UPDATED on 11/22/2009

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Journal Entries 

November 22, 2009

Whoever told me that once Sam starts talking, he wouldn't stop, was right.  He is talking non-stop and he is actually making a lot of sense.  Of course, we often have to translate for people, but Devin and I understand most of what he says.  About 2 months ago, I had scheduled a speech assessment because I was concerned about his progress.  By the time our assessment came, I was much less worried, but we went anyway.  At the assessment, he didn't talk a lot, so they ended up granting him speech therapy benefits through the county.  We had our first session last week and Sam adored the therapist and warmed up to her immediately.  He talked to her so much and at one point, she looked at me and said "he sure is talking a lot", as if to say "why am I here?".  Somehow, I don't think we'll be doing speech therapy all that long.  Today, we were at the store and ran into some neighbors, who asked Sam where Lucy (our dog) was.  Sam replied "at home".  He is also talking about Santa Claus and the red choo-choo he'll be asking for.  He is just full of surprises for us! 

He is also becoming quite the little dancer and just loves to boogie down.  Tonight the music awards were on and he was having a blast, even though he wasn't feeling all that great earlier in the night.  I'll post a video of it later this week hopefully.

Sam received one of his Christmas presents from Papa and CC a little early.  They sent him a train table that has taken up home in our den, in the hopes that it will keep him occupied and away from the computer and the desk while we are working.  He sure is enjoying it!

As of this past Friday, 11/20, we officially became a waiting family for our 2nd adoption.  Sam has been talking a lot about a "baby sister", so let's hope we get selected quickly to make Sam's wishes (and ours!) come true.  We are so excited to have another kid and glad to be at this point in the process.  We'll share more as we know it!

                  Checking out Santa on Friday night after dinner       Hanging out with Charlie and his family oustide of school

   

                                                                 The first glimpses of the train table...check out the smile

 

November 10, 2009

Just a few fun pictures and a couple of cute videos for everyone to enjoy mid-week!

   The Wiggle Dance and Counting to Ten 

November 1, 2009

Our little frog sure mastered Halloween quickly.  Hearing him say "trick or treat" was just the cutest thing ever and he got so excited every time he got candy in his pumpkin bag.  He would pull it right out of the pumpkin and inspect it closely.  We took him out around the neighborhood and he loved every second of it.  Grammie and Ron handed out candy for us while we took Sam around. 

On Friday afternoon, Sam's school had a party for the kids.  Parents decorated their trunks and tailgates and the kids went around, trunk-or-treating after they had snacks in their room.  Sam had a great time time with Charlie and Trooper. 

Sam has been just irresistably cute lately...even when he's being a devil of a 2-year old.  He is most certainly trying to assert his independence and wants things to be on his terms.  A minute after we get exasperated with him, he comes up and gives you the sweetest kiss or hug and somehow, all is forgotten.  He is loving drinking out of a big boy cup lately and he is talking in 3-word sentences pretty regularly now.  It's just amazing how quickly his speech has taken off recently. 

                     Sam and Nic enjoying some snacks                                                Sam, Charlie and Trooper

                        This kid is nuts about lollipops (pop-pops)                      Sporting a milk mustache from the big boy cup

October 17, 2009

Well, today is the 2-year anniversary of our adoption paperwork being logged-in in China.  I guess you can say it's our LID-iversary.  In China adoptions, all progress is measured by this log-in date or LID.  The agency responsible for adoptions in China matches families to babies in order of when paperwork is logged in, with minimal exception.  Sadly, they are only matching several days of LID's per month and they are currently still working on March of 2006.  At this rate, it will be years before we get a match from China.  Realistically, it will probably speed up at some point, due to the attrition from the program and significantly less families to match in coming months, but no one knows what that might mean.  We are saddened by the lack of progress. 

So, with that being said, we are happy to share that we have started the process to adopt domestically!  We are still in the process of getting all our ducks in a row, the home study redone, etc., but we should be a waiting family by the beginning of 2010, if not before.  From there, it's unpredictable as far as timing.  We have to wait for birthparents to pick us, which means it could happen right away, or it could take longer than that.  We've been told to expect 12-18 months, but that it could be much quicker than that too.  Only time will tell!  We are excited to share our news with everyone and we'll be even more excited when we have a match to share. 

Today, we went to a pumpkin patch up in the North part of town with Jaci, Leah and Miko.  Sam had so much fun.  There was so much to do and it was a real bona-fide pumpkin patch, with pumpkins still on the vine...a far cry from the dirt field we went to last year.  In addition to the actual pumpkins, there were lots of activities for the boys to do and they about did them all. 

                       Riding in the barrel train....ugh!                                                                  Petting the baby goat

October 11, 2009

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly and frequently Sam changes.  This weekend, we were just in awe of him and his evolving personality and increasing knowledge and abilities.  I love doing these lists of things he can do, so that I can remember down the road how much he has changed and grown over time.  I hope it doesn't sound like I'm bragging about our incredible son...but if so, oh well!  :-)

• Hide and seek is his new favorite game.  He loves having us scare him by yelling "boo" when he finds us and he instantly asks for more.  He doesn't have the patience to hide yet, but we're working on that. 
• He can count to 10 with some assistance and prompting, although he can do 1,2,3 pretty well on his own. 
• He knows his colors really well and can say and identify most of them.  He says red in Spanish (rojo), but not in English. 
• Today, at Monkey Bizness, he decided he needed to climb on EVERYTHING, even those things that he has always seemed intimidated by.  He climbed and scaled constantly and had a great time hanging out with Miko.
• Even when we aren't trying to get him to repeat words we say, he repeats them; sometimes with clarity and sometimes not.  I've been trying to keep track of all the new words he says, but he's trying so many new words, it's hard to keep count. 
• He is pretty interested in potty-training.  He understands the concept of going potty and getting a treat, so he wants to keep trying.  So far, we've only had a few little tinkles, but he's more interested than I expected him to be at this age.
• We may need to start thinking about converting Sam's bed to a toddler bed.  Nap time is not Sam's favorite time of day on the weekends and he has been pulling himself up on the ledge of his crib.  He hasn't gotten out yet, but we've seen some evidence that he might be getting close. 
• I randomly kissed his cheek this weekend and he turned and kissed mine back.  He is so sweet!

