I can't even tell you all how happy I am for the Rooney family. They received The Call last week with the referral of their beautiful daughter! Hearing this news from Lori was THE BEST. The best, I tell ya. Okay, all referrals are the best, but this one made me get happy chills and cry happy tears.
I'm lucky enough to call Lori a friend. She regularly cracks my sh*t up (in pieces, Lori), but she is also full of wise words and understanding. She's a good, good person. And? So is Autumn! I adore Autumn's blog, her kids, her dolls, and her! Why am I telling you all of this? Because if you head on over to the Rooney's blog, you can enter a raffle to WIN A DOLL! Honestly, I really want to win, but I'd also like for you to win, so go on over and get yourself a $5 raffle ticket!
My dear friend Courtney told me that she feels like she hardly knows Lia. This made me sad and it's all my fault. I am giant #blogfail lately! So, lets do a Get to Know Lia post, shall we?
First, her name. Let's ignore the fact that I'm JUST NOW getting comfortable with Lia, and focus on her middle name. Apparently Makbe is a very unusual name in Ethiopia. This is how it went in Ethiopia:
Ethiopian (in Addis): What is her name?
Us: Makbe
Them: You mean Mekdes?
Us: No. Mek-a-bee
Them: *confused face* or *"That lady doesn't even know her kid's name" face*
We got used to this conversation over the week we were there. Apparently it means "Be complete," but I'm not even sure where CHI got that information. We were also told that it is a bible name. And, there's a little more to the story of why she was given this name, but that's part of her personal story, so I'll save that for Lia Makbe.
The Makbe song. My child is a fussbucket when it comes to changing clothes. For the first three months she would giggle and coo while her diapers and outfits were changed, but now it tends to look more like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania 3. Need a visual?
Yeah, like that. Anyway, I have a magic song that I like to use when things get a little out-of-control. It's basically me singing her name (Makbe) over and over. I know you all will be clamoring for video now, but give it up. It's not happening. But it is cute the way she instantly calms down and even smiles a little before going back to channeling Andre the Giant.
LIA IS LOOOOUUUUUUUD. I'm talking blood-curdling screams on a constant basis kind of loud. Kevin and I are starting to lose our hearing. It's true. And while she used to be super quiet in public and save the Scream Queen theatrics for home, that's all a-changing too. Just this morning Lia and I went to have breakfast at the local coffee shop and halfway through she began her audition for the next "Jason versus Freddy versus the Predator versus Michael Meyers" movie. (Did you know that they're making that movie? It's true. Okay, not really.) So, our leisurely mornings over coffee and puffs have been put on hold. Indefinitely.
NO MORE!
And? Lia is a lot of fun. She is super-nosy and loves to eat leaves. She has the best belly-laugh ever. She loves cheerios and crackers and yogurt, but turns her nose up at vegetables in any form. (Little does she know that I hide them in the yogurt.) She has been scooting around for months now and is finally starting to crawl on her knees. (This is good news because her belly was constantly covered in dog hair and other such fun.) She has said her first word - "Uh-Oh" (we don't count mama and dada). She "barks" back at the dogs. She adores her brother. She likes to take knives out of the dishwasher. (Don't worry - I've learned my lesson there.) And, she's really, really cute.
"Adoring" her brother.
She is famous for this look...
...but also for this smile.
So, there's some Lia for you. I hope this helps. (Courtney? Yes?)
Tonight Micah and I were lying in bed and I was getting frustrated because he wouldn't calm down. (It's two hours later and HE IS STILL AWAKE...) Anyway, instead of freaking out (or maybe after I freaked out a little), I grabbed him and snuggled close and just started talking. Somehow we ended up talking about when he is "big." He informed me of a few things he has figured out about his future:
1. He is going to play football.
2. He is going to be a teacher.
3. He is going to marry this girl:
4. He is going to have only one baby. And his wife won't have the baby in her belly. Nope. The baby (a boy named Lia, by the way), will grow in his belly. "I eat lots of snacks... drink lots of juice... and *poof* a baby." (And you know I was trying hard to hold it together at this point.)
