Emerging from the Deep Freeze!

bbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Poor little dude is not used to these temps, but doesn't seem to mind unless he touches snow!




We've spent most of the last few days freezing in below 0 temps here in I-O-W-A. But an Orange Bowl victory warmed us up a little bit, and I wanted to kiss the weatherman today as he forecast temperatures over 25 degrees this week! Things are lookin' up!

Here is what we Grimey Grimeses were up to this past week.

Elly was sent home with her Preschool's "classroom pet." She named her Lisa.

Eden continued to inspire us with her outfits :)

And Elly threw up at Fareway. Yes, just a normal week here at the Grimes Home!

Love Little Man in a hat!




This is Esias with "his precious." He acts just like that nasty little scrawny guy on Lord of the Rings whenever you come near him with Yoplait Whips!

I Took This As a Compliment.

Today I made chicken and rice for supper and the kids were eating away and everyone was very quiet. Of course, before it was served there was some grumbling about what I was making...anyway, so I said, "Wow, Dan look at how quietly everyone is eating." Elly piped up, "Yeah, I'm going to have more after I'm done with this load!"

Bed Sharing...*sigh*

Co-sleeping, bedsharing, pulling a little foot out of your crack at 3am...whatever you call it, it's controversial among doctors and parents to say the least. With Eden, we rarely co-slept, believing it to be the first step in our demise as parents. Surely she would grow up to be a mass murderer if we didn't get things under control by her 2 week birthday. We occasionally fell asleep together after an early morning feeding...thus this adorable picture above. Now I read this is not recommended due to an increased SIDS risk. Had I known that, I would have lain fearfully awake every second Eden was in my bed. I spent most of the time raising my first child in a state of panic and terror :)

Now, enter child numero dos. My precious Elly Lyn. She has always marched to the beat of a different, um, parade of sheep. You know the ones you're suppose to count to fall asleep. Ok, bad metaphor, but you get the idea.

Elly started sleeping through the night at 6 months, which we thought was a little late, but no biggie. She slept blissfully through the night, going to sleep on her own from the age of 6 months to 18 months. Then, she decided she was lonely. She began creeping out of her bed and into ours in the middle of the night and has been ever since. Now, this post is not a plea for help and advice, because we've tried different things (gate, rewards, threats, I mean, consequences) and to be honest, we're just not committed. And I know why. There is something sort of special about it. She wants to be near us (read: me). She is a light sleeper and hears everything going on in our small living space, so when someone moves or snores or breathes, she hears it and comes a-calling. We call her our "heat seeking missle" because she finds you wherever you may be. She is a toucher, a hugger, a lovey-type. She comes into our room and snuggles up to me as close as she can. Sometimes I notice (when her foot literally goes down my pants) and sometimes I don't (when I wake up and see her smiling face right there in mine). If I fall asleep on the couch, she finds me. When Dan is gone on business trips, she knows she will be welcomed into the bed even earlier than on a regular night. She loves sleeping with us.

There are many, many reasons why we shouldn't co-sleep with Elly...it doesn't teach her how to sleep alone, it interrupts our sleep, yadda yadda yadda. But this morning, I realized why we let it continue (and continue, and continue...). This morning, I was still sleeping rather hard and I rolled over and turned toward Elly, but with my eyes still closed. Elly said to me in the most adorable and sweet voice ever, "You look so beautiful!" I mean, seriously. Isn't that so worth it? Her childhood will be over in a blink. So I'm choosing my instincts over good sleep :)

BIG STEP

The last two days, we've noticed Esias watching our mouths more and trying to talk to us. Well, today I am officially calling his first word: more. He says it muh but we know what it means, and he uses it mainly for food! Way to go Buddy! Just two months into this tube feeding and we are 100% sure that this was the right decision as we've seen major breathing and communicating progress! Yay!

Back to normal!

It felt good (even at -3 degrees) to pack the kids up this morning and get Eden to school and Elly to preschool. Zi and I came home and cleaned up, put away scads of laundry (OH MY WORD) and then he took a nap! I am suppose to be exercising right now...oops. I guess I'm eating Reese's Pieces instead. How did that happen?

Darn you Kinsey Mazunik for leaving them here!

