Little Ethiopia(n)

Referral-versary the second time around

2011-06-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

I know I have been a very delinquent blogger lately (uh...since Sept 2010 good grief!) and I do have a lot to fill you in on (big move, big milestones, etc) but I can't let today go by without a bit of fanfare. Today is our referral-versary.

Two years ago today, June 8, 2009, we saw this picture in our inbox

One year ago today, June 8, 2010...

Today, June 8, 2011

They are so big now-26 months old. They talk, sing, run, question, argue, climb, hug, laugh all the time. Independent and snugly at the same time. They are each other's best friend and still the greatest joys we have ever known. The more we learn about them, the more they learn about EVERYTHING...honestly, I have no words.

Right now, as I type this, I can hear Baby Girl on the monitor singing herself to sleep. Her own original mash up of Queen's Bicycle Race, an old camp song I used to sing to her at night, and Rainbow Connection. It goes something like this: "Bicycle! Bicycle! I want a Bicycle today while blossoms on vines and I eat your strawberries. cause Rainbows are visions, only visions with nothing on other side" Baby Boy, of course, has been asleep since the moment we laid him down so he misses out on her concert. He spent the afternoon climbing up onto the top of our sofa and then jumping off into a pile of pillows. "Baby Boy jump! Again! Again!"

I had no idea when I saw that first photo what my life would be like with them in it, and now, two years later I can't begin to imagine what it would be like without them.

Baby Girl, Baby Boy - you are our hearts... xoxo

Nanny Comes to Hollywood

2010-10-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

Last month we had visitors...and not just any visitors but FAMILY! My parents, aka Granddaddy and Mama T, my grandmother, who I call Nanny but the twins call Grand-Nan, and my Aunt Sue.
My parents come to visit us at least once a year but this was the first time Grand-Nan and Aunt Sue had come out. In fact, it turns out it was a life-long dream of Grand-Nan's to come to Los Angeles. A dream she NEVER MENTIONED! Yeah...sorta a shame she kept that to herself all these years. I mean, we could have made that dream come true a long time ago! And often! Oh well, better late than never I suppose and so in September my 91 year old grandmother came to Hollywood for the first time

Sadly, I didn't think to take blog-worthy photos so I've had to do some creative cropping in order to give you a sample of their visit.

Naturally, we had to show Grand-Nan the Hollywood Sign.

And Santa Monica Beach


There was some sort of trapeze group meeting at the beach that day so Grand-Nan and Aunt Sue got an eye-full of that craziness.


We also spent an afternoon wandering around Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Here is Grand-Nan pondering Prada's Fall collection.

But mainly we just stayed home and played with The Twins. They LOVED all the attention and hugs. Finally, they had a house full of people who would play peek-a-boo and "where's my nose?" with them!

Baby Girl sharing secrets with her Granddaddy

Baby Boy studying the life aquatic with his Mama T


Aunt Sue learning the rules of the water table, "What happens at water table STAYS at water table."

Over all it was an amazing (and too brief!) visit. One that I never thought would happen. The twins are truly blessed to be loved by so many people.

xoxo-Kat

For the record: 18 months

2010-10-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

The latest change in our house. 4 tooth brushes in the bathroom. And yes, that is a Heros of the Torah collectible juice glass.

The Wonder Twins turned 18 months this weekend. 18 months. That means they are now a year and a half old, and according to books, this means they are no longer babies. Sigh. HOW did that happen?

In an effort at keeping track of the milestones that are flying by, I will now attempt to list the highlights:

They know 23 words, of which my favorites to hear them say are: Sissy (Baby boy's name for his sister), bubbles, nana (banana), bye-bye (which is said in a slow southern drawl), toes, and of course, Mama & DaDa.
They know 11 American Sign Language signs including: please, thank you, book, help, bath, and fish. Granted, thank you & blowing kisses are pretty much the same, as is milk and star. It's all in the context.
They can tell you what each of the following says: lion, cow, chicken, sheep, elephant, truck (broom broom), 3 singing pigs (La La, La) and a ghost (boo).
They know all the movements to "The Wheels on the Bus," "Farmer Brown," and "Skidamarink"
Their current favorite joke is to fake cough until one of us says in a silly voice, "oh my...are you ok!?" This cracks them both up.
Baby Girl has 6 teeth. Baby Boy has 5. But they seem to be teething 24/7 so more should be on the way soon.
They never, ever stop moving. They walk, run, roll, dance, and pretend to fall (yes, they have mastered the pratfall). They wave, blow kisses, kick and throw balls (or trucks, or magna-doodles). They can climb stairs and the ladders for slides and think nothing of trying to step off a 2 foot high ledge. And yet, they will not step off the 5 inch high deck in our back yard without holding onto us. That's kinda weird.
When they aren't moving their other favorite thing to do is read. They can both sit for half an hour at a time just flipping through books on their own. Sometimes they babble the storyline out loud, sometimes they just skip to their favorite pages and 'read' that part ("all the hippos go berserk!" Recently they want to sit in our laps and 'read' to us. Books are the #1 go-to toy for us.
They have moved past their fear of the baby doll and now fight over who gets to rock her and put her down for "nigh-nigh."
They know how to put away their toys. Baby Boy loves to clean up. All I have to do is sing the first 2 words of that darn "clean up" song and he is rushing to put books on the shelves. If there are no books to put away, he has been known to knock some down just so he can put them back. Baby Girl on the other hand... not so into cleaning. You hand her a book to put away and she will walk to the opposite corner and start reading. Baby Boy responds well to applause and high fives. Baby Girl might need money...
They can sorta, kinda use their forks and spoons. Ok, not really. But that's my fault. I have a hard time letting them get crazy and messy. So they don't get a lot of practice with utensils. I'm trying to be better about it...
They love straws. They will drink pretty much anything if you let them use a straw. And straws usually mean there is a lid. They like the straw, I like the limited mess potential. Win-win!
Baby Boy loves his trucks. He loves to make the broom-broom noise as he drives them along the window ledge. Which may or may not have something to do with his latest obsession: the broom. The boy loves to sweep. He also loves to drum and sing. He has one tune but three different sets of lyrics (dada, dadi and noni) and will sing on command.
Baby Girl loves to swing. We go to the park and all she does is stand by the swing set, signing 'please' over and over again. It's pretty cute and never fails to make some other parent instantly take their child out so Baby Girl can have a turn. Baby Girl is the Jim Carrey of toddlers--she can contort her face into all sorts of crazy looks. Anything to make her brother laugh. She also loves to climb--slides, the sofas, beds, hills... she is Jim Carrey the goat.
They genuinely seem to like each other. "Sissy" is the first word out of Baby Boy's mouth when he wakes up. And Baby Girl follows him around like he's a god. Sometimes they just look at each other and start laughing hysterically. I know boy/girl fraternal twins aren't supposed to have that mystical "twin thing" but I do think my kids can read each others mind sometimes.
They aren't all sunshine and good manners... oh no. We've hit the beginning of the Terrible Two's I think. If they don't want to hold your hand they will let their whole body go limp so you are suddenly dragging dead weight. If they don't want what's on their plate they throw it. Diaper changing time has become an Olympic wrestling match with both of them. Baby Girl can burst into ear-splitting, tearful screams in .2 seconds. Baby Boy spends his days screeching "eh?!" Yes, he knows 23 words and 11 signs but he would prefer to screech "eh!?" all day long. They hit and pinch. And as of yesterday, bite. And they are now able to look you straight in the eye while doing something you specifically told them not to do. You take something from them and they will go find something bigger (and louder) and repeat the action. They laugh at timeouts and after wards fight over who gets to sit in the Time Out spot. And they use the fact that there are two of them to their advantage. One distracts with sweet kisses while the other climbs up on the table and grabs the forbidden iPod. I'm not kidding.
They have just learned how to have tea parties and spend a lot of time now asking "tea? tea? tea?"
They like a lot of people but they only do their special, "Yay! You are are!" dances for mama, dada, and Ella, their nanny. Nothing in the world is sweeter than their happy-to-see-you dances.

Notice I don't say anything about their sleeping and eating habits. I'm not stupid...no jinxing is going to happen here. There you have it. Two pretty normal, totally extraordinary 18 month olds. Oh, screw the books. They are still my babies.

That was then.

This is now. Baby Girl with her Quilty.

Baby Boy with his Ellie and his collection of pacifiers (hey-if he can find one in the middle of the night then I don't have to!).

Celebrating Enkutatash...3 is the magic number

2010-09-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

We've been lucky enough to live in the neighborhood known as Little Ethiopia for 3.5 years now.

The first year we attended the Ethiopian New Year Street Festival held a few blocks from our house we had just gone on the wait list. I cried every time I saw a sweet Ethiopian (looking) child. Yes, that crazy white woman was me.

The second year we attended the Ethiopian New Year Street Festival the twins had been home with us for barely 3 weeks. I was sooooo excited to take them to the parade (there is an elephant!) and to see the dancers and, lets be honest, to show them off. They cried the whole 15 mins we were there. The noise and the crowds were just too much.

The third year was the charm. The twins loved their outfits. They loved the music. They loved the food. And the people loved them.

Happy 2003! xoxo-Kat


Baby Girl dancing in the crowd


back at home begging for sambusas


And just in case you thought they were bored of the Crazy Coupe...no way.

One year LAversary

2010-08-25T23:13:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, Aug 25, 2009, the Twins cleared customs and took their first breaths of LA's sweet smoggy air. We were home.

Loved ones were on hand to greet the newest Angelenos.

Flash forward one year:

We celebrated our LAversary by visiting a LA landmark, the Santa Monica Pier. This is our friend Pippa. 16 yrs ago (this month!) when I first moved to California I lived w/ her grandparents. Seems full circle somehow that she'd celebrate this California Moment with us.

Baby Boy fulfilling his duties as LA Ambassador and greeting the tourists.

One year. I still can't believe it.

xoxo, Kat

When 2 became 4

2010-08-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Haven't been the best blogger lately, which is a shame because I still have a lot to say, share, record, over-analyze. But alas while the will is there, the energy is not. Twins...what can I say. But today is a pretty monumental milestone for our little family and I just can't let it go by without a bit of nostalgic re-living. And so, inspired by Julie (once again) and since I never got around to doing it a year ago, here is our story.

Day One: When We First Met.

Barely two weeks lapsed between the moment we passed court and the moment we hopped on a plane to Addis via Dubai. All those months of waiting and then suddenly-BAM! 14 days to getitalldown! Thankfully I had wonderful friends who sat me down and said, "buy this, pack this, do this." Without them I'd still be in Target deciding on a bottle brush.

We really wanted someone with us for this journey. Someone we loved. Someone we trusted enough to share this moment with us. Someone who would enjoy and appreciate all this trip would be. But mainly we wanted someone who had experience with babies (since we didn't have any!) and who could take good photos. And who could leave their own family for a week. That narrowed our choices down to my sister-in-law (mom of two boys, great photographer) and my BFF (mom of my godchildren, great photographer). My SIL couldn't get out of work sadly but my BFF jumped at the chance to go with us. Having her in Addis was a cherry on an already overflowing sundae. You know how sometimes when you are at your most joy-filled you catch yourself looking around to see if anyone else has noticed? Sometimes you just need someone else to witness the happiness to make it feel real. They are the pinch on the arm that you aren't dreaming. Our totem if you've seen Inception. That was Lori for us on this trip.

We became a band of three at the Dubai airport. Spent the night at the airport hotel (note I did not say "slept at the airport hotel" because there was no sleeping for me that night.) Got up at the crack of dawn the next day and headed back to the airport to catch our last flight as people-with-no-children.

The flight to Addis was surreal. Ok, so what hadn't been surreal since the referral phone call...but still, suddenly we were flying over our children's birth country. I had no idea what part we were flying over but perhaps we were over their village. Perhaps someone who knew them was looking up at our plane. Crazy Crazy Crazy.

And then suddenly, we were ALMOST THERE and things felt even more unreal if that is possible.

We cleared customs quickly and were met by Travis, the Gladney rep, and Solomon, our driver. Solomon had been our neighbors' driver a few months earlier so I had specifically requested him because I knew he had a van and there would be six of us including him. Ok, let's think about this: 4 adults and two INFANTS. Infants in arms. We did not need a van. A car would have been just fine. But a car wouldn't have given us Solomon. And meeting Solomon was one of the greatest gifts of our trip. Family is the closest word I can use to describe this incredible man. He is family. More on him later.

Now I have to backtrack a bit. When Mary, our Gladney case worker, called us the day before we traveled she mentioned the babies would be brought to us as soon as we arrived. Wait a minute. What!?!? I instantly said, "oh no. that's not necessary. We can wait till the next morning." To me that was a perfectly normal, wise, adult choice but I have come to realize I am the only one who sees it that way. Mary asked several times if I was sure, and I insisted I was very sure. It was not a decision The Esq happily agreed with but nevertheless he let me talk him into it.

So flash forward two weeks and there we are, in the parking lot of the airport in Addis, with Travis and Solomon and Lori. Travis says to me, "so... you don't want to meet the twins today?" The other families who had just arrived to pick up their children all visibly shuddered at that. Nope, I said. Tomorrow morning please. In my mind it just seemed crazy, not to mention unsafe to simply hand over infants to people who had been traveling for over 48 hours, had NO experience with babies and who most likely still had Ambien in their system. Surely it was wiser to bring them to us the next morning after we had slept, showered, had coffee. We were exhausted. We smelled. Also, I was very aware that this was our last time as just us. This was the last time we would ever have as just me and The Esq, The Esq and me. It wasn't that I didn't want things to change--I was overjoyed to become a foursome, but I just wanted to savor my last bit as a couple. I had been planning for 2 weeks to meet the twins on the 17th and for right or wrong that was what I needed. I needed my last night to sleep and dream about the rest of our lives. I needed one more night of anticipation and excitement.

By the time we got to Ayat Guesthouse (which is where almost all of our LA adoptive friends have stayed, another lovely little link in our chain of friendships) it was the middle of the afternoon, August 16, 2009. Travis came over to drop off a take-out menu folder, a cell phone and a schedule for the week. As he left, he breezily mentioned that he probably wouldn't have time to bring the twins to us until late Monday afternoon. Over 24 hours away.

The Esquire looked at me. "Tomorrow afternoon." Lori politely excused herself to go ponder the daily power outage. I saw the look in his eyes but I held firm. This was too big to let myself get talked into something I didn't want. No. No. Tomorrow is fine. Yes, I would rather it be first thing in the morning. Yes, that was what I had assumed when I made this plan. Yes, 24 hours from now does suck but I already had it on the blog's sidebar "Meet Twins Aug 17th!" Today is the 16th. No. I have to do it this way. I need our night. I need one last night before we start this adventure. No.

I went upstairs to unpack. I opened the windows for some air and then I heard it. Babies. Lots of them. Laughing. Cooing. Crying. Caregivers with sing-song voices loving them. The Ayat House backs up to some of Gladney's baby houses. From Lori's bedroom window you could see the little bitty baby laundry hanging on the line. One of those houses was OUR babies' baby house. I froze. Was that my son's cry? Wait, is that my daughter laughing? I wish I could claim that I'm being dramatic for effect but this is really how it happened. My heart seized up. Screw the blog's sidebar.

Travis seemed a bit put out when I called him to say we had changed our minds, that we wanted the babies NOW, but he was a good sport. Later he said our sudden decision had thrown the care givers into a panic because THEY also thought they had One More Night. One more night to cuddle our twins.

Thirty minutes after I called Travis, Lori yelled from the garden, "They're here, they're here!" What did The Esq and I do in that half hour? Washed our faces. Found the cameras. Sat on the bed rocking.

We met them in the driveway. Travis was holding Baby Boy and Christie, a volunteer, was holding Baby Girl. And then we were holding them.

We were Holding. Our. Children.

They were wearing the little outfits we had sent in our care package and were so much smaller than I had imagined. They both looked us right in the eyes, with strong, direct, curious, and perhaps slightly befuddled gazes and never cried once. The Esq just kept laughing. I just kept saying, Oh my. Oh my. Oh. MY.

After about 15 minutes Travis and Christy departed. They left us with the babies and a piece of notebook paper listing their feeding schedule. That was it. Two babies and a piece of notebook paper. Again I say, crazy crazy, crazy.

I like to believe that both babies felt right at home with us from the first moment. They certainly seemed content and calm. Other than a few glances around to make sure the other was close by, they just snuggled down into our arms and let us examine their little faces, fingers and toes.

We just kept laughing. I mean, it was nuts...suddenly, with very little fanfare in the actual moment, suddenly we had babies! Humans that belonged to us, with us. We had spent almost two years working towards this moment; I couldn't help thinking even then that there should somehow be fanfare. Fireworks. Dancing. Jugglers. A theme song at the very least.

After an hour or so, Lori did her job as Experienced Mom and mentioned the babies probably were hungry and it was their bedtime. Oh. Right. We have to DO something with these guys other then play with their little bendy ears. So we made our first ever bottles and fed them.

And we changed our first ever diapers and put them to bed. Baby Girl was fussy when we tried to rock her but fell right asleep as soon as we laid her down. Baby Boy was fussy until we rocked him to sleep. From the get-go she fell asleep easier on her own and Baby Boy needed a tiny bit more cuddling. They are still that way.

Ayat has one crib which worked perfectly for us. The twins fit together like little puzzle pieces and went soundly to sleep.

After an hour or so of decompressing we went to bed...if I remember correctly without bothering to have dinner. Solomon came back to check on us and we were all passed out. Which was good because according to the VIPoNP (Very Important Piece of Notebook Paper) we had to feed them again in three hours!

And that was what happened on our first day as a family of four. It was funny and exhausting and sans fanfare or theme music but nevertheless miraculous in every way. These two incredible beings were handed to us and finally we were able to physically confirm what we already knew in our hearts, that we four belonged together.

What a day. What a glorious day.

xoxo-Kat

ps-for the record it turns out that lots of agencies make you wait until the day after you arrive in country to meet your children so I'm not the only one out there thinking this makes sense. But I have to admit I am soooo glad we met our kids on Aug 16th. I can't imagine having one less day with them. Once again, dammit, The Esquire was right.

One year ago today...

2010-06-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

One year ago in an email from our case worker ...

One hour ago in our local park ...

On June 8, 2009 we got The Call. You can read about it here and here if you want (I just reread them and am pretty much a basket-case right now).

I've said it before but I'll say it again...what a difference a year makes. I'd write more, but I've got to wipe away these damn happy tears and get back outside to see what else our Wonder Twins have discovered...and most likely put in their mouths. :-)

Life is good.

xoxo, Kat

April was a BIG month!

2010-05-17T21:23:00.001-07:00

Quick! Before May ends let me try to capture April! It was a pretty big month for us, much too big to write about in depth so for the sake of keeping a record and for Popi's parents (our only readers :-) here are a few highlights.

We got teeth...Baby Girl has 3 and Baby Boy has 2. With teeth comes table food! So far they like almost everything--hummus, guac, pasta, peas, carrots, beans-any kind, olives, pizza, tofu, cherries, oranges, pineapple, papaya, turkey, baby corn, fesenjoon (Persian pomegranate dish), tomatoes, potatoes... Basically, the salad bar is their friend. But oddly, Baby Boy cries when you give him strawberries?! Go figure

We started walking! Baby Boy has been walking by way of the push toy for a couple of months and a few weeks ago he started to actually walk, unaided across the room. The first time he took four steps I cried so hard it's a wonder he actually got up and tried again. I'm thrilled he's walking but seriously...so soon?

Baby Girl took her time but she's now a wonder with the push toys too. Actually they will push anything in front of them--the strollers, our outdoor vases, each other...

With walking comes shoes. Here Baby Boy tests out some blue sandals and tastes some red Mary Jane's. Even before I wanted kids, I wanted to bronze little baby shoes. My mom has both mine and my brother's baby shoes bronzed and I've always loved them. Sadly, cute first shoes are a thing of the past. Most of the boys "first walkers" shoes are more like Teva's and the girls are crazy bright pink sneakers. Where are the little saddle oxfords and white ankle lace ups?

We take a weekly swimming class. It's not really a swimming class so much as it's a survival class. The point is to make them feel so comfortable in the water that if they should fall in, they would automatically roll over and float. Baby Girl hated it at first but now she's Esther Williams. We just got back from vacation at the beach and every day someone would comment on how amazing and relaxed the twins were in the water.

We celebrated birthdays...The twins turned ONE! I have never looked forward to a birthday party more than I did this one. And if I say so myself, it was a great party! A crazy, fun, loving mix of friends from all parts of our lives came to celebrate the Wonder Twin's first year. There was singing...

...and playing in the cottage their Grandpa gave them (I love how there are 7 little girls in that cottage and none of them are actually playing together). Baby Girl is in the pink crown of course.

