Ian turned 2 last Sunday and we had his party this past Saturday.  I thought you might enjoy seeing some recent pictures of the little guy:

The first two pictures are of one of his first attempts at getting dirty in the backyard.  If any of my marketing buddies are reading this, I was on a conference call in the backyard, while Ian was playing!   Wal-mart made his cake (cause this Mama simply doesn't have the time anymore!)  It was made of cupcakes~ I was impressed with it~ it was much easier to serve, and very inexpensive.  Plus, of course, Ian was thrilled with the Cars theme.  Notice his orange t-shirt~ it says "My parents are exhausted"! LOL

Ian went for his 2-year well-baby visit today.  He's really growing!  He weighed in at 28 pounds (49th %) and is 35 3/4" tall (80th %).  He's bigger than either of the girls were at 2 years.  He's not chubby, he's just VERY solid!  Aside from a runny nose (that just started yesterday, after an illness-free winter) his doctor said "he's perfect!"  We think so too!

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....IAN'S 2nd BIRTHDAY!!!

Those of you who journeyed with me through the whole adoption process, can you believe Ian is 2 already?!  Time sure does fly when you're having fun!

I didn't have time to blog about him yesterday.  We had a weekend-long youth retreat at our church;  so we were busy with that all weekend.  Yesterday afternoon, we took Crystal's girls back home and had to run a few errands.  Due to the busy weekend, we had decided to postpone Ian's birthday celebration until next weekend~ his party will be on Saturday (the 26th). 

We did give him his gifts last night.  We got him a Little Touch Leap Pad system and 2 books.  Thanks to my friend Isabelle for sharing a coupon code and a great sale at Leap Frog, we got a fantastic deal on all of this.  And Ian loves it!  Let's face it, the child loves anything that makes noise!  And the fact that this has a volume control makes it 10 times more appealing to him!  LOL

My parents got him a wagon full of Mega blocks and some cute clothes- Cars swimming trunks (which Ian has been eyeing up at Wal-mart for weeks!), a Cars t-shirt, a pair of khaki shorts, and an orange t-shirt that says "my parents are exhausted"!  (that just pretty much sums it up, huh?!)

Today he got a package in the mail from my friend Charity.  She sent him a cute sippy cup from the Disney store and a precious little dress shirt (yes, they're both Cars too!)  Ian is Lightning McQueen's biggest fan!  LOL

I'll share pictures after the party.

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Last fall, I posted pictures of Ian's first haircut~ the one that Ashley and I gave him with the clippers.  Well, he's now approaching his 2nd birthday and he was long overdue for a *real* haircut.  I have Nancy's Haircuts for Little Men E-Book and though I know others are using it with great success, I'm just to scared to try!

Last week, our little town got a new barbershop~ after being barber-less for 20 years!  So, this morning, Ian and I went to check it out~ and Ian got his haircut.  I wasn't sure how he'd react, but he just sat on my lap and was very quiet.  He wasn't necessarily still;  but, fortunately, the  barber was patient and so sweet.  Ian will definitely be a regular.

Here's a picture Ashley took of him this afternoon~ sporting his new 'do:

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As most of you know, Ian has been a man of few words.  It's amazing how much his signing vocabulary has expanded over the months~ he has learned signs that we never taught him and he's even made up a few of his own.  Too cute!

However, what's even cuter is that, in just the past few days, he's added a TON of spoken words!  Sure, he was saying Dada, Mama, Poppa (my dad), ball, cars, and tickle.  But, now he's also saying Mimi (my mom who was thinking he'd never call her anything!), Ash, Gigi (for Gracie), cheese, football, juice, and he's even been attempting "love you"!  Of course, we're all going crazy.  We watch him like some kind of museum exhibit, and we're in awe every time he says a new word!  LOL

We'll have to try to get some video footage to share.

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I've been meaning to post an update on Ian's sleeping habits, but just keep forgetting!  Maybe that's because I've  been getting so many full nights of sleep (so I'm not awake half the night thinking!) 

Anyway, Ian has decided that he definitely doesn't want to give up our rocking time before bed each night (yeah for me!) BUT he has been sleeping ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT!  Now, for this mama who hasn't had a single full night of sleep in well over a year (since bringing Ian home), I'm enjoying the fact that we've now gone MORE THAN A WEEK with him sleeping ALL NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT!  This is amazing stuff, ladies!  The stuff dreams are made of (no pun intended~ well, maybe a little! )

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We've never tried sharing a video before~
actually, not one we've taken.
Truth be told, up until this very day,
I never even used the video feature on my camera!
But, here's proof that Ian can sign!
I thought you'd enjoy it.

