Today, I've been cleaning out the pantry and decided to make some treats by dipping random stuff in chocolate almond bark. As I was dipping Multi-grain Cheerios and placing them on foil to dry, Elly said to me, "Gross! Those look like poop..." She pauses, as if she realizes that was rude, and then says, "I mean, llama poop."

A Healthy Attachment

I found this article to be easy and practical. Just thought I would post it here for my fellow adoptive mommies and daddies.

Elly's Preschool Program

Elly's class had its annual Christmas program this week. She did great, and so did all the other kids. It was so fun to watch. She loves singing and has been practicing these songs at home daily! My favorite line: "ha-lay-loo-lah Jesus was born today!"

6 month post placement

The house is clean, Zi is asleep, and I'm waiting on Dan to get home for lunch. Today is our SIX month post placement visit! Even though we passed that mark a couple weeks ago, we had issues arranging a time. So it's today! Since last visit, E has had another surgery and all these feeding issues have been diagnosed, so this is going to be an interesting one. I was nervous about having picture of him with his tube (we have to provide pics to send back to Ethiopia) but the SW said that they will want to see it. The G-tube is hardly noticeable but some of the pics I have are with the nasty NG. I don't miss that gnarly thing! Good riddance. Esias is doing well. We think he may have an ear infection but I am not sure. He is super fussy but other than that, no fever or anything. He is sleeping ok, not horrible but not like his usual either. We shall see what the doctor says today at 2:20pm. I hate taking him in for regular things like this, the poor kid can't stay out of the office for more than a week!

Christmas Cookies!

We always make cookies with the girls for Christmas. This year it worked out well because the day Eden got her lip worked on, I let her stay home (since she had stitches and all) but since she was feeling decent, we had a nice cookie-making time together. Dan was also home that afternoon so he got in on the fun as well. Later, we had the neighbor kids over so that is the last pic with Esias- Max is 11 months old and a big guy. Esias is catching him though. They were exchanging tips-- Esias was teaching Max how much fun it is to walk by yourself, and Max was teaching E that saying words like "mama" and "icky" are cool. They also kissed each other. A lot.

I think these pictures speak for themselves.

Tuffy Stanton, er, Grimes.

Eden had a lesion on her lip- it started as just a little bubble, no big deal. But a combination of her biting on it and that she's our child, so nothing can happen normally, resulted in her having to have it excised at the ENT. The doctor put a shot of lidocaine in it- he called the needle the world's smallest needle, so she wasn't scared! And then he carefully cut it out. He was it was a salivary cyst- totally benign, so that's good. She did awesome! I had all three kids there but it went fine. Eden was super tough, like her great-grandpa (the Golden Gloves boxer Tuffy Stanton).

Six Months Home!

Meeting Esias for the first time in Addis Ababa on June 6, 2009.

Esias Tesfaye has been with us for SIX months now! Little by little, we have learned each other and become parent and child. I am realizing now that the first few months were sort of a honeymoon period- where he was very happy and rarely got upset. Now, we have a kid with a whole range of emotions and feels free to use them when he wants! Though this makes my job harder, I realize that this is healthy and it means he is trusting us enough to be himself. That's a good thing! All these hospitalizations have challenged our bonding, as well as having to withhold things like bottles and food, but I have faith that God is in control and that Esias knows we are loving him even if he doesn't understand everything we do.

I can't believe that there was a time when he wasn't in our lives. I vaguely remember the heartache that accompanied every failed court attempt, every call with bad news. It's like the 9-month long nausea that I had with the girls: as soon as they are in your arms, you don't even remember feeling horrid for that long.

