Life is Good

Food, Glorious Food!

Hmm...what the heck was that?
No, I don't think I like this very much....!

Ugh! It feels so WEIRD! I don't think I want any more.

Well, okay - if you're going to make airplane sounds that changes everything!

Today we tried solid food for the first time. I'd say it went pretty well - he ate about five spoonfuls. Then he was done with it. We'll try again tomorrow! I was planning on waiting till 6 months, but that's only a week and a half away - and I got a new food processor and baby food cook book that I really want to try out!!!!

Happy Boy

Our Growing Boy

Here are a bunch of pictures of our boy - in no particular order. He is such a character! Growing and changing like crazy! We cannot believe how time has flown by already.

My Big Mistake

I am now a stay-at-home mom. Well, we don't stay at home ALL the time - we go out for walks, to Starbucks, for groceries, to meet friends and to a variety of doctor appointments. I also still work on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
But the staying-at-home-and-not-using-a-whole-lot-of-my-brain thing is quite an adjustment. So on Monday I decided I'd whip up an amazing dinner.
And I did: panko and garlic encrusted tilapia over rice with an onion and red wine vinegar butter sauce; coconut fried shrimp; broccoli; roasted carrots and radishes. It was phenomenal. Made up all the recipes myself.



Then on Tuesday I made up another recipe - I marinated some chicken for a few hours in soy sauce, red wine vinegar, chili peppers and salt. Then I tossed the chicken pieces in flour and fried them up nicely. Then I made a red wine sauce and tossed in some carrots, red peppers and basil. Then mixed in the chicken again. Served it over rice. Awesomeness.

But here's the MISTAKE part of it all. On Wednesday, Jon goes "ooh, I wonder what dinner will be tonight!" GULP.

Pizza from Target.

And tonight: breakfast -- omelets, hashbrowns and toast. Not so exciting.

Jon says my "streak" is over. I guess it was dumb to go all gung-ho two nights in a row. That creates expectations.

And I've realized that my days are WAY to un-planned to have expectations.

oh Boy!

Life is almost starting to feel like normal. Almost.

I am still astonished at how little I get done during the day! Ezra is sleeping right now. I'm hoping this nap is at least 30 minutes so after I quickly write this post I can change into clothes and brush my teeth!

Grandpa and Grandma S have already come to visit, and so has Auntie Janice. Ezra really likes visitors cause that means he gets almost 100% face time! But he's also really chill - Janice and I went out a few times and he was as easy as pie!

Tomorrow he goes back to his pediatrician and also to a urologist. Yesterday he got his second set of casts on. He doesn't like them too much, but he only complains a bit and then moves on with life. We also have appointments with a neurologist coming up because we and the orthopedist are pretty certain Ezra has spina bifuda. We will keep you updated as we find out more.

He is growing and changing every day. When he first came, he would speak softly and smile. Now he squeals and laughs! He has even developed a bit of a fake cry that he busts out every now and then to make us jump up give him exactly what he wants! He also has moved from touching a toy to grabbing it, and now even moving it from one hand to another. Okay, okay - all babies do that and it isn't exciting. But it is for first time parents!!!!

Here's a picture of the precious kid:

More Pictures

Hi! Sorry it has taken us so long to post more pictures, but our internet connection sucks. Our little buddy is doing really well. Grandpa and Grandma Stelpstra are here visiting and they love him to pieces. We've had one pediatrician visit and have a follow-up next week. We also have the evaluation with the orthopaedic specialist next week. We will keep you updated on that side of things as well. For now, here's a few pictures.

A few more pics from the last 48 hours

Christmas Delivery

This will be short and sweet because i have a sporadic connection and a half-sleeping baby!

Ezra came on a missionary flight on Monday afternoon, Dec. 20, 2010 - a true miracle! It's a long story that I'll go into at some point, but for now, here are pictures from our first meeting: (at a diner outside a small airport!)

The Christmas angels (or storks)

Another Update Without Pictures

Well, we are now looking at the 19th as the arrival date for little Ezra.

