Lilypie 3rd Birthday Ticker

Saturday, March 25, 2006

More Pictures From The Party






From the top....Mommy, Daddy and Ian with his presents; Stephanie, Molly and Ian; Nicky giving Ian kisses; "Cool" Ryan and Mike H.

Ian's First Birthday Party (MMMM....Cake Good)



Today was Ian's First Birthday Party. It was a huge success. As you can tell by the pictures, not only did his hands end up in the cake, his face was in the first thing to hit the cake. He seemed to love it.

He really had a good time. Lots of our friends were here. We had a real multi cultural party. We had kids from 5 different countries here. Ian (of course) from India; Nicky (Leslie's son) from the Ukraine; Ryan (Donna and Mike's son) from Korea; Molly (Stephanie and Paul's daughter) from China and course kids from the good ole USA....Evan (Mitch and Marla's son), Amanda (Bill and Marcia's daughter), Ryker (David and Amy's son) and Alexa (Bill and Terry's grand-daughter). In addition, our dear friends Debbie and Dave were here. Debbie and Dave's prayers really helped me through the process when I was struggling so. Brad came over later and played with Ian for a little while. Tim over did it a little today, so he was unable to come. But, we had dinner with Brad and Tim last night at India Palace.

This was a special day. Not only for Ian, but for Mommy and Daddy too. We are so truly blessed to have this little guy. The love we feel for him is just so intense and powerful.

We're all a little tired this evening. Ian didn't take much of a nap this morning and NO nap this afternoon. So, he was in bed and asleep by 7:30pm. Let's hope he stays asleep all night.

Charlie just left for work a few minutes ago. They are doing some sort of technical switch over tonight at 2:00am. Who knows what time he'll be home.

Ian and I are going to attempt to go to church tomorrow morning by ourselves. Tee, hee...we'll see how that goes. I'm not too sure I can do it all by myself, but I'm going to give it a real try. Our Sunday school class is going out to lunch after class tomorrow and we want to go and take Ian. Charlie is going to meet us there.

I'll post a few more pictures either later tonight or tomorrow. Ian had a great time, and so did we. We thank all of our friends who helped make this day so very, very special. We love you guys.

Friday, March 24, 2006

I'm ONE Today!!!

It was really weird in my bedroom this morning. Daddy came in and starting singing to me. Not quite sure what he was saying, but he was really smiling and that made me happy. Then Mommy came in and she was singing too and smiling just like Daddy. What's up with these two? They are smiling more than usual this morning. OK...I think I'll join in. I smiling now and kicking my legs...Mommy really likes that. I'm trying to tell them to pick me up but they are just standing there clapping their hands and smiling. OK....I'm ready now...PICK ME UP. Oh good... Mommy finally understands what I'm trying to tell her and she's picking me up.

OK...here come the kisses. Mommy always kisses me when she picks me up, but this morning there are LOTS of kisses. Oh...now Daddy's joining in. Something must be wrong...these two are way to happy this early in the morning.

It's the finger game...Daddy is holding up that one finger and touching my nose with it. I love this game. Wait...Daddy's kissing my head and saying something as Mommy takes my hand and makes me wave. Oh...he's leaving. Bummer.

It's just me and Mommy and the pets now. Molly (the dog) and I are becoming pals. She's likes to come close to me so I can pet her and then run away. One of these days I'll be able to run after her and catch her.

Mommy is still singing to me. I think it must be a special day or something. There have been lots of special days in the past month. First I got to meet Mommy and Daddy at the orphanage in India. Then we went on a crazy ride through Kolkata and they took me to this hotel where we played and played. Of course, I had to sleep some...not much....but some. A few days later, I got to go on my first airplane ride. Didn't like that much. We went to this really nice place for a few days and then we got on another airplane for a really, really long time. Then we got off the plane and all of these people were there to see us. Mommy and Daddy were really tired, but crying (Mommy seems to do that pretty easily). There were people coming up to me and saying stuff and smiling and crying, just like Mommy. They must be our friends. Then Mommy and Daddy took me to our house. Wow...lots of room here. I can play on the floor and they have all kinds of toys for me. I wasn't really sure how to play with all of them, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Daddy keeps telling me I'm special. Well...I know that. But, I think he really means it. He plays with me a lot and I really like that.

