In an effort to make it easier for adoptive families to get information, we have decided to stop posting on this blog (unless of course we adopt again!). We set up a new blog that anyone is welcome to follow, which will probably stun you with plenty of pictures (got to keep the grandparents happy), amazing immersion blender recipes, and crafty crafts. Hope to see you soon! Here's the new address: growingthemott.blogspot.com
Monday, October 3, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Normal?
12 days in, things are starting to feel like we are getting back to a new normal. We all slept through the night, we haven’t hit in days, our melt downs aren’t occurring on a daily basis, we are learning new English words daily, we aren’t trying to push all the dvd buttons as often, we are healthy, and most of all we seem happy.
Before we brought our boys home we read great books about adoption and participated in some on-line adoption training classes. Somewhere along the way we learned that we should plan on sleeping in S’s room for a few months until he was comfortable sleeping on his own. We had the best intentions and talked about taking turns sleeping on his floor. Of course when we got home and were dog tired, the idea seemed absurd. Give up our comfy mattress for a spot on the floor next to a toddler bed? No thanks. Well, it seemed the adoption experts knew what would happen. S has gotten up between 3 and 6 (maybe 7??) times a night to check on us. He hasn’t really cried or had a hard time falling back asleep, it’s just like he is checking to make sure we’re still there. Obviously, this led to a really tired kid and really tired parents. We decided to move a little toddler bed mattress into our room on the floor with a night light nearby. Last night was our trial run, and S did great! I could hear him wake up in the night, but he DID NOT WAKE US UP!! I think seeing us sleeping was all he needed, and then could fall back asleep. We, of course, were sooo happy about this! We are looking forward to many more peaceful nights ahead of us!
Jen Hatmaker has an excellent post on her blog about the crazy transition time of the first few months. As our boys are younger than her kids, I think they may have had a little easier of a time transitioning (so far), but there are parts to which we can totally relate. I actually read this blog everyday for a week before we went to pick up our boys as a kind of mental gearing up. Monday, September 26, 2011
This little guy is healthy again and is finally eating enough to satisfy his Mom!
Mr. Clean. He is soooo in love with the vacuum.
This one is just too cute. We love that hat.
This will serve as the before picture, because in a few days I'm sure we'll have some pictures of this little guy with a mouth full of teeth!
And finally, our son who loves to pull his pants up to his arm pits and laugh and laugh.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
One Week Home!
Here are some of the happenings at our house.
Brotherly love time. This usually results in O crying. :)
S: loves to walk around with his long cardboard tube turning on lights, checks to see if the vacuum escaped the closet every hour, dances while playing the harmonica, gets really excited at pictures of dogs and bikes in books, and survived his first ear infection on American soil!
O: getting six teeth in at once! He survived pink eye, ring worm, and an upper respiratory infection all at once. He’s learning a new sleep and feeding schedule, and adjusting pretty well. He loves scooting around trying to keep up with big bro, waving at everyone, and checking out the view from the back door.
Brotherly love time. This usually results in O crying. :)
Mama and Papa have also been adjusting to our new life. The hardest part has got to be getting up in the night. Yuck.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Scenes from the Hotel
And some from the long trip home...
And the best one of all... Welcome to the United States!
Friday, September 9, 2011
The Last Time We...
It seems like we have been saying that a lot this past week. This is probably the last time we go grocery shopping together. The last time we eat dinner in the middle of the living room in front of the tv. The last time we sleep in past 9 8 7. The last time it only takes us 2 minutes to get our stuff together and leave the house. Its not that this is necessarily a bad thing, it is just a change...something we will have to accept and get used to.
The good thing is that we are about to experience a lot of first times too. Our first day together as a family. The first time our boys fall asleep in our arms. The first time they say mama or papa. The first time meeting their grandparents and aunts and uncles. First steps, first loose tooth, first bedtime story. So many things to look forward to that I bet when it is all said and done we won't even miss the way things are now. And I know that we wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.
The good thing is that we are about to experience a lot of first times too. Our first day together as a family. The first time our boys fall asleep in our arms. The first time they say mama or papa. The first time meeting their grandparents and aunts and uncles. First steps, first loose tooth, first bedtime story. So many things to look forward to that I bet when it is all said and done we won't even miss the way things are now. And I know that we wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Best Birthday Present Ever!
