Zoom!

The summer is speeding by. Isaac is a whirlwind! He loves to swim. We visit Grandma & Grandpa almost every day so that we can practice swimming in their pool. He has a little vest that he tolerates that we use most of the time. Sometimes we practice swimming without the vest at the start of our swimming session and sometimes we practice without it at the end of our swimming session. I think that we have the next Michael Phelps on our hands. Isaac gets so upset when we make him get out of the pool. He asks for, "More! More! More!" with his signs and sometimes has been known to jump back into the pool if I'm not quick enough getting him out. The good news is that Grandma & Grandpa have an above-ground pool so we hide the ladder to keep him out when he shouldn't be going in. I don't know how we could spend time at their house if they had an in-ground pool that lured him with the sparkling water!

Climbing up the ladder to get into the pool! "I'm a big boy. I can do it all by myself."

Mommy loves this swimsuit, but for some reason Isaac will not allow me to put it on anymore. He favors the suit with animals all over it. I need to get a picture of him in that one.

Practicing. We are working hard to use our arms and our legs at the same time. He is getting good at using them together, but doesn't have enough strength to hold himself up so we need to put a hand under his tummy. Poor little guy had to be banned from the pool for several days due to an ear infection. He was more miserable from the ban than from the infection if you ask me.

We've been to the Orlando Science Center twice this month with Isaac's big cousin. He loves her so much and thinks he can do anything she can do. She is such a good cousin and really does well with Isaac. Here they are in Grossology playing on a lifesize version of the game Operation. They both had so much fun in this room! I was amazed at how many activities were available for little guys like Isaac and how they were intermingled with activities for older kids.

Yeah!!!

We've also been to Epcot several times this summer.

We've also been to Epcot several times this summer. Grandpa works at the Animal Kingdom so we are very blessed to be able to go to visit the Disney themeparks for free. Zoe is spending time with Grandma and every week they study a new country. Friday is fieldtrip day and we go to Epcot and visit the country Zoe studied earlier in the week. The first time we visited was July 10th and we went to France. Isaac loved the music in the French movie and enjoyed eating a strawberry tart. We were supposed to visit China on the 17th, but my car's airconditioner died and it was in the shop. Zoe and Grandma went without us, but they said it didn't count because Isaac wasn't able to go.

While Zoe shopped for a souvenier and I took pictures, Isaac was able to color a mask in an art area. Until next time!

San Diego Vacation

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Summer Days!

Wow! The summer has been speeding by! I can't believe that this week we will welcome the month of July and celebrate our nation's birthday! The week after school ended Isaac and I accompanied my mom & Aunt Hubba to San Diego, CA to visit my grandmother and thier sisters and lots & lots of cousins. Isaac was a wonderful travel companion. Here we are at the start of our journey in the Tampa International Airport. Isaac looks too cool with his Starbucks water chillin' in his stroller while Mom, Aunt Hubba, and I spend a few more minutes with Tom before heading through security to find our gate. Security was "fun" even Isaac had to take off his shoes and since his stroller wouldn't fit through the x-ray scanner thing they had to wipe it down and search it.

Aunt Susan has lots of fun toys at her house!! It was like going on vacation at a toy store. Our first day at Aunt Susan's house was lots of fun. We ended our day by going out to dinner at Cozymel's a restaurant my cousin Amber works at. We ended up spending so much time visiting that Isaac feel asleep in Grandma's arms.

Isaac loves story time and his favorite book is Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! We read it several times every day!

Isaac kept seeing the baby cousins in the swing so he decided to check it out. It was funny to watch until he tried to make it swing faster and landed on his head. :o( With so much to do, it was hard to fit in a nap, but Isaac found a way and for that I was thankful! :o)

The San Diego Zoo!

I'll post more of our summer fun later, I'm getting tired and it's taking a while to load these photos. Isaac had a F-U-N trip to the zoo. He loved it!

