Laughs in our daily lives

What a weekend it was! During our gap between the morning and afternoon naps we had outings on Saturday AND Sunday! We ran to CostCo, visited some friends and family, and even took Joe to the hospital! Poor Joe was feeling really crummy when he woke up Sunday morning, and before long was experiencing more fun like we had in Ethiopia! :-( I have no clue why he was sick like that again, but the poor guy was down and out for the day. Sadly for myself (yeah, I know, I'm selfish!) I lost daddy's help for the day too... so it was an extra bummer! I somehow still managed to get the kiddos fed and out the door (albeit late) to visit during our awake time prior to the afternoon nap (or cry fest... depending on how you look at it), and then after the nap got Joe to the hospital, kept the babies entertained there for a couple of hours, and then zoomed home to put them to bed by myself. Whew... what a day.

Today, Joe's totally out of commission still, but has been desperately trying to lend a hand where he can. As I was finishing afternoon bottles and getting ready to take E & O upstairs for their afternoon nap, Joe offered to change Olivia for me since she'd been working on filling up her diaper during her bottle. What a guy... I tell ya. So, he's on the floor with her on the changing mat, and gets the new diaper, wipes, and a diaper bag ready to go. Then, he opens up her diaper to the aftermath of a real explosion. It was no blowout (I've had to change her after a few of those already...), but there was a lot in that diaper! As he rolled it up to Velcro it closed on the mess, she began shooting poo at him! This was no drip action, it was full on projectile poo missiles! It went about a foot... that's some serious distance for such a little thing!

Being the helpful and loving wife that I am, I instantly jumped into action to help. Oh wait, no I didn't. I began laughing hysterically... so hard my abs hurt and I was crying. I just couldn't stop laughing! I've had so many nasty diaper change accidents (both babies have pooped into my hands during their changes, I've been peed on by both, dealt with Olivia diaper blowouts, you name it - and Joe's gotten off easy until then!), so I was unbelievably entertained by the incredible mess she created. I only wish I could've gotten it on video, it was too funny to not share.

So, yeah. That's the fun from today. At the moment the little munchkins are ACTUALLY sleeping (or at least quiet) during their afternoon nap. It's been 30 minutes since we put them down, so I expect that the pattern of lately will continue and crying will begin momentarily. Wow... as if on cue, Olivia JUST began crying! Ugh! Off to try and do some back patting and soothing. I have no idea why she's no longer able to nap longer than 30 minutes or so between wake ups... but it's the pits! So much for being productive OR getting a nap of my own during their nap time! :-( At least they're still sleeping reasonably well at night!

Later all! Off to give some kisses to our little princess!

Pictures!

Together in the visiting room at Toukoul

JUST HOME! Comatose babies...

Little Miss Olivia enjoy some cereal

Our handsome man NOT enjoying cereal

Fun in the bouncy seats

Sleeping before bath and bed... this guy goes into a coma when he's ready for bed!

Our little beauty out of her bath and smelling wonderful!

That's all for now... more later! Enjoy!

We're HOME! (Sorry for the delay in posting!)

Ok, first a quick apology to everyone that's been anxiously waiting for news. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am at my lack of posting! Let me just say that after my last post last week things got VERY crazy!

On Tuesday our attorney took the kids to the embassy for their blood draw, and then supposedly talked to someone there on our behalf to "plead" our case. Therefore, he told Joe they wouldn't be going in together to talk to them that afternoon, and instead we spent the day visiting the kids and trying to recover. Food was something that just didn't seem to be welcome to my stomach, so eating was difficult, and all I could stomach were familiar foods like pizza (and in tiny small quantities).

Wednesday morning Joe and I decided we needed to step up and take some action as it was becoming clear that our attorney was misleading us. There are so many details as to why everything that was happening was happening, but to make a long story short, it didn't make sense that at this point the embassy STILL didn't have everything they needed and it was less than a week before the April 21 embassy date we were assured would work. We'd been told they normally have to have your entire file at least one week prior to the embassy date, so since they still didn't have it, we were beginning to wonder if the April 21 date would still even work or not. Our attorney assured us that first thing in the morning on Wednesday he would be getting the medicals to the embassy and that was all that was needed to complete our file at that point. So, we were shocked and frustrated that at 10:30 on Wednesday when we spoke to someone at the embassy, we learned the medicals were still not there. They told us that we could most definitely have our embassy interview THAT afternoon at 1:00 if our attorney got the medicals to them in the next hour or so.

We rushed out of the embassy and quickly called the attorney. As usual he danced around the answer as to why the medicals weren't there yet and said he'd take them over sometime that day. Joe bluntly stated to him that he needed to take them in immediately and that we would be at the embassy for a 1:00 interview. After we got off the phone with him, we ran to Bambi's to grab formula and then to Toukoul to check the kids out for good.

At Toukoul we got the kids schedule finally (or at least their feeding schedule, there was nothing about when they normally napped), and were handed the kids and their files. Ezra and Olivia were carried out to us and we were given a bottle so they could eat prior to the embassy appointment. As soon as the bottles were finished we hopped in the car and zoomed back to the embassy. It was a hot drive and part way there we had to meet the attorney and after talking to us as we sat in the hot car and waited to get moving he climbed in and rode over with us.

We arrive at the embassy about 12:30 and were allowed to wait just inside the doors while the embassy personnel were at lunch. We didn't have to wait too long before getting to pay for the visas and then get called to the window for our interview. The appointment itself didn't last too long and soon we were being told they'd have the visas ready for us by 2:00 pm the next day. This would be soon enough to still allow us to depart on Thursday evening, as scheduled, so we were THRILLED!

