Update after update

We have too many crazy things to share so I promise to be brief with each:

Easter Egg dying party: The kids did great watching and dropping eggs of course! They had plenty of fun with their little buddies, and Mommy got a dozen adorable eggs out of the deal!

Licking: Zeke is all about the licking again. He was like this at 6 months and for some reason the quirk is back. He will smash his face into the tray of his high chair and lick the entire things back and forth, he still loves for me to lick his forehead and here is where it gets weird...when I am all sweaty from the gym he wants to lick my sweaty arms and legs, plus when i stick my tongue out like I am going to lick his forehead to be silly he grabs my face with both hands and pulls me toward his face with his tongue out...ahhh..he wants to lick my tongue..GROSS!!!!

Therapy: Food therapy is continuing..making strides no..but tiny steps, MAYBE? Physical therapy makes Tbone angry sometimes, its his way or the highway. He still has his little blue angel wings and giant X across his tummy reapplied with the elastic tape each week. Poor Guy! We are hoping Miss Mandy, the food therapist, will also be our OT for Tbone? Next week we have a Peabody? analysis to see where the kiddos stand with fine and gross motorskills over all.

Gym: When I drop the kids off at the gym watch area I always like to spy and see how they are doing. Today my heart melted! A little boy was gathering up all the legos and piling them behind him, typical hoarder kid style! When one of my kids would try and take one he would make a growling sound. Zeke figured out that he just wanted all the legos for himself so he went around the room finding legos and bringing them back to the kid knowing it would make him happy. The kid would snatch them away and add to his pile, and Zeke would happily go get more, what a gem! He might not be biologically Tyler's kiddo, but that heart is so Daddy's! Then later I came to get them and they were put in walkers to have a snack. The teacher poured Cheerios on the little walker tray. Tbone was shoveling them in as fast as possible. Zeke of course won't eat like a "notrmal" kid so he found a little 2 or 3 year old and was hand feeding his snack into the kids mouth! HAHA!!!


Palm Sunday Picnic: Wjhat a treasure to spend a beautiful afternoon grilling and jumping on bounce houses with our church family, yeah in my dream world. I get there, park a mile away, finally find a shady spot by friends and get the kids out to eat. Tbone starts crawling toward the cars in the parking lot and Zeke takes off running toward bounce houses. Ahhh..panick..so I call Ryan who meets us there! Our church family is great, but they all are dealing with their own kiddos. Ryan and I could tag team pretty good. We ate giant burgers, bounced in a house, went on blow up slides, played in water, helf baby goats, etc! Wjhat a blast, after I brought in my wing man!!!

Rocks: We live in their desert so our yard is full of rocks, literally! Other than the landscaping all we have is rock. For some reason Tbone loves to crawl/walk through it. I need shoes on just to chase after him..tough cookie!

What a lover!!!

Zeke is the most kind hearted child on earth. I couldn't help but share how sweet he can be to his best friend and brother. Whenever I hand him two treats, 2 cups, 2 anything he immediately walks over to share with his buddy. Then I can usually tell him to go get their loveys and he will go in their room, pull them through the crib slats of each bed and bring the correct one to his brother and keep his for himself. We have always prayed for our children to serve God and others first...and at 15 months he is already showing that!!!!

We are growing!!!!

I promise to post pictures/videos and updates when I have a second to breathe. But until then we have an announcement...we are growing....!!!! I know most kids grow, but as you know growing and developing is literally a miracle in the Johnson house given our little bumps in the road lately. We are so thrilled I could shout it from the roof tops!! We have never had numbers this high.
Tbone is of course in the 100th percentile for head circumference, no surprise there, but jumped to the 32% for weight and 45% for height!!!!!!!
Zekey is 39% for head, 13% for height and 5% for weight!!! Yes those numbers are still tiny, but last month weight was 0%!!!
We are so excited for our little men to be catching up. The doctor also referred Taft to an occupational therapist for his low tone situation. Yes we already see a physical therapist for his muscular disorder but the low tone has caused his tongue to be hanging out all the time. He looks adorable and thinks it is so funny, but long term he needs to hold his chin up and keep that sucker in his mouth. therefore, we will now add an additional therapist to the other 2. The boys doctor is waiting until 18 months to send them onto a speech therapist as well. Since they heard Amharic for the first 8 months of their life and then had hearing issues with before and after tubes we knew there might be a speech delay, but she is holding off until 18 months to see progress. Plus, really what can a speech therapist do with a kiddo that small, and I agree!
More to come....

