Dog Dog

Over the past couple of weeks Caleb has developed a love for a little stuffed puppy. This little gray and white dog was a baby shower gift from my Aunt Lucy & Uncle Donny before we left to get Caleb. Caleb has given this stuffed animal a name: Dog Dog. Occasionally he calls it "Phi" (short for our dog's name, Sophie) but most of the time he is lovingly called Dog Dog. Although Caleb does not yet insist on sleeping with Dog Dog, he does like to take him all over the house and let him participate in various activities:

Looking out the front window with Dog Dog (and Sophie, aka "Phi")

Letting Dog Dog sit in Sophie's dog bed

And his all-time favorite, pushing Dog Dog around the house in his car. Bryan and I have seen him crawl to his car holding Dog Dog, place him on the car and then stand up and take off down the hallway.

Our Little Aggie

If the Aggies' success on the football field was purely based on having adorable 18 month old fans, I'm pretty sure they'd win the National Championship this year!

Future Aggie Caleb in all his Texas A&M gear-- including socks & shoes!

With Mommy before we watched the game

My two favorite boys!

Highlights from September

I'm not sure I'll ever catch up on blogging from September! Caleb and I went from having nothing to do in July when Bryan started residency, to having a very full calendar each week!

I have volunteered to cook food for 25-30 medical students every third Monday for the Medical Student Bible Study. On Tuesdays I take Caleb to playgroup, Wednesdays we do a music class for young children at a local university, Thursdays is storytime at the library and on Fridays we have been going to Open Gym at a local gymnastics facility in town. We are staying very, very busy and also meeting many new friends. It has been great for both me & Caleb to have some people our own age to talk to during the day while Daddy is at work! :)

During the month of September we also hosted playgroup at our house and I wish I would have taken pictures. There were 12 children under the age of 2 in our house! It was wild, loud and so much fun. It was also Caleb's first real experience with sharing his own toys!

Caleb is still receiving occupational/physical therapy from Early Childhood Intervention twice a month. He really enjoys 'playing' at our home with his two therapists. He has made such incredible progress in the almost year that he has been working with them. Next month we will do his 12-month evaluation and see if he 'graduates' out of the program - meaning he is not behind enough to qualify for therapy. I suspect this will be the case, and I am thrilled!

Over the month of September Bryan worked primarily in the ER and most recently started a four week rotation in OB/Gyn. He's delivered 7 babies so far (all on night shift!) and has seen some interesting patients. It has gotten easier to deal with his constantly changing schedule, and I realize the value of being in the ER where his schedule is laid out for him well in advance. I really appreciate knowing when he'll be coming home each day rather than it being an open-ended work day like many specialties require.

Lastly, we have been preparing for Caleb's "little boy surgery" which will take place tomorrow morning. We are fortunate to have a great medical facility in town and know they will take great care of our little Caleb tomorrow. His surgery will take place at 7:30am and we anticipate he will be under general anesthesia for approximately 45 minutes. Of course this is nerve-wracking for me but we know the procedure will be quick and the recovery is supposed to be quick too. Please pray for our little guy tomorrow! We will post some pictures and update on how he is doing as soon as there is time.

In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of highlights of September... trips to the park, learning to stand up in the bathtub (while giving Mama a heart attack!!), playing with Daddy outside & inside, making a mess in the kitchen... the list goes on. Mr. Caleb definitely keeps us smiling and busy!

Blog posts that I promise to write this week: the 1 year anniversary of Caleb's Gotcha Day, Caleb's 18 month birthday update and a family trip to the local pumpkin patch!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Rachel Comes to Visit!

Over the course of the past year and a half I have made several good friends in the Kyrgyz adoption community. They have been a great source of support, encouragement and laughter during our journey. I've gained advice on everything from preparing our dossier ("Paper Baby") to packing tips to travel advice in Kyrgyzstan and now parenting advice since Caleb is home. It always sounds a little odd when I refer to my "friend from the internet"... someone I've never met in person! The only "adoption friends" we've met thus far are the Kahlers, Lunns and the Turecks.

A few weeks ago all of that changed when Rachel and her family came to Texas! Rachel has a close friend, Juliet, who lives in Temple in our same neighborhood. Juliet and I know each other from Bible Studies and the residency program at the hospital. What a small world! It was so exciting to meet Rachel, Darren, Alex (adopted from Russia) and Scarlett (adopted from Kyrgyzstan). We shared a great meal at Juliet's and let the kids run wild. And of course I liked Rachel even better in person compared to e-mail, facebook, and blogging :)

Here is our best attempt to take a picture of 4 kids under the age of four:

Caleb, Frankie, Alex and Scarlett