We're still here (just a little more shaken...)

Where does the time go?! Days seem to fly by and I hardly know where they've gone! On Friday I need to have the kids, Joe and myself packed up for the first annual Blog Union in Hermosa Beach and I still feel as though we just returned from Colorado. Whew... packing and unpacking is tiring. Mix into that some showings on the house (and racing around picking up toys, tidying and cleaning before each), some wonderful visitors, a trip to Burbank for the kids big TV debut filming, sewing cloth diaper inserts every "free" moment I get and some other randomness and I guess that's why I feel like life's a constant whirlwind now. :-D In a good way though.

I really enjoy moments when one of the babies is still sleeping and the other is awake for me to dote on. This happens sometimes if I get into the nursery quickly enough to swoop up the talkative, freshly awoken baby before their play sounds wake the other up. Today, it was Olivia that I got to enjoy for about a half an hour before Ezra awoke. She had just finished enjoying her lunch of homemade green beans and butternut squash and a bottle when the real excitement of the day began. I was talking away with Livi and walking back towards her (in her high chair) after rinsing off a rag when it began. Slowly at first... like a low, rumbling semi-truck approaching the house... and then into a full on rolling, shaking, quaking everything. Yep, that's right. It was an earthquake. Not our first since moving to California, but the biggest! It was a 5.4 magnitude... not too shabby! The chandelier was rocking, the dogs began barking and howling, and mommy began to PANIC!

I have enjoyed previous earthquakes... they were small and just enough to be "exciting." This time was different though. As I stood frozen in place watching my sweet Olivia I was TORN. Do I run upstairs to Ezra (who was presumably sleeping) to be sure he was okay, or do I stay with Olivia? The quake lasted about 30 seconds or so, but long enough for me to bolt up the stairs (after ensuring nothing around Olivia could fall and hit her) and hover over my sleeping boy (STILL SLEEPING?!??! Dogs barking, house shaking and creaking... wow) and observe his surroundings to be sure nothing would fall on him. We'd been sure that things hanging over his bed were "earthquake" safe, but having the safety tested whilst he slept below them was another story for me. Thankfully nothing fell and the earthquake ended without Ezra or Olivia getting scared. It's forced me to consider what I WILL do though if one happens again... especially if they're in separate parts of the house. Any suggestions from earthquake savvy people?? Stay inside, go outside, what to do, what to do? I've heard so many things, but most seem to conflict.

After I finish this post I'm going to upload a video I took of Olivia on July 21... her 7 month birthday. She began crawling 3 days before the video... and has come a long way SINCE the video was taken. She's beginning to pull up on things, but can only get to her knees and is working on getting her foot under her to stand up. I know cruising isn't far off... she can stand so well with very little assistance already! Ezra isn't too far behind. He's spending more and more time on all fours and is now rocking forward and backward. He's even lifted up a hand a couple of times and set it down farther forward and a few times and skooched his knees forward under him. He has also pushed himself backward into a partial sitting position. I think he'll be joining the ranks of mobile babies in no time at all (2-3 weeks or less maybe???).

A highlight of our weekend was seeing my uncle and my cousin! My cousin recently moved to Santa Monica from Chicago, and I hadn't seen him in a couple of years. It was great catching up and hearing about his new job out here. Ezra initiated him from the get-go with a nice big spit up all down the front of his shirt (missed the burp cloth COMPLETELY... go figure). Sorry about that Kyle! The weirdest thing was that after Ezra covered Kyle in spew, he lost it. Joe set him on the ground to help Kyle clean up and Ezra began screaming. He carried on and on. He was a baby possessed. I still have no clue what that was about. Joe tried consoling him, and when that didn't work I gave it a shot. I got him somewhat calmed down, but still not happy and fuss-free. I gave him Hylands Teething tablets (just in case it was a sudden onset of teething pain), snuggled him, danced with him, everything we'd normally do to get him happy. It was bizarre. He hadn't napped well that morning... so I'm hoping that was all it was. Poor guy.

Now... for their big moment of TV stardom. Tune your TVs to ABC on October 22 (the fourth episode of the season) to watch Pushing Daisies. I can't tell the plot or what will be happening, but let's just say both Ezra and Olivia will have brief but up close and personal moments on camera. Come to think of it.... I had to get up close and personal with the camera by draping my body over it while trying to get Livi to smile and look at the camera for her big shot. I'd had no clue that they'd want ME on set. ;-) The filming took place at Warner Brothers Studio and I was required to have one adult over 18 per child. So, luckily for me the kids wonderful Tia Claudia was able to come. Claudia and I had a blast wandering around the studios. We got to go on a bunch of sets (Two and a Half Men was gearing up to begin filming again in the next week, Terminator - Sara Connor Chronicles, etc). Heck, we even got to see the stage where Friends was filmed! It was really neat. Oh, and the kids got a trailer! Yep, true stars already with their OWN dressing trailer. Never mind that the thing wreaked of smoke... it was still just for them, whereas most of the actors has to share dressing trailers and only the leads had their own!!!

The neatest part was how nice everyone was. From the director, AD, cameramen, crew, actors/actresses... they were all so nice. The kids were treated like stars and had so many people ogling over them. I hope it'll be a fun thing for them to be able to look back on when they're older.

Better get back to sewing diapers. I hope to have enough completed to begin using them tomorrow! That's a post in itself... I'll try and get photos of them uploaded as well as our cloth diapering "plan." I'm so excited to get started! Thanks again for the encouragement and diaper insert instructions!

To those of you attending the B.U. (blog union) this weekend... can't wait to see you/meet you there!!!! :-D

Laptop "confiscation"

My lovely laptop is being taken away from me because I am now officially on an unpaid leave of absence. Up until this past Friday I was using vacation time, a company paid 2 week bonding leave, and then the California Paid Leave (which is 6 weeks of pay at 55% pay). Now that the "gravy train" is over, apparently they want me lifeline back! ;-) This policy had changed recently (at least for a coworker of mine in another group within my company), and while he was on leave they sent his laptop back to him. Well... it seems my group is not interested in being able to continue contact with me while on leave, so they want my aged laptop back. Pooey to them! :-P I'll send it back... fine. But now I don't know how they expect to reach me with updates on my return from leave since the contact info they have for me is all work numbers/email which I will no longer have.

Such a bummer. Never fear though, I will stay connected to the wonderful world of blogging! I'll be getting my hands on a replacement somehow... and hopefully before the dreaded moment when I must encase my laptop in it's new, foamy home and send it on it's way to be stored in a warehouse somewhere. Awesome.

