Saturday, June 29, 2013

Journey: a dedication and birthday

It is summer in Waco which means HOT temperatures and summer birthdays. We have stayed busy with swimming, playing at the park, and time with family. David doesn't seem to mind the heat at all. Poor kid will be all sweaty and still want to run around more outside! I try to head out in the morning before it's so hot since I am a hot natured person.

Last Sunday we had the blessing of having David dedicated at our church. As parents we dedicated David and made a commitment to the Lord that we will raise David according to God's Word and ways. I've stated before that I feel so blessed by our wonderful church family. In our Sunday School class there are many families with children about the same age of David which is awesome.

We enjoyed a play date at the children's museum in Waco this week. It's an awesome museum and I have been many times with school- usually   80+ kids, yikes!! I enjoyed it much more with David! It was great to see him explore and enjoy so many new things. He especially liked the water room (no shocker there), the sound room and the transportation room. He loved climbing in and out of the fire truck. What a fun day!

This week we also celebrated my birthday and Drew's. I cannot believe that Drew is 16! and driving- holy moly!! I am so proud of the young man he has grown up to be!!


His favorite thing to do at HEB- eat a whole apple!
He eats the whole darn thing so now it's our special treat while shopping.

He really enjoyed my birthday!

David loved the car at the museum!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Journey: 2 month post Gotcha Day

The first picture we have of David!
This is from November 2011
Today we mark our 2 month anniversary of David's Gotcha Day! It is hard to believe that we've been a family of three for only 2 months, it seems like he's been with us forever!!
2 months ago we held our son for the first time and our lives were changed forever! We've had a really great two months. David is adjusting really well and we are so thankful for God's abundant blessings! It's been so fun watching him discover new things. Yesterday we were outside and he heard a dog barking. He looked at me with wonder in his eyes and said "dog" and put his hands up to ask "where is the dog". It was a precious moment and I look forward to many more of those.
He has recently become more interested in books and he has a few favorites that he wants to read each night. He continues to say new words and loves looking at pictures in his books and finding new things.
He liked the icing!
The water is still a big hit and we're going tomorrow night with our church to the water park. We swam last night at a friend's pool which he, of course, he loved. The past few afternoons we have enjoyed playing outside. He likes to pretend to water the plants like daddy does each night. He does not like the feel of grass on his feet or hands. He still loves steps and if the gate isn't on the bottom of the stairs he will be at the top of the stairs very quickly! He is much for cautious coming down the stairs, for now.
Our crazy family of three!
We are still amazed at the timing of his arrival. We've loved having time off to spend time as a family. June is an especially celebratory month for us with lots of birthdays. Although David doesn't like sweets he does like to hear "happy birthday" sung though he thinks we're singing for him! He is such a cutie!!!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Journey: a TV connection

Several friends have asked if we watch "The Little Couple" on TLC. This is the first season we've watched it and are loving it!! It has been so fun to see their adoption journey and know exactly where they were in the process! I especially enjoyed the few episodes filmed while they were in China. They went to China this winter so we missed meeting them by several months. The episode with the medical appointment and such- yep, we were in that same spot!

We have another connection to them as well. Will, their new addition from China, was in the same foster home as David- New Day. Now, Will (I think) actually lived at the New Day center and David was with a foster family but they had to have met on occasion. We've watch an episode with David and he certainly seemed interested in what was going on!
I look forward to seeing Will's progress in America and to see how the adoption of their little girl goes. They live in Houston so maybe next time we're down there we'll seek them out :) I'm sure they'd love me for that!!!
If you haven't seen the show you should watch it!! They are a super neat couple and now a family! The show comes on Tuesday nights @ 9pm on TLC.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Journey: 43 days HOME!

All Boy! He loves to climb on and into things!
What an awesome 43 days it has been. I cannot believe that it is mid June and we've already celebrated several June birthdays along with Mother's Day and Father's Day. We are so very blessed that things in our new family of 3 are going GREAT!! David is eating well, sleeping well, and he loves play, laugh, and sing!