Bottom line?  Our son is pretty incredible and we are so lucky he is ours.  Here are some pictures from the past week.

                  Chasing after Daddy                                                Mr. Helper

                     Checking out his Thomas blanket from Gail                               Little Monkey Bizness

                                                                                                                             Mommy and Sam with Jaci and Miko

                      They'll hate this when they're teenagers...                    The end result of a morning at Little Monkey Bizness

                                    Enjoying Mommy's Cincinnati chili...I'm so proud he loves it!  He nearly cleaned his plate.

October 4, 2009

I've been bad about updating this page and I have some catching up to do.  Sam has been doing very well.  His vocabulary is really starting to grow and he imitates just about everything we say.  Today, he said "touchdown" when we were watching football and it sounded exactly like it was supposed to.  "Go Broncos", on the other hand, sounded nothing like it should have, but he said it over and over.  He says please and thank you, often unprompted and he is starting to say something that sounds like "love you".  Talk about melting my heart! 

Last weekend, I went on a mini vacation with some of my friends, so Sam and Devin had a nice boys weekend.  In addition to hanging out with Ben and Hayden at Little Monkey Bizness, they went to see Thomas the Train at the Colorado Railroad Museum with Grandpa C.  Sam LOVES Thomas the Train right now and is obsessed with all things choo-choo.  He enjoyed getting to ride behind Thomas and exploring the other engines and such. 

This weekend, my friend Cinja came to town for a visit.  We had a great time and Sam adores Cinja.  He pronouces her name very well.  He fell asleep on the way to the airport to drop her off today and when he woke up, the first thing he said was her name.  While she was here, we went to the circus.  It was a lot for Sam to take in, but he seemed to enjoy himself.  The elephants and tigers seemed to be his favorite.  As you can see, he also got the little light-spinning souvenir that reminded me of when I got to go the circus as a child.  After the circus, we met Grammie and Ron for dinner.  All in all, we had a great time!

September 15, 2009

Today is Guatemala's Independence Day and we celebrated by having Pastel Borracho minus the Borracho after dinner.  That translates to Drunken Cake minus the rum.  :-)  It was pretty tasty and Sam sure seemed to enjoy it., especially picking the raisins off the top. 

I think Sam is starting to truly appreciate Lucy.  She, on the other hand, still isn't convinced he's so great all the time. 

We had a nice weekend this past weekend.  We visited a Guatemalan textile show downtown and picked up a huipil (traditional Mayan shirt) for Sam.  We also went to Little Monkey Bizness and Sam loved jumping on the mini trampoline and in the bouncy house.  Lunch with Grammie and Ron on Sunday rounded out the weekend. 

September 7, 2009

Three-day weekends are the best!  We had a nice and relaxing time.  We went to White Fence Farm with some friends on Saturday and Sam enjoyed the barnyard animals the best.  We also went to the Taste of Colorado.  It was HOT!  Sam loved riding on the Light Rail....or the choo-choo as he called it. 

                          Checking out the sheep at White Fence Farm                White Fence Farm, with Erika and Blake

                Lucy looks a little annoyed by the interruption                Being a mechanic on his mini wagon with his Manny tools

I made some cupcakes for Sam out of this adorable cupcake cookbook called Hello, Cupcake.  Sam is into owls right now, so that's what I decided to make.  I never was much into baking, but seeing Sam's face when he sees the result is well worth it. 

August 30, 2009

We didn't take too many pictures last weekend, even though it was a busy weekend.  We had my company picnic, which Sam really seemed to enjoy.  And then he spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa C. while Devin and I had a night to ourselves.  He did great! 

Yesterday, we took Sam to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and we all had a great time.  The highlight was definitely feeding the giraffes crackers.  It was so much fun and Sam thought it was really cool...and so did we!  He also got to pet a baby wallaby.  It's a really nice zoo.  I'm ready to go back and feed some more giraffes.  :-)

            Petting the baby wallaby...he was a little hesitant                                        Checking out the alligators

          Playing on the playground with the big mushrooms                                Perfecting the fake, cheesy smile

                                 Wrestling with Grandma C. last weekend

August 17, 2009

It's been a while since I've done one of those lists of things Sam is into right now.  So here goes!

• Watching Little Einstein's, Mickey Mouse and Handy Manny.  These are still the 3 favorites, though Little Einstein's gets him really pumped lately.  He pats his lap at the right time and raises his arm to make rocket blast off.  He has a look of pure joy on his face almost the entire time he watches.
• Sam has taken to responding to virtually everything you say in some way - most of the time by saying "yeah" or "no".   It can be something like "Mommy needs to make dinner" and he says "yeah". 
• It's all about him...or "me" as he says.  He wants to do EVERYTHING by himself and he gets really upset if you try to help him with something he thinks he can do by himself.   
• He just recently started doing more cute things like this skip-hop-trot combination and less cute things like grunting, growling and tooting out loud followed by laughter. 
• Sam is loving his new teachers in the 2 year old room.  He seems to love going to school and lets Devin drop him off with very little whining.  We love to see what new things he has learned for the day.  He amazes us!
• At Sam's 2 year appointment, he was weighing in at 25 pounds, so he has made it into the 15th percentile, up from the 5th percentile at his 18-month appointment.  He is 33 1/2 inches tall and developing just perfectly in all ways. 

     Playing with Handy Manny                                                                                               Chilling and eating at a concert

                     Jumping on the trampoline at Jacob's bday                 Hanging with his cousins in the bounce house

This little video was taken at the outdoor concert we went to on Friday night.  Yes, that is a cover of a Poison song that got our son dancing...

 

 

 Nothin' but a good time

 

 

August 11, 2009

We had Sam's 2 year pictures taken about a week and a half ago and here are the results!  The photographer is the wife of one of Devin's work buddies and she's working on getting her photography business going.  We think she did a great job!  If you're interested in her contact information, let me know!

August 9, 2009

We had a great, very relaxing weekend.  After the past few very busy weekends, it was a welcome change.  On Saturday, we went to Sam's school for a little luau party and then we ran a couple of quick errands, which left today wide open for whatever we wanted to do.  We started out the day with a trip to the zoo, so we could ride the train and visit with a few of the animals.  Sam has been very interested in trains lately, pointing to them and saying "me, me".  Needless to say, he loved the train and the animals of course.  After lunch and a short nap, we took Lucy to the dog park for a quick run and then we finished up the day with a dip in the neighborhood pool.  In between all that, Sam played with all of his new birthday toys.  It's so fun to see him play with new things, because he is so interested in each of them.  He really seems to be playing with a purpose now, which is fun to see. 