7 months old

Yesterday was Olivia and Ezra's 7 month birthday. Wow... hard to imagine. I still remember the utter shock at seeing the email with their referral at a mere 5 weeks old. Where does the time go once you get them in your arms?!

Here's a little update on where each of them are at in their miraculous little lives:

Olivia

• Weighs 15 lbs 4 oz and is 25.5 inches tall
• Starter crawling 5 days ago and is really starting to get the hang of it
• Can stand incredibly well with a little help balancing (or all on her own if she's got the edge of her crib to hang on to!)
• Can keep herself entertained for relatively long bits of time (at least compared to Ezi!)
• Melts our hearts with her incredible smile and giggly, grunty laugh
• Sleeps through the night (and has 100% consistently since about 5 months old!)
• TOTALLY has her daddy wrapped around her itty bitty finger
• Is completely and utterly obsessed with my hair and plays with it (often jerking on it VERY hard) and twists it around her tiny fingers every chance she gets.
• Finds our dogs to be hilarious. If you want a nearly foul-proof way to get her laughing, allow Chloe (who is STILL obsessed with Livi) to pant and circle my feet while holding her and she'll giggle over and over again.

Ezra

• Weighs 17 lbs 2 oz and is 17.25 inches tall
• Can get up on all fours but just doesn't seem to care about staying up there or moving forward yet
• A total attention hog... and doesn't like to play on his own
• Has the BEST laugh and is super ticklish... yes, I exploit this characteristic to hear that boy grunt and giggle!
• Has an incredible gummy smile that is now being graced with the beginnings of his FIRST tooth! (The bottom, left, front tooth)
• LOVES to jump... constantly. I don't think this boy cares about standing or walking one bit. He'll just hop and jump from one place to the other. Yep, he's our little kangaroo.
• ALSO sleep through the night and has since about 5 months old too... sleep training and a rigid schedule DEFINITELY worked for all four of us!
• Screams better than ANYONE I know
• Has JUST developed the CHEESIEST, biggest, and cutest grin ever... don't know where it came from, but he just started doing it on their birthday yesterday!

I have no idea how we had the incredible fortune of being blessed with such amazing, fun and loving cutie-pies, but we are so thankful for every day we have them. There are some trying times (read here: the flight home from Colorado) and more incredible moments than I could ever have imagined. Ezra Tewodros and Olivia Yodit - you have filled our lives with more love, fun, excitement and hope than we could ever have imagined. Thank you for allowing us the incredible honor of being your parents. We love you!

Changes abound!

I barely know where to begin. I think I'm still trying to catch my breath from the craziness of the last week. I've definitely become one of THOSE parents that is unbelievably proud and thrilled at my babies' milestones.

We headed out last Thursday evening for our trip to Colorado. Events in the two days leading up to our departure had me already exhausted... and there's nothing like a "vacation" with Ezi & Livi to help you catch up on much needed rest! (Please note the sarcasm here) On Wednesday I found myself zooming around running last minute errands, taking E&O to the pediatrician for their well-baby exams, and then rushing to the Labor Office for work permits. Work permits, you ask?? Yes, work permits for Ezra and Olivia! Long story short... they've been asked to be in a major TV show and how could I possibly refuse them this fun little moment of fame?! I'm definitely NOT into the idea of one's childhood becoming consumed with this sort of thing, but do think they'd have a blast getting the attention of so many for the day and having the experience to look back on when they're older. So, on this Thursday we head up to Hollywood for the big shoot! Once I have more info I'll pass along details on the show and when it will air. From what I understand it's a little background type role... but still really cool to me anyway. My little stars! ;-)

After a grueling hour+ in the dim, gray, and window-free hallway on the 8th floor of the state building, I had their work permits in hand. Nothing like feeding the babies whilst stooped over the stroller and then spending a solid 45 minutes tickling and tossing into the air your growing boy. Poor Ezra gets so fed up with sitting still and not being held, so it was a trying experience. Of course, this was also following a shot for each of them at the pediatrician's office, so they did so well considering. As for the shots... it's ALL about distraction. They did great. A VERY brief protest and bit of tears from both, which was quickly ended by silly ole' mommy being her silly ole' self. Thank GOODNESS I have no pride and am willing to act so ridiculously in front of the nurse! ;-)

Thursday was a whirlwind as I tried to get the four of us packed and pull the house together for our departure. Our wonderful Tia Claudia was coming for the weekend to take care of our furry babies and I didn't want to leave the place a total wreck. The kids did remarkably well with mommy running around the place like a madman and even seemed to get a giggle out of it here and there. Little did I know that while I was in the midst of this craziness, a cute little tooth was making it's final push to come into view in Ezra's gummy grin. This said tooth was finally noticed while we were waiting to board our flight, and boy did I get excited. Seriously, how lame must I have looked?! I was shouting to Joe as he walked up carrying our bags of McDonald's nastiness, "Hurry, run! Come HERE! FASTER!!!! Joe, RUN!" As Joe rushes to my side, I pull back Ezra's lip and point out the source of all this excitement. I think half the airport was looking our way for the big moment as they were sure there was some sort of emergency. I am such a dork. Who cares though... cause my baby boy is about to be the proud new owner of his first chomper!

The flight went quite well, despite screwing up the rather rigid sleep schedule Livi & Ezi keep. No meltdowns on the plane... just a little, brief fussing, some sleeping, and lots of lap jumping for Livi. Oh yeah.

Here's the REALLY big news...

Olivia is CRAWLING now!!!!!! She began crawling the next morning at her Grandma and Grandpa's house. She's been so close for so long and she finally started SLOWLY moving those adorable little arms and legs forward. She still has a very slow and hesitated crawl... but she's doing it! And with more and more confidence each time! Soooooooo cool! I can't believe what a little stud she is! She also does the downward dog (yoga move) incredibly well and can stand on her own with a little help balancing. This little button of our's will be cruising in no time! I know I don't REALLY want them mobile as life will REALLY get interesting... but I can't help but be so excited for her! Ezra's getting close too... spending more time on all fours each day! It's hard to believe how far they've come in the last three months home! And, just because I think it's cool, I'll point out that on Friday (the day Livi started crawling), we'd be home exactly 3 months as a family!

Saturday we went to a dear friends' wedding and the kids amazed us yet again. The ceremony was outside and the temperature was a mere 99 degrees. It was just a tad bit toasty. BUT, not one fuss from either of them! Another baby there started wailing pretty early on... and I admit that I am petty enough that I did the "Yesssss!!!!" thing with the downward arm motion and all. Soooo happy someone else's baby lost it first JUST in case ours had a meltdown too. :-S After the ceremony we fought our way into the A/C for the reception and were blown away by Ezi & Livi's patience. They allowed us to stay until about 8:00pm by having a bottle and then catching a nap in our laps. No crying. Good stuff.