There was playing in the ball pit, a very cool hand-me-down from a very cool friend. Here Baby Girl displays both her grace and her bloomers.

And there was a bouncy house. I'll admit...I was hesitant on the bouncy house. But The Esq insisted and he was, as always, right. It was a hit--with the kids, the twins, and the adults. After the party The Esq and the twins played in there for almost an hour...they just crawled and fell and giggled back and forth while he bounced them around. I'm sure they bounced in their dreams for the next week; they loved it. Here The Esquire displays his moves.

But I guess the biggest event happened on April 28th, in LA County's Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court when we finalized the re-adoption of the twins. We all got dressed up (Baby Girl looked pretty cute in her red, white, and blue dress if I do say so myself :-) and our nanny Graciela went with us. The Edelman Children's Courthouse is pretty unique. It was designed specifically with the idea of making children feel comfortable during what are often stressful times. There were volunteers helping with art projects, big sun-filled rooms, and brightly colored walls. Sadly, not every family or child was there for a happy appointment like us but at least the Court has done it's best to take some of the yuck out.

The meeting with the Judge took about 15 mins. It seems he read EVERY bit of our home study, asking us very specific questions about our travels and studies. The twins missed their morning nap for this appointment so by the time we meet with the Judge they were a little wound up and punchy. Baby Girl spent most of the meeting undoing all of the The Esquires carefully organized files. On our way out the clerk gave the twins each a teddy bear as part of the Comfort for Kids program. Every child adopted in the Edelman Children's Court gets a teddy bear to help celebrate the occasion.

For an event that was mainly about paperwork, it was oddly moving. When we held up our right hands and swore to "bestow upon them all the rights of a natural-born child" I got a little teary. And yet, it also seemed so beside the point. I mean, to be totally honest, any oaths, promises, and allegiances we made to these two children happened back on June 8, 2009 when we saw their faces for the first time. And any repromising was done on August 16, 2009 when we held them for the first time. No amount of paperwork or notarization could make our bonds with these two any tighter or more secure. But that being said, it was pretty fun to declare it in public.

And there you have it... our crazy busy April 2010. Oh, well, there was also our 5 yr wedding anniversary, and my birthday and my father's birthday and my nephew's birthday... but considering May ends in 10 days I think I need to wrap April up now!

xoxo-Kat

Why it's good to be a twin, #724

2010-04-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

There is always someone to push your car.

xoxo0-Kat

THIS April 16th...

2010-04-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

I'm assuming that at some point I will have to stop playing the "what were we doing this time last year and just look what we're doing THIS YEAR!" game. But for now it's kinda fun to think about how far we've come and how much has changed in a year.

Last year on April 16th I posted this blog entry about each place The Esquire and I have celebrated our wedding anniversary. Someone commented that they hoped we'd always get to celebrate our anniversary in special ways and amazing places.

Well, I'm proud to say that we've managed to keep up the tradition. Here's where we were this year, for our 5 year anniversary.

Yup. The little stinkers. Doesn't it seem like Baby Girl is keeping look-out for Baby Boy? "Keep going! No one is coming!"

And this is that Wonder Twin Thing you dream about but then learn to dread... the tag team thought process. You can see them working out the next move together.

Don't worry, that candelabra is earthquake-proofed within an inch of its life. It won't move no matter how hard he pulls or the earth shakes.

Maybe it wasn't the most exotic celebration (I guess that depends on how you feel about the bathroom) but it was still the sweetest anniversary we've had.

xoxo-Kat

How we spent Easter Weekend

2010-04-06T09:46:00.001-07:00

I'll admit that between the 1st birthday (last week) and the 1st birthday party (coming up)...I kinda forgot about Easter. And so sadly my kids were seersucker-less and sans eyelet. Next year I'll be better prepared for the double whammy of birthday and Easter.

But even without going to church or being visited by a large rabbit...it was still a perfect weekend.

The twins hung out in their cool new cottage (thanks Grandpa!) and took turns riding in their new Crazy Coup (thanks Graciela!).

(notice those cute cloth diapered bums!)

And here's the highlight of the weekend...

Yup. He's mobile. In two days Baby Boy totally mastered his new Mail Cart walker. Any time he wasn't in his new car or his new house was spent walking determinedly back and forth across the yard. My favorite part of this video--when he realizes he can't go any further and says, "oh." Such cuteness. I also appreciate that he made the video blog-usable by never turning to face his mother!

Happy April everyone...
xoxo-Kat

Megabit 22

2010-03-31T21:06:00.001-07:00

Today I stood in the grocery store and pondered cupcake mixes. I am not a cook of any sort but occasionally I can pull off a mix. The Esquire is an amazing cook and an even more amazing baker (pies are his specialty) but tonight he had work to do so the cupcakes were up to me. "Supreme Moist" "Deluxe Moistness" "With Pudding in the Mix" So many choices. So many unnecessary uses of the word "moist." I decided to trust Solomon and went with the Pillsbury.

I then bought giant '1' candles...two of them. It was a crazy, giddy moment for me...buying those candles. I have to admit I grinned all the way through check-out and walking to my car. And then I Facebooked about the candles! For someone who never wanted kids I sure am getting a thrill out of the little things.

Tomorrow my babies, my twins, turn one year old. April 1st. Or as they say in Ethiopia, Megabit 23, 2002.

Tomorrow there will be cupcakes.

There will be presents

and there will be crowns.

And in a week there will be a big party with lots of friends and family, a party that, odds are, the twins will sleep through. But regardless we are celebrating this milestone and these two sweet lives with gusto and joy and a bouncy house. I have never been so excited about a birthday celebration in my life. I mean seriously excited. There has been monogramming, people!

But all through my excitement this week, and now as I wait for the cupcakes to bake....I can't help but think about the twin's Ethiopian family. I wonder what they are thinking right now, how they are feeling. Are they remembering this time last year? Do they remember it with happiness or sadness? Are they like me and have been counting down to this date? Or has it suddenly slipped up on them; taken their breath away that a whole year has passed.

I wish I wish I wish I could let them know that everything is ok. That Baby Boy has the most delicious, giggly squeal and eyes that actually twinkle. And that Baby Girl has a smile that lights up your heart and a wicked sense of humor. They are loving and brilliant and funny and healthy and perfect in every way. I wish I could tell our Ethiopian family that.

Yes, of course we can send them updates and letters and such. But I wish I wish I wish I could tell them this NOW. On the night before the first birthday, I wish I could tell them that the twins know love...they know it in three languages and two time-zones and a million memories and stories and whispers. I wish I could call them up, right now, on this night that I imagine is as emotional for them as it is for me, and tell them these things.

But I can't. I can't email them or Facebook them or call them on the phone. Thankfully there will be candles on cupcakes tomorrow. Candles to wish upon. I guess for now, I'll just have to rely on those.

xoxo- Kat

The 6 month reminder.

2010-02-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

Their first time in a swing, Valentine's Day 2010

This week marks our 6 month anniversary as parents. Holy Hannah, where does the time go?

When people ask what has been the most surprising part of parenthood, I have to say: the mere fact that I love it. That sounds silly, but trust me, no one is more surprised than I am about how much fun I’m having.

I never wanted kids. Ever. Now that we have our 2nd post placement interview safely behind us I feel like I can really say that out loud and not be afraid of the repercussions. I spent 39 years actively not wanting kids.

It wasn't because I didn't like kids...I did. Always have. I worship my friends’ children… think they all hung the moon. But I loved my life. I loved being selfish about MY life. And I’ve never been very good with the whole “forever” concept. Having to do something forever (hence my finding a new job every 4 years or so). Being with someone forever (hence my history of only dating people for 3 years). Living somewhere forever (hence my need to travel and move relatively often). The thought of being a parent…of feeling responsible forever to/for a child did not interest me.

But (you know where this is going don’t you?) all that changed when I meet The Esquire. Ok…not all of it. I did start believing in being with one man forever and a day. But I was still not into having my own kids. Which was a problem because The Esq. is one of those men born to be a father and so early on in our dating life he made it clear that having a family was a deal breaker. So I reluctantly agreed. On the rare occasion when I did ponder having children, I had always assumed it would be through adoption. So we looked into it and decided that yes, our kids were in Ethiopia.

But even as I spent 4 months filling out adoption paperwork, I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of having kids. And I spent most of the 10 months on the waitlist thinking, ‘how did this happen? I don’t want kids!” But I wanted the call. I wanted to see their faces. I wanted to know who these kids would be. I wanted to see The Esq. with his children. But I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a mom, you know…FOREVER.

So here I am... 6 months into having children that I never wanted.

I would like to take this opportunity and use this very public venue to say for once and for all:

The Esquire was right.

I was wrong.

I was completely, naively, stupidly, wrong and he was 100% right.

Having children is the second greatest thing that has ever happened to me.

I am head over heels, crazy-stupid, playing “In Your Eyes” on my boom box outside their nursery, totally in love with these two little humans. My Children. Just smelling their heads is like drinking the kool-aid every day. I have become one of THOSE parents. The kind of parent who can’t carry on a normal conversation anymore. Instead of asking how my friends are, I spend the whole time saying things like, "Did you see that? How he blew that bubble? Oh, watch this--he drools! Wait--did you see how she did that? How she breathes? In and out, in and out? Amazing!"

My name is Kat and I am obsessed with my children. Please send your 12 step brochures care of Little Ethiopian.

I always said (and totally believed) that my choice to not have kids was just a matter of picking and choosing the kind of life I wanted. If I had kids I would be happy but would have to give up some things. If I didn't have kids I would also be happy but would miss out on some things. No biggie, you pick the kind of life you want most and go forward, right? Wrong. Here’s what I've come to realize in the past 6 months: These kids were not a choice for me. They were a necessity I just didn't know about. They are right up there with food, water and shelter. I honestly do not see how I could have continued living my life without them. In a nutshell--I made plans and God laughed at me.

Crazy huh?

But the fact that I love being a mom is not the only thing that has caught me off guard these past 6 months. No, I think it’s fair to say that every day has been eye opening for me in every single way. I had no idea…well, about anything really. I mean, you can read and research all you want but until they hand those babies to you it is all just a pile of words. Plus, (and this is a little bit of wisdom for waiting families) I spent my time on the wait list reading stacks of books about trans-racial families and how to talk about adoption, how first graders perceive color and the cultural implications of cornrows. I never once opened a ‘normal’ baby book. So while I was able to talk about race issues with teenagers, I had no idea what or how much to feed 4 month olds!

Here are just a few other things I had no idea about before Aug 25^th:

I had no idea how much fun little babies are…I thought they needed to be older to have personality.
I had no idea how in love I would be with their fat little wrists. I always thought baby feet were the best, now I realize that’s wrong—it’s their wrists that get you!
I had no idea how sad I would be every time they outgrew something or how ecstatic I would be at the sight of a first tooth.
I had no idea how easy it would be put all my focus on the twins; ignoring my husband in the process. Suddenly marriage is a lot more work than it was before.
On the flip side, I had no idea that I could possibly love The Esq. more until I saw him napping with his son.
I had no idea that I would begin to question every single decision every single day... should I feed them more or less cereal, should they go to bed earlier, should I wake them from their naps, should I use a regular sippy cup or a straw sippy cup, should they wear socks or not, should we continue to read the same 4 books they love or should we try new ones…
I had no idea how adept I would become at holding things with my chin or picking things up with my toes.
I had no idea how small my lap was until two babies both wanted to be in it at the same time. Or the guilt I would feel at not having 4 arms. The guilt…I had NO idea about the guilt.
I had no idea how freaked out I would be over their first fever.
I had no idea how much I would miss them when they are asleep (not enough to wake them of course, but enough to go look at them 8 times a night)
I had no idea of the celebrity-ness of twins when we go out in public.
I had no idea how fast they grow and change and learn! They are SO SMART it’s scary.
I had no idea how much I would crave their love or how much I would fear not always having it.
I had no idea. About anything it seems.

I was clueless. And maybe that’s why the past 6 months have been so amazing and eye opening to me…I was clueless. Ignorance is bliss, that kinda thing.

But I’m learning. I know where Baby Boy’s tickle spot is. I know which foods make Baby Girl gag (anything w/ ground beef). I know Baby Girl likes to sleep flat on her tummy with arms outstretched like she’s flying and Baby Boy likes to sleep on his side with his hands clasped ready to sing a capella. I know they love the lid to the toy cookie jar more than any other toy around. I know Baby Girl likes to sit in my lap to be held whereas Baby Boy likes to stand in my lap leaning into me. I know Baby Boy will automatically try to put any new thing in his mouth but Baby Girl will smell it first. I know that Baby Boy needs a bit of cuddling after a nap but that Baby Girl wants to play immediately. I know the difference in their ‘we want attention’ cry and their ‘we’re hurt’ cry. I know how to help them stop crying. I know them. Or at least I’m beginning to.

Please don’t think this blog is about how perfect my life is. I mean, life is perfect, but perfect does not equal easy. The Wonder Twins may be the two most glorious creatures on the planet, but that doesn’t mean the past 6 months have been all rainbows and sing-alongs. They are babies after all. Two of ‘em. Who left everything they knew to come home with us. There were sleep issues and scheduling issues and now there are teething issues and sibling jealousy issues. Oh, and parasite issues, don’t forget those.

I’m not trying to gloss over anything, it’s just that this particular blog entry isn’t about all that. I wrote this entry for me. To help me remember just how far I’ve come in the past six months (or 39 years depending on how you want to look at it.) To be a reminder that sometimes the very thing you don’t want the most, turns out to be the very thing you need to survive.

Like Meredith on Gray's Anatomy, I've always imagined myself to be all dark and twisty. But it turns out I'm not...at least I'm not anymore. Now I'm crafty and goofy and unbearably sunny. I sing nonsense tunes at the top of my voice as we walk and make zerburt noises in restaurants...anything for a smile or two. Suddenly, my glass is overflowing and that just makes me laugh.

This life that I have now, this crazy, hard, funny, amazing, sleepless, poop-filled life—the very one I ran from for 39 years—has turned out to be way better than I could have ever wished for.

Watching for DaDa to come home.

xoxo, Kat

For those of you waiting...

2010-01-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

Today marks our 5 month anniversary of being in the states together as a family of four. Where does the time go? The picture above is our most current family photo. How much do you love Baby Boy's shoes??

As it happens, today was also the twins 9 month check up. They are, much like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way. They babbled and smiled and did all their little tricks for the doctor. She was pleased and declared them right on target developmentally. Which is a relief to hear because considering these are our first and only kids we have no idea what they should be able to do by now. And the books just make things more confusing. What to Expect in the First Year says they should be able to eat a cracker by 6 months! A cracker! How? They have no teeth!

As far as their stats: Baby boy is a whooping 24lbs and 30" long...that's the 89th percentile for those of you who understand that jargon. Baby Girl is a bit more petite but long: 17lbs and 28" (21st and 52% respectively). Again, the doctor is pleased with their growth--the amount of weight they have put on over the past five months is right on target.

For those of you waiting to bring your babies home--here is why this should matter to you: When we got home five months ago, neither baby weighed enough to register on the percentile chart. They were teeny tiny then but look what five months can do.

Here's another little story for those of you with babies in the Gladney care centers right now: Just last week a friend admitted to me that she had actually met the twins when they were in Addis. While she was in Ethiopia picking up her daughter, she toured the baby houses and saw the care givers holding four week old twins. They had just arrived at the care center the day before and were horribly malnourished and sick. My friend said when she saw how tiny and fragile these babies were she got all teary because she didn't think they would make it. She spoke to the staff and was told the caregivers would hold and feed the twins non-stop around the clock to make sure they were ok.

Fast forward 5 weeks and we get our referral call for two month old twins. When my friend sees our referral photos for the first time she gets very silent. I assume she's all choked up with happiness for us, but in reality she recognizes our twins as those same fragile tiny twins she meet in Addis and she's scared for us. Scared because she saw first hand what a long road they had before them health wise. But she's not a doctor so instead of scaring us with her opinion she decides to not mention having met the twins.

Fast forward again to last week when we have a play date with my friend and her daughter. Baby Boy and Baby Girl are rolling and scooting everywhere, laughing and hugging and being normal 9 month old babies. My friend finally confesses that she had met them in Ethiopia. She was afraid I would be angry that she hadn't told me this before now. But how could I be angry? On the contrary this knowledge feels like a surprise gift. Because now we know of someone, someone we already considered a friend nonetheless, who saw the twins before we did. Who had them in her heart long before we knew they existed. An eyewitness who can confirm what we have believed all along, that the Gladney care givers really did love on our babies every second of every day until we got there. I mean, come on, that's amazing! I am grateful beyond words.

I know how hard the wait is...I know how afraid you can be at 3am for your children waiting in Ethiopia but try to find a little peace of mind that they are definitely being loved on, and that one day--before you can blink an eye--they will most likely be in the 89th percentile too.

xoxo-
Kat

Sheer brilliance...at the speed of light

2010-01-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

One night this week, as I was reading Baby Boy his good-night book he reached out and turned the page. Just like that. I got to the end of the page and he reached out his chubby, to die for little hand and very purposefully turned the page. I was blown away. He has had amazing focus for books and a love of being read to since the very beginning but had never really tried to grab the book or mess with the pages before. In fact he spends most of the book looking from the page to the reader and back to the page. He likes to watch your face while you read aloud. And then suddenly, out of nowhere....he turns a page.

I didn't react outwardly, just kept reading and at the end of the next page...HE DID IT AGAIN! And at the end of every page after that. And he has been turning pages ever since! Sometimes the pages get turned in an excited flailing (he is a baby after all) but most of the time he very deliberately turns the page. My boy. A GENIUS.

As for Baby Girl she also blew my mind this week. I entered the pit (our clever name for their fenced off play area) to play with the twins, like I do 20 times a day. But this time Baby Girl made a beeline over to me, doing her usual boot-camp scoot in double time. When she reached my lap, she bounced up and down and held her arms up. She was asking me to hold her. For the first time ever, she was asking me to hold her. I obliged and she nestled into my arms, looking around the pit like royalty. After about 2 minutes she was satisfied and wiggled down. And since then, whenever I enter the play area she immediately scoots over to me and demands I hold her. She never stays in my lap for long, just enough to claim me I suppose, and then goes on playing. And every time my heart sings.

I was a nanny for a 10 month old and a three year old...so I know a lot about those ages and up...but not very much about younger than 10 months. So it was kind of a shock to me when the twins came home at 4.5 months old to realize they didn't know how to 'ask' to be held or picked up. That whole "hold my arms up so you pick me up" thing has to be learned. So all these months I've just been holding the babies or picking them up when I wanted or when I thought there was a need... it was always initiated by me. Sure, they'd let me know they wanted me by crying but it was always a guess that being held was what they needed. And yet suddenly, that day in the pit, Baby Girl made it perfectly clear what she wanted: me.

Seriously... it is more than I can handle. These two developments. I am completely overwhelmed and overjoyed and overproud. My kids showing a love of books and a love of me....what could be better!?! But of course, me being me, I am also a tiny bit sad because I know where all this leads... today she crawls into my lap, one day she will crawl out...today he turns pages, one day he will read about a far away land and he will move there. Damn books! Damn developments!

I'm only 1/2 kidding. I cried when she crawled into my lap today...she's been doing it for a week now and yet today I cried. Because all I could think about was, "will I know when it's the last time? Will I realize when she has crawled into my lap for the last time?"

Fret not, I'm not sitting here binding their feet so they never learn to walk. 98% of the time I am joyful about every new development. But I figure I can admit to the 2% melancholy here because, well, it's MY blog. And if you can't whine on your own blog...

My children are gorgeous and brilliant and stunning in every way and I would not change one thing. Except to slow it all down so I can savor their stunning brilliance a little longer.

Happy 2010,
Kat

Melkam Gena

2010-01-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

Today is Thursday, January 7, 2010 or if you are Ethiopian, it's Christmas Day, January 7, 2002.

On January 1st, the twins turned 9 months old (!). As of today they have now been with us for exactly 4 months and 3 weeks...one week longer than they have been with anyone else. We have now been the longest, most consistent presence in their lives as of this week. That is just a crazy thought. Every day is something new, and today the new thing for all of us is Ganna, Ethiopian Christmas.

Even though we live in Little Ethiopia, I didn't know much about Ganna so naturally I turned to the all-knowing Google and found this... excerpts below...

Christmas is a major holiday in Ethiopia. More than half of the population of Ethiopia is Orthodox Christian. The celebration occurs on January 7, the Feast of the Epiphany, instead of December 25...

On Christmas Eve, January 6, the city is crowded with pilgrims and tourists from all parts of the world. The people remain outdoors all night, praying and chanting. On January 7, the Ethiopian Christmas known as Ganna is celebrated. The word Ganna is used interchangeably with the word Christmas, to mean the birth of Jesus Christ (leddat). This celebration takes place in ancient churches carved from solid volcanic rock of that day and also in more modern churches that are designed in three concentric circles. Men and boys sit separately from the girls and women. People receive candles as they enter their church. After lighting the candles, everyone walks around the church three times, and then they all stand throughout the church service which may last up to three hours. After the service, the rest of the day is spent dancing, playing sports and feasting.

