One Year Old!

We had been told by our social worker that an update usually came about a month after a child's first birthday.  As you can imagine, I was thrilled to get new pictures of our baby just one DAY after he turned one.

And it made my heart even happier to see that he got the package we sent him for his birthday right on time.  We haven't gotten pictures of him opening any of our previous packages, so we don't even know for sure if they made it there.  I was so glad to see that he got this one and that he got it for his birthday!  

Here's a picture of what's inside.  More disposable cameras, another photo album with pictures of us inside, a first birthday onesie, a recordable story book, and a kit to capture his hand and foot prints.

This book is so precious.  C has had it for awhile and I was excited to see a recordable version to send to lil' peanut.  And a huge thanks to my friend Grace, her hubby, and her mother-in-law for doing the translation.  I love that our babe's foster family will be able to read the book to him in Korean and know what we're saying.

It looks like he's playing with the frames for his hand/foot prints.  Hubby said, "He looks angry.  He must not have liked what you sent."  Ha!  He's probably thinking "Picture frames?  Where my toys at?!?"

I want to kiss those chubby cheeks so bad!!!

I love that he still has his crazy hair!  That was the first thing I said when we saw his referral picture, "Look at his hair!"  We're going to have to bust out the hair gel when he comes home. ;)

I can't believe how big he's getting.  He was such a tiny little peanut in his referral picture (hence the nickname) and now he weighs 20 lbs 8 oz. and he is 28.8 inches tall!  Oh, we love you so much already little one!!! 

First Birthday Celebration!

My emotions were running high on our little boy's first birthday.  I'm still processing some of those feelings, so not gonna try to write about them today.  Despite whatever else I was feeling, I was happy on Monday and we had reason to celebrate!  Our baby boy turned one year old!   So, celebrate we did.  We went with my parents and our good friends to Shin Chon Garden Restaurant for dinner.

C spent most of his time perfecting his chopstick grip by snatching ice cubes out of his glass.
He had expressed his desire to eat at Panera over a Korean restaurant multiple times throughout the day.  I told him it was ok if he didn't like the food...but that he would still be expected to sit at the table (without whining) until everyone was finished.  He ate his first bite with gusto.  Unfortunately, it was something he didn't care for so after that I had a hard time convincing him to take even a tiny bite of rice.  We all shared some bulgogi (the meat being cooked at the table) and my mom, Grace, and I all ordered dolsot bibimbap (the bowl of yumminess below the meat...promise it tastes better than it looks).

This was my folks' first time having Korean food, and they were great sports.  I had my doubts when I looked up to see the expression on my mom's face while she perused the menu. ;)  But, they tried a lot of new things and found some stuff they liked.  I tried some new things too.  I've had bulgogi and bibimbap before, but this time I branched out and tried almost all of the little side dishes.  Whew, some of those flavors are intense.  I felt better after our friend Andy remarked that he wasn't sure how someone who didn't grow up eating kimchi and the like, could come to appreciate it.  It's kind of an acquired taste, he said.  I would have to agree. ;)

As you can tell, C has some mad chopstick skillz.  Mine, on the other hand, are sub par.

Group shot!

After dinner we headed back home for some Georgetown cupcakes.  Oh, yum.

I told the kids to sing happy birthday super loud so lil' peanut could hear us all the way in Korea.

This girl kills me with her cuteness. :)

C was very excited to open peanut's present for him.  I think he was hoping for some toys that he could claim as his own until his brother gets here...but Nana's gifts were practical (which I appreciated) :)
It was so nice to have my parents and our friends join us on this special day.  And for those of you who sent a text or a facebook message wishing our boy a happy birthday, I truly appreciate that.  Coming off the heels of C's birthday, it was hard going out to a mailbox that was depressingly empty.  Of course our little one doesn't need anything for his birthday.  No cards or toys, clothes or money.  But, this mama needed to know that her baby was being thought of and loved on even from a distance. 

C's birthday party!