The whole weekend I enjoyed that Olivia showed quite a bit of nervousness about the change in scenery and clung to me for security. She's normally much more independent than Ezra and doesn't particularly like to be cuddled to sleep. But, that's the ONLY way I could get her to sleep was to snuggle her close for a while first. She was such a snuggle bug! LOVED that!

We also got to briefly enjoy the company of my brother. Not surprisingly he's spending his leave time ridiculously busy.... first a week in Mexico getting open water certified for scuba diving, and now spending this week climbing in Colorado and hiking 14ers. Oy. I was bummed I couldn't spend a longer time in Colorado and see more of him and my parents, but we couldn't work out who would help me home with the kids, and due to carry on bags, their car seat strollers, etc. there was just no reasonable way for me to travel with the two of them alone. And let me tell you how THRILLED I am about deciding that! The flight home was much closer to a nightmare. One of those flights you wish you could erase from memory. One of those flights in which everyone around you was wishing you were NOT on their flight. Let's just say that Ezi & Livi were NOT in the best of moods. Both of them were fed up with sleeping in our arms I think, because they fought the crowded conditions quite a bit. Bleck.

Oh, and today I learned my laptop is being confiscated. I nearly cried. What WILL I do?! ;-) My laptop is my lifeline... I'm an online junky. I check email and blogs all the stinkin' time! I can't even begin to tell you the withdrawals I had just from leaving the laptop home for this past weekend... let alone for good! Joe thinks I'd better get myself a new computer... and FAST! I also need it for some freelance type work I may start doing... so maybe that helps justify it. Maybe. But seriously, I'm an IT professional. I NEED this stupid thing. :-D That's all for now. Off to pout... or maybe order myself a laptop. ;-) That is ONE perk of working for a major IT company... discounts! :-D

Tia Claudia

This is definitely overdue. Inexcusably, completely and totally way too late in getting posted. I have somehow lucked into having a true angel come into my life. Here's the story, in brief. My mom had the incredible fortune of working with this amazing woman, Claudia, while here in Southern California. When Claudia heard that we were adopting from Ethiopia, she was so excited for us (and we really didn't know her then other than brief "Hellos" here and there). When we got our referral for Olivia and Ezra she SHOWERED us... utterly SHOWERED us in kindness. She gathered up her niece and nephews hand-me-downs with her sisters' help and gave us a ridiculously amazing haul of wonderful things to use for our kiddos and to take to the orphanage and donate when we traveled. She got me a great Mother's Day present for my first Mother's Day and an incredible necklace that I LOVE for no reason at all! I've never known a more loving and giving person.

Now, what's seriously cool to me is that my children have the amazing fortune of getting to call this fantastic woman their "Tia." She's going to help me teach them some Spanish (ok... she's going to teach me some too!). She's come over a few times to just hang out with me and give me some adult conversation time during naps and has cooked incredible, yummy, and AUTHENTIC Mexican food. To top it off, when she heard we were going to Colorado she volunteered herself (and undoubtedly does NOT understand how much she's volunteering for!) to stay at our place and feed and love the doggies for us while we're away. No easy task considering what it takes to feed our pups... and medicate Chloe! Ugh.

There is really no way to thank her for everything, as her love and friendship couldn't have come at a better time for me. With my mom moving back to Colorado a few weeks ago and my very short list of local friends disappearing from my life (sniff, sniff... wish I understood what happened there... am I that boring or do I just suck that badly?! ;-) ), Claudia has been a lifesaver. During a time in which I would otherwise have no one else close by, she rose to the challenge of being an incredible friend. THANK YOU TIA CLAUDIA! Ezra and Olivia are so blessed to have you in their lives and to be able to call you their Auntie. I am even more fortunate to be able to call you my friend. You rock! :-D

A HUGE surprise

Wow, I'm still reveling in the news and it's been 5 hours since I heard! My brother is on leave RIGHT NOW! He's been serving overseas (location left out for privacy reasons) since December and is now on mid-tour leave! I'm additionally thrilled because we will MIRACULOUSLY be in Colorado next weekend while he's on leave! We are traveling for my dear friends' wedding and he will be just returning from a week spent relaxing at the beach with a friend of his. The timing is perfect! So cool how things can play out like that! Now I just have to decide if I'm up for flying home alone with the kids so I can stay in Colorado a bit longer to visit more... Joe has to come back still on Sunday as planned due to work, but I could enjoy more of his precious time if I think I could manage to handle the flight home alone! (I definitely know I COULD handle it... but don't really dig the idea since it'd be such a handful!)

Hallelujah! What incredible, amazing news. Zak hit "boots on ground" in his duty station the DAY our precious angels were born. I'm not sure what the significance of that is exactly, but I still think it's pretty incredible. My brother is an amazing man that makes us unbelievably proud. I am still loopy with excitement about getting to see him and introduce him to his niece and nephew NOW! It had looked like he wouldn't be meeting them before his tour of duty is up... which would be December at the earliest! Holy smokes! Time to run out and get t-shirts made for the kids that say something cheesy and embarrassing about their amazing Uncle Zak! Yes, I am my brother's biggest fan and he is totally awesome. ;-) I just have to keep reminding myself he'll have lots he wants to do while in Colorado so hanging out at our parents house with me and the kids may not be the ONLY thing he'll be doing... bummer. ;-)

Yep... next weekend our whirlwind visit to Colorado just got a LOT busier!

Going green... a challenge to all!

Joe and I have aspired to be green-living individuals since the beginning of "us." However, there are admittedly WAY too many things we do that are NOT green. We try to do what we can, but we often feel ourselves falling short. I'm happy to admit though, that we have taken two big steps to being a bit more friendly to good ole' Mother Earth.

First, diapers. We have been using G diapers since the early days of having the kids home. We've had our G's here since before we even brought E&O home, but they were a bit big until the wee-bots put on a couple of pounds. So, once the G's fit, we've used them consistently. What's super cool about the G diapers is that it's a great hybrid between a disposable and cloth diaper. No plastic or other nasty chemicals & components. Just good stuff that's kind to the behind. The flushable liners are FLUSHED down the toilet or they can be composted... nothing for the landfills! However, we still felt like we should do more. The G's flushables still use a good bit of water with every flush and are made from trees and such... so still sucking up natural resources.

