Happy Halloween!

Adoption Finalization!

Today was Isaac's Adoption Finalization hearing. What a special day! This was our last step in the adoption process and now Isaac is officially our son in the eyes of the State of Pennsylvania - hooray!

The hearing itself was relatively brief and extremely joyous. Jorgen and I had to each testify individually regarding our family and intentions to parent Isaac. I went first and was not expecting to hear the first question, which was "are you prepared to be Isaac's mother?"... as soon as my attorney said the word "mother" I lost it on stand. I was thankful that there was an entire box of tissues right next to me. Apparently crying during adoption finalization is pretty common. However, the judge told me that I started crying during the mother's testimony earlier than anyone else he had seen...and he performs all of the adoption finalizations for that particular court. I feel pretty good about that distinction :-)

Here are some pictures of the happy family and a very elated Grandma....enjoy!




Whew...that was quite a busy day! Someone was out just a few blocks from the courthouse!

Sunday Funnies

13 months old and 5 months home!

This is a special milestone because not only is Isaac 13 months old today, but he has now been with us longer than he has been anywhere -- in the CHSFS orphanages or with his birth mother. I think it's obvious that he now feels very safe and secure with us and in his new life. The bonds that we've created over the past five months are very strong. He definitely knows who mom and dad are!

Also, we have a couple of new milestones to report. Isaac's fourth tooth came in fully last week. So now he has both bottoms in addition to the tops that came in a few weeks ago. He has a fantastic new toothy smile that he likes to flash...I need to try to capture a picture and post it soon.

He also is on the verge of walking. He took four steps between me and Grandma yesterday... and a few with dad over the weekend. These are among dozens of single and stumbling steps that he's taken over the last few weeks. He's feeling very solid and sure footed...he'll be walking very soon!

Progress in Autumn

I have always loved this season. I don't know if it's because of the gorgeous colors here in Western Pennsylvania, the occasional chill in the air accompanied by a fiery sun, or just the complete and obvious sense of change that is present as these months tick by. I just love it.

Ever since I moved back to my hometown in the mid-90s after a brief string of unfortunate and life-changing events, I have also associated the bounty of Autumn with gorgeous local farms. My good friend, Jeannie, used to take me with her and her little girls to pick pumpkins. I don't recall having this tradition with my family as a child, although I'm sure those farms existed. My memory is blanking, but I just can't recall where our pumpkins came from?? The grocery store? They just seemed to magically appear. But, after my first excursion with Jeannie and the girls, I was hooked. I've gone with many other good friends over the years and every time I fell in love all over again with the experience - the fields of pumpkins and their gnarly vines, hay bales stacked high, indian corn tied up with ribbons, apple cider tastings, hayrides, that pungent yet oddly enticing odor of wet hay, horse manure, and baked goods. I'm a Fall farm junkie!

Three years ago we went to a large farm north of the city with our good friends, Mari, Steve, and their baby, Verena. Seeing Verena enjoy the scene at the young age of three months was so fun to watch. Her parents were obviously enjoying it a little more -- snapping photos of little V in the pumpkin patch, the huge crate of tiny pumpkins, on the covered wagon... it was pure joy! That visit to the patch was also very special for us because we were six months pregnant! We took all of the typical patch pictures too -- just of a big old belly by the pumpkins. Some baring the belly to the world and others of the excited couple envisioning what the next Fall season had in store for them and their new baby.

Looking back on that experience could have made today's trip to the same farm bittersweet. You see, two days after that first visit to the patch my water broke unexpectedly and four days later our son, Dane, was born. He was extremely premature and lived for a brief four hours. I swore that I would never go back to any pumpkin patch because somehow it caused our loss. The damn port-o-john. The horse droppings wafting into the air. The petting zoo (which I skipped, but everyone else visited). The throngs of people spewing their germs into the crowd. It was suddenly the most vile place on earth.

Time surely heals all wounds. At least enough, in this case, to go to and enjoy the very same pumpkin patch. And, honestly, I didn't think about that last trip at all. Not once today did I compare the events of the past to the blessings of the present. So, here are a few pictures of our day and our very special blessing, Isaac.


As I was writing this post, my husband walked into the room to tell me that Isaac's carseat is now forward-facing! Although I was excited about the news, my eyes were swollen with tears. He asked me why I was crying and I told him that I was proud of myself for focusing 100% of my heart and attention on Isaac today... that I didn't feel sad for a moment at the pumpkin patch. His eyes opened wide and he said "oh my god, I didn't think about it once." Progress.

