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Gabriel Sebastian Dotterweich

(otherwise known as 가브리엘)

Gabriel Sebastian Dotterweich is our Korean baby.  He was born on February 19th, 2014 in Hosan Women’s Hospital in Seoul, South Korea.  The nurses said he was biggest baby in the ward, weighing out at 9 lbs, 9 ozs.

He must have been comfortable too because he stuck with me all the way through 41 weeks… (Aww, I love you too baby…)  But ouch!  We ended up having an emergency C-section due to his mammoth head circumference (110th percentile).

Gabriel is our world traveler, quite literally.  

By the time he was 13 years old, he had lived in 5 countries on 3 continents, and traveled to at least 15 countries.

This love of travel has rooted itself deeply in the fabric of his being, and now, we are asked on a daily basis where we are going next?!  Even as early as 1st grade, he was drawing out a travel itinerary which included the Sydney Opera House, Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Moai statues on Easter Island.

Gabriel is currently a Senior at the American International School of Jeddah (AISJ).  He was our first everything – baby, toddler, teenager (complete with acne and attitude) and now our first high school graduate..  But he is very good natured, kind at heart, loves to watch funny videos and enjoys playing harmless pranks on people.  And he’s joined band is learning how to play “Jingle Bells” on his new trumpet.  He’s our little man.

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Noah Christian Dotterweich

Noah Christian Dotterweich is our miracle baby!  He was conceived through an IVF process in Abu Dhabi, UAE and born via planned C-section on January 8, 2008.  

We had a very difficult time getting pregnant after Gabriel (two and a half years of no success, hence the IVF).

I’ll never forget when the nurse from the hospital called to give me the results of my pregnancy test after the procedure.  She said,

• Nurse: “Congratulations, you are pregnant!”
• Me: “Are you sure? (long pause)  Are you sure???!!!!”
• Nurse: “Um, YES, of course I’m sure!  (pause)  Don’t you want to be pregnant?!”  
• Me: (Starting to sob..) “Yes, yes, I do.” (total breakdown with sobs of happiness)”

I wanted Gabriel to have a playmate, and of course we wanted another baby – and thank God for him.  What a blessing he has added to our lives.

Noah is our peacemaker. He is not satisfied until everyone around him is happy.  I called him our little “border collie,” because he is always running around, checking on everyone.

Not necessarily as keen on traveling as his big brother, Noah is a homebody. However, he takes everything in stride, and seems to have a good time when we are off on trips (but he is our human calendar, and is always keeping track of how many days until we go home. 🙂

Noah has the best of both worlds.  He dearly loves his big brother and is a fun playmate for his little brother.

Noah has grown up WAY too quickly and is now 15.  He is about to enter high school.

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Samuel Lawrence Dotterweich

(Arabic for “Samuel”)

Samuel the Surprise!

After the issues we’d had getting pregnant with Noah, we didn’t think any more children were possible.

Thank GOD someone up there felt the need to prove us wrong. 🙂

Samuel was born on September 10th, 2012 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; a child of the Red Sea.

Samuel enjoys snuggles, cuddles, and is a very good sport about posing and smiling for the million+ annoying pictures that Mommy takes.

Samuel is sweet, stubborn, loving, happy, outgoing, and absolutely MUST be in the middle of everything.  And while there’s still a little shyness and stranger danger there, he still embraces the world around him.

He is such a beautiful and cherished blessing to our family, and made us complete.