Honeymoon

I just read this passage from this book that I am reading by A.M. Holmes:

"To be adopted is to be adapted, to be amputated and sewn back together again. Whether or not you regain full function, there will always be scar tissue."

This book is a memoir of a woman who was adopted in the 1960s. Her birth parents had an affair and the adoption was closed until her birth mother contacted her when she was 31. So, obviously a much different story than our family's story. But that passage hit me. We are currently in the honeymoon phase of our lives as adoptive parents. When we look at Micah's eyes, we do not see our own, but we do see our son. When he looks at us, he sees Mom & Dad. He has no questions at this point that can be verbalized.

I am hoping to avoid the feeling of being "amputated" for him, but I'm sure it is inevitable to some degree. I hope to give him all my knowledge of his beautiful country of birth, every detail I know about his birth mom, his first mom. I hope to take him back to Ethiopia one day - and dare I say it - find his birth mom. I have no idea how he'll respond to my hopes, but you can be sure that he will have some say in how it turns out.

There is so much we, as adoptive parents, have to worry over and think about, while biological parents do not. I'm by no means saying this way is harder, or easier or whatever, but biological parents never have to ask themselves the questions we do about our children's birth families, how they will respond when we talk to them about it, how they will feel about it, etc.

We've been talking about another baby and discussing whether to go through International adoption again or to try domestic. Insert a whole new set of questions we have to think about. If we did an open domestic adoption, how would Micah feel if his little sister had a birth family connection? If we do International again, should we stick with Ethiopia so they can share their heritage? I will say one thing is for sure - we want Micah to have a sibling that resembles him in the way we do not, so we would be pursuing a trans-racial adoption again. For some reason, this is important to us.

So, here we are in the honeymoon stage - no questions - just me telling him stories of how much he was and is loved. How beautiful his birthplace is. How so many people from all over the world cared about him and still do. Mother's Day is approaching and it just occurred to me that I have not figured out how we will honor the woman who, through her own heartache and loss, made this family complete. I want to find a way that is enduring and special. I'm at a loss...

Ethiopian Kids Community

On Saturday we met up with some other families in the area who have, or are adopting from Ethiopia. We went to a local Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun, and of course I took 5 million pictures. I've put a few in a slideshow for you. :)

The first few are of a tunnel thing that Micah could not get enough of - this child has no fear - other babes shook their head at the tunnel, but Micah was all about it. The rest are mostly from a little area that is made specifically for toddlers. I am thinking about getting a membership because Micah had so much fun. It would be great for rainy days. Anyway - here is the show...



And, yes, I added all the goofy captions. I couldn't help myself. It would have been better if Lori had done them - I still laugh about the horse and the pacifier caption. :)

And, if you can't see the slideshow, you can go here and see the pictures.

That's how we roll...

On Monday we went out to enjoy the glorious SPRING weather - we went to the park with another mom and her three children (1 bio, 2 from Ethiopia). Besides being accosted by a bitter soccer mom and having a man light up a cigarette right next to us on the swings (yes - I'm not kidding - I wanted to laugh out loud at his audacity, or perhaps his ignorance), we had a great time. Here is Micah in all his cuteness at the park...

He loves standing up! He will pull up on anything and really liked pulling up on these bars at the park.

Yes, I did let him crawl around the nasty ground at the park. He's a kid - he's going to get dirty right? I will be happy when he's walking now that it's getting warm - it's not fun crawling when you're outside.

Micah has been getting his top and bottom one-year molars. This has caused major distress in our lives. He is not a good teether, and we just feel terrible for him. The other day he was crying (screaming) and hitting his little cheek with his hand. So sad! I've been using the teething tabs and a heavy supply of motrin for bedtime. Seems to be helping. Anyway, the teething has also made him very clingy - it's like when he first came home and he didn't want to be put down. So, after a few days of major fits while I tried to vacuum or do the dishes, I remembered that I have an excellent baby carrier! So, I put him on my back and we proceeded to vacuum with no fits! He just sits back there and baby-talks (which is the sweetest thing I've ever heard, so I'm loving it!). Kevin came in and thought it was hilarious. We took pictures of course! Yep, that's how we roll.

(Since blogger is acting up and won't let me upload more pictures - I'm doing these as a slideshow. There are some horrible ones of me in there, but Micah's face is priceless. He was completely cracking up. And, even though he looks like he's snarling on Dad's back - that's actually a laugh. :)

Check it...

Look what I just found...