That evening let's just say the twins weren't up for giving us a break. Although we were both exhausted from being sick and puny from not eating, they wanted to party all night long. We couldn't set them down without an ear load of tears and screaming, so it was a long first night together. The following day was much the same... a difficult environment to entertain in, and a real challenge to pack to head home with two fussing, cranky babies. Somehow we managed, and after a long day we made it to the airport at 7:00 pm (I'll skip the details on getting our visas from the attorney... let's just say the man is scum and we're thrilled to be done with him...). At the airport Joe was feeling really sickly, so I was no longer alone in my misery. I was terrified about the trek home, and often wondered if we'd really make it.

Thankfully, our 17 hour journey on Ethiopian Air was relatively roomy as the flight wasn't very full. We got TWO bassinets for the return, and E&O occasionally even let us lay them in the bassinets for some much needed resting of the arms. By the time we hit Dulles, I was ready to collapse and still had barely gotten any food down. I didn't get sleep on the flight and was reveling in what our bodies do as we push them to the limits. Surprisingly (or maybe NOT so surprisingly), there were many occasions in which someone could have lent a hand and helped us get our backpacks on our backs or something like that and all anyone did was stare. I realize we were a sight to behold... but you'd think at some point on the journey SOMEONE would have at least offered to help me as I kneeled on the ground with a baby strapped to my chest and struggled to lift a really heavy backpack onto my back. What are we coming to these days?

Anyway, after a LONG journey home we met up with my parents at the Orange County airport. We immediately handed off the babies and I collapsed to the floor of baggage claim. I have no idea what we would have done if my parents weren't here. They had dinner waiting for us (that I couldn't eat), and took the first night shift so we could get some much needed sleep. The babies were comatose the first couple of hours home, as they'd finally passed out on our flight from Chicago to Orange County.

The last week is a bit of a blur. We've had good days and not so good days. The last two days the afternoon nap seems to be the enemy of Miss Olivia and there is much crying no matter what... crying from not sleeping or crying from us making her have quiet time in her crib. We visited a pediatrician on Monday and they were both given some antibiotics for their sinus infections, and are hoping to see some improvement from that in the next day or two. We've been going for walks in the stroller every day, and they seem to be starting to really enjoy seeing the trees and sights. The pediatrician also was happy to have us start on solids, so we began rice cereal on Monday evening. Olivia is getting the hang of it a bit faster than Ezra, and she's much more interested in the whole affair. She's getting a decent amount down, but her much bigger brother isn't too interested.

So, that's a wrap for now. I need to go see what I can do to get these babies back to sleep and try and allow my brain to vegetate. I think it's become rather like mush...

Thanks for sticking with us while anxiously awaiting the updates! We ARE home safe and sound and appreciate all the support!

Day 7 updates... embassy status

Just a quick update... we didn't get to the embassy today and we will be pleading our case tomorrow, hopefully they'll allow us to have an embassy appointment on Wednesday, which means a Thursday departure at the very soonest.

 

Today I wound up at the hospital due to a serious case of food poisoning or something.  Nothing like getting sick again less than a week after the last time!  This is by far the worst I've felt in as long as I can remember and hope to be feeling well enough to visit the kids again tomorrow since I couldn't today.  It's so hard to be sick and not have access to the familiar "sick foods" of home... trying to find something I can stomach has been a real challenge.

 

Hopefully tomorrow will bring good news and better health!  Sorry for the short update, I need to lay back down!  :-S

 

Day 6 updates...

Day 6

 

After awaking to another early morning, I eventually had success getting online to send out the previous days' updates.  Joe and I were ready to go by 9:00 am, and were planning to head to Toukoul for a visit, as usual.  However, Ephrim, our guide/driver, didn't arrive until about 9:40, and was determined to show us a CD of pictures he'd taken on the exploratory trip to Awassa he took for us a couple of weeks ago.  The pictures and explanations of them took about 45 minutes, so by the time we were ready to leave, it seemed like we didn't have enough time to make our Toukoul visit worthwhile.

 

Instead we opted to head to a museum Ephrim had wanted to show us, and then swing by AHOPE to drop off donations we had.  We went to the museum on the campus of Addis Ababa University.  While at the museum we ran into a class of students Ephrim had been in class with until recently.  It seems that Ephrim has been staying so busy helping adoptive families while they're in Ethiopia that he hasn't been able to attend classes enough and the instructor wouldn't allow him to take an exam.  So, sadly, he's no longer in the class and is very angry about it.  It was a nice reunion for him though, and the rest of the day he kept telling us how happy he was that he had seen his friends.  The museum itself was quite interesting and gave us even more information on Ethiopia, the tribes, and history here.

 

We grabbed some lunch at the Paradise Restaurant after the museum, and then headed to AHOPE.  The directions we'd been given were too vague, but after a phone call to AHOPE, we learned we were very close.  We arrived during the children's nap time, so we were shown two rooms of napping children… first the girls room, then the boys room.  After giving them the donations, we got to see the nurses' office and the medications for the children, and then Joe had a cup of coffee with the nannies there.  The women were all very friendly, and were enjoying a slow Saturday afternoon.  We asked a few more questions, and then looked around the facility more before leaving. 

 

Upon arriving at Toukoul, we went in search of someone to bring us Olivia Yodit and Ezra Tewodros.  The office was closed since it was Saturday afternoon, so getting the children was a bit more challenging than usual.  They also seemed to be behind schedule, because we ended up waiting at least 20 minutes for them before learning Ezra was still working on his bottle.  Since we were taking them to our guest house for the afternoon, we agreed to take the bottle with us and get him to eat at the guest house.  Once that was agreed, the babies were brought out and handed to us, and we were on our way!

 

Tewodros quickly began spitting up once we were bouncing down the pothole ridden dirt drive outside of Toukoul.  It was the lovely kind where spit up came out his nose and the bouncing seemed to be causing him trouble getting his airways cleared back out.  We stopped the car, let him finish and THEN headed to the guest house.  It was fun watching Olivia and Ezra starting out the car windows as we drove along.  They are definitely VERY curious about their surroundings and were entranced by things we passed by.  That helped the car trip be very smooth and fuss free.