The preparation of the feast is an important part of the day in Ethiopia. A typical Ethiopian feast for the Christmas meal includes a main course, such as doro wat ( a spicy chicken stew), injera bread (Which is a flat round bread) and homemade wine or beer. The injera bread is used to scoop and eat the food, thereby replacing ordinary utensils.

Gift giving in an Ethiopian Christmas celebration is a very small part of this ceremony. Children, if they receive gifts, usually receive simple presents such as clothing. But, a very important part of the celebration is a sporting event called gena. This game is a form of field hockey in which sticks with hooks at one end are used. The game is played by having two opposing teams trying to outscore each other hitting a ball with their sticks. Usually, the sticks and balls are made from locally grown trees. In Ethiopia, the opposing teams often represent certain regions and the rivalry in these games can be intense. According to tradition, shepherds celebrated when they heard of Jesus’ birth by playing this such game...

The twins are sick sickies right now, with horrible snotty colds, so I'll be honest, I haven't put much thought into how we would celebrate Ganna. Luckily, Mimi's mom did so later tonight we'll wander over to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant and will at least get to give everyone Happy New Year and Melkam Gena hugs. But next year, I'm going to pay attention to this article and we'll have a proper celebration!

I wish I had more energy to tell you just how happy I'm feeling today...even with snot all over me, the thought that our babies are asleep in the next room, oblivious to the fact that tonight they will see all their friends, makes me smile.

More late, I promise. Melkam Gena to everyone!
xox-kat

Must read happy story of the day

2010-01-05T09:39:00.000-08:00

Ok, so we all know I have become a blog writing slacker... but that doesn't mean I've slacked off from reading other blogs. There are still a few families out there waiting on their kids that I follow obsessively. And today that obsession paid off.

If you want to read a happy story go here. You will laugh, you will cry, it is DEFINITELY better than Cats.

After almost 13 months, Mark and Heidi saw their kids faces yesterday. And yes, I'm a little biased about how wonderful their kids must be... just read their story and you'll see why.

What a way to start the new year!
xox-kat

This time last year OR Our first Christmas

2009-12-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

This time last year we had been on the wait list for 3.5 months and I was seriously deep into my adoption blog obsession, reading every blog I could find about adoption and/or Ethiopia. Sometimes obsessions are bad things (remember my search for the 'right' crib skirts?) but sometimes obsessions are cool avenues to great things. My blog obsession helped introduce me to this lovely mama who in turn invited me to join her Ladies in Waiting lunch group.

When I joined the Ladies in Waiting there were 7 of us all adopting from Ethiopia. Two had just gotten referrals, two were still doing the paperwork and the other three of us were in different places on the wait list. It was amazing to sit down and get to meet people on our same journey, to meet them In Person rather than just through words on a blog.

But as amazing as it was to meet these women, the true highlight of that lunch for me was when a recently ousted member of the Ladies in Waiting wandered in with her daughter, Mimi. They had been back from Ethiopia as a family for only two weeks at that point and I remember thinking as I touched little Mimi's hand "she still has Ethiopia on her..." It was like a celebrity sighting for me! I mean, here, in the flesh, was what we were all working towards...in 3-d, right in front of me... eating lemon slices! I can't explain why Mimi made such an impact. She was (is!) adorable but I think it was the fact that they had just come home, they had just crossed the finish line and that made it all seem so..... possible! When The Esq picked me up after lunch all I could talk about was Heather, Chris and Mimi and Mimi and Mimi and MIMI! He kept asking, "so who else was at lunch?" and I'd say, "and then Mimi scrunched up her nose! Her nose that was smelling Ethiopian air just 14 days ago!"

This weekend we took the twins to our neighborhood Christmas tree lot to pick out a tree. As we walked there I kept remembering Heather's blog entry from Christmas last year when they took Mimi to get a tree. I must have looked at those photos a thousand times... imagining what that must feel like, to do something as simple as picking a tree with your new child. And now, here we were, doing that exact thing. It just felt so full circle to me... I had wished upon Heather's photos and now here we were stepping into our own version. I, of course, cried at the hugeness of the moment.

That night, after The Esq hung the lights, we did the big reveal for the twins. They were whiny and fussy and I'm sure wondering why we were all sitting in the dark but as soon as we plugged in the Christmas tree lights everything stopped. The only sound was of their eyes widening in surprise. And we sat like that, the four of us, in silence, just looking, for a good 5 minutes (which is 4 mins longer then they have ever sat still before!). And every morning since, I have cuddled up on the sofa with Baby Boy (our early riser) and we have just stared at those Christmas lights while waiting for the rest of the family to get up. 6 am has never been sweeter. I might have to drape our houseplants in twinkly lights come January so this never ends.

December has just barely started and I am already a happy, sobbing mess over all the symbolism and joy of this holiday with children.... with my children.... I've said it before but I'll say it again...I just had no idea it could be like this.

Who knows if I'll get back to this blog before the end of the year so let me just go ahead now and wish you and yours the happiest of times. May you all feel as joyful and full as I do this year.

xoxoox,
Kat, The Esq, and The Wonder Twins

A few updates:

*Since we are traveling for most of December, we opted to get a tiny tree this year with just lights on it. But you can see I have hung three very special ornaments: The black and white Africa was made by my friend Harmony (you can have one too... just go here!), the two red hearts were made by our 5 yr old friend Pippa to celebrate the twins first Christmas, and the wooden cross on the bottom right was made for me by a boy at the Kolfe orphanage in Addis.

*Mimi and her parents are currently on the wait list again awaiting word on her new sister... fingers crossed, they could get The Call any day now! Now THAT would be a cool Christmas present!

*Of the 7 Ladies in Waiting--5 of us have our children home (a total of seven kids!), one lady put her adoption on hold and the 7th has her court date this Friday for her adorable little boy! We all gathered together this past weekend for a holiday party...all the kids in one room... the joy, the noise, the happiness...

Times they are a-changing

2009-11-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

**First off let me say how much I have LOVED reading everyone's daily entries for NaPoBlogMoTaMaMa...or whatever the acronym for "write one blog entry a day for all of November" is. It's been so great 'catching ' up with all of you... I hope you all continue the acronym into December!

*******

We have made it to the 3 month mark in this new game called "Family." Last Monday was the three month anniversary of the first time we held our babies. The first time we touched their crazy soft skin, smelled their sweet-sour-delicious baby smells, gazed into their chocolate fountain eyes. And this Tuesday will be the three month anniversary of our walking into our house as a family of four. The first time our babies slept in their beds, played on the rug we bought specially for them, rode in the stroller to our neighborhood coffee shop.

Three months. Where, for the love of god, does the time go? Every day seems to last at least 2 weeks but when I look back it barely seems like we got home yesterday...certainly not 90 days ago!

Things are changing so fast...and with every change my heart simultaneously soars and breaks. With every little shirt they outgrow I grieve a little but I am thrilled at how well they are growing (Baby boy is in the 68%! This is the same boy who wasn't even on the charts three months ago!). I was exhilarated the first time they rolled over but devastated when that meant they stopped sleeping on their sides (with their little hands clasped in acapella singer style) in favor of sleeping on their tummies. Every day they do something new and amazing but that means they leave something else behind. Don't get me wrong, I want my children to grow and learn and change...just not so fast!!!

In an effort to not forget anything as time speeds by me, here's a brief list of some of the things that have changed since we first met the Wonder Twins....

When we first met the twins they were lovable lumps. Lumps that took two whole arms to hold so they wouldn't slump down or fall backwards. Now they actively participate in being held. They ride on my hip with their hand causally placed on my shoulder while they glance around surveying their kingdom.

When we first met, they smiled at any and everyone who crossed their path. Now they save those big, whole face smiles for us and are a bit slower to smile at strangers. When being held by new people they will both search frantically to find us. Once they see we are right there, then they are comfortable examining the new person.

When we first met they were bald. Then Baby Girl had one curl.

And now she has this!

They went from a slight dusting of hair...

To this! A mound (sorta) of soft, downy, curly/wavy hair on top of both their heads and crazy half curl laurels all round the sides.

When we first met, their only way of communicating with us was through long soulful gazes and occasionally whimpers. Now Baby Boy has full command of his ga, da, ba sounds and Baby Girl has a throaty growl that she likes to change pitch, volume and length of depending on what she's trying to get across.

When we first met they were immobile. We could lay them down on the foyer rug while we brought in the stroller and knew they would still be right there when we were done. Three months ago my living room looked like this (plus a few, tasteful, wooden toys).

This is my living room now. We have a full blown Baby Jail to keep the tumbleweeds (and plastic stuff) contained. They roll and scoot backwards and as of this week are starting to drag themselves forward using one arm and their chins.

And where they used to just lay side by side playing quietly with toys dangling above them... now they sit up and fight over toys in their laps!

When we first met, they had no interest or knowledge of each other. Now, Baby Boy will stare at Baby Girl for 4 or 5 mins at a time. She'll just be sitting there chewing on her toy or her toes and he'll just watch her. Occasionally cracking up in baby giggles. The other day I found them having such an intense mind-meld staring contest that I almost felt like the third wheel.

Which reminds me... they laugh now. Big hi-pitched fully formed laughs. At first it was like a car motor that won't quite turn over--one little burst of gaha!-- but now the giggles just pour forward.

When we first met Baby Girl, she had old lady wrists. You know what I mean...saggy skin that was all wrinkly and too big for her.
Now, three months and 5lbs later she has the perfect baby rubber band wrists. You know, the plush, pudgy wrists that look like a rubber band is making the crease.

When we first met them, Baby Girl pooed every time she'd have a bottle. Like clockwork. It was helpful when we needed to supply the local clinic in Addis with fresh poo because we knew all it took was a bottle. But now, they are both so grown up they just poo when ever! And all the time...5-6 times a day, with no set schedule!

The one thing that hasn't changed is how gorgeous they are...and how funny and charming and brilliant. Developmentally they are beyond their targets. Except for peek-a-boo. For some reason they still don't get peekaboo. Or maybe they get it but just don't find it very funny.

I don't really have a snappy wrap up for this entry... just things I've been thinking about lately. The mere fact that the twins have been with us long enough for us to notice changes...that in itself is amazing. I had no idea it would be like this...so much fun and joy and sadness all rolled into every minute. I had no idea how fast it would all change. I just had no idea...

Happy Thanksgiving,
Kat

Holiday gift ideas!

2009-11-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

So the holidays are coming up and if you are like me then you are probably already stressed about not only WHAT to give all the people on your list but also about how to find time to actually get said items. Well, let me just say, that was the Old Me. The New Me is feeling pretty relaxed because I've figured out what everyone is getting...

My friend Jen is making The. Most. Adorable. Shirts. EVER. Check out her etsy shop: Lil Blu Birds. And if the shirts aren't cool enough on their own...then how about this: Jen is giving 100% of the proceeds from these Most Adorable Shirts for humanitarian aid in Ethiopia. Jen adopted her son from Ethiopia last year and is lucky enough to be going back in a month or so. While there she will be handing out fleece wraps to people on the street and buying cows & goats for the orphanages so the kids can have meat for a change. Warm clothes and food that she bought with the money made from her shirts.

Jen's son Abe in one of her super cool shirts

It's really a no brainer. But just in case you aren't sure yet, let's break it down into pros and cons:

Pros of buying a shirt from Lil Blu Birds:
1-easy peasy Christmas shopping. Just buy one of Jen's shirts and viola! Cross people off your list.

2-easy peasy good karma warm fuzzy feelings. Just buy one of Jen's shirts and viola! You are helping feed orphans and keep homeless people warm at night.

3-easy peasy way to look hip and cool. Just buy one of Jen's shirts and then sit back while your friends and family bask in the fact that they have a one-of-a-kind shirt that helps people.

Cons of buying a shirt from Lil Blu Birds:
(cue cricket noises)

oh, wait, THERE ARE NO CONS!

Go to Jen's etsy shop to see more cute designs (she's putting more up this week)
or
Go to Jen's blog to find out why and how she got started doing this

And start thinking about what you're going to do with all that free time you have this holiday season now that you no longer have to stress about shopping.

The shirts Jen made for my twins...how freakin' cute are they!

You can thank me later....

xoxo-Kat

Things people say Edited

2009-10-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

Before we brought the twins home (two months ago yesterday!) I did a lot of worrying about what people would say when they saw our mixed race family. I come from the South and so was a bit worried about random comments from random strangers...how would I respond?...how would I explain these comments to our kids?...how would I put these stupid strangers in their place while not loosing face in front of our kids?

For some reason I never anticipated the comments would be positive! Or for that matter, just plain weird. Below is little sample of things people have said to me while I was out and about with the twins....

Homeless man pushing his grocery cart full of recycling past us as we take our morning stroll, "You are just like OctoMom" (ok, I used to be compared to Angelina Jolie...what happened?!?!)

Cute little blond girl-maybe 4 or 5 yrs old- in Beverly Hills, "Look mommy, Brown Babies!" Her mortified mother, "Oh no honey, those aren't brown babies, they are African Babies."

Not 5 minutes later from a cashier at a restaurant...

"They are how old? Wow, you really lost your pregnancy weight quickly!" So in a span of just 5 minutes someone said I had African babies and someone else thought I gave birth.

"Hey, look at these cute dolls Trader Joe's is selling...OMG they are real!" I'm not making this up. A lady actually thought the twins were a display of some sort.

"Been there." From an older lady dressed in all white (white blouse, crisply pressed white trousers, white silk man's vest, white straw panama hat and a huge white cameo ring). She then proceeded to tell me how she had only been expecting one baby "the other one hid" and therefore got the surprise of her life when they "pulled another one out." Her boys are now in their late 40's but apparently used to throw their poo at each other. All this was related while we were in line for coffee.

"They look JUST like you! Your husband must be bummed there's no trace of him in them huh?"

"Adoption?" This from a biker dude we walked past on Larchmont. When we said yes, he stood up and gave us a one man standing ovation.

"Two boys?" This from pretty much everyone we meet even though Baby Girl is, well, a GIRL and I tend to dress her in uber frilly dresses. Not to mention she is petite and has the features of a little pixie while her brother is 4 pounds bigger and already has a comb over! Which brings us to...

"He's bigger than her huh?" Did I mention he's almost 5 pounds heavier then her? And it shows in every way so I find this question kind of odd...obviously yes, he IS bigger. I always want to reply "not really, he's just retaining water weight" or "not normally but he's gaining weight for a role." But of course, I just nod and say yes, he is bigger.

"A boy and a girl...well I guess you're done. Shop closed!"

"Are you the babysitter?" This from two African American women I passed on the street.

"Are you breastfeeding?" Yes, I actually had a complete stranger, on the sidewalk, ask me if I was breastfeeding. Crazy.

But mostly I get comments like "These are the cutest babies I have ever seen" and "You are SO lucky!"

And you know what... they are right :-)
xoxo-Kat

ps...speaking of cute twins... head over here to wish this family double congratulations!

EDIT -- not 2 hours after posting this I was walking into Target with the twins and as I passed a lady with a baby and a toddler she looked at me with pity and said, "Twins. I'll pray for you."

Happy 6 Months! Happy 6 weeks home!

2009-10-13T19:58:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I've become one of those bloggers...the kind who comes back from Ethiopia with her unbelievably cute kids and stops writing. Twins...that's my only excuse. If only I could dictate my blog...cause let me tell you, I write some good ones in my head in the shower.

We've been busy since I last posted... The Esquire has gone back to work, making me officially a SAHM (that's 'Stay At Home Mom' for those of you not in the loop). Luckily for me (and the twins) we have found a lovely woman who is going to help out part time. It's amazing how guilty you can feel for only having two hands and one lap!

So since it's pretty clear I can't write much at the moment...here is a pictorial glimpse into our first 6 weeks home as a family...

Here are the twins at Costco... they loved the outside hotdog stand part where people treated them like minor celebrities but they weren't too fond of the actual shopping part. I think this might be our last family trip to Costco.

Needless to say, the twins have spent a lot of time in their sedan of a stroller, which we like to call The Cart in honor of our friend Aynie (another Aynie-ism we've adopted is to say "he's spilling" instead of "he's spitting up"...so much more pleasant don't you think?)

We spend a lot of time strolling the cart around our neighborhood...

Here we are at the La Brea Tar Pits...

And then at the local corner mercado where you can buy injera, lottery tickets, and whiskey...

Here they are kind of enjoying our neighborhood's annual Little Ethiopia Street Fair and Parade.

The fair and parade are an annual elebration of Ethiopia's New Year (Sept 11th), which this year rang in the year 2002 (their calender has 13 months, so they are 7 years behind us). The parade is held about 3 blocks from our house and I was very excited for the twins to take part... even dressed them up in their little Ethiopian outfits. Unfortunately, I forgot how LOUD parades were...we left after the elephant.

That same week the twins received their Green Cards, which means they can legally work in the States now! Sadly, a month later and they are STILL just sitting around playing with their toes. To celebrate their new status we had a Green Card New Year's Party.

We spend most afternoons outside on our back porch watching the hummingbirds

Or on the front sidewalk watching for Dada to come home

Baby Girl has spent a lot of time and energy on her hair, as you can tell from her one curl. I call it her Spike Lee Cindy Loo Who Do

And of course we do A LOT of this...

The twins turned 6 months old earlier this month... they are eating well, sleeping well (at night at least...naps, not so much), rolling like tumbleweeds, sitting up on their own for a few seconds at a time (when not distracted by our cheering) and even starting to steal toys from each other. Our pediatrician has declared them brilliant in every way. Hey, it's not bragging if it comes from a professional.

So that's our last 6 weeks in a nutshell...it's been crazy busy and yet I'm not really sure what we've done other than tummy time and changing diapers. It hasn't all been easy (did I mention the lack of nap schedule?) but it's been fun and for the most part really good.

So here's hoping I actually write something before another 6 weeks passes! But just in case...Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

xoxo-kat

The search begins...your advice wanted.

2009-09-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

If you want to make a group of people laugh tell them you have 5 month old twins and you line dry your laundry. If you want to make a group of people go completely silent with disbelief, tell them you have 5 month old twins and don't have a dishwasher

So I'll admit, the dishwasher thing isn't by choice...but the line drying is. I hate hate hate our energy sucking dryer but luckily I live in Sunny Southern California...it just makes sense to line dry. 10 mins to hang, 2 hours in the sun, and presto...dry clothes. The bonus: I don't have to rush to get them as soon as they are dry so they don't wrinkle. Heck, I can leave them on the drying rack all day! And the bonus bonus is feeling smug that I didn't have to use any electricity.

It seems so simple to me and yet people think I'm crazy for line drying. You would not believe how many people think I will stop line drying now that we have twins.

Everyone has certain ideas about how they want to live. Mine include trying to be as Green as possible; trying to make as little waste as possible. I believe in tote bags versus plastic or paper grocery bags. I believe in walking more than driving...if you have to drive, make it the smallest car possible. I believe in cloth diapers and glass bottles. I believe in composting, recycling, freecycling, and craig's list. I believe in using my own refillable water bottle. I believe in Etsy and other made-by-hand websites. I believe in opening windows rather than using AC. I believe in eating what is for sale at my weekly farmers market. I believe in drought-resistant, California native plants instead of water sucking unnatural green lawns.

Sadly, I don't get to live all these beliefs every day. We rent so the garden is out of my control (though I am strict with the sprinkler usage...no one can accuse us of ignoring the water restrictions.) We live in LA so we have to drive more than I'd like...but we do walk much more than the average Angeleno (the mileage on our last car was so low that when we went to trade it in the dealer accused us of turning the odometer back). And as you all know... my dreams of driving like a European in a tiny car were dashed when faced with the realities of two rear facing car seats. I'm Green but I'm also realistic. I suppose, on the scale of Green living, I'm still a pale, pale lime. But I'm trying. And I don't think having twins means I have to stop trying.

So my next big step in practicing what I preach... cloth diapers. Or a biodegradable diaper. Or last resort, a disposable diaper made of post-consumer recycled content (free range wood pulp anyone?). Surely there must be a diaper out there that can contain my children's poop and yet doesn't have a half life longer than uranium.

And so the research begins. I'm looking into these and these and these. And I have set the goal of cutting down our diaper-footprint by the time the twins are 8 months old. That gives me 3 months to figure it out and 3 months for them to finish getting over any little Ethiopian souvenirs they might have growing in their poop.

