Sweet Memories

This makes me cry EVERY TIME I WATCH IT!
There is no feeling like meeting your son.
Even if he cries a little.
Then there is poor finn on my back, he's not sure what to do either :)
These moments and the progress we made that week help me to get through these days.

These memories are similar to those you have at the hospital. When you think back, you think , "Gosh, you were so small. I remember the moment I first saw you. I remember when you first cried in the night..."  These are our "new parent" moments and memories with him.  Next time we see him, he will be 3 months older (hopefully less).  I would compare it to your child being in the NICU across the globe...

Trying to walk with Gigi

Our sweet boy and his snaggleteeth... :)

The leaning crawler...at the beginning of the week he wouldn't crawl at all.

I kept throwing his toys far away so he had to get them...

Crawling a little lopsided, but he was doing it by a couple days into our visit!

And although the sweet guy can be a little bit unsure, he loves to play!

Sweet Finn got his first tooth on the plane ride to Ethiopia and his second one right after we arrived. He spent a lot of time running his tongue over his new teeth.  

I know updates have been sparse here lately.  I am trying to enjoy these days with Finn, really mourning that they are the last ones that we get just us.  But also childproofing and rejoicing that soon we will have a new brother.  We are so excited about that!  Finn is rolling all around.  If I walk out of the room he will have rolled across the room looking for me!

We haven't heard anything from embassy or our agency.  It will be four weeks since court on Tuesday.  That means we are probably about one third of the way there!  That seems encouraging to me!  I have had friends there almost continuously so far playing with him.  When the last one leaves, that will be very  hard, because noone I know will be going over there to play anytime soon.  That breaks my heart!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday.

Today, I left Finn in the nursery for two services at church while I served the school age kids.  I tried to get him to take a bottle with no luck.  In the past, when he has taken them, he will take them if they are warm (this was not) and if I am not around.  Today, he refused, even though he was starving. It could have been the temperature...but.. Any tips? If I leave this guy for 7 DAYS (slight panic at the mere words), I definitely need him confidently taking a bottle before I leave!!  I am really praying about leaving him home and going tiwth Brandon to get Eli.  He would be with my in laws, who were going to go with us, so I feel very comfortable with that....but not with the idea of leaving him and being on the other side of the world.  Maybe we should start with one night?? It's all hard...but I definitely need him to be used to a bottle of breast milk...and..has anyone pumped for a week and kept their supply?

I am SO HAPPY we took him on our first trip. NO REGRETS AT ALL. But, he will be mobile for our next trip...and I don't want to be trying to transition home to Georgia with Eli while dealing with a possibly sick (I'm talking colds, not big illness...) Finn as well.  I haven't written off the idea...but I am trying to look at options.  Plus, taking him in the car there was crazy....horrible pollution, no car seats, etc.(He threw up every time we got out of the car there)..so we ended up staying at the transition home most of the time...and I would love to get to see Eli's place of birth,etc, which we can't do if we have Finn...so...just some thinking points.

ANYWAY. Thanks for reading all the rambling. I love that so many of you have followed our journey!