Spring Time Pictures

Adam teaching the kids important life lessons (on a swing set)

Alemitu's first trip to the ice cream truck. It soon fell splat on the garage floor.

Superhero spotting! As my mom says, the boys are "protecting the dent". (They call the cul-de-sac a 'dent'.) They still dress up in costumes daily.

The boys wanted to go to sleep in my Jeep.

I love these kids!

Happy Adoption Anniversary!

It has been one year since we picked up Alemitu from her transition home (orphanage) and kept her in our arms forever! We can't believe it has already been a year. She has changed so much and added so much to our family. To put it mildly, she runs the show. She has us, especially her brothers, wrapped around her little finger. Every once in a while we put her in time-out so that we can convince ourselves we still maintain power. (slight exaggeration) She hates it. (no exaggeration)
Joking aside, we love her so much. Today we celebrated as a family by taking the golf cart to the green park for a picnic -- just like we did a year ago. I've posted the two pictures below for comparison.


At the picnic, instead of having a coffee ceremony (Ethiopian tradition), we decided to share in a "coca-cola ceremony". Ethiopians love their coke, and it is always in bottles. So we made sure to bring some bottled coke along.

After the picnic we went to see the movie The Lorax. We figured Alemitu might be too young to see a movie, but we thought we'd give it a try. We knew sitting still might be a problem, but what we didn't factor in was that she yells when she speaks, and she speaks nonstop. "DADDY!" (points to the screen) or "MOMMY! Drink please" or "DADDY!" (give him a hug) or "MOMMY! here" (handing me popcorn). It was nonstop for several minutes. So . . . the rest of the movie Alemitu and I hung out on the ramp by the entrance of the theater where no one could see or hear us, but we could still watch the movie. Only a few times did Adam hear her yell. :-) Even sitting on the floor, we had a great time watching the movie.

Alemitu is funny, sweet, cuddly, bossy, loud, smiley, shy, ham, loving, impatient, etc. I thought I'd show some comparisons:

Last year when we brought Alemitu home, she could not put pressure on her legs. Now, she walks, runs, wrestles, rides bikes, and just goes nonstop. In the past few weeks, she has given herself two goose eggs on her forehead.

Last year, Alemitu was shy with her brothers and they were shy around her. Now, all she wants to do is play with her brothers. She won't play with toys -- just her brothers. She wrestles with them, yells at them, chases them, etc. The best part is that they love it and play along with her too. Only sometimes do they ask if they can play in their room without her.
Last year, Alemitu slept at least 12 hours a night and took great naps. She still does. (We are so, so lucky!)

Last year, Alemitu kept her two middle fingers in her mouth. She quit doing that after she became comfortable at home with us. Now, she puts everything into her ears. The other day I got her out of her car seat and she took a Reese Pieces out of her ear and ate it. She had been saving it for later I guess.

Last year, Alemitu had trouble eating and had stomach issues. She still doesn't eat a lot, but her favorite foods are ice cream and fruit snacks.
Last year, Alemitu didn't say any words. Now she says a lot of words, and either sings them or yells them most of the time. (Sidenote: as I review this paragraph for mistakes, Alemitu is currently standing on the couch screaming at the top of her lungs, and then laughing because she is cracking herself up at the screaming)

Last year, Alemitu loved water. Now -- she still loves water. You'd understand if you witnessed the way her nanny would bathe her. No child could be scared of water after that (although the parents were all shocked). She loves baths, showers, swimming, sinks, dog bowls, etc. We go swimming a lot, and the past few weeks Adam and I have just been pushing her back and forth in the water (completely submerged) between us. She moves her arms and legs as if she is trying to swim. In June when we went to Hilton Head, she ran into the ocean. She has no fear of water.

Last year, Alemitu was a mommy's girl. Now she is starting to become a daddy's girl. Adam has been traveling a lot, and she is really loving her daddy when he is home (and yelling at him on the phone when he is gone). In addition, last year she would go to anyone -- stranger or not. She didn't know the difference between stranger and parent. After working with her the first few months on attachment, she now is very shy with strangers, and even some family and friends. In fact, there are only a handful of people whom she feels comfortable to easily leave our arms and go into theirs without fussing.

Last year, Alemitu was loved by her grandfather. She still is.

And we love her too.

Is Our Dad Black?

Before we were matched up with Alemitu, we told the boys that their sister would have darker skin. We told them that she is darker because she is from Ethiopia and that is the way God made her. We've even heard them repeat this explanation to their friends who have asked why their sister is different.

