Geographical Tongue

So...anyone ever heard of this??? For us, I'll start at the beginning. The second day after being united with Yonatan we started to notice some random weird white spots on Yonni's tongue. At first I just thought he had a couple of fever blisters, but by the third day they had grown into lines and circles and then the next couple days they seemed to move around in different places on his tongue. Jokingly I said it looked like his tongue was an alien road map. Being in Ethiopia at the time, we started asking and no one really seemed weirded out by it or worried, but no one really had answers either. Scott and I started really freaking out. After being there a week, a new family came into the guest home and the wife was a dental hygienist and she right away suggested that it was "geographical tongue". After returning to the US, that was one of the questions we had for the pediatrician. Of course, the day of our appointment, his tongue was completely normal. We described what was going on and he too right away said "Geographical tongue". He too seemed to not even give it a second thought and said don't worry about it. I've since been trying to research it and have read horror stories from random Internet sites but on webmd and more trustworthy sites, they all suggest that it is really nothing.

The mayo clinic says...

"Geographic tongue is a harmless oral condition that gives your tongue a map-like, or geographic, appearance. The distinct look of geographic tongue occurs when parts of your tongue are missing the layer of small bumps called papillae. Although geographic tongue may look alarming, it doesn't cause any health problems and isn't associated with infection or cancer. Geographic tongue is usually painless but can sometimes cause tongue discomfort and increased sensitivity to certain substances. Geographic tongue often heals in one area and then moves (migrates) to a different part of your tongue. Geographic tongue is also known as benign migratory glossitis."

So anyway, random info about our son's tongue. At this point he doesn't seem to be bothered by it, so I'll try not to either. I think he thinks that sticking your tongue out all the time to show people is just a common thing, like saying hi(-: And just because I think its rather interesting to look at...here are some pics(-:

Big Brother Little Brother

Our neighbor's lawn was so beautiful with weeds...yep that's what I said...I had to get the boys playing in the flowers! Anyway, on to the post, so my in laws were visiting last weekend and brought a book to the boys called Big Brother Little Brother. Elijah is absolutely loving it! So much so, he came home from school yesterday with this...

Apparently they had a project where they looked through some pictures and picked one and dictated to the preschool teacher their story behind the picture. In case you couldn't read the picture above it says...

"Its like I'm the big brother and that's Yonatan, And I go on a bunk bed like that and Yonatan sleeps on the bottom, and I sleep on the top. And we do everything together. We drive our car together, and even a funnier thing that we do, we watch TV while we're resting and that we can do everything together."


Yep, he made his mama cry!

What a FUN Weekend!

Don't you just LOVE this little guy's smile??? I find myself just falling in love with it ALL the time! He's a charmer and totally knows it too! Anyway, so how's life been? I've been falling behind in the blogging world, so sorry if this is a long post(-: The past few weeks have been... well, lets just say, Elijah caught whatever bug was going around...you know the one...High fever, nausea, fatigue, for lets say 6 days straight!! Thankfully, he seems to be on the mend and the rest of us didn't catch it. I was just getting tired of not sleeping in my own bed. The first night I was on the couch with him...then it dawned on me, "hey, we have a guest bed....duh!"
OK, back to the weekend. We went to Columbus on Friday to get a last minute Easter outfit and just hang out as a family. The boys had fun playing at the indoor play area at the mall, mom found no clothes though, bummer! It was a drizzly day, so I decided to take some playing in the rain shots of the boys, I think they came out pretty cute...


Love those boots! We had bought Elijah a pair well over a year ago, and Scott's mom found the same pair for Yonatan. So let's see, that was Friday....Saturday, the boys and I did some yard work in the backyard. Cleaned the garden up a bit and brought out the lawn furniture from the shed. Scott had fun helping out at the track meet and then coming home to finish raking the backyard(-: During Yonatan's nap that afternoon, Elijah and I painted Easter eggs. Even though this was Elijah's 5th Easter, this was the first time I had ever done the decorating egg thing with him. Call me OCD, but the mess always scared me. To my surprise, it wasn't too messy at all, maybe next year I'll brave both boys helping(-:

Later that night, I had the brilliant plan to start on Cake Pops (check this blog out, http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ seriously fun stuff if you are into baking). Anyway, not realizing how time consuming they would be for a first timer, I dove in (yes the night before Easter..before getting up early for 2 services...not too bright am I?) Oh well, I think they turned out super cute and am now wanting to make up holidays to make these for! Seriously, cake on a stick...who wouldn't like that??

