The End....

Well - it's three days until a new year begins so it's time to offically end this blog, which has been a part of my life since April 2007. I started it when we handed in our dossier figuring it would help keep me busy during our waiting period and would be a good way to update family and friends during our time in Kazakhstan. It went on to become a way to share all of Drew's first experiences with everyone - all of the first holidays, his first birthday in the US, milestones like walking, jumping, talking and potty training and all of the other parts of Drew's life.

There are no words to express the gratitude I feel toward family and friends too numerous to name for fear of leaving anyone out. Thank you for following our journey, and thank you mostly for caring about our little boy and wanting to know what he's up to...

As I end this, Drew just turned 2 1/2 - his speech is coming along amazingly, he's using the potty consistantly, he's starting gymnastics classes next month, he's becoming very bossy and questioning "why" all the time...he's just an amazing child! He makes me laugh every day...and even when's he's driving me crazy, I am more thankful than he could ever know that he is my child...

So - thanks to everyone who's still reading this. Thank you for sharing this part of our lives.

And now to Drew - who I hope someday will read this and learn a little about his history and his journey to becoming our son...

Dear Drew,

Mommy began this blog about six months before we left for Kazakhstan to meet you. It details all of our time in Kazakhstan, as well as the first year of your life at home with us. I hope that you enjoy reading this for years to come and through it learn about lots of things you would have been too young to remember.

I hope through it you will see how much you are loved and how much you were wanted - not only by Daddy and me, but by your brothers, your grandparents, your aunts, uncles and cousins and many other family members and friends. We are all so lucky to have you in our lives.

So this is what I hope for you as you grow up...

I hope that you know you are unconditionally loved every day of your life. We may not always like things that you do or choices you make, but we will always love you and be there for you.

I hope that you are proud of who you are. Proud to be American. Proud to be Kazakh, Proud to be Jewish, and Proud to be Drew Sebastian Esatai Sanders. I hope that Daddy and I have been able to teach you about your birth culture and make it a part of your life. We are so proud of who you are and where you come from.

I hope that we have been able to answer all the questions you may have about your past and where you came from. We will always tell you the truth and will give you all the information we have about you. I hope that you get as many answers as possible to what I'm sure will be your many questions. I hope you know how thankful we are to your birthmother for the gift she has given us. She will forever hold a special place in our hearts.

I hope that you continue to have the strong personality you have now - it will serve you well. Never be afraid to express your opinions, your fears or your dreams. Never be afraid to be who you are.

I hope that you continue to have the infectious smile and laugh that you have now. You have the best smile and laugh in the world, my little boy, I hope to see it every day of your life.

I love you so much Drew...thank you for making me a Mommy - you are the best gift I ever received.

When I first started this blog, I put up a short poem, so it seems an appropriate way to end this:

Not flesh or my flesh
Not bone of my bone
But nonetheless my very own
Never forget for a single minute, that you didn't grow under my heart, but in it...

Happy "A" Day Drew!!!

Today is the one-year anniversary of Drew's homecoming - his Adoption Day!! I can't believe it's been a year - it's amazing to look back and see what a different child he is now - how different we are now...I know a year ago at this time I was frekaing out because the following day was my first alone with him and I was scared out of my mind!!! LOL...now, it's just normal :) He's such an amazing little boy...I don't know how we got so lucky, but I'm glad we did...We celebrated with a special book "My Fmaily is Forever" and a dinner at Chuck E. Cheese's - I think this will be our new family tradition for A Day!

So - not sure anyone is actually reading this anymore, but I decided to end the blog at the end of the year...it's time to wrap it up and make this into a book for Drew to have as a keepsake someday. This blog has covered the whole adoption process, plus every major milestone for his first year at home...it's amazing to look back on...

For anyone still checking in - thank you for caring enough to follow our amazing journey and sharing our story...it means so much...

I will check in again before Jan. 1!!

An Adoption Poem...

I saw this poem, and I love it...

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears,
the age-old question unanswered through the years.
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.



© Author Unknown

Drew is official!!

We had Drew's conversion ceremony today - he's now officially Jewish! :) It was a wonderful ceremony and the Rabbi did a fantastic job...GG, Aunts Lysee, Stephanie and Sheri, and Uncle Shawn came up for the festivities...it was just amazing...I feel at peace - that was the last thing that had to be done - and now it's done...well, we're still waiting for his Conn. birth certificate, but other than that - it's done :)

Drew's Hebrew name is David Shmuel - David was my father's name and Shmuel was my maternal grandfather's name - my Pop Pop...Drew is named after two amazing people who I love very much. My father was always my hero - there are no words to describe what he's always meant to me. My grandfather was amazing too and provided me some of my best childhood memories - I can still remember all the Chinese dinners with him and he always order pastachio ice cream at the end of the meal - I thought it was cool cause it was green!

Both of them, besides sharing a birthday, also shared a love of being Jewish - it was who they were, plain and simple. I hope Drew, as he grows, shares that love that they had...he's off to a good start...

Drew's first Thanskgiving....

Happy slightly belated Thanksgiving :)

We were up in Vermont with my family for Thanksgiving - Aunt Stephie (my SIL) came along too - and it was a great time had by all!! :) A great dinner by GG (What Drew now calls Grama, cause it's much easier to say!), with some help from his aunts Sheri and Lysee and me (Hey, I made the salad!)...Drew didn't eat any turkey (he doesn't eat meat very much), but he LOVED the cranberry sauce and a lot of the fixings...

We tried to dress he and his cousin David up as a pilgrim (David) and an Indian (Drew), but niether of them was too thrilled about their costumes - I thnk we got one or two pics before the hats and outfits came off - oh well...

All in all a good holiday - and lots to be thankful for :)

And now it's Black Friday and I officially started our Hanukkah/Christmas shopping - so much to get, so little time!! Chris and Ben will be with us for Christmas this year - yeah!!!! :) And Christmas and Hanukkah fall at the same time, which will make it extra special - I'm very excited...the older boys will be here the 23rd - I think. We have to check out our box of Christmas stuff and make sure we have enough ornamnets, etc...we'll decorate the tree when Chris and Ben get up here...

All of Drew's paperwork for a Certificate of Foreign birth has been submitted to Probate Court - so hopfully he'll get that in a few weeks. His conversaion is coming up quickly...and I need to weite his first post-placement report to Kaz in the next week or two - wow...this year went fast!!

I know it's been almost 11 months, but...

...I finally just got around to contacting the Probate Court about getting Drew registered with the state so we can gt a U.S. birth certificate for him. I know, it took me a while, but my goal is to have it done by the time Drew's "A Day" rolls around on Dec. 17. The woman I talked to at Probate Court asked me what country he was from and I said, Kazakhstan (obivously!) and she said, "Wow, never heard of that one!" - So apparently we are the first people in the New Britain area who adopted from there - wierd. Anyway...thankfully his name change was already legally done, we have his citizenship papers and hopefully this will be a smooth and easy process.

Drew is starting to learn cause and effect. He had a really bad day at daycare this week - hitting his best friend Hunter! I felt so bad cause Hunter was so sad about it. So Drew and I had a long talk about how it's bad to hit (or go "boom") and how we need to be nice to our friends. And yesterday I told him if he was a good boy and didn't hit anyone he could have an ice pop after daycare - well, that worked!! Hopefully it keeps up...of course he woke up this morning wanting an ice pop, and wasn't happy to have to wait until later, but he seemed to understand that he could only get one if he didn't hit anyone...

Drew also went on the potty again - his second time!! He's so proud of himself when he does it - it's so funny. And of course we are proud of him too...

Oh - Drew's conversion will take place Dec. 7!!!!!!!! Woo hoo.....

Drew's First Halloween...and Other Stuff Too...

Drew celebrated his first Halloween last night - and what a night it was! He was dressed as a black cat and had a great time. He was scared at first and didn't understand why he was going to all these strange people's houses, but eventually got the hang of it and started knocking on the doors himself! He liked going through all his candy at home and enjoyed some lollipops and M and Ms before mean Mommy and Daddy made him go to sleep...all in all it was a successful first Halloween.

It was nice, there were so many kids walking around our neighborhood - so much fun! Of course there were lots of houses that didn't have porch lights on, clearly not wanting trick or treaters...how hard it is to buy a bag of candy people?? Sheesh!!!

Drew also FINALLY said his brother Chris' name today!!!!!!!!! He's been saying Ben since the summer, but Chris is much harder to say (He can't say the "k" sound yet) - so it sort of came out like "Diss," but when he talked to his big brothers on the phone tonight he clearly said both of their names!!! He misses his brothers so much and talks about them ALL of the time...of course we all miss Chris and Ben and can't wait until they come here for about two weeks at Christmas... :) Yeah!!

Other than that - things continue to be good with Drew...I'm starting to think how we will celebrate his "A" day (Adoption day - the day he came home) - not sure what we should do. I'd love to do something to celebrate his Kazakh culture that day, but I'm not sure what..oh well - I have until Dec. 17 to figure it out :)

A Big Night for Drew...

So - what did Drew do last night that was such a big deal...he went on the potty for the first time!!! I think he even surprised himself, but he was very proud and especially excited to flush the toilet. We always tell him when he goes, he can flush...so he was prtty happy :) What a big boy...Of course it will probably be a month before he does it again, but we're on our way...

Drew also, apparently, is the trend setter at day care...Drew likes to wear his Red Sox baseball hat every day and now Hunter has decided he's going to wear a baseball hat every day too. Those two are so funny together. Drew calls his winter jacket a "Hunter" coat cause it has yellow on it, just like Hunter's jacket.

So - Drew is doing well...we're very excited for Halloween - I'll post some pictures of our adorable black cat!

Meetcha Day!!!

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day we met Drew! Someone I know in the adoption world refered to it as Meetcha Day - I liek that, so I'm going to use it...

That day was probably the most surreal day of my life...it was all a whirlwind.

I remember while we were waiting people always said the child meant to be yours will find you - I never believed it, but I do now...

We are so blessed that Drew found us and let us be his parents.

Apple Picking...

Today we took Drew apple picking - Drew LOVES apples - he eats them all the time and talks about eating them all the time...so he was very excited to see all the apple trees. He had fun pulling the apples down, though he wanted to eat them all instead of putting them in the bag...he had lots of bites! He liked the pumpkins too, but they weren't nearly as exciting as the apples...obviously!!