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Does anyone remember the above mentioned quilt?  Back when we were waiting to adopt Ian, and I was still blogging at my HeidiHomeschools blog, we were collecting "good wishes" and quilt squares for a quilt for Ian.  Several of my  blogging buddies here at HSB sent quilt squares, along with friends from church, family members, and some fellow waiting-to-adopt families.  We got so many good wishes and pieces of material~ well over the 100 squares we were hoping for.

Well, I finally got up the courage to start sewing.  With Ashley and Gracie's help, we sewed for a few hours last night, and again this morning;  and we have the whole quilt top finished!  We have 120 7" squares, sewn into 12 rows of 10 squares each.  We just need to put a border around it yet, to finish the top!  I wish I had a place big enough to lay it out and take a picture of it.  I know some of you would recognize your material!

Anyway, when it's all done, I'll be sure to hang it up somewhere and snap a picture to share.  It's exciting to finally be working on it.  And, it's been such a blessing to me as I've been ironing and sewing the squares, remembering who sent them.  Ashley read through the wishes this morning, and I had tears in my eyes as she read.  Everyone who was so supportive of us and Ian's adoption~ sending up prayers for him and love for us.  Wow, we have been so blessed! 

Edited to add:  We decided to spread it out on the living room floor and take a picture.  So, here's what it looks like at this point.  Can you pick out YOUR fabric?

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....to everyone who gave feedback on
"the family bed"~

I loved getting the  various opinions~
everyone was so kind in their comments.

On a very positive note.....
we had a bit of a misunderstanding at our house yesterday
(that doesn't sound very positive, does it?)

I asked Brian if we could set up a bed in Ian's room~
I meant *in addition to* his crib~
but his room is rather small and Brian couldn't imagine such a thing.

So, while Ashley and I were at the eye doctor,
he surprised up by taking down the crib and setting up the bed.

I was really wondering what kind of a night we might have~
trying to keep Ian in a bed.

Guess what?!
That little guy slept in his *big boy bed* from 11pm 'til 6:30am!

(Mimi & Poppy came home with Lightning McQueen
sheets and a blanket today~
which should be even more enticing!)

I'll keep you posted.......

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Ian!

Today is the one year anniverary of my meeting Ian for the first time. 

I thought you might enjoy a "snippet" from my blog post last year,
from Vietnam:

 Well, we got up early this morning, had breakfast on the 10th floor of the hotel, and went to Bac Ninh to the orphanage.  We got the babies and went straight to our Giving & Receiving Ceremony.  Everything went smoothly and well.

Ian was sleeping when we got to the orphanage (in a crib!  but not like our "western" cribs)  So, our first picture of him~ he is sleeping.  He is a very chubby little guy~ nice round belly~ his primary caregiver kept rubbing it and saying something that I'm sure must mean "chubby".  We haven't heard him cry yet~ he's been very pleasant~ smiles alot and even laughs out loud.  Oh, and get this~ he has 6 teeth~ not just the two we could see in the last picture~ 2 on bottom and 4 on top! 

Our room at the hotel is nice. It's only got 2 twin beds and we were wondering where we would put Ian to sleep.  One of the ladies on the trip asked to switch rooms~ her room is in the front and gets alot of the street noises~ so she's moving to the "big bedroom" and she said she'd be willing to trade with us.  Hopefully we can accomplish that switch later this afternoon. 

Well, I guess we'll go introduce Ian to the hotel!

Here's the first glimpse I got of him:

And our happy reunion as Mother & Son:

Boy, how he has grown!

Happy Anniversary, Ian!
Mommy loves you very much and can't imagine life without YOU in it!

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It's been a few months since I updated on Ian and his communication skills.  Ian will be 18 months old in 9 days!  Wow~ he's growing up so fast.  He is still not saying anything but "uh-oh".  He's definitely a man of few words, but he knows how to get his point across. 

He is now signing "more", "eat", "drink" (but he has his own sign for this, which is more a click of the tongue than an actual sign), "diaper", "Daddy","Mommy", "ball", "milk", "blanket" and "bath".  Let me tell you~ it's so darn cute to see him doing his signs! 

Somedays we get frustrated and wish he could just TELL us what he wants in words, but I'm sure that will come soon enough.  For now, I'm not really worried.  He understands EVERYTHING we say.  Sometimes he even surprises us with the things he understands~ things we're just discussing, not directly with him~ and he will bring us something that relates to the discussion.

Anyway, he's certainly alot of fun!

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