Playing With Ryan

Today our friends Mike, Donna and Ryan came over. We had a great time visiting, watching our boys play and having pizza. Ryan is 3 weeks older than Ian. Before long we'll be celebrating Ryan's Gotcha Day. It's hard to believe that this time last year, neither couple had children. Mike and Donna were getting ready to travel to Korea, and we were still waiting for a referral. My how things change. We are both blessed to have such wonderful, happy and healthy boys in our lives.

These are some pictures from today. It was impossible to get both boys together, looking at the camera and still, so there are lots of side shots :)

15 Months Old

Ian turned 15 months old yesterday. These are a few pictures from the past couple of days. I just had to put the one on of Molly, our dog, in a quite moment.

From the top down - Mommy & Ian (runny nose and drooling); Ian & Mommy singing; Ian making a slight version of his "scrunch face"; Ian and one of his favorite things...a ball; Daddy and Ian playing "where's Ian" while getting dressed; and last but not least Molly Dog.

I'll try to get some good pictures of the cats and post them. They're just harder to obtain.

Big Day and Other Stuff

Today, Ian is 15 months old. I can't believe it. We've been home exactly 4 months today with our precious baby boy. He's changed a lot in the past 4 months. He is still the same sweet boy, but he's developing into this little toddler that is becoming quite independent.

Today we left Ian with a friend for the first time. We take him to daycare every day and to the nursery at church on Sundays, but we have never left him with anyone so Charlie and I could go on a date. We've had tickets to see The Lion King since last November and today we saw that AMAZING performance. My friend, Lori, said that she'd come over and watch Ian since the day I purchased the tickets. And she did!!! I was worried...not about Lori...but just about leaving him. He's been going through some separation anxiety and I didn't know how he'd handle us being gone. He did GREAT. Lori said that he didn't cry at all when we left. She said that after we'd been gone a little while he looked around and realized that we weren't there. She said he looked sad and then crawled into her lap and gave her a hug. After that...she said he was fine. They played, went for a walk, had a snack and had fun. She said that the only time he really cried was when he was doing something he shouldn't be doing (like trying to get the electric plug protectors out of the plugs) and she told him no. Anytime we tell him no he's just crushed. He cries like it's just the worst thing in the world and those big tears just stream down his little face and then he's done. It was hard to relax on the way to the theatre and I know Charlie was pretty frustrated with me. But....once we were in our seats and the performance began...it was simply amazing. I was so overwhelmed with the opening of the show. I've seen lots of theatre productions and I was blown away by this one. It was a great date.

When we got home, Ian was happy to see us. He did his cute little scrunch face smile and kicked his little legs. It was the sweetest thing. Lori was, understandably, very tired. It means so much for us to have a friend like Lori that we can leave our baby with. She's great and Ian loves his Lori.

Yesterday we visited Dr. Sood for Ian's 15 month check up (and an ear re-check). He's doing great in all areas of development. He's still small on the American kids growth chart, but he's pretty normal for an Indian kid. He weighs 21.15 pounds (every little ounce counts :)) and he's 30.5 inches tall. He's gained about 3 pounds since we've been home and he's grown a little over an inch. Dr. Sood was very pleased with his progress. He got 4 shots and now he is totally caught up on immunizations. Yippee!! His ears look better, but there's still fluid behind them. Dr. Sood is sending him to see an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist, Dr. Viadya. We're pretty sure he's going to have to have tubes in his ears. But, hopefully that will fix some of the problems he's having. He also has a cough that Dr. Sood is a little concerned with. He things he may have a little asthma going on. So, he started him on some medication (Singulair) and we'll see how that works. He may also have some allergies, but we're just not sure yet. Dr. Sood told us that we may have to get rid of our animals if it turns out that he has asthma. We're not going to think about that right now, but we'll do what we have to if it comes down to that. We're hopeful that the tubes help a bunch and the new medication. Ian had a rough time at the doctor's office yesterday so we were sure that the afternoon at daycare would be miserable. But...no....Miss Stacie said he had a great afternoon and wasn't fussy at all. He had a good evening and wasn't fussy until he got tired and it was time for bed.

It's been an eventful couple of days in the Conner house. Please pray that Ian does well with the surgery and new medication. We'll keep everyone updated as things progress.

My Favorite Photo Of The Day

Photos from Father's Day 06

I posted these in the wrong order. Ian on the hearth in his romper and ball cap; Daddy and Ian after lunch; Daddy and Ian just before we left for church; Daddy in his first home made Father's Day gift. The T-Shirt was made at daycare...look at those adorable little hand prints. :)

Father's Day 2006

Today we celebrated our first Father's Day as a family. Father's Day will always hold a special significance to our family. It was exactly 2 years ago, on Father's Day, that we completed our application for adoption through Dillon International. We knew that we'd have a child, but we never imagined that this wonderful little boy would be the result of the endless mounds of paperwork. We are truly, truly blessed.

