A Rainy Afternoon With the Grandparents

Before our long holiday weekend came to a close (boo hoo) we drove out to Tim's dad and stepmom's house for an hour or so. His dad lives in a rural area and has cows, so there was lots for Nigel to look at.

Checking out the cows




Bouncing with grandpa McD (the poor man has had surgery on both knees so I know this was killing him).

We Have Movement

I wouldn't call it proper tot crawling - it's more along the lines of the worm or an Army crawl - but Nigel's moving nonetheless. Does he crawl to his mom or his dad? Nope. The only thing that gets him moving is the lure of the remote control or crinkly newspaper, two things he's not allowed to have. Go figure.

Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving:


My awesome son. He's changed my life and opened my eyes.


Nigel's birthfamily and WHFC family in Ethiopia.

My loving and forgiving husband. When I'm sick he tends to me, when I'm down he builds me up. And no matter what, he supports me and loves me unconditionally.


The sane and nontoxic people in our extended family.

The men and women who serve our country.


That my youngest brother will be home for Christmas. I will be forever thankful and grateful when he returns home from his second tour in Iraq following deployment in January.


Old friends.

Blog pals, especially my travel buddies Tiffany, Dan and Petros and the Dorados. And I can always count on Elsa's mommy, P, for some good laughs.

Everyone who supported us and continues to support us through the adoption and re-adoption of Nigel

New friends who are helping me on this motherhood journey.

The Ethiopian father and his two boys at the US Embassy in Ethiopia. They were getting visas for their upcoming trip to Atlanta, GA, I'll never forget what the father told me when he saw me holding Nigel in the sling: "He is good for you." I hear his voice everyday and it helps to calm me when I'm feeling frazzled.

That Tim has a steady job with a good company, and that my unsteady freelancing is OK with him.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. - Sarah, Tim and Nigel

What's Your Baby Drinking?

Mine might be getting a dose of Melamine, according to the WSJ. Freakin' great.....

A Model In Our Midst

With the help of our friend Anneli, Nigel landed his first modeling gig! He posed last week for PoshTots, which you may not have heard of if you're like me and aren't a millionaire. They sell super high-end baby and tot furniture and fixings, including a $47,000 Cinderella carriage. The catalog isn't out yet but below is a preliminary shot (doctored with my rudimentary photo-editing since it's not really for public consumption yet.). But don't worry, I have no intentions of becoming a stage mom... I think this is the extent of his modeling career.

I am getting old

This makes me feel really old. Sarah tells me this all of the time, but this is the confirmation.

'Tis the Season for Commercialism (and good deeds)

Oprah has her favorite things, and so do I. Here are some things I have my eye on this holiday season:

Web cams and Skype, so my family can keep in touch when my youngest brother returns to Iraq this winter.

Check out these T-shirts, which I found care of one of my fave blog pals ever. P, you rock!!!!

Join a CSA.

Make a donation to your favorite charity, such as Comfort Zone Camp.

Greeting cards and paintings from my fave artist.

Sponsor a child in Ethiopia through WHFC.

A new car seat for a gigantic baby. And a new stroller for said ginormous baby.

A new CD player for Nigel's room. The one we have is messed up and will play one CD and then stop instead of moving on to the next one. On the bright side, Nigel just listens to NPR into the night.

Toxin-free wooden toys.

And I'll once again drop a not-so-subtle hint here to Tim about the family tree necklace on this site. To be fair to Tim, we obviously weren't a complete family last year!

What's on your wish list this year? - Sarah

more from ted

I was watching this video on the creation of a commodities market in Ethiopia. She is a very smart woman and I hope she accomplishes her goals.It also might be helpful if the farmers could actually own the land. Here is her bio on the TED site.

"Why you should listen to her: Economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin has ambitious vision -- to found the first commodities market in Ethiopia, bringing rates and standards (not to mention trading systems, warehousing and data centers) to the trade of crops.
Gabre-Madhin left her earlier job, as a World Bank senior economist in Washington, DC, in part because she was disturbed by the 2002 famine in Ethiopia -- after a bumper crop of maize the year before. With prices depressed, many farmers simply left their grain in the field in 2001. But when the rains failed in 2002, a famine of 1984 proportions threatened the country. Her dream: to build a market that protects the African farmer, who is too often living at the mercy of forces beyond his or her control.
The director of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Madhin studies market reforms, market institutions, and structural transformation in Africa, and works to create "a world free of hunger and malnutrition."
Watch her presentation here. - Tim

FREE Snapfish Book

Click here for a link to a free snapfish photo book for Oprah viewers. This is perfect timing for me because I was already working on a book for Nigel that detailed our time in Ethiopia!

My Famous Brother

My oldest younger brother is the CFO of a credit union. He was interviewed on the local news some time ago and now another channel is using his knowledge. You can find the promo here. He's the guy in the suit at the end walking down the hall with the reporter. No autographs, please.

Frolicious

In his referral picture Nigel's barely over a month old but his full head of hair (minus a slight receding hairline) make him look 20. It's the most beautiful hair but it's a biatch to comb and maintain.

The nannies in Ethiopia washed his hair every night and lathered on baby oil, so that's what we did once we got home. But I found that it wasn't keeping his hair moist and tangle-free. Plus, baby oil stains mommy's shirts like crazy. So we've started washing Nigel's hair only once a week and last week I switched to Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion (I had gotten a lot of recommendations for these products but the cost is a bit too much at the moment).

Anyway, I rub in some lotion and comb. I've noticed lots less tangles and Nigel's hair looks so good. The only thing is, now that it's combed out properly it looks twice as long as I thought it was. Seriously, if you straightened it it would be down to his ears I think. So is a first hair cut in our immediate future? : (

A Celeb-Filled Week

Last Saturday Tim and I heard Tony Blair speak at the Richmond Forum. We bought season tickets this year and I'm so glad we did. It was amazing to listen to him.

And yesterday, my mom and I went to DC for the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show. Tim got us both tickets for our birthdays. He splurged and upgraded the tickets so we could see Giada DeLaurentis speak.


Giada on the big screen.


Paula Deen was there, too, but we just saw her from afar.


Fruit art.


Award-winning food.

Ethiopia on the Travel Channel Tuesday

My brother saw that Andrew Zimmern's show Bizarre Foods takes him to Ethiopia Tuesday night.

And in this corner.....

....weighing in at 20 lbs, is Nigel!



Nigel went to the doc again today for a well visit and some more immunizations. His height was the same as last time( 28.5 inches) but that's understandable considering he's a wiggle worm and probably threw them off last time. I can tell he's gotten taller. Won't be long before we're getting a new car seat! - Sarah

Sidama

I was Googling Ethiopian Christmas tonight and came across the Joshua Project. I've never heard of it before, but the site does contain a little info on Sidama, the region of Ethiopia where Nigel was born. Check it out here. It's an area of immense poverty juxtaposed against beautiful scenery and kind people. I'm honored that we were able to go there. I think about it everyday: the people we met, the food we ate, the children who were so curious about us. And, of course, the coffee. We actually saw coffee beans growing when we were in Chuko, a town in Sidama. Wanna taste it for yourself? Try Starbuck's blend. But if you aren't down with Starbuck's I suggest Cafe Tomoca in Addis (I'm wearing a T-shirt from there now, actually)! - Sarah

Nigel's First Halloween

Although Nigel's too young for candy and goes to bed well before the bewitching hour, we still dressed him up (as a skunk) and took some pictures!