Thursday, January 28, 2010
1 month
1 month ago today we saw our beautiful baby boy in person for the first time and he became forever ours.
Doctor Appointment
Yesterday we took Bennett to his doctor appointment in Lexington with the International Adoption Specialist. Here are pictures in the cute gown they had him up on (it was pediactric size not infant size haha). 
Our son is 16lbs 6oz and 27inches long. His height and weight are in the 30%range and his head was in 90% range, haha!
Our son is 16lbs 6oz and 27inches long. His height and weight are in the 30%range and his head was in 90% range, haha!Go CARDS!
We took Bennett to his 1st UL basketball game! He had a blast! It was so much fun bringing him. He would yell when the rest of the fans yelled and dance when the band played. He is a true fan and not to mention good luck charm :) 
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Chuck E Cheese
On Friday a friend of mine, Kristen, and her son Caleb went with us to Chuck E Cheese. There was a toddler area there with little kid rides. They loved it. These two boys may or may not know it yet but their mommys are planning on them being BFF. 
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Bennett Updates
We have one wild little boy! He is so much fun. He has learned to sit up. He still supports himself with his arms when he does but it is a great step from where he was a few weeks ago. He can crawl (army style) across the whole room and do it quickly. He still loves any toy, even though the dog's toys are his favorite! He also loves Elmo toys. He seems to like to look at books too. He still says "dada" or "dad" all the time. He is working on a new word but its not quite understandable yet. Hoping its going to be "mama", haha, but we will see. He eats all the baby food flavors fine, not a lot at one time but he seems to like them all equally. He likes anything off mommy and daddy's plates better and likes to try our food more. He can now stand if he is holding onto something or someone. That is AMAZING considering when we got home he wouldnt even straighten his legs when you tried to stand him! He loves baths and kicking the water when he is in it. He does great when we are out to eat or shopping. He enjoys going to the mall with mommy and riding in his stroller. He is sleeping great now. He goes to bed around 9-10pm and wakes up 4-5am for a bottle and then sleeps until 8 or 9am. YAY! 
Ethiopia Trip- Embassy Day
On Dec 30th, we had a very busy day. We started off the morning with a bath for baby and getting ready. We had our driver, Alezar, pick us up early and take us to get some real food! We went to Metro Pizza to get some pizza! Yumm we were craving something other than Ethiopian food. At all the resturants they come and take the baby and hold him for us and play with him while we eat. It made us nervous because we are not used to that. But it worked out good to be able to eat without a baby in our arms! 
After we ate we went to Celebrate Children's transition house and were able to see all of our friend's children and spend time with them. We gave the kids candy and played with them and got some pictures for our friends. It was so much fun to be able to see these children and know that they have great homes waiting for them. Obviously I can't post pictures here of others' children so you will just have to imagine the fun we had loving on them!
Bennett slept through the whole thing. I guess he will have to wait until we go to the zoo here.
After that we decided to go back to the guest house for a little bit to rest.....then all the sudden our driver got a phone call that our embassy appointment (which was scheduled for the next day!) was switched to right NOW! All of our agency's families were in different places and scattered all over the place and the drivers had to all get together and rush us all there. We all made it. We were in such a rush that many families left diaper bags in the car thinking this was a short and quick thing. We didnt realize we had to wait while in there. Eventually daddy had to go out and get the diaper bag. Something about the embassy date being changed had to do with the holiday we think. All went well and everyone passed.
We went back and relaxed for a little bit and then we went to dinner at a traditional Ethiopian resturant that had traditional food and Ethiopian dancing. The food was....well Ethiopian. The dancing was AWESOME! This is a must see if you go to Ethiopia.
For everyone that knows me and how picky we are at eating....YES we did eat this! All week I might add.
Another family joined us for dinner.
Poor baby was exhausted.
