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.

Ear Update

After a visit to the Doctor's office yesterday afternoon, Ms. Jodi (the nurse practitioner) confirmed that Ian has another ear infection in his left ear. That was the one that had the worst infection the last time. He started on a different antibiotic yesterday for 10 days. We have a follow up appointment on June 23rd (which is a re-check of the ears and his 15 month appointment). He acted like he felt great this morning and evening. I only saw him touching his little ear once or twice this evening.

He's moving around even more than this weekend. He's crawling and pulling up to stand a lot now. He was even cruising the hearth this morning. I giggle at him sometimes because he is so vocal. Today on our way home from daycare, I think he was telling me about his day. He talked all the way home.

He has a few new words - "this", "that", "ite (light)" and something that sounds like cup or cat occasionally. When our cats walk by he still calls them "dog".

Please say a little prayer that his little ears will heal and that he'll stop having these silly infections.

More updates as things occur....

Love to all of you who follow our blog. :)

Fish Are Friends

Surprisingly, Ian loved the Oklahoma Aquarium. He was fascinated by all of the fish. Especially the brightly colored and big ones. He was very content during our entire time there and loved getting close to the glass to see the stingrays and the jellyfish. The pictures are just a few from today. Can you tell that he LOVES his Daddy? Daddy's pretty fond of him too. Mommy...well that's a different story. He still calls me Ga Ga part of the time and "mom,mom,mom" the other part. The Ga Ga seems so appropriate since I'm so GA GA over him. He has me so totally wrapped around his little finger. But that's OK. All of us waited a long time to be a family and all 3 of us are enjoying it.

After the Aquarium, we went to Las Cabos to eat. Yummy Mexican food (Mommy's favorite). As always, Ian ate well. They also had live music today and our table was close to where they were playing. Ian watched them pretty intently and bobbed his head from time to time. He seems to really like music. Which is not a surprise in the Conner household. He took a brief nap on the way home, which ruined his regular nap. He was so tired but he just wouldn't go back to sleep once we got home. Finally we decided to take a drive hoping that he'd sleep just a little more in the car seat while we were gone. He did, but it's not like taking a nap at home or at school. He was a little cranky this evening, but not as bad as I expected.

If there were such a thing a run crawling, I think Ian does it. Whenever we open the back door, no matter what he's doing instantly starts crawling fast toward the door to go outside on the deck. This evening, Brad came over to visit. Charlie opened the back door to let Molly go outside to potty and Ian made a mad dash for the door. It's really cute to watch him.

It's been a long weekend but such a great time to be home with Ian. I'm pretty sure his little ears are infected again. I'm going to call Dr. Sood tomorrow morning and see if he wants to see him.

I love updating our blog to capture some of the special moments with Ian. He's now doing so many things that it's hard to remember all of them. I probably need to either update more or start journaling. I just don't want to forget any of this. He's already growing up so fast.

More as I get a chance...

Count Milk-u-lah

Count Milkulah (a.k.a. Ian) not only has a milk moustache...he has a milk beard.

Ian Gets Mad

Mommy's perfect little angel does get mad from time to time. He doesn't through these little fits often, but when he does...they're winners.

Random Photos & Thoughts

These are several photos taken over the past few days. He loves being outside. He's actually crawling like a big boy now. He still does his "combat crawl"...but more and more he's really crawling. He's pulling up like crazy and wants to stand almost all the time. He has discovered that cabinet doors open and it's lots of fun to open and close them...LOTS OF TIMES.

He prefers drinking from a cup. Not a sippy cup...a cup with no lid. He does pretty well actually. He leaks some, but not as much as I would have thought. His appetite is still great.

I think his ear infection has returned. He has tugged at his little ears the past couple of days and cries a bit more than usual. I have some antibiotic left over from the last one (because we changed antibiotics mid-stream). I gave him two doses today and I'll give him some tomorrow and then I'll check with Dr. Sood on Tuesday to see what we need to do after that. If it's infected again, it will only be his second ear infection. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the "gunk" in the air in Oklahoma. He's just not used to all of this. It's rough right now on everyone, but especially little guys.

I'm going to post a few more pictures. The next set with be of the "absolute angel" throwing a little "fit". I know...It's hard to imagine, but he really does have moments when he's not the perfect child. Not many moments, but there are occasions.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. We're going to go to the Oklahoma Aquarium tomorrow. We may change our plans and go to the Zoo if it's not too hot in the morning. If it's too hot, then we'll go to the Aquarium in the afternoon (after nap time).

We had our second post placement visit last Wednesday. One more and then we can finalize our adoption. It's hard to believe that we've only had him a little over 3 months. It seems like he's been part of us forever. He has adjusted beautifully and does not seem to have any attachment issues at all. We are so truly blessed.

More updates as we can.....

Mia's Home!!!

