Super Irresistable Cuteness

Oh man, our baby is the cutest and sweetest ever. I just cannot believe how wonderful he is... he is a real charmer... he smiles all the time, and is very mellow. He loves to ride in the car and look out at the world and make little squeaking noises. He drools constantly and grabs everything in sight. It is so cool because people in Ethiopia are very fond of babies... they keep coming up to him and making googley faces at him and asking to hold him. Even men come up to us and talk to Reece! He will go to anyone... he loves to have people coming up and making kissy faces and baby talking to him. I was thinking the other day that he is realizing that I am his Mommy, because he smiles whenever I come up to him... but then again, he smiles at almost everyone!
He has this super cute smile where he will wrinkle his nose. I love to make him do that! We are still trying to figure out how much he needs to eat... he has cottage cheese thighs, man! We don't want to overfeed him but we don't want to underfeed him either. Anyway we're figuring it all out as we go. He goes through about 3 outfits a day because he drools so much... I feel sad for him having to wear a shirt with 6 inches of drool down the front!
We are really enjoying it in Ethiopia... our health has been great, the weather is wonderful (about 70 degrees... sorry all you TX and OK people!) The food has been great, too... and we have a driver! We're getting kind of spoiled! The only bad thing is the super nasty diesel fuel exhaust that comes out of every truck as we drive down the road... I can literally taste the nastiness on my tongue after several minutes of driving.
Little Reece is kinda spoiled! He will not fall asleep unless we are holding him... and then when we try to put him down into his bed, lots of times he will wake up and start crying. He is just like other babies... he fights falling asleep... there is so much of the world to see! So many things to grab! So much slobber to drool out! The other day, I set him down on the floor in our bedroom and then went through the doorway into the common area, and he saw me leaving and immediately made his super cute sad face, and began crying terribly... I stopped in the doorway and just pointed at him and said, "I'm still here, baby!" and his horribly crumpled face metamorphed into pure happiness within less than a second. It is so funny to watch his little face! He sometimes cries for no reason... I think that was a little disconcerting for Christian, who felt like he cried too easily... but I told him, that's how babies are. I think by now (only 5 days later!) Christian realizes that Reece will sometimes cry over the mildest things... like the fact that he can't reach an object he's trying to grasp. We've also realized that his reaction to things is largely affected by whether or not he's hungry/sleepy. He can fall down and bonk his head on the furniture.. .and if he's hungry or sleepy, he will cry and cry over it. But if he's full and awake, he won't cry at all, he'll just keep trucking along.
Well some people will think this is not very nice, but here goes anyway! I think Reece looks like Gizmo from Gremlins!!!!!!!! I think Gizmo is sooo cute, and Reece has those huge eyes and big smile... it's absolutely precious. Do you remember that scene at the end of Gremlins where Gizmo says, "Bye, Bill-y"- he looks super cute like that. Reece also reminds me of Tippy Turtle ("Got to get the food for Mama")... does anyone remember that cartoon? If Reece somehow gets on his back, he feels incapacitated and starts crying (including when we change his diaper)- just like a turtle would.
We don't know how we got so lucky/blessed to have such a good natured baby! He is awesome. he is such a cool kid. He just hangs out with everyone, smiling at them and laughing. Sure he cries some, too, but all babies do that. He doesn't even cry when he has a poopy diaper! We just start to smell it and then we know.
A little old man at a store told me, "Thank you for what you are doing." I was sort of confused, but then I realized that he was referring to the fact that we are adopting Reece. He said, "God will bless you for what you are doing. He is your good luck charm!" Other natives have said that God ordained Reece to be our baby... and that this baby is very lucky. Countless people have told us that.
I tell people here that his name is "Besufaked", because that word is meaningful to them, and the name means "God's will"... and most people here will say, "Aaah.... that is a very good name."
Reece's head is as round as a basketball. It just adds to his cuteness!
This computer won't let us download pictures... so you'll have to wait to see him until we can find a different internet cafe, or until we get home!
We have only had Reece for 5 days now... it's amazing how your life can change so much overnight. We are getting to know each other better every day! OH and we've already seen his crawling improving! The first day, he wouldn't let his left knee hit the ground, so he sort of had this Quasimodo limping crawl going on... but today he is crawling on both knees! And getting very dirty doing it, I might add! He got his brand new outfit really dirty today... but it's so fun to watch him play and explore that I had to sacrifice the newness/cleanliness of the outfit. What a good Mom I am!!!!
Anyway we are sooooooooo happy with Reece! He couldn't be more delightful!
On a very different note... today marks the second anniversary of our son Aidan's death/birth. I had a big breakdown while we were 30,000 feet above the Atlantic ocean on the airplane, and I couldn't stop crying. It was like, with Aidan, everything was going just fine, at our last doctor's appointment his heartbeat was strong, everything was on course... and then at the next appointment, he had died. It was truly the most horrible thing to ever happen to me. I can hardly think of anything worse that could happen to someone, than to have their baby die. I was feeling like, everything is going on course for us to get Reece... what if something random, yet terrible happens to him so that we dont' get to have him? It was just too overwhelming to think about, yet I couldn't stop thinking/worrying about it. It is all part of my grieving for Aidan... it makes sense that I would feel this way. And, of course, every single day of my life I think about Aidan and feel sad that he is not a part of our family here. I talk to Aidan, hoping that somehow God will allow Aidan to hear me... I told Aidan a few months ago that he was going to get a little brother, and I think he was happy :) And I know that Aidan would love little Reece. Aidan would be a little less than 2 years old by now... what a wonderful family we would be with little Aidan and Reece both here with us. Aidan's death has left a permanent sadness in my heart.
All that being said, little Reece has added a lot of joy to our hearts. He is such a delightful little guy! I keep saying to Christian, "Do we really get to take him home?!" and I really can't believe it.
Oh my goodness, I think we are going to meet his birth mother this Thursday or Friday. I am overwhelmed just thinking about it, and it makes me tear up just to imagine seeing her. I just cannot imagine having to give up such a beautiful, sweet baby just because I coudln't afford to feed him. It's a terrible world we live in, for things like that to happen...... but I digress. This is why Christian calls me morbidly introspective. I think I'm going to have another breakdown on Thurs. or Fri. when we meet her. I feel sadness beyond compare, that she had to give up this amazing baby. It's to much for me to bear, just thinking about it. I can't even imagine how hard it was for her to give him up. The birth dad is not in the picture... but Belay (the Ethiopian rep. for Gladney) told me that this woman really is destitute. So I want to give her, like $500 or something so she doesn't have to worry about food for a few months... but then again, is that appropriate? Will she think we're sort-of buying her baby?? There are so many delicate issues here.
Well, I'll sign off for now. My sweet husband and baby are back at the hotel and I miss them already!