Cullen's Finger

The boys have been enjoying the short rain showers we have been having. When it's not raining out they still like to play with their umbrellas, I'm in charge of making the rain with the hose and I find myself doing stuff my mother use to do to us. Once in a while when they are looking up I squirt them under the umbrella with the hose. When they yell, I just pretend it was an accident and for some reason they keep coming back for more! They really do love it.
As of today Cullen is on the injured reserve list, he got his finger shut in the front door. The nail immediatly turned purplish black. I tried to have him ice it but he would cry, etc... We still enjoyed the day by going to the farmers market (which is always loads of fun) and playing outside. But when Cullen woke-up from his nap his finger was all red and really swollen so I called our doctor who met Nick at the clinic and put a hole through his nail to relieve the pressure. Cullen really has been a trooper though all of this, he just couldn't use his hand because it hurt so bad. I'm glad we got this taken care of today, the doctor couldn't believe he was able to nap without waking up from it. I think we would have been in for a rough night had we not taken him in today. (Pictures of the finger, that's right Katie "the finger")

One last picture for today of Geremu in the bath he might possibly LOVE baths just as much as Cullen. (Yep, we have a pink bathtub!)

Bay Beach

We made a trip to Bay Beach today with our friends Katie and Billy (they have a son, Carson, Cullen's age and a daughter, Sofia, that is 7 months). The boys went on all the young kid rides and had a blast. Cullen's favorite was the train and Geremu LOVED the big slide. Here are some pictures from Bay BeachAfter enjoying some of the rides Cullen and Carson cooled off in the wading pool. Nick sure missed out big not joining us (he brought Geremu on more rides) because I got to enjoy this sight at the wading pool- priceless! After Bay Beach we got lunch at Old McDonald's (another first for Geremu, he didn't seem to like it) and had a small picnic before heading to the bird sanctuary to feed the birds. The first picture is of the boys planning their bird chase scene.

Here are the boys feeding the birds. When Billy first handed a bag of corn to Geremu to feed the birds he opened it, reached in and started eating it. He caught on quickly with a little help. I really do think the boys enjoyed chasing the birds maybe more then feeding them.

All is going well here, no good stories to share, just some pictures. Here is a short video of the boys, they were sitting in the garage taking sips from their cups at the same time and killing themselves laughing. They did this for a few minutes before we grabbed the camera.

Last night Nick and Cullen camped out again in the back yard. This picture is from this morning after they woke up.

This afternoon Nick took Cullen to our local state park to "hike", from all the pictures it looks like Cullen had a pretty swift pace going. Between camping out last night, no nap today and all this running he was so crabby tonight.

Still going...

Geremu had another doctors apt today. Since he had to put up with more needles today I served up his favorite Ethiopian meal (Dorowot) for dinner- he was LOVING it! I made the boys take their shirts off to eat dinner (to prevent having to scrub them clean by hand) and when I sat down to eat with them Cullen said, "Mom, you need to take your shirt off too". To prevent a freak show at our kitchen table I wore a bib and kept my shirt on.

Our Very Own Croc Hunt...

Do you spy anything unique in this picture???

Have I mentioned that Geremu LOVES shoes. Size, style and owner of the shoe really doesn't matter to him. He wants to take every pair of shoes he sees for a spin. If someone is already in the shoes he is more then willing to help them out so he can get his grubby little piggers in. Well since Geremu has arrived in town we have been missing a few pairs of shoes that I have searched high and low for, all of the shoes that we have been missing have turned up except for Cullen's red crocs. Yesterday after cleaning the entire house I realized there was really no way the shoes were inside. As I was walking into the house in the afternoon I finally spotted the missing shoes, now look back at the previous picture and look under the hose box, you should see one of the shoes hardly peeking out. I can't believe it only took me a week to find this. So if you come over to my house you just might want to seriously think about leaving your shoes at home.

Today was another busy day, Grandma German came to see the boys today.

Then for lunch we had Nick's Uncle Mike and Aunt Karrie and their kids (pictured below) and Nick's Uncle Mark. Later in the afternoon Dan (Nick's brother) and Grandpa German stopped for a little while. It was good to see everyone and the boys loved all the action.