We never wanted to introduce race issues until we needed to. The boys have never been concerned, and I think that is due to the fact that they have friends of all races so it isn't shocking to them to see people of different colors. The boys don't even know that they are considered to be white.

This afternoon I received an e-mail from Calvin's teacher talking about a really neat experiment she did in class about prejudice. They have been talking about Martin Luther King, Jr., and so today she gave all the boys in the class fun things but never gave them to the girls. The experiment worked well, but after reading the e-mail I knew it was time to talk about race.

I asked who Martin Luther King was, and Calvin was quick to correct me and say that I needed to say "Jr." at the end of his name. Good point. Wes then followed up by saying he knows a short way to spell "junior". After this, I decided to start again and asked why Martin Luther King Jr. was so important. Calvin talked about how there used to be "white only" signs up and MLK, Jr. didn't like that. Wes said MLK, Jr. had something to do with reading. It was evident that Calvin's class had discussed this issue more thoroughly.

So I dropped the bombshell. "Do you know your sister is black?" Jaws dropped to the ground. They had no clue. This kind of surprised me. Wes then asked why she is black when her skin is brown. Excellent point. We talked about how we are white and Allie's mommy and daddy are black and so that is why she is black. We talked about different colors of people, and the boys were adamant each time that it doesn't matter what color someone is -- we are the same inside. I love that they felt so strongly about this without me saying it first.

In the end, Calvin summed it up perfectly by saying that because all three of them are so silly on the inside, then they are the same and it doesn't matter what color their skin is. Love it! Wes then said, "I love my sister and never want her to leave because I want her to play with me forever. (then he pauses) And we are white -- um wait mom --- so ... is our dad black?" It was so hard to not start laughing. I love, love, love their innocence and blindness to color.

We are so grateful for what Martin Luther King, Jr. has done. It has allowed us to have our mixed family. I can't imagine life without my little Alemitu.

Doctor's Worries

Two months ago, I took Alemitu to the doctor for a check-up. Her doctor has been working closely with her development and "gut issues" (as he calls it). He has even called me a couple of times. He has been giving her top notch care.

At our last appointment, he did mention that he thinks she has more delayed growth than we originally thought. He showed me her growth chart on his computer, and it showed that Alemitu had shot up in height over the 3 months prior. It looked good to me. Evidently, that was a trigger for the doctor that she had had some serious malnutrition in the womb and as an infant, and she had delayed growth. When he looked in her mouth and saw that at 17 months she only had 4 teeth, he said he wanted to see me back in 2 months and we were going to take measurements again and talk about a plan.

Normally the parent worries about the health of their children, but I wasn't worried at all. I thought it was a "no big deal" kind of thing, and her doctor didn't seem freaked out either. I was wrong. Evidently, he was dreading seeing me today for several hours before we came in. He was bummed Adam wasn't able to make it, and he was expecting to give us some real bad news. I knew none of this. I wasn't worried at all.

After the nurse took measurements, the doctor came in and asked questions about her growth and speech than about her "gut issues". I was a little confused, but I told him that she talks all of the time, and that she must have hit a growth spurt because she can open doors now and some of her clothes are too short all of a sudden. He gave me the weirdest look and said, "Really? Growth spurt?" Um yeah, I think so.

To make a long story short, after taking her new measurements it was discovered that her measurements from the previous time were incorrect. The nurse wrote down an incorrect height measurement (showing she was a little taller than she is right now), and so last time there was a huge spike in the growth chart. Again, that meant nothing to me, but her doctor was overly excited that it was an error. He kept telling me how worried he was and how he was really preparing himself to give me bad news. He went on and on and on about her. I would chuckle a little when he would tell me how excited he was (about every other sentence), and he stopped one time and said, "Seriously mom. I was really dreading this appointment." I don't know what the bad news would have been, but it doesn't even matter. Alemitu does have delayed growth, but nothing to be concerned about. It is at a level that is completely normal with "healthy" adopted children from 3rd world countries.

Her doctor confirmed that her biological parents are really tiny because she is still really tiny. He also confirmed that once again, he thinks that she was taken care of in the womb and at birth. This was his initial statement back in March, but it all changed two months ago. He said that she is just going to be a petite girl. We expected this because her features are so petite. She is on the growth chart (just barely), but he was happy that she is now touching the lowest curve on the growth chart and she is staying with the curve rather than jumping high or low.

All in all, it was a great appointment. I went in thinking Alemitu was healthy but small with some delayed growth, and I came out with the same conclusion. No more special appointments for her, and she doesn't have to go back for another 6 months!! Below are some fun pictures from today:

Allie started screaming as soon as we walked into the exam room.

