Dentist

Well, we had our follow-up dentist appointment yesterday. G is not overly fond of the dentist (to put it mildly) so we had her referred to a pediatric dentist when she needed to get some discing done. We decided to bring Mebira to the same place since we knew as soon as we saw her that she'd need work done on her teeth. And since we had 2 kids there already we thought we'd bring E along, too. G passed her cleaning and exam with flying colours, and we got the news that E had one cavity and Mebira needed work on five teeth.

Considering that we know of a few families who have adopted older kids from Ethiopia who have had to get numerous teeth extracted, I guess five fillings wasn't too bad for Mebira. And, considering she didn't brush her teeth for nearly five years of her life I guess five fillings isn't too bad. Thankfully, she didn't need a needle for two of her teeth (on molars, both sides, toward the back), but she needed quite a bit of work done on her front teeth and definitely needed some freezing for that.

Mebira and E were both troopers - they didn't love it, but they had good attitudes and tried their best to keep their mouths open, etc. This dentist is the best - she is a lovely lady, and the place is totally set up for young families. They have TVs with movies everywhere, and lots of little play rooms with toys and more TVs with movies. The girls watched Tangled and it made the event much better.

Mebira hung in there quite well, but we did decide to give her some laughing gas at the end to keep her relaxed as they worked on her front teeth. I've attached some pictures of them lying in the dentist chairs...two hours and $1,200 later we were glad when it was all over!
(Above) Mebira, breathing in her grape flavoured laughing gas with a slightly puffy lip. She looked like a little elephant - so cute!
(Above and below) Watching Tangled...the sunglasses are to help shield them from the bright dentist light....it almost looks like they're having fun, doesn't it?

Some pics

(Above) First day of school...they were up early and so excited to go.
(Above) We walk to school and couldn't resist the photo op of them with their backpacks.
(Above) Mebira was tickled pink and so excited to be in school like her sisters.
(Above) The girls convinced me to buy these shirts on sale when we were back to school shopping. They co-ordinated their outfits one morning...I wonder how much longer they'll be doing that?
(Above) I let Mebira sleep with her biggest sister a few weeks ago. G has a queen bed, and I laughed out loud when I checked in on them before I went to bed. G was nearly falling off the bed, and M was plastered to her. I had to actually pry her off and move her over, and even then their heads only used up half of one pillow together!
(Above) I told you about the yarn twists. My good friend (thanks, S!) recommended that I part the hair down the middle and keep that part straight when I put the twists in so that I could put in in pigtails after.
(Above) The part was great advice - she looked adorable in pig tails!
(Above) We went on a field trip last week to Safety City. After a few hours of learning about general safety, Mebira was finally allowed to drive a quad around a mini-city. She was SOOO excited and immediately knew what to do. It was quite comical to see a girl who had probably never even seen a car 15 months ago now in total command of a quad!

Christmas music

Well, I have to admit that I've started listening to Christmas music. I pulled it out once in August...I usually listen to it for a day in August each year and then I put it away again. This week the weather has been cold and it's getting darker out so I just had to put it on - listening to Christmas music always cheers me up.

I'm not looking forward to the cold, but I am looking forward to the snow...for one day. Every day Mebira asks if it will snow today...and she keeps saying that she doesn't like it warm out - she wants it to be cold. Ha! She's only experienced about a low of 3 and she screamed and hollered that it was way too cold that day. She is in for a big surprise!

I'm also excited to experience Mebira's first Christmas in Canada. My favourite thing is that she thinks Santa is Jesus...and I haven't corrected her. I figure Christmas really IS about Jesus and not Santa, so for now if she wants to equate the numerous Santa displays with Jesus then that is great with me. I know I'll have to break it to her soon, though. Otherwise she'll be really confused as to why she could sit on Jesus' lap in the mall. :-)

Christmas is for sure my favourite time of the year. There's just something about the decorations, music, food, time with family, traditions, focus on Jesus and His love for us, time off school and work, special parties, games and sledding and skating with the kids, fireplaces and candles, cookies and treats that are so much fun.

