Rafael's first Christmas at home!!!

We spent Rafael's first Christmas at my parents house 2 hours away. Rafael just loved all the Christmas lights and music and of course opening his gifts. He also loved eating all the goodies that come along with Christmas. I found him hiding in the living room eating a handful of chocolate kisses with the biggest smile on his face. Adorable!! He also had lots of fun dressing up and dancing. By the end of each day he was totally exhausted and he slept in late every morning. Gotta love that!!! Now we are all back home and Rafael is enjoying playing with his new toys. Hope you all had a great Christmas as well!!

Exciting news!

Friends of ours who just live a few minutes away are leaving on Wednesday to pick up there 22 month old little girl, Emma!! We are all so excited for them and Rafael is going to love having a new friend to play with. They will even go to school together. Now how amazing is that!

We've all been super duper busy since I returned to work on November 1. There has been no time for blogging and I'm lucky if I even get time to check my e-mail. I'm loving being back to work but of course I miss chasing my little monkey around all day! He is loving the sitters though and is so happy there. There are two little girls for him to play with there and they have so much fun. Rafael is often dressed in a princess dress or tutu when we go to pick him up. I think he would love to dress in cute little dresses all the time if we let him!

Rafael is getting into the Christmas spirit too. He just loves all the lights and is always after me to turn on the different decorations that light up. The tree is his favorite though. We just put it up last night and he had the biggest smile on his face as he placed each decoration on the tree. When I put the angel on top he was so happy. Adorable!!

I hope that everyone has a great Christmas and I'm really hoping that Jennifer and Dianne and lots of others who are still waiting soon get their referrals. Hopefully Decemember is that month that you all finally get some good news.

It's official!!

Today we finalized Rafael's adoption. It is 2 days short of when we got our referral. Rafael did great at the courthouse and things went so quickly. So he is now Rafael Tolentino Michael Ash. Wow!!! That really is a long name! I hope that he is a good speller!

Rafael also had his birthday party yesterday. It was pretty crazy with 7 kids running around the house but he had lots of fun. I think his favorite part was all the balloons. As soon as he woke up this morning, the first word out of his mouth was balloons. He had a barney cake which he also loved.

Tomorrow I head back to work after 8.5 months off!! Crazy! I can't believe that I won't get to spend everyday with Rafael anymore. We had lots of fun in the past 8 months and now he'll have lots of fun at the sitters house. He absolutely loves it there playing with the other kids so I don't feel too bad about leaving him. I'm sure it will only take a day or two and it will feel like I never even left work.

It's a rainy, windy day here. Not the best day for trick or treating but hopefully we'll still get out to a few house with our little lion. He loves dressing up especially in dresses and tutu's. Maybe that will be the costume for next year!! That's all for now. Happy Halloween!!!

Photos from Rafael's birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday Rafael!!!

Our little cutie pants turned 2 today!!!! He had a wonderful day and especially loved blowing out the candles on his cake! I'll post those photos later. This morning he had a halloween party at playgroup and Brian took the afternoon off work so that we could go to the park and go out for supper. Afterwards we came home for cake. Yum!! Rafael's party isn't until Sunday but we had lots of fun celebrating today. Isn't our two year old the cutest little lion???? I hope you all enjoyed your day!

Wordless Wednesday

This photo should have been first!!

Welcoming Fall

I can't believe that in just one month I'll be heading back to work. Rafael had his first day alone at the home daycare that he will be going to while I work. He did great!! He loved playing with the other kids and going to the park. We're so proud of our big boy!!

We are also so happy that Rafael will have a new little Filipino friend to play with very soon. A friend who lives just five minutes away was matched with a little girl in August. She is just 3 months younger than Rafael and I'm sure they will have lots of fun together when she comes home.

Rafael now says more than 30 words. I just love hearing him speak. It's precious, except when he yells no. We hear that alot!! We aren't having much luck with the toilet training but we'll keep plugging along.

His birthday party is planned for Oct. 29. We are having a Halloween theme and all the kids are dressing up. Rafael will love it! We bought him a lion costume and he looks soooo adorable! I can't believe that he will be two on Oct. 25. The time is just flying!! On Oct. 29 last year, our social worker sent us the e-mail telling us that we had been matched with a little boy and now a year later we are celebrating his birthday with him. Soooo special!!!!

We have been so blessed to become parents to this wonderful little boy. He is so happy and social and outgoing. He definitely keeps us super busy but he always keeps us laughing and smiling. I can't imagine life without him!!