Drew enjoyed going to temple for Yom Kippur this week - he LOVES the Torah!! He talked about it quite a bit and liked kissing it as it came around. At one point, near the very end of the servvice on Thursday, the ark was open for Neilah (not spelling right I know) and it was pretty quiet and Drew pointed at the Torahs and said, "Mommy, Torah!!" - he was pretty loud, I thought it was funny, but not sure others did..oh well...

I'm still trying to get a date for his conversion...they usually only do them during the week, but I'm trying to get it for a Sunday, so I need to check on that this week...can't wait to get him converted and named already!!

It was a year ago this weekend that Patrick and I left for Kazakhstan - having no idea what to expect or who our child would be...a year later I can't imagine that there ever could have been another child meant to be ours...we are very lucky.

Happy New Year Drew..

Drew enjoyed his first Rosh Hashana this week...he especially liked the apples and challah in sugar and honey - he will definitely have a sweet new year.

He did pretty well in temple - he loved the Torah and talkeda bout it a lot, not liking when it went bye-bye! He also liked listening to the shofar and running around. A very nice policeman let Drew sit in the police car too, which was very exciting - though I think he was disappointed they didn't let him run the siren...

We spent the first day of Rosh Hashana at Bubbie's and the second day at Grama's - saw lots of and lots of family and had a great time...

Drew is continuing to say more words and speak in 2-3 word sentences - his speech therapist is pleased with his progress and so are his mommy and daddy. :)

Drew and Daddy are having a male bonding weekend - I'm leaving for Miami for work early Sat. morning...I hope they have a good time!! And I hope I have some beach time!!

Talktive little boy...

Drew talks constantly these days - from the time he gets up in the morning, to the time he goes to sleep - he's always talking and talking and talking. Of course, his vocabulary is a bit limited right now, so he's not a great conversationalist, but he's tryng...

This past weekend Patrick and I were talking about "Donna" who used to work at AP with Patrick. All of the sudden, Drew started saying Donna (and very well enunciated I might add!)...he also used "Donna" when talking about McDonald's - so I think he thinks Donna is McDonalds - still working that one out...

When we went to McDonald's this weekend, he got a Batman toy in his Happy Meal and started saying "Batman." He even started singing along to teh TV theme song,"Da, nun, nu, nu, nu...Batman!!"

So - those are his latest words...he's also saying nail, mail, bite and eat a lot...and he's been saying Apple juice, rather than just juice...though he calls every liquid apple juice, even milk...

But, his speech is coming along very well...we still talk a a lot about men mowing all the time, but at least we've added some new stuff to talk about - LOL...

Popular Drew...

While dropping Drew off for daycare this morning, I ran into his friend Hunter's mom. Hunter and Drew are almost exactly the same age - I think Hunter is about 2 weeks older than Drew. Anyway, since Hunter started daycre a few months ago, the two boys have become great friends and always like to eat together and play together.

After saying Mommy, Daddy, Diane and Lou Lou (his other daycare provider), Hunter was the first name Drew said and he talks about Hunter constantly and apparently Hunter talks about Drew constantly.

So, this morning Hunter's mom was coming in as I was leaving and she told me how upset Hunter was when Drew was out last week for his surgery and how happy Hunter is that Drew is back. Then she said that at 3 a.m. this morning, Hunter woke up and srarted crying for Drew!!!!

I was hysterical...I mean, that's a bit much, but it's so funny!!! I can only imagine Hunter's mom having to get up at 3 a.m. to hear her child cry about Drew...LOL...

Anyway - that was how my day started this morning :)

A late night...

Last night after Patrick put Drew down to sleep, he commented that it was so great that Drew goes to bed very easily and sleeps through the night...so of course, Drew was restless all last night and up a lot!

The funny thing is, when he's awake, even if it's the middle of the night, he expects it to be light out and gets very upset when it's not...at around Midnight, last night, he was pointing to his window and saying, "Mommy, Daddy..oh no!!!!"

So - Drew got about 6 hours of sleep last night and Patrick and I each got 3-4...UGH!!

I hope Drew sleeps tonight!

Ready for Halloween

We took Drew to the party store today and let him pick out his Halloween costume...so choosing between a puppy, kitty, bumble bee, Thomas the Train and somethig I else that I'm forgetting - he chose to be a kitty - or "num num" as he calls them...we tried the costume on him in the store and he looked soooo cute - espeically when he was running around holding his pumpkin for the candy - I can't wait to get him all dressed up to go out!! he's going to be the cutest kitty in Connecticut...

Of course Daddy the pushover also bought him a tiger hat he wanted and then a Boston Red Sox hat a few minutes later at Babys R Us...Drew wore his hats all day and went to sleep in his Red Sox PJs and Red Sox hat - I took a picture to send to granddad, but of course I didn't have the memory card in the camera, so Granddad won't have to see his grandson in Red Sox gear! (Granddad is a big Yankees fan!!).

Drew is very into nails lately - I don't know why - maybe cause it's a new word for him?? He loves to point out everyone's nails, including Peyton's and we had to get him new nail clippers today too...I guess he just likes having nice manicured nails -nothing wrong with that!

He's recovering well from his surgery and didn't need pain medicine all day today, which is great. His bandage comes off tomorrow...so it looks like he's fine to go back to daycare Monday, which will make Mommy and Daddy's bosses very happy!!

Not much else going on here - watching football today and tomorrow - it's the Steelers-Browns game on national TV tomorrow night. Somehow I think I'll be the one going to sleep depressed tomorrow night, instead of Patrick...oh well :(

Thank goodness it's over!!

Well - Drew's surgery is done and he's on the road to recovery. He's doing great - acting like he never had surgery and I am very relieved!!! He doesn't seem to be in pain, though he talks about his "boo-boo" when I change his diaper. He's been running around and trying to jump all over the place today, so everthing seems to be fine. Whew...huge load off my mind...

Now I need to get in touch with the rabbi and schedule his conversion ceremony...hopefully by the end of October/begining of November...and then we're done :)

Now we just have to get him to the dentist... :)

I'm a nervous mom....

I just talked to the hospital and got the instructions for Drew's circumcision surgery. We have to be there at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, but he can't have any food after midnight and no liquids after 8 a.m. He is going to be a very unhappy, cranky boy! Thankfully he can have apple juice and ice pops until 8 a.m. and he loves ice pops and always cries when we won't let him have more than one - he'll be in his glory on Wednesday.

They said we can be with him until he falls asleep and when he wakes up, so that's good too. I told the nurse he has seperation anxiety and doesn't do well when neither Patrick or myself are around. We will also bring bunny with us for comfort...

I just hope it goes well and he's OK afterwards and there's not a lot of pain for him. I'm very worried...

Of course I got the typcial questions about his birth and exaplained that he was born full term, but other than that I didn't really know anything. Then she said, so you don't know his parents' medical history? I really wanted to say - yes, I know his PARENTS medical history, just not his BIRTHPARENTS medical history, but I refrained as this woman will be taking care of my child and I didn't want to piss her off...

I really wish people would learn the correct terminology!!

That's it...I hope Drew will be OK...

A rainy weekend coming up...

It's going to be a looooooong weekend in the Sanders house - with all the rain headed our way, we won't be going outside and Drew will not be a happy boy. We were supposed to go to a picnic sponsored by our adoption agency tomorrow - now that's cancelled. It also was cancelled in May, due to rain - now they're not going to hold it until next May...I was really hoping to meet some other families with internatioally-adopted kids who are around Drew's age...oh well :(

Let's see...what's new with Drew...

He's in a very clingy stage these days - crying when he goes to daycare and clinging to us and crying when it's bedtime - he's never cried when going to sleep - he loves his bed and we always let him play with toys until he falls asleep. So, hopefully this is just a normal 2-year-old phase he will outgrow soon!!

Other than that he's good - speaking much more. His new favorite toy is his "man" - a little toy man he likes to take everywhere...it's just funny when he looks around the house and calls out "Maaan..."

I think that's about it - have a good and dry weekend everyone!

Take me out to the ballgame...

Patrick took Drew to his first baseball game Friday night!! It was a special Daddy/Drew outing and everyone had fun - especially Mommy who didn't have to sit through a baseball game!

They went to a Connecticut Defenders game - minor leage, Double AA I think, but I could be wring about that. In any case, they had a great time at the game, Drew ran around with a whole bunch of kids, he got a ball and a bat, which he's been carrying around for two days now and he had a great time!

So - it looks like all three boys love going to baseball games with Dad - he's in his glory!! :)

Yesterday we met with our Chavurah (temple group) at a park for a picnic - lots of fun - great playground that the kids had fun on. Then Drew and I spend the afternoon visiting my friend Sara and her twins - Zach and Abby - who are adorable!! We had fun.

No big plans for today...except for Mom to hit the mall for great sales!!

A boy and his sneakers....

Two days after Drew came home, Grama and I took him to Stride Rite to buy him his first sneakers. He was a size 4, so they didn't have many choices. He got a nice white pair with some blue and yellow on them.

About three months later, Drew's feet had grown so we went back to Stride Rite. He was about a size 5.5 now, but still, they didn't have many choices in style, so we kept with the same ones we got the first time.

Yesterday, Patrick and I took Drew sneaker shopping, again at Stride Rite, and lo and behold he's now a size 6 and they make many more styles. So we picked out a couple to try on thinking it would be nice to try a new style of sneaker.

Drew was not having that at all!!!

He cried when we put his new sneakers on, saying, "No, No, No..." Then he pointed at the sneakers that looked like "his" sneakers and said, "Drew, Drew..." We tried a few times to put different sneakers on him, but he was not having it...

So - we left the store with a new pair of the same old sneakers...

I guess he just loves the style??!!!

--------------------------------------

He's been talking much more in possessives - pointing out what is Mommy's, what is Daddy's and what is Drew's...somehow most things end up being Daddy's or Drew's - not sure how that happens!

Kazakhstan update...

So many disturbing things going on with Kazakhstan adoption these days...though still officially open to Americans, it's becoming more and more difficult to adopt from there...

As of Sept. 15, only agencies that have Hague accreditation may work in Kazakhstan. I admit, I'm not too sure what this really means, but I do know that the largest U.S. agency to work in Kaz. does not have this accreditation, in addition to others. This should significantly slow down adoptions.

