My little guy......

First off, I want to thank all of you for your gracious comments on my previous post. I want you to know that I think all of your families and the families that are yet to come together and be united are beautiful and a wonderful story as well.

When I found out that I was going to have a boy, I knew it was going to be trouble! lol Daniel has been my high maintenance child since day one. First off, he was a spitter. He would puke up so much of his bottle I would hold him over the sink. This started the first week I was home with him. Scared me to death. He hated sleeping on his back or being swaddled. At 13 days old I put him on his stomach. Life got a little better. At 7 weeks I started adding cereal to his bottle to try and keep him from puking so much. It helped, so at 8 months cereal went into EVERY bottle. Whew....got that one under control.

The child poops his pants like something I'd envision you'd see in a parent's worse nightmare kind of movie. I had one day, where I literally stood at his changing table for 10 minutes and went through 6 diapers. I would no sooner wipe, get the next diaper on and he would poop again. I stood there in total shock......it was like a play dough pump! He's better, but I still call him my pooping maniac!

It is going to take FOREVER to transition to table food. If you put anything unfamiliar in his mouth, we go through this whole gagging ordeal. He is definitely, "The Boss!"

I think that he and Emmie look quite a bit alike. They both have beautiful blue eyes and those lips.......big lips! lol Emmie had brown hair like Daniel until her first summer outside. From then on it was blonde. I'm curious to see if Daniel's will do the same.

The boy can make me break out into a sweat just trying to dress him. He is every where on the changing table. He kicks his legs up, tries to bite his toes, roll over...you name it. I tried all sorts of diversions........he just doesn't care. He puts EVERYTHING into his mouth which makes my constant checking the floor drive me crazy! I've decided all these things must be because he is a boy! Neither of the girls ever did these kind of things! lol When he gets upset, all I have to do is sing You Are My Sunshine and he calms right down. I must have sung that song quite a bit in my sleep deprived state last summer. Daniel also lets me know when meal time is over....he clamps his mouth shut and it is very obvious he wants nothing more.

Books......OMW he LOVES books. In fact, I love them too because they are currently giving me an extra 30 minutes or so after he wakes up from his nap. I have 3-4 books at the end of his bed. He looks at them over and over, talks, giggles and is happy as a clam. So am I! ;) He has been on my hip from day one. A total and complete little Mommy's boy. He gives me the biggest smiles I have ever seen. He's been grabbing my face with one hand for months and turns it towards him if I am not looking at him and he wants my attention. He gives me open mouth kisses and has been squeezing me with his entire body for months to give me a great big hug. He doesn't like to go to anyone but me. The only exception is my sister Ingrid. He'll go to Emmie, but I have to walk away and he just started to go to Daddy during our trip to Maui. Daniel also became very attached to Sophia on our trip as well. He loves her the most after me I think. He's very sensitive. He snuggles me, sucks his thumb and pointer, and lays his little head down on my shoulder whenever he can. He loves to be outside...thank goodness. Last summer he hated the stroller and the car. I felt like I was on lock down. He finally started to like stroller rides at 4 1/2 months. The one thing he has done for me.....he's a great sleeper. He takes great naps now that we are down to one and he sleep's through the night great. I believe that God gave him to us because of this long wait to adopt again. Even though at one point I didn't know if we'd go back, God did. Daniel is Sophia's little pal and they are playing together more and more everyday. He's my miracle child, my stress, my smiles, my exhaustion and I love him to pieces. Thank goodness we made it through this first year! lol Big sigh..........

And I stand corrected once again during my life long journey. I thought my dream of going back to China again was gone.......I prayed that David would still be open to the idea even though our lives seemed so full. I'm married to a man that has a very big heart......and so the journey continues.....