Merry Christmas!

Holiday Greeting 2010 from bradbelote on Vimeo.

The Battlefield Santa

Missy sings offertory

Untitled from bradbelote on Vimeo.

Quilla's Progress: A Side-By-Side Comparison

Simply amazing! The photo on the left was taken a couple of days after we got home in July. The photo on the right was from last week.

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger. You can understand why it's hard to find time to post meaningful updates. The kids keep us uber busy. That's why Facebook is a good place to catch short and quick updates from us. If we're not already friends, leave your name in the comment section and we'll connect there.

Quilla Update: She turns 1 Sunday!! She's walking by herself behind a push toy. AMAZING! She's doing so well, we've cut back on her occupational therapy to once a month. Her speech therapist is equally amazed at her communication skills. By 12 months, she should say one word. Quilla says mama, dada, kitty, Zekie, yeah, and no. She signs baby, eat, ball, more. She loves to pretend to give her baby a bottle. Santa is bringing her a baby doll care kit.

Zeke Update: He was very sick to his stomach on Thanksgiving. He's much better now. His eyes are improving, though surgery in the new year is likely to prevent his eyes from crossing. He is as precocious as ever and continues to amuse us with his cute questions and sayings. He's learning his letters and the sounds they make. He continues to be an excellent big brother and enjoys showing Quilla how to do stuff.

That's it! We are looking forward to being with family for Christmas. I have a pile of new photos...I'll work on a new photo montage very soon...and I will be a better blogger!

Pictures

Updating recent photos:

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LOVE these shirts!

Another family adopting from Ethiopia with our agency is selling t-shirts to raise money. This has to be one of the coolest designs I've ever seen. I'm going to get Quilla a onesie. CLICK HERE to see these awesome shirts!

Tennessee Visit

The kids had an AMAZING time with the family during our recent Tennessee visit. Enjoy! (By the way, it was tough to find the right music...in the end, I just went with a couple of songs that have a good beat.)

On the Road Again

We just got back from a WONDERFUL week of fun and family in Tennessee. Quilla got to meet Brad's parents, my brother, and the extended family! It was great! Photos are coming soon. We are doing well, though we're exhausted still from yesterday's VERY early morning flight (we woke up before 4AM). Halloween was a trip! Zeke was a lion and Quilla was a bee, perfect because we call her Quilla B.

FWD:Mizzou

This is Cousin Bridger!

Meet Quilla Rose Tigist Belote

It's official!

Happy Birthday Zeke!!!

You know it's official when your candle is a big THREE!

Quilla is a party girl!

Zeke and his buddies decide that wood chips and dirt make great conditioners for your hair.

Exploring the playground!

Eating cake!

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Where Have We Been?--Scroll Down for New Photos!!

Well, we are still here. Quilla had an "episode" last Wednesday that prompted the doctors to have her admitted to Children's Hospital about three and a half hours away. They ran a couple of neurological tests and the results were all normal. We are praising the Lord for that! The neurologists actually didn't think she had any problems but wanted to do what they could do rule out seizures. Apparently, you can never conclusively rule them out but based on her symptoms and the tests, we're pretty confident that she's having upper airway issues, not seizures.

With all the stress and worry that these episodes bring (even though she's only had five), it's been very draining on me. I've resolved to LIVE A NORMAL LIFE. I'm not going to hover around her, waiting to see if she's going to have one. Instead, we are going out and doing stuff, just like we would do if she'd never had any episodes. Since we got back from St Louis, she has been great. She is increasingly mobile (to Zeke's chagrin) and continues to gain weight. At last check, she was at 12 pounds, 7 ounces. She'll probably get weighed Thursday when she goes to the doctor for some vaccines. We're hoping for a big number!

Here are some fun photos from our lives recently: