...by the way:
YOU WERE RIGHT!
All of you who told me to patient, that OUR baby would find us, that we would find OUR baby. You stuck with me through the pain of Nepal closing, some of you got referrals when we didn't or before us. You stuck with me through some major crazy. But you had faith in our family coming together when I didn't. Sometimes I loved you for telling me our family would come together and sometimes I wanted to strangle you. You told me, as my sanity unraveled, that someday I'd look back and go "Oh, I see, yep, there's my baby."
And you were right. Now, I'll do what you did, and support the families coming after us, and tell them what you told me. Thank you.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Getting to know our son.
Samuel has been home with us for 88 days, today! He's just over 16-months old. In this time we've really come to know him - he is an amazing little guy with a very outgoing, funny, curious and strong personality. Sometimes demanding. Sometimes loud. Mostly always smiling.
We fall more in love each day as he continues to thrive and shine. He's gotten so much bigger (almost 20% of his weight!) and his hair has grown back from when it was shaved when he was in the orphanage. He has started walking, and mimics nearly every sound we make - and often has us mimicking his sounds. The social worker said on our 3 month visit that "he's as active as any active little boy, and as chatty as any talkative little girl!" He can feed himself now - although is not a big fan of some textures like chicken and eggs. But give him mushy texture or something like sweet potato, avocado, bandannas, mandarin oranges or cheerios - and he'll eat as much as you put in front of him! (And, therefore, he is a poop machine. All day, all night.) We think he's gotten so big - and he has - for Samuel. But we get him with other children close to his age and he's just a tiny thing.
Sam knows 5 signs, and although he really only understands 2, he'll sign the other 3 when we say the word (but can't associate it to the thing it means.) He's also a big fan of peek-a-boo, but covers his ears instead of his eyes. He gets SOOOO excited when he learns something new or is able to communicate with us. It usually ends up in excited shrieks, clapping and waving hand in the air - on both our parts.
Samuel loves to hide things, we find lots of block and little wooden people under the couch and in the baskets and trash cans around the house. He's a very busy little guy, but loves books, too, so will sit still long enough for us to read to him - especially after nap time, which is when he's a little calmer. When Sam walks he does the sign for "all done", which looks very close to "jazz hands", we often look up to see him with a huge smile on his face, his tongue going from side to side, and doing jazz hands while walking across the room towards us. Samuel (who we still call Sam-well, the Ethiopian pronunciation) is a very smiley little guy. He loves to flirt, and it's hilarious to take him to the grocery store because he throws one arm back across the seat of the cart, smiles and says "hieeeeee!" to anyone who makes eye contact. He loves sounds, and pays close attention to any sounds in the room, noises we or Jackson make - or music that we're playing. We've just started him in music class with Daddy, and later toady we're going swimming for the first time.
Speaking of eye contact - he's got incredibly great eye contact. (Much better than many adults I know! This kid takes in everything. And knows a lot more than we know.) All of his multitude of tests and assessments have come back excellent - and he's surprisingly right on track developmentally - no delays due to his time in the orphanage that we know of. He definitely knows we're his parents, and comes to us for comfort and checks in with us when we have company over or are out with friends. He's a good sleeper and I have started pulling him out of his crib at night for a cuddle on the bed. He lays on his chest and I just hold him and rub his back and tell him I love him. (Something we both missed out on very much in the first year of his life.) I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time and still hold him while I can - he's growing so fast.
So that's our guy! Smiley. Funny. Curious. Active. Chirpy. Learning and sharing his opinions. Very busy. Sometimes sweet enough to cuddle. He's more amazing than we could have every imagined - we are so excited and proud to have him as our son.
