Tuesday, May 10, 2011

5 Months Home!!!

Five Months!! Last year at this time I was praying for children I didn't know and asking God to protect them and keep them safe. I was praying that he reveal our children to us...and feeling like that day would never come!! Countless days and hours spent crying and watching the phone! Now I marvel at how perfectly God works with his timing yet we still wish it was on our terms Not his..Patience is a very hard thing for adoptive mommies, especially those watching the Yahoo DTE list!!! Moms to be..I promise it will all be worth it! Breathe and let God work his magic!

This has been a month packed FULL of craziness..holidays..injuries..accomplishments..and LOVE!!! This past month grandma was home to enjoy our 5th month!! We were very happy to have the extra set of hands and the help with all the laundry!!!! It was a great time for Tommy and Milly to bond with Grandma!!
We had a great 1st Easter with the kids!! After Santa they caught on quick to the Easter Bunny!! We had a house full for Easter dinner. As always lots of food and fun! This was also their first egg hunt! I love celebrating all of their firsts!!
Easter morning( take note of Tommy's swollen eye..courtesy of a head butt from his brother)

Never a lack of desserts..




Marianna had to go for the highest egg


a successful Hunt!
 This was my first Mothers day as a mom of 5!! I have so many Mothers day gifts I don't know where to keep them all...all the handmade gifts are the best!! Lots of hand prints to keep forever!! I am so blessed to have such a crazy group of kids!! I pray for all the mommies that are waiting and picturing their first mothers day with their kiddos!

Mother's Day 2011


We also had our very first trip to the Zoo!! The giraffe was the overall favorite! We went with some of our AWAA family and we met some new friends! We met another couple on our first trip to Ethiopia they were on their way to meet their twin boys! We are blessed to live fairly close so they were able to meet us at the Zoo also!! We had a fun day with all of our friends!

Waiting to spot the Sea lion

Our new friends the Schmidt family

My guys!

We are missing a few here

The fan favorite

Mommy's favorite..the new baby
Now onto the fun stuff...how are the kiddos doing?! And what injuries? LOL!!


TOMMY


Another month of firsts for you!!!! He is changing and growing so much every day! He finally learned how to ride his bike!!! It took many falls lots of scrapes and a finger injury that had me and the Dr. thinking you might have broken it but it seems to be all better now! Even that didn't stop you! We were out the next day but you insisted you wear gloves so if you fell you wouldn't hurt your finger again! This child is FEARLESS and very Stuborn!! You also started swimming lessons and on lesson 2 you were jumping into the deep end!! This had my stomach in knots! You will clearly be causing me lots of stress as you grow..you are going to be one busy little boy! I love your determination! I do believe there is no goal you cant accomplish! We are all registered for kindergarten and you even got to ride a school bus!! Now the count down is on till when you can ride one every day!! Matteo informed him.."You will get to ride one FOREVER" Here are a few of Tommy's 5th month..

Victory!!

Where are the eggs?!


At the Zoo



MILLY


Oh Miss Milly!! You had quite the month too!!! The English that you speak is unreal! Words I have no idea where you learned but they are placed perfectly in full sentences! It amazes everyone how well you speak!! We finally made it to the eye Dr. to get your Lazy eye checked out. He has great news and not so great news! I had no clue you could barely see 6 inches in front of you with the bad eye!!! The good news is we can fix it! What happens when you have a lazy eye is the brain completely shuts it off and basically is stops working. The great news is we can get the brain to start sending that eye signals again and improve your vision! So here is what happens..First we start by patching the good eye, this was very rough the first week because you could not see at all out of that eye. As the week went on you started to see a little more. We returned to the Dr after 3 weeks and rechecked to find good improvement!! So 5 more weeks then another recheck. Thankfully you leave the patch alone, it is on 12 hours a day! You are such a trooper! Every day you ask "Again?" After we get the brain to start working that eye better then her vision will improve, when there is no more improvement then we will do the surgery to fix the muscle. When?? How ever long it takes I guess? For now we are rockin the patch! You also had a month that we will never forget with an injury we All will NEVER forget!! Daddy and all the kids were playing in the basement and Big sister had Milly on her shoulders (yes bad idea) Big sister lets go out your legs and you fall HEAD first onto the concrete floor!!! This warranted 2 trips to the ER in 24 hrs and a Concussion!! This aged me by at least 5 years! Thankfully no skull fractures just a very swollen and sore head! This was a family first and hopefully the last! More kids equals more stress and more grey hair!! So a head injury and only one eye!! You are still the cutest thing ever! Here are pics from your 5 th month..
Love from the Rupers


Silly Milly at it again!


Mom was very nervous taking this shot!

Picking dandelions