In addition, the N.Y. Consulate will no longer process dossiers, they all must go through the Embassy in D.C., which is notoriously slow and allegedly will only process two a month from any agency - wow! That is insane, huh?? Additionally, documents may be no older than 4-months old by the time they reach the embassy. Anyone who has put together a dossier (and Kaz. has one of the largest, with more than 30 required documents!), knows that it is impossible to have all your documents have the same dates. For example, the dossier has to include fingerprints and a letter from the FBI saying you have no criminal record - that can take 3 weeks or longer to obtain. So, by the time many of these documents make it to the Embassy, they have to be redone and the process starts all over.

I know I've said it before, but I will say it again...this is crazy!!!!!!!!! There are sooo many children over there that need homes - if Kazakhstan thinks these kids should stay in their own country, fine, but then people from that country should adopt them, not leave them in orphanages!

Adoption is never easy - no matter how it's done...but there's just no reason to make it harder than it needs to be :(

_______________________________________

On a happier note...Drew is having fun watching the Olympics!

The other night we cheered for the Kazakh boxer, who won!! And last night Drew and I watched equestrian events. Every time the horse jumped, Drew said, "Wow!" and at the end of the event he clapped when he heard the people on TV clapping...he is too cute for word!! :)

______________________________________

Carolyn - Otto lives on!!! :)

Full circle....

In 1997, when Patrick was an editor at The Hour in Norwalk and I was a reporter there, I gave him a leapord Beanie Baby named Freckles as a going-away gift. At that time, Beanie Babies were all the rage - I wrote stories about people who would line up for hours just to buy a Beanie Baby. They were the pre-Internet version of Webkins...

Through the years, Patrick has kept that Beanie Baby on his desk at his various jobs....

Yesterday, Patrick took Drew to work with him for a little while and Drew spotted Freckles on his desk and immediately said, "mine, mine...num, num" (Num, Num, is really meow, meow and what he calls cats).

So Freckles now belongs to Drew, who likes to stage fights between "Num Num" and "Bunny" - "Num, Num" usually wins...

I said to Patrick last night, "So, when I gave you Freckles, if I had said that 11 years from now we will be married and our son will claim Freckles, what would you have said??"

I guess everything comes full cirle....

_________________________________

On another note - tonight is the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE the Olympics, I am OBSESSED with the Olympics, I can not overstate my fascination with the Olympics...

I'm hooping to get Drew into the 2020 Olympic games - he can already do somersaults and he likes to swing on bars...he's a natural gymnast. And, he can compete with either Kazakhstan or the U.S. - how great is that dual citizenship thing, huh???

So for the next two weeks or so, we will be watching the games and rooting for both of our countries! Go USA, Go Kazakhstan!!!

Big boy bed....

Well - it was inevitable that Drew would outgrow his bed and be ready for his toddler bed...he was ready way before I was though! Today we made the change - my little boy is gone - replaced by a big boy who can now climb in and out of his own bed...

He thought it was cool when Patrick took the side off and we showed him how to do it, though he was a little freaked out at bedtime - a little confused...but he did OK and he's sleeping like a baby (or should I say big boy) now. So we have the gate up so he can't go down the stairs or anything. I wonder how long it will take for him to realize he can get up and walk around his room after we put him in bed and he can also come see us in the morning, rather than waiting for us to get him...

Daddy also bought Drew a 10-gallon aquarium today! It's all set up, but the water needs to filter for about 24 hours before fish can go in, so we'll go fish shopping tomorrow. Drew's favorite book these days is "A Fish out of Water" - he loves Otto - so now every fish is named Otto!! This should be funny to watch tomorrow...

Drew and Daddy are on vacation together this week - so hopefully they will have fun and live to talk about it - LOL!! I'll be slaving away at work :)

Other than that - Drew continues to be funny, crazy, grouchy, crabby and generally wonderful!! :) He's speaking more and more each day it seems and his speech therapist doesn't think he'll need her help for too long. He picks up things amazingly quickly. He's still loving all his puzzles and today we played with Mr. Potato Head and he loved it. He's still fascinated by all things having to do with animals and cars, he loves to use his bubble grill and make bubbles...and that's all I can think of right now! :)

Fun, busy weekend...

We all had a great weekend....

On Saturday Grama, Uncles Steve and Shawn, and Aunts Lysee and Sheri came for a visit - we had so much fun together. We miss Uncle Steve VERY much and it was nice to all hang out. We even did a corn challenge (thank you Patrick for organizing!!) we had blind taste test comparing Jersey corn with Connecticut corn - Patrick did not believe us Jersians could pick out Jersey corn or that it really tasted better. Of the four of us who took part, all four picked the Jersey corn in a blind test! So there!!

Drew got some fun puzzles from Grama that talk to him when he puts the pieces in the right place...it's fun to hear "Circle," "Oval," "Square" over and over again - LOL!! Drew is loving them though and he's starting to repeat some of the words, which was really the point of the puzzles...

Yesterday, Drew and I went to the Norwalk (CT) Aquarium and met Erik, Marcie, Rebecca and Leah for a fun day. Patrick wasn't feeling well and had to miss the fun, but the rest of us had a good time. Drew loved the seals and the big fish - he was calling some of them "Otto" because he has a book about a big fish named Otto. Rebecca and Leah were too cute with Drew. Rebecca just wanted to pick him up and would not take no for an answer!! She and Leah held his hand and pushed his stroller and argued over who would get to sit next to him at lunch. I tried to tell them he wasn't that exciting to sit next to!! They were too cute and Drew liked the attention I think! He also loved being held by his cousin Erik. It was really a great day. We don't get too many chances to see our cousins in one on one situations, so it's nice to plan these get togethers when we can. We also stopped by Thierry's new house and saw him and Stacy - what a gorgeous house!!! I would love to just live on his back porch!! :)

That's about it from here...Drew had his first speech therapy session last week and it went very well. She said he had a great attention span and gave us some good tips to help him along. He does seem to be trying to repeat more. I'm not too concerned - I know he's a smart little boy and the words will come...

Not much new...

Hi all...not much new going on, but I hadn't posted in a while...

I was in Vegas last week for work - seeing Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and the guy who played Vito on Sopranos were the highlights of the trip. The work stuff was crazy and busy. I lost $12 :(

Chris and Ben are back in West Virginia now - we all miss them very much. Drew keeps going into their room and looking for them and calling "Be" - which is short for Ben. He can't say Chris yet, but I think "Be" is actually short for Ben and Chris.

Drew's latest accomplishment is his ability to recognize the Cleveland Browns' logo!! That's my boy! We have a magnet of their helmet (which is also their logo) and he likes to carry it around and show us that it matches his Browns' plate and utensils and also a Browns' mug in Chris' room...how cool is that? I'm very proud of him.

He continues to try and say more and more words - some of which I understand, some of which I don't. We start speech therapy tomorrow, which I'm very excited about. Since he understands everything, he just needs some help letting the words come out...once they do, I don't think they'll stop!

This weekend is a busy one...

On Saturday Grama, Uncle Steve, Aunt Lysee, Aunt Sheri, and Uncle Shawn are coming up to visit - yeah!!!!!!!!!! Drew hasn't seen Uncle Steve in a long time and we're all excited to get together...and Grama's bringing the Jersey corn - yum!! :) After all, it is corn season and the Rosenberg family likes to get together and discuss the corn - is it as good as last year? How does it compare to the corn from 1992? Those types of things...your typical corn conversations that I'm sure all families have, right?

On Sunday, we are meeting some of our Roth cousins - Erik, Marcie, Rebecca and Leah -at the Maritime Aquairum in Norwalk - Marcie and I planned this a long time ago and I'm very excited to get together. It will be fun...

And that's it from Drew's world...

I will add - Patrick and I have both joined Facebook if anyone out there would like to "friend" us :) I'm sort of obsessed right now...

Cool pictures and other stuff....

Check out the pictures from the birthday party on the side of the blog - just a few of the great pictures that George took!! George - thank you again for the great pictures...they are all amazing!!!

Today we had Drew's trial gymnastics class and he loved it - he enjoyed swinging from the bars and walking on the beam and playing with all the other equipment. He was shy at firsst, but by the end was playing ball with Miss Lori and chasing bubbles with all the other kids - we're going to sign him up for classes in the fall.

Tonight Drew and I are hanging home while Patrick, Chris and Ben go to a ball game - go RockCats!

We had a BBQ before the guys all left and it was good...Drew had his first corn on the cob and he enjoyed it - though it was definitely not good Jersey corn - still too early in the season. Drew also dipped his pasta salad into ketchup - yuck! It made me laugh though - reminded me of my father who used to do the same thing :)

Cause down the shore everything's alright......

OK - 10 points if you know what song the title of this blog is from!!!! :)

We just got back from the shore and as you can see by a few pictures on the side of the blog we had a great time!

We left Thursday afternoon around 1:30ish and got down there around 7 p.m. (for those of you not from NJ - you always go down the shore, not to the shore...)- not too bad for stopping twice and driving on the Thursday before a long weekend. We stayed at the Surfside Motel - it was three blocks from the beach and boarwalk and very cute and clean - nice hotel if anyone's looking for a place down the shore. As soon as we got out of the car, you could smell that shore air - ahhhh - it's the best smell in the world - brings back memories of my whole life - from childhood through now...I love the Shore!!!

Anyway - we took a walk up to the beach and boardwalk Thursday night - had a great time - played a few games...I think that first night is when Drew won his stuffed fish - his first boardwalk prize - the first of many I'm sure...

Drew also enjoyed his first boardwalk rides - the merry go round with Daddy and a car ride with Mommy!!

Friday morning we went to visit with Dave, Carolyn and Nicholas at Carolyn's beach house in Seaside Heights (Midway Beach) - we had a lot of fun, even though it was Freeeeeezing on the beach. The older boys were crazy and went in the ocean. Drew and Nicholas played in Nick's wading pool and Drew had a very good time and also enjoyed his birthday presents. We had a BBQ for lunch and then headed back to Pt. Pleasant, but not before deciding that next year for vacation we'd like to rent a beach house!! :)

We hit the boardwalk more Friday night, and the big boys went in the ocean more - I don't know how they didn't catch hypothermia...crazy boys! More boardwalk crap was won...Patrick and I tried to win me a Coach purse, but couldn't :( Oh well...

