Monday, February 25, 2008

Moses' 2nd Birthday (Second Try)

Since last time I tried to post this (about 3 weeks ago) I've felt guilty every time I passed the computer. However, since Blogger has deleted my posts about 10 times this year alone, I just couldn't motivate myself to try again. Finally I've worked up the courage, and I'm hoping beyond hope that this will actually post!

Last month it was the big boy's birthday. Moses Ermias Wiebe turned two years old, and he is definitely living up to his age... he has officially hit the "Terrible Twos" (although I believe he hit it long before his birthday!). Now don't get me wrong, he is still the most gorgeous, amazing, adorable, hilarious little baby I know. Even when he's being "rebellious" he's still adorably funny. Just now that he's two, he seems to think he can get away with anything.

For example, if he's doing something he knows he shouldn't be, he will watch us carefully, but do it anyway. The minute someone tells him to stop, he gets this huge grin on his face, turns towards us, and says, "No!" He will then procede to continue to do it, shaking his head whenever he is told to stop. It probably doesn't help that the rest of us are trying hard to stop killing ourselves laughing when he does this.

What he can't stand, more than anything else, is being alone, so his punishments are always timeouts, and no one can talk to him for 2 whole minutes. The stairs are the usual timeout place, and until now, he has been content to sit there, crying, and looking angrily at everyone walking by.

Now, however, he has realized that the much naughtier thing to do is to lie across the stairs, so that no one can get over. When someone simply steps over him, he is outraged that we dared to out think him, and it will set him off on another round of screaming.

Of course, he is always extremely good at saying sorry (usually only when he is actually being punished. He'll sit on the stairs shouting "Sowwy! Sowwy!" and hoping that it will mean he can get off of his timeout early). Sometimes when he's feeling extremely bad, he'll refuse, but for the most part, he's perfectly willing to own up to what he's done, and apologize.

Anyway, since he is now two years old, I thought I'd give you a bit of an update on his life. That is the more rebellious side of him. Now for the deliciously adorable side.

His vocabulary is huge now, and he can talk quite well now (in baby words, and short sentences of course.. but we always know what he means!) And if he can't say it exactly, he'll be able to communicate what he's trying to say by describing what he wants.
Here are a few examples of Moses talk:

- "Cup Please!" (he's thirsty)

- "Car push car, funny Mater tuck"--> (he wants to watch the movie Cars, which he got for Christmas, and I can truthfully say, has watched it probably about 20 times since then.. and I've watched it about 15 out of those 20 times.. it really is a funny movie!! :D)

- "Wake up Jeff!" (he is talking to one of the Wiggle's characters, Jeff, who is always falling asleep)

- "I wan' dat one" (this one's self-explanatory)

- "I wan hot cho-cuh-lut" (he's recently become obsessed with hot chocolate.. he actually has a bit of an Ethiopian accent when he says it too, its hilarious!)

-"Humphy nowman" (Humphry the snowman.. this one is kind of strange. My mom, jokingly, told Moses that the snowman he had made outside was called Humphry. From then on, Moses is convinced that every single snowman is named Humphry, and he loves them all)

-"All-ri ha!" (Alright hat... his favourite song, called Ethiopia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MxsZwWvGeo ... this is the music video on Youtube. Sorry, but my Blogger won't let me embed the links into the words OR post videos on my blog. Its soo frustrating!!! I'm trying to figure out why it won't let me, but if anyone has any tips, that would be awesome!!) Mike-E, says "Alright, everything with be alright, we can make alright" and repeats this several times throughout the song, so Moses and Ayana call it the Alright song. Moses also has this rapper kind of hat, and he loves it, and calls it his Alright hat, because he thinks he is like Mike-E when he wears it. Its so cute!)

- "I want more dabo" (bread in Amharic.. Ayana still calls bread "dabo" so Moses has learned it too!)

