Basement Monsters

We have this puzzle from Melissa & Doug

It is a puzzle that makes sounds - i.e. the fish makes bubbles, the cat meows- you get the picture. It is in Micah's toy pile in our lower level. Each night the last person to come upstairs has to turn off all the lights. Invariably, when we turn out the lights, one of the sounds from the puzzle would come to life - usually the bubbles, which can actually sound very scary when you aren't expecting it. I think I almost cried the first time it happened - surely there must be a ghost in the basement who sounds like bubbles, right? I finally realized it was the puzzle - and that this ghost just must like to play with the puzzle the minute we turned out the lights. So, I would turn them off and bolt up the stairs two at a time followed by, "MEOW... MEOW."

I FINALLY figured it out - because I am so smart - it is the LIGHTS! This puzzle makes the sounds when the piece is returned to the puzzle - the chip underneath recognizes that it goes dark when the piece is placed in the right spot and makes the noise. So, it turns out we do not have a puzzle-playing ghost, or basement monsters who like kittens. Thank goodness.

P.S. I am only telling you this because you may have this puzzle too and you are currently being terrorized by it as we were. It's a public service announcement, if you will.

Memory Lane

I was just going through my old emails from my Yahoo email address - looking for an email from a woman in Denmark who had contacted me because our sons were at the same orphanage. (Do you know I emailed with two families from Denmark who had children at Hope for Abandoned Children? Crazy.) Anyway, I never deleted any emails from last spring and summer and I'm so glad I didn't. It is amazing to look back through them. For one, it is fun to read everyone's congratulations after our referral and court date - I mean who wouldn't want to read again about how adorable their son is? :) But, I also read a lot of emails that people (maybe you) sent me wondering about Ethiopian adoption, or our agency, or travel or whatever. For example - Jocelyn - I didn't realize we've been email buds since July! Did you? And, there were so many other names that I recognized of people who were asking about adoption - and are now adopting - some even have their referrals! I just think this whole process is amazing and our online community is amazing. That's all.

And, what's a post without pictures? (Especially two in a row.) So, here is Micah eating spaghetti. It's his new favorite. Is this not hilarious? We obviously thought it was - we took about 45,000 pictures (not all of them are in the slideshow!). Oh - and btw, he did have a bib on, but he now takes his bibs off Hulk-style. He grabs them and makes a tough face and pulls them right off. Then he tries to pull his shirt off too. His new nickname might be David Banner.

Love my Chuck T's

Did you all know that you can now buy product (red) converse? If that wasn't cool enough in itself, you can also now go to the converse website and DESIGN YOUR OWN product (red) chucks. It is so much fun! You get to pick all the colors and you can personalize them. I'm working on a pair now, so I thought I'd share this! I wish I could show you a picture of the ones I'm working on, but it won't let me copy it. :( You'll have to wait until I'm modeling them for you! (Although - I'm not getting too crazy - they're kind of boring, but I will love them.) I'm trying to figure out if you can design your own for babies too...

Sick Boy

That's right - we've been home almost 5 months and we just experienced our first Sick Baby day (and night). I had the stomach flu yesterday (I never get sick, so being sick twice in one month is really annoying). It was so terrible in the morning that I called Kevin and told him he had to come home. Mr. Wonderful did come home and worked from home so he could take care of the babe all day while I slept the ENTIRE day.

So, last night Kevin was trying to put Micah down to sleep and every time he left the room, Micah began SCReaming. It was terrible. I tried too, but same result. I even freaked out and called one of my BFFs (mom of 4) to ask if there is anything we should be doing. Nope. But she did tell me that since he was being quiet while rocked, there was a good chance he would fall asleep eventually. He did, so my freaking out was for naught. He slept okay, except for being awake from 3:30 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. Thank goodness I was feeling better by then.

I have no idea why I am documenting this all for you. I guess it is just such a BIG deal when your little one is sick for the first time. It's scary and you feel helpless. I've dreaded him getting sick, but I have to say that we've been extremely lucky that he hasn't been sick until now. And, the good news is that, after a day of moaning and whining and crying, I FINALLY saw a smile from him just before bed tonight. His Dad was being silly and it worked - I really don't think I had seen a smile all day until then!

*Edit: Thursday morning and now Kevin is sick too! :(

Here are a couple of pictures from before the sickness (because you know I love pictures)...

One of his goofy faces.

His whistle-face. He does this and then breathes in and out and actually whistles. It is hilarious. He's a genius.

Good Times & GO BUCKS!

