One Week Home

Hard to believe we've been home for one week tomorrow.  It's not all sunshine and roses, but we're doing okay.  Our first visit with the international pediatrician went very well.  No surprises, including the fact that the attempt at a blood draw was a disaster.  After the trauma of getting an IV placed last week in the hospital in Ethiopia, Eyob started flipping out as soon as he had an inkling that a needle was headed his way.  I cried in the corner was brave and strong, but could hardly take it as I watched him go through it again.  They finally gave up and we have to go back in a month to try again.

Eyob is terrified of our dog and she in turn is terrified of him.  This is our biggest issue right now and I don't think we've made any progress this week.  We did have a victory this morning, though.  Eyob sat in the bath without crying and even splashed his hands around a little.  This is a huge step from where we started last week, which is just barely getting his feet wet before he couldn't handle it.  Baby steps, right?

I tried taking the littles [Maci and Eyob] and two of the bigs [Tatum and Kierstyn] to Big 5 to buy baseball socks.  KJ has to have them for tomorrow at 9 a.m. and I didn't have a choice.  Oooooweeeee!  We ended up with one major head to floor contact, one temper tantrum from Eyob, two tantrums from Maci, one pair of cleats I didn't mean to buy [but moooooom, they're cute and PINK], and one frazzled, sweaty mama begging the 8 year old to take the debit card and pay before they could throw us out.  Our picture may or may not now be posted on the window as being banned from the store.

The rest of the gang is as busy as ever.  Soccer, baseball, youth group, kung fu, the list goes on and on.  I was worried about having to take Eyob to games and practices.  We did a trial run last night and he was the most popular kid at soccer practice.  Not only that, he turned into this little flirt, talking and blowing kisses to all the girls.  His daddy was so proud.  

I hope to start sharing about our trip soon.  I am still jet lagged.  I cannot seem to stay awake past about 8:30 at night.  I remember this from the last trip....*yawn*.

Finally, the most important thing of all, Eyob said to me this morning, "I love you, Mommy".  Even though he was repeating after one of his sisters, he was looking right at me.  I'll take it.