Friday night Opa came down and met us for dinner - we went to a great restaurant and most of us had some very good seafood!! Yum!!! Good restaurant choice by Opa! :) Then it was time to go back to the boardwalk for fireworks on the beach...they were nice and really long - I said about 8 times - "I think this is the finale..."

Saturday was a yucky, rainy day so not that much fun at the beach...the older boys managed to get some time in the ocean though and Drew was sort of out of sorts all day (that's the nice way to say bratty!), so we didn't do too much. We had dinner on the boardwalk - Chris and Ben got some great (say sarcastically!) boardwalk prizes - the highlights being Chris' lava lamp and Ben's volcano that plays music...we also brought home assorted basketballs, footballs, stuffed animals and other junk, I mean prizes! :) Uncle Steve would be proud!!! He is the king of boardwalk crap!

We left early Sunday morning and made great time to Grama's house where we hung out and had lunch - good subs!! And Grama had a cake for Chris, since we never get to celebrate his birthday with him - so he enjoyed that very much!

Shockingly, we hit no traffic from NJ to Connecticut - and we are now home, unpacked, Drew's asleep, laundry is almost done and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed...

In any case - a wonderful weekend down the shore!!!! I loved taking all the boys there...Chris and Ben have been before, and I love that they love it there, and I love that Drew had a good time...it's nice to see you kids enjoy something that you have loved your whole life...could I say the word love any mroe in that sentance??

Oh - and before I forget - speaking of enjoyed - we all enjoyed great boardwalk food!! Pizza, calzones, fried oreos, cotton candy, funnel cake, french fries...the list goes on and on and the diet starts again tomorrow!

Drew's groupies....

I think I've written before about Drew's love of musical instruments - he loves anything musical - especially guitars! He has a Barney guitar he loves to play and you should see him jam out during "Guitar Hero" - he's got all the moves down.

Well, lately, as soon as he walks into daycare each morning, the other kids there take turns handing him his favorite Wiggles guitar...seriously, as soon as he walks in someone comes over and hands him the guitar. It's hysterical!! And apparently they all get excited to do this for him, I have no idea why...apparently Drew has some star power!

Once his guitar is in hand, he either throws "bunny" to the floor (cause what cool rocker carries a bunny around, right?) and starts jamming, or he hands bunny off to one of the other kids...

My child cracks me up...as bratty and whiny as he can be sometimes, he is just way too cute for word!

A wonderful day....

Drew and Ben's party on Saturday was wonderful!!

So many family and friends were there, kids were running all over the backyard playing and having a blast, the food was great (thank you Crown) and the weather held up - no rain!!

Grandmother, granddad and Uncle Phil arrived on Friday from West Virginia and Hazelton, Pa. respectively - so we hung out with them a bit, which was nice since we hadn't seen them in a while. Saturday we were all up early to give Ben his birthday gifts (and Chris too since it was a joint gift) and then get ready for the party. The older boys were huge helps, couldn't have done it without them. Drew was not as helpful, but since he's 2, we'll forgive him...

The party started at 2 p.m. and people came from all over - Rhode Island, NJ, NY, Connecticut and Aunt Sheri flew in from Milwaukee - woo hoo!! It was non-stop for hours and by the time Drew went to sleep he was a sandy, messy, way ovetired, but happy little boy...Ben and Chris were tired too, but probably cause they stayed up until about 2 a.m. playing their new Wii...

I want to thank everyone who made the trip from near and far - we are sooo lucky to have such wonderful family and friends and we appreciate you all. I don't want to single anyone out because I'm afraid I will forget someone and you all made the party so special...looking out the back porch door and seeing the yard filled with people talking and laughing and having fun just made my day.

George - who became the offical party photographer - took a ton of pics so I will post some when I get them - they are sure to be way, way better than the few I took!!!

So - the June birthdays are over (boooo....) and now we move on to 4th of July weekend at the Jersey Shore - the place where the 4th of July was meant to be celebrated!!!! We leave for Pt. Pleasant on Thursday afternoon - I can't wait!!! This Jersey Girl can't wait to get to the boardwalk and the beach and feel that sun on my face and eat some boardwalk pizza and cotton candy while playing games and winning stuffed animals!!! :)

What a big boy!!

Drew has grown by leaps and bounds since he got home....

He had his 2-year-old checkup today and he's now in the 50th percentile for height and the 25th for weight! When he first came home he was in the 5-10th percentile for both...woo hoo - go Drew!! His head circ. is still in the 95th percentile too - he's got some big brains my son!! :) At least now he's a little more proportional!! LOL...

Drew is 34 inches tall and weighs 26 pounds...

He can now try peanut butter and can go from drinking whole milk to reduced fat milk...

Drew had some vaccines today - he's now all caught up!!! Yeah!! He's right where he should be for a 2-year-old and doesn't need any more shots until he's 4.

Drew' pediatrician told me today not to even worry about toilet training until he's 2.5 - she said he's too young right now and it's not something you want to push on him..so that's fine. No reason to rush that.

Next up on the medical front...circumcision...oy! That's scheduled for Sept. 10...not looking forward to that - my poor little boy :(

Birthday update...

...as you can see from the pictures on the side of the blog, Drew enjoyed his birthday cake!!!!! We had to help him along in putting his hands in it, but once we did he really got the hang of it and enjoyed himself!!!! Don't worry, he won't be doing that on Saturday...though I can't speak for Ben - LOL!!! :)

It was a great 2nd birthday for Drew - rightnow he's fast asleep with his new cars and train in his crib....

Happy Birthday Drew!!!!

Drew Sebastian Esatai Sanders turns 2 today!!!!

Drew started his day with the singing of "Happy Birthday" by Mommy and Daddy - Drew likes when we sing "Happy Birthday" to him and then he pretends to blow out candles...he'll be excited tonight to do it for real.

Drew brought Munchkins in to daycare today to celeberate his special day and apparently they are having a picnic today and Drew has a crown to wear and there will be cupcakes and gifts!

Tonight we're having a special birthday dinner - fried fish, Grandma Molly's macaroni and cheese (a special family recipe!), salad and of course a big cake for dessert.

Drew already got his gifts from Mommy and Daddy and last night Daddy put together his new sand and water fun factory from Grama - he loves it and has already tracked sand all over the house. He has a gift waiting at home from Aunt Stephie and Uncle Bryan and some cards too - so Drew should have a very good day today :)

So - everyone cross your figners and toes that the weather will be OK for Saturday - we could have some scattered storms, but hopefully they will scatter away from New Britain - or before 1 p.m. or after 6 p.m. - that would be great...If anyone knows a sun dance, I'd appreciate some help here...

Well - I can't believe my little boy is 2 - he's such a big boy now!! We have his 2-year-old checkup tomorrow so I can't wait to see how much he's grown. I think he gets some vaccinations tomorrow too - boo!!!!

Everyone have a happy Drew's birthday!!!

To Drew's birthmom - Wherever you are, I hope you are well and that today isn't too hard a day for you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for our little boy. He is a dream come true and the answer to my prayers...

A good day to be Drew....

As Chris said, yesterday was a good day to be Drew!! He got his birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy - a new little cottage of his own (154 1/2 Sterling St.) and a slide/climbing wall/basketball hoop combo thingy (not it's real name!). He loved them both and had a good time standing in his house, opening and closing the windows, yelling "Ma!!"

So - happy early birthday Drew!!!

We have a big week coming up - Drew's birthday is Wednesday and Grama is coming up for a little party - yeah!!

Our BIG party is Saturday, which also happens to be Ben's birthday!! I can't wait to see all our friends and family...PRAY for SUN!!!!!!!! So far the forecast shows the possibility of showers in the morning, sunny and 82...OK - I'll take it :)

OK - busy day coming up - we're seeing our Chavurah this morning for brunch, tons of party-related errands and other errands this afternoon, the big boys are going to see the Indiana Jones movie, etc...

Oh - I forgot to mention...last night Patrick and I went out for dinner BY OURSELVES for the first time in 6 months!!! Woo hoo...we left Ben and Chris in charge after Drew went to sleep...it was very nice! Of course we spent msot of the time talking about all the boys - LOL...what can ya do? :)

OK - off to start the day....

The brothers are here!!!

Drew was completely shocked this weekend when, while taking a bath, his big brothers walked in!! He sort of stared at them and then immediately wanted to get out of the bathtub - something he never does!! Needless to say, Drew was very excited to see Chris and Ben and I know he will really have a great time in the next five weeks while they are here.

We all enjoyed a nice Father's Day - especially Patrick who got to celebrate with all three boys!! He got nice gifts - tickets to a baseball game from Chris and Ben and a Red Sox jersey from Drew - and we grilled out for dinner. Ben and Patrick spent the morning playing softball too, which always makes for a fun Sunday - for Patrick anyway! :)

Tomorrow marks 6 months that Drew has been home - crazy!! He's still doing great - speaking more, even though some of the time I don't know what he's saying. He's saying mom and mommy all the time now, which makes me very happy though :) He also seems to call most foods "apple." Now that he's been home for 6 months we can have him re-evaluated by Birth-3, so we'll see what they have to say.

Drew is climbing more and running more and is a very active little boy - he loves to hang off of his crib and climb on tables and run around the yard and bounce on his ball and ride in his car and mow with his lawnmower - "mow" is one of his words too. Anytime anyone in the neighborhood is mowing, Drew lets us know!

We recently sent a letter to the Kazakh embassy, along with pictures of Drew, urging them to continue processing US adoptions. Our agency asked us to do this as things are moving very slow and many, many people are having their paperwork rejected in Washington, DC, though the program is officially open for US adoptions. I hope they will move things along so others can bring their children home soon...

We've recently been reading on a Yahoo site specifically for those who have adopted from Taraz about a lot of corruption going on over there - people being told they have to pay thousands of extra dollars just to get a court date and stuff like that. How awful!! It makes me very say, and very grateful that we didn't have anything like that happen to us. We were very, very lucky with our in-country experience, even though it may not have seemed like it at the time...

and before I forget...Happy Birthday Aunt Laurie!!!!!!

Mommy's Birthday....

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Drew and Patrick woke me up this morning with a cute little birthday cake...Drew insisted on blowing out the candles, and he did really well - got all four on the first try and even clapped for himself. I tried to tell him that his birthday was still two weeks away, but he didn't seem to care! He also enjoyed the chocolate cake very much...he's definitely ready for his big day...