A Night Time First

Wow! I can't believe it. A few months ago I posted to a yahoo group about the trouble we were having at bedtime. Isaac would cry and cry because he didn't want to go to bed all by himself. Tonight after our bottle, several books, and our prayers he ran down the hall to his room and proceeded to try to climb into his crib! I picked him up and placed him in the crib where he promptly lay down and allowed me to put the blanket over him. I checked on him a few minutes later and he was out like a light! I hope our upcoming trip to San Diego, CA doesn't mess with our new attitude towards bedtime. (We have been going to bed happily for a few weeks, just not with as much excitement as we did tonight.) I just had to share, I was so excited about this. ;o)

First Hair Cut

When we first met on October 13th I wondered when my little guy's hair would grow in. Here he is with his nanny when we first met him outside of the Adoption Registry Center of Guangdong Province as we were heading upstairs for our appointment. We weren't allowed to touch him yet, but it was so amazing to see his face and know that our son was so close to us and that we were soon to be united as a family. I had seen his picture and knew that he had very little hair. I look back at him now and see how much he has grown in the past 7 1/2 months. WOW!!!! 7 1/2 months, I can't believe it!!! He looks like such a tiny little guy here, and now he is getting so big! (LOL!!! In a few months I'll be looking back thinking the same thing about the pictures I am about to post!)

So here we are getting ready for our fist hair cut.

But Mommy, I don't want to sit in the chair!! What are you doing with those scissors?!?!

Well, OK if you insist.

Go figure! I forgot to take a picture of the back of his head when we were in our haircut mode, but I finally did the next day. It's a little jagged, but it's hard to cut hair on a moving target. Here he is feeding Pepper. He loves to help out around the house these days!

Fun at Lake Pearl

After leaving Naples we drove 4 1/2 hours to the UCF area for a Memorial Day Good Bye Party for our dear friends Matt & Mary. We are going to miss them when the move to Nashville, but we are excited about the opportunities that the Lord has brought their way. While in the pool area Isaac kept hearing the boat and would run along the gate to see the boat go by. Finally I decided to take the little cutie on the boat. After a while Isaac got pretty bored on the boat, apparently it wasn't as exciting as it sounded and he had to wear the "icky" life jacket. He kept trying to wriggle out of it and was getting pretty antsy. My friend April told me that she was going to take her daughter out on the intertube and that Rachel could sit on her lap. I thought that it sounded fun. I climbed out onto the three-man intertube when and Craig watched from the shore. He was sure that I WOULD NOT take our son onto it. The next thing I know Michael zooms out to the boat on the jet ski to get a life jacket, minutes later Craig and Michael come riding up next to the boat. I can tell it was all that Craig could do not to demand I get back into the boat with the baby!

He loves this! He waved at people on shore, in the boat, Daddy on the jet ski... He bounced on his legs as if the tube wasn't bouncing enough! The crazy boy thought this was a turbo trampoline or something!! When everything was over he asked for more. He kept asking for more in sign language. It was great. He even told Hal "thank you" and "please" in sign language as well. So what could they say?? We got another trip around the lake!

The second time around he jumped and waved. I had to have a tight hold of his life jacket because I thought he might jump right out of the tube! Craig would have killed me if something like that had happened!! His laugh was amazing! I can't believe how much fun he had. I can't wait to get him out there again!

Not everything was perfect. It rained and rained and rained just as we were preparing to leave. Isaac fell off of the picnic bench and got the biggest goose-egg he's ever had. I was so worried about him, but he didn't display any signs of a concussion and was back to his normal active self in minutes, so we didn't end up going to the doctor. However we did get a beautiful double rainbow as the day ended. A remarkable reminder of God's promises to us.

Memorial Day Weekend

What a busy weekend! Isaac made his first trip to Bonita Springs to visit Aunt Lynne & Uncle Ron. They were amazed at how big our baby has grown in the past five months! We had a lot of fun at the zoo and in the pool.

Isaac had fun riding Daddy's shoulders at the Naples Zoo. It was pretty busy as they had just opened a new exhibit featuring the Florida black bear. What a great family picture. Mommy & Isaac, Daddy, Aunt Lynne, and Uncle Ron. As we walked the nature trails we found the parents feeding their hatchlings. I wish that I had a book of native birds to Florida. The parents were beautiful white birds with a white headdress. Hmmm... I googled images and think it's snowy egret, but I'm not entirely sure...