OK, so that brings us to today. Easter Sunday! I awoke to my husband saying, "He is Risen" I was supposed to respond, "He is Risen Indeed!" But couldn't remember the liturgical stuff. Sorry babe! We had a really good time at church, being reminded why we are here, what our purpose is founded on and really just challenged to take our faith seriously. It was a good morning! After church we ran home and took some pics of the boys...

and headed over to my sister's house for a yummy lunch. The pic below is of the 5 "Ohio" cousins. That was the best shot I could get. It had been a long day for them!

All in all it was a fun weekend. The sad thing is that Upwards Soccer kicks in this week and we will no longer have free Saturdays for a very, very long time.....that's depressing!

My Little Photographer

For Elijah's 5th birthday, the only thing he asked for (more than once) was a camera. So we found an inexpensive one on clearance and gave it to him. Since then, he has randomly been taking photos...some are pretty funny, I'll have to post them later. This particular photo, I actually took (i haven't uploaded any of his yet), but it was after I walked into the living room and noticed him placing my willow tree figurines like you see up above. I asked what he was doing and he then explained that he wanted to set them up so he could take a picture of the whole family seeing the new baby. Like most photographer's I think he took like 20 photos of the same scene. Gotta love it!

New Pics

So because I am trying to go through the different days in Ethiopia, I haven't really posted much of Yonni since we've actually returned, so I thought I would put a few on the 'ol blog today. I had a "mini photo shoot" a week or so ago and we took these 3.

A week or so after we got back from Africa, we had a movie night and watched Madagascar 2. Yonatan loves popcorn!

Here is Yonatan and his cousin Ethanah having fun together.

This past week had a couple of gorgeous days, so we joined my sister and her family and went to the park...

Ethiopia Days 2 and 3

Days 2 and 3 in Ethiopia were pretty simple really. On Tuesday morning we met with Tsegey at the House of Hope to go over the meeting we would have with the US Embassy on Thursday. After that, we had the opportunity to see the bed that Yonatan slept in for his last 3 months in Ethiopia.

We also noticed what they had written on the walls in their bedroom...it brought tears to our eyes. The castle below made us chuckle because back home Elijah is obsessed with castles.

Later that afternoon, I stayed back at the Guest Home with Barb and Yonatan. Scott, Vern and Elijah went sight seeing in Addis and also visited the Lion Zoo.

Day 3 was pretty similar. Vern, Barb, Yonatan, and I went sight-seeing and the Lion Zoo while Scott stayed back at the Guest Home with Elijah. He needed a little one on one Daddy time. Since I actually went on this trip I can talk about it. We first stopped at the National Museum of Ethiopia. Looking back, I was so focused on just getting to know and bonding with Yonni, that I honestly didn't pay that much attention to what was going on. One thing I did pay attention to was Lucy, yep Lucy. Its the oldest "human" remains that we have and they were found in Ethiopia and is why many people believe Ethiopia is the birthplace of civilization. I'm a bit skeptical.... but here she is...reconstructed of course.

After the museum we too went to the Lion Museum, which was actually quite sad. Such magnificent animals, and given such small spaces with NO grass to live in. After that we went back to the guest home, hung out and blew bubble. I'll add more pictures from days 2 and 3 to the montage above. Here are the boys blowing bubbles.

Happy Birthday

My sweet, little guy...how have five years gone by already? Why has the time flown so fast? It seems like yesterday that your father was crying next to the operating table saying, "look Fran, you're a mom...he's beautiful." And then not long afterward, we brought you home and begun the best journey of our lives. It has been so awesome watching you grow. Its been great enjoying your gentle spirit that is still so refreshing. Everyday is something different and something new, I love it. Although we sometime miss your baby and toddler days, we are so excited about where you are right now. You amaze me with everything you are learning and comprehending. And although I am sad, I am also so excited that in this 5th year of your life you will be starting kindergarten. What a new chapter in all of our lives. I am also looking forward to seeing your relationship with your new brother blossom. I know it was a rough start and you were just wanting to love on him all the time. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I see how excited Yonatan is now when you get off the preschool bus and I can't wait to see that relationship grow. You are a great big brother and I know you will always be looking out for him. Thank you for being so patient, encouraging, loving, and accepting in this whole process. I am SO very proud of you. I love you little guy....nope, I love YOU more.....Yep, I love you as high as the moon and the stars in the sky too!! Happy Birthday!!