Here's where I actively seek your advice. All those who have diapered before me--singleton or twin poo--what did you do for diapers?
Seriously, have you ever seen cuter bums then these? Not to mention the quality of head control and tummy time... but I digress. Diapers people...please help me find a diaper that works AND doesn't exist longer than my kids!

xoxo-Kat

Home again, home again.

2009-09-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

So, we're back. We have gone and returned from Ethiopia. And we have returned with two of the most gorgeous, funny, wonderful, gassy babies you have ever seen. Seriously gorgeous. Like, Baby Gap model gorgeous. And seriously gassy. Farts so loud and rumbley they caused people on the plane to comment. Luckily, they are gosh darn cute when they toot...

Our trip was amazing... in every respect. Everyone we meet, everything we saw, tasted, felt, experienced...the good, the bad, the ugly... all of it amazing. We truly lucked out in many, many ways and for that I am grateful. None of us got sick while traveling (though being at home is a different story). Our twins sleep pretty well for 5 month olds...and were superstars on the long flight home. My best friend Lori went with us so we had an experienced mom to help out, our own photographer to help record the week and a good friend to share this special time with all rolled into one. Our paperwork and embassy appointment went super smoothly. We had a chance to visit with family friends while in Addis (and let's face it, going to a friend's home always makes a trip better). We gained a life long friend in Solomon, our wonderful driver. Even the dreaded rainy season was reduced to only one or two crazy, hard, short storms a day. I am sort of embarrassed to talk about how lovely our trip was over all. I know that Ethiopia can be a hard place to visit under any circumstances and that meeting your children and their family, trying to bond and attach...all that can be difficult and heavy but for some reason we lucked out. I am aware of how blessed we are.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all fairy dust and unicorns. We saw heartbreaking things and heard tragic stories. But even in all the heartbreak we were still amazed and in awe by the country, the people, the experience. I am so proud to say my children are Ethiopian.

We have actually been home for almost two weeks. Sorry to leave you all hanging here in BlogLand but it's been hard to write. Why? Well #1-I think I've mentioned that we have twins now. TWINS. Two parents. Two babies. Kinda hard to hand off a kid when your husband is already holding a kid! #2-they are unnaturally cute...so it's hard to tear myself away for a blog. Oh! He made a raspberry noise! And #3-because I'm just not sure what to write. Let me rephrase that...I'm not sure HOW to write this blog now.

I want so badly to post pictures and info on my children. I want to prove to you that they are the world's cutest twins. I want to wax on and on about how crazy soft their skin is (like touching AIR). I want to share every detail of our trip and our return. But... I am hesitant to do that. How can I post pictures and details about my sweet innocent 5 month old children when my own husband chooses to remain anonymous? I could make this blog private but then I'd miss out on all the random visitors. I could make up code names for the twins... Jayna and Zan? And just show you photos like these

Or I could just get over it and out my husband so that we are all equally exposed on the world wide web. What to do, what to do. I'm just not sure yet. I want to keep the blog...I like having a place to put my thoughts and I like your companionship. So I just need to figure out how to go forward. Anyway, that's why I haven't posted until now. But I figured I needed to post something and let you all know I was alive and happily ensconced in a family of four before I got another "WHERE ARE YOU??" comment (which I love by the way! Thanks for missing me!)

Here's something that I can write about now... the other major life changing event I've gone through since we last spoke...

This is what I used to drive. My zoom-zoom, my Mazda 3 hatchback that is perfect in every single way except when it comes to holding 2 rear facing car seats.

This is what I was hoping I could advance to, the Mazda 5, a mini-mini van. Three rows of seats, sliding side doors, great mileage, not your parent's mini-van when it comes to parking or looking cool.

This is what I've ended up with. A Honda Odyssey. The mothership of all mini-vans. Membership to Youth Soccer Leagues included.

Sadly, the Mazda 5 just wasn't big enough for 2 adults, 2 rear facing car seats and the largest double stroller known to man. Or rather...it was JUST big enough for those things and nothing more. The Odyssey holds all of us, our gargantuan stroller, two loads of Costco shopping and 15 beverages all at the same time. (Yes, the Odyssey holds 8 passengers, and has 15 cupholders ...you do the math).

Don't get me wrong. I really appreciate a mini-van and what it does...I just thought we had a few more years before we had to get one. I will love it in a week or two, but for now I'm a bit startled to see it in our driveway. And have I mentioned how much I love my Zoom Zoom? I get a little weepy at the thought of The Esquire getting to drive it to work every day. Sigh...I'm counting on the 15 cup holders and automatic sliding side doors to help me get over this pain.

I guess that's it for now. I'll figure out where to go with this blog and be back soon, I promise. But now I have to go watch Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum sleep... they both do this crazy little thing with their thumb that we just can't get enough of...

Ciao,
xoxo-Kat

A few final things

2009-08-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

So here we sit, at our gate at LAX, waiting to board (ya gotta love the iPhone). Here are my favorite moments so far:

-The Esquire pacing around the house waiting for the cab while giving me a constant update on the time "10 mins!" "5 mins!"

-the cab driver taking us to LAX asked if we had family in Ethiopia...and it hit me- Yes! We do!

-seeing The Esquire show the baggage claim lady a picture of the twins

-realizing as we push our 76 bags through security that we are THOSE travelers now

-reaching into my carry on for something and pulling out the little hoodies I'm bringing for the twins

I can't believe it's time.

And by the way, NOW I'm giddy :-)

xoxo- Kat

Where I am right now.

2009-08-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

A year after we were married, The Esquire and I wandered around the world for 14 months. The backpack below carried everything I needed for that whole trip. Note: the rocking Elephant is just in the picture for scale...we didn't carry him around with us.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Ethiopia for 10 days...and are taking 9 bags, 5 of which weigh over 50 lbs. Note: we might as well be taking the rocking elephant with us...we're taking everything else!

And yes, we will come home with less luggage but more baggage if you know what I mean. We'll leave behind the diapers and formula and wipes and bottles and crayons that we are taking to the orphanages but we'll be bringing home two humans. And that, my friends, is just plain craziness.

People have been asking me all week how I'm holding up? Am I emotional? And every time I've replied, "who has time for emotions? I have too much to pack and do and buy before I get on that plane Friday!" These past few days have been all about one thing: GET ON THE PLANE. I can honestly say I am looking forward to that 16 hour flight to Dubai where I can't do a single thing except sit and sleep and read and think and sleep some more.

But this afternoon, when I put the last luggage tag on the last steamer trunk sized suitcase, I did start to realize what was happening. And I should be honest here, because that's what blogs are about right? Honesty. (those pants don't make you look fat at all...) The strongest emotions hitting me today weren't about what we are going to do/get/become...no, the strongest feeling running through my heart and mind today was about all that we are losing.

Now don't get me wrong, I am so ready to get my hands on those babies I can barely type right now. I am more in love with these two little people that I have yet to met than I can even say. But that doesn't change the fact that our lives are about to change and that makes me a bit sad.

I am madly, crazily in love with The Esquire and I adore our life together. I love spending time with him. People always ask what it was like to travel with him for 14 months...just the two of us, and I always jump to say just how perfect it was. I would happily spend 24/7 with him for the rest of my life if I could. I am selfish with his time and his attention...in a nutshell, I want it all.

So as ready as I am for this next chapter in our lives to begin, I'm also a bit sad that this last chapter is ending. Never again will it be just the two of us. Never again will we sit around and wonder about who will make up our family. Never again will I have The Esquire all to myself.

Again, please don't misunderstand me, I can't wait to see The Esquire as a father. I daydream about the Wonder Twins with their noses pressed to the window waiting to see his car coming down the street at the end of the day. I can't wait till we go traveling as a foursome and we get to see the world through their little eyes. I can't wait to see who we will all become once we all have one another. But none of that changes the fact that I'm in mourning for the life we are leaving behind.

And I think that's ok. I mean, isn't there some quote about in order to move forward you have to look backwards? Something like that? Well, there should be.

Anyway... that's where I am tonight. I can be jittery and giddy and excited tomorrow about our future, tonight is all about where we are right now. And that's why I'm going to stop writing now so I can go enjoy my last evening alone with my man.

Talk to you in a few weeks... ciao!
xox-Kat

PS... ok, because the blog posts with pictures of nurseries are always my favorites, I can't sign off without showing you ours...and a few comments about some of my favorite things...

The blue and white quilt was made by my mom for my older brother when he was a baby. The mobile is from Dharmsala, India (home of the Dalai Lama) and is made up of the eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism. We've had it in storage for 3 years, just waiting for the nursery.

The woodblock print on the wall was made by Jana Funderburks and the HOPE print was made by Robert Indiana for the Obama campaign. Most of the toys are from the 70's and were purchased by The Esq on ebay.

The fabulous world map was a gift from my godsister (after I pretty much asked her for it every day since we went on the wait list). The brown thing on the edge of the crib is actually a cool toy bag my mom made for my brother and me when we were babies. Fret not, it won't stay there, we just haven't figured out where to hang it yet. And hanging on the door is Amitabh, the nursery's Indian Ambassador. What? Your nursery doesn't have an Ambassador? You really should get one!

Packing under a full moon.

2009-08-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

I have so much I want to write about...so many bloger-sations run through my head all day long but I never find time to sit and write them all down. Since the moment we passed court and were told we would travel in 2 weeks I have been constantly running. Here it is, 11pm, and at this moment I am doing a load of laundry, hard boiling eggs, sterilize-boiling bottle nipples, and downloading podcasts, all while trying to jot down a few things here. Those of you who have been given 2 weeks to travel understand where I am at mentally, emotionally and physically... must multi-task at all times!

And it's not that I have such incredibly important things to write about but still, it's nice to jot it down, to have it here so we can look back later and remember this crazy time unlike any other.

I want to write about how, at my very core, I Am A Traveler. I love to go, see, move, do, sit in new places were I don't understand the language. I like to take long trips with very few possessions. I have a habit of quitting my job and taking off for 6 months to continents I've never been to before. And when you are a Traveler, that means you are a very good packer. I know how much contact solution I use in a month down to the ounce. I actually like only having 3 outfits to choose from for months and months at a time. I know which adapters to use in which countries. I routinely suck the air out of ziplock bags in order to flatten my clothes even more so I can use a smaller suitcase. I designed and had my mom sew my own special hidden money pockets that I use in place of those stupid money belts that everyone can see a mile away. I am good at selecting and packing essentials for long trips. It's what I do, it's who I am.

I am now in over my head.

All day my head runs in circles....How many cans of formula do I need for 8 feedings x 8 days x two kids? How many diapers for two kids who may or may not get sick? Wait, I need bottle liners? Do I want more short sleeve onesies or more long sleeve onesies? How many pairs of socks do non-walking 4 month olds really need? Do I need lice medication and scabies medication? What are scabies? Wait--my kids don't have hair--cancel the lice meds! How many wipes... two for each diaper change, 8 changes a day x two kids for 8 days, that's 256 wipes! If Twin A weighs 12lbs and eats 4-5 oz every 3-4 hours and Twin B weighs 9.5lbs and eats 3-4 oz every 2-3 hours than how many bottle nipples do I need to bring?

Did I mention I know how much contact solution to take on a 4 month trek through SE Asia?

I want to write about the nursery. Which is a lovely hodge podge of old and new and borrowed and bought and even a few things bartered. We have lots of trinkets from our travels and even a few things from when we were both babies. Because the first thing we got for the nursery was the Robert Indiana HOPE print (created for Obama's campaign) the nursery has somehow become a red, white and blue theme. Sometimes I find The Esquire just sitting in the nursery, looking at all the little things, dreaming of what's to come.

I want to write about how simultaneously overjoyed and terrified I am. I was a nanny for a few years, so I know what it's like to spend all day with two kids. But those kids were different ages and more importantly, they weren't MINE. I went home at 6pm. Don't get me wrong, I still love those kids with all my might but they weren't mine. On Monday Aug 17th someone will hand us two humans... and they WILL be mine. Forever. For EVER. That is the happiest and scariest word I know these days.

I want to write about how fabulous all our friends and family have been since we passed court. My mom went out and instantly bought a pack and play so the twins have a place to sleep at her house. My father-in-law tracked down an old friend in Addis Ababa so we will have a friend to show us around. Our neighbors have been popping by offering to run little errands. My best girlfriends have been sending us hand-me-downs. This lovely lady put up with me for 5 hours as I hemmed and hawed over changing pad covers and debated the ethics of all little girls clothes having "Princess" stitched on them. She took me by the hand and said "this lotion, this diaper cream, this bathtub." She is the only reason I am not still standing in Target right now trying to decide between the blue blanket and the green one.

I want to write about the amazing full moon that is out tonight. There was a time when I could tell you exactly where I had been for every full moon for almost a 3 yr span. I always look at the full moon and wonder where I'll be the next time it comes around. Tonight it hit me, with a jolt, that the next time the Man in the Moon is at his fullest I'll be home, with my husband. And children. You would think after a year of waiting and 6 days of non-stop shopping that that thought wouldn't have surprised me as much as it did. At what point will this be old hat?

I want to write about so much more but the washer is done and the eggs are over boiled (I did pause to rescue the nipples). It's almost midnight...almost Thursday Aug 6th...almost one day closer to meeting our kids....

Who's got the Magic?

2009-07-31T11:55:00.001-07:00

You know how some couples call each other Mama and Daddy... not as in "go give this to daddy" but as in "hey Mama where are my shoes?" Well, no offense to anyone but The Esquire and I just don't roll that way. Until today.

This morning at 8:30am The Esquire woke me up. He normally wakes me before he leaves for work but I was surprised to see him still in his tee shirt and not in a suit.

"I promise I will never call you this again, but today it's ok. Good Morning Mama."

Yup. It's official. We're legal. We're parents. We have twins. I am a mama. The Esquire is a daddy.

Holy Hannah. Let the games begin!

xoxoxoxo--Mama

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

The Day before

2009-07-30T18:36:00.001-07:00

How I spent the Day Before Our Court Date
By Kat

I should start off by saying technically this is still The Day Before The Day Before our court date...because I never managed to fall asleep last night. Court date nerves have already kicked in.

I had an early morning play date at the beach with this one and her mom, and this one and her mom. It was perfect...overcast and cool but not chilly, the waves were making that perfect roaring noise that could lull an ogre to sleep. Not me of course. I'm still sleepless. Mimi kept showing us how she could do the splits. LT kept pointing out all the "doggies" (who were really birds, but her diction on the word Doggies was perfect).

Later I ran into Julie at the local Target. I was trying to decide what size our twins might be in a month and she was trying to find overnight diapers for the plane. We kept interrupting each other to ask how the other was doing. "are you ready to leave?" "are you nervous about court?" "do we really need a rectal, an oral AND an armpit thermometer?"

It's good to have women who have gone before living so close by. I feel like I'm about to graduate high school and they are all here to help me figure out that silly cap and which parties to go to.

I ended my day with my weekly Pilates session (I know, it sounds all hip and Hollywood but I have neck problems so it's not really that cool). Rebeca, my Brazilian trainer normally yells (good naturedly) and conveniently forgets how to count ("6, 7, 8, 3, 4, 5") and pushes me to my limit. But today I think she could sense I was in a different state of mind and we had the most lovely, relaxing, stretchy kind of class. Afterwards we discussed how seriously beautiful the twins are. Objectively of course.

And now I'm home. We've got Cuban food for dinner. And the crib mattresses arrived. We may watch some Harry Potter (I can NOT read another book on attachment right now...I need some mindless entertainment). And then we'll go to bed. And lay there. And whisper about what's happening elsewhere in the world.

Around 11pm LA time, the Judges will be going to work in Ethiopia (give or take an hour depending on whether they start at 8am or 9am or if they go get coffee first...). And at some point while we 'sleep' tonight, they will review our case and hopefully declare us a family. While we lay wide awake in bed tonight, on the other side of the world someone will hopefully make us parents. Now that is a crazy thought.

And that was my day. I feel it should have been bigger, crazier, with more excitement and fun. It should have involved travel and fireworks and bourbon and wild horses. I mean, this could be IT. If all goes well tomorrow, then everything will change. Today's activities should somehow reflect that change. The difference in Today and Tomorrow.

When I was in Ecuador I went to the equator (did you know the word Ecuador is Spanish for equator? Never say this isn't a teachable blog). It felt like a big thing ya know ... to stand on the Equator. I wanted there to be a change of light or music or something to mark the fact that I had just crossed from one hemisphere to the other but instead there is just a line that the Ecuadorian Tourism Authority have painted on the road. Sure, there's a little museum near by, but no confetti.

If/When we pass court tomorrow it will be like that. Just stepping over a line on the sidewalk. And yet... and yet.

xoxo-Kat

Soooo.... Take 2

2009-07-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

Got the good news phone call on Monday that we are back on and our NEW court date is this Friday, July 31st. It seems all the Gladney families who had their court appearances canceled last Friday have been rescheduled to this Friday. Fingers crossed that all goes well and THIS IS IT.

It was a pretty bi-polar weekend for me dealing with this: one minute I felt, "it's all going to be fine." The next minute I thought, "this in NEVER going to work out!" But The Esquire never wavered (at least not externally). The last thing he said on Sunday night was, "we will get a call within 2 days with our new court date assignment." And first thing Monday morning we got the call. The man knows things. Just call him the Clairvoyant Counsel. Feel free to give him a call about your future...

Late Sunday night...when I was at my lowest... we got the perfect email from Emily. Three in fact. Full of new photos of The Wonder Twins. Oh. My. Goodness. We need to come up with a new word for cute...because that word falls flat when you see these two. Her cheeks. His smirk. Their toes. Wow. Also, Emily sent us a little video... in which the twins do nothing but lay there and stare at the camera. But again I say...WOW. It's the best movie I've seen all year.

So for your sake, I'm hoping all goes well on Friday so I can show you these new photos. And of course for our sake I'm hoping all goes well on Friday so we can tickle those toes ourselves soon in person.

In the meantime, you should all be working on new adjectives to describe indescribable cuteness. And keeping your fingers crossed of course...

xoxo-kat

ps--good luck to everyone with court dates this Friday!

soooo....

2009-07-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

Turns out our court date for tomorrow has been canceled. It was nothing personal about our case...a lot of cases were canceled.

The day before your court date, MOWA (Ministry of Woman's Affairs) has to file an opinion on your case. The MOWA office did not open today so they weren't able to write opinions on all the cases due for court tomorrow.... therefore all the cases scheduled for tomorrow have now been canceled and must be rescheduled.

Hopefully before the Ethiopian courts close on Aug 21st for the rainy season.

Hopefully. Hopefully. Hopefully.

Yes, we're pretty crushed (thanks for asking). But, we love our agency and we know they are working hard on our behalf. And we have faith that the Ethiopian Government and MOWA are working hard on the behalf of the children. So--with those two things in mind, we know it will all be ok. In the end the twins will be home with us and all will be well. I believe that. I do. Sure, I believe it in a slightly crushed-need-to-lay-down-and-watch-Gilmore Girl-reruns-all-day kinda way right now, but I'll be back up on Hope Mountain tomorrow.

Stay tuned...xoxo-Kat

Twinteresting Twivia

2009-07-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah...sorry about the cutesy title...we're kinda losing it over here...

So...while we sit here NOT counting down the days till Friday (2), I thought I'd entertain you with some more Twinfo, some fun facts if you will. Found this list online so I can't vouch for it's accuracy--but it is vaguely fascinating. #'s 16 & 18 are my favorites...

xoxo-Kat

28 Interesting Facts About Multiples

1. Up to 22% of twins are left-handed. In the general populace, only 10% are left-handed.

2. Did you know that where you live can help determine whether or not you conceive multiples? If you live in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the twinning rate is 25% higher than the general populace.

3. On the other hand, if you don't want twins, move to Hawaii. Their rate of twin births is 30% less than the rate in the rest of the nation.

4. If you are super adventurous and want triplets, Nebraska or New Jersey is the place for you to make your home. Their rate of triplets is double that of the rest of the nation.

5. The Yoruba tribe in Nigeria has the highest incidence of twinning in the entire world. Why? They eat lots of yams.

6. One amazing mother in Chile gave birth to the last of her 55 children in 1981. Her children includes five sets of triplets (all boys). Now that mom has her hands full!

7. Fraternal twins are much more common than identical twins. The chance of having twins is about 1 in 285.

8. Both Elvis Presley and Liberace were twins? Their siblings died at birth.

9. The famous advice columnists Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby) are twins.

10. William Shakespeare fathered a set of boy/girl twins.

11. Fraternal twins run in families. Identical twins are a fluke of nature.

12. There are 7 different types of twins: identical, fraternal, half-identical, mirror image twins, mixed chromosome twins, superfecundation, and superfetation. These other types are very rare.

13. Due to sonograms being more widely available earlier in pregnancy it is now estimated that for every live twin birth, there are at least 6 other "twins" that no one ever knew about due to the vanishing twin phenomenon.