We woke up this morning to a lovely email from the embassy telling us they are ready to schedule our appointment! It looks like we will be traveling in two weeks. More details to come as we schedule our appoinment and talk with our travel agent....
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Food in Ethiopia
When we lived in Corpus Christi, we became friends with several international students from Taiwan. One thing they did was take pictures of every meal they ate. At our house, at their house, at a restaurant...it didn't matter. They wanted to document everything for when they went back to Taiwan. It would've been nice if we had done the same thing. We had so many delicious meals while we were in Ethiopia, but we have few pictures of them.
Our favorite thing was the traditional food, especially the shiro. The taste (and sometimes texture) of the traditional food is different and takes some people a while to get accustomed to, but not us. We had traditional Ethiopian meals at least once a day for our entire stay, even though there were other options. Dishes included wat, tibs, shiro, gomen, and even kitfo (raw or barely-cooked ground beef), all eaten with wonderful injera. It is kinda what we were going for here, but so much better.
We were also able to experience some of the traditional Ethiopian beverages. Ethiopia considers itself the birthplace of coffee. There is a legend about how coffee was first discovered and an elaborate coffee ceremony, but we will save that for another post. I will say that, despite neither of us having a real affinity for coffee, we both really enjoyed the Ethiopian coffee as well as the macchiatos, which were also quite popular. Our guide also insisted that we try the tella (beer) and tej (honey wine/mead). The tej had an especially unique, yeasty flavor. Just like much of the food, I'm sure it is an acquired taste.
In Ethiopia, Italian food is very popular due to the 5-year Italian occupation in the late 1930's. For this reason, many restaurants offer both traditional Ethiopian and traditional Italian food. Along with spaghetti and lasagna, we also had some really good pizza and some fairly bad pizza while we were there.
American influence is also obvious. We ate at one restaurant called New York New York Cafe and had some delicious, although different, hamburgers. Here is where we also experienced avacado juice for the first time. If you ever see it on a menu, we would highly recommend ordering it. The most American meal we had was probably our first ever experience at In-N-Out Burger. Not sure if it is a legit In-N-Out or not, but after almost 2 weeks in Addis, the greasy fast food was both welcome and delicious.
Our favorite thing was the traditional food, especially the shiro. The taste (and sometimes texture) of the traditional food is different and takes some people a while to get accustomed to, but not us. We had traditional Ethiopian meals at least once a day for our entire stay, even though there were other options. Dishes included wat, tibs, shiro, gomen, and even kitfo (raw or barely-cooked ground beef), all eaten with wonderful injera. It is kinda what we were going for here, but so much better.
We were also able to experience some of the traditional Ethiopian beverages. Ethiopia considers itself the birthplace of coffee. There is a legend about how coffee was first discovered and an elaborate coffee ceremony, but we will save that for another post. I will say that, despite neither of us having a real affinity for coffee, we both really enjoyed the Ethiopian coffee as well as the macchiatos, which were also quite popular. Our guide also insisted that we try the tella (beer) and tej (honey wine/mead). The tej had an especially unique, yeasty flavor. Just like much of the food, I'm sure it is an acquired taste.
In Ethiopia, Italian food is very popular due to the 5-year Italian occupation in the late 1930's. For this reason, many restaurants offer both traditional Ethiopian and traditional Italian food. Along with spaghetti and lasagna, we also had some really good pizza and some fairly bad pizza while we were there.
American influence is also obvious. We ate at one restaurant called New York New York Cafe and had some delicious, although different, hamburgers. Here is where we also experienced avacado juice for the first time. If you ever see it on a menu, we would highly recommend ordering it. The most American meal we had was probably our first ever experience at In-N-Out Burger. Not sure if it is a legit In-N-Out or not, but after almost 2 weeks in Addis, the greasy fast food was both welcome and delicious.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Happy Birthday!
Happy first birthday sweet boy! We love you and miss you so much! We so would have loved to spend the day with you and can't wait to make up for lost time soon!