We're all adjusting. The first 2 weeks were really hard - and having Samuel and Terry on a different schedule (by 10 hours) didn't help. But as he's come to know us, and we've come to know him, and he's come into himself so beautifully - it's gotten so much easier. I have the guilt of going back to work full time - but am adjusting. Terry's adjusting to being a part-time stay-at-home dad while also trying to maintain his new business which is doing great. And Jackson is probably having the hardest time adjusting - poor pup. We love on him and walk him as much as we can, but his world has changed. He's still our first-born.
I guess I won't be posting as often - I used to post every week. Time is precious these days. I also struggle with how much of Samuel's life and our story to make public, so that's an ongoing thought in my head, too. We'll see.
Here are just a few pics of the last few weeks.
We love hiking!
Mardi Gras!
Yup, I can just stand up and walk away with my green bean!
My brother and me:
Mom and dad dress me as a combination purple-people-eater / Gumby:
Now that's a big dog!:
And of course, our sweet first-born:
We fall more in love each day as he continues to thrive and shine. He's gotten so much bigger (almost 20% of his weight!) and his hair has grown back from when it was shaved when he was in the orphanage. He has started walking, and mimics nearly every sound we make - and often has us mimicking his sounds. The social worker said on our 3 month visit that "he's as active as any active little boy, and as chatty as any talkative little girl!" He can feed himself now - although is not a big fan of some textures like chicken and eggs. But give him mushy texture or something like sweet potato, avocado, bandannas, mandarin oranges or cheerios - and he'll eat as much as you put in front of him! (And, therefore, he is a poop machine. All day, all night.) We think he's gotten so big - and he has - for Samuel. But we get him with other children close to his age and he's just a tiny thing.
Sam knows 5 signs, and although he really only understands 2, he'll sign the other 3 when we say the word (but can't associate it to the thing it means.) He's also a big fan of peek-a-boo, but covers his ears instead of his eyes. He gets SOOOO excited when he learns something new or is able to communicate with us. It usually ends up in excited shrieks, clapping and waving hand in the air - on both our parts.
Samuel loves to hide things, we find lots of block and little wooden people under the couch and in the baskets and trash cans around the house. He's a very busy little guy, but loves books, too, so will sit still long enough for us to read to him - especially after nap time, which is when he's a little calmer. When Sam walks he does the sign for "all done", which looks very close to "jazz hands", we often look up to see him with a huge smile on his face, his tongue going from side to side, and doing jazz hands while walking across the room towards us. Samuel (who we still call Sam-well, the Ethiopian pronunciation) is a very smiley little guy. He loves to flirt, and it's hilarious to take him to the grocery store because he throws one arm back across the seat of the cart, smiles and says "hieeeeee!" to anyone who makes eye contact. He loves sounds, and pays close attention to any sounds in the room, noises we or Jackson make - or music that we're playing. We've just started him in music class with Daddy, and later toady we're going swimming for the first time.
Speaking of eye contact - he's got incredibly great eye contact. (Much better than many adults I know! This kid takes in everything. And knows a lot more than we know.) All of his multitude of tests and assessments have come back excellent - and he's surprisingly right on track developmentally - no delays due to his time in the orphanage that we know of. He definitely knows we're his parents, and comes to us for comfort and checks in with us when we have company over or are out with friends. He's a good sleeper and I have started pulling him out of his crib at night for a cuddle on the bed. He lays on his chest and I just hold him and rub his back and tell him I love him. (Something we both missed out on very much in the first year of his life.) I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time and still hold him while I can - he's growing so fast.
So that's our guy! Smiley. Funny. Curious. Active. Chirpy. Learning and sharing his opinions. Very busy. Sometimes sweet enough to cuddle. He's more amazing than we could have every imagined - we are so excited and proud to have him as our son.
We're all adjusting. The first 2 weeks were really hard - and having Samuel and Terry on a different schedule (by 10 hours) didn't help. But as he's come to know us, and we've come to know him, and he's come into himself so beautifully - it's gotten so much easier. I have the guilt of going back to work full time - but am adjusting. Terry's adjusting to being a part-time stay-at-home dad while also trying to maintain his new business which is doing great. And Jackson is probably having the hardest time adjusting - poor pup. We love on him and walk him as much as we can, but his world has changed. He's still our first-born.
