Going on with Life

Well, this past month has made all the difference in the world in our home. Natalie is finally what I would call completely settled in. She will now play on the floor alone, she goes to sleep by herself, and I have atleast a new "normal" life. Praise the Lord. After 2 entire months of sitting in our big recliner holding her in my arms and after more than a week of listening to her cry because I wasn't holding her, she finally realizes that I'm not leaving her, that she can play in the floor alone, she can sleep in her crib, and yes, she can go to sleep on her own. That last thing was totally new to me....I'd NEVER put my big kids to bed ALONE, and let them go to sleep ALONE. I've always been the mommy that wanted the very attached children.....but Natalie would take any sane person over the edge. She would only go to sleep in her bouncy seat, and if I got up out of THE CHAIR, she instantly woke up and cried, and no she would not go back to sleep. So after I finally figured out that it WAS OK for her to cry, I began putting her in her crib, turning on the big box fan, and let her cry it out on her own. She also would not sit alone in the floor....at all. So there we had to let her cry it out too. Man, that was a hellish 2 weeks. Pardon my language, but there is no other way to describe it. I honestly thought I was loosing my mind.

Now, I'm so very proud to tell you that Natalie is a very good baby. She'd still prefere that I carry her most of the time, and I do a great deal, because I like it too, but I am able to clean my house, ride in the car with out her screaming the entire way, spend some time with the older kids, and Natalie is okay. I am so very proud of her, and of myself for helping her though that rough time. Praise God!!!!!!

Natalie is also much more independent.....when she came home she was 5 months old and couldn't pick up a toy and bring it too her mouth. Her hand-eye coordination was not good at all. She also couldn't roll over---either way. But Josh didn't roll over either. I think that due to her breathing problems she had before, she simply couldn't breath well enough to be on her stomach. But today, she is rolling over, both ways, she will get onto her knees from lying on her belly, she can rock back and forth on all 4's, and sit up from that position. It's awesome. But I'm loosing my little baby so fast. She can say 3 words, dada was her 1st during her
6th month, mum mum (mom mom)and bub bub (Josh) just this past month. Let me tell you, you've never seen a prouder big brother than Josh was when she said bub bub. Now sissy (Ashley) is so darn jealous. It's so precious to see how much they adore their little sister.

I am loving being a stay at home mom. It's a blessing and an honor and something that I never take for granted. But I have to share with you that we are having some financial difficulties and I ask that you help us to pray about those, that God can take care of it all in his own way. I really don't want to go back to work. I am a much better mommy when I don't have the stress of my job to deal with too. For those of you who don't know, I'm an ER nurse besides a mommy. I love my job, but it is very emotionally tiring. Eddie is still going to school full time besides working, so it's very hard on him too. He'll finish up his bachelor's degree in Nursing this May.. he's an ER nurse too, and is planning to go to Vanderbilt University this fall to obtain his master's degree, and will be a Nurse Practicioner by May of 2011. He will have to go to school on student loans to complete this last part, but already has a physician that will pay those off for us if Eddie will work in his ER for 3 years. What a blessing it will be to get those loans paid off, but we have to get approved for the loans first. So we would greatly appreciate your prayers as we work through all this. With the worsening economy, the hospital where Eddie works has cut out all the overtime, and that has caused us to fall short on our monthly budget, so it's definately not been easy for us. Thanks in advance for your prayers.

I'll post some pictures this week. We've had a tough couple weeks. We've recently had a death in the family---my uncle who had terminal throat cancer went to be with Jesus last week, and my grandmother has been in the hospital and is now home, but is on oxygen all the time.---Both my uncle and grandmother are/were smokers.....so anyone out there that smokes, or has family that does.....well, you know they need to quit.

Home for nearly 2 months

DDR anyone???

I really do like going to the park....

No, I didn't eat mommy's ice cream sandwich!!!!!!


OK, maybe I did eat her ice cream sandwich


Yes, I know I'm beautiful.

Who turned out the lights????

Where did everybody go????

My "sink bath"


Don't be lookin' at my fat rolls!!!!!!!

Dad, did you put me some Dr. Pepper in this cup????
Yes dad, of course I like the Yankees, now get me some Dr. Pepper!!!!

Hey, I said don't be lookin' at my fat rolls!!!!!!!