So, here is how far he's come physically:

June 6, 2009- Esias was barely able to keep his head up, he could push up on his elbows and scoot, drank a bottle, woke in the night to eat, weighed 14 lbs, didn't cry or laugh, barely had one tooth poking through

December 6, 2009- Esias is WALKING, sitting, standing, crawling, pushing toys around, bending over to pick up toys, putting things in a container, taking things out of a container. He babbles mmm, guh, buh, ma, puh, kih, uses sign language, eats solid foods, laughs at silly things, backs into our laps to have a book read to him, hands us toys, takes all of his clothes out of his drawers, takes one nap a day, sleeps all night in his crib, knows how to take his feeding tube out of the adapter when he wakes up in the morning (so his milk will go all over his crib!), raids the tupperware cupboard, helps me get his arms in his sleeves, lays still for a diaper change (mostly), and loves the Ellen Degeneres show, oh and has EIGHT teeth that he likes to use for biting. Ouch. Four rounds of anesthesia, two surgeries, two swallow studies, too many chest x-rays to count... five hospital stays in six months! Baby boy, you've been through the wringer!

Esias' first birthday celebrated just 17 days after coming to live with us.

July, 2009 - roadtriping to meet the extended family

Loving bathtime in August- this is the month he had surgery to repair part of his obstructed airway.

Playing with dolls in September...

Daddy and E-man in October

During the dreaded NG tube phase in November!

New G-tube dude, waking up from his nap in his comfy crib.

We are so blessed to have this precious child as ours. He is amazing, resilient, energetic, beautiful, strong, and of course, a genius. I love you Esias!

Esias wants to go to the Orange Bowl.

Sunny warm weather sounds pretty good right about now...especially to this guy! Esias loves football!

Darn Kids Anyway!

Yesterday was one of those hellacious days. It started out well enough...we dropped Eden off at school and I had a last minute idea to run to Fareway before going home in anticipation of the big storm. That went off without a hitch, minus the mid-trip run to the stockroom toilet (Elly). So then we went home to put away groceries and get ready for our weekly visiting nurse appointment. Esias decided to poop a giant blow out while I was cleaning. No big deal, that's par for the course, right? Well, of course this is a cloth diaper and it's all out his leg and down his back. So he gets thrown in the bath but refuses to sit down (not sure) but I get him clean and safely out. I oil him up but stupidly (will I ever learn?) don't dress in, worrying more about the nasty diaper that sits on his changing table. I take that in the bathroom and begin rinsing it out, when suddenly I feel a warm sensation on my foot. Esias decided to pee on me and all over the bathroom rug. While all this is happening, the phone keeps ringing (the RN was late) which adds to the chaotic atmosphere. Finally, I get the stuff cleaned up, Esias dressed, and the nurse shows up right at that moment. Phew. That's all the chaos for the day, right? Read on...

After lunch, we had an appointment for Eden to get a lip ulcer checked out. Being the two-birds-with-one-stone type, I also scheduled the kids' shots for that same time, even though I knew I would be alone with the three kids and against my better judgement (seeing a pattern here?). The check up went fine, she needs to see the ENT. Fine. Then come the shots. Eden took them well, she got the FluMist for H1N1 and then had to have one shot for seasonal flu. She didn't cry one bit! Way to go. Then, I turn to Elly whose face is just crumpled up in fear. She is yelling "I don't want a shot! I don't want a shot!" at the top of her lungs. I pick her up, not an easy feat, and place her on the table. The nurse tries to hold her legs down while I hold her hands and upper body. She kicked and screamed and fought and kicked some more...eventually we got the shots done and she was SO livid and raging mad that she cried until she....you guessed it...threw up. So, the nurse grabs the trash can and throws it over to us, then directly turns around and begins gagging herself. So here I am trying to hold Elly's hair back and keep Esias out of the puke, while the nurse is over in the corner gagging. Eden is hiding behind the curtain talking nonstop because that is what she does when she is nervous. Finally, El is done and we get Esias' shots with just minimal crying. At this point, I am completely undone myself. I am annoyed at my kid who can't just sit still through a shot and at the nurse who can't handle a little vomit. For pete's sake. We drive home mostly silently, except for Elly saying, "I feel much more better now."

The day ended with a whopper of a vertigo spell that lasted a really long time and ended with me doing some amazing gymnastics across the kitchen floor. The stress had just gotten to me that day! The best part of the day was that while I was feeling sick and nauseous after I had vertigo, Elly came and held my hand and Eden rubbed my hair. Dan made me cookies later and let me veg on the couch. Even with crazy days like this, I have the best family ever and I love every minute of it!

