He's a mover and a shaker

I am really slacking when it comes to important updates and I apologize. Last week the big guy started walking. We were reading stories to the kids at bed time when Jen noticed that Tarik was standing. He has this favorite spot on our fireplace, it is a little ledge that he sits on and he just loves to sit there and play with his toys. Anyway he apparently decide to stop sitting and stand up without pulling up on anything. We were of course excited and saying way to go kiddo when he took a couple steps! He wasn't the most graceful but since then a couple of steps has turned into a few, and a few more. He is currently crossing the room from the couch to the love seat and he is pretty proud of himself. We are too! Of course I don't have a picture to share but will put one up this weekend.

Last weekend we went to Chicago and got together with 5 of the families we traveled to Ethiopia with, unfortunately 3 families were not able to make it. I think everyone had a great time. We stayed at one of those waterpark hotels, which I am becoming less of a fan of. (Too loud but the kids love them.) On Saturday night we all ate at the hotel restaurant which was pretty dead so we had the place mainly to ourselves and had a blast. Afterward I held the first Ethiopian Dad's meeting at the hotel bar and we agreed on our bylaws and mission. Meeting notes are available but may not be legible.

On Sunday we ate an Ethiopian restaurant in Chicago. The place was fantastic, food marvelous and the staff amazing. They all kept coming over and talking with kids, carrying them around and just making us feel welcome. Afterward we went to Lincoln Park Zoo and enjoyed a cool but pleasant Sunday afternoon. We talked about getting together again in September, maybe Minneapolis, and I am hoping that all 9 families can make it.

Here are a few pictures, enjoy!

more bday pics

I didn't get my word in - Happy Birthday my sweet little baby boy! Tarik was 23 lbs,6 oz at his 1 year checkup and 29 1/2 inches. Annalise was 30 pounds and 36 inches at her 3 year appointment, the week before. Funny 2 years apart and just over 6 pounds and 6 inches. This might be part of the reason.

Oh, no, I'm not hungry.


Ok, well, I will try alittle bite.


Wow, that was good


Mmmmm


WHAT?


And one last pic of my sweet big boy after his Tiger Scout Blue and Gold Banquet - the orange marks have something to do with him graduating from a Tiger to a Wolf (? maybe).

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Somebody turned 1 today. Here is a hint...



It is kind of a strange day for me. I understand Tarik is a year old today but since we have only him for 7 months my brain is having a hard time reconciling this. We got together on the east side of the state last weekend for a big combined birthday party. Tarik's cousin Ben turned 1 last week so we thought it made more sense to do them together and save family the expense of traveling twice. I am not sure about the final count but we had to be close to 50 and it was fairly organized chaos.

In other news Katie celebrated her First Communion the on the 20th. I have pictures but not accessible to me right now. (I will post one tonight sometime between swim lessons, a softball game, bath night, and Tarik opening his presents.)She looked so beautiful and I couldn't believe how grown up she has gotten. Funny story about her dress, Jen wanted to get a veil for the outfit and I looked at her like she was nuts. I mean I could not picture ever seeing a veil on a First Communion outfit, at least not is the last 30 years. Anyway so I took Katie early on Sunday for pictures and noticed almost all the girls wearing these cute lacy trains, head bands what ever you call them. Then I thought, hmmm is that called a veil? Turns out it is. I thought a veil went over your face, you know like at a wedding? This shows once again I no nothing about fashion and that I should never question my wife and let her do whatever she wants.




We had a nice day, Katie got to give one of the Prayers of Intention and did a great job. Afterward we took everyone out to eat. The weather was finally perfect and we were able to eat outside on the patio at the restaurant. Really just the perfect day.

On the same day Katie celebrated her First Communion, Jen turned 26 (Okay I realize that we are celebrating our 11th anniversary this year and that would imply she was 15 when we got married, one more reason math can get you in trouble!) and in celebration went to see that Bon Jovi guy again. He was in town on her birthday (coincidence? I hope so) and her best friend bought her a ticket so I had no say in the matter. She had a great time and came home to me that night so I guess I win Jon!

That's it for now. I promise we will do better posting.

Memememe, oh and #8

First things first, Tarik got tooth number 8 last week. Just after he turned 11 months! Hopefully he will get a little reprieve for awhile. He has gotten 6 teeth in 2 months!