The boys couldn't handle the noise. (What helped Alemi to stop screaming
was to pet Wes' head and say "niiiiiiigh doddy" - nice doggy.)

Alemi's new hairstyle.

Alemitu is all about shoes. If she isn't wearing shoes, she will bring a pair to us
and keep saying "Shoe, shoe, shoe, shoe" over and over until you put it on.
She keeps working (lots of grunting) at trying to get them on herself, but
she isn't even close yet. We keep her shoes on this shelf, and if she sees any lying
on the ground she will immediately put them back where they belong.

Shopping with her sippy cup, ponies, and Wii remote.

Christmas 2011

This year we had an amazing Christmas! I am so very blessed. We were able to spend the week before Christmas with my parents. On Christmas Eve, we spent several hours with good friends eating a Mexican breakfast (kids were in pajamas) and decorating cookies. We also spent a few hours with Adam's parents and grandma as we do each year.

As soon as Wes lost his top two teeth,

I purchased this shirt for him. Perfect timing!

Alemitu pushing cousin Chloe around. Even though it
doesn't look like it, Chloe was having a blast.

At the zoo with grandma and grandpa!

Going down the polar slide at the zoo. Grandma and grandpa paid for
them to go a few times. The boys were yelling that it was the
best day ever after they finished riding. Grandma even went too!

On Christmas morning, the boys woke us up at 8:15 and they ran out to see that Santa had brought them new bikes and Ghostbuster toys. The boys love anything Ghostbusters since we bought them some used Ghostbuster toys on Ebay this summer. Alemitu got a cozy coupe, a little horse, and some other toys. She didn't care about unwrapping any gifts, but she stayed in her cozy coupe and pretended to drive all morning. My sister and her family came over for a few hours, and it was wonderful. After they left, our house was quiet. Alemitu was napping and the boys were playing in their room. I remember how my mom used to say that Christmas afternoons were so quiet as we played with our toys. It was such a beautiful and calm day, and we even went on a few bike rides. The boys haven't stopped playing with their toys, and we even had to ask them to go to bed around 1 a.m. last night. It has been a wonderful Christmas, and we are so very blessed.

Calvin riding his new bike with his Ghostbuster costume on.

When Alemitu saw these horses at the store, she would scream her head off.
She was terrified of the noise. I kept taking her to the store and letting her get
used to the "nice horsey". She loved her horse when she saw it under the tree.

She loves to sit in her cozy coupe. So far, she can go backwards in it.

My new bike!!!! My old bike broke a few months ago, and so I've been riding
Adam's. I am so happy I got a new one for Christmas! Alemitu and I always
ride to the park and the grocery store during the week.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Jones got Alemitu this slide. She has
no fear and slides down it so fast -- over and over and over again.

Normally for Christmas we pick a family with my sister and provide them with gifts. This year, we did something different. We are helping a family in Korah (the dump and leprosy colony we visited in Ethiopia). These people really touched our hearts, and so we are providing for a single mother to have her children in day care while she works. This provides two meals for the family, education for the children, medical care, etc. You can watch a video below regarding this program. Because of the support they have received in the past 6 months, they are waiting to get approval to add more families to this program. That is wonderful!

I hope you and your families had a great holiday as well. We love you all!

Alemitu's Hair

After 9 months, I have started to feel like I finally understand how to take care of Alemitu's hair. This week I decided to do something a little more advanced. My goal was to complete the style within 3 hours. NOT including any breaks, it took me over 5 1/2 hours. Including breaks and two trips to the beauty store for more hair extensions, it took 9 hours.

Alemi did great. She has learned to just lay on the floor and rest her head on my legs -- all while watching Care Bears. Today I saw Care Bears over and over and over again. Allie even fell asleep at one point. While I am so sore to the point I want to cry, two good things came out of this. Allie got a great style, and I learned that she is ready to fly on an airplane again. If she can sit all day and get her hair done, I think she is finally old enough to sit still on a plane.

Step 1: Remove last week's style and brush out her hair.


Step 2: Shampoo her hair, and comb it out again. After shampooing, put it in loose braids so it doesn't tangle up overnight.


Step 3: Set up hair braiding station. Fully equipped with 3 types of hair extensions; 4 different products; beads; clips; scissors; combs; bands -- and Care Bears.


Step 4: Start the clock and start the braiding.


Step 5: Take lots of Advil and hope that this style lasts at least 10 days.