Laughing with Mommy and Daddy

Life is GOOD!

One Year Ago Today...

...We met our son for the very first time! There are truly no words to express the joy Shea and I felt when we were finally able to hold Truman Bekalu in our arms. We continue to feel lucky every single day that Truman has come into our lives!!!

One Year Ago Today...

...we landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 11:00pm after over 36 hours of travel. We were exhausted, dehydrated, and in culture shock as we walked off of our plane. We also felt indescribable joy knowing that we had finally made it to our son's birth country! We soon discovered that our baggage was lost and that because our plane was over 4 hours late no one from our agency was there to meet us. After wandering around the airport for over an hour trying to figure out what to do, a nice man offered us his cellphone to call our agency's in-country representative, Ato Teklu (all of the phones in the airport were shut off by that time at night). Thirty minutes later we met Mesfin, WACAP's driver, for the first time. (Later we would learn that Mesfin had been the one who had driven Truman over 5 hours from the town he was born in, South Gondar, to WACAP's transition house in Addis Ababa when our sweet angel was only 2 months old. When we asked Mesfin what Truman had been like at that time, he said "Much smaller!" and described him as a happy baby). After about a 10 minute drive we arrived at our hotel. Within minutes we were out like a light, knowing that by that time tomorrow we would have met our son!

Happy Anniversay!

Just want to give a quick "Happy Anniversary" shout-out to my wonderful husband! This year has been quite an adventure for us. We have experienced overwhelming joy, sad loss, and everything in between. I feel so lucky to call Shea my husband and I can't imagine being on this journey with anyone else. LOVE YOU!!!

One Year Ago Today...

We departed North Carolina on our way to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! While the journey was anything but smooth, by the end of the day we were boarding a plane to Germany - our final layover before Ethiopia!!!

Unexpected Fun!

So I was originally scheduled to work Monday through Wednesday of this week; however, so far I have been 0 for 2 of parents bringing their children in to complete evaluations. While at first this has seemed very frustrating (especially since I've been waking up super early to get to my schools by 7:30am and then receiving the cancellation calls while I'm already all set up and ready to go), it's actually been quite nice to have these two days off! Yesterday I was able to clean the house while Shea and Truman were at daycare (Shea works at the daycare every Monday) and today we were all able to enjoy a day at the waterpark. While I'm quite hopeful that my work plan for tomorrow will go as expected, if not I'm sure we'll all have another good day ahead of us!

Those Eyes!

They get me every time.

Close-Ups

Just a couple of close-up shots. (I'm crazy for the first one - I love Truman's beautiful face! Shea's favorite is the second one - he likes the profile shots :-)

Outdoorsman

We've mentioned before (many times) how much Truman loves the outdoors; however, have we mentioned that Shea and I aren't really the outdoorsy type? I mean, we love to walk on the beach or take a stroll around our neighborhood, but when it gets hot (and by hot I mean anything more than about 80 degrees) we tend to stay inside. So when it's in the 90's (which it has been for about the past month) we usually pump the AC and enjoy a good book inside rather than brave the heat. Truman, however, is pushing us outside our comfort zone :-) He is starting to get really good (perhaps a bit too good) at telling us what he wants, and what he usually wants is to go outside regardless of the temperature. Truman's new thing is to go stand by our sliding glass door and bang on it until we agree to take him outside. While this has resulted in sweaty, overheated parents on the one hand, it also equates to a super happy baby boy on the other - I think Truman's going to win this battle every time!!!








By the way, thanks for the cute outfit Grandma Bernard!!!

Tall, Tall Boy!

Yesterday Shea took Truman for his 15-month checkup (Yes, your math is correct - Truman actually turned 16 months old a few days ago; however, our pediatrician - whom we loved - moved to Malawi, Africa last month to live for two years to work with AIDS victims, forcing us to find a new pediatrician - not that we are mad at her wonderful life decision, though it did cause some confusions in our schedules. Luckily, our pediatrician recommended a new doctor - whom Shea said was great - so life is all good in our neck of the woods again). Anywho, we have been thinking that Truman has seemed very tall lately, and our doctor's measurements confirmed our suspicions. Truman is now in the 68th percentile for weight (26.5lbs) and the 85th percentile for height (33 inches). Isn't that crazy? This is the first time that Truman's height percentile has beaten his weight percentile :-) Ever since we received our referral picture of Truman my mom has been saying she thinks he's going to be tall (based on his large hands and feet) - now I'm thinking maybe she's right!

Visit From LeeMarie!

Last week we were lucky to get a visit from our good friend LeeMarie! It has been too long since we were able to catch up, and I was super excited to have her see how big Truman has gotten. Unfortunately, as soon as she arrived Truman decided it was naptime. We were able to get in one quick book reading before Truman fell asleep. He then proceeded to sleep for the entire 3-1/2 hours of her visit (kids are funny like that, aren't they?). Anyway, LeeMarie is going to start working in my school district next year (super yay!) so I am sure we will have more frequent opportunities to get together :-)

Teeth Update

I realized that I haven't given any updates on Truman's teeth situation lately. As of two days ago he has 12 teeth, including two premolars on top and two premolars on bottom. His most recent was the bottom right premolar, and it has been a little rough coming in! Almost every tooth has resulted in a cold/illness of some kind, and unfortunately this one has been no different. Even so, he continues to be his usual happy, smiley self!

Here are some pictures where you can see Truman's new teeth. Shea and I still aren't used to Truman's bottom molars, and oftentimes we think Truman has a piece of something (napkin or book) in his mouth, but then it turns out it's just one of his big, white teeth :-)

Happy Father's Day!!!

In honor of Father's Day, I made Shea a special video. I truly believe he is the most loving, giving, and attentive father I have ever met. Enjoy!

Riding Cars

One of Truman's new favorite games is riding his little car around the house. He brings his car over and then either pats our arms or cries at us until we start pushing him around. He thinks it's so funny when we push him fast!




Tonight after we thought we were done playing, Shea went to get Truman's dinner ready - but Truman decided he wanted to ride a little bit more and brought his car over to Daddy :-)

Truman Says "Mmm!"

Truman has a real love/hate relationship with peas. We don't know what it is about them, but he loves to bite them, spit them out, bite them again, spit them out again, and so on. We think maybe he likes the pea insides but not the shell, but we can't be sure. Anywho, tonight while eating peas (which he requested over his favorite ravioli) Truman said "Mmm!" for the first time - it's pretty freakin' adorable!!!

Truman Eats Pizza

Now with video!

As Promised...

More pictures of our baby in nothing but his diaper (due to the insane southern heat)!




But then sometimes it's fun to get all snuggled up and warm for reading time :-)

Waiting for Daddy

Here's a progression of pictures showing Truman waiting for his Daddy to come into the room and his excitement following Daddy's arrival :-)




There is a lot of love in our house!!!