Poor Daddy

Poor Daddy! He had 2 more wisdom teeth out today and is concked out on the couch this afternoon recovering!

IAC

Yesterday we took Miss B. to the IAC in Denver - a long drive but well worth it! We had an 9 am appointment and by 930 we had 6 professionals in the room with us and they spent the next hour and half talking to us about B. and running various tests. It was well worth it as they are a font of information. We didn't really have any worries and they didn't either - they felt she was adjusting well and couldn't believe how much she talks!!!

giardia, ringworm and mollosculum - oh my!!

When little Miss B. came home she had giardia as evidenced by alot of really nasty diapers - sometimes 10+ a day, poor thing. And a smell that could clear the whole house. LOL. We seem to have that conquered. Now we have ring worm running around the house. B. is on some meds for it and the rest of us are using a topical cream. Now we are trying to treat the mollosculum on her face - which isn't going so well. We have tried some homeopathic treatments to no avail and it is spreading like crazy cause she won't leave it alone. Now for the last week we have been trying a RX cream which costs more than gold - but no luck there. I am waiting for the dermatologist to call me back so we can try something else. Can someone tell me why it is so hard to get a dr. to call you back???

Big Day!!

Today was a really big day - but I'll say more about that next week!

funny sayings

You know how toddlers copy everything you say? Well apparently I say "sure" alot for yes, because all of a sudden that is what Miss B. says for yes!!!

Also heard around the house "lokey lickey" for okey dokey and "no no Jose" for no way Jose.

when God asks alot

You know sometimes when you are following God he really and I mean really shakes you up and asks alot of you. If you have the courage to say yes - well there are blessings unimaginable to follow. We feel like we are still in that season. A year ago God asked alot of us - shook us up and added to our family in an unexpected way and it has changed us immeasurably. It has taken us out of our selfishness and opened our eyes until we are crying out to God again and again to use us to foward his kingdom. The blessings have been uncountable - but the smile of a little girl - well thats the biggest blessing of them all.

3 months!!

Well we are officially at the 3 month home mark!!! hard to believe that we had our 3 month post placement visit today. Everything went really well - mostly because Miss B is doing so amazingly well! She is happy and content - eats well, sleeps well and talks up a storm. I think she has about 200 words now - lots of chatter in our house let me tell you! It is wild to think that last year at this time we had just started filling out paperwork and bought a larger car!!

toddlers and language

When we picked up little Miss B. she knew one word in English - BEEP BEEP for car. And if you have ever been in Addis you know why she knew that!!! LOL the way they use the horn I bet they wear out on a regular basis. And Amharic was not the language of her birth family, so here she was in a care center where they didn't speak her language and being adopted by a family that also didn't speak her language. We were prepared for it to take a long time for her to learn to talk. The first day we met her she didn't say a single thing (although we were soon to find out that was not how she was). She is always very quiet when she meets new people - but in general talks from the moment she wakes up until the moment she falls asleep. I joke that my ears get full - but that is the way it feels. Fortunately she has quickly learned English - seriously I think she has a vocabulary of over 100 words. One thing that has helped us tremendously are Signing Time videos - http://www.signingtime.com/ - we have the first 6 of them and they have really helped unlock the mysteries of language for her! Of course it also helps to have a big sister who talks all the time too!!!

Pierced ears

I have always, and I mean always wanted my little girls to have pierced ears. It is such a girly girl thing I thought for sure I'd get their ears pierced before their first birthday - but then I got married. My honey thinks that girls grow up way, way to fast (I agree) and didn't want our girls to do that - so I gave up on getting their ears pierced. Much to my surprise this afternoon he announced that if I wanted their ears pierced that it would be okay with him. Maybe he realized that growing up fast doesn't really have too much to do with a little bit of gold in your ears - but more to do with what your parents let you watch on TV, read in books or do. I didn't give him a second to change his mind!!! Off we were to the store - an hour later (and many tears - cause both girls are prone to dramatics) we were done! I think they look soooooo cute!

toddlers, sleep and attachment

Sleep - what all parents hope thier kiddos do for about 12 hours at night and maybe even a few years of naps!!! Of our 4 bio kids we only got 1 that was a good sleeper, which should have prepared us for some rough nights with Little Miss B. - but we are much older now and have really gotten used to our sleep!! B. has been home for almost 3 months now, came home at 2.5 years and sleep is settling into a predictable routine. Most nights we don't have any trouble getting her to sleep - primarly because she doesn't nap - which wouldn't work for everyone, but it fine for us! An interesting thing has happened recently - but let me back up and tell you about when she first came home. After the first week - when she was soooo tired and stressed out that she just conked out, getting her to sleep became a huge struggle. She could literally keep herself awake for more than an hour trying to control what was happening. She wanted to be incharge of where we sat or laid on the bed with her, whether or not she was rocked or walked or what ever. It became a huge power struggle - particularly with me and I began to dread bedtime. Then one day she missed her nap and bedtime that night went so well. She let us be in control and rock her and then put her in the bed with no struggle. Well that was it for me - no more naps. Now fast foward 2 months - and she hasn't napped in more than a month ( we did have the occasional nap here and there and then bed was a struggle again) yesterday she napped - but when it came time for bed there was no struggle. She needed to be rocked for a few more minutes than usual but she didn't try to control what was happening, she just melted into me and let sleep overtake her rather than fighting it - WOW what a gift. She is trusting us to care for her and make decisions for her - like when to go to bed. Attachement is a process - this just confirms for us that the process is happening on her side!!!

Why start now?

Why start blogging now - almost a year after we began this adoption journey, and nearly 3 months since little B. came home? Well you see in the beginning I was consumed with reading everything I possibly could on adoption, attachment, Ethiopia . . . well you get the picture. That plus gathering everything we needed for the dossier and what not along with the homestudy homework, classes and everyday life - well I never considered starting a blog - and honestly I am soooooo not the writer in the family. If you want truely inspired writing - you need to tune in when I can convince my honey to write - he is amazing! But now we are home, and settling in and I think this will be a good way to process everything that has happened and how it has changed us - and boy oh boy has it changed us! and there just might be another kiddo in our near future so it seems that I might have a thing or 2 to say about that as well!