We are HOME!!

November 11-20, 2006
Well, since we have gotten home, we have been having a blast with our new family member!! Once we all got sleep, there really was no "adjustment". It seems like he knew he was "home", he has just moved right in and made himself comfortable here! He has been so good, except for a few tantrums here and there...probably from tiredness, but he sleeps all night 10-12 hours and a couple naps a day, he eats almost anything... doesn't seem to care for green beans though. He is so happy; he laughs and giggles all the time! We are having a lot of fun around here!

My grandparents came to visit from Nebraska last week and we had so much fun, with them. Alex loves them! They love Alex, too!!! We also took Alex to the Doctor here and he got his USA check up, to make sure he is fine… silly people they had to take 3 vials of blood from my little blood curdling screaming baby!!! About 40 minutes of that and I was ready to pass out!! What a mess!!! Anyways, he is fine, as we already knew!!! The next day we celebrated Alex’s first birthday!!! We gave him that rocking horse that he loves so much and went to see Jerry on the jobsite in Grand Rapids! Alex was just taking it all in!!!! He can be very sober at times… but his “wheels” seem to be turning all the time… he just watches everything new with such seriousness!! It is rather funny!

Alex also turned 1 year old on November 8. Grandpa and grandma Nosal bought him a rocking horse, it is beautiful and while with a mane, tail, eyes and ears! He loves it! We went to dinner at Clementines in South Haven, with Heather, Ryliegh, Grandma and Grandpa Nosal, and G & G Cook. Alex tasted lemons for the first time… sour face. He also had Macaroni and cheese for the first time… it was ok. We are going to have a little birthday party for him on the 18th though, with cake and ice ream and all… So, we had the party… Tissiana and I found an accordion at world market the other day, considering that I wouldn’t let him play with the one at the baby house, we bought him his very own!! Ha!!! He was scared of it!! Poor kid!! But he liked the tambourine and percussion set that we found as well as the LeapFrog ABC set!! Bergmanns brought him a little John Deere farm set, and Bonnie (and her family) brought him bibs and a picture frame!!! We had a fun time!!! We made him a 2 layer Pomegranate cake and put a horse on top!!! He was such a mess!!! He loved the cake! But he got tired of sitting in his high chair. He feels confined in there! He hates that!!

Boy does he know who his parents are!!!? He will go to anyone, but they don’t have him but a couple seconds and he is looking to see where momma or papa went!! Then he is squirming to get to us!! It’s rather sweet!

At some point this week he decided that he LOVES his blankie!! I took away his one that we had at the babyhouse, so we could wash it… I pulled out a different one from Aunt Tissiana, made from fleece and he suddenly grabbed it and buried his face in it and made all kinds of happy noises! Now you can hand him almost any of his blankets and he will do that! It is adorable!

This week our friends, Travis and Tissiana came to visit us!!! We were so happy to see them! Alex loves them, he giggles like crazy when they play with him! He is just the perfect little baby!!! He loves them!!

Our little Julliette kitty has disappeared!! The last time we saw her was on Alex’s birthday. So she has been gone for a week!! We have looked for her everywhere and asked as many neighbors as we can find! Jerry walked the woods looking for her and I called the “pound” and the humane society as well as talked to the Vet’s office! No sign of her!! We think someone stole her!! She is so sweet and cute! None of the deer hunters have seen her out in the woods either. No sign of her anywhere!! She has just “poofed” into oblivion! It makes us very sad! We hope she is at the very least ok, and with someone who will love her, but really we would like her to come home! She was the one that would actually “play” with Alex. They would take turns chasing each other around the house.

Alex has been experiencing some falls! Poor kid, he tries to stand on his own quite a bit. This week he actually drew blood for the first time, he fell on his mouth and must have bit his little lip! He was so pitiful! He even looks cute when he is screaming! We actually think most of the “blood” was slobber! He seems to be teething too! Not sure what teeth are coming next but something!!

This week he has started saying “mama” it is the sweetest thing in the whole world!! I had been telling him our names… Alex… Mama… Dada. I came in the room from working in my office for about an hour… Uncle Travis was watching him upstairs, when I walked in, he went crazy and yelled “mama!!!” When I bent down to kiss him, he suctioned his little lips to my cheek!!! It was most amazing!! Also this week, one day when I was feeding him breakfast, I said “good job!!” and the next thing I know he is clapping away!! So I tried it again! Sure enough, he did it again! He has been doing it all week!! He will even drop stuff from his hands to do it!! We brought out the “walker”, that thing that he walks behind while holding on. Uncle Travis worked with him on that for a while too… He is getting better! He leans on it a little too much, so it goes too fast for his little legs! So he often ends up on his knees trying to crawls behind it… But we are working on it!! Everything is just so delightful!!

We are looking forward to a relaxing week ahead, we are staying home for thanksgiving, Jim and Ruth will be with us. We will have fun!!