antibiotics and Sarah Palin

So the gap in posts is related to my D's double ear infection and vomiting spells. But is the vomit related to the ear infection, you ask? No sir. The vomit is the result of gagging on the antibiotics. The poor little nugget has been congested since Ethiopia. Remember? I thought it was a cold or teething. But this week the congestion turned into a wicked cough, and so I took him to the dr and voila, we have both ears infected.

Now I have loads of experience with ear infections. An ongoing problem with R from birth to 2 years old. But vomit? not so much. Seems like nearly every friend of mine has a 'vomit child.' that is, a child prone to vomit. And I was SO close to dodging this privilege--ah-hem--horror.

I FINALLY have been able to get him to take his antibiotics (after an insane amount of effort and many ill-attempts) by doing this: 4 oz water, 2 oz apple juice in a bottle, mix it with formula and antibiotics. I know . . . I'm such a bad mamma to give my 6 month old apple juice--but he NEEDS to get better.

That said, anyone been watching the DNC? First the Olympics, now the DNC. And soon, the OFFICE and HEROES. This election is very interesting to me--many concerns in the world today. Economy. Energy. Iraq. Islamic extremism. Supreme Court justices up for nomination. just to name a few. And then today, McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, such a brow-raising, exciting, risky choice. Hmmm. So what do you all think of a female Vice President?

Those who know us well know that public policy is one of C's passions. And while I don't know nearly as much as C does, it does help to have an informed, passionate husband to keep me engaged and thinking . . .

family mottos

I'm on several groups and chatboards, and recently one of them instigated a theme of 'family mottos.' I LOVED reading everyone's responses. What are the little catch phrases that you or your family says to eachother often? Little lessons that you live by. Little mottos that permeate your home? I'd love to hear yours!!

Here are a few you might hear at the Yates home (right now):
1. you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!
2. let us not be Veruca Salt!
3. What did the Little Blue Engine say? I think I can, I think I can!
4. If at first you don't succeed, try try again!
5. What's gonna work? TEAMWORK! What's gonna work? TEAMWORK!

videos

HI! Enjoy these two videos! The first is a video of Z feeding D, with R by his side. I thought it was so sweet.



The next is of D. He is a true nugget and we are very blessed!!



If you haven't heard, OCEAN is headed to Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles tomorrow night (Saturday). If you are interested in Ethiopia, or are adopting from Ethiopia (anywhere in the process, whether home or just starting the paperchasing), please come!! We'd love to meet you!! check out Laurie's blog for details!

attachment

So I've spent the last week charting D's eating/sleeping patterns, and focusing on getting him somewhat scheduled. He is adjusted to our time zone by now, and seems to nap about the same times each day (though occasionally he breaks the mold). I like having a bit of predictability for our schedule. We are still waking several times at night, although we have managed not to feed him, but just to rock again and soothe.

D is still a happy nug, and smiles easily and readily to anyone. We are noticing some signs of 'grieving' though. Now, I know what you're thinking . . . he's only 5 months old (6 months this weekend), how can he be grieving? But, trust me . . . its there. Thankfully we had been prepared for this in our adoption education videos, and I've already been in touch with our homestudy social worker about it, and our agency too. Its not horrible though. I mean, I know a few people who had babies who cried for the first several months--just crying for no reason. We don't have crying here. Here is what we do have (all very common that should improve once attachment improves).

-infrequent eye contact--(ok, this doesn't mean that he doesn't ever look at us, but that we have to work at it. he looks at us when we are feeding him, when we are holding him up high, whenever we walk up the stairs with him, etc. but basically he is scanning the room constantly looking for something familiar. he isn't having that sort of typical behavior where babies hear the voice of mother and turn their heads, or mother comes into the room and baby smiles). he will however, make eye contact with most strangers and will smile at you and then bury his head into my shoulder in a cute, coy way.

-prefers to be held outward facing or on the back carrier. he resists being in the front of the ergo and will push off the front of me, groan, or start crying when in it.

-frequent wakings during the night. it almost feels like he is waking wondering, 'are you there?' 'anyone there?' 'where am i?' recently we've been able to get him back to sleep without feeding him every time, but it is still a challenge and we are usually up with him 3 times a night (which, for an almost 6 month old is a lot)(have i complained how TIRED we are?)