First Birthday In Pictures

Someone Loves Being a Dad...

Then and Now

Here is the first picture we took in his rocking chair at the end of May....


...and this was taken on September 27, 2009...what a difference four months makes!

Some recent pics...

Here are some recent pictures...I'm still waiting for some "good" birthday shots. I'm hopeful that Dad captured a few since the ones that I took were not great. I've thrown a couple in here just in case the good ones never surface :-)


Isaac is one squirmy kiddo! I wanted to capture the new jammies and give you an idea of just how big he is getting. I know, horizontal stripes can be unflattering, but I think they are fabulous on him!



Isaac with our good friend David at Tana Ethiopian restaurant.


Isaac's first experience with Autumn leaves...he loved them! I can see jumping into big piles of them in our future.



The cake...it's hard to see the chocolate cake mess because his tray is brown, but it was everywhere.

Blurry...but you get the point!

Big Days!

We had two big days this week -- Sunday Baby D turned ONE! And so... for some reason, now i feel like I should just start using Baby's real name. Seriously...all of this Baby D. stuff is getting a little silly and I often forget while I'm typing these posts and use his name...having to go back and change them back to Baby D. Plus, I don't have that many people following this blog and those of you who read it know his name. So, we're going to use Isaac from now on...yep! Isaac.

So, Isaac turned one on Sunday! I was not going to do anything big for his birthday because 1) that's just how I am...minimalist lady, 2) I didn't think he'd really know what was going on, so why make all of the fam come into pittsburgh for the weekend when he would be oblivious, 3) aren't parties for babies really just for parents? and I really don't like birthday parties (i think i had some traumatic experiences as a kid at parties...thus, I don't really like them), and 4) we have so much baby stuff in this house as it is, I didn't think we needed piles of gifts...after all, the kid loves playing in the tupperware drawer, banging on the windows, pulling on the window cranks, and driving cardboard boxes around the floor like a car while saying brmm brmm brmm (picture lots of drool flying as he does this). So...I wasn't going to do anything. Then, on Saturday, I started to feel bad for the little guy that his mom is a big lame-o. So, I called a few friends at the last minute and they came over with their kids to help celebrate. My parents and our close friends, Tim & Kate, were already planning to come over for a relaxed dinner. So we ended up having a little shindig and Isaac LOVED every second of it. Plus, I baked a cake (I wasn't going to let him eat cake for his bday because I have a sugar aversion -- yeah, I know, mean mommy). And, this is how I know Isaac is meant to be my man, he HATED the cake! He spit it out! Now...that could be my baking skills or the organic cake mix that I used...but he was not into it at all! So now we can go another year without sugar! I hope to post pictures soon.

In addition to the big bday celebration, Isaac has been home for FOUR months! He has been with us almost as long has he was with CHSFS! I think we hit a magic mark over this past month because he has truly attached and bonded to us. He has been very clingy and is finally weary of strangers. Plus, he is very kissy with us and with his Grandma. He will actually hold you down and kiss you a dozen times...drool and all! He is such a joy and so darn smart! He loves learning new things and words. Speaking of developmental achievements, we had our one-year pediatrician appointment today and Dr. Springer kept using the word AMAZING to describe Isaac. He is around the 25th percentile for his growth markers -- 19lbs 13 oz and 28 inches. Even his head is 25th %. I'm so thrilled. Plus, he is developmentally ADVANCED for verbal and cognitive markers.

So, some of his skills include using words and making sounds. He said the word baby this weekend when we were shopping...completely unprompted. Today I asked him if he pooped when I heard him making some grunting noises and he said, very clearly, YES. Plus, for the past month or so he says "all done" when he's finished eating. These are just a few of his verbal skills. He also says kitty, cat, ball, door, mom, dad, and a few others. If you ask him where his hair or belly are he can point to them. He rubs his belly and gets a huge grin on his face! He's fond of his new big Buddha belly! It took some work to get that belly! Also, for the past few weeks he has been driving his toy cars (and other things -- boxes as I mentioned above, teethers, shoes, whatever he can get his hands on -- but mostly his toy cars) around on the floor and saying Brmm brmm Brmm brmm. Dr. S. told us that this is a developmental marker for a 2 year old!
My baby is a genius!

What a difference from his first visit in early June when he wasn't even on the growth charts and he was only demonstrating developmental skills of a 4.5 month old (he was 8.5 months at the time). So...if anyone is reading this that has received a referral for a tiny baby that isn't making a lot of progress in an orphanage, please don't lose hope...it's incredible how these kiddos catch up!

