Picture Update

So much is happening around here. This is a random picture update of the family.

Hallie graduated from Little Lamb Preschool this past Thursday night. She sang beautifully and was so proud to have her grandparents and some friends there to watch her.



Zac got to meet his Great Great Auntie Lois today and his Great Grandmother Charlotte.


Zac the Cowboy! Isn't he cute?

Zac's first Sunday at church. He stayed with us during the service and was a hit with all our friends.

The kids helped plant flowers in the front yard. What a fun mess!

Two weekends ago Zac got to meet his Great Grandma Anna (aka GIGI) at my cousin's wedding.

A Gift

Hey blog friends! This is Katie.

I wanted to share a sweet gift that God gave me today.

I was putting Zac down for his afternoon nap (which has turned into a bit of a struggle) and after 1/2 hour of sweet, quiet time I finally decided to let him fall asleep on his own. Besides, I had my agenda of naptime "things to do". Well, after another half a hour I was getting frustrated and he was too. It escalated to him crying and me praying (something I should have started with, I know). God gently, but with conviction said to me, "Get in there and be his mother! Comfort him and let go of your agenda (cutting up vegetables which I'm sure no one will eat tonight anyway)."

So, with a deep breath I went into his room and scooped him up. He didn't fight it at all but cozied up into my neck and wrapped his arms around me. I held him as he calmed down and then went into the hallway to rock him in the rocking chair. Within two minutes he fell asleep in my arms for the first time. I cried. How sweet to rock my baby and that he let me rock him. How precious that as I watched him sleep my heart could not have been more in love and known him more as my own. I'm so grateful that when I finally surrendered (when will I learn) God was gracious enough to bless me with those sweet moments.

So, I had to let you all know (and the vegetables are still waiting to be cut up!).

update

Quick update tonight:

(I'm watching American Idol as I type this, so my head's not really in this)

In case you're all wondering, it only took Zac ONE day to figure out that he can walk out of his room.  Oh well... at least we tried.  Most nights one of us end up staying with him until he's asleep anyway.  Probably not the best thing for us, but we just can't help spoiling him.  Plus he so darn cute when he sleeps.

Each day continues to be better than the last.  There were countless times today where he COULD have had a tantrum, but DIDN'T.  I think he's starting to figure out new and better ways to express his frustration.  

Plus he's learning a ton of English.  Today he clearly said, "I want snack".  I was impressed that he strung a 3 word sentence together already.  Of course, he is VERY motivated by snacks.  Just like Hallie and Jake, he prefers to skip meals and exclusively nourish himself with snacks.  (We're working on this).

Gotta go.  It's time for me to vote for David.  (I'll let you guess which one)

Interesting analysis

Here's something I thought you may find interesting: Zac's new bedtime routine. (Much different than our first few nights with him).

First of all, I should let you know that Zac sleeps in our room right next to our bed. This is so he doesn't ever have to wake up alone.

When bedtime roles around, we brush his teeth, walk him to bed, read him books, pray with him and then give him a little "baby massage". The massage is basically rubbing his back and maybe gently tracing his hands or face. It's very relaxing... for all of us. Everything up to this point generally goes pretty well.

When we get up and leave, he starts to cry. We tell him it's OK and that we're not leaving him. We shut the door and he cries more. The first time this happened (maybe a week ago or so) we immediately ran back in. Certainly, we don't want our boy to think that we've left him for good! Everything we've read talks about how adopted children's biggest fear is being left or abandoned. We've tried to be so sensitive to this.

After a few days of the bedtime drama increasing, we began to notice a funny thing. When we shut the door to the bedroom, Zac would let out a scream that made me wonder if he had accidently cut off his leg. BUT - when I ran back in to tell him everything was OK, he would immediately smile at me. Additionally, there were no tears whatsoever.

Hmmm.... is this kid playin' me?

So here's where things get funny. Tonight, Katie and I tried something different. First of all, it should be noted that he only cries when we shut the door. Therefore, we thought we'd try to leave his door open and see what happens.

We got up, walked out, and left the door open. He didn't cry! .... we waited.... he waited.... still no crying.... pretty soon we saw him peak around the door. When he saw us, he ran back to his bed. A little more waiting.... still no crying.... and then we saw him peak again. We all made eye contact. Followed by him running off again.

Finally after about 1 more minute, we saw him peak from behind the door and this time, he closed the door himself and then began crying. We walked over to the door and opened it back up. (We didn't go in, we merely opened the door) He immediately stopped crying. But we could tell he was confused as to what to do.

