Maybe next Valentine's day will be better!?

Oh, today was not a good day. Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Both of the girls have been sick"ish" but Nora had her first legitimate fever/illness this week. She woke up Wednesday with a high fever and it came back today. She was a pitiful little mess so we took her and Zo...who had been tugging on her little ears, to the doctor. Zoester had an ear infection which really doesn't seem to be bothering her and Nora has a virus. But, no flu or rsv so we had to take her to the hospital for a chest x-Ray and to have blood drawn because that can't be done at the pedi office and they wanted to make sure her counts and things were ok with such a high fever. 

But first back up to Tuesday night around 4am. I was half asleep walking back from Nora's room after rocking her and I WIPED out on our new baby gate. Like, knocked down the metal gate, crashed onto the floor, knocked the sheet rock off the walk and scratched up our wood floors. Leaving me with a sprained wrist and horribly bruised, possibly fractured elbow. I got up the next morning to get the girls out of bed and realized I literally couldn't move my elbow. At all! So after frantically calling lance to come home and having my mom come in the mean time just to get my girls out of bed and fed, I headed out to have my arm looked at and ended up having my elbow jammed back into the socket. 

So keep in mind I am functioning with one arm and another in a sling. 

Anyway, my mother in law is in town to help me out and so we decided even though I'm not supposed to really lift the girls it would still be easier for me to take Nora to the doctor since they were going to be poking and prodding at her and I would just do my best to hold her with my good arm. So we go in for the chest X-ray and they literally try to shove her into this tiny baby seat thing where she has to sit with her arms straight up into the air and then they close this plastic tube around her so she can't move. Well, the tube wouldn't shut because she is such a chunk....and the woman was taking ZERO notice of my child's skin being pinched and her screaming. But I finally said, "I really don't think she is going to fit in this tiny thing! Is there another option"? To which she rolled here eyes and said, "I guess I will have to prepare the table for X-rays". So she begrudgingly "prepared" the table which consisted of laying a towel on the table for Nora to lay on. I hope all that preparation didn't wear her out to much! Nora was ticked, but fine on the table, but I highly underestimated the work it was going to take to hold her down and move her for all the X-rays while she was trying to wiggle away. So I had to take my arm out of the sling and just pretend that every time I moved I didn't feel stabbing pain radiating through my arm. 

Anyways, the chest X-Ray was nothing compared to the next event. Drawing blood. This doesn't sound traumatizing and horrible. But really, it so was. We go in and they put the rubber band thing on her tiny arm and start looking for a vein. They look and look and look and I could even tell there was just NO visible vein. So they stick her with the needle and I notice no blood. They take it out and stick it back in, no blood, they move it up, move it down, push on her arm, squeeze her arm, no blood. Remember, this is a 9 month old baby who is absolutely hysterical. So they try to find a better vein and stick her again and still not able to get it. Apparently she has the family curse of tiny tiny horrible veins. At this point my sweet Nora is hysterical and I am holding her as close as I can and I'm crying and trying my best to comfort her. I finally just say "ok, enough, we are stopping". The technician immediately stopped and took out the needle and backed up and let me pick Nora up and comfort her. I told her I wasn't sure why we needed to draw from her arm, and they described why and I decided I would take the risk on missing out on this test. So they drew the blood from her heel instead, which was seemingly way more painful for her, which was so sad too, but I knew it would at least end in them getting her blood. So after they finally put a bandaid on her foot they sliced open (this was no little prick it was still bleeding at 8:15 tonight) I didn't even bother to put her Jammie's back on. I just wrapped up my poor tired, feverish, hungry little angel and put her in the car and she was asleep before I even bucked her seat. This is the child who hasn't fallen asleep without her sleep sack, bottle and sound machine a day in her life. 

I sat in the car and called my mom and just burst into tears. This was the first time I have really experienced my child being in pain and it was so hard. I can't imagine the trauma mommies go through who have children who are terminally ill and have to watch their babies be poked and prodded on, on a daily basis. Those must be some really strong mommies ! This was a simple chest X-ray and blood draw and it about sent me over the edge! 