                     Amazing smile....                           Watching the sea lion show at the zoo               Checking out the penguins

August 4, 2009

It is so hard to believe our little man is now 2 years old!  He is growing up before our eyes and we can't believe how fast the time has been flying.  He has moved up to the 2 year old room at school and seems to be adapting well to that after just a couple of days.  He has found a very strong independent streak and wants to do everything by himself.  His language is increasing every day and even when he's not saying words, he is just significantly more verbal than he was a few weeks ago.

Sam had a great birthday weekend.  We had a big party for him on Sunday and he thoroughly enjoyed himself.  Along with a lot of our local friends and family, Grandpa A. and CC came into town for the party.  We had a jungle animal theme and Devin and I made a very elaborate cake (see below).  Sam absolutely loved it and seeing his reaction to it when it was being assembled made all the work worth it. 

                                                                                                                           Reading the newspaper with Papa A.

                   Sam's jungle animal birthday cake

Celebrating Sam's actual birthday at Red Robin

Lounging on the big bacon in the play area at the mall

July 27, 2009

Devin and I went up to the mountains for the weekend and Sam spent the weekend with Grammie and Ron.  We had such a wonderful time getting away!  And Sam had a great time too.  I think he may have been spoiled just a tad bit, but that's quite alright.  We tasked Grammie and Ron with taking pictures over the weekend, so most of the pictures are from their weekend together.  A big thank you to both of them for taking such good care of our baby and letting us get away. 

I knew I was going to need some "Sam time" after being gone most of the regular weekend, so I took Friday and Monday off to hang out with my little guy.  Today, we went to the zoo and had a blast.  Sam just loves his animals! 

Sam has been adding new words and attempts on words the past few weeks.  It's so exciting when he says something new and he gets very excited that we are so excited.  His newest words are purple, green, door, wall and attempts at pillow and vanilla.  We are getting ready for his 2nd birthday one week from today!  Stay tuned for pictures of that next week.

                       Monkeying it up at Monkey Bizness                                           Bouncing in the bouncy castle with Ron

                       Watching for monkeys                                                                                   Doing the "tighten up"

         Eating peaches at the Farmer's Market with Grammie                      Banging on the bongos at the zoo

          Click on the picture to get a good look at the fish face                     Sam and Blake lounging at the zoo

July 19, 2009

Sam and Devin really made my birthday weekend special.  We had a great time all weekend and they showered me with wonderful gifts.  I am a lucky girl!  After being gone for work most of the week, it was great to get home and see them.  Sam's reaction to me coming home was just incredible. 

We went to a birthday party on Saturday and then Sam stayed with Grammie and Ron while Devin and I went out to dinner and a comedy club with friends.  Today, we went to Tiny Town with Sam's friend Miko and then we met Grammie and Ron for a birhtday dinner celebration. 

Sam has been doing a little practicing lately...for the terrible 2's.  The large majority of the time, he is sweet and very well-behaved, but he has his moments where he is pushing our buttons.  He loves saying "NO" and with attitude.  And lately, he has been hitting, pinching, throwing, kicking and biting when he's mad or upset about something.   He has been spending a good deal of time in time-out.  He's so stinkin' cute that it's hard to get too upset with him though. 

                    How do I get Mickey Mouse on the TV?                                           Sam and Miko at Tiny Town

July 12, 2009

I missed a post last weekend because we had so much going on, so here are a bunch of pictures!  We had a great 4th of July weekend.  Sam LOVED the fireworks so much.  He kept asking for more.  Over the past couple of days, he has noticed lightning and seems to think that's pretty cool too.  Over the 4th weekend, we went to a couple of parties with friends and to a parade with some other friends.  We had a great time!

This past week, all three of us came down with some sort of stomach bug.  Sam had it Monday, I had it Wednesday and Devin had it Friday.  Made for an interesting week!  I know I shouldn't think he looks so adorable when he wasn't feeling well, but look at that face.  Luckily, we all feel better now.  Yesterday, Devin was feeling well enough that we went to a picnic down in Colorado Springs with a group of fellow Guate adoptive families.  It was wonderful!  We tried to get a picture of all the kids and they all cooperated...except for Sam.  He wasn't having it.  You can tell in the picture below, where he's off to the side in his red shirt screaming and crying.  He wasn't all that happy to have his sand-digging interrupted.  Today, we took him to the outdoor mall so he could play in the fountain.  After a bit of watching and taking it all in, he ventured closer to the water, but holding Daddy's hand the whole time.  

                   4th of July parade with Ryan, Jordan and Stefan       He literally laid like this for over an hour watching Mickey

                                                                          Tree-hugger?

                               Playing with Caitlin in the sand                               Click on the photo to enlarge and see his face

                A lollipop with some new friends makes it all better                                 The joys of summer!

June 30, 2009

Shortly after we got back from our visit to Cincinnati, I had sinus surgery, so the past few days have been a little tough.  It was totally unpleasant and I'm still recovering from it, but Sam has been such a good little boy, which has been so great.  He knows Mommy's nose is hurt and has been very gentle around me for the most part.  He is such a gentle and sweet-natured boy and we can't belive the things he seems to understand. 

Sam has been very busy lately, with birthday parties at play places!  Last week, he went to Little Monkey Bizness twice.  One time was just to get out for fun and the other time was to help his schoolmate Charlie celebrate his birthday.  It was really cute to see Sam and Charlie outside of school.  I noticed a difference in how he interacted with Charlie versus the other kids.  He just seemed more comfortable around him.  We also went to Pump It Up the night before my surgery, for Kayley's birthday party.  Sam wasn't so sure what to think of the big jumping houses at first, but once he got a taste of the huge slide and bouncing around, he seemed to enjoy himself.  He kept asking for more!

Lastly, today is the first time EVER I have managed to get this kid to keep a hat on his head!  With his dark hair, I worry about him getting overheated.  I hope we're on to something.  This weekend...hat shopping...and shoe shopping too.  His feet seem to have grown an inch overnight!

