Foto Finish Friday- Vacation edition

Playing in the beautiful (and not too cold) Pacific Ocean

Walking the cranberry bogs with Grandma and Cousin

Carousel with Daddy

We found a beach we could actually drive our car onto!

It was awesome, and one of the highlights (for me) of our trip.

(I may be a little too easily entertained)

More ocean playing...

No, he's not surrounded by birds...that's sand he was throwing.

Watch out world, he's got a chainsaw!

Being an eagle in the nest at the zoo.

Horsey riding

Train watching

Cupcake eating

I won't go into how hard it was to get a picture

before he tore into that thing. :-)

My son the elephant

They say an elephant never forgets...

We just got back from a fun week on our mini- roadtrip/ "staycation" in Portland. A few conversations between us and our little guy I wanted to share. Sorry if you're tired of hearing me say how amazingly brilliant our son is, but if it bothers you, too bad. It's the honest truth and here's proof:

While in Portland we went to the Oregon Zoo. The last time we were there was in March, I think (so, nearly 5 months ago). On that last trip, Kai fell in love with the foot massage chairs. They're a big plastic bench (like a log maybe?) and you put your feet into areas which massage them. Anyway... we could not keep him off those things. We have not seen or talked about such things since. The second we walk through the front entrance of the zoo, he spots those chairs (from at least 100 feet away, might I add) and starts talking about them and wants to go sit on them. We are totally convinced that he remembered them...from 5 months ago! I didn't even remember them!

Driving around Portland, it's impossible to miss the MAX trains running throughout the city. Of course, Kai noticed these right away because he loves trains. We casually mentioned how we had taken the train out to the airport, but we did not talk about why. (It was last December, for our Family Day celebration). Out of nowhere and completely on his own, Kai says, "Mommy Daddy pick up me at airport". Of course, we have told him his story over and over. How he was born in Korea and we met him at the airport. This is the first time he's repeated it back, without any prompts from us.

This kid has got an amazing brain...I am really getting frightened for what we're up against in 10 years...

Foto Finish Friday

Learning Chinese dancing at the annual agency picnic last weekend.

He was really into this and danced with the girls for a good 15 minutes!

(Which is like a lifetime in 2 yr old time!)

Foto Finish Friday

"Mommy's cooking is so scary I have to wear my helmet to dinner!!"

BIG weekend FUN!

Last weekend was our annual celebratory weekend (well, celebratory 2 days and this year it happened on the weekend...even better!). Friday was Joe's big 3-2! He took the day off work at the last minute and treated himself to a few luxuries (all well deserved, might I add), including a massage, a car wash and a yummy cheesecake! Friday afternoon we spiffed up our bikes, and splurged a long talked- about buggy for Kai (and helmet, of course). Saturday was our 11 year Wedding Anniversary! We spent the day having family time, including a nice long bike ride, breakfast at a restaurant, and swimming in our pool. In the evening, we had a date! Just Joe and I!! We had a great time; had a nice, relaxing dinner then a movie. Amazing that that was something we used to do all the time, nearly every weekend; but over the past year and a half have only done twice. Wouldn't change it for anything, though. :-) As if that wasn't enough, on Sunday Kai moved up to the next class at church...the 2 1/2 year old class. (sniff, sniff...where has my baby gone?) We had checked it out the previous Sunday after church and he loved it, he was so proud to be going to the "big boy class".

And of course, a few pics of our fun!

Bungees with Daddy at gymnastics on Friday.

He's getting pretty daring with this,

and was going so high that my tummy was doing flip-flops!

Helping Daddy blow out the candles.

Between the two of them, they managed to get all 8 out on one try.

Kai was shocked and amazed that he got a birthday treat. Not that we never give him sweets, but we definitely try to limit it, and we don't really eat them at home. You should have seen his face when we told him he got his own piece of cheesecake! And this Momma was thankful that he only ate about 2 bites, then just smooshed the rest around his plate.

Riding in the buggy.

OK, not the prettiest part of our city, but nice in it's own way...

Being silly with Mommy at the restaurant.

Foto Finish Friday

First "rock climbing" lesson with Grandpa Tom

back seat driver

Literally...

It all started a few months ago, when all of the sudden Kai seemed to realize the movements of the car. That we stop and go, stop and go, stop and go while on the road; that we turn here, turn there.

He soon started asking, "Why dop?" when we stopped, and after only a few dozen times of telling him why (because the light is red, the car in front of us stopped, we have to wait our turn, etc), he began telling us when we need to stop. As in, "Dop Mommy, red yight!!" Which, by the way, is usually correct...

He also now recognizes the road to places we drive often (mostly home and daycare), and when we get within a couple turns of our house he can tell us where to turn. (May I also mention that my brilliant son knows left from right?)

While sitting in traffic, he now honks his horn (by pressing an imaginary horn and yelling "BEEP, BEEP!!") at the other cars and tells them to move out of our way. He is quite observant of the other cars on the road and often comments on their colors or contents (doggie or other kids), and even occasionally asks me what they're doing ("What doning?" or "Why do dat?"). Once he even pointed out a car that was exactly like mine (same make, model, year, color)! Thanks to his Father's love of maps, he knows what one looks like, and upon seeing a map will ask, "Where we have to doe?", even if we are not in the car. (And yes, 5-7 word sentences are quite common around our house these days.)