 

As soon as we got to the guest house, we tried giving Tewodros his bottle, with no success.  Anything that came out of the bottle he allowed to run down his chin and onto his wet and dirty bib.  Since we wanted to get them all cleaned up before heading back to Toukoul we gave up on the bottle for the moment and took them into the bedroom to strip them down and get ready for baths.  Ephrim watched Yodit for us while we carefully bathed our little guy.  He was definitely shocked by the experience and I felt terrible we didn't have a better way to do it.  Joe held him in his lap while I lathered him up.  We used the shower head (since it's a hand sprayer style) on low pressure and slowly rinsed him back off.  He smelled like a wonderful, kissable new baby once we were done!  I quickly wrapped him up and whisked him into the room to be diapered and dressed.  He seems to have some sort of very mild a bed sore on his back, so I carefully tried to get that cleaned up.  He also has some severe dry scalp or maybe some type of fungus on a small area at the crown of his head.  I didn't end up trying anything on it since I'm not sure what to try.  We have anti fungal with us, as well as lots of lotions, Neosporin, etc.  I'm just not sure what it needs.  I think that an area behind his ear, in the area where the back of the ear meets the head might be the same issue, as it was slightly red and flaky with a scabby looking thing.  He was really upset and fussy by the time I discovered that, so we'll look at it more closely today.  At that point he just wanted his mommy to hold him close and snuggle. 

 

Olivia was a champ during her bath time.  No tears before or after.  Even with a really sore looking toosh, she had no protests.  I think she was glad to be getting so fresh and so clean, clean!  We washed her beautiful curls and cleaned her head to toe.  I then took her into the bedroom and put her diaper on (thanking my scatterbrain for having remembered the Boudreaux's Butt Paste when I packed!) and covered her in baby Aveeno lotion.  I put moisturized her in her and she smelled fantastic.  Her and Ezra seemed like whole new babies!

 

We tried again for a while to try and get Ezra to take his bottle, without success.  I'm guessing/hoping it was the shock of the new surroundings and not just my failure at being able to get him to eat.  I tried all sorts of positions, trying to focus on keeping him upright to eat since that keeps air out of his tummy and should reduce spitting up.  I'd been told there's definitely no bottle propping at Toukoul and all the babies are hand fed, but that's just not true.  We actually got to watch some of the babies eating when we explored Toukoul the other day and they were all laying around with bottles propped in their mouths.  I'm not sure how else they could manage it anyway with the number of babies they have there.

 

After my failed attempts at getting Ezra Tewodros to eat, his daddy took him and he quickly fell asleep on his shoulder.  I took Olivia BACK into the bedroom for the next torture session…. Or so she thought.  We wanted to use some saline nose drops to help with her severe congestion, and had already given Tewodros his drops.  I did the drops and followed them up a minute later with some good nasal aspiration.  She'd spit up through her nose a moment before we began the nose cleaning, so most of what I got out was spit up, but she looked like she was breathing better when I was finished.  In order to clean out Ezra's clogged up little nose, I handed Olivia back to Ephrim (so helpful having a third person around!) and began sucking out Ez's nose while he slept on his daddy's shoulder.  He SLEPT THROUGH IT!  I was stunned!  The most that would happen would be one of his eyes would half open after I would suction, and then it would slowly close again.  He is such a cute little guy and it was so great to get his nostrils cleared out.  He went from loud snoring to breathing silently after we finished!  Hooray!  It was a success on both accounts!

 

By the time this was finished we had to head back to Toukoul.  Olivia was asleep on Ephrim when I took her, and she continued sleeping as I held her.  Both little angels slept as we carried them to the car, but the sudden wind gust awoke Tewodros as Joe climbed into the front seat.  He quietly watched the surroundings as we drove back.  When we handed them off to the nannies, Olivia sort of woke up but didn't look to happy about what she was seeing.  I didn't hear her cry before we left, but I think it was coming.  Poor little angels must wonder what is going on in their world!

 

We plan to check the babies out for good on Monday or Tuesday, but want to wait and see what the embassy visit brings before making a final decision.  We really feel they'll be better off in our care, but with our accommodations being less than desirable also feel that we don't want them to stay with us here too long.  So, for now we'll wait and see what Monday brings, and then make a decision.  We may go back on the hunt for a hotel if the news isn't good, we just feel we need to wait and see what happens before we make any definite plans.

 

So that's it for now.  I'm starving and need to get ready for the day before Ephrim arrives.  Today we plan to visit the babies in the morning, and then do our shopping at the Mercato in the afternoon.  We're about out of time for these type trips since we may be taking full custody of the babies as early as tomorrow evening!  I'm afraid we won't be making the dinner trip to the lake Ephrim wanted to take us to, or a traditional dinner and dancing, OR the dinner trip up Entoto Mountain… but I care more about having the babies with us than those things, so it's ok.  We may sneak one of them in tonight… who knows!

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Updates from Day 5

April 11, 2008

5:00 am

 

Hello!

 

I'm sitting here awake, since 4:30 am (it's now 5:00 am), and this seems to be the time my body wakes up these days.  I've been so tired, and every night mean to take a sleeping pill to see if it helps me get through the night, but always forget since I'm so tired when I go to bed.  Ugh.  So much for being well rested when we take the twins full time.

 

As for that, here's the current situation.  If Joe already sent word, my apologies for the duplicate notice, but I crashed VERY quickly upon returning to the guest house late last night… but internet was up at the time and I did do a quick email check.  Anyway, the attorney has the passports, and all that's left is the medical exams for the embassy appointment.  The big problem is that we didn't have our file to the embassy a week before the appointment.  However, they definitely make exceptions, it's just not good that they won't have our file before the DAY OF the appointment.  :-S  So, we ARE going to the embassy with the attorney and the twins on Monday afternoon to plead our case to the consulate, apparently.  I'm actually very hopeful that we'll be successful, but still no guarantees at this point.  If they will go ahead and process our case and give the kids visas, we also learned from 2 Dove families (another agency that Adoption Avenues works alongside at Toukoul) that they got the visas the day after the embassy appointment… not 2 days after!  So… that COULD mean that we'd have the visas by Tuesday, in which case we will DEFINITELY pay the change fees to come home sooner.  I'm not sure what will work out with the United end of the trip, but will be asking Mom to try and get that changed for us if possible.  We know the Ethiopian Air flight on Tuesday currently has space available, so we don't think we'll have a problem getting on the flight.  We may risk having a smaller chance of getting the bassinet, but it'd be worth it in the end to get home.  That's ok though if we get home!  Then we can get the babies to a Doctor and start being a family in a more real feeling situation.

