Hello again

Yeah, it's been a long time. I know, one of those things where a day turns into a week into a month. Not an excuse, but there has been a bit going on. You probably know about Landon's sister, but I created a new blog for her. I thought that she might like a chance to talk to everyone.

Head on over to http://landonssister.blogspot.com/ to see how she is doing.

Now, I can't promise that I am going to update this one more. I think we know what my recent track record is, so let's focus on the new one. :)

Landon and baby steps

It's been a busy time lately. The end of my first semester at VCU, my parents and sister were in town visiting and just life in general. Here's a tiny update on things around here ...

I had graduation last weekend for my Associate Degree from the community college, the next small step in getting my degree from VCU. My parents and sister drove down for that and to visit with Landon (and us), of course. They were there along with David, Heather and Heather's parents and grandmother. Landon was playing with his cousins that morning. We weren't sure how long it would take and didn't think he would enjoy it. It was a good ceremony, very odd to be wearing the outfit, feeling like I was in high school again. It was really neat, though. I look forward to being able to do it again in a few years.

My first semester at VCU went well, I can't believe that it's already over. Classes for the summer start on Monday, so on we go. I got an A in each class so hopefully I will continue along those lines as I go.

A few quick pics of Landon ...

Landon (what a big boy!) sitting in the window. I remember when he was too short to be able to sit in the window that easily.

We had a cold morning so put him in his fleecy Santa sleeper. What a ham.

Are you lookin' at me? Are you lookin' at me?

One funny result of this past weekend is Landon's new friend, Bubba. My father-in-law's name that the kids call him is Poppa. We were trying to have Landon call my father a variation of Grandpa but Landon didn't want to 100% cooperate. He does that sometimes, knowing the word but not wanting to say it. He knows who Grandpa is, just won't say it.

At some point during the weekend Landon started calling him Bubba. I'm not sure exactly when or why, but it seems to have stuck. He even takes the little red Matchbox truck (that looks like my Dad's) and calls it Bubba's truck. He really enjoyed being able to sit inside the 'real' Bubba's truck while everyone was visiting.

Well, this weekend marks the first anniversary of the day that we were finally given custody of Landon. Many people that adopt refer to it as 'Gotcha Day' and remember it along with the other important dates in their lives.

It's hard to think of how the year has gone by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that we were walking around in Krasnoyarsk taking in the sites, visiting this little boy, nervously waiting for our court date. Each step was another one down, but we weren't able to really breath easily until it was officially over. May 22 was they day that it was official in the eyes of the Russian government.

We only had to get a few more things done, Landon's passport, processing in Moscow, before we could arrive home and be past it all.

Whew! Well, our journey isn't complete. It seems that this fall Landon will be celebrating another special day with us. The first week of November Heather, Landon and I (along with family and friends) will be celebrating the birth of a new baby. Yep, you read that right, we're having a baby!!! Wow!

To think that we are about to celebrate a year of the adoption being final and getting into a routine after this seemingly short period. Now we get to get ready for another little journey followed by it's own set of changes.

So far things are going well, nothing to worry about at this point. We go back in about a month for the next appointment, so a little closer.

Please send good thoughts our way as we start down this new journey,

Heather, Landon and Stephen

Blame it on the rain

Kids are funny. Lots of you know that, but it is a different kind of funny when it is your kid. Landon is getting more talkative, sometimes being funny in what he says. He is pronouncing things better and it is surprising when we hear something for the first time and he says it well. Sometimes he will say something 'wrong' but he knows it is pronounced wrong, but most of the time he says it properly. Heather got him talking about the shower as rain wawa, as he knows about water and the rain.

He's starting to sing more also. He seems to like country music. In the car, it seems that he will break into song when country music is on, no prompting needed. He is also starting to sing along with the night-time songs. We sing from a selection (that he chooses) before bed. Not that he gets the words right, but he is singing along and sounding cute.

He doesn't dance as much as he used to, but he still does it. It is still lots of the 'keep the legs still and rotate the upper body' dancing, but he adds in his jump a little. Did I write how he is 'jumping'? Sort of hopping, sometimes not getting his upper and lower body coordinated.

It is just very different in a 'not so different' kind of way, that he is sort of developing a different personality in a way. As I said, he is more talkative, saying new words or phrases without prompting. He has a newish thing where he wants us to go with him, he sort of waves his arm in a "let's go" sort of way, and says 'come one daddy' (or mommy). Very cute. Just lots of little things he does, sometimes for a brief moment that you hope to remember forever. Things you wish you could record everything you see, not just with a camera or flip video like we have, but just record things that your eyes see so you don't miss anything. We'll have lots of pictures and video to embarrass him when he gets older, ha ha.

