Axum is doing very well.  Our first picture of him was when he was one week old.  He was tiny and dehydrated from a long journey from the north and a lack of food.  Nate and I stood over his crib tonight and watched him sleep peacefully.  We noticed how big he looked (he is now eight months old).  The biggest change for him these past few weeks is that he got a helmet.  His head is asymmetrical from laying down on one side in the orphanage.  We hate having to put it on him but felt like it was the best thing to do in the long run.  We hope he adjusts to it quickly and that we see results soon.  Today we noticed one of his top teeth came through.  That’s #3!  It is so exciting to see him grow but bittersweet at the same time.  I remember months going by as he was in the orphanage and knowing that I was missing out on those first 5-6 months of his life.  I would have given anything to hold him and enjoy him as an infant.  But overall I am grateful he is growing and doing so well.  Here’s a picture of Axum with his helmet (yes, we chose the hardcore skull and crossbones).

Abriha and Axum share a strong bond.  When Abriha comes in the room, Axum’s eyes light up and he gets a huge smile on his face.  Abriha loves interacting with Axum.  She is always giving him hugs and kisses.  Nobody can make Axum laugh as hard as Abriha can.  It is so entertaining to watch her perform for him and hear him laugh.  These past few weeks she has wanted to hold him and feed him a bottle.  She holds out her little arms and says “come on! (AKA “let me hold him!)”

I don’t want to paint an unrealistic picture of life with the kids.  We have some crazy moments that all parents experience.  You know, the fun things like getting peed on, having our hair pulled, working through toddler tantrums, etc.

Congratulations kids, it truly is a blessing to be a US citizen!

Abriha Zayla Blair

Axum Tariku Blair

We wish each of you Melkam Gena too!

We were listening to itunes in the background and Bust a Move came on.  Abriha immediately jumped up and started getting down!  We haven’t played that song for her before but apparently she liked the beat.  She has her own style.  Check it out:

Don’t worry, we’re not just feeding her fruit rollups.  She eats just about everything we feed her during meals.  She loved eating lima beans last night and wanted extra bites of spinach tonight.  It’s just more fun to take pictures of her with the fruit rollup.

When we ask her what her favorite food is, she replies: “MUFFINS!”  Yes, muffins.  Who knew?  We think it stems from a Baby Genius video she watches which has the song “Do You Know the Muffin Man”.  My sweet aunt happened to give us muffin mix for Christmas so we got it out and made yummy muffins.  She can’t get enough.

P.S. She only eats the bottom part of the muffin and leaves the top on the plate.  It looks like “Top of the Muffin to You!” wouldn’t get her as a customer.

Little Axum was content to look at the lights and watch us hang the ornaments.

Here is the finished product.

When we arrived at the U.S. Embassy we went through some screening (similar to an airport).  We went to a large room where we took a number and had a seat (similar to a DMV with lots of windows and workers behind them).  One of the workers at Hannah’s Hope, Tsegie, met us there and took a seat next to us.  We only had to wait 15 minutes or so.  Miraculously Axum didn’t make a peep and cuddled in my arms.  Abriha was content in Nate’s arms. When our number was called we went to a window as an American on the other side started asking us questions.  She verified the history of the children and had us sign a few documents.  We raised our right arms and declared that everything was correct.  She then said “Your adoption is now full and final.”  Hooray!! It was a pretty simple process, but we were so relieved afterwards.

We tried to maintain the kids’ schedule, and they did pretty well with it.  Abriha took her nap a little later than normal and Axum’s stomach was still giving him problems.  We think it is because he is not used to the formula (he had been on the Ethiopian brand).  Poor little guy!  After Abriha’s nap she started to cry and was really sad.  We were told this would likely happen.  She was certainly confused and sad to be away from everyone at Hannah’s Hope so we gave her lots of love and attention.  Luckily she trusts us and cuddled in our arms for a long time but it still broke our hearts.  Of course this will be a very difficult transition for her but overall we know she is resilient and a happy girl.  She eventually started opening up again.  She had fun eating dinner and was excited to brush her teeth and get in her jammies.  Little Axum loves all the attention. He holds our fingers when he eats his bottle and sleeps.

Overall, it was a really good, long awaited day. We are looking forward to being home with these two kids!