The day started with Ian and Daddy trying to sneak up on Mommy. Ian's still trying to master that. He gets more excited the closer he gets and he starts giggling. It's so sweet. After we played for a few minutes, we gave Charlie his Father's Day gifts. I had to keep them at my office for over a month so I wouldn't be tempted to give them to him early. I'm so bad at keeping stuff like that. Anyway....he read his cards and then opened his presents. We got him the latest in the Charles Shultz Peanuts collection (I think it's years 59-60). But, his big present was a new watch. Not just any watch....a Cleveland Indians watch. Charlie is a HUGE Cleveland Indians fan....rephrase....HUGE Cleveland Sports fan. It really doesn't matter the sport, as long as it's Cleveland. He does tend to favor baseball a little. I also got him a new baseball cap. In addition, I got Ian his first Cleveland Indians baseball cap and a romper. Of course, the hat and the romper are a little big on him, but he'll probably be able to wear them next summer if he doesn't hit a major growth spurt. Charlie loved everything.

We were finally all dressed and headed to church. Ian was very vocal this morning. Not crabby or anything, just talking. He's starting "singing" in the car. He is going through a bit of separation anxiety right now. He cries when when we leave him. This morning when we left him in the nursery at church he started to cry and then the worker gave him a ball to play with and all was good. When we picked him up they said that he did great (as usualy), but he did have a hard time when others were leaving. Poor little guy.

After church we decided to go out to eat. Ian was alseep before we got on the Broken Arrow Expressway. Charlie decided that he'd like Red Lobster today. We got there and got right in. Ian is not doing as well as he once did in restaurants. Not sure what's going on with that, but I'm sure we get through it. We were all stuff when we left there.

After Ian's nap this afternoon, I took a few pictures of the boys outside. I'll post them in a little bit. Charlie is a great father and Ian adores him. He lights up when Charlie walks in the room. Charlie...lights up when he sees Ian. I love watching the two of them together. I look forward to many other Father's Days with my two favorite boys in the world.

Happy Father's Day!!!!

What's New?

It seems like Ian discovers or does something new every day. On Thursday evening, he "discovered" that he could crawl up onto the hearth. He couldn't quite figure out how to get down, but daddy helped him and he was fine. He just crawls up there like a big boy.

Yesterday he got his 2nd haircut. The first one was wonderful...no tears...great time. The second one was terrible. We went right after work yesterday and that was a HUGE mistake. Silly me, I didn't even consider that he'd be really tired from daycare (he is every day). Plus, Charlie got stuck at work so he wasn't there to help. Poor little guy, he cried and screamed and cried. Tim felt terrible about it, but it wasn't Tim's fault at all. Even with all of the wiggling and screaming that he did, Tim was able to do a great job on his hair. He just looks more and more like a little boy each day.

He had a pretty good day today. Nap time was rough, but all in all it was a good day.

Tomorrow we celebrate our first Father's Day. Ian and I can't wait to give daddy his present tomorrow morning before we leave for church. :) I'll post Father's Day pictures tomorrow.

The pictures I'm posting tonight are ones of him on the hearth.

Just Some Pictures

Where's My Baby?

OK, I'm having a hard time with this. Call me silly....OK. I'm thrilled that Ian is growing, developing and becoming quite the little man. But...I'm missing the baby that we brought home from India. He's growing up way to fast for me. Charlie thinks I'm nuts...and I may be, but tonight it was really hard for me. He goes back and forth about his night time bottle. That's always been snuggle time for us. For the past few nights, he hasn't wanted his bottle. Probably only 3 nights in the past 10 has he wanted a bottle. That's the only bottle he takes. We were down to 2 and then the morning one went away about 6 weeks ago. Now, the night time one seems to be going too. I know that's a good thing. I'm being selfish, but I can't help it right now. I looked at him on Sunday when he was eating dinner and he looked like such a little boy.

He's moving right along. He stands more than he crawls right now. He has only let go one or two times. When I think about the fact that he wasn't even crawling when we got him (almost 4 months ago), he's come a really long way. I'm having a hard time with him giving up the bottle, I'll be a mess when he's walking around and doesn't need me to carry him anymore.

