pediatrician visit

Rafael had his first pediatrician visit today and it went well. She said that Rafael is doing very well except he only says 6 words. She feels his comprehension is good and his speech will come along with time. He is on the 5th percentile for his weight and is not even on the growth curve for his height. We have a shortie on our hands!! Not much like his dad who is 6'4''!! We are taking our first overnight outing the end of next week. Rafael and I our going out to stay with my parents for three night since Brian has to work the whole weekend anyways. I hope he does okay. Keep your fingers crossed! He had another play date with his two little cousins who are 2 and 3 this weekend. They all ran around screaming and played hide and seek. It was so much fun to watch Rafael having so much fun with his cousins. Adorable!!! His cousins already are asking when Rafael can come for a sleepover. Gotta love kids!

Happy 17 months!!!

Running around like crazy after eating my cake!!!

I love playing in the dog's water bowl when no one is looking!!!

I have now learned how to climb onto the coffee table. Oh no!!! Don't I look up to no

good!!

Rafael turned 17 months old today!! We baked him a cake this morning and he had some for his mid morning snack!! There is nothing like cake a little after breakfast. He loved the icing and kept wanting more although I didn't give him too much because I thought he would be extra active. Don't want that!!

Our first post placement visit went well. Rafael was his usual charming self and was constantly dancing and singing. Well his version of singing. She was here for just under an hour and it flew by. We will have 5 more visits before the final report is done. We are really hoping to be able to finalize the adoption before Christmas.

We are having a snow day here so Brian is off of work which is nice. He can help chase Rafael around! Rafael has learned many new tricks lately and not ones that we like. He now climbs up into the rocking chair and up onto the coffee table. He can turn on the electric fireplace and turn the tv off and on. Oh my, we have our hands full with our beautiful little boy. Gotta love it.......... we wouldn't want it any other way!!

First post placement visit

Our first post placement visit is tomorrow afternoon. We are hoping that all goes well of course. It seems to be going well to us so far. Rafael is the most social, happy little boy I have ever met and he loves to make us laugh. He is always dancing and doing the sign for us to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Too cute!! He loves to cuddle and to blow kisses. He says Mom, Dad, Nan, bye and no although not consistently. He just started saying no over the past few days. I guess that is because he is sick and tired of hearing it!! He still likes to get into everything. I caught him in my gym bag yesterday and he took out my bra and put it around his neck. When I went in the bedroom, he was just standing there looking down at the bra wondering what in the world it was. He then proceeded to take out my underwear and put them over his head. Very funny boy!! He also loves to clean and goes around the house sweeping the floor and dusting. I've seen more dust bunnies over the last few days because he likes to sweep underneath the stove and furniture. There is always lots of dust there!! I guess he is just getting us prepared for our post placement visit. We are so lucky to have such a helpful boy!

1 month ago....

It was one month ago today that we first met our little boy and now it seems like he has been around forever!! He continues to keep us on our toes and make us laugh almost every minute of the day. Today I caught him putting my toothbrush into the dog's water bowl. Too cute!! Things seem to be going well so far. He certainly seems to know that we are his parents and if we are around other people he will keep coming back to us to check in or if he is tired. He continues to sleep well at night but still doesn't have a nap routine. He can nap once, twice or not at all. I guess we'll have to keep working on this one!!

Here are a few new photos of the past week.

More photos

Rafael has been settling in wonderfully in his new home!! He now goes to sleep at 7pm and awakes around 6am. He doesn't wake up at all in between!! He naps once or twice a day for an hour or two. He eats well and enjoys his highchair which he didn't at first. He loves strawberries and yogurt but is not to fussy about vegetables yet. He does great in his carseat and will fall asleep if we are driving a longer distance. His favorite thing to do is to go out in his stroller. We do that once or twice a day and take Sid with us. He usually falls asleep after 10 or 15 minutes and the bumpier the ride the better. He's all boy!!

He loves to pick at everything. Especially things that he shouldn't be picking at. He will just turn around and look at you and laugh. He has quite the personality and he keeps us all on our toes! I caught him putting his ball in the dogs water dish and putting the tv remote into the garbage can. You need eyes in back of your head with this boy!! He has had a few outings to Walmart and Costco and hopefully soon I will take him out to some kid groups.

Life is certainly much more busy now but is so much more interesting!!! Enjoy the photos.

We're home!!!!

We finally arrived home at 1:30am Thursday morning after 20 hours of flying. Rafael made out so well which made the trip all the more bearable. My parents met us at the airport and Rafael loved the Elmo doll and balloons that they gave him. He was showing off his big smile and beautiful laugh. He finally got to bed at 3:30am but was up again at 7. He had his first doctor's appointment that same day and has also gone for bloodwork and x-rays just to check him out so he has been quite busy!! I'm guessing that it may take him a while to adjust to the 11.5 hour time difference. He went to bed last night just before 8 but woke up again just after 12 because he was teething. Brian finally got him back to sleep after a few hours. He hasn't been napping much at all but this afternoon he finally collapsed and had a 3 hour nap but unfortunately it wasn't until 7pm that he woke up and then he was cranky because he had gas. We finally got him back to sleep after a few hours. He wouldn't eat his supper but he did drink. I'm sure he will be starved when he finally wakes up!!
This whole parenthood business is so busy!! I can barely find time to do anything but just the bare minimum. I guess as he adjusts to being home and to us, things will become easier. When Rafael is not tired or in pain he is the most pleasant and beautiful boy. He loves to play with his new toys and to explore his new environment. He is the most amazing little boy!!
When we visited ICAB they told us that there are at least 200 families approved in 2008 still waiting to be matched. I pray that all of those famililes hear something soon!!! The wait is so long but it is definitley worth it. Well I'd better go catch some sleep because who knows when Rafael will awake again. I'm hoping it isn't until 7am!!