Sweep, sweep, sweep

Wearing his bathrobe and a feeding tube (and that's it) Esias decided it was just as good a time as any to help me with the chores. He is quite a sweeper!

Under the table...

under the dishwasher...

under daddy's feet...

He finally took a break from his hard work to give us some of his famous smiles.

Don't you love this Cars bathrobe I found him at the consignment store? It's super soft, he looks adorable in it, and now all the kids have warm robes to wear around the house. We bought Eden's new years ago, but Elly's we got at Goodwill for like $2 (nevermind it has the name Sophie embroidered on it) and Esias' was a couple of bucks at Stuff, Etc. Love it!

Post-Christmas Madness

The kids were so excited to be home after being gone for several days for Christmas. Esias and Eden had a hayday with the Busy Ball Popper we got for Esias. Wow, that toy is totally worth the 15 bucks! All ages love it, including thirty-somethings!

Esias' hair was SO long! We just got it cut finally.

And, finally, my three precious kiddos! They are adorable if I do say so myself.

Christmas Wrap Up

I have yet to post pics from Christmas! Here they are! We forgot our camera at a few of the events, so this is just a snippet of our adventures.

Esias in front of his first Christmas tree! This was not technically his "first" Christmas since he was alive for Christmas last year in Ethiopia, but it was his first tree, and his first with us! Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on January 7th, which just happens to be Dan's birthday!

The above pic is the girls' nativity scene. They created this using all horses. The blue baby pony is Jesus, if you couldn't tell :) The small ones in the front are the wise men. Mary is the unicorn and Joseph is the appy, top left.

The girls get bundled up for some outdoor time.

Zi wants to go with them but HATES the snow!

Christmas at the Ponderoosa...

Esias with Papa. Before this visit, Esias really had yet to take a liking to my mom or dad. This trip changed everything when Papa showed him his big picture book of horses! The above pic shows Esias signing- he had just said "more" and then is pointing over to the wall where my dad hid his book. Esias basically crawled on his lap anytime he sat down and signed "more book" to him. It was adorable!

On Christmas Eve, we let the kids open one present. Elly got shoes, Eden got a sketch pad...I can't remember what Marcus got. Esias didn't open one, I think he was already in bed.

Christmas Morn...the kids slept well, oh except for Eden, who ran out to the living room at 12:30am and came back into our room and said, "THERE'S a GIANT present out there! Santa came!" She had a hard time getting back to sleep, but once asleep they all slept until 7:30am! We posed them on the stairs per my dad request. He is a sucker for traditions, and we always used to do this growing up--- except that it was a different house and we slept upstairs. Oh well. We missed Nia and Tiel and Claude who spent Christmas with the Howards in Michigan.

Love Eden's look of frantic energy as she tried to pass out gifts.

The opening begins!

Elly loved her lip gloss (didn't I just throw away the last one that ended up all over?)

Marcus and Brynn. He was also the birthday boy the day after Christmas! He turned three!

It Takes A Village

The week before Christmas, Eden's grade had an open house for us to view her gingerbread village they had been creating all month long. It was a large project that encompassed all four first grade classes and all of the subjects. They mixed and baked little dough people and got to design and build their homes and workplaces. They learned about the different jobs they picked to do. Eden was a nurse at the hospital. She was very excited to share everything they had learned and gave us a nice tour when we arrived. Dan was able to take his lunch late so he could come too!





We were finally able to connect with some of the other parents too, which was great. Eden's teacher this year is Mrs. Schroeder--we adore her! She's a fantastic teacher. We're very blessed with this school district as a whole. And in August, Eden will go to the new school being built right acroos the road from our house! No more driving kids to school! Woot woot!

Good News at the Otolaryngologist!

Esias had his follow-up oto. appt. this past week and the great news is that he does not need to be seen in clinic anymore for his laryngomalacia! His breathing is great and everything seems normal. The feeding tube has done its job for sure. We will continue to go see Radiology and Speech Pathology for swallow studies and also Gastroenterology for his tube and reflux. I am just glad we have one less appointment and mostly that his breathing is awesome!

First Quotes of the New Year

Eden: If I could turn into a mermaid, that would be sweeeet!