'Twin" talks

Howdy!
I assume everyone has seen the twin talking babies since they seem to be everywhere from a little YouTube video, to a huge Internet sensation. After seeing them I decided to film mine. Not only do ours have the sweet little twin language that only they know and understand, but they are so affectionate to each other. I love how they babble and then hug, babble and then touch face, babble and then lay their head in the others lap. I apologize for the weird angle and snotty noses, this was filmed totally spontaneously. My little monsters just might be the sweetest thing. Confirms over and over daily how perfectly God placed them together. I can't even imagine if the orphanage has split them up, they are a pair for life.

Double the trouble, double the love!

You know you are a mom when...

Howdy!
Basically daily I have these little moments that were never part of my former self and I think the phrase "you know you are a mom when..."and fill it in with who knows what that given moment. Today was too funny not too share.
I bought the boys these carrot cake muffin cookie things. I feed them a piece and then the walk/crawl away to play, then return to my lap and sign "more" for another bite then go off to play again. Then after 10 minutes or so I look down and see little black droppings, to the Texas in me they look like deer poop. Then I realize the kids are eating the bites and spitting out the raisins, how could I forget they hate raisins. So what else does a mom do, but pick up the chewed up raisins right off the floor and eat them!

Pre-kid Nikki would have gagged at that story, Post-kid Nikki says "yeah why not!"

Wow how motherhood changes you!

Tunnel and Tent

Yesterday the boys got one of their Easter treats in the mail..a tent with tunnel! Well I was so excited to see their reaction and let them play in it, that it went from Easter present to an April 5th present! I took a short video of the kids getting introduced to their new toy. MOPS...yesterday was also our first day of MOPS. I had a blast meeting tons of other Christian mothers, hearing guest speaker, bible study, great breakfast, discussion groups, won a door prize, met other "twin" moms and Ethiopia moms as well, precious craft, BUT I got back to pick up my men from MOPPETS and they were not happy. First of all, that was the first time they have been away from me for 3 hours at a time. Also, the volunteer didn't find their pediasures so only put water in their sippys, Taft had snot down to his chin and Zeke was asleep in the corner with all the other kids running around. The precious volunteers did their best, but my little guys are work. Therefore, we are going to give it another shot, and hope my little MOPPETS do better this time around next week.

Food therapy...Mandy came and gave us tons of tips, but also news that we are going to need intense therapy until they will eat like big boys. Of course Zeke picked up a cantaloupe piece with a fork and ate it for her...WHAT? cantaloupe???? How many times have we tried that and ended with tears and cantaloupe in Mommy's face! Mandy was impressed with all the crazy tricks e have tried and that my little men eat wild salmon and asparagus and totally non "kid foods"..well they are my kids what else would they be eating? I am excited to have her around often and blessed that she is able to drive to her our house for lunch or breakfast regularly.

Cute stories...

Taft: The other day at dinner Zeke continually threw everything on the floor in order to keep his tray "clean" like he likes it. Therefore, I said "No Zekey No" and look over and Taft is shaking his pointer finger saying "No Zekey No" like I was. Where did he get that shaking teacher finger, I must do that subconsciously?

Zeke: He loves to noozle me and now will walk over and grab my thighs and look up and shake his little nose. By that he means noozle..as in bend down and rub our noses together so we can noozle Mommy. Plus he loves his big boy shoes (0nes with out the suede soles for learning walker). He has a new pair of toddle stride rites that sound kind of like tap shoes on our hardwood floor. He ran laps this morning back and forth, then bends down to touch the shoes, and then run again. His face says it all, "These shoes are AMAZING!!!!!"

