Readoption Day!

Yesterday was Jonas' readoption day! Readoption is confusing to some people, so let me explain. Jonas' adoption was finalized in Ethiopia when we "passed" court on 10/16/08. However, because we were not present for that court hearing, USCIS requires us to readopt him here in the U.S. in order for him to become a U.S. citizen. Up until now he was an Ethiopian citizen with a Green Card. The other thing that readoption does is it allows us to legally change his name. The court in Ethiopia gave him the name Ekra Raymond Hammond, so yesterday we were able to officially change it to Jonas Ekra Hammond!

We were so happy to finally finish the adoption process that we started in August of 2007! The court hearing was held in the Judge's chambers and it was quick, easy, and fun. It was a celebration!

The Judge let Jonas run free around his office.

But Jonas failed to appreciate the significance of the day. He wanted to leave the office and explore other areas!

Before we left, we got a picture of our family with our lawyer and Judge Calvaruso. We never expected to go to Jonas' readoption with two kids of our own!

That night we celebrated at a Chinese Buffet with Uncle Jason and Aunt Jenny. The Ethiopian restaurant would have been more appropriate, but the Chinese Buffet better fits Jonas' attention span right now. :)

6 Weeks

Ava will be six weeks old tomorrow. Tonight as I held her and watched her sleep I was reminded that Jonas was about six weeks old when he was found. It struck me again how small and helpless he must have been. We know that his birth mother was sick, but we assume that he was with her for those first weeks of his life. It must have been so difficult for her to leave him. She gave birth to him. She got to hold him, feed him, comfort him when he cried, and see his first smiles. She probably wondered who he would look like when he grew up and what his personality would be like. It brings tears to my eyes to think about this for two reasons. The first reason might be selfish. You see, I wish I had experienced Jonas' birth. I wish I had held him first, fed him, comforted him, and witnessed his first smiles. I wish he had never experienced such loss in his life. I wish he had not had to spend 6 months without parents. I will be forever grateful for the love the nannies at AWAA's transition home showed to him during that time, but still... He wasn't their son. He was just one of many special children to them, not a precious son. The second reason it brings tears to my eyes is because I feel sorry for Jonas' birth mother. I am his mommy. I'm the one who gets to comfort him when he is hurt, kiss him goodnight, and hear him yell "Mama!" when he sees me in the morning. I get to watch him grow and see his personality unfold. I am so blessed to have him in my life.

It is 11pm and I wish I had some kind of conclusion to this post, but I can't think of anything right now. The kids are sleeping, and I should be sleeping too! I will head to bed now, thinking about adoption and pregnancy and thanking God for both of my children.

Pictures

I don't have much time to blog anymore, but life is good! There is definitely no time to be bored around here. :) I have my moments of frustration when it seems like both kids need me at the same time, but I am learning how to be a better multi-tasker! I gain a little more confidence each time I try something new (like grocery shopping by myself with both kids). Ava sleeps pretty well, which is a huge help. I felt like a walking zombie after 5 weeks home with Jonas because I was so completely exhausted. When Ava has a rough night I remind myself that I survived for months on very little sleep each night, so a bad night here or there isn't going to kill me.

The other day I was feeling sorry for myself because I can't serve in church the way I would like to right now. I was feeling a little like my life didn't have much purpose, and then I realized that loving my children, spending time with them, teaching them, and raising them is my purpose right now. What an important purpose it is!

Ava is getting more alert and more interested in playing and interacting.In this picture, she looks so much like pictures of me at her age.

Jonas has become obsessed with letters lately. The ones on the side of the fridge are the ones he has learned to recognize and say. He also knows the letter O, but we've lost that magnet. :)

I guess he is on his way to literacy! :)

He still loves his little sister. He uses his toy truck as a step stool to look at her.
He also likes to pretend to be the baby. Here he is going "night night" in her seat.

We survived our first week with Ray back to work! It was actually a great week. So far Ray likes the new schedule he made for himself because he feels it helps him to be more focused throughout the day. And Jonas and I love seeing him at lunch-time! My parents have been stopping in for a visit about once a day, which has also been huge for me. I'm not looking forward to when they go back to Florida!

