Country Roads....

We had a great weekend with the boys and I have so much I could write about but I'm pooped. I know I haven't posted in a while so I'll explain what we did with pictures. We were out at the farm both days working our butts off and the boys were SO good! My lumberjack of a husband (and quite the cute one) cut down some limbs that were blocking our driveway. We cleaned out the garage (nearly empty), primed the exterior trim (some post and around the door), primed the well-house, the door to the basement and Nater pulled weeds. Our neighbor mowed and weed-whacked the lawn and it is absolutely beautiful! Needless to say we are so sad about having to sell the house. It's so darn pretty out there and so very peaceful.

Biruk is such a charmer. We are having a blast with him and you can tell he's attaching more and more every day. I love how his eyes dart around the room from mom, dad and big brother. It's like he's taking it all in and thinking "ahhh.... this is my family". He's TOO precious. His hair is getting so long and crazy. I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

Conner is great! He told Nathan to slow down today when he was driving on the interstate. Nathan responded by telling him he had to go the speed limit (with agitation) and Conner's words were "easy Dad, take it easy". The kid doesn't skip a beat. He is loving his little brother and has been wonderful.

As for me, I'm still pregnant. 31 weeks and 3 days to be exact. And surprisingly doing well! I am getting a handle on having two kids and in some ways feel so much better with two then I ever did with just one. I guess I've become more patience and more wise at handling things. Hubby has been quite the help and I think that makes a difference too. I love watching him with Biruk and Conner. I'm feeling better everyday and definitely more confident that I'm going to be able to handle three. Thank goodness. I'm not going to lie, the first couple weeks home I was sure I was in over my head. So for any struggling mama's out there - I can relate!

I'll leave you with some pics from our weekend.
C

True Story

I was getting Conner dressed after his bath tonight when I looked at his wall and found two boogers looking up at me. I guess my childhood is coming back to haunt me. I used to wipe them on the mirror in our bedroom and years later I found out my mom thought it was my sister Keely.

Ramblings....

We had a great weekend here and I was sad to see my sister leave. It was so much fun and hopefully we can do it again soon! She took a picture of the four of us so we have our first family picture with Biruk. It's nothing to get too excited about b/c we did nothing special for it and some of us were in our pj's. However, it has the four of us and I'm thankful for that.

Yesterday we went to KC for Biruk's appointment at the International Adoption Clinic. Everything went well until they had to draw blood. Poor little guy. He was NOT happy when they had do that. Nor was I; apparently Biruk's veins aren't real obvious so they had a hard time getting a blood draw.

We tried taking Conner swimming at the hotel pool but he wanted nothing to do with it. So I guess I need to get the little man signed up for swim lessons. The night went fairly well considering we had two little ones.

Today is laundry and cleaning. Isn't it always? Thankfully I have not encountered anymore scary turds in my laundry. The boys are being great with the exception of some attitude from Conner.

Lastly, I'm in the search for a new digital camera. I'd love any recommendations you have...

I'll leave you with some pics from my sisters visit.

Edited - I can not get the pics downloaded for some reason. Will try again later,
gotta run.
C

Lovin' Life

These boys are cracking me up. Biruk has done so wonderful these past couple days. It's been great and I'm hoping the little guy is finally adjusting and getting used to his surroundings. He is VERY alert and maybe that was some of his problem. He was just afraid he was going to miss something. As far as the nights went maybe he was having a growth spurt. He's put on 3 lbs in the past 3 weeks and he's went from 0-3 month clothing to filling out 6 month sleepers. Yeah Biruk!! He's still as giggly as ever and gives you a big grin every time you look at him.

Big brother is doing awesome! He's been so great with him and wanted to feed him his bottle this morning. He got through the whole thing with no spills. I was super impressed and needed the extra hand because I was scurrying around getting ready to leave to meet the realtor at our old place. Conner is quite the little helper these days getting diapers, putting laundry in the dryer and entertaining Biruk. He's been cracking us up with his choice of words lately, "this is delicous mom", "whatev" (yes whatev has recently replaced, whatever), "I'm just teasing you mom", "maybe later", and several other funny phrases. He's also been asking Nathan and I if we are going to take him to Ethilopia.

I'm happy to report that my bladder problems are under control since I've gotten rid of this awful cough and I am now sleeping again. What a relief! Biruk is doing so much better in the sleeping department and routine has been established. We are going to have beautiful weather this weekend and my sister from Texas will be arriving in the next half hour for a quick visit. She's bringing her youngest child (she has five) and I am looking forward to seeing her over the weekend.

