frustrated baby

Last Sunday, Kai was having fun pushing his Pooh car and trying to load various items onto it. He was having a hard time "stacking" things, probably due to his lack of finesse. Here is what Daddy helped him load up (notice the nice variety of items...ranging from my flip-flops to kitchen utensils).

This is what happened when he attempted to go mobile with it!

Poor guy...but it did give Mommy and Daddy quite a chuckle!

4 month update

Today our sweet boy has been home with us for four months! Wow! It’s hard to believe it’s gone by so fast. It’s been amazing to watch his transformation, adjustment, and attachment to us. He is really an easy-going little guy, he’s adjusted very well with my return to work and going to day care. And, he’s so smart! We can’t get anything by him anymore! He no longer screams at the sight of his sippy cup, and even embraces it. We have not used a bottle in well over a month! Oh, did I mention he’s a dare-devil? This kid has no fear! Although, I’m happy to report he’s learning how to properly get off the couch. He is learning new sounds and words everyday, and babbling constantly! Often, he really sounds like he is telling us something very important, and we really wish we could understand. It wasn’t a huge surprise that one of his first words was “dow” (down), since he hears it about a million times a day! (As in..."Willie, get down....Willie, get down....Willie...DOWN!!”) He’s nearly an expert walker, and went for his first “outside walk” last night. He loves to be outside, and when he feels the cool breeze on his face, he just smiles and takes a deep breath in. He’s going to graduate to the next class at church tomorrow! My baby is no longer in the “baby room”, now he’ll be with the “runners”! Oh, man, he’s growing up so fast!

Also, a million thanks to our close friends and family, who very kindly gave us our “family time” during his first weeks home. We can see that it really has paid off, and helped him bond well with us. 

OK, enough of the Mommy gush...here are some pictures over the past 4 months!   

Family Day~12/26/07

1/26/08

2/26/08

3/26/08

Today~this is what we get now when we ask him to smile!

The next Picasso?

Kai drew this all by himself! We've had a couple tries at coloring that lasted all of 30 seconds before he started eating the crayon. A few days ago we gave it another shot, and he played with the crayons and scribbled for nearly 5 minutes before he started eating them! 

Can you tell I'm proud of my boy??

SUN!!!

Finally!! We have been enjoying unseasonably warm weather for the past two days. Today our patio thermometer topped out at 80 degrees! Kai has been having a blast playing outside; running around the back yard, blowing bubbles, and doing what boys do best... digging in dirt!

Yesterday afternoon we had a nice play session outside. It was nice and toasty warm, but still cool enough to require long sleeves and pants. Today we had a down and dirty play session outside. No joke, that little boy was outside from about 2pm until bedtime, only coming inside for a little while once! What started out nice enough, ended with a little boy who had to take his clothes off outside because he was so dirty! He also ate his first meals outside today. To add to the fun of  a beautiful day, Grandma & Grandpa C came for a visit! He had so much fun with them, we went to the park and swung on swings, played with his new sand table, blew bubbles from the "bubble gun" they brought him, and ate dinner outside. He was also giving them both lots of loves and hugs which was awesome to see! So far, a totally fun and beautiful weekend, but looking forward to a little down time tomorrow! Here's a few pics from our outdoor fun!

Enjoy!

What happened to my baby? 

He looks like such a "little boy" here!

Kai decided he didn't like the taste of dirt...

Eating snack outside today

This is where things started going down-hill. 

Notice the sand he's dumping on his head...

 

After attempting a new fashion trend, called shirt-a-la-sand, 

we just gave up and took the shirt off!

Yuka!

This past weekend we had a very special visitor. Almost 5 years ago, Yuka stayed with us for 3 months while she was here on a student exchange program from Japan. Over the past week or so, she has been on vacation with her family in the US, and last Sunday she came to see us!! We've stayed in touch through Christmas cards and email, and she especially wanted to come meet our sweet little Kai. We had a great time visiting with her. She really enjoyed playing with Kai, too! She wanted to visit the University, go to Cafe Yumm to buy some yumm sauce, and go to Costco. So, that's what we did. She had a wonderful time as we walked around campus, and she reminisced about her days there. Kai did great while riding in the ergo for nearly 2 hours! He started to get a little tired of it by the end, but he did fabulous overall! This is what it looked like towards the end!

After our adventures around town, we went home and had pizza for dinner. She said our pizza is much better than the pizza in Japan...imagine that! She also had fun looking at pictures of our family. When she was last here, Ryan (our nephew) was Kai's age...now he's 6! 

After Kai went to bed, we showed her some of our pictures since Kai's been home and watched a bit of Ocean's 12 before we all started falling asleep. She liked watching the movie since she just visited Las Vegas before she came to Oregon. 

It was really nice to see her, and she kept saying that maybe she'll come back to visit again in another 5 years!

