2011 - The year of more firsts.

2011 was a very good year with many firsts.

*Matthew had his very first birthday.
*Matthew learned to walk (run) and say many cute little words.
*Matthew started going to day care each day - and daddy survived.
*We had our first Mother's and Father's Day.
*We went to Kazapalooza for the first time and met some really nice families who also adopted from Kaz. Matthew also got his first kiss at Kazapalooza from a sweet little girl.

So far this winter we there hasn't been ANY snow. That's not normal for our part of the world. Today is December 31st and tomorrow we are supposed to get between 8" to 10" of snow. This afternoon Matthew got all ready. He absolutely loved running around the house in his hat and gloves.

Matthew's 2nd Christmas

Today is Matthew's 2nd Christmas. How blessed we have been to be able to share both of them with him. What a blessing he is in our lives. We love him so much.

This morning Matthew woke up at 6:30AM just as he does every day. We got up and opened his presents. He got one from the babysitter and one from us. He enjoyed ripping the wrapping paper off and playing with the boxes more than what was inside.

We got him "Let's Rock Elmo". Matthew loves Elmo a lot!!!

It's a "green Christmas" at our house and 42 degrees outside. Usually we have a thick blanket of snow way before Christmas!

Here are a couple pictures of Mattew posing for us with a gram cracker in his hand.

Matthew's 35 cute words

Matthew is changing so fast. He is learning a lot, loves to look at books and can say many words in a very cute voice.

I didn't want to let this time pass by without getting a video of it because I know that within 6 months he will be so much farther along. This morning at breakfast while Matthew was eating his waffle I decided to see if he would say the words he knows.

This week I took off work to be at home with Matthew. We are having a lot of fun playing chase, reading books and playing with all of his toys. There is absolutely nothing better in the world than being a dad!

1,685 mile road trip with a toddler

This past Thursday we left home and headed to the University of Alabama to see our daughter graduate from college. It was a two day journey to Alabama and a two day journey back home to Michigan.

Matthew has never been to excited to be confined to a car seat for more than 5 minutes (tops!). Boy did we find this out!

On Thursday we headed from home to Louisville, KY about a 7 hour trip that was half way to Alabama. Matthew had two major breakdowns and the tension in the vehicle was high.

We brought along some books that Matthew loves to read, his favorite bath-time duck, a stuffed dog and a DVD player with some neat movies. Let's just say that those things didn't keep his attention very long. For most of the trip he took off his Velcro tennis shoes and then had a crying fit because he couldn't get them back on his feet. When the shoes would come off, sometimes he would also take off his socks and would have a fit about that too. When he wasn't mad about his shoes/socks he would say over and over "Mama... IWannaACookie" or "Mama... IWannaJuice". The little guy pretty much ate or drank the entire trip!!!

On day two from Louisville, KY to Tuscaloosa, AL Matthew did a lot better. I think he finally realized that we were going somewhere and there really wasn't anything he could do about it. Also, I think "day 1" helped him get more acquainted with long car rides.

We made it to Alabama and had a great day on Saturday seeing Jenny graduate, spending time with her seeing and where she worked.

We started our journey home on Sunday, made it half way and then completed the drive home on Monday.

Below are some notes I made during the journey:
When traveling with a toddler -

Make sure to speak in code. If you don't and you say the wrong words you will pay the price. One that had us almost in tears laughing was - "if we stop at MD he'll want FF". (MacDonald's/french fries)

Don't use Velcro shoes on a toddler on a long road trip. Boredom will set in an he will take them off, then cry and scream because he can't get them back on. If a shoe comes off the sock won't be far behind. That too will result in the same window cracking screams.

If he happens to somehow fall asleep don't stop the vehicle for ANY reason! If the tank is on empty, so what. Drive on fumes if you have to!

If we could just have one dollar for every time Matthew said "Ma ma...." I want cracker/I want juice... We would have a million dollars and would have been able to charter a private jet for our journey.

One funny thing was almost every time Matthew would see the Golden Arches of MacDonald's he would say "shy shy" (French fry). That's pretty good for a 23 month old toddler. He's brand loyal and I'm sure I'll be stopping by many MacDonald's over the next 15 years!

My little Matthew got bit at daycare

It's with a very sad heart that I write this. Today at daycare my precious little Matthew got bit by a 2 year old little girl. I guess Matthew took the toy she was playing with and she turned around and took a bite right out of his cheek.

I was told by the daycare lady that Matthew cried for only a second as if nothing had happened. They put the little girl in time out and scolded her - yet that doesn't make me feel much better. My sweet little boy got hurt.

On top of that Matthew has had a very upset tummy and bowels for yesterday and today. He just doesn't seem like himself. He doesn't want to eat, and whatever we get him to eat just goes right through him. I sure hope he gets better soon and his little face heals quick too.

Ready to go swimming.

Is it time for Kazapalooza yet? Matthew is ready to go swimming!

Matthew tells Santa his Christmas wish.....

Today Matthew turned 23 months old! Wow has the time flown. We first met him on the day he turned 7 months old, and brought him home on his 10th month birthday.

This morning we took Matthew to see Santa. The line was long but Matthew waited really patient. Once it was his turn he sat on Santa's lap and let us take some pictures. I think I overheard him tell Santa that he wanted to see many, many more children be adopted so that they could have "forever" families.

Here are some pictures from today and one picture from last year when he visited Santa. Look at Santa's hand in each of the pictures you can see how much bigger Matthew has grown in the past year. Last year Santa's hand was about half the size of Matthew.

December 2011



December 2010

Our first throw up

So why am I writing about this? Because it's a "first".