Oh, and we had the 4 babies together at Easter and had to take more pictures that will surely make me the 'worst mom ever' at some point in the future. (I think the dads are starting to be on the babies' sides, so this might be the end of the cute baby booty pics!)


I was tagged by my friend Niki , so I guess I will attempt to continue the little game. One problem is that I read very few blogs...

Here are the rules for the meme:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you. [done]

2. Post these rules on your blog. [done]

3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.

4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry.


OK, so 6 unimportant things about me.

1. I have 3 sisters and no brothers, so when I had an ultrasound and found out my second baby was a boy, I seriously didn't know what to think. It was just so weird to picture a boy in the family (my poor daddy - as if he isn't a boy). He would also be the first grandson, so my mom wasn't alot of help. She seemed as confused about it as I was... We got over it and I couldn't love my sweet boy anymore. Gramma thinks he is pretty awesome too.

2. I lived in the Mississippi until I was 14, but both of my parent are originally from Iowa. I developed a slight southern draw, but still never understood many key southern phrases, such as "over yonder" (I never could figure out where yonder was), "y'all come back now, ya here" (I was confused by this comment, in places where I might never be back to), and "fixin' to start" (so are we starting or not?). We didn't drink tea, eat greens or grits. I know many of my friends thought we were alittle odd. I lost any southern accent I had very quickly when moving to Iowa in 8th grade.

3. I love 80's/90's hair band music, such as Metallica, G&R, White Zombie, Ozzy, Danzig, AC/DC, Bon Jovi. I can't help it, I flip stations and really like lots of new stuff, but get sucked back in when I hear any of this music. I crank it ridiculously loud, and I know I look cool in my minivan. heehee

4. I told my new sweet husband that I would move anywhere when we got married. But when the real conversations of moving started, I chickened out and am 35 minutes from my parents. We are a whooping 2 hours from much of the rest of the family, which is alittle too far. And I think the 5 hours to my sister in Chicago is way too long. But to what may be the extreme, my grandma lives on the same street as two of her children, which is a few blocks away from another daughter, and a couple of my cousins. And another daughter and my grandpa used to live within a block of her too. But talk about a close family, there is always someone to talk to, ask for help from, and hang out with.

5. I have worked at my employer for 10 1/2 years, and it is the only 'real' job I have ever had since I graduated from college. I like it there and have had tons of experience and many roles, but my resume sucks. I am alittle too old to list my part time college jobs.

6. I spent a couple hours on Saturday picking up dog poop in the back yard. We had friends coming over on Sunday and we had TONS of cleaning to do Saturday, but it was an amazing day (and we have had a cruel, long, cold, snowy winter). So, I was happy to pick up poop, just so I could have an excuse to be outside. It was a good thing too, Sunday turned out to be decent and the 7 kids in addition to our 4, were dying to play outside. Since the guests were all 5 and under, we were outside supervising and I would have died if any of the little ones were to step in poop. **On a side note, despite our carpet cleaner and fridge breaking down a couple days prior to the get-together, we were able to pull off the appearance that we live in a clean house, despite 4 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 cats. Until...my 6 year old swung open the door to the storage area, right off the family room. You see, to get our house to this miraculously clean state, we had to hide a few things and the storage area was crammed with junk. I about fainted since we were all right there and screamed, 'quick, Jack shut the door'. He was climbing through like it was a jungle gym with another boy following right behind. He said 'why mom', and I responded that 'it was a mess and dangerous to climb through there'. He said 'I always do this mom', which is not true. Anyway, I was embarrassed and everyone was laughing, with me, not at me I am sure ;)

I am not sure who to tag, so if you read this, you are tagged. Sorry for the lame transfer there. Did I 'break the chain'??? :)

Happy Birthday Baby!

My little Annalise turned 3 on Friday! She got a call from her Papa that morning and when he asked how old she was she said 'o-most free'. She seems to think 'almost 3' is the actual age - 1, 2, almost 3, 4, 5. I have been talking it up for a long time, and I am sure I have completely confused her.

No big party, since Easter was the week before - it is tough to ask the families to make the long drives. We took her to Jumpin Jacks that night and the kids had a great time on the inflatables slides and jump house-thingies. We went right at 5 and the place was pretty empty, so they had it to themselves for awhile. Tarik thought the kids were pretty funny and he got a kick out of watching them. I did let him crawl around in one, and he liked it until he got stuck on his back in the corner. He just couldn't get himself rolled back over.

