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!