Today I picked up Matthew from the baby sitters. He didn't seem like himself when I got there. She had just given him a sippy cup of milk and some pringles and he wasn't interested in them at all. That's not like Matthew either he loves snacks and his milk!

We got home and I could just tell something wasn't right. I asked him if he wanted "juice". He didn't seem to care. Usually he's all over "juice" when we walk in the house. I got him a sippy cup of juice and gave it to him thinking that he would drink it for sure. I was carrying him since we walked in the house and after handing him the juice I put him down on the floor. Then it happened. He threw up all over the carpet by the door. I was in shock for a nano-second. I picked him up as he was crying and went quickly to the kitchen sink because I could tell he wasn't done. Unfortunately we didn't make it all the way to the sink. We had mess #2 down the kitchen cabinet, on him and all down the front of me.

From there I took him to the bath tub because I just didn't know what to do. He was miserable and we were full of "yucky". I called Michelle and said "Something is wrong with Matthew. I need you to leave work RIGHT NOW". Matthew got a little sick again in the bath tub. Once finished I got all of our clothes off and threw them in the wash and I held him in my arms till mom got home. While we were waiting for her I called the doctors office and told the nurse what happened. She said not to give him anything to eat or drink for 3 hours so his stomach could empty and calm down. Then she said to give him 1 ounce of flat 7up and see if he could keep it down. If so, we could give him another ounce after 15 minutes and repeat this process for a hour.

Our little Matthew looked so sad. It about broke my heart. We held him through the evening on our laps. He got sick a few more times but mom made sure we were prepared with a plastic shoe box which worked really well.

By the end of the evening Matthew started feeling a bit better. We could tell from the way he was acting. We gave him the 7up three times over 45 minutes and he kept it down! We could tell he was getting tired so by 8PM I put him to bed and so far he sounds like he's doing fine.

I pray that our little guy feels like himself in the morning and this was just a temporary sickness. It makes us feel so sad to see him not feel well.

Thanksgiving with my brother & sister

Fun raking leaves & big boy bath

Matthew is just so much fun! Today we were outside raking leaves and Matthew was helping too. He actually was picking up leaves and putting them in the bags! He also had fun playing in the leaf piles.

It's just do sweet that he wants to do everything that I do. Today I was putting the hitch on my car and I was down on my knees. Matthew came over to where I was and got down on his knees too. Then later this afternoon I was working in the kitchen and was laying on my stomach on the floor. Matthew sees me and gets right down on the floor and imitates everything I'm doing.

Tonight was his first time in the big boy bathtub. Till this point I've been giving him a bath in the kitchen sink in a baby bath. For the past month or so he is really too big for the sink bath tub, but I liked it because he was use to it. Tonight we decided to bath him in the regular bath tub. Boy did he have fun! He almost didn't want to get out!

Our little guy is growing up. He's so much fun. I still can't believe that I'm his dad. God really blessed us!

Family pictures

Today we got an email that our adoption pictures were done. These pictures just have the three of us. Unfortunately our 23 yr old daughter and 16 yr old son weren't available to be part of the pictures.

I don't really have to say anything else, these pictures are worth a million words! Here are 2 or 3 that I like..........

Orphan Sunday at Church today

Today we celebrated Orphan Sunday at Church. The entire service was about orphans. It was much more than I could have ever dreamed!

I went up to the front with Matthew in my arm to give our testimony and to tell about the orphan ministry that we are starting at Church. Matthew sat nice an quietly in my arm when all of a sudden he spotted Michelle in the back. He said "Hi MOMMY!" and waved. Everyone laughed including me, but I quickly got back to my message.

After service many people told us how they were crying with happiness as they heard our testimony.

I pray that this mornings service moves many to consider foster care or adoption.

Our little Matthew is the best! Thank you God!

Obsessed with the vacuum

Little Matthew absolutely loves the vacuum!

For months now Matthew always wants to see our vacuum. He knows where we keep it and he will go to the door and say "vaak". He loves to look at it and play with the cord. Yet he gets sort of scared when it's turned on. He wants to be picked up when it's running.

He also has his own little vacuum that he loves pushing around and hearing the sounds and words that it makes. Mommy often says that she wishes Matthew's vacuum actually worked, then we would never have to vacuum!

Here are a couple pictures of him posing with a big smile.

One year later

We arrived home from Kazakhstan with Matthew on November 4, 2010. He was sound asleep so we just layed him in his crib. Look at how small he was.

Next is a picture from November 4, 2011. Look how big he is now.

What a difference one year makes.

Fun at the GR Children's Museum

Yesterday marked our one year home together as a family. Ironically there was an adoptive family event at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum last night. So we decided to go to celebrate our adoption.

The museum is so cool. Everything is for children to touch, climb on, play with and have fun. Needless to say Matthew had an absolute blast! He was so tired after we left that he ended up sleeping for almost 12 hours last night.

Last night was so much fun!

Welcome to our new blog

Welcome to our new blog.

This blog is dedicated to our son Matthew who was adopted from Kazakhstan in August 2010. In this blog we will continue to journal the events of our life as a family that we will share with family, friends and anyone interested in the wonderful world of adoption.

A little background about us........

Michelle and I have been married for almost 4 years. Shortly after getting married we decided to have a child together. Through twists and turns God brought our hearts to adoption. We took a leap of faith and began our adoption journey in Feburary 2009 to adopt a child from Kazakhstan. In August 2010 we adopted our son Matthew at the age of 7 months. We returned in October 2010 to bring him home forever. The past year together has been the best of our life! Matthew turned 22 months old yesterday.