December 2007

Okay, I knew that i would have a hard time keeping up with this blog, but I didn't realize it would be months in between updates. Sorry!
Nandee and Papa treated us all to a ride on the polar express again this year. Ethan loved it, but was very serious the entire time. Paigy slept through at least half of it. Here is a pic of Daddy and Roo looking out at the north pole. Papa is in the blue behind them.

Ethan update:

Ethan is 3 and 1/2 now. He loves school and drop off isn't an issue anymore. Here is one of the tricycles that they have. He loves anything that he can peddle. He just had his first holiday program ever. It was great to watch him practice his songs. There is something so sweet about little kids singing. He just got his first progress report from preschool. He is doing really well. His teacher said that he is very articulate and his vocabulary is amazing. This is definitely daddy's doing and not mine. I give Ethan 2 more years before his vocabulary is better than mine. Santa brought him a new backhoe loader for Christmas--the kind that he can sit on and peddle. Ethan has basically played with this toy nonstop since christmas morning!

Here is a picture of Ethan in a firetruck. His preschool did a field trip to the fire station and he loved it!!Ethan is a master negotiator. Just yesterday Ryan gave him two choices for lunch. Ethan added a third and then chose the third. I know that may not sound that exciting, but its the sly way that Ethan goes about things that makes us laugh. He has an incredible imagination and memory. He is still into making up his own words, names, songs.

Eating pancakes outside for Christmas Eve:

Paigy Update:

Paigy is almost 1 already!! I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by. It's definitely quicker with the 2nd baby. She is cruising all over the place and has been standing in the middle of the floor for 3 months now, but is not walking yet. She pivots around in a circle and is barely starting to taking 2-3 steps. She is still a great sleeper and a happy baby. She tries to talk all of the time, but really only says Ma, Da, Ba (big brother). She signs water, eat, more, all done, but not milk yet. She HATES getting her diaper changed. She is into everything Ethan is and tries to mimic everything that anyone does. She still loves her pacis. She has an incredible appetite. She eats more that her big brother! She loves to eat if she is feeding herself. If you try to feed her with a spoon she will start grabbing the spoon after a few bites and do it herself. She is very independant an into everything!!! She goes to the Dr for her 1 year appt this Friday.

Adoption Update:

We are fully into the paperwork for our adoption. We have finished everything we need for our homestudy. We had a home visit about 2 weeks ago by Cindi, our social worker. She spent about 2-3 hours watching us interact with Ethan (Paige was asleep) and getting our life stories. She also took a brief tour around the house to look at space and safety. Last Friday we went to her office to get individual interviews--again she mainly watched us with the kiddos and also asked questions about how we resolve conflicts and such. We also gave her our medical forms (thanks to Robin for helping us get these!!!), employment proof, insurance proof, etc. We are just waiting on our letters of reference to get to Cindi, our federal and state background clearance to get to her, and then for her to write her report.

We have sent off our immigration application for the baby (I-600A). This will get reviewed and hopefully approved after Cindi sends them our approved homestudy. The homestudy will probably take another month (end of Jan) and then the I-600A approval another month after that (end of Feb).

In the meantime we have been working on our dossier for Ethiopia. We have almost everything for that too. Again we are waiting on a state background check. We already have most of the papers together (employment proof, med docs (again thanks robin), financial proof, letters of reference, proof of ownership of house, and intro letters). After we have them all together we have to make sure they are all notorized and then send them to the state for authentication, and then to the fed government and Ethiopian Embassey for another authentication. Then we will be able to send them to our agency and then to Ethiopia. This will probably take a month for all of the authentications. We hope to have this completed by end of March. After that we the wait will begin for a referral of a child.

Paigy sleeping on daddy. She has an apple in her hand. She got ahold of big brothers apple and would not let go. She kept sucking on it and scraping little bites.

Kiddos Update August 2007

Ethan started preschool!!! Drop off has been difficult, but he always says it was "pretty good" when we pick him up. He has been learning about germs. He also has had the soap squirter job twice--which he is very proud of.

Here is the playground outside. There are several tricycles that they all ride in circles. There is also a Ford truck that Ethan likes to "zoom" around.
Below is a picture of Ethan helping daddy make a new path. He was really helping too!

Paigy has been crawling all over the place. She just pulled herself up for the first time right now! She is a great eater, but doesn't care for peas.



Ethan talking to Nandee, Nona, or the Aunties-I can't remember who.