Today they keep saying something like Ian's Won....what did I win? Where's my prize? Wait...here comes Mommy again....she's doing that singing thing again...she's looking pretty silly....I'm laughing and she thinks I'm the cutest thing ever. She said it again...Ian's Won....wait she's doing this thing and holding up one finger. Wait...she's saying Ian's ONE. Wow, I'm pretty smart for a one year old. When did this ONE thing happen? They weren't doing it before I went to bed last night. What happened while I was sleeping? Who knows.

All I know today is I'm a pretty happy guy and Mommy and Daddy look very happy too. They're pretty cool and I think I'll keep them.

I'm getting sleepy. No I'm not. Wait, maybe I am. Being one is a hard job. Maybe I'd better take a nap so I can rest up. No...no nap for Ian. OK, here comes Mommy. She saw me rubbing my eyes and yawning. She's picking me up. Kisses again. She's the best. Now we're snuggling. I love to snuggle with Mommy. Nope...not going to sleep Mommy. You're going to do something and I might miss it. I can stay up all day....no I can't I'm really sleepy. She's putting me in my crib. I guess I didn't fool her. I'll lay here Mommy but I'm not going to sleep. Nope...not going to sleep. OK...I'm going to sleep so I'll stop my story for now...but stay tuned....now that I'm one I may have more to say later.

Ian

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Nothing's Better Than Bath Time!!!!




Ian has discovered that bath time is quite fun. Just this week, he has started kicking his legs and splashing with his little hands. He loves his toys (the duck and the frog), but his absolute favorite is a plastic cup. He gets so excited when he gets water in it and then dumps it on himself. He is just so proud of himself. He starts kicking and squealing and splashing and trying to get the cup again. Who knew bath time could be so much fun. These pictures are from tonight's bath.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

I LOVE Being A Mom

I absolutely LOVE being a Mom!!!! I have always been pretty career oriented (and still am), but boy oh boy...this Mom stuff is pretty great. It's not all perfect, but even the crazy parts are wonderful. Maybe I'm still jet lagged. Nah.

We've been home 2 days by ourselves and we have actually had fun. Yesterday morning about 10:30am I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it the whole day. I couldn't figure out what the heck I was going to do to entertain this baby for a whole day. Miracously, I figured it out. We even made a quick run to Target in the afternoon.

Last night (Monday night) was rough. It was probably one of the roughest nights we've had so far. He didn't want to go to sleep at all. I think his little routine was messed up since Charlie wasn't home all day. He wanted to play with Daddy instead of going to sleep. He finally went down about 8:30pm. He woke up at 11:30pm screaming. Usually Charlie can calm him right now. Didn't work this time. We switched off and finally I got him to go back to sleep around midnight. Then he was awake briefly at 12:30 and then at 1:00 and then at 1:30 and then at 2:00. By 2:00am....he was wide awake and pretty mad. So...not much was working at this point. I gave him a small bottle and he drank it right down in no time and then was ready to cry some more. He finally fell asleep in my arms (love that part). I waited about 10 minutes to make sure he was really asleep before I tried to put him in his bed. He woke up and started crying again. As long as I stood there and patted his back he was fine. As soon as I removed my hand...he would just wail. So, Charlie and I switched off. Charlie wasn't having much luck either. So we decided to put him in bed with us. It took a few minutes for him to calm down, but he finally went to sleep around 3:30am. At 5:30am...Charlie moved. That woke Ian up and made him mad. So...he was crying again. I snuggled with him for a few minutes, but didn't want much to do with that. I thought I'd try putting him in his bed. That worked. He went right to sleep and slept until around 7:45am this morning. He had a pretty good day. We went to the Yale office to visit and had fun there.

He ate a great dinner. Daddy came home just as we were finishing. What a happy boy when he sees his daddy. Makes Charlie feel pretty good too. :) After we played for a while it was bath time. Bath time is usually pretty fun. But tonight....it was incredible. He has really discovered kicking and splashing. He loves it. I had so much fun just watching him.

We had our first post placement visit last Friday with Gayle (our social worker from Dillon). She is a great lady and I'm so glad that we're getting to know her. One of the questions she asked us was what did we like most about parenthood? Charlie really nailed it. It's the absolute JOY that Ian brings to us. There's now better way to describe it....pure....absolute...honest to goodness....JOY.

