Outside fun.....

The weather has been teasing us......it thinks it will be nice, but then it's too windy to spend much time outside....until today. It was mid-60's with just a slight wind. So, after dinner, we took a walk with Paul and Maya and then played in the backyard a bit. Paul doesn't care for his stroller these days, so the big boy has to walk on his own. Our walks are MUCH slower than when we could speed right along with him in the BOB stroller!

Wow mom, my arms barely fit around this ball!

Maya couldn't decide which ball to play with......choices, choices!

Love those cheeks!

Having fun!

Kicking the ball.....he loves to kick it and then giggle!

Horsing around with daddy when we came back in the house......

HUGS!

This is how we watch tv.....check out my BELLY!

We are looking forward to a fun Easter weekend......

Applesauce rocks!

We continue to settle into the new digs - lots has been done and there is plenty left to do, but it will come in time. Paul has adjusted so well to his new house, new routine and his new school. Yesterday was his first day at his new daycare facility. We both dropped him off and he was NOT happy about it. It's like pulling off a bandage - you just have to do it and know that soon after you leave, he is happy and playing with all of the other kids. His teacher called Jason midday to let him know that it only took about 20 minutes before Paul settled in and started reading a book and playing with the other kids. He ate a good lunch and slept for almost 2 hours at naptime....not bad. Today was day 2 - only 10 minutes of crying after Jason dropped him off and then it was off to art time and a fun filled day. I feel like the first 2 days of school have been much more successful than we had imagined. Change can be hard and Paul really liked his previous school - he had a crush on Emma and still talks about her a lot!

I am still a bit under the weather, but feeling better each day. My voice comes and goes but I think I am on the tail end of this thing....finally!

We are looking forward to seeing GranJo this weekend - she is bringing the cats with her which will be interesting to see how they react to the new house.

Paul just LOVES his apples....which are really applesauce since he doesn't seem to care for the actual apple when we try to cut it up for him. He makes quite the mess, but it really is too cute. Monday night at dinner, he was licking the applesauce off his face with his tongue....we didn't quite catch it on video but you can only imagine how cute it was.

Oh my....I just love my applesauce!


PLEEEEASE can I have more applesauce???!?

Munching on a fig treat - he really enjoyed it!

Here's a LONG but cute video of Paul and his applesauce....he just cracks me up!

Daddy and Paul giving kisses - he's such a loving little man!

My handsome boy!

We were trying to get Paul to give daddy a "waa" which is sort of like a zerbert.....he thinks it is pretty funny but clearly wasn't in the mood.....the video was still darn cute so enjoy even though it is "waa"-less!

Moving Week.....oh my!

The week of the move finally arrived - and we have all survived it! Jason took the lead role on the home front in the early part of the week. He coordinated the professional movers while they were packing (day one) and loading the truck (day two).....he then joined me for for the unload at the new house (day three). Surprisingly, everything went fairly smoothly. We had a great team of movers - they worked SO hard to move all of our stuff! It is amazing how much stuff you realize that you have when you see it all packed together and loaded in a truck!

Paul spent lots of time with Gram and Pa this week - he spent several nights at their house....what a good boy he is! He was getting over an illness which I then picked up and suffered through during the move. I ended up losing my voice in the middle of unload day at the new house - not fun!

Gram and Pa brought Paul and Maya up to the new house on Friday - we were so excited to see them! Paul had lots of fun checking out his new house and he was having plenty of fun climbing up and down the stairs....we didn't have stairs in our old house so this is quite the novel concept for him. We are hoping the novelty wears off a little as the up and down and up and down is giving the adults quite the workout!

Anyway - we are here, we are happy and we are getting settled. There is much that is different and much that is the same and we are enjoying all of it.

Here's the cake that Paul took to his daycare friends......

The move in process - goodbye kitchen!

Very EARLY on in the loading process - they filled 3/4ths of the truck with all of our stuff.

GranJo sent a beautiful floral arrangement with an Elmo balloon attached for Paul - it was waiting for him when he arrived on Friday. From the moment he saw it, he clutched it in his little hands. He checked out the whole house holding that balloon.

Checking out Maya's toys.....with the Elmo balloon.....

Grinning at mommy....with his Elmo balloon.....

Making the inaugural climb of the stairs.....with his Elmo balloon.....

Checking out his kitchen set.....with his Elmo balloon......

And then he unfortunately let go of his Elmo balloon in the foyer which has a VERY high ceiling. And so now the Elmo balloon is stuck at the peak of the foyer ceiling and we aren't so sure how we will get it down. Good thing there is plenty of other things to check out and it has distracted him.

He was quite the helper today - we were shaking the paper to make sure we didn't miss anything and he was helping put the paper in the empty box. Too cute...

It took Maya a little while to get used to the stairs but she is getting around just fine. She had lots of fun checking out her new backyard....

We are tired and sore and ready to know where EVERYTHING is rather than searching through boxes to find things. But overall, we are much more settled than I thought we would be at this point. We'll just keep making progress each day. GranJo is coming up next weekend and will bring the cats with her - and then the WHOLE family will be together again.

Gotcha Day Celebration!

I think we are all in shock that it is already the anniversary of Paul's Gotcha Day - my oh my, where does the time go?!? We managed to celebrate in the midst of buying the new house and getting ready to move next week.....oh, and did I mention that Paul is sick on top of it all! Technically, yesterday was the big day, but we waited until today to celebrate so we could eat Korean food for dinner!