This year will have its moments of sadness as well as it is the first one without Arvid's dad. We put candy canes on our tree in honour of Arvid's mom (she did the same), we put crocheted white snowflakes on our tree from Arvid's grandmother to remember her, and now we'll need to think of something that will be a special memory of his dad. Do any of you do anything special at Christmas to remember those you've lost? If so, I'd love to hear it!

Another week

Another week has gone by since I've posted. Where does the time go? I keep thinking I'll sit down and post, but I so rarely sit down until later at night when I am so tired I don't even want to think anymore. Plus, I've wanted to include some pictures and for some reason I dread posting those...picking the ones I like, uploading them, writing captions...I have to psych myself up to do it. :-)

Well, I'm finally here and will attach some pictures at the end...so keep reading...

What have we been up to? Here are some highlights:

• We had the girls' family birthday party. We love our family and are so blessed to be able to spend time together.
• Now that Mebira is doing so well at school I have decided not to stay with her anymore. I asked our adoption doctor about it, and she said if she's doing well then I should leave her so as to not create one more way in that Mebira is different from the other kids. I will start volunteering on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, but other moms will be helping out as well so she won't be singled out.
• We took the kids, along with my nephews, to the Corn Maze. It was so much fun - the kids took turns leading the way and they actually did pretty well. The place of Mebira's birth had a ton of corn fields, but somehow I don't think they would have had corn mazes there. :-)
  
• We attended a football game a few weeks ago - Mebira's first. The girls were troopers and stayed up super late that night. Thankfully it was so nice out (30ish) so we loved just sitting outside and enjoying the evening. The girls couldn't have cared less about the football game as long as we kept the snacks coming. Mebira tried cotton candy for the first time - and it was a hit!
• My good friend Sandy and I decided to try yarn twists on her daughter's hair last Thursday. Mebira really seemed to like them so I just HAD to try them out on her as she is so sad that she has short hair and she's DYING for long hair. I was going to wait a bit longer, but the style I did last week just wasn't staying in and we were going to an adoption get together on Saturday. Although I'm sure the adoption community would have been understanding, I didn't want to bring her looking all ratty. So on Friday night I spent at least 3 hours doing yarn twist after yarn twist. I managed to get half of her hair done, woke up the next morning and spent another 2-3 hours. I think it turned out pretty cute (and she loves it), but it ended up taking so long that we weren't able to get our other jobs, errands, etc. done so we had to miss the adoption get together completely. I was sad to miss out but really hope to go to the next one...and I'll plan ahead better next time!
• Now that Mebira is at school and I have at least 2 hours of "free" time each day, I am tackling projects at home. My life was totally out of balance for the last 2ish years, and my house shows it. I cringe every time I open a closet or a drawer...I just see chaos. I have started tackling closets (2 down, too many to go), and will work on drawers next. I really think that having an organized home will help me feel less stressed and more on top of things. That way I'll actually know where things are. The good thing is that I'm in a really unsentimental mood (unsentimental? that's probably not a word, but you know what I mean) so I am actually getting rid of things. And it feels SOOO good!
• We are going for family walks almost every night. Sometimes the kids walk, other times they scooter or ride bikes, but we are finally at the stage where we can walk super fast and actually get exercise. The girls have had so much fun crunching and jumping in the leaves. I feel pretty good about our family schedule at the moment. We used to drive from activity to activity, looking out our car window at other families outside and wonder where we went wrong. This year WE are the family who is outside and it's been great for all of us.

OK, that's all I can think of for now...I will attach some pictures and then sign off!

(Below) The girls came downstairs one morning all wearing these shirts. So cute!

(Below) The corn maze with my nephews, N&N. They are such great kids and are so sweet to their younger cousins.


(Below) Cotton candy TWICE that weekend. The first time at the football game, and the second time at our church picnic. Incidentally, I happen to LOVE cotton candy but was scared off by the calories and thought it must have at least 1000 calories in one of those big bags. I was so thrilled to see that each big bag only has about 150 calories. That's better than a can of coke! Needless to say I dove into my own cotton candy after that! :-)
(Below). Aaaaaahhhhh. We FINALLY finished her hair. I originally thought I'd go longer, but man that was a lot of twisting. I can put it into pigtails, so that's all I need. As her hair grows (and when I do it with my cousin next time) I will do it longer, but since her hair is still so short this was a nice compromise and not too drastic of a change. We both love it...I just hope that we can keep this for at least 3-4 weeks so that the 5-6 hours of work will be worthwhile!
(Below) G&E's family birthday party. I'm SOOO relieved to be done parties for a while!


