Favorite Photo Friday #60

Apparently we haven't taught Bryson how to put sunglasses on

Longer with us

Bryson spent 470 days in a hospital and baby home in Novosibirsk, Russia. As of today, he has spend 475 days with us. It is a huge thing that he has now been with us longer than he was in Russia.

My baby is now 31 months old and continues to grow before our eyes. He picks up on things quickly which is why we can't do much around him unless we want B to copy us. He loves to inspect things and to see how they work or operate. We might have a future engineer on our hands.

I haven't tackled the potty training yet. I hope to do so in the next few weeks. Every week I say that I will start next week, but it hasn't happened yet. Still trying to decide how I want to go about doing it. His eating hasn't changed one bit. I also plan in the next couple of weeks to just basically offer him an actual meal and if he doesn't eat it, then he goes without food. I know that this will cause lots of tantrums and crying which is right I am not ready to deal with it just yet.

Favorite Photo Friday #59

Grammy, Bryson & cousin Destiny

Bryson's first show

Sunday daddy, mommy and Oma took Bryson to see Disney on Ice. I had no idea if he would enjoy it or even sit still, but I was pleasantly surprised. He got a little scared when the lights went out in the beginning, but quickly got into it. His mouth dropped open when Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy came out on stage. Next up was his favorite...the Cars. After they left the stage, he kept asking where the cars went. I think he second favorite was Lion King. He was sitting on Oma's lap and dancing like crazy. It was a cute show and we all enjoyed it.

Happy Mother's Day

Once again, I am little late on posting. I had a very nice Mother's day weekend. My MIL got off a cruise at the port near us early Saturday morning, so she stopped by our house for a quick visit on her way home. Later that afternoon we went to my grandparents lakehouse and barbecued with my aunt, uncle and cousins. On Sunday, my parents, brothers and sister joined us at our local water park. We all really enjoyed ourselves and of course Bryson was in heaven because he was surrounded by water. I think he may be part fish. B also got me this wonderful book (courtesy of my mom) full of pictures of him and I only.

This was my second Mother's day, but it was just as special as last years. I feel so blessed and fortunate to be B's mother. All the heartaches of our infertility, adoption bumps, etc are such a distant memory now. I feel like each day my love for him grows and deepens. He truly makes my life complete (though I still want a daughter). His laughs, giggles, faces, moods all bring such joy to my life. I almost cannot remember what my life was like before he was here. He keeps me on my toes every second of the day and his teachers say the same thing.

He is a great example of a mommy's boy, especially in recent weeks. Since we have gotten back from NC, B has been attached to my leg…literally. There is not much I can do without him by my side. He won't let anyone really hold him or do much for him, even poor daddy who is struggling with this. He walks around the house yelling mommy. If Shane even tries to change his diaper, I hear him upstairs yelling "mommy, mommy."

I also want to say congrats to my friends Amy who just brought home their beautiful son LM and Ann who had a successful first trip meeting her son!

Favorite Photo Friday #58

Favorite Photo Friday #57

Bryson doing what he does best, whinning

Happy belated birthday to me & our trip to NC

I started this post on Tuesday, but am just now getting around to posting it (Friday). For several days leading up to leaving, I kept telling Bryson that we were going to fly on a plane to visit Sabrina. Friday morning, Shane brought us to the airport and B happily waved good-bye. I let him run around the airport a little in hopes that he would burn off all his energy before boarding. We first sat near the water drinking fountains, so we had to move seats. Then we sat near the snack cart and before I realized it, B had ran off with a bag of peanut M&M's. Right before they began boarding, I pulled out our boarding passes and set them on top of our bag. I turned my head for one second and I guess B thought they were garbage and was off running to throw them away. I tried catching him, but wasn't quick enough so I had to dig them out of the nasty garbage can. I can't tell you how relieved I was to finally board that plane. B did so well on the flight there! I really was amazed. He sat contently in the seat the whole time and occasionally looked out the window. We played with a few toys I brought, he took a 15 minute nap and before we knew it, we had arrived in NC. We just let them play around their house Friday night and once the kids went to bed, we had our late night talks.

Saturday morning, they played on Sabrina's playset and trampoline. That afternoon, we took them to Monkey Joe's which has indoor bounce houses and slides. Sabrina had a ball there, but B was not that interested. He preferred playing the arcade games, mainly the bowling one. We went back to the house and all took a nap. Later that evening we went to the mall to walk around and let them ride on the carousel. As we were walking, a train drove by us. Since they both love trains, we all rode on it. Once we decided to leave the mall, Cam went to get her keys out of her purse and realized they were not in there. She locked them in the car and her husband was out of town. By this time it's 9p and we decided to call a locksmith. After almost 45 minutes of waiting, we call them to find out where they were and they said we will need to call someone else because their guy had been called on an emergency. Our second locksmith arrived after 10p and we finally got back into the car. Despite waiting in the mall parking lot of over an hour, the kids did pretty well. We could do nothing but laugh about it and at least now we have a story to tell.

Sunday we decided to go to Carrowinds, an amusement park in Charlotte. We just stayed in the kids area and rode several of the rides several times, the carousel (Sabrina's favorite) and a cars ride (B's favorite).

Monday morning, I packed and we made the drive back to the airport. We dropped Sabrina off at her aunt's house so she didn't have to make the long drive to/from the airport. The whole drive to the airport, B kept asking where Sabrina was. On the flight back, the novelty wore off and B was much more antsy. He cried a couple times and wanted to sit on my lap for a great deal of the flight. My 31st birthday was also Monday, but it was pretty uneventful as we were in airports and airplane most of the day. I must have caught something on the flight because by that night, I had a cold and felt awful when I woke up Tuesday morning. This is what happens when you have a bored 2 1/2 year old on a plane:

We had such a great visit with Cameron and Sabrina. I can't begin to tell you how well they both played together. Sabrina was so great at sharing her toys. We hate that they live so far away! Cameron said Sabrina has asked where "Dyson" is every morning. She really had a hard time with us leaving.