Ethiopia part 2...

This is the next excerp from my journal while in Ethiopia. It is still the first day-the day we got Malak.....some of this you may have read from the one time I posted while we were in Addis, but some is new. Maybe more information than you want to know but it is my blog and I am in charge. So read on suckas. :)

...After such a short nap Malak was very tired and cranky by about 6:00pm so we decided to just let him go down early. We rocked him to sleep with his bottle and he went to bed fairly easily. A short time later we checked on him and he was throwing up! Not spitting up, full blown projectile. It was so out of control! He probably threw up 10 times. Daddy was holding him and soothing him and so both Mal and daddy were completely covered in vomit. Completely. So apparently, Malak’s little tummy does not like the awsome, organic soy formula that we bought for him. The unfortunate thing is that it was all we had, aside from a little rice cereal and this little guy still wants to eat every 3-4 hours during the night. So here we were in the middle of the night, with a hungry, barfy baby with no food and no way to get food. Tricky. We ended up feeding him some rice cereal and a bottle of water and he seemed fine. As soon as he was done throwing up he was laughing and smiling again- silly boy.Mal woke up about 3 times that night and we would rock him back to sleep, but he decided to wake up for good at 5 am…grrr. We hung out and played for a while, talked to our housekeeper and owner of the house, Wagayu for a while and it was a nice relaxing morning. The house is beautiful and the yard is just gorgeous, so it is wonderful to sit outside in the perfect Addis weather. Wagayu cracks me up, in the mornings it is a nice perfect 65 degrees out and apparently that is cold for him because he keeps coming out in a ski parka- zipped up, hood on, with the drawstring pulled tight so we can barely see his face. I love that guy. (This is wagayu holding Malak)
Later, we met all of the other Gladney families at a Chinese restaurant and it was so fun to meet them and be able to see their precious children. I feel like we know them already, just from the blogs, so it was fun to actually meet in person and be able to catch up. We "knew" the Thorne's - we are old blog friends, but it was so fun to meet them in person! The two other families we hadn't met before- the Brown's and the Enright's, they didn't have blogs! GASP!! How one could survive the adoption process without blog friends is unknown to me, but they did and I stand amazed. :) We LOVED all of these families. (side note: you will notice that the Enright's do have a blog now (phew!) and you should go check out their precious family)
Later we came back to the house and played with Malak for a while and then wrapped him up in the sling- which we love! He is so cozy in it and it so comfortable to wear; he usually falls asleep in it. We headed down a few blocks to the Hill Bottom restaurant and ate dinner. Eric got a cheese burger, fries and African beer, which he said was delicious and I got spring rolls and Fanta which were also very good and spicy! All of that was only about $4.00. It almost feels wrong to pay them so little. After our great dinner we walked home and Mal fell asleep in the sling so we just put him to bed as soon as we got back to the house. The weather in Addis is nearly perfect, about 75 degrees during the day and around 65 in the evenings. We sit out on the porch a lot and just relax, it is absolutely beautiful!

Yesterday, we went to the Gladney foster care center. First we went to the tiny baby house (for babies under six months). This is where Malak lived for the first six months of his life. As soon as we got there he was swept away by the eager arms of the caregivers. Everyone was SO excited to see him, he was like a rock star! It was wonderful to meet all of the ladies that took such good care of our boy. It was very evident how much he was loved and he obviously remembered them as he instantly laid his head on their shoulders. It was a fun reunion! As we were getting ready to leave a girl ran up and said she was Malak’s nanny, his special friend who primarily took care of him. We were so excited to meet Fasika and she was so excited to see Mal one last time. She gave him an adorable Ethiopian outfit including a hat, what a treasure! She also gave Eric a scarf and me a blue shawl, it was very thoughtful and we took some family pictures with her.

While at the orphanage, we were able to meet all of the babies and play with them, although, many were afraid of us. It was fun to see the babies of friends and see Malak’s old bed that he was in for most of his life. Bittersweet really. I used to wonder why other families wouldn't take many pictures of Mal smiling...now I know it is because most of the babies are terrified of us! As soon as we would give them any attention, they would get real nervous. It was actualy pretty funny to see them playing having a great time and then all of the sudden cry because we looked at them. :)

There was one precious baby that I was playing with and I was told that he his brain has stopped growing and he has many disabilities…he will not live past 8 or 9 years old. My heart broke for him and I was completely consumed with grief for this poor sweet baby. I cried over him for a long, long time so I just kissed him and stroked his sweet face and played with him for as long as I could. One of the nannies saw me crying and handed him to me, to hold, it was wonderful to be able give him a little piece of love, because he will probably never have a family to love him. I am crying over him as I write this and each time I see his picture. Plesase pray that his life is somehow blessed and that Jesus will give his little heart peace. My heart still breaks for this precious child and I think of him often...