Patrick, Chris, Ben and Drew all got me a spa pacakge - very cool - and Patrick sent me beautiful callalillies (my favorite!) at work...all in all a good birthday...

Off to pick up Drew - maybe he'll take me out for dinner for my birthday? I'll have to see how he feels about that. Patrick is en route to W Va. to pick up Drew's big brothers...

We'll all be together by tomorrow night - woo hoo!!!

We're done!!!

We had our last required meeting with our adoption agency and we are officially completely done - we have fulfilled every requirement asked of us and no one can take Drew away from us - woo hoo!!!!!

Of course for the next 16 years we have to send annual reports on Drew to people in Kazakhstan, but that's OK...just an annual excuse for his proud parents to brag about him :)

Drew continues to be great - of course! He's talking so much more, and not just baby babble - he's actually saying words, though much of the time I have no idea what he's saying. Hey, it's an improvement. he's been saying moma or mom a lot lately and likes to tell us when he wants to go up or down.

His guitar skills are coming along nicely too - LOL...He loves to play his little guitar and he also plays air guitar - he's hysterical. it's especially funny when he plays air guitar, while dancing around and shaking his little butt! Sometimes he just makes us laugh with how funny he is.

Not much else to report right now...just happy that Drew is doing so well and making us smile every single day! :)

Too Hot!!!!

It is way too hot for early June...it's been in the 90s all weekend, which limits the amount of time we can spend outside - Drew was not a happy boy this weekend! We had to put in our air conditioners already and Drew loved that, though he likes turning them on and off, which is not a good thing...

Hopefully it will turn cooler later this week....

Not much else is new...Drew has learned how to make "fart" sounds, which is soo lovely! He also learned how to get his gag reflex going...again, lovely! The joy of a little boy I guess!! LOL...

Interesting moment...

So...the other day I got a call from Miss Diane (Drew's daycare provider) - Drew had fallen and bumped his nose and it was beeding heavily and she was worried. I told her that when Drew gets bloody noses they last a long time and there's a lot of blood, but as long as he's not crying and he seems fine otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. Needless to say, Drew was fine and once it stopped bleeding, he was back to playing...

I was recounting this story to Grama who told me how Aunt Sheri also used to have horrible nose bleeds when she was little and they would gush and it was gross...

My first immediate though was, "Oh, I guess that's where Drew gets it from."

Of course a moment after that I realized that was obviously not the case, but it was so cool having that moment where I didn't remember that Drew was adopted...

Obviously I know I'm Drew's mother in every shape, way and form, but it was nice in that split second to completely forget that I didn't give bith to him and we don't share biology and obviously his nose bleeds have nothing biologically to do with Aunt Sheri's nose bleeds..

It's hard to explain, but it was just a nice feeling to have :)

Other than that - things are fine here...I am covered from head to toe in poison ivy though - it's awful!!!!!!!! But better I get it than Drew...Last year Ben had it pretty bad, so I guess it was my turn - lucky me...

The older boys will be here next weekend!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!! Drew will be soo excited to see his big brothers and spend lots of time with them. We have a fun summer planned - a big b-day party on June 28 for Drew and Ben (whose birthdays are 3 days apart - Drew on the 25th and Ben on the 28th) and we're also going down to to the Jersey shore for 4th of July weekend - woo hoo!!! Uncle Teevie - I'm calling you from outside the Tiki Bar!! LOL... I'm going to turn Drew into a Jersey Boy yet!

And of course, next weekend is my birthday and then Father's Day - Drew's first with his daddy and the first in a while where Chris and Ben will be here - so it will be a good day...

That's it for now!

Drew loves a parade....

Drew went to his first parade today - Farmington's Memorial Day parade...he had a blast!! We sat in a good spot under a shady tree and the nice woman next to us gave Drew an American flag to wave. Drew loved waving at all the cars and the people - he waved at everyone and even yelled excitedly at a few people - he was so funny. He waved his American flag triumphantly, and ran for the candy that the Girl Scouts threw...it was a very good time and watching him brought tears to my eyes...

We had a very good Memorial Day weekend - Uncle Phil came to visit and meet Drew for the first time, we had the parade today and we also gardened today. Drew had fun helping me plant flowers and play in the dirt.

Drew LOVES to be outside and gets really mad when we make him come in. Except for his nap, he was outside all day today.

Watching him run around the backyard just make me sooo happy...when we bought the house we talked about how great it would be to have a little kid running around the backyard and now that dream has finally come true...

It's offically summer now and we will be very busy I'm sure...only three weeks until the older boys come to stay with us...Drew will be so excited when his big brothers are here all the time. He looks at their pictures all the time and kisses them...

Well - back to work and daycare tomorrow...thank goodness it's a 4-day week!

Drew's first haircut!!

Drew had his first big-boy haircut today and he was so good! I figured he'd freak out and cry, but there was none of that. He very calmly sat on my lap and let Bernadette cut his hair...he even giggled when she used the clippers on him - he was so cute. She said he was so good he could come back anytime! I posted a picture on the side of the blog to show how cute he looks!!

Tomorrow is Drew's 23-month birthday - I can't believe he's going to be 2 soon - crazy!

Today Drew and I went to the playground at the school a couple of blocks from our house and we played on the slides and in the sandbox. Drew and I made lots of sandcastles and then Drew decided it would be great to take a huge handful of sand and shove it in his mouth!! He then looked at me and said, "MMMMM..." - I couldn't help it - I had to laugh!! Then I pulled as much sand as I could out of his mouth and we went back on the slides...

Tomorrow Uncle Phil is coming to meet Drew so we're excited to see him...Monday we plan to take Drew to his first parade..we watched the Indianapolis 500 parade on TV tonight and Drew waved to all the people waving in the parade, so I'm sure he will love it more in person.

So - that's about all from here...

Happy Birthday Carolyn!!!

Mazel Tov to Judy P. and her family on Rachel's wedding next weekend!!

Have a good Memorial Day weekend everyone....

Drew's latest obsession....

Drew has recently started to play more with the few toy cars he has, so this weekend his Daddy bought him a carrying-case shapped like an 18-wheeler filled with about 15 matchbox cars!

The cars go everywhere - under beds, down the stairs, in the car to daycare...all around the house. And they are usually accompanied by Drew saying, "Brrrr, brrr..." like a car noise (not the brr it's cold noise!)

He's so funny with these cars. On Sunday night he would not go to sleep unless I let him take a car into bed with him - he was clutching it tightly when I put him down and still clutching it when I went in his room Monday morning.

Everytime he hears a car noise he gets excited - he went crazy at Aunt Lysee and Uncle Shawn's apartment last weekend with all the honking and beeping in the City...

The kid just loves cars!!

It makes me wonder if it's instinctive in some ways for little boys, or he likes them because we subconciously give him cars because he is a little boy? HMMMMMM....makes you think, doesn't it??

A great Mother's Day!!!

I had a great day today!!! :)

My day started very early - apparently Drew just couldn't wait. He was up at 6:30 a.m. and he and Daddy went to Dunkin Donuts to get my favorite donuts for breakfast - yum!! Then I got great cards from Patrick, Chris and Ben and also a movie gift certificate...

Then Patrick pulled out a big box with a card from Drew on it. So I opened the big box, and inside was another box...and inside that waa another box...and so on and so on...until finally there was a card that said Drew's gift to me was under his pillow. So we all went upstairs and under Drew's pillow was a little jewelry box...inside were a beautiful pair of diamond stud earrings!!!! Drew did amazing for our first Mother's Day together...

I haven't worn earrings in so long, I was afraid they woudn't go in, but they did and they look great and I have no intention of taking them off!!

Then we drove to NYC for brunch at Aunt Lysee and Uncle Shawn's apartment with Grama. Aunt Lysee ran in a 4-mile race earlier this morning and still cooked a great brunch for all of us - we had a good time hanging out with everyone and Drew loved exploring the apartment and getting his fingerprints all over everything and touching everything and playing with everything!!

Drew slept the whole way home and we've just been hanging out tonight. We also discovered tonight that Drew knows how to climb up on his crib and also step on his zebra spinner to look out his window - not good!! If he keeps this up, it won't be much longer until we have to move Drew into a toddler bed - I say by July, Patrick says by Labor Day...we'll see...

So - Happy Mother's Day to Grama, Bubbie, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, my Aunts Susie, Marilyn, Lois and Angie, Drew's aunts Laurie and Lizzie (his only aunts who are moms - I'm not forgetting his other aunts: Hi Lysee, Sheri and Steph!), all my cousins who are moms and my wonderful friends who are moms...I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

"Non-Mom" mom?????? - UPDATE at bottom...

So...in honor of Mother's Day there's a contest for the best mom in America - you may have seen it on the Today Show and other places. They have various categories of moms - single moms, working moms, military moms and non-mom moms...turns out - that adoptive mothers are considered "non-mom" moms - are you kidding me???????????

Just because we didn't physically give birth to our children we aren't real mothers?? Why is that?? I guarantee you that the months and months of time I spent on paperwork and homestudies and notorizations and medical forms, etc...were a hell of a lot harder and lot less enjoyable than the usual way of having a child.

It's so frustrating to see that no matter what, there will always be people - and apparently large media organizations - that will never consider me "real." Never mind that I am the only mother Drew has ever known and that his alleged "real" mother has never spent a day in his life with him...

It makes me angry and sad, especially as this is far from the last time that I will deal with this...and it makes me even more sad that Drew will have to deal with this his whole life too.

Maybe someday people will change their definition of "real."

Until then...Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow "Non-Mom" moms...


______________________________

Well - you can see the comment that was left on my blog by Teleflora - apparently a ton of adoptive moms flooded them with e-mails...it's amazng what a group of mad motehrs can do, huh??? I still don't understand why adoptive mom is a seperate category, but I guess it's better than "non-mom" right???

Thank you to Teleflora for recognizing how insensitive they were being and correcting the problem...

Happy Mother's Day!

Drew...the daycare bully????

So - apparently our son is the bully of daycare! He's been in a hitting phase lately and Patrick and I stop him when he does it to us, but he's been hitting a little boy in daycare too! They tell him to stop, and he does, but still...the funny part of this (I know, hitting is not funny, but...) this kid is a full head taller than Drew! I asked Miss Diane if Lucas hit Drew back, thinking that if he did, maybe Drew would stop. She said Lucas is afraid of Drew!!! Now I don't think I'm being biased when I say Drew is not a menacing looking child...he can throw a temper tantrum with the best of them, but he's generally a pretty sweet kid...

