Friends, Chest X Ray, Baptism

This is my girlfriend Josie! She is so cute and really likes me! She even tried to kiss me, so I tried to kiss her back. There are more pictures, but mom has to get them from papa. We will post this week. We 1st met in Ethiopia and were reunited at a party at Nana's on Saturday night.
This is Josie's sister Zuri. She is really fun. We had a good time. They have 4 other kids in their family. We will post more pictures of them next time. We will be seeing them more often.
I had another party for my homecoming on Sunday. There was so much excitement and gifts, I had to take a nap. Thank you Nana for the fun party. It was neat to see new people again.
My papa & I.

Saturday night we got together with Ted & Jill who went with us to Ethiopia. It was great to see them again. Sunday the Naber family had a home coming party for Jakob.

The Chest Xray came back negative. This means Jakob does not have Active TB. We have an appointment with the Health department on the 14th to review the next steps. It sounds like he will be on some medication for a while as preventative. The TB is dorment, but could come alive at anytime. This medication will kill it.

We are having Baptism for Jakob on May 18.
It will be at Faith Reformed Church in Zeeland. The service starts at 11:15, but we recommend getting there by 11:00. It fills up fast. We will have a lite lunch at our house afterwards.
Please email me if you plan to attend. rmbrower2@gmail.com

That is all for today folks.
Hugs & Kisses,
Mandi, Rick & Jakob

Tootsie Roll!

To all of my family and friends that are many miles away, so many of you I have not even met. I thought you would enjoy another video of what I have been up to.

(Click the arrow to play video, be sure to have the sound on!)

G Gram in Florida - this one's for you. See you in a couple of weeks.

Hugs & Kisses!

Jakob, Rick & Mandi

A Day At Home!

I am making myself at home. I took over mom and dad's bed and love it. It is so comfy. I really like the new sheets too. They had to get another set, because I keep getting them wet during the night. They were washing sheets every day. I wonder how that happens. :-) I enjoy sleeping. I still don't sleep for long periods of time, but often.
Jenna came over today to take care of me, while mommy worked. My new outfit was so adorable she couldn't resist taking my picture in my bouncy seat...
... & in my jumper.
This is my dog Ginger. I think she really likes me. It was 81 degrees in the house today, so she like to lay on the tile floor.

All is well. I have a very busy weekend, so I will have lots of pictures to post. I am going to see my girlfriends Josie & Zuri tomorrow night. I have only seen them a couple times since we have been home. I can't wait. Lots more planned for the weekend. We will be posting more pictures.

Mom is working on a little video too. Maybe she will get it done this weekend.
All my love.
Jakob, Mom & Dad

Time for Work & Time for Play!

Mom has me pretty well trained at work now. Just working on a little data entry here. It keeps me out of trouble during the day. I am still training on some of the hard stuff.

So I got a little tired today and mom took me home for a nap. After my nap I was able to play in my jumper again. I love it.

I am doing well and feeling better. I have to go for my chest Xray on Monday morning. Other than that working on finishing up my medicine.

See you soon.
Lots of Love,
Jakob, Mom & Dad

Home for 21 Days!

This picture was a couple of days ago. I really like to eat, but it makes me very sleepy. I really think it was my medication, because I haven't been this tired since. I really like my high chair too.
We were invited to lunch at Johnny Carinos today with my friends. I dressed like summer for the event.
I even tried my sandles. They were still too big and fell off all the time. We will try again next week. If I keep eating like I am, they will be sure to fit soon.
I can't quite stand up yet. Thanks to dad, I didn't face plant it into the ground. He was hanging on. Now you get the picture of the full outfit. Ready for shorts though.
Here are my friends at the resturant. I was really good and ate when everyone else ate. Their food looked much better though.
More pictures this week. Lots of Love, Jakob

Today officially marks 3 weeks of Jakob being home with us. He has made a lot of progress.

The medication is kicking in and feeling much better. He is even happier than before. He loved the nice warm weather today.

We were outside most of the day. He is sleeping a bit better too.

That's all for now.

Have a great week.

All our love,

Rick, Mandi, & Jakob

Finally Plane Pictures!

Mom & I are relaxing on the floor in Washington DC Airport. Getting ready for our flight.

On the plane and ready to get home! I slept, ate and pooped most of the trip.

Here was my one of my sleeping moments. Mom & Dad were really smart and booked and open seat in between them. It gave us extra room. Thank goodness no one sat there.
Here is the map of our travels. We are just outside of Addis. The white line tracks our trip.
Here is Papa wrapped up in the blanket. This picture really goes with the poop story from a previous post.
Only 4 hours and 11 minutes to go. That means 13 hours are already behind us. Yippee!

Sorry for the delay in the pictures!

Lots of Love,

Jakob, Rick & Mandi

Doctor's Appointment Update!

Sorry that we did not have time to post last night. It was a busy day and Jakob was a bit fussy from his shots.

Jakob received 4 shots normal routine babys shots. He has to go again in 30 days for the next set.

His congestion is a combinations of Pneumonia, Influenza, Strep, etc. Everything tested postive on the nose swab. He has is now on an antibiotic for it. Should clear up in about 10 days.

His rash no idea what it is from. Currently figuring it is from THE CHANGE!! Climate, Water, Food, O2, etc, etc. We have a cream for the bad spots. We are going to let his body adjust and put cream on the bad spots.

The "small red blood cells" currently diagnosed as Low Iron, so we have an iron supplement for him to take. The new formula should help bring that up as well.

