Life in the Bend

We spent yesterday afternoon at the home of friends who have a 7 pound 3-week-old. Between holding him and holding our other friends’ 21-pound 6-month-old (who, for the clothes-buying grandmas reading this, fit nicely in 6-9 month rompers), we got in lots of baby time. Let me tell you, Paul looks pretty darn sweet holding a baby.

Even with a couple of two-year-olds thrown into the mix, it all seemed pretty manageable. Hold the baby, feed the baby, play with the baby, talk to the baby, change the baby… So I’m not sure why I felt a total wave of adrenaline when I was lying in bed last night. Wow. Five weeks from today we are going to be the ones responsible for doing these things. It’s so exciting, a little terrifying, and right now it seems totally unreal.

In other news: The greatest thing about being some of the few of our high school friends who have stayed in our hometown is that come holiday season we get a deluge of visitors. I love having everybody around and right now we have two friends staying with us for the long weekend. What a treat!

Paul gave me an Ergo Baby Carrier (mine is cranberry) for my birthday. This came highly recommended by several people including someone who still carries his 4 year-old in it while they hike. It’s so well-padded and comfortable that we may just splurge on a second one to take with us to Ethiopia. We’re going to be holding them so much, especially during our two 5 hour layovers, that I think it might be worth it.

We spent yesterday afternoon at the home of friends who have a 7 pound 3-week-old. Between holding him and holding our other friends’ 21-pound 6-month-old (who, for the clothes-buying grandmas reading this, fit nicely in 6-9 month rompers), we got in lots of baby time. Let me tell you, Paul looks pretty darn sweet holding a baby.

Even with a couple of two-year-olds thrown into the mix, it all seemed pretty manageable. Hold the baby, feed the baby, play with the baby, talk to the baby, change the baby… So I’m not sure why I felt a total wave of adrenaline when I was lying in bed last night. Wow. Five weeks from today we are going to be the ones responsible for doing these things. It’s so exciting, a little terrifying, and right now it seems totally unreal.

In other news: The greatest thing about being some of the few of our high school friends who have stayed in our hometown is that come holiday season we get a deluge of visitors. I love having everybody around and right now we have two friends staying with us for the long weekend. What a treat!

Paul gave me an Ergo Baby Carrier (mine is cranberry) for my birthday. This came highly recommended by several people including someone who still carries his 4 year-old in it while they hike. It’s so well-padded and comfortable that we may just splurge on a second one to take with us to Ethiopia. We’re going to be holding them so much, especially during our two 5 hour layovers, that I think it might be worth it.

My birthday was yesterday and to celebrate Paul and I made our very first batch of homemade mozzarella cheese. Yum! I gave him a ricotta and mozzarella making kit for Christmas and we were excited to try it out. It was easier and messier than I’d anticipated and the results were delicious. We ate it all, but we have plenty of rennet left (enough for 29 more batches!), so anyone who visits can help us out in our new endeavor. It definitely turned out better than the homemade beer we made with last year’s Christmas gift!

I’m not posting a picture of the mouse Stella killed last night – although I did take one to show Paul when he comes home tonight. I came downstairs this morning and there was a tiny, saliva-covered little rodent in the middle of the floor. Last winter we were sitting on the couch with the dog when a little mouse ran across our entryway about 25 feet away. She came within 6 inches of catching it and a couple days later she caught one in the middle of the night and left it next to her bowl. It was obvious that she’d repeated her feat last evening, although you wouldn’t have known it from her lazy stance on the couch. Disclaimer: We don’t have a mouse-infested home; Stella is just very good at catching the few mice that do appear. I’m pretty grossed-out by this, but I can’t help feeling a little bit of pride in her talent. Most dogs don’t really do anything to help out around the house but ours occasionally does!

Warning: Two back-to-back posts about the dog? This blog is entering dangerous territory! It’s a good thing Norah and Atticus will be home soon so I can start boring you with “what my kid did” stories instead!

My birthday was yesterday and to celebrate Paul and I made our very first batch of homemade mozzarella cheese. Yum! I gave him a ricotta and mozzarella making kit for Christmas and we were excited to try it out. It was easier and messier than I’d anticipated and the results were delicious. We ate it all, but we have plenty of rennet left (enough for 29 more batches!), so anyone who visits can help us out in our new endeavor. It definitely turned out better than the homemade beer we made with last year’s Christmas gift!

