photo time!!

Funky hairdo!!

Rafael's hair is getting longer and is starting to stick up alot. I want to get it cut but Brian doesn't so I picked up some gel to help keep his hair down so it's not so stuck up. For fun, I used the gel to stick his hair up even more. Rafael loved this new look!!!

Rafael also loves reading his books. He will choose a book from the shelf and he will bring it over to me to read to him. So adorable!! He loves "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see". I hope that his interest in books continues until he is finished school!!

18 months old!!

Rafael turned 18 month old on Easter Monday. It's hard to believe that he is growing up so fast. He woke up 4 o'clock that morning and was throwing up until 8am but then started to feel better so we headed outside after lunch. He loves the outdoors!!! He could spend all day out there but of course the weather here is still so cold. He enjoyed blowing bubbles, playing in the grass and playing on our neighbours slide. I had planned on baking him another cake but we ran out of time since we spend most of the afternoon outside.

Rafael still only says a few words but he definitely seems to understand alot more. When I sing "head and shoulders, knees and toes" he'll now point to his head and shoulders. Soooo cute!!! He loves to hide things, which is not so great. He has hidden my keys on a few occassions so I've started to put them in a new place out of his reach. He has hidden the remote to the tv in the playroom and we still haven't found it. That was over a week ago!! We have seached high and low but have no clue where it is. He's too cute!!

He saw the Easter bunny on Saturday and was not impressed. If the bunny was a few feet away, he would wave and smile but if Brian tried to place Rafael in the bunny's arms, he would scream so there was no picture with the Easter bunny this year. I hope he responds better to Santa Claus!!!

I love chocolate....

Rafael assisted me in helping to lick the beaters clean when we were making a chocolate cake. I must say that he did a great job!! Our second post placement visit went great and Rafael was his usual silly self. There's not much more to report but I just wanted to share a few photos of our cutie pie!!

Back again.........

I haven't posted anything in a while because I couldn't transfer the photos from my camera to the computer for some reason but now things seem to be working again. We have now been home for 6 weeks. Rafael is doing great! He now has a regular nap schedule and goes down around 11am for two hours. He also goes to bed pretty easy now after we rock him for a few minutes. Wonderful!!!! He has been sleeping through the night from 8pm until 7am but for some reason he decided to get up for 5 hours last night. He wasn't cranky but was smiling and laughing and was wide awake. He just wanted to play but I just wanted him to go back to sleep. He eventually did at 4am this morning. Hopefully that doesn't become a habit. Our second visit with the social worker is tomorrow. We have monthly visits for 6 months. The last one went well so hopefully tomorrow will be the same. Rafael is a real show off and loves to sing and dance when we have company. He dances in a circle with his eyes closed and swings his hips back and forth. He's soooo cute!!!!!!! We had a 3 night visit out to my parents house this past weekend. Brian had a course all weekend so he stayed home alone. We had a great time and Rafael loved all the extra attention. He had homemade ice cream for the first time and loved it and he also went for a walk in the woods which is amazing considering how short his little legs are! He loves the outside and had his first trip to the park a few days ago. Here are a few photos from the past two weeks. Our boy continues to be super active but he gets cuter by the day! He now will point to his head when I sing "head and shoulders, knees and toes" and he will shout Hurray when we sing "if you're happy and you know it". He is saying bye but not consistently and he will now kiss us on the lips which is precious. It is amazing how fast the time is flying by!

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!!