Eye Candy of the Junior Mint

One of my nicknames for his is "The Junior Mint".

On this morning I noticed my son is GIGANTIC!!! Where did my baby go??

I spend my days separating him and the dog. They just want to love on each other but it ends with one or both of them getting PO'd! Plus nothing is as much fun as a dog toy right?

His last month's birthday portrait. Attitude all the way! He ripped off his sock and flipped up his collar!

Is he going to bite me or kiss me? It's hard to tell. LOVE LOVE LOVE him!!

It's been forever

I know. I'm a horrible blogger. Heath is 10 mo now. He's creeping along the sofa and anything else that is nailed down. He can pull himself up. He's not yet taking independent steps. He does this crab crawl where he has his right leg up. He can REALLY move!

The dog is terrified. They're about the same size. Heath has a snotty face cold. Several times yesterday the dog was trying to lick him clean. I had to separate them. Of course if I tried to get snot off his face he screamed bloody murder. The dog though? Peals of laughter.

He's got his two bottom teeth and his top four front teeth. He's working on more. I think it's two more on top!

He's an eating machine. He loves the Ger.ber crunchies and orange foods. He's not real excited about mixes of stuff. From the way they smell I can't blame him.

His birthmom has moved with no forwarding address. We're still FB friends so I follow her on there. I'm putting pictures and letters in an envelope for her for if/when we see her again. I'm tagging photos for her and she hasn't been untagging herself.

We went to a bank dinner last night. Old high school friends of my parents were there. They have 4 adopted children. They used Cath.olic Charities in the late 60's and early 70's. They went and met with someone for the diocese for about an hour or so. Then they waited. And a few months later they had a newborn. SEriously. I think the way it is now is MUCH better. ONe of their children (that she mentioned) is in contact with her birth grandmother. The birth parents refused to see her or have contact with her after she wouldn't list them as grandparents in her son's baptism program. I find it interesting how many people I know that are touched by adoption that I never knew.

5x7 Folded Card

Picture In Portrait 5x7 folded card

Shutterfly offers custom St. Patrick's Day cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Vacation!

We went to Maine. It was awesome. Heath did great on the plane. Not a peep. He charmed everyone along the way.

We are so blessed!

Random Thoughts

Hey everyone! We do still live and breathe over here (and squirm and shriek and giggle and cry). Heath is doing awesome although he has a hacking cough currently. Hopefully, it's a cold and not allergies. The pollen count is out of control in these parts.

• I'm really working to get him to say "mama". I will be crushed if he says "papa" first. Mr H has already had 4 chances at that. This appears to be my only chance.




• Heath's birthmom has lots going on. I'm concerned she's going to move and we're going to lose contact with her. i try to write things down for and save pictures she posts for Heath in case that does happen.




• I see she's sold the bed we bought her - which of course is her right, it's her bed but I'm annoyed because getting the damn thing was a three week and very costly drama last summer.




• Heath is allergic to fruit. Every single thing I've given him has caused blotches on his face and head. We'll try again in a few months.




• He's eating 1 to 2 containers of Gerb.er stage one veggies a day. He's still drinking probably 40 oz of formula and is having a handful of puffs.




• He loves to stand and to bounce. Of course he can't do any of those unaided.




• MC hasn't asked for a visitation and she's got so much going on right now that I don't think it's a good time. I'm not sure if I'm the one that should suggest visits or if it's up to her. I realize there's no rules or guidelines. It's kind of like with Mr H's kids' mother I don't feel it's my job to enforce visits with her. ugh.

Practically 7 months old

Jr is practically seven months old.

I can't believe it!

He sits up on his own (sort of).

He eats squash, sweet potatos, peas, and appears allergic to bananas.

His two bottom front teeth has broken through.

He's the light of my life.

I don't know what to say. I'm just being a parent. I don't think about the adoption all that much. I tell him about his birthparents. I wonder about his birthparents. I try to decipher their FB stati (plural of status). I cringe when I get an email from them because it's usually a plea for money. I did send her a phone card last month. I helped her to find local resources to help her out. I did not give her cash like she requested repeatedly. She told me she loved us anyway.

I can't make her make good choices.

I think about the type of relationship we have. I don't know what it is. I send her updates and pictures monthly. She asked for videos of him. I took a bunch and sent them today. She doesn't share much - which is her right. I wish I knew more about her. Things I could tell her son. She's not a letter writer or an emailer or much of a talker (at least with me). Truth be told I don't think we have much of a relationship.

So these are the things I do think about. It's draining. I know she misses him and loves him.

I read a birthmother blog today where the write posted that she believes adopted parents realize that the child is never "fully theirs". So now I'm ruminating on that.

I know this is all over the place. Maybe because I'm out of practice.

5 months old

March 1, 2010

Dear Heath~

You are 5 months old today (well, yesterday – but there was no February 29th this year so it's today). You continue to delight and amaze us!

You're sleeping through the night almost constantly. We give you a bottle around 5 or 6 pm and put you in your jammies (most of which you are quickly outgrowing!). Between 7 or 8 pm you fall asleep for the night.We usually don't have to get up with you until 430 or 5 in the morning! The pack and play is still in our bedroom so you're very easy to get to!

The exersaucer is your favorite piece of equipment. You can pull the things to make noise and music. You love to lurch back and forth in it while throwing your hands up in the air, squealing and smiling. Today, I thought you were going to flip it you had it rocking so much! You've just started to laugh occasionally. It's the best sound in the world and squeezes my heart!

You HATE to miss anything. You're constantly looking around, craning your neck and twisting your body to follow the puppy, papa, me or Nicky. When it's time to go to sleep you fuss and cry while rubbing your eyes and kicking your feet. It goes on and on and the POOF! All the sudden it stops and you are conked out. Pulling your blanket, lovey, or bib up over your face and eyes is a favorite thing to do. If we dare to pull them down or move then away from your face or mouth you wake up and glare at us! It makes us laugh everytime.

We've tried giving you cereal for a month now. Horrified is the best way to describe. I managed to capture your expression on film. It's priceless! Although, you love to eat, cereal is not cutting it. Sometimes with your bottle you're eating 8oz of formula. You've just started pushing the bottle away if you're not interested or jamming it back in your mouth if you want more.

I've been calling you “rootie toot toot” because of how gassy and stinky you are! Sometimes the puppy will even leave the room – and he LOVES stinky stuff!

We finally got your social security card in the mail. The next step is to go and get your passport. You and I went to the photographer here in town to get your passport pictures taken. The photographer said they were the cutest baby passport pictures he'd ever taken in 25 years!

Your birthmom loves you and misses you. She called the other night to make sure you were o.k. (you were). She said to give you “lots of loves”.

We need to measure and weigh you again. It seems like you are much bigger (and longer) all of the sudden.

Heath, you are such a delight. We love you to pieces! We can't believe you've been ours for 5 months already!

Love,

Mama and Papa