Saturday, August 31, 2013

Abram's first month home

What a month it has been! It has been a wonderful, funny, exhausting, confusing, and happy month... we have experienced a wide range of emotions and we are learning just how hard (and exciting) it is to be parents.  It has been fun to introduce Abe to a whole lot of "firsts," his sleepless nights have been exhausting for all of us, and we love to hear his laugh and see his sweet smile.

Here's just a few pictures of what we have been up to his first month home...

Most of the mornings we stay home while Chris is at school.  He's happy with his toys for a little while, after that I try to get creative with other things. :)

Painting on the sidewalk with water and paint brushes

His water table... he loves this and is drenched when he is done. :) Thank you Mary and Jessica!! 

Big fan of Thomas the Train!

Yes, he is coloring in a box, which he loves!  :)

He loves to sort and organize. God knew he was the perfect child for me. And he loves to clean up, too!!

Banging on bowls with a spoon. He broke the wooden spoon within 5 minutes, so this is his second spoon. It makes a great noise. 

He is a huge fan of play-doh!! 

Look at that smile!


In the afternoon we head out on a walk, to a park, or to run errands. He is happy in the car or in a cart as long as he has a snack. :) We are so blessed with a wonderful bike/walking trail that is along the water, Monterey has a ton of great parks for kids and we can easily walk to our wonderful aquarium!
He loves the sand. This picture was taken before he started to roll his entire body in it!

On the go with his snack cup!

Still with his cup...

Enjoying a fun park

Getting a snack before we shop at Target. 

Daddy has school in the mornings and sometimes late afternoons, so its a treat when Daddy can join us during the week on our outings. Abram loves his Daddy!
At the aquarium


Enjoying a lazy Saturday morning in our pj's

Exploring the water with Daddy. 

Abram has also had fun with his new friends.  They have been waiting a long time for Abe to come home and it is finally so sweet to see them together!
At church with Addison

Taking a break to have a snack at the park with Matthew.

We have had a great month! Next month we have two big events to look forward to... First, we are going to Hawaii (Sept. 19-25) to introduce Abram to our wonderful friends and of course enjoy some beach and pool time. Then, as soon as we get home Abe is going to have his first palate surgery (Sept. 27). His palate will be closed and he will get tubes put into his ears.  Its going to be a hard two weeks of recovery, but the sooner it gets done the better, so he can start to talk. 







Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Second Half of our Trip and Home Coming

Here's the pictures from the second part of our trip to China.  We had a wonderful time bonding with Abe, our agency did a fabulous job with the paperwork involved, and we were blessed by traveling with some great families, but we were definitely ready to come home!! Hotel rooms get small with a toddler!
Visiting Steven Curtis Chapman's orphanage, Maria's Big House of Hope.

His first visit to McDonald's
Loving the french fries!!


At the zoo in Guangzhou... just love the pandas with our panda!

Watching the koi fish

Like father, like son...

Abe and Chris watching a man carve our name chop (a stamp with Morris in Chinese)

Our travel group with all of our kiddos! Such a great group and now wonderful friends!

Can't get enough of his sweet smile

My new friends, Brittani and her daughter Louvee and Tiffani and her daughter Maylee. Such sweet girls who answered ALL of my many questions about being a mom!

Our boy loves noodles!


Love him!

Getting ready for his first flight (to Guangzhou)

Boarding the plane (he didn't like his hat).


On a river cruise in Guangzhou

The third tallest building in the world 

We found out that Abe LOVES balloons!

Swimming with daddy... so happy he loves the water!


Swinging

And he loves his daddy's hat...

On our way home... preparing for the 13-hour flight!! Should have brought a vacuum for all the Cheerios we left behind. We were driving the flight attendants crazy!

We made it!! Yay!!

We are finally home!! My parents, Chris' mom, and some wonderful friends greeted us at the airport.  After a long trip and super long flight we were thrilled to be back in Monterey with our friends and family!

Our sweet friends, the Homans, greeting us at the airport. Their youngest son has been waiting for his new friend to come on a plane for 6 months.  He was thrilled!

My parents decorated our house for us when we arrived. Abe LOVED the balloons!

The next day, my sweet friend Cara hosted a welcome home party for Abram.  Our friends from church were able to finally meet the little guy they had been praying for all these months. It was such a wonderful day!

Grandparents with Abe at our welcome home party. They were in heaven!


Granddaddy playing with Abe... trying to teach him how to jump!

Such a sweet picture with Gram

With my sweet friend, Cara, who hosted our party. It was wonderful!

A curious toddler.. what is he thinking?
And so now our life begins with a toddler... we can't believe we are parents to such a fun and amazing little boy!  We are definitely blessed!! We want to thank all of you for your prayers while we were traveling, we definitely felt them all!