I can't get the Clark Kent part of his costume, but it's still early!!
Friday, October 31, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
One year (and 2 days) later
How have we known this little guy for one year?!?!?! It's been so fun re-reading our blog, Sarah's blog (Maddi's mom), and posting pictures from this time last year! ! It seems sooooooo long ago, but also just a few months!
Our travel group has a private Facebook group where one of the fams posted a pic from Gotcha Day and then a year later so we all followed. She had the BIGGEST change we all decided. Like one mom said, amazing what love can do!!!!
Columbus Day we were both off, so after our 12 month home study visit and a nap, we went to Hibachi Grill. Didn't work out as well as we hoped since they've changed their offerings, and not really for the best. Tuesday, Gotcha Day, we both worked and Benson had the 1st of 3 girls basketball tournament games of the week at 7 so we had a few hours of family time, but not like the 3 of us in one hotel room for 2 weeks family time haha
The most important thing is he is here, adjusted, growing and developing, and LOVED!!!
This is the collage Benson put up on his Facebook page.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
HOW does this work?!?!
The moving fish tank from Grandma was our "new" toy we focused on this week (Bray of course made his own spin with the sign language for "on," BUT he learned it in not even 2 days!! He kept signing "open" for me to turn it on, which I thought was pretty smart! This makes it at least 11 signs he knows....go Bray!!). He loved watching the fish move, but just couldn't figure out where they were. It was hilariously cute!!! :)
It's not crazy if it works
Anyone who knows Benson knows he's VERY superstitious when it comes to sports. Oddly enough, I do see his weird "things" work a lot. Last week was so nice and warm so we couldn't put Bray in Bears sweats, and they lost...bad! This week we are prepared! :) Go Bears!!
3T
Sooo sad Bray moved up jammie sizes!! Not sure how this happened when 2 T pants still don't fully fit his tiny waist, but he's going to be tall!
Friday, September 19, 2014
First month back
So I have been job-sharing for a month now and so far so good! I'm loving being able to teach two or two and a half days a week and then being at home with Brayden for the rest of the week!
With him being in day care for those three days he is making a ton of progress! Every day when I pick him up his teacher says what a great day he had. He is still the master at parallel play (completely ignoring the other kids around you, but all playing "together"), but this week I was informed that Sophia (you have to say it in a sing-songy voice) and Brayden spend a lot of time together! I thought it was this one super cute little girl who always says hi to me when I come to pick Bray up (sucking up to her future mother-in-law already?!?! haha), but that is Jordan. My little ladies man! :)
We've had 2 weeks of a tumbling class on Fridays now. The first class didn't go great (I think me being a teacher put too much pressure on him....I wanted him to follow all her directions and do the activities in the order she had them laid out.....my son, on the other hand, has his own thoughts on this of course!) so today I just followed him around and there were no power struggles. Brayden was hanging from the bar and they were supposed to put their feet up on it. Being as flexible as he is, he had no problem with this. Miss Jodi said we can fold him up like a piece of bread. So true! So my dreams of Summer Olympics 2032 are still on! :) :)
Weekends have been super busy with my dad's birthday, out of town family on Benson's side, both of us standing up in our friend's wedding, a first birthday party the next day, and Benson's birthday (the last "first" holiday Brayden celebrated)! Bray did great staying at my parents house Friday and most of Saturday night with the wedding (it helped I put him to bed there Friday night (and also spent the night, but he never woke up and I was up early to get ready so he never knew), and then my parents were also invited so my sister and grandpa watched him that night so he had new people to play with). I can't believe it's been 11 months since Gotcha Day!
Ok, well if you're still checking this blog you probably just want to see pics of the little guy, so thanks for sticking around :) Here's your reward:
With him being in day care for those three days he is making a ton of progress! Every day when I pick him up his teacher says what a great day he had. He is still the master at parallel play (completely ignoring the other kids around you, but all playing "together"), but this week I was informed that Sophia (you have to say it in a sing-songy voice) and Brayden spend a lot of time together! I thought it was this one super cute little girl who always says hi to me when I come to pick Bray up (sucking up to her future mother-in-law already?!?! haha), but that is Jordan. My little ladies man! :)
We've had 2 weeks of a tumbling class on Fridays now. The first class didn't go great (I think me being a teacher put too much pressure on him....I wanted him to follow all her directions and do the activities in the order she had them laid out.....my son, on the other hand, has his own thoughts on this of course!) so today I just followed him around and there were no power struggles. Brayden was hanging from the bar and they were supposed to put their feet up on it. Being as flexible as he is, he had no problem with this. Miss Jodi said we can fold him up like a piece of bread. So true! So my dreams of Summer Olympics 2032 are still on! :) :)
Weekends have been super busy with my dad's birthday, out of town family on Benson's side, both of us standing up in our friend's wedding, a first birthday party the next day, and Benson's birthday (the last "first" holiday Brayden celebrated)! Bray did great staying at my parents house Friday and most of Saturday night with the wedding (it helped I put him to bed there Friday night (and also spent the night, but he never woke up and I was up early to get ready so he never knew), and then my parents were also invited so my sister and grandpa watched him that night so he had new people to play with). I can't believe it's been 11 months since Gotcha Day!
