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!

Growing Boy

All I have to say about the previous post is my husband is a dork. I didn't get the title, he had to explain what it meant, so maybe I am a dork and he is a nerd!

Anyway, Tarik had his 6 month checkup last Monday (not today, I am just slow). He weighed in at a whooping 17 lbs, 2 oz. This is just 50th percentile, I was kinda surprised because he has such chubby cheeks and an adorable big ole belly. Well, his height was just 25 1/4 inches, and that puts him at 15th percentile. Alittle on the short side at this point, which makes him look so chubby. He had to get 4 shots and had some big tears from that, but he was just fine the rest of the day. After his first set of shots, he had the worst mood we have ever seen from him, so I was alittle worried.

He is still working on his sitting, which he has been doing for quite awhile and not improving at any monumental speed. I would blame this on my lack of setting him down. I am sure that if he spent more time on the floor practicing, then he would be getting better. His cousin Ben has been a pro at sitting for a few weeks. Also, he is so funny because for the longest time he had only rolled from his back to his belly, which I think is the harder way to go. The a couple weeks ago, he finally went from him belly to his back. And for about 3 days, he rolled alot. Now it is like he forgot how.

The rest of the kids are doing great! Anna and Jack switched rooms, so now it is the girls in one room and the boys in the other. It was an easier transition than I expected. Hopefully after the holidays we can re-paint and decorate their rooms.

Gary had today off work for Veteran's Day, so I took a vacation day and we got a large chunk of Christmas shopping done. It was fun to spend the day together and the stores weren't too full. Still lots of people out, but not like it will be in a couple weeks.

Ethiopia, Episode IV, A New Hope

After only two and a half months we have decided to post some pictures and tell everyone a little bit about our time in Ethiopia. I know what you are thinking, "But Gary, we were really hoping you would wait another 6-7 months."

Let's see, when we last left our heroes...

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away"

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy….

Ooops, wrong story. WE were in Cairo. In my defense it did seem a lot like another world.



So let's see, we arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia on Friday night. We were met by a representative from our agency. His name is Masey and he was pretty much in charge of getting all of settled and assisting us with any and all of our needs. We were the third family to arrive. The rest of our group were due in the next morning. The guest house is amazing. It is a very large home with 7 or 8 bedrooms. It has a large living space were we gathered to watch TV and chat. There is a kitchen upstairs but it was not really used. The kitchen and dining area downstairs was were we all gathered to eat.

Saturday morning we got up and got ready to meet our children for the first time. I can't properly describe how it felt waiting to see Tariku for the first time. We were led into a large room at the care center and one at a time, each family was led to another room where their child was. The agency creates a video "Life Book" for each family and part of the video is our time there including our first meeting.

So once we were led into to room and shown Tariku, Jen of course started crying. I being the manly man decided not to.
On a side note, it must have been really dusty at the time because dust particles got into my eyes and made them water. I hate when that happens.


We only got to spend a short time with Tariku because we had to get to the office and meet the rest of our travel group and discuss the agenda for the week. What I remember most about our visit that day was how quiet and sleepy Tariku was. In hindsight I should have realized he didn't feel well.

Meeting the rest of the group was interesting since they had all just gotten off the plane and looked half dead. You are pretty much on a plane traveling for close to 18-24 hours and I can't even imagine what was going through there heads at the time or even how much they remember. After introductions they all left to meet their children. The rest of the day was getting to know everyone and preparation for our trip to Hossana the next morning.

HOSSANA

Sunday morning we all got up early, 4am early, in order to make the trip south. This trip is optional but it is an opportunity to maybe meet the birth family, see the care center where the children were dropped off at, and also see Ethiopia. Each family had it's own Land Rover and driver and at about 5am 8 vehicles drove out of Addis. The trip itself was really something, watching the sun come up and burn off the mist from the mountains was amazing. We were able to see small huts in the distance, some were close to road, and watch the Ethiopian people start their day.

Once we reached Hossana we went to the CHSFS office and waited for our visit. At first no one from Tariku's birth family was there and when it seemed that we would not be able to meet anyone, word came down that his birth father was on his way. Once he arrived we went into an office and had a nice conversation and afterward took some pictures. There is probably more to say but we want to wait until Tarik is older and we can tell him about it first.

On the way back to Addis we stopped at one of the homes and visited with the family who lived there. We were also able to go inside see how they lived .While we were there lots of children and adults appeared and watched us. We interacted a little bit with them. I found a small group of children who were facinated with my video camera. Once I turned the screen around and they were able to see themselves they about flipped and I had them had a large group of children. I did end up giving some change to them, we were encouraged not to since it has in the past caused some problems, but we were in the car and it seemed like the right thing to do. I forgot to mention that while in Hossana we stopped in the care center there. Jen and I had brought some gifts for the children in the area, crayons and granola bars if I remember right, and we asked the guard at the care center to hand them out to the children that had gathered outside the walls.
We made it back to the guest house in Addis late afternoon and spent the evening watching a movie I brought along. Thanks Netflix!

