Lots of Changes!

I never would have imagined life where it is right now. 3 years ago, things seemed kinda bleak. We had just turned our paperwork in for China & I had a terrible sinking feeling that it was going to be a very long wait. On April 11th 2009, we were officially LID 3 years. Never did I imagine it would be THIS long. I really started to see the writing on the wall at the beginning of 2007, that is when I secretly started researching concurrent adoptions. Our agency issued an email in Feb(?) of that year that they would allow concurrent adoptions or pregnancies if there was a space of 1 year between placement of children. When I read that email, I went full steam ahead. I was scared to death that we were not going to make the 1 year requirement, but we decided to risk it & give it a try. I am so glad we did. Christopher came home Aug 2007.

Last year we were given a wonderful opportunity & with the help of medical science I got pregnant. Never happened in the 5+ years we were trying. We were shocked pretty much the entire pregnancy. Once again, we were scared that we would not make the 1 year policy of our agency. After talking with our agency, we have been assured that we can go on hold to meet this requirement, IF needed. I am not convinced that we are going to have to go on hold & my agency seemed to think we might be alright. It is so sad that the China adoption process has slowed sooo much.

On Febuary 24th, we welcomed a beautiful baby girl into our family. Christopher is a big brother! He is finally warming up to her. For the longest time, he acted like she was just part of the furniture. Now, he talks to her, holds her hand & will kiss her forehead. He calls her "Sissa" or "Sissy". He is even letting me get some pics of them together now & he held her for the first time when she was 3 months old. He is such a good big brother & very loving to her, I cannot wait to see him with 2 sisters.

Eating Noodles & cheesing it up!

Christopher turned 2 this year & had a great birthday party @ McDonald's with his cousin.

Stroller Giveaway!

Please go over to Heather's blog & donate, you could win a stroller & help build a new home!
Click HERE

VOTE FOR CHRISTOPHER!!!

Remember this photo?

It is from Halloween 2007. I entered it in Laurie's photo contest to win a double stroller & he made it to finalist! Today is the last day to vote, so please go
vote for Christopher the Cowboy here ------ >>>> VOTE FOR CHRISTOPHER!

This year Christopher went as Elvis for Halloween. I did not get great pictures of him so sometime next week we are getting back in the costume, so I can get some good shots. He is doing great & into everything!!! He babbles ALOT & is very expressive with his hands. He has taken to calling me "MA!" instead of mommie. Bye Bye is his favorite word & he will usually give you lots of kisses while waving bye.

He had some Elvis glasses but refused to wear them.

We trick or treated downtown, then had a long night going door to door with his cousins in a local neighborhood. He was exhausted. He consumed 3 dum dum suckers throughout the day, which were his very first taste of a sucker. He loved them, but they didn't love him the next day. We had some stomach issues.

I promise to do better updating the blog, we have been busy getting our homestudy updated hopefully for the last time. Sometime next year, this little boy will be a big brother!

One Year Anniversary!

Happy Christopher Day! Our 1st glimpse of our son was on April 17th 2007. We were both so overcome by emotion.



Our first pictures with Christopher.

It seems like yesterday that we met our little man, yet so much has changed since then. I cannot imagine life without him. We feel so blessed to be his parents. I spent the day looking over pictures and reminiscing about those first few months with him. It amazes us how much he has changed and grown. We squeezed him extra tight tonight when we put him to bed, is it possible to love him anymore than we already do? Happy "Forever Family Day" Christopher!

Vacation

We just returned from a week in Florida and had a great time. Christopher loved the beach and waved to anyone who would pay attention to him. We bought him a 24 inch kiddie pool & he sat in it for hours playing with his toys.

My 2 favorite guys!

The first day of vacation, Christopher decided to start walking. He had been taking steps here and there but took off walking everywhere when we got to the condo. His balance was horrible that first day & within 2 hours he had busted his lip and fallen flat on his face on the tile floor. Notice the bruise under his eye in the picture. The bear in the picture is Christopher's favorite, it can comfort him in most situations. He carries it around in his mouth, biting his nose. He talks to it at nap time endlessly. He loves this bear so much that I found 2 more online and bought them for him. We keep 1 in the crib, 1 in the den & 1 in the closet as backup.

Wild hair after a nap!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy, Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, Mother in Law, Sisters and Sister in Law! Also, a special Happy Mother's Day to all those soon to be moms who are waiting to bring their little ones home. I know the pain you are feeling on this day. Every year that passed without a child, I wondered if we would ever have a family of our own.

This is my first Mothers Day and as I was rocking Christopher to sleep last night, I was overcome with my love for him. We are truly blessed with him.

These are 2 pics from our latest photo session! LOVE THIS BABY!

13 months!

I know, I know, I am a really bad blogger! But this post is pic HEAVY! I will try to do better!
Christopher is 13 months old! He is doing great! At the last well child visit,

*He weighed 19.5 lbs

*He was 29 3/4 inches long. I think that he has grown a good bit since that visit especially in height.

*His hair has taken off. It is now laying down on his head instead of sticking straight up. I kinda miss it sticking up :(

*He is cruising around the coffee table often.

*He says Mama, Dada, and tonight said, night night.

*Loves music

*Cries when he hears another baby crying.
* Is very, very ticklish.

*Hates anything sweet but can eat his weight in veggies.

*Will NOT take a sippy cup.

Christopher had a Cookie Monster themed birthday party. We decided to give the sesame street underdog a chance and choose Cookie instead of Elmo. He had a great birthday! It is hard to believe that he turned 1. He has changed sooo much since he came home.

We tried to get him to eat some of his cake but all he wanted to do was squish it between his fingers. He is not a sweet eater, which is good for my waist line.

Already sooo tired from all the attention of his birthday!

This baby is very lazy when it comes to holding his bottle. He perfers you do it for him and will take maybe 2 sips out of a sippy cup. These pics were taken after we both got up from a nap. I had to get ready for work and he was still super tired and just a little bit whiney. He would not hold his bottle so I got creative with 1 of his birthday gifts. Thanks Spidey! He stayed like this for at least 2 minutes, NO JOKE!

Christopher has some serious teeth! I remember the last pics that we got of him before we left for Vietnam. I could make out at least 2 teeth in the pictures. I was so sad that I missed his first teeth. We were very surprised to discover that he had 5 teeth when we got him back to the hotel. That was 5 teeth at 5 months! Last month, we had 1 really bad week with sleep. Once again, it was those darn teeth. 4 of them coming in at once. His upper eye teeth are coming in and to our surprise his upper molars are coming in too. This week, I was looking in the his mouth and teeth #13 & 14 (molars) are soon to make their appearance on the bottom. He hates to have you brush his teeth and he will clamp down very quickly if a finger is anywhere near his mouth.

Love my daddy!