HELP WANTED: Seriously if you can help please email or comment! 1. How do you prevent kids from rubbing food in their hair while they eat? I tried everything..keeping hands busy, shower caps, non "messy" food. I can only wash their hair 1-2 times a week (weird Afro hair rules!) and when roast beef bits are rubbed in along with sunflower seed butter, it becomes a health hazard. Meal time with children who get food therapy is hard enough with out gross food smeared in their little AFRO!

We are JOHNSONS!!!

Howdy! Today we had our FINAL court hearing and the judge granted us a united family of four. The boys officially have First middle and last names!Tyler and I are legally parents of our precious angels! All the drama surrounding the readoption in the U.S. is beyond frustrating and ridiculous so I will spare you the chaos...i just want you to celebrate with our complete family! Photos: Zeke is too tired to even eat??? Taft is a little aviator stud! When taking out the diaper genie bag I found a surprise. A race car was in the twisted diaper sack. How did that get in there? The greatest concern for poor Taft...he kept pointing at his car then looking at me...very confused! The boys enjoy outside naked time..they don't even mind crawling through the rocks..tough kids! Court pics: The court sign, the boys ready for the big day with our entire file box full of documentation and evidence for our case, plus the three of us with the judge after the verdict. Videos: One of each goober. Taft playing peekaboo with the curtains..hmm...not sure I like him pulling on those with a 20 pound rod 10 feet in the air???? Zeke likes when I jiggle his jaw like a ventriloquist dummy..silly baby!

Wild Days

My little guys are so silly. First off, they behave like pretty wild students during art time at home. Look how they go crazy slamming the table and tossing markers. For a moment I thought I was back in a middle school classroom. Also, Zeke is RIDICULOUSLY ADDICTED to music! This video is so silly, how he keeps pushing the button the the weeble tree house until it gets to a little jingle he enjoys and then he starts get jiggy with it! He knows what he wants..some good tunes!

Adoption rocks!

I have started to think that my children are celebrities in hiding or something. Seriously not yet have we gone anywhere where people don't ask about them. At church every week, we have been members for YEARS and everyone knows the boys, yet we get stopped with oohhs ahhs and questions, the gym that we go to same time same day, still mobbed with questions and asking to touch and hold. Wow...I might invest in the masks that Michael Jackson put over his kids face just so I can run an errand or two. However, the other day we went into pick up a few of Tyler's uniforms we had tailored and all the little seamstress ladies came running out to see and giggle. Then, this customer started asking questions and was so sweet saying how blessed we and the boys were, then asked for a hug and I noticed she was teary eyed. I just wanted to escape the mob, but then she told me she was just in love with how I treated the boys and really loved them as my own, because when she was a teenager she gave up her daughter from an unplanned pregnancy. How bold and brave. I bet she has thought of that girl and her adoptive family every day for decades. What an honor for her to share!


Zeke had a follow-up with the ENT and will also go under the knife to have tubes put in his ears and adenoids removed in May. Scary, yes, but Taft just had that done a few weeks ago, so I can handle kiddo #2. But, T-bone is the wild tough kid, and Zekey is the sensitive one, so Little guy will need all the prayers in the world.


Taft had his physical therapy evaluation and first hour of actual therapy today. First off, thank God for house calls, knowing this will be a regular event of therapy and that she will be a big part of our life from here on out feels good knowing she will just be in our home and not dragging the boys across the town. Taft's head has always been about the 98th percentile, but his body has averaged about the 7th percentile or so since coming him. His little body couldn't hold up his enormous head, so he has learned HORRIBLE compensation techniques. His spine and back do not hold his head he literally pivots his chest up to lean his head back. In turn his shoulders are rolled forward and his shoulder blades are really raised. His huge tummy that always concerned us, is not because he is fat, it is due to having 0 ab strength and there are no muscles to contact his big bowling ball. She showed me if we tip him forward into like a push up position off the floor he can't pull himself up because he has no ab or back strength. Then, when he crawls the only muscles that contact are his pecs which are way over developed because he has been compensating. Therefore, he can't walk, because he can't stand because he has no core strength. These horrible compensating methods have gotten him this far and that is it, he will not walk or stand or play ball, etc until he learns stability and builds the proper strength. He will seriously damage his back/posture permanently is something is not changed asap...enter Marge!!!!! She is fabulous and worked so well with Taft. He was giggling when she was doing the exercises while Zeke cried because Taft was getting all her attention. She and I are teaming up and starting from newborn skills. He needs to learn all over again how to hold his head up,then sit up, then crawl properly, then stand and eventually walk right. The heartbreaking news was it cold be another 6 months until he walks. She said he could potentially learn how to walk with incorrect form, and then it would be just another skill to relearn properly. Therefore, delaying walking until he has proper control could actually be a good thing. We have a long road ahead of us, and are thankful to Marge and the early diagnosis. She couldn't stop talking about how developed he is in every other area, and how she has never worked with such a joyful youngster...so what is we don't walk right on track, we have traits others will never enjoy!!!!!

