a trip to Spokane

Michael is certainly going to take after his Dad and have the travel bug. Last Sunday we hopped on a plane to go be with John's Dad while he had open heart surgery. He did fabulous, sleeping on both the trip there and trip back after an initial fussing. He got to meet his other set of grandparents, an aunt, a cousin, and a great aunt. He is a very social guy and flirted with all the nurses.

Tomorrow we are going to the cousin's school fair. I hope to have more pictures then. Meanwhile, life is good. Michael sleeps 8-9 hours a nite and if I go to bed at a reasonable hour, I get good rest. On the trip however, we had one nite of unexplained crying, after 2 45 minute boughts of crying, trying to rock him, walk him, I was finally able to get him to sleep while cuddling him on his side in bed.
He can sit up pretty well now and he's caught up with his fine motor skills. You are not going to recognize our butterball who now has good baby fat for his brain!

Trip to the Doctor

Michael had his 6 month well baby check on Tuesday. It went well until he had to get some of his immumunizations and have his blood drawn. My friend Cindy visiting from Alaska who happens to be a nurse kindly volunteered to take Michael in for his blood draw. Thank God, apparently there was blood all over, his head, her shirt, and all I could do was sit in the waiting room and hear him cry while tears rolled down my face...
Anyway, all went well.
Michaels vital statistics were
23 inches, 17 lbs 15 oz, 42 cm head circumference
prior statistics when we picked him up were
21 inches, 11 lbs 9 oz, 41 head circumference Kyrgyzstan measured.
We can't believe how much he has grown in the last month, we went from newborn clothes to 6 month clothes, size 1 to size 3 diapers. We call him our Buddha baby:)
I thought she was nice until she gave me 3 shots, ouch!

I love to eat:)

Mommy loves me!!
I tuckerd my Daddy out!

More pics in Sept!!

I Love my thumb!!

Diaper blowout, cast emergency, take it off!!

I love my Lolo!

I love my Lola!

A day at the State Fair!!

Pics you've been waiting for!

2 days home and tired!

Surprise Shower froms John's colleague and nurses at work!

Give me some cake!

Meeting Michael!

Cousin Rebecca

Can't believe it's been a month!!

WE can't believe that we've had our little Michael now for a month!!! I know you want pictures but I have to do it when I can sneak it in. Adjusting to life with baby has been a transtion from footloose and fancy free. We've also had my parents in the last 2 weeks, and another friend from Alaska coming in this week, and off to Washington next week. Maybe then I can get some real posts in.

Michael is doing fantastic. Did well at his post adoption international adoption clinic appointment on the 22nd, and had gained 3 lbs in 2 weeks at that point. I'm sure he's gained a pound since then since we've had to switch to a bigger size in diapers and clothes!!! He's learned about his hands and stares at them, rolls, and discovered that when he kicks his cast on a koala kare diaper changing station it makes noise!!! WOW!!! He's casted because he was born with a left club foot. More common than you think. It may be caused by low amniotic fluid where the babies foot gets stuck in a certain position and is unable to move so the tendons don't get a chance to stretch in utero. Or maybe they don't know why. It's just as common here as in other countries. Needless to say, in some countries these do not get fixed and babies have learned to adapt and walk, club foot, feet, or not! It's amazing. We are blessed to be able to fix Michael's. He'll be casted until the 1st week of October, and then the orthopod will evaluate whether or not he will need surgery. It was rated moderate on a scale of mild to severe. WE pray for God's miraculous healing so we do not have to have surgery. Since we live in the country, we commute about an hour each way, last week we had to do 2 trips because he had blowouts into his cast, and he had to get a new one!! He tolerates it well, we hope he does well with the bar he will have to wear as long as possible. Meanwhile, it really is a cute cast!!!

I'll post pictures of our little no neck when I get a chance:)