Kai is wearing his Japanese "happi", which Yuka brought for him. 

It is the traditional Japanese festival attire. He looks so cute in it!

Yuka and Kai!

How sweet it is...

...to be loved by Kai! Our little guy is really starting to show us affection! On Monday after I got home from work (btw, the day Joe buzzed his hair), I picked him up to hug him. He wrapped one arm around my neck, and snuggled his head on my shoulder. After a few seconds, he pulled back, looked me in the eyes, then snuggled some more. He did this 2 or 3 more times before he was done. He did the same thing last night when I was getting him out of his high chair after dinner. Talk about melting your heart! He's also been leaning his head in and bumping heads with us. I'm not sure if this is a sign of affection, but it seems like it is. 

On another note, today we had our first encounter with a curious child. We were waiting in the check-out line at Costco. Kai was in the cart, and I was on the other side of the belt, waiting to pay. I was talking to him across the belt, and there was a little girl behind us (probably 8 or 9 years old) who was talking to Kai and playing with him a little. When she noticed me talking to him, she started asking questions. The conversation went something like this:

Girl: "Do you know him?"

Me: "Yes, he's my son."

Girl: "Do you like taking care of him?"

Me: "Yes, I love it!"

Girl: "Why does he have different eyes, you know, like this... ?"(and she made her eyes almond shaped with her fingers)

Me: "Because he's from Korea."

Girl: "How can you be his Mom if he's from Korea?" (very puzzled look on her face)

Me: "Because I adopted him."

Girl: "Oh."

And she happily went along playing with him until we were finished in line. It was pretty cute.

No jokin'

BABY GOT BUZZED!!

Needless to say, I'm a little nervous to leave "the boys" home alone again!

What a week!

What a crazy, busy week it's been! Not bad, just busy! We're all adjusting well to my return to work. This past week was our first "full" week of me working.

Last weekend, we went to Portland, where Kai was able to spend time with all his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and he even met Gr-Grandpa Howie, Gr-Grandma Tee, Gr-Uncle Josh and Gr-Aunt Candy for the first time (well, technically he met Grandma Tee at the airport when he came home, but didn't really get to spend any time with her then). We enjoyed brunch at Grandma and Grandpa M's house, and Kai really enjoyed playing the piano there too. Then we went to Gr. Howie and Tee's house for Easter (and Christmas) festivities with my family. Kai had his first Easter egg hunt, and enjoyed playing with his cousins.

We got home late Sunday, then we headed straight into the work week. Wednesday was spent catching up on laundry that didn't get done over the weekend, housework that didn't get done over the weekend, and a few errands. Not to mention my little boy who was worn out and had a wacky napping schedule. 

Today, finally, it's the weekend again. We can breathe!!

Today was also super fun, Aunt Beth came to spend the day with Kai and I. We had fun playing at home, and even managed to go out to lunch after nap time. After lunch we played outside for a few minutes since it was between snow showers (yes, I said SNOW...nothing stuck...).

Oh, Wednesday was also Kai's 3 month anniversary of being home with us. This amazing little boy is still constantly impressing us. I may be biased, but I think he may just be the smartest baby ever! He is learning so many new things every day, and talking (OK- babbling) more every day. This week we've heard him say "HI" (without us saying it first), "bye", and "na-na" (night-night). About two weeks ago we started a new bedtime routine (which doesn't include a bottle, another amazing feat), and during the routine we constantly talk about how it's time for "night-night". Well, tonight as I was bundling him up after his bath (step one of bedtime routine), he said "na-na", totally on his own. Amazing! He's also definitely entering toddler-hood, and all the glories that come along with it...tantrums when he doesn't get his way, testing our limits, voicing his opinion...oh, it's so wonderful!  Did I mention the climbing? Yes, today we had to have our first "toy time-out". He wouldn't stop standing on his snail rocker, so it had to have a time-out.

Today Aunt Beth taught him how to dance a jig, and it's so stinkin' cute! Joe really had him going with it this evening, and I was laughing so hard my abs hurt! 

Well, if you've made it this far, you deserve pictures!

Playing the piano on Easter

First day home with Daddy while Mommy's at work

More box sitting, this time it's Willie's toy box, notice how he's sitting on his doggie.

Our little comedian

Our little guy thought he was quite the funny man today. First, he has nearly mastered getting onto his riding toys by himself. Now he thinks any toy with wheels, doesn't matter how many, is rideable. Last weekend we watched him try to "ride" his xylophone and his ball popper, which each have two wheels. Well today, he decided to try to ride his VeggieTale school bus. That might sound alright...until you see the size of this thing.

Of course, by the time I got my camera ready to go, the riding session was over, but from this picture you can probably get a good idea of how it looked.