Ok, well if you're still checking this blog you probably just want to see pics of the little guy, so thanks for sticking around :) Here's your reward:
"Coloring" with markers that will only show up on that paper (this person is a genius who invented it, and who bought this for us!!). Of course Brayden only enjoys sticking the markers together end to end, but then gets PISSED when they come apart so easy!
Day care has been doing a lot of sorting and he has always liked organizing, so this 24 case of propel from Costco kept him entertained for quite awhile! In the box, push over, stand right up, back in the box, etc etc :)
He's still not really into TV too much, but the Friday after Robin Williams passing (*sob*) the Disney Channel was showing Aladdin and the Genie's song was on when I switched it over. Bray's head immediately turned around and he watched the whole thing. So precious on so many levels!
This magnet board was in the room as we waited for a doctor. He didn't care too much about moving the magnets around, he wanted to pull those handles off the board! He was FASCINATED by how they stayed on there!
Perfecting the selfie :) I think I posted this one already, but he cracks me up in this pic!!
Heck yeah my boy is surrounded by books!! And why yes, that is a paint brush end in his mouth....whatever else would you do with it/read with? ;)
Daddy's favorite book...the basketball flip book!
Target had the cutest, softest Minion winter hats...in the girl's section?!?! I don't feel this hat is an either gender hat (don't get me started on how they set up their toys (pink background on the kiosks for the "girl" toys and dark blue for "boys"; an aqua blue for either gender) and the marketing of the toys (not Target's fault on that one...but why are there only girls on the cooking sets and boys on the car sets?!?! Let's start our gender identification super early....oops, I told you not to get me started!)
This picture of Bray with his grandparents is too cute for words!!
Ignore the tears and apple juice stain and focus on the book in his hand...Go Bears! This was taken 3 days before their 9-14 victory (which also happened to be Daddy's birthday).
Even though it is technically still summer, this cold spell had us pulling out the winter clothes :( The 2t's/24 months fit him almost perfectly now which is great, but also makes us very sad because he is growing.
A fun-filled Sat afternoon at the zoo with grandma and grandpa! :)
Waiting patiently for the dolphin show to start. Once he finally saw them, he got super excited....which was at the end of the show of course ;)
Grandpa/grandson bonding at the zoo :)
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Friday, August 8, 2014
Magical???
The darker photo was taken at the beginning of the summer at a splash pad when Bray was practicing his power of controlling water. The lighter one was yesterday after he found his wand. Yes, some may think that it is a straw, and perhaps it is, but never underestimate what can be used for magic. 9 more years until we get the letter from Hogwarts!!
Heehee
;)
Although I hate the term "baby-sitting" when it comes to a parent watching their child, this onesie my mom got Bray is hilarious and works great for this weekend because I'm headed to Michigan for my friend's bachelorette weekend!! I don't know if I'm more worried for Brayden or Benson! ;) actually, probably Benson since Bray knows where the most important things are: his snacks, milk, and apple slices! just kidding.....this should be a great manly bonding weekend for the two of them!!
Monday, August 4, 2014
Indianapolis Children's Museum (Lots of pics!!!)
I'm part of many private adoption Facebook groups and one of them had mentioned that the Indy Kids Museum had a China exhibit for a few months. Last summer we were binge watching a bunch of tv (in order to stay at home and save money for our upcoming adoption trip) and the commercials on Hulu (I think??) were always about all the fun things to do in Indiana's capitol (who knew?!?!). No therapies were scheduled for last Thursday and Bray has none on Friday so we decided to head over for a quick road trip.
We left Thursday about 1:30, got to our hotel, went and found the LOVE sign, had dinner (100% rated urban spoon Mexican restaurant!!), and then back to the hotel. Unfortunately, the last crib had been checked out a few hours earlier, but they brought up a roll-away bed. It was too high up for our little man, so we put the mattress on the ground and hoped for the best. Yeah, this boy is no fool....he rolled right over, got up and started walking around the room, all proud of himself! We took turns laying with him, then put him in our bed and finally he fell asleep so we moved him back to the mattress but we were too scared he would start wandering again and we wouldn't hear him so back to our bed he went....thank goodness it was a king size!
There were no breakfast places around the museum so we grabbed a quick bite in the food court and started exploring!
You had to pay extra for the Terracotta Warriors exhibit, and we were nervous that that was what the China exhibit was, but decided to buy tickets later if we decided that was something we wanted to do (nothing against his culture, but he wouldn't remember and we had seen some at the Milwaukee Art Museum a few years ago. From the sound of things, it wasn't what we were there for). Luckily, we were right to pass because on the 2nd floor they had a HUGE China exhibit, and this was obviously what the group had recommended. You could sit (we walked, having done the plane thing a bunch in the past year haha) in part of a plane and watch a short video about flying to China, and then when you got "off" the plane, a screen with a teen girl welcomed you by explaining how to say hello in Mandarin (Ni Hao). Brayden was FASCINATED by her and I held him there for at least five minutes. Every time she said Ni Hao, he would scrunch his face up and then smile and/or laugh. I would LOVE to know what was going through his mind. In just the past week, both Benson and I feel he is really starting to comprehend what we are saying/asking him to do (before, I really think he was picking and choosing what he would listen to....typical guy haha) I did notice that her fact scrunched a bit as she spoke Mandarin, so maybe he was mimicking her?