A brief bird moment ... now that the weather is warmer birds are doing their thing. The birdhouse that my brother gave me (sitting outside the window of the morning room) is housing bluebirds again. We can hear the babies from inside asking for food. I was trying to get some pictures of the daddy coming back to feed them and got this shot of a male red-bellied woodpecker making his way to the suet feeder.

We also have some finches at the front door, nesting in a wreath we have there. It's a winter wreath, but we couldn't move it with them nesting. It has been interesting listening to them also, watching them change and now flying away.

We were thinking today that it's funny sometimes, the saying along the lines of 'what a difference a year makes'. Just a year ago we were about to leave for our second trip. Brings back some good and interesting memories, but to think that so much has happened in a single year. That is the craziest thing. To think that a year ago we hadn't even left. Some of the memories from hanging out in Krasnoyarsk seem so fresh. Remembering the day we met him, watching him walk towards Heather, letting her pick him up and then later falling asleep in her arms. Hearing him laugh the first time, playing in the orphanage. Just a huge difference in both us and him. I just feel so lucky to have him in my life.

Anyway, enough for now from me.

I gotta feeling

that I (hopefully) will begin to post more. I know I've been slack. You'll probably read this post in 2 weeks because you didn't think I was posting anymore. I understand, not a problem.

It's easy to say I'll post something new tomorrow, then tomorrow becomes 3 weeks and I get busy again. Lame excuse, I know. So, on to the random thoughts ......

Landon is really getting into the 'normal' 2-year old stuff. He is trying his luck in saying No or 'hitting' because he is not getting his way. He does actually try to hit us, but just like those other cute but bad tendencies, he knows he isn't supposed to hit. He likes to hit the air because he can't hit us. It is sort of cute, though. One of those things where you can't laugh or act like it is cute, but you really do. The other day, one of those moments, he was walking away from me as I sat on the couch. He turned back and turned his left arm to me in his fake hit gesture, his arm was pointed out but his fingers were still in his hand, looking like a superhero outstretched arm kind of thing. Hard to describe but just try to picture it.

It has been nice to get past the winter blues. We can actually go outside and have fun playing. Yay! It does bring out Landon's VA allergies, though. We actually took him to the doctor last week (he had strep throat) and the doc said we should try kid's zirtec on him for his allergies. It has helped some to get his runny nose to run less.

Well, he's just becoming a Virginian I guess. We get the whole pollen mess here, especially with all of the pine trees around the house.

Now a few pics to catch you up to where we are, until I get back to a better routine. Landon has really been a normal kid since we got him, acting and looking like whatever age he is. Just a normal little guy.

Easter 2010. Funny look on his face, not sure why it was like that. Maybe he just doesn't like showing how cute he can be.

It reminds me of this picture from last year. Almost a similar look on his face and his hair in the new picture doesn't look too bad. He does need a haircut but it's not so bad.

He does go through his phases like any kid. Certain toys go in or out of phase, like how he was sitting in the old diaper box. It's still sitting in the living room, he hasn't been in it in months. He then comes back to something that he hasn't played with in weeks, so not completely away from these things.

Anyway, more to come as I (hopefully) get into more of a routine. It was easier when we were in Russia and had daily things to talk about. Hopefully you haven't given completely up on us, but email or comment to let us know if there is something you want to know or hear about.

One year ago ...

Wow, it's been a whole year. Not since Landon got home, not since we started the process, the day we first saw his little face. One year ago today we were surprised with a referral. It was sort of surreal.

We had barely sent in the information to switch to a single child, I was driving home and my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but it was from Maryland. Hmmm... coincidence or the agency? I answered and talked with the head social worker about an email with the referral waiting for me at home. She wanted to talk to me before I read it since this was going to be quite a change.

Heather got home while I was on the computer looking at the referral, not realizing what was about to happen. I gave her a funny look and told her that we got a referral. We had gotten a document of medical info and some bio and a picture of what would be our son. He was such a cutie, not just because he was cute but because we were finally able to put a face to this unknown child that we were on a journey to meet. It made it more real. To go from an idea of sorts, siblings to a single child, an fuzzy thought of some child, boy, girl, who knows. Now we had a face, an age, a name, a real child waiting for us. Things quickly came into focus as we saw the end of the journey, could see ourselves meeting him for the first time, all the hassle of paperwork and dreadful waiting swept away by this little boy looking at us, into us, into our hearts, latching on with his little chubby hands, pulling us to him, thousands of miles away, wanting to meet us, not knowing how big a deal it was, just pulling us along.