Sure enough, about 1 minute later we heard the door shut again followed by more wailing. We walked over and opened it back up.

Would you believe that he shut the door on himself yet again!? This time, we ignored it. He stopped crying within another minute or so.

This seems to work for now. I wonder how long it'll take him to figure out that he can simply walk out of the room now that we're leaving his door open....

The next David Hasselhoff

ATTENTION LADIES!!!

Future Baywatch star: Zac Horner !!!



Today, we decided to venture out and try something new. Zac loved the pool! (See video) We're also proud to report we had no temper tantrums when we left. He's starting to understand us when we give him a "2 minute warning".

Poop Story

Last night, I gave Katie a much deserved "night off", so it was just me and the kids. Things went very well through dinner so I thought I'd take everyone out for a treat: Dairy Queen.

Zac's first Dairy Queen. I thought he'd like it.

And he did! All 4 of us split a Hot Fudge Sundae. Zac had his fair share, but nothing out of the norm. He really seems to like ice cream and chocolate. (who doesn't?)

But this is not the point of the story. I'm merely building the scene.

At bath time, I thought it very odd that Zac wanted to get out of the tub so soon. (A mere 10 minutes). Unfortunately, I didn't ponder the situation long enough as I was quickly consumed by my 2 other naked kids wanting to get out of the tub. The next thing I knew, Zac was making a strange grunting noise from inside Jake's room. I glanced in the room just in time to see a poo emerging from Zac's naked rear end! AAAHHHHH! My fatherly instincts took over and without even thinking about it, I made a "Jerry Rice diving catch" and literlly caught the "log" just in the nick of time.

At this point, I scooped up Zac with my free hand (as my other hand was.... well.... let's just say it was full) and we ran to the bathroom. Eventually, I got him wiped up and it seemed that things were back under control. I started working on the other two children who were still naked at this point. I glanced over at Zac who was now on the rocking chair at the end of the hallway and what did my eyes see? Another log!!! AAHHHHH!!!!!!!! He wasn't finished!

What was I thinking? Why didn't I put a pull-up on him the first time? I have 3 children! I should know better!

This time the poo managed to smear a bit more so the clean up efforts were a bit more cumbersome. Nevertheless we prevailed.

And I was smart enough to immediately put the pull-up on him this time. Thank goodness I did, because believe it or not, he shot out one more round within another minute or so.

I'm thinking that we'll hold off on ice cream next time...

2 weeks

What a difference 2 weeks can make. Boy howdy! This kid has changed in the last 2 weeks. (Some for better, some for worse)

1. Two weeks ago, Zac whimpered at the mention of a bath. This was, in fact, the only thing that he cried about during our first 3 days with him. Now he LOVES bath time! Everytime he goes near the bathroom, he asks to take a bath! (and he uses the word "bath") Tonight, he took a 1/2 hour bath. He plays, he blows bubbles under the water, he absolutely loves it. The only way I can get him out of the tub is to lure him with "swinging towel rides".

2. Two weeks ago, his gross motor skills were such that he couldn't even walk up and down stairs. He could barely bend down to pick things up off the floor without falling over. Now, he takes stairs without holding the railing. He can hang from the monkey bars. He can bounce on the trampoline without falling. In fact, tonight he attempted a somersault on the trampoline. It wasn't very good, but still very impressive nonetheless.

3. Two weeks ago, he quietly sat at the table and ate everything without discussion. Today, he is picky with his food. He pulls his bib off in the middle of the meal. And he is constantly telling us he is "all done" and then immediately asking for "more please". (We know, it's a control thing. Nevertheless, we're happy that he feels he has a voice).

4. Two weeks ago, he had little to no exposure to English. Today he says Mommy, Daddy, more, please, all done, duck, dog, Jimmy (short for Jimmy Johns), cat, ball, water, juice, and up.

5. Two weeks ago.... one week ago for that matter, he had raging temper tantrums that were near impossible to control. Today, he knows what a time-out is and quickly calms down when we mention them. (He still fires out a good temper tantrum, but they are much less intense already.... or maybe we're getting used to them).

6. Two weeks ago, we were all strangers. Today, he pulls on our pant leg and says "Up, please". He simply wants to be held and knows that mom and dad will always respond.

7. Two weeks ago, he knew no pain. Today, he is still tough as nails, BUT he does come to us to "kiss his ouchies". I think he's even starting to make up ouchies just for the attention. We love it.

What will be saying 2 weeks from now, I wonder?