I hope this hitting phase is over soon!!!

Drew came home sick from daycare today - he had a cold and fever. They were trying to tell us if a kid's muscus is green it's a state law they can't be in daycare...I find it hard to believe there is such a statute though...anyway - it probably didn't help they had him outside playing all morning in 40 degree weather and his pants got all wet - ugh!!!

He'll be staying home tomorrow too and hopefully will get better this weekend - just in time to go back to daycare and catch another cold. Ah - the joys of working parenthood!!!

_____________

On a sad note, my coworker JoAnn passed away unexpectedly this week - she was only 44. JoAnn was a great coworker, an excellent journalist and listened to me endlessly talk about our adoption plans and traveling to Kazakhstan and Drew...she will be greatly missed.

Drew's First Passover...

Hi there...Drew had a busy weekend celebrating Passover...he's still wiped out!

We went to NJ on Saturday afternoon after having our last chumatz breakfast at the diner. We spent the first night at Grama's house with lots of people: Grama (of course - it was her house!), Aunt Lysee, Uncle Shawn, Aunt Sheri, Aunt Sheri's boyfriend Josh, Auntie Mar, Amy, Aunt Lois and Uncle Harold, Marcy, Mark, Zachary and Adam...it was very busy!! We really missed Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and cousin David though - we hope they can come next year...

Drew had a great time playing with all of Zachary and Adam's toys and rolling Zachary's carrying case around - thanks cousin Zachary and Adam for sharing with Drew!! You guys have some cool stuff!!

Drew didn't really pay too much attention to the service part of the sedar, but he popped in and out of the kitchen to check on mommy and daddy and make sure we were doing OK :) He and Zachary also hid the afikomen together! They did a great job...

Then came the festive meal - now that Drew was into...We started with the salad course and Drew is probably the only nearly 22-month old that likes gefillte fish! He actually took the entire piece of fish and ate it like a piece of fruit - he was so funny. He also enjoyed the hard boiled egg. Then came Grama's soup - yum!!! Drew was into the soup, though the matzah balls were not his style. Yes, my son liked the fish and not the matzah ball - go figure? He had a little of the meal - some meatballs, etc...but by this time it was about 10:30 and it was bed time for Drew.

Drew missed the afikomen negotiations, but we started the first year of a three-year contract and every unmarried child gets $25!! Woo Hoo...that's going in the college fund!!

Sunday morning we all went to temple and Drew looked so adorable in his plaid shirt and sweater vest! A gift from Grama!! Now, I have waited YEARS to be able to bring a child to temple - I spent years fawning over everyone else's kids, so finally it was my turn and Drew was definitely the cutest - if I do say so myself!! Everyone commented on how cute he was. Drew enoyed playing with the siddurs and climbing back and forth between pews to see Grama, Aunt Lysee and Josh - then he got mad when I wouldn't let him go on the bima...I told him if Rabbi Rogoff was still there he could have gone, but not anymore - that was sad :( So, he ran around outside and did his thing...

He was so exhuasted from he night before that he missed he traditional aftr-shul lunch - oh well...Sunday was also Grama's birthday - Happy Birthday Grama!!!

For the second sedar we went to Uncle Lenny's and celebrated with Uncle Len, Angie, Great Bubbie, Opa, Gina, Samie and Marc and again, we had a great time. Drew was a little out of control wanting to climb all over everything and he really wanted to meet Hazel (the dog), but Hazel was a little freaked out by all the people. Drew did get to meet Squiggles the guinea pig and I think he liked her - he was a little hesitant to pet her at first...Drew loved playing outside and carrying Gina's tennis racket around with him! He had fun on the slide with Opa and the swings with Great Bubbie and Samie. He also enjoyed all the singing and liked playing the tamborine and marracas...A great second sedar for all!!

We drove home that night and got back around 12:15 a.m....we were all tired, but we had a great Passover. Drew is liking matzah and he even likes macaroons. Today we made some kosher for Passover pasta - it was pretty gross, but Drew thought it was OK...

So - that was Drew's first major Jewish holiday - he did really well!!!

In other Drew news...

He said "Uh Oh' for the first time today!! He's so cute!! :)

I think that's it...oh - we made our appt. with the urologist today for May 6 to discuss circumcison (did I spell that right?) We need to get that done so Drew can go through conversion - Mommy is not looking forward to it!! :( Oh well, we need to get it done so the sooner the better!!

OK - time to post some Passover pics...

PS - Margaret - Thanks for the message...i'd love to read your blog if I can :) If you have any dossier questions, feel free to e-mail me!!!

6 months ago today...

We met Drew for the first time!!

He's such a different little boy now than he was when we met him. I'll never forget that day - the fear in his eyes at meeting strangers, his mismatched orphanage clothes (all 5 layers of them!!), no talking at all, struggling to write down and digest all the information the orphanage director was giving us...what a difference six months make. His former caregivers wouldn't even recognize him now!!

Drew has been home for four months now - and he's doing so great. His vocabulary is really coming along. Just in the last week he's started saying "Daddy" instead of Dada and saying "no," while shaking his head. I have high hopes that someday he will say Mommy. Right now, when he says Daddy to me and I say, "No, mommy!" he just laughs and says "Daddy!" - it's a funny game to him. Of course he also will call me "Be" cause he hears Patrick call me Beth...Ha, ha...NOT!!

Drew is loving daycare - especially playing outside all day. In fact, at the end of the day he wants to stay and play. He's very whiny and tempermental by the end of the day and by 7:30 is pretty much ready for bed - at least Patrick and I are ready for him to go to bed. He's still sleeping great - though he cries out in his sleep a lot. He doesn't wake up though, so I don't know if it's nightmares or what?

I can't believe he's going to be 2 soon. It makes me sad that we missed his first birthday - 2 just doesn't seem to be the milestone that 1 is, ya know? Oh well...

This weekend will be Drew's first Passover - I hope he likes sedar. We'll be at Grama's for the first night and Uncle Lenny's for the second night. I have to teach Drew how to bargain for Afikomen money! LOL...we have a college fund to build up after all...

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On another note - I'm going to be writing an article on adoption for my sorority magazine - The Quill. I'm so excited!! I've been wanting to write on the subject for a while and this is such a good forum for that. Gotta think there are lots of A Xi D's out there interested in adoptiopn of some sort??

Today also happens to be AXiD's Founder's Day - April 17, 1893 in Galesburg, Ill. - I hope my pledge mom Auntie Kelly is proud of me for remembering that...

"I love the Rose of Alpha Xi...."

Funny thing is - Auntie Kelly and I always used to talk about having daughters and watching them get initiated into our sorority...and now we both have little boys!!

New pictures...

Check out the new pictures from today's visit to the park...and from Aunt Stephie's visit this weekend!!!

Patrick is in NYC for work so it's me and the boys right now...Drew had so much fun tonight on the slides with his big brothers...he was not happy when he had to leave to take a bath and they got to stay and play ball - it's not easy being the little guy!

One year ago today....

...we sent in our dossier and officially became "paper pregnant!"

I can't believe it's been a year. I will never forget going to the post office that day, in the pouring rain, clutching the most important package I had ever sent. I insured it, got tracking on it, etc...I was freaking out until our agency e-mailed the next day to say they received it and the process that led us to Drew began...

At that time, I couldn't even fathom Drew. The thought of an actual little boy in our house was just beyond comprehension. It's almost impossible to explain to anyone who hasn't gone through infertility, but the idea of actually having a child was just a concept I couldn't imagine.

But mailing that package was the begining of actually making our dreams come true. It was, finally, a positive step toward having a child, rather than the endless disappointments we'd faced for years...amazing what one piece of mail can mean, huh?? :)

I often wonder, when I'm feeling particularly introspective, what if we'd sent in our dossier two weeks earlier, or two weeks later - would Drew be our son? What if we hadn't fought to get our dossier pulled from Almaty and had just gone there instead of fighting it and ending up in Taraz? What if we had arrived in Taraz two days earlier, before all the Belgian families arrived? What if we'd requested a child of a specific gender or race, rather than leaving it to fate?

So many what ifs...

When I started this process everyone told me you end up with the child meant to be yours - I didn't believe them. But I do now...there's no doubt Drew was meant to be our child.

It's amazing what can happen in a year isn't it????

Not even a whimper....

Today at daycare drop off, Drew did not even make one little peep - he just blew a kiss good bye (he's so cute when he does this, he puts his hand to his mouth and says, "mmmmaaaa"), a wave and then he was off to play - what a big boy!!

Drew had a good weekend - Saturday morning he met his Aunt Stephanie and they had fun playing all day. We even went to the park where Drew helped a little boy chase after his dog that had run away. Drew was so funny running all around the place pointing and yelling at the dog! He also had fun going down the slides!

Saturday night, Drew's big brothers Chris and Ben came over and they will be here for a week - he loves his big brothers!! Drew's been having fun reading with them and playing video games (he doesn't realize his controller isn't attached - shhhhh!)It's a lot of fun having all three boys in the house!

In general, Drew has been doing great. I noticed that he's trying to imitate me more when I say things. For example, the other day he fell on the ground and his hands got dirty, and when I was brushing them off I said, "dirty, dirty, dirty." He then started saying it too. He also will point to his bubble bath and saying "Bu Bu" at bath time - so he's definitely improving his vocabulary...

Drew also loves singing...he likes me to sing to him the whole way home from daycare - that's a long time!! But he is the only person, I think, that actually likes my singing! His favorite songs are those we used to sing to his aunts Lysee and Sheri when they were little, so it's fun to do that with him now.

And that's about it from Drew's world right now..Mommy needs to get back to work!


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Just wanted to add:

Kazakhstan is apparently open again to adoptions, BUT any agencies that go through the DC Enmbassy, rather than the US Consulate in NY are having problems with dossiers being rejected!! Our dossier did go through the DC Embassy...It was actually a year ago this week that we submitted our dossier - scary how quickly things change....

Now, people are having dossiers rejected for saying they want to adopt a child as healthy as possible (we said that in our homsetudy) - apparently now you have to say you want to adopt any child, even those with health issues, or something to that affect. And apparently people who have had dossiers rejected are having a hard time resubmitting them or even getting answers as to why they were rejected...

It's such a terrible situation...