This is Fasika- she loved Malak and we hope to keep in touch with her. We are so grateful for the love she showered on Malak while we waited for him!!

*EDITED* Gdiapers-revisited and baby food...

**EDITED**

Remember back in the day when I did this post about how we are going to use G diapers? Well, I have had lots and lots o' people asking how it is going and if it all worked out or not, so I am going to take a little break from the Ethiopia trip posts to update you on it all.
We love them!
The pics below are with Malak wearing them and I am pretty sure he loves them as well. He actualy told me that one day.


"Hey babe, You like what you see?"

Most people use G Diapers with their flushable inserts- that is the way they sell them and I have heard from many people that they are awsome and they love them. Infact, my great blogging buddy Jessi is using them on her sweet little twinies and they seem to be working well. (go to her blog and check out her adorable babes) Ok. So that is how most people use the G's...I am not. I made my own cloth inserts (made of 2 layers of microfiber, and 2 layers of organic hemp). It is just a strip that instead of flushing, I toss in the washer and it has been amazingly easy! (that is a pic of the insert below)

I place the insert into the G cover and then put it on Malak and velcro it shut like a regular disposable diaper. The only difference is that they fasten in the back- which I like because they are away from babies reach...I love nothing better than when babies open up their own diaper and find treasures inside! Eeks.

Since I decided that you guys didn't think I am weird enough, I also decided to also use cloth wipes. Are you barfing right now? In the end it ended up being way easier because I just cut 8X8 squares of flannel and sewed them so that they are double layered. I just toss them in the diaper pail with the diapers so it is no extra work. It would actualy have been more work if I would have done disposable wipes because I would have had to buy another diaper pail or garbage can just for the little wipes and that didn't seem to make much sense. I also find that the wipes are so thick, I never need to use more than one, so it really doesn't add more to the wash. Once a week I make a wipe solution that consists of water, aloe vera and tea tree oil. It only takes me about 11 seconds to make that and dump it on a tuperware full of wipes. (below is a pic of the wipes)

And to top off my granola dorkiness...I started making Malak's baby food. I am just doing it durring one of his naps, maybe once a week or so and so far I am loving that as well. It makes me feel great to know that I am only putting whole, natural foods in my sweet baby. This week we made a batch of peas, green beans, sweet potatos, carrots, squash and pumpkin. I just do it all in one day and throw them in the freezer. Mal seems to like it just as well as the jared baby food, so I am going to go with it. Don't they look bright and lovely?? Yes, I think they do. :)

"Do I have something on my face?"

As a disclaimer: I realize that I am the minority here. I realize that most of you probably think I am crazy, but I hope we can still be friends. Do you still like me?? I hope I can still be cool and hang out with the cool kids...

**This may be a down side to using cloth diapers- A few days ago I was changing a very dirty diaper and to get it out of the way I set it on the floor for a minute. In that brief minute, my sweet and every hungry dog Violet came and ate the entire poop log out of the diaper. She not only ate the log she licked the whole thing clean. Clean as a whistle. I almost threw up and now I am scared of her and her poop breath. What do you do with a dog that has the taste for human poop??!

Ethiopia day 1...

This is the daily journal I wrote while we were in Ethiopia...so it is kind of rough, but it is just all what we did and felt as it happened. Sorry it has taken a mere 3 weeks to get this out. Oops.

