Adoption Gathering Fun

This past Friday was our June adoption get-together.  This month was at Jordan Valley Park.   What an awesome place!!  If you live in Springfield, have kids (or not), and have never been there, you should so go!!  It is wonderful!  Our little fish of course loved all the water.  Our adoption group keeps growing and growing and I look so forward to seeing all the kiddos.  It kind of feels like Christmas morning to me each time we have a gathering.  Makes me so happy.  See below for all the fun that was had!

World Cup Fever

We haven't been watching a ton of World Cup around here. But obviously it's been on enough for Ari to notice...(and his laugh is still the greatest)

Please Read....

....if you are contemplating international adoption.....if you are in the midst of an international adoption.....if you are an adoptive parent.....if you are not an adoptive parent but want to get a glimpse of an adoptive parent's experience and perspective....if you respect and enjoy Melissa Faye Greene's work.

Please read this.

11 Months

Today Ari is 11 months!!  He has been with us almost as long as he was without us.  And I am really looking forward to that day.  It just feels monumental.  At 11 months Ari is walking all over, although he has been doing this since about a week after he turned 10 months.  But this past weekend he figured out how to stand up without pulling up on anything, so he's really a master walker now!  He also started saying Ma-Ma this past month.  He usually only says it when it involves me giving him food, which I guess I can't blame him for making that connection!  No other definable words yet, although I thought I heard "kitty" yesterday, so maybe that will be his first "real" word.  It definitely wouldn't surprise me since the kitty is one of his favorites.  Our neighborhood pool opened Memorial weekend, and we now have another favorite activity -- swimming.  He loves the water and his floaty and does a good job of making all the other moms jealous by being completely content and happy doing laps in his floaty.  Apparently not every baby loves the water like this??  He continues to be an incredible joy and we continue to feel mind-blowingly lucky to be his parents.  Now, if only he would sleep later than 5:45 a.m.   Then we'd really have it made.  Hmmmmm..............  

Naps are important...