Back to Orlando...

In my rush to finish posting before Lili awakes...I just posted all of these photos in the backward order. Sorry. Time is short...I hear a rustling upstairs...so here we go:


The happy family back in Orlando:


Skyping with their cousins in Seattle...it all seems to be going so well...what you don't see...is 30 seconds later...one cries...then they both cry...and the Skype session is over. :)

Oh...Lili is not so sure about this new brother she has....

Henri was ready to start wrestling...literally. Lili...sweet, sensitive Lili...not so sure...

Getting to know each other:

Henri and his magic brotherly love...

While Lili sleeps...I'll just move her toys a bit so she can see them better. And maybe if she wakes up...she'll be ready to play with me. Yikes.

Adopting Lili happened so fast (well...we put our name on the list ages ago...but it happened so quickly after Henri) that we weren't quite as ready for her arrival. Where Henri came home to a decorated room...Lili came home to a house completely under re-organization, with a pack-n-play in our room. :) A week with Grandma Carol and her room looks fabulous now (I'll post pictures later)....but here she is all nestled in...

All the things Henri didn't "love" when he was of the appropriate size/age...now seem so wonderful. We were a little afraid he might get stuck in the bumbo...Hank the Tank...weighing in at a cool 27+ lbs. :)

Helping Daddy feed Lili...suddenly that bottle I gave up looks good too...hmmmm......

Meeting each other for the first time at the airport.

With Henri...we stopped in the Orlando airport to take a family photo. I was so tired after delayed flights...that while Jeff wanted to stop and capture the moment...I just wanted to keep moving. I took this photo on the go...it will have to do. :)

We finally made it to NYC after long delays. Here is a changed Miss Lili on our bags...waiting to figure out our flight to Orlando.

It was a full flight to NYC...and the kind gentleman who sat next to us kept begging the flight attendant to move him up to business class without paying. :) He had Lili on his left...and a whole row of screaming children to his right. :) Makes for a long, long flight.

Feeling fresh in Dubai...this is just after mommy had a melt-down because Emirates was of no help in re-booking our flight home...even though it was their computer system that caused a delay leaving Addis. Ugh.

Thanks to the nice Emirate employee in Addis....we were booked on the next flight available to NYC...the employees in Dubai...were awful.

Waiting for our flight to leave Addis. Finally she sleeps...

Emirates computer system completely shut down for all of Africa. So...when we made it to the airport...we found out our flight (that originated in Uganda) was going to be slightly delayed. Well....four hours later...and after everyone on board was hand-assigned a seat (yes...it was very ugly)....we were able to leave Addis for Dubai. The bad news...the delay for us...meant we missed our flight to NYC and subsequently Orlando. Lili was a trooper...she is a great flyer...a little bit of a nervous nelly....but very easy to fly with.

OK...there you have it...our visit to Addis to bring back our Lili. Now...we'll start to capture all of our family times together. :) There have already been some great moments...I'll try to be better about posting...and even re-designing the blog for Lili and Henri. More to come soon!