On a poo of a note...USAA called about the accident and the guy who hit my car claimed he was parked and that I was the one moving to bumped him. I claimed we were both backing out, because we were. Therefore, with no witness and no police report the case must go to arbitration, but USAA is scared because how can they prove anything..I admitted half fault, the guy said it was entirely my fault, so we don't have much of a case. Considering just dropping the claim and paying out of pocket to get the car fixed. USAA guy said it is sad, but really if I had lied and said I was parked and he was moving it would have worked better for us. How does A LIE pay off...bizarre! The fact that it was a military guy only leaves a worst taste in my mouth. The US has such a poor/disrespectful view of the military, and then for a military guy to lie like that I start to see why. We fight for respect for the military daily, and guys like that make our one step forward move 10 steps back...poo on you mr liar pants!

Week 3 rolled on

Howdy!
Our precious angels are growing and developing right before our eyes. Each has grown an inch in height since last month and T-Bone has probably grown at least an inch in circumference with that big belly of his.

Taft is jolly as ever, and laughs and smiles as absolutely anything. He enjoys using a fork, he tries so hard to stab food himself, but more or less pushes it around on his tray for 2 minutes before it is just mush and sort of slides onto the fork. Here is where my 3x a day nightmare begins. He uses the fork and his entire hand to actually get the bit into his mouth, then uses his hands to rub all over his hair. Afterward, he uses the fork to comb his hair. Nothing I can do will stop his from touching his hair with his dirty hands and utensils. I have given him things to hold, bought shower caps(what a joke..lasted maybe 15 seconds?), reinforced NO-No and aight over and over. The fact that he is Ethiopian makes this process that much more disgusting. Our African American hair class suggests washing his hair once a week, with a max of twice. So for today he has bits of banana, mango, cream cheese, tilapia, graham cracker, sweet potato, etc..all marinating in his hair. We brush it, rinse it, etc...but seriously smeared cream cheese and tilapia!!! GROSS!!!! I am totally open to any brilliant suggestions..we need something!

Our little Zeke is my shadow, literally. He must being touching some portion of my body at every single second. Not the typical "don't leave the room Mommy", but wrap his arms around my legs while I leave the room. He is getting pretty big to carry around and sit with and everything, but he needs my touch right now. Poor thing falls asleep wrapped around my neck as tight as his little arms can squeeze. Our little sensitive boy!

The boys continue to love dancing and music in any form or fashion. Daddy bought them a kids praise and worship cd that arrived in the mail today, so we can't wait to open that and try it out for size. Our Zeke even dances standing up when you sing "Go Zekey Go Zekey". His dancing is more or less little squats with a booty shake but too adorable for words. T-Bone even gets exciting to watch and sings "Zekey, Zekey".

There is a photographer at training with Tyler and if you go to the following website there are a few of him. Don't click the link, actually retype it in, for some odd reason this works better.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/prtpaktya

Our life ROCKS!!!

So the video quality isn't amazing..aka...single Mom! I try to be the entertainment and videographer at once and sometimes that doesn't work too well. Therefore, we took a couple videos today of Zeke walking and Taft dancing for himself as usual. The other video Francine took just Friday. Zeke went from that video to the most recent in just 3 days..woah!

WOW LIFE CHANGES QUICK...read the entire entry..surprise at end!