Later, we were playing in the living room, and I watched him accomplish this feat:

He did this totally on his own, the basket was even pushed under the table! I could not get him to turn around to look at the camera, so when I moved to see the front side and asked him to smile, this is what I got:

Is he proud of himself or what?? 

Kai and I also had our first giggle war today. He's been giggling so much lately, it's usually at Daddy doing something silly. This afternoon, he was standing in front of me (I was on the floor with him), and he made a funny face. I started laughing...he started laughing...I laughed harder...he laughed harder...need I go on?? We probably had a good 30-40 seconds of pure laughter before he dropped his toys and hugged me. 

It was a good day. :-)

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to work I go!

Yesterday was my first day back to work. Everything seemed to go very well. I wasn't a complete mess, and in fact, most people were pretty surprised at how well I was "handling" it. It felt really strange being there, knowing I would go home to my baby. When I first walked in the building, I felt like I'd entered a foreign country. A foreign country where I lived long ago, but haven't visited or spoken the language for a long time. By the end of the day, the sights, sounds, smells, and lay of the land started coming back to me, and it didn't seem so foreign anymore. I expect it'll take a week or so for me to start feeling "into" it again. I kept pretty quiet about my return yesterday, but next week I'll start being more vocal and letting people know I'm back. 

I know the one thing that made yesterday go so smoothly was knowing Kai was in good hands. He did wonderfully during his first full-day of daycare (he went last week for a couple half days, and did great then, too).  He had fun playing with the other kids, ate well, and even took a 3 hour nap! Melinda was amazed at how well he put himself to sleep for his nap. So far, it hasn't seemed to stir up any feelings of grieving for him. I know that he'll be well cared for at his daycare, but my biggest concern was if our separation would cause any attachment issues. It's probably too early to say, after only one day, but so far he seems to be doing very well with it.

This may sound strange, but we feel that my returning to work has finally made his arrival feel very real. Since he came home, it's felt so surreal. But now, with me back at work, and our lives pretty close to how they were "pre-baby", we're finally convinced that he's really ours... forever! :-)

Cousins are FUN!!

Yesterday Kai and I took a day trip to visit his cousins! They were so excited when we arrived, they came to the front door to wait for us to get out of the car. Then, Kai was greeted with hugs and kisses by all. :-) These kiddos waited with us for so long, they kept asking when our baby was coming home; it's so fun to finally get them all together! This was only the second or third time they've had to really play together, and they all seemed to have a lot of fun! Since the older cousins are...well...older, they've forgotten what it's like to have a toddler around (ie, someone who doesn't look where they're walking and likes to knock things over), but once we convinced them that Kai was not really trying to sabotage their games, they seemed OK with his clumsiness. We also reminded them that their little sister will be doing the same things soon, and in about a year, Kai will probably be getting upset when she knocks his lego towers over!

 :-) 

Kai is so lucky to have such wonderful cousins (and aunt and uncle!), and I think we're all looking forward to watching these guys grow up together!

As you can imagine, it was quite hard to get them all in the same place for a photo op, but the one above is from a while ago when we met for Dan's birthday (I think Hayleigh was busy being snuggled by her mom).

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!!

Date Night!

Yesterday Grandma & Grandpa C. came to town to babysit so Joe and I could go for a date! We had a great time, and didn't have to worry (too much) about our little guy since we knew he was in great hands! This was our first night (err...afternoon) out since Kai has been home; we went to see "Juno", then out to dinner. As for what happened at our house while we were out...they all seemed to have a great time! In fact, Kai didn't even udder a peep when Joe and I left, but when Grandma & Grandpa left he cried! 

Thanks again, Mom and Dad!!

get out your kleenex

You're going to laugh to tears!! While I was filming this, I was trying REALLY hard not to laugh on camera...didn't work...sounds like I'm crying. Our little Kai is such a music lover and dancer, his moves are getting more extensive everyday! We always loose composure when he starts hitting his belly! Of course, this video is so much cuter just because he doesn't have any clothes on. He is so adorable in only his diapey! (In case you're wondering, no...he wasn't just running around in his diaper. I was getting him dressed, in his room across the hall. He heard the music and ran to the computer...where it was coming from, luckily the camera was right there on the desk!)

On a side note, I am so excited that through the power of the internet, I have been reconnected with one of my best friends from high school! We lost contact almost 10 years ago, and have been searching for each other ever since. To make it even more exciting, she is also newly a mother, her son is now 8 months old! Congrats again, Christy...I'm so glad we found each other!!

Just for fun

Hello, Mr. Frog

Where does this go?

 Imagine his surprise when he turned the corner and found Willie in the dog run!

See the plane?