But I have learned from this that babies with fat arms are not good candidates for having blood drawn. They kept using medical words for why they couldn't find a vein and I finally asked, "is it really just because her arms are so fat"? To which they answered "yes"! And just generally fat babies aren't good candidates for chest X-rays. Poor Nora's hefty physique really worked against her today! :( 

Oh sweet Nora, I hope you wake up tomorrow and have forgotten all about this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! :) 

We love you and are SO glad you are ok!!!!! 

This picture in a little old....but it's the most recent I had on the iPad and she just looks SO cute!! 

Insomnia post

I can't sleep, so why not blog!? Remember the adorable little pics of sweet Nora enjoying her wontons that I posted today!? Well, she very quickly broke out from head to toe in hives following the meal. She had a little face rash when we put her down for her nap and as Lance was changing her for a Super Bowl party right after she woke up, we noticed she had red, raised hives covering whole body. All we have to do it give her Benedril every 6 hours until the hives subside, but it's still hard for me to sleep with her such a mess. She scratched and scratched so much she had scrapes all over her sweet, fat little legs AND Zoe has been coughing and has had a runny nose all night too and it took me over an hour to get her suctioned to a place where she could breath and down for bed tonight. Poor baby girls!! So I'm just sitting here watching Home Alone, wondering when I will be able to go to sleep! It's so true that once your a parent, you are never "off". Even when they are both sleeping , you find yourself up at midnight starting at a monitor! :). 

Happy

I love the simplicity of my life right now. I love that my job is to get two sleepy heads up in the morning and make them breakfast. I love reading them stories and playing on the floor. I love getting them dressed, changing diapers and keeping them happy and healthy. I'm not great at it, but I love getting the groceries and making meals. I love trying out things for the girls and go to bed at night thinking up what new foods I can make them the next day. I love getting in my MINIVAN, yes minivan ha, and listening to my praise and worship music while I soak up the babbles and squeaks behind me. I love that so much is "taken" from me each day, that when the girls go down I really appreciate my time to myself. I love flopping down on the couch SO exhausted, but SO fulfilled. I love watching Lance be a Dad. I love that he knows all the words to the baby einstein DVDs and knows just how to get the girls to sleep. I love how he can smile and laugh that we eat dinner at 9pm amidst piles of laundry and toys. I love matching baby clothes, hair bows and baby dolls. I LOVE that when I am without them, although I really enjoy some time away, I feel like part of me is missing. I love their unique personalities. I love seeing their potential and dreaming about what kind of little people they will turn out to be. I love the way being a mom has upped my prayer life like a million percent. I have to pray myself out of bed each morning and specifically ask God to go before me each day because I cannot do this job alone. My dependence on him has become much more tangible now that we have the girls.  

I love being a mommy more than I every thought imaginable. I know life comes and goes in seasons. I know these days will soon seem like a little blip on the radar. I don't want to forget them. I don't want to wish them away, dreaming of a day when the budget won't be so tight and I won't be so tired. 

God has given me such a great gift. I am so thankful. 

I seem to have a hard time remembering the days when I opened the fridge, got a snack and sat and ate it alone! But this picture definitely sums up my days right now. :) 

It happened.

My little Zoe girl has been playing with the idea of walking for about a month now. But she pretty much just stands up and waves at us without moving. Until today. Today my little ZoZo pulled up like normal, looked at me & with her arms out just walked across her play mat with the BIGGEST smile on her face. I was so shocked, and burst into tears. It was one of those ultra proud moments as a mom that caught me off guard. I'm not actually sure why it was so emotional for me. But it was a moment I won't forget. Sitting on my kitchen floor amidst squished peas and tons of sticky toys my precious little angel WALKED! Its flying by at lightening speed  and moments like today make me stop and thank God for these firsts!!

I Love being their mama!!

Can you believe this was my little walker 9 short months ago? Look at them now! Walking pics and videos to come soon! Of course my phone was dead during the excitement!

9 months old!

Our little preshlings are 9 whole months old! Not tiny babes anymore! When did this happen!?

We haven't had their 9 month appointment yet so I don't really know their exact stats...but we had to pop in for ear checks (which was just teething causing ear pulling) and they were both over 22lbs. So yes, they are large and in charge! 

