Merry Christmas

A year ago

Just one short year ago yesterday in a court room on the other side of the world, Steve and I were named Andrei's parents. Looking back it is hard to believe he's only been part of our family for a year yet so much has happened in that year it's hard to believe it's only been a year. We didn't initially believe everyone when the said that the pain of the wait would go away with time but it does. It's really hard to remember back to those days of anxiously waiting for any type of news.

There are plenty of new challenges, especially to new parents of a 2 1/2 year old boy, but we are thrilled to take them on. Andrei is really turning into his own little person with his own ideas.

We spent our one year anniversay with a quiet day at home, just the three of us, decorating the house for Christmas with a "big, big, tree with balls" and "big, big, socks" which Andrei proceeded to try on his little feet.

So here is one picture from last year and another from this weekend just to see the wonderful transformation in our little guy.

I'm not doing anything...

Remember a few months ago - we put the toddler rail on Andrei's crib - not because he was wanting to climb out, but because we felt he was ready for the next step in his move to a big boy bed.

Andrei's been adjusting well and loves his new found freedom and ability to get in and out of bed as he wishes. This has been working pretty well except for a few nights when he gets out of bed and wants to keep playing all night long.

Except, the other day during naptime, Steve and I heard some odd noises coming out of Andrei's room. We walk in quietly and witness the following activity. We were able to stifle our giggles enough to run and get the camera to capture the moment on film.




As soon as Andrei heard the camera go off, we quickly get this look.



He's really getting the "I'm not doing anything I'm not supposed to what makes you think that" look down. Along with the shoulder shrug with a I don't know for selected questions from mom and dad. He's even realized that he can blame the dog for certain activities. Our little guy is really growing up fast, but where does he learn this stuff?

Welcome to our newest family member

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Originally uploaded by yorkiemom

Sasha the kitten -

We got Sasha last weekend from a rescue organization and he's a 16 week old kitten who is an absolute delight. What's best is he and Andrei occupy each other for hours playing games like hide and seek or chase.

Ever since we brought Andrei home, we've noticed that he is extremely gentle with animals including Chianti and our old cat Merlot. Unfortunately a few weeks ago we had to put our lovely kitty Merlot to sleep, she was 15 1/2 years old and was a great cat but getting old and had some serious health issues.

Since Andrei loves animals so much we decided to get another cat and again went through a rescue organization to add Sasha to the family. Sasha will definitely add a new angle to the Andrei stories.

Andrei's first pumpkin patch visit

A couple of weekends ago, we took Andrei to a local pumpking patch for his first visit. The story is best told in pictures:


First we started out with his first pony ride. When we saw the ponies, he really wanted to ride one, but once I paid for the ride and we were waiting in line, Andrei wasn't so sure. From the look on his face, it looks like he enjoyed himself.



Next we picked out our pumpkin. Boy this was a big one, but it was all Andrei's:



Since it was his, he wanted to pull the wagon himself. That is one determined boy.



In the end, that was exhausting work, so mom needed to help while the boy got to ride.