Wind chime...how fun!

exploring new territory

After weeks of standing at the patio door and looking out longingly, we finally let Kai out to explore the backyard! We had such a beautiful weekend here. Yesterday afternoon our car was registering 70 degrees! And it was so sunny! It's still nice today, but the clouds are moving in and the rain is on the way. Saturday we took Kai for his first trip to a "real" park. (We do have a lovely little park across the street from our house, but the only thing he can do there is the swing, the other play structures are for "big kids".) We were out running errands, and decided to stop at a nice city park that has lots of play area for "little kids". Unfortunately, since it was somewhat spontaneous, we didn't have our camera (what kind of parents are we, anyways?). But, he did have a blast going down the slide (with Daddy holding onto him, of course). As with all new things, at first he wasn't sure, but after a few trips down he would just starting smiling and giggling when Joe set him up at the top of the slide. After the park we took him for his first treat at Cold Stone Creamery. He had a couple tastes from each of our ice cream creations, but then his busy afternoon caught up with him. So, Joe and I took turns holding him and finishing off our treats and we were headed home very quickly. 

I'll have to post the backyard pictures later, blogger won't let me do it right now :-(

Bunny Taken Hostage

Come any closer and the bunny's history...

The bunny's owner attempts retrieval, to no avail.

Negotiations begin...

The bunny's captor loses composure 

as the sun sends him into a drunken stupor...

Happy Ending!

Bunny returned to rightful owner, the house is at peace.

Disclaimer: the only role I played in this was taking the pictures; the baby, dog and bunny were otherwise the only participants.

100!!!

WOW! This is post # 100! I don't really have anything earth-shattering to discuss (do I ever?), but I can't believe I've posted 100 times! Really, it seems like there are better things for me to do with my time...and if you're wondering, no, I didn't go through and count them all, blogspot does that for me :-) So, to make this a little more interesting, I will post a few videos and pics that I've been holding onto, waiting for the perfect time to share them! 

This one I call: "More proof our son's a genius".

This one is just plain cute:

And here's a something only Daddy would think to do 

(and only Mommy would think to grab the camera):

Happy Wednesday, thanks for looking!

squeaky shoes

OK, I must preface this post by warning (or reminding) you how easily entertained we are here at our house!

A few days ago Kai got a pair of squeaky shoes from our friends Holly and Wayne (parents to Sam and Emma). They are so cute and just make us laugh! At first when I put them on Kai, he was scared to move. Then he just started laughing and running all over the house. Oh, it was so funny, we could not stop laughing! I managed to get the camera into video mode and  film a little of the fun. Now we don't have to worry about loosing our little walker! Thanks again H,W,S&E!

AAAHHHH!!! (huge sigh of relief)

Yesterday we turned in a signed childcare contract for Kai's daycare when I return to work in 3(short) weeks. What a huge relief! We started the week with a few childcare leads, and a few interviews set up; we ended the week signing the contract with someone totally different! It's amazing how God uses people who have been in our lives to open doors when we need them opened! This is a great example of how our city really is a "big little town", one of the reasons I love it here! So this is what happened. Monday morning, I was continuing to search for daycare options, even though we had a few interviews set up. Joe calls me and says that a work acquaintance has given him the name of her childcare provider who is awesome, and happens to have a few openings right now. She says we better call FAST, because Melinda's openings fill quickly. So, I wasted no time and called her. We set up an interview with her for the following day. Later on Monday I was talking to my friend Brenda (who happens to be covering my leave at work), and told her we were interviewing a daycare that was right down the street from her house. She asked me what her name was, and I told her "Melinda". Brenda said, "Oh, she goes to my church, and she's awesome. I was going to take my boys there, but she didn't have openings on the right days when I was looking". Since I have gone to many women's gatherings at Brenda's church, I asked if I had met her, and we both decided that I probably had. Tuesday afternoon we go and visit Melinda's house (yes, it is the lady I was thinking of from Brenda's church). Right away, we love it, she's so easy-going yet has total control of the kids. Kai loved it and just wanted to walk around, explore her house, and play with the other kids. I tell her that I've met her at Brenda's church, and she says she thought I looked familiar. So, we're at her house, chatting about her daycare and such, and in walks a work acquaintance of mine, to pick up her daughter!  Wow! Who would have thought? We've heard nothing but great things about her. Oh, and in the course of chatting with her, she tells us that she's also an adoptive mother! I liked how she didn't make a huge point of bringing it up (like she had to prove something to us or like it would be a deal maker), but rather it just came up quite naturally in our conversation (her son was adopted domestically, so it's not as easy to see). So, we love that he will be in a Christian home and getting excellent care by someone who is sensitive to his needs as an adoptee. Yesterday when we stopped to drop off the contract, Kai had a chance to play with the other kids a bit (all boys right now), and he loved it! The only draw back is that her house is about 10 minutes out of our way to work. But we figured, it's only two days a week and for quality care, it's not a big deal! Knowing he will be in a good daycare has really eased my mind about returning to work, although I still can't believe my leave is almost over!