I guess I won't be posting as often - I used to post every week. Time is precious these days. I also struggle with how much of Samuel's life and our story to make public, so that's an ongoing thought in my head, too. We'll see.
Here are just a few pics of the last few weeks.
We love hiking!
Mardi Gras!
Yup, I can just stand up and walk away with my green bean!
My brother and me:
Mom and dad dress me as a combination purple-people-eater / Gumby:
Now that's a big dog!:
And of course, our sweet first-born:
Monday, January 16, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Happy New Year!
Samuel has been home for nearly 6 weeks. Hard to believe. It seems like he's been with us for much longer - almost like he's always been with us, but it also seems like he just arrived yesterday.
He's amazing. He gets happier every day. He's curious, funny, very "chirpy", very active and definitely an extrovert. He loves to close doors, wave, mimic sounds we make (currently working on "yee-haw!") and pull up on everything in sight - the dangerous stuff is of course the most fun. He's a great eater and a pretty good sleeper - we think - we don't have anything to compare it to.
We're doing well. Adjusting to all this "new", and of course wondering in many cases if we're doing the "right" things: Should he go to sleep in our arms while we're rocking him, or can he go to sleep in his crib? He used to fall asleep right away while being rocked - now, he just wants to play. Should we put him down with a bottle? Everyone says no - but it's the only way he'll sleep. How can we soothe him besides a bottle? Many, many sleep questions! Why does he wake some nights and not others? Are we feeding him the right amount? Is he bonding? Are we all bonding? Is the dog OK? How will things change when I go back to work? Can we please go to Costa Rica? I could go on here for hours, but will spare you! I remind myself, after all, it has only been 6 weeks! We're doing great.
Happy New Year!
He's amazing. He gets happier every day. He's curious, funny, very "chirpy", very active and definitely an extrovert. He loves to close doors, wave, mimic sounds we make (currently working on "yee-haw!") and pull up on everything in sight - the dangerous stuff is of course the most fun. He's a great eater and a pretty good sleeper - we think - we don't have anything to compare it to.
We're doing well. Adjusting to all this "new", and of course wondering in many cases if we're doing the "right" things: Should he go to sleep in our arms while we're rocking him, or can he go to sleep in his crib? He used to fall asleep right away while being rocked - now, he just wants to play. Should we put him down with a bottle? Everyone says no - but it's the only way he'll sleep. How can we soothe him besides a bottle? Many, many sleep questions! Why does he wake some nights and not others? Are we feeding him the right amount? Is he bonding? Are we all bonding? Is the dog OK? How will things change when I go back to work? Can we please go to Costa Rica? I could go on here for hours, but will spare you! I remind myself, after all, it has only been 6 weeks! We're doing great.
Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
A few pics from our first 5 days!
We're all doing well. The boys are both trying to adjust to new timezone, Samuel is trying to adjust to everything, Jackson is trying to adjust to life with Samuel and I am trying to adjust to all of this adjustment! And, of course, to take care of my 3 boys.
The highlights have been seeing my husband become a daddy, seeing Samuel's laughter and joy, bath time and naked-boy time right before bath time, all of Samuel's hysterical sounds - he's very very chirpy and makes the funniest noises, and Samuel sleeping in my arms. Of course challenges, too, but we're - as I said - adjusting!
The highlights have been seeing my husband become a daddy, seeing Samuel's laughter and joy, bath time and naked-boy time right before bath time, all of Samuel's hysterical sounds - he's very very chirpy and makes the funniest noises, and Samuel sleeping in my arms. Of course challenges, too, but we're - as I said - adjusting!
Friday, November 25, 2011
One More American!
Details and more photos to follow...busy loving on my son and husband. Suffice to say all is well in the Stone household!
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