At that point, any thoughts we had of being in control or having a say went out the window. We knew we were just along for the ride - and what a ride it has been.

Here is a comparison of the picture we got in the referral and one from this evening. Landon was I think 10 months old in the referral photo. The referral got to us just before his first birthday, and we are preparing to celebrate his first one with us.

Quite a bit of a difference, eh? Even though the whole process has been going on longer, it has been one year since it really began for us. Here are some pictures from the past year.

A whole lotta buildup for 5 minutes of not much

In case you hadn't been watching the weather, we just got a whole bunch of snow (again). It was about 12-14 inches but was dry and light so not too bad. It had started late Friday night and snowed during the day on Saturday. I went out today to start the process of getting us out, working my ways towards my neighbor's driveway. He has a bobcat (think of a small vehicle with a bucket on front) so he (like last time) used it to clear out our road out to the front road. Maybe a half mile or a little less.

I was able to clear out our driveway enough to get the van out and see how the main road was. It had been plowed but was not bare, something that will be interesting to see in the morning. It is supposed to refreeze tonight and possibly tomorrow night.

We ended up getting out of the house and heading into the real world. We got a snack then got some groceries at 'mal mart' then went home.

So all this snow reminded me of our last batch of snow and taking Landon out in it. We had no real need for proper snow pants or boots for him so we weren't really prepared. We figured we would figure out something to put him in to take him outside and see the snow. We got the little blue 'tights' that we had gotten him over in Russia. We put some wind pants on him then wrapped his legs in plastic Walmart bags (trying for water protection). We put his heavy jacket on him and the hat we also got in Russia. It was a little bit of effort to get him into all that, plus getting our own outfits together. We went out the front door and played in the snow a little before heading back in. The snow was a bit too deep for him to walk in so playing outside wasn't much fun for him. He started to get snow in his 'pants' and he was ready to go in after 5 or 10 minutes.

Here is Landon while getting ready with his plastic bag pants.

Outside in the snow

As a point of comparison of our odd weather here, just last Thursday the weather around here was nice (in the 60s) and Heather took Landon outside for some fun. It quickly got cold around here on Friday, though.

Hopefully next week won't be as cold as it is supposed to. We might get some snow on Wednesday and possibly more next weekend. Yikes, not too much fun. Maybe I should go out tomorrow and get a proper snow shovel.

I like big (trucks) and I cannot lie ...

A few more weeks and a few more things going on. Landon has continued to do well other than a little sickness here and there. The 'usual' cold type stuff in the winter, though it does seem that he recently got a stomach virus thing. He seemed to be feeling pretty much OK and was active, but his diapers were a little different and more frequent. Anyway, we are a little surprised that he hasn't (knock on wood) had more issues between daycare and being this time of year.

It has been almost 1 year since we got his referral, which was not too long after we switched from siblings to a single child. I think that this Wednesday would be 1 year since we switched to a single child. Wow. It's funny how back when we were waiting, it didn't seem 'real' since we were just waiting. The trips over there seem like they were quick, and afterwards it still didn't sink in. Now that we are here so many months later, we are just in such a good routine that those events seem like a distant memory.

My parents got Landon a little backpack for him to use. Heather put some things in it for daycare use during church and he certainly liked wearing it around. A few times he has been playing in the living room with it on, making sure that you don't take it from him.

Here he is on his first day going to church with it on. He looks like such a big boy here.

The other week I got him a little outfit that was 75% off at Target. It was so cute I had to get it and it only cost a few dollars. Not an everyday outfit but worth every penny. There is a little black jacket that goes with it but he wasn't wearing it at the time. Landon likes to briefly stand still for a picture and then starts to move towards you before you take it. He wants to see the picture that you took.

On a different subject, last week marked my first week as a student at VCU. I had orientation the week before and then classes, not that there was much going on since it was just the first week. It is very odd for me to be back in a large school. The community college I had been going to had a small campus and I did most of the classes online. Very different feel to it. It is also much different than Virginia Tech, where I had started my college life so many years ago. Large rural campus to large urban campus.

It was funny at orientation seeing the kids that were there with their mothers or both parents. I remember doing that. It's a nice campus and easy to walk around to the buildings near me. I am a junior so pretty much all of my remaining classes will be in the single building for the school of business. There is a parking deck across the street that I will use so I won't be going across campus much if I don't want to. I look forward to trying to keep my grades like they were at the community college, something that I think I can do as long as I put the effort in.