Here are a couple pics of the big girl!

The other man

I fell in love with him before I knew my sweet wonderful husband, and never stopped loving him. I have only seen him a few times over the years, but think and hear of him frequently. He is busy with his own life, though I hope we will see eachother again some day. Of course, I will have to fight off my own sisters for a chance at him. I did have the pleasure of seeing him recently in Chicago, thanks to my main man. Here is just a little picture.



Isn't he awesome?! It was a great concert - really great! And I do get to see him again, with my BFF in April. I am the luckiest girl in the world! :)

Back to my favorite topic - teeth! They just do not stop coming in. I posted last that Tarik got his 5th tooth on the 10th. He got his 6th on the March 13th and his 7th tooth on March 16th. Seriously, that is quick. 7 teeth and he is not quite 11 months. He also got his second haircut last week.

It is Spring Break week, so Gary and I have been juggling days off, with the help of G&G M. Last Sunday we went to Omaha's awesome Henry Doorly Zoo. Then we surprised the kids with a stay at a hotel with a waterpark. We haven't ever been to one, but since we weren't doing anything else on spring break, we figured we would splurge. They were very surprise and had an awesome time. Tarik loved the water and would have drowned himself if I had let him. He just crawled and crawled around the baby pool, which slightly sloped out from zero depth to about 2 feet. And he crawled right into fountains of water shooting up and under dumping water from above, never cried, never sputtered. He loved it. Annalise was quite happy in the baby pool too. She was not happy if we took her in anything deeper. And the one slide she tried splashed her in the face, so she was done with that. The place had 4 small slides, 3 medium, and 3 big ones (that actually went outside the building). Katie and Jack thought it was pretty cool!

They grow so fast

So, 2 days after my last post, Tarik got his 4th tooth, and then 4 days after that he had his 5th tooth. And by-golly, there is a big lump on the other side, so tooth number 6 is close.
And the weekend after my last post, Tarik mastered pulling up to his feet and now is starting to 'cruise' around the furniture. He particularly like to hang on to the rails overlooking the steps to the basement and shake them - making his poor momma have a heart attack. They are attached pretty well, due to some gluing (ask Gary about the one that is upside down), so nothing to worry about... HA!

Annalise is doing great going on the potty chair - and she still gets excited every time she goes. So cute. Some days she still insists on wearing a pull-up, but she keeps it dry all day and has been dry all night a few times too.
She is learning so much from her big brother and sister, mostly the bad stuff - like saying NO to me. They do it and know when I am serious and they need to cut it out, but she hasn't figured that part out yet, so she tends to get herself into trouble. I have also caught her giving Tarik stern little lectures, 'No Thank You Tarik. We do not hit our friends!' He looks at her with these confused big eyes trying to figure out why the toy he was drooling on was just swiped from his chubby little fingers. This is a phrase I know she hears at daycare and it just is so funny to hear her say it, but I have to scold her about treating him like a little brother and not a doll.

Katie seems to have grown up alittle lately. And I am sure it will pass, but lately she has accepted punishment with a simple 'OK'. Such as no more TV, because she bolted from the dinner table in 4 minutes flat to see the same (but it's my favorite!!) episode of SpongeBob for the 100th time. And she has been better about helping me with simple chores. And she comes in from school and super politely asks me how my day was. Now, she did have a fit about not getting to sit by me at dinner the other day and threw herself on the floor-as if she was Annalise's age. But, in general she seems easier to reason with and knows when she needs to suck it up and deal with it.

Jackson - not so much. He is 6, and it is often hard for me to remember what Katie acted like 2 years ago. So, I am not sure when I am expecting too much. He still has the shortest attention span. (jack put on your shoes, jack your shoes, Jack, JACK, JACKSON - huh? PUT ON YOUR SHOES. then it starts over with the coat.) But, he must be the most cuddly, huggy thing. He loves to crawl in bed with us and play with my hair until he is back asleep. When he can't sleep with me, then he will try for one of his sister's beds and there they are arms around each other and they all seem to sleep better that way. He is a momma's boy for now. I am sure it won't last, so I will take it while I can.

Only 3 more days of work this week, then Spring Break and Gary and I are juggling a few days of vacation, with the help of Papa M! YAY!