Should make driver's ed a breeze, huh?

Blueberries!!

Blueberries are one of our very favorite things in our house. K loves them! He can eat them by the truckload. This past week we went blueberry picking with some friends and we hit the motherload! I took my friend (and her 3 kids) on a wild blueberry adventure (luckily, more wild for me than her since I got a little turned around while driving there) to a wonderful farm just outside of our city. The farm came highly recommended to me, and K and I had gone there last year to pick. Between our two families I think we came away with almost 5 buckets, and we picked off probably only 5-6 bushes! The limbs were drooping to the ground with loads of heavenly blue berries. Some about the size of a nickel, and oh, so tasty!

The berry picking crew! (Minus the two who actually picked the berries.) K and C, "the girl", are real buds... we even caught a few glimpses of them holding hands on our berry adventure!

K back at home... showing off "his" berries. He actually picked quite a few, probably the most of all the kids, and some even made it into his bucket. :-)

I think another trip to this particular berry farm will need to be on our calendar this summer!

Foto Finish Friday

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

One of my quickest reads yet! This book was a page turner from start to finish and always left me wanting more. Usually the only time I have to read is right before bed, and I usually fall asleep while reading. Not with this book! I probably could have read it all in one sitting had time allowed. Written in a different format than I've ever read (which I found fantastically creative), in the form of letters between various characters in the book. Loosely based around the German occupation of the British island of Guernsey during the Second World War, it piqued my interest on both historical and fictional levels. It told of a much different day and age than we live now, by no means simpler or easier, but very different. I loved how people actually wrote to each other, with a pen and paper and sent it in the mail. I could just picture these delightful characters, checking their mail each day and finding these treasures from their far-off friends. Makes me want to sit down and write letters to all my friends and family, 1946 style.

This book gets two thumbs way up!

Foto Finish Friday...live action version!

Taken just this morning:

Yes, my boy knows his trains! Must be something in the male genes, somehow he can tell the difference between Gordon, Edward and Thomas (all three blue engines that look the same to me). You might have to listen several times, but he really does say all the names, except the freight car, he calls them "big trucks", but in this clip I think he shortened it to "big". Not too shabby!

Fourth of July

About a week ago, we decided to take make a "spontaneous" trip out of our Fourth of July weekend. I say "spontaneous" because even with 3 days to plan, it just doesn't seem enough with a 2 year old and a dog. We got to take Willie with us since his doggie motel was already booked. We headed up into the mountains, an area of high desert and once active volcanic mountains. Joe and I haven't been to this part of our state for probably 3 or 4 years, even though it is only about a 3 hour drive from our house. Joe always loves to go back; his grandparents lived there during his childhood and he has many memories of spending summers with them there. It is an absolutely beautiful area, and just another reason I love where we live! We took about a million pictures and it was really hard to narrow it down to a few,

but here you go!

Sahalie Falls, on our drive to the mountain.

So pretty!

Dinner Friday night at the resort restaurant.

Kai and Willie on our hotel balcony. Don't worry, we didn't make Willie sleep out there, we just put his crate out when he wasn't in it. We were a little nervous how everything would go since we've never had Kai or Willie in a hotel...let alone both at the same time, but everyone was very good and slept very well in "one big room". Our boys are so good...

Saturday morning, Lava Butte,

beautiful Cascades in the background.

Saturday morning,

Old Fashioned July 4th festival.

Two hot doggies...

Pony ride! Kai loved this, he was not scared at all.

Walked right up to that pony and showed him who's boss...

Saturday afternoon, Fireman Picnic

Dinner Saturday night at Flatbread Community Oven.

The pizza was sooo good! And Kai even got to "make" his own.

OK, so I made it, but it was still fun!

Quick lunch stop in Sisters on our way home on Sunday

Foto Finish Friday

Meeting Thomas (and Libby)!

This past weekend we met Thomas the Train! We went to Day Out with Thomas with my parents, my brother and his family. We had a blast! Kai was in every little boy's heaven, surrounded by not just any train, but... Thomas! When we told him we were going (as soon as he woke up that morning), he bolted for the hat and vest Grandma Nancy had made him for his birthday. Despite quite warm temperatures, he insisted on wearing them both the entire time!

Ready for the action!

"We see Thomas!" The first glimpse.

In the flesh.

Ready for our ride with Thomas!

We even met Sir Topham Hatt!

Kai was very excited to meet him, but not so excited to be near him!

There were tons of other activities for the kids to do. Petting zoo, bounce house, temporary tattoos, music show, bubble station, coloring area, but none of that mattered to little Kai, he spent the rest of his time here...

After our train fun we headed to Joe's parents house to meet the newest addition to our family.

Kai, cousin Libby and her Daddy

Oh, and let's not forget the delish BBQ!

Yes, he ate the whole thing!

