13 Months - 6 Weeks

There are several things I have been wanted to blog about, but just not enough time in the day to sit down and blog. I returned to work full-time this week, but we had lots of fun that last week before my return to the working world. The weekend before last, we had a big open house type party at our house for friends from Portland and Seattle to "meet and greet" our little Melke. That was hectic and fun. Then during the week we went to the Oregon coast for some fun in the sand and surf...and we had a great time. Then this weekend my aunt had a baby shower for me and Melke with lots of girl family and girl friends. That was also fun (and hectic). (I think everything with a one year old might be just a little hectic.) The shower was on September 26th, which was the day Melke turned 13 months old and the day he had been home with us for 6 weeks! I can't believe we've been home for 6 weeks. Time flies when you are having fun!

For now, I am going to post some pics from our trip to the beach, as I have promised someone special but far away, some cute pictures. Melkamu loved the beach. He enjoyed crawling around really fast through the sand, playing in the sand, trying to eat the sand, and splashing his hands and feet in the waves. We found a relatively inexpensive place to stay that we really liked, in a good location, and I hope we get to go back there again sometime.

....and Grandma too!

My mom and sister kept us very busy while they were here...or maybe we kept them very busy. Lots of walks around the neighborhood with coffee breaks at Cooper's and a walk up to Mt. Tabor. A visit to one of my favorite bakeries, Crema, and playing on the playground at Mt. Tabor. We even got to watch the swifts (birds) one evening that apparently "put on shows" during the month of September. And even a visit to great grandma and grandpa's. Daniel made us some delicious dinners...an Asian bok choy dish and spinach enchiladas.

Lots of birds swirling around in the sky


A visit to great grandma and grandpa's

Grandpa, and Grandma too!

I am glad that in the last few weeks my parents have had the opportunity to spend some more time with Melkamu. My dad and sister and nieces stopped by a few weekends ago for a few hours, so my dad got to hang out with Melke a little. And, last week my mom and sister came and stayed with us for a few days.

Grandpa and his only grandson:

Aunt Deanna and Melkamu:

Cousins, Melk has 7 girl cousins and only 1 boy cousin:

Going back in time - Ethiopia

I posted on August 19th, some pictures from the day we met Melkamu. We had been in Ethiopia early, when we got an e-mail he was sick in the hospital. When Daniel called to check on Melke the next morning, the staff said he was being released from the hospital and that we could see him the next day, on Thursday. So we ended up meeting him a day early. These next set of pictures are from the official meeting day on Friday with the rest of the Holt families and some pictures from our trip south to Durame. We loved, loved visiting Durame. In our travels, our favorite times are getting out and seeing the country and small villages...seeing the people and the children (not that the people aren't in the cities, it's just different).

Friday in the care center

On the road to Durame

Taking a break (The contrast between this well dressed man drinking a cold beverage and the picture of the homes above it does grab my attention in a somewhat painful way)

A road side break...always brought the children running down the street or through the fields to get to our van, for treats of course.


Visiting the care center in Durame. He gave me a flower, so sweet. (But then took it away and gave it to someone else. Ha!)

The streets of Durame

The kids enjoying Daniel's antics. Kids around the world have seen this guys air walk. You can see a couple of them trying it themselves.

Walking through the streets...I had just given the little girls some candy, much to the littlest ones dismay.

Some travel mates and lots of wonderful little people

Dan doing what he loves

This trip to Durame, reminded us of our strong desires to work internationally....Daniel as a teacher in an American International School. But, those schools are always in the cities. So my new dream...to start a school in the country. Daniel can be the education director and I'll be the health director. Anyone care to join us?

"We need to act like this could be fun."

Daniel and I have been wanting to attend his cousins wedding in Seattle for several months, but weren't sure how it would all work out since this adoption was happening sometime around that same time. With our first travel date we thought we'd have plenty of time to adjust and be comfortable going to the wedding events, but when we got moved back two weeks, we were worried we wouldn't have enough time to adjust at home before heading off on a weekend away. As we were deciding how to go about the trip to Seattle and what wedding events to go to, it just all seemed like a daunting, tiring task with a wiggly one year old. How and where were the nap times going to fit in and the snacks times and the breakfast, lunch, and dinner times? And the wedding was at 7pm...how late can the little guy stay up? I thought, 'We traveled from Ethiopia with this kid, we should be able to handle a weekend in Seattle.' At one point Daniel said, "We need to think about this differently, we need to act like this could be fun!" Ah yes, fun! So off we went to have some fun. Our car was completely packed full of stuff. I don't even know where all this stuff came from. Turns out I should not even have brought any toys and books, as we were showered with such items from my co-workers in Seattle and from family.

The weekend went well overall. Melke was a hit at the wedding. The event was in a mansion of sorts, so there were bedrooms upstairs were the little guy could get down and crawl around and a play room for entertaining all the kids at the wedding, so I was glad we went. The first night we stayed at friends in Seattle and the second night with family in Gig Harbor. The only concern we had was the second night, the babe sure had a hard time falling asleep, even the sure thing, the stroller ride just produced tons of screaming. This could be just normal baby, I'm in a new place and can't sleep kind of thing and my schedule is all messed up, but with a newly adopted wee one I worry about all sorts of other things and worry that too many new places too quick is causing too much stress for my little one. Daniel thinks I over think these things, and well yes, that is absolutely true, and I've read too many books on attachment and bonding and trauma of adopted kids. We decided to cancel tentative plans later in the week for an over night trip. I do hope, however, we can get to the beach for a night or two before I have to go back to work at the end of September.

Us

Meetin' special people

Me and my boy

At Golden Gardens

The Boys

He wanted to and tried to eat all of these rocks.

"Wait, I'm not Asian, I'm Ethiopian."
The story goes: Melke's uncle, born in Vietnam, wore this outfit for a picture around his first birthday, as did Melk's aunt, dad, and cousin. So, it was his turn. Pretty cute!

The P Word

I never thought my husband would be so interested in poop. As a nurse, people's BM's have been a focus in my life for several years, but nothing I thought I would hear Daniel talking about so often. He is really into monitoring Melke's poop. Every opportunity he thinks Melk might have, could have, maybe did poop, he is smelling the boy and checking things out. This is not a bad thing, I don't want that little boys skin to sit in ick, so he usually always gets changed immediately and that is a good thing. I just find it amusing to hear Daniel have little conversations with Melke at the changing table - "That's a big poop baby.", "That's just a little poop buddy.", and all the while Melk responds with "Dadada", "Babababa", or squeals of delight at his daddy's funny faces or squeals of frustration at having to hold still yet again. And it has happened more than once that there is a shout from the bathroom changing table - "HOLY POOP BABY!". All of this definitely causes me to chuckle.

If you didn't know better you'd think this was Daniel playing with his son and making him laugh (which I guess it is), but it is really a sneaky way that Daniel is checking for what...yes, the smell of poop.

I can't believe...

...I just let my baby go, with this crazy guy (better known as Dadada).






I'll be worried until they return safe and sound.