#4

I had meant to post something this week about the kids, what all has been going on, etc. since I had not posted since the end of the Packers season. (I have not and will not discuss that ending with anyone outside of a true-green fan.) I was feeling guilty about that. Jen posts about the kids, I post about football. My priorities were mixed up and I was going to remedy that. But then today happened, Tuesday March 4, 2008. The day we all knew would happen eventually, HE retired.

So do I post on and on about HIM and football or do I try and forget the fact and post something about what's truly important? Let's try both.

Since that Sunday when HE took the field for the first time (and I do remember that game) here is what has happend:


Great moments in my life since September 20, 1992

• I fell in love
  
• Got married
• Witnessed the birth of three of my children
• Traveled half-way around the world to bring home my other child
• Watched all my siblings get married
• Welcomed 15 nieces and nephews into our family
• Became a godfather to 3 of them
• Bought our first home
• Built our next home
• Been laid off
  
• Found a job/career I love
• Watched two of my children start school
• Traveled to Europe and Africa
• Put on weight
• Lost weight
• Made new friends
• Lost contact with old ones
• Sat on a beach in Mexico with my wife at sunset realizing how great life can be.

And through all this I got to watch, on TV and in person, a game played by someone who loved to play. (Just ask John Madden)

So, Thank you Brett.

LTNT

Hey - yeah so...where do I begin? This isn't that hard, yet I can't seem to make the time.

Tarik was 20 lbs 6 oz (50th %tile) at his 9 month and 27 1/4 inches (25th %tile). So, he is a little chub, but I did verify that my first little love was a whopping 22 lbs and 29 1/2 inches at her 9 month checkup. So, she was a bigger baby, all around.
Tarik is crawling like a little mad-man now. He started out about 3 weeks ago and it was such a sight - he looked like a wind-up bug or something - very slow and mechanical-like. His daycare teacher described it like 'baby alive', a doll that used to crawl. Now, he is quick and pulls up to his knees, trying to get to his feet. He is across the room in an instance, which makes the top of the steps worrisome. With Jack, we didn't use the basement quite so much and didn't seem to need a babygate. Annalise was patient and easy and didn't dare the top of the steps (ok, she did fall once, I fell down them later that same day-it was weird). Anyway, now we are up and down the steps a dozen times a day, so I know he is going to be tempted. We have round banisters (poles or whatever) at the top of the steps, so we can't use the pressure mounted kind of gate, and I hate to drill into the wood... And then there are the gates with multiple sides, that maybe we could use somehow, but they run over $100. Kinda pricey... and I am not sure they would solve all the problems.

Annalise, our little love bug, is very well on her way to potty-trained. It happened quickly, well quickly once she decided to do it... When I was on leave last fall it was my goal to get her potty-trained and she spent many days running around without a diaper on and I managed to get her to 'go' 1 time. I knew she was holding it though, so I figured it would be coming soon. Fast forward 4 months, not so soon, I guess. But a week ago, on a Sunday, she spent the entire day in big-girl panties and only had 1 tiny accident. She wore diapers to daycare last week, but we switched to underpants in the evenings and she never had any accidents. Then this Sunday on the way home for CR, she stayed dry for the 2 hour drive. So, she is wearing underpants to daycare this week and we haven't had any accidents yet!! She is amazingly proud of herself and SO excited. I just love it too!

Katie and Jack both had wonderful reports at school during the parent-teacher confernces. Both of their teachers seem to really like them. And that is great, since due to snow days, we may be going all summer.
Jackson participted in his first Pine Wood Derby with Cub Scouts. He designed and painted a Cheetah car. It was super cute. No big winner this year (he did come in second in several races), but it was a good start.



Gary and I just had a big weekend. Gary and my brothers-in-law got tickets to Bon Jovi in Chicago last Saturday for Sarah, Elizabeth and me. So, we stayed in a swanky, modern - yet retro (and too expensive) hotel called, The James. It was a cool place. And we had an excellent dinner at The Republic, across the street. The concert was amazing, we did alot of swoonning, which I wouldn't think I would do at this age, but man, I love the music, and he is so darn CUTE! We had very good seats, thanks to Adam!!!! We were straight to the side of the stage - 10th row up the first risers. AND the stage went out on the sides into the seat alittle and ended where Jon was 5 rows in front of us. He did not spend nearly enough time there... I will be posting a pic as soon as I get one from Sarah, since my dumb camera was dead!