- "Hallellulah!" (he is currently singing this as loud as he can around the house, driving his yellow Tonka dumptruck across the floor)

- Today was one of the cutest "Mosesisms" ever. I heard someone banging around in the kitchen, so I went to go see. Moses was there getting a fork and knive for dinner, reaching into the drawer, singing Jesus Loves me this I know at the top of his lungs. Here are the lyrics, Moses fashion:

"Jesus loves me, this I noooo
For the Bibe-ULLL tells uh huh..
Yessss Jesus loves me!
Yess Jesus loves me!
Yess Jesus loves me,
The Bibe-ULLL ellss a soooo!
Huwway!"

There are sooo many other things he says, but I can't seem to think of any other funny/cute ones. I'll be sure to post when he says something cute! Anyway, his birthday was very cute, and he got some exciting presents. We didn't do anything amazing, but he had lots of fun. Here are a couple of pictures from his big day.

















The next week he had his birthday party, which was also tons of fun. All his favourite friends came (except for his special "Opia" friend, Mikiyas, who couldn't make it :( ) and they had lots of fun. We just did it very simply, with toys, a snack, and a movie. It was Cars themed, so everything was Cars.. the table cloth, plates, cups, movie! :) It was adorable. I'm not going to go into detail, but I'll just put some pictures of his party on here, because they'll probably describe it a lot better than I can!


























And just so you know we could never forget her, here are two pictures of my little Ethiopian Princess, Ayana Kalkidan Wiebe! (dressed like an Ethiopian Princess!!)



Monday, February 04, 2008

UGHHHHH

Alright, well I had a super long post about Moses' birthday, and party, and the snow here and everything, but Blogger didn't post it when I tried to, and then it deleted half of what I wrote, and half of the pictures. This is the second time this week, and I'm too frustrated to try again, so I will re-try tomorrow. Just thought I should let you know why there hasn't been an update lately.

Here's a picture of Ayana and Moses enjoying the snow (and the fact that their big brother is buried in it!) to tide you over! :)


The Adoption Meme.. a little late...

A while ago Staci tagged me for her adoption meme, and I forgot to do it, but I figured I might as well do it now! So here we go:

What is your Gotcha Day date?
August 23rd 2006

How old is or was your sibling when he/she was adopted?
When we adopted them Ayana was 22 months, and Moses was 7 months.

How old were you when the adoption started and ended?
When we first started the process in March 2004, I was 13. When the adoption ended in August 2006, I had just turned 15.

Did you travel with your parents when they adopted your sibling?
Yes, our whole family went.

How old is your sibling now?
Ayana is now 3 years and 3 months old (39 months) and Moses is 2 years and 1 month old (25 months). They're so big!! :D

What is your siblings favorite food?
Well they both have a major sweet tooth, but they also really love fruit and yogurt.

What agency did you use for your siblings adoption?
CAFAC

Monday, January 21, 2008

Changes...

In case any of you have been wondering why I haven't posted for a while, its because my mom has asked me to change my blog. Because I share so many pictures and names and stories about our friends and family, I have decided to make my blog private.

I will send invitations to those who I know read this blog regularly. If you have been reading my blog and want to continue to read about Ayana and Moses, please leave a comment, or send me an email, and I will be happy to send you an invitation so that you will be able to access it.

**Only those who I send invitations to will be able to read my blog; you must sign in with your username and password in order to access the blog.**

I hope those who want to will still be reading up about my gorgeous little brother and sister from Ethiopia (and of course my brother and sister from Canada too :D), because I know that they will certainly be having many more adventures! :)

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Hooray...

Thank-you so much to everyone who might have been praying for Moses since yesterday. He's doing so much better today, and his fever is almost completely gone. He was much happier all day, and back to his normal, goofy self. He started to feel a bit worse towards the evening, but nothing compared to how he was yesterday. Now he has just more of a cold and a bit of a cough left. We're so thankful! :)

Friday, January 04, 2008

At last.. the Wiebe Family Christmas!

Sorry it took so long, but I've been pretty busy this week. But now I finally have some time to sit down and update my blogs!

Our Christmas was awesome, although to me it felt slightly rushed. Not Christmas itself, but beforehand. We had school until the Friday right before Christmas, and all my teachers were giving us tests and projects that week, so there was hardly any time for shopping. As terrible as this sounds, I didn't even get my sister's present until Christmas Eve morning!