                                  Climbing around at LIttle Monkey Bizness       Sam and Charlie washing their hands

      Sam and Daddy at the end of the slide                                                  All the kids at Kayley's birthday party

               A family picture taken before we went to Cincinnati                    We visited Grammie at work early last week

June 23, 2009

We spent a long weekend in Cincinnati visiting family and just got back last night.  We had a great time and Sam really seemed to enjoy seeing family again!  In addition to just visiting with everyone, we celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday on Friday.  Sam sure loves his Papa and gave him lots of hugs and kisses throughout the weekend.  He has his great-grandparents wrapped around his little finger and knows the trick to getting jelly beans out of the jar...just kiss Granmda Betty on the lips and point...how could she resist?  He and his cousin Cole played together a little bit more than last time, but Sam is still not too interested in playing "together" and prefers to keep his toys to himself.  We had a great time and we already miss everyone!

There are so many cute stories of things Sam has been doing lately.  I have to start writing them all down or I'll completely forget about them.  Today, he was helping me load his clothes into the washing machine and was doing a darn fine job of it, not really paying much attention to the clothes...until he saw his Mickey Mouse pajamas.  He had put them in before realizing what they were.  Once he realized, he promptly pulled them right back out, saying "me, me"  I finally convinced him that if we wash them, he can wear them tonight. 

Sam and Great-Grandma Betty (my Mom's Mom) cuddling. 

Sam and his cousin Cole

                                Sam with Great-Grandpa Ashley                                      Papa and CC with the grandkids

June 15, 2009

Monday Madness...full of adorable grins, body-slamming Daddy and squeezing cheeks.

June 14, 2009

It was a busy weekend, hanging out with friends and family.  Just a couple of cute pictures of Sam to share from when we went to visit Devin's uncle and aunt at their campground. 

June 7, 2009

Well, we had a big first this weekend....Sam spent his first night away from home at Grammie and Ron's house.  He thoroughly enjoyed himself and did just great.  Devin and I had a nice evening out with friends and although we missed him, it was nice to have some "us" time. 

We met some new friends at the Aquarium today and had a great time with them.  Lily is 3 and was also born in Guatemala.  She and her parents just moved here from Oregon.  Sam is so shy around new people and Lily is quite an outgoing little girl, so that made the first half hour or so quite interesting.  Lily kept trying to hug Sam or hold his hand and he would freak out.  Eventually, he kind of warmed up, as you can see below.  Still no smiles, but he let her get closer to him. 

                                                                                Showing off my new Elmo backpack           All ready to go to Grammie's house

                                 Sam and Lily at the Aquarium                               All that walking around made these two hungry

                        Don't make me tell you again.....                      

June 3, 2009

Our baby is 22 months old today...getting close to 2!!  He has about 6 teeth coming in at the same time and we still get smiles like that out of him.  And he was so excited about wearing his Mickey Mouse pajamas to bed tonight.  The boy loves Mickey!!  Handy Manny is still a favorite, but Mickey takes the cake. 

                     Playin' some tunes                                         LOOOVE that smile!                             The trying not to smile face

May 25, 2009

We had a nice long weekend.  Although Devin had to work, Sam and I stayed busy, visiting with Grammie and Ron, Grandma and Grandpa C. and "Aunt" Megan.  Today, Devin didn't have to work, so we went to the Wildlife Experience for some family time.  It was very nice and great to have Devin back!

Sam has been so much fun lately.  Every day, I fall a little bit more in love with this kid, if that is possible.  He has been doing so many fun things and impresses us constantly with how much he knows.  Truly amazing!  Please indulge me as I brag a little bit.  :-)

• In addition to recognizing and saying yellow and blue, he's starting to identify green and red too.
• He recognizes and points out the letter "o", along with saying it.  He's also starting to repeat back other letters.
• He knows so many of his animals and points them out easily, many with a sound.
• He has been practicing holding two fingers up when we ask "how old are you going to be"?  He still needs help...
• He has become much more in tune with music lately, dancing to it and "singing" along.  He seems to respond to country (not heard in our cars or home).
• He has mastered the art of the scowl when he's mad or doesn't like something.
• He has learned that if he is in trouble or about to be, a sweet little kiss makes it all better.  How can you stay mad at that??
• He also likes playing "don't wipe my kiss off" and thinks it's hilarious when you say that to him.
• He's interested in the toilet, though we aren't pushing him.  However, this weekend he was clearly ready to go, so we sat him on the toilet and he made a tiny little deposit.  He immediately said "uh-oh", while we clapped and cheered. 

 

Sam and Grandma C. at the park by their house                    

            Touching a real snake at the Wildlife Experience          

I know that last picture of the peonies is kind of out of place, but I just love them so much I had to post a picture of the ones that are sitting on my table.  They were in my wedding bouquet and they make me so happy! 

May 18, 2009

Just some quick pictures of Sam!

                                           Sam loves walking in our shoes...           The joy of raspberries on your fingers

                        Hanging out with Blake, Hayden and Ben                     Spending time with Mommy's co-worker Gail

May 11, 2009

We had a wonderful weekend and I had a very happy Mother's Day.  We had breakfast at Sam and Devin's Kitchen and it was fabulous!  French toast, scrambled eggs, sausage and fruit....the whole nine yards!  Top it off with some flowers and a manicure and pedicure certificate and I couldn't ask for anything more.  I love my boys! 

In keeping with our tradition started last year, we lit 2 candles for Sam's birth mother and his foster mother.  Sam could barely sit still and wanted to touch the flames, so we talked fast, but we hope that by talking to him about these two special women, he will start to understand his story and how he became our cherished son.

May 4, 2009

One of my very thoughtful HR colleagues sent Sam a gift after his recent trip to Disney World to visit Mickey.  In addition, Pete also sent ears for Mom and Dad, so Sam would feel more inclined to wear them.  He knew the trick.  So long as Mom and Dad have them on, Sam is more interested and willing.  If we aren't properly attired, you can forget about Sam wearing them!

May 3, 2009

I was out of town for work the entire week last week and it was pure torture being away.  I was so excited to get to the airport on Friday, only to find out my flight was delayed 2 hours!  But, seeing Sam's face when I walked in to daycare to pick him up was priceless.  I think he missed me as much as I missed him and Devin.  Other than a fun trip to the zoo with Jaci, Leah and Miko, our weekend was pretty low key, which was just what we needed. 

