You ask for belly...you get belly

26 weeks, 3 days and counting! And I can't believe that it's already 107 degrees here! I have no idea how I'm going to make it till August.

If only Christmas wasn't so far away...I have the perfect Christmas card candidate!

Somewhere between Las Vegas and Phoenix was a little thing calling our name. That little thing was Wikieup, AZ....supplying us a much needed potty break and this...I wish we had a cutout to put in our backyard...I think I would laugh for hours everyday. Now if only I could find some real turquoise jewelery for Dereje to wear on a daily basis - it really brings out his eyes!

Alas, the lubbockians have left

Megan and Eric returned to Lubbock on Friday; and they took their kids with them. I saw no reason why they had to tear Emery away from his Aunt...as we became very close - if only we could perfect our latch the kid would be all mine!
Ana swam almost every day while she was here which was really awesome to see. Her timidness of the water (or rather, our timidness of letting her loose in the water) quickly dissipated as she learned that she could roam around all by herself if her feet touched the bottom of the pool. So basically she considers a pool one big bathtub with tepid water.
Their last night here we went to a cute little restaurant called Greasewood flats. Nothing beats hamburgers outside with a banjo playing in the background! Ana spent the whole time running around and dancing without her shoes on -she's such a little hippie.
In this picture I have no idea what Ana and Dereje are so excited about - maybe our food just came - or maybe they interpreted "say cheese" to mean "you will soon eat cheese" - you never know with these two!

A whole lot of baby lovin'

I swear...Uncle Dereje and Emery look so much alike! Don't you think? No? Well, they have the same goofy smile for the camera...that's not something you just learn!
Maybe Emery looks a little more like me? See the way his rump sticks out ever so gracefully? he totally got that from me!
There is no doubt that Emery is happy to do dishes and just about anything else with Uncle Dereje - and Dereje is pretty excited about getting to carry a real child in the Mei Tai instead of the baby doll that I make him carry around for pictures...I mean practice.
He's also really down for a nice little snooze on my back.So Dereje and I consider ourselves experts when it comes to carrying a child on our back - as long as said child is as easy going as Emery and really likes to watch dishes being done and sleeping...if that's the case then we're totally prepared!

Guess who's back???

Analise!
And Emery Jack!
Ana and Emery are here with Megan for the next couple of weeks to play with us! Emery has grown so much! Now he's full of rolls and smiles...with lots of slobber to give to anyone who will take it.
Ana is more than ready to lend Emery a helping hand...even if it means scrubbing his back in the bath...Anything, to get big sister of the year award!
Ana is also turning into a great little Ethiopian. When Dereje comes home from a hard day of studying she's there to feed him all of the rice and hummus he can handle!
Yes, Ana is big on her new "Eat Tabouli" shirt that Grandma Didi and Papa Bruce bought her at a middle eastern restaurant they had lunch in the other day...not many grandchildren can say they got a souvenir from lunch!