Party Hardy

Well, we survived Micah's 1st birthday party, and we think it was a raging success. :) There were tons of kids here - seriously - people kept saying, "How do you know so many kids?" My friends are fertile? I don't know. But, really, it was a lot of fun. And exhausting, but in an exhilarating fun way. (Why didn't you other moms tell me how crazily exhausting a 1st birthday party is? :)

I don't have many pictures because we hired Linda to come and take pictures for us, and we're waiting to get them back. Yes, I know it sounds wildly extravagant to do that (and maybe a little weird), but let me tell you how awesome it was to not have to worry about taking pictures all night long. It was awesome. And, we love Linda - she did our wedding photos, family photos, and Micah's first photos when he came home. (We probably should have hired her for his arrival at the airport too... okay maybe that would be extravagant.) Anyway, Gracie did take pictures with our camera, so you will get an unprofessional sneak peak at the night's events. I promise to post Linda's pictures when we get them (hopefully within the week!).

Here are the highlights:

*It was a cupcake party! Kevin made these amazingly cute cupcakes. He probably would not like me to tell you that. But, he loves me and he loves his son, so he was willing to get fancy in the kitchen for the party. (He does have a degree in pastry arts after all!)

*Mamush came to Micah's party! Very cool that these boys are already sharing life's special moments. :)

*Cupcake cookies! Our good friend Stephanie made these for the party. She is an expert baker, and I, well, I am not. So she made the cupcakes cookies. I did, however, make the tags that say, "It's fun to be 1" and "thanks for coming to my party heart Micah"

Micah had cake. With lots of icing. I did make him his very own little cake. It was not beautiful, but I was still proud. (Although I overdid it on the icing - tip: go light on the icing for a first birthday cake!)

*You know that scene in 16 Candles, after Jake's party where the record keeps skipping and you see the big mess? That was our house after everyone left. I was crying laughing at the mess - it looked like we had a raging kegger, but with lots of toys and juice boxes. (We cleaned that night - up til 1 a.m. but much better than cleaning in the morning.)

*The best part of the night was after we put Micah to bed and we were all downstairs talking and playing with Micah's new toys. We realized George was missing. Bad sign. I looked at the monitor and saw red lights - uhoh. Went upstairs - into Micah's room - the lights are on, Micah is sitting up in his crib with a bottle and George is laying on the floor playing. I never laughed so hard. So, we got Mic out of bed and he stayed up another hour. George had a point, it was Micah's party after all. :)

So, we had a great time, and were pretty tired (all of us) the next day, but it was well worth it. Just in case you're wondering, here is what Kevin and I looked like the next morning when Micah woke up at 7 a.m. -

Good times, good times.

All in One Day

Micah's first birthday was marked by an ice storm that caused us to stay holed up inside all day. We had to cancel a lunch with friends at the Ethiopian restaurant - but we're rescheduling for next week. The benefit of a day stuck inside is that today, for the first time, Micah crawled up on all fours! Yippee! I noticed he was trying to get up and go (rather than sit-scoot or hovercraft) so I put his baby-legs on for maximum traction - and off he went. I've never seen anything as cute as his little bootie crawling away from me. Big milestone on his first birthday!!

We had spaghetti for dinner (his favorite) and Gracie & Mitch came up to hang out with us. Micah was especially impressed when Mitch (who is 10) was rocking the guitar hero on a really hard level backwards! I mean not looking at the screen. (I was impressed too.) Gracie helped us out with bath and took pics, but I'm tired so I'll post later.

We finished the night with a family prayer for Micah's first mom - who we thought about and talked about a lot today.

And, just for fun, on Micah's first birthday, I'll leave you with a progression of frog towel photos - because they're so cute.

August 16th - literally 2 days after we got home.

September 27th

And, last week!

Birthday Bean!

Micah's birthday is almost here! Tomorrow!! I can't believe it.

Here he is with an early birthday present - I know I splurged on this one, but I couldn't help myself. I'm so fancy.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEANS!

(P.S. You know I have to tell you all - I made that banner! Aren't I getting crafty? It's definitely not perfect, but I wanted to make something for his party and voila - I did! :)

Diaper Man

Video! Let's see if this works. It's only been 6 months since we came home and we (Kevin) FINALLY figured out how to post video. In this fun clip (taken tonight while I was out) you can see Micah's weird sit-scoot. You can also see him going towards his favorite thing - the toilet. (Not allowed! :)



Also - went to see Juno tonight. I sobbed at the end and then pretty much cried the whole way home. But, yes, I loved it. Loved it, loved it.

