3 Days Home

Wow!

We have been home with our incredibly beautiful daughter for 3 days now.

This is only her 4th night in her new bed.

We are so incredibly blessed to experience so much in those three days.
Here are a couple milestones that make me smile:

HER FIRST TOOTH!  Yes, our delightful daughter poked her first tooth through on the flights home from Ethiopia!!  Crazy that she did so well even though her poor mouth must have been bothering her.

Her first doctor's appointment.  She officially weighs 16lbs and 1 1/2 ounces.  She is at the bottom of the chart for height and weight but we aren't worried she'll catch up.  Her head size is right on track though.  The doctor had no concerns about her health what so ever.  YEH!

Her first Jolly Jumper experience!  She hasn't really figured out the jumping yet but she does like it and it is great for her core as her gross motor has some catching up to do.

Her first car seat experience!  This was on the way home from the airport and she HATED it.  She has since been in once more and it wasn't quite so traumatic.  Mom just knows to bring food and bottle for car rides until she is adjusted to be buckled in.

Her first stroller ride.  We have been blessed with great weather here and today D enjoyed a short walk in the stroller which she rather enjoyed.  It was with her very new cousin Levi who slept the entire time.

Her first swing ride!  Again with the warm weather D rather enjoys being outside.  She loved the swing in the play equipment at our house.

We are so blessed that D is adjusting to her new surroundings so well.  She has taken well to her new mom and "dada".  We will continue to encourage this by meeting her every need as soon as we can.  We continue to rock her to sleep, respond to her wimpers with cuddles and hugs, change her, feed her and in general terms "spoil" her so she knows that we will be there for her at all times.
We appreciate everyone's understanding that you can't hold her or dote on her like you would like to but are so thankful for you support!
She still has her nights a little mixed up and her poop can only be described as "explosive" but mom and dad are beyond grateful for the wonderful gift that God has granted them.

WE MADE IT!

We are home.  D was and still is wonderful! We are exhausted.  Will post about the trip when we are not so tired!

Coming Home!!

It is 5:30pm here and in a couple hours we will be headed to the airport on our way home.
We are all packed.  I think?!
Wow.
What a crazy and amazing 4 days in Ethiopia this has been.
D decided to give her mother little sleep last night by getting up every 3 hours and then refused to nap unless mom was holding her this afternoon(but she did nap for 3 hours!).  Dad has had lots of sleep though so should be ready to handle the first leg of the trip.   7 hours from Addis Ababa to Frankfurt, a 5 hour layover and then 8 hours from Frankfurt to Toronto.  She is currently in good spirits considering the transition she has gone through but the next 24 hours could be very long if she doesn't allow her parents much sleep.
We are all packed.  I think?!
Please pray that our trip goes smoothly.
Please pray that there are no issues through immigration.
Please pray that D sleeps on the planes!

Today I Met My Daughter's Mother

This morning at around 10:30am we met D's birth mother.
D's birth mother came to the guesthouse to meet with us.  She had to leave her home town very early this morning to take the bus into Addis Ababa.  Her Social Worker who had handled her case from the beginning traveled along with her to act as a translator.  The translation made the experience all the more surreal.  D's birth mom only speaks her dialect, the social worker only speaks Amharic and the birth mom's dialect, Solomon from our guesthouse speaks Amharic and English.  We would ask Solomon who would translate to the social worker who would then translate to D's birth mom.  D's birth mom would then answer the social worker who would tell Solomon who would translate back to us. The expression lost in translation took on a whole new meaning.  This being said the meeting was more then we could ever expect.
A couple of highlights:
We were able to share pictures of Amarech's grave.  As this mother had never been into Addis Ababa before she has and probably will never be given the opportunity to visit the site.
She sang a traditional spiritual song for D in her language which we recorded to share with D when she is older.
We asked D's birth mom if there was anything she wished to say to D.  With D sitting on her lap she told her: 

"Be a good girl and my prayers is that you will grow up in the House of the Lord"

 That is our prayer too. 

Our Future Canuck Fan

Funny! We bought these slippers over 5 years ago hoping one day we would be able to use them.  I actually offered them to my new nephew never dreaming they would fit D.  I threw them in my bag simply without thinking and now they are the only shoes that fit her!  Our daughter has very tiny feet.  Her dad is very happy they fit!  All the other shoes we have along are 6-12 months and are way too big.
As our daughter currently sleeps on her fathers lap a short recap of the day so far(it is only noon here).

Today was "Gotcha Day". 

"Gotcha Day"  in the adoption world is the day that the child officially comes with you to stay.
At 9:30am this morning a driver picked us up and brought us to the orphanage.  With very little fanfare we picked D up, allowed a couple of workers to say bye, got back in the vehicle and drove back to our guesthouse.  The whole trip from start to finish only took about 1 hour.

I think I can say we are official broken in as parents.
In the first hour of our daughter being with us:
1. Her father let her gag herself with a metal spoon(I missed this but the guesthouse worker thought it was pretty funny)
2. We let her drink from a bottle for 5 minutes not realizing she couldn't get anything out because the nipple was too small.
3. We changed the nipple and she proceeded to choke herself because it was too fast.
4. 3rd nipple worked perfectly except. ..
5. The bottle lid was not on right so she proceeded to spill milk all over herself as she drank.
By this point we felt sorry for her as she was getting frustrated with our incompetence and let her drink with the milk spilling down her neck. 
Hopefully the next feeding will go a little smoother.. ..

3 hands

This morning she cried.
When we arrived and started to talk to her she completely cried. 
After picking her up she calmed very quickly but again took a while to warm up and smile at us.
Our 2 hour visit turned into 4 hours due to the lateness of our driver.  
We were able to feed her snack (I have no idea what she was eating), her morning bottle and then she fell asleep in my arms.  She woke after about an hour nap which she enjoyed in the arms of her father and mother the entire time.  We played for a couple more hours with her before our driver arrived around 1pm.
We have a busy afternoon planned but will try to post again tonight.

Tomorrow she comes with us to the guesthouse!

Holding our daughter!

Today we held our daughter for the first time.
At first she was unsure about us. 
Her lower lip stuck out in a full pout and she sniffled a little.
Her nannies say she rarely cries so with a bit of entertaining she very quickly was smiling and laughing.  She loves to grab at hair and faces (so get your ponytail ready Natalie!).  She is very ticklish. I was able to meet with the nurse and get her daily food schedule, her immunization record and sleep schedule.  She currently eats a ton of food which would account for her huge belly!  I'm really hoping she fits in the clothes I brought!  She eats cereal, pasta, porridge, fruit, injera and formula.  According to the nurse she eats about every 2 hours while she is awake. She is in good health other then a raspy chest which is very common due to the damp and cold. 
We were able to feed her her morning bottle without any problems.  We will meet with her again tomorrow morning to help her get used to us a little more. She doesn't appear to favour her mother or her father right now which is wonderful! 
Wish I could send picture but haven't figured out a way to load them on this computer.