Bananas, I didn't see any bananas

Mommy putting in my first "pretties"

Me and my sweet grate granny

Me sleeping in my bouncy seat

I love my baby doll

Well, if I were to tell you that this has been the easiest 2 months ever, I'd be lying....Natalie came home a very fussy baby. Now that she's been home for a while now and we've watched her personality blossom, I can honestly tell you that she really did have a rough time with adjustment. She cried more than she did anything else the first 2 weeks. After that, I honestly just could not put her down or leave her side. I went through grieving my freedom....I honestly really couldn't put her down. I grieved not getting to spend time with my other 2 kids, with my husband, and not having time to eat, let alone take a shower. So, the 1st 2 months have really not been easy, but I wouldn't change a thing. I can also honestly say that things are getting easier. Natalie is now only awake 1-2 times at night, yes, she still sleeps with me, and will let me put her down for about 30 minutes now. She has grown very comfortable in her new home and with her family. She obvioustly knows that we are her forever family. She smiles all the time and laughes so easily. She now doses off to sleep easily and wakes up to give everyone a big smile and coos. We are so blessed. Through our hardship, we've learned so much about our new little girl, and we know that she is meant to be here...in OUR family. Natalie, what a blessing it is to know you so intimately, thank you for teaching us all about you.

Things that I've learned about Natalie so far
Here is what Natalie has told me:
I love to take a bath
I love to splash the water
I love my big brother and sister
I love to sing and be sung to
I'm happiest in the mornings
I'm very flexible!!!!!!!!!!!
I love to play
I love to be close to my mommy
I know my name is now Natalie
I love to eat what mommy's eating
I can sit quietly and get my hair done
I love to look at pictures
I love to be read to
I love the color red
I love my bouncy seat
I hate to be alone
I hate getting my new earrings cleaned
I hate getting dressed


On Natalie's 6 month old birthday we got her ears pierced. Wow, that was tough. I dreaded it so bad. We went to Claire's where Ashley got her ears pierced a long time ago, and they were able to do both ears at once. She screamed about 20 seconds and then was just fine. Her big, protective brother was completely against the whole idea, and yes, he was with us. He said, "Your're not really going to do this to her are you?" When I said, "yes dear, we are", he was VERY upset with me. Once I sat down in the seat with Natalie in my lap, ready to get the "dirty deed" done, he stood in front of her to hold her hand, but just as they were getting ready to put the earrings through, he stepped away, and said, "I just can't watch". Oh what a great big brother you have Natalie. I think he cried more than Natalie did.

Our second doctors visit has now came and gone. Natalie was so excited to be at the doctor's office. All the staff have to come out and see her one at a time and make over her. She loves it because they don't overwhelm her. But then they had to bring out the needles, she then didn't like those people very much. She gained nearly 4 pounds, yes, nearly 4 pounds in the 5 weeks between her appointments. 3 pounds, 8 ounces to be exact, and grew 1 inch. She's definately became quite a little chunk.

She also knows who her family is. She wont let anyone hold her but our immediate family: only mom, dad, bubby and sissy, can hold her. I love attachment!!!!!!!!!! What a blessing this past two months have been and what great time I've had reliving it in this post. Hope you all enjoy it half as much as I have.

Blessings to you all!!!!!!!!!!

Gotcha day-----December 8, 2008

Yes, we are officially back from Ethiopia and have our precious daughter home, for a week now----wow, so hard to believe it's been a week. We left for Ethiopia on December 6th, and boy what a long plane ride it was to get to Ethiopia...a grueling 27 hours, and with all that pent up excitement and raw emotion, not an easy trip over there. Dear hubby came down with a case of nervous diarrhea the he just knew was the stomach flu, but it wasn't just nerves, like I told him it was!!!!!!LOL. We traveled with 7 other families, all great families that I enjoyed getting to know so much and miss them lots. After arriving in Addis Ababa, we were all so weary. We were taken to the hotel by bus, our luggage was unloaded and we were tucked in for the night. Did we sleep????? Are you kidding?????? There was no way I could sleep knowing that my baby girl was little more than a block away. The next morning-----December 8th, 2008, we got up, was met at the hotel by Almaz, and finished our paper work. Almaz is completely awesome guys, I adore this woman!!!!!!!!, then it was time to go meet my little girl. We all went to Hannah's Hope as a group and stood out in the driveway and got to watch as each family met their precious child and children. 3 families met their babies, then some one came to me and Eddie and said---Tigist is upstairs asleep....Asleep, oh no, I want to hold her!!!! I can barely remember going upstairs, I was so exicted, so nervous, just completely overwhelmed with emotion. 2 of the people I just witnessed getting their precious children were very dear people in my life, I was completely moved by what I had just saw, and now it was my turn, but she was asleep. How was that going to go? We got upstairs, walked over to her tiny crib, and there she was, resting so peacefully. She was absolutely beautiful, she took my breath away. After standing there in complete awe, she woke up, looked up at us and smiled so big, as if to say, Hi mom and dad, it's about time you get here. She never cried, only smiled and cooed. Then we had to leave her there, to go eat lunch and go shopping....SHOPPING..... I hate shopping....I just wanted to stay with my girl. But we left and I couldn't think of anything besides going back to get my little girl. At 5:30 that day, Ethiopian time, we took her to the hotel with us, she will never be an orphan again, she will never live another day in an orphanage.----Praise be to our Holy God--------
Our time at the Union Hotel was so special. We all 3 just hung out, did what ever we felt like----which was mostly nothing----- and bonded with Natalie Tigist Grace Meade.

