Quick growth update

This is actually a week old but both of the kids went to the Dr. last week and Micah has gained a whopping 3 pounds and Misrak 4 pounds since coming to America. She outweighs Biruk by 2 pounds. Currently they still have to see the Dr. once a month and than when they are stable on meds and stuff than they go every 3 months.

Misrak has grown an inch and Micah a half inch.

They took more blood from Micah to re-test his thyroid and growth hormones. This wont be back for another 2 weeks. We should get better results with his growth hormones since he now has been on his thyroid meds for over a month.

Dr. F felt why keep him on the meds if they don't do him any good but he definitely needs to be put on something. Misrak is borderline on having to start taking meds.

Also Micah now has another ear infection in the ear that doesn't have a hole and on more antibiotics but he is being a trooper as you can see in the pics.

Next Wednesday will be their BIG DAY. Both kids will have their oral surgery.

Kids are doing super great.

Weekend at the Ocean

This mini vacation was so overdue but way too short. But 3 days is better than nothing, right?Everyone got to unwind, especially the adults, while the kids had a blast. They were busy non stop from riding their bikes and tricycle, going to the pool and playing in the sand at the ocean.

Since I usually just have one bed available for the 4 little ones, I started to sleep them in opposite direction and it works well. They had quiet the giggles all night and thought it was fun. Danica and Biruk

Courtesy shot by Danica. "Love my Man"

Misrak and Mommy. Trying to teach her not to be afraid.

Next Stop, Idaho!

Sorry, the story of this is on the bottom. I wanted to be on top but made a mistake.

15 kids between the Schumakers and the Hills, Anastasia and Danica are not in there.

BEST FRIENDS SINCE BIRTH (Nes and Biruk)
Okay these three boys together are TERROR!!!

Ready to go to the wedding

The Hill Family

One of my best friends! Signe, who is Nes' mom

Danica, Mads and Brook (new friends)

My favorite girl Omega!

Now this is the best story. Her son Soso announced to Signe that he wants to marry Amira so he can be a part of our family. Really he is totally and utterly in love with Kevin. Now lets hope they get married one day? Can you imagine what beautiful children they will have?

My precious two oldest daughters, Anastasia and Danica

We had the joy of being a part of the wedding for one of the Qualls' children, Mimi. What a beautiful, 21 year old radiant bride. I must have cried throughout the whole wedding, thinking it will be Danica's turn so soon, hopefully:) This was also the MOST kid friendly wedding I have ever seen in my entire life. They were having a blast. Prior to the wedding, we were able to be most of the day with my beloved friend Signe , who is the mommy of Biruk's best friend Nes.

More Firsts (Amira)

Today Amira lost her First Tooth. This is really, really special to her and very emotional for me. Biruk started losing his teeth last February shortly after they came home. Amira had her oral surgery to jank out all her front top teeth last May and get numerous crowns. But no signs of baby teeth falling out. She had to sit there toothless and was teased numerous times in school why she didn't have any teeth. Emotional for me because my baby had to suffer and was teased. Well she doesn't have to suffer anymore. Now it will be only a matter of time until her top teeth come in too.

Firsts

Micah was blessed with a brand new tricycle from a very special person. I have never seen anyone so excited over anything. He acted like he got a brand new car for graduation. That is truly another blessing about older child adoption. They treasure the small things that we take for granted. To see him riding it all day was such a joy. When he went to bed tonight, he wanted it in his room right by his bed side. Finally something he can fit for his size. Someone gave me a used tiny bike but he still can't reach the pedals.

BTW, my son has gotten super dark; this pictures is fake. He is not that light, the sun is just beaming on his face. My friend mentioned how he looks more chubby and he does. Isn't his face just so eatable? He even got little fat leg. Not fat like the baby ones but fat enough to pinch it. So cute. He has gained about 3 pounds and grown an inch. We will get real growth updates next week on our Dr. visit.

