Meeting the Twins

(Note: The CHSFS staff calls the twins by their Ethiopian names so in order to keep things straight here, we are calling them by their Ethiopian names as well untill we arrive home)
Yea!!!! We finally met the twins!!!! We got in late last night after an eight hour, bumpy, dusty drive from Lalibela to Bahir Dar and then a late flight from Barhir Dar to Addis Ababa, we finally arrived at the Guest House. We found out when we arrived that we would be the first group of parents to stay in the new guest house. Apparently the landlord of the old guest house raised the rent so they got a new place, which is the building of the old child care center. Kathi and Brian get to stay here in a room next to ours.

This morning, we were tired, but so excited we didn't care. We aren't jet lagged like the rest of the couples are, so we feel fortunate about that. We met at 8am for breakfast, the staff made us some pancakes, and then went to the CHSFS office to have a bit of a prep meeting for the visit to meet our children. Max was bursting. He said, "Mom, when I get there, right as soon as I see them, I am going to be a big brother!" We were all so excited. It just felt surreal.

We first went to a meeting at the office, the purpose of which was to prepare us for meeting the babies and also to help us know what to expect while here. I was so nervous and excited and emotional, I think we all were. I don't even know how to put into words what we were feeling.

When we got there, we were struck by how nice the care center is. They had us all go into a room on the bottom floor and one by one they called us in to come and get our babies. This is partly to keep us organized and partly because they had a professional photographer there to capture our experiences for each of our kids' DVDs. They called one set of parents, then another, and another...and I was beginning to get the idea that we were last since we were the only set of parents to adopt twins. Finally, they called us upstairs. We had Max, and kathi and Brian all come up with us to see them for the first time. When we walked in, it was so surreal. We were seeing them, but it seemed like I couldn't really believe I was seeing them. One parent explained it well. Its kind of like when you see a celebrity in person. Not the famous part, but its like you only know them from pictures so when you see them in person, its like - 'is it really you?'

I just lost it. I think we all did. They were laying in their beds in a room with about seven babies. We walked over to them and they were just haning out, looking around. We walked over and the nannies handed Fetene to Ty and I went and picked up Wasagn. It was so wonderful to hold them. They were so much smaller than I thought they would be. And even more adorable than their pictures. Max was so happy. I was in such a zone, I really don't know what kathi and Brian were doing, except that when Ty and I wanted to trade babies, we had Kathi hold one so we could trade easier.

Then they told us we could take them downstairs with the rest of the parents and their babies. It was such fun to show them off. I think all the parents felt that way. All the kids are soooo cute! They are so adorable. The people here are so beautiful, its no wonder.

They are such sweet babies. They are so mellow and seemingly easy. We got to spend time with them talking to the other parents and looking at the other babies. Then it was time to feed the babies so they brought these bowls of cereal out. The nanny fed Wasagn while Ty and max helped and I fed Fetene. He was having a hard time eating. Its like it was difficult for him. He seemed to have a hard time swallowing it, or even getting it to stay in his mouth. It wasn't as easy as it was to feed max at that age. He was kind of fussy during the whole feeding and he only ate half. Tomorrow we have a meeting with the doctor, the social worker and their nanny so I plan to ask about that. He is smaller than his brother, so we want to find out what they know about that.

Shortly after they ate, they both fell asleep for a little while. I rocked Wasagn to sleep, there is nothing sweeter. Ty held Fetene and he went to sleep, that is until Max woke him up because he was so excited.

Then it was time to get the babies back to their beds for nap time and we went back to the guest house for lunch. Later in the day we got to go back and hold them.