I remember my Mom telling me that she could never figure out where all of her time went once she had me. I can now understand that. I don't know what we really did before Ian. We're pretty consumed with this little guy. I'm sure it'll even out eventually. But...we're enjoying it right now.

We have set our date for Ian's baby dedication at church. It will be Sunday, April 30th during the 8:30am (CST) service. Our services can be seen via the web at www.tulsafbc.org if you want to pop on and watch. Of course, those of you in the area are more that welcome to attend. We were going to do the Sunday before, but April 30th is the day before our 19th wedding anniversary, so it just seemed fitting.

Looks like we have a busy weekend planned. Ian is going to attend the birthday party of his friend Ryan. He just turned one last week. He came home to be with his forever family in August from Korea. He came over last week for a play date and he is just so much fun. He taught us some valuable lessons on safety with a toddler. We're also thinking about having Ian's One Year Old picture taken. But...I may have to do that sometime next week.

Yes...Ian will be one in just over a week. Next Friday, March 24th is the big day. We're going to have his little party on Saturday the 25th. I prayed through this entire process that we'd have him home before his first birthday and God truly answered that prayer (and so many more).

I think I'm going to call it a night. Mommy is a little tired this evening. More as the days go on....

Sunday, March 12, 2006

First Sunday In Church

Today was a big day for us. Today was the first time Ian has been to church. He did amazingly well. Outside of a few spit ups, he was fine.

Mom and Dad got up early so that we had plenty of time for all of us to get ready. We actually had to wake Ian up at 7:00am....he was still sleeping. He didn't wake up at all last night. He got up and we cuddled for a little bit and then I gave him a bottle. He didn't want much to do with the bottle this morning...which is strange....he loves his morning bottle. Then we ate some cereal. After that, I finished getting ready. I had changed his diaper and just had a onsie on him...because I thought he'd go poop before we left. Sure enough. Just as we were getting ready to put his clothes on him...poop. So we changed that diaper and put his clothes on.

He does great in the car seat now. He fusses a little bit when I start to put him in, but he settles right down. The ride to church was filled with Ian sounds....mostly jabbering and a few "da-da's".

Being the observant little guy, he was taking it all in when we were walking to the fellowship hall (since the santcuary is being renovated). He loved the church bulletin. It made for good chewing and waving material. One of the first people we saw was Milton Kauahi. He smiled at Milton right away. Then we saw lots of people we knew. The McKnights came in shortly after we did with Nathan and Aaron. He seems to like other kids a lot. Pastor Deron came by for a few moments to visit. We settled in for the worship service. Ian was doing great. He really watched and listened as Charlie was singing the hymns. After the first few songs, Pastor Deron got up to do the welcome. He said that he knows it's hard for some people to come all the way downtown to church bright and early on Sunday morning. But this morning we had a special guest and no one had come further than he did. He went on to say, "his parents aren't aware that I'm going to do this...the Conner's have recently adopted from India and today...come on Ian....this little guy has come half way around the world to church...and he's happy about it....so I don't want to hear any complaints of driving 20 minutes to get to church." Ian did great. He smiled at Deron and looked like he was having fun. That's good...since baby dedidcation is coming up.

After worship, we went to Sunday school. We kept him with us this morning. I'm not ready for him to go into the nursery yet. He did fine for about the first 30 minutes, but then he started to get a little fussy. So I got up and walked around with him a little. We walked down to the pre-school area talked to some of the nice folks there. I think we'll put him in the nursery next Sunday just for the Sunday School hour.

He tried to nap on the way home...but I didn't want him to. We thought we'd try a later nap time today and maybe that would make a difference. Once we got home, I gave him some juice. He played for a little bit, but then the crankiness set in. He was so sleepy. He finally went to sleep around 12:30. He slept until 2:15...so a pretty good nap. He'd getting tired now. It's almost bath time. I hear him in the living room talking to his daddy.

Charlie goes back to work tomorrow morning. I'm a little worried. I'm not sure how I'll do all day by myself with Ian. I'm sure we'll be fine...I just hope and pray that I can keep him entertained.

My prayer is that Ian will always love church as much as he did today. It was a perfect service (even Bobby Hart sang today).

