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...