One month from today...

We'll be on a plane headed to Ethiopia to finally see our sweet baby. We can't wait!

Lessons learned from George Clooney...

Don't get Malaria!

I went today to get my prescription for the Malaria vaccine. We were originally going to go without since we were planning to stay in Addis the whole trip. With the new requirement that we travel south, it became clear that we would need to plan to get immunized for Malaria too (Addis has an extremely high elevation, but once you leave that area, the elevation drops). I was warned to get the daily dose prescription and NOT the one that you take once a week. From what I've heard that medication can cause night terrors, hallucinations, and anxiety attacks. Not fun! Hopefully, I won't have any problems. I start taking the medication 2 days before we leave, so it may be a good idea to avoid me (especially if you see me foaming from the mouth). LOL.

On an interesting note, the doctor that I saw is from Ghana. Liam was very impressed with this and asked if she was taking new patients, could she be Aidan's primary doctor even if she's not a pediatrician. She agreed. I feel good about it because there are pediatricians in the office with her. Plus, she's aware of the different parasites and diseases that are prevalent in Africa, so she'll be able to address these needs should Aidan have medical issues when he comes home. Finally, it's one more African person, one more black face, for Aidan to know. The more that I look at our world, the more that I'm aware that Liam and I need to add diversity. It's too important for Aidan's identity to take lightly.

Happy Birthday, Aidan

Aidan was 6 months on Saturday (January 29th). It's hard to believe that our little boy is half a year old already and we've never met. We love you sweet baby boy and can't wait to spend MANY more birthdays together.

New Health Update on our sweet baby boy!

We just got another health update on Aidan! Still no new pictures :(. It was taken on December 3rd, so he would have been 18 weeks old at the time (he’ll be 26 weeks tomorrow). He was 23.6 inches, and weighed 11.7 pounds. It still seems like his weight is a little lower than average, but he’s made gains from his 8.2 pounds at 6 weeks. Any mamas want to weigh in on their experience? I looked at the baby growth chart for boys and he's in the 10th percentile for height and not quite the fifth percentile for weight. As milestones, it was listed that he laughs during play (made me cry when I read that), brings objects to mouth and bears some weight on foot. He can also roll from his stomach to back. The only thing that his assessment said that he wasn’t doing yet was reaching for objects (the assessment was for a child 3-5 months, so I think that’s not developmentally appropriate yet, right?). Anyway, excited for some new news!!!!!!

This is Aidan's full name in Amharic (Aidan B_______ Miller Robinson). If you're interested, you can find how to write your child's name in Amharic at http://www.amharicmachine.com/

Every Child Deserves a Home

Another moving video from our adoption agency, Holt International.

Visas~ CHECK

We mailed our visa applications today. We should have them back (along with our passports) within the next couple of weeks. Yay, just one step closer to Aidan!