Here's our little man one year ago on the day that we were lucky enough to take physical custody. What an emotional day it was - filled with excitement for us and heart break for for Paul's foster mom. This picture makes me laugh - he looks a little concerned about what is about to happen!

Paul's foster mom will always have such an important place in our family. She was so very sad to see him leave. We are so grateful for the love and good care that she gave to our little man! I thought about her a lot today and hope she and her family are healthy and happy.
Fast forward a year......we met up with GranJo and Gram and Pa at our favorite Korean place (okay, the ONLY Korean place in the QC).....the owners are so wonderful and dote on Paul whenever we come in. Gram brought Paul a special t-shirt to wear and she made him a special choo-choo cake too.

Our little man celebrating his special day!

Hey Pa, check out my choo-choo cake.....cool!

Cheeks full of water!

Trying to eat with his chopsticks!

Slurping his bean sprout kimchi!

Which choo-choo car would you like Paul?!?

Daddy, check out my very own choo-choo car cake!

When we got home, Paul had some fun playing with his kitchen set. Here's our smiling little man!

Our bellies are full of yummy Korean food and cake. It was a nice celebration right before we get ready to make the big move. Next week will be a busy one but we are looking forward to getting settled. We feel extremely blessed today and everyday!

A Year Ago Today....

....we met our son Paul for the first time. What an amazing day it was and how hard to believe it was a year ago already! It certainly feels like Paul has always been a part of our family. This week will be very special to us as we remember our travels halfway across the world to bring home our little man. We will end our week with a fun day to celebrate Gotcha Day! Who would have thought that Paul's gift would be the purchase of a whole new house - ha! We close on our new home on Thursday afternoon and will be moving next week. It is certainly a busy time for us but we couldn't be more thrilled with all of the exciting changes and celebrations.

Here are a few photos that we have from our first meeting with Paul....talk about a blast from the past - check out the chunky monkey!

We are also thinking a lot this week about our good friends and Korea travel buddies. They brought home their little ones during the same week and will be friends for life. Much love to Kathy and Mark and Rebecca and James.

Our Little Chef!

Paul is overjoyed with the newest addition to his collection of fun toys.....a kitchen set that has been passed down through our family. My grandfather made it for my mom and my aunt 50+ years ago...they played with it and then my sister and I played with it as kids as well. It's been sitting in my mom's basement waiting for the next generation of playtime fun. We brought over 2 of the 3 pieces on Friday and Paul was thrilled (the third wouldn't fit in the car). The stove is the missing piece and will have to come over next week sometime when Jason can run out to my mom's to pick it up.

Along with the kitchen set, came the little plates and cups and all the other fun stuff that we played with as kids. Paul loved it ALL!

Putting his plates in the strainer......


Stacking his cups in the fridge......

Paul liked the little cups so much that he used it for dinner last night.

Not sure why he thought he needed to blow on his milk....cute!

Who knew that eating applesauce takes 2 spoons!

We had lots of fun in the bath.....continuing the theme of obsession with the new plates and cups that go along with the kitchen set......he took some into the bath!

Washing the plate with a watering can - interesting concept!

And now washing his arm....that watering can is multi-purpose for sure!

And because crazy, shampoo hair pictures are always fun....here's Paul with his mouse washcloth.....

We had a busy day today - lots of packing and organizing....and then an unexpected home showing with a whopping 90 minutes notice! But, we made it work and the showing seems to have gone well. Fingers crossed that we'll get an offer soon.

Looking forward to lots of Mommy/Paul time tomorrow......

Busy, busy, busy!

As you can imagine, our lives are so incredibly busy right now as we prepare for the big move. It's hard to believe that we close on the new house in a mere week and a half! Once we made the decision to move forward, it seems that time has just flown right by! Jason has been such a trooper and SO productive during the week when I am out of town. I think we have managed to keep Paul's life about the same as "normal" so he has barely noticed all of the busy things that are going on around him!

Certainly, posting to the blog has taken a back seat to just about everything else. But, this weekend, I was feeling a little pang of guilt for not snapping pictures and getting them posted so I made an effort to make it happen. We tried hard this weekend to spend some quality time together as a family and not spend the whole weekend running around like crazy people!

I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast on Sunday - that always starts the day off right!


Cute boy was loving his pancakes!
Putting his pancake on his forehead just like the banana sticker - wacko little man!

Later in the afternoon, Jason ran to the grocery store and Paul and I had fun playing with his choo-choos. His new favorite thing is building tunnels with his books (thanks GranJo!).

The look of concentration on his face!

Where did my choo choo go?!?

Peek-a-boo Mr. Choo Choo!

Cheesey grin whilst holding his hammer.....

When Daddy got home from the store, he and Paul had some fun goofing around.

Check me out daddy!

I have no words for this....that's my boy!

From the tip of his nose to the tips of his toes.....I LOVE my little man!

We are all looking forward to closing on the new house and making a safe (an uneventful) move. We'll be sure to take plenty of pics during the move and once we get everyone settled into the new house. I still can't believe that we will be moving in a few short weeks! Prayers for patience and ENERGY over the coming weeks as we get through the final stretch of preparations!