sale season! I refuse to pay retail prices for clothes that I know he'll only wear for a few months.

His vocabulary is developing slowly but surely. Here are a few of the things he says:

Mama

Dada

Whoo Whooo (for an owls sound)

Duck

Hey, Dick (his grandpa's name...no idea why he calls him that when none of us do)

Yeah

Hiiii-Yah (he says this when he's doing a fake karate chop)

'gin - for again

Bawk - for a chicken sound

Grrrrr - for a bear sound

Baaa - for a sheep sound (he only occasionally will say this)

Moo - for a cow sound

He also signs more, please, thank you, and drink. It's funny how he uses the sign "more" sometimes. He does it basically when he wants anything. When he wants to watch youtube, for a toy, in the grocery store when we are in the bread or bakery aisle. He also does it in the van when we're driving and his video stops playing. Usually we can hear him slapping his fingers together as he signs, but if we don't see him, then he starts this weird grunt like he's trying to get our attention. The funniest place he signs more is in the bakery aisle at Walmart. He starts signing more like crazy when he sees the donuts or cookies then he just can't figure out what I won't just open a box right there and give him one.

Here is a video of him signing a few weeks ago.

Here are a few pictures of our little 15 month old. It's so hard to believe he's almost 1 1/2.

And here is a video of him making animal sounds.

Still organizing

2011-01-25T14:03:00.000-08:00

I'm still organizing. I am loving the 21 day challenge, but frankly, I'm TOO EMBARRASSED to put my before and after pictures on my blog for all my friends and family to see! I thought about creating a new blog so no one would know it was me! I may eventually post some pictures, but for now, I'll just keep on cleaning and organizing. ha!

Noah has been sick the past day or so. He had a temp of 101.5 last night. It was down to 100.5 this morning and has almost gotten back to normal now. I think it's just a virus because my daycare kids also had it.

We are SOOO ready for spring!!!! So tired of this cold weather.

Here are a few pictures of Noah from recent days.

Mission Organization - the Medicine Cabinet

2011-01-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Our medicine cabinet has always been a big pain in the you-know-what! I've tried baskets, Ziploc bags, etc. Everything ends up falling out the boxes, or bags don't get sealed, or lids don't get put back on right. So, here is what it looked like before.

I took everything out of it and sorted through it all. I threw away all the expired meds. I actually found Neosporin that expired in 2004! I put everything back in containers. The top shelf is prescription meds that are taken daily. The middle has three containers. One is First Aid/Pain pills, one is cold and sinus, and the other is for stomach ailments. The bottom shelf has a basket with Noah's allergy meds and Tylenol, a few bandaids, and Advil.

Mission Organization - The Spice Cabinet

2011-01-18T08:57:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a lot of blogs about organizing. I have been so aggravated lately with the lack of space in our house so I decided to do something about it finally. I plan on doing several blog posts, but today I'm going to talk about the dreaded spice cabinet.

We do a lot of cooking so we have a lot of different spices, salts, seasonings, etc. I have tried many different things to keep the spices organized (i.e., lazy susan, raised trays, etc). Nothing seemed to help, mainly because we never seemed to put things back where they were supposed to go. The raised trays are a great idea, but I found that they were more of a pain since all the jars seemed to fall down when I'd reach in to get something.

After reading a few blogs, I found one of those blogs that totally made a light bulb go off in my head! So, here is the before picture of my spice cabinet:

And, here are the after pictures.

I wanted the magnetic spice tins, but they are SO expensive. I found a place that you can order the tins from and bought magnets on Amazon. I had seen several people who used cookie sheets attached to their cabinet doors or just used the side of their fridge. I wanted to have a piece of metal that would fit the door. I ordered online and it was fairly inexpensive. The total price for the tins, metal, and magnets was around $60 I think. I know that seems like a lot, but it is so worth it to me to be able to just open the door and see the spices right there.

You may be able to get the metal cheaper at Lowe's or Menard's. Someone told me after I ordered online that they have it there. They sometimes have pieces small enough to fit a cabinet door that are not necessarily cut to fit exactly. I should have checked that before I ordered, but I was so gung-ho to get going on it that I just went ahead and ordered!

Stay tuned for more organizing posts! I'm on a mission! ha!

Oh, and just so this isn't completely about organizing, here is a recent picture of Noah.

Can you believe that just one year ago this past weekend, we made this big announcement? I sure can't! Time is flying far too fast.

Christmas and New Years

2011-01-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

We had a great holiday...our first as a family of three. Noah loved all his presents. The first few presents he got, he wasn't quite sure what to do. After a while, we would say "do you want more presents?" then he'd start squealing and waving his arms up and down from being so excited. He got way too many presents! We will definitely be having a garage sale this spring!

We made an impromptu stop to the mall Santa. This picture was taken about half a second after I sat Noah on Santa's lap and half a second before Noah started screaming bloody murder. He didn't like Santa one bit. Santa doesn't look too chipper either though does he!? So many funny things about this picture...especially Noah's belly hanging out.

Post Christmas Post

2010-12-27T22:11:00.000-08:00

We are doing great here. Noah is doing awesome. He is learning new words and is into everything. Here are a few words he can say: Duck, hot, mama, dada, cat, and bad. He loves to show off his tricks...pointing to body parts when asked, so big, chew chew chew (he does an exaggerated chewing), and a few others.

Today was his first time playing in the snow and he loved it. Here are some pictures and a video.

Here is a link to the video

Bad blogger!!

2010-12-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

I have gotten so bad at this blogging thing. I rely on Facebook so much anymore that I hardly even remember I have a blog!

Since my last post, Noah is continuing to grow like a weed. He is walking like crazy and getting more steady. When he first started walking, his hands were always straight up in the air to help balance himself. Now, his arms are down lower and just out from his sides a little ways. Yesterday he actually tried running a few different times. His top half would get ahead of his bottom half and a few times he fell face first into the carpet. He has had two bloody lips in the past few weeks. One was yesterday when he went face first into the carpet and one was a few weeks ago when he thought it would be fun to stand up in the tub. He fell into the side of the tub and busted his bottom lip.

He now has four teeth and it looks like there is a whole bunch more that are trying to come in. He is still not saying much, but we can tell he is a little smarty! Yesterday, I said "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?" and he took off and walked right to his high chair in the kitchen. He is starting to use some sign language too. He will sign more and occasionally thank you. It's so cute!

A few of his new FAVORITE things to do (which TOTALLY annoy mom) is screaming at the top of his lungs and spitting. Yep, that's my son! On Tuesday, we were in Walmart and he screamed all the way through the store. It's not an "I'm mad" scream. It's and "I think it's fun to hear myself scream!" scream. He does it with a big smile on his face too. Every time he did it, I would put my hand over his mouth and tell him very quietly "no screaming" but it didn't help. I guess it's just a phase maybe, but I sure hope he grows out of it soon!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving. My whole family was able to be together for a few days. That doesn't happen often since we are scattered into two different states. We had a great time and Noah liked getting to know his cousins...although, he is kind of a brut!

On Tuesday, we went to the courthouse and completed Noah's readoption. The process was very simple and we were lucky to find an attorney who does readoption cases pro-bono. Some people take lots of pictures on readoption day, but it seemed very non-climactic. As soon as the judge gave his approval, everyone just kind of left the courtroom and that was it. I took these pictures when we got home.

Noah's SECOND 1st Birthday Party

2010-11-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Noah had a big day on Halloween. He had his second birthday party (still one more to go on Thanksgiving) and also had Halloween! He went to church Sunday morning and lasted through about half of the service. He is just too busy to sit through the sermon, and I'm just not ready to put him in the nursery either.

After church and a nap, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Burt's house for cake, ice cream, and presents. Noah was more impressed with the wrapping paper than the presents of course. He got lots of cool gifts though and has been playing with all of them.

After all the presents, it was time for CAKE! We had two different cakes. One for all of us to eat and one for him to eat/demolish. He ended up digging his hands into both cakes though.

(He even offered to share.)

After the cake, he had to have a bath and another nap, then it was time for trick-or-treating. We went back up to Grandma's house. He went there and to two of their neighbors' houses. He was a hit with everyone who saw him. Our cute little tiger.

When we left Grandma and Grandpa's house, we had to stop by Ga-Ga, Missy, and Co-Co's house (Gary, Melissa, and Colby). Noah got a treat from them and enjoyed watching some of the neighborhood kids trick-or-treating.

At the end of the night, he was a tired boy and fell asleep around 8:30 and slept until almost 10:00 the next morning.

Today I took him for his twelve month doctor's appointment. Poor baby had to get a finger stick and six shots in his legs. He wasn't too happy with that. He is now 22 pounds 2 ounces (38th percentile) and 30 inches long (56th percentile). The doctor said he is perfect and perfectly proportioned. Doctor also said "he's come a long way in six months!" We already knew that though.

First 1st Birthday Party

2010-10-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last night we met some friends for supper at Herradura. We didn't go with the intention of it being Noah's birthday party, but it quickly turned into that when our server overheard us saying that it was Noah's birthday. After he ate his cheese quesadilla, out came five or six wait staff singing a birthday song in Spanish. They had a small sombrero that they put on him. He just kind of looked at us and looked at them and acted like he wasn't quite sure what to think. At one point, I was afraid he was going to start screaming since he has a tendency to do that when something strange or new like that happens. After they sang, he dug into his little dessert. I was so happy that my friend had her camera, since I didn't come prepared!

Happy Birthday, Noah!!!!

2010-10-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

Noah is ONE-YEAR old today!! I really cannot believe it. It seems like it was just yesterday that I posted this and this. I think once you have a child, the days and hours start moving in double-time! I remember when we first saw Noah's picture, I thought of how tiny he was and how he would probably always be a person who was thin and petite. He has proven us wrong there! Look at these pictures we got of him back on January 15th.

Look how tiny his wrists and ankles were! Notice how his fists are clenched up too. When we had his pictures and referral paperwork reviewed by an adoption doctor, she told us that there was a chance he had cerebral palsy. Even the thought of it, didn't stop us from accepting his referral. We didn't care. We didn't really think he had it because just having clenched fists was not enough to determine that diagnosis. Just look at him now!

Such a huge difference from those first few pictures to today. This past week, Noah started walking. He can go quite a ways before falling down. He hasn't figured out how to stand up without holding on to anything yet. He also got another tooth yesterday (his third), FINALLY! He is eating mainly all regular food and only has baby cereal once a day at most. We go next Wednesday for his 12-month doctor visit. I am anxious to see how much he has gone up on the growth charts.

This week he also started saying "BAH" for bottle. I can tell he's really trying to figure out how to verbalize more, but he just hasn't got it all figured out yet.

Last night we went to the harvest party at church. When we got home, his diaper was still dry, so I decided to sit him on the toilet just to see what he would do. Just a few seconds after I set him on it, he peed! I couldn't believe it. He just looked at me like "What was that?!?" I cheered for him and then stood him in front of the tub while I ran his bath water. He proceeded to pee all over the bath mat. I guess he doesn't have it all figured out quite yet! :)

11 months old - 5 months home

2010-10-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

Noah turned 11 months old last week and as of September 30th, he has been with us for five months. The time is really flying by way too fast. He is changing every day and is looking less like a baby and more like a toddler. We really want to press pause for a while and slow things down!

