E & his ABC's

Still waiting...

...for a travel date. We haven't heard anything yet and were hoping to hear this week about a possible travel date. Our agency will give us a travel date after M's birth certificate arrives. Still no birth certificate, which means we have no travel date. I am hoping we get it tomorrow. That would be great!

Bummer news!

So, we were hoping the grandparents could join us in Amsterdam but it turns out they can't. The new rule only allows you to change planes in Amsterdam and nothing else. It looks like if we need some rest we will have to wait until Washington DC or another US city to get it. It's a bit of a bummer as we were looking forward to this but ah well.

This time around.

When we went to bring E home from Ethiopia 2 years ago we did not get to travel down south. It wasn't an option they offered frequently and we received children in our care almost immediately upon arriving in Ethiopia. This made it difficult for most parents to want to leave their children to make the trip south. This time we have the opportunity to travel south. When we arrive in Ethiopia we meet our children but for transition purposes we do not take them into our care until after the trip south. It also allows us to go south, which we are so excited to see. Both E & M are from south of the capital city and so this is a great opportunity. Right now I am going by myself, without E or Will but I hope that we all go. I know others have brought their children south and am not real worried about it but we'll see. We all have received the shots needed to travel south so we can wait to make the final decision until we get there.

Hoping...

....for a travel date sometime next week. It would be pretty fast but from what we can tell people are getting their birth certificates and travel dates within 2 weeks. We are very excited and I will be on pins and needles all next week. Now is the time I start to get anxious and the closer we get to travelling the more anxious I get.

Amsterdam anyone?

Will and I hope this works out. We have invited the grandparents to join us in Amsterdam on our way back from ET. We will be there on Friday and plan to stay until or through Sunday. The grandparents are excited and so are we. We figured we could use the help on the trans-atlantic flight home and what a better way to end our trip. Hopefully we can swing it and it will be relaxing.

So much to do...

...and so little time. It seems like a lot but I know it is all very easy. The hardest part will be packing. We have so much to bring and we are only bringing 3 suitcases. We will have a carry on full of items for Eli and a couple for ourselves. We will have to carry on my pump and all of our documents. That's 3 carry-ons, which makes it a lot of stuff to carry plus a 2 year old. Ah well that will seem easy compared to the trip home. Hopefully the trip home we will have one less bag.

Yikes....

People have gotten their birth certificates and travel dates within 2 weeks. I am hoping next week I will hear good news and we will have a travel date. Maybe even as early as April 10th!!!! That would be amazing! Can't wait.

Officially a family of 4!!!

Woohoo!!! I have been waiting to post these pictures and now I can't figure out how to convert the photos to jpeg or bmp. Hopefully I can post them soon.

Here he is!!! M.K. born 12/3/2007. Pictures were taken in mid-January at 6 weeks old.

What a day!

E had a little regression in the dealing with children/babies crying today. I think he has some auditory sensory issue with the crying because his reaction is so very automatic. I also noticed that the more often the crying the more difficult it is for him to handle it. Yesterday we visited Jenissa and baby J cried a little (not too much) and today there was crying at our house too. I think the 2 incidents together made it hard for E to deal with crying. As soon as the crying started today he got pretty physical. I know he can't help it at all because it is so automatic and so reactive. He also has this look of fear in his face. He hasn't had an issue with it at all lately so I was not expecting this to be such a hard day for him. I am searching for things to help E with this issue and work through it. I hope it gets better otherwise it could be a long hard transition once M comes home.

Visiting baby J & T too!!!

Yesterday we got to visit Jenissa and her new baby J and T too (yep, I am leaving their names out). J was born on Valentine's day and isn't even a month old yet. She is so bitty. E didn't want much to do with her, he would rather play with her big brother T. T & E are just 2 months apart and boy are they funny together. It takes them about an hour to warm up and then after that they are best buddies. I am sure as they grow up we will have to keep our eyes on them. Jenissa and I were college roommates and great friends. We don't see each other nearly enough but living 2 hours away and life with our families keep us pretty busy and make it pretty hard to find open weekends for day trips. Anyhow, I really enjoyed seeing her and was so happy to meet baby J, who as Jenissa put it "was not having her best day." E was having difficulty dealing with J crying and kept saying, "E go bye bye." He got through it but it wears on him. He had a great time with T and didn't throw a tantrum when we left and left all of the cars at T's house (they were T's). So, all in all a good day!

It's been a week!

Yay, one whole week on the lactation herbs and 2 weeks pumping. I have heard from people that the herbs take about 2 weeks to start working. I do think there are physical changes happening but only time will tell. I tried to take the medication but it made me so sleepy that I napped within hours of taking it. There is no way I can take that and be alert enough to watch a 2-year old. I was really bummed because I hear they really work.

Hooray for baby M!!!

Yippee our little guy is now up to 11 lbs!!!! Yep, he gained a little over 2 lbs in a month. Hooray...I am excited he is catching up and hope it isn't too fast.