I’m not posting a picture of the mouse Stella killed last night – although I did take one to show Paul when he comes home tonight. I came downstairs this morning and there was a tiny, saliva-covered little rodent in the middle of the floor. Last winter we were sitting on the couch with the dog when a little mouse ran across our entryway about 25 feet away. She came within 6 inches of catching it and a couple days later she caught one in the middle of the night and left it next to her bowl. It was obvious that she’d repeated her feat last evening, although you wouldn’t have known it from her lazy stance on the couch. Disclaimer: We don’t have a mouse-infested home; Stella is just very good at catching the few mice that do appear. I’m pretty grossed-out by this, but I can’t help feeling a little bit of pride in her talent. Most dogs don’t really do anything to help out around the house but ours occasionally does!

Warning: Two back-to-back posts about the dog? This blog is entering dangerous territory! It’s a good thing Norah and Atticus will be home soon so I can start boring you with “what my kid did” stories instead!

We celebrated our last childless Christmas weekend by sleeping in. We’re both night owls, so I’m really going to miss getting up on my own lazy schedule and drinking a cup of coffee while the rest of the house is still asleep. Paul and I joke hopefully that Atticus and Norah have been spending their time in Toukoul establishing sleep patterns that will be convenient for us. Perhaps they’ll arrive home to a completely new environment with a completely different time zone and feel the urge to sleep from 9 pm to 9 am each day – I’m holding out hope for that but trying to cherish this last lazy vacation at the same time.

We spent Christmas Eve with Paul’s family, Christmas morning with my parents, hosted dinner at our house, and then had some friends over in the evening. Is it any wonder that I was falling asleep on the couch by the end of the night? It was great to spend time with everybody though. We tried out our new baby carrier using our youngest nephew as a guinea pig. He’s a month older than Atticus and a lot of fun to spend time with. It’s crazy to think we’re going to have two of our own soon! Our niece got an American Girl doll and named it Norah. Atticus and Norah might not be home, but they still got a lot of gifts and cute outfits. In best blog news, my parents and grandparents gave us an awesome digital camera that also works as a camcorder. I’m very excited about being able to take good pictures again, and as soon as I figure out how I’ll make a short film and test out my posting capabilities.

We celebrated our last childless Christmas weekend by sleeping in. We’re both night owls, so I’m really going to miss getting up on my own lazy schedule and drinking a cup of coffee while the rest of the house is still asleep. Paul and I joke hopefully that Atticus and Norah have been spending their time in Toukoul establishing sleep patterns that will be convenient for us. Perhaps they’ll arrive home to a completely new environment with a completely different time zone and feel the urge to sleep from 9 pm to 9 am each day – I’m holding out hope for that but trying to cherish this last lazy vacation at the same time.

We spent Christmas Eve with Paul’s family, Christmas morning with my parents, hosted dinner at our house, and then had some friends over in the evening. Is it any wonder that I was falling asleep on the couch by the end of the night? It was great to spend time with everybody though. We tried out our new baby carrier using our youngest nephew as a guinea pig. He’s a month older than Atticus and a lot of fun to spend time with. It’s crazy to think we’re going to have two of our own soon! Our niece got an American Girl doll and named it Norah. Atticus and Norah might not be home, but they still got a lot of gifts and cute outfits. In best blog news, my parents and grandparents gave us an awesome digital camera that also works as a camcorder. I’m very excited about being able to take good pictures again, and as soon as I figure out how I’ll make a short film and test out my posting capabilities.

On the recommendation of a few families who have recently traveled to Ethiopia, we have made reservations at this guest house. It looks very nice, is reasonably priced, and they’re accustomed to the needs of new adoptive parents.

ETA: Since I’ve noticed that many people still come to my blog after searching for “New Flower Guest House” on Google, I should add that we were very pleased with our experience there. Helen, the owner, and the rest of the staff were lovely, the accommodations and food were very good, and it was a very nice place to spend our first week as a new family. I believe Helen has since moved the guest house to a new (nicer) building, but the one we stayed in was very pleasant. If I recall correctly, Helen is an Ethiopian who spent a decade living in the U.S. before returning to Ethiopia. For awhile, she ran a side business searching for birth families of adopted children so she had a lot of interesting insight into why children are placed for adoption in Ethiopia. Most of her guests are adoptive families from various agencies and we met some very nice people while staying there. In addition, the hotel staff was great about providing us with cribs and doing anything else they could for the kids. We would definitely stay there again and recommend it to others!

On the recommendation of a few families who have recently traveled to Ethiopia, we have made reservations at this guest house. It looks very nice, is reasonably priced, and they’re accustomed to the needs of new adoptive parents.