Day to day life with the boys

This week we have missed having our daughter around because she has spent the week with my (Katie's) parents. What has been fun is seeing the the boys relationship grow. Jacob seems like he has grown up over night and is really getting the hang of this big brother role. He has taught Zac all sorts of tricks and sounds!

Thought you all might like to see what we have been up to this week.

Playing with the new fireman hose and getting the babysitter very wet in the process!





Peter Pan and Spiderman



Playing in the rain

Counting to 10

Here's a cute video we captured today. This is where we get to brag about how SMART Zac is! Keep in mind he's been home for less than 2 months. The really amazing part is that we haven't been "coaching" him on this. He just.... did it!

My favorite part of the video is where he shakes us off and lets us know that he wants to do it BY HIMSELF. He seems to want to do everything by himself lately. Except using the potty chair... dangit.

More pictures

We're really into professional pictures if you haven't been able to tell. Here's another plug for an excellent local photographer.

http://beckynovacek.typepad.com/

If you look hard, you may find pictures of a little guy that look like this...

One year

This post is a few days late. As always, it's been a little crazy around here. (Have I metioned lately that having 3 kids is more work than having 2 kids? Duh....)

Wednesday was a special day for us. It was exactly 1 year ago on Wednesday that we met Zac for the first time. (Trip 1) What a year it ended up being. Although our wait was extremely tough, it all seems like a forgotten dream (nightmare) now that he's HOME. Many people told us that would happen, but I didn't really believe them. I guess they were right. (A message of encouragement to all of you in the "waiting" phase of adoption).

But the story doesn't end here. Zac had 2 doctor appointments on Wednesday. To make a long story short, he was running around with a pen in his hand at the second appointment and managed to fall and impale himself in the face. It went right in above his lip. (See picture) Although Katie called me in a tizzy on her way to the hospital (resulting in his THIRD doctor appointment) it ended up not even requiring stiches. Merely a butterfly bandage that he pulled off on the car ride home. (sigh)

Of course, it should be noted that he didn't even cry! (He DID cry with the tetanus shot.... but not for very long)

Up close picture of "the wound".
Look Mom!! I have a cool arm band!

Mom Mom Mom Look!!!

I thought that it was worth sharing this fun picture of him sticking stickers on his face. How about those eyes? Are they awesome or what?

We've officially crossed over into the "Look Mom" phase. (I hope it's a phase anyway). Of course, we're delighted that he is moving right along with his attachment and bonding. Nevertheless, we hear "Look Mom" approximately 50 times per hour.

First Nightmare

Sorry that I took the week off. I worked so hard on that last video that I felt I needed a blog vacation. I'm back now.

I have mentioned several times that Zac has been an A+++ sleeper. No major issues, no night terrors, no crying, etc. Well, last night, we had our first "episode".

The long and short of it was that Zac woke up around 5:00am and started yelling at us. Not really in a "terror" sort of way, but in a MAD sort of way. Katie and I both woke up in confusion. When our "sleep clouds" finally lifted we realized that Zac was saying, "AH BOO DOO ICE CREAM!!!!!"

Apparently, our little guy was having a nightmare involving us not giving him ice cream.... yes, life is rough.

The good news was that he calmed down within 5 minutes and we all slept past 7:00 this morning.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

Video

Here is something I've been working on this past month. It is a 12 minute video that attempts to capture some of the more emotional parts of our second trip. Enjoy!

AH BOO DOO

I mentioned awhile back that one of Zac's favorite things to say is Ah Boo Doo. (This is his way of saying "I want it" in Russian) Anyway, he doesn't really say it as much anymore. (Instead, he says "I want it" - imagine that).

Part of us is bummed out that his Russian is disappearing so fast. As a result, we recorded the infamous phrase so that we wouldn't ever forget.

NOTE: It looses something when it's not said in a loud whiny tone, but you get the gist.

International Language

We have enjoyed watching our two boys breakdown their language barrier. Some of you may think that the International Language is the language of love, but those of you with 2 and 3 year old boys know better....