Celebrating Our First Year Together

One year ago today we boarded a plane (well several planes) and headed to to Guangzhou, China to meet our son. We left Orlando around 1 pm on October 10, 2008 and arrived in Guangzhou on October 12th at 6 in the morning. It was the longest flight ever, but we met some interesting people and had good flying experience overall. We will actually celebrate our 1 year anniversary this Tuesday, October 13th, but we wanted to head out to Epcot to take pictures in the China pavilion so we needed to celebrate a few days early. This morning we headed over to Grandma's at 10 o'clock and timed our arrival to Epcot for 11 o'clock when the World Show Case opens. Because of the Food & Wine festival about a million other people had the same idea, but it turned out to be a pretty good day and we got some good pictures.
After taking a few pictures of Isaac in his "come bounce with me" t-shirt we decided to change him into his traditional Chinese outfit for a few more pictures. He was so cute wandering along the little path that he attracted a few admirers, and sometimes it was difficult to get a shot without other people in it.

Here we are inside the Temple of Heaven. I had the hardest time getting this photo. I had 5 or 6 pictures of the pillar with an arm, a leg, or a blur. At least I got one with my handsome little guy. One of the gentlemen working at the Temple of Heaven remembered us from previous visits. He came up and visited with us for a few minutes. Isaac was a little shy at first, but eventually gave him a high five. I wanted to get a picture, but he was being so shy I didn't want to scare him or have the young man from Hong Kong think I was crazy. :o)
I had hoped to get a picture or two of Isaac near the life size replica of the Terracotta Warriors, but he was afraid of them. We settled on taking a picture WITH Mommy next to the smaller scale warriors. After our photo shoot we went to have lunch at the Nine Dragons restaurant. The food was delicious! I can never make it to the China pavilion without shopping. Isaac and Daddy had a good time coloring. While at the Fun Spot we met a family who is preparing to meet their daughter in China later this month. We were excited to meet a family on their journey as we celebrated our family today. It reminded me of when we met several couples celebrating anniversaries when we went on our honeymoon in 2004. It seemed serindipitous to meet so many couples celebrating love & family when we were celebrating the start to our marriage and it seemed equally fortunate to meet this family today. 10/13/200810/10/2009

What a difference a year makes!! He's changed in so many ways! He's gone from being a baby to a little boy!! It's hard to believe that he hasn't spent every second of his life with us. Sometimes, it's hard to imagine our lives without him in it, what did we do with ourselves before he joined our family?!

Isaac's View...

I have to say, I love baby sign language! OK, really we are learning American Sign Language (ASL) in the Stopyra home. It is so wonderful to be able to communicate with my son! If it weren't for ASL, I am sure my stress level would be unmeasurable. As it is, Isaac creates signs if he needs to say something he doesn't have a sign for. For the most part I can figure out what he wants to say and then we learn the correct sign. I hope that we can continue to learn sign as he finds his voice.

Tonight after dinner Isaac was outback with Daddy playing in the yard while Mommy washed dishes. Isaac pointed up to the moon and said, "Moooo (moon)." "Yes, that's right, that is the moon" said Daddy. Isaac looked up at Craig and back to the moon with a quizzical look on his face and make the sign "broken?" Craig was stunned for a moment, and said, "Sort of. It does look broken, doesn't it?"

It was the cutest thing in the world. When I went outside he pointed up, "Moooo" and then the sign for "sleep." "No, Isaac the moon isn't sleeping. See there it is up in the sky" I replied. He looked at me as if to say, "I give up!" Then he signed "broken?" "Well, yes Isaac. I guess it does look like it's broken" I answered. Honestly I never thought I would have to explain the phases of the moon to a two year old!

The most amazing thing is, if we weren't learning ASL we wouldn't have been able to have this amazing conversation and get a glimpse into Isaac's mind. I wish that he could share more. It was so interesting to have this exchange with him tonight.

Please pray September 3, 2009

I read about this family on one of my yahoo groups and have visited their blog. Please check out their blog at http://aladyblog.blogspot.com/ and pray dilligently for them this Thursday, September 3rd. Pray that God would protect the family and the little boy involved in this ugly and nasty custody battle.

Thank you,
Gretchen

10 months already!? WOW!!!

I can't believe it. I got up this morning and realized that 10 months ago today I woke up in a very different place with my emotions all over. It is amazing how quickly the past ten months have gone by when the months and years leading up to Isaac's adoption seemed to go at a snail's pace. My heart aches for the parents-in-waiting who still experience each month at a slow crawl. It is so hard to believe that at some point will pick up and begin to race. Sometimes I find myself holding Isaac after he falls asleep because I realize that all too soon he won't be small enough to fit in my lap when he falls asleep. I should have been doing a better job at blogging this summer, I know that I'll look back and regret that I didn't capture more memories. I know that I will never regret setting the computer aside to make those memories with my little bug. I hope that I can look back at the pictures and accurately document our first summer together.

Here is one of our first pictures together on October 13th outside of the Adoption Registry Office in Guangzhou. He was such a tiny little guy!

Here is a picture from his birthday party. So much has happened this summer. Here are a few more pictures to enjoy!

We had our first real big-boy haircut at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom on August 4th, which was the 1 year anniversary for when our LOI made it to China. That turned out to be a coincidence, but I think it's pretty cool because a year before that he was bald! It was so much fun! The barbershop quartet came in and sang. They gave him a special certificate to commemorate his first haircut. They even gave him his first pair of ears, on the back it says "first haircut." We had a very fun day. In addition to our haircut we spent a few hours in Fantasy Land. (I really do need to make a slide show!)

We celebrated with a birthday party the week before Isaac turned two because we went to Daytona Beach on Isaac's birthday weekend. Craig's parents had been at the beach on a mini-vacation of their own and stopped to spend some time with us before we headed home. Isaac loved everything about the beach.

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.