I will leave you with two pictures, one of my boys...

and the other of our walk tonight. The picture is how the walk started, it ended with Geremu pulling Cullen and me. Hey, he insisted and who am I to argue?

Geremu (the name) is Back

First I'm going to start off with a confession (catholic guilt), I can't call Geremu- Boden. I just can't do it- too darn hard for me after calling him Geremu for 3 months so I can't switch now. Frankly, I am in LOVE with his name and it's who he has been to us since we first saw his picture, so we are still naming him Geremu Boden and if he wants to use Bo or Bode or Boden he can but I just can't do it right now, I'm calling him Geremu. Cullen calls him Geremu Boden (kind of like I'm AnnMarie) so I do think he will answer to either name.

I spent most of the morning getting my Saturday chores done, today Cullen decided to help, while I washed the kitchen floor he kept me company sitting on the kitchen counter singing and talking to me. I can't believe how big he is getting, here is a picture of him assuming his position.
Today Nick's brother Dan came, he is staying until tomorrow. Nick, Dan and Cullen all went up to Nick's cousins graduation party this afternoon and they are not home yet, so I'm assuming they had a wonderful time. Geremu and me just hung around the house, playing outside all afternoon after he woke up from his nap. Our good friends, Katherine and Mike came to meet Geremu. He was in the mood to entertain them with his swimming tricks in the back yard. I attached a few pictures and short video of him showing off. I'm off to bed now so I can keep up with all the excitement tomorrow will bring!

Here is a short video clip of Geremu swimming.

Hot Fun in the Summer Time

What a beautiful day today, we spent the morning in the backyard playing in the swimming pool and sprinkler. For a kid that doesn't like the bath tub, Bode was having a blast day in the pool. Cullen would squirt Bode in the face with the hose and Bode would kill himself laughing and chasing Cullen begging for more. Here are some pictures of our morning.

This afternoon Nick's sister Angie came to the house to meet Bode and play with Cullen, the boys sure had fun seeing her. The boys were pretty tuckered out and crashed early. We have a big day tomorrow, heading to the Milwaukee area early for some appointments.

Pictures + Video = Good Post

The transition is going so much better than I had anticipated. Bode is slowly but surely adjusting to the time here. Today he woke up at 5 in the morning ready to wrestle and I was actually ready to wrestle him. Alright I'll admit I actually wasn't ready to wrestle but how can I say no to this face so early in the morning?Cullen is also adjusting nicely, he had a little alone time with Dad this morning, strawberry picking- yummo! If you look closely at the picture you will notice Cullen has strawberries both on his face and all over his shirt- I'm pretty sure he ate more then he picked.

The boys spent time playing in the yard today- the sand and water table entertained them for hours.Tonight we had our good friends over, they have a boy, Carson around Cullen's age and a little girl, Sophia that is about 6 months. Bode couldn't take his eyes off of Sophia, even during dinner he was watching her every move.

Here is the video from yesterday that I said I would post.

Life Back in the Midwest

I'm going to first start out by telling all of you that we have finally come up with a name that we are sticking with, Geremu Boden Abyneh German and for short we will call him Bo or Bode.
All is well on the home front, each day seems to be getting easier (knock on wood). We arrived home Friday evening. My friend Amy picked us up at the airport and brought us home. Bo was really quiet and appeared frightened on the short drive home. When we got home and opened up the garage door he loosened right up. He had found Nick's toy horse from when he was younger and decided to take that for a spin.

Saturday my parents brought Cullen back into town to meet his brother. It was so good to see Cullen after such a long time away from him. Cullen sure had a great time with everyone he stayed with. He looks so much older and bigger to me now, I can't believe the difference. When Cullen first got home Bo was taking a nap but that didn't stop Cullen from getting right in Bo's face for some kisses!


On Father's Day Bo went to Menards for the first time (I'm sure there will plenty of other trips to Menards). My Dad was a little bummed we forgot the camera. Bo enjoyed riding around the store in a shopping cart, while I shopped for new gates for our stairs. I wasn't on top of my game this Father's Day, I usually take pride in having awesome gifts and I didn't have anything prepared for my dad or hubby. So Nick got a car wash from the kids, not very creative since I got the same thing for Mother's Day (see picture). My Dad's gift on the other hand is still to come (I guarantee an extra good gift that is worth the wait I just don't know what that is yet).


