First Trip Out of Town

Have you ever gone on a trip that didn't turn out exactly the way you had envisioned it?   This weekend we took our first road trip as a family of 4 and Makenna's first car trip. We left Saturday am and drove 3+ hours to visit my brother and his family.  I had a plan before we left home.  The plan was this...we would meet my brother and his family in Sioux Falls, make a quick trip to Once Upon a Child, have lunch at a local Ethiopian restaurant, shop at the mall and then drive to my brother's which is 45 minutes north of the city.  Easy enough.

WRONG!  Although we did managed to complete everything, it wasn't without consequences.  The girls were tired and excited to see their cousins and us adults were ready to lose our patience as the girls did not listen and did not make good choices.  I guess I shouldn't have had expectations as it is normal for a 3 year old to be wild after sitting for 3+ hours.

We did make it to a local Ethiopian restaurant.  The food was delicious!!!  It was the first time for my brother and his family.  They gave it a shot and I think they actually liked some of it.  Maya was too busy being naughty to enjoy it  which was a disappointment.


 

After lunch we hit the very busy mall with 4 tired children.  You can imagine how well it went.  Why does it seem when you have awesome store coupons to all your favorite stores, the mall is absolutely crazy?  Apparently all these people had the very same coupons and had the very same idea.  Darn it.  Well we stayed longer than we should have and finally left.  I did managed to quickly stop in at a few places.  It wasn't the most pleasurable shopping experience. 

After we arrived at my brother's the girls could finally burn off some energy.  Maya and her cousin Olivia had a blast playing with each other.  Makenna decided it was time to be fussy while her cousin Rachel was a sweet and calm child.  They really have different personalities.
 

Sunday we had a nice morning and the girls enjoyed dying and decorating Easter eggs. 

 

We also tried taking a picture of all 4 kids.  The key word is "tried". 
 

After lunch, we packed the car and headed for home.  The first 45 minutes were fine as both girls fell asleep in the car.  After a quick stop at Target to feed Makenna, we started our 2+ hour trip home.  It wasn't the best as Makenna screamed for most of it and Maya got upset when her movie didn't play (darn DVD  players).  What seemed like forever, we finally made it home.
 
We actually did have a nice weekend and the girls enjoyed themselves.  I just have to remember to not have any expectations and not to expect my girls to cooperate after a long car ride.  I must first let them run off their built up energy before we attempt anything such as shopping.  I've learned my lesson.

Thanks Jon and Shannon for hosting us!

Parades

Maya enjoyed two parades in the past week.  The first parade was the St. Patrick's Day parade.  Maya enjoyed it with her good friend Wren and her cousin Benjamin (along with Dad and Wren's parents).  The girls loved wearing their hats Dave picked up for them. 

 

The second parade was the Shrine Circus parade.  Maya loved watching all the animals and had many stories to tell her friends at school.


 

I unfortunately missed both parades but I heard all about them!  I'll have to be sure to go with next year.

Discussion - Children and Activities

As a working mother of two adoptive girls, topics arise in my head about various things such as parenting, arts & crafts, kids related topics, etc.  Therefore I have decided to start a discussion on my blog twice a month on a specific topic.  I'd love for anyone reading my blog to provide their insight to the topic to help all of us learn more.  If there is a certain topic anyone is interested in, please let me know.  I can always been reached at ethiopiatofargo@gmail.com.

This week's topic:

Question: How many activities does each of your children participate in?   At what age is the child ready to participate in activities?

I find myself struggling with this topic.  Part of me thinks Maya is too young and doesn't need to participate in activities right now.  The other part of me feels it is good for Maya to participate in structured activities that get her body moving and for her to interact with other kids.  So far I have enrolled Maya in a few sessions of gymnastics and swimming lessons.  However, she has never done both of these at the same time.  I guess you could say I believe in only 1 activity at a time. 

When I talk to other parents specifically other mothers, I get a mixed response.  Many parents feel the age of 3 is far too young to have them participate in group sports.  Other mothers feel 2 activities at a time is just fine and isn't too much.

Is there a magic number or does it depend on the child?  Maya is soon going to taking a class called Toddler Time which will introduce Maya to many different sports such as basketball, bowling, and soccer.  Swimming lessons follow this class and then soccer begins.  I feel overwhelmed already and they don't even overlap! 