Jeez, I am only thru Sunday! I better call it quits for now and take up the next chapter later. (SPOILER ALERT!!! We find out some interesting news about Luke's father. You don't want to miss it.)



Oh, we also got new pictures taken and wanted to share some of them.

Happy Halloween!

Grandma K called it

Gary's mom was in town for a concert last night and stayed over. She was checking out Tarik's new tooth and said she thought the next one was right there too. She was right on the money. She left town about 2 hours ago and tooth number 2 is popping through!!! That sweet little baby, not a single cry from him about it. Maybe a little more drool than normal, but that is it.

So, this was my first week back to work. It was no fun. Tarik is not shy with strangers yet, so he happily went to his teacher each morning. By Wednesday he seemed to recognize her or her voice and was smiling away at her each morning as I left. He slept well, ate well and seems to be very happy there. Annalise is a different story. (BTW-we switched daycares while I was on leave, so this is a new place. We did visit a couple times last week to help the transition, but it didn't.) The first day, I kinda 'tricked' her. Stayed for about 30 minutes and she didn't want me to leave her side, so I finally told her I had to take Tarik to his room and I would be back to check on her. I did come back, but just poked my head in and saw she was OK and left. Well, she isn't a dummy...the rest of the week she insisted we drop off Tarik first each day. That way I couldn't sneak off. I stayed about 1/2 hour on Tuesday and Wednesday, but each time had to leave her in the teachers arms crying. They, of course, assure me that she is fine within a couple minutes after I leave and I am sure she is, but it is heartbreaking to just walk out when she is crying. Thursday I only stayed about 15 minutes and Friday about 10. One of those days I heard her wailing as I walked out, "My Daddy come pick me up!" over and over. The teacher said he will be here in alittle bit (or in other words - 7 hours). I think she is treated very well, the teachers seem very competent and all the other kids seem very happy. So, it was a really rough week for us. I expect next week to be bad too, but maybe by the 3rd week she will be doing alittle better.
Gary did confirm that the first couple days she seemed alittle sad when he came in, but by the end of the week she was happy and said bye-bye to everyone and the other little 2 year olds said bye back to her.

Tarik has his first cold. I think I thought he had a cold the second week back after we got home, but it only lasted a day. Now, Tarik, Jackson, Annalise, and I have icky colds. Jack and Tarik have a nasty little, croup-y sounding cough with it. Annalise and I 'just' have the runny nose, sore throat. No fevers or anything real bad though. I will officially blame daycare though. heehee When we were there visiting last week, I saw lots of runny noses. The daycare has the kids wash hands (in this cute little bathroom with 5 mini sinks and toilets) before snacks and meals. And they wash the kids hands after diaper changes, but I totally know they are going to pass it around. Just thought it was funny, because we were all doing really good, then started at daycare and now we are all sick. Oh well, it will only make us stronger or something like that.

Gotta run, lots to do on this beautiful weekend for the last 2 soccer games, me logging into work alittle last night, this morning, and tonight, AND visits from Grandma K, Grandpa M (thanks a billion for helping with the Halloween party last night!), and the Hickman family. Oh yes, and we need to squeeze in a visit to the pumpkin farm!!

Getting ready for a toothy grin

Okay I know I promised some video for my next post and I WILL get to it, but I wanted to spread some news today instead. It appears Tarik has decided to get his first tooth. We have joked since we picked him up that we would never be able to tell when he was teething since he loves to suck and chew on everything. Turns out we were correct. Last night Jen was having her finger munched on by the little guy when she felt something a little different. After checking and then having everyone in the family clustered around and in his face, we can say our little boy is growing up. Shouldn't be too long now until he is walking, saying "No," telling us he hates us, sneaking out at night, dating, graduating, telling us he loves us, going to college, getting married, and giving us grandchildren.

Damn! I'm getting old.

No pictures yet but if we can figure out a way to pry open his mouth...

Reflections

Well we are back from our trip and really had an amazing time. Most of what we did probably could have been done at home, but you know how it is. There are always projects you could do around the house, friends to play with, errands to run, etc. Getting away from all that allowed us to spend time together without those interruptions and that was nice. I got to spend some quality time with Tarik, which I haven't been able to do much of since I went back to work. Boy has he really grown and become part of our family. I also took Jack and Katie to see an IMAX movie called "Mysteries of the Nile." I wasn't sure exactly what this would be about but thought the kids would like to see an IMAX, so off we went. Turns out it was a movie about a rafting expedition from the mouth of the Nile river to the Mediterranean Sea. The mouth of the Nile is in Ethiopia so the movie spent a great deal of time talking about and showing parts of Ethiopia. The river then runs through the Sudan and into Egypt where it flows into the Mediterranean. I found this amazing because it was a movie about all the places Jen and I were in only a short time ago. I also spent most of the movie answering questions from the kids who were thrilled to see the places mom and dad went.

