Pre-Holiday Memories

Where's your Eye? 




This Christmas was the best one ever sharing it with Andrew. Let me just start off by sharing a few pre-Christmas memories which happened the week before Christmas. Andrew has been pointing out our eyes, nose, ears, mouth, chin, cheeks and teeth over the last couple of weeks. All of a sudden he will poin to my nose or his nose or the nose on his Elmo or where ever he sees someones facial features. In a book of his that we took over to Ukraine with us is a book that points out different parts of the body which we used to read all of the time to him when we were there and since we've been home. We haven't read much of it lately so it surprised me when all of a sudden he is pointing to my nose and saying "Nooos" and pointing to my eye and saying "eye". When he points to my ear he will yank it a couple of times instead of pointing to it. It's funny sometimes lately when he wakes up from his nap he will be crying for me to get him out of his crib and when I pick him up he immediately stops crying and points to my nose and say the word nose and smile. Too cute.


Here is my nose. 





Another cute memory which melted my heart was when Barney was on the television and the ending theme song came on and Andrew jumped up and ran over to me and took hold of my hands and was swaying back and forth as he started singing "I wuv" along with Barney. Tears welled up in my eyes since this was one of the songs I used to sing to him when we were visiting him in the orphanage. Now he is starting to sing it to me.


Love the Teddy Bear. 




Okay are you ready for a funny Christmas Eve wake up call? Well usually every morning when we wake up on a Saturday I will pick Andrew up out of his crib when he wakes up and will bring him into our room and place him between us on the bed until we finish waking up. So when we were ready to get up I took Andrew and put him on the changing table to take off his diaper so I can put him on his potty chair to go poopies on the potty. Well I wasn't expecting his diaper to already have the poopie in it so when I took his diaper off Andrew was in the process of wiggling and rolling around on the changing table and decided to stand up just as the diaper fell off of his butt. Andrew was excited as ever and started running in place and squished his foot in the poop. I grabbed his foot quick enough so he wouldn't leave poopy tracks all over the changing station and with the other hand I held his upper body. Well let's just say that Andrew was still wiggling and squirming in my arms and proceeded to press his poopy foot against my face. He was so quick about it I didn't even see it coming since I was trying to calm him down. I quickly yelled for Robert to come in and help me with the messy situation and of course when he saw the poop smeared on my face he fell over with laughter. I quickly yelled for him to grab the wipes so we could all get cleaned up and have some breakfast. Yeah...that is just what I want after having poop smeared on my face. How nasty is that?!! If that's not a wake up call, I don't know what is.


All wrapped up for Christmas. 




Another cute memory is when Andrew decided to redecorate the Christmas tree...or himself I should say. One evening, Andrew noticed the garland of beads on our Christmas tree and decided to get a closer look. He picked up the end and wrapped it around his neck loosely with the other end of the garland still attached to the tree. I grabbed the camera to get a few photos of the incident and then noticed that Andrew started to twist his body around and around to continue wrapping the garland around himself. It was cute and funny until the Christmas tree started to lean. Okay, Andrew let's put the garland back on the tree and get ready for bed instead of taking the tree down. We like to keep it up at least until Christmas anyway.

Toys R Us & Billy's Birthday Party

About a week ago, we were invited to join our nephew, Billy to celebrate with him and his friends at Chucky Cheese. So when it was time to go to Toys R Us to get a birthday gift for Billy, I figured it would be a good time to also get some ideas for Andrew for Christmas. As we were going through Toys R Us and getting ideas of what to get Billy for his birthday, I had Andrew in the shopping cart and I was tickled to see and hear of his reactions to the toys around him. When we went down the isle that had stuffed Barney's and Winnie the Pooh, he recognized them right away and started gruntinga and reaching for them. I pulled the Winnie the Pooh Bear off of the shelf and let Andrew hold it and he smiled as he hugged it and rested his head upon it. I then put it back after gave him some love and continued on down the isles. When I went down the isle of all of the Thomas the Tank Engine, Andrew about jumped out of the cart to grab the toys of Thomas off the shelf as he yelped. Ohh my...I guess I know what Andrew likes for sure. He was too funny making all of his verbal comments and reactions as we went through the store.



Andrew had a great time celebrating cousin Billy's birthday at Chucky Cheese. There was a separate room for toddlers to climb on slides and sit on a ride with Barney and on a Bulldozer with Bob the Builder. Andrew was approached by Chucky Cheese himself in his mouse costume and when he stopped to wave at Andrew, he froze and stared at him and then his face got all distorted and the tears started to flow. My sweetheart was afraid of Chucky Cheese just like I was afraid of Goofy when I was his Andrew's age at Disneyland. I picked him up and comforted him and then he was fine. What surprised me though was that Andrew liked the adult size animals that played different instruments later on when we had cake in the dining area. He was dancing and going up to the animals at that time. Andrew had a great time and played as much as he could before Mommy and Daddy decided to go home.