(Below) A spontaneous stop on one of our nightly walks.
(Below) Mebira loves to go everywhere with her dolls. She will even insist on taking it along for a 30 second drive to school.

(Below) Fall is so much fun! Good thing leaves don't stick in her hair like sand does! :-)

Still alive

Yes, I'm still alive. I am SOOO tired, though. We are officially into the swing of routine now. We tried to keep our schedule fairly free this year due to the adoption, but it's amazing how school alone can just tire you out. G is getting quite a bit of homework now, and when you add piano practicing, piano lessons and AWANA on top of it there really isn't much time between school and bed.

Mebira is enjoying school for the most part. She loved it the first few weeks but is starting to realize that a whole week is long, and that you do have to do some work in school. I feel bad for her because I know the language is a bit of a struggle and this feels a bit like teaching your kid to swim by throwing her in the deep end, but I know she's a quick learner and is picking things up so well already. The school and teachers are great, too. I know if she gets too overwhelmed I can easily pull her out for a bit and do staggered days, etc.

G&E had their birthday on Friday so we had a great day celebrating with them. We went to my mom's for lunch and then went out for supper and to the Lion King in 3D that night. That was Mebira's first movie theatre experience, and first time with the 3D. She took her glasses off at times if it was too intense, and kept trying to take them on and off to just figure it out at the beginning. It is very fun to do all of these firsts with her.

Saturday we had G&E's birthday party. Honestly, those parties take a lot out of me. I don't know why, but I am NOT cut out to be a birthday party planner. I start stressing about it weeks before (where do we do it? who should we invite? what treat bag stuff should I get?) and then the day itself nearly does me in. I'm so glad our 2 bio girls were born on the same day! At some point we'll probably separate the birthdays, but for now it's just one party and one cake!

I'll include some pictures later...for now I just wanted to say that we're still alive and well!

Hair Today...Hair Tomorrow (with pictures below)

Well, I have gone 3 months without doing a post on hair and I just couldn't resist. Hopefully for those who are still waiting for children this will help a bit. I remember being so stressed and thinking there was no way I would be able to do an Ethiopian girl's hair. I almost never do my bio girls' hair, and it's "easy" hair - fine and straight. The most I do is brush it every day. Sometimes we'll throw in a hairband or do a pony tail if we really feel fancy. So you can imagine that I was very nervous about doing hair.

Much to my surprise, I found that I LOVE playing with her hair. Her hair is fairly unique in that it's quite soft so it's pretty manageable. I had originally hoped that she had long hair, and was a bit sad when I found out her hair had been shaved in the orphanage. Well, now that her hair is growing I can tell you that it was a blessing (for me) that it was short. It has grown a few inches since she's been home and I can already tell that it's taking longer and is a bit more difficult now that it's longer.

In Ethiopia they recommended a special shampoo and told me to wash it twice a week. I started doing that, but based on a black hairstylist's advice here I changed it to once a week. I spray it (almost) every day with a mixture of water, olive oil and a honeysuckle rose conditioner that my friend recommended (thanks, SR!).

At first I was doing styles every few days. This was due in part because I found the shorter her hair was the faster it came out of styles. It was also because I loved playing with it so much that I just had to try new styles. My goal is to wash it on Fridays or Saturdays, and then style it that same day or within 24 hours. My most recent style lasted 8 days and I was THRILLED!

One of the advantages with older child adoption is that they have been fully trained in the hair department. She will sit still for hours (of course I usually let her watch TV), and I could (not that I would) yank, and pull and twist so hard and she never complains one bit. I think she actually enjoys having her hair done. (Not to mention any names, but 2 bio girls I know yell and scream when I just brush their hair).

Anyway, I am by no means an expert, but I will show you my progression from styles that were very easy for a beginner, to styles that are a little bit more adventurous (although still easy - keep in mind I've never known how to french braid, etc.)