The next step for us... CLOTH. Yep. I said it. CLOTH diapers. I'm stealing the idea from a good bloggy friend, Tara. She also used G diapers on her adorable little hunk of a man, Malak. However, this genius of a tree-huggin' girl (LOVE it Tara!) made cloth inserts for her G's. They are soooo cool and have apparently been no big deal. She does a diaper load of laundry about every other day (using MUCH less water than flushing that many inserts), and that's it. Oh, and no leaks so far! Sounds good to me, so we're taking the plunge. In true form, I'm sticking with what works. I've gotten the master plans from Tara and I'm copying her cloth inserts. I can't tell you what a tough time I had finding the hemp online (due to the earthquakes in China causing issues with supply), but it's finally on it's way, along with microfleece, microfiber, and a couple other handy items to get us going. Get ready folks, I've got another project to get busy with! My poor, neglected sewing machine was put up in mid-March as I wrapped up baby projects (ok... ran out of time to finish many), and it's been calling to me ever since.

Our other step in "the right direction" relates to Joe's wheels. Joe started with a new company in an incredible position a couple of weeks ago and was left carless since he used a company truck with his previous employer. After LOTS of discussion and weighing pros/cons, we took the plunge and got Joe a diesel. Why, you might ask?! Great question! We're going to use BIOdiesel in it! Joe's new-to-him Touareg TDI will be run with biodiesel. This has been a dream of ours for a long time and we're FINALLY going to be able to act on it. Not only is biodiesel free from nasty pollutants (the exhaust smells like french fries!), it's also MUCH cheaper than regular fuel. It's not "hassle-free" and there is equipment, supplies and GREASE (think the nasty crud they get rid of after making your french fries) needed to make it, but the results will be totally worth it.

As for other green things we do on a daily basis - run our A/C as little as possible, turn off lights when we're not in the room or they aren't needed, keep the windows covered to keep the sun/heat out on hot days to further reduce our need for the A/C, low-flow shower heads, toilets that use less water, we do NOT buy bottled water (think of all the bottles people go through- hear me peeps - Nalgene. If you don't know about them, Google them. Great bottles loved by MANY), recycle anything we can, and minimize trash (avoid using paper towels - use reusable rags instead for clean ups). I'm sure we could do much better in each area I've listed but we really do try.

So, there you have it. Our newest two green moves. How green are you? I'd love to hear what others of you are doing to reduce your carbon footprint and give back to the world around us! If you have any tips/tricks on being green that you'd like to share, please do!

A tragic loss

Please send your thoughts, prayers and good vibes to my good friend and her family. On Tuesday morning, my friends' younger brother was found dead. He was 22 years old and the bassist in an up and coming band called Tickle Me Pink. They were releasing a new cd that day and had a signing and celebration scheduled. Instead, we are all mourning the loss of an incredible young man. My friend and I met while on Semester at Sea. As roommates, we enjoyed sailing around the world together and becoming a little less blind to the world we live in. My heart aches for her and her family as they cope with this terrible loss.

And to make things a bit more surreal, my friend is getting married on July 19th! What an incredibly difficult prelude to the festivities. E- I am sending all my love and strength your way! You WILL get through this and I know Johnny will be right there with you on your big day!

If you would like to read an article about his death, you can view the story here.

Little windows cuteness!

So, one of the cool people I blog-stalk (you know it Kerri!) posted about this cool item... Little Windows. I'm totally in love! Crafting is something I LOVE to do... and with all the great pictures of Livi & Ezi, I could have a blast with the kit they sell!

They also have a cool contest where you can win a kit... check it out if you're interested! Contest.

Chit chat with Easy E

Ok, so as I've mentioned, our little Ezi (also known in this house as Easy E) is quite a talker. And, just to share with the world what I'm talking about when I say he likes to scream, I finally captured the moment on tape last week and have decided it's time to share. You can only imagine the horror flick I've got playing in the background to get him ramped up! ;-) (Only kidding)

What I wouldn't give to figure out why and how he learned to "coo" this way, and how to undo it! ;-) I'm sure our neighbors worry about what I'm doing to the poor baby all day long, as he's even being camera shy here and not showing you his full potential! He really is holding back and using a softer scream than he tends to use, but it's still an idea of the sweet sounds he shares ALL THE TIME. The REAL bummer is that in the last week, he's learned to use a really frustrated and angry scream when he's legitimately mad (like waiting for his slow mama to get his bottle into his mouth or another bite of food or ...) Oy!

Livi & Ezi's first watermelon

So, all in all, I'd say it's not a favorite of Livi's. What do you think?! She's NEVER done anything like that before, so I'd say it's a pretty safe guess. ;-)

Ok, so maybe Ezra's not a fan either. Hmmm... what's with these kids?!

Our 3 & 8...

A bit off the topic, but I had to announce that today is the big 3 and 8 for hubby and I. What, you may ask, is the 3&8? Well... it's our 3 year wedding anniversary and 8 year together anniversary. We got married 5 years (to the day) from the day we started dating. Yep, super cool, I know! ;-) I can hardly believe our time together is creeping dangerously close to a decade already! For those of you that don't know us very well, let me fill in the story a little bit.

On a beautiful, autumn day an innocent (and rather geeky) blond girl began the first day of life in a new middle school. She had just moved to a new, VERY small, and quite "hickish" town and was determined to make a great impression. She'd cut her long flowing hair to try a new look (and learned that somewhere along the way her wispy blond waves had become a THICK head of hair... picture an unintentionally goofy looking chin length cut that was not too flattering). As she walked boldly into this new school she was greeted with glares and looks of disapproval. The innocent little girl was about to learn that in 8th grade you were only "cool" if you'd been born and raised in that little town or were miraculously blessed with the cool gene from birth. In THIS school, this girl was an unwelcome nobody. Ugh.

This girl, however, was undeterred. She was a TALKER and when nervous this blessing/curse was at it's best. Therefore, when assigned to sit by a dufus-cute boy in her science class that ACTUALLY said "Heyrmph" (an 8th grade boy grunt of a greeting as it turned out), she immediately began chatting his ear off. Over the first few weeks of school she learned VERY little about the quite guy that sat slouched waaaaayyyy down into his chair and grunted responses to her, while HE got to learn way more about her than he'd care to. Ahhh.... the beginning of a friendship. ;-)

This boy quickly learned that this girl was quite studious and received fabulous grades. He therefore began occasionally peering over her shoulder to "check" his answers on tests. This boy was not too subtle in his peeks (apparently) because during one fateful test this boy was caught CHEATING and the boy AND the innocent girl were given big, fat, and incredibly UGLY "F's" on their tests. This was beyond devastating to the girl (duh!) and she ran from the classroom crying. Totally cool, obviously. Soon after the school's requests to move her to 9th grade were accepted by girl and her parents and she left the terrible 8th grade memories behind to begin enjoying HIGH SCHOOL! At this point, the boy and girl no longer saw each other until the boy made it to high school the following year... and gave her goofy looks of surprise when she would say "Hello" and acknowledge him in the hallways. Thus, was the "end" of their friendship.