Happy Birthday Niki! Happy early Birthday Gretch! Miss you both, it has been awhile. :(

#3

Hi - I have been bad at posting lately, just busy I guess.

Little Tarik is not so little anymore actually. According to the scientific 'hold him and get on a scale, then hop on the scale by myself' method, he weighs 21.4 pounds). We will have an official weight tomorrow after his 9 month checkup.
He definitely out weighs his 2007 cousins and I am fairly certain he outweighs any of my other kiddos at 9 months. The only contender is Katie, so I need to dig out her baby book to double check.

He FINALLY has his 3rd tooth. I think (but am too lazy to check) that he got his first and second teeth in late October - like his second week at daycare after I went back to work. So, it has been 3 months and I kept thinking it should be anytime. I found out tonight when I heard him grinding his teeth. He kept doing it and I had to try to distract him with toys to chew on. What a little trooper, he doesn't seem bothered by it all.

Tarik is close to crawling, but at this point it is mostly getting on his hands and knees, then rocking for awhile - excitedly eyeing the toy in front of him, then going backwards and eventually getting stuck under a chair. Poor baby. But he doesn't seem to mind. He is also close to pulling himself up. If I stand him up against the couch or in his crib, he loves it and can hang out for awhile.
It is just so fun to watch him grow. He is a sweet little baby and just makes me giggle when we play. Oh yeah, he also waves - bye or hi - now! (sheesh, it has been obviously been awhile since I posted!)

Updates for the other 3... same old, same old. Not quite as many changes when you are older than 1, I guess. Annalise is still not potty-trained, but she is almost 3 (can you believe it?!??) and I have convinced her that 3 years olds HAVE to use the potty. So, we will see how that goes.

Katie and Jack are both having a good year in school. We have conferences in a couple weeks, so I guess we will know for sure then. ;) They can be huge helps for me with Tarik in the mornings, when we have the daily time crunch. They still love to feed him, or hold him for me when I need a minute. Nothing makes me happier than when I am watching Jack smiling and talking to Tarik and I can see the total love in his heart. He is a wonderful brother. And Katie is a great little momma to Tarik. She wants to help with it all, except the poppy diapers. Annalise is like Jack too - she baby-talks to Tarik and he eats it up - smiling and babbling back at her.

Ahhhhhh, life is great!

20-23 (OT)

42-20

Okay I know this is a little late but I have been somewhat busy basking in the glow of a glorious win by the Pack last Saturday. They are now one game away from the Super Bowl, and thanks to the Cowboys, that game is in Lambeau against the New Jersey Giants. We were all decked out for the game and I just thought I would share a couple pics, minutes after the game.

We are headed to Chicago this weekend to visit one of Jen's sisters. It's her birthday and her husband is at the Sundance Film Festival this week. Quick plug, Adam had a great movie review podcast called Filmspotting. Click the link below or you can catch him on NPR. I am not sure of the times or which markets for sure but you may want to look in your local listings. Or you can just subscribe to Filmspotting on iTunes. Okay enough of the free publicity.

So we are coming home Sunday, hopefully in time to see the game, but just in case, we are all bringing our Packer gear to wear in the car ride home. To all you nonPacker fans out there, it's not too late, join us. To the rest GO PACK!!!!

Filmspotting

Next Big Step - Late news

Last Thursday, January 3rd, Gary, Tariku, and I went to court ("isn't court a bad thing " asked Katie - not this time, angel!). We had Tarik's Re-adoption, or Adoption Finalization hearing. Our new friend Jeremy represented us and briefed us on what would happen and what we needed to do. (I didn't realized we would actually be sworn in...)

My dad came over bright and early to get Katie and Jack off to school and watch Annalise. Heck no, we weren't taking them! Oh yes, it would be nice, but I am sure they would have behaved in such a way that the judge might have had a second thought about whether we could handle 4 kids! As we walked out the door, Jack asked "what if the judge said no, that we couldn't keep him". I assured him it wouldn't happen and then when we got there, Jeremy assured me that it couldn't happen either. (unless I started talking crazy up on the stand - luckily I was able to keep my cool!)

The hearing wasn't very long, but I basically went through the whole process from deciding to adopt to being here with Tarik today. Gary was second and got to just agree that everything I said was true. Tarik was a doll and happily tapped his plastic toy against the table the whole time.

