Thursday, July 8, 2010

New words

Does every parent feel the same awe and amazement when his/her child learns something new? Do all grandparents go around whispering, "Genius!" when their grandchild masters yet another skill? Right now it is simply so wonderful to hear words - phrases - sentences! - pop out of our 16-month-old's perfect little mouth. Just awesome, really. Here are some recent local favorites....

lawnmower
shovel
boat
car
(bir)D
moon
du(ck) du(ck)
water
(eda)mame
ball
bull
lo-lo (stroller)
p(r)etty

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Mixin' it up

My husband keeps complaining about how I need to work on my blog, and he's sure I'd make more posts if only I had a brand-new iPhone 4. His testimonial is below (video shot and edited with his new iPhone 4). What do you think??!?


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Video(s) at Last!

Thank you dear husband for working out the computer glitches and letting me (finally!) post videos of our darling boy. Enjoy him playing in the park on a beautiful May day. So perfectly delicious!




Monday, April 19, 2010

Sweet and Blurry


Oh, my dear boy. So sweet was he on Easter morning - running around with his cousins collecting eggs for his first Easter basket. With all of the running around he is doing lately, it is getting harder and harder to capture him in a photograph. But this one, even though it's blurry, does an excellent job I think. And the blurriness is a good reflection of how I am feeling these days - rarely sitting still, always "on", anticipating the next bump on the head and so on. A friend with 2 older children said to me recently that there will come a day where I won't wake up exhausted. She also said I'll be able to have a real, uninterrupted adult conversation again, which is something I can't even wrap my head around these days. Right now it's all about poop and snot, drool and boo-boos, bath time and night-night, car seats and strollers, sippy cups and pacifiers. And my love, of course. Sleeping sweetly right now. Goodnight.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Dear Rachel

Caleb with BooBoo

Every three months this past year I have written a letter to Caleb's birthmom and sent pictures from that period. Each time I write these letters I try to put myself in her shoes. How is she feeling about this, x-months later? Do these notes, photos, make her smile? Cry? Is she still now reeling over the loss of her son? Can she tell how much we love him and how well he's cared for?Has she gotten her life back on track?

I wish her well every day, and say a little prayer to someone, somewhere that she is happy and in as good a place as she can be. Here's my latest letter:

Dear Rachel,

What do we begin to tell you about this sweet, sweet, boy? Many more changes with these past months as he’s gone from crawling to pulling himself up to walking. He experienced his first winter with a taste of fresh snow and a sled ride. We celebrated our first holidays as a family together and it was wonderful to share him with all of his cousins, aunties, uncles and grandparents. He is so very much loved by them all.

Caleb now sits with us at dinner and eats almost everything we do. He loves chicken and fish and especially Gramma’s meatballs! He likes cheese and LOVES fruit, especially tangerines. He likes veggies, too – broccoli and carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans. He is starting to eat things like pizza and toast. Now instead of formula he is drinking whole milk and gobbles it up. He is learning how to use a sippy cup but likes to take a drink from a grown-up glass too.

First words have been Dada, Light, Mama, Bye-bye, “Dee” for our dog Woody. His favorite stuffed animal is a bear called BooBoo, whom he sleeps with every night and carries with him around the house and in the car. He chases Woody around the house and pulls the cat’s tail whenever we’re not looking. He knows “No-No” and shakes his head when he knows he’s not supposed to do something (and which he usually does anyway!). He is beginning to show a temper (when you say “No-No” or when he gets frustrated with something). He stomps his little feet and waves his hands and shakes his head. It is hard not to l augh but we are trying to be good parents and ignore the tantrums!

Baby LOOOOVVVES books! Leigh has been reading stories to him since he was tiny, and now he likes to take books on his own and read them by himself. One of his favorites is Goodnight Moon. He also likes Itsy Bitsy Spider. Once a week he goes to Music class with other children and they sing, dance and play instruments (Caleb likes to chew on these, but he is very good with the maracas and tamborine!). We go to the library for toddler storytime whenever we can.

And now he is one. We had his first birthday party with balloons and friends and chocolate cake and ice cream and presents. It was wonderful.We still think of Caleb as a priceless gift and can’t believe that already a year has gone by since we brought him home from Florida. We hope you know how truly blessed we feel to have him as our precious son. We can’t imagine our lives without him and we love him with all that our hearts hold.

Wishing you a wonderful 2010. We hope it’s off to a good start already.

Fondly,

Leigh & John




Monday, February 22, 2010

#1


Baby had his first birthday party yesterday - his first cake and ice-cream - and his first split lip. A momentous and memorable day, for sure. So many emotions wrapped up in this special day for so many reasons. The 8-year long and arduous road to parenthood. Meeting Caleb's birthmom, Rachel, for the first time. Seeing our little bug in an ultrasound picture. Hearing his heartbeat from 1000 miles away. Remembering the middle-of-the-night journey to the hospital when we got the call that Rachel was in labor. The overwhelming awe and calm I felt first holding our child - OUR CHILD! - in my arms. Bringing him home. Introducing him to his extended family and the world. And then all the moments and milestones between then and now. I think, "How did we get here so fast? Where did this crazy life-altering year go?" And that makes me sad, to think that this time has come and gone. So bittersweet, being a mother. I never knew, could never have imagined the breadth of emotions that being a parent would bring, nor the bottomless depth of love that I feel for this sweet, sweet, boy. Happy Birthday, Caleb. You are my #1. Love, Mumma

Monday, December 14, 2009

Joy


That's all. Just grabbing the moments when they come and C's first Santa experience was a wonderful one. Wishing you many joyful moments in the weeks to come.