Ring Around the Rosie

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Comments

I have gotten a bunch of comments over the weekend but they are not all showing. My blog is acting up again. Just wanted to let you know in case if your comment doesn't show, like Susan, Carrie, Kathy and....

Happy Fourth of July!

I am home with Micah (he is sleeping) while the rest of them are out for the fireworks. Anyways, Danica just emailed me these ones:

SISTER LOVE: Misrak and Amira just LOVE Danica

Chillin on the back of the truck

Next Stop, Laci's House

Laci and I have known each other since early of 2006. We only live 30 min apart. I have always been really good friends with her sister Karly. We reconnected in 2008 when we found out we were both adopting from ET in fact using the same agency each time. We adopted 2x from ET almost the same times. The first time Laci's kids came home about 6 month earlier but this time the kids came home only 2 weeks apart. We had a wonderful time. Not having Danica there we still had 15 kids but they all behaved to wonderful together. Thanks Laci and Sergio for having us all over.

Our 5 Kidane Kids
My Gang

Micah thoroughly enjoyed this tricycle. I need to buy him one

My twins

So in love with these kids

What a Day! More Health Stuff

Today was really crazy. Lots of unexpected stuff but it all worked out to the children's benefit. Amira had a dentist appointment because she lost her crown and a possible abscess, her upper lip was so swollen. As we took her in the dentist fixed her crown but found that she indeed had an abscess on the same side. She said the tooth needed to be removed asap but needed to go to an oral surgeon.

In the mean time Micah had his ENT appointment. He has a hole in his ear. They don't want to prescribe anymore antibiotics and said they need to see how its doing without. If it is not getting any better they need to put tubes in his ears. Even though his hearing test wasn't scheduled until August, the Dr. demanded a hearing test today so we returned for that in the afternoon. He has hearing loss also. The only very terrible thing is that Micah cannot go in the water or like swimmig pool for a long time. That really choked me up. How can we do a summer without a pool, how can we explain to Micah he cannot go in the pool. He cannot even take a bath were he puts his head under the water. That is his favorite thing to do. I just don't know.

In the mean time Kevin checked back with the dentist at the military hospital and he also took in Amira without an appointment. Guess what, he pulled that tooth out for free. No more abscess, tooth going. My poor baby is looking like a grandma now. I really hope that her front teeth are growing in soon. Amira has now been front toothless for over one year and its starting to annoy her. It was interesting to hear the dentist say that the way the other dentist put in her crowns that they are coming in cricked so he wants to fix that too with some wires or something. We will also get both Misrak and Micah's teeth fixed for free and they even do Misrak all at once even though she is 7. So we have their surgery scheduled for Augsut 4. I just hope they both can hold out that long.

It was amazing to see all the children pray and thank God for his goodness and they were all so thankful, especially Amira, and my precious Misrak was just praying over the 2 little ones with her hands on their heads and my hands on their heads too and showed her thankfulness for making her siblings healthy it just made me cry. She told me tonight how much she loves us all and how happy she is. She says that often but tonight was special and she looked like an angel. I am getting choked up again.

Beautiful Day

This summer I am determined to keep up with my adoption friends that are near, like 30 min to 6 hours away. Today we met up with my sweet friend Courtney and her kiddos. We both adopted from Kidane and AHOPE. Our visit was long overdue, the last time we got together was in September when her boys just got home. Had a wonderful time Courtney:)

Sammy and Micah were good buddies at AHope. I can only imagine Sammy seriously protecting Micah there. He is such a sweet boy. Today they met again for the first time since both leaving AH and at first they were both pretty shy, it was cute.

Even these three below had to warm up for a moment. They had already met each other. These are all the Kidane Kids. Misrak didn't know any of them, she was only at Kidane for less than 8 mo cuz I snatched her up quickly, lol:)
After warming up, the two set are running off to the park.

Saying good-bye

One last photo with the boys!

Brotherly Love

My little man having fun in the sand. He was actually showing out in public today with a tantrum over nothing, it was funny

Amira being herself, off on her own, in her little world