So, we are nearly done. The Proof of Ciitzenship or Naturalization is our last step that we starting right now. Oh, except the next 18 years of post-placement reports that are due to Ethiopia. Gotta get that on the calendar...

Here is a pic of us with the judge (sorry Jeremy - you are blog-worthy, but I have my eyes closed in the pic!)

Bad dad, even worse husband

I am leaving town for a couple days and leaving Jen alone with all of the kids. The reason? I am going to Denver with some friends to watch a football game. I know I should feel guilty and I do a little bit but I am also pumped for a weekend of fun. (not too much I promise Jen.) I got to go see the Packers in Green Bay a couple weeks ago but I was only gone a day and a half and I drove so it didn't seem so far. we are flying out Saturday morning and will be back Monday afternoon. The purpose of telling you all this? Please post comments, call the house, send an e-mail, to help make Jen feel less crazy. And me a little less guilty.

Here are a couple pics from Christmas, the kids had a blast seeing everyone and opening presents. Jen and I? It seems as the years go this holiday gets less fun and more work. I would like more fun for Christmas next year. Peace.

First Haircuts

So, after much pushing by daddy for the last few weeks, Tarik had his first haircut today! I was very hesitant because I liked the curls and I figured 7 1/2 months was too young for a haircut. Especially considering Anna had not had one yet. SOOOO, she got her first haircut today as well.

We went to a haircutting school. 1 - because I am cheap, 2 - because I didn't have an appointment and figured it would be hard to get in anywhere on a Saturday morning, and 3 - because I was hoping that they would be learning how to cut African-American hair and might do a better job than the local cost cutters or whatever.
They did a nice job - took off at least an inch or more from the top, then cleaned up the (bozo-like) sides, and teensy bit in the back just to even things up. And I really like it and now wish I had maybe done it prior to pictures. Oh well. It still has at least an inch, so hopefully I can still get my curls.

Annalise took her haircut very seriously, and just sat extremely still and wouldn't crack a smile or answer any questions. I just had them cut about 2 inches off of hers to even the back out. She was super cute.

Jackson also got his hair cut (not his first of course). He wanted a mohawk, but we opted for a buzz. It may be alittle too short for winter, but it grows pretty quick, so it will be long again in no time.

Sorry for the delay in posting - at least by me, I know it has been awhile. We have been really busing getting ready for Christmas. We started so early, but then all of a sudden it was just a few days to go. Jackson had strep again in the midst of it.

If we don't post again before Christmas, we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, or a Happy Holiday of whatever you celebrate. Peace to all.

Who needs sleep?!

If you had told me years ago that it was possible for the human body to run on less than 5-6 hours off sleep each and every night I would have laughed. I remember a time when 8-10 hours was the norm, more than that if sleep was preceded by a night on the town. (For me that was most nights.)

I am bringing this up because Jen and I can't remember what a good night sleep means. I would love to blame this on having a new infant but he is just a small part of the equation. Since we have been home with T, he generally gets up once in the evening and we have been giving him a bottle. At 7 months does he need that? No, but when you are half awake and just want to go back to sleep, that was an easier option that rocking or walking him to sleep. (FYI, it is possible to feed a child in the middle of the night and not exactly be awake.)

Well after the doctor poked fun at Jen, asking her if she was a first time mom, we have decided to try and cut out that bottle and so far it has been okay but we each have spent a few hours sleeping on the couch with T in our arms.

Next up is our youngest daughter. She wakes up every night crying and will not be consoled until she is in bed with us. This in itself is not great and when you add the fact that she sleeps spread out and seems to like to kick me in the face periodically, it makes for more lost sleep time.

Now let me introduce our oldest son. He is 6 and can't seem to stay in his bed. We will on average take him back to his room 3 times a night. We have literally woken up with him in the bed, unaware of when he got there. I have put the CIA on notice since I think he will make a great spy when he gets older. He also walks around the house kind of in his sleep. I don't know if he is "sleep walking" but I suspect maybe.

Then there is the dog. She sleeps at the foot of the bed, usually not on our feet but not for lack of trying. We kick her off at least a half a dozen time. Once when T wakes up, once when A comes into our bed and 3 times when J sneaks in. I know that is only 5, the six is when I get pissed in the middle of the night and just start kicking!

