MERRY CHRISTMAS AND NO, I HAVE NOT LEFT BLOGLAND!

Merry Christmas everyone! OK, I could just preface each of my posts with why I haven't posted, which is because I have been really busy. But I will not continue to do that because, well...it's cliche and boring! And really, we are all busy, so there.

Life with our latest arrival is really, really great. It was exactly 4 weeks ago today that we met him at Hannah's Hope in Ethiopia. He is a joy. Thus, I am going to say "it" in print, which will inevitably lead to a sleepless night. Elias sleeps through the night EVERY night. He goes down anytime between 8 and 10 at night and he waits for us to find him smiling in his crib at 9 AM. Yes, 9 AM. It has been a blessed treat because it actually gives us morning time with the ladies which has been invaluable. He is smiley and sweet pretty much all the time. He definitely is a bit more needy during the day so the payoff at night is most lovely. He pretty much won't tolerate being put down longer than 10 minutes so the ERGO pack has been a lifesaver as his weight has only seemed to increase:). He seems to be quite attached to us, yet easygoing about others. He usually loves his car seat as he has regular entertainment in the form of giggling girls in the back seat.

We are feeling incredibly "lucky" and blessed that we are spending Christmas together. I definitely feel this sense of completion with him in our family. He was ordained to be part of us, he is here and all the angst of waiting is over.

SO LET'S GET REAL HERE....

SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE PICTURES






NOW BACK TO REALITY.....OUR HOUSE!





Just thought I would give you a sampling of our messy house. I could also provide pictures of crying, clingy children. I could also provide a snapshot of me totally losing it on our 6 year old for not getting dressed even though we had asked her to do so 8 times. And I could also let you view pictures of all three children wailing when we went to get a Chrismas tree. Merry Christmas to us. I didn't really take pictures of these events but you know what I mean. I don't ever want to give people the idea that absorbing a 3rd child is a walk in the park and that my house is sanitary and shining at any given moment. But at the very same time, it has been a huge and overwhelming blessing. Our kids are awesome and healthy. I am truly so thankful for my life.

We have been struck twice with stomach flu, which is interesting to me. We rarely ever, ever get a bug like that. And then to have it get us 2 weeks in a row, what a lovely coming home present. I am just now waking up from the stupor of nighttime puking. Thanking God for such a great husband...he had it last week so it was payback time!!!!!!!

Elias had his first check-up yesterday. Except for a mild ear infection, he looks great. He has slept though all but one night (this quality, makes him particularly endearing). I spend a lot of my time fending off his groupie like sisters, they are all over him and he never gets a break. The girls love him and cannot get enough of him. And for the curious...big boy weighed in at 23 pounds and 13 oz!! He is 95th percentile for head and length but off the charts for weight. DOH!!!

*I would like to note that the messy pictures of the house do not do justice to actual reality. I was looking through the pictures and thought to myself "Hey that's what the house looks like all the time!". But seriously, the house was starting to stink...:)

FINALLY!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here's a little slide show to TRY and depict in a small way what our trip was like. I am still processing this wonderful miracle in our lives, Rob is curled up in the fetal position with food poisoning and all the children are fast asleep (for now:)).
Note: The food poisoning was not from Ethiopia!! We were perfectly healthy for the trip, thank God!!!

INTRODUCING.......

ELIAS BRUCE ABINET FRASER




So excited to share with you our sweet little guy. Thank you so much for all your kind words and encouragement. We got back today so all the details will have to come later. Our trip was wonderful in every way (except for the freakishly long plane ride, more on that later too!:))

ADIOS AMIGOS!!!!

Well, it's time. We are stoked, stressed, mildly short tempered, excited, crazed, and amazed. We are so thankful to be taking this journey and want to take an opportunity to say thank you. There have been so many of you that have been faithful encouragers, prayers and cheerleaders. It was all needed and appreciated so much! I'm hoping to update the blog while we're gone, but I think the Internet connection is spotty at best. Can't wait for you to see what we've been so excited about!!!