For My Mom

Yesterday my Mom had to let her best friend go. Gracie was old, but she hung on for a long time to be there with my mom. I have never seen a dog care for it's owner like my mom's dog. She was a sweet girl with a gentle spirit. We will all miss her.
Love you Mom!

Happy Heart Day!

Hope you all had a good day of lovin'. We had crab legs for dinner with mini chocolate cakes with chocolate mousse filling (I MADE THESE - CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?) and chocolate covered strawberries (that my sweet husband got for me here at Merb's - best ever) for dessert. And, of course, a really yummy wine - Malbec - my newest favorite. Micah had a tiny taste of chocolate mousse - and, yes, he likes chocolate. :)

P.S. I forgot to add the best part - for Love Day we got a family gift - A DYSON! Yippee! Seriously - this thing has changed our lives. (You remember that we have three dogs right?) We don't vacuum anymore - we Dyson. Go get one! (They're on clearance at Target!)

Kevin hearts Dyson

Tidbits *EDITED*

First, thanks to everyone for listening to, and commenting on my rant below. Haze made a really good point that she sees people being nice more often and I wanted to add that I do actually see people being nice - random people have helped put groceries into the car and people often stop to smile at Micah and tell him how cute he is. So, there are good people out there. I was in a bad mood and so for a minute I was focusing on the negative. Thanks Haze for reminding me to look for the positive.

Did you know that Micah can do the splits? Seriously. Full-on-out splits. (Is this normal?) It's hilarious. Last night we were getting ready for bath and we spent about 15 minutes watching him play with a lid to a baby food jar (we're so fancy with our toys). He was doing the splits the entire time! I would have taken pictures to share, but, umm, we were getting ready for bath so he was nekkid. The party ended when he peed on the floor while doing the splits. (that made both of us crack up laughing and he sat there confused - into the bath you go!)I have to admit that was the first time in the past few days that he's laughed and played for a longer period of time. I think all of those teeth must be bothering him because he has been a serious crab-ball lately! Poor child crabs from when he wakes up from afternoon nap all the way til bedtime. I hope it's just his teeth - of course, I worry that he's sick, but he seems to be fine.

This morning we went downstairs to play (and fold laundry - fun!) and I noticed something looked different downstairs. It honestly took me a minute to realize that it was SUNLIGHT! The sun was streaming through the windows and it's been so long since we've seen the sun that it confused me at first. It also made for terrible naps today. I really need to get room-darkening curtains. Really.

Micah's new favorite thing is for me to fill a basket with books and then he proceeds to take them all out and look at them. His Parent Educator was really impressed that he can turn the pages all by himself. She was also impressed that he was doing things that are on a level for 13 months - he's a genius. Anyway, here are some pictures of my little bookworm...




*I am adding to this post something I have been sad about for the past week because I have to get it out. I haven't been sure how to talk about it, so instead I've posted about random stuff, but I just finished re-reading There is No Me Without You and the last chapter touched me deeply. Remember when Mikki & Ryan, the adoptive parents of Mekdes & Yabsira, go to visit their children's grandfather? Remember that a spontaneous second funeral took place at the children's parents grave site. Ryan spoke to the group assembled: "We will love them and take care of them forever... We will always stay in touch with you."

The first time I read this I was filled with hope - hope that I could meet Micah's first mom and send letters throughout the years to let her know he was doing well. Hope that we could meet again someday- either if we went back for another adoption, or when we go back to Ethiopia with Micah when he is older. Hope that my son would have some contact with his first mom, as we know that is what is best for him.

Reading it now, I am sad because that hope is gone. We were unable to meet Micah's Ethiopian mom in Ethiopia, and now CIS regulations have made it clear that continued contact with birth parents is not allowed. I understand the regulation (it has to do with the definition of the word orphan) and will of course comply so as to not jeopardize future adoptions from Ethiopia. But I cannot say that I am not extremely sad about my loss of hope. My loss of hope for my son and his first mother - who cared for him for the first three months of his life and then continued to visit him in the orphanage for the next two months before our adoption was finalized. His Ethiopian mom has felt like a part of our family and I suddenly feel like someone has taken away that family member.

Let it be said that I completely understand that in most IA cases, contact with birth families is not a reality. But, in Ethiopia - it was. (It still is in that an initial meeting is sometimes allowed.) To lose that reality is hard.

Thanks for 'listening.' I couldn't keep it in any longer.