We have received confirmation that he is "safe", "happy" and "healthy" - so we will patiently wait until the director of the orphanage gets back from Argentina and can take our little guy through immigration.

In the meantime, we will try to busy ourselves with holiday activities, work, friends and household chores. The days will fly by! (okay, that was a bit too optimistic - they will not fly, but they WILL pass, even if it feels like a really slow trudge).

update

We had Ezra on a flight coming in tonight (Friday) but that was cancelled. We then had him booked on a Sunday flight. Also cancelled. We don't know what is going on.

Not much of an update, eh?

I will post again when I know something more. In the meantime, Jon and I are both at work (figure we might as well clock a few more hours). Tonight we will buy a Christmas tree so we can put Ezra under it when he comes.

just kidding

I am not posting with pictures of our little boy. I have not met him yet. :(

He is stuck in Haiti due to cancelled flights - the rioting and looting is so bad there.

We are hoping he comes this weekend.

My friend put it nicely - it's like having false labor. You get all worked up, you pack the bags, you go to see the midwife and oh - there's no real dilation. Go home, get some rest. Get done some last minute stuff.

Argh.

TOMORROW

This is a little ditty I wrote to the tune of "Tomorrow" sung by orphan Annie.

---

My son Ezra comes

Tomorrow

Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow

There'll be joy

---

Just thinkin' about

Tomorrow

Makes me smile and clears away the sorrow

He's our boy

---

When I lock my keys, - my phone, - in my car

I just stick up my chin and grin and say

---

Oh my son comes home

Tomorrow

So I gottta hang on til tomorrow

Come what may

---

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

I love ya! Tomorrow!

You're only a day away!

---

Yes, I really locked all my stuff in my car this morning. Good thing my coffee was in my hand!

Visa Appointment

Ezra's visa appointment is for FIRST THING MONDAY MORNING!

If all goes well, he'll be able to come Tuesday or Wednedsay next week!!!

We'll keep you posted!

Thanksgiving

Unfortunately, it was just the four of us for Thanksgiving. Little Ezra Richard is still in Haiti. But there has been a lot of progress recently. All we are waiting on is the visa appointment at the US Embassy. We were granted an appointment, but the orphanage director just happened to be out of town during that time, so we are now awaiting a new appointment date. The waiting is hard, but we are trying to somehow turn it into a positive spin: "okay, we have two more weeks of freedom! Lets go out! Lets drink beer! Let's spend money before we have to spend it all on formula!" Of course, we'd rather not have that freedom, but we are trying to stay positive.

So, upon learning we would not be preoccupied at Thanksgiving, Jon and I decided to go to Miami for the weekend. We were quite excited. Then, as the day got closer, we decided to just go on a day trip to St. Augustine instead. Which meant we would, in fact, be in Orlando for Thanksgiving day. We had options of places to go - but we chose to sleep in and spend the day together. We went on a long bike ride. Around 2pm (while the rest of you were hung over from Turkey dinner) we re-heated our left-over pizza and watched a movie. We also did a TON of housework - got the 2nd bedroom all set up to be a very multi-purpose room - bike storage, office, half-nursery (E will sleep by us, but change table and clothes are in that room), guest bedroom, my closet -- needless to say, it's a little cramped. But clean!!! Then, that night we decided we should drink some wine. So we went out to the liquor store. Closed. So we went to 7-11 and got some $8 wine. Awesome. We went home and drank it. THEN we found out that ToysRus started their Black Friday sales at 10pm on Thursday! Woo hoo! That's what expecting parents should do, right - go to ToysRus for the big sales!!! So we leisurely made our way over there at 10:30pm only to find a line-up. Not just a few people standing in line being ushered in to the building. No - we're talking about an army of people in a formation 5 people wide that stretched around all FOUR sides of the big box store. I'm not kidding. I don't know how many hundreds of people that was. We couldn't help but laugh - at the people so desperate for toy sales, and at ourselves for thinking we would just go "check things out". Needless to say, we went back home.

