Big Announcement

Can you guess what it is????

No, we are not adopting again…

No, I am not pregnant again…

No, sadly, we did not win the lottery… (again)…

I am  getting a new little brother!!! Yay!!!  When I was a freshman in college I learned that I would be having a new baby brother.  What a shocker that was, since it had always been just me and my big brother!  Now that baby brother is 8–soon to be 9 years old.  And we are about to get ANOTHER new brother.

You  may have read my dad’s words I posted shortly after our trip to get Boomer (almost exactly one year ago).  Clearly he was very moved by the experience, by the incredible culture, people, and tremendous need.  A few months after getting home he told me they had requested an information packet from AAI.  Shocker, YES!!!  A lot of thought and research has gone into their decision.  After getting over the initial shock I am now very excited.  Not only will I have a new brother, but Boomer will have an Ethiopian uncle!

They have recently accepted the referral of a seven-year-old boy who I must say is absolutely incredibly handsome.  HUGE HUGE dimples :)  They are now hoping and praying to get a court date before the closure so they can get him home.  My dad and aunt will be travelling. (although I really wish I could afford to go with them)

So anyways, that’s the big news. I have been sitting on it for so long I was seriously about to explode

 

Zoo Trip

We recently made a zoo trip with some of our other Ethiopian Adoptee buddies, including Minnow and Micah and their new friend. Thought I’d post some pics.
Ready to go–check out his new zoo hat

We love the fish–who cares about the giant hippo just around the corner?

Oh yeah, Minnow does.

Micah convinced all the others that crawling is WAY cooler than walking

The monkey at the top should be arrested for lewd acts performed in front of minors. Fortunately they were all too minor to even notice what he was up to (I am relieved his activities were not caught by my camera)

And finally the fountains

Where Boomer showed off his solid chunk of a body.

Supergirl dared to get her hair wet

And feet

Boomer had a drink or two

and I’m not sure what else

(thank you to Dalaimama for some of the pics)

 

Words

Here are a few of the conversations that we have been having around here:

In the car yesterday:
Supergirl: Mom, Julie (name changed to protect the innocent) called me foolish last night.
Me: That wasn’t very nice.
SG: Yeah, I know. I told her I was not foolish and she kept saying I was.
Me: Well, sometimes she just likes to tease you. Like when she kept saying you were a boy even though you know you are a girl.
SG: Yeah. (pause) Daddy told me to say ’sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.’
Me: Oh, well that would be a good thing to say.
SG: Yes, so when Julie throws a stick or a rock at me I will tell her that.

On the train at the zoo waiting for it to go. All of the train engineers were standing right next to us.
SG (loudly): Mom–why are all train drivers so fat???

And tonight at bedtime
SG: Mom, you are cooler than daddy.

And Boomer has been talking too He learned many new words at the lake, including up, go, open, turtle, tractor, grandma, and many others. He can also say barbie. ha. And he is starting two word phrases including ‘chip please’, ’shoes off’, and ‘nunu go?’ (that’s what he calles our neighbors dog).

 

Catch up

A lot of stuff has been going on and I haven’t had any time to download pictures or write. So the next few posts I will mostly be trying to play catch up.

First–Boomer’s big haircut. Although I really didn’t think I was going to get it cut for a very long time, I changed my mind. It was growing in very unevenly (the top was like 6 inches long and the middle of the back was about 1/2 inch) and he was sticking everything he could find in it, food, dirt, whatever. So I caved and decided it would be a good idea to get it cut before we went camping. I tried to get a before and after but it didn’t work so well, this is all I got.
BEFORE


and AFTER

He looks so much older !

P.S. Today is my birthday! The not so big 29, I guess the big one is next year. So I have 365 days to live up my 20’s…

 

We survived!

We are home from our first camping expedition. We met my family and many of my mom’s family (about 60 people total over the 4 days) at the lake. We stayed in a cabin and spent most of each day swimming in the lake or eating :). We also managed to take Supergirl fishing for her first time and even some boat rides. I am proud to say I can STILL waterski Although Daddy-O and I both tried to kneeboard we were unsuccessful–he did make it farther than I did…
Boomer LOVED the water. He has NO fear. You could not take your eyes off him for a millisecond. He would just keep walking to the middle of the lake if he could. We used water wings and he would walk until he was floating and then float happily. It was crazy.
Here he is in water wings and a lovely barbie floatie, which he bit a hole in…

Here is Supergirl trying to splash my brother’s boat.

