First Snow

They weren't quite sure what to make of it, but we had fun.

Finally, some photos from home!

Most of you know that we live in a small Victorian terrace- those of you in Australia, you've no doubt seen these in The Bill. This means that we only have windows at the front and back of the house (since the side walls are shared with our neighbours). Also, it's always raining. This means that our house is dark. Like, DARK. As in, really, really dark. This has been driving me absolutely crazy because I've got these adorable babies, constantly doing cute things, and it is impossible to get decent photos when there is no light. (SLR users - when I say dark, I've set my portrait lens to f/1.8 and in the middle of the day I'm still needing a shutter speed of about 1/2 s in natural light. At f/1.8. So yeah, dark).

Anyway, long story short, I got myself a really bright light, and now we have some photos that aren't just a big blurry mess. (Note two for SLR users - I also pulled out my big flash, which helped a lot, and yes of course I should have done that earlier. But even using ceiling bounce, which is really my only trick, I find it hard to get nice light with this as my primary source. Any tips for home lighting setups that can be managed between naps would be much appreciated. And mum, don't just say move back to Brisbane please).

So anyway, less talking, more cuteness, yes? (And apologies, by the way, to anybody who is getting a thankyou card from me because these are the same photos. Pretend to be surprised, okay?)

I really, really underestimated how hard it is to get two babies looking at the camera at the same time. Or even with their heads facing in approximately the right direction. Trying for smiles as well? Or matching clothes? Hmmmm, not yet.


I'm so pleased about how chubby they are getting.

This is beautiful baby Lulit.

and her little feet
Lulu has found her hands
and loves to smile and shout
and this is her pirate face. She opens her mouth like this and makes a loud 'ARGGGHHH' sound, like a pirate. I wasn't really expecting a baby who was ready to sail the high seas.
Baby Isaias wasn't really in the mood for smiling (he's still in his pyjamas, to my shame) but I got this one:
and this one:
but overall, he found the whole experience fairly confusing. I'll try again another day.
(Note three - does anybody know how to get around the issue of the blockiness of these photos on blogspot? They are not blocky in real life, and look completely different on flickr).

Finally, some photos from Addis!

I've been meaning to post photos of our trip, but have found it hard for two reasons - firstly, the two new little people in the house never letting me get near the computer, of course, but secondly - unexpected freaked-out-ness about their early little selves. I look at their early photos and they are still my beautiful babies, but they are so tiny that I hardly recognise them. It's only now that they are filling out that I can really see how terrifyingly titchy they were. And that makes me feel really sad.

So, I am going to post the photos with a commentary about when they were taken, otherwise you'll think you're looking at different babies.

Stage one: This is the babies on their first day home. They are cute, but did I already say terrifyingly titchy? I can hardly bear to look at these photos, and that's not just because I look h.a.g.g.a.r.d.

No, it's because my beautiful girl and boy look so unbearably tiny.



Stage two: The next few days. We've dressed them in tiny clothes that are somehow still way too big, and they are just beginning to figure out which way is up. We get some smiles, but there is a lot of uncertainty. As indeed there should be.



Stage three: Ahhhh, this is more like what the babies are really like. They are starting to fill out and their personalities are really beginning to show. Tummy time is still a complete mystery to them, by the way.

Yes, baby girl, it's all been a bit of a shock to mummy too.
Stage four: A few weeks in. Is it just me, or are they starting to just look like ordinary spoiled children here? Maybe it's just the light, but I think they are starting to glow.

So, that's the baby pictures from Addis. They have woken up, so I must go. More later.

And suddenly, things started to happen very fast...

We've had a difficult few days trying to sort out visas (the entire
casework team at the Home Office was down with Swine Flu). We wrote
many strongly worded emails, and made some strongly worded phone
calls, and finally got good news yesterday that they were being
processed. We picked them up this morning and then went across the
road to the Ethiopian Airlines office, where our skills at wording
things strongly turned out to be needed even more urgently.

We were told that we wouldn't be able to change our flights to any
date earlier than Wednesday, which would have meant that Mum was at
risk of missing her connecting flight to Australia on Thursday.
Fortunately, John has a very impressive ability to sit in a chair and
not move until someone does something helpful, and after 1 1/2 hours
of this we were told that we could fly tonight. I think they did this
just to guarantee we wouldn't come back tomorrow.