We made it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! The flight here was grueling…almost 11 hours in layovers, 36 hours of flying, no sleep for the first 24 hours and lost luggage along the way, but alas we touched down in Addis and it was all over! We arrived on Sunday morning, May 25, and met Travis, our in country rep and Tefasse our driver and they took us out for lunch at a café called Kaldi’s. It looks exactly like Starbucks, right down to the logo and they mimic a lot of the items that are in our beloved American Starbucks. They made us delicious macciato’s and fresh squeezed orange juice. They were both the best we’ve ever had! Then, we were off to the supermarket to buy a few items- mainly bottled water, since the tap water here would make us sick. (side note: ummm, yeah, or maybe we would get sick even if we didn't drink the water. :)Travis and Tefasse took us to the Ayat House- where we will be staying for the rest of our time here. This is the front yard- so beautuful! On the way to the house we saw so many beautiful, sad and interesting things…donkeys wandering all over the place, cows and goats hanging out in the cemetery, with vultures flying low over it as well. Eeks! There are just so many people wandering around the streets. Many of them are selling things, anything from pieces of broken glass to large sticks to build fences with. The poverty is quite overwhelming, but the people seem to be so happy with their lives. It is beautiful.
We arrived to the Ayat House around noon and we went to our room to shower and brush our teeth (unfortunately, we forgot our toothbrush) while Travis went across the street to go get Malak from the Gladney Foster Center for us! It was the fastest shower of our lives as we were a little too excited and wanted to go see our son for the first time! I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it. Woohoo.When we finished we went down to the living room and waited…it felt like forever and finally we heard the front gate open and Travis called out, wondering if anyone around here was looking for a baby. J He walked in the room carrying a precious little boy who was dressed in his favorite pink shirt with poofy sleeves and a butterfly on it and jeans. He is so handsome! (even when wearing girls clothes) As soon as I saw him a started to cry and then he handed him to me and I cried more. Eric and I ooed and aahed over him for quite some time, just taking in everything about him.His skin is so much darker than we could tell from pictures, his hair is very short and wavy except for one side has a patch that is a little longer and curly, his skin is literally as smooth as anything you can imagine, it is heavenly! He has two teeth on the bottom! And he likes to bite his mom and dad’s fingers…hard! He is a drooly mess, all the time. Travis told us that he is always content just laying there, and that he is the most even tempered guy he’s ever met…but now we have seen all of the other sides to Malak that others may have not seen yet. He seems to be comfortable with us and we can make him laugh easily.
We were finally alone in the house and we had the rest of the day with nothing to do but play with our son. It was amazing to just sit with him and play with him, find his ticklish spots and just stare at this boy that we have been longing to hold for so long! We are completely smitten by him! As we got to know him more he started relaxing and letting go- he would lay on the bed with daddy and just scream at the top of his lungs, he made himself laugh so hard, he just kept on going! Then he would coo and talk and then yell some more, it was so hilarious (even he thought so) that we were cracking up. My cheeks hurt from laughing so much.
He went down for a nap and so did mom and dad who were wiped from traveling for three days, but it only lasted about 45 minutes. He was so happy when he woke up so it was hard to be annoyed at the lack of sleep. We then gave him his first bath (with us) in the bathroom sink, we tried to let him sit in it but he would only lay in it with his legs crossed, it was funny to see him lounging in the tub.

Pool time!

I know, I know. I have become the horrible blogger that I loathed...before I had a child. Now I have a son who is always happy and yet quite needy at the same time...so instead of checking my list of 30 or so blogs multiple times each day, I have resorted to cuddling and playing with a sweet baby boy who will laugh out loud when I simply smile at him. Seriously, every single time and it cracks me up.
When we got Mal he had the beginings of his two bottom teeth. Now they are much more prominent and he has got a nack for somehow getting your finger in his mouth and biting the crap out of it all in a swift movement. It is a gift. An extremely painful gift. His top two teeth are on their way as well- he has two big bubbles on his gums where the little suckers are trying to pop out, it looks like it must hurt so bad, but he is a trooper and doesn't seem to be bothered to badly by them. As if teething weren't enough, Malak also has 2 ear infections that the doctor can't seem to get rid of. Boo! We are on new meds now and are hoping this will do the trick. Does this sound like a pity party?? It wasn't supposed to sound like that- this is just what is happening in our oh-so exciting new found life! So I say all of that to say that this kid is da bomb!! He is so laid back and he greets everyone he meets with a huge smile. It is quite fulfilling to all the new friends and family that have been waiting to meet this boy!
We went to the pool for the first time with Silas and Amy Bottomly and of course, it was glorious. Malak had so much fun meeting and playing with his first EBF (Ethiopian Best Friend, of course) I am sure they are pretty much best friends already. The boys were a little unsure of the water at first but got the hang of it and had a great time. Warning: Silas Bottomly is a splasher. We tried to tell him that no one likes a splasher...but he splashed nonetheless. :) Malak really just lounged in his floaty boat and smiled at me the whole time. Those two were rediculously cute in their little swim suits. The boys decided it was nap time and took a nice cool nap in the shade while the mama's got to lay out in the sun for few minutes. And this mama needs some sun. Let me tell you, I am ghostly these days and that needs to change. Ok. I am ghostly most of the time, but it was high time for a little bronzing.
Side note: I got waaaay more than a light bronzing. I am a freakin lobster. I got heat stroke. I am hideous. So glad I got that sun.

