Happy Gotcha Day Marcus!

Five years ago today, a rollie pollie little Marcus was placed into our arms and became our son forever. Happy Gotcha Day!


I am still this excited about you!

10 Months

Happy 10 months to my beautiful babies! You guys sure are make getting these month by month photos of you sitting with your bears really difficult.


Sean
Sean is my social, friendly guy. When he meets new people, he just smiles and smiles. He constantly has his tongue out. Just recently he started "talking" more, and now can babble with the rest of them. He is constantly on the move. He rolls all over and is so close to crawling. He does this modified army crawl that is more like an inch worm. He can transition easily from sitting onto his belly but can rarely get from his belly back up to sitting. He pulls up to his knees and really wants to pull to stand. When he hears music, he sings along. He is enthusiastic about eating and is adventurous in trying new foods. He can be cuddly at times, but after a few minutes, he is ready to bounce and flop around and explore. We are still waiting for him to get some teeth and loving that toothless grin. He loves our pup and gets excited when he sees any dogs. He's turning into a pudgy little guy with squeezable cheeks and squishy thighs. He is still small though (wearing 6-9 month clothes). He is a decent sleeper for a 10 month old. He has figured out how to turn on his musical aquarium in his crib, which is sometimes the only sign we get that he woke up from his nap.

Aaron
Aaron my serious guy. He likes to watch and figure things out. When meeting new people, he just watches. But when he is ready to smile (or is getting tickled) his smile and laughter will melt any heart. He is a big talker and I swear he said "mama" the other day. He loves blowing raspberries and making fish faces. He likes to sit and look at books or play his little piano. He loves to dance. He claps his hands and sometimes uses sign language to ask for more while he is eating. His gross motor development comes in spurts. He watches what Sean is up to for awhile and then just suddenly does it too. He can pull up to his knees, then takes it a step farther by letting go and balancing. He loves to stand and challenges himself by letting go and standing alone on two feet for a few seconds at a time. When he accomplishes something new, he is so excited and just smiles and laughs at how awesome he is. He is a little more picky about eating and is not a fan of veggies. He's generally a happy baby but had a few off days this week when he wanted to be held a lot. He is normally an independent little dude that is happy doing his own thing. He has two bottom teeth and one on top and a fourth one on the top that will come in any minute (which probably accounts for the clingy behavior). His cheeks have finally filled out and he has what I like to call "cheek chub". He is still a tiny little guy (wearing 3-6 month clothes, although I often make him wear larger sizes because I'm tired of having so many clothes around). His sleep is sometimes good, and sometimes not so great.

My favorite things about having two 10 month olds:
- all the smiles and giggles
- how these kids find the most entertainment in the craziest things like boxes, hockey nets, and the legs of their activity table.

Ferocious

This little dino is so darn cute, makes me wish I was a carnivore so I could eat him up.

Mostly Healthy Lunch #12

Who doesn't like a fun lunch! A sure way to get my kids to eat just about any sandwich is to use my trusty dinosaur shaped sandwich cutter. Not even sure at this point what kind of sandwich that was, or what what fruit is mixed in with the grapes. But I do know that is yogurt with homemade granola on it. And I remember that both Marcus and Will ate every bite of this lunch.

First Flight

It wasn't all that long ago that Marcus and Will got to take their first small airplane ride. The last time they were in any airplane was in 2007 during Will's adoption, a ride that they don't remember. Will was up first.



The rest of the family stood by and waved to Will and his grandpa, including Sean and me.


And then they were off!


Will returned very happy with his flight.


Then it was time for Marcus to be air born.


And then he was off too, and the picture of this looks exactly like the one of Will's plane ride above.

Marcus was pretty excited about his first flight!


A couple other kiddos stayed on the ground, but they got to at least sit in the plane. Aaron was a great pilot, even with his pacifier.


Sean, of course, had his tongue out.

If You're Happy and you Know It

This video proves two things. First, that Aaron learned to clap on Sunday and is the cutest clapper ever. Second, I sound like a complete moron when I talk to babies.



Also, Aaron is now ahead 3-0 in the growing teeth competition. Today we said hello to the top left front tooth.

Mostly Healthy Lunch #11

This was Marcus's first day of school lunch. (Yes, I know that the first day of school was quite some time ago.) I made it extra special with all of his favorites. And broccoli.


Kraft Mac 'n Cheese (that was cold, but he doesn't care), broccoli with ranch dip, and chocolate chip cookies.

People keep asking and I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I got my containers at Target. They are made by Glad and can probably be found pretty much wherever plastic Glad containers are sold. The little cups I used for dip I bought online, I think from a seller on amazon. They were sold as "Jello Shot Containers". Nice.

Cute Guatemalan Kids, Take 2

So... back to this blogging thing.

We belong to a Guatemalan adoption group called GPAFG (Greater Pittsburgh Adoptions From Guatemala) for families that have been touched by adoption through Guatemala. Our group has events all year long, but the biggest event is the annual picnic. The picnic took place in August and I am just now getting a chance to blog about it.

We had perfect weather for the picnic. The location we tried out this year was ideal. There was a playground right there for all the kiddos and lots of room for us all to eat. Marcus and Will were too busy running around with their friends so I didn't get many pictures of them.

I did get a group shot.

9 Month Stats

Yesterday was Aaron and Sean's 9 month doctor appointment. The diagnosis is that they are healthy, although Aaron has a huge head and Sean is chubby. Specifically, here are the numbers:

Sean
Weight: 17 lbs 7 oz (6th%)
Height: 25.5 inches (<0%)
Head: 43.5 cm (6th%)

Aaron
Weight: 15 lbs 4 oz (<0%)
Height: 25 inches (<0%)
Head: 45 cm (38th%)

Seems crazy that both little guys weight about 4 times what they did when they were born!

Love This Family

You can't choose your family, or so "they" say. Yet somehow the family that was chosen for me is just perfect. Yeah, sure, there could be a few more girls in this family but since I've always been a tom boy, I am much more suited to be in a family of boys. We all look out for each other. We have different personalities that keep things interesting. Our kids all have great stories of how they became part of this family. And yet, no matter how we came into this family, we all love each other. And there just aren't too many families who can take a picture like this.


(This picture was taken a few weeks ago when it wasn't freezing cold, and yes, they do all have pants on. Or most of them do.) I love all the different colors in this photo. I didn't realize it until looking at the photo later, but I love how Sean and Aaron are holding hands. I love that I have four boys and all my boys have different hair color.

We have a buddy system in our family. Marcus and Aaron are buddies. Will claims Sean as his baby. No typical norms of society can tell these two pairs that they don't belong together, that their brotherhood is any different than any other brothers out there. These big kids are always very concerned when their little buddy is not happy and try to fix the situation by being silly or getting them toys. These kids are just so excited to have each other, that I couldn't even get a good picture of Marcus with his buddy since Marcus was just smiling way too big!