Playing in the Pool, the movie!

Jost's First Time Using His Baby Pool!

DooWop on a Sunday Morning

Old Navy, Diapers, and Dogs

It is a gorgeous day outside - Nick, Jost, the dogs and I just came in from playing in the yard. Jost only had his shorts on and some SPF 30. Nick, as usual, did his Greek thing and oiled up. He gets tan in about 2 minutes. I think I have some weird red splotchy spots on me and some dried up drool. Sexy! Jost is highly entertained by simply watching our dogs play in the yard. Every couple minutes one of them will come by for a quick face lick, then they are off to being wild again in a large, furry pack of husky/lab/beagle. It's cheap entertainment. I wonder how old Jost needs to be for us to have the dogs babysit him?

Earlier today we went to Old Navy while our housecleaner was making our home liveable again. Anyone that knows me is very aware that I am a shopping snob and I love fashion. Anyone that knows about international adoption knows it will break the bank. So, post adoption we are a family that shops at Target and Old Navy, not Nordstroms and Neiman Marcus. Anyways, back to the point. Old Navy had some great stuff for Jost, Nick and even me. I think we got about 15 or 20 pieces of clothing for like $200. We got Jost some board shorts for our trip to Hawaii next month (I am in my dear friend Kiera's wedding), I got a cute maxi-dress and a couple tops, and Nick got some shirts and a new belt (he lost 7 or 8 pounds in Ethiopia and needed a smaller belt).

As we were waiting in line to pay I noticed a strange funk being emited by my son. The stench grew more potent and as everyone in the store began to make gagging noises and cover their nose, I quickly pushed him outside to go change his diaper. Jost is on antibiotics for an ear infection AND he has giardia, which makes him poo MORE and makes the poo RUNNY. Jost and I got to the car and I popped the back of my Benz open to throw him in the trunk and change him. I can't even describe in words what was in Jost's diaper. Truly, it was a shit masterpiece. It took about 10 wipes to get most of it off his butt, legs, and other parts. Then, I had to change all of his clothes. Then, I COULD NOT GET THE SMELL OFF MY HAND. So, we had to drive home with my hand sticking out the window. For reals.

Welcome to my life as a mother. It's really fun, but really smelly.

playing in the afternoon sun

Literacy Hour at the Eslinger House

Kicking it at home

This is a picture of Jost with my dad at the airport when we arrived home. The kid looks pretty good for traveling halfway around the world, right?

So, we are all kind of kicking it as a family right now. Most days start with me giving Jost his morning "ba-ba" and snuggling with him. Then, Jost sits in his high chair and eats enough food for about 10 babies. Our adoption doctor said to just feed him whenever he wants food and he'll eventually regulate himself. So, that's what we do. Jost is a big fan of bananas, rice, chicken tenders (thanks Kathy for making those), organic smoothies that his dad makes, gerber puffs, cheerios, and fruit. Lately Jost also likes to toss down some of his food to Boobers Magee and Sasha. We were worried he might be totally freaked about the dogs. Um, not at all. Jost is obsessed with them and is upset if they aren't right around him or paying attention to him. We are wondering how he will do when the other 2 get home later today. Hopefully, okay, but Remi's breath might knock him out. Jost usually completes his morning by taking a massive poop that requires both of us to clean him then put his butt in the tub. Gross!

We've been going on an outing for around 2 hours each day. So far we've walked to the Montclair Village with Jost in his BOB stroller, gone to Target, Trader Joes and Whole Foods. Jost is a little scared of new places initially, but we've given him fun snacks when we are food shopping and he got a balloon from Trader Joes, so that helps to lessen the fear.

Auntie Sche got Jost blocks that she brought over last night. The kid played with them for 2 hours. Bless you Sche for allowing Nick and I to be able to watch a movie and have our kid entertained and not feel guilty that we are somehow compromising his brain development.

We've had a steady stream of visitors, which is nice since we are not getting out much. We have more food than we know what to do with and it's great (both of us lost at least 5 pounds while we were in Ethiopia). Other than that we're just getting used to being a family and enjoying each other. Life is good!