Well it seems like we just posted, but so many things have changed since then:
1. We had our weight and development check up. Taft went from the 12% in weight to 17%..woohoo, our little monster is getting bigger! However, he still doesn't want to stand with out holding something or take steps on his own. Can he, YES, does he willfully, NO! Therefore, or adorable doc has referred us to a physical therapist who works with the kiddos at home. We have our evaluation and first therapy both scheduled for next week, and it should be about twice a week until he caught up to speed with his peers. Research shows Ethiopians are the most hard headed and stubborn culture in the world.. well we think Taft might be the most stubborn of all Ethiopians as well, but at least he is putting meat on those little bones.

Little Zekey..is yes a little Zekey. He gained approximately 1/2 of a pound in the past month, so he fell from the 3rd to the 1st percentile. He is healthy and not malnourished, just TINY. We are starting back with Mandy our feeding therapist again next week as well. So thankful all these therapist are willing to drive 45 min to visit my precious men.

2. We had the car accident inspected and go figure the deductible is 1000 and the damage is 1025..hmm, sounds fishy to me!

3. Taft has increased his vocabulary it now includes Zekey very clearly, and a mumbled goofy sounding thank you.

4. We are ready for EASTER. First off the best little auntie in the world is spending Easter week with us, but also we are so excited! We are reading and teaching the kids about the resurrection and pray for their salvation and discipleship daily. Plus we are getting ready on the goofy wordly way as well, practicing finding Easter eggs, blooming daffodils and breaking cascarones!

5. Bountiful baskets, a friend from church told us about it, and it is FABULOUS! You contribute 15 dollars on the web, and then meet at the local middle school on Saturday to pick up an entire laundry basket of locally grown farmers market produce. I took a picture of what we got today we were so excited.

6. We are artists, we color with crayons and markers, well color with them and eat them. Plus we use stickers, sometimes they make it on the paper, sometimes just onto our faces!

7. OUR BIG ANNOUNCEMENT..ZEKE WALKS!!!
For about a month he has been testing himself by letting go of furniture and balancing alone then taking 2-3 steps. We have gotten up to 4-5, then today all of a sudden he learned to stand with out pulling up on furniture at all. He just pops up and takes off. He maxed out at about 35 steps in a row, including stopping to pick up an Easter egg and then keep going. WOAH..not only can he walk, he walks far and can balance to pick up a toy and then continue. Literally in 24 hours he went from our baby to our grown toddler! After TOO many tests, he was determined to be between 2-3 months premature, closer to 3 we were told...so our little monkey is cruising well before he should given his adjusted age!!!! WOOHOO!!!

Could they be any cuter?

Tyler's address

Howdy!
For all those interested here is Tyler's current address:
Captain Tyler Johnson
PRT Paktya
509C Schoolhouse Rd.
Edinburgh, IN 46124

If you feel the desire I am sure he would love to feel your love and support via notes and care!

Home alone for 2 weeks already

Howdy!
The three of us have now been without a daddy or hubby for over 2 weeks..I know long time and no postings. Parenting all alone takes approximately 30 hours a day! Yeah I said 30..more time than even exists! After a fabulous 2 weeks spending every waking second together we took Tyler to the airport on March 6th..from that minute things went sour. We got in line and the American lady was in training..first day on the job! She entered and re-entered and then re-entered Tyler's info and had to wait for the other tellers to help her me than 4 times, I stopped counting and the fire started shooting out my ears after a solid 40 minutes in line with 2 screaming children. hen at security we had a gate pass, and go figure the diaper bag had a tiny Sigg bottle of formula, so we get pulled out of line and searched and they need to get a manager, etc. All the time being..the clock is ticking! I beg the guy to just throw away the bottle, seriously my husband is leaving for a year buddy! He acts like the bottle costs me $1000 and desperately wants me to wait in hopes the managers manager will let me have it back..wow little does he know I have much bigger fish to fry on my plate! We get to the gate and say our final goodbyes. As Tyler walks away the four of us are all crying and I lance over my shoulder so are all the people watching us say goodbye. We were like our own little sappy movie playing out for all the airport to watch and cry over. I get out of the gate area and realize Tyler is on the plane with my car keys..OH NO! I run back and Tyler gets off the plane to give them to me, one more hug and kiss, a few more tears, and a
final goodbye.

