Thursday, February 27, 2014

Journey: The Lariat

Recently a student contacted Steve about writing an article for The Lariat (Baylor campus newspaper) about our adoption. The
student writer had a friend who had been in Steve's class last spring when he was out for our adoption trip to China. We were excited about sharing our story with the Baylor family! Steve was interviewed and then the writer attend the CNY celebration at BU while we were there. I was very excited to see the published article. The writer did a great job and I look forward to sharing the story with David when he grows up!
Here's a link to the article: http://baylorlariat.com/2014/02/21/baylor-professor-finds-joy-through-adopting-child/

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Journey: Valentine's Day 2014

Yep, he likes it!
What a fun first Valentine's Day we had with David! He enjoyed making cards for his class. He gave Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ones, of course! He loved showing us his bag of cards and eating the candy. David loves chocolate!! We gave him a MMC tool set and my parents gave him the Little People's plane. He loves his new toys! We enjoyed a family night of Chinese food, he can put away some noodles!, and a movie. We watched Cars. He was interested in the movie but more interested in the popcorn!!
The weekend was gorgeous so we spent some time at a playground that's close by on Saturday. We've discovered that David loves to climb and hang! He heads straight to the climbing ladders and has a huge smile while he's climbing. On Sunday we enjoyed an afternoon at the zoo. After a very cold winter we are so happy that the sun is back and we can enjoy time outside!!

Handy Man David

He's a big fan of Little People!

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Looking cute in his cap!


Monday, February 10, 2014

Journey: 2 1/2 Years Old!!

David loves his cousins!!
It's hard to believe that we've been home 9 months with our son. The time has flown by!! How is it that 9 months ago we were just returning to Waco after a trip of a lifetime to bring home David?!? God is great and each day we so thankful for the incredible gift He has given us!! I truly believe that there is no other child who could be more perfect in our family.
David is now 2 1/2 years old! He is growing and talking and playing!!
Although we haven't been back to the doctor for an official visit we have visited the Urgent Care center thanks to strep and RSV (grrrrrr)... at that visit he had gained a pound and almost an inch. He is finally growing out of his 18 month size clothes although the 2T pants are too long. I'm ready for shorts season :)
He loves playing with anything that has wheels! He likes to push his many cars, trucks and trains around the house. He loves playing with his pizza and his push and go. He has many Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toys thanks to his love of the tv show. His favorite shows are Super Why, MMC, and Daniel Tiger. He likes to listen to us sing especially when Steve and I sing together. He thinks it's pretty fun that we know the same song :) He loves to dance and clap too! He loves to be outside and we've taken advantage of the few warm days to head to the park. He likes to ride his tricycle and he can almost get the peddles all the way around!
He isn't a big fan of veggies but he still loves tomatoes. His favorite things to eat are mac and cheese, chicken tenders/nuggets, any type of fruit, and soup. The soup can be messy but he loves it just like his daddy. He also still loves ketchup and fries which we have to hide till he eats the main course or else he'll only want the fries! He is doing better with drinking milk though we've switched to chocolate almond milk. For snack he loves 'nanas' and oranges so I'm not worried about him lacking in vitamins from fruit!
Cheese!
He loves to listen to stories each night before bedtime and he's still a great sleeper. Usually on Saturday mornings I have to wake him up! His bedtime routine now includes a stop in the guest room where he wants to lay on the bed before going to his crib. Not sure why or how this started but it's a short detour so we humor him. He's still in his crib and probably will be till he tries to climb out of it :) I am so glad we have a video monitor!! His favorite story right now is That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown which I bought when I was planning on having an Emily instead of a David. It's a funny little story. He also has enjoyed the books that we bought for Chinese New Year. He loves books with flaps that he can lift. He also LOVES seek and find books- loves them. We found 2 MMC ones that he knows so well he will find the objects before we ask for them.
His language is coming along great!!! It seems like he speaks new words each day. He is also speaking in small sentences which is awesome. He'll ask us questions and let us know what he wants which is great. He prays at dinner time and if we cough or sneeze he'll ask if we're okay- melt my heart!!! As a good Baylor alum David can recognize whenever we're sporting our BU gear. He also likes to do Sic 'Em!
We look forward to watching David grow, continue to learn new things and discover more about him! Thank you for sharing our journey!!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Journey: A Trip to Arizona

In front of our former house~ 756 Deleon
I'm behind on blogging, shocking I know :) So, I updated with CNY and now I'm going back to the beginning of the year.
The success of Baylor football was very fun this year!! We went to a couple of games including the very cold Texas game and the Oklahoma game. So, when we found out the bowl game was going to be the Fiesta Bowl we knew we needed to be there. Since David gets car sick and it would be a very long car ride we decided that he would enjoy a few days with his Papa and Gigi~ which he did!! Yes, we decided to drive because the flights were crazy expensive! So, we booked hotels and made plans with the Gochis family on when to leave.
You have to drive through El Paso to get to Phoenix which was perfect for us. I grew up in El Paso, moved to Waco in 8th grade, so our first night was spent there. Oh, what fun we had!! Cheryl and I knew our dinner had to be at Bella Napoli which was our favorite nice restaurant. We spent many fun family dinners there after special events. We also visited my great-aunt which was very, very fun. We stopped by the house that we grew up in and our former schools. It was so fun to drive around remembering the very fun times we had in El Paso.
Our favorite restaurant in E. P.!



A FUN night in El Paso!


 
Visiting our great-aunt!
After a great side trip through El Paso we headed onto Phoenix. We really enjoyed Phoenix and loved the sunny weather. The game didn't go our way (it was horrible, really) but we still had a great time. We enjoyed the pep rally and New Years Eve in Phoenix.
Enjoying the sunny pep rally!
We three bears :)


The family ready to cheer on the Bears!!
 

Outside the stadium

Hanging with Judge Starr :)


I loved all the fruit trees in all the yards- so fun!!

Visiting with Sandy- a friend of the family from my parents time in Germany.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Journey: Chinese New Year~ Year of the Horse

We are excited to introduce David to his Chinese heritage. China has such a rich culture and Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, is the most significant holiday. The holiday is much like our Christmas and Thanksgiving in terms of spending time with family. CNY is celebrated for 15 days and each day has a tradition to go with it. The eve of CNY is usually spent as a family for a reunion dinner.

We had family dinner last Friday night at a local Chinese restaurant. They know our family and were excited to meet David. David loved eating the noodles and rice. I need to make noodles more often!! Last night we attend the CNY celebration at Baylor. The Asian Student Association hosts a fun evening with food, games and skits. David was a big hit in his traditional dress. Hannah also wore a beautiful silk dress and looked so grown up. We had a fun night meeting other families with children from China. I ordered some picture books about CNY and David has really enjoyed them. He likes all the bright colors and will point out certain things like the dragon and noodles. 
Red is a color of good luck
Modeling his outfit by our dragon.

China cousins!

Papa and Gigi love their grandkids so much!!

Isn't she beautiful!!

Playing one of the games.
David was a little scared of the dragon but brave enough to try it on!
Captivated by the skit and dragon!



"Hi, I'm David and I love to dance!!"
Hannah and Nannan our Welcome Family student from China.
Hannah hanging with a Panda