I love being a mom!

I am having so much fun just being a mom. I get to take my daughter and son to school in the morning and then pick them up after school. We then get to go home, relax, go to karate, and do homework at night. My oldest son and I spend 30 minutes a night reading. I have made a deal with him that I will not be holding TJ during that time and I will make sure that it is just the two of us. During the day, TJ and I have a lot of fun just hanging out. He is such a happy baby and gets so excited when I talk and play with him. He is such a joy to be around!!

His nights are still a little rough. He tends to wake up 1 to 3 times a night; sometimes he is hungry, sometimes he just wants his back rubbed or his butt patted, and sometimes he just wants to play. I am going to need him to sleep through the night before I go back to work in January!

We had our family pictures taken on Sat. I am really excited to see how they turned out. It was a beautiful day. I will post some of the pictures once I get them.

Our adoption social worker also came to our house for our one month visit last Thursday. Our dog eagerly greeted her at the door, along with our 7 year old son who actually went down the stairs on his hands and knees and barked at her. It was fun to show her TJ, since she has been working with us since we began our adoption. She also collected more paperwork from us because we still need to make our adoption official in the United States. She is anticipating that we will be going to court in Dec. That will be an exciting day for our family.

Update

Wow! Time flies now that we have a baby in the house! It has been awhile since I posted anything new.

My husband is currently taking a 2 week paternity leave. It has been really nice having him home. TJ loves all the attention he is getting from both of his parents.

TJ is finally getting into a schedule. He usually only wakes up once during the night for a bottle and then goes right back to sleep. He also takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day. When he is awake, he is a happy boy and is working hard on getting his legs and back stronger. In addition, he now seems ready to venture out more, so I am excited to start taking him out of the house.

It seems like he has been with us forever! We are very lucky that he is part of our family.

Pictures!

We had a busy weekend. Saturday, TJ's Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came over to meet him. He gave them a lot of smiles and even tried to talk to them. On Sunday, TJ's aunt and uncle plus two cousins came over to see him. He was a very good boy and loved all of the attention.

He has also improved at night as well. Friday night he slept for 12 hours straight. Saturday and Sunday night he only woke up once! He no longer cries when he wakes up and seems very happy that his mom always comes to get him out of his crib.

Update

We had a pretty busy week. I feel like we are living at the doctor's office though. Monday he got his flu vaccine and then I had the doctor look at his hands again. She thought they looked pretty good....I think they look pretty sore. On Wednesday we took him to the International Adoption Clinic at the U of M. I loved that place! We were there for about 2 1/2 hours and they spent so much time talking with us about Tesfahun's health, attachment, adjustment, and development. He seems to be a pretty healthy boy! I was very happy to hear that he appears to be attaching well to us. I asked the doctor when other people could start holding him and she said 4-6 months...sorry to all of our friends and relatives. His back and legs are a little weak but we have seen a huge improvement within the last 2 weeks. I work with him during the day and then my 11 year old daughter has been working with him everyday after school. I was also pretty impressed with how closely our adoption agency works with the International Adoption Clinic at the U of M. Our doctor told us that 2 doctors and an occupational therapist will be going to Ethiopia sometime this winter to work with the doctors and nannys at the care center. I can not begin to say enough good things about our adoption agency.

Tomorrow we head back to the doctor to get the stitches removed from TJ's hands. I don't think I am ready for that!!

I will post more pictures this weekend.

Video

Today marks the 2nd week anniversary of when we first met Tesfahun. I remember seeing Tesfahun for the first time and thinking "Yup! He is my son". He was just meant to be with us! I am still amazed me that God knew that he should be a part of our family. We are truly blessed to be parents again. It is hard to put into words what a wonderful experience we have just been through, so I thought a video would be a better way to share our journey to our son.

Picture!

We went back to the doctor today. Our doctor redeemed himself and apologized for Monday and said he felt really bad for my husband. TJ's hands look great. We get to reduce the amount of bandages we wrap around his hand and he gets to suck on his fingers! He is once again a happy boy!