Finally 5:30a rolls around and on occasion the oldest decides to join the group. I have woken up in the morning after my 4-5 hours of sleep with 3 kids and one dog in my bed and my wife asleep on the couch holding our youngest. And you know what? We make a pot of coffee, work through the day and start it all over again in the evening. And I wouldn't change a thing. Well... maybe the dog.

So I ask again. Who needs sleep?

New Look

Well we have officially made the switch to our new url. I hope we haven't lost anyone, though I suspect we may have. We will try and make the rounds and update everyone, but if you know anyone who may read this from time-to-time you may want to let them know. We have also changed the name and look of the blog. Since our son is home with us now we have decided to blog more about raising a transracial family in the midwest. Hopefully you all won't find that too boring.

On a side note I have also transferred this blog to another site. Take a look and let me know which you prefer or if you don't care at all. Thanks!

http://4goodreasons.wordpress.com

Weekend Reunion and Ch-Ch-Changes

Well after an eventful week, "Our Adoption Adventure" is back! After last week's phone call, the wife and I had some discussion about internet safety and whether or not we should continue writing this blog. (After all we started this to keep everyone informed on how the adoption process was going and we brought our son home in August. So maybe end of story?) But we have also enjoyed doing this and still have lots we can talk about. So after some cleansing and a couple tweeks, we are going to continue blogging. We have made a few chnages, the biggest will be our url. After this week our new address(assuming it is still available) will be:

http://4goodreasons.blogspot.com

I put our blog there for a couple days so I think we should be good. If not we will let everyone know. Also we are going to TRY to limit access to our personal information. Most of you know who we are, so we may not be posting our names or where we live very often. Probably a little paranoid but my better half would feel better if we didn't put that out there and I respect that.

So on to the news. We got together in Wisconsin this past weekend with a few of the families we traveled with. We had not seen any of them or the kids since we all parted ways at various airports. It was a lot of fun and we were even able to go out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. We spent the night and the kids, especially the oldest two, thought staying in a hotel was really cool. I am posting a couple pics of the kids for you to enjoy.




We are also starting to get ready for the holiday and Tariku's upcoming baptism. (See I just put in a name, man this is going to be hard!) Basically that means LOTS and LOTS of cleaning, so 40 some people can come into our home on Sunday. If we don't get that done I guess we take everyone out to eat instead. It's not looking good.

Weird phone call

So, tonight, about 4:00, Annalise was throwing a tantrum about something and Gary is feeding Tarik. The phone rings and some man asks for Gary or Jennifer XXXXXX(mis-pronounced our last name, as always). 'Long O' Gary says, as always.

The man said he saw our blog and was thinking about adopting and had some questions. He asked if all 3 of our children were adopted, Gary muttered over the chaos 'Well we have 4 and only 1 was adopted, the other were biological'. Long silence from this man.
Then he says again HE was thinking about adopting but didn't know alot about it. Then he asked if our adopted child was American or adopted overseas. Gary said it was an international adoption. Another long pause. The guy said 'international is kind of expensive isn't it'? Gary said 'it can be'. Again he said he was just looking for some information on adoption and Gary asked if he lived here in our state. The man said 'no, he lived in Illinois, but was thinking about moving back to our state'. Gary then told him we used CHSFS and he could contact them with any questions. The man said he had looked at lots of agency websites, but couldn't find any pictures. Gary said alot of times they don't post pics and then told the man that it wasn't a good time to talk. The man said he might call back if he has more questions.

Gary called me at work and said it was a weird conversation, something about it made Gary feel uncomfortable. Gary really felt like there was more to it and was waiting for either some racist comments or comments against international adoption. Nothing like that was said though.

And we both wondered why, if he had read our blog, he would need to ask most of those questions. And of course now we are wondering if we should never have started this blog, or at least made it public. BTW - there were 2 hits from Illinois on our blog today - one a couple hours before the call and one just after.

Of course, after the fact, we wish we would have responded differently to this man. And maybe got his name, or just stopped him at the very first question. Like 'You SHOULD NOT be calling us at home and invading our privacy. Yes, we have a blog, but our phone number is not on there, so we are not inviting such calls.' Don't get us wrong, we love to talk about our adoption, but this didn't seem the appropriate way to do it. The guy could have posted a comment and asked if he could speak to us about adoption. That would have seemed more normal.