PHOTO TAG!

I was photo tagged by some very special people but I don't have time to link or tag someone else(I'm a little tech slow, and it takes me forever)! But here goes. You are supposed to post the 4th picture in your 4th file and here it is.

Not too much of an explanation. You know those crazy ensembles your kids throw on? Kiera is modeling her fashion sense here. She has always put her hats on backwards, I don't know where she got that bit of cool from. Not us. :)

OH HOW I WISH!!! OR MAYBE NOT!

Oh my goodness, we are busy around here!! We are still in such a state of shock over getting the news that our sweet Elias passed through court. I literally ran around the house just screaming and then just fell on my knees in thankfulness. Kiera looked very confused over all the ruckus. We leave Thursday, November 20 and will return the day after Thanksgiving. I think we are flying out of Ethiopia around noontime on Thanksgiving, too cool!

We have been told that Elias is very rotund, which I just love. His last weight measurement was 21 pounds!!! That, my friends, is not a typo. We will bring 12 month old clothes for a baby that just turned 5 months old today. WOW!!

I am finally worried about leaving our little ladies. Meris has been very clingy and tearful. In the past we've been away for 5 days, so I tried to convince her that it was just a wee bit longer than that. They'll be livin' it up with Oma, Opa and Auntie Lissa. They won't even give us thought:) And to just be clear, I did not leave them in the suit cases for any extended period of time:)

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!!!!!!

Hey everybody!! Two weeks from Friday we will be leaving Cali and headed to.....ETHIOPIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am spazzing out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HALLOWEEN AND BIRTHDAY FUN!

On a Halloween 6 years ago...I had our first baby. You have to understand that I desperately DID NOT want Meris born on Halloween. My Mom was born on Christmas and has pretty much gotten the short end of the stick ever since. A Halloween baby? Even worse in my book. Halloween being a bit ghoulish for my taste and then all those missing cats(cat lover here, big time)...didn't really add up to being my favorite holiday. But alas, when one gives birth on a holiday such as this, well, you gotta go big. So every year at our house, Halloween is pretty much a huge deal. And we always have fun.









My, oh, my, what a sweet girl you are.

SHE SAYS IT RIGHT!!!

Follow the link to my friend Michelle's blog, I couldn't have said it better. We signed up for this journey knowing it would have its hard moments but we sure would looooooovvvve for THIS to happen.

SERIOUSLY?

I really just can't believe it, but we have been delayed again. This time we don't even know for how long. Ethiopia has added another step to go through in order to be approved for court. The additional step ensures that any birth mother who surrendered her baby was not coerced in any way. In all honesty, I am thankful for that. But from our perspective, we are just sick. We will pray for a miracle, but we most likely will not have our sweet Elias home for Christmas.

WE'RE READY, LET'S GO NOW...REALLY, PLEASE

We are essentially packed, we are ready. We want to go get our sweet little guy. We believe we have a court date the first week of November and we desperately want everything to go through. We are waiting for that sweet little travel call. Please pray with us.

ROUND UP OF THE WEEK

We've had some fun events around here and I thought I would share....

FIRST TOOTH GONE...SHE WAS THRILLED TO RECEIVE A VISIT FROM A SPECIAL FAIRY, "HOW DID SHE KNOW MY NAME MAMA?" RESPONSE..."WELL, I GUESS SHE'S BRILLIANT!!"


PUDDING PARTY FOR THE POTTY TRAINED PRINCESS....


A VERY SPECIAL GIFT ARRIVED IN THE MAIL FROM A FELLOW ADOPTION BLOGGER, NELL ANN.
I WAS TRULY TOUCHED!!


SOME WONDERFUL FRIENDS THREW US A SHOWER, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!

I have been tagged by my friend Amy to tell you 7 random little factoids about myself. I REALLY enjoy reading about all these little oddities about all my buddies.