 

So this evening Joe and I began the search for a new place to stay.  Ephrim took us to more guest houses and hotels, none of which we were too successful at.  The first place we tried was the Hilton since we were reconfirming our reservations on Ethiopian Airlines at the office in the Hilton there anyway.  The Hilton is FULLY booked this week, they didn't offer any rooms at all, not even some expensive Presidential Suite or something.  I will say that place was NICE!  Holy cow was it posh.  Either my view of nice has completely changed or the reviews some people have given the Hilton here are too harsh… either way, I nearly cried that we wouldn't be getting to stay there.  The grounds are beautiful, and there are lots of gardens.  We tried the Ghion Hotel, which had a room with twin beds, was old, ratty, and over priced big time.  So, the search continued with no success.  We obviously haven't tried the Sheraton since it's so pricey, but let me just say… what I wouldn't give…!!!  Here at our guest house it sounds like we're sleeping in a paper box set in the middle of a freeway filled with choppers and huge trucks… the taxis going up and down the street all night are so incredibly old and loud.  On top of that, people that work at the guest house are noisy, as are other residents (probably the ones coming in on late flights all night long).  When I awake at 4:30, there's always some loud banging going on against the wall where our bed is… and it's REALLY loud.  Oh, and the dogs… oh the dogs!

 

Ok, enough complaining.  The power is on at least now, but the internet down again.  So much for free internet… seems like we'll have to hit another internet café later today.  If it wasn't for wanting to take the kids into our custody full time, bathe them in WARM water (when the power doesn't work… neither does the hot water heater, and even when the power's on it only occasionally gives us one warm shower), and have a semi quiet place to sleep at night.  Obviously too much to ask, so I'm not sure what we'll do.

 

Our visit to Toukoul yesterday allowed us the opportunity to wander around the grounds a bit and in the afternoon we even got to see where Yodit and Tewodros have been sleeping.  In the morning we asked to see the babies sunning, and when we were taken back, only got to see them all lined up on the ground in a back room.  It was amazing… so many babies laying there, and another group crawling/walking around.  They were all in the same room because the baby house had been cleaned (as I guess it is every Friday) and insecticide sprayed throughout.  Therefore, the babies and ourselves couldn't go into the rest of the "house" until the afternoon.  But, we did get to see Yodit and Tewodros in the bouncy chairs… one like in the referral pictures.  I think they're definitely getting more comfortable with us, and both seem to snuggle in and fall asleep during our visits.  Both are incredibly curious about their surroundings, but Ezra is sleeping more and falling asleep first… undoubtedly due to his illness.  Both seem to start looking us in the eyes more later in the visits, but every time we give them back I do feel it sets us back and we have to really work to get the eye contact again the next visit.  I'm sure with some time at home that will start to be much more consistent.  Oh, back to their cribs… our two are so small they are in VERY little rectangular box type things.  Very odd… I got pictures, but they weren't even the ghetto style old cribs used here.  The did have toys hanging on the sides though.  And SIDS is not something they worry about here… all the babies have big blankets!  We noticed that at Toukoul in Awassa too… lots of blankets around them.

 

We laid out two of the disposable changing pads on the dirty floor of the visiting room yesterday morning and then laid two flannel blankets on top of that.  It gave a clean and slightly softened surface to try tummy time.  Ezra is a champ!  He lifts his head/shoulders and his feet and kicks like crazy!  Olivia is instantly ready to dissolve into tears, so we aren't forcing it just yet.  I do think it looks like Ezra may be crawling first though due to this.  I'm thrilled he is doing so well despite the serious sickies. 

 

………………..

 

I think I'd better try and lay down a bit more.  It's now 5:51 am and I'm hoping to catch another hour of sleep.  Yesterday I was unsuccessful and hand washed all our laundry in the sink and bathtub… so I could really use another hour this morning.  Thanks for all the help and wonderful additions you've gotten for the nursery and changing table, Mom.  It means the world to us both, especially me.  I miss you tons and wish you could all be here on this journey with us, but it's a huge relief to know mom and dad are home, watching our puppies, and resting up for the exhausting time change the 4 of us will be going through soon… we'll be happy to have help!

 

Jesi

 

 

………………..

 

April 11, 2008

8:00 am

 

I did get back to sleep and it's now about 8:00 am here… I slept in a lot compared to any other day!  I also meant to tell you we've tried the carriers and I sure wish we'd gotten a second Lascal M1!  That thing is AWESOME!  So far, I really don't like the Theodore Bean.  It got good reviews, but it hurts to wear… the straps dig into my sides, and when you sit down you have a bit hard thing poking you in the back… not workable for using it on the plane.  They are getting used to the carriers though, I stared with the Lascal and Olivia, and when she starts to cry usually bouncing up and down settles her back down.  Yesterday afternoon we had Olivia in the M1 with Joe and Ezra in the Theodore Bean with me.  They both conked out and slept a large part of our visit.  Oh, and when Joe first had Ezra in the afternoon, he spit up A LOT and it also came out his nose!  Talk about freak me out… I've never seen that before and I thought something was wrong.  The two other families visiting assured us it was normal.  J

 

They are also starting to figure out the pacifiers.  They seem to like sucking on them, but have a hard time holding them in their mouths, so we have to hold them in place for the most part.  We've only tried one of the styles we brought, and may experiment more with others later.

