A Tease

Peter and I love the snow! However, we do not get a lot of snow. A couple of inches of snow is a real treat for us! So with the potential for snow in the forecast this week, we were very excited! Well, it all ended up being a huge disappointment. The weathermen are terrible at predicting snow around here and it seems they always get our hopes up only to drop us.


We did however, get a little bit of snow and it was fun to get Malachi up in the morning and show him that it was snowing outside. He stood in the window for a few minutes mesmerized by this white stuff falling down and kept pointing and saying "snow"!

It didn't stick around long enough for us to take him out to play in it. We had the potential for a lot more snow, but the storm went north of us so instead we are just stuck with a lot of rain (the usual).

I still hope that sometime before this winter is out we will get some more. I really want to see what Malachi thinks of it this year - he hated it last year.

Deja Vu

This is what the closet in Eli's room looks like today:

Pretty much exactly the same as it looked 1 year ago. All of the preemie/newborn/0-3 month clothes are washed and ready! All the receiving blankets and miracle wraps and burp cloths are washed and ready! Over the weekend I finished cleaning out Malachi's closet and made room to move all of Eli's clothes in there as we start the very slow transition of the boys sharing a room.

With this being the 3rd baby to enter our family in 2 years, there isn't a whole lot of stuff to do to prepare. Last week my mom and I went shopping and picked up a few of the essentials that I need, but really we are mostly ready! The biggest things on my list for the coming months are to get Malachi into a toddler bed and keep trying the potty training game.

I hit 26 weeks today and I am really starting to slow down. I have been purposeful about getting everything set up really early for this baby because I know I may have to take things really easy in the coming weeks. A few weeks ago I started having a lot more contractions. Most of them braxton hicks, some just cramping, and some "real" ones. My guidelines right now are to call the doctor if I have any form of a contraction that is more than 4 an hour or if I can't get them to stop after laying down and chugging water. So far, laying down has been able to fix the problem, which is really good and sets my mind at ease, but I still know that I have to be really careful - baby still needs to bake for A LOT longer!

Everything seems to be setting my uterus into a fit these days. If I pick up one of the boys, I get a contraction. I roll over in bed, I get a contraction. Both boys are crying and stressing me out, I get a contraction. I'm not overly worried about it, but sometimes they do get pretty bad and it does make me nervous. There have been several times that I have thought I may need to call my doctor, but then things settle down. I will for sure be having a big discussion about this at my next appointment in 2 weeks if I don't call her before that.

I'm not sure of what level of concern she will have or what changes she may make to daily life, but I know she wants me to be taking it easier so that is what I am doing. I often wonder if there is anything I could have done differently to keep Eli baking longer, but I can't change any of that now, but there are changes I can make in my life right now that will up the odds of this baby staying safely inside for longer! It means laying down and resting while the boys nap instead of hitting the chores like I usually do - it is okay if my house is a little messier this days. It means asking my husband to make some mac and cheese or grilled cheese for dinner when he comes home instead of cooking something myself. It means cutting out other stress factors in my life or maybe staying home more so I can lay down and rest. My top priorities right now are keeping the boys taken care of and baking this baby! Everything else can wait, but I am still learning that lesson. It is hard to cut back on things, but this is only for a few more months and will be well worth it in the end!

21 Months

Wow, Malachi is already 21 months. 3/4 of the way to his next birthday. This doesn't seem possible at all, because I SWEAR we just celebrated his first birthday!

This little boy continues to be such a joy in our lives. I love so many things about him - how easy it is to get a big smile out of him. How every time he see's me he says "hi momma" how if I give him any praise he comes running over and puts his head against me and goes "awwww". Malachi is a lover!

Malachi continues with his love of learning! He is so eager to learn new things. He knows all of his ABC's, can count to 12, and is starting to pick up the colors - but ABC's are still clearly his favorite! So much his favorite that sometimes he will wake up in the middle of the night, start jumping in his bed and yelling at the top of his lungs "A M K L Z Y U P" and on and on, but it always ends with his most favorite letter of all "J". I am having to come up with creative ways to keep him challenged and learning new things.

Something else that has transpired in the last few months - Malachi has become a true toddler. We've started into temper tantrums and timeouts (or time-ins would be the correct term). His loving all food has turned into a super picky eater. He has a mind of his own and wants to flex those independent muscles anytime he can!

Yes, we have met our first challenges in parenting over the last few months, but a few adjustments from mom and dad and we're back on the right path! His adjustment to having to share the toys has gotten better and now it is so fun to watch him and his baby brother interact with one another. They are truly best friends! They babble with each other in the back seat of the car and play peekaboo with each other and chase and giggle and giggle together. I know having kids close together is a huge challenge, but this is one part of it that is nothing but pure joy for me to watch!

Truly, I find it so crazy to think he is already going on 2 years old. His babyhood is becoming more of a distant memory as he is learning new words constantly and thoughts of potty training and big boy beds start swirling around.

Malachi you have brought a JOY to this house that would be missing without your presence! We love you so very much and we look forward to every new adventure with you in the coming months!!!

US Citizenship!!!

Last week we had a very big day in our household for Malachi! We received his Certificate of Citizenship in the mail! That was kind of the last big adoption piece of paperwork we needed to get. I was actually kind of surprised that we got it so fast, because when we sent the paperwork off in November, USCIS had just updated their wait times from 2 months to 11 months. Apparently they are still pretty close to 2 months in their northwest offices!