Please say a little prayer for those stuck in the process and for all the children in Kazakhstan orphanages waiting for their forever families...

First week of work/daycare...

My first week back at work and Drew's first week of daycare went very well!!! Better than I ever could have hoped for...

By Friday, there was very little crying at drop off (Patrick does drop off) - apparently when Drew walked in all the kids came over to him, saying, "Drew's here!!" When I went to pick him up, he was all smiles and wanting to show me all the cool things on the walls at daycare - there's a big painting of Lucy from Peanuts at her lemonade stand, along other things...Miss Diane says Drew is great and very easy going and everyone loves him - awwwwwww..... :) At the end of the day, Drew is tired from all his playing and very messy too - as it should be. "Bunny" has been making the trip to daycare to, so help Drew feel comfortable - Bunny is looking a little under the weather and is in need of a bath!!

Work is going well for me...I'm back into the swing of things and things are good...

Tomorrow Aunt Lysee is coming to visit!! Patrick put together the new, much improved grill so we're havng a cookout before we go see "The Other Boylen Girl." - I'm very excited even though it got bad reviews...it was such a great book, so I hope it's not awful...

This week Patrick leaves for W Va. to get the older boys, who will be here for a week...Aunt Stephanie is coming for a visit too - so we're very busy...we actually are very busy through the end of April with our cousin Breele's 1st birthday party and then Passover - Drew's first Passover!! Aunt Sheri will be disappointed he doesn't know the Four Questions yet - maybe next year...

Drew's cousin Spencer (and my nephew!) turns 1 this week (April 2)!!!!!!!! Happy birthday Spencer - we hope you had a great party today and wish we could have been there for the celebration...

Later this month, Drew's cousin David (and my nephew) will turn 1 (April 29)!!!!! Throw Grama's birthday in the middle of all that (April 20), and it's a very busy birthday month for us - lots of celebrations!!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend....

Home sweet home...

Well - after 29 hours in airports, I finally made it home!!!

California was great...it was so good to see Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and David - David is getting so big!!! He's crawling all over now and pulling himsefl up - he'll be walking any day now...I miss being able to see him all the time though :(

We had a great weekend - a BBQ with Liz's mom on Friday and lunch for me and Teevie at PF Changs - yum!!!! Saturday we went to Laguna Beach and David and I dipped our feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time!! Well, tecnically it wasn't my first time as I touched the Pacific when I was in Costa Rica, but it was my first time in the US. We had lunch at a really cute outdoor place in Laguna, though we did not see anyone from the MTV show!

We also spent some time at Liz's sister Maureen's house - Maureen and her family are great and have a gorgeous backyard that was so nice and relaxing...

And I ate my first In and Out burger - it was a big weekend!!!

Rancho Cucamonga, where Uncle Steve lives, is so pretty...and the weather was perfect, low 80s and sunny...

In other news...Drew started daycare today and did great, according to Miss Diane. He played all day and had a good nap and there were so problems at all - some crying when Patrick dropped him off, but he was fine...that's a big weight off my shoulders. Apparently he had fun with all the other kids too, so that was good...

OK - go check out some of my Calif. pics!!!

Happy Purim!!!

Drew celebrated his first Purim tonight...he had so much fun at temple shaking his groggers (he had three at one point!) every time Haman's name was read. He thought it was very funny and wasn't scared at all with all the noise. He even clapped his hands during the songs - what a good, Jewish little boy we have!!! :)

I loved watching him at temple, doing the things I did when I was little - it's an amazing feeling...

There's a picture of Drew in one of the masks Grama gave him on the side of the blog...

Happy Purim!!!!!!!!!!

Kazakhstan adoptions on hold!

Wow - apparently all Kazakhstan adoptions are temporarily (hopefully) on hold and any dossier that has not gone through the embassy or consulate yet, can't go through. Last year at this time we had collected most of our dossier and were in the process of putting it together to send to translation and then to the consulate, so we would have been out of luck.

My heart goes out to all of those who are in the paper chase process or who were not able to go to embassy review yet. Our agency is saying it is likely temporary, but that could mean a month or a year or longer...who knows?? The Kazakhstan government can do anything it wants.

There are so many children there - and in other countries - that need families and so many parents-to-be that need children. It just shouldn't be this hard.

China's waiting times are 2-3 years or more, Guatamala is slowing down or stopping, Russia is reaccrediting all of its agencies and the US has it's own mess of problems with adoption and the children and would-be parents are the ones who suffer - not the people who make all these rules or open and shut down the process for no good reasons.

I feel so bad for those just waiting to be parents who now don't know if their dreams will ever come true. I remember being in that position and it's an awful and unsettling feeling to say the least.

We are so lucky that we got Drew home when we did - he's only been home for three months and look what's happened in that time - it is scary to think that if we had been just 4-5 months behind where we were, who knows what would have happened. Already, in Taraz where Drew is from, court proceedures have changed and people are being left up in the air as to when they will go to court. Also, there's been new paperwork instituted that is delaying things. There have also been rulings about dates on dossier documents that can't be over a certain number of days old and people are doing their entire dossiers 2 or 3 times before they even get to Kazakhstan.

Why????

It just doesn't make any sense....and it makes me so sad and so thankful at the same time...

Our healthy little boy...

We finished up the last of Drew's necessary testng since coming home - he had his hearing test and he's fine - no problems there. Last week he visited the eye doctor and no problems there either. We had our developmental visit with our pediatrician this week too and she proclaimed him, "A very smart little boy!"

So, Drew is doing great - he grew an inch since coming home and has gained about 3 lbs....he's in the 10th percentile now for hight and weight, which is great, and well, let's just say he's got some big brains growing in that head of his. But Uncle Steve told us that there was some study done that showed successful people tended to have bigger than average heads - so Drew should be very successful!!!

Drew went to work with me today so I could meet with my boss before going back on Monday - eek!! He liked playing with all the things on my desk and was a good boy during my meeting. He was very shy though and hid in my shoulder a lot...

He got very excited today when we saw a kitty on our driveway and then a dog was barking in the neighbor's yard - lots of squealing and trying to run after the animals and pointing - he's so funny with animals - he just loves them. I have a feeling we're going to hear lots of begging for various pets for the next 18 years or so! LOL...bring on the goldfish, gerbils and hermit crabs!!

Tomorrow we're getting our tile in our downstairs bathroom and our new dining room table - yeah!!!!!!!! I'm so excited, though it means Drew and I are stuck at home all day - oh well - we'll deal with it...

Drew's busy week...

Ok - before I start this post...

Jennifer - Thanks for the note - I wasn't able to get onto your blog to see how your little girl is doing...can you send me an invite if you read this????

Now back to our show...

Drew had a good week, with lots of firsts:

1. Drew helped me make his first Hammentaschen (I probably spelled that wrong!). Hammentaschen are three-cornered cookies that are made for Purim - a Jewish holiday that's happening next week, The cookies symbolize the three-cornered hat that was worn by Haman. Haman tried to have all the Jews in Persia killed, but his plan failed, so we celebrate! (Can you tell I was my Hebrew school valedictorian!! LOL...) Anyway - we made blueberry, cherry and chocolate chips ones - Drew helped put the chips in, that is until he decided it was much more fun to eat them. He was cute though - when we had to put the cookies in the oven and take a break before we could do the next batch, he got very upset and insisted on continuing to fill the cookies. I'll post a picture of us baking on the side of the blog. We made them a few days early because Grama is coming up on Sunday and we can celebrate Purim with her. When I was little I used to bake Hammentaschen with Grama, so it's nice to continue this tradition with Drew! :)

2. We have our first refrigerator art from Drew!!! We had our last Mommy and Me class this week, which was sad cause we really liked it. We made "happy" collages - it's really cute. So it's up on the frige...

Drew had his eye doctor appt. today and the doctor said his eyes are very healthy - a good thing. Next week we see the pediatrician for our 3-month in the US check up and then we go for our hearing test - just a precaution, I think his hearing is fine.

I can't believe next week is my last one at home with him - so wierd. I was freaking out today about it with his daycare provider and she assured me things would be fine and it was normal to be nervous, but Drew will be fine...I'm still worried. She said I could call every half hour if I wanted though :) I may take her up on that. He's never been with anyone but us since he's been home. In my mind, I know he'll be fine, but emotionally I'm terrified!! I'll keep you all posted...

Next Friday I am going to visit Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and cousin David in California!! I am very excited... Drew and Daddy are going to have a bonding weekend. Daddy better not take Drew to Hoosters - I don't think he's ready for that kind of bonding...

Chris and Ben are coming in a few weeks and Drew is going to meet his Aunt Stephie in a few weeks too!!! Aunt Stephie is going to Rutgers next year for her PhD so she's coming east (from Chicago) to check things out and then taking the train up to visit us - woo hoo...should be fun...

Tomorow is mine and Patrick's five year anniversary!! We had always talked about going on a trip to Europe for our five year, but I guess our "trip" to Kazakhstan took the place of that - LOL!!! Maybe we'll make it there for the 10 year???

Hmmmm...can't think of anything else right now. Drew does so many cute things all the time (and some not so cute things!!) that it's hard to remember them all. Generally, he's really a happy, curious and smart little boy who we are very lucky to call ours.

Have a good weekend everyone!

We have daycare!!!

We found and finalized daycare this week for Drew. I go back to work on March 24, so it was getting close. It's a home-based daycare and the woman has two other kids almost exactly Drew's age, which will be so good for him I think. There's also a few older kids there for after-school care, and it will be good for Drew to hang out with older kids too I think.

I can't believe I'm going back to work in two weeks - I feel like I've been gone soooo long, which I guess I have - my last day of work was Dec. 14. It's going to be wierd, and I know I'll freak out worrying that Drew is OK...I know he'll be fine, of course, and I'm sure it will be worse for me than for him.

Drew had a good week this week. He's outgrown so many of his 12-month clothes, which is great. We're able to start wearing all the cute 18-month clothes that he got, but we haven't been able to wear yet. This week we also got new sneakers, as he outgrew the other ones. Of course, the new ones look the same as the old ones since there's not too much of a selection in his size! We also got new socks, new undershirts and new PJs...

When we were at the mall today, Drew got sooo excited when he saw the Disney store! He started pointing at the big Mickey Mouse and squealing - it was so funny!! We went in the store and he had to touch all 101 dalmations I think!

