Snow....enough already!

Ok, not really. I am a snow LOVER. The more the better. Especially if I can just coop myself up in the house and I don't have to drag the kids out in it. Actually, I love snow until about early March. All I need is one semi-warm, springy day and then I am done with the white stuff. We have gotten a LOT of snow the last few days. Last Friday/Saturday we got 10 plus inches and now we have another storm coming through that they are predicting 8 or so inches for us. That is quite a bit for central Ohio. Plus it is blowing everywhere. We have spots in our yard where you can (or at least could until this new storm) see the grass a little and then some spots where the drifts are 4 ft high. Crazy I tell ya.

Ryan and Logan went over to his parents property last night to get the truck with the snow plow. Their property is only a mile away, but they have a long lane and no one had really been back there since the first big snow. They got stuck. Like really stuck. It actually turned out to be a pretty scary experience. They had to walk quite a ways to the barn, Logan lost his shoes and had to be carried some, the barn vehicles wouldn't start and it was kind of a mess for multiple reasons. Finally they got the truck with the plow started, but it was a long haul and the jeep is still stuck over in the neighbors field (getting covered with more snow now). I think maybe Ryan doesn't love the snow as much as I do. :)

Oh, on a very good note. Asher slept through the night last night! WOOHOO! That is so good!

Julie

A little rough, but getting better.

Honestly, this last month has been pretty difficult for our family. We are so blessed, but adjusting can be hard. It has been especially hard for me for some reason. I think part of it is just a lack of sleep, but I can't put my finger on what the rest of it is. I have just been kind of dazed and a little emotional too. You can tell that the kids are out of sorts also. Asher is finally feeling a little better, which is really good, but he is still waking a lot at night. I feel like he is just still off somehow. I think maybe he is a schedule kind of guy and this no schedule thing is not good for him. So, I am working on getting him on a schedule. I have always felt that is the best was to go with kids. Anyways, things are getting better every day. Especially every "normal" day where we can start getting back in to our groove, but we are not "back to normal" yet. I just don't remember it being this tough when Anna and then Gee came home....

Oh, and I just have to say that Ryan has been so amazing through all this. He is my rock and he couldn't know how many times I have praised God for him, especially these last few weeks. He is such an awesome daddy and husband!

Julie

Tons of pictures!

So, my baby girl turned "12" on Sunday. Hard to believe doesn't even really describe how it feels. She has grown up so much and is just this spunky and beautiful soon to be woman. I love it and hate it all at once. We celebrated Leah and Ava's (my 2 yr old niece) birthday in Florida. Aunt Emily made this delicious boston cream pie. Yummy!

I made this easy peasy chocolate chip cookie "cake." (Leah doesn't generally love cake)

This is Leah this past Sunday (on her birthday) celebrating with hot fudge brownie sundaes. The girl has good taste!

Asher lounging around the pool in Florida. Daddy bought this walker the day after we got back together and Asher loves it! We use it all the time.

Gideon actually wanted to meet Chip and Dale (he is only so-so with the Disney characters, they often times freak him out), so we waited in line to get a pic. It turned out great!

You got to love Stitch (check our Gideon's face).

We did t-shirts again for Florida. Asher is lucky number 13 for the Cole side!

I just love this picture of Leah and Ava. It was taken when we were celebrating their birthdays.

How funny is this picture? It reminds me of about every picture we got of Asher while we were waiting! Have I mentioned lately how much Gideon loves his little brother? Gideon is such a sweetie and he always loves the babies. Now he has one of his own!

Asher and cousin Lucy (Asher is a little over 3 months older).

Disney World wiped the poor guy out. We were sitting along side the road watching the lights parade and he was so tired, but the lights were so interesting, finally he gave up.

My gorgeous girl watching the parade (she got her face painted like Sleeping Beauty).

My other gorgeous girl watching the parade (she was painted like Tinkerbell).

The girls were a blast at Disney this year. The princesses were just so exciting to them!

I just think this picture is funny......

Prince Gideon riding his stallion!

A um, family picture, I guess......

The Cole side crew all lined up. We've got 1, 2, 6,7,8 and 13. Yep, we've done our share.

First "real bath" in Florida. It didn't even phase him.

The three littles loving on Asher the day we got home.

He is just so perfect...

Oh man, I could not be more in love with this little guy. He is just perfect for us. He is so fun to be around and we all feel so blessed to have him as part of our family.