On Friday we got up early to go get good deals at BabiesRus - well, is 7:30 early on Black Friday? I think not - it seems as though many people are back in bed by then! We got good sales on formula and bottles. Yippee. Then we got a good deal on some ties for Jon at the Men's Warehouse. Then we got on the road to St. Augustine.

We started with beer and a sandwich at the pub. Then we looked in all the cute stores on the cute cobble-stone streets. (for those of you who don't know St Augustine - it's the oldest town in North America. We've been there lots, but it's a nice day trip. Nice beaches along the way, too.) Then we went in the Pepper store. Jon likes to sample hot things. He thought it would be a good idea to sample the "world's hottest hot sauce". He put some on a chip. I was not beside him to be the nagging voice in his ear to say "are you sure you wanna try that?". But he came over to me a couple seconds after swallowing and couldn't even talk. He was already sweating and his face was beat red. I said "What happened to you?" He just motioned that he wanted to go outside of the store. "I ate hot sauce" was all he could say. He was doubled over at the waste. He was crying. I was laughing. Jon LOVES hot things - nothing has ever been TOO hot before. This was hilarious! Poor guy's stomach was a wreck. He said his body was doing everything to get the HOT out - sweating, crying, shaking - he wanted to vomit and go to the bathroom at the same time! I had to get him two bottles of water and a muffin just to make him able to cope again. It still makes me laugh.

Anyhow - we've had a good long weekend so far. It's nice to spend all the time together, just relaxing. Today we are going to be productive again though - it's a school work and housework day today. Jon is running errands right now while I procrastinate.

But I was just reflecting on how truly thankful I am. I am thankful that I have a great husband who is in a job that reflects his values and passions. I am thankful for the career I am developing. I am thankful for being raised in a family that follows Jesus. I am thankful for friends and family who are so loving and supportive. I am thankful for our little buddies Atticus and Fallujah. I am also SUPER thankful for this little guy:

(Passport photo - about 10 wks old)

I will write again when he is here - and post lots of pictures!!! Hope all of you had wonderful Thanksgiving weekends!

Getting Ready for Ezra

We are busy getting ready for little Ezra Richard! And what fun that is! We found a great consignment store with tons of kids' stuff for super cheap, so we picked up a handful of clothes for the little guy. It's actually geting chilly here, so some long sleeves might come in handy.

But this is our favorite find so far: (and no, it was NOT cheap and NOT from a consignment store!)

We are still waiting on:
1. Hospital paper work (which has been in the works for about a month! Hurry up, people!)
2. His Haitian passport (which was applied for about 2 weeks ago)
When those two things arrive, an appointment will be made at the US Embassy for his Medical Visa. After he gets his visa, we can book his flight! Woo hoo!

In the meantime, we are keeping VERY busy as we try to get stuff done. I am plugging away at school work, as I have just a few more classes to be finishd with my degree. I passed my huge national exam last month, which I was thrilled about. And I need just 17 more managed births to become licensed as a midwife in the state of Florida. I'll have to fit those in on weekends. :)

That's the news for now. We are happy and healthy and hope you are the same!

I can't wait to be able to post pictures of the darling little boy that is headed our way!

Cutest in the World

I know - everyone brags about THEIR kids or THEIR nieces and nephews - but I would like to nominate my niece and nephew for Cutest in the World. I just got to spend 10 whole days with them up in Edmonton, Alberta. Now I will have to invest in a web cam.

Janay, 2 weeks

Trey, 21 months

From Nashville With Love

Howdy, Ya'll!

I'm in Nashville for an exam and a midwifery conference. I know - there are much more pressing things for me to be blogging about, but I'll have to get around to doing that later. Don't worry, pics of Janay and Trey are coming.

I get to see Jon tomorrow after two full weeks and I'm so excited - I think that's a good sign. :)

Lindsay's Wedding

Lindsay (Jon's sister) got married over Labor Day weekend. She had one of the most beautiful weddings ever. Unfortunately, these pictures do not give you any idea of just how wonderful it was - they are mostly just iphone pictures while goofing off. When I get my hands on some REAL photos, I'll post a few. But here are pictures of the siblings...

Good looking family, huh?