Sorry for the misunderstanding on the last post, I will still be blogging I was just pointing out that there will be NO exciting, crazy, news to post (aka - new homes, pregnancies, adoptions, etc). From here out my blog will include details of my daily life as a mama. For example, while sorting laundry yesterday a turd fell out of my 2 years olds pants. And I picked it up, threw it in the toilet, washed my hands and went about my business. Keep in mind, it was a small turd, but the fact that it didn't phase me is very disturbing. When I asked hubby how he missed this when changing Conner his response was "I didn't see it". Hopefully there are no more turds lingering in my clothes hamper.

Cha cha cha chaaanges...

Here's what's happened to my body the last 30 weeks...

Are you sick of seeing my face? I don't blame you. I'm pretty sure there are more pics of me in this post then all my other post total. So do you need another hint?

If this doesn't explain the raging hormones, desperation, exhaustion and frustration the past 2 weeks I don't know what would. I'm 30 weeks pregnant and we will soon be welcoming baby NO.3 to the family. Are we crazy? Probably.

There are several pics from Ethiopia (which I hadn't been able to share until now) and I was 6 months preggo while traveling. And I made it through the whole week without one. single. illness. Then I came home and got ran over by a train. But good news my friends, I nearly feel 100% with the exception of third trimester sleepiness.

Well there you have it, more exciting adventures ahead! This will be the last bit of news from us for a very. very. LONG. time. Three houses, an adoption and pregnancy within one year is plenty of excitement to last us a lifetime.

Time to get some shut eye,

Chatter

I'm turning over a new leaf!

That's right. No more talk about Biruk's sleeping habits. I mean seriously, how boring it must be for all of you. I will tell you that the rest of the night went well. But that's it - NO MORE. I'm going to leave my whiny mode behind me and move forward. The sun is shining, it's going to be a beautiful week and I have a ton of things to do (including sell a house). With that, good bye cranky chatter and helllllooooooooo Chirpy Chatter! You all will hopefully find my happiness super annoying. Or my plan will backfire and I'll be back to my old self in no time. You never know with me!

What's on the agenda for the day? Eating LOTS of yummy food because I am feeling better and have 2 weeks of eating to catch up with. I have quite a bit in stock so I should be good to go! Also I plan on overhauling my room including moving all my winter clothes down to the basement. Nothing makes me happier than a clutter free, clean house. So I will keep my goal small today and start with that. Hopefully I will accomplish much more. One more FUN thing on my list for today is to order a double stroller online for the boys.

Attached are a couple pics from yesterday afternoon and this morning. I tell you what, Conner is quite the handsome fella but Biruk is just so pretty! He's constantly being called a little girl. I could eat him up! When we got our referral I was in love with Biruk, when picking him up in Ethiopia I knew how much I loved him, BUT these past 2 weeks home he's stole my heart. I've fallen quite hard for the sweet, smiley babe. And I hope the boys have too! He's become such a great fit for our family and is such a pleasure to be around. I just assumed I would love him just like Conner when we picked him up. But it was different. But every day I can't get over how much more I am in love with him. I'd better go now so I can scoop him up and give him lots of love! Thanks for being a part of our journey and for all your support these past couple weeks. I hope to return to my sarcastic self very shortly!

He's been down for less than an hour...

and up five times. Seriously. I love this guy to bits and pieces and I can't believe how much I've attached to him but five times? I'm so scared of what lies ahead tonight. I know, I know "wah, wah, wah". But any moms out there that know what it's like to run on no sleep on Monday morning can sympathize. Please send some serious "sleep" vibes Biruk's way and some patience my way. Nater is feeling lousy so he gets to take the night off. It's me and the little man tonight and I'm not gonna lie, I'm scared.

Rachael, enjoy your sleeping beauty and peaceful nights sleep. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous.

I'd better catch some zzzz's while I can. Peace out and good night!

And the reason....

for the screaming... definitely stomach issues. I will spare you all the details but I will tell you one
thing. Nater woke me at 3:30 to tell me he needed help with Biruk. We had to use scissors (ever so carefully) to cut off his onesie because of his "blow-out". He must have felt tons better because the little guy slept until 9:30. Yeah for mom and dad and boys getting some rest and thanks to everyone for your support. I know things will be normal again, I just know it.

Here's a couple pics of us starting our day. Biruk is LOVING the jumparoo. He can bounce in that thing forever. His little legs are getting strong every day. Dad and Conner are watching some presentation on plastic bottles (boring).

Hope everyone has a relaxing Sunday. I started going to church again while waiting to travel to pick up Biruk so we all ventured out to mass last night. We ended up in the front pew and Conner was the best he's ever been. And of course Biruk had no complaints. His big eyes just stared around at all the people. We were so proud of them! And it felt good to be at church again. I think they must have had plenty of distractions being up front so maybe that is the secret to them behaving. More later,
Chatter