 

Time to get ready for the day!  Just another day in Ethiopia… breakfast of scrambled eggs, a drive to Toukoul, a morning visit, lunch, afternoon visit, dinner, crash!  If I can get online to find the email we may also go visit AHOPE today… the orphanage where HIV+ children are kept.  I need the directions though and need to get online! 

 

More to come…

 

Jesi

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Pictures...

Here are a few pictures!  We're at a very stuffy & hot internet cafe trying to send these out, so I hope you enjoy!  We should learn about our embassy date this afternoon... we have everything we need, I guess it's just a matter of whether the US Embassy will see us on Monday since they haven't had our file on hand for a week... cross those fingers and toes!

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Day 4 Updates!

It was an INCREDIBLE day.  We are the proud parents to the two cutest babies in the entire world.  Sorry, we're probably biased, but I think it's true!  ;-)  They are beyond amazing and we are so in love. 

 

First, our Tewodros:

Seeing our precious Ezra Tewodros in person has us VERY glad we came when we did.  He has such bad congestion/wheezing/rattly chest, and it's downright scary to hear him.  Even my hubby, Mr. Non-worrier, is freaked out and wanting to take him to a hospital.  I know he's getting good care, but he is so sick.  He sleeps a LOT, even compared to Olivia Yodit, and I know much of that is due to feeling so awful.  I'm glad at least we're here to clean his nose out and try and make breathing a bit easier for him!  Oh, and his ears were in desperate need of attention, so we cleaned them up too!  Let me tell you, that boy had some serious earwax!!!  Besides all that though, he is an absolute doll.  He is so smiley (despite feeling sick!), and does this great open mouth laugh & giggle!  I've found the magic tickle spot on his tummy, and can almost guarantee a great smile with a few tricks I've learned.  Oh yeah, momma's boy.  Oh, and this afternoon towards the end of our visit he was getting fussy and just not happy with anything we did.  Not REALLY upset… just fussy.  That was, until I held him up against my chest and rested my cheek on his head.  He almost instantly sunk into me and fell asleep nestled into my shoulder.  It hurts though… feeling his struggle to breathe through his chest and into mine… this poor guy is such a trooper!

 

And now, the lovely Yodit:

She is even more beautiful than I could have imagined.  I mean… this girl is incredible.  She'll melt your heart.  She makes you work a bit harder for a smile, but it's worth it when it comes!  Both her and her brother are pretty active and do a LOT of looking around… so super curious about everything.  She's pretty happy to be held and look around, and fell quickly to sleep on Joe's shoulder this morning.  Actually… they both fell asleep on Joe during our morning visit… he seems to have the magic "sleep" touch.  Let's hope he keeps that talent once we're home!  Yodit has beautiful, soft hair, and great lashes.  Her hands are teeny tiny… much smaller that Ezra's.  Oh, FYI – Ezra isn't COMPLETELY bald like he looks in all his pictures we had from before.  He does have some cute fuzz!  Olivia is congested and has a stuffy nose too, just not as worrisome as Tewodros.  I know they'll both benefit from some clean air (there's sooo much smoke and fumes here!) and getting out of an environment where the sickie bugs are undoubtedly passed back and forth. 

 

Anyhoo… that's it in a nutshell.  We had some yummy pizza for lunch at Green View, and Joe and I walked a ways down the street tonight for dinner at the Zebra Grill.  I had some super yummy chicken kabob, and Joe enjoyed a tasty cheeseburger!  I'm sure I'm forgetting LOADS of things I want to say… but the internet is finally up and I need to send this and get some emails sent out!

More to come… (as the internet connections allows!)

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Day 2/3 brief updates

Well, there's nothing like making it back to your "Guest House, sweet Guest House" and finding that after a couple of days out of touch, the internet is down.  Oi.  It was such a brutal trip to Awassa and back… I was sick on the way there, Joe was sick on the way back.  Today, most all of the day was spent in the car, coming and going from Awassa, the area our children are from, and Addis Ababa.  Just the drive from Awassa to Addis was about 6.5 hours.  It would be so much faster if there weren't constant streams of cows, donkeys, goats, sheep, and people crossing the road in front of you and causing the car to have to slow or stop.  For the most part, this game of "dodge the life forms" was rather successful, but there were a few tragic sites along the way to remind you how real this game of dodge was. 

 

We had a whirlwind visit to Awassa, but it was still a great thing that we went.  We got some really key information about our little babes' story, and for that all the sickness, road dust, sweat, and fatigue was more than worth it.  Things we saw and learned have opened our eyes even wider to what our little ones have already experienced at such a young age.  I can't even imagine the drive itself for ones so small and precious, let alone all the other details of their incredible journey.

 

While in Awassa, we stayed at the Tadesse Enjory Hotel.  It was pretty nice… in many ways much nicer than our guest house, but incredibly tight.  There was barely enough room to shuffle around the bed and to the bathroom, let alone lay out a suitcase to get your stuff out.  Ahhh, the things we take for granted.  At least for Joe's puke sessions he enjoyed a nice, new toilet… nothing like the fun I had here at the Addis Guest House and its lovely toilet.  J

 

In the morning, we're hoping Joe and myself will BOTH be "healthy" or at least close to it, and if so we'll be heading to Toukoul for a "real" first meeting with our angels.  The first was so incredibly brief it barely counts for anything.  It was enough to know we can't wait to get more!  We keep seeing pictures of them, including new pictures while at the Awassa branch of Toukoul… we're reading to see them in real life and learn their features in 3D!

 

………..

 

Ok, I'm now showered and feeling much better.  What a clean feeling does for the soul, I tell you.  I'm utterly exhausted though, and the internet is still down, so I guess this update will have to go out tomorrow.  Now back to crossing my fingers I'll get through my first full night's sleep since arrival… I'm determined to be better rested before Olivia Yodit & Ezra Tewodros are in our care full time!  Also… I'm REALLY hoping we get word from the attorney tomorrow that we have good news on our embassy date… we're just waiting for their new passports, so they could come through tomorrow!  PLEASE let them be ready tomorrow (Thursday)!!!