Many years later (ok, actually it was only 3 but back then that was a long time!), that boy began hanging out in the library during the final period of each day. This period happened to be that girl's peer counseling hour, and when there was no "counseling" to be done to peers, she spent HER time in the library completing scholarship applications on the TYPE WRITER (!!!). The boy began sitting in the lounge chairs beside the type writer and talking with the girl. It was one of those adorable and totally pathetic boy/girl flirting relationships in which loads of teasing and giggling occurred.

One day, the boy (after a day ditching classes and 4-wheeling with friends) decided he wanted to see the girl so badly that he LOOKED HER UP IN THE PHONE BOOK and called. Yep. He did. At that moment that girl was already "fighting" with her current boyfriend about something lame and was totally caught off guard by the call. She told her boyfriend to leave as JOE had requested to come over. Yikes... that girl was totally not a player, she just KNEW her boyfriend wouldn't have been friendly to any male friend she had. From that point on, the boy and the girl began spending exorbitant amounts of time together, quickly growing increasingly fond of each other. He escorted her to her senior prom (after double checking with her that he actually did have to wear a Tux), and broke his neck the day of her baccalaureate just to see how much her nerves could handle (did I mention he rode moto-cross and was actually SPONSORED to do so?! Yes, he was awesome but this terrified the girl). The friendship blossomed into more and on June 18th it became official (sealed by their FIRST KISS!).

So, you guessed it. That story was about us. Joe & Jesi... the beginnings of one heck of a pair. We've endured deployments to Iraq, enjoyed laughing until we cry about things so stupid I couldn't remember to tell you what they were, and even the ups and downs up the adoption roller-coaster, a layoff, a move to a new state, and life with THREE incredible and very spoiled dogs.

This is to you baby... I love you!

For the rest of you, thanks for suffering through the mush! I'll do my best to refrain on most occasions in the future!

(First photo is 1/1/2003... blissfully unaware of a war that was about to begin with Iraq and that hubby would be activated on Valentine's day the next month... :'-( and the second photo was on vacation in January 2007)

Raspberries for breakfast, anyone?

Yep, our little angel LOVES raspberries! Check it out. This has become her FAVORITE treat (and she loves to share her treats with us!) in the last week or so...

Blue horizon

OK, so I thought THIS topic deserved a brief and separate post from Father's Day. My mom left us for Colorado on Friday and I have definitely been in a funk. My mom is my best friend and a huge support. We had the most quiet goodbye possible as her and my dad left on Friday. Mom and I couldn't speak as we were completely choked up and fighting back tears. My dad told me "I love you" and I couldn't fully reciprocate the words before the tears poured forth. I cannot believe this is real. Heck, I can't even TYPE about this without crying. Ugh.

I HATE this. Even if they visit EVERY month it won't be enough. That's what I love/hate about being so close to my family... hate that it's too hard to be so far apart but love that we're all this close. As if it's not hard enough to be missing my brother like crazy (he arrived in Afghanistan the DAY our babies were born!), now I've got to be missing my parents too! Poo.

Oh, and I REALLY hate that now Ezi & Livi don't get to have their grandma around regularly. They are seriously missing out on tons of lovin', smoochin, and fun with her now. It was bad enough that my dad couldn't see them regularly, now it's BOTH of them. Double boo-hoo.

Sorry... I'll try to be more optimistic about all this now, but I had to get my sob fest off my chest!

A Happy Father's Day... mostly

Seriously, there's nothing cooler than getting to tell the new daddy in our lives how amazing we think he is. So, Livi, Ezi, and myself spent the day trying to tell their daddy what an INCREDIBLE daddy he is. It was a relatively "uneventful" day, other than having two showings of the house, we didn't have a lot going on. Joe decided to take the wee-bots out for their first run and they did about 5 miles. No small feat in the afternoon on a hot day! The twins seemed to love it and came back smiley and content. Their daddy was also super pleased to get in the exercise and manage to get his sweat on. Oh yeah, that guy LIKES to sweat... that way he knows he's really working. I, on the other hand, think it's NASTY and sent him for an immediate shower! Yuck!

Sadly, the wee-bots became possessed as we did bathtime and we got to laugh at ourselves as we sung round after round of "Wheels on the Bus" to two screeching, howling babes. I really don't know WHAT we would do if we didn't laugh... I mean their moods were TERRIBLE! I told Joe they just wanted to SHOW him how awesome he was on Father's Day by allowing him to be his best when they were at their worst! It was probably our fault that they were so upset, I can TOTALLY admit to that. Their naps have been a bit funky lately so we thought based on their sleep/wake patterns that they may need 3 shorter naps rather than 2 longer ones. So, their when they woke up early for their morning nap, we got them up and went for a walk. The timing went well as it allowed us to be out of the house for one of the showings yesterday. However, it was the beginning of a ticking bomb I think. They were literally a timebomb waiting to blow. And blow they did... about 5:30 pm. Ugh! Let's just say we WON'T be doing that again!

Luckily they still went to sleep like the perfect angels they are, as the bedtime bottle and cuddles seemed to banish the demons. They slept through the night (as usual) and awoke to their normal sweetness. In fact, they napped REALLY well today and I was one SUPER happy mama! We have the two most amazing little bits in the whole world. I know I'm biased, but there's no denying it. They are such AMAZING people already. I mean, Ezra will MELT your heart with his flirty smile and easy giggle. He is SOOOOO ticklish and I cannot help by take advantage of it and tickle him often to hear his grunting and laughing. Olivia... well let's just say our little button (as in "cute as a button") is a tiny little bundle of sweetness. She ALWAYS has a smile on her face when we go in to get her up in the morning or after naps and I cannot wait to be greeted by that smiling face and her little legs kicking from excitement to see us. That girl will wrap ANYONE around her finger I think!

So, all in all we had a phenomenal Father's Day. And despite the evening craziness, we STILL laughed at it and had a great dinner together after the kiddos went to sleep (yummy burgers on the grill, mac'n'cheese, delicious watermelon, and salad... oh yeah I made a REAL dinner for once... and total comfort food to boot!). I love that despite being new parents to twins our lives seem pretty relaxed, Joe and I are NOT at each other's throats about the stresses of parenting, and we can both laugh during the moments that ARE stressful. Will the "ball" drop and things get as crazy and hard as people told us it would?! Who knows... but for now I'm counting my blessings and enjoying our incredible new lives. And, in 2 days I'll be celebrating the 3&8 with my amazing hubby... hard to believe it's been "that" long... times flies when you're having fun!