After the zoo we went home and took a nap. After our nap it was pool time! Here Isaac is having a blast jumping into the pool with Aunt Lynne. This was only his second time in the pool since we came home from China. We went in the pool twice in China and he loved it. His first time in the pool here was at Aunt Wendy's house where he saw 3 year old Anthony jumping into the pool. Isaac says, "hey I'm a big boy too!" He would jump into the pool swim to the side (Really! He would kick his legs and swim to the side and try to pull himself up!!) Later I wondered if he could move his arms without the arm floaties. Big Mistake! Now he does NOT want the floaties on AT ALL!!! Mommy is looking into swimming lessons. Unfortunately the YMCA lessons start while we are visiting family in California so it looks like we are going to have to do private lessons. Michael Phelps watch out! Isaac has started his swimming career at 20 months old and he is fearless! I hope that his love of water continues and that he can have fun on a swim team. On Sunday some of Aunt Lynne's friends came over to meet Isaac and we had a BBQ at the pool. It was so much fun. Mommy was so busy jumping and swimming with Isaac that we didn't get any pictures. On Monday we went to Lake Pearl with Daddy's friends in Orlando. We are sad to have to say good-bye to our dear friends Matt & Mary as they prepare to move to Nashville. Stay tuned for more pictures at Lake Pearl. Mommy needs to head over to Mary's facebook page to download the pictures from the lake.

May Days

Grandma and Grandpa bought Mommy & Isaac a new stroller for Mother's Day. Isaac LOVES his new stroller. The steering wheel makes noises and plays music. At the top Mommy can plug in her i-pod for when we go on walks. We both love our new stroller!! Here we are taking it for a test drive in the house just after we assembled it.

A couple of years ago Zoe got Butterscotch for Christmas. It was a little disappointing because we were all expecting Butterscotch to walk (she doesn't). Isaac never saw the commericals or participated in the pre-Christmas hype and he thinks the Butterscotch is just wonderful! (On a side note, Zoe now loves Butterscotch and allows Isaac to ride her.)

Mommy & Zoe were playing on the trampoline when Isaac wandered out. He looked like a forlorn puppy as he gazed up at us on the trampoline.

Singing in the Rain! OK, so Isaac is barely talking so he isn't really singing in the rain, but boy was he LAUGHING in the rain! He had a great time and got so mad at Mommy when she insisted it was time to go in when the lightning and thunder started up. I guess he isn't aware the Central Florida is the lightning capital of the state and the nation!
After the lightning and thunder went away Mommy let Isaac go back out and play in the rain again. Coming up next... Memorial Day weekend pictures!!!

The Dedication

Many people have wondered, so just what is a dedication anyways!? Well it is our promise to raise our child in a Godly home, seeking to teach him the ways of our faith and the teachings of Jesus. It is similar to a baptism or christening that is found in other denominations. In my mind it is similar to when Jesus' parents brought him to the temple to present him to the Lord (Luke 2:21-38). We took Isaac into the temple (church) to present him to the Lord. Will he be baptised then? Yes, we do believe in baptism, but I was raised in a denomination where children choose to be baptised when they come into the understanding of who Jesus is and what their relationship is with him. I think that is the age when many children do first communion in other denominations like the Catholic Church and Lutheran Church. I think it is wonderful that we all serve the same Lord and that we can do so in different ways. We are currently attending the church where I grew up. It was nice to have him dedicated where I spent so much time as a child learning about Jesus.

In this picture, the service is getting ready to start. I had to put Isaac's bib back on so that he didn't drool all over his cute outfit. We didn't buy a traditional outfit while we were in China. I didn't really see any that I liked and we were worried about money since Craig had just been laid off. It seemed extravagant. We found this cute outfit in the China pavilion at Epcot.

After the first song, the pastor started the dedication. There were five children being dedicated! Isaac was the most active of them all! There are times when you want your child to stand out, this was not one of them!! Grandma got a picture of Isaac trying to escape Mommy's arms.

Here we are with "Uncle" Dominic. Craig asked Dominic to be Isaac's godfather. Uncle Dominic bought Isaac a beautiful gold cross that he can wear when he is older to commemorate the day!