           Sam and Miko looking at the fish in Tropical Discovery                    I LOVE this shot of them holding hands!

          Lucy isn't so sure what to think of the kiss from Sam               

Sam is really babbling more lately and is trying pretty hard to say new words.  His new one is yellow, which sounds more like "llello".  Hear it for yourself on the video below.

     Yellow and Blue

April 26, 2009

This weekend, my Dad and Cynthia came into town to visit and we had a great time.  Sam loved playing with Grandpa (Papa) and CC.  The weather was a little bit of a hindrance, but we still managed to have fun.  Sam went to his first baseball game on Saturday night and even though the Rockies lost, he enjoyed it.  He also got some presents from Grandpa and CC in the form of a playhouse and a slide for outside.  He was having a ball on both of them already! 

                                            Putting the balls down his shirt             Making those same balls look like muscles...

  

          Not too sure what to think of Lucy sharing his space                                        Ringing his own doorbell

"Making dinner" with Grandpa

April 21, 2009

We got bunches of snow on Friday and Saturday, so Sam enjoyed snack time, lounging around and watching Lucy play in the snow on Saturday.  It was definitely a good day to stay snuggled in the house.  We got out on Sunday to enjoy some of the warming weather and tonight, Sam had fun playing in the snow. 

April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!  We had a great weekend and Sam learned real quick how to hunt for Easter eggs!  On Friday afternoon, his school hosted a hunt and I think he may have hogged the eggs at first.  He was running as fast as his little legs could carry him to tne next bunch of eggs.  He sets down his basket every time he picks up a new egg, so that slowed him down a bit, but truly, I think he found many of the eggs hidden on the playground.  Of course, before long, all the kids were dumping the eggs in each other's baskets and somehow, Sam ended up with just a couple of eggs, which was just fine by us!

This morning, he was very excited to do it all over again.  Again, he was a champ at it and found all of the eggs and his basket.  Then, he had to open each one to see what was in it.  I think he enjoyed the ones with coins better than the ones with chocolate.  He LOVES to put money into his piggy bank! 

We finished up the weekend with one last Easter egg hunt at Aunt Jen's and Uncle Trevor's.  Sam had a great time playing with his cousins and Mia.  I'll post a cute video later this week of them playing Ring Around the Rosie - too cute!

                              Not scared one bit by Clifford                                                        Playing ball at school                    

                                       What an expression!  Stay away from my eggs!!              

Look what I found!                              Total concentration putting $ in the piggy bank             

April 8, 2009

Sam LOVES bath time in a big way!  I think it's when we get to see his biggest, goofiest smiles ever.  These pictures just make me want to laugh.

If you are looking for another laugh, be sure to check out our friend Dominic at this site:  Dominic Dancing  It is so adorable and hilarious!  We met Nicole and Dominic on our first visit to Guatemala and we've stayed in touch since then.  The fun part is that we get to see them when we got back to Ohio for visits.  We are looking forward to seeing them in June. 

April 5, 2009

We had a great weekend!  On Saturday, we had planned to take Sam to the neighborhood Easter egg hunt; however, the weather had other things in mind.  So, we took him to the mall to see the Easter Bunny instead.  He wasn't scared at all, but as you can tell from the picture below, he also wasn't terribly excited.  He just sat there and stared at us, probably wondering what the heck was going on.  As you can tell from the other picture, he had more fun on the rocking horse.  Later that day, he got to pet a real bunny at the garden center, when we went to see Grandma C's art show.  And we finished up the evening with a yummy Guatemalan dinner of Cinnamon chicken and Guatemalan rice. 

Today, we went to Ben and Hayden's 2nd birthday party.  Normally, Sam is kind of shy and holds back a little in groups of people.  Not the case today - he was right in the fray of opening presents and playing with all the toys.  He devoured his chocolate cupcake and got right back to playing.  Before he went to bed tonight, we called Sam's foster family to say hello and catch up.  A friend of mine at work translates for us and it is so wonderful to be able to communicate so well with them.  They are still the sweetest people ever and we look forward to seeing them again some day when we visit Guatemala in a few years! 

March 30, 2009

The end of our week last week was a snowy one.  But, as is the norm here, the next day can be lovely and warm and melt most of the white stuff.  So, our weekend was beautiful.  I took Sam to Little Monkey Bizness to play with Blake on Saturday and he had a great time once he warmed up to his surroundings.  He really enjoyed throwing snowballs at Grandpa ("papa" as he says) and playing with his cousins Paige and Jacob on Sunday.  Not a lot of pictures from the weekend, but here are a couple of the highlights.

March 23, 2009

Not that anyone needs a shirt to tell them that Sam is El Numero Uno around here...

We hung out at the Children's Museum with Sam's buddy Miko this weekend.  The boys had fun and even played together...kind of.  The play grocery store was the cutest.  They were both unloading the groceries on to the belt and we were imagining the same scenario might play itself out 18 years from now when they are in college.   

March 15, 2009

We had a great time in California and we've spent today getting readjusted to real life!  Sam had a lot of fun and was quite the little trooper most of the trip.  We visited lots of places, including the San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, Sea Life, Legoland, Knotts Berry Farm, the Birch Aquarium and of course, the beach.  Sam especially loved the Sea Life aquarium.  It wasn't very crowded when we were there, so he was able to roam freely and most of the fish were right at his level.  He was pretty obsessed with fish the entire trip and he loved to see the fish in the lobby of our hotel too.  It was a little chilly most of the trip, so our beach visit involved jackets and not swimsuits.  Sam enjoyed the sand, but wasn't too sure about the water when the waves came in.  We expected sleep to be difficult for him in a new place, but he did so well.  We also weren't sure how he would do with very few of his toys to play with, but he managed with the few that we brought with us.  The hotel also had a play area and we visited that just about every day.  It was a great way to celebrate Sam's first Forever Family Day!

March 7, 2009

One year ago tomorrow, Sam was placed in our arms forever in the lobby of the Grand Tikal Hotel in Guatemala City and March 8th became known as Sam's Forever Family Day.  ONE YEAR!!  Is anyone else in disbelief about that?  It has been an amazing year and Sam has been the perfect son.  We feel lucky every moment of every day to be his Mama and Dada.  He brings so much joy to us and to everyone he sees and we are so happy that he is ours.  It is really mind boggling that he has been with us for a year.  So much has happened in that year, yet it feels like just yesterday that we were waiting in the lobby for his foster family to arrive with him.

We are celebrating this special anniversary with a trip to San Diego.  We plan to take Sam to the beach, Sea World and the San Diego Zoo for sure, possibly to Knotts Berry Farm and who knows what else!  Whatever we do, it will be a great time!  

Happy Forever Family Day, Sam!   We love you!

                      One year ago - 7 months old                                                Today at 19 months old, looking like a little boy     

     Bubbles and Talking

This next picture is just a fun one from Sam's school this past week.  They celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday with green eggs and ham and Sam was a fan!  

March 1, 2009

Sam had a big week this past week and an even bigger week coming up.  He "graduated" from the First Steps room up to the Toddler room at school on Friday.   We think this will be good for him, since he'll be with kids who are his age or older for the most part and he'll be exposed to more advanced activities and concepts. 

Just today, he has started repeating words we are saying to him.  In addition to his regular half dozen or so words (dada, hi, no, uh-oh, boo, duck, woof and moo), he now can say "ball", "bubble" and "tree".   "Mama" is still hit or miss, but he does say it, especially when he's upset about going to bed or upset about us not getting him out of his crib quickly enough in the morning on the weekends.

In other news, Sam made it into a magazine this month!  He is going to be in the magazine Adoptive Families in their Family Photo Album section.  The picture is from when he was only 9 months old and we were enjoying hanging out together before I went back to work, but it's one of my favorites of him looking thoughtful and serious.  I'm attaching a scanned copy of the page he's on.  He's in the top left corner. 

                                                  "Please explain...."                                    The ball that made him say "ball"

                          Sam and Lucy in a face off over the ball                                                     Our baby in print

February 22,2009

We had a great weekend!  Sam was so much fun and such a happy little guy all weekend.  He was exploding with energy and laughter most of the weekend.  He got to spend time with Grandpa C. and Daddy on Saturday morning and the rest of the weekend was just some nice and relaxing hanging out. 

We've both noticed this weekend that Sam is babbling a lot more and making new consonant sounds.  His comprehension of directions and his ability to recognize things impresses us every day.  I think he is just absorbing everything, filing it away and is going to bust out some full-on sentences one of these days.  Kind of makes us realize we should be pretty careful about what kinds of things we say in front of him! 

To get a sneak peek at the professional pictures we had taken a copule weeks ago, visit www.contemporaryexpressions.net.  Click on Client Galleries and then Create Account.  Find the picture of the three of us and click on "Sam".  You may be prompted for a password and if so, it is just our last name (all lower case). 

February 19, 2009

Sam's school sent this picture over today of him sharing nicely with his friends Jack and Charlie and participating in a little teamwork.  He is spending some time in the next room up in preparation of moving into that room in March.  He's growing up too fast! 

February 16, 2009

Sam seems to be very much back to himself, evidenced by his improved energy and minimal need for sleep during the day yesterday and today.  He usually naps for a couple of hours a day, but the past two days, he's slept for about 45 minutes and that's it! 

Grammie and Ron came over on Sunday night to hang out with Sam so Devin and I could go out for an after Valentine's Day dinner.  He had a lot of fun wrestling with Ron and enjoying his new Handy Manny table and chairs from Grammie.  This kid is NUTSO about Handy Manny right now!  He gets the Tivo remote for us and points to the TV when he wants us to turn it on for him.  As you can see in the last picture below, he's still in to The Wonder Pets too, but right now Manny is #1. 

Today, we met Brett and Ben at The Children's Museum for some play time.  The place was packed, but the boys had fun playing together.   In the picture below, they were in the "tree house". 

Lately, Sam has enjoyed helping us in any way he can.  He loves to vacuum with his vacuum, wipe the floor with towels, throw things in the trash and even put his toys away on occasion. 

February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!!  Sam is feeling much better today.  Although he is still pretty tired, he's certainly on the road to recovery! 

                                 Making his Valentines...                                                         

Our serious little "Heart Breaker" hasn't been too smiley lately...

February 12, 2009

This week has been a bit of a rough one for Sam.  Early in the week, we thought he just had a simple little cold, like he's had several other times this winter.  The normal stuff, like runny nose, low-grade fever off and on and a slightly depressed appetite.  Honestly, I thought it was possibly related to his teething 6-8 teeth at the same time.  He came home from school early on Monday afternoon and stayed home with Daddy on Tuesday due to a pretty high fever.  After seeming totally normal, he went back to school on Wednesday, but they called us late in the day to tell us his cough was pretty bad and it was causing him to get sick.  It turns out the poor little guy has pneumonia.  Scary word!  Luckily, it's somewhat mild and was caught early, although I keep thinking we should have taken him to the doctor's office sooner.  I stayed home with him today and Devin and I are going to split the day tomorrow.  His cough is still pretty violent at times and he was cuddlier than usual at times today (I'll take that anytime!).   Hopefully we'll be able to nurse him and love him back to healthy over the weekend.  Here's a picture of him today looking kind of pathetic and adorable on the couch.

February 9, 2009

I took a couple of days off last week to hang out with Sam.  We had a great time!  We went to the zoo with some friends and it was just a gorgeous day.  And we spent a lot of time just enjoying playing and hanging out. 

Over the weekend, we had some 18 month pictures taken by a photographer who is a part of a wonderful program called Celebrating Adoption.  We can't wait to see the pictures next week.  I think she got some great shots!  In the meantime, here are some shots we took over the past few days.

                                At the zoo with Kayley and Blake                                       Sam loved the Caddy at Costco

         Sam was losing his mind over me blowing bubbles at him.  He was laughing so hard he was losing his breath! 

February 4, 2009

Sam had his 18 month appointment today and the doctor is very pleased with his progress and so are we!  Developmentally, he is right where he should be for his age.  He weighs 21 pounds and 13 ounces and measures 32" tall.  He's a peanut in terms of his weight - this is the 5th percentile.  But, for height he's in the 45th percentile.  Overall, she wasn't too concerned about his weight, but she did say she wants us to be sure to give him plenty of the foods we know he likes.  Here are some pictures we took tonight.  Lucy just about jumped in the bath tub with him at one point! 