It is exciting to see Noah learn and develop though and brings such joy to us and our families. Here are a few things that Noah has learned.

Standing more and more unassisted - although if you try to get him to do it, he plops down and refuses!
Waves bye - it's a whole arm moving up and down kind of wave.
Patty Cakes - it's more just a clap right now.
Blows kisses - this is his latest trick and he will do it a hundred times a day without prompting
So big - we say "how big is Noah?" and he raises his arms high in the air and stretches to the sky.
He loves to crawl over things...toys, people, pillows, etc.

He has so many new tricks, it's pretty funny to watch him do them on command. He gets confused sometimes and starts to clap while reaching for his mouth to blow kisses all at the same time.

As far as his talking goes, he still says Dada all the time. Sometimes it's a hi-dada. He also says Baba, although it's not necessarily a word more than just a sound because he says it all the time and doesn't really associate it with anything. He will say "hey" occasionally.

Noah is definitely a mama's boy. It makes my heart skip a beat sometimes to see how well he has attached and bonded with us. He loves his dada too. As soon as Garland comes home from work, Noah's arms go straight up in the air, waiting for Garland to pick him up.

He LOVES LOVES LOVES to be outside. He especially loves to be pulled in the wagon. He also likes to crawl around on the grass, but I have to watch him closely because he tries to eat everything. He loves to ride the lawn mower around the yard with us. We drive all over (without actually mowing).

It's hard to believe that just nine months ago, we were staring at pictures of a tiny two month old baby and now we see a thriving 11 month old wearing 18 month clothes! We love you Noah!!!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

When I went to snap this picture, he decided it was time to "do his business" at the very moment I snapped it. ha!

New shoes

2010-09-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

I can't resist posting a picture of Noah in his new shoes. He is too cute in them and looks so much bigger too!

Bad blogger

2010-09-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

I'm becoming such a bad blogger...the type of blogger I said I'd never be once we were home with Noah. I thought I'd have so much to blog about, but it's just the opposite! I think things are just going so smoothly that I don't even think about blogging most of the time. No wait to complain about!

Noah is doing great. His pediatrician discovered that it was medically necessary for him to be circumcised. Ouch!! So, about a week and a half ago, we went to the hospital for the outpatient procedure to be done. I handled it quite well. I was afraid they would give him IVs as soon as we checked in, but the anesthesiologist waited until he was in the operating room. He gave him a gas first that put him to sleep so that he would not be awake for the IV. I was so THANKFUL of that because I know how hard it is to find a good vein on him.

The procedure only took about 30 minutes. When he was in recovery, the nurse came out and said I could go in with him. It is like Fort Knox at the new Children's Hospital in Peoria, so I had to wait to be "buzzed in" through several sets of doors. I could hear him screaming and was ready to kick in the doors to get to him. Poor guy was so out of it, I could tell by looking at him, plus he had ice packed in his diaper which I'm sure didn't feel too good either! He also hadn't had anything to eat since 8:00 the previous night and it was almost 11:30 by this point. As soon as he saw me, he almost lunged out of the nurses arms for me. I had a bottle ready for him and he started drinking it right away. He was in pain still though so in between drinks, he screamed bloody murder. I, of course, felt like the worst mom on the planet for having this procedure done to him!

This Wednesday it will be two weeks since the procedure. He is finally feeling normal again I think. I no longer feel like the worst mom on the planet either. He is getting so big! Yesterday I cleared out two garbage bags of clothes from his dresser and closet...things that no longer fit him. He is growing out of his 12 month clothes and is wearing some 18 month things now. I was so glad we went to the Mother's of Multiples garage sale this weekend as we got a TON of "new" clothes for him.

He is sleeping great still - 12 to 14 hours at night without waking up. Naps are getting better. He takes a 30-45 minute catnap in the morning and then a longer nap in the afternoon. He still only has two teeth. We still joke that he is going to have to borrow Granny's false teeth if he doesn't get more teeth soon. He does pretty good with eating despite his lack of teeth.

Here are a few recent pictures of him:

10 Months Old and Four Months Home

2010-08-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

Noah turned ten months old on Saturday and today marks four months of being home. He is changing so much and I just want to slow time down! Everyday it seems like he is taller than he was the day before. I thought he was going to be a little petite baby, but he's growing into quite a little chunk! When we first met him, he was in 0-3 month clothes. He is now outgrowing some 12 month clothes.

At ten months old, Noah has finally figured out how to pick up small bits of food and put them in his mouth. It seemed like he was never going to figure that out. He also is figuring out how to use a sippy cup, although he isn't real fond of it and would much rather just have a bottle. He is crawling at lightning speeds and would rather play with cords, Crocs, and newspapers than toys. He pulls up to furniture and walks all over the living room while holding on to various items.

Noah is very stubborn. We know there are so many things he can do, but he chooses not to. Examples of this: patty cake. One night I was rocking him and he was clapping away. When I said "Wow! You are doing patty cake!" he immediately stopped and has refused to do it since then. One afternoon, he said MMMaaaa (mom) over and over and over. Three weeks have passed and I've only gotten him to say it once or twice since then. Another thing he could do but chooses not to do is "so big". If you say "how big is Noah?" he won't raise his hands. But if you hold each of his hands, he will raise them high. The minute you let go, he puts them down.

His favorite song is Wheels on the Bus. He also likes Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. When it comes to the part of "eyes and ears and mouth and nose" he opens his mouth wide for me to touch it. He has started dancing to music while he holds on to the furniture. It is so cute.

Garland and I are still in amazement that he is ours and that we are really home with him. All the years of waiting seem like a flash now that we are home and see how fast he is growing and changing. I just want to freeze time now for a little while so I can have him in the baby stage for just a little while longer.

Here are some updated pictures of him.

Nine Month Doctor Visit

2010-08-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

Last week, I took Noah for his nine month visit to his pediatrician. When I took him the week after we got back from Ethiopia, he was around 14 pounds and 25 inches long. He wasn't even on the charts for his age. This time, he is about a fourth of the way up the charts now. He was 19.4 pounds and 28 inches long. No wonder I have so many clothes that aren't fitting him now!

The doctor said he was looking great and he was very happy with how much he had grown.

He still loves the pool. I have some pictures that I will post soon that I took with an underwater camera. In the meantime, here are a few recent pictures.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

Video of silliness

2010-07-30T05:09:00.000-07:00

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

Noah wants to stand ALL THE TIME...or crawl. He was attempting to stand while getting a bath. The second picture shows how he reacted when I told him "NO". (click picture to see it bigger)

April 30th – the LONGEST day EVER!!!

2010-07-21T12:31:00.001-07:00

Our flight took off as scheduled from Addis. Noah slept most of the way from Addis to Amsterdam. I was glad because I felt very nauseated. I get motion sick very easily, but I had put on a patch that the doctor prescribed. It didn’t seem to be working though. After a few hours, I finally realized that the patch was just barely stuck to my skin so the medicine wasn’t getting into my system. Once I figured that out and got it stuck on all the way, then the nausea went away.

When we got to Amsterdam, I was completely exhausted. We still had a layover there and another flight before we would back in the US. I seriously thought I might lose my mind before we got back to the states. Noah did fine in the airport in Amsterdam, but once we got on the plane to Detroit, it was a different story. He pooped about 15 times, got motion sick and threw a full bottle up all over Garland. I had packed several changes of clothes for me and Noah, but Garland didn’t pack any extras in the carry on. He was a mess to say the least!

The flight was a mixture of screaming and sleeping for Noah. He was not used to being held for this long and had never been in a car let alone a huge airplane flying so many miles. By the time we got to Detroit, we were all completely wiped out. We got off the plane and went through Immigration and Customs. After about an hour, we finally found a spot where there wasn’t any other people. I put a blanket on the floor and laid Noah on it and I laid down beside him. He squealed with delight that he was finally able to be down and not held.

For the first time in about five days, I was able to make contact with family. Our internet connection only worked the first few days in Addis. After that, we lost contact. I can’t remember who I called first, but I know I talked to Mom, my sister, and Garland’s mom. Everyone was so excited to finally hear from us. They also got to hear Noah squealing. I could sense the excitement from everyone through the phone.

We had a four-hour layover in Detroit. I was SO SO excited to get McDonald’s food, although I was still not feeling great so I didn’t really eat much of it. We rested while we waited for our next flight. The flight that would finally take us HOME!

When we got on the VERY TINY plane to Peoria, Noah was less than happy. He was screaming mad actually. I don’t think I had ever heard him scream so loud. I felt terrible because it was such a small plane, and I’m sure the people on it didn’t appreciate him screaming. At that point though, I didn’t really care. I didn’t hardly have an ounce of energy left in me after holding him for almost 28 hours. Garland finally gave him a magazine to tear up and that pacified him for the 45 minute flight to Peoria.

When we walked off the plane in Peoria, it was such a surreal feeling to finally be home. I knew that our family and friends had planned to meet us there to welcome Noah. As we came down the elevator, we saw all our friends and family holding welcome signs and heard a lot of cheering. Noah was quite the charmer to everyone too. He smiled and took it all in.

He hated the car seat though. My sister sat in the back seat with him and he screamed bloody murder. I think she finally stuck her finger in his mouth and he sucked on it most of the way home. (At this point, he hadn’t taken a liking to the pacifiers.) We all met at Garland’s parents’ house for a meal and then headed home to finally settle in.

The journey of a lifetime was finally over….but actually it was just beginning.

Crawling, slobbering, and....a TOOTH!

2010-07-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted an actual update on Noah recently, so I thought I should today. He is crawling EVERYWHERE. He's into everything too. I have had to rearrange things in our living room to keep him out of stuff. He is also pulling up to things and standing.

He is growing like a weed. In May, he could wear some 0-3 month clothes. Now he is growing out of the 6 month and is into the 9 month sizes. It seems like he is changing so much. His hair is getting really curly now. When we first brought him home, it was straight as could be. I love the curls though.

He hates baby food. I have tried all different flavors, brands, textures, etc. Yesterday I bought a food mill from Amazon. I am going to try to just grind up whatever we are having and see if he will eat it. He will willingly eat rice cereal with fruit in it, but won't eat the fruit by itself. Forget trying to get him to eat peas or green beans...he gags on those. I'm hoping he'll do better when I start grinding it for him.

Noah has been slobbering like crazy and chewing on everything. He has done this for more than a month though. We've been wondering if the tooth would ever pop through. I check his gums every morning, and this morning I could finally feel the sharp little sliver of his first tooth!

Here are a few pictures to compare how much he has changed:

At the time of our referral

In Ethiopia

Home for one month

Home for two months

Then the next few pictures were taken within the last week

See the curls??

We are so in love with this kid. I can't imagine life without him now.

Sleeping boy

2010-07-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Noah laughing in the jumper

2010-06-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

I can never get Noah to laugh in front of anyone, but he will laugh for us at home when there isn't anyone else here. Tonight, I finally caught him on video! Ignore my idiot-sounding voice. You gotta do what you gotta do to get the kid to laugh!

Wednesday and Thursday, April 28 & 29 – Last Days in Ethiopia

2010-06-27T08:09:00.001-07:00

Noah slept very well the first night with him. We were amazed. The bedroom we were in was pretty sparse and didn’t have a baby bed. It did have a twin bed, but it was not close enough to our bed. So, I made a pallet on the floor next to my side of the queen size bed. We decided to sleep when he slept, so we were in bed by 8:00 I think. He slept all night long and woke up at 7:00 the next morning. (Ahhh…if only he were still that way!)

We had lazy days on Wednesday and Thursday. We spent it in our room, in the lounge area, and the dining room. We visited with our travel mates and got to know Noah a little more. We discovered he REALLY fought sleep. So afraid he would miss out on some excitement I think! He did well with his feedings except the lunch time meal. The Care Center sent over a porridge-type meal and I could never get him to eat it, so we just stuck to the bottle.

On Wednesday night, just as we were getting ready for bed, the power went out. This was NOT a good thing since Garland sleeps with a CPAP machine. We thought it would surely come back on, but it didn’t. We had a nearly sleepless night because it was SO quiet, and Garland couldn’t sleep well without his machine. I couldn’t sleep well without it either since he was then snoring.

On Thursday, we spent most of the day packing and getting ready to leave. Garland didn’t feel well at all. He didn’t eat much that day and tried to sleep a little when the power came back on. After having such a sleepless night, we were going to be up all day long, then head to the airport for our flight at 11:00 that night. It was going to be a LONG two days ahead of us.

After we were all packed up, we loaded up the van around 7:00 I think. Just as we were getting on the bus, I realized that I didn’t have our plane tickets! We both went into a panic. The luggage was already in a different vehicle that was following us to the airport. It was a tense situation and we were both worried that we wouldn’t be able to find them. The trip to the airport was insane. The traffic was indescribable. There was cars, taxis, trucks, etc bumper to bumper, side to side. I was scared to death at one point when we got to a point where traffic was stopped. There was a large semi next to us. People were honking. A man jumped out of the passenger side of the semi with an AK47! He walked up to the front of the traffic and then came back to the semi. Then traffic magically started moving! I think he was actually a soldier, but it scared me!

When we finally made it to the airport, we unloaded the bus and got our luggage. I remembered that I had made spare copies of everything so I was able to locate our tickets. During that time of getting our luggage, Noah had a blowout diaper. It was all the way through his clothes and onto a blanket that I had wadded up between me and him. There was no place to change him, so we were going to have to wait until we could get to a bathroom.

We walked up to the front of the airport and got into the huge line for security. Unlike other airports where you walk in, then get to a security checkpoint eventually, at Bole, you go through security immediately at the front door. There was hundreds of people in line. So, here I was holding a poopy baby, trying to keep it off of me, and waiting in his huge line with no bathroom in sight. Noah wasn’t the only one with a problem though. One of the other babies also did it, but it went all down the front of Colin’s jeans. HA! It wasn’t funny at the time, but now it is pretty funny.

After about 30 minutes, we finally made it through security. Then we found a bathroom where I had to change Noah’s clothes and diaper. After that, we found the ticket counter, then went through Customs, then finally upstairs to our gate. We had at least three hours before our plane was going to leave, so we just found a bench and sat. I was exhausted before we ever got to the airport, then now holding Noah for more than an hour probably and wrestling our luggage, going through Customs, etc. My arms felt like wet noodles.

While Noah and I sat, Garland went to exchange our Birr into Dollars and find us something to drink. After a few hours, it was finally time to board the plane. Already up for 16 hours at least, we still had about 28 hours ahead of us before we would be home…and at that point, HOME was all I could think about.

Happy First Father's Day

2010-06-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 27 – Forever Family Day – Part 2

2010-06-18T09:23:00.001-07:00

I wasn’t sure what to expect at the Embassy Appointment. I pictured a big stately building with marble floors…comparable to a state capitol building or something. We arrived in the afternoon and the parking was across the street from the building. The building wasn’t really what I pictured. I don’t have any pictures though because there were signs everywhere saying no photos allowed.

We entered into the first security checkpoint and were told to go sit in a long row of benches that were outside. I was glad it was a fairly cool day. I’ve heard that people have had to wait a long time there, but we didn’t wait more than 10 minutes I don’t think. Noah was being good, just taking it all in. There was another group of families ahead of us from another agency. There were also other Ethiopians.

When it was finally our turn, we went into the Embassy building. We passed through a security checkpoint. They searched our bags and required that we leave one of Noah’s toys at security. I guess it had some type of electronic in it which wasn’t allowed. Once everyone was through security, we went into a waiting room. The other families that were ahead of us were still being called, so we knew we would have to wait a while.

I was a little nervous about Noah. He had never had a bottle before and it was getting close to time when he would be getting hungry. I was hoping he would latch on to the bottle and not throw a big fit. I was worried that he wouldn’t know what to do with it since he’d only drank from a metal cup before then. When he started getting fussy, we made up his bottle and tried it out. He took to it right away and sucked it right down. He acted like an old pro at it. I guess some things are just instinctual.

After waiting more than an hour, our name was finally called. We walked up a stairway to another large room. Again, I was expecting something very formal. Instead, it was a room that resembled the DMV. A long row of glass windows where you were directed to which booth to go to. We went up to the booth and there was an American man behind it. He was very friendly. He asked us where we were from. He said he was originally from the St. Louis area. We had some small talk about me living pretty close to Alton and then he proceeded with the interview.

There wasn’t much to it. He asked four or five questions like “Is this the child that you were expecting to get?” or “Have you had contact with the birth family?” Then he asked if we knew that this adoption was final and there was no going back. We answered all the questions and signed a few papers, then it was final.

We went back down to the waiting room where everyone was sitting. They had said that you aren’t supposed to cheer for others when they come back down, so we all just put are arms up and waved them around and did a whisper cheer.

So, that was it….it was finally done. The embassy appointment was the final hurdle in Ethiopia. From there on out, we could relax for the rest of the trip and just get to know Noah.

To be continued

2010-06-08T20:19:00.001-07:00

Ever since we got back from Ethiopia, I have been sick off and on. It started with a high fever, terribly sore throat, and 10 days of antibiotics. Just when I thought I was better, the sore throat came back. Another call to the doctor's office and he gave me another round of antibiotics. That time it was Zithromax. The miracle five-day antibiotic. By the third day of taking it, my throat hurt worse than it did when I started. My energy was gone. I couldn't hardly hold Noah or even take care of him because I was so wiped out. So, this past Saturday I went to Prompt Care. They did a chest x-ray, mono test, malaria test, and a CBC. All came back normal. On Monday, I felt no better...I actually felt much worse. So, I called the doctor's office again. Really I was at the end of my rope. Sick of being sick, but even worse was the extreme fatigue. My mom ended up coming up to help me with Noah, and we headed to the doctor Monday afternoon.

The doctor said he thinks I just have a very "bad bug" that is resistant to the antibiotics that he has given me which normally work for most infections. He said he was going to "break out the big guns" and give me something that they don't normally prescribe unless absolutely necessary. So, I am now on day two of Levaquin.

I have had sinus pressure and pain before, but never like I had yesterday. My face was sore even to the touch. The roof of my mouth even hurt. Most of the evening, I sat with a bag of ice on my head. This morning I didn't feel much better, but tonight I am finally beginning to feel some relief. I can handle the sinus junk at this point, but I just need to get some energy back. It's better than yesterday and hopefully tomorrow will be much better now that I have two days' worth of the Levaquin.

When I am back up to par, I will try to finish up our trip postings.

To be continued

2010-06-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

Ever since we got back from Ethiopia, I have been sick off and on. It started with a high fever, terribly sore throat, and 10 days of antibiotics. Just when I thought I was better, the sore throat came back. Another call to the doctor's office and he gave me another round of antibiotics. That time it was Zithromax. The miracle five-day antibiotic. By the third day of taking it, my throat hurt worse than it did when I started. My energy was gone. I couldn't hardly hold Noah or even take care of him because I was so wiped out. So, this past Saturday I went to Prompt Care. They did a chest x-ray, mono test, and a CBC. All came back normal. On Monday, I felt no better...I actually felt much worse. So, I called the doctor's office again. Really I was at the end of my rope. Sick of being sick, but even worse was the extreme fatigue. My mom ended up coming up to help me with Noah, and we headed to the doctor Monday afternoon.

The doctor said he thinks I just have a very "bad bug" that is resistant to the antibiotics that he has given me which normally work for most infections. He said he was going to "break out the big guns" and give me something that they don't normally prescribe unless absolutely necessary. So, I am now on day two of Levaquin.

I have had sinus pressure and pain before, but never like I had yesterday. My face was sore even to the touch. The roof of my mouth even hurt. Most of the evening, I sat with a bag of ice on my head. This morning I didn't feel much better, but tonight I am finally beginning to feel some relief. I can handle the sinus junk at this point, but I just need to get some energy back. It's better than yesterday and hopefully tomorrow will be much better now that I have two days' worth of the Levaquin.

When I am back up to par, I will try to finish up our trip postings.

Wordless Wednesday – A day late!

2010-06-03T09:44:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, April 27 – Forever Family Day – Part 1

2010-06-01T08:32:00.001-07:00

Tuesday morning, we got up and got ready to head to the care center. This was it. The final day for Noah to be at the care center. I knew this was going to be an emotional day, but I had no idea how emotional.

When we arrived at the care center, we all went into the main gathering area instead of walking up to get our babies as we normally did. Everyone was anxious to get their hands on their kids, but first we were going to meet with Noah’s social worker and nanny. When we were finally called, we went outside and met on the patio area. We asked questions to the nanny about his sleeping, eating, and daily habits. It was nice to be able to talk to the person who had cared for him for the past few months.

When everyone had finished meeting with the nannies, we gathered back together. The nannies went upstairs and we sat back down in the living area. There were chairs on one side of the room, and then a group of the older children came down and sat on small chairs on the elevated area. For a while, it was just us staring at the kids and the kids staring at us. We weren’t really sure what the kids were doing there, but we assumed it had something to do with the goodbye ceremony.

After several minutes, Garland told some of the other parents, that we should sing some American kid songs to the kids. Everyone agreed that sounded like a good plan, so we started singing songs to them. Their faces lit up and the smiles that came were absolutely priceless. It is one of our most memorable moments of the trip. We sang Mary Had a Little Lamb, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Wheels on the Bus, and many other songs. After singing a few songs, we were discussing what song to sing. Someone said we should do Old McDonald. About the time we started to sing it, the kids started singing it in Amharic (VERY) loudly! It was SO cute! The camera crew from our agency was their to film the goodbye ceremony, but they ended up filming the singing as well. Afterwards, they said that in all the groups of parents that have come through, that is the first time anyone had sang to the kids like that.

After several songs, the social workers came down and said it was time to start the goodbye ceremony. Then about that time, we started seeing the nannies coming down the stairs. Both the nannies and the children were dressed in traditional Ethiopian outfits. The tears started flowing right then. It was very overwhelming to know that today was the day that Noah would be ours forever.

The nannies all came down and sat in front of the older children. A few words were said by the social workers and then they asked if anyone wanted to say anything to the nannies. Several adoptive parents got up and offered thanks to the social workers, nannies, and care center staff for taking care of our kids so well. Then we all stood in a circle and a pastor offered a prayer in Amharic, and then one of our travel mates, offered a prayer in English. I thought the trip to Hossana was the most emotional point of the trip, but the goodbye ceremony may have topped it. After the prayers, the nannies handed the children over to us.

