How to make an American-Canadian-Ethiopian Family

Our little baby boy is 11 months old today! Yesterday, he started "cruising". He walks from one end of the coffee table to the other while holding on to it. I am so happy and proud of him! Our physical therapist says that she is amazed at the progress that he has made in such a short period of time. He is starting to lose his baby pudge, too:o( You can almost see his neck!! This makes me so sad, as I want him to be this little baby forever! However, we are thrilled with his progress and it feels very good to know that we are responsible for some of it. I am so proud to be his mama! I will add pictures later this evening- JF took some REALLY cute ones yesterday!

This weekend, we had the change to get together with another Boston AA family. Tim and Wendy took pictures of Jacob for us when he was in Toukoul and brought him a care package for us. They have a little daughter, J, who is 14 months old. They traveled a few weeks before us and were able to show us the ropes so we had a better idea of what to expect. It was so nice to see them and to catch up. Sadly, I did not bring a camera, but the kids were so cute- constantly reaching out to each other.

I got to speak to Jenna this weekend. It was a treat to hear my friend's voice! They are doing very well, but it is, of course, an emotionally charged time, so we are keeping them in our prayers. We can't wait for them to come home to meet their angel and to get the little ones together.

I also got two good runs in this weekend. I did a short one of hills with the jog stroller. Uff da! And a 5 mile one in by myself. That felt good b/c I did not have baby or dog with me. That NEVER happens! I always have one or the other or both. It felt wonderful to have two free hands during a run.

I read a really fantastic book this weekend- "My Fathers' Daughter" by Hannah Pool. It is the story of an Eritrean woman who was adopted at about 6 months of age by an English family. She ends up being contacted by members of her biological family and goes back to Eritrea to meet them. It is a very interesting look at her journey. I highly recommend it!

I would like to end this post with a shout out to Cindy, Craig, and Olly. They have a court date today. We are certainly thinking of you and know you will officially be a "forever family" today!

The Zimmers are in ET with Addy! YAYAYAY! We are so pleased that they finally have Addy with them. We are disheartened to hear about their embassy date (or lack there of), but we feel certain that between Radu, Abebe, and Monsieur Ferez, they will be able to figure something out.

At our place, Jacob is home with our new nanny, A, for the first time today. I am feeling very good about it. It is a relief that JF will be able to work during the day, and I will get to see him in the evenings- I have been missing him a lot lately! I got a cute text from A saying "We're having a great time & getting into plenty of mischief!" Then she sent me this picture:



From the looks of it, everything is going A-OK!!

The Zimmer family has left to meet Addia. We could not be happier for them! We are wishing them a great trip. (We are also jealous that they are in ET and we are not. We loved it there!!) In 30 short days, we will meet the gorgeous Addia for the first time! I am so excited to see the kiddos together.

I will also be blogging for Jenna with an update as soon as I can.

All of our thoughts and prayers are with the Zimmers this life-changing week!

-a sleeping baby until 7am

-snuggling with happy baby in bed until 8am

-smoothies and strong coffee

-mom getting a bath!

-dad and baby napping from 9-11

-looking forward to an old friend's visit tomorrow

Meg recently asked about Jacob's progress, and I realized that I do have some milestones to brag about! Jacob says the word "cat" when looking at the cat! We are very pleased with that development. He also met with the Early Intervention physical therapist this week, who told us that if she was to re-evaluate him today, he would not be eligible for services because he is all caught up! We are over the moon happy about that news! Jacob is not quite cruising around the furniture yet, but it seems that he will be soon! He now points to things that he wants to touch, so that is new too. That is what he is up to this week. Who knows what next week will bring??

Jacob and I took a trip to D.C. for Easter. We took the Acela Express down. I LOVE the train, but, of course, I had never tackled the train with a 10 month old baby! I do not love the train any less, but it was not the relaxing ride that I was imagining. I thought the way there was bad when some 'important' man complained about the fact that Jacob started crying and asked if I had a pacifier I could give him. That trip discomfort was dwarfed, though, by the trip back, when the baby had explosive diarrhea that ended up all over him, me, his car seat, etc, etc with a quick 3.5 hours to go until we were home. I felt bad for Jacob, but also the poor high school boys sharing the seats next to me. That which doesn't kill us can only make us stronger, right?

But the weekend itself was a huge success. It was joyful, and filled with laughter. And it is always a treat to see my Aunt Ellen and my niece and nephews and, of course, my sister and brother-in-law. We ate great food, dyed Easter Eggs, and made cookies. And the Easter Bunny found us, so it was a really great weekend.

When we made a trip to the grocery store, there was a woman who was very taken by Jacob. The way that she acted immediately made me think she was Ethiopian. It had something to do with her response to the baby- it reminded me so much of the women who worked at Toukoul and on Ethiopian Air. So I asked where she was from originally. She confirmed that she was from Ethiopia. I told her Jacob was as well. It made her light up with joy. It turns out she is from Addia Ababa, by the Sheraton Hotel. It felt good to say, "Oh! I know that area!" She must have told Jacob she loved him 25 times and that she felt certain she will see him again. I don't know if we ever will see her, but the 5 minute conversation was balm for my heart. It erased a little of the sadness I have been feeling. There has been so much negative press about international adoption since Madonna's latest attempt, I have been struggling a little lately. This was a shot of optimism in the arm- one that I needed.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the weekend, as I forgot my camera, but I do have a couple pictures from our photo shoot with Ashley O'dell, the best photographer EVER! I will leave you with that!

SO tonight, on my way home from work, JF met me at the bus stop and we traded roles. I took the baby and the dog, JF got on the bus and went to work. When I got the baby home and onto the floor for tummy time, he crawled/scooted FORWARD. Today is his first day of forward progress in a physical sense. I am so proud of him! But really? I can't handle all of these milestones in one week. I think that he is going to be driving next week!

So tonight, while I was getting Jacob ready for bed, I put him in his crib. Not only did he pull himself up to standing for the first time unassisted, he walked from the side of the crib to the front of the crib. All in a days work!



And I am including this picture just because I like it!

So lately, on certain adoption boards, there has been a lot of hurtful innuendos about Adoption Avenues Agency. I want to address it one time and quickly. We stand behind AA one hundred percent. We will use them again for our second adoption. We are so pleased with the way that our process was handled. We loved the responsiveness. We loved the fact that our dossier was translated before we got our referral so we knew that everything was set for our court date. We knew that all of our necessary documents were there. They are a very small agency, and that helps a lot with a faster referral. I am so pleased with our decision. I refuse to let someone bad mouth our agency that brought us to our son. Momma bear has spoken.