P.S. We finally decided that since Livi and Ezi have become FREQUENTLY used nicknames for the wee-bots, we wanted to decide on a spelling we liked. So... it's now Livi & Ezi (vs. Livvy & Ezzy). Livi is PART of the spelling of Olivia, plus it fits the pattern of her mom and grandma (Jesi & Juli)... unique 4 letter spellings, and Ezi follows suit. Like the new spellings... or hate them?!

Cystotomy

I wanted to dedicate a post just to my eldest daughter... my sweet miniature dachshund. She's been struggling with so many health issues since late October of 2007, and in January we learned she's dealing with a very large bladder stone on top of the neurological issues. So, today, she is finally in surgery getting it removed. It's for the best as she has blood in her urine and it definitely causes discomfort, but still stressful for her mommy!

We are anxiously awaiting word from her fabulous veterinarian to hear how surgery went. Please send some well wishes Chloe's way!

This is Chloe and I her first night with me... all the way back in December 2000!

Chloe watching over the feeding of her new babies, Olivia & Ezra!

Pre-nap calm

Ok, I finally managed to force myself to run down the stairs yesterday after E&O finished their bottles and waited for me to move them from their bouncy seats to their cribs. The scene you are about to witness is far from uncommon... and is always before the afternoon nap (never the morning nap). Prepare yourselves for your heart to melt...

People may ask, "Are you nuts?"

Yes. We may just be nuts. Who knows. However, as nuts as we may be, it still seems to be the right thing to do. We have put our home up for sale. Yikes! I'm not sure what the "scariest" part of it is... but right now I think it's the idea of having showings. Need I remind you that we have THREE (yes 3) dogs, and now TWO (yes 2) five month old babies?! That makes for a lot of toys laying about, beds to pick up (dog beds), baby/dog gate obstacles to get out of the way for showings, etc. How in the WORLD will I keep our place tidy enough to be ready on short notice to get all FIVE (yes 5) of my kiddos out the door, into the car, and stay there to hang out during showings?! I have no clue. Especially considering that E & O sleep about 5 hours out of the day... nap times will really make showings a pain. Alas, getting this place sold would be nice.

Those of my readers (like I have any these days!) that have followed our adventure for a while will remember that our house WAS on the market last year and nearly sold before the couple we were under contract with decided not to buy and see where the market went. At that point we kept our place listed another couple of months and then decided we would focus on the adoption and wait to sell until sometime in the future when we had our kids home. Well, apparently that "some time in the future" came sooner than we'd originally thought it would. There are a NUMBER of factors that play into why we're listing again NOW. I don't want to bore you with that though. Suffice it to say we're ready to move up to a slightly more spacious pad as these kiddos grow and begin really stretching their limbs and running about.

On another note, I am incredibly saddened to say that my mom is moving back to Colorado. I am trying to be happy about it and supportive, but mostly I'm just grumpy, pouty, and quite a bit LESS than pleased. My mom is my best friend and I can't believe we'll be so far apart again. She moved out to California a year and a half ago (while waiting for my dad to finish some remodels on their home in Colorado and get it sold) and is STILL waiting to be able to get my dad out here. There's been a number of factors that have played into why he's not moved yet... getting the house finished has been a huge challenge, blah, blah, blah. But, she had no plans to head back that way until about 3 weeks ago when she got a call from an old co-worker that had an INCREDIBLE job opportunity for her. After much uncertainty and stress she decided it was the right thing for her to do. I think she's also hoping that ultimately it'd be the right thing for Joe and I to move back to Colorado too since the cost of living is much, MUCH lower, and somehow that her moving will bring us back that way. Who knows. We don't really want to give up the lifestyle (and year-round warm weather!) we have here, but I do hate the idea of not having my parents close-by. Never say never I guess. If Joe got some CRAZY amazing job offer in Colorado we'd probably consider it.

Speaking of jobs... Joe will be starting with a new company in a couple of weeks and it's an INCREDIBLE position. Really, truly exciting for him. I'm so proud of him. He's such a driven, incredible, hard-worker that really deserves this huge, new opportunity. It's quite an undertaking, but I know he'll handle it with no problem. I'm excited for him like you wouldn't believe, and thankful as it also should provide some security for us as I continue to stay home with the kiddos. I am NOT ready to return to the life of a consultant and risk being asked to travel and be on the road (aka OUT OF TOWN!) 4-5 days per week. No way. I hope to be able to get into another remote position/contract where I can work from home, but if I can't, it won't be a big problem anymore, THANK GOODNESS! Talk about a stress relief! Taking care of the kids is probably as much work as my job ever was, although more rewarding by far.

Soooo, if I haven't bored you to tears just yet, let me fill you in on E & O updates. On the SAME DAY the two of them decided it was time to start rolling from their backs to their fronts. Constantly. Non stop. Ugh. It's super cute to watch, but they can't roll from their tummies to their backs yet so it's a huge nap-time issue. They both get rolled onto their stomachs and cry like there's no tomorrow. Thankfully, Olivia now seems to prefer sleeping on her tummy so no more fussing from "accidentally" rolling over and getting stuck.

Ezra on the other hand... Oi! That little man rolls over then cries like the dickens until I fix him. Sometimes he continues to cry after he's been put back onto his back as though it takes a moment for him to relax and realize he's comfortable again. Then, as I walk away, he rolls onto his tummy again and wails! So NOT a fun game to play! ;-) Makes for a cranky little guy when he does this throughout his nap time. We have a sleep positioner but that just gets him upset from being constrained (and his head is now beautifully symmetrical with no flattening on the right from ONLY sleeping on that side at Toukoul). So... using the sleep positioner didn't solve the problem. He seems to be starting to nap better now that the novelty of rolling over is wearing off. He's also doing MUCH better with upper body strength and seems to enjoy being on his tummy more than before.

On the "mobility" front I think we're in trouble! Olivia is now wiggling forward and backward. Not crawling yet.... but on her tummy she gets moving/pulling/pushing enough to move forward & backward. She can hold her self up for short periods with her arms straight under her and will undoubtedly be crawling much sooner than we'd like! ;-) We're THRILLED with their progress, but once they're mobile I know we're in trouble! Especially with Olivia... that girl is a mover and I imagine she'll be all over the place! As far as progress though, there's nothing cooler than seeing Ezra finally make a big step forward with the upper body strength. We've worked on it for so long and so hard and it's finally paying off. It seemed like he was making very little progress and now he's pushing up and able to stay up with his arms straight under him for very short periods and he's "helicoptering" when on his tummy, keeping his upper body/head UP (as opposed to slumped over) when in his Bumbo seat, etc. Yahoo! He'll be pumping iron in no time! :-D I doubt he'll be too far behind Olivia with the crawling... yikes again!