OK, the first thing I did was to leave it down and put a headband in. This is still one of my favourite styles, but she doesn't like her hair down. I'm not sure if it's because it feels short to her (which she detests), or if it just doesn't feel done and feels frumpy. I think it's ADORABLE but she doesn't let me get away with this much anymore.

The next style I did was little puffs. This was quite cute, too. I just divided her hair into little sections, banded it, and voila, we were done. Unfortunately, the elastics I used (from the dollar store - DO NOT use those) kept breaking so I had to redo it over and over. Also, from what I understand, using rubber bands close to the scalp isn't the best for the hair as it can cause breakage. But really, in those first few weeks you're happy just to have everyone dressed and fed!

After talking to some fellow adoptive moms I decided to try the next style - flat twists. This is almost like a corn row but you just use 2 strands of hair so it's much easier. I just did it on the top of her hair but it was a nice compromise since the back was all curly and down (which I loved) and the part she could see was done. I remember feeling this huge sense of accomplishment after this hairstyle. :-)
After doing flat twists for a while I thought I'd try cornrows. I looked at some youtube videos, and then attempted my own. I was no expert, but I was shocked that I could actually manage something close to a cornrow. (Experts, please don't laugh at these attempts...remember I still don't know how to french braid!!)
This started out in sections, but I just loved braiding so it's half cornrow half sections.
I sectioned her hair and then just braided it for this one.

Finally, I thought I should try doing cornrows on her whole head. It took me forever, but it was fun to try.
This is what it looks like when the braids are out!!
Once I had some cornrows down, I was itching to try what we affectionately call the "beachball". She had this hairstyle done in Ethiopia before we left and again by a hairstylist here before we went camping and our whole family loves it. I am proud to say that after a whole Disney movie I was able to get the beachball style done - and it looked great for her first day of school and 7 days after that!


After 8 days in the same hairstyle (how could I resist for so long?) I thought it was time for a change today and thought I would do sections with twists. This was the first day she actually said she liked her hair. I think it's because it finally feels long to her!

If anyone else has some recommendations, I'd love to hear them. I've used the happygirl blog a lot (I LOVE IT!) and it has been a huge help.

Oh - one thing that really helped is a sleeping cap. I had a satin pillowcase for her but she tends to move around so much that she is almost never on the pillow. Once I used the sleeping cap the hairstyles have stayed in so much longer.

Thanks for hanging in there through this long post...my last picture is one of her in her sleeping cap (from Sally Beauty). Good night!

One day down...

Well, since things are going so great we thought we'd put Mebira in Kindergarten this fall. I'm not sure if we'll put her in just a few times a week, or every day, or if I'll stay with her sometimes or every day...we're totally just going to see how things go and play it by ear.

Mebira had her first day of school on Thursday. G started Grade 4, E started Grade 2, and Mebira started KG. It was a bit of a rigmarole getting them to their classes but thankfully Arvid was along to help. We went oldest to youngest, and Mebira was nearly jumping out of her skin to get to her class by the time it was her turn. (Actually, I should mention that she had been counting down the days...and the morning that school started she woke up at 7, immediately dressed and put her backpack on and tromped around the house. It was cute, but a bit early for my liking as our alarms hadn't even gone off yet :-) )

Anyway, G&E did awesome going to their classes, and same thing with Mebira. She was super excited but seemed to participate well. I stayed for the whole morning just to see how she would do. It's funny, because I thought her English was so good (and it is!) but we're used to the words she knows and generally stick with those. For example, we would tell her to get her sweater or jacket and put it on. Well, at one point the teacher asked her to put her hoodie on but she didn't seem to know what she was talking about. :-) In that way, I'm sure her vocabulary will improve quickly.

They do a staggered entry for KG here so she attended her first day with about 6 kids, and won't attend again until Wednesday. Again, we'll play it by ear and see how things go, but so far so good. She is thrilled to be a big girl like her sisters, and if she ends up not needing me much then I will love the break, but I will still have every afternoon to enjoy with her.

For now, we're loving the long weekend and the beautiful weather! I hope you all are, too!