David is a busy busy boy and seems to be doing more this month, which is wonderful!
-David can pull up on a walker and walk with it all by himself.
-David will walk without holding on to anything if I hold on to the back of his shirt to help him keep his balance.
-David can stand without shoes on for about 5 seconds. With shoes and orthotics about 10 seconds.
-David is now signing "eat" and a very occasional "mommy"
-David now plays "peek-a-boo" and covers/uncovers his eyes.
-David loves to play "basketball" and throw little basketballs into my laundry basket.
-We have this musical instrument kit, where the instruments are stored in a clear plastic drum. David now loves to put the instruments back in and secure the lid in place. He will leave something out usually so he can bang the drum with it. He's playing with more intention now.
-David doesn't say words yet, or imitate, but he babbles with quiet a variety of vocal ranges from high pitch with energy to calm and slow. He gets very animated when he's talking!
David is on a this schedule that he's been on for quite awhile now. He doesn't depart from it, it's like clockwork: Up at 7-7:30am, Nap at 12:30-1:00 for about 1 hour, sometimes longer or shorter, and in bed between 8-8:30.
A couple months back the only way to get David to nap was to put him in the jumper and he would jump to sleep. But he's since outgrown it, so I transitioned to rocking him to sleep which took about 5 minutes. That got old, so I would put him in his crib, and he would pull up to stand and cry for 10 minutes or so and finally after that would go to sleep. NOW, I put him in his bed, he pulls up to stand and fusses for 2-3 minutes and will go to sleep.
When it's time to sleep at night, he usually fusses for 1-2 minutes and sometimes will stay down and not pull up to sleep. But he sleeps quicker and all through the night. In the morning he is my alarm clock and will start talking/yelling/crying to let me know he's up and wants me.
But David does so good throughout the day because of our "schedule", I just wonder what Evan's schedule is and how he's doing. I pray for angels of protection over that sweet boy that I hope to meet soon and take home with me! He has lots of love awaiting him... :-)
The Brown family blog- about life, faith, and the blessing of children with Down syndrome!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Evan pictures- so handsome!
I just got new pictures of Evan from my adoption agency! Wow, he is so grown-up looking compared to the original picture I had from Reeces Rainbow- now I know what David will look like in a year and a half! :-) Enjoy the pictures, I know I certainly am!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Evan video
Evan comes in at the 30 second mark. He is so adorable, I just want to love on him too! Thank you Lindsey for sending me this!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Is the paperwork supposed to take this long?
I don't know why everything is taking so long for our adoption. I see other parent's blogs and how quickly they are getting the paperwork turned in and responses back and it boggles my mind!
I got my receipt the other day for the I-600a form dated September 19, 2011, and when I go online their average processing times is 90 days. And I hear that when you get the approval form back, your fingerprinting date is usually a month later. So that puts us at mid/late January and by then all of our paperwork will be so old regarding finances and employment. We might have to wait until we do our taxes... it will add at least a month for the updating with the homestudy agent.... and that is just for our dossier. Wow. Does this seem right? How is it that the other blogs that I read seem to happen so much faster? Is there anything I should be doing now while I'm waiting?
Thank you in advance for your comments and encouragement!
I got my receipt the other day for the I-600a form dated September 19, 2011, and when I go online their average processing times is 90 days. And I hear that when you get the approval form back, your fingerprinting date is usually a month later. So that puts us at mid/late January and by then all of our paperwork will be so old regarding finances and employment. We might have to wait until we do our taxes... it will add at least a month for the updating with the homestudy agent.... and that is just for our dossier. Wow. Does this seem right? How is it that the other blogs that I read seem to happen so much faster? Is there anything I should be doing now while I'm waiting?
Thank you in advance for your comments and encouragement!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
David's 20-month milestones
I haven't done a milestone post in about 3 months, so I wanted to make sure to not miss out on this month before I forget what David is currently able to do and is working on!
-David crawls FAST- everywhere. He can do really fancy manoeuvrings to get from hands and knees to sitting and turning and such. He has mastered the floor at this point.
-David can pull to stand with ease on just about anything- even the sliding glass door. He can cruise and we are working on cruising/walking with 1 hand. I have to get on David to keep standing and continue walking because he wants to plop down on the floor and crawl so bad! Note: It's a little tricky doing walking therapy because he needs orthotics AND shoes on. To switch off to knees pushing a toy, we need to take the shoes off... And most walkers are too short for David- he has to lean over so much to practice walking. We are in need of a toddler "shopping cart".