What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

Good Hair

Last night I watched the documentary "Good Hair" by Chris Rock. I found it to be very interesting and informative about black hair, specifically black female hair. From watching it, I learned that many black women will go to any length to get the hair they want regardless of money and time. Apparently it isn't "cool" to have natural black hair, an Afro, as the women in this documentary all wanted smooth, ‘European’ style hair.

I recommend watching the movie if you haven't already. I really think you will take something away from it and learn a little more about black hair. Here is a trailer of the movie.

Did you know there is a large International hair show dedicated to African American hair held twice a year in Atlanta, GA – Bronner Brothers? At this show, there a hundreds of hair vendors selling any product you could imagine. These vendors make thousands of dollars at this show as people will buy and try anything to get the hair they desire. At the show they also have these amazing competitions – check it out!

The movie also talked about hair relaxers and weaves. A weave can set a person back over a $1,000 just for the hair alone! You then have to pay to have it put in as well as the maintenance. Good news is many salons have a lay-away program (oh my). I might have to forgo a college fund for my girls and instead start a hair fund!

Americanized

This morning all 4 of us headed out to a fun kid's store in town.  We usually never do anything like this as a family as it is just too hard and much too stressful.  While there, we were talking to an acquaintance when we were interrupted by an older woman.  She said to us "I heard you adopted from Ethiopia.  Are they sisters?"  I started saying "no" as I was jumping into the adoption mode of explaining my girls are not biologically sisters when Dave chimed in saying "well yes they are sisters".  Good answer Dave because they ARE sisters.  The woman then says "I think it is so great that they come here and become so Americanized".  What????  Excuse me?  I beg to differ.  Yes, my girls, and other adopted children who now live in America, will probably love McDonald's, Dora, and all that the US offers but it is also incredibly sad that these kids are being taken out of their home countries.  Ethiopians are beautiful people and the culture is so rich.  We attempted to explain to the woman that it it is great that these children our now part of our family but it isn't so great what they had to go through in their short lives to be in a position to be placed for adoption. We also explained how wonderful Ethiopia and its people are and both girls will grow up proud to be Ethiopian.  She seemed surprised.  Thankfully our shopping was done and we left. 

We try to raise our children as Americans and Ethiopians because they are both.  I often struggle with how much of their Ethiopian culture should we make apart of our lives.  I find it hard as there are only so many hours in a day and so many days in a year.  I don't want my girls to resent us one day for not doing enough.  I think the amount we do will depend on what feels right at the time for our family.  We are proud to have Ethiopia as part of lives.  Our connection has never been stronger.

How much culture do you bring into your family or how much do you plan to?  How do you incorporate your kid's culture into your family?  Love to hear your thoughts.

Makenna Update

I realized it had been awhile since I have written a blog post dedicated to Makenna. She has been doing pretty well overall. We have had several doctor appointments to ensure she has all her vaccinations and has a complete bill of health. We met an amazing doctor in our town from Africa who mostly sees immigrants and adopted kids. I can't even tell you what a blessing it was to have found her. She was able to explain to us every mark on Makenna's body. When we first met Makenna, we were concerned about a mark on her upper right arm. Turns out if was from a TB vaccination and the doctor had the very same mark on her arm. Makenna also has some blue spots on her back which look like bruises. Turns out those are perfectly normal and they have a name for them but I can't recall. I'm just truly thankful my city has someone like her as a doctor.

Makenna hasn't been doing too well in the sleeping department. We are told she takes okay naps at daycare but she hasn't been sleeping through the night. We have had 3 nights in a row of little sleep. Makenna thinks 12:30 is time to get up and play when it is certainly not time to wake up. After 3 nights of trying to combat this, Dave took her to the walk-in clinic. It turns out she has a double ear infection. Well that explains why she doesn't want to sleep. It probably hurts! Tonight she has her medicine so I am praying she makes it through the night.

Makenna has also gained a little over 2 pounds since being home. She loves to eat and cries terribly when you are making a bottle. She has really good ears too as we swear she can hear the bottle being made from a different room. So far we haven't found any food she hasn't liked. Hopefully this will continue into her toddler days and beyond.

Overall, she is doing well. It is still difficult to make her smile or to get her to laugh. Maya doesn't seem to have any issue with this as Makenna loves her big sister. I tried finding a picture with her smiling and could only find a handful out of many. I hope she opens up more and begins to smile. I just love it when she does as personality changes drastically and she is so darn cute with a smile on her face (not that she isn't cute without it).

Here is a picture we took during bath-time which she absolutely loves.