I couldn’t stop crying. I was a mess. Just holding Noah and knowing that we never had to give him back…that he was ours forever. All the years of waiting were finally over. It was just a very emotional experience.

After we had Noah, the social workers gave us a card that was written to Noah from the nannies. Just about the time, I thought I was done crying, they handing me that card and I lost it again. To top it off, the camera crew was filming all of this. I look like a blubbering idiot on the video.

The final part of the goodbye ceremony, each child was to get their handprint put into a book that the care center keeps. Each page of the book is dedicated to each child who has been given a forever family. The kids on the stage would chant a name, and that family would take their child up to get the red handprint put into the book. When it came our turn, they chanted “Dawit! Dawit!! Dawit!!!” (DAH-weet) which is Noah’s Ethiopian name.

After the handprint, the social workers brought out a large cake for us all to eat. Then it was time to go. The final goodbye to the care center. We are so thankful for the care that Noah received there. He was so well taken care of and loved. It was obvious from the tears we saw from some of the nannies.

We left the care center, and went to the guest house. After lunch we went for our Embassy appointment. More on that in the next post.

Monday, April 26 – Morning with Noah and an Evening out

2010-05-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Everyone was really excited this morning. We hadn’t seen our kids since Saturday and we were very anxious to hold them again. Today we were going to get to bring them back to the Guest House for the morning. I was nervous and excited. We loaded up on the bus after breakfast and went to the Care Center.

When we got there, we went up to Noah’s room. He was laying in his bed naked from the waist down. This is common. When the babies had a bowel movement, the nannies didn’t use wipes to clean them up. They took their diaper off, took them to the bathroom, and hosed them down to clean them up. When they were all cleaned up, the nannies would lay them back down in their bed to air dry before putting a new diaper on. It was so funny to walk into the room and just say naked baby butts laying there.
The nanny put his diaper on him and handed him over to us.

We went down and got back on the bus to go back to the Guest House. The ride back over was exciting. It was the first time we had been able to take any pictures of our kids since cameras weren’t allowed into the care center. We snapped several pictures on the five minute drive back.

When we got to the guest house, we all unloaded the bus, but Garland stayed on with Ato Girma to go to the airport to pick up his luggage. I was bummed that he would miss out on so much one-on-one time with Noah, but we were happy that his luggage was supposedly there finally.

Noah and I went to the porch area with a few other families and we sat out there on a blanket and played and ooed and awed over our kids. It was so nice to have them there. It almost felt like we were playing house. Noah was in a good mood the majority of the time. He started to get fussy after a little bit, so I took him back to our room. I figured he was just tired (and maybe a little confused!).

He and I laid down for a while, but he wasn’t going to sleep. I was trying to figure out what all his grunts, cries, and signals were and what they meant. I was getting frustrated because he was getting so upset and I didn’t know what was wrong. I didn’t have any formula since the main office was out of it when we had gone there on Saturday. I thought maybe he was hungry. The care center ended up bringing some food over for the babies, but when I tried to give it to Noah, he didn’t want anything to do with it. By this point, I think he was beyond tired and was confused. Garland was back by now and he took Noah and walked around with him for a while. That seemed to calm him down.

After lunch, it was time to go back to the care center. It was the last time we would have to say goodbye to our kids. The last night that they would sleep in foster care. The last night of peaceful sleep for us!! After we dropped him off, I was nervous. I didn’t mention it to Garland, but I was so worried that Noah didn’t like me. I was sure that we weren’t going to bond and that he was going to cry when we went to pick him up the next day. At that point, I was pretty much scared to death.

When we left the care center, Ato Girma took us to the main office to buy formula and then we went to the “National Museum”. When we got there, we had to be frisked by security. I was expecting a large museum, similar to something that we would see in Chicago. It was actually more like what our county museums would look like. There didn’t seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason for how things were set up. The cases were not sparkling clean, the walls had paint that was chipped and pealing, and the displays didn’t really have much of any descriptions to tell you what it was you were looking at. Garland and I went to all three or four floors and were done with it in less than 30 minutes.

When everyone was back on the bus, we went back to the guest house to get ready for our evening out. We were going to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant for supper. We got there at about 7:00. It was very interesting. Instead of tables and chairs like we would have here, they had stools and mesobs. A mesob is a woven pedestal with a lid. This is what our food would be served on. Given my apprehension about eating Ethiopian food. we opted to let someone else order for all of us. The food is brought out on one tray and everyone eats from the same mesob using injera instead of forks.

While we were waiting for our food to arrive, we visited with friends and listened to the band playing traditional Ethiopian music and then the dancers came out. I don’t know how they were able to move so fast without flipping their heads off.

Before our meal arrived, the busboy came around to have us wash our hands. This is the Ethiopian way of doing things.

When our food came, I was a little apprehensive. I just haven’t acquired the taste for injera (which is the rolled up bread you see on the edges of the tray) or Ethiopian food. I wanted to love it, but I just didn’t.
When everyone was finished eating, the dancers started coming out onto the floor and pointed to Garland that they wanted him to dance. He kept telling them no, so they got Ato Girma and Andy to dance. Andy really went to town. It was so hilarious. Then the dancers came up to Garland again. He finally gave in and tried to bust-a-move. We had such a fun time even if we didn’t care much for the food.

At the end of the night, we went back to the guest house with the anticipation of getting our kids for good the next day.

Sunday, April 25th – Trip to Hossana

2010-05-19T19:11:00.001-07:00

We got up at 5:00 in the morning to board the bus at 6:00 for the trip to Hossana. Hossana is the town where our kids were originally taken into care at the Mussie Orphanage. We were going to Hossana to meet birth parents or other significant people from our kids’ past. The trip was beyond words.

As we left Addis, we started to see mountains and trees and beautiful scenery. The road was paved but not by State of Illinois standards. My dad, a retired highway engineer, would have been scratching his head. The ride was very bumpy.

Who needs orange cones when you can just put large rocks in the road to indicate a lane closure.

We passed many huts. There were no “houses" by Western standards. Many homes were made of sticks. There were people everywhere…walking. Some with goats, cows, or donkeys. The animals would just be walking in the middle of the road. There was a lot of honking by our driver. Many of the livestock was being herded by children…as young as four or five years old.

We also passed many women walking with five gallon jugs strapped to their backs going to get water out of whatever source they could find. Generally, the water source was a muddy creek. The water was the color of butterscotch pudding. This is the water they use for cooking, drinking, bathing, and laundry. We also saw people using these creeks as a toilet. It was absolutely heart breaking to see this. There are no bathrooms in the countryside. People just squat wherever they wanted to go to the bathroom. We take for granted that we can walk to the kitchen faucet, turn on the water, and get a drink. Just imagine having to walk several miles to get a jug of dirty water. Imagine not being able to go to the bathroom in privacy.

We saw a lot of children who had shirts on, but no bottoms at all. Many children didn’t have shoes. The strange thing though, was every child we saw looked so happy. They would wave at the bus and smile great big. We never did see a single toy or ball, but they found ways to have fun.

At one point, we saw a large group of people walking on the road. As we got closer to them, we could see that they had a man up on makeshift gurney (two sticks with a piece of material). The man must have been sick and they were walking to get him medical help.

We stopped about two hours into our trip for a bathroom break at a hotel. We all walked up a few flights of stairs to a room with many stalls and a few urinals. Men and women all went into the same bathroom. There was an attendant in there who would lock the door for you from the outside of the stall. It was also BYOT (as much of Ethiopia is) – bring your own toilet paper. Luckily, we had all been warned so we were prepared.

After a short break, we continued on to Hossana. There were people everywhere and many children. The children were begging for money as soon as we pulled into town. We went through a gate at the Mussie Administrative Center. Everyone got off the bus and went into a small room with chairs lined up around the perimeter of it.

I am leaving out some of the details of our visit here. We feel that Noah should be the one to share his story when he decides that he wants to. We did meet a significant person from his infancy.

After each couple had met with their child’s family member or significant person, we all gathered back into the small room. On one side of the room, all the adoptive parents lined up side-by-side. On the other, all the family members/significant people lined up as well. The social worker lit a candle in the middle of the room on a small table. Each person from the family members/significant person side of the room would light a candle, then they would pass it to the adoptive parents to signify the transfer of responsibility. It was an “entrustment” ceremony. Once the candles had been passed, there was a prayer said in Amharic by the family members/significant person, then a prayer said in English by the adoptive parents. It was a very moving ceremony and not something we will soon forget. After the prayer, we each said had a tearful goodbye and the family members/significant people left the room.

After they left, the coffee ceremony was held. In America, we have coffee and donuts or coffee and cookies or cake or something sweet. In Ethiopia, they have coffee and popcorn. I despise coffee so I was a little worried about wanting to be respectful, but also not wanting to drink it either! One of my travel mates downed her coffee, then we switched cups and she drank mine. Problem solved. It looked like I had drank mine.

When everyone had finished their coffee, we loaded up on the bus again and drove to the Childrens’ Home Academy. Our agency does so much more in Ethiopia than just adoptions. They have built a school in Hossana where children can come to learn academics, but also life skills. They not only teach the children, they also teach the parents. The school has a large garden that they planted. They teach the parents how to grow produce so that they can go back to their homes and do the same for their families.

The bus was not able to drive all the way back to the school because the road was muddy, so we all got out and walked a short distance to it. As we were walking, we passed several huts. This first picture is one we passed. You can see the small child looking at us in the first picture. In the second picture, the she came out into the mud road and had the biggest smile.

The school also has a chicken coop where they raise chickens for the eggs.

This was our travel group plus some of the administrators from the school.

When we left to get back on the bus, there were many kids who came asking for money or food. Garland handed them gum and they were so excited to get it.

Here is an example of a small child herding his goats.

On the way back, we were all so emotionally spent from the day that many of us slept on the way back. I slept a little, but mostly sat and thought about how blessed we are to have what we have. I complain because we only have one bathroom in our house, but many people in Ethiopia don’t even have a house…let alone a bathroom. Kids in America complain that they don’t have the best cell phone or an X-Box or a new laptop, but many kids in Ethiopia probably wouldn’t even know what some of those things are. It was a very humbling experience to see how people live there.

On the way home, I also thought a lot about the life that Noah would have had if he had not been given up for adoption. He could have been the little four year old boy herding goats on the highway. He could have been one of the kids walking around with only a shirt on. We are so very lucky to have him.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Noah the whole way home. It seemed like it had been forever since we had been with him, but it had only been a little over a day. I couldn’t believe how much I missed him. My arms almost ached to hold him again. On the following day, Monday, we would go to the care center in the morning and bring the kids back to the guest house for the morning. Monday would be the last day that we would have to take him back. On Tuesday, he would be ours forever.

Here are a few more pictures I took during the trip to Hossana.

Pictures

2010-05-18T10:32:00.001-07:00

I’m still working on the next installment of our trip story. Sunday was a BIG day for us and it’s going to be a ginormous post. In the meantime, here are a few pictures I have taken since we’ve been home.

First Mother’s Day!

Saturday, April 24 – Care Center visit and “shopping”

2010-05-14T13:46:00.001-07:00

I woke up this morning to the sound of prayers over a loud speaker. The sound is broadcast all over the city. A travel mate said it was Orthodox Christian prayers. It is a very calming sound.