14. As if the woman in Chile did not have enough children, a woman in Russia in the 1700's, gave birth to 16 sets of twins, in addition to 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quads!

15. The earliest twins were ever born? 22 weeks! Each twins was less than 12 inches long and weighed only slightly more than a pound.

16. Twins do not have to be born on the same dates. The longest gap between birth is 85 days.

17. 27 lbs. and 12oz. Total is the heaviest combined birth weight of any set of twins.

18. Cirque du Soleil employs the most sets of twins. (With the exception of course of the Twins restaurant in New York City where you can only be a waiter if you are an identical twin.)

19. Only 14% of women carry multiples past 37 weeks. Most women give birth prematurely.

20. 56% of all twin births are spontaneous. (Meaning the couple did not use fertility drugs.)

21. Only 16% of triplet births are spontaneous and only 5% of quadruplet births are spontaneous. Anything more than quadruplets is not spontaneous.

22. Twins do not have to have the same father. It is possible for a mother to release two eggs separately (as much as 24 days apart). Consequently, the twins could have different due dates.

23. 82% of multiples are delivered via c-section, while 5% are delivered vaginally. The rest are delivered both by c-section and vaginally.

24. You have a 50% chance of having a c-section when you are pregnant with twins. You have a 100% chance of having a c-section if you are pregnant with more than 2 babies.

25. Identical twins experience nearly identical brain wave patterns.

26. Conjoined twins occur in every 1 out of 400,000 twin births.

27. Once you've had fraternal twins, you are 3 to 4 times more likely to have another set!

28. The rate of identical twinning is much higher in mothers that are very young and very old.

How we spent our Sunday

2009-07-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

Woke up, fixed my coffee and noticed the expiration date on our milk. Yup... July 24th. Coincidence?

And then we preceded to spend the next 7 hours crossing things off this list....

BTW...just in case you think this list looks light and breezy, let me add that it was THREE loads of laundry and TWO cribs (without an instruction manual) and one 47 ton treadmill (which we could only get as far as the dining room by ourselves...handy for when we want to snack on the run... ).

Some of the cuter proof of our labors...

Yes, that's a bear and a camel in the new stroller. What? You people let your cats try out your baby things... I let my camel.

And then, to reward ourselves for crossing off all but one thing on our list, we went to The Apple Pan for our favorite hamburgers and then to see the new Harry Potter movie. Yes, we're Harry Potter fans. And yes, I had read this book. I knew how it would end and yet...and yet I still cried at the end. When they all held up their wands ... it got me.

And so that was our Sunday... productive and hot and now, thankfully over! Time to go dream up another to-do list....

xoxo-Kat

Super Genius Kids...I'm ready for you! EDITED

2009-07-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

So...
six
6
SIX days until our court date.
Wow.

****************

A few weeks ago we got this update on the Wonder Twins:

Baby Boy
...after he had his bottle he did what all babies do - and the caregiver was happy to change his diaper!

Baby girl
...was very content having her photo taken and would instantly smile when the camera was pointed at her as if she was posing just for the camera.

Did you catch that? He poops and she smiles. That's right... they're BRILLIANT! I mean, it's obvious right? They are so smart in fact, that I have begun to worry we aren't prepared for them. I mean, here we are, buying teethers and rattles and other such things recommended for 4 month olds when it's sooooooo clear they are ready for the big time.

So in an effort to be more prepared for my super genius kids, I sent away for this:

My good blogger friend Harmony recommended this dvd series to me and I trust her cause, well, she's a professional occupational therapist. She knows this kinda stuff.

This dvd alone will help my budding geniuses with correct letter placement, teach them sight words, give them tips on how to hold avoid confusing b,d, p & q ... !

Ok, so seriously, I'm not going to push this on the Wonder Twins...yet...but as someone with BAD handwriting who is married to someone with even WORSE handwriting, I'm excited to know we have this as a resource for the future. Thanks for passing it on to us Harmony!

So... did I mention we've only got 6 days left?

xoxo-Kat

***EDIT: for some reason the first time I published this, none of my links worked! It was as if I was trying to hoard all the cool learning dvd's for myself! If you are interested in this amazing dvd or perhaps the ones they have for cursive writing, etc...then go here: Steps4kids.com It's truly a great resource!

Georgia on my mind

2009-07-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

How to have the best 3 day weekend in Georgia ever: make Sally get married so you have a reason to come home, eat lots of fried green tomatoes and cake at said wedding, spend all day giggling with your oldest friends-Sally & Susannah, eat tons of BBQ and homegrown cherry tomatoes at your parent's house, give The Esquire lots of time to fish with daddy, eat more unbelievably sweet tomatoes from your parent's backyard, laugh with mom over the little baby clothes she used to force your brother to wear, have second helpings of mom's tomato pie, and make your 90 yr old grandmother tell the story of the one and only time she's ever been tipsy.

So...this past weekend we went back to Georgia for my friend Sally's wedding. Sally and Susannah and I have been friends since we were 2 yrs old. Crazy.

Sally makes amazing wedding cakes. This is the cake she did for us. The sugar dogwood blooms were so gorgeous people thought they were real. I love this cake.

Susannah is an ordained minister creating a new UCC congregation in Atlanta. She married The Esq and me 4 years ago on my parent's farm. She was kind enough to humor me and wear her black robe instead of her springtime white one so we wouldn't match. :-)

I have known these women longer than anyone outside of my family. We've had our ups and downs but we've always been together in one way or another.

Here we are in Assisi, Italy, in front of St. Francis' church.
I'm pretty sure we were fighting this day ...or maybe at this point we had stopped speaking to each other all together ...whatever, we still took a moment out of our argument to pose for the photo op. That's the kind of friends we are. Even in the middle of an ugly fight we still stop to take the pictures because we know eventually we'll get over it and will want those memories.

Here we are at our High School reunion in 1998...

And here we are last weekend at Sally's wedding... The bride is in pink.

I know it doesn't look like it but I swear we've all had different hairstyles in the past 10 years.

It was a lovely, intimate, fun, perfect wedding. Susannah, The Esq and I stuck around after wards to gossip with the newlyweds and to help finish off the cakes. (Yes, cakeS...as in more than one. I told you the bride was a wedding cake maker...of course she made all four of her wedding cakes! And everyone of them was delicious!

Out of respect for the new bride I am NOT posting the photo where she uses her false eyelashes to make a little french mustache. Consider that my wedding present to you Sally!

Back at my parent's house that night, my mom got out all the toys and clothes she had saved from my childhood. I had the best time going through all these things with my mom and grandmother. Everything had a memory for someone. I am so very, very happy that my mom let me pack up most of the clothes to bring home for the Wonder Twins.

Here are three little outfits my mom made for us. The little jumper on the right was my brother's favorite outfit when he was little. As for the dresses, I love how they are 4 feet wide and only half a foot tall. Apparently I was a very short, wide baby.
My mother also made this little red and white two-piece seersucker outfit for my brother. Yes, it's a little blazer. How cute is that! The label says "Specially handmade by Mother." I guess this is proof that my love of seersucker is genetic.
I just love that she made all of these...and that I now can force MY kids to wear them! Though it does make me a bit sad that I'm not as crafty as she was. Somehow I don't think crocheted owls will be as appreciated in 30 years by my kids.

Oh, and I can't forget about The Esquire's favorite part of the trip (besides the tomatoes, bbq and cake)... the fishing. Saturday morning before the wedding he and my dad pulled in this monster...
Yup. That's an 18lb catfish caught in my parent's pond (the same pond we got married by). Good times in Georgia indeed!

And now, after 3 blissfully fun days in GA, we are back in LA. Our court date is in 10 TEN days. So far I've been too busy to get nervous about it...which is a good thing, let's save that for next week! In the meantime I have a lot of little clothes to iron (!) and put away. And I have to find someone in LA growing tomatoes... I'm in lycopene withdrawal!

xoxo-Kat

ps: as for Nanny's story about her only tipsy adventure...well, it's a good one, but you'll have to get her to tell you that one.

Catapult the Cows we have a Court Date!

2009-07-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

There are few things in life that I appreciate and enjoy more than witnessing pure triple-threat talent. You know, someone who is blessed with the ability to sing, dance and act (at the same time, no less) in ways that move me. Seriously, there are few things I love more than a triple-threat.

Oh, except court dates. I love court dates way more than a triple-threat.

And yesterday ... I got both!

Yup. In the morning we learned our court date is JULY 24th!!!!!

And in the evening we saw Spamalot: a new musical lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (and yes, that's it's official title)

The court date made us giddy and optimistic and happy and scared all at the same time. Only 16 days people! WooHoo! oh... lordy.... only 16 days! In 16 days everything we've wanted and wished for and worked towards could all come true. That is both mindblowingly amazing and earthshatteringly frightening ya know? To get everything you want... whoa.

Seeing Spamalot made us laugh. And laugh. And laugh. And actually slap our knees (no really--that's not a figure of speech). I come from a theatre background and I have to say I do not know when--if ever--I have laughed so hard and so loud and so much at a production. There is a bit with a bale of hay that Made. Me. Cry. I was laughing so hard. It's all the classic Python bits (killer rabbits, Knights of Ni, Scared Sir Robin, Tim) and then it's new bits like a great little improvised salute to Michael Jackson that caused King Arthur (John O'Hurley) to go up on his lines.

And talk about triple-threats! These actors were AMAZING. Especially the Lady of the Lake..I don't know how this actress is but good grief she has a set of pipes on her. Unbelievable voice.

I know, it sounds like I'm getting Spam kickbacks by endorsing this but I can't really express just how much fun it was. And just how perfect it was to see last night...on the day we learned the actual date our dreams could come true. It was just what we needed: whimsy, humor, happiness, and to be reminded that no matter how nervous we might be about the future, we have to remember to.... always look on the bright side of life.

Come on, you knew I would tie that in somehow! :-) So sing it with me and keep your fingers crossed for July 24th...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

xoxo--Kat

Today is another good day

2009-07-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

For once, I've got nothing to say...to happy to find words. So just go here and feel the love and happiness and joy and right-ness and be overwhelmed, Uber Whelmed, and whelmified and know that today, all is right with the world.

Today, judges in Ethiopia did the right thing and created a perfect new family.

And the blogasphere said 'Amen!"

xoxo and even more xoxoxooxox -Kat

Our week back east (with a yummy bonus!)

2009-06-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

A brief look at our week in DC with The Esquire's family...

We spent a lot of time on the metro. I used that time to contemplate how I would ever manage public transportation with twins. Oldest Nephew, to the amusement of all the train passengers, spent the time trying to extract his wiggly, loose tooth. But fret not, he was hygienic about it--he always had a "blood staunching napkin" on hand. Those are his words.

Once in DC we spent a lot of time looking for this super hero but alas, this is as close as we got.

The nephews, Sister-in-law and I took a tour of the capital. Sadly, I have no pictures of Youngest Nephew. He is always moving and is much too fast for me to ever catch on film.

In addition to wandering around the great sites of our country's capital, we also had a chance to visit our first Hannah Anderson store (we've only seen the catalog before). The Esquire was hesitant "More baby clothes?" but then he saw this and changed his tune, "It's on sale, Baby Girl has to have it!" I think the pattern reminds him of our favorite detective, Mma Ramotswe.

The nephews and their parents went to Egypt for spring break (I know...how cool is that) and they brought this back for the Twins! Who can resist a finger puppet in a head scarf!

We spent one day hanging out with my goddaughter and her brother, who are the same ages as the nephews, and their mom. While The Esquire organized a "Wipeout" style obstacle course in the backyard with the hose, swing set, slide and some boogie boards...I was inside the house collecting oodles of gorgeous hand-me-downs for the twins. Lots of seersucker for Baby Boy and crazy florals for Baby Girl. This picture does not do the gorgeous Michelle Obama-esque pink coat or cute little bikini justice.

But even better than the kool kids klothes, my bff gave me a box of BERGER COOKIES! If you are from Baltimore then you know what I'm talking about...and if you aren't, well, I'm sorry, you don't know what you are missing. These cookies make me Very. Happy.

It was a great week, lots of lovely, quality time with The Esquire's family and bonus visits with friends but as always, we had to return home. Here is The Esq at LAX waiting on our bags. I love the ad on the baggage carousel....

And speaking of our future.... our neighbors Kristine and Michael returned from Ethiopia with their daughters, A & T, on Saturday night. Funnily enough, our neighborhood's annual Summer Potluck was on Sunday and since they had only been here for 8 hours, A & T won the Newest Residents' Prize!

But here's what you've been waiting for... while in Ethiopia, Kristine and Michael visited with the Wonder Twins and got these unbelievably yummy footprints for us. That's our flat-footed-never-will-serve-in-the-military son's print on the right and his high-arched-Giselle-in-the-making sister's print on the left. I've placed a few random household objects around the prints to give you an idea of scale. My son's foot is smaller than my Costco card. Crazy.

xoxo-Kat

PS--Today is the twins 3 month birthday!

Greetings East Coast

2009-06-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

No real news, just thought I'd say hi from the East Coast. We've had a great week with the Esquire's family and a few good bonus visits with friends. It's been fun hanging out with the nephews and hearing them talk about the twins. At least 50 times a day I will ask them, "who has the cutest babies in the world?" They will roll their eyes and dutifully say, "you do."

No news yet on when we'll get a court date. We still have our fingers crossed that we'll get a court date before the rainy season closure but who knows. So until we hear something for ourselves, we are putting all our focus on the countdown until Julie's courtdate.

Oh, and in the local paper today the twins' horoscope reads:

Your parents affect your day, whether or not they're actually there.

You'll act in a way you know you inherited from one of them.

It's your choice whether to continue on with this inheritance.

Seems poignant to me.

Heading back to LA this weekend... xoxo, Kat

And we're off!

2009-06-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

We are off to the East Coast for a week to visit with family...

And this cute little Wonder Twin care package
is off to Ethiopia with our neighbors, Kristine & Michael, who are headed there right now to pick up their DAUGHTERS! (Have I mentioned how seriously cute our neighborhood is about to become?)

Happy week to all...xoxo, Kat

ps--Baby Boy's onesie is covered in Pterodactyls in honor of the FU :-) Did you notice his little dinosaur claw socks? How cute is THAT! Baby Girl had socks with little cat faces on them but I just can't do the whole cat/Kat thing, so she's going with a Cindy Lu Who look.

Life since June 8th or Referral Week Rundown

2009-06-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

WARNING: the following entry was written purely for myself. Since seeing our children's faces for the first time last week, my whole life has gone twisty. You see, since The Call, I have become extremely forgetful. And disoriented. And my sleeping habits have done a 180. And I've lost my ability to concentrate on anything for more than 3mins . On the plus side I have become more acutely aware of twin strollers, twin mattresses, The Minnesota Twins, Twin Peaks and of course, twins. So this entry is an effort to hold onto all that has happened in the past week before I get distracted by something else.

WARNING #2: our internet is down so I am posting this entry--which I wrote earlier this week--from my phone. I apologize in advance for any typos, editing mishaps, or dead-end
sentences you may find...proofreading from the phone is hard!

Monday June 8, 2009
This arrived in the mail

These arrived in our in box.

Despite the blanket cues: Cute girly feet on the left, manly boy feet on the right.

Tuesday June 9, 2009
We both wake up at 6am (after having only slept 2 hours tops). The day before I was hesitant to start calling lots of people until we heard back from the doctor we sent the medical records too. But apparently after 2 hours sleep I felt differently and so I immediately started calling our friends... I start on the east coast and make my way west with the timezones. When it is finally a decent time to call people in LA I call Julie first. I am happy to say that her reaction (simultaneous hysterical laughing and crying) made me think perhaps MY reaction to her referral two weeks earlier wasn't over the top. We sit on the phone and cry for awhile. I then send a text message to a few more friends and finally an email to this amazing group of people in LA that we've become friends with through the adoption process. During all of this The Esquire keeps calling me--when are you going to post it on the blog!? But I can't, not until I've told my cousin in NC. It takes awhile but finally I catch her. It was totally worth the wait to tell her myself.

Finally that afternoon I have a chance to run to CVS to print out the first pictures of our twins. When I announce this fact on Facebook, my godsister informs me that she beat me to it and printed out their photos yesterday! Here is the first picture of her kids and my kids all together!

The twins faces are blurred on purpose. We aren't allowed to post pictures or details until they are legally ours.

That night our amazing group of friends come over to help us celebrate. We were just so happy to have people to show the pictures too and drink champagne with...that's all we needed. But these amazing people brought gifts!

Hip little clothes

Teeny tiny shoes ready to run with amazing pull toys

Also gorgeous flowers, and diapers, and champagne, and books and a BRISKET!

I don't know about anyone else but that gathering was a fabulous blur to me :-)

Weds Jun 10, 2009
Once again I am wide awake at 6am. Which is fine because Texas is two hours ahead of us so I can go ahead and call Gladney to officially accept the referral!

I spend the day driving to the Valley with my friend Dana. She has bought a super cool dining room table at LA Modern Auction and needed to pay for it. We spent an hour or so wondering around the warehouse looking at the most amazing vintage, mid-century furniture that 1) is no longer practical now that we have twins on the way and 2) is no longer affordable now that we have twins on the way! Dana's youngest daughterNaima hasn't really been all that into me lately, she's going through that 9-month-old-mommy-attachment phase. But on this day, she was my friend again. I think she could tell I was part of the Mommy club now and could be trusted.

Thurs June 11, 2009
6am...wide awake. The Esquire is not totally happy to have me sharing his "morning time" every day. For him, 6-8am (pre-referral) was a time for him to read all the newspapers and make his crazy oatmeal concoctions-it was leisurely and quiet. Now that I'm up every day at 6am his mornings are full of "Should we get stand alone high chairs or the hook-to-the-table versions?" "Do you think our kids will be lactose intolerant?" "How long can I get away with dressing them alike?" "What if our kids don't likeCheerwine?' you know...the important stuff.

That afternoon I meet our friend Maureen and her adorable daughter Tessa for a onesie shopping spree.
I am trying to get a package together to send to Ethiopia with our neighbors next weekend. Turns out finding long sleeve, long legged onesies in Los Angeles in June proved to be one of the hardest aspects of this adoption process. It was great to shop with Maureen though--she was totally excited and bubbling over for us and at the same time, as a mom of two, she was full of advice on what to buy or not to buy for the twins. Theseluvies are Maureen approved.

The Esquire was a bit shocked by all the shopping bags I brought home. He actually asked if I was going to be "one of those moms" who goes crazy buying clothes. I responded with, "so I shouldn't buy things to clothe our children but you can continue to buy vinyl read-along records even though we don't OWN A RECORD PLAYER!?" Yeah. He got lawyered.

Friday June 12, 2009
Up at 6am. Of course.

My brain is becoming more and more loosey-goosey. When Popi's mom calls me from the Emergency Room in Connecticut and needs me to call her husband who is in Greece...I actually have to keep reminding myself to concentrate on what she's saying so I can be helpful. This from a former Stage Manager! It's kinda of disgraceful! (fyi-Popi's mom is fine and her daddy caught an earlier flight home.)

I try to cook dinner for us....comfort food: grilled salmon, sauteed spinach and instant mashed potatoes (hey-I said it was comfort food!). In my new easily distracted frame of mind I have to make the potatoes twice (yes, I ruined instant potatoes), I over cayenne the spinach, and I almost ruin the salmon by trying to do a quick defrost (because, of course, I forgot to set it out earlier in the day.)

But to be fair...I was distracted for good reason. Someone sent us new photos of the twins. A friend of a friend knew someone in Ethiopia RIGHT NOW so she asked them to visit our kids. It was amazing to look at these photos and think "this is what our kids looked like TODAY!"

That night we watch a movie in the living room. Half-way through it The Esquire goes to get the picture of the twins I have taped to the fridge. When I ask what he's doing he says, "I wanted the twins in here with us."

Saturday June 13, 2009
Still waking up at 6am. And while I love having an extra 2 hours a day to think about my kids, I miss my morning sleep! People keep saying this will help me get used to waking up with kids but really? I mean, they aren't going to be here for at least another 3 months...can't I sleep late until then?

I still can not concentrate on anything that is not twin related for more than 3 minutes. Here is a typical hour for me post-referral-call: I'm in my bedroom getting dressed but my shirt has a tag that bothers me so I go to the office for scissors to cut it. As I reach for the scissors I notice a magazine folded to an article I've been meaning to read. So I take it into the living room where I notice the clean laundry still sitting on the sofa waiting to be folded. I manage to fold two shirts before I see a dirty glass on the coffee table. I take the glass into the kitchen where I see the watering can. As I make my way around the house watering the plants I see the two folded shirts. I take them into the bedroom and think, "I might as well get dressed" I pick a shirt, only its tag bothers me so I head into the office to get scissors.... At the end of the hour I have folded 2 shirts, watered 2 plants, read 3 paragraphs and am wearing jeans and my pajama top. Again, I know my days will be even more crazy and scattered when there are two little ones here...but does the craziness have to start so soon!