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What a day...

Just a quick update and then back to bed for me!  It was a heck of a day.  We met with the attorney in the morning and got some frustrating news about some things, but some "promising" news about the April 14 embassy date.  No guarantees, but it's at least looking "possible."  We saw their birth certificates... what beautiful babies we have!  Yodit is making such a cute face in her picture... she's definitely got some serious personality!

 

While at the attorney's smokey office on the 6th floor of his building (a long walk up when you're starting to feel puny!), I got so overcome by dizziness I had to lay on the floor of his office.  This caused quite a stir, but I felt better once I was horizontal.  I figured it was exhaustion and/or altitude, no big deal.  After a long and rather information talk, we were sent to Toukoul to meet our angels.  I'll admit now this was a terrible idea considering I was feeling so out of sorts.  But, we were so ready to meet Yodit & Tewodros!

 

We arrived at Toukoul and began talking with Melat about our program.  I had to interrupt her and ask for a place to lay down... back to just about passing out.  Yikes.  While I was laying in the visiting room, Melat continued talking about the visiting hours, our plans, etc., and then I heard it.  That beautiful little cry our Yodit shared with us in a video taken back in February by a friend.  Moments later, Tewodros was carried into the room and placed into my arms.  Yodit was handed to Joe and we began talking to them in awe.  We'd arrived at lunch time, so Yodit was rather unhappy we didn't have a bottle for her.  After a moment of holding little Tewodros, we swapped and I tried to comfort Yodit.  This was semi successful, but I was getting sicker by the moment.  Tewodros had some serious congestion and projectile spit up.  About the moment of the spit up mess, I was starting to pass out or throw up, so I begged our guide Ephrim to take Yodit.  Joe and Ephrim took the babies from the room and I collapsed.

 

So, the remainder of the day I spent in bed and visiting the toilet.  Puking is really the pits.

 

More later... back to bed.  We're hoping in the morning I'll be continuing to feel better and we'll spend more time at Toukoul.  I think we're going to delay our trip to Awassa another day to allow for more recovery time...

 

Oh, there was also a fire at the building that butts up against our guest house today... fun times.  More on that later!

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We're in Addis Ababa!

Just a quick post to let you all know we made it safely to Ethiopia yesterday evening!  Our flight arrived about 10 minutes early, and all our bags are here!  Including our huge duffel bag of donations that was barely within/just over the weight maximums and definitely larger than the maximum dimensions... but we were never questioned about it and not charged!  Hooray!  We can't wait to get them delivered to AHOPE and Toukoul.

 

We've decided we are meeting the babies this morning, and prior to our trip south.  Actually, it's Joe that wants to so badly.  I know it'll be hard to leave them for a couple of days after meeting, but Joe was insistant that we get to them this morning!  We'll also be calling our agency's attorney in a few minutes and seeing what we can do to help ensure an earlier embassy date.  We already love it here... but still want to get home and settle in to be a family in 2 weeks rather than 3!  ;-)

 

More later... it's beautiful here.  There's so much to say, but I'll do that when I have more time!

 

Hugs from us!  We'll post later if we can... hopefully with pictures of meeting our children!

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Leaving on a jet plane...

Oh yeah, you got it! We're leaving Saturday morning! Although, I'll admit that it's not because we got a confirmed embassy date for April 14 though. :-( We DID get updated medicals on the kiddos this morning, and current health concerns with our poor little Ezra has us determined to GET TO THEM! He is said to being doing well right now, but has been dealing with some very serious issues, much more than the cold/respiratory stuff we knew he had going on. So, Ezra and Olivia, here we come!

I can't tell you how surreal, or unbelievable it is that we ARE leaving in less than 2 days! We are mostly ready... and definitely have plenty left to do. Last minute shopping (need a couple of camcorder batteries and more DVD's for it), gifts for key people in Ethiopia, like our guide, the attorney, and people at the care center. Our duffel bag that's filled with donations is packed to the gills, but DOES weigh in right at 50 lbs. The only problem is it's a bit larger than the size/measurement allowance... so we may get hit with an oversized bag fee. I'm trying to figure out how to cinch it down small enough to fit. :-)

So, wish us luck in the craziness of the next two days, and keep your prayers and thoughts with Olivia and Ezra... especially Ezra right now. On a positive note, our little peanuts are still getting bigger! They're now at 10.5 pounds (Olivia) and 11.8 pounds (Ezra)!!! They've grown SOOOO much since January!

With love and appreciation to you all...

Jesi

When will our embassy date be?!

Ok, so I owe an update! Thanks for hanging in there and praying for us and thinking about us. This has truly been a struggle (and remember, I am NOT a patient person!). The last couple of weeks have been increasingly difficult. We are so ready to get our hands on Ezra and Olivia. This is the story in a nutshell:

We were told our embassy date would be 3 or 4 weeks after court - meaning April 7 or April 14 (our agency has embassy appointments on a Monday). We waited and waited for news. After a number of discussions with our agency, I finally decided I needed to get our tickets, and since we're staying an extra bit of time in country, it would overlap either possible date, but be centered around the idea of having a later embassy date. Well, shortly after getting our tickets, we found out our embassy date would actually probably need to be on April 21. Yeah, lovely. Another week of just leaving Ezra & Olivia without their mommy and daddy. Soooo not something easy to think about. But, to make matters worse, we also have a really difficult family matter we're dealing with that makes it all the more important to us to be home sooner than later. Sorry... can't blog about it, but I appreciate the support I know you're all feeling anyway! ;-)

Soooooooooo, it's boiling down to giving up and going with the April 21 embassy date, or potentially just leaving for Ethiopia early Saturday morning and hoping, praying, crossing fingers and toes for the best. Worst case scenario we'd be with the kids, but have to spend an extra week in country. Not the best or most affordable option... but we'd all be together and that's super important to us. Just to keep you all REALLY in the loop, as of about an hour ago, hubby and I "pretty much" decided we'll leave Saturday. We just need to work out some kinks with work (you know... gotta earn a living and figure out how to wiggle in an extra unpaid week or something), then we can commit. Maybe we're nuts, who knows. At this stage in the process, that's completely possible. Heck, after this roller coaster ride waiting for an embassy date, I'd say it's highly probable! :-D

Stay tuned... and keep on praying, crossing toes, fingers, arms, legs, and ears, doing the April 14 embassy date dance... whatever you can! We reallllllllyyyyy appreciate it!

