Ethiopia Day 3

Today we met with the nanny, journalist, doctor, nurse, and social worker. Whew, that was an intense meeting. We started the meeting by watching an AMAZING background video. Our agency goes above and beyond in this regard. I was so impressed with the dedication and the quality and the care taken to capture our daughter's story.

We got our first look at Peanut's birth mother, Zinash. What an amazing and beautiful women. It was obvious in her words and emotions that she really loved Peanut. We will cherish this DVD forever and show it to Peanut when she is ready. We hope to maybe edit some pieces of it into a version we can show family. We want to keep our daughter's story private yet want to show our immediate family some parts of it.

After we cried through the video, we were able to ask the journalist, nanny, doctor, nurse and social worker questions. We were talking with the nanny and she kept raving about how sweet Peanut is and how she only cried really when she is hungry. She likes to entertain herself and the nanny said she smiles a lot.

We found out that Peanut had been sick a few times since referral so we asked the doctor about that. The doctor said she recovered well from her upper respiratory infections, gastroenteritis and pneumonia. She took her medicine well and seems to be doing very well developmentally.

After our meeting we went to the care center to hang out with Peanut. We aren't allowed to take pictures there but our agency has taken some. I would love to post pics and will when I can but that probably won't be until we return as the internet connection is dial up and shared.

We have been able to feed Peanut cereal twice now and I think we are getting better at it. At least I hope so. She sure lets us know if we aren't going fast enough though. She has kind of a stuffy nose so we are hoping that is just the remnants of her latest bout with an upper respiratory infection. She is quite the messy eater so the dogs will be thrilled with all the food they can lick up off the floor and off of her.

We were thinking she would fall asleep after eating but she didn't. She wanted to have tummy time. She LOVES to play on her tummy and she lifts up and pushes up extremely well. We just hung out on the floor and gave her lots of kisses and in return we got lots of smiles, laughs and even a squeal.

We are so over the moon in love with this little girl. My one fear is that she was not held a lot as she was a mellow baby so the nannies held other children more. We have seen this come out a little bit as she gets a little fussy if held for too long. We will just take things one day at a time. We are all still getting used to each other.

After our morning with Peanut we went SHOPPING!!! It was a tough task as you have to negotiate prices with the store clerks which is not in my nature. I had Dave do a lot of negotiating but in the end I did some too. We got so many beautiful things for our home, ourselves and most importantly Peanut. I could have spent more time shopping but I did get quite a bit and have no regrets.

Tomorrow is our trip to Hossana. We have been told that Zinash will be there to meet us and it is Mother's Day. I couldn't ask for a more special Mother's Day. How amazing to be able to meet Zinash and hug and let her know we will love and cherish Peanut with all our heart. Bring out the tissues…more tears are on the way.