New Tricks...

Sitting! Better late than never!

Harmonica!

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. 

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. 

One Week Home!

Here are some of the happenings at our house.

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. 

Calling Ethiopia

Scenes from the Hotel

And some from the long trip home...

And the best one of all... Welcome to the United States!

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.