Waiting for travel dates confirmation, still...

Just a quick post to let all of you still patiently waiting with us know that we still don't have confirmation on our travel dates. We're expecting to hear something today or tomorrow, and hopefully that proves true. At this point, we've begun packing, and are hoping to wrap that up tonight... or maybe tomorrow. I've been filling out immigration forms for our embassy appointment, and get quite a laugh when filling out forms for Tewodros & Yodit (who are only 3 months old!) that ask about their employment, schooling, and spouses! I don't know what to put in many of the sections, so I have lots of blank areas left. Hopefully the lawyer will help us get that all figured out when we arrive in Ethiopia.

So... here's to a Saturday departure! We have the tickets, and a guest house booked... so we just need the official go ahead. The concern from our agency is that it may end up needing to be another week beyond the maximum we were told... so that's what the hold up is. Joe and I are starting to feel VERY strongly about getting to our beautiful babes, so even if our embassy date IS delayed a week, we may travel on this weekend and at least be together as a family while we wait! For those of you still reading this... please cross you fingers, say a prayer, do an April 14th embassy date dance, or whatever it is you can do! COME ON APRIL 14TH EMBASSY DATE!!!

On a side note, yesterday we got to pick up our car seats from our wonderful friends, Geoff & Val. Their very sharing twin boys have decided they will allow Olivia & Ezra to now use their infant car seats. As we said our goodbyes and began driving away, it was weird to think that was quite possibly our last visit with them as just "Jesi & Joe." From here on out when we see them, we SHOULD have E & O in tow. While all the waiting for an official date to travel begins to make this all feel unreal... and like it will never happen... that moment was etched into my mind forever. I still get chills when I look at Olivia & Ezra's pictures and realize that they WILL be in our arms very soon.

Back to work. Back to my LAST week of work before mommyhood! (Notice my positive reinforcement of our upcoming April 5 departure there?!) This WILL be the last week in the US without our babies!

Are we EVER going to get travel dates?!

We're still patiently waiting to get our travel dates from our agency... wait a minute, did I say patiently? ;-) Our agency recently changed it's practices as far as when they will give a family their travel dates, now erring on the side of caution. They won't give us travel dates until the new birth certificates have been issued, which can be 10 business days... so we may not even hear by the end of the week! Ugh! However, they ALSO still say the embassy date will be 3-4 weeks after court, so we may end up with almost no notice prior to departure.

Joe and I have been carefully watching airfare, based upon both embassy dates we believe are likely to be our dates, and are disappointed to say that prices have been steadily skyrocketing. It makes sense since gas prices in general keep on climbing, but the other problem is that now we're looking at very late bookings. Last minute travel is rarely cheap... especially when you're not flexible on dates and destinations! I've spent more time than I can stand to think of searching for decent fares via travel agents, my own online searches, and LONG phone calls to airlines. Hopefully by day's end we'll have something workable. Had I only booked our tickets on Ethiopian Air by last Thursday, even if we ended up having to pay to change our tickets it would've been cheaper than waiting due to an increase in fuel surcharges that went into affect on Friday.

Sound like fun? Well, it isn't. I normally have lots of fun planning a trip, organizing the details, and finding a great price. Problem is, I just want to get to our babies! I can't help but think about how they are just waiting for us. Last I knew, Ezra had a cold that he still wasn't over from a few weeks before. Joe and I get so excited thinking about getting them home and starting out as a family... it's incredible to think that it really isn't so far away, even though time seems to drag a bit. I'm sure our time will fly by between now and travel... at least it will once we end up getting travel dates!

Now, onto our progress getting ready to travel! This past Saturday we had a lovely baby shower hosted by Joe's wonderful and incredibly generous aunt and uncle, and his cousin. They did a safari theme, and it was awesome! The cake was so super cute, and they had so much yummy food! It is so exciting to have others share in the excitement with us and celebrate the addition of Olivia and Ezra to our family. They are already well loved by many! We were so bummed that so many of our friends couldn't make it, many of them we had expected... so I hope you're all ok and just got busy! We were worried about those that didn't show up for fear they'd either gotten lost or who knows what! We missed you all! :'-(

After the shower, my mom and I headed to Babies'R'Us with Crystal who was in town for the big shin-dig. We worked on completing the registry... filling in gaps where we still really needed things (like sheets for the cribs), and mom (the new grandma) splurged a bit more. Once we were home, it was back to laundry (baby cloths, towels, washcloths, blankets, stuffed animals, you name it!), folding laundry, figuring out an organization system and putting away laundry, rearranging the nursery, putting up the wall hangings in the nursery (almost done!), and so forth. Basically, it was a CRAZY busy weekend.

Poor Crystal's flight to Colorado was CANCELLED on Sunday morning, so she was stuck most of the day Sunday as we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off. I felt so badly that I couldn't even come up with fun tasks for her to do to help... hard to "assign" anything when you're not even sure what you want to have done next yourself! Yet, somehow we all survived the craziness and are now that much closer to getting our arms around the ultimate prize... our little angels. The harder we work to get to them and become a family, the more lucky I realize we are to have been brought together at all.

Without further ado...

Here are our children!