As you continue through, they take you through a "typical" Chinese apartment (um, maybe if you are super duper rich over there.....we've seen the extreme poverty :( ), then a market, medicine, tea, panda preservation, theater, the bullet train, and some musical instruments explanations. We missed the martial arts demonstration. All in all, it was an amazing exhibit, but probably too soon for us to be "back there", but it's very important to both of us that Brayden feel connected to his culture and know that we appreciate where he came from!
Our historic hotel in a forest preserve
Guess what he liked best about our whole trip? ;) The exit signs on the floor!
Outside the museum. I'm not a huge dinosaur person, but this was really cool!
We left Thursday about 1:30, got to our hotel, went and found the LOVE sign, had dinner (100% rated urban spoon Mexican restaurant!!), and then back to the hotel. Unfortunately, the last crib had been checked out a few hours earlier, but they brought up a roll-away bed. It was too high up for our little man, so we put the mattress on the ground and hoped for the best. Yeah, this boy is no fool....he rolled right over, got up and started walking around the room, all proud of himself! We took turns laying with him, then put him in our bed and finally he fell asleep so we moved him back to the mattress but we were too scared he would start wandering again and we wouldn't hear him so back to our bed he went....thank goodness it was a king size!
There were no breakfast places around the museum so we grabbed a quick bite in the food court and started exploring!
You had to pay extra for the Terracotta Warriors exhibit, and we were nervous that that was what the China exhibit was, but decided to buy tickets later if we decided that was something we wanted to do (nothing against his culture, but he wouldn't remember and we had seen some at the Milwaukee Art Museum a few years ago. From the sound of things, it wasn't what we were there for). Luckily, we were right to pass because on the 2nd floor they had a HUGE China exhibit, and this was obviously what the group had recommended. You could sit (we walked, having done the plane thing a bunch in the past year haha) in part of a plane and watch a short video about flying to China, and then when you got "off" the plane, a screen with a teen girl welcomed you by explaining how to say hello in Mandarin (Ni Hao). Brayden was FASCINATED by her and I held him there for at least five minutes. Every time she said Ni Hao, he would scrunch his face up and then smile and/or laugh. I would LOVE to know what was going through his mind. In just the past week, both Benson and I feel he is really starting to comprehend what we are saying/asking him to do (before, I really think he was picking and choosing what he would listen to....typical guy haha) I did notice that her fact scrunched a bit as she spoke Mandarin, so maybe he was mimicking her?
As you continue through, they take you through a "typical" Chinese apartment (um, maybe if you are super duper rich over there.....we've seen the extreme poverty :( ), then a market, medicine, tea, panda preservation, theater, the bullet train, and some musical instruments explanations. We missed the martial arts demonstration. All in all, it was an amazing exhibit, but probably too soon for us to be "back there", but it's very important to both of us that Brayden feel connected to his culture and know that we appreciate where he came from!
Our historic hotel in a forest preserve
Guess what he liked best about our whole trip? ;) The exit signs on the floor!
I LOVE the expression on his face here! This was a bit scary!
After seeing the LOVE sign (pictures on Benson's phone), we just let him walk to see where he would go. There was this long, tree-lined sidewalk and at the end (we could barely see it, but you could definitely hear something) was this fountain. I don't know how he knew, but nothing distracted this boy from walking straight there. I joked that it was the mother ship calling him home! :) Luckily, these plants and brick things were in the way, because I don't know how we would have kept him from going in there!
Outside the museum. I'm not a huge dinosaur person, but this was really cool!
The walkway from the (free!!) parking garage to the entrance of the museum.
Any chance we can take pictures of dragons for our dragon baby (born the year of the dragon), we do!
The lobby! Brayden LOVES Chinese lanterns, and ceilings/roofs, so he was in his glory :)
Next time!
How the Great Wall should be!!! :) :) It was really fun! (My picture is on his phone)
You could "dress up" as a baby dino....we tried!!
If all dinos were this cute, I could get on board with them haha
A train car that made it look like it was moving.
Brayden thought we were :)
He kept pulling them out and dropping them, making everyone turn and look at him :)
The "best" picture....of 6 ;)
His shirt has a picture of a dragon and says Dragon Baby.....our gift/souvenir from staying with our friends in Texas (Maddi is also a dragon baby!)
Of course he's going to play in the kitchen!
Chinese bells played with mallets (and Benson rocking his Bulls gear since we were in Pacer country...this was deliberate!!)
They had a sensory exhibit for kids only up to age 5 so that was a fun last place to stop to get out the last of his energy before hitting the road to beat Chicago Friday traffic. In this pic, I'm not sure who was having more fun building :)
The street signs taken from the Sky Walk
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