Foto Finish Friday

Father's Day Breakfast 2009

Daddy and Kai

Mr. Friendly

The past few nights we've enjoyed softball games at the park across the street from our house. On Monday night, we found a place on the bleachers which happened to be just a few feet from a group of about 3-4 girls, probably 8 years old or so, and one 3-4 year old boy. Kai decided he wanted to make friends with them and walked right up to them and introduced himself. He couldn't keep himself away! He'd come back to us about every 60 seconds and hug one of our arms or legs, then go back to his new group of friends. It was so adorable. Last night he saw a teenage boy on the bleacher and kept saying "hi" to him, trying to get his attention. Guess my lessons of how to appropriately talk to people are working; this is a long way from yelling "STOP!!" to people in the grocery store that we were experiencing a few months ago.

His outgoing behavior brings two immediate thoughts to my mind. First, I'm sure he is way more outgoing than any biological child of ours would be. Joe and I are both pretty quiet and reserved, as evidenced by my first response the other night which was for Kai not to bother the other kids. Whenever K is put in a social situation, he is immediately right in the middle of it all; a far cry from my school days spent as a wall flower. Second, I hope his outgoing nature means that we're raising him with a high level of self confidence, and that he is bonding and attaching to us in a manner which allows him this confidence.

bad blood

Yes, mine. 

My blood contains two things that normal blood doesn't; lupus anticoagulant (which does the opposite of what it sounds like it should and does not mean I have lupus), and a MTHFR (methylene-tetra-hydro-folate-reductase-blah-blah-blah) mutated gene. These things are what God gave me in order to ensure that adoption was how we grew our family. 

You see, many years ago... about 7, I believe... after my second miscarriage, my doctor decided to take about a gallon of my blood and test it for everything under the sun. (See findings above) Although, at the time only the first was noted and told to us. Not good, but with heparin injections twice daily to my abdomen, I should be able to carry a baby. After months of feeling like a human pin cushion (infertility treatments + anticoagulation therapy = one holey lady), and several more miscarriages, we got it; God did not intend for us to have a biological child. We made our peace and embraced our adoption adventure. 

Last December, through an unexpected medical situation, we found out that all along I also had the second blood disorder (MTHFR). This one would have been treated with a whole slew of extra vitamins to keep my blood from clotting. We were asked if, given this new information, we would want to give biological parenting another go. The answer was an astounding...NO! Not gonna go there... But, we also found out that there could be more implications to my health (where as previously we were told that it would only affect my ability to bear children). So now I diligently take my vitamins on a semi-regular basis and hope my blood stays good and thin.

So, why am I sharing all this now?? Well, a few reasons. One, I'm feeling in a better place to share our experience; two, I hope through our experience I can help others who have the same issues; and third, June is Antiphospholipid Syndrome (to which the lupus anticoagulant belongs) Awareness month. 

So there you go, now you're aware.

No Hands

A few days ago Kai made a huge mess with his trains and I was helping him clean them up. For whatever reason, I suggested that Willie (our 4 legged child) help pick up the trains. Kai very matter-of-factly told me "No Hands". Like, duh Mom, Willie doesn't have any hands... what was I thinking??

hoarding

We are definitely in the full blown stage of toddler hoarding.  The proof:

 A few days ago he loaded up this chair with all his living room toys, and when the chair was full he put more stuff on the table next to it. He proceeded to sit in the chair (for probably a total of an hour over the course of the day) and play with the toys/ pretend the chair was his car and he was driving to Grandpa Dave's house. These days he can't go anywhere (even to the next room of the house) without having the arms completely full. It doesn't even seem to matter what he's carrying, just as long as those arms are filled. This morning when I called him to his room for a diaper change, he came bearing Kim Chee (his dog), a toy golf club and a small garbage can. Let's just say...we're never short on entertainment around here!

maybe next time

We're backing off on potty training for now. He's been back in diapers for a few weeks, and our stress level has decreased ten-fold! I did not want to do it, but it became clear to us that he just wasn't emotionally ready. Physically, he totally knows what's happening and what to do, but he's just not quite there yet. I'm sad to see all our hard work reverting, but we will try again in a few months with hopefully better results. The good news is he's still notifying us for #2's, so no poopy diapers...hope he doesn't forget that, too! 

Ocean!!

Last weekend we ventured to the coast for an afternoon. Despite the very warm temperatures inland, of course it was cold and windy at the coast. We found a nice dune park and nestled ourselves a dune away from the ocean, hoping the dune would break some of the wind. We ended up not even seeing the ocean on our adventure, but Kai didn't seem to mind...he thought that lake behind him was the ocean! 

Tunneling under Daddy's legs was a popular activity, 

even though it resulted in sand all over his face each and every

time.

Kai and I tried to run up the dune...it was so huge! We made it about 3/4 of the way up before we exhausted ourselves. Of course, falling down on "accident" was a big hit as we made our way up. We also watched the sand surfers, it looked so fun, something I would definitely like to try in the future!

And what trip to the coast would be complete without the obligatory burying of the feet??

I was the first victim and when only my toes remained, Kai thought it was too much work to cover each one, so he just put his bucket over my exposed foot.

He's one smart cookie!!