We celebrated Allia’s first birthday a week early because
Grandmom was in town. A small family celebration was perfect for us. She
loved the cupcake, the presents and the attention. She is definitely a party girl :)
Can’t believe how much she has changed in three short months
of being home. This week her one-year molars started coming in and she took her
first steps (just as daddy predicted!). We are abundantly blessed.
Adoption has changed us. We are growing daily in our passion
to find a forever family for every child. More to come on this soon!
Wow! What a difference a month can make. Allia is eating
better (she has gained over three pounds since arriving home). Sleeping better. And continuing to amaze us everyday with the ways she
is growing, changing and learning. We are in LOVE. Life will never be the same.
This month was full of family fun. We were able to have
Jeremy’s parents come stay with us for a week. Of course they are smitten with
Allia:) After that Aunt Bethany and cousin Adelaide came for a visit. It was so
neat to have the girls together. Our family gatherings will never be boring
with those two around! Then this last weekend Shelby and Brayden came over for
a sleepover. They adore our daughter and are so good at playing with her. We
are fortunate to have such a loving and supportive family. Enjoy some of our most recent pics!
Its official! We got Allia's citizenship documents in the mail:)
All smiles with her daddy!
Snuggles with Grandmom.
You guessed it. Allia is home and the hair is cut!
Sorry for the lack of updates since we arrived home on
Christmas Eve. We have been in survival mode. Soon after getting home we all
got sick. Really sick. Poor Allia ended up with an ear infection on top of it
all. The three of us all ended up needing antibiotics. Megan sadly even had to
miss Allia’s first doctor visit. One positive result of the bug was that it
gave our little girl and her daddy some forced bonding opportunities. They love
to spend time together!
Meal time has been challenging! Allia would prefer to only
eat cereal and formula. Slowly we have been finding other foods she enjoys.
Avocados are always a hit! We give them to her often so that we can provide
healthy fats to our petite princess :)
We so appreciate your outpouring of love and respect as we
have taken a month to stay home and focus on attachment. Meals have been
provided. Friends and family have encouraged us through phone calls and emails.
We think Allia is doing very well for the huge transition she has endured.
Slowly we are figuring out what life looks like as a family of three. We are
excited to start bringing our daughter out and about. Look out – here we come!
We want to start with a HUGE thank you for the love, support and encouragement you have given us during these last two and a half years. This has been both the hardest and the best thing we have ever done. We are so fortunate to have you in our lives. This is a difficult letter for us to write. It must include an apology. Some of you may get your feelings hurt during the next few months. Please understand that our actions are not intended to offend but rather aimed at what is in the best interest of our daughter. We have done our research and have come up with a plan that we feel can best support her in this transition into our family. Allia has been through a lot in her short 9 months of life. We want her to learn to trust us and know us as her parents who will love and provide for her every need. Adopted children are moved from place to place and live in situations where they are not always able to get one on one attention. This often leaves them with challenges creating the necessary attachment with their parents. So our main priority over the next few months is to dedicate ourselves to bonding with our sweet girl. We wanted to share our plan with you so that you will not be surprised at what may seem like “over-the-top” parenting tactics.
Bonding Begins- Thank You Moby Wrap
Our first month home will be exactly that – we will stay home as much as realistically possible. During this time we will be the only people to hold Allia. We will carry her constantly as if to replicate the time that babies spend inside their momma’s belly. We would be happy to have short visits during this month at home from our close friends and family.
During month two of being home we will start to make trips out and about. Each of us will take turns having evenings away while the other parent gets some alone time with Allia. We as her parents will continue to be the only ones to feed her, change her diaper and comfort her when she is upset.
In the third month we will begin to transition into more of a normal routine as Megan prepares to return to work.
Please believe us when we say that we value your role in our lives and eventually in Allia’s as well. Our efforts are meant to equip her with the skills she needs to grow up as a happy and healthy member of our family. Thank you for your understanding. Of course our timeline may change as we decide what best meets the needs of our daughter. We have a lot to learn as we experience parenthood for the first time!
It is not easy to describe in words. There was so much
anticipation leading up to this trip. We traveled for over 30 hours on very
little sleep and yet when we got there neither of us were tired. We arrived in Addis Ababa around 7am. Waited in line for a long time to get our
visas and gather our luggage. Our guide
picked us up from the airport and allowed us to freshen up at our hotel before
grabbing some lunch and heading to meet our girl. Our first moments were sweet. It was incredible to hold her after all these
months of dreaming and waiting.
