Sneak Peak

My sister Holly is a photographer (Holly Anderson Photography). She came over on Sunday and took pictures at a picnic that we had with some other families to celebrate National Adoption Month.

She sent me a sneak peak of pictures of Mark. Enjoy!

Window

One of Mark's favorite things to do is stand by the front window and look out. He tends to do this especially right before Daddy comes home. It's cute, and brings back good memories because Precious used to do the exact same thing sometimes.

Here he is waiting for Daddy to come home from work:


And another that Daddy took one weekend when he was waiting for Mommy:

First birthday save the dates

So, with a Christmas Day birthday, we obviously won't be able to have a kids/friends birthday party on his actual birthday. So, we decided to hold it on Sunday, Jan 4th. We figure most of our (and his) friends will be back from vacation (if they are on vacation) since school and work will start back up on Jan 5th.

Another problem- invites may get lost in the holiday mail. I know we all get TONS of catalogs, Christmas cards, letters and more during late Nov and all of December. We will be sending out invitations in December, but decided to make save the dates and send them out this week. That way it'll be on people's calendars if for some reason they don't get or miss the invitation.

His birthday party theme is going to be Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids. Mark loves Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, he watches it on tv daily. When he hears the theme song he comes scurrying into the room to watch. It's the one thing that can get him totally mesmerized and guarantee to keep him interested for a short while.

One neat and exciting thing is that it also explains adoption. You see, Miss Spider is adopted (her Mom is Betty Beetle). And not only that, several of her kids are as well (Bounce, Dragon and Shimmer). She also has five other spider kids. Occasionally adoption is a show theme, sometimes it's a minor theme. And sometimes it's not mentioned at all. They treat it as they treat kindness, patience, friends, or any other theme to their shows. It's a unique way to explain adoption to children, one that they can relate to in a positive way.

It's the perfect theme for our little guy. So, I made some save the dates and they are going out in the mail this week and next. Here is what they look like:

first sickies

Well, we are going through Mark's first round of sickies. I guess we're pretty lucky because it took ten months. All three of us have had a stomach bug. Mark is doing pretty well, even though he has no clue what is going on.

Even though he knows he's not feeling well, his sweet little personality keeps coming out. Right now he's playing "la la la" with Daddy. He is also about ready to go to bed.

I really do admire those who have had babies that haven't slept through the night, those who get up every night for one or more feedings. And it makes me appreciate it all the more how amazing Mark is. He usually is a self soother in that if he's in bed he'll put himself back to sleep if he wakes (and there are some nights I have heard him and watched him on the monitor- he's back asleep before I can even get out of bed to go check on him). Last night the poor little guy woke up a little after one. And it took me until almost three thirty to get him back to sleep. Fortunately he then proceeded to sleep for a long time after that.

We're keeping him hydrated, giving him lots of hugs and snuggles. And hopefully these sickies will go away soon.

Trip to the zoo

Last week Mark and I went to the zoo with some of our playgroup friends. They all had a wonderful time. Mark fell asleep and had a nap halfway through, but really enjoyed the time he was awake. He didn't want to pet any of the animals in the petting zoo, but rather wanted to stay in the stroller. He did love the aquarium though!

The Pumpkin Patch

We took Mark to a pumpkin patch this weekend. Here is some video- enjoy! He loves his squeaky shoes too.

Fun times at Monkey N Around

Mark and I went to Monkey N Around with my friend Carrie and her daughter (and Mark's friend) Macie (she's three weeks older than Mark). We're so happy to see he is enjoying the train/car table- he's getting one for his birthday! Here are some pictures and some video. Enjoy!