Thanks to my baking skills your cake turned out sad looking. This was appropriate, however, since it matched how we feel without you.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Tom Petty Was Right
The waiting IS the hardest part. And we found out yesterday that we will be waiting a little longer. The US Embassy in Ethiopia is requesting a few additional documents before they will clear us to come to pick up our children. Rounding up these documents and waiting for the Embassy to review them will probably add at least an extra 2 weeks to our wait time, which is disappointing as we were hoping we would be able to travel in the next couple of weeks. We are just ready to have these little guys home.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Museums
While we didn't spend a whole lot of time sightseeing in Addis (as we preferred to spend any extra time we had visiting our boys), we did have the opportunity to visit a couple of museums. The first museum we visited was the University Museum located on the campus of Addis Ababa University. The building housing the museum, as well as the University's Institute of Ethiopian Studies, was formerly Emperor Haile Selassie's royal palace. Here we learned a lot about Ethiopian history and the background of various regions and people groups.
The second museum that we visited was the National Museum of Ethiopia. This museum is famously displays "Lucy", one of the oldest human fossils. Known as "Dinkenesh" in Ethiopia, this partial skeleton was found in the Afar region of eastern Ethiopia in 1974. The name Lucy was reportedly given to her as the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was played loudly and repeatedly on a tape recorder at the archaeologists' camp the night they celebrated her discovery. The museum also houses various art and artifacts from throughout the country.
Another place we visited was Lion Zoo Park. This is a small zoo in central Addis Ababa. It was established in 1948 with a couple of lion cubs donated by Emperor Haile Selassie. The park also exhibits baboons, lesser kudu, tortoises, monkeys, rabbits, ducks, and some fish, but of course the main attractions are the 23 lions.
The second museum that we visited was the National Museum of Ethiopia. This museum is famously displays "Lucy", one of the oldest human fossils. Known as "Dinkenesh" in Ethiopia, this partial skeleton was found in the Afar region of eastern Ethiopia in 1974. The name Lucy was reportedly given to her as the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was played loudly and repeatedly on a tape recorder at the archaeologists' camp the night they celebrated her discovery. The museum also houses various art and artifacts from throughout the country.
Another place we visited was Lion Zoo Park. This is a small zoo in central Addis Ababa. It was established in 1948 with a couple of lion cubs donated by Emperor Haile Selassie. The park also exhibits baboons, lesser kudu, tortoises, monkeys, rabbits, ducks, and some fish, but of course the main attractions are the 23 lions.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Trip to the South
After our 2-day trip north of Addis, we took a 2-day trip south of Addis to the city of Assela. The main purpose of this trip was to see the city where one of our little guys was born and to visit the orphanage that first cared for him.
The landscape in this part of the country was quite a bit different as there seemed to be a lot more agriculture. Among the many agriculture-related things we saw were oxen plowing fields, greenhouses (apparently Ethiopia exports a lot of flowers), roadside stands selling watermelons, and a cattle feedlot.
As a bit of a treat in the evening we visited Sodere Resort. This is a popular vacation destination for Ethiopians. The main attraction of the resort is the hot spring that is used to fill a recreational swimming pool and and Olympic-sized swimming pool. The Olympic pool was empty for cleaning when we got there, but we were told the hot springs put out enough water that it would be full again by morning. Our swim in the other pool was warm and relaxing. The resort also had a number of monkeys that liked to steal unguarded food off of the tables and run up into the trees with it. Too bad we didn't get any pictures of that!
The landscape in this part of the country was quite a bit different as there seemed to be a lot more agriculture. Among the many agriculture-related things we saw were oxen plowing fields, greenhouses (apparently Ethiopia exports a lot of flowers), roadside stands selling watermelons, and a cattle feedlot.
As a bit of a treat in the evening we visited Sodere Resort. This is a popular vacation destination for Ethiopians. The main attraction of the resort is the hot spring that is used to fill a recreational swimming pool and and Olympic-sized swimming pool. The Olympic pool was empty for cleaning when we got there, but we were told the hot springs put out enough water that it would be full again by morning. Our swim in the other pool was warm and relaxing. The resort also had a number of monkeys that liked to steal unguarded food off of the tables and run up into the trees with it. Too bad we didn't get any pictures of that!
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