Homestudy is complete, clothes and sprinkler fun!

We got the final, notarized copies of our homestudy Saturday. We should get the notarized copies of the rest of our dossier back today or tomorrow from our notary. Chris is taking a half day this week to take everything to the Sec. of State for certification. Then it's on its way to VORF, then to the embassy for authentication, then to Vietnam!!

They're still projecting a referral around September.

We cleaned out Madison's room and put up her crib this weekend. We also went through Dylan's clothes. He had so many, we couldn't get to them all. We found some cute new outfits for the summer. He's not gaining much weight (19 pounds at 13 months old), so he's still in 6-9mo clothes! We boxed up all the 18+ month clothing since it's just taking up room. Even the 12mo stuff is too big, but he'll be into that soon, we hope. Anyway, we used big diaper cases for the clothes. He has 1 case of 24mo clothes and 2 cases of 18mo clothes. Then a whole 4-drawer dresser full of 12mo clothes (I counted 18 pair of JEANS!) and 2 huge drawers of 6-9mo clothes. Needless to say, we no longer need more clothes for the boy. Oh, and all overalls, outfits and button-up shirts are hanging. The drawers are just for pants, t-shirts, onesies and rompers. Yikes. Most of you know, we go yard sale-ing almost every weekend in the spring and summer. That's where we get all of his clothes. I've never bought a brand-new outfit for him. He has a few new ones from baby showers, Christmas and birthday. But the majority of his clothes are really nice, second-hand clothes. I never pay more than $1 for any one piece, and he has some really nice stuff.

We've been doing the same for Madison. She has about the same amount of clothes. A dresser, 2 huge drawers, a closet FULL of dresses and right now, her crib is piled high with clothes just from this weekend. I think I'm addicted to baby clothes. Is there a support group for baby clothes addicts??

Dylan is cutting his top incisors and having a rough time of it. He cries in his sleep. He has trouble going to sleep. He wakes up early. He's not eating much because it hurts, then cries because he's hungry. I feel so bad for my little man. I wish I could take away his pain. He gets Tylenol before bed, but I don't want him to be on it all day, too.

Saturday, it was in the '80s here, so we broke out the swim diapers and sprinkler. He wasn't too impressed. I do have to admit, the water was really cold. Afterwards, we let him run around naked in the backyard. He enjoyed that. LOL.

One year ago today...

...our initial application for adoption was approved by the agency. We had just begun the journey. Now we're home, raising our wonderful son, and working hard on the second adoption. Amazing how much our lives have changed, for the better, in just a year. We love Dylan SO much, and just gaze at him, knowing how incredibly lucky we are to have him. And sad about the huge sacrifice his birthmom had to make. And the fact that she will never see what a wonderful little boy he's become. I really just can't get over how awesome he is.

He said his first word (other than mama, dada, baba, etc.) the day after his birthday, at his doctor's appointment. It was SNACK. I don't remember if I already mentioned that. Oh, and his updated stats at 1 year-18 pounds, 14oz (only up 7oz in 2 months-3rd %tile), 29.5" tall (50th %tile). The doc isn't worried, though. All the extra activity now that he's walking has kept him from gaining much. He eats like a champ, too. We went out to dinner one night and he had ribs, corn on the cob, fries, chicken, and a corn muffin! He gets this little pot belly after he eats that's so cute. We call it his Buddha belly.

He's doing really well in school. Although one of his classmates is a biter. He's been bitten 4 times now-twice on the arm, once on the back of neck (broke the skin and bled), and once on his back. All 4 left teeth marks. I think they daycare is threatening the parents to kick out their kid. I just hope Dylan doesn't pick up on that behaviour.

We had our final homestudy Tuesday. It was delayed because we had to switch HS agencies. Our original one decided (after the first visit, and signing the papers) that they would no longer do homestudies/updates for clients not using them for the adoption. So we had to start over with a new agency. Hopefully, we'll have it back next week and can proceed with getting our dossier sent to Vietnam. We're still hoping for a September referral and Dec/Jan travel. We're anxious to go back to that beautiful country and add a daughter to our wonderful family.

You know that saying that you're supposed to make a wish when you look at the clock and it's all the same digits? I got up the other night at 11:11 and thought, "Oh, I need to make a wish." Then I just stood there, not able to think of anything to wish for. My life is perfect right now. Sure, I could use a few million bucks, or instant weight loss, but as I stood there looking at the clock, I thought about how great my life was. Perfect marriage, perfect son, great life. I really couldn't ask for anything better. And so different from the misery I was feeling a year ago today.

First Easter with Dylan

Things are going wonderfully. Dylan is such an awesome little boy. I gave him his first haircut last week. He had a great Easter, although busy. He had an egg hunt at Nana and Papa's and loved that. He doesn't even care what's IN the eggs-he just likes putting them in the basket. He also got a new swingset/slide playhouse for the backyard for his birthday. Here are some pics.
Swinging:


Before haircut:

During:

After:


Easter: