Made It

Finally here & in the room. Dead tired. Can't believe we are actually putting diapers in a diaper bag we will use tomorrow. We will work on photos. More thoughts tomorrow when we know what day/time zone we are in. Thanks for everyone's support and prayers. The three of us appreciate it.
Roger, Abby & Ari Madigia

Finally

We are at the airport. Had no problems with getting our FIVE bags checked. Had a someone watching over us and got the nicest guy ever to check us in. No charge for 2 bags being slightly overweight. No charge for the 5th bag, saving us at least $200.00.

My parents picked us up and brought us to the airport. Abby's parents met us here. Had some good conversation with all of them, took some pictures, said our "good-byes" and went through security. The workers asked if we just got married because of all the family and pictures. Nope, just traveling halfway across the globe to meet our son. Everyone has been so friendly and happy for us. Good start to a fun trip.

Couple of strange things I've been thinking about for a while. January 8th has always been a special day for me....it's my great-grandfather's birthday, Freeman. (That's where I get my middle name, so I've always thought January 8th was an important date) -- And now January 8th will be "Ari Day". It couldn't have happened on a better date. The other thing that I've been thinking about for a while is this saying: You don't become a man until you are a father, or you lose your father. Since Pops dropped off us this morning I guess that means I become a man on Friday. That's one photo I can't wait to have - Me, Pops and Ari.

Just because everyone else seems to do this when they leave, here are a couple of photos for your enjoyment:

Us at the airport

Our luggage. No idea how we are going to move all this when we land in Ethiopia.

One Last Date Night (kind of)

I say "kind of" because of course Roger and I will have more date nights. Just not in the near future. And we know life does not end when you bring a baby home -- it just changes. Obviously. Life as we know it, however, does end, and that's why everything feels like the last right now. I will probably never see things -- the simple and the complicated -- the same way I do now and have pre-motherhood.

So tonight Roger and I went on a date to a nice restaurant (thanks, Cheri!) -- somewhere we won't go with Ari -- and then wandered around Barnes & Noble afterwards for an extended amount of time just because we can to find some travel time reading material. Well, I did anyway. Roger kept coming back to find me, wondering what the heck was taking so long. I was just trying to savor the quiet, uninterrupted evening. It was wonderful and strange all at the same time. Once again, STILL difficult to believe this is happening this week.

Photo Friday -- Happy New Year!!

Wow! 2010 is really here. I know it's going to be a year we will never, ever forget as we FINALLY, after four years, reach Destination Parenthood and start a completely new journey with our son. And we leave for Ethiopia in less than a week! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. This week has been progressing at a relatively tolerable pace, thankfully (the holidays definitely help). We've been keeping busy with time spent with friends, housecleaning, last-minute travel shopping, and more housecleaning and organizing. Funny how major life changes have a way of ensuring a clean house!! We have suitcases laid out all over -- five to be exact which is one more than we planned on taking, but that's only due to all the wonderful orphanage donations, so it's fine by us. We have a confirmed hotel reservation at a hotel that has a supposedly decent Internet connection, so be sure to check in on our blog for the next two weeks to see updates (and pictures!) of our first days with Ari in Ethiopia. ;) And, last but not least, I will leave you with a picture of our boy doing baby push-ups!! Isn't he just so handsome and strong? Seriously, someone pinch me......

Irrational Fears

So I think my stress is starting to show in some interesting ways. Instead of worrying about what I'm going to do if Ari has a hard time adjusting and won't sleep for a week straight or if he has explosive diarrhea on the plane for 15 hours, I'm now more concerned about our house being robbed while we're gone. Seriously, that was the conversation Roger and I had last night laying in the dark, listening to every creak and squeak, totally freaking ourselves out. We made ourselves feel better by scheduling ADT to come later this week and reactivate our home security system. Good grief, as if we've never gone on vacation before. And now, thanks to the most recent terrorist stunt that the media WILL NOT quit talking about, I'm picturing our plane going down in flames on the way home into D.C. Damn you, terrorists. Not to mention the fact that Ethiopia is geographically located smack dab in the middle of two supposed terrorist "hot spots" -- Yemen and Somalia. I know, I know -- I'm sooooo worst case scenario and dramatic. Like I said, it's the stress. My mom asked me the other day if I was starting to get nervous about being in Ethiopia, and I can honestly say no, I'm not. I'm actually really excited and looking forward to it. My only concern in that regard was eating something bad and getting sick and not being able to take care of Ari like we want and need to. But with our trusty Cipro at our side, I'm feeling much better about that. And now my freezer is bursting with baby food and Roger and Abby food, so I can no longer do that to occupy myself. I think my best bet is to just quit watching the news. Reruns of Will & Grace and Frasier at bedtime it is.

Nesting

Well, Roger and I continue to be the rockstars that we are in preparing to travel...and now also for our first couple weeks home as new parents. Or at least we've hopefully made our lives a little easier in the meal preparation department. Today we spent part of our afternoon cooking meals that are now in the freezer waiting to be eaten at a later time....just in case Ari turns our world so upside down we don't have time to cook. With both of us cooking today it took no time at all and we were wondering why we don't plan meals ahead like this more often.

A batch of Roger's chicken enchiladas

(Btw, food is really hard to photograph without making it look strange and a little unappetizing.)

A new recipe from my brother --white bean chicken chili

....and regular chili

And just because I can't seem to get myself out of the kitchen these days, some time spent organizing my Tupperware cabinet. Roger reminded me it will just get destroyed multiple times once Ari gets here, but at least it looks pretty (and takes less than 10 minutes to find a container and matching lid) for now.

And tomorrow's project -- butternut and acorn squash baby food. And lasagna to be made and frozen for another day.

A few other accomplishments this weekend:

* Two car seats installed by Roger

* Baby monitor installed

* Jumperoo assembled

*A trip to Walgreens to purchase our "traveling medicine cabinet" (including a precautionary prescription of Cipro)

* an hour at the gym!!! (This may or may not be the first time I've been to the gym in a few...maybe more.....months)

* Wonderful time spent with friends and family

* A successful phone call to Ethiopia to arrange our driver for us while in-country

* A date night tonight to see Up in the Air and a drive through McDonald's at 8:30. How healthy of us. And ironic after we spent an entire day in the kitchen.

I foresee lots of laundry, packing, and housecleaning next weekend. This week I have decided to take a couple more depos. It helps the week fly by and, as much as I'm surprised to admit this, I already miss work. I've continued to work through December but have cut back drastically, and it has made me appreciate my work so much. I've always enjoyed my job and felt blessed by it, but I thought I'd be more than happy to say good-bye to it for a while once I became a mom. I think I'm going to continue to work on a limited basis when it's convenient for mine and Roger's schedule. Lucky for me I have the option to choose when I want to work, and I think we will be taking full advantage of that for a few months.

Car Seat. Check.

The past couple of days have been great. Amazing Christmas Eve at Abby's parents. Christmas day with my family. Christmas evening with Zoe and her parents. Lots of good food and fun. Ari was the big winner at Christmas this year: Cowboy boots, cowboy shirt, cowboy-footie-pj's, car seat, jumperoo, Disney clothes, Disney characters, Disney plate and cup.....and the most original comes from our two nephews, Ty (9) and Cody (6). When asked what they wanted to get for Ari for Christmas they replied: Ferraris for Ari. So Ari's matchbox collection has already started, with two Ferraris. Super cool. Thanks, guys!

Today was spent making more baby food, putting together some of Ari's gifts and trying to figure out how to install a car seat. For some reason Abby left the car seat project to me. I spent about 1.5 hours working on it and finally got it figured out. Then realized it was crooked. So Abby came out and helped me and I think we got it secure. It's still funny that we will be in Ethiopia for 9+ days with him, driving all over the place with him in our lap. Then we will land in Springfield and within an hour we will be confining him to a car seat for the first time in his life. I'm hoping they have one of those car seat checks in the next couple of weeks so we can double-check and make sure he's locked and loaded.

The countdown clicker is under 2 weeks....11 days until we leave, 13 until we meet. I sure hope he likes cowboy boots, sports gear, and Ferraris!

Photo Friday -- and Merry Christmas!