Five Months of Fun!

Yesterday marked our 5 month mark as a forever family. Wow...some days it feels like we've been together forever and some days it's still so brand new.
What we've learned in 5 months of Van:
He can belly laugh with unabashed glee
He has a soft side for everybody's boo-boos and he loves to use the boo-boo buddy
He loves to run, and man he's fast
He has some mean dance moves
He charms the pants off strangers
He trusts us and he knows we are his family and for that we truly blessed.

Five months ago...we meet the little man

Van picks the perfect pumpkin

Daddy shares his breakfast with Van

Long Long Overdue Special Thank You!

I am finally catching up on emails and photos and filing and savoring all the days of this fantastic first summer with Van. I realized in all this that I had intended to do a very special thank you blog to our dear friends, Pam and Mike for allowing us to be such a special part of their wedding celebration...in July...yes late indeed.
Scott was the "Man of Honor" in this very DC wedding that included a rehearsal dinner at a famous Alexandria Irish Pub (Van's first hang in a pub!), a ceremony at the George Washington Masonic Memorial...what an awesome location for a wedding and a cake made by the FoodNetwork famous Ace of Cakes crowd...did I mention how cool this was?
But it gets even better...if you can believe that...
Pam and Mike gave each of their wedding attendants a really special personal gift and Scott's gift was a donation to the Half the Sky foundation. Half the Sky supports orphanages and the children of China in amazing ways. "Because every child, no matter how humble her beginnings, deserves loving care, and a chance at a bright future." This gift truly touched our hearts and I intended to publicly acknowledge and thank Pam and Mike way long ago. Every day we look at this certificate and know that other children in similar circumstances to Van (just 6 months ago) will be loved and cared for until their forever families find them and bring them home. Pam and Mike, you are certainly very special people with amazing hearts. This means so very much to our family and so many others. Thank you thank you.

What a beautiful couple

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

And so we did...at the Families of the China Moon outing at Crump Park. Flying a kite is harder than it looks. After the fact, Daddy looked up the official directions so next time we will look like pros. We did manage to soar. And anything that involves running and even better watching mommy and daddy running is a hit with Van!
Nanie returned to NJ this week so the laundry piles are back to normal already. She'll be back for more Van love for Thanksgiving...yippee!
Now we work on adjusting to mommy's return to work and increasing our vocabulary words. It's just gets better and better every day.

Our FCM Zoo outing...Van and his gal pals.

Giraffes are Van's new favorite animal.

S'more love runs in the family.

Memory Jogger

Twinspirations tagged us...yippee...we feel so loved.
Luckily our blog is only about six months old so finding the sixth picture folder and the sixth picture in it and trying to remember it wasn't as hard as it could have been. Van's been home with us for almost five months now and it's hard to remember a day without his love and laughter.

This was taken in Guangzhou our seventh day of being a family. We were out for our post breakfast walk in the park and watching some older Chinese men and women gathered near the river singing and dancing. There was a song leader with lyrics posted on the wall and many people gathering to just sing and enjoy. One of those cool once in a lifetime cultural moments...obviously Van was fascinated by it too.
Tagging our friends at Our Heart's Journey, One Blessed Nest, And Bai Li Makes Three...join the fun guys...sixth folder, sixth photo and tell us all about it!

We are restriction free!

Today was our follow up with the plastic surgeon and we got the green light for all foods, all activities, all Van back to normal. We are so thrilled. He really is back to his funny little self and now that he can feed himself and eat cookies again, life couldn't be better. We celebrated with a trip to Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast and then to our favorite diner for a Chocolate Chip pancake dinner. Yes that's lots of sugar for one day but heck it was a celebration! Tomorrow we hit The Little Gym and a short visit to day care to reacquaint and prep for the return to work next week. Here's some of this week's fun...

Redskin Fans celebrate their victory with Krispy Kremes!

Halloween Try out and Fashion Show

Back Pack...Van is working hard on this word already...thanks Dora!

Taking a Potty Break for Noggin's Puzzle Time...yes we do Preschool TV and love it!

10 Days Post Surgery

What a difference 10 days can make...Van is almost back to full speed Van...every day he gets a little faster and a lot sassier. We have our follow-up appointment this Thursday and we are hoping for the all clear. He's already making lots of new sounds and we've got our speech therapy scheduled to begin in November.
Since we've been home all week, Van decided it was a good time to potty train...he just started doing it without any prodding and he's doing great. We've already run out of Elmo stickers for his chart and we can't use the M&M rewards since they aren't soft food. He's just so proud of himself and he loves to wear the Diego pull-ups. The kid who could care less about the TV 4 months ago, now has a list of character crushes...we've got Elmo, Thomas, Dora, Diego, the Backyardigans and Yo Gabba Gabba...so far. Yes it's been a long week at home with TV and the potty but it's all so worth it to see him getting better and happier by the day.
From the looks of the photos, you would think we were doing really well with the snuggle arms...not really. We've found at least one arm off most nights in the crib and witnessed him using his feet to actually pry them off at night. We are only using them for sleep now and he sometimes even requests that we put them on while he's playing...he's a funny adorable kid for sure.

Crusin' with his pals

Boys at play

Wardrobe malfunction

Our hospital day is over!

Here's the recap of our surgery experience in photos...think they tell the full story. Getting better every hour of every day...so good to be home!

Playing nicely with no clue of what's to come 5:45am

Our first sight of him post surgery 11am

Poor baby...look at those cheeks

Finally coming around and not happy

Trying to get comfy

Day two swelling so much better already

Van's peeps attempt to distract him

Yes he's laughing and wearing the snuggle wraps...go figure!

What a nice surprise..a get well frog waiting for Van as soon as we got home...thanks Aunt Beth and Uncle Dan!

Now it's time to eat.