I took my shower right away. Right after that, the power went out. Garland took a bath with Charmin wet wipes, since there was no hot water. At breakfast, they had bread to toast, but there was no power. The cooks had also prepared a loaf of bread which tasted somewhat like banana bread, but not quite as sweet as what we are used to here and more like yeast bread than a sweet bread.

After breakfast, we left to go to the care center.

This is the driveway that goes from the guest house entrance to the main road to the care center. Every time we came back to the guest house, the driver would back all the way down this rough road and back in through the opened gate at the guest house entrance.

This was the road from the guest house to the care center.

Another picture of the road to the care center.

The driver dropped me off, and then Garland went on with Ato Girma to the airport to get his luggage. I changed into a pair of “crocs” and headed upstairs to get Noah. He was wide awake just laying in his crib looking around. He had the same outfit on that he was wearing the previous day, but with the addition of white and blue sneakers (which seemed way too big on him, but oh so cute!). As soon as he saw me, he smiled a big smile and started waving his arms around and kicking his legs. I picked him up and took him downstairs.

We all sat around on the floor and played with our babies. I came more prepared this time with a blanket and a burp rag. He was very inquisitive. He was looking around and watching what everyone was doing. He was also giving me lost of kisses and would get the biggest smile when I would kiss on him.

After playing for a little bit, his nanny came down and had his cereal for him. She took him and he gave her a huge smile. She kissed him and I could that she really loved and cared for him as if he were her own. She fed him half his cereal and then gave him back to me to see if I could feed him. I did a much better job this time and managed to shovel it in fast enough for him. He ate almost the whole bowl of it…and it was a BIG bowl!

Garland finally arrived back from the airport, but without his luggage. The airport staff told him it should be there tomorrow. He didn’t seem to mind too much that he only had two outfits and two pair of underwear. He was just happy to be here with Noah.

After Noah had a full belly, he started to get fussy. I knew that was probably a sign that he was getting tired. He really fights sleep. I think he was so afraid he would miss out on something. I rocked him to sleep once, but it didn’t last. The care center is very noisy, so we just played a little more. We eventually went outside with him where it was a little more quite. I walked around with him until he gave up and went to sleep. It felt so good to hold him as he slept. It felt like he was just melting into me; so very relaxed and comfortable. Another “heaven” moment.

Soon enough, it was time to leave for the day. I took Noah back upstairs and laid him in his crib. He woke up as soon as I laid him down. We kissed him goodbye and walked out. He began to cry as we left. It nearly broke my heart to have to leave with him crying. It seemed as though he was already beginning to bond with us. At least the crying seemed like a good sign even if it was heartbreaking.

Back at the guest house, we had a traditional Ethiopian lunch. It was too spicy for several in our group. I tried a few things, though I wouldn’t say I would ever crave any of them. At 2:00, we left to go shopping.

There is no easy way to describe the shopping experience. To say it was overwhelming or intimidating would be an understatement. There are people everywhere on the streets. Hundreds of beggars. Many people trying to sell maps, socks, jewelry, gum, and many other things. The shops were not what I expected. Most of the shops were the size of a closet. A narrow doorway to get into them, then a path about two feet wide and six feet deep. You basically walk in and walk back out. Nothing had prices on it. You just have to ask how much something is. The prices are all negotiable. Most of the vendors were very pushy. We were in such a state of culture shock.

After shopping for about 30 minutes, we went back to the bus. Even sitting on the bus, people would come up to the windows and beg. We had been told by our agency to not give anything to beggars. Even when we told them no, they would not leave. They continued to stare at us and ask for money. Beggars varied in age. There were old men, young girls and boys, children as young as three or four, and we even had a woman with a baby on her back that was about 18 months old. The baby put his hand to his mouth and motioned for money for food. It was heartbreaking. There were several people with deformities, missing eyes, and major disabilities that would beg as well.

After everyone was back on the bus, we drove to the “merkato”. This was a large area of town with street vendors and shops. We thought the first area of shops was overwhelming, but it paled in comparison to the merkato. I felt very intimidated at times. There were hundreds of people sitting on sidewalks. Many shacks made of tin or cardboard. We didn’t stop to shop as it was probably not the safest area of town. We drove through the streets and saw goats, cows, and donkeys. We even saw goats tied to the tops of cars.

When we got back to the guest house, I jokingly said to Garland that I wished we would have hamburgers and french fries for supper. When we got down to the dining room, we had burgers and fries waiting for us! They weren’t exactly like our version though. I tried the hamburger, but couldn’t eat it. We had drove by too many meat shops that day that had grossed me out.

This is what the meat shops look like there. I’m not certain there was any refrigeration!

The fries were good though. The Ethiopian ketchup was really good….a little sweeter than ours.

Tomorrow we are going to Hossana. We won’t get to see Noah again until Monday! I already miss him, but I know I should probably try to enjoy these last few days before official motherhood begins.

Friday, April 23rd – The day we met Noah

2010-05-07T20:49:00.001-07:00

We all got up Friday morning and went to the dining room for breakfast. I was feeling pretty nauseated—probably a combination of jet lag, nerves, and the altitude. (The altitude is 7700 feet in Addis…in Minier it is about 600 feet.) When I got into the dining room, the scent of Ethiopian spices nauseated me even more. The cooks had made pancakes for breakfast, but they were already cooking the day’s lunch too. The smells were so unfamiliar to me and with me already being nauseated, I just about couldn’t take it.

Even though many of us had major jet lag, there was a feeling of excitement in the room. It was such a nervous energy—we were all giddy. This was the day that we had all looked forward to for so long. The day we would finally meet our children.

After breakfast, we all went outside. We could see the care center from the guest house. It was just down the valley and up the hill…a short drive away. Our children were all there waiting for us. Most of them probably didn’t know that their lives were about to be changed forever. We could also see goats on the hill and a lot of new construction. The excitement was brewing among all of us as we boarded the bus.

The care center is a beautiful building with many windows. There is a fence around the perimeter of the courtyard. When the bus pulled up, Ato Girma told everyone that one person from each family needed to sign in with the guard and no cameras were allowed (to protect the privacy of other children). Once we signed in, we went through the gates to the front of the building. There was a row of shoes under the awning. The shoes were similar to Crocs. Everyone was to change out of their street shoes and put on a pair of the “crocs”. This is done to keep the care center clean. After we had all changed shoes, we went into the care center. The social workers introduced themselves and then directed us to go down the flight of stairs to the room which I would describe as a large living room. It had several wicker couches and chairs and had a raised stage-like area that had a large area rug on it. We were all nervous. The social workers said they would begin calling families one at a time to go up to meet the children. Our agency also had a camera crew that would video us as this happened.

I was shaking so hard I could hardly stand up. One-by-one, they began to call families. Each family would go up several flights of stairs and after several minutes, they would come back down with their child in-hand. Everyone would cheer as they saw the newly united families descending the stairs. After several families had been called, we finally heard the social worker say “Dawit’s parents?” This was it. It was our turn to finally meet Noah. We walked up to the fourth floor with the camera crew ahead of us, filming as we went. When we walked through the door, we saw him right away. He was playing on the floor with several other babies. His eyes were so big and were taking in all they could. The nanny picked him up and handed him to me. I didn’t cry. It was just a surreal feeling. I described it as almost an out-of-body experience. Garland later mentioned that the song “Heaven” by Fred Astaire described the moment well:

Heaven... I'm in heaven,
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.
And I seem to find the happiness I seek……

We stood there, just checking each other out. I could hardly catch my breath. It wasn’t from the altitude or the four flights of stairs I had just climbed either. Noah looked at us with those big brown eyes and smiled his beautiful gummy smile. He was perfect. His skin was very soft. His hair was even softer. I held him first, then Garland took him. He looked so tiny, but he was healthy. After several minutes, the nanny told us we could take him downstairs.

When we came down the stairs, everyone clapped and cheered at our newly formed family. We were still in shock and just could not believe that we were really there; really holding our baby boy. We sat on the floor on the big area rug with him. He just stared at us and took it all in. After about 30 minutes, the nanny came down and said it was time for his feeding. We took him back upstairs and the nanny asked me if I wanted to feed him. She gave me the bowl with the cereal in it. I attempted to feed him, but I was shaking so much and couldn’t shovel it in fast enough for him. The nanny took the bowl back and fed him while I held him. He ate so fast. After he was finished, we went back downstairs. He spit up a lot. I wasn’t surprised though because he ate so much cereal so fast. After a little more time with him, they told us it was time for us to go back to the guest house. We took the Noah back upstairs. I didn’t want to let him go, but I knew we would be back soon to see him.

I was still not feeling great so I came to the room and took a nap. I’m not sure how I was able to sleep, but I was so exhausted that sleep came easy. After an hour and a half, Garland came and told me it was time to leave again. I felt a lot better after napping. We knew we were going to the main offices of CHSFS-Ethiopia, but we didn’t know that we would first get to go to the care center again to see our children. Ato Girma told us that everyone would go to the care center, but he would take two families at a time to the main office to take care of some business. We got to spend the afternoon with Noah. He just kept checking us out. It was a very strange feeling to say “I’m mama.” I had dreamed of it for so long, but for it to finally be true, felt so odd.

When everyone had finished at the main office, we took the babies back up again to their nannies and then loaded the bus and went back to the care center.

That night, we had pizza and couscous. I was finally able to eat a little. During supper, Ato Girma called the airport. We found out that Garland’s bags went to Nairobi. The airport worker said we should be able to get them the next morning. When everyone was finished in the dining room, we all headed to the lounge/family room and talked about the excitement that had just happened that day. An awesome, memorable day.

And so it begins…

2010-05-07T18:21:00.001-07:00

April 21, 2010

Garland's mom and dad picked us at 9:30 a.m. We were pretty excited. I was also nervous. Flying isn’t really my cup of tea. I tend to get sick when I fly, but I had requested a prescription motion sickness patch from the doctor so I was hoping it would help. We were flying from Bloomington, IL to Atlanta, GA to Amsterdam to Khartoum to Ethiopia.

Our flights all went pretty smooth until we got close to Khartoum. This was a very bumpy and scary landing. When I looked out the windows of the plane, I saw sand everywhere. I thought sure we were just landing in the sand and had missed the runway altogether as bumpy as it felt. Once the plane was stopped, the flight attendants announced that we would be sitting for two hours while they refueled the plane. We weren't allowed to get off, but could roam around the cabin if we wanted to. I don't really remember much. By that time, I was so tired, everything was kind of a blur. I do know that I was glad when the plane left that place.

April 22, 2010

We landed in Ethiopia! This landing was much smoother than the one in Khartoum! By this time, we had been traveling for about 29 hours. We were tired. I am sure we stunk. But, we were excited. When we got off the plane, we had to get into a long line at Customs. We weren't prepared for the amount of people that would be in huge lines. It was completely overwhelming. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but by this point, we weren't really thinking. After we got through Customs, we got into another line at Immigration. The agent stamped our Passports and then we went to get our bags. Two of the three bags were found quickly. The third was nowhere to be found. After searching for a while, we went over to the baggage claims counter. I was glad that the person working there spoke some English. We filled out a few pieces of paperwork, and then left to find the person that was there to pick us up.

