This should about have us caught up....

Having two children makes you realize how easy it was to have just one. :) Here are a few more pics since we arrived home with Lili. This should about have us caught up...this weekend we are traveling to Michigan and will be sure to post lots of pictures with Henri and Lili and their cousins.

For now...here is Lili with Jeff at her first doctor appointment. We go back this Thursday to review the results of her bloodwork. She received a clean bill of health based on appearance. We'll hope the bloodwork is the same.
This is a snapshot of what our house looked like when we came home. We had used Lili's room as Jeff's study and our dump room. We had to move everything out, paint (thank you Mike Starr), and then try to find new homes for all of our goodness. Many items were re-gifted to Goodwill...but I will try and post what the finished product looks like. Henri "the tornado" Schultz is an added bonus. :)

Our sweet Lili smiling at IKEA. She loves IKEA as much as her parents do.

We call Lili "Miss Mouse." She has these long fingers and she is so tiny. Here she is with her own princess mouse...her bedtime cuddle buddy.

YIKES! A naked boy is coming after me! Henri (post bath) so excited to show his sister how the jumperoo works...that he couldn't take a moment to get dressed.

We have run the full spectrum of emotions between Henri and Lili. Sometimes Henri is so sweet and supportive...and then sometimes...he puts her on the freeze out and ignores her. This was one of those moments...by the end of the trip...his back was completely toward her...pretending she wasn't in the cart. :( Of course...they started the trip with a kiss...so....

Here he seems mildly interested in her...although I was afraid he might try to pull her hair...it's so tempting.....

Henri received his new lion from his Godmother, Kim. (Thanks Kim, Scott and Harley.) This is Henri's new bedtime cuddle toy. :)

Grandma Carol came to stay with Henri while we were gone...and helped us welcome little Lili home. Lili quickly became a "grandma's girl."

Happy 4th of July from Independence Henri!

And...from Firecracker Lili!

On mom's last day here...we took Henri and Lili to Downtown Disney to run through the fountains. It has been so hot here...it's always hot in the summer in Florida...but this year seems to be particularly warm. Henri wasn't quite sure what to do at first....

Then he got the hang of it....

The best part of watching him play...he kept looking up to the Genie that overlooks the fountains and waving. Not quite sure what or who he thought the Genie was...Cookie Monster?? Or...why he would think that might be normal. :) Oh well...it's Disney. :)

A tender moment between brother and sister...

Once we brought Lili home...I noticed Henri was playing with a baby doll at school. When I went to pick him up...he would be carrying it around. I thought it might be nice for him to have his own baby at our house. When Kallie, my little sister, was growing up...she had a Cabbage Patch Kid like all the other kids in the neighborhood. But...her's was black. Not sure why they sent a black Cabbage Patch Kid to be sold in Montana....but I thought it would be great if Henri could have a baby that looked like him. Unfortunately...no black babies at Target...I was able to find this one...welcome Brennen Eduardo to the Schultz family!

Little Miss Lili...just so happy to be Lili.

Here she is laughing...she's such a good baby....

Over the long weekend, Jeff took Henri to the park to play. Here he is in his favorite swing. Almost asleep...but still loving every minute.

I will post more now that I am home...and have a little more free time on my hands. My old blackberry officially died over the July 4th weekend...and the good news...my new BB has a camera and video. A blogger dream! More to come.....

Some photos from home...

Now that life is starting to resume to our new "normal." Here are a few pictures since we arrived home with our little Lili..



A big thank you to the Rahn family for the great clothes for our little Lili...and the box and 30 minutes of entertainment for Henri. :)




YIKES! He thought it would be funny to tickle his sister while she played on the floor. Little Miss Mouse was not so sure....

She's so sweet....

Henri's latest trick...the lightswitch. He loves to turn on and off before and after every meal.

Our first family picture...since returning home...Happy 4th of July!

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!

Addis continued

We really didn't leave the hotel...except for our appointment at the Embassy and to enjoy a traditional dinner/dancing with the other adoptive families. Here is our sweet Miss Lili enjoying lunch out on the patio with her dad. We were dying for Coke Light (similar to Diet Coke...but sweeter) and unfortunately...had to settle for full sugar soda this trip. :(

Miss Lili in her crib in our room. Doesn't she look so peaceful?

