Bye, Bye Arizona!!!

Well, after a week meeting grandparents and an aunt and cousin, Noah and I are heading home tomorrow. It has been a great trip for the little guy. He flew for the first time since July when we returned from Ethiopia - otherwise known as the flight from hell....well maybe not that bad! This time it was just Noah and I, a diaper bag and a very heavy 17" laptop (what was I thinking - could I actually get work done??). He took a bottle right before boarding, had some tylenol and fell asleep as we took off; not waking until I woke him while we were on the runway in Phoenix - YAY!!! He had a little bottle meltdown as I was trying to figure out the rental carseat - oh well, what can ya do?? Otherwise he cried himself to sleep on the 2 hour drive up to Dewey and he had a great week, other than clinginess and some sleepless nights (I am sooooo tired!!!). He even got to watch his cousin play soccer today - he scored 3 or 4 times - YAY Brock!!!

Hopefully tomorrow goes smoothly...please please please! Then on Monday Noah gets his photos done, thanks to Celebrating Adoptions, dermatologist on Wednesday and our first post-placement visit on Friday. Unfortunately we didn't hear from the daycare that had 2 infant openings in October, which means I can't go back to work - yet! Crap!!! Here's a few pictures from the trip that I have downloaded.

HI, why can I only go backwards

Auntie Kim and cousin Brock...

Grammy, Auntie Kim and Noah

Friends....anniversary

Here's some pics....since I seem to be unable to write much these days... We passed our 2 year LID mark for China on Sept 12. Noah hit 7 months old on the same day...Today is our 4th anniversary - can it really be that long?? Noah and I are planning to visit Arizona from Sunday to Sunday - wish me luck on the fligh - well mostly security....it's a short flight. He will have the opportunity to meet his only living grandparents and and aunt and cousin...how exciting, family beyond mom and dad. Otherwise we've all been under the weather, daycare tours I'm sure... I've been preparing to do some work from home until I can go back part-time - I'm almost there!


Here's some recent photos...friend from the same orphanage (how great is that), wearing our loyalty, Boston Red Sox onsie, it's still really big on him (thank you Sonya and Bob), sitting in the courtyard and the first teething cookie.

I'm LAME... But here's some new pics!

I've been really lame about posting anything...even pictures. So here goes. I've been caught up in finding child care, treating his itchy and painful dermatitis on his feet and feeling a little sleep deprived as they have been waking him up almost hourly. Hopefully the new ointment works, but the poor little guy has been on benadryl for 3 weeks and it only minimally helps. Otherwise he is doing wonderful!!! He is just cruising around (rolling) and doing some basic sitting up. Oh, and he has already found the crawl position, belly off the ground and everything!! We were touring a child care center when he hopped in the crawl position, which was amazing! He has moved up to 3-6 month clothes and even 6 month if we roll things up - he looks really good; a peanut, but really good! We are starting readoption and getting his SS number and I am going to try to do some work from home until we get him into some sort of child care situation. So, I guess between doctors appointments and all of that on very little sleep, we've been busy, or at least very wrapped up. But here are a few recent pictures and if he doesn't wake up too soon, a video....

Has anyone seen one of these???

We have 0-3 months, but it's finally too small for him - YAY. Anyone have a 3-6 or 6-9 months that they would sell???

Friends.....with a side of thumb wrestling

Saturday shots

Here's some photos from this week... He has figured out how to roll from his back to his belly, as of Thursday waiting for his bath to fill and has done it repeatedly since - YAY, we are in so much trouble!!! We finally saw the pediatrician, again YAY... NOAH HAS HIT THE GROWTH CHARTS (not that I care much, but a positive milestone). He is 14 pounds and 25 inches tall (both 5% - not bad!). The doctor made us a last minute appointment with a dermatologist across town so he would suffer the itchy feet all weekend - so benadryl and very low dose hydrocortisone hopefully will do the trick! His feet have tons of little pimples and some are a little blistery. It looks miserable!










Could I be teething???










How do I look in green and brown??










IT WON'T FIT!!











GO RED SOX!!!!

Rewind 07.07.08

Scaffolding as Architecture

First Month

Today marks the first month with Noah in our custody. It's been a so wonderful having him home and he is changing so fast. He seemed so tiny, now with just a few extra pounds he seems huge; even though he's not. He is now able to eat 8oz of formula every 4 hours without spewing most of it, he moves around so much and he loves to hold your hands and stand. He seems really close to rolling from back to belly, but I think he hasn't had the interest yet. He is a kissable, cuddly boy - just watch out for hair and glasses!
Here's a picture from a few weeks ago when we returned and one from last night after Noah and I did a little steam bath to loosen congestion - He doesn't sit still enough anymore to take a similar picture - but does anyone else see the changes??? He's also gone from size 1 diapers to size 2 finally last week.

First Tooth!