He's VERY vocal and VERY determined. Today, Miss Stacie (at daycare) told us that he wanted his milk before he ate his lunch today. When she didn't give it to him right away....he threw his food on the floor. He gets that temper from Charlie :) Dr. Sood told us that instead of terrible twos, they start at one now. I believe it. He's constantly saying something...not sure what most of the time...but something. He does say several things clearly (light, mom mom mom, dadddddeee, dog, bath, bye bye, hey, hi, outs (outside) and bock (block)). He knows where his nose, ears, hands, feet and toes are. He knows where daddy's and mommy's are too. He still loves bath time...but doesn't like splash day at daycare or his little pool. He loves his Curious George stuffed monkeys. I got a small one for him a couple of months ago and he immediately kissed it and said "aaaawwww". Last week, I got him the Tickle Giggle Curious George. Ian loves it too. Kisses it everytime he sees it and says "aaaawwwww". We can ask him where George is and he'll go find it and then kiss it. He's got the blowing kisses thing down. He doesn't know quite when to do it....lots of times he blows kisses to the light....but he's sure cute doing it. He's a very affectionate little guy.

We have a doctors appointment next week for his 15 month check up (and his ear re-check). I'm anxious to see how much he's grown. He feels heavier to me and he looks taller. Although, his 12 month clothes are still way to big on him.

My baby is becoming a toddler. I'm excited, yet sad...but I'll make it through this little emotional pitty party.

Continued Amazement

Every day Ian does something that surprises us. It seems like he just doing more and more "stuff" every single day. He really had a great weekend. He woke up very early yesterday morning and by 5:30am we were all up and in the kitchen eating Cheerios.

We finally took a short nap around 8:30am and slept until about 10:00am yesterday. Then we got ready to go the the Dillon Adoption Workshop. We are one of the only India families in Tulsa and there's a time during the workshop where families come in with their children. We're always glad to share our story and talk to anyone about adoption. While it was a challenging process, it was all God's plan and HIS perfect timing. There's no doubt in our minds that Ian is the child that God has chosen for us.

We ran into 2 couples that we knew at the workshop. We are very excited to hear that they are pursuing international adoption through Dillon.

After the workshop we went to this great little barbecue place in Broken Arrow (Stone Mill Barbecue). It was really good and Ian ate like a little piglet. After lunch, we met Donna, Mike & Ryan at the Asian American Festival. What a difference a year makes. Last year during this festival, Donna & Mike had just received Ryan's referral. We, on the other hand, hand just been told that it would be at least the end of July before any referrals started happening. This year was different. Both of us had our boys home and enjoying the fun and festivities. We met several people from the India Association of Tulsa. We enjoyed visiting with them. We were only there about an hour and then we headed home. Ian was getting really sleepy (I wonder why...could it be because he got up at 4:15am...hmmmmm?).

After a nap Ian woke up in a great and playful mood. He's crawling more and more. But...now he's standing more and more. If he can pull up on it...he does. He started cruising around the hearth yesterday, and a little on around the couch. He's not still much anymore.

The big thing this weekend was eating. He's never really been interested in picking up food with his hands. That changed this weekend. If we put bite sized pieces of things in front of him, he picks them up and eats them. It's the cutest thing. Today after church we came home because we thought he was sleeping in the car and ready for a nap. Wrong. He was wide awake by the time we got in the house. So, we decided to go out to eat lunch. We ended up at Lonestar. I ordered him a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. Before our lunch arrived, they brought us some bread. I tore off a few small pieces and put them on the table. Ian picked them up and ate them. When his food arrived I just broke off fries and sandwich pieces and put them on the table. He ate his lunch all by himself....just like a big boy. The same thing happened with dinner this evening.

Our Sooner Start case worker will be here tomorrow morning. She's going to be very proud of Ian. We had to set some short term goals when we did his plan. The two goals that we set were pulling up to stand and feeding himself by 15 months. He's met both of those goals now and he's not 15 months old yet.

A couple of new words creeped into his vocabulary this weekend. "outs"...as he's pointing to go outside, and "bock" (block). He jabbered a lot more this weekend. I think he's feeling better. I didn't notice a single tug on the ears today. Hopefully they're doing better.

Oh....one more thing...how could I forget this? We received the report from the neurosurgeon yesterday. Ian's CT scans and x-rays were normal. He did say that most children have their shunts replaced around the time they are 5 or 6 years old. At that time, they put in the "adult version. It's an outpatient procedure. That surprised me....but in a good way. We will continue to pray that his shunt functions properly and that we only have to have that one revision when he's 5 or 6.

Today in church we sang the chorus "Thank You Lord, I just want to Thank You Lord"....Charlie and I have so, so much to be thankful for. As we sang this morning, I was filled with emotion and gratitude. God gave us our son, but not only that...He gave us His son so that we could have eternal life. Thank You Lord....I just want to Thank You Lord.