Friday Round Up: Family day edition--6.17.2011

Yeehaw! We've had some very good days here lately. Mommy is doing the happy dance!

First off, LM seems to be connecting to us more and more. He's been copying us--sounds, faces, gestures. One of his favorites is to go "ahhhh" after taking a drink of something. Just like his Daddy.

And evidently we cough a lot because he's started doing this fake cough thing. He makes these coughing noises and then smiles and laughs. He can also flutter his tongue (like a rolling 'r' when speaking Spanish), and he's figured out he can scream. It will probably get annoying at some point, but right now it's pretty darned cute.

He is sleeping better. He's not up as much at night, usually only once or twice, and he's going back down right after a diaper change. This week, he actually slept until 7:45 a.m! Gasp! A huge departure from his regular 5:30 a.m. starts. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and went into his room to check up on him. Which woke him up. Ha!

We've been getting more and more hugs. During laps around the house he'll swing by and give our legs a squeeze. Or if he's really feeling lovey, he'll climb up and give us a nice neck squeeze! And he's starting to check where we are when he's gallavanting around the house. After he got his shots on Wednesday, he even clung to my neck for comfort, which is a huge step. (In fact, he clung to me, stopped crying, looked back at the nurse and started shouting, and buried his face again into my neck. Poor little guy!)

He and Daddy started went to their first music class at the conservatory. No, we aren't those people who sign up their very young child for every class and lesson out there. But LM really enjoys music (currently he is a big fan of reggae) so we thought he'd enjoy the instruments and play time with other children.

During his first class, the 4 other students, all little girls, sat sweetly and demurely in their mommy's laps. While they delicately shook their egg shakers, LM was busting around the room hooting and hollering, dumped over the egg shaker bin in the center of the circle, and then proceeded to body surf on them. He had the sweetest grin on his face too!

To be fair, he's the only walker in the group, and who wants to sit when you can run? Daddy did a great job of baby wrangling and LM seemed to particularly enjoy playing any instrument that had sticks. Daddy got whacked more than a few times. Can't wait to see next week's exploits.

We also had our first home visit with our social worker. We have three of these to do before we can finalize the adoption. I think the visit went off well. We chatted for about an hour, talking about the family's adjustment, grieving, etc. It's still a bit unnerving to have someone write notes about things you are saying but I reminded myself that she's a person we trust and she has been such a help throughout this process. So, one down, two to go!

Have a super weekend!


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This week, we are celebrating new families. (Was it only 5-weeks ago that we became a family???)

Congratulations to Rachel and Brad (Inconceivable Joy) and Lauren and Eric (How the Bush Grows), and Dave and Cindy (Our Adoption Journey) from who brought their children home this week! Check out their blogs for the details and to congratulate them yourself!

And, get some tissues, because here's a selection of gotcha day videos:


Park Family 5 Family Day Video

Olivia's Gotcha Day!

To sing, and to dance

Maya's Gotcha Day

Be a dear and vote for us!