I wish I could post a picture of his first tooth, must have cut through last night. It's the bottom center left, and the bottom center right is about to come through, looks like as early as today....Ask how I discovered it.....HE BIT DOWN ON MY CHIN.....the kid has great aim!
Here's a picture from today

Noah Update

Here's some of the latest pictures. We just found out he has salmonella and clostridium difficile - neither of which we are treating, seems he's had them for a while and only has trace amounts left. He is a trooper! Hopefully that explains tummy irritation and what seems to be a cry of extreme pain when he needs to eat. Hopefully it will pass within a couple weeks! Hopefully the 3 hour feedings in the middle of the night will also slow down as he gets better. He's been to the doctor, but will have his first pediatrician appointment next Wednesday - doesn't that sound exciting!
Last Friday we did a quick weight - he is up to 13 pounds! So here's some pictures from this week and last. I still need to download the videos - I am slow.....

Noah goes to the Zoo

We are lucky enough to be only 5 minutes from the Denver Zoo, but we also have great friends who have a membership. Thanks Crystal, Joey and Caleb for inviting us! It was Noah's first trip to the zoo and I as I expected - a bit young to care. But I had fun!!!











Very excited to ride the train...










Are we done yet????

The Story of Ranger's Love for Kitty Roca

Ranger has a new habit, KITTY ROCA, it seemed to develop in June sometime when we started using wheat cat litter. We've always had baby gates at the rooms that have litter, but while we were out of town it seems there were major incidences and some vomitting. So, obviously he is getting over the gates (he must have finally realized he could). Last weekend James installed small cat doors (Hobbes can barely get through them!) - NOW WE WAIT UNTIL RANGER COMES UP WITH A NEW METHOD OF DESTRUCTION....watch out for the smart dogs!

Quick Post!

Here is a little tease.
The first one is taken the day we met at Toukoul. He was very bundled, making him warm and sweaty. He stared and smiled at us the entire first 3 visits. Then he started making sounds with great effort, as if he had never used his voice. It was amazing to watch. His eyes are so engaging and his skin is so soft, much more than I expected.
This is not to say he hasn't felt some level of shock, but he is handling it like a trooper as we try so hard not to overstimulate him too quickly. He is really healthy, just the old congestion breaking up and some special diaper cream we are now done with.
In the second picture I just missed his big grin, but it's still cute. Ranger is confused, but love to lick his feet and seems to handle the kicks to the nose and pulling on his ears just fine. I think he will be ok as long as he gets some attention.
I have pictures on snapfish - all of them from our camera at least (no weeding out of the bad ones). Just post your email address or email me and I will send them too you. As my new usual I am having outlook issues (solved finally) and have lost my autofill addresses - oops!

Delayed Again!!

Ok, I was making great progress by yesterday with Noah's schedule and finding time to get things done - then I got sick last night - no just a little sick, I have been really sick. I was given IV fluids finally this afternoon and we should have the results of the sample in 24 hours, if I make it that long! It may actually be caused by the Cipro I took when I was sick on the trip; that sucks! There are a few other possibilities, but that seems the most likely.
So, that means, although the camera is hooked up to the computer to download pictures, it will be a few more days before I can get this going.
The good news is Noah is great, very healthy excluding his congestion he's always had is finally breaking up so he's oozing a bit :) and the beginnings of sore gums at the beginning of teething. He is still really tiny, at 5 months he fits best in 0-3 month clothes. But he is up to 12 pounds now!

A Few Bumps But Have NOAH!!

Shari and James have little Noah and he is doing great. They are having a good trip minus some yucky illness for Shari and James. Noah is very alert and responding well to Mommy and Daddy.

Posted on Shari & James behalf by Crystal

Picking up Habtamu, Bringing home Noah!!

HERE WE GO!!!
Bags 98% full and we're exhausted, that means we're ready! At this point if it's missing we'll have to live without it (that doesn't apply to the camera batteries we need to buy tomorrow). I feel like I could open my own pharmacy for both Rx and OTC. We tend to be minimalist travelers - but how do you prepare for something you know nothing about??? We have LOTS of baby clothes, some of the real tiny stuff we may leave there, the diapers we brought (although not many as we'll buy there) won't be there on the way home and baby wipes in every bag. Some lactose free formula in case of emergency is pretty heavy and the darn converter (thank you Cindy) weights like 5 very precious pounds. Music still needs to be downloaded and decisions on the laptop - we don't want to take it! I still need to set up bills for while we're gone and clean the house a bit and we're done and can enjoy tomorrow. Optimism is building and we really just can't wait to get there! btw - date on the picture is wrong, I think today is 7/3/08.....
HAPPY 4TH TO EVERYBODY - we'll see you soon!

LAST UPDATE!!

What can I say...

Blog Changes....Embassy Paperwork

I am playing with the background; any opinions. No need to tell me there are no giraffes in Ethiopia, I already know that. I lost all the crap in the side bar, so I am trying to decide what to put in there...any thoughts??? please...please...
Big question, we want to change the URL - don't want it to be roadtodelaney anymore - do I need to start a whole new blog?
We are so much closer already. We will be in Ethiopia in one month, in fact almost half way through the trip and about to have our embassy appointment!!! We just got all our embassy paperwork, that is a good sign that we are almost there. I am working on July 2, but that should be it - not much time off to pull it all together with the holiday being that Friday and leaving on July 5 in the morning.
We can't wait to hear our wonderful little boy laugh, cry, scream (how many people say that) and just to see a smile would make my day!!! We are going to see him so soon....so close we can almost hold him....

DO YA THINK THEY HAVE A CLUE???