All the kids seem to be adjusting to Asher so well. All 5 just want to help in any way they can. I am sure that will wear off in time, but it is so cool to see the kids (old and young) so taken with him. If any one kid were struggling at all it would be Madeline. It isn't super obvious, but she is very much needing more time with me. She is still amazing with Asher and she wants more time with him also, but she is sticking a little closer than normal to my side. Like, she would not even go to her class at church on Saturday. Plus she keeps coming up to me out of the blue and giving me a kiss or telling me she loves me. It is quite sweet and I feel a little bad for her. I hope I am supporting her through this like she needs.

Unfortunately Asher is sick right now. He has a fever and a nasty cough. I can hardly believe how quickly this sprung up on him, but he is pretty miserable. I think I only got 4 or 5 smiles out of him today, which is totally not the norm. He sleeps in a pack and play in our room, so last night was tough for me. He was up a lot coughing and just whining. Poor thing. I just want my happy guy back, although we are getting a little more snuggle time together!

This may sound silly, but I wish everyone could/would adopt. Obviously Ryan and I feel passionate about this, so I am sure it is no shocker to people that we would recommend it. But, I feel like we have hit the jackpot (adoption wise) 3 times now and how can we not want other people to share the same joy? Our births and adoptions have been equally amazing experiences and I praise God for how each of my 6 kids came to us (truly I do not take it for granted). Our adoptions however seem to have been filled with such unexpected joys. You know, little things that I think we take for granted with biological kids. For example, I still marvel at how our first 3 kids just unconditionally love our last 3 kids. When I was pregnant with Logan, I never wondered if Leah would love Logan, I knew she would. The same when I was pregnant with Maddie. When we adopted though, I wondered each time what the "other" kids would think. I wondered how easily love would come. For the most part it is easy to love a newborn. They are cute, have very little opinions, etc. But bringing two 14 month olds with established personalities, schedules, etc., and now an 8 month old with the same "baggage" well, you can't help but wonder how easy the love will be. Ever time, I am amazed. The love is just there, regardless of personality, nationality, whatever. Seeing that kind of unconditional love is something I will never forget.

Julie

Starting to feel normal.

While the last few weeks have been amazing, I think I have been a little dazed by it all. I am sure the lack of sleep thing started me off on the wrong foot, but I am just starting to feel "normal." It feels good.

Let me just say again, Asher is incredible. I am so impressed by his tolerance for life and his adorable personality. Early this week we spent some time with Dr. Staat at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. She specializes in internationally adopted kids and we used her for Anna and Gee also. Well, they do a FULL social/physical work up on kids. I think Asher had like 10 plus vials of blood taken. It was so sad. His eyes were bloodshot by the time the lady was done and he just sobbed afterwards. Mostly the blood was taken to re-test things he has already been tested for, but I know some of it will go to have a malaria work up done since his medicals say he had it. He was a trooper though and he charmed everyone! Asher's sleeping has greatly improved also. He has only gotten up once the last three nights.

Probably one of the most fun aspects of this whole experience is the five other kids' reactions to him. We haven't gotten one negative response yet. The 3 (not so) little ones will lay on the floor with him and play/talk to him. They are always asking to help feed/change him. They are almost overwhelming to the poor boy at times. It is just really cool to see the process of accepting a new one into the fold. It is happening fast!

I have a ton of pictures to upload, but I am still sorting through luggage and the cord I need is somewhere in the all the junk.

Well, happily it is back to life for me. I have diapers to finish making, two suitcases of laundry left to wash and a house to get back in to order. Life is good.

Julie

Ethiopian Airline Crash

Oh man, I am so sad for the families that are morning the loss of loved ones in the Ethiopian Airline crash. I guess it crashed almost immediately after take off out of Beirut airport. It is looking like around 90 people lost their lives. We were flying Ethiopian Air just a little over a week ago on a plane probably very similar. God protected Leah, Asher and I. I will never take that for granted! Here's a link to the crash info.......

http://en.afrik.com/article16836.html

Settling In

Things are really going well. I am still just so very happy to be back with my family. I need them so much and when they are gone, I really struggle. Asher is really an exceptional little guy. Sleep-wise, he is still off. Night time is a little tough, but I think that will be pretty easy to straighten out when we get home (we are still in Florida). Besides sleep, he is so much fun. His smile just draws me in. He is quick to smile and laugh. He also growls. It is funny to hear him do that. He loves to lay on the floor and kick his legs. He is just so busy, all the time. He can roll both ways and he crawls/scoots backwards while on the floor.

Health wise he seems good. He has an ear infection and we are treating that with antibiotics. The meds gives him the major runs, which is gross. We are washing lots of hands and clothes. He also spits up a LOT. I switched him to soy milk and I thought that was helping, but now I am not so sure. I also think he maybe has some excema. I guess it could be just baby acne, but it seems like more than that to me. These are minor things though. Overall he just seems very healthy. We are very thankful for that!

Julie