Elly (in her sweetest voice ever): If I could turn into a bear, that would be sweet. A black bear, so I could tear people's eyes out.

Snowed In!

We are so snowed in we have not left my parents' farmhouse since Wednesday night! Wednesday and Thursday it was ice, and Friday and today it's snow! My dad is out there with his diesel tractor trying to dig us out enough to be able to get to the highway (which seems to be clear, there is normal traffic flow). We just can't get out of the driveway! He's been out there for hours already! Lucky the temp is warm enough the diesel started.

The kids had a great Christmas day. Eden got rollerblades and a Leapster and Elly got a princess dress and a dollhouse. We all had a wonderful time but now are starting to drive each other batty because we've been in each other's business for four days! :)

We are waiting to go to Dan's side--as soon as we can get out the driveway!

Merry Christmas!

Esias first Christmas with us! It's a joyous occasion! Last year on this day, we were waiting for news on our FIRST court date (Christmas Eve 2008). All that seems so far away now and we can't be more in love with our new son! He is simply amazing, strong, and wonderful. I know I say that all the time. It's because it's true!

The girls have made a fantastic transition into big-sisterhood. I knew Eden would be awesome but Elly has really stepped up and become a great big sissy too. Today while Dan and I were in the bedroom at my parents', Elly saved Esias from diving into the toilet--we were totally oblivious to the whole thing! I am proud of her as she shifts from being jealous of the time we spend with E to being excited to see him do new things. Both the girls encourage him in all his new milestones.

The weather here is terrible and I am glad we are in safe and sound. The thought of getting stranded at our house was making me crazy--I am always stranded there, so that did not sound fun to me :) Well, we have two little boys left to go to sleep before we can work out magic!

Merry Christmas to all and to al a goodnight!

THIS IS AWESOME! Anyone want to join us?

What I Learned in 2009

This year was quite a year for us! I wanted to run down what I've learned this year.

1. God's sovereignty. He truly is in control, no matter how I fuss, fight, or complain. His will is best for me.

2. Going to Ethiopia was an amazing life changing thing! I will go back!

3. You can truly, deeply love someone who has no genetic connection to you whatsoever. Adoption is a miracle and was God's creation.

4. Ten years of marriage is an amazing gift. I am blessed each day to be married to my husband. He continues to grow as the leader of our family and amazes me with his dedication to the plight of orphans in Ethiopia and around the world.

5. I was so blessed to be able to carry two beautiful girls in my womb and to deliver them safely into this world. Now that that option is closed for us (besides some miracle of God) I feel even more grateful that I got to do that. And I also know that our family may or MAY NOT be complete, depending on God's will for us and if he would have us travel back to Africa. Time will tell, but we are not making plans (see lesson #1)!

6. Grandparents are a special blessing. This year, I watched my two grandfathers turn 80 years old, and one set of grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. What an amazing blessing to have all four grandparents still living and married to each other! I am humbled by their servant-hearted lives and their desire to live in faithfulness to each other. Love you!

7. It is harder to watch your family go through trials than it is to actual go through them youself. Multiple Sclerosis became the source of lots of tears for me, despite the fact that it's my sister who has it! I love her dearly and would love to just take it away. Again, see lesson #1. Thanks God, for putting her 100 yards away from Esais' room when we were both in the hospital at the same time! I needed that.

8. People are generous beyond your wildest imagination! We raised $4000 at our adoption party, found $1000 in our mailbox, and were given over $5000 from grants, and $900 from some great friends of ours for our adoption. We are so thankful for that. We also gathered over 100 pairs of shoes and lots of kids' clothing and supplies to take with us to Ethiopia! We are so grateful for your help!

9. It's ok to hurt over the fact that your child has special needs. But that doesn't mean that you should stop there. Esias is resilient, strong, beautiful, and full of life! Even with extra challenges, I can see how God is using him and making him into the person he was created to be. And using Esias to do those things in my life too!

10. I really like myself and need to carve out a little more time to be the me I was before I was mom. I have great friends, a sense of humor, a passion for art, and something to offer the world. Whether a size 4 or 14, I'm me. And I like me just the way I am :)