Ava normally wants to eat around 6:30am, so I've been using the time as she eats to read my Bible and pray. Starting my morning this way prepares my heart, mind, and attitudes for the day ahead and hopefully helps me to be a better mom. Of course, I can always find ways I fall short (I'd like to be Super-Mom) but I'm learning to give myself some grace.

Jonas is still doing well. There were a few times this week that he decided to misbehave to get attention, but we're working on that. Having 2 kids has forced us to make sure that we are really consistent in our discipline with Jonas. We always said that we would pick our battles, praise good behavior, and make sure that we disciplined the attitude of his heart more than just his actions. But I admit I sometimes used that as an excuse to ignore negative behavior when it didn't seem convenient to discipline him. Thankfully, we reminded ourselves that it is soooo important to be consistent (I know, that's basic Parenting 101), and sometimes that means giving him a time-out. He is already responding well to this by listening to us before a time-out is needed. He seems to have grown up so much since Ava was born. He's using more and more words and putting more of those words together in sentences. Here is the proud big brother holding his little sis.


Ava is growing and gaining weight! At her 2 week Doctor's appointment she was up to 7lbs 11oz. She has started having a bit of a fussy period in the evenings, but we are learning what she needs when she is like that. Here is our little Princess smiling!

She's Here!

I'm happy to announce the birth of our daughter, Ava Grace Hammond. Ava surprised us all with her full head of dark hair! She weighed in at 6lbs 13oz and was 20in long. She is healthy and does not have any complications from the placement of her stomach. She was born right on her due date, which was also her Grandpa's 64th birthday. My labor was fairly easy and quick, my midwife is amazing, and Ray was a great coach! Those things combined helped me to attain my goal of natural childbirth. It might sound weird, but I'm glad I was able to feel every contraction and fully experience Ava's birth.

Tomorrow Ava will be two weeks old. We've been getting to know each other and we're all doing well adjusting to life as a family of four. Ava is a pretty easy-going baby so far. She doesn't cry much and when she does she is easily soothed. She loves close contact and spends a lot of the day sleeping peacefully in our arms. She also does well in the bassinet in our livingroom while we make sure Jonas gets the attention he needs. So far, parenting a newborn for the first time is much easier than being a first time parent of a 7 month old. Jonas broke us in well. :) The lack of sleep doesn't seem like a big deal this time around. Ava is doing well with sleep though. She usually sleeps one or two 3 hour stretches at night before she wants to nurse again. Sometimes she even sleeps a 4 hour stretch at night.
Jonas is doing extremely well. He loves his little sister and often tries to touch her and kiss her. He gets a little over-exuberant with his affection, so we need to watch him very carefully with her. But he is learning to be more gentle. So far he hasn't really shown signs of jealousy. The only attention-seeking behavior I've noticed is that he has starting pretending to fall down and then he will say "You okay?! You okay?!" until we ask him if he is okay ang give him a hug and a kiss. Overall he's doing better than I thought he would. It has helped that Ray has been home for these 2 weeks. There have been inevitable changes to Jonas' routine, but we have been able to keep things pretty normal for him.
The real test of our adjustment will come next week when Ray goes back to work. Your prayers would be appreciated! :) There are moments that I feel overwhelmed when I think about caring for both Ava and Jonas, making sure that they get the attention they need, and hopefully finding time for myself to at least take a shower! Thankfully Ray is going to adjust his work schedule for awhile to make sure he is home in the morning to help me with breakfast and at lunch-time to help get Jonas down for a nap. In order to do this, he is planning on waking up at 5:30am every day to work for a couple hours from home before we all wake up. I have an amazingly supportive husband and I'm so thankful for him. Hopefully we will get into the swing of things quickly and he won't have to keep that schedule for too long. I know that it was God that planned our family this way, so I am sure that He will help me with the responsibility He has given me. He will be my confidence. Once again, I am feeling extremely blessed. Within 14 months I have been given two beautiful miracle children. Neither one of them would be in our family if God had not acted in some pretty mighty ways!