After we ate we went to Celebrate Children's transition house and were able to see all of our friend's children and spend time with them. We gave the kids candy and played with them and got some pictures for our friends. It was so much fun to be able to see these children and know that they have great homes waiting for them. Obviously I can't post pictures here of others' children so you will just have to imagine the fun we had loving on them!*
After that we wanted to spend some time around the city sight seeing. One of the things we did was go to the Lion Zoo that is in Addis. Now if you have been to any zoo in the states you would probably not call this a zoo. But it was fun! There were about 15 lions, 1 bunny, 2 monkeys, 1 baboon, and 5 ducks. We would say without a doubt that we were the main attraction there. Haha. It was a unique experience to be the minority and feel what it is like. The stares did make me feel a little uneasy but that was the only time on the trip. These lions were SOOO close to us, even though there were 2 gates they were close together. Our driver even stuck his hand through the gates and touched the lion and tried to wake him up!!!!
Bennett slept through the whole thing. I guess he will have to wait until we go to the zoo here.
After that we decided to go back to the guest house for a little bit to rest.....then all the sudden our driver got a phone call that our embassy appointment (which was scheduled for the next day!) was switched to right NOW! All of our agency's families were in different places and scattered all over the place and the drivers had to all get together and rush us all there. We all made it. We were in such a rush that many families left diaper bags in the car thinking this was a short and quick thing. We didnt realize we had to wait while in there. Eventually daddy had to go out and get the diaper bag. Something about the embassy date being changed had to do with the holiday we think. All went well and everyone passed. 
We went back and relaxed for a little bit and then we went to dinner at a traditional Ethiopian resturant that had traditional food and Ethiopian dancing. The food was....well Ethiopian. The dancing was AWESOME! This is a must see if you go to Ethiopia.
For everyone that knows me and how picky we are at eating....YES we did eat this! All week I might add.
Another family joined us for dinner.
Poor baby was exhausted.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Ethiopia Trip- Wolisso Day
On December 29th we were given the oppurtunity to meet some of our son's birthfamily. It was an amazing experience. The details of the experience we are going to keep private until Bennett is at the age where he can decide if and who to tell his story. But the trip to Wolisso was an awesome one that we are happy to share! We got to travel about 2 hours to Wolisso and there are lots of rural sights to see on the way. Everyone drives fast on the 2 lane "highway" and they pass each other if the person in front is going slightly slower. They pass each other at times when no one should be passing anyone! There were several instances where we would get in the opposite lane to pass and all the sudden a huge truck is staring us in the face and we have to swerve back! So scary and not what I am used to, especially with my new baby and no car seat. Talk about the power of prayer! Haha. 
Above is a house that is common to see there.
This is when we arrived at the orphanage for our meeting of family.
They insisted I try to make injera! Haha, I was not very good but it was fun to try. Injera is the "bread" that they eat everything with in Ethiopia (it is NOT like our bread) it is like a flat spongy torilla/pancake that is bitter.
While in Wolisso we went to the spot where there are monkeys! Lots of monkeys! They would come so close. The black and white one can only be found in Ethiopia.
There was even a mom and baby!
Donkeys carrying clean water in the yellow jugs. It was common to see women carrying a couple of these jugs too.
This is what a lot of the stores look like on the way to Wolisso.
This is the most common van that you will see. They are all blue and white almost.
After our trip to Wolisso we went shopping for some traditional Ethiopian outfits for Bennett. We got several different sizes so he will have some as he grows up. We also went to an area to get a few souveniors. After that we were tired from the long day and we went back to the guest house to relax. Brian played soccer and ball with the 2 girls staying with us while me and the baby sat and watched.
Above is a house that is common to see there.
This is when we arrived at the orphanage for our meeting of family.
They insisted I try to make injera! Haha, I was not very good but it was fun to try. Injera is the "bread" that they eat everything with in Ethiopia (it is NOT like our bread) it is like a flat spongy torilla/pancake that is bitter.
While in Wolisso we went to the spot where there are monkeys! Lots of monkeys! They would come so close. The black and white one can only be found in Ethiopia.
There was even a mom and baby!
