4 months home---11 months old

Picture #1--Referral picture at 4 months old.
Picture #2--First day home at 7 months old.
Picture #3--Current at 11 months old.

Lots to update about

When we were on the wait list, the days would just drag on and on. Now that we are home, the days fly by. I don't post as much as I used to b/c there isn't as much to tell. Sunday will be 4 months home. Wow! Yes time does fly.  It is so hard to believe we have been home for 4 months.

Kobe has changed so much over the past 4 months. His newest trick...pulling himself up on everything. Boy are his arms long. ;) He has been army crawling for a long time. He gets on his hands and knees all of the time, but doesn't use that as a mode of transportation. Tonight I saw him crawl as much as he ever has so I believe soon he will be crawling as fast as he was army crawling. Nothing is safe!!!

Soon our little boy will be going to daycare full time. I know he will do much better than his mom will. We have spent lots and lots of time just Mommy and baby. It has to be done, but it will be hard. I have gotten spoiled b/c for 4 months I have been able to stay home with him. He has grown and changed so fast b/c he was delayed when we brought him home and he caught up quickly. I will miss all of the time that I spend with him. I'm sure we will both be happy  to see each other when the day is over.

I finally set up an appointment to have Kobe tested for allergies. I wasn't too concerned before since he was just on formula. Now as he gets closer to being a year, I need some guidance as to what kind of milk we will transition to....coconut, almond, or rice. I'm hoping that we can get some more concrete answers as opposed to trial and error. The 2 times he was given milk based items, he threw up every 10 minutes for the first hour and continued to throw up for about 4 hours.  Do we need to keep him away from the big milk items like milk, yogurt, and ice cream? Or do we need to keep him away from everything that has milk in it? I hope we don't have to do trial and error. I hope that the testing gives us some answers. I will feel better having a professional on our "team" through this.

When we first brought Kobe home, his labs were whacked out. His liver enyzmes were very high. We were sent to an Infectious Disease doctor. He had an ultrasound done on his liver and everything looked good. This ID doctor has been keeping an eye on his labs. He was just re-tested the beginning of August. His liver enyzmes have dropped, but are still higher than she would like them. We need to re-test again the beginning of September. If they haven't dropped enough, she is going to refer us on to an Internal Medicine Doctor. I made the mistake of looking on the internet to see causes of high liver enyzmes. All that did was freak me out. I hope/pray that those levels will be down next blood draw and all will be well. I need to remind myself that God already knows what is going on. He chose this child to be ours. He is truly the perfect fit for our family.

Lots of changes and testing going on in the next few weeks. We certainly would appreciate your prayers. Thanks much!

Here is a picture of Little Mr. Trouble.

3 months home

It is so hard to believe we have been home 3 months. When we were on the wait list, days drug on and on. Now that we are home, the days just fly by! I've tried to keep the journal as real as I can be. The rewards are great, but the struggles are very real also. It has been quite the transition to go from the independence of a 14 year old and a 10 year old to a busy, moving little baby. With the struggles, there is so much joy!!! It is unreal the joy that this little boy brings to our family, friends, and our community. Every day we see more and more of what a perfect fit he is for our family. We continue to feels God's hand in this journey as we ALL have experienced so many changes in the past 3 months. I want to thank you for your constant love, support, and prayers. The wait was so worth it and we can't imagine our life with our little trouble making monster. :) I'm posting a picture that was taken on our first day home and a picture at 3 months home. What's love got to do with it? EVERYTHING!! :)

Baptism

Kobe was baptized last week on Mommy's birthday. "Blessings" became the unset theme of his baptism. There were so many things that fell into place. God has truly blessed us over and over. It is very neat to stand back and see the many blessings God has given us. Here is a picture of our little man in his baptismal gown that was made 27 years ago by Great Grandma Elsie. Kobe was the 24th great-grandchild to be baptismed in this special gown. Yet another blessing. (He was less than impressed to be taken yet another picture)

I'm also including a picture of Kobe in his traditional Ethiopian clothes.

                                                   

 

God's amazing love

Anyone that knows me well will know that my grandma meant the world to me. She has been gone for 9 years now. It has always bothered me that she would never meet our newest addition to our family. If you are a faithful blog follower, you will know that at our shower I got a very special gift from my grandma. (With the help of my parents) We were in the process of adopting for over 2 years before we came home. There were many times when I thought about our newest little one's baptism. In 1985, my grandma made a baptismal gown for the great grandkids to be baptized in. 23 kids have used it, including both of our girls. For a long time, I was so distraught about not being able to have my grandma at our little one's baptism and not being able to use the gown was just as bad. We did get things figured out. Jason had a solution that made me truly comfortable. This past weekend we got the box that had the baptismal gown in it. There is a blanket that has been passed around too. I thought we would use the blanket for sure. I thought I'd try the gown on just to see how much too small it was. Ummm...IT FITS!!!! Seriously what are the chances that a 9 month old baby that weighs 20 pounds would fit into this gown my grandma made 27 years ago? God's hand is totally in this. Thank you God for not only the hug from my grandma, but that Kobe will be wrapped in her love on the day that he becomes a child of God. Only a story God could write.

Hand, Foot, and Mouth

This has been a long, tough week for our little man. He was exposed to Hand, Foot, and Mouth and actually ended up with it. Yuck! Not fun. It started on Tuesday night with high temps up to 104*. We had a long/short night. We were up constantly checking for a fever and spent quite a bit of time in the rocking chair with a wet hand towel on Kobe trying to drop his temp. He was miserable and just didn't sleep well between how he felt and me not leaving him alone. By Wednesday, the blisters came. The worst ones are on this arms and knees that are constantly scraped as he scoots across the floor. We also found the blisters were in his mouth and in his throat. Poor baby!! I am posting this almost 4 days after this all started. I can say that finally he is feeling better. He is smiling and the twinkle is back in his eyes. Finally he feels better. What a tough few days as he just hurt so bad. He voice is still a bit hoarse due to the blisters in his throat. I thought I'd post a couple of pictures.

Bigger blisters on hand

Knee

Elbow/forearm

Checking in

It seems like it has been awhile since I've posted so I thought I better check in and let you know what was going on. Not too much new here which is good news. We have been home 2 months and our little one is now 9 months old. This weekend he started to scoot. He hasn't been too busy this week getting into things, but the time is coming. (And fast I do believe) It is amazing to watch him respond to familiar faces vs strangers. He doesn't cry, but gets a look on his face and certainly searches for Dad, Mom, Micala, or Lexi. It is great to see he has attached to us as that was such a concern since he has had so many caretakers in his short life. He used to smile at everyone. Now he is more reserved on his smiles. He is still very happy, but there is true emotion behind the smiles.

The other day I tried making homemade baby food. I thought I could try and save a bit of money. It was actually enjoyable. Lexi was a great helper. We didn't even get everything done and the blender died. Too bad we borrowed the blender so now our "cheap baby food" has now turned into replaced a blender for a friend. So it goes.

Kobe is working on some new teeth. He has 2 on the bottom. The top gums are so red and swollen. Yesterday he was very out sorts. I wasn't sure if he was just getting spoiled or not. I feel bad b/c here he was hurt and I thought maybe he was just being naughty. Oops! So hard to know.

The summer is getting into full swing and we are busy, busy. This little man has brought so much joy to our lives in the 2 months he has been here. He really is a perfect fit for our family. We love him so much!!!!!