He's Really Here

So I found myself standing above his crib around 10pm on Friday night just staring at him while he slept.  It instantly hit me as I stood there in the dark and my eyes welled up with tears, that this crib, in this nursery, that sat empty for far too long, is no longer just an empty room waiting for our beautiful son to arrive.  This beautiful baby that was first a dream, and then a picture, is now an actual reality.  I can't believe he's really here.  He. Is. Really. Here.  In less than a month he has filled our hearts with so much joy and brought so much love into our lives.  A smile we cannot live without.  A laugh that makes us melt.  And eyes that look into my soul.  Yes, that is our son.  We love you more than you'll ever know!

Who Says.....

Who says chubby babies can't where horizontal stripes? Ha!  We'll show them.

OK....OK....I get it.  YOU'RE DONE in the chair!

Movin' On.....

Alright, time to end this shoot.  Maddyx, for the hundredth time, PLEASE don't sit there!

3 Weeks Home & The Start of Fall

For the record, I'm a day late.  I was supposed to write this post yesterday as that is our actual 3 week home anniversary and the official start of fall (yaaay!!....fall decorations and candles are making their way out!!), but the day just got away from me.  Reason being?  Well, my lovely dog tracked his own poo-poo into the house and up the stairs. Uuuugh!  So gross!  And even worse when you have a baby who crawls on those floors.  Cooper, I could have killed you if I wasn't so dang crazy about you!  So we (really Kasey) had to shampoo the carpets late afternoon/evening, while also managing to keep Maddyx off of them.  Which is not an easy task.  So there you have it!  Now that I got my excuse out of the way, on to the post.
Three weeks.  It honestly feels like it's been so much longer.  I have to say that this past week has been so different.  We actually feel like a real family that has real routines and we are so happy.  Each day with Maddyx gets better and better.  He is such a great baby and we feel so blessed to be his parents.  I am falling more and more in love with him every day and being his mom is feeling more like a reality rather than a strange fog.  Everything just seems to be falling into place.  We've moved up a step in the sleeping department.  I no longer have to hold Maddyx until he falls asleep.  I now put him in his crib with his bottle and he falls asleep all on his own.  Wow, this is a LUXURY!  Bedtime is easy.  We read books and rock, and then he just goes to sleep. No fuss.  Most nights we get 8 hours, and some nights (like last night) we get 11 hours.  Naps, not so much.  These are still hit and miss.  Sometimes 15 minutes and sometimes and hour and a half.  At this point, we just take what we can get.  However, no matter what, he has to go down.  Whether he sleeps or not is up to him.  Yesterday he just folded the blankets in his crib for 35 minutes and never slept.  But he was content, so I left him! 

I think he recognizes his American name now.  Actually I'm pretty positive he does.  He responds and looks at us whenever we call him.  We also think he's said "Cooper" (our dog's name) in his own sounds-like Cooper way, but other than that  he mostly just babbles and laughs, oh and yells.  Except he does say "ba" a lot, which makes me wonder if there's a Korean word that he knew that resembled that?  Hmmm, not sure.  He's not walking on his own yet, but he's walking around using the tables and pulling himself up, so it could be soon!  Not sure if I'm ready for that yet. 

He's also had a chance to meet all of his grandparents and even his Great Grammy this past week.  She's been waiting a really long time to meet this little Angel!  All in all, like I mentioned earlier, we feel so lucky and blessed to have been brought into his life.  We wonder, how did we get so lucky?  I'm not going to question it, I'm just going to embrace each and every moment we have together.

Here are some fun pictures recapping our third week together as a family!  I have to admit that I am just a bit OBSESSED with taking pictures of this child.  OK, a lot obsessed.  Cooper is probably so happy to have a break from the camera.  But seriously, he is so beautiful how could I not take pictures of his every move?!?  I mean, really?

The red chair.  Great idea in theory, but the execution of the shot was much more difficult then I had anticipated.  Oh well.  We tried!



The photo shoot. (not a real one, just me trying to stay busy (fill the time) while I'm home during the day in my new "stay-at-home-mom" role!):

A Day in the Life of Maddyx

As I was looking back through my pictures of Maddyx, and trying to get them 'somewhat' organized (all 500+ of them), I noticed that I had taken several shots throughout the day last Wednesday, that actually spoke volumes about what our day looks like......  So here they are!

We are headed for a morning walk to the park.  First task, get Maddyx dressed.  OK, we're dressed.  Now we can go.  He's ready.

So when I say the park, I really just mean the swing.  That's all Maddyx really likes right now.  We do this for about 20 minutes.  Or until Maddyx decides he's done.  And he let's us know!

Then we  head home for naptime.  And we take naps any way we can get them around here.  Yep, this is how we napped this particular day.  For an entire hour!

Guess who's up from their nap?  Aaaah yes, and all too soon.  It's time to play (even though his shirt says eat.  That's still to come)!

OK, Maddyx is done playing.....Time to pick him up........

Now, what can I get in to?  This is how I spend 75%, no wait, 85% of my day....walking around making sure Maddyx is not getting into something he is not supposed to.  And here's a couple places he stops quite frequently.  At least 10 times in a day.

And then......movin' on.

OK, enough of this.  I'm tired of following you around the house.  So how about snack time?!?  By the way, I walked back into the room to find this.  Soooo not going to win Mom of they year for this one. =)  For the record, he did manage to get it all down.  Safe and sound.  No choking.  I promise.

And of course, we must have a drink.  Now we have not mastered the sippy cup yet.  I have several different kinds that I use and he does OK with most of them.  Right now I'm convinced he's more interested in relieving his teething discomfort by chewing on them, rather than drinking out of them.  On this particular day, after that serious rice cake treat, he was thirsty!

And now it's time for the bouncer.  Oh the poor, poor bouncer.  One of our dear friends noticed that Maddyx LOVED to jump up and down while we were holding him and (I think) she felt pity for our poor arms, so she offered to bring over her bouncer she didn't need anymore.  She had an inkling that Maddyx just might like it.  We're pretty sure there's a weight limit on this thing, but we're choosing to be ignorant and pretend there's not.  He just loves it way too much!  And heck, it buys us about 20 minutes a day!