Day 4, Part 1 (Nate)

Today was our last day of the first trip with our kids. A was sitting on the corner steps playing when we got there. We picked her up and took her over to the baby area where they were all sunning. T was with one of the special mothers and he looked happy. The first thing I did was to take out A’s and T’s photobooks that we made them. I sat down with A on my lap and went through hers with her, which she really seemed to like. After a few pages, she was pointing out mine and April’s faces. Then she removed my hand from supporting the book, and she took over and started turning pages. A lot of the other kids and even the special mothers seemed really interested in the book too. After we were done with it, it got passed around for a while.

After that, I went and got out the accessories to the My Little Pony we gave A on the first day. She loved those. She took the little basket accessory, put all the small pieces in it and carried it around for most of the time we were there until she had to go eat lunch. Oh, and she was still wearing her necklace today. I’m not sure where her ring went, but I’d bet that one of the other kids took it.

I also spent some time with T today, walking around the grounds, looking at things. Every once in a while, I would lift him up so he would make eye contact. I can always get him to smile by doing that. April played with him for quite a while too. He really is a happy baby. The more eye contact we can get out of him, the more smiles.

We get to go back one more time today before we leave for the airport. Our schedule said we would have from 8:30am to 7:00 pm with the kids, but apparently there was an error and we had to leave at 1:30. We’ll have from 3:00 to 4:30 before we have to leave.

Day 4 Part 2 (April)

We then went back to the hotel to rest and wait for the kids to eat and take naps.  I was exhausted so I took a nap. Nate wrote in his journal.  At 3:00 we were picked up again for our final visit to Hannah’s Hope. We brought a blanket and sat the kids down with us. A colored, played with stickers and interacted with us.  We took out the picture book we made and she was pointing everyone out.  She would point to Nate and say “daddy” and would point to me and say “Mommy.”  We brought some baby cheetos and she loved them. We were happy that she was feeding some to us.  At one point she went to put one in my mouth and then quickly took it away and put it in her mouth.  She started laughing really hard.  She then took the box of crayons and hid it under her shirt. I said “Oh no, where are the crayons?”  She would then pull them out quickly and start laughing. She played that game with me for about 5 minutes. T was happy. He was babbling and observing what we were doing. We gave each kid a small Lion King stuffed animal. T was reaching for it. He also played with my necklace. We wanted to get a few more pictures so Nate took the camera and ran to the babies and older kids. He got great pictures. The parents will be very happy. He came back and we played a bit more. At 4:30 we were told it was time to say goodbye. It came very fast and didn’t feel real. We took T up to his crib. We gave him kisses. He started crying so one of the special mothers took him. We then walked A back outside. Wass told her it was time to go to another room and that she should give us kisses goodbye. She then ran off. We then gathered our things and left.

When we got back to the hotel we sent our families an email update and a few pictures from the day. We have heard back from a lot of family and friends who are so excited for us. We are grateful for their support. We know A and T will be loved by so many people when they get home.

We left the hotel at 8:00 PM and headed for the airport. We had time to eat dinner and then got on the plane at 11:00 PM. I tried not to sleep because it was still early afternoon in Utah. I was able to stay awake until 4:00 PM MST. Before too long we landed in Frankfurt. We had a 3 hour layover. The flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was quite long, although we did the best we could to sleep since it was nighttime in Salt Lake by then. Luckily there were two seats behind us that were empty. I went back there and slept better on the two seats. I must admit, I’m not a huge fan of flying. I keep thinking it will be extremely overwhelming to have two kids on the flight with us on the next trip. The final leg of the trip went well.

It does seem strange to leave Ethiopia without A and T. We are trying to be optimistic and will keep ourselves busy until we return.

We woke up at 6:30, showered, and ate breakfast.  At 8:30 our driver Danny picked us up.  It was rush hour, so the traffic was crazy.  We arrived at the courthouse at 9:15.  We had a representative with us who carried all our documentation.   We walked in a small room that was filled with people (Ethiopians and foreigners).  There were 30 seats around the perimeter of the room and all were taken.  The center of the room was full of people, so we went to a place that had an opening.  There was another couple there so we started talking to them.  We found out they were from Wyoming and were adopting a little girl from another agency.  We enjoyed getting to know them.

One by one, people got called in to the judge’s office and the room thinned out until it was only us and about four European families.  We waited in that room for about two hours.  We found out that our files were missing, so somebody had to go find them.  Somebody finally came in with a stack of files and a few minutes later the court worker opened the door and called “Bethzatha”.  That meant us, though we weren’t sure why our cased was called Bethzatha.  Our kids never spent time there, although others kids from Hannah’s Hope do.