-overstimulation. i affectionally describe it as 'terrier-puppy panting.' :) He's awake, looking about the room, scanning it, panting (seriously i think he might hyperventilate) and his eyes are waving back and forth, and his head is jolting about, and he is jerking his arms and legs. (i know, i make him sound like a test-case). consequently, i need a LONG wind down time, especially after we've been out and about, and also, it leaves me thinking i really need to limit what we take him to, for the time being.

How we establish attachment (these aren't the only ways, but this is what we're doing):
holding a lot (two days ago i held him for almost 8 hours during the day--8 HOURS.)
responding to every cry promptly
feeding
rocking
talking to him
wearing him in the carrier
changing him
not letting other people hold him
playing games with him (my dad plays this game "looking around, looking around, looking around, FOUND YOU! and D really likes that and will make eye contact the whole time)
bathing together
sleeping together (if needed)(not preferred, because neither one of us gets sleep)
going on walks together

basicaly, this is a critical time. D doesn't know us. Everything is new. We need to communicate to him that we are here for you, we respond to you, I am your mother (not every female you see), THESE are your siblings (not every child you see), WE are your family, and WE love you and meet your basic needs.

When I get impatient and irritated (because I do), I find myself repeating two phrases:
"You cannot rush a baby."
"You EARN trust with time."

So, we keep at it. I do feel loving towards the little man, and he is so dependent on us, it makes it easy to respond to him. The thing I need now most is: endurance and stamina. I'm thankful for the meals we are receiving (THANK YOU) and for my other nuggets, who are really amazing, and for C, who is super hands-on.

. . . i should be sleeping

I know, i should be sleeping. but i have been working for about 6 hours today trying to get our videos/photos in order to share with our sunday school class tomorrow. it has been time-consuming, but i know i need to do it, so its good to get it done while my memory is fresh. :) i'm in the process of saving a movie i created to a usb drive and it has another 27 minutes to save, and thus, you have my undivided attention for the next 27 minutes!! :)

Here are my nugs. aren't they scrumptious? :) oh, and yes, Rey does have blue lips--those darned suckers. (ah-hem, i do occasionally give the little people candy.)

things are going fairly well. sleep is still a problem. c and i are tired. d wakes a minimum of twice a night (usually three times). thankfully he doesn't wake the other nugs. he's a great baby. we've started solid foods (here's hopin' that helps the sleep!) and are starting to find a bit of a schedule, so that is good. i like rhythm. i had my first week home alone with all three kids, and i think it went ok--a little at a time, yes!!

i've been overwhelmed at the reception we've received here on Parker. we've received gifts and visits from neighbors--those we know well, those we know kind of. we've only heard congratulations and excitement and acceptance, and its been wonderful.

my friend sarah asked me if i notice people looking at us a lot when we go out. i've been mulling on it, Sarah, (sorry i didn't respond sooner). So, in all truth, no, nobody has said anything rude or insensitive to me yet. And a few times I think i've gotten 'looks.' BUT, I would like to consider its possible they *might* be looking at me because a). my kids are DARLING, b). i am a crazy mother attempting to run errands with three children under 4 years of age, or c). they are just looking. i mean, have you ever had that happen where you see something bizarre, and you look, maybe even do a double take, but in your heart and mind, you aren't *judging* per se, you're just looking?! do you know what i mean?? I found myself doing that the other day--driving down 17th street i see a girl dressed in jeans, a shirt and a hoodie (with the hood on), and i did a second take. i seriously am not casting any sort of judgement about her, but i re-look thinking, "is she REALLY wearing jeans and a sweatshirt in this 89 degree heat?"

i have actually had people out and about who have walked up to me and said how adorable my baby is. 'how old is he?' they ask. 'is this your new baby?' the woman at Vons said. 'oh i love his smile!' i mean, i am hearing many lovely things about my little nug. and in cases where i know people--like at gymnastics--where we've been going every Monday for almost a year--i just offer up to the coaches and moms about D's story. i mean, i do know them, and i know they know i wasn't prego, so i offer up something like, "this is my newest son, D. he's 5 months old and we just recently brought him home from Ethiopia." usually goes ok.

and how do i feel when i'm out with him? in addition to stressed (because when am i out with just D?--i always have the other beautiful short people with me), i feel proud. like the day C and I got engaged and i could swear the whole world knew my beautiful ring was BRAND new and that the entire universe was staring at it, THAT is how i think about D.

i have to say this also--D has fairly light skin for an Ethiopian. I sometimes wonder if we've avoided those questions from strangers at Target on account of this. He could pass as Mexican, or as half black/half white, or possibly as one of my birth children, seeing as Z is pretty stinkin brown after a summer of fun (see photo).

as far as the three kid thing, i'm not gonna lie to you--its HARD. its been a bit overwhelming (today i literally found myself breathing into a brown paper bag i was having trouble getting air). the mess is bothering me. the noise is a bit much. and i'm trying to juggle the unique needs of all the kids, and that has been hard. Z is struggling a little too. he's always been my kid who needs extra attention, and is used to dictating (as the older child), and so its been challenging for him to bend to the schedule of a new addition. i've been purposefully speaking into his life these last few days--trying to reassure him.