Ezra is still a screamer. It's what he seems to do for pleasure. He SCREAMS and then smiles at himself for being so shrill. Seriously. He's got the most high pitched, shrill scream of anyone out there. He LOVES to do it. I keep telling him it's really not the best indoor voice... but he doesn't seem to care. ;-) He's also seeming to attach the scream to anger. He seems a little young for it, but he's starting to scream before crying when he's waiting for his slow mama to get a bottle into his mouth, or if he isn't getting what he wants. We're in big trouble when we hit toddler-hood and tantrums if this is going to be the case. Gulp. Thankfully Olivia is still a MUCH quieter talker... her voice is much less mouse-like than before, but she's not a screamer (yet?!). Let's just hope it's not one of those things that she picks up from Ezra!

Oh... I nearly forgot! They fought over their first toy the other day! It was actually REALLY cute! I know, I'm terrible. I couldn't help myself, I couldn't stop laughing. Picture this:

They are both sitting in their Bumbos, up next to each other at a right angle so their feet are together and overlapping. I set this fun, new toy on their legs and they both grabbed it and started pulling towards themselves. It was this cute little tug of war that lasted about 30 seconds before little Miss Muscles ripped it from E's much weaker grasp and giggled about her success. Ezra just sat there (rather slumped over since he wasn't showing the upper body strength improvement yet at that point) and grasped at the air towards the toy. He had this look of disappointment and shock. Poor little guy. I know soon he'll be able to keep everything away from his tiny peanut of a sister so I'm happy for her that she was able to enjoy the victory. Her brother is growing SOOOO quickly and definitely outpacing her on that front. He's going to be a big boy at this rate!

Okay, that's it for now! Gotta get the kids up from their naps and feed them dinner! They've started on meats and fruits so their palates are enjoying lots of variety these days! They haven't disliked anything up until meat... then made some funny faces the first few times they had turkey. Now it's back to sucking down whatever I stick in their mouths. Yummy! Oh, and I started making my own baby food finally (only sweet potatoes so far... but I have lots of veggies in the fridge to make all sorts of other goodies during their naps this week!).

Long time no post...

Whoa, I had no idea it'd been 10 days since I last posted! Sorry! Time flies when you're having fun!

We've been staying busy with our growing babes and loving it. I'm not one to normally NEED to get out of the house a lot, but since the babies have been here (and we have such a limited area to play in), I am always zooming out the door with them to one place or another. I love taking them on walks and bopping around with them in the Town Center. We draw a crazy amount of attention and the comments we get are incredible and nearly non-stop... but it's still great to be out. I'm sure one of these days I'll get used to toting around our beautiful little celebrities.

I can't say that things are perfect, but holy smokes I'm actually able to admit I'm proud of how our transition continues to go. I'm not sure if it was the way we became parents (both incredibly ill in another country, then traveling nearly 40 hours to get home, etc., etc.) or just skill or luck or what, but we're really doing pretty well (I think). We are pretty good at the schedule - I work HARD to stick to it no matter what, and Ezra & Olivia seem quite happy and generally pretty content in their new lives. They have changed so much since we met them nearly two months ago and amaze us every day. Days go by where they couldn't make life easier on us, and then one of them tried throwing a curve ball to test us out. :-D

It's amazing how much harder it is to keep my feeling of absolute cool when one of them breaks into all out tears and wailing in the middle of Barnes and Noble. I have this pact with myself to just smile about it and not freak out... but seriously. Barnes and Noble is one of those "quiet" type stores and when Ezzy lost it I thought I was going to lose it. All eyes in the store are instantly on the lady with the big, orange stroller that holds a screaming baby. My eyes quickly began scanning the store to see where Joe had wandered off to during our previous time of calm. Thankfully Joe heard the little man and rushed to my rescue to scoop Ezra up. I should also mention that I already had Olivia in the sling, so quickly scooping him up myself was not too easy. Or, maybe I'm just not that talented. Who knows. :-)

Anyway, as we checked out while getting the glare down from a cashier at another register, Joe stayed calm and cool and I stood there wanting to hide. Yep... that's my little man letting you ALL know he's here and he's not happy! When that guy needs to sleep... it shows VERY clearly!

In addition to the regular outings, I've been having fun (I'm definitely more excited about it than E&O are!) introducing new vegetables into their cuisine. They started veggies last Monday, so it's been nearly 2 weeks now. They don't seem to act any differently when I put a new veggie into their mouths than they do when it's just cereal. Oh well... it's fun to add new foods for me because I love the variety. Tomorrow we start with the green vegetables! 'Nough with the yellow veggies... we can't wait to go green! One interesting thing has been watching the changes in their diapers though... who knew you could SMELL carrots in poo? (TMI? Sorry... I'm a sharing kind of girl!). Thankfully though the veggies also seem to have finally firmed Olivia up quite a bit so her diapers aren't generally nasty, blowout, raunchiness anymore. Normally to get ready to change her stinky diapers we get EVERYTHING ready before the diaper gets opened, and this morning was no different. She is a BIG kicker during diaper changes and often gets her feet in the mess if you aren't careful. So, when someone is here to help I take advantage of it. My mom was handy, so she was holding Livvy's feet when I went to open the incredibly smelly diaper. I was bracing for a huge mess based upon the seriously pushing she'd done combined with the smell and amount of kicking she was doing. We were all ready for a huge mess and all there was in the diaper was the tiniest little rock. That was IT! Total Ezra style. My mom HAD to make fun of me and all the "Mama drama" getting ready to change that little thing. Ugh. Figures... I'm all ready for her typical and she was making it easy on me.

Now that I've probably lost most of my readers (who wants to read about poo?! At least I haven't shared any PICTURES of blowouts with you... yet), I guess I'll wrap up. In case any of you are going through E&O photo withdrawals, here's a couple new ones I took on Tuesday.

She's TALKING, a BUSY weekend, and the vampires

Woohoo! Over the weekend Olivia started talking... little bits at first and now it's pretty regular! She's sooooo adorable and has the softest, most mouse-like little giggle and coo. I really MUST get the two of them talking on video and post it... it will melt your heart. Well, Olivia will. Ezra's talking will likely make you think we're unable to keep him happy as it really sounds like yelling/screeching/screaming. When people around us hear it, even after we warn them that he talks like that, they ALWAYS come over to see if they can help... as though he's needing comforting. It's kind of funny and not too surprising since the first few days he chatted like this we thought he was upset too!