Tewodros at referral (above and below) January 28, 2008


Yodit at referral (above and below) January 28, 2008

Olivia Yodit & Ezra Tewodros - pictures from a friend in mid-February

Update picture from our agency... look how cute Olivia's smile is and Ezra's little chins are!!!

Drumroll please...

I am proud to announce that Olivia Yodit & Ezra Tewodros are now officially ours! We're finally a mommy and daddy! I'm in shock, and was so relieved to finally get word from our agency... what a LONG morning it's been!

More to come later... back to making some phone calls and working on my now VERY serious to-do list!!!!! Hooray! No word on our embassy date yet... hopefully we'll get more info in a day or two... HOPEFULLY!

I'm a MOMMY!!!!!

Nothin', Nada, Zip

Ok, so here I sit still anxiously awaiting news on how our court appointment went last night whilst I tossed and turned (couldn't call THAT sleep by any means). When I did drift off, I dreamt of Ezra & Olivia... meeting them and finally setting eyes on their incredible little faces.

*Sigh*

I gave in a moment ago and emailed my agency. Just to remind them that we're here and we're waiting. We're ready for the news, so I wanted to be sure they knew that, in case they were wondering. Just in case. Cause MAYBE they forgot about us or were wanting to wait until we couldn't stand to wait another second. Are we a family yet?? Huh, huh?! You can tell us!

I can't believe that today, after all this time, I MAY be able to post some pictures of our precious angels!

........Back to refreshing my email and staring at my phone.......

A few hours to court!

It's hard to believe that our case will be seen before a judge in a matter of hours. Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead of us (Pacific time), so while we're sleeping tonight (or NOT sleeping in my case I think!), we should officially become a family. It's hard for me not to get worried as the big moment gets close that something could go wrong. I'm generally pretty optimistic, and think it will go without a hitch, but... you never know. Some families have multiple delays, missing paperwork needed by the judge, etc, etc. I hope our attorney has EVERYTHING he needs, and all the t's are crossed and i's dotted.

When I awaken tomorrow, I will finally (hopefully) be a Mama! I think tomorrow a celebration will be in order! And, a celebration IS happening this coming Saturday... it's our baby shower! I can't wait to celebrate with our family and friends. And to think... as soon as a week or two after the shower, we could be hopping on a plane and heading to Ethiopia! Just the thought makes my heart flutter in anticipation. I'm sooooo ready to start filling up suitcase with donations for the orphanages, baby clothes, diapers, bottles, etc. I guess this means I've really got to start figuring out where all we're going to travel to while in Ethiopia so I can start making those arrangements the minute we get our travel date!

As I type this, Joe is putting the chair rail up in the nursery, then I'll finish painting the grass on the walls. Tonight or tomorrow we should be able to get the crib that DID come set up, and the dresser put where it goes... and in another week the other crib and dresser should get here. I love how it's all just about to pull together and be finished! Their room is going to be so neat! I love it! Although I'd claim very little talent in the artistic department, I am also thrilled with how good the wall colors are and how neat the grass I'm painting is turning out. I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like, but figured there was no way I'd be successful when I actually did it! And, thanks to my mom's help, the mural looks INCREDIBLE! I hope Ezra and Olivia enjoy their room as much as I've enjoyed dreaming it up and pulling it together!

We also took an expedition to IKEA today to look for some shelves/organizers for their closet. We found a neat storage unit with pull-out, plastic cubes. I think it'll give us a lot better use of the closet space, so just one more exciting thing to have found! I'm having wayyyyyy too much fun with this!

Ok, back to work! I'll post pictures of everything once we get it done! And check back tomorrow morning... I'll post news as soon as we find out how court went!!!

PLEASE everyone cross your fingers, toes, arms & ears, pray, chant and do the successful court dance.................... anything to help the powers that be get us through smoothly and quickly so we can get to our children!

The weirdest thing...

So, I get back from the neurologist with Chloe (our mini dachshund who was in for a follow up on her inflammatory brain disease), and see I've gotten an email from our agency. I anxiously open it, wonder what it could be about. It states the following:

"Hello
how are you? We do have the court date:
Court date March 17/2008"

Ummmm.... yes, I KNOW we have a court date, and I DEFINITELY know it's on March 17th! I hadn't sent any emails/questions prompting this, but our director sent it as a response to an email with questions (that he'd already responded to) from late last week. Ok... yep... weird. I would love to know what that was about. It seriously got me hoping and freaking out while trying to open the email and figure out what he meant. I've heard of families who had a court date a few days away that got a call saying they'd made it through court... so yep, the thought crossed my mind as I began reading an email that said "court" in it. Ugh... toy with my emotions, seriously! I'm not complaining because I'm seriously excited about our big day on Monday, it was just weird I guess. And I'm glad that at least he confirmed it's still the same date... I would've been devastated if it was an email about the date being rescheduled!

As for other news, 3 out of 4 pieces of our baby furniture finally arrived today! They had to inspect it before we could pick it up, and then we got a call back. Apparently only ONE crib and one dresser made it. We were told TWO cribs and one of the dressers were being shipped, and the other dresser was on backorder until late April. They're looking into what happened with the other crib.... we kind of need TWO of them, ya know?! Such a bummer... but I'm so excited to go pick up the pieces that did arrive! We've never even seen the furniture in person, so I hope it's as beautiful as it looked in the pictures! The nursery furniture was a gift from my incredibly generous, and WAY too giving parents. Otherwise, I think we would've been shopping at garage sales for everything! ;-)

My mom may even help me hang the mural today.... then the nursery will be JUST ABOUT there. I still need to touch up the paint in a few places, do my artistic grassy stuff on the bottom half, and then put up the chair rail... but we're GETTING there! Oh, and I also still have to paint the inside of the closet. Psh... details. I've been a painting machine though, and have gotten the room painted quite quickly so far! Soon I'll be able to get back to my sewing and finish up the quilts and baby blankets!

3 days til court! :-D