Right away, we recognized Ato Girma. He was holding a CHSFS sign and had a big smile. We were the last of our travel group to arrive since we had to spend so much time in Baggage Claims. We all headed out to the bus that was waiting to take us to the Guest House. We could feel the excitement in the air among our travel mates. While we were bummed that the luggage was lost, it didn't matter. We were there to get Noah and nothing was going to put a damper on that excitement.

After a 15 minute ride, we arrived at the Guest House. Ato Girma gave us all our room assignments and showed us where the bottled water was. It didn't take us long to get into pajamas and crash for the night.

Yes, we are HOME!

2010-05-05T15:56:00.001-07:00

More to come later. But for now...introducing.....NOAH!

Another update

2010-04-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Here's another update from Julie:

We spent about 3 1/2 hours with Noah today. He is a very good baby, but didn't want to nap. Afraid he will miss something I think. Monday we will get to bring him back here to the guest house for the whole morning. then Tuesday he will be ours forever. Still no luggage for Garland. maybe Monday now. But, we are still happy to be here. Off to bed now to be ready to leave at 5:30 a.m.

Hope Garland gets some clothes soon. Can't believe Tuesday he is theirs forever. Can't wait for them to get home!!!

Update for Julie

2010-04-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. Julie asked me to post on here for her while she was away. The ash cloud did not pose a problem for the flight. Everything turned out fine getting there. I received a call from her yesterday afternoon around 3:30 saying they had made it to the guest house. Her travel mate she had been talking about - Holli - also made it. She said the flight wasn't bad. It was a short conversation as she was using someone else's phone. This morning I received this email from her:

We are here. We got in late last night. All was good except Garland's luggage is missing. Waiting for the airport to locate it.

This morning we met Noah. He is tiny tiny tiny. In 3-6 month clothes but they are too big on him. We spent about an hour with him this morning and then get to go back this afternoon. He is very content and doesn't fuss...only when being fed...then he they can't shovel in the cereal fast enough for him.
Tell everyone hello...
Will write more when we can get access to a computer again.

I'll keep you all updated as I receive new information.

This is it!

2010-04-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is the last post before we leave tomorrow. Today our travel agent called and said he's 95% certain that our trip will go on as planned. We are very thankful for this!!! Just hoping that he is correct too!

We have packed, unpacked, and repacked a few times now. I think we are all set to go though. Today I went and got a pedicure, then went to the library to check out a few books for the trip. After we got home, I installed the car seat in the van. That felt very strange!

My sister is going to try to update our blog if we can get in touch with her during our time there. We are not taking our laptop, but there is a PC there but it only has dial-up internet. So, check the blog often for updates!

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support. We appreciate everything that each of you has done for us during the last five years!

Three more days until we will see Noah for the very first time!!

See you all in a week and a half!

TWO days

2010-04-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

This morning I contacted our travel agent and our adoption agency. The travel agent said there is a good chance that we will be able to fly as planned. If we can't, then we will choose a new flight plan and take a really long way to get there. That may involve going from here to Dubai or Cairo then to Ethiopia...which means instead of crossing the Atlantic Ocean, we would cross the Pacific. That would put us to Ethiopia a day late, but the adoption agency said as long as we get there by Monday, we will still be fine.

Later this afternoon, the airport in Amsterdam reopened and allowed three outbound flights and a few inbound flights...one being a flight from Atlanta. That is where we will be coming to Amsterdam from on Wednesday. We HOPE HOPE HOPE that flights continue as scheduled and that we encounter no interruptions.

I spent most of today packing. Everything is done except a few last-minute items and Garland's carry-on bags. We made a final (hopefully) run to Walmart tonight for last-minute items. I think this is our second "final" run though!

Tomorrow, I have to get the house cleaned again and do a bunch of other little things. I do plan to take a little break and get a pedicure though.

If all goes as planned, we will be boarding a plane in about 36 hours!

Three more days!?!?!

2010-04-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

Last night I slept very little. Worried too much about the Amsterdam airport being closed and not knowing when it's going to reopen. I woke up and checked the internet news on my phone, hoping that the ash had miraculously disappeared while I had tried to sleep. The news reports all said there hadn't been any change and that it would probably be midweek before any flights resume. That sent me over the edge. Garland got to wake up to me bawling over this gigantic obstacle.

We decided to skip church because I just didn't feel like being around people or talking about it at all. We needed to get to Babies R Us to return a few things and pick up some last-minute items that we needed, so we went to Springfield. That helped get my mind of off things for a bit.

I picked up some baskets for storage on the changing table shelves, a diaper bag, and a whole new outfit that Noah will hopefully be wearing when we get off the plane in Peoria. After a few more stops, we headed home to get ready for our going-away wiener roast that our friends were having for us.

In the meantime, I had emailed our travel agent, who couldn't really tell us anything because he is so busy trying to help other people get out of Amsterdam. He said we had three options though: 1. the flights will resume and we will fly as scheduled. 2. we reroute at a much higher cost or 3. we postpone the entire trip. We, of course, are hoping for #1, but we don't know that we can wait until the last minute either. I don't want to wait until Wednesday and find out that we can't get a flight, then have to reschedule the trip. Right now, we are just going to have to wait until tomorrow to hopefully get some answers.

Just in case though, I am packing now so that I am prepared to leave on Tuesday if we have to in order to still get to Ethiopia on time. A ~~little~~ humongous cloud of ash isn't going to stop us from getting to Noah. (I have to keep telling myself that!)

Now, GO AWAY VOLCANIC ASH!!!

Four....we hope

2010-04-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

Four more days...we hope. The volcanic ash doesn't seem to be letting up any. We are pretty worried about that.

On a positive note...today was my baby shower!! It was AWESOME. I had a great group of friends and family who hosted the shower and was overwhelmed by the number of friends, family, and church members who showed up. I am still trying to put things away.

Go Away Volcanic Ash!!!!

2010-04-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

We are five days away from take off and I am VERY concerned about possible delays and cancellations due to the volcanic ash from the volcano in Iceland. We are flying into the airport in Amsterdam. Right now, that airport is closed! If there is no change in the volcanic ash, then I'm not sure what will happen.

I tried to contact our travel agent today, but he is so busy helping people who are stranded, that he couldn't even talk to me. We are hoping for a big wind to blow the ash the other direction and open up the sky ways again by Wednesday.

Six

2010-04-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

I really cannot believe that in six days, we will be hopping on the big airplane to Ethiopia. That's in AFRICA ya know. We are going to AFRICA?? If someone had told me ten years ago that we would be going to Ethiopia this year, I probably would have asked them if they were smoking crack!

But, it is true. We really are flying to Ethiopia....on the continent of AFRICA, and I have a flight itinerary to prove it! It looks something like this:

Leave Bloomington 12:30 p.m.
Arrive in Atlanta 3:20 p.m. (2:20 our time)
Total flight time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Two hour layover

Leave Atlanta 5:20 p.m. (4:20 our time)
Arrive in Amsterdam 8:05 a.m. (1:05 a.m our time)
Total flight time: 8 hours 45 minutes
Two hour 30 minute layover

Leave Amsterdam 10:35 a.m. (3:35 .m. our time)
Arrive in ET 9:05 p.m. (1:05 p.m. our time)
Total flight time: 9 hours 30 minutes

Return flight

Leave ET 10:50 p.m. (2:50 p.m. our time)
Arrive Amsterdam 5:45 a.m. (10:45 p.m. our time)
Total flight time: 7 hours 55 minutes
2 hour 15 minute layover

Leave Amsterdam 8:00 a.m. (1:00 a.m. our time)
Arrive Detroit 10:40 a.m. (9:40 a.m. our time)
Total flight time: 8 hours 40 minutes
4 hour 45 minute layover

Leave Detroit 3:25 p.m. (2:25 p.m. our time)
Arrive Peoria 3:56 p.m.
Total flight time: 1 hour 30 minutes

In case you are trying to figure the total time each way, that is about 25 hours from the time we leave to the time we arrive. I'm really not looking forward to that part of the trip, but I know it will be worth it in the end when we are sitting back at home cuddling up with Noah.

Updated measurements!

2010-04-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

We finally got updated measurements on Noah. We've been wondering since January how he was doing in the growth department. It looks like he's doing pretty good.

November 26

Weight: 5.20 pounds

Length: 18.89 inches long

Head Circumference: 34 cm

March 18

Weight: 10.29 pounds

Length: 19.68 inches long

Head Circumference: 40 cm

April 1

Weight: 10.95 pounds

Length: 23.6 inches

Head Circumference: 40.5 cm

Judging from these measurements, I think he'll just be getting into 3-6 months clothes when we travel. He's just a little guy, but he has doubled his weight since birth, so that is great!

FOURTEEN MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!

No news! edited!!!!! now, GREAT NEWS!!!!!

2010-04-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should have wrote this blog post a few days ago!!! About an hour after I wrote it, we received an email from our agency! We are leaving April 21st!!!!!!! I'm excited, but still very bummed that one of my fellow adoption friends will not be able to go the same time due to USCIS issues. I hope they get worked out soon so she can travel in MAY!

*******************************************************************************

I really thought by now we would have SOMETHING new to share. Whether it would be new measurements, news of Noah passing his medical exam, or even news about travel. So far, we haven't received anything at all. I'm getting a little aggravated by this fact too. My social worker at the agency is on vacation for two weeks. I was given a backup, but haven't received a response to the questions I sent her early yesterday morning. Even if they have nothing to share, I wish they would at least respond with that. Just tell me "We don't know anything yet!" at the least! I HATE it when I just receive nothing at all.

One of my adoption friends is having so many more headaches with the process than I am so I shouldn't even be complaining. We were really hoping we would get to travel together, but USCIS is really putting them through the ringer. In a time when they should be excited with anticipation, they are experiencing delays, sadness, and desperation from added wait times because they "don't qualify" for an expedited approval process.

Anyone who says adoption is so much easier than going through labor and delivery has obviously not been in our shoes. Then again, I have not been in their shoes either. At least with labor and delivery, you know that there is an end in sight. You know that when you get pregnant, nine or so months later, you will be done with the process. With adoption, just when you think you are done, someone jacks you around and says they need another $900 to look at your file and fingerprints again. Or the court system changes the rules and you have to fork out another $4000 or more for an extra trip. These things haven't happened to us, but these are things that are happening to my adoption friends. It's not fair and frankly, it ticks me off!

Everyone says it will be worth it in the end. Everyone says once you have that baby in your arms, you will forget all about the wait. They say the pain and aggravation will just melt away. They say good things come to those who wait or it will happen when he/she is good and ready for you. I have heard ALL of those lines and excuses. But, when you are at the point where we are and where our friends are, all we want to hear is "book your tickets and get on board that plane!"

In the meantime, we wait, at the mercy of others. There is nothing we or our friends can do at this point to speed things up. I have emailed our agency. They have wrote letters to their legislators. So, we wait, pray, and hope that all of us will get good news soon.

A GREAT Surprise

2010-03-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

Today we received Noah's official birth certificate. This is his NEW birth certificate which lists ME as his MOTHER and GARLAND as his FATHER! It also lists his last name as BURT. It's pretty surreal to see that. I was really surprised to get it today because most people wait at least two weeks and sometimes up to a month after they pass court. We waited only NINE days.