They are pretty much doing the same stuff they were up to at 8 months. They are busy busy busy! The newest thing to change is the speed of their crawling. They are SO fast and SO hard to keep up with. Today for the first time I was changing Zoe and then couldn't hear Nora and had to search for her until I found her under the piano way across the house. Such a scary feeling! But to keep with what ive been doing each month, I'll do a little update on each girlie!

Nora- you are still so loud and so happy. You have sprouted two little bottom teeth this month and are getting one on the top too! Your sleep has changed TONS since those little monsters finally broke through. We also took you off the hypoallergenic, amino acid based formula and you have been in heaven. We are still seeing some signs of milk issues, but not enough to put you back onto the formula. You had started refusing bottles and vomiting with feedings and I couldn't bare to watch it for one more day. So, when the doctor said I could try you on normal (not to mention, cheap) formula I was so happy. You suck down 7oz bottles now & it does my heart good to see you enjoying your bottle again! You have slept through the night now 9 nights in a row! I'm not holding my breath, but I think you have finally decided to sleep! You were definitely getting it, but this consecutive sleeping is just so wonderful. I think it is a combo of your teeth and you finally being full because you don't hate your formula. So yay for you little NorNor! You are a speed crawler and are pulling up and cruising on everything! You are kind of in that "too brave for your skill level" phase that your sister went through big time, and get yourself into lots of bad situations ending in bonking on hard floors or getting stuck under the couch or chairs. You still like to sit and play with one toy at a time, but have been forced to always watch your back because you have a sister that will steal anything you try to enjoy. Seriously. Anything! You sometimes cry when you see her coming which makes me sad, but I also kind of get it! She just wants to play, but we have some work to do I think! You still love to squeal and growl at us. You say "bye bye" when we wave to you and you have said "dada" a few times when daddy gets home from work. Still waiting on the "mama" little toot! You are just such a happy little thing all the time! I really think cutting your teeth has changed you!! Your favorite thing to do right now is to literally follow me around all day. If you arent chasing after me, I can find you standing at the window banging on it and laughing! You get sweeter and sweeter everyday if that's even possible and we love you SO much little NorNor!! 

ZoZo:

I would be lying if I didn't admit that you have been in a bit of a "toot phase" (that's what we decided to call it) this month! You are still as sweet as can be and happy and funny, but you have also started throwing fits. I really was not aware that a 9 month old could throw a fit, but apparently it happens. These "fits" usually revolve around bedtime and you have started flailing and screaming if I try to rock you or feed you. Just last night you literally wiggled yourself off of my lap onto the floor and laid there screaming, arching your back and kicking your legs until I turned your lamp on and it was as if a new baby entered the room. You popped right up, crawled to the chair, and started jumping and laughing and playing! You just didn't like that you were being put to bed. These fits, coupled with the sheer high pitched decibel that you have had since day one, often makes you quite the presence in a room. You have loud and only loud when it comes to your volume. If you are happy you scream, if you are sad/mad you scream too! It's so so funny and so so loud! We notice it when we are in public and you get excited about something and squeal in delight. We are used to it, but notice that every single person in the resteraunt is looking at us! This has happened several times. Or when you get tired at church and start to cry, people always stop and ask if you are ok. It's then that we are reminded that not all babies are as loud as you are! But we wouldn't change your insane volume for anything! You have mastered crawling and have started standing unassisted. You have taken a step or two a couple times, but aren't walking just yet. However, I give it a week. Like your sister, your favorite activity is following me around and pulling on my pants or pulling up on my legs when I am cooking and just standing there behind me for the longest time wrapped around my legs. And just like your sister, your second choice of entertainment is the windows. You have had numerous bad crashes this month and have the bruises to show for it. However, you seem like you have slowed down on the falls lately. Im very relieved! You say "mama" all day. It's your favorite thing and you really do just crawl around all day saying "mamama". You say it to me, but you also say it to daddy or Mimi or your sister or to no one. It's pretty cute! You will wave "hi" and sometimes say "hi". You are a talker and are always making some kind of noise. However, it's amazing how you will sit quietly in church for an hour! You and your sister do awesome at church! Zoe, you are full of life and energy & although I think you may give us a run for our money, we wouldn't change a thing about you! We love you Zoester toaster!! 