Boomer bumming some snacks

and Supergirl freezing her butt off

 

Goodbye Civilized World

We’re going camping. No we are not ‘roughing it.’ We will be staying in an air-conditioned cabin. We are headed out in the morning to spend some time with my family at the lake. It will be fun. That is of course if we survive the 9 hour drive down there…
We’ll be back in a week.

 

Unemployment

Well… I did not get the job I interviewed for. Again… And now it looks like Plan B is not exactly going to happen the way I planned. So now I am initiating Plan C (which didn’t even exist until this week). I am once again looking for a job. But a slightly different kind of job. I’m not even sure what kind of job
How’s that for direction?

 

Boomer’s Big Boy Bed

Guess who is taking a nap in his BIG BOY BED?!?!?!?!

That’s right, Mr. Boomer has graduated from the crib (sort of). This is a matter of necessity as he learned how to climb right out of it and I really am not ready for any broken legs. His crib is still in his room, but Daddy-O put the bed together and he actually fell asleep in it.

Supergirl and I laid down with him at first and read him a book and sang some lullabies (her idea). Once we left his room about 30 seconds went by before his door opened and his head popped out. The instant he saw we were standing in the hallway he slammed the door and ran back to his bed. This happened about 2 more times then he just stayed in his bed. Of course he played with some toys and talked and sang for about 30 minutes but he did actually fall asleep! He’s so big

I thought about taking a picture but REALLY don’t want to wake him up…

 

Sad

This story makes me very sad. I lived in that town for four years. My sister-in-law grew up there. I was the same age as those girls while I lived there and walked those dirt roads almost every day in the summer time…

 

Exercise Hates Me

Remember WAY back in March when I wrote about joining a gym? It was supposed to open May 1st, I was very excited about working out all summer, knowing I would not be working. Well… May 1st came along and there were no signs of the gym opening so I called. Middle of May they tell me. Okay, that will work since I didn’t actually finish with work until the middle of May anyways. May 15th, still no signs of any upcoming grand opening so I call again. June 1st… Now I am starting to get annoyed. My summer is slowly sliding away. June 1st guess what? You got it! No grand opening! I call, they tell me JULY 1st. So now I am seriously ticked off. I ask what sort of compensation we will be getting since I have now missed 2 months. I am told to email the ‘district managers.’ I email them explaining how I was promised a May 1st opening, had planned to work out all summer, was never notified of any delays in opening, now have no faith there will be any sort of July 1st opening, and am sitting on my butt eating and eating and NOT working out… I get an email back: sorry for the delays, we have not been charging anyone monthly dues yet and will not charge until August, we assure you we will open July 1st….
Okay, seriously? No shit you haven’t been charging anyone monthly dues, THERE IS NO GYM!!! I snap back an email stating how ridiculous his response is and how I expected some sort of attempt at compensation, free months, something. And how I would like to cancel my membership and get a refund of my enrollment fee and first and last month’s dues.
No email response. Still. Several days later, even though the first email received a response in under an hour.
So then I start calling, and am repeatedly told I can only discuss this with the district managers, or I can cancel on the webpage. Finally, I reach a lady in the billing dept who informs me the district managers do not have office hours (WTF?) and will be difficult to reach by phone, besides billing handles cancellations, but I must do it through the webpage. Will I get my refund I ask, she assures me I will.
So I go to the webpage to cancel. The WEBPAGE apologizes for my unhappiness with the gym and offers 2 free months and a $100 credit if I am willing to stick with them. Okay, why could the district manager not tell me this? Too late, no deal, you people suck! So I cancelled. And received a message saying I should hear from someone with the gym in 7 to 10 days. I also went ahead and emailed the district managers again informing them I cancelled and how the billing lady told me I would get a refund. And how I EXPECT to get that refund…
No response yet.
BLAH!!!!
So yesterday I went and joined the YMCA. Supergirl and Boomer were already enrolled in swim there which started today and they have free childcare. And I get a personal fitness guide, or something. So tomorrow I plan to go work out (we swam this morning and are wiped out).
I am much more optimistic about this go round…