I am bringing this up because it made me really reflect on our trip and also realize that we haven't said much here about our journey. I told you all the funny stories from Cairo and we kept people up-to-date on Tarik's medical issues while we were in Addis, but we have never given our thoughts on the trip as a whole. We haven't posted any pictures or videos except for a couple from Cairo. Well starting today I hope to rectify that problem.

Cairo

This was an adventure as anyone who has read our blog knows. Overall it was an amazing place, very hectic and noisy, and if we had to do it all over again, we would probably do everything differently. (Except maybe lodging. We LOVED our hotel) We tend to be independent travelers, liking to do things on our own terms and this has worked for us in the past. Not so much here. I would strongly suggest anyone traveling to Egypt to go with a group, preferably a escorted travel group. I think that 99.9% of things that drove us nuts there would have been eliminated if we had had that kind of buffer. It seemed to us that the people there (okay maybe only the ones we dealt with) enjoyed trying to take advantage of tourists. The things we saw were simply unbelievable but the manner in which we were treated at times, took away from this incredible place. I think Jen regretted taking the trip because it made our trip that much longer and by the the end of the two weeks she missed the kids terribly. I have to agree that it was a very long trip and would I never have guessed how much I would miss them, however I don't regret going. Seeing the pryamids up close is something I will never forget. I probably won't forget the taxi cab drivers either and that is not a good thing.

One other interesting piece of information. There were two main roads which you travel on extensively to get around Cairo. One was called "26th of July", the other the "6th of October." In case you don't know, Jen and I were married on the 26th of July and our first child, Katie, was born on the 6th of October.

I am going to try and find some good video from Cairo this week and post it and I will also see if Jen wants to add anything about Cairo. Next stop will be Ethiopia, and soon, I promise.

A good idea or sheer lunacy?

In about 6 hours Jen and I are packing our four kids into the car and taking our first family vacation. We decided last summer that since we couldn't take a vacation at that time we would do it now. The kids are out of school for part of this week and Jen is still on leave so we thought now was the best time. Did I mention we are taking all four kids on a trip? Did I mention we are driving to Branson, MO., about a 6 hour drive? Did I also mention we HATE country music and don't have a clue if there is anything to do in Branson that doesn't involve country music? So I give you this question.

Are we great parents who just wanted to give our children a little late summer fun?
OR...
Are we stark raving lunatics who will be lucky if all make it back alive?



Wish us luck!

No worries

I just wanted to make sure no one got too worried if they see some strange chic with my kiddos. That would be me! I got my hair completely whacked and colored today. In the back, I think I got about 12 inches cut off. Seriously, my hair was down to my bra line (always the ultimate goal in high school) Now it is ABOVE my hairline on the back of my neck. I have NEVER, EVER had my hair so short - she actually had to use the clippers on my hairline, which is a first. It is an inverted or concave bob, I think. So, the front is alittle longer than the back. I was looking for styles and printed off a Jenny McCarthy pic and that is what I was going for. I don't think she angled it quite as much and mine is shorter than Jenny's - but I really like it. It is colored brown - basically back to where it should be.

This all came about because I had bought a home highlighting kit and did a horrible job. It wasn't so bad in the front where I could see and reach, but the back was spotty, I missed sections up at the top and I couldn't stand it. So, I had to get it colored and then I figured since my hair was in a ponytail every single day, I might as well try something new. (check the ISU family pic from 2 posts ago - not cute!)
So, I will attach a pic of the inspiration and if you can picture it shorter, much darker, and with my face - that would be me.

BTW - Jackson cried about it and I had been warning him for weeks that I was wanting to cut it. He is obsessed with my hair, has been since a baby - he would put himself to sleep by playing with it and he never grew out of that. Poor kiddo.



So, that was off-topic, but I just needed to warn y'all.

Otherwise all is well. Tarik rolled from back to tummy on Monday and is getting pretty good at sitting for several seconds. I am still having a wonderful time at home with Annalise and Tarik. I totally dread going back to work. Katie and Jack are having a fun week at school. It is homecoming week and they dressed up - crazy hair day, pj day, cowboy day, dressup day (since it was picture day) and tomorrow is black and gold day. Here are a couple pics.









Lastly, but not leastly, Happy Birthdays to my wonderful Sister, Elizabeth and mother-in-law Cheryl!!!