Daddy and Ethan playing UPS truck!

Kiddos Update June 2007

Ethan just turned 3! Wow time really flies! He is still a great kid, although I can already tell that this year will be more trying that the terrible twos. I’m not sure how but he has managed to pick up the concept of lying. If one parent tells him not to do something he will quickly respond with “daddy said yes”. He loves to do puzzles (he definitely gets this from me!) and will spend hours doing them. In fact yesterday he got 3 new 24 piece puzzles and did each of them on his own in under 15 mins. I sure hope the 48 piece puzzles arrive soon to keep him occupied. Here is a pic of Ethan "rollerblading". Really he is just walking in them. But, he loves them. We tried our first organized class this week. He went to tumbling class where mom or dad participates with him. What an adventure! He followed directions for about 15-20 minutes of the 45 min class and then he was done and wanted to sit and watch. Granted some of the other kids were also having some trouble following directions for the entire class, but Ethan was by far the worst. I’m sure glad we have him in this before his preschool class starts in August. As you can see from this picture he is extremely helpful cleaning around the house. :) Some days he will have the entire bathroom soapy in the time it takes to change paigy’s diaper! He has made terrific progress on potty training. I had been sitting him on the potty before bath time. One day he went by accident. Then he got a jelly bean (we had been trying this bribe for weeks with no luck). For the next couple of days he was trying to pee every 2-3 minutes just for the jelly bean. Poor Daddy this was a long few days since I was working. Then we started stamps after each potty. After 5 stamps he got a jelly bean. The bribe was still a lollipop for a stinky in the potty. My mother’s day gift from him was him doing a stinky unprompted in the potty! J We now consider him potty trained at home. We haven’t made him try the real potty yet because he is still intimidated by it. We’ll start in another week or so. I know that was probably too much info for most of you, but I still had to share.

Paige is almost 5 months old. At her 4 month check up she was 16lbs 11oz (>95th%) and 25 ½ in (90th%) with a 50% head. She’s a big baby. She has figured out how to use her hands and loves to play with toys sitting up, on her back, tummy, or in her exersaucer. She rolls from her back to her tummy regularly, but has only gone back to her back once. So she is still not mobile, yet. She is still a very happy, quite baby. She is still a good sleeper if you put her down in her crib, on our bed, or in her swing. She doesn’t really sleep on us. The only exception is Papa. She always falls asleep in his arms, she sure loves her Papa!

Ryan and I are both doing well. I just hit the big 3-0 and Ryan will in less than 2 weeks. I just applied for a temporary job in China with Intel. I will interview Jun18 and should know by end of June. If I get the job we would stay here until spring/summer of 2009 and then spend 2-3 years in Dalian (northwest China). Nandee (Ryan’s mom) is not too thrilled, but she says she’ll come visit. My family is happy about it and saving their money for a visit. Ryan and I are really excited and hope I get the job.

Roo in a front end loader!! He thought it was cool, but he was also scared of it because it was "youd" (loud).

Paigy with Dante and Isaiah.

Kiddos Update March 07

March 2007

Paige just had her 2 month check up. We knew she was chunky but, this appt verified it. She was 14 lbs 11 oz (>95th %), 22 in (75%th), and her head was also 75th%. I think our family is copying Robin’s, Debi’s, and Daniella’s with tiny first kids and huge second kids. :) She is doing great. She is such an easy baby. She loves to talk, loves to talk, loves to watch big brother, and hates tummy time. She doesn’t fuss much at all. She sleeps very well in her crib next to our bed. She is still getting up 3 to 4 times a night, but I’m hoping she’s drop one of those before I have to go back to work on April 11th.

Ethan fingerpainting in the bathtub.

Ethan is also an easy kid. He loves his little sister. He hugs and kisses her all of the time. He loves to “read” his books, loves to mimic daddy, and loves to play at parks. He especially loves to climb at parks. He still has absolutely no interest in potty training, but we aren’t going to push the issue until he turns 3; and then only because we want him to go to preschool in the fall. J His favorite foods are still peas, chocolate milk, and lollipops. He talks non-stop and has the wildest imagination.

We all just got back from a week long trip to Roswell. Ryan, Holly, and I did some major painting to my mom’s house. Noel had the most tiring job, she watched Ethan. We all had a great time and I think my mom was very happy. Anyone who wants to see pics let me know. I’m going to upload them to our Kodak website.
-andrea