Through an extraordinary partnership with the Africa Aid Foundation, a t-shirt is being elevated to its highest call yet - life saver. With the purchase of each THIS SHIRT SAVED A LIFE tee from Tiny Revolutionary, $20 will be donated directly to Africa Aid to fund a child in their school lunch program in the Buduburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana for an entire year. The once daily, nutritious meal this donation provides ensures that a child is able to focus on learning for the future, not simply surviving for the present.

You can find this shirt here. They also have it for adults. You can also find another tshirt at the Africa Aid website.

Oh, and I found it because I am actually shopping for a new diaper bag/purse. I am currently using a huge-o-mongous bag from H&M that has no compartments so I am constantly losing things in the bag and end up emptying it's contents wherever I may be. This is not very fun, so I'm looking for something to help organize the wipes and the dipes, but also something I would like to carry when Micah isn't with me. Any suggestions? Please? :)

Just Pictures

Now that I'm working, Kevin and Micah are spending a lot more quality time together. :) I really, really miss our nights together, but it is only 3 nights a week, after all. I'm still trying to figure out how to get everything done and still have time to just relax with the fam, but it's definitely an adjustment!

Anyway, here are some pictures Kevin took recently while I was at work...

You've got to wonder what happens when Mom's away to cause this face...

Oh, but that was followed by this one...

Notice Micah's newest obsession - one blue plastic screw and one red plastic screw - from his workbench. He must always have both in his hands when playing with them. He likes to chuck them up the stairs and then climb up after them. (Don't worry - Dad walks behind him, and we don't let him run around with these in his mouth. Not that he's actually running yet...)

Maybe Pedro wants to play with the screws too?


And, this one just makes me laugh. I should ask Lori to provide a caption for it because she is so good at that with cutie Abe's pictures. :)

Now we're off to enjoy Spring! Finally here!!! Yay!

Earthquake!

Micah slept through his first (and I really hope only) earthquake! At 4:37 this morning I heard some rattling through the monitor - that woke me up and I sat up and grabbed Kevin and said, "It's an earthquake!" I still can't believe we felt it. (We were over 100 miles from the epicenter - and it was a 5.2) Micah slept through it, but I have a big fear of earthquakes (probably due to the "Earthquake Drills" we were forced to go through in the early 90s in high school!) so I was up shaking scared that a bigger one was coming. I got online even to see what to do in an earthquake. (Dork!)

And, yes, I know that all of you in CA are giggling at me a little bit right now.

Baby Bottles & Other Recommendations

I always like to preface posts like this by stating that I am not an expert, and I encourage everyone to do their own research about what I'm going to talk about.

That being said, a recent study of the chemical BPA, which is found in plastics - including those that make most baby bottles, found it to be dangerous and potentially harmful to babies, children and adults. You can read a little about it here and here. (To find the draft of the study - click on the link I have on 'recent study' and then click on "NTP Draft Brief on Bisphenol A" - on the sidebar.)

I have posted about this before and am bringing it up again to give my review of a new bottle we recently purchased. I had previously purchased 2 Green to Grow bottles, which are okay, but we were having a suction problem with them. (Suction problems can cause ear infections, from what I've read.) The good thing about them is that they are free of both Bisphenol A (BPA) and phlatates. But, I still ended up using the inserts from my Dr. Brown's bottles with them to reduce the suction. (Dr. Brown's uses BPA in their plastics.) So, a couple of weeks ago, Amy reminded me about the plastic issue and I got to worrying again (this time with the support of the NTP :) so I bought some Born Free plastic bottles. (They make glass bottles too - but that's out of the question for us now - maybe when Mic was younger, but now - ummm, no.)

LOVE THEM!!!

I love them because they have a valve thing inside that reduces suction - and they are BPA free. (I don't think they are phlatate free too though.) So, to new moms thinking about bottle choices - I'm putting my recommendation out there for the Born Free bottles. (But, I'm not recommending their sippy cups - they LEAK!)

My other recommendation - if you are not using cloth or g diapers, you could try Seventh Generation's Chlorine-Free Diapers.

They are not completely natural, or completely bio-degradable, like these are, but they are unbleached, which is good for the environment and good for baby's bum. The only bad thing is that your babe looks like he's wearing a brown paper bag for a diaper. :) (Oh - and I am thinking of switching to the Nature Baby Care ones - so if anyone uses them - let me know if you like them!)

If you read through all of that, you deserve some Micah pictures! :) Lately he has decided he wants to be a stunt man when he grows up, so here are some shots of his latest escapades. I'm also including some of his other new trick - throwing a fit. Complete with the "lay down on the floor and cry" move. ;)