We spend the weekend printing more copies of the twin's photos and fielding congratulations emails, phone calls and FB messages. It really does seem like the whole world was waiting for us to get the call.

Sunday June 14, 2009
We go to hear our friend Dominic's band play at this cute little street fair being held to raise money for MS. Turns out our whole little LA Ethiopian Adoption gang shows up. We are nothing if not supportive of each other. (sidenote: we need to come up with a name like The Habesha Huggers...or maybe something cooler)

This was the first time we had heard Dom's band, The Quarter After, play and it turns out he is quite the rock star. All the girls were entranced with him.

At one point I was sitting there - surrounded by cute babies and new good friends, listening to amazing music, while overhearing my sweet husband tell someone "my son has the best smile" - and I actually got all teary eyed. I was SOfreakin' happy at that moment. All I could do was sit there grinning like an idiot.

Afterwards we all went back to LT's house for lovely cool beverages and some play time. Once again I was just struck by sheer happiness. I looked around at this little community we have been blessed enough to find and it is so easy to picture our twins here too. They will be the babies of the group but I can already tell they are scrappy so I'm not too worried. They will grow up surrounded by playmates who also have funny looking parents. Joy is flowing through my veins. John Denver could walk up singing "The Eagle and The Hawk" and I still could not be any happier than I am watching these kids play.

It's now been nine days since we learned who our children were. Every hour of the day I think "9 days ago I had no idea" or "9 days ago I was just about to get the call" or "7 days ago we accepted the referral" ... suddenly life is measured against June 8th. Seriously, does life get any better then this?

********
Epilogue: We have now been staring at the twin's faces for thirteen whole days and while my crazy baby brain hasn't gotten any better (Trying to drive to the Federal Building in downtown yesterday, I somehow ended up in Alhambra!) I have started to sleep in until 7am...progress! The main thing that has changed is that every day we fall more and more in love with these little buttercup faces. I can't wait to show them to you... come on court date!!

xoxo-Kat

The Call...how it all went down.

2009-06-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a week and a half. Last Monday was such a blur...I want to try and get down as many details as I can before I forget. Plus, reading the "We Got The CALL" blogs are always my faves...

Monday June 8, 2009
Every morning I wake up around 8-8:30am and my first thought is "I wonder if today will be The Day." But for some reason, I didn't think that last Monday. Every morning as The Esquire tells me goodbye he always jokes, "So call me if we get the referral"but for the first time in months he didn't say that. In fact, I didn't think about our adoption a single time until around 10am when I was checking Facebook and saw that both Harmony and Julie had their hopes that we'd get The Call today. My first thought on reading those: oh great, you just reminded me!

We had been in the #1 spot on the unofficial list for a week but weren't too excited about it because the family before us sat in that same spot for over a month. I wasn't in a sad, bitter mood but I did relish the few instances when I was able to forget we were waiting.

I had errands to run and ended up at Anthropology going through their sale stuff. My arms were full of 50% off white shirts in various styles ... cause you can never have to many white shirts... when my phone rang. As I have done for the last 3 months, I had the fleeting thought of "what if this is the call." But that was it... no chills or intuition. Even the number didn't jar me.

Notice my screen saver? :-)

"Hello?"
"Kat, it's Mary. Calling from Gladney." At which point she paused. Something I'm sure she's learned to do with these kind of calls.
"Are you kidding me?"
Mary starts laughing, "no, this is The Call you've been waiting for."
"Seriously. Are you kidding me?!"
I am so completely lost and confused and freaked that I just start jabbering away.
"Ok. Ok. OK. um, OK...so I need to call The Esquire. Yeah. I should call him. I'll call him and then I'll call you back. OK? Yeah, I'll call him and then I'll call you."

And then I hung up on her. I've been waiting for this call for 9.5 months and I hung up on her.

I see a salesgirl, hand her my armload of white shirts and declare with a wide-eyed look, "I'm sorry about the mess but my Adoption Consultant just called and I have a baby!" For the record, I have NEVER said the phrase 'adoption consultant' before in my life.

I walk to the front of the store and call The Esq at work. As he answers I try to think of a clever way to tell him the news. Here's what I came up with:

"Mary just called."
"Are you kidding me?" Apparently we are a one-note family.

We agree to meet at home so we can call Mary together.

Here's my favorite part of the story: I couldn't resist calling the Esquire again as soon as I got to my car...only to discover he was already driving out of his parking garage. Here's the thing that cracks me up-- I only had to walk across a little sidewalk and up 2 flights to get to my car. But he had to close down his computer, gather his stuff, tell his partner that he was leaving for the day, take an elevator down 53 flights and then another elevator down 3 flights and then wait for the parking guys to hand him his keys and yet somehow, he STILL managed to get on the road before me. Do you think he was excited?

In the end, of course, I got home before he did. Not knowing what to do with myself, I changed shirts 3 times. What do you wear to meet your kids for the first time?!?! I also set up the little video camera so we could save The Call for posterity. It's hilarious...not that flattering but I wouldn't give it up for the world. I also will not be sharing it with the world.

I called Mary to let her know we would call her back for details in about 1/2 an hour when The Esq got home. I told her how surreal it felt to know that tonight we would go to bed knowing who our children were. And that The Esq. thought it was crazy to realize this was our LAST 30 minutes of NOT knowing who our children were. She laughed in this odd way that made me think, "hmmm, it wasn't supposed to be funny."

Finally! The Esquire arrives! I'm sitting on the front step waiting for him. He asks, "any last guesses what it will be?" Inside I'm feeling that it's going to be two but I don't say that out loud so if I'm wrong he won't worry that I'm disappointed.

Mary and The Esquire make small talk for a moment about the traffic and then finally she says, "So, I'm not sure what you already know...Kat I've heard you say "children" a lot..."

Now here's an interesting thing...I remember this moment completely different then the video shows it actually happened. I remember thinking "how would we know anything?" In my memory we are both sitting there like "huh?" But on the video my eyes grow wide and my hand shoots up to my mouth in surprise. So apparently even if my mind had no idea what she was inferring, my body did. Mary then says that life changing sentence:

"...we have twins. Two months old. A boy and a girl. Twins."

It's the moment you wait for and dream about but no amount of blog reading can prepare you for what that moment is really like. We just laughed and shook and kept reaching for each other's hands. Amazing. It was amazing. When Mary went to give us details the only piece of paper I could find was a little scrap that had Julie's children's names written on it.

When we hung up we just sit there. Drinking it in... Twins. We had wanted siblings but had basically been told point blank it wouldn't happen. And yet...Twins. It happened.

We call our families living in the US with the good news first. We have to wait 5 hours until it's 7am in Muscat, Oman to call The Esquire's sister and her family. Our 9 yr old nephew answers the phone and says his mom is out running. Damn her healthy lifestyle! We impatiently wait another 45 mins and then call them again. Our 7 yr old nephew gets on the phone and asks, "did you get The Call?"

On speaker phone sharing the crazy good news with loved ones.

We make 3-4 more calls to special people--reactions vary from "I KNEW it would be today" to huge massive sobbing that causes husbands to come running in fear. One friend calls us back and is screaming so loudly in the phone that I can't actually tell who it is so I just make polite small talk for 5 mins until she calls down and her voice becomes recognizable.

Then we run over to tell our good friends who live close by--they are the only people we get to tell in person. On the way over I tell The Esquire to "play it cool, act like we are just dropping by, no big deal." But within .5 seconds of seeing them in the back yard I thrust the picture of the twins at them. Patty's reflexes kick in and cause her to start crying but you can tell she doesn't exactly know why. Her husband Loren looks like this, only it's from Happiness and Shock rather than fear and aftershave.
And their son, Super Max, looks at the twins with interest for a few minutes and then asks if we want him to cook us a play-dough dinner to celebrate. We say yes.

Back at home I remember the Referral Gift I have had hidden in my closet for over a year. Of course I'm too excited to save it for a Father's Day gift...I have to give it to The Esq. NOW!

ok, so it's a size 2T...and by now the Strand probably has 22 miles of books...but still, isn't it cute?

And that night not only did we go to bed knowing who our children were, but we also got to go to bed clutching their photos.

xoxo-Kat, mom to twins

Twinfo

2009-06-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, The Esquire proved (once again) that he is the wittiest, sweetest, most wonderful husband in the world.
You see, yesterday afternoon he created a new file on our computer's desktop called Twinfo.

This is proof of his wit because, well, it is full of info about our TWINS.

This is a sign of his sweetness because he keeps opening it up to gaze at the pictures of our son and daughter.

This is a sign of his wonderfulness because while my first thought when we learned we had a referral for 2 months old twins was simply HOLY HANNAH! - his first thought was to create a safe home for all their info.

Yup. Proof that The Esquire rocks in every daddy-to-be way.

June 8th... my, that was a good, good day.

xoxo-Kat

Wisdom found in the most unlikely places

2009-06-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the Universe knows what you need to hear before you even know that you have a need. Did you follow that?

The Universe spoke to me last weekend in a new hip store called Opportunity Unity Workshop. Sadly, they don't have a website so I can't show you all the cool t-shirts they silkscreen right there in the store. But trust me, they are all works of art.

You know, the tag in the back of most shirts, the one that usually tells you where the garment was made? At Opportunity Unity Workshop, the labels are the size of dollar bills and are bright orange with the wisdom of the ages printed in bright turquoise....

NOT KNOWING WHEN THE DAWN WILL COME,

I OPEN EVERY DOOR. Most of the Shadows of this life
are caused by standing in one's own sunshine.
Yesterday ended last night. Every Day Is A New Beginning.
Learn the skill of forgetting. And move on. WITHIN OUR
DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS WE FIND OUR OPPORTUNITIES.
If Opportunity Doesn't Knock, Build A Door.

I know, right? All this wisdom printed on a clothing label and yet no mention of the company's name. Craziness. But what wonderfully wise craziness.

You just never know where you'll find the words that you need to hear most...

xoxo--Kat

ps--Congratulations to our neighbors Kristine and Michael, they passed court today and will travel to pick up their daughters on June 20th. This is going to be one stinkin' cute neighborhood soon!

Musings on the past week

2009-05-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

So, it was a pretty good week here--both in the LA Ethiopian adoption community and in the greater ET adoption community at large. Our friends (and yours I'm sure, I know who my readers are ;-), Julie and Steven received their referral this week.

So many people have been looking forward to this happy news for so long that once the word was out Facebook and email and the blogasphere just went crazy. Heck, there might have even been a star over their house on Wednesday to help share the news. A happy dancing star or two, shining their beams down on the love sick raccoons who took a break to look joyfully at the new Mom and Dad.

For those of you who aren't within 2 hours of LA let me just say, you missed a great party. When there is this much joy to be had, even rush hour on the 405 won't stop Angelenos from gathering. There was a special cake and champagne and more cute kids underfoot then you can imagine. You can go over to Julie's blog today to see a few pictures.

The thing that struck me at the party was how thick it was. I know, what?? I have been mulling this over for 3 days...trying to find the words... the party that night, the crowd, the love, the hope... it was all very 3-d. You could see it, touch it, taste it. It was all around us.

That's the thing I was the least prepared for in this adoption process. I knew about the wait, the anxiety, the ups and downs, the crazy legal issues, blah blah blah. But I really wasn't prepared in the least for the 3-dness of support we would feel.

Support system, what a boring phrase, sounds like a bra. What we have here- in our real, virtual, and virtually-real community of friends- is more like a big lovely sun hat, with a wide floppy brim that protects us from the heat and the wet and the prying eyes, with a huge sunflower of hope on top. I'm picturing a Steel Magnolias-goes to the Kentucky Derby-and then gardens for a bit-while sipping a cool beverage-kinda hat. A hat that your great Aunt Francis and your 2nd cousin Bruce would both be proud to wear.

I started this blog to meet people who were on the same path. But looking back now, I realize that I just thought it was a way to swap ideas and news. I really didn't get just how heart moving it would be to belong to this community. It is quite possible that I am in love with people I have only met in comment sections. My pray post-it is covered in User Names. The Esquire no longer asks "do I know them?" because he knows, odds are, he doesn't.

But back to Julie... she was my first real "let's meet for lunch" blogger friend. One, because almost everything she wrote struck me and two, because I could tell from her blog that she lived close by. So we made arrangements to meet for lunch and we both told our husbands "call my cell in an hour to make sure I haven't been kidnapped/killed/bored to death by this stranger."

We met Julie and Stephen one week after we went on the wait list...so they have been The Couple that we've watched. We have had the good fortune to welcome several friends home from Ethiopia with their newly completed families, so in our heads we knew that this adoption thing really does happen. But it wasn't until I hugged Julie on Weds night that my heart knew it too. The Esq said the same thing, "ok, now we know it's real!" Referrals really DO happen!

I'm getting way too mushy here ... I need to stop before I start making more accessory analogies.... the wait list is like a pair of skinny jeans--they sit on a chair taunting and judging you most of the time but then suddenly they are a perfect fit and you love them!...

Yes. Definitely time to stop. Say goodnight Gracie. Happy weekend. Fingers crossed for all the court dates next week.

Much MUCH love to all... Kat

Today is a Good Day

2009-05-27T13:56:00.001-07:00

Today is a Good Day.

Today, my very first blog friend, Julie--aka: my first LA ET adoption friend, my wait list mentor & sounding board, my eyebrow guru, my talented, amazing writer friend--my very dear and wonderful friend Julie...

...today Julie and Steven saw their children for the first time.

Today is such a good, good day. I haven't stopped crying since she said, "can you come over tonight, there is someone I want you to meet. Two someones actually."

They waited 16 months and today they met their daughter and her little brother.

I am overwhelmed. Overwhelmed sounds lame compared to how I feel about these people and about their good news. I am Whelmed-Up. Whelmified. Uber Whelmed.

I'd write more now but it's hard to type through the tears. So just go on to their site. Read the comments, feel the love the world has for them and you too can be whelmificated.

Seriously. Today is a GOOD DAY.

xoxoxo-Kat

And the Award goes to....

2009-05-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

Hola friends, family and peeps.

Since we are sitting firmly in the middle of week 37 of waiting (aka: month 9.75 depending on how you count) I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their well wishes.

Seriously, the good will and happy thoughts and cheerful armchair participation by all of you has been overwhelming. Experiencing all this love is a veryclose 2nd to Airport Welcome Wagon as our favorite part of this whole adoption process so far. (not sure what I mean by Airport Welcome Wagon? ...well then, go here and here) We always thought having you as friends and family just made us cool...now we know it makes us extremely blessed too.

If I had to give out an award for Biggest Cheerleader...and while I do love award shows I am hesitant to do this because it is SUCH a tight competition...but if I have to...well, the award has to go to... drum roll please....

The Esquire's sister, brother-in-law and our two nephews!

They have been excited for us about this adoption since we first said "we're thinking of adop..." couldn't even get the whole word out before they were cheering us on. And even though they live half-way around the world in Muscat, Oman, they have been with us on this journey every step of the way.

There are SO many reasons why The Omani Contingent should win Best Cheerleaders but I think it can be summed up in two words: ear infection.

A few weeks ago I asked everyone to join us in an anthem of "startin' something." This is the email I got from my sister-in-law in response:

The other day I pulled out all the Ethiopian crosses from Mom's jewelry (The Esquire's parents lived in Addis for 5-6 years where his mom collected all sorts of Ethiopian jewelry and art--both the tacky and the lovely) and we're all wearing the lucky crosses each day (despite the infections the darn earrings cause...well, honestly, maybe I'll stick to the necklace after the last two days of lobe pain). The boys have put ropes on their crosses and they're suited up.

I know you have all been there for us during this process but have you taken that extra step and worn crappy metal in your ears for us? I thought not. Therefore... The Omani Contingent wins. Their prize...years and years of babysitting. :-)

Here is my sister-in-law and nephews in their Coptic Wear while out camping in the Omani mountains

This is a picture of my brother-in-law chasing wild goats from their campsite. No, he's not wearing any Coptic jewelry while he hurls camping chairs, I just think it's a funny photo.

xoxo,
Kat

Weekends are the Golden Time for Singing Birds

2009-05-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. Every day, Monday thru Friday, at 2pm I let out a huge exhalation, a sigh of both disappointment and relaxation. See, 2pm LA time is 5pm Texas time... the end of the work day for our agency.

Once the clock strikes 2pm I can stop jumping every time the phone rings. I can stop checking my email every ten minutes. I can call the Esquire at work without getting his hopes up. I can go into a store and not worry that my cell phone won't have service. Of course I'm sad that another day has come and gone without our referral call. But at least now, after 2pm, I can stop thinking about it. Ok, that might be a stretch...but I do stop dwelling on The Call as much.

The weekends are the same way. Two whole days where I can lose track of my cell phone and we don't have to worry about being reachable. Suddenly Thank God for the Weekends has a whole new meaning. It's just nice to have a bit of time where you don't have to wonder...could the call come today? Cause you know that it won't. (and if anyone knows of a referral call coming on a Sunday, please don't tell me! I need these two days of calm to help me stay alert for the rest of the week!) Weekends are the golden time when you are on the wait list...we aren't anxious about whether or not our ringer works and we're filled with hope for the coming week.

So it's now after 2pm on Friday...and we are heading out for a spontaneous weekend road trip. Going north a few hours to sample olive oil and wine, eat adobado and queso de cazuela, sit, read, nap and explore. I am very grateful to have the kind of husband who will call suddenly in the middle of a Friday and suggest a road trip.

Next week is a big one for Gladney families ... I've counted at least 17 families who have court dates between now and May 25th. The only anthem (sadly) suggested for these families was "Make It Happen" by Mariah Carey so alas, it wins by default. Hey, no one ever said international adoption was easy! So no matter how you feel about Mariah, I expect you all to join in and sing it loud, sing it proud next week in honor of those families.

And just so my last thought for the weekend isn't Glitter-related ... I'll share with you my new favorit-est saying. It was given to me by my Uncle-in-law (who I think is just the bee's knees. Mainly cause we share a love of the Jacaranda :-) earlier this week and I think we could all grow some heart trees right about now.

Keep a green tree in your heart and
perhaps a singing bird will come.

Happy Weekend,
xoxo-Kat

ps...I did a search on Google images of the quote and it pulled up the amazing jpg shown above. I have no idea who this blogger is but I want to give him/her credit because I just love it! Isn't Google the coolest?

Why it's more fun to wait in LA

2009-05-13T18:52:00.001-07:00

Apparently, the King of Pop's Wait List Anthem, was just the trick we needed to get things moving. Last week we were #5 on the very unofficial list and today we are in the #2 range. There was a referral yesterday and another one today...so things are happening folks!

So we continue to wait. But luckily we are waiting in sunny LA where with one quick phone call, I can be at the beach in just 20 mins to hang out with 5 of my favorite ladies...

It was LT's first visit to the beach.

Miz Mimi was amazing when it came to sharing

LT liked the added crunch the sand gave her snacks.

Mimi wasn't so into actually being in the cold waves but she seemed to love sitting close by with her best bud Julie.

It was a lovely, spontaneous day. I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV, but I do think think the beach and some babes are the perfect prescription for Waiting-List-Sickness.

xoxo-Kat

ps: there are at least 16 Gladney families with court dates next week. I think we need to find an anthem for them. Sister Sledge's "We are a family" perhaps? Any other suggestions?

Wanna be Startin' Somethin' (edit)

2009-05-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

**edit: I fixed the link...so now you can go to Emily's blog and congratulate yourself!**

Good news in Referral Land... Emily's family received The Call today. An absolute doodle-bug of a little boy, 11 months old. I am so thrilled for them!

Emily's family went on the wait list two days before we did. And now that they've gotten their referral we move up to #4 on the very, unofficial list.

So here's what I'm wondering...could this be the start of something? Referrals have been far and few between lately. Could Emily's referral be the one that gets the ball rolling? Cause I for one, think there's got to be something starting SOON.

So, let us all join in and sing along with Mr. Jackson. Shout it from the rooftops, a rousing chorus that will hopefully get lots of referral balls rolling. Come on, you know you remember the words...and don't chicken out on the ending...sing it loud, sing it proud, make it count!

I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)
It's Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You're Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)

Help Me Sing It, Ma Ma Se,
Ma Ma Sa, Ma Ma Coo Sa
Ma Ma Se, Ma Ma Sa,
Ma Ma Coo Sa

xoxo-Kat

More LAX Magic

2009-05-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

In the past I have tried my best to keep busy while we wait for The Call. I have spent my waiting-time learning how to make this and these, or reading about this subject, or making sure the Esquire doesn't buy too many of these. But I'm done with those hobbies. I have found a new obsession to spend my time on. One that gets my heart racing and my blood pumping and makes use of my glitter-pen skills:

Airport Welcome Wagon

Yup. Greeting new families as they return home from Ethiopia... trust me, it's addicting. A few weeks ago we got our first taste of the Welcome Wagon Magic when we were on hand to meet Simone as she arrived home with her family. The joy, the energy, the love...it was like baby crack. We had a taste and we wanted more.