And alas, 27 minutes is over!! :) at 12:12 am, i'm off to bed!!

people

This is Almaz the day we met her and the day we met our son. She is a remarkable woman. I heard from so many people that she was stellar, but to see it with my own eyes--i appreciated her SOOO much. She is a pinnacle person with a HUGE calling from God--to match loving families with children who need a home. She deals with our high-maintenance 'american' ways, is patient with us, negotiates on our behalf in a male-dominated, impoverished nation, and she gets things done. Almaz also lived in America for a time, so her English is excellent and she understands our culture to a degree. She told me (in English), "I'm just pullin' your chain" and I almost fell over with shock. Also, we brought her the dark chocolate covered blue berries from Trader Joes and she said, "I LOVE TRADER JOES." A woman after my heart. :) Oh, and she watches So You Think You Can Dance (satellite).



This is Danny, holding my own Danny. This is who Daniel was named after. Danny was such a COOL person. He works for Hannah's Hope, and is a driver/escort/errand helper. He also helped out a lot with our court cases for the delay. I could tell Danny and Danny had a special bond. First, my Danny lit up like a Christmas tree whenever he saw Danny. And too, Danny lit up himself. Danny would ever so politely ask to hold Daniel, and then would dote on him very lovingly. Since we don't have any birth information about Daniel, I love that we can tell him where his name came from, and that we have photos of the Dannys together. When I took this photo, Danny asked if I would please send him a copy so that he could have memories of Daniel.

This is the crazy clubbing woman. The day we went shopping we were met by many begging children. She is some sort of authority. I don't know if she's hired by the police or what, but any children tapping on our windows or following us begging for money or food, she would beat them with a club. It was sooo difficult to watch and see. I get that they want us to shop and spend our money there, for tourism, etc. and I get that it can be uncomfortable for us to be met with beggars and it could lead to people not wanting to shop. so this woman is supposed to, sort of, protect us, and protect the shopping district so that business continues. but it is VERY hard to watch and seems cruel.

These are our happy tour guides. They were SOOO helpful and warm. Danny is on the left, Alamoo (sp?) in the middle, and Johanes on the end. Johanes is Almaz' brother. These three guys drove us everywhere, talked to us about Ethiopia, the people, the culture, etc. Great guys with warm smiles.

a great race!!

did you SEE this? WOW! I was SOOOOO happy we stayed awake to see it!! The French said ahead of time that they would "smash" the Americans, and we were absolutely not supposed to win this race, but the finish is SOOO exciting!

Jason Lezak
Uploaded by niles901

a few more reflections

Some things I really appreciated about Ethiopia:

1. the pace of life. we were getting off the airplane and we were trying to get our stuff gathered quickly so we could be one of the first off the plane (and therefore first in line for our visas and first in line at customs). (its not that we were being competative, just that we didn't want to be in line for 2 hours.) ANYWAY, an Ethiopian next to us said to me very politely, "In my country, we don't rush. While you are here, you should take this opportunity to move more slowly." I thought it was SOOO great of him to say this.

2. the pace of meals. ok, so this could be related to the fact that we didn't have a 4 year old or 3 year old with us, but the service, meals, and food all was delivered slowly. and people eat slowly. and they drink their coffee slowly. and although at times i was impatient, i usually appreciated it.

3. the food. i REALLY liked the food. of course, not as much as Scott (who ate Tibs at the hotel EVERY day). everything was tasty. i did miss salt though. (kelly, you hear my pain).

4. the dragonflies. there were clusters of dragonflies everywhere. beautiful. on the way into the airport leaving ethiopia i saw a bunch of them--probably 200 dragonflies leaving a grassy area together fleeing to the sky.

5. the women's figures. ah-hem. let me explain. living here in the OC, i feel like most people are not normal looking when it comes to body and physique, and especially the women--there is an expectation--for how to look. while in Ethiopia, there is soooo much less focus on the body.