But by Christmas Eve we were finally ready (after decorating our tree on the 23rd! We've never done it that late before!) to relax and celebrate Christmas.

Here are a few pictures of decorating our tree. Moses and Ayana loved it, and Ayana definitely remembered it from last year.. even Moses remembered not to touch it! We had almost no problems at all with them wanting to touch the tree, which was great.










Christmas Even was lots of fun. During the day we went up to Grouse Mountain, where they have "Christmas on the Peak"; ice skating, Santa's workshop, carolers, and real reindeer all help to set the mood. There was tons of snow, and Ayana and Moses had lots of fun sliding down the snow wherever and whenever they could.
In the evening we have several traditions, which include my mom doing the Christmas story with felt characters that she made when I was born (so cute.. Ayana and Moses loved it!); my dad reading a story, which is different every year; opening our stockings (yes, we do that on Christmas Eve!); and watching a movie.
This year we watched (after Ayana and Moses were in bed) the Nativity Story. I'd seen it before, but it was cool watching it on Christmas Eve! Its a really good movie, and they made it well; it really shows what Mary and Joseph must have gone through, with Mary pregnant and then traveling to Bethlehem. It gives the Christmas Story a new twist, making it seem more real almost. I'd definitely recomend it. :)


Waiting for the gondola




On the way up






The skating pond




Josh got skates from his friend, and was very excited to try them out!


Sliding down the snow!



Meeting Prancer


Prancer and Vixen











This was how Moses decided to rebel.. anything he didn't feel like doing, no problem; he would just lie down in the snow. That sure showed us!





Our stockings, ready and waiting!

Doing the felt story.


My dad reading a christmas story.



Ayana's new pjs and robe!

When Christmas morning finally came, Ayana was so excited! She totally remembered it all from last year, and couldn't wait to go downstairs to see all the presents under the tree. Moses was excited too, but mostly because he could tell that everybody else was.
They both really enjoyed getting their new toys, although they did get a bit overwhelmed. Moses even started backing away, saying "No more presents!" It was so cute, and definitely the first time I've ever heard a kid say that! For the rest of the day we just hung out, played games, watched movies etc.
We did go to my aunt's house for a couple of hours to see my aunt and uncle, and my Oma, who stayed with them over Christmas. Fortunately, they live right across the street, so it was no big deal to get ready and go see them! :) Oh, and it started snowing in the afternoon, so we even had a (semi) white christmas!



Opening her first present!



Moses getting his FurReal kitten


Ayana's FurReal kitten


A beautiful ballerina!



Josh making us french toast for breakfast.. he's actually really good at it!





And now skipping ahead to dinner....





This was his own special creation.. a fork on your head is way better than a silly old paper hat!




Snow!



Our New Years was good too, although Moses and Ayana didn't have much part in it. They went to bed at around 8:45 (which is pretty late for them!) so they missed out on welcoming in the new year. They still had a good time though.
Our friends came over like they do every year, and we had a little party with them. Its fun, but Megan and I never get quite as much enjoyment out of it as my parents, Josh, Ayana and Moses do. Their kids are all 10 and under, so there's not really anyone for us to hang out with.
We went to our friends' house (we're both best friends with another pair of sisters, which makes it easy to get together :P) for a couple hours, and came back in time for midnight (my mom wanted us home at the actual count down part). I'm glad we did though, because it was fun to be with family as we began a new year.
Watching a movie

The girls!



Welcoming in the new year..


So now, I come to the end of my "catching up" post, and I just have one more thing to write about. Moses has been kind of sick for a couple of days, but last night he suddenly developed an extremely high fever (40.2) and was shaking and coughing like crazy. His fever has gone down to 39.1 today, but my mom took him to the doctor this morning, where they said he most likely has either bronchitis, or pneumonia. He has to go back to the doctors on Monday, and they said if his temperature goes back to 40 or above, to take him straight to the hospital. He's extremely listless today, and all he wants to do is sit with someone, and watch his Wiggles movies. Please pray that he'll recover soon, and will be back to his happy, fun-loving self as quickly as possible!

Poor baby.. all he wanted to do was lie down, or sit with someone, and watch movie, or sleep. :(