So, we had a BIG weekend... on Friday morning my cousin and his wife had their first baby - a little handsome guy by the name of Luke. He's a total doll and I can't wait to meet him. We've loved ogling at his picture and reveling in how fun it is that babies are just flying into the family these days! (Ok, well 3 new ones so far this year and 3 more expected by the end of the year!) After the baby excitement in the morning we rounded out a VERY hot afternoon with a fantastic dip in the pool. It was our second time taking them there and they seemed to enjoy it. Olivia definitely preferred to be glued to my shoulder for the first 3/4 of the visit and was so busy sucking on my shoulder she left hickey marks! Yikes! But, by the end she was also frogging her way around the pool TRYING to kick a little and catch up with her swim-crazy tadpole of a brother. Ezra is SUCH a pool fiend already!

On Saturday Joe and I hauled the kids to Tustin to visit briefly with the lovely families of OCEAN (Orange County Ethiopian Adoption Network). They are a great and growing group of families in the Orange County area adopting from Ethiopia and we were THRILLED to show off our bundles of fun. The neatest part was that Olivia and Ezra came out of their shells almost immediately and were smiling and giggling. Often they're a bit shy for a while and have the most serious expressions when people meet them, so it was so neat they were so comfortable there! Thank you to the C. family for hosting! Sadly our visit was only about an hour since we had to zoom home and get the kids to bed.

On Sunday evening Joe and I took the babies to Laguna Beach for family photos and their first experience with the Pacific ocean. They were COMPLETELY entranced by the ocean and getting them to smile was a TOUGH task. I hope we got some good ones with them smiling, but who knows. A friend of Joe's does some photography on the side and I am so grateful to him and his wife for helping us out and doing that. There's no way we could afford to have hired someone, so we are indebted to Bill and Kara BIG TIME! Thank you guys! Hugs and kisses from Olivia and Ezra! Oh, and to me one of the coolest things about having our family photos taken yesterday was that it was our one month of being home forever with the kiddos! How neat is that?!

Then today was a little less fun. Ok, a LOT less fun. The morning started with sticking U-bags (literally STICKING since there's adhesive to hold them on) to my beautiful babies' undercarriages. Then, giving them bottles and hoping they'd pee for us. After a while of waiting, I had enough urine for them both and went to remove the bags so I could pour the contents into the "pee cups." Seriously, have you ever used a U-bag on a baby?! The doc told me they'd peel right off. Huh! Not even close! Talk about torturing your wee ones! It seemed more like the bags had been crazy glued to their skin to never be removed again. It was especially bad with Ezra who was a champ through part of the removal... until we hit a large amount of loose skin that was determined to never be parted from the bag. It was agony peeling it off... I can just imagine the nightmares he'll have from the experience.

After that bit of fun I zoomed to the lab since today I had to have some blood work (including fasting blood work) done and share with them a ridiculously humiliating amount of stool specimens with them. Yep, you read that right. My doctor is trying to figure out what is cycling through Joe and I over and over and ordered a lot of blood and stool work to be done. You can't imagine (or maybe you can if you've BTDT) how incredibly uncool it is to walk through a drug store to the lab in the back carrying 3 days worth of specimens. Ugh. Of course, there couldn't be any less than 30 people crammed in the tiny waiting area to overhear the questions about my specimens and confirming what had been needed. Um, yes. Would you like a megaphone lady so the whole store can hear you ask me about it?! Fun stuff. I really pity the person that actually deals with the stool cultures for people, that must be one of the suckiest jobs ever. Can you imagining opening the jars of poo and looking at it under microscopes and whatever else they must do?! Ewwww. After visiting the vampire in the back and donating a bunch of my hard earned blood to him, I raced out of the store and headed home so my mom could get to work and leave her post as grandma-sitter. :-)

As soon as I got the wee-bots up from their naps, it was race mode. Bottles, change diapers, get them dressed, loaded into the car, and off! Now I had to run THEM to the lab to get THEIR blood sucked and give them the fun stool specimens from the kids. Yeah, there was a LOT of poop scooping at our house over the weekend and I'm NOT just talking about the dogs! ;-) Oh baby, what fun! Now, on to the vampires. After waiting a ridiculously long time to be seen, a terrible phlebotomists proceeded to try and hit a vein in Ezra's itty bitty arm. The poor guy was NOT thrilled to be restrained by his mama, let alone have his arm immobilized and felt for a vein. When the actual needle was stuck in I thought he'd explode from screaming so hard. Then I nearly screamed at the woman when she began wiggling the needle around in his arm and dug for a vein. After a few attempts I told her that was WAY too much digging and she stopped. We then had to wait around for 45 minutes for some guy that does the pediatrics in another part of the hospital who would supposedly have more chance of success.

Joe had met me at the lab for a lunch break and was none too thrilled that he now had to cancel a meeting to wait around for this new guy. I was none too thrilled since now this meant the babies would be having their blood sucked by the nasty vampire when they should be having a bottle and going down for a nap. So much for getting to the lab early and expecting to have plenty of time to get home for the nap routine... bleck.

Long story short, the pediatric guy shows up and luckily seemed to know what he was doing. He hit veins on both the wee-bots on the first try and knew that the previous woman had been planning to take WAY too much blood since there were so many tests being performed and she was going to use full-sized vials rather than the micro-vials. The babies both screamed initially, but about halfway through Olivia was overtaken by an almost eery calm. She even smiled and wiggled as I went to lift her up when she was done. I may be deaf in both ears from having been hunched over them whispering in their ears and restricting their body movements during the ordeal, but that smile made it all better.

You may be wondering what all the tests on the kiddos were for. We took them to see Dr. Feldman in Long Beach a couple of weeks ago to have thorough assessments of their physical condition, developmental milestones, attachment, etc. He specializes in international adoptions and was really incredible. It was a grueling 3 hour visit, and part what he wanted to look at were their blood titers (to see where we should start their immunizations at - were the ones they've already had effective, do we have to repeat the ones done in Ethiopia, etc.), check to be sure there are no underlying issues anywhere, no giardia, etc. Mostly just precautionary stuff, but good to know and also great to have a baseline of for the future if ever needed.

On Thursday we have their next appointment with their regular pediatrician to do a well-baby exam. If the results of the titers are back we'll begin immunizations based upon the needs determined by the blood titers. More fun to look forward too... poor babes! We will also be starting vegetables this week! Woohoo... no more cereal only for solids! I can barely believe that Wednesday is their 5 month birthday! Happy 5 months sweet angels! We love you!

I leave you with some pictures of Friday evening's pool fun...

Where's Daddy??

There he is!