Greetings! I can hardly believe we have already been home for a month. The time has gone by so fast. And we have been enjoying every moment. It still seems strange that we have kids. Sometimes it still feels like we are babysitting some kids for an extended period of time. And then I remember they are ours and it makes me smile.
The kids have been adjusting very well. We still have our moments, but we are working through them and taking one day at a time.
Michael is talking more every day. We started a list of spontaneous phrases or words he says to put in his baby book. Here are some of the things Michael is saying (without prompting):
- mommy
- daddy
- lily
- mihiret
- michael
- i love you
- please
- more
- hot dog
- water
- lights
- blue's clues
- all done
- more
- excuse me
- shoes
- baby
- yummy
- yucky
- gentle
- milk
- car
- up
- down
- sleep
- help
Michael has learned to ride a trike and he does it very well. He loves to help mommy clean the house, cook, change Liliana's diaper, etc. He loves talking on the phone, singing, dancing and playing with his sister (although he hasn't quite learned how to be gentle with her). He loves anything electronic. I am pretty sure he would be turning the TV and computer on and off if we let him. He is doing much better with sleep times. He goes to bed well and stays in his bed the entire night. He often will lay in bed awake at bed time for 30 minutes before he falls asleep, but he knows to stay quiet so Liliana can fall asleep. Michael wakes up 1x per night to go to the bathroom about 3 nights a week now. When he wakes up in the morning between 6 and 6:30 he goes into the pack-and-play in the office for some quiet times with books. His recent favorite activity is to pray. Anytime we pray he says "me, me!" He starts off each time: "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, mommy, daddy, Lily, Michael, Meow." Then he repeats after us to finish the prayer. It's very cute. He also has learned his name is Michael and likes it. I recently showed him a picture of himself and asked him if it was Milkias. He said, "No, Michael." Love him!
Liliana has also done well in the past month. She still hasn't said any words, but her walking is getting much more steady. She will also run, walk backwards and sideways, and crawl up the stairs. She has recently discovered her love for stair crawling. The only problem is she is afraid to come down so she gets stuck upstairs. She is beginning to eat more foods as well. We have discovered that if we give her a new food or a food she has previously refused to eat first and before she sees what we are really eating she will eat it. It's almost as if she thinks this is her only chance for food. She has often eaten more than her brother and followed that meal up with 4-8 oz of formula. I would say she is probably growing. :) We have her drinking a bottle of formula before bed and nap time. It seems to help her sleep better and fall asleep faster. She has also stopped getting out of bed. Now she just sits at the end of her bed and cries. Fine with me. During our afternoon nap time she hasn't been sleeping well so today I decided I would try giving her a short morning and a short afternoon nap to see if that helps her to get better rest during the day. Liliana is sleeping through the night most nights as well. A couple nights a week she will wake up for a bottle or just to be held for a few minutes.
Both of the kids are attaching well and we can tell the attachment is getting stronger. We have felt so blessed over the past month by these two little ones. It hasn't always been easy, but it has always been worth it. We are growing as parents and together as a family a little more each day. It is very interesting to think back about our hopes and dreams for ourselves as parents and then to find out they aren't exactly how you thought they would be. I like to think it's because we started out with an 18 month old and a 3 year old that already had rules ingrained in them. But it might be because our ideas weren't realistic. :) But we have stuck to our guns on some things like no kids in bed, 7:00 bed time, and only eating in the kitchen or dining room.
Sunday we had family pictures taken as well as portraits of the kids in traditional Ethiopian outfits. We hope to have some pictures in the next week or so to share. Until then...
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