Last year we had C's party at the park.  I thought it was great, but when it came time to plan his party this year hubby's true feelings came out.  "It was too hot, everyone was sweating to death.  And it was awkward having it at a public place.  Let's just do it at our house."  Well, we have virtually no yard and I wasn't crazy aobut the idea of having a bunch of kids cooped up inside.  Our compromise...C's gymnastics school.  They do private parties on Sundays so a couple of months ago, we booked our slot.  Hurricane Irene threatened to ruin our plans.  Saturday afternoon we got a call from the school asking if we wanted to reschedule the party because of the weather forecast.  They said it was up to us, but I definitely sensed some pressure to call it off.  The storm was supposed to be out of our area by party time, so my concern was power outages.  They told me they could call by 9 am Sunday morning and let us know whether or not the school had power.  That night the storm came through and was much milder than what our area had been expecting.  Our cable went out, but we never lost power.  There was a lot of rain and some wind, but nothing too serious.  Sunday morning we assumed we were good to go.  Then we get a call from the owner of the gymanstics school saying something about not being able to get to the school and we would probably need to cancel.  Hubby said it sounded to him like an excuse and decided to drive to the school and check it out himself.  He made it there with no problems and called the owner back.

"Why exactly did you want to cancel the party?"

"Uh, because of the weather."

"I'm outside the school right now and the weather's fine."

"Oh, well the roads."

"Yep, roads are fine."

"Um, we have debris in our drive and have to clear it."

"Honestly I don't care about the crap in your driveway.  You're running a business here and you committed to have this party today."

"Oh, ok.  So you would like to have the party today?"

Sheesh.  The party went on as planned!

He wanted to bring his owl hat to his owl party.

He spotted that beeswax candle at a farmer's market awhile back and had to have it for his owl party. :)

I think the party was a success!  Everyone had a great time!  And I do mean everyone.

The adults weren't supposed to be playing on the equipment.  So, after getting reprimanded several times, they just started doing it when the owner wasn't looking.

A bunch of daredevils they are.

I managed to get a picture of all the kiddos together.  I love this one because all the boys are making silly faces (like we asked) and all the girls are giving the boys a collective stink eye. :) 

After the party we came home and C opened up his cards and gifts from extended family.

After playing with his new race track for awhile we headed to Toys 'R Us where he spent the entire wad of cash he'd acquired from all those birthday cards.  A Cars 2 spy jet, new race car, and one giant remote control tarantula later we wrapped up the birthday celebrating with dinner at Applebee's.  It was a fun day spent celebrating our favorite five year old!

My baby boy is FIVE!

How did we even get to this day?!?  My sweet, adventerous, social, stubborn, tender-hearted firstborn is FIVE years old!  I loved this child something fierce when he was placed in my arms the day he was born.  And today, I love him even more.  I love watching him develop into his own person.  I regularly learn something new about him and I find that the more fully I know him, the deeper my love grows.  My heart just might burst with it by the time he's a teenager!  (Maybe that's God's way of making sure we don't throw our teenagers out onto the street when they're driving us crazy)  Not that this child would ever do that...he's way too sweet to go through a rebellious stage, right?  Right?!? ;)

He had been looking forward to his birthday breakfast...chocolate chip pancakes and a Batman candle!

Opening his gift from us.

I had big plans for my little man's big day.  Plans that came to a screeching halt when I fractured my little toe at 6 am.  So, instead of heading to the train museum, we were headed to the clinic. :(

Thankfully Daddy came and rescued him while we were still in the waiting room.  And while I spent a good part of the day seeing doctors/getting xrays/WAITING...the hubby took C to the mall for some birthday fun.

By evening, I had my special shoe and crutches and was ready to go.  C chose to have his birthday dinner at Red Robin.  We were fully prepared to have to eat at McDonald's, but he picked Red Robin because "I can get a balloon there and they like clap for you when it's your birthday." :)

Enjoying the applause. :)

Not letting any of that ice cream go to waste.

Happy 5th birthday C!  You bring such joy into our lives and we love you so much!!!