Personally I do not think normal people call up total strangers with such odd questions.

I have so many thoughts and worries going through my head. I would like assume it was harmless and he is really considering adoption, and maybe he doesn't have any social skills and didn't realize how weird it felt to us.
But in reality, we are now considering locking up the blog, or taking out all pictures and personal information (though it may be too late).

Any advice, are we over-reacting, over-worrying? And this is an FYI in case someday you trying to get into the blog and it is locked down.


And - sir - if you are reading this, I don't mean to be insulting, but we do not wish for you to call us again. Even if your questions are legitimate and your intentions are harmless, it was very uncomfortable and inappropriate.

Ethiopia, Chapter 6, The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-quarters

Since I have been labeled either a dork, or nerd, or both, I decided to embrace my geekness and go with it. Letting you gentle reader, figure out today's title.

OUR journey in Ethiopia continues.

Monday was the day we went to the National Museum of Ethiopia. I was initially looking forward to this because this is where Lucy is. If you want to learn more about Lucy, just click on her name. However just before leaving the US I read an article in "The Daily Prophet" which mentioned that Lucy was going on tour in the States and what we would see in Ethiopia was actually a model, not the real thing. Then I learned that it is always a model so my chance of seeing the actual skeleton was always going to be 0.

To get to the museum we did not have to go to King's Crossing and board a train, instead we all piled into two vans and off we went. Traffic in Addis is interesting and very hectic. Not as bad as Cairo but definitely a close second. Both of our drivers for the week were very skilled in the art of placing a van in a lane of traffic designed to fit a Yugo which was very helpful. After about a half hour we arrived in one piece at the museum.

Once there we had to go through security and have our passports checked. I started thinking they might have "The Philosopher's Stone" inside, but alas all in all I was very disappointed with the place. It is incredibly small and Lucy's exhibit is in a corner in the basement with little signage to even let you know where she is. There was lots of art which I loved but not as much artifacts showing Ethiopia's history as I would have expected. After all Ethiopia has been considered the Cradle of Humanity.

After the museum we went back to the guest house and then went over to the care center to see the kids. We would have gone in the morning to see them but they were at the embassy getting their passport photos taken. Tariku was tired and slept most of our visit. We wrote it off as him having a long day and the fact that he was 4 months old and really at that age all they do is eat and sleep. Again we probably would have known he wasn't feeling well if he had been in our care and we were able to watch over him 24/7. I am not criticizing our hosts, they really did a great job and we understand they still had some last minute details to take care of including the passport photos. I just meant that since we did not have him with us the whole time it took us longer to realize he was sick.

Tuesday was the day we had Tariku the longest up to that point because it was US Embassy day. The kids had been to the doctor in the morning and had their blood drawn and then they were dropped off at the guest house. I have never seen so many excited adults in one room. Except maybe at the finals of the Quidditch World Cup.(Okay I will stop now. I promise!) Back to reality the children arrived and we all piled into the two vans again and headed through town to the US Embassy. After another half hour trip in the vans, security not once but twice, where some families had to drink the formula out of their baby's bottle, and another 2 hours of waiting we each went to the window answered a few questions and were told that our children were our and we could bring them home! Of course throughout the entire day Tariku slept and ate a little bit.

I should mention eating and then leave Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for next time. The babies in the care center are cup fed from these tiny metal cups. It is amazing to watch. We even saw an infant under 15 days old in Hossana's care center eating this way. They say it is safer on the children since it is easier to sterilize a cup that a bottle and nipple. I believe this is part of the reason they do this. It is also a lot quicker to feed the kids this way and when you have lots of hungry kids who need to eat every 4 hours or so, you need to do it quickly. (Just one man's opinion) Anyway, Jen fed Tariku on Monday out of a cup and she did a great job with it. On Tuesday we all brought cups and bottles not knowing if our kids would take from the bottle right away but all of us wanting to transition them to that point. Tariku took the bottle right away never once needing us to go back to the cup.

Eating for us included a great mixture of American cuisine and Ethiopian. The cook at the guest house made us breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday and we walked away from most meals way too full. I never knew you could have dessert with every meal!

Again, this is way too long of a post so I am calling it quits. I better go make sure Jen doesn't think I am too much of a dork. Besides I am getting this pain from the scar on my forehead. Peace!