Putting up the Christmas Tree

Daddy's little helper 




Boy this Christmas is certainly going to be a memorable one for us this year. Having a child in your home at Christmas time makes the season much more exciting for everyone. We decided to put the Christmas tree up a little earlier this year than we normally do since we couldn't wait to share the excitement of putting up the Christmas tree with Andrew. On December 3rd (yes, I'm still catching up on my journal entries) we put up the Christmas tree. Andrew was intently helping Daddy put the tree together. He would grab a branch of our artificial tree and walk it over to Daddy as he put it together. Back and forth he would go from the box of tree branches to Daddy to give him the branch. Andrew is quite the helper in everything and anything we are doing around the house. But as we put together the Christmas tree he knew that he was helping to doing something extra special. After they assembled the tree Robert took out the string of lights and started stuffing them into the tree branches and following behind him every step of the way was Andrew picking up and carrying the tail of lights that Daddy had dragging on the floor. As Robert would walk around the tree stuffing the lights into the branches, Andrew waddled around the tree following him every step of the way. It was precious to watch Andrew so engrossed in helping that I just sat back and took the moment all in...as I was taking pictures of course. Thank God for digital cameras.




Decorating my first Christmas Tree 

Andrew's First Haircut & Thanksgiving

Andrew's First Haircut 




Since Andrew's hair was looking quite shaggy I took him to get his first haircut. His hair was really growing in thick in the back and was growing over his ears. It was time to get his first haircut. There were many opinions otherwise that I should let it grow longer to let his curls grow in, but he already had some curls in the back and that was enough for Mommy. We have a little boy and not a little girl so Kid's Kuts here we come. Yes, I took him to Kid's Kuts to get his haircut since they are experience with cutting young children's hair. Surprisingly Andrew held still for the most part, up until they took out the electric clippers to shave up the back of his hair and around his ears. Boy how handsome he looks. Robert like his longer hair, which surprises me that he does. I guess because he looked like more of a baby with his longer hair instead of a little boy with his haircut. Kid's Kuts had a video playing of Elmo to keep him still while the lady cut his hair. When the electric clippers came out Andrew stood up in the car he was sitting in and went right to me to protect him. So I held him as the lady finished trimming the back of his hair. They saved some of his hair for me and gave Andrew a certificate for his first haircut for his scrapbook.


Handsome Andrew 





This year we have had a lot to be thankful for at Thanksgiving. We are so thankful to God for bringing our family together with Andrew our son. He is a blessing, an answered prayer and a dream come true. Each day as I put Andrew down for his nap or for the evening I am so thankful for him and I thank God for our precious son. I look down at him in his crib and am amazed at how he has grown and each day he seems bigger than the last. When we brought him home from Ukraine, Andrew was wearing a size 9 months clothes and now his is just getting into 18 months size clothes. I measured him the other day at the doctor's office and he has grown 4 inches since we met him in August. We also just got him new shoes at Stride Rite and realized his foot grew a whole size and a half since we brought him home. He was in a size 3 shoe and now we have him in a size 5. He still seems little to many people but he is certainly growing quickly. We have been home for 2 months on November 21st which was the same amount of time we were in Ukraine and Andrew has amazed me at how much he has learned, grown and bonded with us and our family in such a short amount of time.


I'm a BIG kid now! 

November Developments and Playmates

November certainly flew by and I got a little slack on keeping up with the blog. We're certainly enjoying parenthood and watching our Andrew develop this past month. He has been an absolute joy to be around and is getting more and more active each day. By the end of the day, I am exhausted and usually go to bed the same time Andrew does.



Last month Andrew has been learning a few new words and phrases. Now he can say, "Awe done (for All done), Ne No (for no no), a NO (for OH NO!), Mi (for Milk), Waz tha (for What's that?), ba bye (for bye, bye), Mama, Da da (for Daddy), dugh dugh (for doggy), Pee Boo (for Peek-a-Boo), Roun ba (for round ball-a game we play), Bi Bi (for Big Bird), Nana (for banana or Nana-his grandmother), Awe (for Awe), Apa (for Apple), Di Dow (for Sit Down), or Gi dow (for get down) and Ame (for Amen). Okay, so he doesn't quite have the full pronounciation of the words and or phrases yet, but for only hearing the English language for about 4 months I'd say he is doing exceptionally well.



Andrew can be quite expressive when he wants to be heard. Andrew does not like the vacuum cleaner. Every time I go to vacuum he will run away from it like it was some kind of monster. He usually doesn't cry he just has this terrified look on his face and bolts into the room furthest from where the vacuum is. As soon as I turn the vacuum off, Andrew will yell "AWE DONE"!! Hoping and praying that I'm finished with the vacuuming.



Since I know that Andrew knows the word for "milk" I've been teaching him to say the word "milk" when he wants some milk instead of grunting over and over again as he is reaching for it. After about a few days to a week of repeating over and over again "milk" whenever he grunted and reached for his glass/sippy cup he is starting to say "mil" when he wants some milk to drink. I am teaching him the same for when he wants to be picked up (which is quite often). He knows how to say "up" so he motions that he wants to be picked up I'll repeat "up" or "Mama, Up", but that one he hasn't quite picked up on yet. I guess because it doesn't have a food/drink reward after he does it. Sometimes he will say "up" after I give in and pick him up, even though he didn't say it before I picked him up. Either way, Andrew's speach development is coming along quite nicely. Robert and I were crying because we were laughing so hard last week when a toy fell off of the ocuch and Andrew said "Ah NO! Ah NO! He was saying OH NO??!! He was saying it with such expression and tone and since Robert and I were cracking up laughing at him he kept repeating it. I wish I had that one on video.