Donkeys carrying clean water in the yellow jugs. It was common to see women carrying a couple of these jugs too.
This is what a lot of the stores look like on the way to Wolisso.
This is the most common van that you will see. They are all blue and white almost.
After our trip to Wolisso we went shopping for some traditional Ethiopian outfits for Bennett. We got several different sizes so he will have some as he grows up. We also went to an area to get a few souveniors. After that we were tired from the long day and we went back to the guest house to relax. Brian played soccer and ball with the 2 girls staying with us while me and the baby sat and watched. 
Ethiopia Trip- Day We Became a Family!
On Dec 28th we met our baby boy! In the morning we got woke up at about 3am to prayer chanting and dogs fighting in the alley. Once it was a suitable time we got ready and ate breakfast at the guest house. We then were picked up by Elias. We went with the Torgerson's as they had to meet someone and we ate a more normal breakfast at the coffee shop that they were meeting at. Brian ate the biggest doughnut we had ever seen, not quite as tasty as Krispy Kreme though. After that meeting we were on the way to the Transition house to meet and pick up our baby! Our hearts were racing at the thought that the moment was finally here. We had waited what seemed like forever and were so ready and nervous for this moment. 
Above is our last picture as a family of 2.
We passed cows on the way to the transition house.
Also passed sheep. It was so neat to see all the animals in Ethiopia walking everywhere.
This is the picture of what I could see from the van before we got out at the transition house. Our hearts were going nuts at this point as we pulled up to the gate!!!
Our first picture as a family of 3!
Checking our new baby out. He was so observant and looking at everything.
Daddy gets a turn at holding his son for the first time!
This is his sweet nanny. She took wonderful care of our son while we could not be with him. She changed him into an outfit we had sent for him a while back. It was as if she had saved it this whole time for this special moment. We are forever greatful to this woman. I am so happy to know that she was the one to take care of him while we could not. He loves her and she loves him. You can see in this picture how sweet their goodbye was. She was very tearful as we left and it broke my heart. As we were walking out she ran down and put on a bib we had sent him and said good bye again.
This is as we are about to leave the transition house with him. So awesome to think we were 2 minutes away from actually getting to keep him and take him with us. We then drove back to our Guest House to spend some time getting to know our new baby boy and letting him get to know us.
Mommy got to give him his first real bath! He was very good in the bath. It was a little difficult in such a big bath tub!
He also got his first try at solid foods, rice cereal.
This is a day we will never forget. It was everything we had hoped for. What a perfect day to meet our first child. He is perfect. We are so thankful to God because without him none of this would be possible.
Above is our last picture as a family of 2.
We passed cows on the way to the transition house.
Also passed sheep. It was so neat to see all the animals in Ethiopia walking everywhere.
This is the picture of what I could see from the van before we got out at the transition house. Our hearts were going nuts at this point as we pulled up to the gate!!!
Our first picture as a family of 3!
Checking our new baby out. He was so observant and looking at everything.
Daddy gets a turn at holding his son for the first time!
This is his sweet nanny. She took wonderful care of our son while we could not be with him. She changed him into an outfit we had sent for him a while back. It was as if she had saved it this whole time for this special moment. We are forever greatful to this woman. I am so happy to know that she was the one to take care of him while we could not. He loves her and she loves him. You can see in this picture how sweet their goodbye was. She was very tearful as we left and it broke my heart. As we were walking out she ran down and put on a bib we had sent him and said good bye again.
This is as we are about to leave the transition house with him. So awesome to think we were 2 minutes away from actually getting to keep him and take him with us. We then drove back to our Guest House to spend some time getting to know our new baby boy and letting him get to know us.
Mommy got to give him his first real bath! He was very good in the bath. It was a little difficult in such a big bath tub!
He also got his first try at solid foods, rice cereal.
This is a day we will never forget. It was everything we had hoped for. What a perfect day to meet our first child. He is perfect. We are so thankful to God because without him none of this would be possible.
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