So I feel like we are adjusting to life with a child and I think Malak is geting used to this whole family and lots of attention thing. We seem to have a routine down and it feels good to feel like a normal little family! Malak is a great sleeper and is taking 2, 2 hour naps a day and then sleeps durring the night from 8-about 6:30 with two bottles durring the night. It is working pretty well for all 3 of us. Actualy, it is working great for me because my divine husband decided that he would be the one to get up with Mal durring the night. OK! So, he has really become a wonderful dad often, gong above and beyond what I ever expected of him. It is so fun to see how much he loves our sweet boy and how he takes care of him!
I think we have decided that I am going to stay home with Malak! I was going to continue nannying and bring Malak with me, but now it looks like I may be able to stay home with him and I am SO excited about that!! Money will be tighter, obviously, but it is so worth it for me and I feel like it will be great for Mal too. I know that we all have our "thing" and I have just always wanted to be a stay at home mom- so I am super excited about that!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The boys...

We're back! Ok. We have been back for days (since Monday night) but we have also been on our death beds. Hence the lack of blogging. Last Thursday while in Ethiopia, Eric and I somehow got sick at the exact same time. I mean, we actually ran to the bathroom at the same moment. (too much information??) And ever since we have been running to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so. Imagine us, a couple who have been parents for only 3 days tossing the poor sweet baby (who is up ALL night that night screeeaming) back and forth as we switch off running to the pot. It goes on and on like this for a few days in Ethiopia, all the while we are so sick that we can't eat, so we are weak and freaking starving, but just can't eat or it gets so much worse! So we ended up coming home a few days early. Malak did AMAZING on the 30 hour plane ride home. He was an angel. Seriously, Eric and I were bigger cry babies than he was. :) As son as we got home we were greeted by lots and lots of friends and family at the airport and it was so wonderful to see our family Finlay get to hold our son!! We went to the doctor right away and got lots of meds for whatever bugs we had brought home with us and also found out that I had lost 10lbs and Eric lost 15lbs! It was pretty much the most miserable diet ever! We may have been as sick as dogs when we got home, but dangit, we looked good! :)
My parents have been in town and have been taking care of us and Malak as we recover. It has been a lifesaver!! Eric's family has been helping out tremendously as well, it is all such a huge blessing. Today we are starting to feel better and have started functioning again.
I will blog again tomorrow with more info, but I thought you all might want to to know why we have been MIA.
All barfing and diareah aside, Ethiopia was amazing and beautiful and we loved every minute of our trip!!!

We made it! and we have him!!

Hi! I am so sorry it has taken this long to post! But when they said the internet is bad...they weren't kidding. We arrived here on Sunday morning and were able to get Malak right away! That was a nice suprise because we thought we might have to wait until Monday. He is pretty much the best baby ever and we are completely smitten by him! I have so many funny stories to tell but as I said the internet is really limited so I will have to wait until we get home to go into detail. Just know that we are loving every second with this kid, he has us laughing ALL the time and seems to like us too. :) It is so unreal that this is our life now...life with a child...sleepless nights...we woke up to Malak ready for a bottle the other night and Eric said, (about our son, mind you), "Is she awake? Is she hungry?" I was like, "ummm, you mean "he", our son is a boy" all he had to say was, "well! If he would let me sleep, I might remember a little more!" :)
We are staying at the Ayat house and it is lovely! As we were walking to a great little restaurant for breakfast we passed the street where the Gladney foster centers are and a few of the nanny's saw us and recognized Mal and called us over. They swooped him up and played with him and were all SOO excited to see him again. The kid is like a rockstar there! You could tell how loved all the children are and he was pretty happy to see them as well. He instantly layed his head on their shoulders, it was precious and they seemed to eat it up. They gave us the full impromtu tour and so we got to see and meet so many of your babies- every single one was amazing and precious, we are going back to see them some more and we will be taking pics. Side note: Our camera charger has somehow been left the Oklahoma and the battery just ran out but we are scouring this ginourmous city looking for a charger. We will prevail!
Ok. I will attempt to post again soon!