No, not the show... my weekend - it was filled with good times. On Friday Kevin & I took Micah to the mall to return some gifts that did not fit. Ok - not terribly exciting, but it is always fun to get out.

Saturday afternoon we got together with other area families that have adopted from, or are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. I think we had 9 families there so it was a lot of fun. It is great to see the kids together. One family had recently adopted 3 children - ages 4, 6, and 8 (two girls and a boy). When they came in myself and another mom teared up. She has an excuse - she's a couple of weeks from traveling and I remember being very emotional then too. Me? No excuse really - it just makes me happy to see these children for some reason.

It was also great to see all of the families talking about their experiences and giving tips to the families who are traveling soon. (One family brought a pad of paper and a list of questions - so cute!) Since we're hoping to continue to meet up and form ourselves a little (or someday probably big) group, one dad said to me, "These children will all be like cousins - our daughter's Ethiopian cousins." :)

We got a couple of cute pictures of Minnow, Boomer & Micah. Here they are way back in early September...

And here they are now!

They've definitely grown! And, we've learned that in order to get happy pictures, we should give them each a toy. :) It didn't last too long though, as you can see...

This one I just think is cute of Micah and Minnow (Boomer is quick - he was gone already!)

So, after that we drove home with a very sleepy boy. I had to get home to finish cooking for a dinner that I was going to with the girls from high school. We've been doing a Christmas dinner now for about 16 years, or is it 18? Anyway, these girls are like family - we're all very different, but there is something about having friends for so long. Sometimes we only see each other this one time a year and it is always fun. So, I got home and started to finish my appetizer and realized that we had no water because of the water main break down the street. NO WATER. This means no shower. No! Good thing one of my BFs lives down the street right? (I showered at her house and the water was fixed by the time I got home that night.)

I had a great time with all the girls - lots of laughter and sharing (and eating and drinking). Here we are...

We had three mamas who are expecting, and we throw mini-showers for every baby, regardless of if it is first, second or fourth! Every baby is special. I got Nikki this cutie gap product (red) sweater sleeper. I love this thing - you should all go out and get one because it is so cute.

Sunday was lazy, but it was a beautiful 70 degrees (!!!) outside so it was just a great day. Kevin grilled hot dogs and we had my mom over for dinner. We pretended like it was Spring and that it wouldn't really be 20 degrees again next week. So, overall, it was a great weekend - good times.

OH - one last thing! I know this is LONG, but this is a great idea I saw over at Coming to Amharica. They are waiting for their referral, so they decided to have a special ringtone on their cell phones for their agency. That way they don't freak out every time the phone rings, and when they hear that fun ringtone, they'll know it could be the call. I wish we had done this and I think you all should. :)

Okay, one more last thing, I almost forgot - GO BUCKEYES! Ohio State is playing tonight in the BCS National Championship, so you know Micah will be decked out in his scarlet and grey. He is already getting ready for game day...

But this will be him if they don't win...

*Edit: It's the second picture - yup, they lost, again. So sad for Dad.

Prayers

Please say prayers for Ted and Lori - their court date did not go well and they are unsure of what will happen. They need our support right now.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! We spent NYE with our very good friends down the street. Sadly, we left before midnight and were in bed by the time the fireworks started. Eight year old Gracie said our party was 'sucky.' I told her when she's 20, she can go out and party if she wants to, but for now she has to hang with us lame-o older people. I'll defend our lameness by pointing out that I was sick all weekend and now Kevin has it, and Micah is also getting over it, so we have a good excuse! We did stay up long enough for a yummy dinner of crab legs, and some good wine! Can't beat that!

Here are some pictures from our sucky party:

Mr. Grumpy wants Mr. Happy's hat (you might not be able to see it, but all three little boys have on shirts that say Mr. Grumpy, Mr. Happy & Mr. Funny. Yes, we planned this :)

We tried to get a picture of all three Misters, but Mr. Grumpy wasn't having it.

Again, Mr. Grumpy is missing from the shot. (He's living up to his name)

Happy Mama with Mr. Happy (who is not living up to his name in this one!)

Mr. Funny being... Funny!

This we did not plan - but look at these cuties in their matching jammies!

Micah is learning the fine art of binky theft. Look how excited he is that he got Chuck's binky!

And now he's trying to give it back. Cute boys!

So, we had a fun night. We put the little ones in bed around 8 and had a yummy dinner, and then made it until about 10:30, came home and got in bed. I was awake for the fireworks on our street though. I still can't believe Mic slept through it!

I hope that 2008 brings little ones home to all who are waiting and that everyone has a wonderful year! Merry New Year!