1. I AM A RECOVERING GRANOLA GIRL. I used to be an outdoor mama, as in unshaven legs mountain girl. During my college summers I was a river raft guide on the American River and spent my time toiling the days away yelling at people to paddle faster. Now, mama can be a little bit of a princess (at least in my estimation).

2. I LIVE FOR MY DAILY RATION OF DIET COKE. I told my husband the other day that I actually get the butterflies of excitement thinking about drinking it. Can you say it with me...ADDICT.

3. I CAN NEVER EVER GET ANY COMMON SAYINGS CORRECT. So as in if a child of mine ate a ton of food, I will sagely point out to anyone that will listen that "Boy! She must have a wooden leg!" but rather it should be that she has a hollow leg.

4. I HAVE A MAJOR AVERSION TO SWEAT. I'm fine if it's me sweating but I cannot stand to touch anyone who is even slightly sweaty. I handle blood and vomit without any problem at work, but sweat? I've a got a problem on my hands.

5. I LOVE FUN SOCKS. I only wear socks to work so I always pick ones that are fun. Hearts, bumble bees, m&m's, flowers, etc, you name it, I've got it. Otherwise (just like Amy), I will be in flip-flops. And yes, I have the same dirty feet too!

6. TARGET IS MY BIGGEST DOWNFALL. I go in for dish soap, I leave with a jog bra, book, toy for the kids, candy, and fun socks (see above). That place has chemicals that are distributed through the vents that cause me to buy new shirts for $3.99.

7. I HAVE BEEN CORRECTED BY MY HUSBAND, MY BIGGEST DOWNFALL IS TRADER JOES. I truly do live for this grocery store. It is my answer to all things food. Perfect chocolate. Perfect wine. Perfect pastas. Perfect everything.

And now....I am tagging the following people:

Mary
Julie
Jody
Kristin
Leann
Eryn
Gypsy

ADOPTION IS GOING TO DRAIN THE LIVING BREATH OUT OF MY BODY

I'm feeling so positive today, don't you see? Yeah, not really. Amongst other families, we found out we have been delayed at least another month. If (I feel like) we're lucky. We had a court date last week and there was one necessary piece of paperwork missing. We have a court date in early November, but again there is no guarantee we will pass through that go around either. This is, by definition, international adoption. It is a crazy, crazy, crazy ride. And I'm the one on the ride holding up her hand saying, "I'm gonna puke". I feel super exhausted and so conflicted. There's a beautiful baby boy that I'm supposed to have in my arms and as if in a dream, I just can't seem to pick him up. Both Rob and I felt like we didn't even want to get out of bed today. Pretty pathetic, I know. There are many people suffering much worse, but I just can't seem to get the ouch to go away.

"LADYTARDS AND NAZNICS"

You know those great misinterpreted words that your children use? Meris has said "ladytard" for leotard for as long as I can remember. I cannot tell her the truth because I cannot bear to hear her say it properly. She does now, however, say gymnastics rather than "naznics". Kiera has taken over in this department, but she adds a delightful twist by saying "naznicths" due to an endearing little lisp. I overheard Meris talking to a classmate about her "ladytard" the other day, this girl had the most enormous "what the?" look on her face. And Meris simply could not understand why her words were not being understood. I kind of skulked away. It might be time to let her in on a little pronunciation lesson. I am a bad Mommy!!!!!

Here they are in all their glory!

LOUSY DAY TURNS TO GOLD!

