Book Worm

Malachi is learning to turn the pages of his board books!

My Mom and Dad gave Malachi a kid-friendly photo album with pictures of everyone in the family. Several times a day, we look through the pictures and name everybody. He really enjoys it. He especially lights up at the picture of his Daddy.

Most of his babbling right now comes out as "dadadadadadadada." So a few times, by chance, he has called Kevin "Dada." :)

Here are a couple more pictures from Malachi's visit with Grammie and Papa.

How cute is he?!?

My parents left this morning. We had a great visit, and I know Malachi enjoyed every minute of his time with Grammie and Papa! Below are some pictures from the past week.

Playing with Papa.

All bundled up. How adorable is that hat?

A little boy in coveralls. I love it!

Malachi loves to play in front of the mirror. He just laughs and laughs.

We put Malachi in the Snugglie and walk around the lake every chance we get. It's great for afternoon naps!

On the Move

Malachi is really scooting now. Of course, it's backwards, but he's getting pretty fast! These are few snapshots from our playtime tonight before bed. He's been playing so hard during the day and evening that he goes to sleep really quickly, with a few quick, goofy, half-asleep smiles on his face. It's absolutely adorable.

Doctor's Visit

Malachi visited his pediatrician for the first time today. The doctor was pleasantly surprised at how healthy he is. He weighs in at 20 pounds and 7 ounces--no wonder my back hurts! He is at the 50th percentile for weight, slightly higher than the 50th percentile for length (29 inches), and at the 90th percentile for head circumference.

He was quite a happy camper during the whole exam. He threw a fit when I put his clothes back on. I guess he thought I was putting an end to all his fun!

Grammie is visiting

Grammie (Mel's mom) is here for a visit. Papa (Mel's dad) will be joining us again on Friday.

Yesterday we visited Kevin at school. All of his classmates were so excited to see Malachi and they were so taken with him. He just barely lasted through the visit...nap time! (Looks like it might have been nap time for Kev, too!)

Weekend Life

Daddy and Malachi seem to be enjoying the sports pages!

Malachi always seems to know when the camera is on him. It's so funny and makes for lots of great pictures.

Malachi LOVES to "walk." He's not quite crawling, yet, and he actually gets quite frustrated when he tries since his attempts take him backwards. But "walking" is tons of fun!

Our Trip

We had a wonderful experience in Ethiopia. We stayed in the capital city of Addis Ababa at the transition home where Malachi had been since early November.


We had a personal driver who took us sight-seeing and shopping each day. We were lucky that he had grown up in the city and knew the side streets and alleyways very well because we were re-routed often. The African Union was meeting in Addis the week we were there, and there were multiple, random street closings whenever dignitaries needed to pass through an area.

Because of the African Union convention, there were police everywhere. Since you are not allowed to photograph the police, we were not able to get as many pictures as we were hoping for. Below are a few common street scenes. The first one is of children playing soccer.

This was taken from our car while we were driving. Yes, we were typically this close to people.

There were blue and white mini-buses/taxis everywhere!

We went to the countryside one day and along the road were women carrying their wares to sell into the city. The road was quite steep and their loads very heavy.

We're Home!

We're pleased to introduce the newest member of our family...Malachi Abenezer!

We've been home a little over a week now with Malachi Abenezer. He seems to be doing really well, and Mommy and Daddy couldn't be happier! He is so much fun.

His nurse at the House of Hope told us that he loves birds. Luckily we live by the lake! He really loves our walks to see the seagulls, ducks, and geese.

So far he's not too interested in our cat Foster, but of course Kevin is hard at work to change that. Foster is a little stressed by all of Kai's noises, but he lays beside us during bottles and quiet playtime, so he seems to be trying to get along.