Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Growth Spurt!

Well, little guy has taken quite the growth spurt.

birth- 6 lbs 14 oz; 20"
2 days- 6 lb 12 oz
3 weeks 7 lb 14 oz 21.75"
1 month 9 lb 1 oz 22.25"

And he's going through one right now too! He's been eating like a pig today :) We are so in love with our little guy!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Home at last

We're finally home! Wow, it's a great feeling.

We introduced Mark to his cousins (it was so cute, the girls weren't so sure what to think of him at first), his aunts and two of his uncles. And he got to see Mamacita and Pappasito again (he'd grown a lot since they met him when he was one day old) as well as meet Grammy and his granddad (still deciding on what he wants to be called).

Mark also got to meet some friends of Mommy and Daddy's. They had a great time over brunch. Some even brought some of his playmates. He can't wait to be big enough to play with them.

Now, we are starting to get into a routine. The sleeping through the night has been replaced by getting up once during the night. Ah, I miss the hotel for that reason - he had a pretty good schedule going!

Anyway, that's life so far here! I will be adding some pics to the photoblog soon. I've been taking them everyday, just haven't done it yet!

Monday, January 21, 2008

You know you are an adoptive mother (or you should be) if

This was posted on a message board I am on- and I totally can relate.

You know you are an adoptive mother (or you should be!) if:
1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has ever made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child, there would be no orphans in the world is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child's "real" parents.
7. You have ever been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth (2 years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken a airplane ride half way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacy's you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have them in your life.
13. You know what the word Dossier means and you can actually pronounce it!
14. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

dressing up

Valentine's Day is around the corner, and I'm on the hunt for something for my little guy to wear. I love holidays (all kinds) and poor kid -he's going to be dressed up for every one ;)

So far, I have found a few:
















and the socks to go with them:







I have a feeling I'm going to have fun shopping around for him! I'll have to see what I can find on sale - so we don't go broke buying clothes for the little guy!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

More snow, now cold

Little guy does NOT like the cold or the snow. It snowed again toward the end of the week. Enough to make a snowball. He touched it and screamed! He was cold and wanted to go inside.

The snow is gone, but the cold is still here. So we're keeping bundled up!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Snow

Mark got his first taste of snow this week. Well, not really taste, but you know what I mean ;)

He wasn't sure what to think when that cold stuff touched his hands. He just looked at it with a funny expression on his face.

It was just a little, but enough to stick on the ground and be considered a snowfall. It was mostly gone by the afternoon. But I did take a picture of him in his car seat in the snow.

Monday, January 14, 2008

First pedi appointment

Our little guy had a pedi appointment today. He's 2 weeks and 6 days (will be 3 weeks tomorrow). He got the all clear, he's good and healthy. And he gained exactly 1 lb (he's now 7 lbs 14 oz) and 1 & 3/4 inches (he's now 21 3/4 inches). He had his 3 week growth spurt a few days early. It happened this weekend, he ate a ton an slept a lot. Growing boys do that!

He still can fit into most of his preemie clothes (though not ones with feet) but he's a bit long. The newborn size clothes still swallow him sometimes, others fit well. And forget 0-3 months, he's not there yet ;)

But he's doing well, and right on track!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The perfect outfit

I mentioned that last week we took a road trip and met up with a friend of mine and her husband. They brought a gift for Mark. It's perfect for the son (! I love saying that) of Mike and I. We love to travel, and our children will be going on plenty of road trips too.

Here it is:




You can see why it's the perfect outfit for our little guy! It's got a sailboat for Mommy and a car for Daddy and a plane. Perfect for a traveller to be.

Friday, January 11, 2008

heaven is...

... lying on the couch with 7 lbs of pure love and joy snuggled against and on your chest sound asleep.

I love being a mom. I feel like he's been part of my life forever- it's hard to believe it's only been 2 weeks and 3 days!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

And a bit of family

Ali, my sister's sister in law & best friend came over from St Louis today to meet Mark. It was so good to see her.

She is so good with children, and it was nice to see her play with Mark. She came bearing gifts too. She hand knit him a beautiful blue hat with a white rim. It is so soft, and she says it is machine washable. He looks so cute in it! I'll have to take a picture of it and post it. She also brought him the Baby Einstein Mirror Me book. I read it to him tonight, and am looking forward to reading more to him as he grows. He liked looking at the mirror.