Tomorrow begins a new chapter in our world. Charlie goes back to work tomorrow and then in four short weeks, I go back. Hopefully the naps will be situated by then and he'll continue to sleep well at night. He's an amazing little guy and we're so blessed to have such a delightful little boy.

More as we can....

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Cutie Patootie


Precious, precious, precious!!!! He's just so dang cute. Is it any wonder that he has me wrapped around his little finger?

First Official Doctors Visit

Today was Ian's first official visit with Dr. Sood. He saw him last Friday, but that was for a cold. Today was the real evaluation.

Dr. Sood said that he is "stunningly handsome." Mommy and Daddy already knew that, but it was nice to hear. Ian did OK. He doesn't like to lie down on the exam table. So, for Dr. Sood to examine him that was bit of a chore. He is behind in a couple of shots, so he had to get two shots today and have some blood drawn. That was tramautic...more so for Mommy and Daddy probably.

Dr. Sood said that he is probably about 9-10 months developmentally. Which is pretty much where we thought he'd be. Actually, that's a little better than we thought he'd be. We can already tell a difference in the things he's doing. Still has a temper though.

He weighs 18.4 pounds and is 29 inches long. He's on the 5th percentile as far as weight goes, but Dr. Sood is not concerned about that at all since the charts are made for American kids. He is in the 75th percentile for his height. So...maybe a tall, skinny boy...who knows. His head circumference is still the same as it was when we left India. We go back to the doctor in 6 weeks for more shots and a check up.

He's a good boy. He fussed while we were at the doctors office, but then power napped on the way home. He's playing with Daddy right now and I can hear him giggling. Daddy goes back to work on Monday, so they both need this time together.

Tomorrow, his friend Ryan is coming over to visit. Ryan turned one today. He was napping when we called to wish him a happy birthday. We'll have to tell him in person tomorrow. Speaking of birthday's....Ian's first birthday is only 16 days away. Mommy needs to get started planning.

More updates as we can....

Monday, March 06, 2006

Amazing Ian

What an amazing little guy Ian is. He continually makes us smile. He is a bit cranky this evening, but the way he's chewing on the nipple of his bottle I think another tooth is popping through.

We had a good weekend. His cold is better. Runny nose still, but the cough is better and no fever. He is sleeping between 9-11 hours a night and napping about 2 times a day. It all depends on how long his morning nap is. If it's only 30-45 minutes, then we take 3 naps. If it's over an hour, then usually he takes another 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. He's getting better about the afternoon one. He doesn't mind the morning nap at all. But he usually fusses when it's time for the afternoon nap.

We ventured out today and visited the Dillon office. We were able to see Jynger, Gayle, Deniese and lots of other people. He was a happy, smiling boy. Then we went to the book store and Daddy bought him the Curious George CD and an Elmo book. He seems to like Elmo. We watched Sesame Street on Saturday morning and he giggled and wiggled at Elmo.

He got the cutest toy yesterday. A friend of ours from our Sunday school class brought dinner to us last night and brought some things for Ian. One of them was this adorable little turtle. When you press his foot, he giggles. Ian loves it. He giggles right along with it and now he's hugging it and chewing on it.

He has now discovered that he can grab the spoon when Mommy's feeding him. Baby food on the hands must feel good. He's a thumb sucker...either one...it doesn't matter. His new thing this weekend was to take a bite of food and then put the thumb in the mouth. Must make the food go down better. Who knows. All I know is it's messy.

He loves to eat. He has liked everything we've given him so far, but his absolute favorite thing is bananas. He will eat a whole banana and would probably eat more, but I'm afraid it will make him sick. He likes the baby food kind too, but prefers fresh mashed ones.

The weather is beautiful here, so tomorrow we're going to take a walk in our stroller. Tomorrow is an election day in Tulsa, so we're going to walk to the polling place and back. He's getting used to his car seat, so I'm hoping that the stroller won't be a big deal.

He is a great baby and we are so blessed. He's learning new things every single day.

The waiting process of this adoption was greuling, but others told us that we'd forget about the wait once we had him. I can't say that we've forgotten about it, but now that we have him it seems like a distant memory. He was SOOOOOOOOO worth the wait.

We have our first post placement visit with Gayle on Friday. We're actually looking forward to that. Ian seems to be attaching and bonding with both of us.

This is Charlie's last week off work. We're going to go in tomorrow to visit the folks at Charlie's office. Then on Wednesday we have our official doctors appointment for evaluation with Dr. Sood.