6. the baby snatchers. though i found it shocking at first, i came to LOVE how the ethiopian women would snatch D out of my arms and walk away with him showering him with kisses on his hands and cheeks, and tossing him up in the air like an 18 month old. i found it was quite endearing to watch. not to mention D loved it.

7. the warmth of the children. i will never forget the children at HH, and Daniel (the boy who met us each day outside the Union), and the faces of the children at Enat Alem. seriously embedded into my being.

these days . . .

OK, so I'm singing in my friend's wedding tonight . . . very fun . . . and the last few days have had some rehearsals. And too, I had a dinner last night for Z's school parent council, and today i took all three ninos to Target. Do I sound like super mom??

by the way, you should have SEEN the strange looks i got at target. what was i thinking? i had R in the cart with an icee, Z walking with an icee, D in the ergo, and I'm trying to lift a carseat into the cart? and a kickmat? the gal at the counter says, 'you have your hands full'. and i sort of chuckled.

gotta get used to how SHORT the window is for outings . . . cause we left right when D woke from his nap, and about 5 minutes after we got home he's ready for a bottle, so it was a TIGHT sqeeze. but we did it!!

as far as me, i feel as though i am at max capacity. throw in a little something and i'll sink. part of this is just learning how to juggle 3 ninos on limited sleep. if any of you oh so experienced mothers of 3 have tips--DO share!! :)

Funny how doing small things helps me feel alive again, and yet, makes me want to sleep even more. :) (not that i've felt dead, but we've been so out of it). C's been home this week, but next week he is back to work. EEEEKKKK!!

Things that are great help right now:
1. coffee :) (duh)
2. the meals people are bringing--THANK YOU
3. uncrustables (can't make a meal, have a frozen pb & j)
4. diet coke :) (duh)
5. the exersaucer (which we borrowed from a friend)--in true HH style I've moved it outside occasionally to try to emulate HH 'sunbathing', and he can last in it sooo much longer if its outside . . . interesting.
6. the bumbo seat (this kid is SOOOO over the bouncy chair and wants to sit up)
7. the swaddle (how strange is this to swaddle a 5 month old, but it WORKS. I tuck in his arms soooo tight he is a little burrito and give him 2 oz and he's out).
8. the swing (the Ps hooked up our infant swing on our swing set, (thanks guys!), and so the last 2 afternoons i've put D in the swing while i've chatted for about 10 min on the phone. i'm surprised he likes it, but he does!!

basically, it appears we are improving in our nights/days being backwards. which is good. we are all still tired, but last night he only took one bottle in the night (though woke 4 times). usually when he wakes we reswaddle and rock a bit and back down he goes. anyway, slow and steady right. :)

retracing & update

Update on a few things: the older nugs are doing great with D. they are a little irritated, i think, that mommy & daddy are so tired, and are a little more demanding than normal, but i have really been impressed with how they've embraced D. especially R. she has always been a mommy's girl, and so i was worried she would have trouble with D, but i think she enjoys a baby. she wants to feed him and burp him and she talks to him in a cute high pitched voice. VERY sweet.

back to retracing . . . so after meeting D we went back to the hotel and ate lunch (without him). We came back about 2 hrs later and from that point on D was in our custody. We went on a bumpy drive through Addis to the Embassy. We were at the embassy over 2 hours. A general tip: bring more than one bottle with you wherever you go, and for those of you with older children, bring snacks always & water. you just never know how long some things will take in Ethiopia. :) here's a glimpse of what its like driving in ethiopia--don't feel like you have to watch all of it.



Liz Lyons and I had a system with bottles: I used Advent bottles, and then playtex liners inside. So I would measure the bottled water, pour it into a liner into the advent bottle, cover and take with me. Then I used similac singles for 'on the go.' It worked out pretty well. One thing Liz learned is that all the babies are on stage 2 or stage 3 nipples, no matter the age. Her poor nug was soooo irritated trying to suck milk out of a stage 1 nipple.

This photo is of Haley, Liz, and me.

Came back to the hotel that night and all of us were about to fall over we were so tired. jet lag of the trip, plus the events of the day . . . whew!! Oh, and I forgot to mention this about the money (someone asked), on Monday morning Almaz asked all of us for money for the drivers & for spending money. So we handed her some american dollars. When we got back from the embassy, we were given envelopes with birr and there was a bunch of bottled water outside our hotel rooms. VERY nice and helpful. So they exchanged the money for us. Also, Almaz handed us a portable moses basket/bassinet for him to sleep in.