We also had Mommy and Me this week, but Drew wasn't too into it. It was child yoga and he's not really able to balance on one leg and be a tree yet! LOL...so he decided it would be more fun to push a chair around the room...next week will be our last week of Mommy and Me as I have a dentist appt. the following week. All in all it was a good experience for Drew so I'm glad we did it.

We also had a playdate with Carrie and her twin boys this week, which was fun. The boys all thought it was hysterical to close and open the door to Drew's room and scream! They were all so cute...

Let's see - what else??? Hmmmm....Oh - Drew used his Cookie Monster towel the other day and I made the mistake of singing the "C is for Cookie" song for him - oh my god - he now wants me to sing that song over and over again all the time!!! He will start dancing and look at me and nod - that's my signal to start singing! When he wants me to sing "itsy bitsy spider" he starts moving his hands together like the spider! For a kid who doesn't talk yet, he really does get his point across well.

Have a good weekend everyone...enjoy the rain!!

Drew's weekend...

Drew had a very busy weekend with lots of vistors and visiting!!

On Friday my friends Jodi and Caryn came to visit for lunch and hung out with Drew for a while..he had fun reading with them them and hanging out. I hadn't seen either of them in a while so it was nice to hang out...and even nicer when I went out for dinner alone with them! :) No offense to Drew of course...

Saturday we went tile shopping, which I was very excited about...new tile for the bathrooms - woo hoo!!!!!!! Anyone who's seen our downstairs bathroom knows that it died in about 1968 - yellow and green - yuck!!! Black and white will be much better!!!

Yesterday we went to vist Jackie and Joe and their kids Jayne, Grace and Charlie and had a great time!!! Drew was walking around like he owned the place and had a great tiem playing with all the toys and Charlie's great car collection...he also learned to play the harmaonica and had everyone clapping for him. He LOVED Jayne and had so much fun with her - she was picking him up and carrying him around and he was giving her hugs...it was so cute to see!! I can't wait until Jayne is old enough to babysit!! :)

In general, Drew is doing great...Here's a few Drew facts :)

No more highchair!!! Drew is entirely in his big boy seat and has been doing great with using a fork and spoon on his own...he's such a big boy!!

Drew has also been letting us know after he poops or pees (sorry if too much info!) so we can change his diaper. I wasn't even going to think about training until he was 2, but maybe he's ready to just start sitting on the potty and getting used to it?? My baby is growing so fast - LOL...

So - it's been a while since I've had an update on Drew's big brothers...

Ben joined the track team this year!!! Woo Hoo - go Ben!!! Those of you who know Ben know he's a really good runner. So we can't wait to hear all his results...

Chris has been picked to be concert master next year in orchestra (I hope I said that right!!) - Chris has bene playing violin for years and also does all regional and state wide orchestras...

So - we have two very talented older boys...hopefully Drew will follow in his brothers' footsteps....

I go back to work three weeks from today...wow! Time flies...I have mixed feelings. I am looking forard to going back to my job - I like what I do and miss reporting and writing. On the other hand, I don't want to leave Drew anywhere or with anyone - it's so hard and there's no easy solutions...oh well - I, like all other mothers around the country, will figure it out and Drew will be fine...

20 months old...

Drew is 20 months old today!!! Happy 20-month-day Drew!!! :)

We had our last day of Gymboree today - Drew had fun, but he's definitely more into playing on his own than doing the group stuff. Maybe we'll try it again when he's older. In the meantime, we can go to the open gym dates, so we'll see how he likes that.

Not much else going on...Drew got a 20-month-old present today from Mary Ann- she kmitted him a very cute hat and I'm going to try and post a picture on the side of the blog...so take a peek...

Gotta go - bath time! Yipee!!!!!

Snowy day in Connecticut...

Ugh - I hate snow!!!! I know, so why do I live in Connecticut?? I don't know...

Anyway...it was really snowy today - we're getting about 10 inches as I write this. But Drew and I did manage to make it to the post office today to send our gift to Matthew and to the library so I could get some books and Drew could play in the children's room - they have great toys there! Unfortunately, it started snowing hard while we were out so we couldn't stay too long...Drew did think it was fun while we were outside to catch snowflakes on his tongue...he did not think it was fun to hold the snow and try to make snowballs though.

Did I mention I hate snow??

Other than that - it was a pretty quiet week here. One milestone of note, Drew is no longer using his high chair at all - he's such a big boy!!! He's also using his utensils much more and wanting to feed himself. He's also wanting to get out of his chair and walk around as he eats, which we need to put a stop to. It's hard to know the line between telling him that he's done eating when he gets out of his chair and wanting him to keep eating cause he needs the food....ugh - parenting! Something tells me it only gets harder from here - LOL...

I go back to work in about four weeks - crazy!!! Time flies...

Well - have a good weekend everyone..it will be a quiet one here.

Two months, four months...

Drew has been home for two months and it's been four months since the day we met him...wierd, huh??? In some ways it seems like he's been in our lives forever...

We were saying yesterday that we wish the people at the orphanage could see him now and how great he's doing!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Drew surprised me this morning with a heart full of peanut butter cups! I don't know how he knew they were my favorite. When he came toddling in to me, holding out this heart to me, I totally started crying!! He's my best valentine! :) No offense Patrick - LOL...

Today we had "mommy and me" and there was a singer/guitar player there for the kids - it was so great. Drew danced a lot and played some instruments and had a good time. He also had fun playing in the rice box, which is like a sand box, except, you guessed it, filled with rice!

I have a couple of new pictures on the side of the blog of Drew...just cause I thought he looked cute!

A big thank you....

Tonight I was filling in some of Drew's lifebook (like a baby book, but specifically for adoption) and I read all of the reports we got from Kazakhstan about his life and why we were able to adopt him and I got so emotional. It's wierd, this is the first time these emotions really hit me...

I feel angry that a woman was able to have the privilige of giving birth to this beautiful little boy and she didn't want to keep him. I know there may have been some very good reasons for it, but I look at his little face and I can't even imagine what they could be. And then I feel so thankful to this woman I wish I could find her and hug her and thank her 1,000 over.

I wish I could tell her how wonderful this little boy is, how he loves to laugh and dance and read and play with his puppy. I wish she could see how he loves to splash in the bath, play with keys, shake his moraccas, play with his tools, etc...

I wish she could see how he gets a huge grin when he hugs his bunny to go to sleep, how he grabs my hand to bring me into the kitchen to let me know he wants some juice and how he get so proud of himself when he's able to feed himself that he has to put down his spoon or fork and clap.

But she will never see these things...I wonder if she thinks about him and what she thinks...

Tonight, I wish I could just find her and say, "Thank you."

My smart little boy!!

Drew had his Birth-3 evaluation yesterday and he did great! They said he's a very smart little boy who is taking all the right steps toward learning English. They said he's doing great and I should not expect him to be able to talk yet as he's only been in the US for 7 weeks. They said his babbling and understanding of us means he's right on target and they normally don't even evaluate kids adopted internationally until they've been here for 6 months...so I feel much better and the next time someone makes comments about the fact that Drew isn't talking yet, I will ask them how much Russian or Kazakh they know!! Hah!!!

My little boy is smart, he's even a little advanced with gross motor and cognitive thinking skills and he's doing great and that's all that matters to me...

Drew's new thing is everytime we say "Yeah Drew," or "Good Job" or anything like that, he likes us to clap for him and he likes to clap for himself! Today he fed himself pretty well with his spoon, and everytime he took a mouthful he would put down the spoon and clap, so we'd say "yeah Drew, Good boy" and clap along with him!! LOL..he's so funny...I guess you can never have too much positive reinforcement, right?

Today we also went to the library and spent some time playing in the children's section - they have some great toys and Drew had a lot of fun. He wasn't too intersted in the books, though he loves his own books and loves us to read to him. Currently, his favorite is "Whole World" which is based on that 70s song about having the whole world in your hands (or maybe it's a 60s song??). It also comes with a CD...He loves it - thanks soooo much to Auntie Kelly for that. Don't worry - Cole will be getting something equally fun for his birthday!!! LOL....Maybe a drum set or some cymbals???

Drew had a fun visit with Opa and Mary Ann on Sunday night - he thought they were soo funny and had so much fun laughing hysterically and running back and forth between them. He still loves his magi-doodle, and is still afraid, yet fascinated with his singing Elvis dog - LOL!!

That's about it from here - we have Drew's hearing assessment tomorrow, which I expect to be fine - the doc just wants to make sure.

Other than that - it's soooo cold!! If I was at work now, I'd be leaving for Miami tomorrow for the boat show - hmmmm - that's a little bittersweet - I could use some beach time!! :)

Drew's first Shabbos dinner out...

Drew was invited to the Cantor's house for Shabbos dinner last night! He had a very good time - he enjoyed the food and liked the chanting too - he swayed back and forth as we sang the prayers. They also had a big "puppy" that was fun to play with and lots of musical instruments to try out. He was shy at first, but was quickly walking around like he owned the place!!

On Friday nights Drew likes to watch me light the Shabbos candles. I hope that it's something he will grow up loving and thinking is important. Tomorrow we're going to a preschool program at shul where there will be singing and crafts and Challah eating, so it will be interesting to see how he does there and what he thinks.

Our cantor and his wife adoped two of their three children from Columbia and it was interesting to talk to them about it. Their experience was very different. They were only in the country for a week with their kids before they came home and their kids came home when they were about 4 months old. Still, it's nice to talk to people who understand what it's like to put together a dossier and wait and just the whole adoption experience.

It's snowing out right now and Drew is napping after our outing to the mall and McDonald's. Drew drank from a juice box for the first time, not his sippy cup, and he was very excited about it and proud of himself! :) It was cute to see him smile when the juice came through the straw - I think he was surprised.

Tomorrow Opa and Mary Ann are coming for dinner so it will be nice to see them...

Valentine's Day is coming up this week (and yes, Aunt Sheri's b-day too!!). We decided to continue with Drew a tradition my father started for Valentine's Day. He bought me a sun dress every year (or a summer outfit that he called a sun dress!) until I got married, that's when he said it was Patrick's job to buy me a sun dress. Drew obviously won't be getting a sun dress, but we will buy him a summer outfit every year until he gets married (eesh!!!). I like the idea of carrying on that tradition with my child - sometimes it's nice to start your own traditions, but sometimes it's even nicer to continue what your parents did for you...