Last night we traveled to OKC to welcome home Ian's little friend, Mia Supritha. This was our first real road trip since we came home from India. Ian did great in the car. He slept most of the way to OKC yesterday evening and then back home again today. What a trooper.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in OKC last night. We were only a few miles away from the airport. Since we don't know much about OKC, it was a perfect location for us. We ordered room service last night and had dinner in our room. Then we put Ian down so he could get some sleep. We woke him up about 10:15pm to get ready to leave for the airport.

When we arrived at the airport, there were a few people gathering to welcome Angie, Dustin & Mia home. As it got closer to their arrival time, the crowd grew and grew. We felt so fortunate to be included in this homecoming celebration. We really enjoyed meeting their family and friends. It was a special time for us.

When they arrived it brought back such memories to me. I was kind of surprised actually. I just kept remembering how tired we were but just how excited it was to finally be home with our precious little guy that we and all of our friends had prayed for for such a long time.

Mia did great with the big crowd that was there. She looked around but held onto Angie pretty tight. She's just beautiful....beautiful.

When Ian and Mia finally saw each other, I really think they remembered each other. Maybe not a lot, but they both looked at one another with that "I know you" look on their faces. Ian kept trying to poke her nose and eyes (he's into the pointing and poking stage now).

Just after midnight, we all sang happy birthday to Mia. She turned one today. So, so glad that she was home by her birthday.

We finally made it back to the hotel around 12:45am. After winding down a little and drinking a little more milk, we went to bed. Ian was a little fussy, but settled right down. He slept until about 7:30am this morning.

Our friend, Peggy, from Yukon, came over this morning. This was the first time she's been able to see Ian. We went downstairs for breakfast and of course Ian ate very well. He warmed up to Peggy pretty quickly.

On the way home, Ian slept almost the entire way. He was a little cranky this evening, but settled down and hopefully with sleep through the night. Tomorrow will be our first Sunday in church for a two weeks. Ian was sick the first Sunday we missed and then last week we were all sick.

I'm posting just a few pictures from Mia's homecoming.

Brave Little Boy

Today Ian has his "shunt series" (basically x-rays and CT scans). We had to get him up at 5:00am this morning. We arrived at St. Francis Hospital at 7:15am for a 7:30 x-ray appointment followed by 9:00am CT Scans. Because he's so young they were going to sedate him for the CT Scan.

Long story short....they decided to try the CT Scan first without the sedation. I was sure this wouldn't work because he doesn't even like to be still when I'm changing his diaper. But, surprise, surprise...he did GREAT. They wrapped him up in a sheet and then taped his little head down. He cried some, but not too much. It was pretty quick. No sedation....that is awesome.

X-rays were next and he did fine there too. He cried, but not as much as I had expected. Charlie stayed with him during the x-rays.

He's our brave little boy!!!

We should have results of the tests in the next few days. I'm not anticipating anything out of the ordinary...these were just routine tests that he'll have to have done periodically.

A Doctor Perhaps?

Here are a couple of cute pictures taken last week of Ian and our friend Debbie M. He's concentrating hard on the stethoscope....then I'm thinking he's ready to check Deb out. He's such fun and he truly does love a stethoscope. I think he looks like a natural. :)

Ga Ga and her sweet boy

Mother's Day 2006

Today was our first Mother's Day together. Ian woke up around 6:30am this morning. I went in to get him and then we were going to surprise Daddy. Ian's not very good at the surprise thing right now. He gets so excited and starts laughing. It's kinda cute.

After Charlie visited with Ian for a few minutes he said "go look on the dresser". But, Ian was busy crawling all over me so Charlie came back with a card. It was addressed to "Ga Ga"....that's me. It was a beautiful Mother's Day card from Daddy & Ian. Inside the card was this little jewelry pouch. After I read the card, I opened the pouch. Inside was a beautiful necklace with 3 diamonds. It is absolutely beautiful. Ian and Daddy did a good job picking this out for mommy.

Since no one in the Conner household is feeling well, we couldn't go to church this morning. Ian had a pretty good day. He played A LOT this morning and afternoon. We went out to eat later this afternoon and he started getting cranky. I think his little ears must be bothering him. He was tugging at the left one quite a bit.

Brad and Tim came over for a visit this evening. Ian wasn't in the best of moods. He smiled and played, but still a little cranky. After they left, we gave him a breathing treatment and his night time bottle. After that he was ready to go...ready to play some more. We let him play in the floor for a little while, then finally Charlie put him to bed. He fussed a little bit, but not too much.

Charlie and I were talking about how truly blessed we are. So far, we have been very lucky with Ian. He seems to be adjusting well, he's happy and healthy (except for the cold, croup, ear thing). He's very laid back.

Today was my first Mother's Day as a Mom. It was filled with lots of emotions. I miss my Mom and so wish I could have shared the moments of the day with her. She would have loved Ian and he would already have her wrapped around his little finger. I know she and Charlie's mom are watching us from above and probably laughing at us from time to time.

I remember when we were in the process of this adoption thinking about Mother's Day. Last year was rough because we were close, but yet so far from bringing our child home. Little did I know that he was only a few weeks old. Each day with Ian and Charlie is special and today they made it just a little more special for Ga Ga!!

Happy Mother's Day everyone.