That first day was not all easy. She cried. A lot. It was hard for us because
we knew she was scared. I needed that
reminder. Adoption is beautiful but it
comes out of tragedy and loss. It will
take time for her to learn to trust us. We
are so looking forward to having her home and beginning that process! The good news was she loves her nannies
and seems bonded with them...she would stop crying when they came into view and
said her name. Those women love the kids in the transition home. What a
ministry they have!
Getting to know each
other. (day 2)
Day two was far
better than day one! She hardly cried at all. When we arrived we got to feed
her cereal. She is a great eater:) Then we played for a while until it was our
turn to meet with the doctor. She loves to watch the older kids in the home.
They also recently switched her to soy formula because she didn't seem to be
tolerating the other very well...like her dad when he was an infant! During the
meeting she was sitting on my lap but moving constantly. She is a very active
little girl who seems to enjoy shaking toys to hear the sounds they make and
chewing on ANYTHING. Her two bottom teeth have already started to come through.
Our time ended with her falling asleep in dad's arms. Oh how I love them!
Sightseeing and traditional dinner. (day
3)
While spending
time with Allia we were able to give our donations to the transition home as
well as pass out chocolates to the nannies and pencils to the older kids. Also
got to give care packages to two older boys for another adoptive family. They
were really sweet!
After lunch we
went sightseeing to Entoto Mountain. Got a great view of the city from the top
and saw the first church in Addis Ababa.
We went to a
traditional Ethiopian dinner that included entertainment. They sang and danced
and played instruments. It was amazing dancing. The
way they moved their bodies was incredible. They even made us get up and dance
with them for a little while! We were terrible!! But dinner was fantastic. The
evening ended with Ethiopian coffee - it was the best coffee I have ever had.
Really strong and delicious.
Court! (day 4)
The
morning was spent once again with Allia. When it was time to leave we headed
for lunch then to the courthouse. We arrived at 1:30 and sat for what seemed
like forever for it to be our turn. The room was packed with adoptive families
from a variety of agencies and countries. They finally announced our turn at
3:30. The judge asked a several simple yes/no questions and reminded us the
importance of teaching our child about their culture. And then it was over. She
said we passed. Allia is officially ours!
Afterwards
we went to the local lion zoo and then some souvenir shopping. Finally we
stopped by Kaldi's...the "Starbucks of Ethiopia". Jeremy had a caramel
macchiato and I had chocolate chip ice cream to celebrate the events of the day
(and Allia turned 7 months old that day too). What a good day that was!
Change of plans. (day
5)
Well that day
did not go as planned...but it worked out just as it should. We got up early
for our flight to Harrar and stood in line for a long time at the airport. When
we finally got to the ticket counter the guy pointed out our tickets were for
December instead of October. The travel agency had made a mistake. Our guide
felt terrible. We tried to get standby seats but there were not enough
available. Jeremy and I decided we were just as happy to stay in Addis and spend
more time with Allia. They offered to get us on a flight later that afternoon,
but we declined not wanting to waste any more time at the airport. So instead
we drove to the transition home and spent six and a half hours with our
daughter. Such a relaxing day! God knew exactly what we needed: just more time
with our daughter. Someday we will all take that trip to Harrar together:)
A glimpse of the future. (day 6)
Our driver and
guide picked us up at 9:30. We told them we wanted to go somewhere to buy coffee
so we stopped by a store on the way to the transition home. We spent the day
with our DAUGHTER. Still can’t believe she is ours. We fed her bottles. Changed
her diaper. Held her in our arms as she napped. It was a little glimpse of life
once we come home together. Our happy
family of three.
Headed home. Or so we
thought! (day 7)
That day we soaked her in. Every smile. Every coo. It was incredibly hard to say goodbye. We know
that she is in loving and capable hands. But it was just so difficult to leave
her once we had held her in our arms. Jeremy prayed over her. I whispered in
her ears that we loved her and would be back soon. And then Jeremy handed her
back to the nannies because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. We both cried
in the van on the way back to the hotel.
We left a piece of our hearts in Ethiopia.
So
when we got to the airport that night they told us our flight to DC was
cancelled due to the hurricane. Honestly we had not been paying much attention
to the news and had only heard of the storm that morning at church. After borrowing a cell phone off of a
friendly stranger we
managed to get in contact with our driver so he could come back and get us. We drove
back to the hotel, explained our situation to the girl at the front desk and sat down to figure out what to
do! With the help of our travel agent we purchased tickets for the next night
that would bypass the east coast. We got
another day with Allia out of the mess:)
