The best we could do!

But I have to say... I LOVE this picture... Oscar as Superman and Yabbi totally eyeing the candy cane... it cracks me up!


And on the subject of Santa Claus... Matt and I aren't really into the whole "Santa is real" thing so we thought a lot about what we would tell Oscar and Yabbi when she gets older. Here is basically what we told him. "Santa Claus was a wonderful man named St. Nicholas who brought people presents in the winter. Because he was such a nice man, every year we honor his memory by pretending to be Santa Claus... we dress up and give our loved ones gifts." He seemed fine with this. He loves to pretend. We were also worried about what he would tell other kids that Santa was pretend, so we talked extensively about letting people believe what they want. If some kids believe in Santa Claus... let them," we told him.


So, last week I got a letter from the teacher... Let's just say that our talk didn't exactly get the outcome we had hoped for. Oscar told his friends at school that "Santa was dead, and all those Santa's are just guys dressed up." So we were back to the drawing board with more conversations about respecting other's beliefs. I felt horrible, I had visions of sweet little four year olds crying to their parents that Santa was dead.


We talked to the teacher the next day about his friends reactions. She said that she quickly changed the subject and none of the kids believed Oscar at all... they all just wanted to argue with him. So the sanctity of Santa is saved for now... let's just hope we can keep a lid on our secret!

First night of Hannukah

Last night was the first night of Hannukah and we lucked into having Bubby and Pop pop visiting from Philadelphia. The kids had a wonderful time! Oscar has been asking for a Superman suit for months now so he was pretty excited about his gift. He wore it out to dinner and had a great time telling everyone he saw about Lex Luthor and kryptonite. It was too cute! Yabbi had a great time too, but was a little miffed that she wasn"t allowed to light the candles : )

Convergence

Amazing things are happening in our lives. Last Friday we received an email from the Indiana Ethiopian Adoption group about a dinner being held by an Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Indianapolis. The pastor is inviting families who have adopted from Ethiopia in an effort to reach out and help these children connect with their culture... We were very excited and planned to attend.

Days later we received an email from our wonderful friend Ephrim in Ethiopia. We hired him to find Yabbi's birth mother. He found her and we shared information, but when we traveled to Ethiopia, he couldn't reach her, and we were worried about our Visa, so we didn't get the opportunity to meet her. The good news is that he found her again... she had lost her cell phone. He gave her the pictures he took of our family and told her that we were interested in keeping in touch with her. She, in turn, sent him an ADDRESS.

When we emailed the Pastor about this development.. he agreed to translate a letter for us. We are so grateful and excited to send her pictures and an update on how well Yabbi is doing. It brings tears to my eyes.

And, while all of this was going on, I was reading Dan Savage's book about his open adoption. (I highly recommend it... it is really funny and heartwarming at the same time). It was strengthening my resolve to find Yabbi's birth mom and making me wish that we had this option... for Yabbi's sake.

It looks like now we do, and I am so grateful for this convergence of events.

Beautiful Day for a Hike

It has been gorgeous this weekend, so we dusted off the old baby backpack and took Yabbi and Oscar for a hike in the woods!














She approved and seemed to really enjoy the hike. She pointed at the trees, babbled, and did a lot of giggling.












































The kids loved playing in the leaves... Oscar was a leaf monster and Yabbi (who normally loves to eat leaves) didn't put any in her mouth. Maybe "No Mouth" is working?




















After our hike, we stopped at the playground, where both kids enjoyed a swinging good time!











I can only hope all weekends in November will be this lovely....

Space Family and the Halloween Wedding

Expectations were high this year... It was it Yabbi's first Halloween and our good friends Maria and Mike were getting married in costume and having a huge bash!


We rejected several ideas... a family of vampires (with Yabbi as a little bat), classic horror monsters (with Matt as Wolf-man), or superheroes (with Oscar as Superman). And then we found Oscar's astronaut costume and it was decided... we would be Space Family.


We found Yabbi a baby Chewbacca costume and I opted for my favorite alien of all time... Dr. Frank-N-Furter from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Matt's twin brother was in town.... perfect for Spock and Evil Spock (one with a menacing goatee).

















Only problem.... Yabbi HATED my costume. She saw me in my wig and make-up and screamed in terror... Poor thing. She wouldn't even let me hold her. Uncle Josh, since he looked more like her parent than I did, was my substitute.

So, we made it through the ceremony and then I ditched my terrifying alter ego and became Mommy again. Yabbi and I went home early and had a nice night together. We walked through the neighborhood and watched the trick-or-treaters and she forgot all about her scare and loved me again.


But lest you worry that I didn't have fun on Halloween night.... after Matt came home from the wedding, I went out with my friends to the Rocky Horror Picture show.... where my costume was appreciated by all!

Back to Work

Last week was my first week back to work and I'm happy to report that everything is going well.

I started back part-time and I'll be part-time for a couple of months. My husband is also working part-time for six weeks, so Yabbi is still at home, but getting used to being without me every afternoon.

Knowing that she is home with Matt eases my mind, so I've actually enjoyed getting back into the lab, seeing all of my cultures and friends and getting back to working on some projects.

Unfortunately, I don't think we are going to be able to figure anything out for December. My mom was going to come and stay for awhile, but she broke her foot, so she won't be able to make it. So, Yabbi will be starting daycare part-time (afternoons) in December and will start full time in January.

Last week we had our first visit with her daycare provider, Omi. She is such a sweet lady and took care of Oscar from three months to three years, so I feel completely comfortable with the care Yabbi will receive. I'm only nervous about the transition! So, I'm trying to make her comfortable with Omi and the new surroundings. We'll be visiting once a week for about an hour for next six weeks. It's fun for me too because I enjoy Omi's company and get to see Yabbi playing with some other super cute little ones... soon to be her little buddies.

My little pumpkin

I've been out of town and I'm starting back to work this week, so I haven't had a chance to catch up... but I just had to share these pictures from our pumpkin patch adventure.