Luckily, we got another fix yesterday. This time we were at LAX to greet Amy as she arrived home with her daughter, the littlest ladybug of them all, Miz LT.

To be a member of the LAX Welcome Wagon, you must possess superior poster board skills and be able to cry at the first sight of the arriving family.

Like a hysterical group of tweens catching a glimpse of that guy from Twilight, The Welcome Wagon rushes toward Mama and Babe at first sight.

Mama never stopped smiling while the Sweet Babe gazed out at all of us thoughtfully.

Baby-sized, madras-plaid espadrilles...just one of the many signs of magic you witness when you are part of the Welcome Wagon.

While the Welcome Wagon gathered around cooing and ahhing and crying and laughing, the Sweet Babe just smiled. She never cried or pouted or hid away. She rested comfortably in her mother's arms, found her light, and smiled at her adoring fans.

So, I think it's pretty clear why I won't be wasting my time crocheting any more owls... I mean, I have signs to make and babies to greet! Once you've experienced Airport Magic you can't go back. Oh, alright, so maybe I'll work on an owl or two when flights are delayed...

Now, who's coming home next?

xoxo--Kat

Adoption-smoption, let's talk design!

2009-04-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the start of our 9th month on the wait list. I'm not complaining, really, it will all work out the way it is supposed to. But still. 9 months???

But enough of that. A girl can only think about adoption for so many hours (22) in day. Some times she needs to just think about Other Things. And so today, in lieu of adoption talk, I'm going to talk about another one of our passions: architecture and design.

Last weekend was my birthday and so The Esquire and I took off for Palm Springs to do all the things I love to do most: eat lovely food, nap in lovely spots, drive around and look at lovely homes. Palm Springs is a mecca for a modern design junkie so with some help from Google, I mapped out a little self-guided tour of all the desert city's famous architectural landmarks.

Let me make it clear right from the beginning: I am not an expert. I know just enough about design and architecture to be really annoying but not enough to actually know what I'm talking about. But I do love to look and learn and so I thought I'd share some of the cool houses we discovered this past weekend. And what better way to get our minds off of adoption than by looking at the lovely lines of a Neutra right?

**Most of my info on these houses comes from the Palm Springs Modern Committee's website and the Palm Springs articles here.

The Kaufmann House, by Richard Neutra

Considered by many to be one of the most important and influential examples of 20th century architecture, The Kaufmann house was designed by Richard Neutra in 1946. I really, really love this house. Some people have Bird Lists, I have House Lists and this one was at the top. Sadly, the house is privately owned so we were just teased by the few cantilevers we could see from the street but that still thrilled me. You probably recognize the house from the famous Julius Shulman photos or perhaps the Slim Aarons photos (how much do you love that white crocheted outfit!) or maybe even from the Spring '08 J. Crew catalogue. Go here to read a really interesting blog about the history of this amazing house and to see some interior photos. And if you want to learn even more, go here to view the video and images put together by Christie's Auction House when they tried to auction off The Kaufmann House last spring.

Like I said above, I knew all about the Kaufmann house, but most of the other houses we sought out were all new to us. Palm Springs was booming in the '50s and the Alexander Construction Company made the most of that post-war boom by putting up all sorts of housing developments. These were the very first "McMansions." There were often 6-8 designs to choose from in a neighborhood and they all had the same Alexander formula "parking, breezeway, windows, wall." We saw it over and over again. Also, Alexander houses are known for their jazzy roofs...zigzag and butterfly, low gables andSwiss-miss type A-frames. I think they are so fun. (My fave house in LA has a butterfly roof...I'll have to find out who built it).

Come on, who wouldn't smile pulling into this driveway and seeing this roof every night:

The Alexander Company built houses all over Palm Springs and once we recognized the formula, it was like going on an Easter Egg hunt finding them all around town. Luckily, PS recognizes most of these houses as significant and so there was always a plaque to verify our find.

I really like this one.

Below is an Alexander home designed by Bill Krisel. It was called "The House of Tomorrow" and was supposed to be the original spec house for the neighborhood, but Bob Alexander's wife fell in love with it and demanded they keep it for themselves. Those polygonal floating windows are for the main bedroom. And those odd things to the side are called "bat wings." Another fun fact: Elvis spent his honeymoon here.

This house is not an Alexander. It's called 'The Ship of the Desert' and was built in the '30s by Wilson and Webster. Amazing how modern it still looks, 70 years later. No one would blink an eye at this house being built in LA today.

Thank goodness for zoom lenses. This is the famous Bob Hope house built by John Lautner in the 70's. Lautner was famous for his 'flying saucer' homes like the Chemosphere House here in LA. Apparently, Bob Hope and John Lautner fought over every aspect of this design.

On our last day in PS, we were lucky enough to find a little hidden gem of a neighborhood that apparently most residents don't even know about. Green Fairway Estates was also built by the Alexander brothers. It was the development they were working on when they both died in a plane crash in 1965. The slogan for this development of 2000 sq foot, 3- and 4-bedroom houses was "Live BIG in Palm Springs."

There were 9 master floor plans to choose from and with names like The Royal Singapore, The Maracaibo, The Royal Melbourne and theCapilano you can guess that these aren't really cookie-cutter houses. What makes this neighborhood so special is its sheer wackiness...which I'm afraid my pictures don't reflect very well. But trust me, the overall feeling you get riding down these streets looking at this collection of houses is ...well, wacky.

The architect, Donald Wexler designed some houses with these crazy Tiki-style, Hawaiian outriggers at the end of their very steep gables.

And next to that, he designed a crazy Aztec-themed house with the curved corners and the odd long narrow windows. And check out thattrapezoidal entry way.

And then mixed in with the South American and South Pacific style houses, he designed more 'normal' modern homes with glass walls that looked out onto the golf course. But to shake it up, he included stone walls that extended into the house. The desert sun can make everything look flat so architect DonaldWexler used the rock mined from the nearby desert to help cast shadows and create texture. I'm a big fan of the stone walls.

I wish my pictures really showed you how great this little neighborhood was. And while common decency made me refrain from taking pictures of the people we saw strolling around that Sunday morning, I'm guessing the owners are just as eclectic as their houses.

Ok. I'm done. Anyone besides Popi's dad still reading at this point? No matter, I had fun writing it all down...and that very act helped distract me for another hour or so from the you-know-what we are (patiently) waiting on....

Happy weekend,
Kat

PS...this is the little pensione we stayed at in Palm Springs, The Korakia. I picked it because it is very Moroccan both in style and vibe. And if you think I love mid-century design and butterfly roofs, just wait till I start talking about Moroccan riads and tadelakt!

The Great 22nd Experiment

2009-04-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

And so... in three hours, April 22nd, 2009 will be over. Alas, the day didn't exactly pan out the way we were hoping but it was still a pretty amazing day.

For those of you involved in the Great 22nd Experiment...thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It was an amazing thing to know so many of you were thinking of us today and aiming your beams of light in our direction.

And as my friend Maria said, "...the experiment was a success, the results just haven't been revealed yet."

Oh, and for those of you not involved this time...well, stay tuned I think we've got more to come...

xoxo-Kat & The Esquire

ps: It would be so super cool if, as you were reading this, you were listening to Together by Rabbit. But alas, I have no idea how to attach songs to my blog. So here's the less cool route... go here and listen to their first song Together. And then come back here and reread my entry as it plays. So you can feel the love too...

pss: but don't listen to Magic cause I've got dibbs on it...I'm totally going to figure this music/blog thing out and use it for some other especially poignant time!

Airport Magic

2009-04-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

"There really is something magical about it. Just saying..."

That was Julie's response when I emailed to ask whether The Esquire and I should go to the airport last night to welcome home our friends just back from Ethiopia with their daughter. We had never been part of an "Airport Welcome Home Party" before and weren't sure of the protocol... Is it just family? Is it just very, very close friends? Should there be a party...won't it scare the child? We just didn't know and so I turned to the Expert in All Things, Julie, who told me we should be there. Because, "there really is something magical about it. Just saying..."

So we went.

And she was right.

We joined a big group of people in baggage claim waiting for the new family to arrive...some we knew, some we had never met, but by the time we said goodbye, all were wishing us good luck and saying "it's your time soon." Baby Anticipation makes friends out of strangers.

When the new family appeared, the whole airport heard our cheers.

Seriously, when is the last time you saw something this cute at the airport?

It was a reunion for these two. See, they had already met, months earlier when The Lady in the Hat was in Addis meeting her own cutie for the first time.

We all took turns holding her hand and soaking up her Ethiopian Magic.

Just in case you missed those eyelashes earlier....

Magic. Pure magic.

The Anticipated Babe allowed us to take photos and pet and coo over her with out a single fuss. And then her Grandmother hummed her to sleep...

PS...for more pictures of last night's magic, go here

Talismans.

2009-04-20T11:35:00.001-07:00

I am not a particularly superstitious person. Not in the traditional sense anyway. I mean, sure, I'll yell "Jinx buy me a coke" if I happen to say the same thing at the same time as The Esquire but I don't necessarily go out of my way to avoid black cats or sidewalk cracks or ladders. I have been known to toss a bit of salt over my left shoulder, but like the Jinx Chant, that's more a habit than a superstition at this point.

But while I don't worry about broken mirrors or Friday the 13th or dropping dishcloths, I do tend to give meaning to certain random things.

When I was 16 my parents brought me a small silver cross necklace from Mexico. I have not boarded a plane without it on since then. Whether it's a small trip to the east coast or a longer trip involving passports, I never travel without that cross. I'm not in the least bit afraid to fly or to travel so is this a habit or a superstition...I'm not sure but I know I feel better wearing this necklace.

I have a certain shirt of The Esquires I always sleep in when he has to go out of town over night. Even if I have to pull it from the dirty clothes, I have to wear it when he's not here.

For almost 2 yrs now I have been wearing a string bracelet given to me by a Buddhist monk at Wat Pho in Bangkok. It used to be a bright yellow (the color used to represent the King of Thailand...who I LOVE with a devout passion) but now is a dirty chartreuse. When the monk tied it onto my right wrist he blessed it, my life and my future family. I'm not allowed to take it off...it has to break naturally. And so I continue to wear it (it shows no signs of breaking) ... but again, is this habit, superstition or fear of a Monk's Wrath?

So yes, I have things in my life that I attach meaning to. And lately, as the wait drags on, I've noticed that I am assigning even more weight to certain things.
I have started carrying around in my wallet the little Ethiopian cross shown above. I inherited it from my mother-in-law who purchased it when they lived in Addis. I touch it every time I open my wallet. I've also started wearing 24/7 this mustard seed charm. My mother received it from her uncle when she was in high school and I grew up loving to play with it. She gave it to me a few years back but for some reason, even though I still loved it, I just never wore it. And then suddenly, starting last month I have begun to wear it non-stop. I touch it and rub it and think about the parable of the mustard seed all the time.

And right now, sitting on my computer monitor I have these two things:
Our first Fisher Price Little Person black boy (I've named him Kevin...seems so 70's doesn't it?) and this little hand-beaded Africa key chain given out as a wedding favor at my friend's Susan and Wusu's ceremony a few years back. Green, white and blue are the colors of the Sierra Leone flag, which is where Wusu (and the key chains) are from. They met 20-something years ago in the Peace Corps in SL and were finally able to get married 2 years ago. Sweet huh? I feel both Kevin and this key chain are chock-a-block full of goodness and optimism so I look at them every day.

Oh, and have I mentioned The Esq's horoscope last week? (Horoscopes being something we both read for fun but only believe in if they sound good...you know how that works). Last Friday his horoscope in the LA Times said:

Your energy will be a bit scattered until you focus on one wish.
Create a symbol for your wish and carry it with you.

Yes. Well. Since then he and I both have the above photo of Kevin and the key chain as the screen savers on our phones.

I feel like we are in the final stretch of the Wait List Race. I feel like things are about to happen and for some reason, having all these little talismans, these good luck symbols make me feel better. I know they don't have any real magical power. And I know that our children will be revealed to us at the perfect time (April 22nd) so it doesn't matter how many Ethiopian Crosses I carry. But for some reason, having these things around helps me focus on the goal.

Silly? Maybe. But who cares. All I need right now is faith the size of a mustard seed. And an African key chain. And Kevin...

April 16th: Through the Years

2009-04-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

This is where the Esquire and I were on April 16, 2005

My parents farm in Georgia

This is where we were on April 16, 2006

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

This is where we were on April 16, 2007

Oklahoma City National Memorial

This is where we were on April 16, 2008

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve

And this is where I was today, April 16, 2009

Santa Monica Museum of Art, meeting Elias Sime, Ethiopian artist extraordinaire

And this is what the Esquire and I will eat tonight, to celebrate 4 years of sweet marriage.

Harmony's Special Anniversary Coconut Cheesecake...Thank you!

A Hollywood Easter

2009-04-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

For Easter this year, the Esquire and I had one of those only-in-LA kinda of experiences. You know the kind I mean... when you mix a historic landmark with religion, high production values and a touch of kitsch. And the result is so oddly perfect that you wonder why you've never been before? Why have we never celebrated Easter at the Hollywood Bowl before this year??

It was a sunrise service and the website said the gates opened at 3:30. AM. Now, I love Easter, and I love my faith and I take it very seriously. But there is no way I am going to rush the gates of church at 3:30 am.

Here's what LA looked like as we drove to the Bowl at 5am. Notice anything weird about these LA streets? NO OTHER CARS.

You know what the Hollywood Bowl is right? Originally built in 1922, it's the largest natural amphitheatre in the US and one of LA's most recognizable sights. Remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Long Haired Hare"... the one where he gets into a fight with an opera singer. Bugs pretends to be the conductor and makes the singer hold a high note for so long that the amphitheatre ultimately collapses around them. The amphitheatre in the cartoon...that's the Hollywood Bowl.

Here's what the Bowl looks like at 5:30am at the start of the service.

Over 250 choir members from churchs around LA participated in the service. These kids were part of the International Peace Choir.

These two little girls, Janna and Danielle, had amazing voices for a 6 and a 9 year old. But I have to confess that I found it slightly disturbing to hear a 6 year old sing, in an adult's alto, "Does He still feel the nails, every time I fail." What was wrong with Jesus Loves Me?

Slowly the sky is starting to lighten.

In addition to the amazing choirs, there were 4 ministers who took part in the service, including Father Pedro Conreras from Colombia who was listed in the program as "an old Catholic Church Priest."

Also featured in the service was Tippi Hedren (famous Alfred Hitchcock actress, animal activist, mom to Melanie Griffith) who read a poem and opera singer Brenda Jackson who knocked the roof off with a version of The Lord's Prayer. AMAZING.

The most exciting part for us--at least production wise-- was the Living Cross. Here's what the website says about the Historic Living Cross :

Introduced in 1922, the Easter Sunrise Youth Chorus is the oldest tradition of the Easter Service. The children, seated in a Latin Cross formation, are attired in black robes. They rise at a signal from their Conductor, and in a dramatic, precise motion drop their outer capes, standing revealed in snow-white vestments as a massive “Living Cross,” singing “Christ the Lord is Risen today.”

Today it includes children from third generation Easter Service families. A Fund Drive is now under way to raise money to rebuild the large, permanent cross structure on which the Youth Chorus sits, and participates as a living symbol of the Resurrection. During the five years that the Easter Service had to be moved from the Hollywood Bowl due to major reconstruction and improvements, the large metal and wooden structure fell victim to the outdoor elements and for the children’s safety, had to be destroyed.

Check out that picture. Now THAT is a cross. But of course, they had to destroy it, for the children's safety you know. Here's what the Living Cross looked like this year:
Ok, so it's not as impressive as in yonder years, but it was still mighty dramatic. Especially for us first-timers. When they ripped off their black robes, The Esq and I both gasped. It was a very well timed movement.

All the choirs joined together for a gorgeous version of "Hallelujah" from Handel's Messiah... which I've always thought of as a Christmas song but I loved it for Easter. Of course I love The Messiah so much that I will gladly listen to 250 trained professionals sing it any day of the year. It was really beautiful.

The part of the service that got me all choked up was when the West LA Children's Choir presented MLK Jr's "I have a Dream" speech in song. At various points individual children would say lines from the speech. Hearing a 10 yr old say, "in every village, in every hamlet"... it just got to me.

At the end of the service they released the White Birds of Peace. Click onto the picture to see the doves better. (I'm sad Tippi Hedron didn't help with this portion of the service...seems like a wasted opportunity).

The doves flew around and around over the Bowl as the congregation sang "Holy, Holy, Holy."

By now, the sun was up and with a final benediction from the "old Catholic Priest" the service was over. That's The Esq in the knitted hat.

I know it sounds like I'm making fun of the service but I swear I'm not. It was really perfect. Yes, it was very "Hollywood" in the fact that everyone involved in the service was a professional at what they did. Even the ministers have all have their own Church Talk TV shows. But it was small town in the fact that everyone freely gave their time and talent in order to put on this service. This service that means so much to the community it's been going for 88 years.

The crowd was amazingly diverse and everyone was genuinely happy to be there. And even though it was cold before the sun came up, there were still all these little girls, prancing around, decked out in their Easter finest. We spoke to everyone sitting around us and when the Peace was Passed you really felt it.

Easter is about joining together to celebrate a new beginning. And I can't think of a more joyful place to be than the Hollywood Bowl this past Sunday.

And the people said Amen.

xoxo, Kat

Hey! SoCal residents...

2009-04-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry to make this blog so very geographically specific but I am just too too excited and this is the best way I know to share.

If you live anywhere near LA ... and if you haven't already been to the Santa Monica Museum of Art to see the Elias Sime exhibit... GO NOW! It closes this Friday, April 18th so don't waste any more time...
GO.
SEE.
LOVE it as much as we did.

Here is the SMMOA site with limited info on the exhibit. If you wait a few seconds the photo changes and gives you a chance to see a sampling of Sime's work. Sadly, these few photos didn't really intrigue me and so, stupidly, we waited until this weekend --the weekend before it closes!-- to go see the exhibit. We went expecting to see something, and maybe to come away feeling a bit closer to Ethiopia. That was all. We weren't expecting to fall in love with Elias Sime and his art. We weren't expecting to be so overcome with the desire to own one of his pieces that we would discuss how to go all Thomas Crowne and smuggle every piece out of there for our own home! (fret not... we took only the free photocopied brochure...the art is still safely there.)

Within seconds of entering the space, The Esquire and I were both...... well, speechless. I'm not sure if you call them canvases or tapestries... but they were gorgeous. Up close, they were sort of like Seurat's Sunday in the Park...just lovely abstract colors. But if you stepped back, suddenly the patterns revealed themselves and you saw things... the girl and her reflection, the hand reaching up.

I've done a quick goggle search, trying to find more images of Sime's work so you can see how amazing he is but there just isn't much out there (this is his first one man show in the US). The image below is from the SMMOA website. Click onto it, make it larger, so you can see the stitches. Amazing.

He uses only found objects to create with. So everything in his art has been found, recycled, reworked and reused in someway. Even his signature, his chop if you will, at the bottom right, is a flattened bottle cap sewn on to the canvas.

The stitched canvases were my favorite but that's not all he makes. He works in a variety of mediums... huge wooden thrones (which sadly we did not see in person as they had been moved to the Disney Music Hall for a concert), decorated goat skin containers, little sculptures made from mud and straw...

And there is the most amazing 10 minute movie about Elias Sime, his art, his neighborhood, his home. Peter Sellers (the opera director, not the Pink Panther) talks about Sime the man and Sime the artist and is so obviously moved by both. It is a joy to listen to him carry on.

Oh, and if you haven't been to Ethiopia before, there is another video of interest. The filmmakers simply put a camera on top of a car and drove around Elias' neighborhood in Addis Ababa.

Here's great review on the exhibit... this reviewer is much more succinct than I am about at why he loves Elias Sime.

Seriously, do what you have to do to see this exhibit before it closes on Friday April 18th. You won't be disappointed. And give me a call before you go--I'll meet you there and maybe afterwords we can go have some pie!

xoxo-Kat

Happy Pass-East-Over!

2009-04-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

The Esquire and I love any chance we get to decorate food!
(note to self: the organic, free range brown eggs may be yummmy...but not so good for dying...)

xoxo, Kat

ps... it truly is a Good Friday for Baby Mama Drama Queen...