So we went in the judge’s office and took a seat.  She spoke English and asked us questions like, “Since you started the process, have you learned about Ethiopia?”, “Are you prepared to deal with the identity issues your children will have?”, “Are these your first children?”, “Do you know other adoptive families that you can meet with?”  Then she told us that once this is finalized, we cannot change our minds.  We told her we understood.  Then she said the words we were hoping to hear: “Your file is complete. They are yours”.  We were SO happy to hear those words!!!  I thanked her and felt a rush of emotions.  It was one of the happiest moments knowing A and T are officially our children.

After court, Danny took us to an Italian restaurant and then shopping at an outdoor market.  We then returned to Hannah’s Hope, where we spent another couple hours with the kids.  When we got there, the toddlers were in a room with the special mothers.  A ran out to hug us.  She was wearing a ring and necklace that we gave her.  We went over to the swings and Nate went to get T in the baby house.  I held A in my lap and told her that we are now a family.  I knew she didn’t understand me but it was surreal to tell her and to think that she and T are officially part of our family.

After Nate got T we took turns holding him and getting him to interact with us.  He started talking a lot and we took a little video of him.  Once in awhile we would hold him up to get him to make eye contact with us and smile.  We are in LOVE with his smile!!!  He is such a happy and good baby.

A was fascinated with the buttons on my sweater.  I watched as she carefully buttoned each one of them.  I was glad to see she had good fine motor skills and a good attention span.  She would notice when an airplane would go by and point to it.  She would say “ah-roh-PLAHN!” in Amharic and get excited.  Nate and I were happy to know that she loves airplanes.  Hopefully her enthusiasm continues through our long flight to the US!

Right before we left, A was acting very cute towards Nate.  She had her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss before a special mother took her away with the other kids.  Then we went up to the baby room and handed T to his special mother.

Shortly after we met A, another special mother brought out T.  He was so much bigger than the pictures!  That made us happy to see that he was growing well.  The special mother handed him right to Nate.  He has a hard time making eye contact too, but when he does, he gives us a big smile.  He started babbling and making soft screeches and he seemed to like us.

We then had an orientation with Tsigie about our I-600 forms and a few other random items.  It was a little hard concentrating as we held T and watched A run around the office with her my little ponies.

After that we were able to just play with the kids for a couple of hours. We went upstairs to a little area outside A’s room and got out some toys.  A was really excited to show us her bed.  She started to open up as she played with us.  She loved to scoot around on a little box that had spinning blocks on it.  At the same time, we were able to feed T for the first time, and he went to sleep for us. He was a sweet baby.

When it was lunchtime, we went into the lunch room and watched A and a bunch of other kids eat.  She loved her beef and injera, and she even let me help her eat.  Nate helped her wash her hands when she was done.

Shortly before we left, we went over to the swings because we knew A loves the swings.  We sat her on our laps and the swung for a little while.  By that time she made a bit more eye contact, and she gradually let me get closer to giving her a kiss. It was very cute.

After that it was time to go after one last time seeing T and seeing A get ready for her nap. She waved goodbye to us and we had to leave.  It was a bit disappointing only being able to spend two hours with them, but we’ll be back tomorrow for some more time.

Tonight we had dinner at a place called Yod Abyssinia. They called it the “cultural dinner” because we had Ethiopian food and we watched a neat singing and dancing program.  The food was similar to what we get at the Ethiopian restaurant in Salt Lake, but this one was better.  It was a big plate of injera and a few different meats and sauces.  The restaurant was packed with younger Ethiopians and quite a few Chinese people.  It must be one of the good places in the city to go eat.

As we started eating, the band sat up on stage and started playing music.  We got some video of it.  The dancers came out next and the one that really attracted our attention was one with a few drums and a lot of shoulder and head movements.  Wass told us it was a dance from Tigray, so naturally we were more interested because that’s where our kids are from.  The Ethiopian culture is so beautiful.  It is a blessing that our kids come from a rich heritage.  They can be so proud to be Ethiopian.  We hope to help them appreciate and keep their Ethiopian identities.

After the dinner we were taken back to our hotel where we emailed pictures to family and friends.

Well, it’s time for bed and we are anxious for another exciting day with A and T.