Walk This Way!

Grace has liftoff! She started standing up about 2 weeks ago and today

she took about 10 or more steps on her own... As you can tell it has been

a family milestone. Please note that I do call her "Jaba". Carter and I were playing

Star Wars with Grace prior to her walking to him and he decided she

was Jaba the Hut??? I know, I know, she should be Princess Lea but Carter

wanted her to be Jaba. Go figure...

Short but Sweet

I have not been a good blogger lately and I am ok with that because life is just to busy but I do want to give a quick short but sweet update on Grace. She is amazing and fabulous and such a sweet heart. I honestly can't believe she is so absolutely perfect. Sometimes she is so good that I forget she is there. She smiles and waves and laughs and brings so much joy to so many people I honestly can't remember what life was like before her! I worried so much about bonding and my life being disrupted and my children being ignored or bent out of shape and none of that has come to pass. I am truly grateful for her, she is a gift. Today Shane passed by her room while we were playing and he stopped and said "Oh my goodness, I honestly can't believe how much I love her". He is smitten... She has grown a lot, her hair is growing and her wrists are getting a little chubby - I love that! She is a super crawler and soon to walk. She has learned very quickly how to scream to get her own way - and she gets it! She sings and dances, especially to Ethiopian music. She loves her bath, except when she is tired. She knows how to say "mama, dada, baba, hi". She know the dog says "ruff" and the cat says "meow". It is adorable to watch her share her dinner with the dog - one for me one for you! She is so dang cute, people stop me wherever we go to tell me that. Here are some pictures of her and of coarse my other amazing children....

Most Embarrassing Moment!

I had to share this moment so it will be written and saved for future reference at family parties and with Grace when she is a Mommy of a little one and has something similar happen to her. I will be right there with her to say - "Oh the joys of Motherhood" and then retell this story to her. Here it is a new most embarrassing moment: I am bottle feeding her and today at church we had just settled down in the pew, she was drinking her bottle with her new dress, bow, shoes and my sassy new short as a boy haircut (yes we were in the middle and close to the front) when during the silence of the prayer I could tell she was sucking REALLY hard and was not getting anything. So, I carefully pried the bottle from her cute little mouth (before the Amen) to let the nipple fill back up and let the huge amount of sucking pressure out of the bottle. I found it strange when the nipple and bottle made a loud popping noise but put the bottle back in her mouth and closed my eyes for the Amen. Then I felt a warm, wet sensation on my legs, looked up and a huge hole had exploded in her bottle and 8oz of formula was running down her neck and onto a very embarrassing place on my skirt. Panicking I took the bottle out said "Oh my gosh" people looked, Grace started crying and I could not move because it looked like I had peed my pants (or worse!) My legs were completely wet, I could feel the back of my skirt getting wet and my husband could not find the car keys in our enormous diaper bag. The whole time he is looking for the keys my oldest daughter is saying "Mom get her out of here" and my youngest is crying because he wants to come home with me and to add to the stress my sweet husband, worried about my salvation :) is saying come right back! Remember it has been 8 years since we did the baby thing and I was NOT going back to church in a different outfit after that big ol scene...I had to run out of the chapel with milk running down my legs and I am sure the back of my skirt looking like I had had a major explosion of some kind. Oh the joys of Motherhood.

Wedding Announcement Picture!

I honestly don't know why arranged marriages went out of style in this country, I think it is a fantastic idea. Who better to choose a partner for my kids than yours truly. Now they might not like the choice but who cares! With that being said here is my choice for Grace Demot. This is Simon and he is a true blue angel. He is also from Ethiopia and in fact Sele Enat where Grace spent time. The most important thing is I really like his Mom and Dad (in laws are very important). So here is a picture of them together right before Grace hit him in the face :(. He took it like a man... By the way we will be serving Mac and Cheese at the wedding lunch, it is clearly her favorite.

Cute video of Grace Demot

Grace is doing remarkably well. I am finally into some sort of routine and we are loving every minute with her. I am so surprised at how well my youngest is doing with Grace. Carter has been such a big help and so kind. She loves him and smiles so big whenever he comes near her. I am surprised at how happy and smart she is. This video is only a sampling of her "tricks". She is picking up on so many things and loves the attention she gets from everyone we know. She is awake now so I must go, naptime is precious...