Anyway, this means that we are flying tonight! After weeks of not much
happening, we're about to go. We're going to miss lots of things about
Addis, but not the being-new-parents-in-a-hotel-room part. We'd
probably better go and finish the packing...

My laptop has died (am typing this at an internet cafe) hence no
photos, again. Will post more when we come home, I promise. The babies
are hardly recognisable - Project Chubby is definitely off to a flying
start.

Missing everyone, looking forward to seeing friends and family soon

lots of love

John and Caroline

Visas and Passports and Forms (oh my!)

Tomorrow it will be two weeks since we passed court. This last
fortnight has been a total, total blur. In some ways it's hard to
believe that two weeks have passed already, but mostly it's already
beginning to feel like I've spent my entire life in this hotel room,
with a bottle in one hand and a baby (or two) in the other. Both
babies are in panic-eating mode, all day and all night, which is
incredibly tiring for the grownups, but it's been amazing to see them
gain over a pound already in the time they have been in our care. The
respiratory infection that Isaias came home with has now cleared up,
and they both seem happy and healthy. Lulu is even starting to get
fat rolls on her thighs, which makes us all very happy.

As well as feeding (and feeding and feeding) the babies, we've had one
other big task - get permission for them to come home! John has now
managed to get their court documentation, birth certificates and
passports (after a few mishaps where their birth certificates were
issued first for two boys, then for two girls) and we were finally
able to apply for their visas on Friday. Now it is just a waiting
game while we see whether the High Commission will issue the visas we
need before they install a new computer system on Friday… if they
don't issue before Friday, we expect to have at least another week
(while they install the new system) before they can even start.

I have to admit that I have reached the stage where I am getting
increasingly keen to be home. There are really good things about
being here, of course, like John being off work and endless sunshine
and perfect blue skies. But on our last trip we were able to get out
and about and see and do different things, which was great. This time,
unsurprisingly, we are pretty much stuck in the guest house and we
aren't really seeing much of Ethiopia except the view from our
windows. So, it doesn't really feel like there is much point being
here, and I am really wishing that we could be in our own home and
start off the new normal. There are a few annoying things we didn't
bring with us, and a few others where supplies are running low
(really, it seemed like 7kg of formula would be plenty) and the giant
Mothercare store across the street from our house is calling me with
its siren song, luring me with promises of rapid steam sterilisers and
unlimited infant formula. I am trying not to hope too hard that our
visas will be issued quickly, because they almost certainly won't be,
but it would be wonderful to get back - and have the big plane journey
out of the way too!

We've been terrible at replying to emails, and will do our best to
catch up as soon as we can. We are really missing friends and family
and are very much looking forward to seeing people again. Sorry about
the lack of photos on this post - I know you'd all rather see the
babies than read about our visa issues. Hopefully more photos soon -
we are taking them, but convincing this email uploader to process them
is another story entirely.

Lots of love

John and Caroline

Finally!

Here are some photos at last. The last few days have been, frankly,
pretty awful - John and I have both been sick and the babies have been
unwell too. Fortunately we are now all picking up and it's possible to
sit upright again for long enough to type this. We have been so
incredibly thankful to have my mum here - without her I really don't
know HOW we would have coped with the last few days. She has done our
washing and kept us supplied with enough sprite to keep going when we
couldn't hold down anything else - I don't think these attributes are
specifically mentioned in Proverbs 31 but I rather think they should
be.

We are thrilled to say that the babies are doing really, really well.
We hardly recognise them even from the babies they were a few days
ago. They are eating (and eating and eating) and we can see them
gaining strength right before our eyes. They are really delightful and
we are so thankful that they are finally with us.

I really hope sending these photos works, because they are pretty cute, huh??

Much love

John and Caroline

Dear Family and Friends,

We have good news! This morning we attended the First Instance
District court and were officially declared the parents of Isaias
Peter Semir Charles and Lulit Heather Semira Charles.

We are thrilled and very thankful. We will be picking up the babies
later this afternoon, and will post pictures as soon as we get a
chance, we just wanted to pass on the good news now.

Lots of love

John and Caroline