And...

...someone likes to "cheese" it up for the camera now! I think it is too cute. I was putting it up and looked over at Nati and saw this!

 

Red Wagon

 

 

 

 

We got a Nati a wagon off of Craig's List with some of his Christmas money and he LOVES it. He spends most of his time getting in and out of it. Opening and closing the special seat compartment. It is so cute. I think every kid should have a wagon!

Over spring break my best friend and her husband came to visit. We had so much fun. Nataga kept trying to get their dog into the wagon and would say "Reese" and try to coax the dog over. I don't think their dog ever did get into the wagon but Nati sure had fun trying. Another cute thing is that when we were visiting with their family Nati was playing with some boys and one of them was trying to "watch" him. It was so cute b/c after a while, in exasperation, he said "You get back here you little road runner!" We couldn't have had more fun and Nati, David, and I are working on getting them to move closer! They are buying a new house in their area but we're not giving up! We've always talked about living by each other and hope it happens some day!

What else? Nati has mastered the art of locking people/himself in or out of places. Recently he locked himself in his room (we have a key so it wasn't a big deal) and today I went to the garage for a second to check on the laundry and he closed the door and locked me out of the house. We're working on moving so I just got back in by using the lock box on the front of our door. Still it was kind of funny. (Neighbor) "Hi, how are you?" (Me, walking to the door) "Great. How are you?" (Neighbor) "Good. Where's Nataga" (Me) "In the house." (awkward pause) (Neighbor) "Confused look." (Me) "He locked me out of the house. He is learning how to lock and unlock things!" (Neighbor) "Laughing (and walking away). Enjoy your day!"
Our neighbors are very sweet and always say "Hi" and find out how things are going with us. I was hoping to sneak back in quietly! Oh well!
Nataga also LOVES cars. He will drive them around the house for hours making "vroom" noises. He vocabulary is increasing daily. He is growing by leaps and bounds and is VERY smart! If we don't want him in something we have to make sure he isn't watching as we use it or he'll figure it out and be in it himself.

Goodnight Hammie!

When we put Nataga down for bed tonight he told David "Ni, night, datty" then he blew both of us a kiss, looked at me and said "Goodnight, hammie". I thought it was really cute!

Our son the artist!

 

 

I don't know what happened to the orange crayon... it somehow didn't make it to the paper.

Twice?

All of the families currently in process to adopt from Ethiopia have now been told that new Ethiopian law will require them to travel to Ethiopia TWICE to finalize their adoptions...

Adoption is already extremely expensive and this just adds to the expense. Why is this occurring? Well, it seems that several families get through court (their child becomes theirs) and they end up leaving the child in Ethiopia as they feel that the child "is not what they agreed upon" with the adoption agency. I can't imagine this and feel that we were very prepared for our child. It sounds like there might be some shady adoption agencies as well as people who were not ready to adopt!If I was the Ethiopian government I would do this too! It builds in a way for the family to get to know their child before bringing that child home in order to reduce the refusals for a child. Still, it is horrible that this has to happen and makes the cost that much more! For all of you out there waiting to bring your child/children home I am so sorry about this news. The one good thing is that you'll be able to see your child sooner! I know that it was so hard waiting to meet Nati and I would have loved to gone and visit him during the wait time.

Check out this site!

The Children of Ethiopia Education fund!! I came across it by accident today and it is really neat and would be a great program to support! The COEEF exists to provide mainly poor females in Ethiopia with a quality, private education through student sponsorships and generous donors. Check it out. There is also a video that has the girls dancing! I hope this is the right link. I never use Youtube so I apologize if this is not it! Search for "Ethiopian Mesgana Dancers" if this link does not take you there! What talented girls and what a neat program! You can also buy a DVD of the girls dancing at this link I have purchased many items from this company and have been very happy with my purchases. If you buy $50 worth of product or more make sure to enter the code: 15off to get 15% off of your purchase! No matter if you buy anything or not, make sure to watch the clip posted under the video! It really captures what the conditions in Ethiopia are like!