So that's really all for now. I feel like each month it gets easier and easier, but this new level of complete mobility is just crazy! I am chasing babies around all day and trying to keep little crazy dare devils alive can be hard work! But it truly does get better and better with each passing day. I don't even like to think that my precious, tiny little babies will be walking and talking and ONE soon!! It's just crazy!! We couldn't feel more blessed if we tired! Truly, I thank God for the gift of these two little angels that he loaned me to raise every day!! Can't wait, even though it makes me want to cry, to see what the next few months hold! 

Our Adoption

I wanted to post a quick update on some adoption stuff. As many people have probably heard, there were lots of rumors about adoptions in Ethiopia shutting down. As far as I understand this is all just a rumor and adoptions are still up and running. However, there has been a lot of talk about social media and privacy issues concerning adoption. We have decided that instead of making our blog private or worrying about accidentally posting something that could potentially harm the adoption process for ourselves or others, we are just going to keep "adoption talk" a face to face conversation for now and not post about it in a public forum.

We SO appreciate the crazy huge support of others and know that people want to follow along in the journey. But as of now we are still on hold in the process and will be waiting a bit longer to become "active" again. After that, we really have no idea of a timeline, as new laws and process have changed things in Ethiopia. But YES we are still adopting, YES it will still be a little girl, YES we still need your prayers, and YES we would be happy to answer any questions face to face or on the phone/email about adoption in general.

I have met so many people and have the privilege of helping others start their own adoption journey through this social media network. So please still contact us if you have questions about adoption and PLEASE keep our family in your prayers as we continue to wait on God's perfect timing to add a third precious daughter to our little family. This blog will continue to be filled with the happenings of our two little nuggets & once we have our third little nugget home she will fill these pages too!! :)

***and side note to my fellow adoptive/waiting family friends...I know this has been a hot topic and isn't for everyone. I know there is a "right" way to document your adoption journey online but I would surely mess it up and that's why we have decided to stop blogging/facebook posting about it. :)

 

I was trying to post a recent pic of the girls and this one came up. I thought I would leave it! This is day one of their precious little lives! Crazy crazy the change...the one below was taken today....Nora is right and Zoe left on top and its swapped on the bottom pic. :)

8 months

I'm a few late....but the girls are 8 months old! This month has for sure been the best one yet!! The first half of month 7 was rough. Lots of fussiness and sleeplessness and just generally a tough transitional type of month. Month 8 however, has brought much needed sleep, crawling, pulling up, cruising, lots and lots of laughing, lots of eating, lots of playing and just lots of fun! 

Nora:

You started crawling last month and went from no crawling to perfect crawling overnight. It was crazy. You love to pull up on the couch or ottoman. Your most favorite activity is standing at your little activity gym toy and pushing all the buttons. You really get toys, and get what they do. You pay really close attention to things and I really think you understand how a lot of toys work. You also have a great memory! Just the other day, while I was under piles of adoption reading, I let you play in the refrigerator for a long time! The next morning as I was carrying you into the living room you were craining your neck searching for the fridge and the second I put you down you crawled over and went right to the door and started trying to get in! You are more of a laid back player than your sister and will stick with the same activity for some time before moving on. You have a passion for puffs. You would munch on them all day. You are a very efficient eater, which is evidenced by your almost 21 lb self, and have mastered the little pincer grasps to get food in. We've tried pretty much every food with you besides dairy and you have been doing great. We have been slowly upping your dinner to more grown up foods and you do really well. The other night when you were watching TV and eating black beans and rotisserie chicken I really had to take a step back and let the bigness of you soak in! You were not a big fan of babbling consonant sounds at 7 months, your speech pathologist mommy tried very hard to just roll with it, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that it was really bothering me! Your daddy liked to make fun of me and come home at night and ask how we were doing on our consonants for the day. But now you are babbling up a storm! You are generally just really loud actually. Your current fav string of sounds to make is "mamama" and although I know you have no idea what that means yet, I love to hear it! You have started sleeping through the night more often than not. Well, if we do a "dream feed" you will sleep through the night and if we don't you won't. But really, I will take it. Your sleep up until lately was not great. You are seriously on the brink of your two bottom teeth coming in. I feel like you have been trying to get those teeth for 4 months. But lately your gums are super swollen and you are permanently just chewing on your bottom lip which is just what your sis did right before hers made an appearance! You are super smiley and happy and such a pleasant little person. However you definitely continue to be exponentially more high maintenance than your sister. You only like taking bottles before naps or at bedtime. You have no interest in taking a bottle if it's not right before sleep. I can pull this off all feedings except the one around 4-4:30. You have been know to flail and scream and gag on occasion.....but 30 minutes later you act as though you have been starving and suck down 6oz. Very strange. You also go down very easily each night at 6pm and take a 4oz bottle. However, you always wake up around 7pm and want the remaining 2 oz. You would scream for hours if we didn't go in and give you this tiny bottle. You are then out for the night. Again, very strange! Come to think about it, you will never finish a bottle unless we are in your room. But ya know, oh well I suppose. You are also not one that can drift to sleep. If you get tired in the car or on a walk we will hear about it until you find your bed. You nap every day at 9 & 1. I can count on it. It's great! You are just the best, cutest, chunkiest, smiliest little baby and we love you more and more each day!! Your person is really starting to show and as far as I can tell you are going to be a really really sweet little girl, with some high maintenance tendencies. We love you baby Nor Nor!