Monday evening we showered with D. Bring a baby washcloth. He was a little freaked out, but we would put this on his back to help him feel more secure. Then we wrapped him in a onsie, then flannel jammies and swaddled him. I thought he was PLENTY bundled until we went to HH the next day and I saw how MUCH the babies are wrapped at night time. mind you, the hotel again does not have heat so it is chilly.

As far as how D was responding to me & C, pretty well I think. He loved the attention. He giggled and smiled a lot. He seemed to really like us. He didn't seem afraid. Not loads of crying unless hungry or tired. He went to sleep ok if we rocked him and patted him. One thing I missed though, the SECOND my bio kids were taken out of me, they searched for me . . . they followed my voice. I remember both of them looking for me within moments of birth. It was hard that I often had to work to make D look at me. I wished he knew me, and I wished I knew him. I knew it would come in time, and certainly i didn't expect him to track me like i was his mommy--but i still missed it. it was like i was another person in the room, just another face among the many. albeit, someone he thought was funny looking enough to smile lots. :)

ok, more tomorrow . . . sorry it is taking so long. if this is exhausting you, then tune out for a few days. :) i don't mean to be self-focused, just trying to document.

retracing cont . . .

before I retrace, pics of the newest nug!! :) we went to the dr. today and Daniel (aka Danny) is healthy. Our ped said, "you can tell he's been well taken care of." made me so relieved and thankful for AGCI. D is in the 80% weight, 80% height, 75% head circumference. Our current challenges are, in addition to switching days & nights, getting him to eat every 4 hours 6 ounces (rather than 2 oz every 2 hrs). And he keeps having 2 am poops!!! Seriously its been 4 nights in a row!! :) Other big challenge is overstimulation (i know i mentioned it). Sensory overload. So much is new--language, tv, toys that make noise and light up, his crib, us, the other nugs, driving, etc. everything in his world is new, and he is consistently crazy hyper-man that will not sleep unless we have a LONG wind down time.

Monday morning we awoke for breakfast at the Union. A few words on the Union. It is a small hotel, and our group was the only group there. The food was safe and good--breakfast was the best--the pancakes taste like funnel cake, and the coffee is unbelievably good. The beds are HARD. The water smells bad and is mirky. The service is very good--the people are available at all times to serve you, and they are sweet and kind and love the children. They served as interpretors for us, and especially the older children. There are no phones in your room, so if you want to call, you need to go to the front desk. There is a computer in the lobby that is dial up and you are charged per minute online. I worked out a system where I would type my emails in WORD and then I'd cut and paste them when I was online. I had several distribution lists set up, so for example, every day I emailed Susan Tweedy (bless her--THANK YOU SUSAN) and she updated my blog for me (I could not access blogger). I emailed my SIL Allison (THANK YOU) and she forwarded it to family. And then I emailed my mom to our kids. But I even managed to find time to email other waiting families with info about their children--I guess what I'm saying is, it wasn't hard at all to email using gmail. The Union has a gated entrance too, so you feel very secure and safe. It is, however, on a busy loud street, and there was lots of outside noise. The minute we arrived we bought big bottles of water at the front desk. It is not a comfortable stay though--I hope its not bad to say that. Bring pillowcases otherwise you'll have to sleep on the sham. And I'd bring a hand towel too. We had to ask them to empty our trash a couple times. They don't clean your room unless you ask (which was fine with us). So I think by Ethiopian standards the Union is nice. By our standards, its about one step down from a motel 6.

There's no pricetag however, to put on being within walking distance of HH. Because everyday we were there with the kids, and it was the highlight of our time. And also, being with all the other families was wonderful. And being in the hotel just us--not having to have other groups--we got great service and attention.

OK, so back to Monday, we woke up for breakfast and then Almaz walked into the lobby and all of us sort of squealed with excitement. And we hugged and she sat down to business. We did some paperwork and she gave us the plan. We'll go to HH, meet the children for an hour or so, and then leave . . . come back to the Union for lunch and breathing and processing (and give the children a chance to process too) . . . and then return after lunch to gather the children and go to the Embassy.

Making the walk to HH I was thinking "this is IT!" and "how is this going to go?" When we reached the gate, Almaz said that she wanted the parents of older children to go first. We were privileged to get to video tape a family meeting their 3 year old daughter, and it was BEAUTIFUL!