We took her out to lunch, and it was nice to talk and bring up memories, while celebrating the little guy too. We chatted a bit about our niece and nephew, and exchanged stories about them growing up. It was nice to have a bit of our extended family here for a little visit. It really meant a lot.

A little bit of home

Saturday, my cell phone rang. A number I didn't recognize from an area code I didn't know. It was my friend Sharon. Funny story- we'd been trying to get ahold of Sharon.

See, she recently got married (Oct) and now lives in Lexington, KY. For some reason, my email address that I had for her wasn't getting to her (no response back and she is VERY good about responding to emails), and the phone # I had was her cell phone # was disconnected (it was a Houston #). So I couldn't reach her. Late last week Mike and I realized that Lexington isn't really all that far away- and maybe we could visit. So we'd been trying to track her down.

She was calling me to see if we could get together on Monday. In Houston. See, she and her husband were headed that way and would be in town (back home) for a few days. Perfect time to catch up.

So, we figured we'd see if we could get together when they were headed back and we were (hopefully) going home. Well, we are still here. That didn't work out.

Mike, Mark and I were at Babies R Us tonight purchasing a snap-n-go stroller when my phone rang. It was Sharon. She and her husband were headed back and realized it wouldn't be all that far out of the way to stop by. Could they stop by in a few hours if it wasn't too late?

Ask any parent of a newborn, 1000 PM is not too late. We have a bit of a schedule, but we're still working on it. Our little guy goes to bed in his pack n play after his 11PM/midnight feeding.

So they stopped by. It was SO good to see them. We visited for quite a while, catching up on things. She and I used to have dinner at least three times a month. We've been friends for a long time, and I miss her since she moved. It had been about seven months. Mark charmed them (until he fell asleep in Daddy's arms). We had a wonderful time catching up. And we are planning on (hopefully) getting together sometime this next week, halfway between our locations. That could be fun.

When they left, I told Mike it was like a little bit of home had been here. Even though they no longer live back home, friends are like home. It was nice. I miss home, but it's worth it- everything is progressing nicely and we will be home soon.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

two weeks old

WOW, our little guy is two weeks old today! And what a big boy. He changes every day, it's interesting to watch him. I am working on a photo blog of pictures (it's going to be a password protected blog), I take pictures of him every day.

We made a two week appointment for him. It will be interesting to see how much he has grown. We are pretty certain that he is over seven pounds now. We can see his legs, arms, and face filling out a bit. And he sure likes his formula!

Sunday, January 06, 2008

First road trip

Our first road trip was wonderful. We found out that Mark is an excellent traveller. He pretty much slept the whole way there, or sat contently smiling away. We stopped once to feed him (actually I sat in the back feeding him while he was in his car seat and Mike continued driving).

When we got there, he charmed our friends. He loved to snuggle with Joy, and give her smiles and lots of love. Hopefully the baby luck will rub off on her and she'll get the call soon! Joy and I let Jeremy hold him for a little while, and even Daddy got to hold him a tiny bit. He was so comfortable in Joy's arms, he fell asleep.

Joy and I taught the guys about the finer art of changing a wet diaper in the back of a car. There weren't any changing tables, so we improvised. Joy and Jeremy gave Mark the cutest layette set- he's going to take a picture in it soon. It has sailboats and cars (Mommy and Daddy's favorites) as well as planes. Perfect for the kid who is going to travel quite a bit!

When we left, I sat in the back of the car to give him a bottle again. By the time we got to a gas station to fill up, he was finished. And he slept the whole way home. He was a perfect little boy.

That's great to know, for when we take our long road trip! (hopefully soon!)

Friday, January 04, 2008

two weeks

We've been in this hotel room two weeks now. We sure are glad that we got a suite. That way we can have a little more room to move around and keep sleeping in one area and daytime activities in the other. Little Mark is doing well, we're teaching him between bedroom (pack n play) and living room (papasan) too :) His favorite place to sleep is on Mommy and one of his favorite places to just chill and hang out is in daddy's arms. He's a good little boy. Next week we will be taking him for a pedi appointment, and we suspect he probably has hit the 7lb mark by now. Tomorrow we are going on a little trip to meet a friend of mine and her husband. Mark can't wait to meet her!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Our good news for today.

Click to see our Our good news for today. Scroll down to see Mike and Elizabeth =)

Tuesday, January 01, 2008