I also got to watch "Live and Become" recently. It was a hard, but good movie to watch. It was so hard to see all of the babies who were nothing but bones and unable to eat due to being so malnourished. It still goes today. To see some of the babies arriving at the orphanages and their conditions was heart breaking. I know our son had starvation issues when we brought him home but due to being in Gladney's care, he was working back to a healthy weight. Back to the video- there was one part of the video I was not so fond of, but the rest was very good and overall I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Also, I am very excited as I will be going back to Ethiopia this summer but this time it is not to adopt! I will be spending time with the children of Ethiopia, working on a clothing drive, and helping with soccer camps! I will post more information as I know about it! After going to Ethiopia you cannot forget the people and the great need that is there. I have been wanting to go back since the day we left- to do more. I feel so blessed to be able to take part in this and hope that it will open up to something bigger in the future. A better way to help change lives!

Growing up

 

 

Nati was so silly and was trying to put the shoes on by himself. He kept falling over so his daddy had to come help! He loved every minute of it!

Speaking of shoes... We took Nati to get his feet measured last week because it seemed like one of his shoes was snug. One foot measured 6 1/2 inches, the other was a size 6. This made me feel better as I always had trouble with one shoe and I felt like I would need a pry bar to put it on his foot. But, the other shoe had slipped on so easily. I was concerned by the difference in size. The lady assured me that this was very normal and that it will continue like that for many years. She said when feet grow they can each grow at different times. Who knew?! I certainly did not!

We had just bought new shoes for him a few months back. The lady told me we could pick any shoe for him but when I went to the wall she said "Not those shoes, those are for the babies" then told me "You need to move to the little boy wall". I stopped dead in my tracks. It was such a hard thing to hear and a hard concept to stomach. Our "little boy" who has not yet been home for a whole year is already in "boy shoes". I swallowed hard and picked up a shoe. The lady said he would need a size seven so that he would have room to grow. We got him some "play" shoes as his grandma had bought him some really cute shoes for Christmas. There have been several days I have looked at Nati and how fast he has grown up but it didn't sink in or hit as hard until we bought his new shoes from the "little boy wall".

What else has he been up to? Nati's new words are: kAR (car), Is it a bawl (ball)?, shoes, ap-ple, "Bye, bye dadty", dog, Gawd (God), as well as some animal noises. His favorite thing is to ask is "Is it a bawl?" I enjoy it as the word "ball" sounds so cute when he says it. I need to record it because it is priceless and I am sure it won't last forever. He has been cracking us up too as his dog noise is the panting noise our dog makes! Our dog is very well behaved and does not bark. When we ask Nati what noise a dog makes, he makes a panting noise! We have been teaching him, or trying to teach him, that dogs bark but he is right our dog does not! He also likes to meow like a cat. It is fun to see him transition and make progress in his language adaptation. For hearing Amharic for most of his life he seems to really be catching on quickly. Everything we say he tries to repeat now!

March Already!

Time certainly flies.

Are boys really that more active than girls?

Obviously, since we have one, and not the other, we don't really know. However, we've been told time and time again how much more active boys are. When he was running circles around us one person even remarked "What, you didn't know what you would be getting when you asked for a boy?" It seemed funny and a bit obnoxious at the time. He went on to tell how his little girl was so calm but his boy would be swinging from the rafters. Hopefully things won't go that far! What we do know is that Nataga is incredibly active! WOW! He runs just about everywhere and is into everything. It's in one room and out another. It's grab this item and then another. It's a little bit closer to our one year celebration with him home - really hard to believe. We are so blessed and love every moment we have with our son. He is so wonderful. We can't imagine life without him. He has a wonderful personality and is always making us smile. He is good at getting himself into mischief and then trying to get out of it with his coy smile or his "I'm the baby" saying he busts out when the opportunity presents. Yes, he is very smart and came up with the "I'm the baby" phrase all on his own. We are constantly working on new was to discipline him as not much seems to phase him. He just gets naughtier! "Nati" is the perfect name! Sometimes we have to turn away so he doesn't see us crack up after he says or pulls something when we are trying to get on to him! He does listen, and although this makes him sound very out of control he is a good child and people also remark on how well behaved he is. He is at a wonderful age and we are loving every bit of it!