On Tuesday, May 19th we went to the boy's 1st professional baseball game at Petco Park. Everyone had a great time. We got to the park as soon as the gates opened. Alemu and Israel played in the kids game for a while. They both were excellent batters. It was a lot of fun watching them try to figure the game out. We would all have to scream at them to get them to run to the next base, and tell them to go back when they ran on a foul ball. Israel has insisted since day 1 in America that he wants to play baseball...he's going to be good!
My baby is such a lover! Always cuddling.
Israel and Almeu brought their gloves and had them ready the whole time. After they played baseball we watched batting practice and they each got a ball. Apparently that wasn't good enough and they both wanted to catch a foul ball (very unlikely). Although balls came into our area none were close enough and the chances it would happen twice was more than improbable. Dad had to explain that he has been to many many games and never caught a foul ball. Alemu's response was "I want go to many many games." Meanwhile Israel wanted to change seats to whichever area just got the last foul ball.
Elias was out by the 3rd inning. It lasted for a few innings until Israel screamed really loud. Luckily there was no one sitting by us.
While Mom had the baby Dad was surrounded by very excited and somewhat overstimulated versions of Alemu and Israel. I sat next to Israel who was loud and talking non-stop the entire game. At one point Brian had Israel and I trade places to give Dad a break. These boys were hyper as they are with all new things. Israel caught on quickly to all of Brian's cheers and his favorite was "Let's go Padres, let's go!" in his super cute Ethiopian accent. Alemu being the pre-teen that we all know he is (you know 10 going on 14) loves to push buttons...especially Dad's, probably because Dad is always picking on him. Anyway, when Dad would talk about the "good" team or "our" team, Almeu realized that if he rooted for the other team it would be opposite of the whole family. So that's what he did. Very loudly. The entire game. At one point the other team hit a long foul ball. Not understanding foul balls Alemu stands up, pumping his fists, cheering like crazy, hitting Dad on the shoulder yelling "yea, yea, yea!" He then gets quiet, looks around, turns red and says "Only Me?!?" Dad laughs and confirms that "yes, you are the only one cheering." He then explained foul balls for the 14th time. 
Israel ate the entire night. After eating his meal he wanted some of Brian's "chicken" which was really calamari. He loved Brian's "chicken." He also loves ketchup. As a present Brian gave him an entire bag of ketchup packets that came with his order. Israel was in heaven and was squeezing the straight ketchup into his mouth until Mom realized what was going on and told him that was enough for one night. Ewww.
Last year at Padres games we talked about how we would have our baby with us next season. This game was by far the best one we have been to yet! 
Sometimes he actually starts singing along with Brian. It is THE CUTEST THING. 
After a while of sitting Elias will then make his way over to his Dad so he can touch the guitar. He can't get enough of it. 
I was putting on my "face" as Brian so lovingly refers to my makeup and noticed it had been silent for a few seconds too long. Even though Elias was literally at my feet I didn't notice he had unrolled the toilet paper. As I ran out to the living room to get the camera, the kid who cannot under any circumstances be alone for more than 5 seconds started to follow me, dragging his t.p. trail with him. Seriously, can he get any cuter?
Yesterday we had our Dr.'s visit. Elias is weighing in at a slender 22 pounds. The doctor told me this was above average. He is 30 inches long which I was told was well above average. His head is 48 centimeters. After looking at the chart the doctor looked at me, chuckled a little, and said, "well his head is...HUGE." That made me laugh. Certainly no new news. We have always been well aware that this little boy has a large noggin. My Mom quickly defended him by saying it wasn't out of proportion to his body. Sometimes though when he is sitting up he actually looks like he is laboring at keeping his head steady. Luckily his height and weight truly don't make his head look out of place :) Brian looked up the percentages as "above average, well above average, and HUGE" weren't quite doing it for him. For weight Elias is in the 55th percentile. For height he is in the 80th percentile. And his head is in the 94th percentile. Since we have had him home his weight and height have swaped, which means the diet the doctor put him on apparently worked. The doctor put him on this diet because he didn't want to see "another obese American"...meanwhile I was just thankful my child wasn't malnourished.
On May 7th, Besufikad Brian Gossett legally became Elias Besufikad Gossett. We finalized Elias' adoption on the U.S. side of things in San Diego Juvenile Courts. Elias is now officially a U.S. Citizen. The court hearing literally could have taken 15 seconds but the judge was really nice and drew it out to a whopping 7 minute long ceremony. This was after we waited in the lobby area for over 45 minutes. At least we all had a good time in the lobby.
The entire adoption process I was confused about the readoption process. Every time I asked questions about it they were dismissed by saying we'll talk more about it once we get there. I still don't really understand it all BUT what I do know is that thanks to the great state of California this was by far the EASIEST (and cheapest) part of our entire adoption process. I filled out 5 forms all basically asking me the same easy questions. We had our first post placement visit. I over-paid (I mean...paid) our homestudy agency to complete 3 forms for me. I took all of the above to the juvenile courts, filed them with a really nice lady, paid $20, signed a couple things, showed her a couple things, and was booked a court date 1 month later.
When we walked in the court room it was not at all what I pictured. We sat at this long table and the judge was on the other side. It was nothing like the t.v. court room I had been picturing. I thought she would have introduced herself but she didn't. Instead she asked us if we were Brian, Autumn and Elias. We said yes. She then told us the first order of business was to let Elias pick his hand stamp. 
At this time I am thinking, "Cute, but are you serious?" She pulls out her stamp collection and lays them in front of Elias. He grabs Tigger and it goes straight to the mouth. 
2 of our 7 minutes were spent by her walking around stamping Tigger on everyone's hand.
We brought a bunch of family with us and I believe there were 13 hands to stamp. At one point I turned around because I heard a bunch of laughing. Apparently when it was Almeu and Israel's turn to get their hands stamped Dad tried to explain who Tigger was. He said, "you know, Tigger, from Pooh." They asked the obvious question, "Like poop?!?" Um, no. I didn't hear it because I was a bit distracted but they don't exactly have court room volume as a vocal level. Everything is said very LOUD. Next we signed the 2 documents (adoption papers!) I had previously filed. 
Then we were told the adoption was FINAL!!!!! 
The judge, whose name I still did not know asked if we wanted a picture at the bench. Of course! So we walked the 3 feet to the bench and had our photo op. 
For some reason I felt like I had to keep saying something because it all seemed like so much of nothing and there was a lot of awkward silence...I must have said "thank you" to the judge 10 times in those 7 minutes and really she didn't do much of anything. She probably thought I was nuts. Oh well.
