handsful

Well, technically his Gotcha day with us was on the 29th, but since there IS no 29th of February this year, the 28th will have to do :)

Our man has been with us for 3 months.  Feels like 3 years in some ways, and 3 weeks in others.  It’s all good, he’s a sweetheart – giggle box – funny faces – kinda kid.  In other words, he fits right in with the rest of us.

He’s still a little guy…holding steady at 27 pounds.  I’m not worried yet, he’s eating much better these days.  But, he’s really only gained maybe a pound or two since China.

What’s new with Dylan?

BIG BOY PANTS.  As of early this month, he’s only in diapers/pull ups at bedtime.  Accidents during the day?  NONE.  Not one.  And, he’s recently been going all by himself with only a bit of supervision.

Speaking of that, his middle name lately is INDEPENDENT.  He wants to do it all.  “I wanna do it” is a common phrase.

He’s also been in his OWN BED since mid month.  Randy encouraged (read “pushed”) me to try it and it was easy-peasy.  One of us sits on his bed until he drifts off and then we leave.  Sleeps all night, no problems.  Lainey is our light sleeper and Dylan sleeps like a rock.  So, she doesn’t normally wake him when she’s up and getting dressed.

Let’s see, what else…

Language.  Mandarin is slowly being pushed aside and replaced with English.  We knew it would happen, and it’s obviously a good thing.  A little sad at the same time – we’ll get them both in Mandarin classes when they’re older.

Please humor me as I share some favorite words/phrases.  He doesn’t pronounce these all correctly, but it’s what he’s saying!

“little bit” (as in, he’ll have a “little bit” of meat)

“full tummy” (we’ve encouraged him to eat more by praising him when he eats well and has a full tummy – so he tells us “full tummy” when he wants to eat it ALL)

“one more time” (as in he wants to jump off the potty “one more time”!)

“all done”

“that’s mine” (he says this one A LOT)

“you do it” (as in, you take a bite of that, not me!)

“match!” (as in the red on my shirt and the red truck MATCH!”

heavy = “hebby”

potty = “bolly”

dirty = “dirly”

flower = “balower”

banana = “beenana”

birdie = “birly”

Lainey = “lammy”

Daddy = “dally”

Dylan, you are our little rock star!

** Added on the next day – wouldn’t you know it?  The night after I write that he NEVER wakes up during the night, he wakes up THREE times. Not sure why, but he was very upset and Randy and I took turns lying with him until he fell back asleep.  The 3rd time, I assured him that we were in the next room and he had to sleep in “Dylan’s room”.  He cried, but not for very long and went back to sleep till late morning.  I guess we’ll see what tonight brings.

Years, that is…with our sweet Lainey girl!

Taken today, before our dinner out (which I’ll hopefully post tomorrow).  Remember what she looked like 3 years ago today?

Confused little ball of baby fat!  19 months old.  It took her a good 3 days to come out of her shell.  And, she’s never looked back.

Has she been “easy” lately.  Not really.  She loves her new little brother, it’s evident.  But, he’s also cramped her style and position in the family.  She’s working through it.

She’s had 3 surgeries in her young life.  1 in China, and 2 with us.  So far…she has another one next Wednesday.  We have high hopes that it will greatly improve her speech intelligibility.

And, she’s looking forward to the surgery.  Oddly, even when she knows there might be pain involved (we asked her what happens at her surgery and she signed “hurt”), she likes anything medical.  We think she loves the attention heaped on her.

No matter what, Lainey, you’re our baby girl and we love you to bits!  Happy Forever Family day, sweetie pie!

So, Dylan YuHai has been with us for exactly one month, as of today! Here are a few things we’ve learned about him so far…

He loves french fries. I mean LOVES. And, most fruits, hot dogs, fish sticks, yogurt, milk, and muffins.

His expression after his tower fell down!  He says “oh no!” 

He likes having a bedtime routine. Brush teeth, turn on the air filter, TV on FoodNetwork (okay, maybe that’s for me), and, read “Ted in a Red Bed”. Then, he usually crawls around on me until I make him settle down beside me where he eventually nods off. After he’s asleep, he does NOT wake up until morning. Ever. I probably shouldn’t type that outloud.

Busted his lip a little while he was playing….he rarely ever cries when he gets hurt.  Lainey was the same way – never expecting attention means there’s no need to make a fuss.  We’re working hard to love on him so he realizes we’re there for him always. 

He loves to stack things.  I was surprised to see that he can easily connect and stack the Duplo blocks.  The higher the better! 

His meaningful words (at least the ones we understand) are Mama, Baba, all done, hello, bye bye, nyow nyow or nala (what he uses to indicate he needs to go potty), and he knows each siblings name and usually calls them by it.  He’s understanding more and more each day, too.  He still says “where’d it go” – a game we started playing in China when we were looking for a toy or something. 

Loves to rough house with his Baba!

He doesn’t like things hot or cold.  Ice cream?  Hates it.  And, if food is even a little bit hot, he’ll spit it out.  He likes to talk about things being hot (like mama’s tea mug) or cold (like the ice pack I used on his cut lip today). 