What I do to pass the time and other ramblings

2009-04-08T18:05:00.001-07:00

Ok, first of all, let me just say to all new bloggers out there... if you want to get feedback, don't waste your time posting about the sufferings of 3rd world countries, or your thoughts on the presidential race, or even your own dearest love story. If you want comments... talk about toys from the 70's. And show pictures... that really brings in the readers. :-)

I am glad you all love the Fisher Price stuff as much as we do. Of course, the Esquire firmly believes HE is the reason you all commented...

Moving on, people keep asking what I think about the whole Madonna-adoption thing. In a nutshell: I don't know Madonna, I don't know the details of her adoption process or what her intentions may or may not be, and so I refuse to judge her based on what US Magazine is saying. But I do feel sorry for everyone involved. If you really want to know how I feel then read this . And this also. I love both Melissa Fay Greene and Randy Cohen and so really appreciate their thoughts on the subject.

More ramblings... last night on NPR "Talk of the Nation" did a piece on international adoption. Here are two sentences that really struck me...

"Adoption isn't about philanthropy, it's about family."
On the subject of international adoption versus domestic: "Children in need of families are borderless."

Discuss.

And just so you don't think I've gone all deep on you... let me leave you with my latest hobby.
Crocheted owls. Pretty cute huh? I loved my terrarium class so much that I've gone back for more classes at Reform School. Seriously, if you live in LA you need to check out their Home Ec. class schedule. Next month they have a class teaching you how to make yarn out of old plastic grocery bags and then knit them into a tote bag. I know, right?! Last week I learned how to crochet these owls (I made the grey one in class and the other two at home with scrap yarn, it only takes about 2 hours so I'm just whipping them out.) and this week I am taking "Sewing 101." Stay tuned till next week when I show you my finished PILLOW! ooooh, ahhhh, wow!

xoxo, Kat

What decade is your nursery?

2009-04-02T12:34:00.001-07:00

So, as we wait (and wait and wait and wait) to find out who our kid/s will be, we are also waiting (and waiting and waiting and waiting) to do any major shopping. Since we don't know if we'll need one or two cribs etc., we have refrained from buying any of the big necessary items. This means The Esquire has a lot of pent up shopping urges that he has to channel somewhere. Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it I suppose), he has recently discovered the eBay app for his iPhone.

For months now, almost every day another package from some random person has shown up on our doorstep. And just what has he been bidding on you ask?

Read-Along-Books & Records. Yes, RECORDS. Did you have these as a kid? I had a whole collection of albums that had 4 or 5 page books in the record cover so you could listen to the story as you followed along in the book. I loved them. And The Esq also remembers these Read Along Records fondly, so slowly he has been buying them on eBay. His plan is to download the records onto our iPod so our kids can Read-Along while we take road trips.

This is the first one he bought and I admit, it was kinda cool.

But now we have ALLLLLL these!

(click on the picture for a better view of the titles... yes, there appears to be a story titled 'A Rocket in My Pocket.' No comments please)

But we don't just own 45's, we also own all of these! It turns out Carol Channing is well represented in the Read Along Records industry...

I didn't say anything about his Read Along obsession until this one arrived....

Mr T and the Mystery of the Mind Thieves. Narrated by Mr. T himself, he stars as the driver for a team of traveling gymnasts who solve mysteries as they go. FYI: there are 4 more in the series of Mr T books out there...

The bookshelf in the nursery-to-be was slowly filling up with vinyl so I thought it best to channel his eBay obsession into something our future child/ren might actually be able to enjoy (have I mentioned we don't own a record player?). I told him about all my favorite childhood Fisher-Price toys.

Four days later this arrived in the mail:

You know you recognize it...it's the Fisher-Price Jumbo Jet, with the old-school wooden-bodied people. Ok, so the suitcase handles have teeth marks in them, whatever, I disinfected everything and it's all ready to be played with!

A week or so later we went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market to look for rocking chairs (ugh! more on that futile search some other time). We had been there for about an hour when we found the Toy Lady. Spread out on the pavement were bins and bins full of old toys: Weeble Wobbles, Legos, Star Wars figurines, Smurfs, and FISHER-PRICE LITTLE PEOPLE! I picked out some cars, a tractor and about 6 people included this little guy

How cute is he! He's the first Black Fisher-Price Little Person I've ever seen. The people around us couldn't understand why we were so giddy to have found him...but to us it felt like a sign of some kind!

While I was sorting through the bin 'o people, The Esq was haggling with the Toy Lady over the price of a Fisher-Price Tudor Dollhouse. He won, so he spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around the Flea Market with his new house...
EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. who walked past us commented on the house. Moms, children, grandmothers, gay men... everyone had something to say about the The Esq and his Tudor. One funny lady asked if that was all the house we could afford in today's market.

So now in addition to our Jumbo Jet, we have a home and a family

Luckily there is some painted-on furniture inside the house because so far our little family does not have any of the 3-d kind. Sadly, all of the furniture sets we have found on eBay cost more than the Jumbo Jet! It's crazy times when a chair costs more than a plane! That's a recession for you I guess... Don't you love the big cauldron painted in the kitchen fireplace?

Even though I was pleased with our Tudor and the jet and our cute little black boy I still told the Esquire to stop, we don't need any more vintage Fisher-Price. He fought back...he wanted to try to find the school bus and the camper and maybe even the A-Frame (so they could have a second home with no furniture?).

"What about our agreement to limit the amount of plastic toys in our children's lives," I asked, "as cool as they are, these toys are all plastic!"

His lawyerly response: "These toys are from the late 70's... they are all grandfathered in."

Oh, and his other argument for wanting our children to only play with vintage toys? Because --and I quote--he doesn't want our children to know what decade they live in. Sigh. I think he's kidding... but you never know. Finally, though, he agreed to stop bidding on eBay.

And then last week. Out of the blue (to me) another little package arrived. I got a little (perhaps irrationally) angry with The Esq. "You said you had stopped!" He gave me a sly grin, "Open it."

He had found 4 more Black Little People! And a Dog! How could I stay mad when he found role models and friends for our Rose Bowl Black Boy. Aren't they great! I think they are from the Sesame Street collection (doesn't that look like Gordan and Susan in the middle?).

So now we have a whole village

All just standing around (they don't have any place to sit), here in Little Ethiopia, waiting on our Little Ethiopian(s) to come play with them.

xoxo-Kat

PS

2009-03-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Let me just add a little PS to today's blog...

So after my small, little, wait list mis-counting revelation, I was-as I'm sure you noticed-a bit bummed. But I had a piece of pie and read THIS! Nothing like pie and a blog-friend's referral to make things seem happy and hopeful again! Congratulations Ellen!

So things are good again. I really mean it (now) when I say--it will happen when it is supposed to happen. And there's nothing I can do until then except eat more pie!

xoxooxoxoxo--Kat

psss... oh Harmony, I'm SURE you can mail cheesecake. All you have to do is leave a little piece out for the mailman and I just know he would be willing to help deliver it! :-)

Good News :-) Bad Counting :-(

2009-03-31T15:31:00.001-07:00

Wahoo!!! Today at least 4 Gladney families passed court and soon will be traveling to Ethiopia to pick up their children!

Amy, one of the new moms who passed court today, and I haven't known each other for very long. But you can tell by looking into her eyes that she is READY to be a mom to little Liv Tunsitu. And you could tell by the amazing baby shower thrown for her by friends a few weeks ago that Amy has a large village ready, willing and happy to help welcome Miz Liv Tunsitu HOME. The best part of this whole adoption process so far has been getting to know other families on the same ride. And the bestest best part has been seeing them get referrals and pass court. And the yummiest, bestest, most fabulous part is when your new friends introduce you, in person, to their child. THAT is truly a golden moment.

Congratulations Amy and all the other families who passed today! b/t/w... if I am reading Amy's travel plans correctly she will be holding her daughter for the first time on April 26th...which in my humble opinion is one of the best days of the year...(no gifts necessary but I do love cake!)

In other news, a not so golden moment: realizing today that no, we aren't just starting our 7th month on the list, we are starting our EIGHTH MONTH ON THE WAITLIST.

Seriously?

I was sitting here downloading some photos for a blog entry I wanted to write about Fisher Price toys, when I decided to see if there was a new post on The Holloman's blog. Today she says they are just starting their 8th month on the waitlist. Huh? How can that be... we went on the list one day after they did and we are just starting our 7th month? Let's see...we went on the list on Aug 29th. Hmmmm...Sept 29th, Oct 29th, Nov 29th, Dec, Jan, Feb, March 29th ... OMG!

Huh.

I mean, this doesn't change anything. We are still waiting. There are still families waiting ahead of us. We still have more time to wait. I guess I should be happy by this. We miraculously sort of 'missed out' on a whole month of agonizing waiting ... and yet, this realization makes me sorta sad. 8 months sounds sooooo much longer than 7 months. When we started on the list, the average wait was 3-5 months. Sigh.

Oh well. Month 8 it is. No big deal. There is too much good news out there today to waste time dwelling on this new calculation. Things are moving forward for all Gladney adoption families and that's what matters. When it's our time, it will be our time, nothing I can do about it.

I'm ok with this news, really I am, but I think I might have to postpone the perky Fisher Price blog until tomorrow. Right now I think I just need a piece of coconut cream pie ...
xox--Kat

Vacation...I want to go to there. Again.

2009-03-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

So some people have been asking about our little vacation... They probably were just being polite but you don't have to ask me twice...

We spent A LOT of time just lying around...reading, napping, dreaming.

We hung out in our little lanai playing lots of cards while snacking on Taro chips and beer.

Luckily for us, the Taro chips brought out all the neighbors.

We enjoyed a few sunsets.

We spent a fair amount of time in line for the water slide at our hotel.

But don't think we were lazy the whole time. Oh no, we did a crazy 4 mile hike up and down the Na Pali coastline...IN THE RAIN. The red mud made you feel like you were hiking through Thai Iced Coffee...up hill...

But it was worth it for these kind of views. Somehow for the whole 4 hour hike, it managed to only rain directly over us, never in the horizon, go figure!

The Esquire's favorite vacation lunch was lau lau pork, which is wrapped and cooked in ti leaves. He wasn't the only one in love with the lau lau... check out Mr. Jungle Fowl, trying to be all stealthy and sneak a bite!

And of course, we took our signature one handed self-portrait (we pretty much take these kind of photos everywhere). This one is Blog Approved by The Esquire.

All in all it was a great trip... just what we needed right when we needed it. The adoption process, and by that I mean: the WAITING, was beginning to get to us a little. For awhile we were all, "it's never going to happen...waaaa!" And then we would talk to someone and suddenly be all, "It could happen ANY MOMENT! " But 10 mins later we'd talk to someone else and plunge back into, "Waaaaa!" (And by 'we' I mainly mean 'ME'... the Esq. is also totally over the waiting but he's not quite as up and down as I seem to be lately.)

So needless to say, this little get-away helped us step away from the emotional roller-coaster we lovingly call part of International Adoption. It was a chance for us to just spend 5 days doing what we love most: explore, nap, eat, play cards, nap some more but in a different location, eat something fried, float aimlessly, and dream.

But of course, we are never too far from our adoption hopes. I mean, what do you think we dreamed about? That one day soon we'll return to this magical little island so we can buy one of the shirts on the far left...

Aloha...

xoox, Kat

We're back ...

2009-03-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll... so we're back from our little mini vacation. It was a perfect time away...we're relaxed and fat and happy and excited to continue waiting (this weekend we start our 7th month on the waitlist).

I'm hoping to post a few pictures this weekend (you know, just to make you all jealous) but let's be honest, who knows when or if I'll actually get to it; I'm not exactly the most consistent blogger. But in the mean time, I want to pass on this really amazing article from yesterday's LA Times. After you read it, go back and look at the photo at the top again, you can see the affect the experiment has on these kids. Some interesting weekend reading.

Happy Friday... Kat

A hui hou, I’m off to hele with my ipo! *

2009-03-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

Happy St Patrick's day... no time to ramble on right now cause I have a mile long list of things to do (buy toothpaste, self-tan, find bikini bottoms in back of closet, print airline tix, decide which straw hat to take, fret over size of found bikini bottom, self-tan more {fat looks skinner when it's tan right?}, make room for 3 straw hats in suitcase, empty fridge, realize The Esquire also would like a little room in suitcase...take out one hat, water plants, cancel mail ...) before we leave for here:

yup... The Esquire and I are off for one last Childless Vacation... a Baby-Moon if you prefer. At least we hope it's the last one we have time for before our referral!! Personally, thanks so much for asking, I am in a good mind/heart place right now... a "it's ok to still be waiting because the end result will be REALLY worth it" kinda place. Of course this new calm could just be the knowledge that in less than 28 hours I will be on a lovely beach with a fruity drink, a good book, and my favorite traveling partner. Sigh... I'm happy just thinking about it!

So please, have a great week everyone. I hope to return (safely tanned and very relaxed) to an inbox full of news about friends passing court and everyone receiving Their Call. Seriously, if I'm willing to go explore paradise for you, the least YOU can do for me is get your Referral Calls!

xoxo--Kat
* according to my googlictionary that means 'Much love, I'm off to walk around with my sweetheart!'

Good week / Friday Sharing #3 EDIT

2009-03-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

It was a good week for Gladney families...there were at least two referrals that I know of. Slowly, slowly, things keep moving along.

**EDIT** We just found out that our around-the-corner neighbors also received their referral this past week for sibling sisters! Wahoo! Let the magic continue! And let it continue in our neighborhood :-)

And I predict it will be a good Gladney weekend here in SoCal also. Tomorrow is her baby shower. She received her referral for little Miss Liv just days before Christmas...pretty cool present don't you think? Her court date is at the end of this month so keep your fingers crossed for Amy and her sweet LT.

And then on Sunday, at the Gladney California Ethiopia Family Dinner we get to meet this man...
This is Belay Tefesse, part of Gladney's Ethiopia Program In-Country team. This is the man who will help match us with our child/ren. Can you stand it! In our eyes he is magical, a celebrity of sorts and we can't wait to meet him in person.

And finally, for Friday Sharing time, here's a short entry from one of the families who received their referral this week. I love her writing and highly recommend all of her entries, but this one just seemed like the perfect way to help kick off a great weekend. So go here and bask in the glow with them.

xoxo-Kat

What to do when there is no news and the husband is out of town...

2009-03-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

...why, make succulent terrariums of course!

I've been a bit itchy to make something lately. Those of you who know me, know that I am kinda crafty. I have big dreams and endless patience (sometimes) but only so-so talent. I come from crafty stock--my maternal grandmother was a Home Ec. teacher and my mom was always making toys for me when I was little--so I have the crafty gene just not the crafty talent. My efforts are always just a little bit...off. For example: I was going to knit baby hats for everyone. But then the first recipient said, "what is it?"...and well, a hat should be pretty easily identifiable at first glance don't you think? I did crochet a great baby blanket once...granted it was just 9 squares sewn together, but still, it LOOKED like a blanket and the little girl still uses it as a blanket so I'm proud of that one.

As I was saying...I've had the itch to make something...but I couldn't put my finger on it. And then I got this in my email. It's the March Schedule of Classes at ReForm School, a very cool crafty/eco-friendly/fun shop in Silver Lake (LA neighborhood, just east of us). We love ReForm School because it's where we bought this, our soon to be kid/s, very first toy:

But Kat, tell us more about the Terrariums! Why, of course. Since the Esquire had to go out of town tonight, I went to ReForm School and learned all about terrariums. Turns out they are super easy to make...

First you start with your supplies... clean, pretty gravel, clean sand, and some nice rocks. All this can be found where ever they sell supplies for fish tanks. You also need cactus soil, which you can buy at any nursery.

Then you need an assortment of succulents--all shapes and sizes are good

And of course you need the containers. Thrift shops are a good place to find clear glass bowls in different shapes. Don't forget the fun stuff... little plastic creatures to inhabit your new landscape.

You start with about an inch of gravel--this is for drainage, then about an inch of cactus soil. You want to press each layer down tight so the layers don't seep into each other.

Ok, at this point I was busy making my own terrarium, so the picture below is from ReForm School's flickr site (that is my hand though). After you lay down a layer of gravel and a layer of soil, then you put in your plants. It looks really nice when the plants are different heights and textures. After you have the plants all situated, you slowly add the sand (we used paper funnels to help us place the layer of sand smoothly on top).

Finally, add your creatures and viola--you are done! Here are some terrariums made in class tonight:

I like how the dinosaur and the giraffe are both peeping through the 'trees'

and then here's one I made...

I know, I know... once again my adoption blog is about anything BUT adoption... It's just that there IS NO NEWS. We are still just waiting. We've been on the wait list 6.5 months and probably have a few more months to go until we get The Call. So for now... I'm trying to focus on other things. Things I can control. I might not be able to control the adoption process but I can be Master and Commander of my own personal little landscape in a bowl! And I have to admit, that feels good.

xoxo-Kat

PS... if you live in LA, or happen to be visiting in LA sometime soon...I highly recommend you stop in at ReForm School in person... 3902 Sunset @ Hyperion... really, it's worth the trip!

Dr. Seuss in a whole new light

2009-03-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

Today is Dr Seuss' 105th birthday. I noticed this fact with glee but then moved on with my day.

Not so over at Dandies in the Sunshine... oh no, somehow she managed to take this happy day and make it even more significant. Check out her blog here. Trust me, it's worth the click... for it's only at her blog you'll find wonderfully true, heart-filling sentences like this:

...women that have chosen (for whatever reason) to be
mothers of children that were meant to be theirs,
but who came from someone else...

She just slays me.

xoxo- Kat

Friday Sharing Time #2

2009-02-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

For today's sharing time, I'm passing you along to AnyMommyOutThere. I don't remember exactly how I found her blog but it's become one of my favorites for many reasons. In a nutshell she and her husband were one time big world travelers who now find themselves w/ a mortgage, a mini-van, and 3 kids under 4 yrs old (with another on the way). She's one of those writers who can be funny in one sentence and heartbreaking in the next; who can go from poo to adoption disruption with a few smooth keystrokes.

I highly recommend her whole blog. Just go to her archives and randomly pick an entry, you won't be disappointed. But for now, just to give you a taste of the delicious AnyMommy here are three of my favorite posts...

Two Paths Diverged This first one is slightly random but I like it because she deals with the question I ask myself every day: how do you give your children both roots and wings? Sadly, she doesn't provide an answer, but asks the question in a way that I really get.

Invisible Bonds In this post she confesses just how hard that first year with her adopted daughter was but how in the end it was all worth it. There is a definite "ahhh" moment at the end.

And then just so you don't thing AnyMommy is all soul searching and moonbeams...here's one to make you laugh.... It Just Keeps Getting Better

May your weekends be as sunny and glorious as ours here in LA promises to be...
xoxo-Kat

Little Ethiopia(n)

Referral-versary the second time around

Nanny Comes to Hollywood

For the record: 18 months

Celebrating Enkutatash...3 is the magic number

One year LAversary

When 2 became 4

One year ago today...

April was a BIG month!

Why it's good to be a twin, #724

THIS April 16th...

How we spent Easter Weekend

Megabit 22

The 6 month reminder.

For those of you waiting...

Sheer brilliance...at the speed of light

Melkam Gena

Must read happy story of the day

This time last year OR Our first Christmas

Times they are a-changing

Holiday gift ideas!

Things people say *Edited*

Happy 6 Months! Happy 6 weeks home!

The search begins...your advice wanted.

Home again, home again.

A few final things

Where I am right now.

Packing under a full moon.

Who's got the Magic?

The Day before

Soooo.... Take 2

soooo....

Twinteresting Twivia

28 Interesting Facts About Multiples

How we spent our Sunday

Super Genius Kids...I'm ready for you! *EDITED*

Georgia on my mind

Catapult the Cows we have a Court Date!

Today is another good day

Our week back east (with a yummy bonus!)

Greetings East Coast

And we're off!

Life since June 8th or Referral Week Rundown

The Call...how it all went down.

Twinfo

Wisdom found in the most unlikely places

Musings on the past week

Today is a Good Day

And the Award goes to....

Weekends are the Golden Time for Singing Birds

Why it's more fun to wait in LA

Wanna be Startin' Somethin' (edit)

More LAX Magic

Adoption-smoption, let's talk design!

The Great 22nd Experiment

Airport Magic

Talismans.

April 16th: Through the Years

A Hollywood Easter

Hey! SoCal residents...

Happy Pass-East-Over!

What I do to pass the time and other ramblings

What decade is your nursery?

***PS***

Good News :-) Bad Counting :-(

Vacation...I want to go to there. Again.

We're back ...

A hui hou, I’m off to hele with my ipo! *

Good week / Friday Sharing #3 **EDIT**

What to do when there is no news and the husband is out of town...

Dr. Seuss in a whole new light

Friday Sharing Time #2

Things people say Edited

Super Genius Kids...I'm ready for you! EDITED

PS

Good week / Friday Sharing #3 EDIT