February 1, 2009

We cannot believe our little baby is going to be 18 months old in just a couple of days!  He has his 18 month appointment on Wednesday and we are anxious to see how much he has grown since his last appointment.  What we do know is that he is learning something new every day.  He signs about a dozen words, including juice, milk, please, thank you, cracker, horse, cat, eat and a few others.  He knows a bunch of different body parts and can recognize a lot of different things in books and point to them when asked.  Verbally, he is saying hi, dada, no, uh-oh, duck and on very rare occasions, mama.  It sure seems like he understands just about anything we say to him, which is just so cool.  He is teething really badly right now.  We think it's his back molars and he was a crabby little boy most of today. 

Our Guate Tot group got together this weekend at our house.  A couple of the families came over and Sam got to play with Miko, Liliana and Hadden.  Afterwards, he was pretty tuckered out.

January 25, 2009

We had a full weekend this past weekend and Sam really enjoyed himself.  We took him to the National Western Stock Show and he loved seeing the animals.  He got to go on a pony ride, pet pigs and cows and laugh at the lambs "baahh"ing.  We half expected him to be scared of the animals, and while he wasn't quite sure what to make of all of them, he seemed to enjoy himself.   He especially loved holding his friend Kayley's hand as we walked around.

We also went over to our friends' house Saturday evening and Sam had fun playing with their daughter, Sally.  Sally is a couple of months younger than Sam.  They got along really well, but Sam wasn't so sure about Sally showing off her belly on their first date.

Sam is mimicking just about everything we do and he's really learning a lot  right now.  It's so much fun to see him learn a new concept.  He is picking up new sign language every day and it is so nice that he can communicate with us.  He's chattering a lot and has figured out how to express his curiosity and inquiry through his hand gestures and the tone of his "uuhh?"  It really does sound like there's a question mark at the end! 

January 21, 2009

Not a lot to say today, but wanted to get some pics up for everyone.

                          Eating at the table like a big boy                                 He wasn't talking to anyone, but he was talking!

                                              Just being too cute for words                               Using the new step stool to wash his hands

                                                                                   Cracking up with Grandpa C.

January 12, 2009

Wow, where does the time go?  Sam is going to be 18 months old in just a few weeks.  I really can't believe it!  He is doing so great.  Here are a few pictures of recent happenings.  He has so many toys, we decided we needed to do a rotation scheme, so we put about 1/2 of his toys in the basement and we'll swap them out in a couple of weeks.  He really seems to be responding well to that and plays longer with the toys that are currently available.  I guess too much choice was overwhelming! 

Sam has so much fun with Grammie, as you can clearly see in this picture.

He's picking up on Daddy's favorite hobby, photography.  He thought he had hit the jackpot with our old camera.

Over the weekend, we took Sam to Little Monkey Bizness to play around with his friend Miko.  They had a lot of fun, though mostly independently of each other.  The second picture was too funny.  Miko was petting Sam like a dog and Sam just laid there and wasn't sure what to make of it. 

January 4, 2009

Lately, Sam has been Mr. Serious when it comes to picture time.  It takes great patience to get a shot of him truly smiling.  But, over the last couple of days, he's become Mr. Smiley and it has not been so hard to capture his happiness and that gorgeous smile. 

As if he didn't get enough toys for Christmas, this purchase happened after Christmas.  Sam has always enjoyed bouncing on things and people and as he grows, it's becoming more and more difficult to handle him jumping on your head.  Hence, the Bouncing Zebra purchase from craigslist.  You can see how happy it makes him and that makes us happy.  :-)

Sam is also quite fond of climbing in, on and through just about anything.  One of his gifts was this play hut and tunnel combo.  He's especially crazy about throwing all of his balls (soccer, football, basketball) into the hut and then crawling in to bring them out one by one.   I love the slightly crazed look on his face in the first picture (much better if enlarged).

We got a good amount of snow here yesterday.   So, we bundled Sam up this morning and let him play in it for a little bit.  He had fun, although the first time he took a swipe through it with his mittened hand, he wasn't sure what to think.  He was happy to stumble around and explore, until Lucy decided to get a little crazy and knock him over (not pictured).  Since this is a post all about how much Sam is smiling lately, I figured I'd leave the crying picture off for now...  

Please note that I'll be removing some stuff from this site in the near future.  We are running out of storage space!  So, I'm going to be preserving the part of the blog that details our journey to bringing Sam home in book format and it will not appear on this site anymore in the somewhat near future.  

January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!  We hope the new year brings you much joy and happiness.  We are thrilled to have 2009 ahead of us and we can't wait to see what fun things are in store for us with Mr. Sam.  Here are some pictures of Sam modeling his new bath robe and one picture from New Year's Eve of the three of us. 

December 28, 2008

Just a couple of fun pictures of Sam!  In the first shot, he's checking out his new US Passport, with Mommy hovering nearby in case he decides to try to get crazy with this precious document.  And the other one was from dinner the other night.  He was being super-silly and making funny faces.  Even though he's a little messy, that smile is just too sweet. 

December 26, 2008

The past week and a half has been wonderful.  Spending our first Christmas together as a family has been so much fun and so special.  Devin and I really had a hard time answering the question "what do you want for Christmas?" because quite honestly, we received the best present ever this year when Sam came home.  He has made all of our dreams come true and how can you top that? 

Over the past week and a half, we've celebrated Grammie's birthday, attended holiday parties at Sam's school and at our friends Tim and Kevin's house, viisted with friends, celebrated Christmas Eve with Devin's family and Christmas Day with my Mom and Ron.  Sam has become quite a pro at opening Christmas presents.  He gets right in there and removes every piece of paper before checking out the present.

When we came downstairs on Christmas morning and he saw his presents from Santa (the car and the picnic table), I wish we had the video camera on.  He pointed and made a sound something like "Ooooh".  The car is by far the hit of Christmas, so Santa did well!  Sam got so many other presents we don't even know where to put them!   

                Playing with Ron's phone - too cute not to post                       Eating snacks with his friend Trooper at school

             Visiting with Ryan and Jordan on Christmas Eve               Rough-housing with Grandpa C. on Christmas Eve

               Playing with his garage from Aunt J, Uncle T and kids                 The only family picture from the holidays

               What our tree looked like Christmas morning before Sam hit it                   Sam's new ride

                              Which sport will he play?                                          Playing with the tissue paper and having fun!