During our trip to Ethiopia we met Natalie's birth mom. I will leave that info confidential, but I can tell you it was difficult, but well worth the heart ache. We also got to bond with the other families, and Eddie and I spent some much needed time together. The plane ride home was again torture, but we survived.

We've been home a week now. I can tell you that Natalie's breathing has improved. She wheezed a lot in Ethiopia, but not so much now. She's growing like a weed, but is very short for her age---she takes that after me, LOL. She found her feet yesterday, is sitting up on her own some, and grasping things and bringing them to her mouth better. I started her on cereal today, I hope it helps her sleep better at night. She sleeps in 2 hour interval, and gets up for bottles at that time. We definately hope that gets better. I know that she would rather for me to hold her all the time than to be put down, she stares at me when someone else holds her, and I think she reached for me today, at least I like to think she did. We are having so much fun getting to know her. She definately has us wrapped around her little finger, and is definately running this house right now.

My prayers now are for continued good bonding and attachment, good health and happiness, many prayers for Hannah's Hope and Almaz----such a great orphanage, and for Natalie's birth mom. We feel that she is now part of our family and love her so much.

What a pleasure it is to finally post about our gotcha day, and bringing our little girl home. People are asking if we're going to have any more new additions to the family. We honestly don't know, can't really see that far ahead right now. But know that we have our ears open to God's will and would gladly walk in complete faith again, no matter where He calls us....

I leave you with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs....Our God is an awesome God He reigns from Heaven above, with wisdom, power, and love, our god is an awesome God.

Thank you all for your diligent prayers as we've walked this path, and I look forward to continuing to share pictures and stories of our little family.

Our baby Natalie

So much to catch up on

Well, I haven't posted in a month. So much has happened in this past month, it is just mind boggling. Yes, we passed courts, and we got our travel dates. I'll give you one guess as to where I was when I got that call----yealp, I was at work, can you belive it---I'm always at work when Julie calls with big news. I was working up on 4th floor, having a pretty good day. I went down to get lunch and was getting off the elevator on 4th floor to go to the break room and eat when my phone rang. I looked down at it and it was Julie. I froze for a few seconds and finally answered with a "UUUMMMM, hello". Yes, I was so scared it was bad news, but it wasn't!!!!! Julie says, "Are you ready to go pick up your baby?" OH MY GOSH!!!!! We traveled Dec. 6th to 12th. What a trip and what a time we are having with our new little one. I'll post pictures and such when I get them all organized. I cant wait to fill up this blog with her beautiful face. More later!!!!!!

Tagged

I got tagged!!!!!!!! This picture is from my 4th file, and is the 4th picture in that file. It is of ME, horray, it's a crummy picture of me with "lovely" naturally curly hair. I hate my hair that way. But this was taken in El Salvador on my 1st mission trip. I am in the make shift clinic which was really the Sunday school area at the little church we attend in El Salvador. This clinic was much nicer than the last one we served in. As you may be able to see, we had actual walls here. Our last mission trip our clinic only had corrigated tin and cardboard boxes for walls. I am treating a patient, not sure what her ailment was. We treated over 400 people during that particular week that we were there. You can also see medicines behind me, that is our "makeshift" pharmacy. All those medicines was donated to us by several different drug companies. That was an awesome, life changing trip. I made many lifelong friends in a different culture and they are people I consider as my family.----Gosh, I miss it there.

I don't know who to tag, so if you haven't been tagged and your reading this, YOU'RE it!!!!!!