Since it was raining, all the children were inside HH, and so we were the last ones in, and our friend Scott filmed it for us.

What a WONDERFUL first meeting!! We were SOOOOO blessed and overwhelmed. I was trembling with excitement!!

more tomorrow . . .

retracing our travels

So this past week was a pretty fast-moving blurry time. So, here's the start.

Friday night and Saturday in DC--I would REALLY recommend breaking up your travels if you can. This was sooo wonderful for us to get to DC and have a break, visit with friends, and turn off the chaos of travel. I really love AGCI for sooo many reasons, but I did feel overwhelmed with only 12 days notice to travel, and I thought that some of the things we needed to do we could have been working on prior to getting our travel date (if only we would have known). Instead those 12 days were super stressful and I was sick and C was out of town. So the break in DC was needed.

We had 4 bags of donations, 2 bags for us, 2 carry ons, one diaper bag and one computer bag. Our technology strategy was this: 4 GB of digital camera help, flip video, laptop. We would fill up our camera cards and if need, download the photos to the computer. The flip video is a snazzy technology genius, really, you can record 60 minutes of video on 2 AA batteries, and the flip is as small as an ipod, and is of excellent quality. so we would record videos all day and then at night, plug the flip into the laptop and download them so that we could start over again tomorrow.

We took a flight on Delta to DC, and we arrived early to the airport and asked to speak to the baggage supervisor. We showed him a letter that Julie wrote for us verifying that 4 of our bags were donations, and they waived the extra baggage fee. YAY!!

In DC we were thankful for 'space' and 'calm' to breathe and prepare ourselves emotionally. We DID get to tour the west wing and see the oval office, cabinet room, press room, and such.

We arrived at the airport early and check in was very easy. We met up with the rest of the group and ate and visited. Walking down the ramp onto the flight, they started checking 'hard bags' at the gate. Already we had to have carry ons that weigh less than 15 lbs, but they were taking any rolling bags. They never weighed them . . . they just looked at them and said 'hard bag' and took the bags at the gate. EEEeeek. We were so thankful they skipped us.

Every so often on Ethiopian airlines it seemed they would declare 'nap time' and they'd make us shut the windows and they'd turn off the overhead lights. Yet they would leave the lights on during the middle of the night and woke us all up for breakfast at 3:30 am. very strange. the plane didn't smell funny (we had heard that). We had downloaded a few movies onto C's laptop so we watched those. C's feet swelled noticeably but I wore those special socks and they didn't swell at all. bring an eye mask for when the stewardesses turn on the lights in the middle of the flight. definitely should take a dramamine. I am not a person who gets motion sick, but being on an airplane that long with the loud rummmm of the plane can really get to you. I was extremely dizzy when we landed and it took about 24 hours to recover. Also, drink as much as you can--buy bottled water to have with you on the plane so you don't have to rely on the stewardess. And finally, take a sleep aid when you get on the plane so you can sleep from Dulles to Rome. I got 5 hrs that night, C got 4 hours--its better than nothin'.

We arrived at the Union Hotel at 10:30 at night. We were all hungry and super tired. We were greeted by Johannes with an AGCI sign. We were met with beggars at our van at the airport, something none of us expected so early. When we got to the Union, some of us went straight to bed--we actually took a hot shower we felt so greasy and slimey. Some of us ate food that night at the hotel (they served us dinner that late).

Then we climbed into VERY hard beds, exhausted but unable to sleep, excited to meet our boy the next day. Take Advil that night--our body ached the next day.

REAL TIME UPDATE: D is doing wonderful--still mixed up in his sleep. he is used to eating 2 oz every 2 hours . . . not ideal, so we'll be trying to increase that a bit. also, we are trying to flip his night/day. like this afternoon he would have napped for 5 hrs if i let him, but we woke him after 3 and made him wake up and took him outside to convince him that it is DAY. It will take time. He is a happy boy, and is easily overstimulated, so we have to be careful not to overwhelm him.

He's here!!

ANNOUNCING the arrival of

DANIEL CURTIS YATES

born in Ethiopia Feb 25 (ish), 2008

into our arms Monday, July 28, 2008




We are home and doing well. We are exhausted. Nights and days are backwards.
Poor nugget didn't sleep on the plane and we are TIRED. But
we praise the Lord to be home!! Beautiful reunion with Z & R
at the airport and since. More later!!