We've had our first doctors appointment with our awesome pediatrician. She said there was no heart murmur and as far as she could tell his heart was healthy. Praise The Lord!!!! She said we didn't need to do any extensive testing until he was ready to play sports. Poor little guy had to get a TB skin test, 2 shots, and blood drawn to complete the checkup. The nurse was awesome with the shots but the blood work was very hard. There were tears, and not from just David! Good news though, everything came back normal! He has gained some weight since being home (he loves American food, a lot!) and is now 26 lbs. and 33 1/2 inches in height. He seems to be close to the middle on the percentile charts.

His faces lights up when we sing to him!
I am overwhelmed with thankfulness that God brought our family together. We are so blessed that David was at New Day where he got amazing medical care and was with a family who loved and cared for him. I know most children that come home from China do not have this advantage. God is truly doing awesome things through New Day!!

I am home for the summer and Steve is teaching a class in the morning so our days are filled with playtime, swim time, snacks, meals, bath and just being together. He usually wakes up about 8 when Steve leave to go teach. He takes an afternoon nap for 1-2 hours although recently it has been right at 2 hours, it's like he has a little alarm clock inside! We do bath time/bed time around 8. In between the time David likes to play with his blocks and puzzles. He also still loves to GO! He will ask for his shoes or bring me mine indicating it's time to head outside!

He is saying new words each day which is great to hear! His new words are "chip, three, hi, water (wawa), and papa". He loves to have us sing to him and he will move his mouth along with ours. His favorite songs are the ABC song, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and The Wheels on the Bus. If there is music on in the house he will dance to it and gives lots of smiles.

Bath time is FUN!
We did a mommy and me swim class the first week of June which was very fun. Before we started washing his hair was hard and there were usually tears. By the end of the week he was pouring water on his own hair and could go underwater from me to the instructor!! We've gotten season passes to the water park in Waco and have already been several times. He loves it and loves to be outside!

My mom and dad kept him a few mornings when I had to work. He loves to go to their house! He has also made a special bond with his cousins. He loves all 3 of them very much and would sometimes rather be held by one of them than Steve or me! I am so thankful that my family is in town. June has been busy with birthdays, dance recital and tonight a piano recital. It is fun to have David at the events! It is fun to see him playing with some of my favorite toys. The fisher-price castle has been brought out and David enjoys playing with it!

Ready to go swim!
On Sunday we will do our church dedication. We feel so blessed to be in such an awesome community of faith. I love knowing how important children are to our church! We are so blessed to have incredible people of faith to share our son with each week!




He loves to be outside!

Playing with Hannah at the park!

Mother's Day 2013

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Journey: days in Urumqi

Sorry, I'm a bit behind. I went back to work this week- just for four days while Steve is off too. He starts next week with his summer class. David and Steve had a wonderful week and it was very hard for me to be away from them all day. Not sure what I'm going to do when August rolls around!

April 23-25: After an exciting and exhausting Monday we were looking forward to a low key Tuesday and some time to get to know our son. David woke up smiling and ready to go! He loves to put on his shoes and head for the door, always wanting to be on the go~perfect for our family! Our only scheduled event for Tuesday was a trip to the grocery store to stock up on some more supplies. It was a very interesting shopping trip. One thing Steve and I always enjoy when we're in a new country is to visit their stores and see what things are different and the same. In China the store had some similar items and then it had some very different things that we wouldn't find in an American grocery store. The smell in the fish area was overwhelming but you could pick out whatever large fish you wanted from the tank, or you could but a whole pigeon (beak and everything). You could also buy flowers to make tea with, we had lots of chrysanthemum tea while in China.

DISCLAIMER... I'm a horrible blogger, or better yet I am now a mommy to a toddler who is on the go! I started this post last week~sorry!!!  I've added some pics about our days in Urumqi and some info in the comments.

This is David's "Finding Spot", where he was abandoned.
 It is a hospital located in the Muslim area of Urumqi. Steve and my dad got to go visit.

Inside the "people's park" where there were a ton of people and things to do.
There were people dancing, people singing Chinese opera, fishing, cooking- seriously the park was amazing!

a map of the park, it is huge!

David's favorite thing to do, ride the airplane!

We visited the bazaar in Urumqi, very interesting and unique!

Could he be any cuter?!?