So my day started reaaaalllly early today. 1233 am to be exact! Because I am a nurse in a post-anesthesia care unit I have to take call. Meaning if there are any emergency surgeries, I have to be there to wake them up. I love my job but I suppose, night time call...not so much. I go to sleep with the phone by my ear and then if there's a c-section or appendectomy or any kind of something, I have to haul my sorry little you-know-what out of bed and drive into work. Frequently I go in for C-sections and those are my favorite. If I'm not going to be sleeping, a brand new baby seems to make up for it. So I finished with the c-section and drove home at about 330 am. While I was driving I came upon one of these...

except that she was I think at least twice as big (you know how these stories grow!) So I basically slammed straight into her and that was that. I really like animals and this made made me very sad. It made my car sad and that in turn made me even more sad and well, it eventually made my husband extremely sad. Oh such sadness!! So it pretty much disabled the car and did I happen mention that I forgot my cell phone? So poor me, I am out there in the middle of the night pulled off the freeway trying to flag someone down. Any axe murderers need an opportunity? Here I am. Totally available. No axe murderers to be found, thankfully. I did however, meet my new best friend who helped me lift up the bumper, stuff it under itself and make the car at last capable of limping home. So I did creep home, having to stop every few minutes to re-stuff said bumper. Oh the humanity! So then when I got home, I slept a couple of hours and woke up feeling so fresh and kind to all those around me. Ha! We then took "Rosebud" the deer killing wonder-mobile to the body shop. And you bet there was some wonderful news at that establishment! Thank you sweet Jesus for car insurance. Then....I have to go get these...

"Oh my we saw something on your xrays this time....we're going to have to get those wisdom teeth out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I think I need to cry now. Really. Right now.

I trudge my sorry little self home, thank goodness we still have one working car!
And do you know what came in the mail? A CD filled to the brim with glorious pictures of our sweet Elias. He is gorgeous, happy, healthy and completely perfect. And all the yuck of the day just kind of floated away. Not to mention that the courts in Ethiopia opened back up today. Now every day that goes by...a little closer to bringing him home.

PEOPLE....WE'VE GOT A CHUNKY MONKEY!!!

Oh the joy of fat babies. Rubber band wrists. Wonder thighs. Kankles. Belly pudge. We are pleased to announce that we got a lovely update via email about our sweet little Elias. He was weighed a few weeks ago which would have made him around 11-12 weeks and yes, he's a fatty. 14.3 pounds to be exact. His "delicate" weight was even mentioned in a brief description of his personality. I love it. Our girls have always been pretty petite so it will be fun to have a BIG BOY in the house! We are so thankful he is growing and healthy. Now I just NEED to get my hands on those thighs myself!!

MMMMM, ME LIKEY!!!!

Look what came in the mail!!!!!!!! I am so stoked. This necklace was made by ERYN. She is a fellow All God's Children Int'l adoption blogger who is raising funds to bring a little baby girl home. You can find all kinds of lovely little goodies that she makes HERE. If you want to be oh so fashionable and cool like moi, you will definitely want to pick one up, maybe with different names though.
*Note: For those that don't know me well, you need to know that I am not fashionable nor am I under the impression that I am cool. However, I can try.

AND THE WINNER IS....

We finally decided on a name for our sweet little boy...Elias. To be clear, that is not his current name given by his birth mother. We are reserving that very special name for his middle name.

So I think crossing over the threshold of September was huge for us, WE ARE BOTH REALLY EXCITED. So excited that I started shopping for our trip. Why are those little travel things so dang cute? I am a sucker for all of it! Could I not have wadded up a bunch of toilet paper into a ziplock bag and called it good? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I could not pass up on that cute little roll of Charmin in its cute little container!

Here's the rest of the room...

Changing area (Meris was very displeased that I changed Kiera on it, "it needs to be all clean for brother!!!")sorry...


Center rug


Photo-holder bulletin board- I made this with the matching receiving blankets



The bags that are in the crib...my version of organization. I'm starting to put all the appropriate stuff in the right bag. Trying to visualize how much room for all those donations, can't wait for that!!

Thanking God today that He is getting us through this crazy wait.

AHHH....THE SWEET MOMENTS OF LIFE!

I'm training for this....

City to Sea 1/2 Marathon
Click above for more details and join me!!

but I feel like this....

and this...

but if asked what really makes me motivated and happy it would be this....