With Grandma. Isn't that a cool dragon on his top?
With the family. From left to right: Grandma, Grandpa, Isaac, Daddy, Mommy, and Uncle Joe.

What a beautiful family! Last Mother's Day I wouldn't leave the house. I was so sad. This year, it is so unbelievable. I want to stand on the rooftop and yell, "Look what the Lord has done!" In the past I related to Hannah crying in the temple (I Samuel 1-2). To me I felt like Hannah and every mother felt like Peninnah showing off all of her children. To make it worse the church would play games like the most children & grandchildren. It was more than I could bear! Last year I told Craig, "No More! I'm never going to church again on Mother's Day until I am a mother!" I never imagined it would be this year. This year I felt like Hannah going back to the temple after Samuel was born. How fitting in my heart that we could also dedicate him to the Lord on Mother's Day. At first I was horrified, I felt horrible for the women who like me in the years before could not celebrate. To me it was more healing to be able to dedicate my son to the Lord on a day that had been so difficult for me in the past. We prayed for his birthmother in China. We prayed that she would come to know the Lord and that she would know that her son is safe and loved.

Oh my! I have to run to work. I will post more updates later!!

Fun with Mama

Mama said that she needed help with dinner so I got out all of the pots & pans that I thought she might need to make me a very yummy dinner. Then the broiler looked like a fun place to play and I thought we could play a quick game of hide & seek.Last Saturday, April 25th I had my first visit to Epcot. Mama & Grandma both love Epcot and they said that I would love it too. I was very happy to find a play ground. These people at Disney really know how to keep a baby happy. The slide was SO MUCH FUN that I went down close to 20 times. One time another little boy tried to cut me off so I held up my finger and told him, "Ma! Ma! Ma!" While shaking my finger at him. (Ma! Ma! Ma! translates into No! No! No!) Mama thought it was so funny because Grandma, the little boy, and his parents didn't know that I was telling him No! Mama told me that I had to share the slide and we ended up having lots of fun.

After we played for a while we stopped in Canada to check out their totem poles because Mama is getting ready to teach her students about the Native Americans of the Northwestern United States. I had fun playing on the steps and chasing bubbles while Grandma looked for some items in the trading post.

Our main purpose in going to Epcot was to help Grandma buy some artifacts to show her students while they study Asia. When we went to China we got to meet Mulan. I think Mama and Grandma were pretty excited to meet her, but I just wanted to play with Mama's sunglasses. While we were in China Mama & Grandma found a very nice outfit that I will wear when I am dedicated next Sunday. Mama & Grandma thought it would be nice to include my birth culture with my families culture when they dedicate me to the Lord. Mama is so excited that the church chose to have the dedication on Mother's Day. Please stay tuned for pictures of my adorable outfit. [Note from Mama: Last Mother's Day was so painful! I wouldn't allow Craig to take me to church and I made sure that our meal was at home. My prayers are with all of the women out there who are still waiting to become mothers. This is such a painful time of year for those who still wait to hold a child in their arms.]

Wednesday, April 29th Freedom Middle hosted a track meet. Mama took me so that we could help time the big kids as they ran in the races. My favorite thing to do at the track meet was to play on the go-cart. Mama tried to get a picture of me as I ran around the track, but she only had her cell phone with her because I took off so fast! Maybe I'll be a track star like my Daddy and my Uncle Keith!

Yesterday we met with the cleft team to discuss the different types of treatment I will need as I grow up. Mama & Daddy didn't know that we would be in the same room for the entire time. I got so bored! Luckily Mama & Daddy were creative and found ways to entertain me without toys. I met with so many people, I can't remember them all. But my bestest friend was there and he was so happy that my mouth continues to look very good and that I have learned how to use a straw. He said I need to follow up with him in 6 months and that he'll see me at the cleft team again next year. The speech therapist told Mama that we need to have my comprehension & speech evaluated and that I might qualify for some speech therapy to help me learn how to say more words. Overall the experience was very tiring! It was interesting, but it was a long morning. Next time Mama & Daddy promised that we would bring toys!

Well it was fun catching up with you. I hope to see you again soon!!

Love,
Isaac