The best part of the Hilton....was that we had 24/7 access to the internet from our room. Last time we were in Ethiopia...we felt so isolated and alone. Well...we were the only family at the guest house...but internet was so sketchy...this time...we had constant access...just not to our blog. :( So....here we are Skyping with Lili's cousins...it was great...we could Skype every day!

Emma saved this hat (and matching coat) just for our little Lili. We couldn't resist...so fabulously girlie and pink!

Lili's first bath at the hotel. She is such a mite of a thing...especially compared to her big brother. The sink was the perfect place to lather up...

More sweet Lili....

She is so quick to smile! We brought all 6-9 month clothes...as you can see...she is so tiny (she is growing now) but just two weeks ago...she was drowning in the fabric.

"You have a baby...in a bar!" Yes...Lili, too, has experienced her first meal and drink in a bar. Mommy and daddy enjoyed Ethiopian draft beer. Lili enjoyed 4 oz. of formula while we all watched the World Cup. Yay for soccer!

Such a sweetie...how can we not smoother her in kisses??

This was taken just after we passed our Embassy appointment. Unfortunately, no cameras are allowed...so this is the best we can do. Lili is officially Lilja Sidama Schultz.

That night, we celebrated with the other families over traditional dinner and dancing. We didn't do this the last time we were in ET...and were so glad that it worked out this time. Great to spend time with the other families...and great to experience. Some say...Ethiopian dance is where Beyonce gets her moves. :)

New families...all smiles.:)

Lili's final bubble bath at the Hilton. We flew out the next day for Dubai, and then back to NYC and Orlando.

One more post to come...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I know it has been a while since we posted. We were not able to access our blog from Ethiopia...and now with two little ones at home, I have been trying to play catch-up. :) The irony of this post...is that it started typing in Hindi...so I guess somewhere along the way...it was trying to let me update. Oh well...here we go.

This trip was very very different from our trip with Henri. Good and bad. We decided to stay in a hotel vs. a guesthouse. At first, we were going to be the only family from our agency traveling, so we would not have missed out on getting to know other families. Also...with our last bouts of sickness we decided to have a bit more of a vacation vs. guesthouse experience. The hotel was great...it was so nice to have a place where you could walk around, shop, eat great food, feel very comfortable and at home. The bad news...there were two other families that traveled, and we would have loved to spent more time with them. Maybe next time...if there is a next time. :)

Here is the view from our room...it really was so peaceful to be surrounded by all of the green...especially in a city as busy and bustling as Addis.

My favorite part of the hotel...was the natural hot spring pool. Apparently, years and years ago when the Queen of Sheeba ruled Ethiopia, she lived in the mountains outside of Addis and saw what she thought was smoke rising. They explored the smoke and discovered it was steam rising from the hot springs. She then moved to Addis...to utilize the natural water. So did the Hilton...in the form of their five pools. Very relaxing. :)



Last time we were in Addis...we landed, unloaded our bags, and went right to the transition house for Henri. This time...we landed, and spent the first night in the hotel (watching the World Cup). The next morning, we woke up, and left early to meet Lili. This worked out so much better...we weren't rushed, the staff wasn't rushed, and we could really enjoy time with the children and everyone at the transition home. Again, on our way...we bought fresh fruit for the children. Here is the roadside stand we stopped at:

We didn't leave the hotel much this trip...so we don't have the city photos like we did before. But...here is a glimpse of what parts of outside the city is like...while we are waiting for our fruit to be bagged up. :)

Henri absolutely loves to read a certain farm book. I swear I have read that book to him 500 times. The funny part...is the first page talks about going to the farm and meeting a goat with long ears, who says Maa Maa...maybe this is Henri's connection to Ethiopia...goats walking down the street!

Arriving at the transition home to meet our sweet little Miss Lili:

Here she is...and just like her brother...she is holding her arms out...waiting for us to come and pick her up!

Holding her for the first time...

The best nanny in the whole world. Hewitt, who also cared for Henri...telling us all about Miss Lili and her eating and sleeping habits.

The view from the Transition home. Lots of children = lots of clothes to wash and dry...

Our first family picture with Lili....

We so enjoyed spending time at the transition home this time. There were great kids...all waiting for their parents to come and pick them up! :)

Our sweet Lilja on the drive back to the hotel.

Lili is napping...so while she catches some zzz's...I'm going to try and update the rest of our trip. Here we go....