                                   Checking out one of Grammie's presents                    Helping Mommy and Daddy clean

December 15, 2008

Things have been a bit crazy around here with the holidays, work and the sicks, so haven't had time to post much recently.  However, here are a few cute pics of Sam over the last couple weeks. 

Over the past weekend, Grandpa and CC visited from South Carolina.  We had a great visit.  One of the highlights was going to the Children's Museum.  Sam had a blast.  We also had a great time celebrating Christmas a little early!

                                                         Mr. Firefighter                                           Playing in the clubhouse

Practicing to be a vet technician.  Doesn't it really look like he's on the computer??

                               Doing a little shopping...                                                 Doing a little cashiering...

December 4, 2008

Every year, my employer has a Kids Holiday Party and this is the first year I've been able to participate with a kid!  We had a lot of fun.  Sam was not fond of Santa, but he sure liked climbing on everything at Monkey Bizness!  Good thing we asked Santa for a tunnel for home.  Can't you just see how happy it makes him?  He also loved playing with the pretend kitchen. 

November 30, 2008

After we recovered from the food coma on Thursday, we enjoyed the rest of our long weekend.  We decorated the house for Christmas, went to an airplane museum, went to Chuck E. Cheese's with friends and watched the snow fall.  The snow really got Sam's attention this time around.  We'll have to try to get some good shots of him playing in it soon.  

Sam is moving around faster and faster and more and more.  He truly is in to everything!  With the Christmas tree up, we really have to watch him closely (though I put the breakable ornaments up higher!).  He is babbling more and more and he is showing us he understands a lot of what we are saying.  If we say "go night night", he goes to the gate to go up the stairs.  Of course, this doesn't mean he really wants to go to sleep!  If we say "let's go brush your teeth", he goes to the bathroom door.  He is understanding instructions, like "give Mommy her shoe" and "give the ball to Lucy".  He is so happy when we tell him good job that he just wants to keep doing whatever he was doing.  

Enjoy the pictures!

               Helping Mommy and Daddy decorate                                                    Going night-night in the family room

November 28, 2008

Sam had a great day yesterday, visiting with all his family.  Below are some pictures from yesterday. 

                                    Sam and Grammie                                                        Sam with his cousins, Paige and Jacob

                                   Sam and Grandma                                                                                    Sam and Grandpa

November 27, 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

A year ago today, we held Sam in our arms for the very first time.  It was our first visit to Guatemala and the memory is as fresh as it was that very day.  I can still remember seeing Marta, Sam's foster mother, cross the hotel lobby towards us and the flood of emotions we both felt as we first laid eyes on Sam in person.  It was an emotional time and it makes today so much more special than Thanksgiving already is.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for our son being home with us, where he belongs.  I am thankful that he has been home with us for over 8 months now and that he is doing incredibly well.  I am thankful for having shared the journey and to be sharing my life with my amazing husband.  I am thankful for my fabulous family and wonderful friends.  I am thankful for so many other things in this world, like our home, our jobs, our health and our happiness.  

OK, so I don't have many new pictures of Sam since the last posting, but I will be sure to post more after today.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of Thanksgiving Day last year.

November 20, 2008

Last night, we took Sam to his first soccer game...but, this wasn't just any soccer game.  This was the US Men's National team versus the Guatemalan Men's National team and it was a World Cup qualifying game.  Talk about amazing that it happened to be here in town!  When we found out months ago that this game was going to be happening we immediately started talking about going.  It was such a great time!  Even though it was very cold, we had a blast with all of our friends and family.  We had a group of 18 people that went, including 3 other families with kiddos born in Guatemala.  The US team won the game 2-0.  It was really neat to see so many Guatemala flags and soccer jerseys in one place.  Here are some pics from last night.

And a couple of other cute pics of Sam from this week.  He really wants to climb into the dishwasher, as you can see below.

November 16, 2008

Sam is constantly making us laugh these days.  He really does try to imitate everything we do.  These are some of the cute things he's been doing lately...

• Walking EVERYWHERE!  Who needs this crawling stuff anymore??  
  
• Saying "hi", "uh-oh", "mama", "dada" and "dee-dee" (for our cat, Sadie) when he wants to and only when he wants to. 
  
• Trying to be helpful and throwing things in the trash can...including his toys
• Attempting to open doors, refrigerators, cabinets, etc.  We did some extra child-proofing this weekend as a result.
  
• He is obsessed with the phones and the remote controls.  See below for some pictures of phone time.  When we realized he had dialed "933", we promptly took the phone away from him.
  
• He loves to "love" just about everything and anything.  This involves laying his head against the cat, dog, us, his chair, whatever and saying "aww"
• Singing in the car.  We aren't sure what tune he's singing, but he's definitely singing! 

November 10, 2008

Look who's really walking!  In a matter of 8 days, Sam has gone from his first independent steps to doing laps of the kitchen island.  His progress has been amazing and I think his balance is pretty darn good for such a short time span.  

  Video: Sam Walking

November 5, 2008

Sam turned 15 months old just a couple of days ago and every day is a new adventure!  He had his 15 month check up today at the doctor and he is doing well.  He's still our little peanut in size, but he's growing steadily and that's all that matters.  He started taking independent steps just a few days ago, with plenty of prompting from us.  He's gaining more and more balance every day and no doubt he'll be running soon...and then we'll wonder why we were so anxious for him to walk!  He doesn't have a lot of words yet, but is making all kinds of associations.  He has hand motions for 4 different songs, puts his hand up to his ear and makes a sound that sounds like "hello" when the phone rings and he takes in just about everything.  Here are some pictures of him walking tonight.  Video to follow...

 

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CLICK HERE FOR: September and October 2008

OUR DAUGHTER (Last update 8-2008)

Yes, the wait still continues to be matched with our daughter from China.  At this point, we are fully anticipating it to be 2-3 years from now before we are matched.  We still anticipate she will be about 6-12 months at the time of match.  Our log-in-date (the date our dossier was received in China) is 10-17-2007.  It's hard to believe we are coming close to waiting for a year.  We are very impatiently waiting for things to speed up in China adoptions!