God is so good. He asked us to trust Him and have faith that He would bring us to our child. He did and Ian is awesome. What an awesome responsibility God has given us and we are so grateful that He chose to put our family together.

More as the days progress......

Friday, March 03, 2006

Enough Excitement For One Day

Ian had to go to the doctor this afternoon. He was a bit cranky before his nap and his nose has been running non stop for the past couple of days, plus he developed a cough yesterday. When he woke up from his nap he felt kinda warm to me. So I took his temp. It was 102.2 . I immediately called Dr. Sood and they had me bring him in.

Traumatic. That's the word for the day. They did a chest x-ray and put him in this contraption to keep him still. That was awful...especially for mommy. Then Dr. Sood wanted to test him for RSV since his cough was so tight. That was horrible. Poor little guy.

This was my first experience at the doctor with my son. I felt so bad for him.

Dr. Sood gave him some medicine and said that he has a really bad cold. He asked me to call him on Monday and give him a report. Then we see him next Wednesday for Ian's first real appointment.

OK...enough of this stuff. Ian and Daddy need to get well....now. :)

Update of the Day

Things are much better in the Conner household for now. Charlie is doing much better. His doctors appointment this morning went well. The doctor was pleased with the progress. He'll stay on the antibiotics for a few more days and then see him again next Friday just for follow up.

Ian had a good night. He didn't take a nap yesterday afternoon, so by 7:30 he was ready for bed. He slept until 4:30am. Then I rocked him for a little while and he went back down and slept until around 7:00am. We played and ate some breakfast and then got ready to go with daddy to his appointment. Then afterwards we went into the Yale office to see all of the people there. He was a good boy. He was very sleepy, but still pretty smiley.

We...Charlie...just put him down for his nap. We'll see if that works.

Ian's first doctors appointment is next Wednesday. I can't wait to see if he's gained any weight. He sure feels like he has. I put a pair of jeans on him this morning and he looked like his little body just disappeared. They were 12 month size...but way, way too big. He's really in about a 9 month size in most things. Some of his 12 month stuff fits ok, but most of it's still a too big. He'll grow into it.

Wow...no crying....that is amazing. Charlie now has nap duty.

It's tough on Ian and Charlie right now. Charlie can't have a lot of close, close contact with him because of his infection. So, no snuggling or kissing or stuff like that. They both are missing that. Ian loves his daddy already. He's a smart boy. :)

That's the update so far today.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Charlie Update

Charlie is doing much, much better today. The swelling is going down in his neck and the infection seems to be draining quite a bit more. He goes back to the doctor tomorrow morning for follow up. We feel like the anti-biotics are working. Still not out of the woods completely, but I think we're peeking around a few trees now. Continue to pray please for healing.

More Random Photos





I think I'm going to be one of those proud picture parents. I love taking pictures of Ian and I'm going to have to show them to everyone.

The Three Of Us in New Delhi


A very sweet lady took this photo of us in the lobby of our hotel in New Delhi. It's our first one as a family.

It's almost time to get First Birthday pictures for Ian. He'll be one on March 24th. He's an amazing little guy.

When daddy starts feeling better, we'll take a few more of the three of us together.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The Saga Continues

We're home, we're doing well and now...Charlie is sick again. He's really sick. He had to see a surgeon this morning. They think he has a staph infection in his neck. He cut himself shaving on Sunday morning and by Monday he had a big knot about the size of a quarter. Yesterday the knot was about golf ball size. He saw his primary care physician yesterday and she said if it wasn't better by this morning she'd send him to a surgeon and see what needed to be done. She did go ahead and start him on oral antibiotics as well as giving him a shot. This morning it was not better at all. As a matter of fact it was worse. So she sent him to see a surgeon. The surgeon said that it was most likely staph and we needed to jump on this right away. So he lanced the boil and got lots of gunk out of it. I have to flush it 3 times a day beginning tomorrow with peroxide. It looks better already. If it's not some better by tomorrow, then they'll have to hospitalize him for IV antibiotics.

I'm not ready for single parenthood...not even for a single night. So, please pray that the antibiotics start working and everything is much better by tomorrow.

Ian had a great night last night...but so far today...no nap. Not sure how tonight or this evening will be.

More as we get a chance.