I think Cullen has had to do the most adjusting so far because he went from being king of the house to having to share everything. At first whenever Bo got close to anything that was Cullen's Cullen would start to scream NO. But now Cullen understands that Bo really doesn't want his stuff he is really just checking out what Cullen is doing. Today Bo started mimicking Cullen with his actions, when Cullen jumped off the couch Bo did, etc... Both boys love to wrestle, the minute I start to attack one of them by tickling them the other boy jumps up on my back, it's really fun to hear them laughing at each other.

I'll try later to post a video of Bo playing in the bathroom sink, he loves the faucet! Right now it just won't download.

Was I Hit by a Truck...

or do I just have two young kids to chase after? It's all finally hitting me, the time change, lack of sleep, two kids running around, I'm exhausted. I'm going to try to keep this short by covering the basics while we were in Africa.

We arrived late on Thursday night after traveling a LONG time. Every flight we took except for the first one was delayed, first because of plane problems (had to take a different plane) then because of bad weather (tornado in DC) we were suspended in air waiting to land then delayed leaving.

Friday morning we met Geremu and he was a bit shy at first but warmed up to us very quickly. We spent time with him on and off friday working around his schedule at the care center (pictured below, first and second building in from the left, white then sort of orangish).

Saturday morning we got to preview Geremu's Life DVD, this is a DVD that our adoption agency puts together for each of their children so they have as much information on their history as possible. We were one of the first groups to view this while the other families went to the care center to see their children. The DVD is heart wrenching to watch but priceless as far as information for Geremu in the future (since this is Geremu's story we will not be sharing the DVD with people). After viewing the DVD we met with a Geremu's team a social worker, doctor, video people, nanny, etc... to get all of our questions answered. By the time we got to the care center to see Geremu he was a mess, laying on the ground kicking and crying. We later learned that he fell apart when he saw the other adoptive families come to get their children and we didn't come to get him. I picked him up and he stopped crying but he wasn't exactly thrilled to see us (I think he was giving me the "where the hell have you been" look). That afternoon we went shopping. I picked up a few things that I just love but I'll spare you the details. Saturday night we went to a traditional Ethiopian Meal that included traditional dancing. I did get up to shake what my Mama gave me (which isn't much). The hardest part of the dancing was trying to keep my arms at my side, for some reason when music starts playing my arms defy gravity and want to float above my head (I'm sure you can picture this). Below are a few pictures of the streets of Addis Ababa.

Sunday we traveled south to visit the first orphanage that Geremu was in and see what the area was like that he was from. We also had a chance to meet a birth family member of Geremu's. This was by far the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. We are so fortunate and grateful to have had the opportunity to meet. Here are some pictures from the trip down south. In the first picture you can see both children and adults running across the field to come see the freak show (us).Monday we visited with Geremu at the care center again. Then Tuesday the going away ceremony at the care center was difficult because the nannies cried (they truly do care and love all of the kids as they would their own). Tuesday afternoon we took Geremu to the Embassy to finish up paperwork. Emotionally the week was exhausting and I really didn't sleep more then 3-4 hours a night. I was always nervous for something, first to meet Geremu, then the trip south, then the going away ceremony. The last two days after we got Geremu were spent around the guest house getting to know him and just hanging out (waiting for his visa). The trip home went alright, it potentially could have been WAY worse. Did I mention that Geremu doesn't stay in one spot very long- the kid is constantly on the go. In fact, today when my parents were at my house they helped me Geremu proof the house (it was child proof already). He is an amazing climber and has no fear. Stay tuned... next entry will be about our adjustment at home thus far and meeting the big brother.

Pictures from Ethiopia

We got home safe and sound about 6:15ish today. The trip to Ethiopia was amazing. Geremu is so much fun, we have had a great time getting to know him. I'll write more about it soon but I thought I would post a some pictures of Geremu today before heading to bed. I can't wait for Cullen to meet him!This is back home in the US my good friends made us the cute signs!

The milk on Geremu's face is just part of his charm!