Special Moments

Last Saturday, we had the pleasure of celebrating a birthday with one of our adoption class friends. Their son turned one year, and invited us to his birthday party! It is the first time we've gotten together with anyone from the class since it ended last year. It was so awesome to catch up with them and hear about their experience (which was strangely similar to ours). I'm hopeful that we can keep in touch with other families from the class too. I think it will be important for CJ to have other friends that were adopted. Maybe it's not as important now, but when he realizes what adoption means, I would like him to have other people in his life who have a similar experience. He may not care, but I'd like it to be an option for him. Here's a picture of CJ & Michael in the pool with their Dads.



Last Monday, CJ and I also shared a moment that I will probably not forget...his first boo boo. He was cruising around the living room in his walker when he found the end table. As he tried to pull everything off of it, he bumped his head on the table (just above his eye). It was one of those slow-motion moments when you know something bad is going to happen but you can't do anything about it. That poor child screamed as if I had cut off an arm. I went over to him and he held up his arms to me. That alone made my heart melt, but then he nuzzled his head into my shoulder after I picked him up. It was the first time that I really felt that I was comforting him. Don't get me wrong, there have been many times when he's cried and I've held him to calm him down. I don't know what made this different, but it was. Obviously my goal is to help him avoid pain, but it was still a moment that we shared.


On Saturday, I had some time alone with CJ while Matt was on his staff retreat. At a few different points, I stopped what I was doing and just watched CJ. I was in complete awe of him. Over the past few weeks, it seems like he is grasping more concepts and understanding more about life. It is so fun to watch him put things together in his mind, or respond to something that I do. Even the small things are amazing to me.


As I was staring at him, I decided to reach into his mouth to see if he had made any progress on a tooth. We knew it would be coming soon, but it didn't seem to be in rush. What do you think I found as I reached in...a tooth that had cut through! I actually teared up a little (please don't make fun of me). My little man is growing up! I was so excited that I pried open his mouth so that I could actually see it. This was not an easy feat because his tongue is constantly in the way. I immediately texted Matt and then, of course, posted it on Facebook. I was pretty amazed that we hadn't experienced any crazy crying or pain. I've heard some horror stories about teething. Well, apparently, the pain was waiting just a bit longer because last night (Sunday) around 4pm he went nuts. You could tell that he was in an extreme amount of pain, and there was no consoling him. We tried the teething tabs (which didn't do anything), Orajel (ditto), and finally ended with Tylenol (which did the trick). In between each attempt, we would put a washcloth in ice water and then let him suck on it. That seemed to help for short periods of time. I felt terrible that we weren't able to do anything more for him. Thankfully, around 6pm the pain had subsided and he was back to his jolly self.


The next milestone will probably be some form of crawling. He is so close...


17 days until our finalization!

Have baby, will travel

We recently returned home after a crazy, but awesome, weekend in Moorhead, MN. We flew out to be a part of my sister Liz's wedding. I will admit that the idea of flying a baby halfway across the country terrified me. I think I was more sensitive about it because I had just read an article about how some people are trying to ban babies from flights, stores, etc. I definitely didn't want to be "that family" who was disrupting the entire flight. I finally realized that CJ has never given us reason to worry about his behavior in the past, so why should this be any different?

Packing was made much easier since we were flying Southwest and didn't have to worry about paying for checked bags. I didn't have to worry about what to bring and what not to bring. While most of his stuff was packed into our checked bags, we had plenty to keep him occupied in his diaper bag. I didn't want to pack too much and put him into sensory overload. We were already going to be in a new environment, so he'd have plenty to keep him interested around the plane. We made sure to have a few pacifiers, food, books and toys. With diaper supplies, a burp cloth and blanket, we were ready to go.

As we boarded for the first leg of the trip, you could see the look on people's faces. "Oh man, someone is bringing a baby on board. Now I'll never be able to rest!" I was determined to prove them wrong. As soon as the plane started, CJ fell asleep. He woke up about 30 minutes before landing, which was time for a bottle, and so most people didn't even realize that we had a baby in our row. The trip from Denver to Minneapolis was about the same. He fell asleep for take off, and then played with his toys once he woke up. You better believe I was thanking God for making CJ so easygoing!





I would say the hardest parts of the trip were driving the four hours from Minneapolis to Fargo, and back again. Both ways we just found places to stop so that he wasn't in his car seat for too long. The biggest worry for me came on Saturday night/Sunday morning. He woke up in the middle of the night, clearly uncomfortable. He was practically inconsolable. We think a tooth is getting close to the surface, so he was probably in a lot of pain. A little bit of baby Tylenol did the trick that night, but what was going to happen on the flights home? To make matters worse, our flight from Chicago was delayed. Thankfully, he did very well on the way home. We had one brief outburst at the very end. He was actually asleep when that happened, but got quiet quickly.

Regardless of the amount of travel required, it was simply amazing to watch him with my family. At our last home visit, Sharon asked us how our family has received CJ. This weekend was just a shining example of how he has been welcomed with open arms and hearts. Everyone clearly loves him, and he clearly loves each of them. I look forward to when he's a bit older and can play with cousin Miles. I have a feeling that those two boys will get themselves into some trouble! :)

31 days until our finalization!