The day after Thanksgiving we went Christmas tree shopping with some friends. We've used an artificial tree for the past few years, but this year I didn't feel like the extra set up and tear down work that an artificial tree requires. We had a lot of fun picking the perfect tree and we're enjoying the smell of pine in the house! Jonas had a blast running up and down the rows of trees. He took a really long nap that day! :) We might have to make it a new Hammond family tradition.

We had our first snowfall a few weeks ago and Jonas got his first experience playing in the snow. He seemed confused as to why he had to wear so many clothes to go outside, but I think he understood once we walked out the door. He took one step outside and said "cold!". But the cold didn't stop him from sitting in the snow, picking it up, and eating it. Ray taught him how to make and throw a snowball, but Jonas actually had more fun getting hit with the snowballs. He would say "more ball!" until Ray would throw another one at him.


Lately it has seemed next to impossible to get a good picture of Jonas. He likes to look at pictures of himself on the camera, so when we pull it out he usually starts running toward it yelling "Baby!" (He calls himself Baby). If we make him stand still we usually can't coax a smile out of him. So most of the pictures we have are either a blur of motion or a clear picture of a sour-faced boy. :) I wanted to get some good pictures of him in front of the Christmas tree but I wasn't sure how it would go. I enlisted the help of Ray and my parents to keep him sitting and get him to smile. Thankfully we got some good shots. I think he enjoyed having an audience for his photo shoot. :)

We've been getting ready for Ava's arrival. Our lead pastor was a huge help to us by taking time off to come paint the room. The colors are a little hard to see in this picture with the sun coming through the windows. The walls are yellow with white trim, the curtains are purple, and the bedding is pink and yellow with purple accents.

Finally, my friends at work threw me a baby shower and I got a lot of great clothes for Ava. She's got quite the wardrobe already! One of my favorite gifts, though, was this t-shirt for Jonas. I don't think he understands that he is going to have a little sister, but it's hard to tell how much he comprehends. He has become extra cuddly in the past month and I wonder if he senses that change is coming. I am cherishing these last few weeks that he is my only "baby" and that I can give him my full attention. I think he may experience some jealousy at first, but I also think he is going to be a great big brother!

House and Pregnancy Updates

The House-
We moved into our new house last Saturday! In the past week, we've been able to unpack most of our things and it is really starting to feel like home. Next on our to-do list is to paint and decorate the nursery for Ava. If we have time after that, we'd like to paint the living-room and dining room before Ava is born. If not, we can live with the existing colors until this Spring or Summer. We feel extremely blessed to have this house! God provided it for us at a really good price with a really low interest rate on our mortgage. The house is across the street from the parents' house (the house where I grew up!) and next door to a playground. We are within walking distance to some local shops, the library, and the Erie Canal. We couldn't have asked for a better location for our family. We are not really finished decorating yet, but here are some pictures of the house:

Those last two pictures are of Jonas' room. As you can see, we are going to transition him to a twin bed. Tonight will be his first night sleeping in it. We'll see how it goes!!


The Pregnancy-
Everything is going well with the pregnancy. I've been blessed to have very few negative pregnancy symptoms. We had another ultrasound a few weeks ago that showed that Ava's stomach is still not in the right place, but she looked very healthy! She weighed about 3 pounds 6 ounces! It was an encouraging ultrasound because the perinatologist explained that there was still no intestinal blockage, which is a great sign. She does not believe there will be any complications with Ava's health right after birth. She wants us to tell our pediatrician about the placement of her stomach so that he can do testing if it appears that she has certain symptoms as she grows. It may or may not be a problem for her in the future, but we have peace knowing that if it is a problem it would be something that could be corrected. I am 32 weeks along now, so I only have 2 months to go! Time seems to be speeding along rapidly to my due date and I sometimes wish I could push the pause button. It is so different from our wait for Jonas, which seemed so long and unending at times. Maybe it's because our wait to become parents started long before we started the process to adopt, and once we started the process we had no due date, but only rough estimations of time lines at best. But when I get a moment to stop and rest from my busy day I can concentrate on feeling the baby moving inside of me, and I'm reminded again of God's blessings. I look forward to meeting this second child that He has chosen to place in our family!