5. He will have three dogs. Three big dogs. But he will not name them Peter Parker or Spiderman because they cannot wear suits (costumes).
6. He will drive a big red car.
So there you have it. Micah's Life Plan. I like it.
I missed my old blog! I didn't quite feel at home here yet, and not being able to say Micah or Lia just wasn't working for me. So, the old blog has been imported to the new blog. And Mae is now Lia and Yabi is now Micah again.
Just one day after my last post (with all the sunshine and rainbows about siblings), Yabi decided he did not want Baby touching his "guys." Since she has started scooting around the house (she's fast), she can get to his guys very easily. And her toys are obviously boring, since the only thing she scoots towards are his guys. (Guys, by the way, are action figures.) Mae had her hands (and mouth) on one of his 400 Spiderman guys and Yabi promptly smacked her in the face. Yes, smacked her. Oh, tears and time-outs ensued, followed by a "SORRY BABY!" followed by a forced, much nicer, "Sorry baby."
Needless to say, the honeymoon is over. Sometimes Yabi is okay with Mae grabbing his guys. Sometimes he'll even hand her one to play with. But most of the time he has Guy Radar (not the same thing as Gaydar, mind you) and the minute she puts a guy's head in her mouth, he'll immediately run to swipe back the slobbery guy and yell, "NO BABY!" After I'm finished trying to hide my snickering, I step in and try to mediate the situation. Sometimes it's maddening, but then other times I find them like this, and I can't help but smile at my kids.
(Yes Mae has two different socks on. Don't judge.)
And, just for fun - some more Mae & Yabi:
I've included this purely so ya'll can see Mae's chunkalove. She's weighing in at 18.14 lbs these days.
And this just makes me laugh. Every time.
Scooty McScooterson
Sometimes Batman falls asleep at the top of the stairs. But it's okay, because he's Batman. (And don't worry, we moved him directly after taking this so no injuries were incurred.)
We had a visit with our social worker today for our first post-adoption report for Mae. At the end she asked us one of those best/worst questions: What is the best thing about having Mae home, and what has been the most difficult? The first part was easy - well, not really because there are so many. K gave the best answer: Seeing Mae and Yabi together. I'll second that. These two are the cutest ever. Sometimes I catch them holding hands between their carseats in the backseat.
Yabi constantly asks, "Can I play with baby?" (I don't know why he asks - it's not like I'm going to say no...) Unfortunately for Mae, "playing with baby," usually means getting in her face and yelling, "HI BABY!" But Mae doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she usually gives him a big toothy grin in response.
Not surprisingly, when our social worker repeated the second part of the question, K and I both fell silent. Thinking. What is the most difficult part? I mean, sure, it's hard to get Yabi quiet when Mae is sleeping, and it's doubly hard to get out the door in the mornings, and maybe K and I desperately need a night out...But that all pales in comparison to the first part of the question. One look at our babies together - in the bath, in the car, playing with their toys on the floor - and all of that sort of disappears.
(And don't worry, I haven't gone all sunshine and rainbows on you. Someday I'll tell you WHY it takes us two hours to get out the door for a Target trip. But today, I'm feeling the love.)
I finally have pictures from the day we returned home with Mae! It was almost two months ago, and it already seems like forever ago. When I look at these pictures, I see intense joy in our faces, except for poor Mae, who looks confused and exhausted. She was such a trooper during travel. After our first experience bringing home baby Yabi, this time was a dream. (Yabi did not do so well on the flight, and we were both confused and scared New Parents, so it was not our favorite part of the trip.)
Coming home this time was so amazing because we missed our Yabi so much. Seeing him run and fly into his dad's arms was one of the best moments ever.
I remember just searching for Yabi here - I could not wait to see him.
Best Hug Ever
I love Dad's face in this picture. Pure joy. (And that's Yabi behind theflowers :)
I love this because that is exactly how I remember this moment - everything around us was a blur, and in the center of it all- sweet baby girl.
