6 months old and in our arms for 3 months

As of last weekend Zek is 6 months old and has been in our arms for 3. He has spent half of his little life with us already. We feel so blessed to have been able to bring him home right at 3 months old. The last 3 months have been a huge adjustment. We are doing well. Crying outbursts aren't happening as much as they were, sleep is much better, he is obviously attached to us (he cries when others hold him and then he is fine when we take him), and we are in love with him....

He has grown so much and has made so much progress in this past 3 months.

Last weekend we dedicated Zek at church. Hazel was asleep in the audience so she didnt make it up with us on stage.
Us at the dedication...

Last week at chuck e cheese. It's nice going during the week when kiddos are in school because nobody is there! :)

Zek is practicing his sitting up skills. He will sit for a min. or so and then tumbles over. We are getting there.

All of the kids could swing all day. Zek loves being outside and so do the rest of us!

Maggie is always holding Zek and trying to take care of him. She says she likes to babysit him. She will watch him for a few minutes while I go get something or help Hazel with something. She is an awesome big sister. and so is Hazel. Hazel always says "i want to see Zek".

This is his first time eating baby food. In this picture he isnt screaming, but since we started a week ago he screams when we are trying to feed him. We have stuck with it and today he ate really well and didnt cry at all. yay Zek!

Us making 6 month birthday chocolate chip cookies.

And on the pregnancy front. We are about 25 weeks now. The baby is kicking and moving around like crazy and obviously growing steadily by the looks of my belly! We havent picked out a name yet. We need to get working on that!

peek-a-boo

Zeks new thing is putting blankets over his face and is now playing peek-a-boo with the blankets. It is too cute!

This is our snow family that Daddy and Maggie made last week. It is now almost gone as it has been warming up and not snowing anymore. Hazel loved the snow family and every time we would leave she would say "bye snow family" and then "bye daddy, bye mommy, bye hazel, bye maggie, bye zek, bye belle (our dog), bye tido (our turtle)" and then she would blow them kisses. It was really cute. Our whole family was there dog and turtle included and my snow person had a big belly. They really enjoyed making them.

Zek is still not sleeping well at night. We are trying to get him on a better nap schedule during the day. It is really hard keeping him awake when he wants to sleep, but hopefully it will help at night. We will see.

We just couldnt wait to find out...

We had our ultrasound yesterday and we decided to find out if we were having a boy or girl. Adam was pretty insistent on not finding out but he decided that it would be easier on us so we can prepare. Sooooo.....

It's A Boy!!!!!

Zek is going to have a baby brother. They will be so close in age it will be awesome for them!!!!!!

5 Month birthday and 2 months in our arms

So the past 2 months have been crazy. I just noticed the day before yesterday that my little daily devotional thing in my kitchen was on December 18th. That was the day that we got back from Ethiopia with Zek. I guess Adams mom must of changed it that morning and I havent changed it yet. Usually I am on top of these things. I guess now I am not :) It has been 2 months since we have had Zek in our arms. (as of February 13th)

Here are a few pictures from the day that we met Zek. (December 13th)...

That morning some of the other families were going to head out to the market to go shopping for a bit. We decided to go as well. If you have been to Ethiopia, you know the itty bitty little blue taxi's? Well Adam and I and 2 other couples and the driver fit into one. That made 7 people in the tiny car! It was hilarious. Adam and I squeezed in the front seat and the other 4 squeezed in the back. The driver had to actually get out of the car and shut our door for us to make sure we were good and secure. I locked the door so I wouldn't fall out! Our next driver wouldnt let us squeeze into one car. We had to take 2. This is a picture from inside the car. We were trying to take a pic of the rear view mirror showing everyone in the car. On the way back we didnt know the address for the Union Hotel and non of the drivers knew where it was. We didnt have anyone phone numbers to call and ask. One of the drivers said that he could take us. He had to stop and ask some people if they knew. Somebody did. Luckily. We were like "oh no, we gotta get back in an hour to meet our babies!" A little scary, but we made it.

Driving to the market

Adam shopping

Adam showing off his bartering skills

Me giving some suckers away to the kids

This is right before we went in the gates to meet Zek.

Our very first picture with Zek. Happy cry.

Mommy and Daddy's first picture with Zek

Zeks 5 month birthday cookies. They were so good that I told Adam to never ever let me make them again. :)

Zek sleeping while the girls and I make the cookies. Sucking on those two fingers again.

The girls licking the mixers. Yum Yum! We love the cookie dough.
So the past 2 months have been interesting. I can't lie. It has been hard. You know part of it is that I am pregnant so I have those hormones and it's just hard adjusting. The first two weeks home Zek woke up about every 20 minutes during the night. He also cried ALOT. This was horrible. I was so sick from the pregnancy as well. Those first two weeks Adam took care of everything because I couldnt and really didnt feel like it. I admit I have been a little blue.

Things have been getting better. Some days are better than others. Sometimes I feel when Zek looks at me his eyes are saying "where have you been all of my life?" "I love you mommy" Other days I feel like when he is screaming (and I do really mean screaming) and I cant get him comforted he is saying "where is my mommy?" It breaks my heart when he cries like this. The screaming may be because he has acid reflux (lets hope so).

His pediatrician is putting him on acid reflux medication to see if this helps him with his fussiness. We had a swallow study done yesterday where they do an x-ray while he is drinking and he has a slightly floppy airway so our thickening of his formula is helping. So more than likely while in Ethiopia it was worse and cause aspiration causing his pneumonia. The airway would open a little yesterday but push it back to where it should be. If it would have been regular formula then it would probably go down into his airway. So I am glad that is getting better. Also, the pediatrician said it should totally be fixed by about 9 months and he can start having regular formula. yay! so now let's get the reflux under control and maybe he wont scream and he will sleep better?

Even with all of the sleepless nights and crying Zek is awesome! He has brought so much joy to this family. His smile and awesome laugh just brighten our days :)

Thank you God for this awesome little guy!

new photos

here are some new pics of the kiddos













Tonight I hope to post some pics of Zeks 5 month birthday cookies and post about him being with us now for 2 months! I just have to get time to do the post!

This week in pictures

We have come a long way...Hazel didnt want much to do with her new baby brother for a long time. Now she is in love with him. She said "i want to hold zek" when I was holding him while he slept. I had to let her. It was the first time she asked. Maggie loves taking care of Zek. She is his little mom.
We have gotten lots and lots of snow this week. The girls have loved it.
We made valentine cookies and they were very yummy.
Zek loves to suck on his ring finger and middle finger. He does it all of the time. It is kinda like he is signing "I Love You". too cute
Another family pic
Okay so I am looking at Maggies school lessons for the day on our computer and I put Zek down right behind me so he can watch our turtle swim in it's tank. The girls are playing dress up. I look down at Zek after a few minutes and see that the girls have joined Zek in on their dress up time. Sorry Zek but I thought the picture was too funny to not post and your sisters thought it was hilarious. What can you expect with 2 big sisters who love to be girly girls.
Zek looking cute.
Zek is so much fun. I thought I would see if he fit in the girls doll crib. He did barely.
Maggie being crazy before bed.
Hazel in her Ethiopia dress.

It has been a good week this week. We are settling in more and more. Zek has had an awesome week of sleep. Last night he slept all night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yippeeeeee!!!!!!!! 8pm - 6:30am and then back to sleep until I had to wake him up at 7:45. Let's make this the norm Zek!!!!