Another amazing thing that Andrew did a couple of weeks ago was on a Saturday morning when Andrew awoke since Robert and I were still in bed asleep, I woke up and brought Andrew into our room to hang out on the bed as we were waking up. After about 15 minutes of him bouncing on our stomachs and him rolling all over us he suddenly stopped, stood up on the bed, hunched over a bit and grabbed his butt and gave me this look like he was trying to tell me something. I wasn't sure if he had a diaper full or if he was trying to tell me that he needed to be put on his potty chair. So I took him into the bathroom and took off his diaper and put him on his potty chair and he immediately pooped. Talk about amazed! I was shocked that he was actually telling me by his actions that he had to poop. I was jumping for joy and calling him my Amazing Andrew. Now if he can just do that all the time.



Andrew has been getting to know some of my friends children that are only a month and a half younger than Andrew. Kenny and Kevin are Andrew's new buddies that are twins of my girlfriend and former neighbor Jen and Ken. We spent some time with them at their house one day and all of the boys played together nicely with their toys. We also got together another week and checked out a Tumble Times class for kids 18 months to 36 months old. They all had a ball with the class bouncing on the trampline and playing in the foam pit. Andrew didn't want to get off of the trampline he was having so much fun and he didn't want to wait until the other children had their turn before doing it again. Andrew had a blast playing at Tumble Times with Kenny and Kevin, but I think he is a bit young for all of that right now. It's more of an instructional class which is fine for the older children, but for Andrew's age he is wanting to do his own thing right now. It might be a good place to have his birthday party, which is another reason why I wanted to check it out. Andrew's birthday is in February so I need to decide on something soon if we are going to have a party for him outside of our home. We'd like to do something special for him for his birthday because it will be his first and second birthday we will be celebrating. They don't celebrate birthdays in the orphanages of course so because of that we'd like to do something special and fun for Andrew.



We also spent some time with Andrew's cousins Nicole, Billy, Christina, Maria Clare and Julia. When we got their they were all very excited to spend some time playing with him that they were arguing over who was going to play with him first. Maria Clare kept saying that Andrew was her favorite boy cousin.



Andrew also attended another birthday party for his other cousins' Anthony and Vincent (his twin cousins just turned 5yrs old). Towards the end of the birthday party, Anthony didn't want Andrew to leave because he was having fun playing with Andrew. I told Anthony that we would talk to his mom to arrange another time we could get together so they could play. Anthony was happy with that answer so he said goodbye and sent Andrew home with one of his squishy balls to remember him by.

Surprise, Surprise...Another Baby Shower!

Wow! What a wonderful surprise...our friends from church gave us a baby shower on Saturday, November 5th. Just when you think the celebrating is over with, our friends surprised us with a Welcome Home/Baby Shower for us. What a blessing it was! Thank you all for all of your blessings and gifts to our family. We appreciate all of the people who put the showers together and want to thank them for their thoughtfulness in doing so. Cecilia White, Kathy Jakubowski, Denise Trapp and Trudy Paine, Maria Millilo, Sherry Winser, Karen Festa, Rita Hagerty, Karen Vick, Maria McMahon and Alyssa Irwin thank you for all of the preparation, time and money you all contributed to make both showers a success.



It was a great time and we were blessed with many clothes, toys, necessary items for toddlers, and gift certificates. God is so good with His abundance and overflow and we praise Him for the overflow of love we have in our friends and family and especially our son Andrew. He has certainly blessed us with a loving, inquisitive, intelligent, active and silly little boy.



Boy oh boy, Andrew is a popular boy I must say and is loved by all who meet him. He had a ball that day and kept Mama and some friends of ours on their toes chasing after him as he sprinted all over the restaurant. He especially enjoyed slapping his hands in the water from the fountain inside the restaurant. He was ready to dive right into the fountain of water he had so much fun.



We also want to thank you all again for all of your prayers throughout our adoption...before, during and after. It has meant a great deal to us to have a large family of people praying for the union of our family come together so divinely. We certainly felt and experience the power of your prayers when we were in Ukraine. The favor of God was upon us and our adoption of our son Andrew and God had His hand upon our experience orchestrating it from the beginning the whole time. The month that God had given me the vision of adopting was the same month and year that Andrew was born February 2004. Fancy that! God knew our hearts were ohh so desiring a child of our own and planted the seed to adopt and guided and directed our steps to Ukraine and placed Andrew's file in our hands the day he came off of the ministry to become available for foreign adoption. How amazing is that? It's all in His timing for sure.



May all of your seeds sown be multiplied back to you 100 fold...in Jesus name.