ZoZo:

You are a person with places to go and things to see! You are all over the place. Your are an awesome crawler, but spend most of your time on your feet cruising all around the house. Just today I was having coffee with a friend in the living room and looked over and you were just standing there. I just looked at you confused for a second and then you crawled away like normal. About 15 minutes later you did it again and then took a couple steps. I was shocked and can't believe how close you seem to walking! You now pull up on the ottoman and hold on with one hand while you bend down to get your toys off the floor. It's so big girl"ish" to me! You have masterd opening cabinets and are still really tall so you can pull every thing off the top of our tables. We have had a couple broken things and have now cleared everything off everything! Everyday I find you somewhere that isn't really all that safe and continue to realize our house isn't as "baby proof" as I thought. We will be really working on that soon! You are really hyper and never stop. This is new. It's like you all of a sudden realized this big giant world around you and are just too thrilled about it to sit still. Twice I have found you in the fire place eating soot. Yes, our ottoman now permanently lives in front of the fire place. You love peek a boo and crack up laughing each time. I love to see you laugh and see your little bottom teeth! You have also started waving at everyone you see and saying "hi". Well more like, "haaaa" but you say it the same way every time and only when you are waving. I honestly kind if think it's a real word. Which is about right for you because you seem to want to try to stop being a baby earlier than you are supposed to...and although we are all very amused by you, I would like you to slow down! You are still a great sleeper, you always have been, but lately have been waking up some and standing up in your crib peeking over the top. I think you are just trying out your new skills and very aware that we are out in the living room without you. We have been ignoring you some and it kills me. Lately when I go get you from your nap you are usually sitting up in your crib just looking at me like "hello I've been up for a while mom". You kind of look like a little prisoner and not a baby the way you sit in the corner pouting! You are a talker and are always giving us all kinds of baby talk. You say "mama" and "dada" too and I can't wait until you know what those words mean! You are super easy with feeding and sleeping and napping. You will take a bottle anywhere and don't really need to be rocked too long to calm down. I love you and your sis equally, but I'm glad you are a bit easier! Your only hard habit is that you have some for real separation anxiety. You really don't like me leaving your side at all. It can make a mamma tired....but I sure do love snuggling you and your sis! You have become a much bigger fan of solid foods and are still perfecting the art of using your fingers the right way. You still wear a lot of your food. So far the only food you seemed to love and eat up in a minute flag was chicken and bananas that I just boiled and shredded up. We couldn't believe how you were shoveling it in! Zoester....you are awesome and we love you so much!! 

Little girlfriends we love you so much and cannot believe how big you are starting to seem!! We are so blessed by you and are so glad you are happy & healthy!!

Sink bath time 

Nora watching baby Einstein from her exersaucer 

Cutie patoots

Nora loving life and Zoe annoyed at people talking to her

The girls chasing me as I try to get out the door to unload the car

Black bean face

My tall angel girl 

More crawling practice 

Other black bean face

Max having a sleep over! He told Betho he lubed living at our house!

Naked fatties

My morning coffee audience