A Year Ago Today...

On December 31, 2009, as the blue moon rose in the sky, Brian and I made the fateful decision to convert our adoption petition, which had then been pending almost 3 years, to a special needs petition.  Less than a week later, we found our son.  Four months later, he was in our arms for good.  It's truly amazing how much that one decision changed our lives for the better.  I get very emotional when I think that we could have very easily made a different decision, and never met our boy.  I can't imagine not knowing him and loving him and being his mom.  It truly feels like he was always meant to be ours.  Well, as the moon rises tonight, we will raise a glass and be very thankful for the inspiration that brought us here, for the friends and family who encouraged us along the way, and for the little boy who has rocked our worlds and made our family complete.

Time Capsule

Early last March, after we were officially "matched" with Silas, we sent a care package to his orphanage.  Included in the package was a disposable camera.  We asked the orphanage if they would please take some photos of Silas, and we would pick up the camera when we arrived in China.   Knowing how busy they are, and how many requests they get, we thought it was a long shot, but we asked hoping we could preserve some early memories for Silas.

We were very pleased when, on the day we met Silas, all of the items from Silas' care package had been sent with him, including the camera.  Fast forward eight months, and the camera was still sitting on our kitchen counter waiting to be developed.  So, yesterday, we finally decided it was time to see what was on it.  The following pictures were taken between late March and late April 2010 at Silas' orphanage in Nanjing City:

Silas' First Christmas

By all accounts, Silas had a wonderful first Christmas.  We kicked off the holiday on Christmas Eve, with Silas' Aunt Jessica and Uncle Carl.  Later on, we were joined by Mimi and Uncle Mike, and had a nice Christmas Eve ham dinner.

Silas retired early anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival, while Santa's elves got to work readying things for Christmas day.  When Silas awoke Christmas morning, he was very surprised!  He was a little overwhelmed by all the toys under the tree, at first.  He was just pointing to things.  Once he figured out that the toys were his to play with, he went crazy.

   One of his favorite gifts was a red wagon, which he proceeded to camp out in for the day.  He climbed in and out of that wagon all day long bringing different trucks and toys in with him.

After presents were opened, we enjoyed a tremendous Christmas brunch, complete with quiche, croissants, hash brown casserole, french toast casserole, and more!  Silas was so worn out from the morning festivities, that after brunch, he ended up crashing for a three-hour nap!  Mom finally had to wake him up at 4:30 p.m. or he would have been awake all night!  We couldn't have asked for a better first Christmas for our little guy.  Thanks Jess, Carl, Mike and Mimi for making the holiday special for him.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Ok, I recognize this isn't the greatest picture.  It's from a secret video I shot tonight of Brian and Silas "reading" his newest book, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, with the audio recorded by Silas' Grandma Rosalie.  A very special gift.  The video can be found here.  I think it may be my favorite video to date.   A very sweet moment.  Neither one of them had any clue I was there.

Silas Meets Santa

Change of Plans

Just an update for those who read about Silas having his ear surgery tomorrow.  The surgery has been cancelled because Silas has come down with pneumonitis and sinusitis, which is basically fancy for "bad cough and runny nose."  Actually, Silas had fevers on and off all weekend, so we brought him into the pediatrician first thing Monday morning.  He immediately started antibiotics, and as of this evening appears to be feeling a little better.  However, until his lungs are clear, he can't do the anesthesia. So, we'll probably reschedule for some time in January.

The Most Wonderful Time of Year

We're having such a great time prepping for Christmas this year.  It's amazing how much having Silas has restored our enthusiasm for the season.  We didn't even bother putting up a tree last year since it was "just us."  This year, we had our tree up and decorated the week after Thanksgiving! We bought a pre-lit artificial tree this year because we figured, if Josie or Silas knocked it over, it would be easier to recover, and less mess.  As it happens, we probably would have been fine with a real tree.  Both Silas and Josie have been very respectful of the tree, and Silas will not touch it without asking.  It's very cute.  He's got his favorite "Melmo" ornament that talks, and another talking "Yukon Cornelius" ornament that plays dialogue from the TV special Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  He likes to play them over and over again.

 We are still in pursuit of a Santa photo for this year.  We got up early yesterday and went to the mall, but everyone in town must have had the same idea.  We waited in this line for about 30 minutes before we got to the real "entrance," which had a sign that said, "3 Hour Wait from This Point."  It was at that point we bailed on Santa, and decided to come back another day.