His TB test Positive! We have to go for a Chest X-ray when his congestion clears up. He was exposed to it in the orphanage, but doesn't show any signs that he has it. Also it can't be passed by babies, so no need to worry for any of you.

Everything came back very good.
I checked online and according to the US charts he is 25 - 50 % bracket, so not bad at all.
We didn't get any pictures, because he was sleeping and then we had to wake him for shots, so he wasn't too happy about that.

Next appointment for shots is on May 15.
No big plans for the weekend, just working.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers and support. I will let you know the results of the TB test when the Xrays are done as well.

See you soon,
All our love,
Rick, Mandi & Jakob

More Pictures Coming In!

Thanks for the extra pictures.
#1 Is Grandma B, My cousin Torie and me at the airport.
#2 Is all my cousins in my dad's family. Jordan, Torie, Gage, Carter & Ryerson
#3 Is my auntie Kim and I.
#4 Is my auntie Michelle and I.
It has been so fun getting to meet everyone.

Send more pictures!!!!

All my love,
Jakob (mom & dad too)

Time for Cereal!

The doctor says I am doing pretty well and can now have Cereal. My mom tried to feed me and made a big mess. I kept grabbing the wash cloth to clean it up, but she would make a mess again. I really don't like plain cereal, so I had a little bit of pears in with it. YUM YUM!
I can't wait for steak and potatoes. Dad says I can have it now, but mom thinks we should wait.
I have to go to the doctor tomorrow for some more shots. I will also get the results from my blood work. I had to go in last night for them to take more blood. I screamed loud, but the nurses thought I was cute.

Please pray that all of my tests come back good. The doctor already said I have "small red blood cells," he told mom not to worry, but you know mom. (that was the need for the additional blood, so she's freaking out!) Anyway I will send you a full report tomorrow. Maybe pictures, if mom can pull herself together at the doctors office and take some.

Loving America and all my new family and friends.
Jakob

Hot off the Email!

Thanks to everyone who has sent me more pictures.

Here are some great shots that just came in.

The 1st 2 are Grandpa & Grandma Brower at the airport the night that we came home.

The next picture is with my 2nd cousins Hannah & Isaiah (or 3rd cousins, who's counting anyway).

The last picture is with my mom's cousin Chrisje. She loves to hold me. I even smiled for her.

Thank you again for sending in the photos. If you would like to see your photo here, just send it over.

Lots of Love,

Jakob, Mom & Dad

Doctor's Appointment

Jakob went to the doctor today. He did not enjoy it at all. As a matter a fact he screamed pretty much the whole time. We had to go to the lab to get blood drawn too. More results on Thursday.

Weight: 16 lbs 7 oz. up over a pound from 2 weeks ago.

Length: 27" long up a 1/2" over 2 weeks ago.

We went to see Aunt Marcia, nana and the whole gang at Graphix after Jakob's appointment. They really made him smile.

Off to bed!

Love,

Mandi, Rick & Jakob

PS Another doctors appt on Thursday more details to follow!!

What a Weekend!

On Saturday my cousin Corbyn came to visit me. I was so tired I couldn't even stay awake. She held me anyway. Oh yea, mom bought more stuff for my room on Sat too. It will take a little while to come in, but once it is here, I will be sure to post a picture of my room for you. Sunday we went to my Papa & Nana Malda's house. I got to meet my cousin Zach. He lives in Ann Arbor, so I haven't met him before. He is 2 weeks older than me and a bit bigger. I was able to hang out with my Aunt Mary & "Uncle" Jon and Uncle Chris too!! It was really fun. At night I went to my poopy Papa's house. I really like poopy Papa. Would you like to know the story about "poopy" papa. He was so previleged to be holding me on the plane while I pooped all over his shirt. I just knew my diaper wouldn't hold everything coming out, but I knew he wouldn't mind. He went in the back of the plane and washed out his shirt, while mommy changed my whole outfit. He sat with a blanket wrapped around him for the rest of the trip, since he didn't have another shirt. It was really stinky too. Oops sorry! Guess what, because I am so comfortable around poopy papa, I knew he wouldn't mind if I did it again. He was holding me so nice on the couch, when all of a sudden I had to go. It kept coming and shot right up my back through my clothes and on to papa. He still loves me though!! Anyway, no pictures of the poop, but I got to hang out with my Cousin Dawson. She is 3 months older than me, but we will get along great. It was a good weekend.

My mom is tired and needs some sleep. I like to keep her up at night. It is pretty fun waking her up for nothing at all.

Lots of Love,

Jakob (written by mom)

Loving Life!

Little Jakob had no idea what to expect when these crazy people came and took him out of the orphanage. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow that Jakob has been with us. He is growing everyday. 3 weeks ago, he laid in his crib for a good part of the day. His body was weak and not much strength in his legs. Each day he is doing new things. This past week he rolled over from his stomach to his back. He is still working on sitting up, but tends to fall over. Here is a video of his latest changes. You have to love that smile.

Enjoy! (Hit the arrow button to play video)

Hugs & Kisses

Rick, Mandi & Jakob

Just a few more pictures of Day 10 Fun!

A fun afternoon of lounging around after a day at the office. My mom made me work so hard today. Then my friend Casey came over. We laughed and laughed. My mom forgot to post the picture of my cousin Ryerson so I added that one to. I am really becoming a blog junky now. My dog Ginger tried to get into the pictures too.

Thank you for all the gifts and prayers!

Love you lots,

Jakob