Quick update

Doctor's visit today went well. The baby's heart beat is 146 bpm. Noelle was usually around 144 bpm :) We will do a level 2 ultrasound on June 9th and my next visit will be on June 12th. Updates after the 12th for the new little one unless something happens.

Eli is in the throes of a growth spurt! He is eating us out of house and home and is crabby as all get out. Sleeping a lot too! Oh boy. He is already in 2T tops. Reminder, he is only 13 months old right now.

RU continues to amaze us with her developing skills. She is doing fabulously at therapy and is actually accepting the therapists more as time goes on.

Noelle is ready for school to be over! She is excited not to have to wear uniforms for the rest of the year. Problem - we don't have many clothes that fit her since we figured she would be in uniforms for another 2 weeks. Her summer stuff is ok, but it is cold here again! only in the 50/60s today. enough of the cold already!

Sorry no pics this time. Next time for sure!
Jeanne

Catching up a bit

Here is our April report. Yes, I know it is May. That 's why this is entitled, catching up a bit.

Noelle turned 6! She was super excited and we celebrated with the family at gramma and Grampas house. She got some fabulous presents and a delicious cake. Her birthday was on Easter this year so we had a fiesta Easter complete with Tacos and other such yummy items. We did have the traditional bunny cake for Easter as well as birthday cake. (Thank you Auntie Kris! The bunny was delicious!). We did an Easter egg hunt sponsored by a local church so we took everyone for a stroller ride and found lots of eggs - with chocolate and Bible verses inside!

Noelle was also a junior bridesmaid in a wedding in FLorida. It was beautiful weather, Noelle did great and the kids loved the pool! We are heading back there at the end of May so watch for more pics. The babies loved the warm weather as well.

Dad took the kids on a walk around NIU - Noelle got to wear her new hat (birthday present) They had lots of fun with the art students creations!

Noelle and Dad also had a formal dance at Cornerstone (her school). They had a great time eating and dancing!

I think that sums up April. New baby is still alive and kicking. Hopefully we will have more news in the near future to share!

Thanks for sticking with us!

Jeanne

6 Months Update!

We had our 6 month check in wiht our social worker and everything is great. The kids are developing so quickly! Eli will soon be walking and Ruthie is really trying to get her crawl on! Here are the way overdue pictures. Enjoy!

Eli standing

Sisters

Ru is getting so big!


Out for a stroll

Kitchen Helpers

Aren't they the cutest?

Applebee's for birthday dinner (chosen by the big sister of course)

The kids :)

Eli

Ruthie's Easter Hat

Baby Picture

If anyone still reads this, you are in for a surprise! The unbelievable has happened. For 17 years or so, we were told that getting pregnant on our own was just not possible for a variety of reasons. Well, we have proved them wrong without even trying - no, I mean really without even trying. It appears that I am 8 weeks pregnant! Yep, that's right, pregnant. As in PG. Heartbeat looks good, but we covet your prayers for this new little one as I was taking medication for my high blood pressure that can have negative effects on Renal development (Kidneys for all my non-medical friends out there) We will have a level 2 ultrasound at week 20 (June I believe) to look at kidney development and other such things. We are speechless, excited, bewildered, astounded, happy, scared, overwhelmed and a whole bunch of other things. I will put up a post about the kids birthday soon so you can see how huge my children have gotten and how much of a cake hound Ruthie is!!! We will keep you all posted :)

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The Bad Blogger

Finally I am posting but it isn't with pictures - I will get them up soon. Life is moving forward and is full everyday. Eli is cutting his first two teeth, Ruthie is cutting her 5th and maybe 6th, Noelle is finally getting her top tooth coming in (she has lost 7 and is not yet 6 years old!). Our health has improved for the most part although the kids have never lost the congestion that they had while in Ethiopia. It is still a constant part of our lives and wiping noses is a continual project.

I have an interview on Thursday at Lewis University and have applied to 3 others. Some would mean that we don't have to move but 2 of them would require us to try and sell our house and relocate. They all sound really interesting and would be a good fit, so we are of course leaving it in God's hands and will wait to see if any one gives us an offer. If not, I will return as an adjunct for NIU in the fall.

The kids will be having a birthday soon and we are having a nice family gathering at the Gparents house. They come back from vacation next week. Noelle can't wait :)

Pictures soon! I promise!

Update

Well, I still have shingles and it is annoying (painful too). We have had help coming in everyday from 8 am until 4 pm since I can't really hold the kids, feed the kids etc. I took myself off the pain meds as I had no life (very incoherent and such). I am on the mend, but it has already been 3 weeks. They told me it would probably last at least a month. I didn't believe them - I do now. We have also had many people drop off meals. The help we have received has been awesome. We would not have survived without it. Thank you so much to all who have helped us out in our weeks of need - you are very much appreciated!


The kids are doing great! We just had a visit to the doctor's office and here are the stats.

Eli - 22.4 lbs and 29 in
Ruthie - 20 lbs and 27 in.


Both kids are on the growth charts now and doing great. Both qualified for early intervention services and so will be having physical and developmental therapy starting in February. We are waiting to see the occupational therapist still. Here are there developmental ages:


Eli - 7 months
Ruthie - 4.5 - 5 months


We were very encouraged by these results given their past history! They are naking so many gains every day! Ruthie sits all by herself now and Eli can't wait to walk - forget the crawling! Ok, here are the pictures :)

Sickness update

YOu aren't going to believe this, but I also have SHINGLES. Remember the chicken pox outbreak at the orphanage? Yep - shingles. and mighty painful too. Semester starts next week - fortunately I had just about everything already ready to go. I am house bound and on the couch until at least thus Thursday when I go back to the doc. Keep you all posted. Thanks for the prayers - boy do we need them now more than ever! Please don't forget Jeff as he is pulling full time baby duty at this point since I am not really supposed to touch the kids and things like that!

Jeanne

Sickness part 2

Sorry everybody. I have had and still have viral pneumonia that just won't go away. I am on my third different antibiotic to try and get rid of it. I ended up in the ER last night for about 4 hours and discovered that I also need to have my gall bladder removed, but we can't really do that until I am over the pneumonia. This means that I am trying to live on vicodin while taking the antibiotics. It is not a pleasant site at our house. Some of you may be getting the "I need help!" phone call. Jeff goes back to work on Monday which means I need to take care of the kids. Hard to do when I can't really lift stuff. I will post pictures soon but have not been able to get them together as I am not really coherent or in good shape at this point. I promise the next post will be a much happier one!

Jeanne

Sickness

Sorry for the lack of posting. We have all (except Jeff) been sick. The kids still haven't kicked the congestion from Ethiopia so we are heading back to the Dr. to see if there is something else he can do. Noelle is being tested for stomach parasites (such fun). I have the cough that won't stop mixed with congestion and fever. Doesn't life sound grand at our place? (Yes, that was a bit of sarcasm) I seriously will try to be better about posting but I am trying to sleep when the kids do, even though they have typically been on opposite schedules lately. This morning I actually woke a sleeping baby just so that they would both go down for a nap at the same time! Oh the evil that we parents do. Ok, enough blather - here are the pictures that I know you really wanted to see anyway :) Eli is now firmly into 12 month clothing and actually has long enough legs taht even some of those aren't big enough! Ruthie is in 6-9 month, but the legs are a little bit long on her - go figure. Noelle has lost her 5th tooth! She has the typical missing a top front tooth grin and sppech issues :) It is so cute!

Happy Ru!

Eli and his Blocks!

Happy Boy!