Two Years Home

Today we celebrated our second Family Day. It was two years ago today that Mike and I brought Colby home and we began our life as a family. Many families celebrate Gotcha Day, the day that they picked up their child from the baby home or orphanage. Some celebrate the court date. We have decided to celebrate our Family Day as the day we were home and the adoption journey was truly over. We reached JFK Airport late at night and were greated by both Mike's and my parents. They were a sight for sore eyes. It had been a long trip home and almost a really long wait in the Immigration office. The office was really busy and there were stacks of papers waiting. Thankfully someone new came on and happened to pick up Colby's file and we didn't have to wait too long. I guess ours was pretty straight forward to get through. Then we walked through the doors and I almost collapsed into my mom's arms and started crying. I could finally let the emotions go. Colby did great going in the car seat for the first time and fell asleep for part of the ride home.But his eyes were wide open when we walked in the house and let him explore the house and his room. We were soon all fast asleep though.

Last year we had Colby's Baptism on this day. The timing worked out, although it was a coincidence. But today was rather laid back. Colby and I were home, since it was Presidents' Day. We went and had lunch with my mom at her work and then went shopping. We had a nice laid back day. Then I cooked chicken parm and spaghetti and we enjoyed a special treat- red velvet whoopie pies! Now I find myself looking forward to our next Family Day. What changes will we have by then???

June 2008 Feb 2009 Feb 2010 Feb 2011

Craziness

Craziness. That is what we have been up to lately.

It has been a while since I have had the chance to write on here. Our schedule has truly gone up in smoke. And with a 3 year old who loves schedules, it hasn't been much fun. Today we are home snug and warm while outside it is a big icy mess. We are now on Snow Day #9. (I think. I have lost track.) But here's an update.

1) Colby continues to enjoy school, when he gets to go. He was starting to get used to the schedule of Pre-school in the morning and then daycare in the afternoon but that has only happened maybe 2 times in the past 3 weeks. He loves Mrs. DeCarlo and Miss Stacy at Pre-school and I am very proud of what he is learning. He surprised everyone by naming most of the letters in the alphabet. The school teaches them the letter that starts their name but Colby has learned all the letters for his friends too, including Z for Zachary! He now knows his colors and shapes and he can count to 20, and 10 in Spanish too. Hopefully the snow/ice will stop, spring will come, and we can get back to school.

2) As for school. I am trying to get marking period and mid-year reading assessments done for grade 2 complete but these snow days are killing us. The kids are all out of sorts and when we are in we end up with a late start or early dismissal. But I think I have them set and report cards are done. The grade 2 teacher is out on maternity leave so I have been overseeing much of the assessments and grades in there. Ugh!

3) We have s much snow we don't know where to put it all. Thankfully Colby has not been lost in it yet! He has enjoyed sledding in the back yard, down the small slope and over the short stone wall area. And he loves climbing on the big piles in the front yard, thank you city plow driver. Don't worry we stand right there while he slides down them near the street.



4) We recently had a pretty big Russia boys get together. There are about 7 families in the area from our adoption agency that have boys from Russia. The oldest is now 7 and home for a few years. The youngest is only 20 months and home only since last Nov, about 3 months. The rest are 3 or 4 years old. We went to a huge indoor play area/arcade. There wasn't much for the little guys to do but they did have a climbing area and jump area. The boys got some much needed exercise and run around time and the adults had time to chat. We definitely need to do that more often, preferably somewhere less crowded and noisy. I would love to get our group even bigger and have meetings more often.