Beautiful Anneliese

I know I'm biased, but Anneliese has got to be one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen.  As my sister would say, she was born beautiful.  Not only does she have a lovely exterior, she is a very warm and happy baby.  She gives us such an easy time no matter what mayhem is swirling around her.  We chose her name because of her Norwegian heritage and because its meaning is "god's bounty."  We just couldn't describe her better than that: an unexpected and undeserved bountiful gift.

My mother, my teacher

My mother is a woman of few regrets, but one regret she has voiced to me is that she wishes she would have gone to college to become a kindergarten teacher.  I'm sure she would have been great at that, but I'm so thankful that I got to keep her all to myself.  She has taught me the smallest and largest lessons in life.  If I am anything good in this world it's because of my patient and loving teacher, my mother. Here she is on grandparents' day with my son Endrias, teaching him too.

"I have a dream"

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. day.  It was a day that gave me pause.  How do I explain to my children that, at a time in our history, not so long ago, they would have been denied many things because of the color of their skin.  They fully understand that I am a different shade of brown then they are, but I don't think they have experienced racism in our country...yet. 

I know there will be a time when someone, of some shade of brown, will treat them differently than they expect;  either because they act too white (an Oreo: black on the outside white on the inside; a name adopted African kids are sometimes called) or because they're skin is dark. I am still at a loss of how to explain that to them, and I haven't felt the timing is right yet, especially with the language barrier we still have.  Part of my problem with explaining it to them is that it really is so inexplicable. 

My children are my children.  I don't even think about their skin color and many of the people they are around don't either.  On a personal level, we are so far removed from this ugly part of our nation's history that I can't understand it.  Just that it's a bad thing that happened that shouldn't have happened.  I guess I'll need to talk about it in the context of humanity and the ugliest parts of our history as humans which always involve suppressing and hurting others for some reason or another that in the end, is never as important as we thought.

The fact that I find it so hard to explain to my children might be a sign that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is starting to become a reality.

Sunday afternoon the kids had a play date with several other kids from their school.  They were riding in little motorized cars and Endrias was driving a little (light colored) girl around and had his arm around her to keep her safe in the car.  The sun was setting and was casting a golden light on the two of them and I thought of this line from Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech:


"I have a dream that one day...little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

We are living the dream.  Thanks Dr. King for daring to give a voice to what is now our beautiful life.

Again, the problem with blogging

To those of you that follow our blog, I apologize for the lack of entries over the last three months.  As I stated before, the problem with blogging is that you have to find time to do it, and time has been scarce in our household since Anneliese (baby Anna as we call her) was born.  Here's what's happened since the last entry:

1. Anna started to smile for more than gas 5 weeks after birth.
2. At six weeks, the bigger kids, Leigh and then Anna all got a very bad upper respiratory infection from RSV (for the medical folks that read this) and everyone was sick for about a month.  The kids and Leigh needed antibiotics and Anna got a nebulizer.  Luckily, Mommy never got it.
3. Leigh, Betti and Endrias went to Wisconsin for Christmas.  Mommy and Anna stayed home because Anna was so sick and so small.  The highlights of the Wisconsin trip, according to the kids, was seeing their cousins Lauren, Claire and Tyler, the snow, the christmas lights provided by the LaCrosse Rotary, Betti getting her toenail ripped off on Grandma and Grandpa Lommen's treadmill and seeing a "big truck" that was "ouchie" from the "slippely" roads on the way to the airport.

4. Endrias and Betti started a full day of school until 3 pm.  Endrias is being tutored so that he can advance from kindergarten to first grade a semester early.

5. Anna started to hold her head up at six weeks and started to laugh at 8 weeks.  For the past two nights (almost at 12 weeks) she's slept six hours in a row.  Mommy and Daddy are starting to think we might actually get to sleep sometime in the future.
6. Endrias and Betti had a joint birthday party since Endrias didn't get to celebrate his birthday before school started.  There were 17 kids, 15 adults, two cakes and lots of pizza.  As my mother would say, "a good time was had by all."

7. Leigh bought the kids wetsuits and they've taken to surfing in the Florida winter.
8. Dawn's sister Diane and nieces Grace and Rose came for Christmas and met our new and large family.  The kids loved meeting their cousins and keep asking when they are coming again.

8. Betti has grown 3 inches, 3 shoes sizes and 10 pounds since home in June; Endrias has also grown 3 inches, 3 shoe sizes and 13 pounds in same time period. 
9. Anna has grown 4 inches and almost doubled her birthweight (she's 13 pounds now).
10. Mommy and Daddy have aged a decade each.

A child is born...

On 10/26 we welcomed our baby girl, Anneliese Kenta Lommen, into the world.  The delivery was (mostly) uneventful and baby and mom are happy and healthy at home.  She has been such a good baby and, though we're biased, we think she's beautiful. 

Home of the Brave

I am so proud of my family.  I look at my two little ones and I think about all they have been through and every good and bad thing they have experienced in their short lives.  Yet, every morning they get up, get dressed, trust us to care for them, feed them and love them.  They go into a school and they are brave enough to keep trying to speak the language, interact with kids their age and try all kinds of new things.  They do these things without fear and it is awe-inspiring.

By the same token, Leigh and I have  adopted two kids, moved, started new jobs and now have a little one days from making her entry and, although it's been tough, we've taken it in stride and somehow have managed to keep these kids happy, productive and adaptable. 

When I think about all these things I think about how there are very few people I know that would be courageous enough (or dumb enough?) to embark on this journey.  Maybe it was foolhardy, but I prefer to think of it as simply brave.  My home of the brave.

Reluctantly, but by popular demand

Many of you have been curious about what I look like 9 months pregnant.  I'm not sure what all the interest is about.  Maybe because I'm so old to be pregnant for the first time, or because I've always been so thin?  Anyway, I figured I'm likely only going to be pregnant just this once, so I had a proper pregnancy portrait taken.  Hope it satisfies all the curiosity!

The pregnancy has, overall, been going well.  However, last week I had an ultrasound and it showed I had a low level of amniotic fluid and a "non-stress test" I had on the baby in the hospital showed I was having a good deal of contractions that I wasn't feeling.  These things together led my doctor to put me on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy, so I officially went off work and on leave last week.  Since then, I've had another ultrasound that shows that the amniotic  fluid increased with the bedrest so they were pleased with that progress.  As of today, I'm at 36 and 1/2 weeks, so our little one will arrive any day now.  Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.