Tube News.

So Esias is healing quite well! He does not act like it is still sore. We haven't done Tylenol at all today. So far so good. He is eating well too- when we feed him purees, he loves it. When he is suppose to put them in his own mouth, he cries! Stinker. We also got a new tool to help him learn how to swallow better. It's called a dysphagia flexicup. It has a little cut out around his nose so he doesnt have to tip up. That way it keeps his airway closed while drinking (slurping). We still have to put the thick thick purees in the cup, but it's for learning how to swallow from a cup instead of a spoon. All in time, he will learn these things! He continues to sleep awesome and be pretty happy. He definitely cries more than he did three months ago, but he's a changing, growing boy with lots to say and do!

Esias' at the hospital

Here's our heavyweight champion of the world at the hospital. He does look a little plumpy in these pics, but in his defense, the camera adds ten pounds and he was bloated :)



We propped him up with a pillow because sitting straight and laying were not comfortable the first day out of surgery.




Here you can see the peg tube. It sticks out about 1/2 inch from the skin but can pivot around 360 degrees. It is much like a piercing hole once it's healed - you can move it around and it does not hurt. It will take at least a couple of weeks or a month to heal. In three months we can go back and get the Mic-Key button that is more flush with the skin. Let's pray he doesn't need this thing in three months!

Poor buddy's little tum. At least he only has one incision scar! That other mark on his tummy is a birthmark. He also has the cutest birthmark on his chest! I will have to post that pic later. All for now!

Playing Catch Up with Photos...

I don't miss this tube! Had to post this pic of the love/hate sibs!




We did not get a ton of great shots of the kids putting on the ornaments. Matthew (my cousin) came over and so did Brynn, Will, and Marcus (below).




Always ready with the pose.

Look at these adorable tootsies! I love it when his feet hang out of the blanket!

Eden got a new 'do and we think its so cute.



I am biased but DUDE. Adorable.

Love her hair like this!

We're Home

We are home and settled in. Esias did sleep last night in his crib- he did not want to sleep in the crib at the hospital - his incision is on his tummy and he likes to sleep on his tummy so that makes sense. But I was worried he would never want to sleep on his own- apparently not even a 1/2 inch piece of plastic sticking out from his stomach can make this guy give up his favorite sleeping position! He did good last night, only waking once when Dan had to unhook his feeding at around 4am I think.

The site is still swollen and tender but they say it will be for a while. I hope he feels better though. I think this is going to be good for him. Already yesterday he gave me more love and smiles than I got for the last two weeks total. He was NOT ok with that NG tube. Oh, and I did I mention that he's gained 3 lbs since starting the tube feeds? He had gone down to 19lbs (a slight weight loss after we found out he was aspirating- I think we were being timid with his liquids for fear of his choking) and now he is up to 22lbs! He is in the 25th percentile! WOW. He is still really short though, 5%. So now we've got our little chunker! What's funny is that these feeds are not really for his weight since he was gradually gaining before, but just to bypass his throat while it heals. So we might get this big chunky baby out of the deal anyway! The formula he uses in the tube is like double the cals of regular formula! But we're using it because it has all the nutrition he would need if he did not eat any other food orally. He is still excited about eating purees so we do that 2-3 (or 4) times a day to keep his eating skills alive. So far so good! What I think is funny is that he now recognizes the pump as food too, and asks for that as well. We say, "Do you want some food in your tubey?" He knows what we mean. It must give him a good full feeling.

So far since we've stopped the oral liquids, we've seen TONS of improvement in his speech development- he is babbling lots more and saying consonants randomly. He even is making strings of jibberish that are somewhat sentence-sounding. In fact the other night, Dan was putting him down to bed and Esias was not pleased about it. When I got home from my errands, Dan said, "I swear Esias cursed me out in Amharic tonight!" I bet he did!

Esias is out of surgery, the peg tube is placed and all is well. He is in 3 JCP and tolerating the pain/coming out of anesthesia well. He even wanted me for a second today :) All is good. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts.