Rock Star, Baby!!!! 3 Weeks Home.

Hanna is truly a rock star at our house right now. She loves music and really LOVES big brother's electric guitar...Thanks again, Aunt Kimmie ; ) She bobs her head and snaps her fingers to any beat. She and sissy are pretty funny rockin' out, side-by-side in Momma's minivan!

Album cover...

I can't really believe it's been three weeks since we came home with Hanna...only one month since we the day we met her; it's just so surreal. You wait and wait for soooo long and angst so much and sweat and pack and overthink and freak out, etc, etc. It's just really so strange when suddenly you're like "wow, we've already made that trip, been home for three weeks, and it seems like we've just always been here, just like this."

Hanna is just doing amazing. I almost feel guilty saying this because I know how difficult this journey can be, and we've been blessed AGAIN with a sweet, funny, confident, smart, good eating, good sleeping little girl. I almost feel afraid to say it to because I know we're still in the "honeymoon" period and I certainly don't want to jinx myself : ) She tells us when she needs to "ca ca"...and she does it, signals when she's done and assumes the position to be wiped. Too funny, but I am grateful for the non-poopy diapers!

She is really melding well with all the kids and our house is chaos at best, but so fun and full of laughter (and a few screams and meltdowns here and there). I am thrilled (and again fearful) to say that last night she slept in her own bed, in her OWN room! We put her bed down in her room with rails and all the kids piled in for the fun, so she loves is now and has done, so far, pretty well sleeping in it. This is just night two though, so we'll see. I do miss having her snuggle up to me in my bed, but she seems to sleep better by herself. She also got a big FIRST...SNOW! I think she liked it for about five minutes, and then decided she missed the gorgeous 78 degrees ofEthiopia!

XOXO,

Casa Crew

Two weeks home.

Yay for Saturdays! We have been home two weeks now and Hanna is settling in quite well. She is sleeping much better, although still waking up a few times a night and still getting Mommy up most days around 5 ish. I do love my snuggles though! I can honestly say at this point going from three to four kids has really not been much different, just now we have a toddler who requires a lot of attention and can't really tell us what she wants all the time. She does an excellent job of communicating most things, but any toddler gets frustrated from time to time with not being able to just "say" what they want. The kids all act like we just always been a family of six. I love the way that are all melding together...our family really does feel complete now. The girls pretty much have decided they are rockstars and run the house...which they do : )

SAY WHAT?!!!

I had to post this picture...I took "L's" braids out last week and combed her hair out. It has gotten so long...she had quite the "fro". So far Hanna is eating pretty much everything and anything...but has a special appreciation for Chocolate pudding and salsa...that's Mommy's girl!

More updates soon!

A few quick trip pics...

Say that fast five times! : )

We've been home one week today, and for the most part it has been a fantastic week. Hanna has done so well and has really shown us her silly and sweet personality. The other kids love her and are doing really well with her as well. Just a few toy territory things here and there, but I'm so proud of all my kids for being so selfless and loving their new sister. The only issue we seem to be having is sleep with her. She fights (and I mean fights) going to sleep at nap time and bed time. I usually have to hold her until she is out cold...she won't let me lay her down or even sit in the rocking chair. Then, she wakes up at least two to three times a night screaming and we go through the whole 30 minutes or more routine. I shouldn't complain...she has done so much better than I thought she would in so many ways, but sleep deprivation is not fun. She was so good on the flight home. She really didn't cry hardly at all and we were lucky to get the bulkhead in the plane and the bassinet! Sweet! She slept in it, ate in it, played in it...yay! We were going to pay extra to upgrade to first class so we would have some room, but by the grace of God a very nice agent at Ethiopian airlines was able to get us the prime seats for FREE! Yay!

We discovered that people don't mind being late...and aren't in any hurry despite anyone else needing to be some where on time. What I mean is we were an hour and a half late leaving Ethiopia, basically because people took their dear. sweet. time. getting on the @$#%$&$* plane. It was unbelievable. It was 24 hours by the time we left our hotel in Ethiopia, until we touched down in Knoxville and boy were we ready to get off. the. plane. We had this screen right in front of us the entire flight and it was agonizing to watch our little plane go every tiny little millimeter toward D.C. Boy were we glad to see this one...

We almost missed our connecting flight and literally ran through Immigration and the D.C. airport with Hanna strapped on my front and Tom and I both loaded down with baggage. I was so relieved when we made our gate just before boarding and almost kissed the gate agent when he told us Tom had time to get us a diet coke...with ICE! For those of you who have travelled outside the country much, you know how much you miss ice. Anyway, that was seriously the best Diet Coke I have ever had in my entire life. Nectar of the gods!
Finally, we were on our way home! That quick one hour flight from D.C. went by so fast, it made my head spin. Here is Hanna's first glimpse of her new home from the airplane...

I think she approves!

Pretty amazing that she looks that happy after that many hours of travel.

Here are just a few more pictures from our time in the hotel with Hanna. You can see what a hoot she is...and that she loves her bath. I'll update with recent family pictures soon. For now, I better get to bed before the first "wake up call" comes.

That's my girl...you should hear the burp she let out after this! : )

Home! Exhausted. Blessed!

Hey all,

We made it home and had a wonderful homecoming. My dear friend, talented photographer, and fellow adoptive Mom, Tracie, shot us coming home at the airport and made this video today. She is awesome! Thanks to everyone who came out to welcome us home!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob79jbqMepc

Many many thanks (not enough manys) to my angelic bestest friend, Dawn, and my amazing Mom for taking such great care of the kids while we were gone. We really just can't thank you enough or tell you how much we love you.

I'll post more pictures when I am not completely sleep deprived ; - ) Hanna is out cold and I am about to join her.

They made their flight home!

WAHOOOOO! They will be home in about 2 hours! Yay!

Welcome home Hanna!!!!

Signing off, Theresa

Landed in DC!

Theresa here...

Stacy, Tom, and Hanna have landed in DC! However, their flight was an hour behind schedule so they are trying their best to make their next flight. We'll know soon whether they made it or not. Keep them in your prayers! This has been a looooong flight/journey home and they are ready to get back.

They are coming home!

It's Theresa here again...I got an email from Stacy today! They are in the air right now on their way back home from Ethiopia, and they are very excited to be coming home with Hanna and to get back to their other 3 precious children! Here is her update... (The email message doesn't seem to want to sit still so pardon the strange spacing below, haha):

"Hanna is doing fantastic! She is so funny...silly and playful and very loving
with both of us already. Last night when I was trying to get her to sleep, she
just kept kissing my face all over. she'd turn my head from side to side and
kiss me over and over. I loved it! She's had a few meltdowns, but for the most
part, has already bonded very well with Tom and me. All of the staff at the
hotel want to hold her, but she only wants us....Yay! By the way, for all the
AGCI people, the hotel is awesome! The food is great, the staff have been so
nice and accommodating...we even have a workout facility and hairdryers. I'm
missing the other kids like crazy and can't wait to see how they all do when they
are all together. The Casa de Chaos is about to get even louder!"

So far everything is on schedule, but the possible delay could happen in the morning, so I will update her blog if I hear of any delays from her. Let's keep them in our prayers that this long flight will whiz by and go very smoothly for them!