Here is what the agency says about what is next...

The next milestone to reach is the passport issuance and completion of the embassy medical exam including TB testing. This has been taking an average of 2-3 weeks minimum. Final travel clearance is typically assigned once we have the results of this medical.

I've been following the timelines of others who are ahead of us in the process. Most people seem to be traveling about a MONTH after they get the birth certificate! This is totally making me have butterflies in my stomach! I REALLY need to start making packing lists and to-do lists.

Here is the picture that is on the birth certificate. He looks like he's thinking "When are you going to let my mom and dad come and get me!?" We can't wait!!!!!!!

We PASSED COURT!!!!!

2010-03-17T07:25:00.001-07:00

He is ours and we are his!!! We are so excited to finally show him off to everyone!!!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

To be or not to be

2010-03-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

We still haven't heard anything new about our court date. At this point, we are cautiously optimistic that our case will go before the judge on the 17th. I read a few blogs last week of people who did pass court after the new rule went into effect. This gives us a little glimmer of hope.

I have also heard rumor that the new rule won't go into effect until April, and even a rumor that the court can't enforce such a rule change. Basically, we are in the dark on what is going on and just waiting on pins and needles for Wednesday.

Sometimes you feel like a nut....

2010-03-11T16:34:00.000-08:00

That pretty much sums up how I feel this week. I'm completely confused, bonkers, stressed, etc. There has been a sudden rule change in the Ethiopian adoption world. Yesterday it was announced that all families will now have to make two trips to Ethiopia. The first trip will be at the court date and the second to pickup your child. This is creating quite a lot of confusion and panic for those waiting. The rule says any cases submitted to court prior to March 1 are exempt, but it never really says how "submitted to court" is defined.

As of now, we are in limbo just waiting to hear if we are going to have to fly to Ethiopia in the next few weeks. Don't get me wrong. It would be completely awesome to be able to see our sweet, baby boy. However, we don't have our immunizations yet, and it would be an probably be almost $5,000 for the extra trip. If we had only passed court last week, we would not have even had to worry about all of this.

As it stands now, we are still scheduled for court on the 17th, but we just don't know if that will happen or not. We're REALLY hoping and praying that it will and that he will be ours that day. If we end up having to travel for the court date, then I'm sure our court date will be rescheduled.

For the people who have not yet received their referrals, this is going to create quite a twist. Some people chose Ethiopia because it was not a "two-trip" country. There is a lot of questions as far as what happens if you go there on your scheduled date and you don't pass court that day? Do you have to fly home, then fly back again for the rescheduled date? Many questions yet to be answered. Our agency doesn't even seem to know all the ramifications of this change.

We are hoping for the best and also hoping I don't go cuckoo by the time they get it all figured out! :)

Heaven

2010-03-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

After having a crummy morning due to the news of not passing court, we got a great surprise in the form of a social report! Let me tell you...it is pure heaven to finally get an update and to see our beautiful, healthy baby boy!! He has grown so much since those first two pictures we got of him back in January. He looks so, so healthy! There were ten new pictures and ten pages of information.

We are looking forward to the next few weeks flying by and PASSING on the 17th!!! Then we can show off all his cuteness!!!

No Go

2010-03-04T08:41:00.001-08:00

Our court case was postponed today due to "lack of manpower". We have to wait until March 17th now. Boooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad that it's only two weeks away though. Trying to look at the bright side!

Waiting!!!

2010-03-04T04:47:00.001-08:00

We are ~~patiently~~ waiting to hear if we made it through court today!!! Stay tuned!!!

Four months old

2010-03-01T05:16:00.000-08:00

As of yesterday, Noah was four months old! It's hard to believe that it has already been more than six weeks since we got his referral. It seems that time has gone by pretty fast, but looking ahead to the rest of the wait seems like it will be forever before he is in our arms.

This Thursday is our court date. We are hoping and praying that everything goes smoothly...that there is electricity and that all our paperwork and Noah's paperwork are in perfect order. One missing piece of information or the loss of electricity could postpone our case as much as a month. This would also delay our travel an extra month. We DO NOT want that to happen!!

We are really hoping to get our social report this week. It normally comes around the same time as the court date. It will have tons of new information including new pictures!! ~~If we pass~~ When we pass on Thursday, we will be able to post his picture finally for all to see!

Court Date!

2010-02-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

We finally received word today!! Our court date is tentatively scheduled for March 4th! One more step closer to getting him home!

A little question and answer about the court date...

Where is the court date held?
It is held in Ethiopia.

Do we have to be there for it?
No, we signed Power of Attorney over to a representative from our agency who will attend the session on our behalf.

Is there a possibility that you might not pass?
It is possible that our case could be postponed due to missing information, lack of electricity in Ethiopia on the day of our hearing, or even the courts being overbooked. I have never heard of a case being completely denied...only cases that were postponed.

What happens if you don't pass?
If we don't pass on the first try, we will be assigned a new court date which could be another month away from the current one.

What happens if you do pass?
Then he will officially be ours!!! That also means that we can show his picture off to the world!

What is the process like after you pass?
Once we pass court, there is more waiting. First the written court order has to be issued. That usually takes about a week. After that, a letter from MOWA (Ministry of Womens Affairs) has to be issued. I'm not sure the exact timeframe for that. After that, we wait for a birth certificate to be issued. That will take about two weeks. Then the Ethiopia agency staff will work on getting Noah's Ethiopian passport, Embassy medical exam and will prepare the final paperwork to submit to the Embassy. Once they receive verification that all of those steps are complete, then the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa will give us an appointment date for when we will need to be in Ethiopia!

How long after court date then before you travel?
Probably two to three months after a successful court date.

How far in advance will you know when you will travel?
Normally four to six weeks in advance, although it could be less than that.

Three months old

2010-01-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Today our little one is three-months old. It's been almost two weeks since we got the call. It is finally starting to feel real. The first week or so, I just couldn't believe it. I still have moments where I'll see his pictures sitting on our bookcase and it just hits me. "Wow...that really is my kid!" It's just so hard to believe sometimes!

The first few times that I attempted to go shop for baby things, I felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I think it was fear that something would happen to him more than anything. That seems to have passed now. I went to a kids' resale shop in Champaign and got four outfits for him last weekend and felt fine while I was in there.

Some have asked what the process is from here. Right now we are waiting to hear when our court date will be. I'm hoping to hear something in the next two weeks. My guess is that our court date will be sometime in March. We also hope to get a social report sometime before the court date. The social report will have updated pictures and will include 10-15 pages of information all about the baby. I am really looking forward to getting that!!!

Aside from those things, we should also get updated measurements on a monthly basis until we travel. More than anything, I am really hoping to get those soon just for peace of mind to know that he is growing and gaining weight.

We are still guessing that we will travel sometime between May and July. I am certainly hoping for May!

The rest of the story...extremely long post.

2010-01-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

This is a long post, but I don't want to forget a single detail of the day we received THE CALL. One of the funniest parts if the transcript of the conversation between me and my sister. If you don't have time to read the whole thing, read that part.

***********************************************************

Friday, January 15, started off on a rough start. Thursday, my nephew was born but was in the NICU with complications. A good friend of mine lost her baby. Another friend, through the adoption process, found out her baby had gotten sick in Ethiopia and had not made it. It was a very sad day Thursday and Friday.

Thursday afternoon, I emailed our specialist at CHSFS. I asked her if she could tell me if there had been any referrals this week because I hadn't seen any announced on the forum I frequent. She replied Friday morning at 8:30 and basically said she couldn't tell me anything. She said to call the referral hotline on Friday to find out if there had been any new updates. It was a very short email and left me thinking "well, fine then!"

Around noon I was looking at the forum and thought I'd put our dates into the Excel estimator one more time to see what date it would predict for us to get our referral. It estimated we would get the call sometime in February. I was pretty bummed out because all along the darn thing had said it would be December or January.

At 1:05, I emailed a friend and told her we had no new news to report. About the same time, I sent Garland a text and we decided we would probably go out to Kansas City to visit my brother's new baby.

At 2:00, I sent my mom a text and told her we would probably be coming out to Kansas City.

At 2:02, I was chatting with my sister on MSN. The phone rang. I assumed it was my mom calling me about my last text message. It was NOT. It was CHS!

My hands were shaking uncontrollably. Garland has said all along that whenever the call finally came, I was to text him "THE EAGLE HAS LANDED!!!" I grabbed my phone while I was still on the house phone. I couldn't remember how to send a message. I text all the time! I just was shaking so bad and in shock that I just couldn't hardly get it sent. I finally got it together and sent him the text. I also said I was still on the phone.

The agency specialist told me all the information about our sweet baby. He was born 10/28/2009. He was brought to the orphanage on 11/5/2009. He was very, very small at birth. She asked me if we would like to review the referral paperwork and then make a decision. Our decision had already been made before we got the call! But, before we could give our acceptance, we would have to have an international adoption doctor take a look at the referral. She said she would email me the packet and we could get back to her after we had made a decision.

I closed out my email because I didn't want to look at it until Garland was here.

I hung up the phone and tried to breath. I called Garland right away and told him "IT'S A BOY!!!" We were both in shock. I couldn't wait for him to get home, but he had one more appointment!! I asked him I could call his mom and dad yet or if wanted me to wait. He asked me to wait until he was home.

Here is the transcript of my conversation with my sister:

2:03: Julie - OMG OMG OMG
2:03: Julie - i'm on THE CALL
2:03: Jennifer - OMG
2:04: Julie - DON"T SAY ANYTHIGN TO ANYONE YET
2:04: Julie - still on the phone
2:04: Jennifer - K
2:05: Julie - shaking!!!!
2:06: Jennifer - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
2:08: Julie - OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!
2:08: Jennifer - ME TOO
2:08: Jennifer - I KNOW - I WANNA KNOW
2:10: Jennifer - holy crap -
2:10: Jennifer - this is crazy
2:11: Jennifer - the suspense is killing me!!!!!!!!!!!1
2:11: Jennifer - i wanna be there
2:12: Jennifer - i want to tell everyone!!!!!!!!!!! But i wont'
2:12: Julie - hang on
2:13: Jennifer - i'm ready to scream - just chewed off my fingernail
2:17: Julie - IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!
2:17: Jennifer - oh my gosh
2:17: Julie - his name is Dawit. which is the equivalent of David
2:17: Julie - he is only 2 1/2 months old!!!!!!!!!!!
2:18: Jennifer - oh coooooool
2:19: Julie - i'm still shaking.
2:19: Julie - i closed my email so i wouldn't see the picture yet
2:19: Julie - until garland gets here
2:19: Julie - OMG!
2:19: Jennifer - u can send it to me...
2:19: Jennifer - haha
2:20: Julie ---edited out private details---
2:20: Julie - those are my notes
2:21: Jennifer - omg
2:21: Julie - garland has one more apptment to go to before he can come home!
2:21: Jennifer - dangit
2:21: Julie - i'm going to go crazy before he gets here!!!!
2:21: Jennifer - i know

I called my mom and dad. I'm not sure if they knew what was going on when I said put the phone on speaker phone! They were in shock. Mom and I were blubbering and laughing and in shock. Then I sent my brother a text and he called and told him all about it.