Finally, Isaac has THREE TEETH! His top two came in over the past couple of weeks and the bottom left came in last night! His new nickname is Chompers. Chompers loves to use his new teeth to take bites when he eats. He has been eating solely real food since August and loves it! He not only loves all kinds of food, but he loves to feed himself. I highly recommend feeding avocado to your kiddos...it's soft, easy to eat, and loaded with good fats. I've also found a lot of good food for kids at Trader Joe's. Isaac's new favorite is the organic mixed fruit cups....no creepy syrup...just fruit. And we're making the switch to whole milk...so far so good!

So, it's been quite an exciting few days. I promise to post new pictures soon. Until then, brmm brmm brmm.

Quick Pix

Someone loves the change of seasons....


...leaves make neat sounds when you squeeze them and not-so-tasty treats when you try to eat them.

Dancing Machine

I've been super busy the past few weeks, but I wanted to make a quick post to say that Baby D had finally started DANCING on his own....and it's sooo cute! Daddy usually helps him wiggle his body and shake his arms to music. I typically hold him and dance around the house or stand him on my lap and help him keep the beat by clapping or shaking his bum. But tonight, as he was standing up to the coffee table, he just started grooving on his own and he has quite the collection of moves! I hope to capture this on video one of these days! The head shaking and knee bends are classic.

Also, the little guy has two teeth. His top two chompers broke through his gums over the past week and we can see that the bottom two aren't far behind.

He's changing and learning so much everyday! And it's hard to believe that he will be ONE on Sunday! Hopefully I will have some pictures to post soon of our Big Boy and an update from the pediatrician next week after his one year appointment.

Until then, DANCE!

Grandma + Spaghetti =

Firsts!

This has been a week of firsts! Today, when Daddy arrived home from his business trip, he brought Baby D downstairs for a bedtime snack of cheese and crackers, his favorite! During the snack Daddy clapped as he watched the man take tiny little bites of his cracker (something new this week - previously he would shove the entire thing in his mouth and gag). Daddy's clapping sparked a long series of claps out of Baby D....over and over and over. This is the first time that we witnessed the celebratory claps. Grandma told us that she saw some last week, but this is our first experience and it was so cute! He was so proud of himself. In addition to taking little bites of crackers, he is starting to eat bananas all by himself. He's in heaven with this independent eating thing!

He is doing really well at pulling himself up onto furniture, window sills, the playpen, and his parents. And now he has learned how to lower himself down gracefully. Last week he would just let go and fall backwards...sometimes landing on his bum and other times falling straight back like that trust game and smacking his head off of the floor or a toy. He is also standing with just a little help from mom and he is traversing furniture in his attempts to walk. I have a feeling he will be running around very soon.

In addition to these developmental firsts, we had a different kind of first yesterday. I took Mr. Awesome to one of the city parks so we could swing (one of his new faves) and take a walk. When we arrived at the baby swings, no one else was swinging. After a few minutes a little African American girl came over and started pushing an empty swing. She must have been about six or seven years old. I said, "hi"...and she said "lady, is that your baby?" ... "yes, he is my baby"....."well, he don't look like your baby.....he's brown and you're white!" "He is my baby. He was adopted. He used to live in Africa and now he is here and he lives with me. I'm his mommy"...."okay....can you push me on the swing?" And that was it. She was satisfied with that explanation and then I pushed her, her sister, and Baby D on the swings until it was time to move on to the slides. Not long after that a few more AA girls approached us and asked more questions, wanted to hold him, kiss him, hug him, and one wanted to take him home.

It was a really great first. He was in heaven with all of the attention and I loved that I could talk to these kids about how we formed our family and they seemed to get it. I am a bit surprised that it's taken three months to hear those words (are you his mommy? he's brown and you're white). We were so prepared (through all of our adoption education, books, blogs, etc) to deal with all of the curious, inappropriate, inquisitive, rude, and clueless questions....but so far, I've only been asked a few times if he's biracial....and a lot of people telling us how cute he is...but no one has questioned the legitimacy of my role as mommy. I'm glad it was a sweet little girl.

Pictures! Home 3 months!

Two of Baby D's awesome grandmas came to town this weekend and took some photos on Saturday - the 3 month anniversary of our arrival home with mr. awesome. Here are some action shots from our trip to the park and an REI excursion.