One Year Home! at OneTrueMedia.com

A year ago today, we stood in a courtyard in Ethiopia and held our precious son for the first time! Here is a picture montage of the past year. Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mama, Da-ee, Bapa, Nana, Papa...

Jonas has a vocabulary of about 25-30 words. Here he is practicing family names in the bathtub. He knows how to say Ava, but for some reason he thinks it's funny to refuse to say it. Hmmmm... is this predictive of the kind of big brother he's going to be?

Peek-a-Boo!

Prayer for Baby Ava

We've had a couple of ultrasounds that show that Ava's stomach is midline in her abdomen, instead of off to the left like it should be. Thankfully, everything else appears completely normal and healthy. The perinatologist that spoke with us after the last ultrasound explained that when they find something abnormal in an ultrasound they try to rule out birth defects and problems that could go along with that abnormality. Everything they know that could be wrong was ruled out. The only thing they can't see is whether or not the intestines are rotating normally. The technology just doesn't allow them to see that detail. If the intestines are not rotating normally it could cause an intestinal blockage. There was no blockage at this time though. The perinatologist told us that we could be "cautiously reassured" that the baby will be fine, but he couldn't say for sure. I would rather have some plain reassurance without the caution, but we are trusting that Ava is in God's care. I'd just like to ask for your prayers that the Lord will continue to protect her as he forms her in the womb, and that there will be no intestinal blockages (or other complications) now or after she's born.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139: 13-14

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6

Introducing the Newest Member of the Hammond Family!

According to the ultrasound, it's a girl! We will name her Ava Grace Hammond. In Spanish Eva (pronounced Ava) is Eve, and Eve means Life. So her name will mean "Life Grace", for by God's grace he has given us this little life. I just keep thinking about how much God has blessed us recently. There were times a few years ago that it seemed like we would never know the joy of parenthood. Both pregnancy and adoption seemed so far out of reach. Now we have a son and a daughter, and know the miracle of adoption and pregnancy! God's love and strength were with us when we were in the midst of the pain of infertility, and his blessings and healing have been poured out on us by first giving us Jonas and now Ava. Wow. I feel so inadequate to receive such blessings. But that's the awesome thing about God. He blesses us simply because He is Love!

In other news, we are in the process of buying our first house! That's another thing that I thought was impossible that God has made possible. I'll write more on that later!

Splish Splash

I just found out there is a spray park in a town very close to where we live. I wish I had known about it at the beginning of the summer! Jonas had a lot of fun running around in the water. His facial expressions were sometimes hilarious. It was hard to get good pictures without getting the camera wet, but here are a few. After our fun at the park, Grandma took us to Abbott's for Frozen custard. Yum! It was a fun afternoon.

The Little Drummer Boy

Vacation

Ray's Papa Gerlach turned 80 years old and had a family party in Ohio last weekend. We decided to make it a mini-vacation to visit family. So Thursday night we traveled to Beaver Falls, PA (home of our Alma Mater) to stay with Ray's brother Tim and his family. Jonas had a great time playing with his 3 cousins and getting spoiled by his Aunt Amy. Friday morning we all drove about an hour away to Ohio where Ray's grandparents live. His parents were staying there also. So, after a long nap Jonas got to visit with his Nana and Papa Hammond, Uncle Bryan, Uncle David, Aunt Raelynn, and great Grandma and Papa Hammond. On Saturday we drove about 2 hours away to another part of Ohio for the birthday party. Jonas got to meet all his relatives on that side of the family for the first time. On Monday we drove to Mahaffey, PA to stay at the Alliance camp with Ray's parents. Ray's sister (who is 10 years old) was going to a horse camp for the week there. Jonas had lots of fun there too, getting spoiled by his Nana and Papa and Uncle Bryan. It was a ton of driving, but we had a great time. Here are some pictures of our week.

We went to some really fun play-grounds

We did a lot of walking.

We swam in Great Grandma and Papa's pool. Jonas LOVED the waterslide!

Kissing Aunt RaeLynn

With Cousin Alycia and Aunt RaeLynn

Jonas did a lot of his napping in different places. He was a trooper!