The very last piece of business we need to take care of is his legal name change on his social security card and changing the status from permanent resident to citizen with social security! Whew, the paperchase really IS almost over!

Saturday was also Ganna or Ethiopian Christmas. We had a fun day planned to celebrate but unfortunately Malachi wasn't feeling well so we had to stay home. But I am definitely thinking of fun ways to celebrate these special Ethiopian holidays in the future!

11 Months

Oh sweet boy, here I am writing about how you are 11 months already. One month from today we will be celebrating your first year of life!



This month you have continued to grow stronger and stronger. Your newest accomplishment is being able to stand all on your own. You also take off walking if someone offers you a hand to hold on to. The race is on to see if you will be walking before your first tooth pops through (yes, we are STILL waiting on some toothers!) We are so proud of all you have accomplished and how you've caught up for being a little bit of an early bird!


You accomplished some other big things this month! You learned to play a few new games - Patty Cake's and just today Peek-a-boo! You also enjoy fake sneezing and flicking your tongue out of your mouth, along with spitting - all lovely things your daddy has taught you!

You've also picked up some first real words! You've been able to say Mama and Dada for awhile now, but this last month you have begun to recognize us and use the words appropriately. You also try to say Dog (da), Ball (very similar to da), numnum for food, and hi while you wave your hand around. You're a smart little cookie :)

You still sleep from about 7:30-8:00, but we have had a lot more night wakings this month - mainly do to a nasty cold and icky teething. Mommy will be much relieved when that first tooth pops through (and I think it may have more companions close behind it!) You take one nap a day and that is shortening to about 1 1/2 hours if we're lucky. You are just not a fan of sleeping, but since you do sleep through the night (most of the time) that is okay.

This month you have completely given up on baby food and have also pretty well self weaned from bottles. So we are pretty much just giving you everything that we eat now and that keeps you quite happy. The only bottle you consistently get now is the night bottle, but even that you don't tend to finish. You would much rather have whole milk to formula.

As I mentioned a little bit above, you are fighting off a nasty cold right now. You've been battling it for about a week now and over the last day you have broken out in a viral rash over most of your body - my poor baby. All you want to do is sleep and cuddle with mommy or daddy and be rocked. I feel so bad for you and can't wait until you feel better sweet boy.

24 Weeks

Today I had my 6 month check-up with my OB. It is crazy to me that I only have one more monthly appointment before I start going every 2 weeks! Time is flying!

Everything is going really good with this pregnancy. In fact, at my last two appointments I have had the lowest blood pressure I have ever had in my life. Must be doing something right! This gives me hope that I may actually be in good enough health this pregnancy to pass my glucose test at my next appointment!

We talked about general concerns. I have days with a lot of braxton hicks contractions and very painful, hunched over round ligament pain accompanied by cramping. It isn't a huge concern to me, but I am the last person in the world to ever want to call my doctor so I figured I better ask. She said that this could be an issue for me since I don't get a lot of downtime with chasing two babies around. So her advice is to lay down for 15 minutes, chug water and if it doesn't go away in that amount of time to go ahead and give her a call.

She is still very concerned about my risk of delivering early, again mostly based on the fact that I can't rest much with 2 kids to chase after and care for. She is really hoping that I can make it to 37 weeks, but said it is totally possible to make it to 40 weeks too - we just have to wait and see how this 3rd trimester plays out.

So at this point, everything is looking really great! No new restrictions and my general health and weight gain is perfect! The baby was being super active (as usual these days). My doctor couldn't believe how much s/he was wiggling around already. I said that is pretty much the norm of how much movement I feel most of the day.

So onward and up we go! I am growing by the second into a whale, getting more and more uncomfortable, finding it harder to breath and sleep. Unfortunately I am fully aware that it is all downhill from here, at least the prize is very much so worth it :P

Let The Prep Begin

Well, it is now January and time for us to start preparing for the newest little member of the family. I have a decent list of projects to complete before baby arrives. I just cleaned out Malachi's closet so that we can move all of Eli's stuff into his room. Eventually they will share a room, but we are going to hold off on that transition for as long as possible. We will be buying Malachi a toddler bed here shortly and may start working on that transition before baby arrives. Then we just have the standard stuff to do - pull out all the newborn stuff and make room for it, get my bag packed early so that I won't be running around throwing stuff in it after my water breaks at 36 weeks this time!

But one of my top priorities for this month is getting meals into my freezer! With 3 babies to care for, this will save me a lot of work after baby comes and if the threat of bed rest that my doctor has made comes to fruition we can use them at that point as well. I've compiled my list of meals and slowly but surely plan on getting my freezer full of yummy stuff!

I actually cheated a little bit in January. My goal for this batch of freezer meals is to not have to buy anything special for the meals, but use ingredients that we already have at home. Since I shop using coupons, in December we ended up with 20 lbs of potatoes on our hands. I knew there was no way in the world we would be able to eat all those potatoes before they went bad, so into the freezer they went:

So our freezer now has Potatoes Au Gratin:

Homemade French Fries:

And hashbrowns!

I know all those fall more into the "side food" not main course category, but I will have some yummy main courses in there soon enough!