He loves to give kisses, both on his own and when we ask.  But, he’s not big into hugging yet – we’re trying to show him :)

First haircut at home!

Favorite toys right now are anything that stacks (did I mention that already?), food/dishes, and trucks.  He enjoys playdough, scribbling, and sticking stickers, too. 

I started using lotions on him, since his skin is dry.  His favorite thing is for me to use them on his knees.  Since they function really as his feet, they take a beating, even under pants.  They’re calloused and very dry, so he loves the special treatment. 

Did he like the snow we had recently?  Uh, NO.  He wouldn’t even touch it on his own!  Not sure we’ll have him on a sled this year, I guess we’ll see. 

Someone thinks he’s handsome!

We think he’s right!  Happy 1 month, Dylan!

Yesterday (computer was down, couldn’t post!) was 2 years with Lainey!  We celebrated with dinner out at Al’s Pizza and she received a new book.  I started that tradition last year, giving her a special book for each Gotcha day anniversary. 

I took the above picture yesterday.  Here she is a year ago…what a difference!

See the changes?  She’s lost the “baby” look.  Sad, but I do love seeing her grow into a “big girl”. 

Here are more shots from yesterday! 

I told Lainey I wanted to take some pictures of her.  I think she misunderstood. 

belly laugh!  Abbey was tickling her…she’s a great assistant photographer. 

At the restaurant.  Obeying mom’s request for a smile…cheesy. 

Oooh, a present. 

She likes it.  I read it to her right after she opened it.  After finding out that the rabbits were both boys (she’s a stickler for needing to know gender), she listened intently.  What a sweet story. 

A squeeze from Lainey.  Slightly painful, but totally appreciated. 

Dada’s turn…

Big kids get goofy.  I’m sure the noise level wasn’t bothersome to those around us.  Nah…

We weren’t THAT loud.  Right?

After getting kicked out of …leaving the restaurant, we came home and took a shot of the special girl with her sibs.  Happy 2 years with us, Lainey!  We love you!

It’s the 1 year anniversary of Lainey Day!  One year ago today, we were given a wonderful gift…one year ago, a child was born – not to this world – but to us…one year ago, a baby girl was taken from the only life she knew and given to two people she’d never seen before…one year ago, we began building a relationship with that baby girl that today has blossomed as beautifully as the flower she holds.  We are more in awe of God’s gift everyday. 

Let’s take a step back and see where this all started…

This picture was taken exactly one year ago today…it was our “Gotcha Day”, February 18, 2008.  We’d just gotten back to our hotel room…I LOVE this picture, she looks like a porcelain doll, but there is also a sadness to it that breaks my heart.  So much change to handle for such a little one. 

Indulge me just a little, and take a look at the pictures we’ve taken on each 18th of the month since that day…

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months

Twelve months!

Here are the rest of the pics I took of her, on her special day…

After getting some ideas from other adoptive moms, and how they celebrate Forever Family days, we decided on these.  We’ll give her a book each year, with an inscription from us AND we bought a beautiful journal for Randy and I to add to each year.  Hopefully, it’ll be a wonderful keepsake for her to read as she gets older.  We don’t “do cards” (have you seen the price of those things?), so this will be a place where we can record our thoughts and feelings on each anniversary. 

We love you, Lainey Q…you were well worth the wait. 

11 months today…

with your…

Forever…

Family!!  We love you, Lainey Q!

Ten months as our daughter today!  Most of the time, it’s hard to remember when she wasn’t here.  She’s loud, stubborn, goofy as all get-out, smarter than we can believe, and all ours :) 

Her speech is improving and her signs are increasing.  She more easily repeats sounds, mostly vowels, and can approximate a lot of words.  She’s also much more “conversational”, relying on approximated words and a lot of signs.  I’ll try and remember her signs:  all done, light, shoes, socks, more, Lainey, all her sibs, mama, dada, Jack, cat, bear, tree, cereal, eat/food, drink, milk, fork, spoon, potty, go/car, wait, book, swim, swing, night-night, sleep, clean, dirty, doll, baby, hot, cold, loud, ball, thank you, balloon, bath, key…there has to be more, but my mind is spent thinking!

Lainey hits a major milestone tomorrow…her LAST dose of INH therapy meds!  Yippee!!  She began this daily medicine, a 1/2 pill ground into powder and mixed in with yogurt, on March 19th – a full 9 months of meds.  She had to take this as a precaution, because of a positive TB test.  Her chest x-ray was clear, but it’s general practice to take the INH anyway.  She’ll likely test positive for TB all her life, but we have a signed letter from the clinic doctor, explaining this to anyone who might need it in the future, to assure them that she is a-okay. 

The kids and I went Christmas shopping today, and I took a few pics with my new birthday Coolpix :)

Have wallet, will shop…

We were too busy power shopping for pictures, so here we are having lunch at Panera. 

The gals…Abbey shows off a Littlest Pet Shop that she bought with some Christmas money

Having a nice lunch, Lainey Q?

The girls get silly!