More Ethiopia Photos

Waiting at the Addis airport for our flight to Dubai
No seatbelts in Addis
Playing together on the rooftop of our adoption agency
Jost with Agitu Wodajo, BFAS's Director
Chillin' together in the van

Some pictures from Ethiopia! (the pics are chronologically backwards)

Nick at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Feeding Jost a bottle on his first day with us
Jost's favorite activity, eating!
Right after we got him at the orphanage. Doesn't he look so terrified?
Leaving from San Francisco

Jost eating a smoothie, listening to some rap music!

Jost arriving at SFO on Monday, March 9th!

I am back home and back on-line!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post again. Internet in Addis was spotty, at best, and for some reason I couldn't access blogger. Anyways, we got home yesterday afternoon. Jost was a rock star traveler. We went from Addis to Dubai, stayed overnight in Dubai, then flew 15.5 hours from Dubai to San Francisco. He was by far the best baby/kid on every flight. Our parents met us at the airport, which was really special and fun. Jost is surrounded by so much love, I really think he can feel it!

I haven't loaded our Ethiopia pics yet, but am posting a video I took this morning and photos from Nick's iPhone. The first one where Jost is in his diaper was taken at our hotel room in Dubai. He was OBSESSED with watching the TV. The next one was taken this morning at our favorite breakfast spot, Blackberry Bistro. I think Jost was eating eggs. The last picture I took while we were in our van in Addis driving around.

I will post Addis pictures and give more details of our trip soon. I am about to fall asleep since Nick and I haven't really slept a full night since Saturday. Thanks to everyone for all their love and support, we have felt so cared for during this whole process.

We are here! We have a son!

Sorry for the absence! Nick and I flew to Dubai last Thursday. Emirates Air was rockin' out. I watched about 6 movies, slept, drank some white wine and POOF, we were in the Middle East. Dubai is everything people say about it - hot, new, rich, ostentatious, fun. We had a great time at our hotel, had a chance to go on a desert night safari and enjoyed some couple time together.

We got bumped to biz class on Emirates on our way to Addis. That was really nice. Flying from Dubai to Addis is major culture shock. You could eat off the floor in the Dubai airport. It's to fancy and sparkly and there are tons of stores. Then, you arrive at Bole Airport in Addis and there are goats near the runway. Serious.

Agitu, our agency director, picked us up at the airport. We flew in around 12pm and she told us we were going to get Jost at 3pm. Needless to say Nick and I were totally crazed with anticipation and anxiety and nerves. We are staying at a guest house with another adoptive mom, Melissa, and her friend Amy. They have been such a godsent because this is Melissa's second adoption from Ethiopia and both Melissa and Amy work with kids.

Ok, back to meeting Jost. Nick and I were taken by care to his orphanage, Kidane Mehret. It's only about 15 minutes from the guest house. We were escorted to a room where we met the orphanage director, a wonderful nun whose name I am spacing on right now. Then, they brought Jost to us. He looked to scared. Nick and I were petrified because he was drooling profusely and looked stunned. We have the whole thing on video, but it might take me a couple of months to recover to watch it again. We had Jost and got a tour of the orphanage. There are like 200 kids there. I can't even begin to describe how heartbreaking some of the babies looked - literally not more than 4 pounds. There were tons of older kids running around who were very interested to know my name, look at my nail polish and shake hands. I wanted to take all of them home.

After about 30 minutes we got back in the car with Jost and came back to the guest house. We went to our room and kind of stared at each other. Jost has giardia kind of stuff going on right now so I have been getting a lot of practice changing diapers. Nick is still a little freaked by the amount of runny poo but he is a great assistant.

Jost was so scared and listless for about the first 8 hours. Then, we snuggled in bed with him for awhile during the night while Nick placed a phone call to our adotion doctor in Oakland. She really helped to calm our nerves and gave us great advice. At 5am Jost woke-up to get his diaper changed and have half a bottle. Then, he and I started playing a game with his "Blah Blah" doll. We would pass it back and forth to each other. Jost was laughing histerically. He also has REALLY gotten into his "snack trap" that we have filled with Cheerios. This is his fave thing to do when he is not snuggling with us (his first fave thing to do).

He isn't walking or talking right now, but he is babbling, using a pincer grip and feeding himself. We are really optimistic that he will continue to reveal himself to us. What we know right now is that we are so in love with this baby boy and he is beautiful and likes to have tickles and likes to laugh. I will try to post one more time while we are here and will see if we can get some pictures up. The internet here is soooooooooooooooo slow.

Love to all - Sarah, Nick and Baby J