Baby Ethiopia: December 2008

Dressing her is soooooooooo much fun!

Thanksgiving at Nana and Grandad's!

Happy first Thanksgiving!

After all the Thanksgiving festivities, the kids received their Christmas pajamas!

Can you see her three teeth?

Blessed with cousins!

Sisters

1st visit with Santa. They both decided to rest. :)

The kids with Santa and Mrs. Claus!

Maleia at Disneyland for the 4th time!! She LOVED The Small World!

Precious Maleia Mekdes

I can't believe it's already been a month since I first held Maleia. It seems like yesterday when we were walking on the road to Hannah's Hope. At the same time I feel like Maleia has been in our lives WAY longer than a month! Weird. She has now been home for three whole weeks and is doing great! She still wakes up at least twice during the night which is a ton better than every two hours! My favorite and most exhausting time is when she has a hard time falling back to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. I get her out of the Pack and Play next to the bed and put her between Brendan and I. She rolls into my chest and she searches for my hand. She almost instantly falls back asleep. I love that I can comfort her. What a blessing. I love being her mom. She is giggling and babbling more and more and thinks that Ellie and Calen are hilarious. She has this high squeaky mousy cry that I usually only hear when she wakes up at night and wants her bottle. Just this week she got her third tooth (yep, 3 in three weeks!). She is kind of doing an army crawl, and is getting closer to getting up on her knees. She may be cruising by Christmas!

A HUGE congratulations to the families that just returned with their precious little ones! A few of you have been in my prayers for a LONG time!

I love her. I love everything about her. I look at her and just feel at peace knowing that I can touch her, smell her, and hear her babbles. Ellie and Calen are adjusting to their new sister. They are so gentle and love to get on the floor to play with her. She adores them and kicks like crazy when one of them walks in the room. She just turned 8 months old. I think a list is appropriate here:

What I know and love about Maleia:

*I know that she was bottle #26 at Hannah's Hope and I loved being the one finally holding it on November 3rd! It was so weird to look down and see it in my hands instead of a picture!

*I know and LOVE that she holds my hands while I feed her or when she is going to sleep.

*I know that she wasn't a big fan of baths when we were staying at the Union Hotel, but she is willing to stay in longer and longer each time. She will even splash a bit!

*I know that she can roll, sit up, clap, grasp the tiniest of items on the floor, scoot, stand while holding onto something, and giggle to herself.

*know that her first teeth (bottom-front)broke through her gums while we were at the hotel in Ethiopia! Yea!

*I know that she thinks Peek-a--boo is hilarious and "Mah!" makes her smile. I guess the special mothers say that to them. I think it means "Mommy," but I'm not sure.

*I know that her special mothers used to sing Old MacDonald in Ahmaric to her. I recognized the tune!

*I know that English is the THIRD language that she's heard in her very short life! First-Oromo- birth mother's language, Second- Ahmaric- Hannah's Hope-primary language in Ethiopia, Third- English!!

*I know that at our time of referral she was in the 5th percentile for weight and she is now in the 75th percentile!

* I know that her weight gain is because Hannah's Hope feeds the kids A LOT and frequently! Maleia was asleep in Brendan's arms and a special mother insisted on waking her up and wiggling a bottle into her mouth. Kids do not miss a meal there!

*I know that we missed her first Halloween by just a few days. I have dressed her in several costumes and she looks adorable in every single one of them!

*I know that when she really smiles you can see her dimple under her left eye!

*I know that I'm not going to have to worry about hair care for awhile!

*I know that she's gone to Disneyland 3 times already.

*I know that she loves music. It soothes her.

*I know that she is getting used to being in my arms A LOT!

*I know that she is still finding her voice. She has a high pitch (not loud) cry and we only hear it when she wants a bottle at night.

*I now know that her skin really does get dry if I don't use baby oil and moisturizer!

*I know that she instantly felt safe in Brendan's arms.

*I know that her very favorite (she had four) special mother was Gumaush. I don't know the spelling. I have pictures and video of her singing and talking to Maleia. She cried each time I took Maleia out (so did I).

*I know that Gumaush called Maleia- Mekdes (The s sounds like an s and not a z and both e's are short) and Mekdee as a nickname.

*I know that Maleia would prefer to sleep right next to me instead of in her pack-n-play next to me!

*I know that she is a very content easy going baby.

*I know that prunes haven't done the trick in fighting her constipation problems.

*I know that she isn't a big fan of baby food (yet).

*I know that she was handpicked by God to be in our family. I think she knows it too!!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last two weeks.