More Time with Eden

Day 2: When we arrived at Hannah’s Hope on the second day, we had a lot less anxiety than the day before.  It was fun to walk in and already “know the ropes!”  We had a lot more play time with Eden and even got to hear her little raspy voice.  She really likes to touch our faces, play patty-cake, and look at the camera! 

When it came time for the babies to take a nap, Eden wasn’t really wanting to fall asleep.  That was fine by us because we’d rather have play time with her at this point!  However, we understand that they have the babies on a schedule for a reason and that we needed to respect that.  So, I walked around with her for a bit to see if she would fall asleep.  She wasn’t showing any signs of being tired, but she wasn’t fussy either.  She was just fine to walk around!

After a bit of time, her special mother came and got her from me to put her to sleep.  It felt a little weird, but we know she was just trying to help (and trying to keep all of the kiddos on the same schedule!).  We watched how she wrapped her up in a blanket—even covering her face—to get her to sleep.  This is something that we had been told—that Ethiopians dress their babies very warmly.  Well, they certainly do!  And they wrap them up in fleece blankets when it’s 85 degrees!  The babies seem to like it, but it sure does make us Texans sweat!

Day 3: After our meeting with Eden’s birth mother, we went back to the hotel to eat lunch, rest, and process the events of the morning.  When we got to go back to Hannah’s Hope to see Eden again, it was just pure happiness and joy to get to spend more time with our baby girl.  It felt so natural!  And it makes sense for that to be the visit where the weight was completely lifted—it was the visit after court and birth mother meeting.  We didn’t have to guard our hearts anymore—she was OURS!  

Eden is recognizing Ben’s face/voice now.  It is SO sweet to watch her gaze at her Daddy!

This was our first afternoon visit to Hannah’s Hope, so we got to see Eden in her room for the first time (our previous two visits were during the morning play time downstairs)!  We spent our time upstairs playing with her, and it was nice to only have a couple more babies around instead of the several babies who are there during the downstairs play time.  It felt much more private.  

It was the perfect opportunity to try Eden in the “sleepy wrap” (baby sling).  As I was putting it on (wrapping it around my body), Ben noticed that Eden’s special mothers were smiling and talking.  He wasn’t sure at first if they were making fun of me or not, but we realized later that they were proud of me!  They even called in a few of the other special mothers to come look at me!  Haha!  

It was a team effort to get Eden in the wrap (hey, it was the first time and we had an audience!) 

She was a trooper!  She was SO content to be in the wrap!  That was SUCH a relief since babywearing is a great way to help with attachment and bonding!  I wore her for about 30 minutes and only took her out of it so we could play with her some more.  We’re praying that she continues to like being in the wrap—and that she will even want to fall asleep in it.

Those little (big) feet are just too cute!

We love our baby girl and can't wait to have her home with us!!