After I called them, I was aching to tell SOMEONE!! I waited until 2:45 when my first daycare pickup came...who happens to also be a good friend of mine. I said "Guess what?!?" She said "What?" I said "It's a boy!!!" She was in disbelief. We hugged and cried and laughed. I knew she would scream when I told her but all the kids were napping. After I went and got Baby B out of her bed and the other kids woke up, Holly let out a scream. We just couldn't believe it.

After she left, I had to tell someone. I called Tanya...another friend. It happened to be her birthday. I said "Tanya...I have a present for you for your birthday." I could tell she was confused. I told her I had to give her the present over the phone. She said "okay?" Then I told her we had gotten the call. She said "I'm coming over now!" I hung up from her and called her sister, Tara. She was in shock too. She and Tanya ended up coming over together and stayed until Garland got here.

Garland got here at 4:15 I think. Tara and Tanya left. We fired up the email and opened the pdf. We were so excited. He is beautiful. He looked small, but he looked healthy. We were in love.

Right after we looked at the picture, Garland called his mom. He didn't show a sign of any emotion. He said "Hey, mom. Do you want to come see our referral?" I think it was instant tears from her. They were here in a matter of minutes to see their new grandson. They had our niece, Colby, with them too. Everyone was very excited.

That evening was lots of phone calls, emails, and happy tears and laughter. We are in love with the cutest baby who is 10,000+ miles away. We finally went to bed around 12:30. I woke up at 6:00 and though I must surely have dreamed it all. I have looked at his picture a thousand times over the weekend. We had the adoption doctor review the referral and we sent our acceptance this morning.

What a great feeling! We have a son!

It's a boy!!!!

2010-01-15T17:55:00.000-08:00

The day we have dreamed of for so many years has finally arrived. We are so excited to announce that at 2:02 p.m. today, we received THE CALL! Our little guy was born October 28, 2009. We were shocked and thrilled by how young he is. Our adoption process started in November 2005. This has been a long time coming! I am still in shock.

I'm BACK!

2009-12-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

I am back finally. Somehow my blog was hijacked by google sometime last week. I'm not sure how it all happened, but I finally figured out how to fix it this morning.

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed having a few days off of work. Today I have two of my three daycare kids back, tomorrow I don't have any, Thursday I have one, and Friday none again. So, it's an easy week for me!

Christmas Eve we had Christmas with Garland's side of the family. We had way too much food for there just being seven of us there. We had fun playing Wii Music, Pictionary, Jr., and Apples to Apples, Jr. with Colby.

Christmas morning, we drove down to Hillview for my side of the family. We had a good time and ate too much of course. Thanks to the advances of modern technology, we were able to see my brother and his family on a web camera since they weren't able to make it out.

We are #5 on the waiting list and are hoping to hear something at least by the end of January...I would prefer to hear today, but we know how that goes!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas.

You can view more pictures here and here.

Number 6

2009-12-18T06:22:00.001-08:00

We moved up another spot this week to #6. We were really hoping to have a referral by Christmas, but we aren't holding out too much hope for that. We are happy, though, to be this CLOSE!!! It just seems so surreal that we are the closest we have ever been.

If we get a baby under 12 months old, then we anticipate that we will have a referral by the end of January. But, if we get a referral for a baby over 12 months (since we put that we would accept up to a 15 month old) then we could get a referral ANYTIME!

We've been trying to keep ourselves busy during the Christmas season. I decided to not send Christmas cards until we get our referral. So, if you are looking for a card from me...you aren't getting one yet!! Garland thinks I am crazy, but I was so holding out hope that we would be able to send our Christmas cards with news of our referral...and that is what we are going to do!!

In the meantime, Garland and I have been making lots of Christmas cookies and candies. Every year I attempt to make caramels and always fail. I decided to make them this year and not stop until I mastered them. It took four batches before I got them right, but woo they are really good! .

One of three failed attempts. Holy cow, that looks disgusting!

Success!

Caramely goodness!

My first attempt at divinity -- success!

Red Velvet Cake Balls -- TO DIE FOR!!!!

No news is NOT good news!

2009-12-10T14:58:00.001-08:00

Who ever made the saying "no news is good news" obviously wasn't on a four-year journey to adopt a baby through international adoption. No news is terrible. No news is maddening. No news is torture. No news is more annoying than anything I can think of at this point. No news STINKS!

That is how I am feeling today. I HATE this process right now. Court was closed for a few months over the summer. Everyone thought referrals would pick up after the courts reopened. This has NOT happened. Our agency is not saying anything either...which doesn't help matters any. I mean, if they know that there is going to be a lack of referrals for a while, I would love to just KNOW instead of waiting and wondering.

Every time my phone rings my heart jumps to think that it could be our call. We really could get our call at anytime even though we are #7 on the waiting list. This is due to the age range we selected. We indicated that we would take a child up to 15 months old...whereas others have put they will take a child up to 12 months old. I've said it before...the wait just gets harder the closer we get.

We thought this would be the year that we would have Christmas knowing who our child was/is. We are still hoping for that, but we aren't holding our breath either. There hasn't been any referrals for more than two weeks. We did move up to #7 on the list but that wasn't because someone got a referral. It was due to someone not being on the message board anymore and no one really knew if they had gotten a referral or not, so they were removed from the list.

What do I want this Christmas?? NEWS!!!! That's all I want.

Make that ......

2009-11-21T20:46:00.001-08:00

NUMBER EIGHT!

Single digits!!!!

2009-11-20T20:17:00.000-08:00

We have finally made it to single digits!!! Today we moved into the number nine spot!!! We are getting excited and are cautiously optimistic that this is actually going to happen sometime soon!!! After almost four years on the adoption roller coaster, it is hard to believe how close we may be. I saw someone post that if they were pregnant with a biological child, today would mark their 40th week (since official wait with their Ethiopia process). Let's see...if we are counting weeks since we started the adoption process, then I am about 208 weeks pregnant! That's a LONG pregnancy!!!

Stay tuned!!

Happy Anniversary to Us!! (edited with new picture)

2009-11-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago today, I was preparing to walk down the aisle. In one way, it seems like it was just yesterday. In another way, it seems like we've always been together. We have had a rough ten years as far as trying to conceive/adopt is concerned. Other than that, it has been great! I think the next ten years will be a lot different than the first ten...hopefully there will be three of us soon!

Here are a few pictures of that big day ten years ago. (P.S. No change on the list...still at #12. Booo...hisssss!!!)

And here we are now. Taken tonight thanks to a self-timer and tripod!

Twenty-Three

2009-11-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

That is the number of days we have been SITTING at number TWELVE. I am tired of it. I want to be something other than TWELVE. TWENTY-THREE days?!?!?!?! It's so depressing and there is no explanation coming from our agency to explain WHY there has been no movement.

Torture....absolute TORTURE!!!!!

Blah!

2009-11-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

We are STILL number 12!!! I'm tired of that number and am ready to MOVE ON!!! Lately, I've been trying to not focus so much on the wait. I've been limiting my time on the adoption message boards. It makes a person crazy to check a message board 100 times a day and see absolutely no change. In the meantime, I've been getting back to doing some awesome coupon deals. Just this weekend, I went to Kroger as they are having a big Mega Sale. Here is what I got...

5 packs Trix Yogurt (6 per pack)

1 Dannon Lite and Fit (6 pack)

3 cans Hormel chili

1 Kotex

6 Birdseye steamers

6 Birdseye steamers in lite sauce

5 fruit snacks

16 boxes potatoes

2 Tylenol 8-hour (24 per pack)

2 Uncle Ben's rice

4 Dole Mandarin Oranges

1 Quilted Northern (12 pack double rolls)

9 Sobe Lifewater

2 Diet Coke 24pks

1 Sweet Baby Rays

2 Tuna

5 Snuggle

71 items

Total prior to coupons was $141 and after coupons I paid $37.40. I'm planning another round in a few days. Trying to stock up on things now. I'm sure in a few months we will be busy with other things and won't have time for so many coupon deals!

Number 12

2009-10-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I updated, but there hasn't been a lot of change either. We are now at number 12 on the "unofficial" waiting list. I was hoping things would really speed up once the courts had reopened, but there hasn't been the flood of referrals that some people were expecting. Last week there were 12 7 referrals given to 11 6 families. (woops...thanks Cami!) That means there was at least one set of siblings. We did not request a sibling group, so we will just be getting one. On the real list, I think we are probably somewhere in the fifties. That is just a guess though.

I am trying to talk myself into buying some baby things. In the beginning of the adoption process (in 2005 and 2006), I bought a lot of little girl clothes because our agency said we would be getting a baby girl from China and it would happen within a year. When the wait started getting longer and longer, I stopped buying things. It has been at least three years since I bought something specifically for our child. In some ways, I think I've been afraid I would jinx myself or something. Today I went to Walmart and as I was walking in, I told myself I was going to walk out with at least one baby item. I didn't care if it was just a cheap pacifier, but I wanted to walk out with one item. Of course, I did not put this on my shopping list so when I walked out, I had nothing baby related!

I think the wait is harder now that we are so close than it was when we were so much farther away. Every time the phone rings, my heart skips a beat and I get that "what if this is it??" feeling. I have no clue what I will do when I finally see "Children's Home Society" on the caller ID. I'll probably forget how to answer the phone or something. Our call could come at anytime even though we are not in the number one spot on the list. That's because we gave an age range up to 15 months. Most of the other waiters have said they would take up to a 12 month old. That could put us ahead of others if a child is relinquished that is between 12 and 15 months old.

In the meantime, we have finally started talking about names. We don't know if it will be a boy or a girl. We have thrown a few names around, but haven't found any yet that really strike us as being THE name. Any suggestions???

Garland and I went to Starved Rock State Park on Saturday. We didn't walk the trails, but went up to the lookout point and I got a few good pictures of the fall foliage. I think it would have been much prettier and more colorful last weekend.

Still 14

2009-10-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

I was hoping for a lot more referrals this week, but there hasn't been hardly any!!! The court reopening has been delayed two weeks due to mandatory training for court staff. I assume that this is why there hasn't been as many referrals as expected. So, we'll see what the next week or two brings.

I've been doing Weight Watchers since the middle of July. Garland has been doing it along with me too. I don't have before/during pictures of him yet, but here are a few of me. I've only lost 22 pounds so far. I have a lot more to lose! My jeans are starting to get kind of baggy, so I'm hoping to go try on some smaller ones this weekend.

Taken earlier this year

Taken last night

Fourteen!

2009-10-06T06:08:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to let everyone know that we are now number fourteen!

Up to #16

2009-10-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Ethiopian courts should reopen in a few days. Everyone is hoping this will mean more referrals will be given too! This past week, we moved up to #16. I was really hoping to be at #15 by the end of the week, but there hasn't been any change since Wednesday. There are still a few hours left in the day though, so who knows what will happen. We are just excited to be getting this close finally!!!

I sent an email to our case specialist earlier this week. I asked her if she had a guess on when she thought we'd get our referral. She said she didn't really know when it would happen for sure but she said, "I will contact you immediately upon receiving the match of a child for you. In the meantime, hang in there and know that we should have some good news soon!"

Soon??? What does that mean??? Soon as in a few days or soon as in a few months??? This is torture really! I don't think we'll know how to act when we get the call. I'll be in such shock and disbelief!