She's a girl!

YAY YAY YAY HOORAY!!!!!
Kristi's sister Lisa and brother-in-law Travis received some very exciting news yesterday!!!! They have been waiting and waiting and waiting to move forward in their adoption from Ethiopia....and yesterday they received the name, pictures, and background story of their new beautiful 3 month old daughter! She is a darling, chubby, serious-looking little girl with the biggest dark brown eyes and a few wisps of curly hair on the top of her head. She is perfect and we love her already! We are so excited for Lisa and Travis to be parents. This has been a long journey for them (and this is really only the beginning of the rest of their lives together!)

The next step for them is to wait for a "court date," which is when the court in Ethiopia and the adoption agency get together and go through all the legal paper work. When they "pass court" this little bundle of joy will legally be theirs! Then they will travel to Ethiopia to get her and bring her home. Oh what a happy day that will be!!!!

We're now Uncle Matt and Aunt Kristi! We're new at those roles...I think I'll have to do a little shopping this week! We've been talking with Charlotte about her "new cousin" for a long time now, and she is happy to finally see a picture to go with the concept. We've been praying with Charlotte for this little girl for a long time. Whenever we ask her what she will do with her "new cousin" she always says "I'm gonna kiss her. And hug her. And kiss her. And hold hands. And play with her!" I don't think she quite gets it yet, but we're going to keep talking about her and waiting with eager anticipation.

Stay tuned for some pictures of our recent wanderings away from real life....

New pictures

Here are some new pictures of the small child. They are kind of random, but just little snippets of our lives recently. Enjoy!

Here's a sad one, from when she was sick. We pulled her toddler mattress out into the living room so she could be a part of the activity and watch some movies while still being comfy in her own bed at grandma and grandpa's house.

Luckily she wasn't sick for long!

She won't let me put pigtails in her hair very often... Grandma Cindy got her to sit still for these ones.

Some fun with Grandpa Mark in the snow!

She loves to eat snow. Never eat yellow snow.

Funny little face with the dry, chapped lips. Poor yips.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Day After Christmas

'Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house
Little Charlotte was puking all over her blouse.
She had eaten her breakfast with the greatest of care
Just before throwing it up on the table and chair.
Later she and her mama were tucked snug in her bed
While visions of popsicles danced in their heads.
Mama in her jammies and Charlotte on her lap
Had just settled in for a mid-afternoon nap.
When all of a sudden Charlotte woke with such a clatter
We sprang to her side to see what was the matter.
Mom put a bowl under her chin in a flash
Thank goodness, just in time to catch the big splash.
"Come play outside" beckoned the fresh fallen snow
But her face was all flushed with that feverish glow.
We were feeling quite sad when who should appear
But Grandpa and Kate with something to cheer.
A box of popsicles with wrappers to tear off real quick
Charlotte felt better with a grape treat to lick.
She smiled at the popsicles as one by one they came
But each time she wanted grape just the same.
Her mama in jammies and uncombed hair was no vixen
But Charlotte didn't care, her tummy needed fixin'.
We felt trapped in the house, we were climbing the wall
The pace of the day had slowed to a crawl.
What could we do to make the time fly?
Think of something quick, Charlotte's starting to cry.
So on to the couch with a movie we flew
With a blankie and toys, and a puke bucket, too.
We watched Mary Poppins lead adventures on the roof
And race carousel horses on painted hoof.
It seemed that with a smile, Charlotte was turning around
But we were sadly fooled when the puke hit the ground.
Poor Grandpa was covered from his head to his foot
You should have seen his face, the horrified look.
Charlotte wished she could take it all back
Here's Grandma to the rescue with baby wipes in a pack.
Nobody was feeling anything near merry
We had an unwelcome guest, the barfing fairy.
He doesn't leave packages with ribbons or a bow
Just fevers and tears as parents think "Oh no!"
At bedtime as Charlotte was brushing her teeth
She made sure she got all the ones underneath.
She looked down at her little round belly
While mama thought to herself, your hair's kind of smelly.
Charlotte, feeling better, was a jolly little elf
As she put her toothbrush back on the shelf.
She snuggled on mama's shoulder and laid down her head
Looking quite ready to soon be in bed.
Mama was wondering, how will this work
To get her to sleep without going berserk.
Charlotte, she sniffled and sniffed her little nose
But when mama laid her down, she started to doze.
Mama hummed because she didn't dare whistle
She leaned in real close and gave her a kissle.
As Charlotte closed her eyes, mama sneaked out of sight
"Sleep well little Charlotte, sweet dreams and goodnight!"

Confessions of a Toddler

So another funny thing she (yes, I mean Charlotte) has said recently: she pranced out of her room wearing a dress and announced "I'm a woman!"

Seriously, where does she get this stuff?!

Things that just don't come out right

This girl cracks me up!

Charlotte has the dreaded Minnesota winter chapped lips. Yesterday I was putting some moisturizer on them, and she said "Poor yips."

Yesterday she was pretending to be a "yitto yost yamb" (little lost lamb).

Daddy taught her how to say "Holy moly!" Except it comes out "Hody mody!"

Kids and telling the truth

This evening Charlotte had just finished brushing her teeth and Daddy was holding her when he passed some gas. A minute later while finishing her bedtime routine, Charlotte was fussing for Mama to hold her. As she was passed over Mama, Charlotte said to Daddy, "You fmell bad."

Almost December already?!

I can't believe it's almost December. November seems to have flown by, and I feel like before we know it, it will be March. OK, maybe not that fast (I'll be singing a different tune when it's been 30 degrees below zero for 10 days in a row...). Maybe it's because we are at work so much that I lose track of time. Whatever the reason, time is flying by, and little baby Charlotte is growing up so much. Yesterday she said something in the car, and when I told Matt "she doesn't even know what that means," Charlotte piped up in the back seat "Yes I do!!!" I couldn't stop laughing. Where does she pick up this stuff?
Other funny stuff she is doing these days:
The first thing on her mind every morning is breakfast. On the weekends when we sleep in a little bit, she wanders into our room and climbs in bed with us. After a minute or two of snuggles, she announces "Time to eat 'beckfas!' Get up Mama!" Today we didn't comply right away, so she got herself some breakfast. Lesson in parenting: if your toddler is on the loose, and you hear the fridge door open, you might want to drag yourself out of bed and investigate. She told us it was yummy and good for her. We couldn't quite understand what she said she got out of the fridge, and we were trying to guess, based on what leftovers we knew were within her reach. Finally Matt got up to see what was going on, and all was crystal clear (and very sticky!). She had gotten a sucker out of a bag of leftover Halloween candy in the fridge! She had been calling it a popsicle, but we didn't understand her, nor did we remember the bag of candy. Lesson learned...don't let your toddler find her own breakfast.
Here are some pictures from the last month or so, starting with Halloween.

Our little bumble bee

I made an upside down apple cake, recipe courtesy of my sister-in-law Olivia. It was delicious!

Our friends Casey and Alyssa came to visit with their daughter Melia, who is about 6 months younger than Charlotte. They love to play together, but there are a lot of tears when favorite dollies and puppies are involved.

Holding hands

A few pictures of our house for my sister Laura who keeps requesting them. This is our living room when you first walk in the front door.

This is just another view of the living room

The dining room. Small, but cozy and just the right size for us.

The kitchen (part of it, anyway). Charlotte likes to help wash dishes, but her clothes always get wet. Here is one solution to that problem.

Laura, I'll post some more pictures of the house soon. Today was too gray and cloudy to have good lighting to take pictures of the rest of our house.