My Lips Hurt Real Bad

The cut under the eye is from a previous incident! That is one fat lip!! Seth has been attempting some stunts with the skateboard ramp. This one didn't work out so well for him!

Happy Birthday and Ethiopia

I've decided to try to do better at this blogging thing - mainly just as a keepsake for my kids.

Makenzie turned 11 yesterday! It's amazing that she can continue to get older, but I don't! Aunt LoLo tried to show everyone up with the great birthday present she gave Makenzie. Addie was born at 10:04am. It was sort of strange to be at the hospital 11 years later - it was much easier this time for me :) We had plans for Makenzie's birthday and she was super gracious about postponing the plans. I know that Makenzie and Addie will enjoy spending birthdays together for years to come!

In other news: The Neal family dossier is in Ethiopia. We were officially added to the waiting list for an infant boy from Ethiopia with Wide Horizons for Children yesterday. Everything we've been waiting for arrived on the same day! The wait will be about one year until we get a referral. We all know how fast that year will go!

Pictures...

you can always see new pictures at www.dropshots.com/sophiemei. Alright, maybe not ALWAYS, but sometimes....

You are kidding me right??

We had an interesting day today. In the span of about 20 minutes Sophie did/encountered more damage than you can imagine. Upon returning home from the grocery store I dumped all the groceries and Sophie on the rug in the kitchen (not on Rugs, on the rug). After she systematically dumped out all the bags I noticed that her hands were wet... and I smelled pickle juice. The pickle jar had leaked all over the rug and all over Sophie. I removed her from the area for a quick clean up. After about 2 minutes of not hearing any noise at all -- always a bad sign, I went looking for her. She wasn't in her room or Seth's room. The bathroom door was closed, and I had been in the kitchen and didn't see her pass by me. After a minute of panic I checked the bathroom where she was apparently rinsing off the pickle juice with toilet water up to her armpits. I stripped off the 2 wet shirts and put her in the hall way while I cleaned up that mess. She meandered into the living room to find some other things to "explore". I went to the kitchen to continue making dinner when I glance over at her and she is putting something wet and yellow in her mouth. I look on the floor and there is a pile of DOG VOMIT!!! She was eating dog vomit!!!! It was at that point that I decided that the hidden camera Lauren had called to ask me if I had installed in her house to laugh at her kids antics had suddenly been moved to our house.

Walking...

Not really, but falling with style. Sophie has been doing this thing where she will take some really fast steps from Dan to me or vice versa. You can check it out here: www.dropshots.com/sophiemei. Enjoy!!

Wise musings....

I have this great, wise friend (you know who you are - well, probably not - this friend is so great and with it that she isn't online reading blogs (like me) she is working out and cooking and reading, etc). Not that all of my friends aren't wise and great!! Anyway, back to the point - there is one I promise. I was telling this friend that I don't remember having to work so hard to manage with Makenzie and Seth - I don't know if it is going from 2 to 3 or what, but then my friend wisely says "you have mental work with the older ones and physical work with Sophie." Ahhhhh - that's the ticket!!! That's why I have such great friends - they get it.

Sophie has another ear infection - #3 since coming home on Dec 14th! She is such a little trooper though. You woudn't even know that she isn't feeling well except that she isn't sleeping great,.

Rob and Julie are on their way to Ethiopia to get Caden. You can see pics here www.dropshots.com/cadenrobert. I am so excited for their journey and can't wait to meet him!

New Blog

I've decided to start a new blog since our other was about our adoption journey. We are settling nicely into life as a family of five. Hopefully, this will be a way to keep up with family and friends who aren't around the block. Also, it is a great outlet for me and a journal of sorts. So, hold on and wait for something exciting to happen. Or, for something at all to happen....