From that minute on...I have become super mom! Balancing everything on my plate is pretty bizarre, but let me tell you I am enjoying every moment of it. Somedays I stay in my sweaty gym clothes until midnight, the hardwood floors are not shined every other day..but the boys and I dance, wrestle, walk, work out, worship, pray, eat, bake, shop, swim...and have the time of our lives just enjoying life. Daddy is gone, yes that is a fact, but life goes on. I can't stop living joyfully and planning fun baby dates, because I don't have a spouse to share that with. I have 2 little buddies I have committed my life to. I have held up storing until...
2 days later..Taft realized that Daddy on Skype is not DADDY! He went room to room asking for "Daddy???" He peeked in each room and then would go to the next asking where his daddy was. Heartbreaking! I pray he understands one day the sacrifice his daddy is making for our family and thousands of other families.

Since that day we have had a few milestones:
1. Taft had ear tubes put in and adenoids taken out..our friends warned us who used the same doc that her son stayed 24 hours because it was so hard on him in the hospital. When I walked back after surgery, and Jessica watched Zekey, he was limp and his eyes kept rolling back and crossing, scariest moment of my life. 3 nurses tried to hold him down and gave him loads of Demerol, finally I got in bed with him and we got him to fall asleep. Fast forward an hour....I thought he was asleep in the car..nope! I get out at Walgreens to get the RX and he smiles ear to ear and asks for cookies...no seriously he wanted, AND ATE, a cookie an hour after his breathing tube came out! 30 min later he threw the dishes out of the dishwasher all over the floor, didn't take a nap and was a typical little monster. Can you say tough kid????!!!!

2. Memaw and Pepaw visit..we went to the Grand Canyon for Memaw and Pepaws first time, saw March snow, played on playgrounds, went to church, played at the water table, had visitors at multiples group, stayed in a glamorous timeshare, saw the red rocks of sedona, played at out of Africa wildlife park, etc!

3. Shame on Mommy..Taft has his first tumble, and it is Mommy's fault! At the wildlife park Tbone was in the stroller and threw out his beloved cow on the gravel, I reached for it and so did Taft...well Taft wasn't buckled in(the shame on mommy part, since daddy would have never let that happen) and his face hit the gravel. He has little gravel scratches on his face and what looks to me like a tiny sign of a black eye. I think I have cried more than he has...boohoo...

4. The car behind me at the wildlife park and myself started backing out of our parking spots at the same time and POW..we hit! The family next to us had their wild children running all over, and both the other driver and me were simply watching the kids...SO WE DIDN'T SMASH AN UNRULY KID...and instead smashed each other in our blind spot..another thing that wouldn't have happened if Ty was here, because I NEVER DRIVE, HE DOES! So a little scratch later I was in my first wreck!

So a few little bummers...but life goes on and God is good! Look on the bright side we Skype Tyler nightly, talk probably 10 times a day, have our health and 2 amazing children, God is good!

Prayer request: Please pray for Ethiopia orphans and adoption. As of March 10th they have reduced adoption by 90%, for a multitude of reasons. We had already started seeking God's word on the possibility of Johnson Baby #3 ad with the changes have fear of the future and if that is even a possibility. Our heart hurts for the orphans of Ethiopia. God loves adoption..HE ADOPTED us, and we know he is sovereign in this situation and all situations.

Tyler testifies

Since Tyler will be deployed while we attend court to readopt the boys in the United States, we attended court early for Tyler to testify in court his intentions and commitment to the boys. A big step on the way to having everything complete! The judge fell in love with the boys and personally after the eharing gave us a name and number of another Ethiopia adoptive family to contact and connect with. The court reporter did the same, she refused to take her pay from us, and said she was honored to be part of the process as payment.

Park as a family

First Lollipop..from the ENT doctor

Building with Daddy

Sedona/Flagstaff/Grand Canyon

We had a blast in Sedona, Flagstaff and at the Grand Canyon. We enjoyed great meals, snow storms, trains, historic mansion, sledding, hiking, hot tubs,wild life parks, etc.