-In playgroup David is not very social with the other children- he's more interested in the toy they are playing with. In circle time, he doesn't follow along yet with the songs and motions but he'll get there soon, I'm sure!
-David has 7 teeth at the moment. He's always in teething mode, but I don't see any active ones popping through yet!
-David LOOOVES books. We're practicing pointing and identifying objects in the stories. We're just beginning to do more of this.
-David signs the following: Dada, more, please, all done (he used to do this one fine, but now is starting to just shake his head "no" and frown in lieu of this...), and again. I'm working on mama, ball, play, help, water, milk, drink, eat, kiss. I wonder when his sign language vocabulary will take off.
-David babbles a little bit, but mostly doesn't talk. Here are some examples of his babblings: Ra-Duh, Da Da, Bub...
-David loves stacking toys, simple shape sorters, banging drums, tossing the ball back and forth, throwing balls into a basket, books, and he loves to teeth on this toddler toothbrush I have for him. He also loves the sensory table at playgroup- but he loves to rub his hands in the beans/rice/water/etc making a mess! He hasn't gotten to the filling and pouring stage yet of sensory play.
So that's an overview of this month for little David! It's pretty neat to look back myself at the earlier posts and remember what David used to only be able to do. He's doing more now! :-)
-David crawls FAST- everywhere. He can do really fancy manoeuvrings to get from hands and knees to sitting and turning and such. He has mastered the floor at this point.
-David can pull to stand with ease on just about anything- even the sliding glass door. He can cruise and we are working on cruising/walking with 1 hand. I have to get on David to keep standing and continue walking because he wants to plop down on the floor and crawl so bad! Note: It's a little tricky doing walking therapy because he needs orthotics AND shoes on. To switch off to knees pushing a toy, we need to take the shoes off... And most walkers are too short for David- he has to lean over so much to practice walking. We are in need of a toddler "shopping cart".
-In playgroup David is not very social with the other children- he's more interested in the toy they are playing with. In circle time, he doesn't follow along yet with the songs and motions but he'll get there soon, I'm sure!
-David has 7 teeth at the moment. He's always in teething mode, but I don't see any active ones popping through yet!
-David LOOOVES books. We're practicing pointing and identifying objects in the stories. We're just beginning to do more of this.
-David signs the following: Dada, more, please, all done (he used to do this one fine, but now is starting to just shake his head "no" and frown in lieu of this...), and again. I'm working on mama, ball, play, help, water, milk, drink, eat, kiss. I wonder when his sign language vocabulary will take off.
-David babbles a little bit, but mostly doesn't talk. Here are some examples of his babblings: Ra-Duh, Da Da, Bub...
-David loves stacking toys, simple shape sorters, banging drums, tossing the ball back and forth, throwing balls into a basket, books, and he loves to teeth on this toddler toothbrush I have for him. He also loves the sensory table at playgroup- but he loves to rub his hands in the beans/rice/water/etc making a mess! He hasn't gotten to the filling and pouring stage yet of sensory play.
So that's an overview of this month for little David! It's pretty neat to look back myself at the earlier posts and remember what David used to only be able to do. He's doing more now! :-)
Monday, September 12, 2011
Loaves and Fishes
Saturday and Sunday was Evan's BIG Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale. I did some mild "advertising" for this event. I had a couple online ads, and I e-mailed about 30 of my co-workers personally with the information. I also posted fliers around the break rooms at work 2 days before the event. In spite of this, God showed Himself faithful and provided in a BIG way. This weekend was BLESSED- and I'll explain why!
Blessing #1) The Planner. I had an old co-worker at work that told me that a yard sale would be our big fundraiser. We spread the word and started to collect items from other friends and co-workers for the past 5 months. She let us store the items at her father's empty basement for the time being. This co-worker priced and cleaned about half of the donated items before driving them back to my parent's house. She acted as the 2nd cashier putting her foot down on hagglers trying to negotiation the prices on items. A quoted phrase: "You see that boy over there? (Pointing to the Evan poster I made) You really are trying to keep 25 cents from him? Well I'm sorry- the price stays!" (They were trying to talk their way down from 50 cents to 25 cents.)
Blessing #2) The Location. We had the sale at my parent's house. They have a 1/4 acre lot next to their home adjacent to a busy main road. The area was private enough to leave the items overnight without having anything stolen too!
Blessing #3) Signage! I had a banner from my old business that was made out of vinyl with reinforced holes on the corners. So I turned this banner around and made with HUGE lettering "EVAN'S BIG ADOPTION FUNDRAISER" and it was posted so all of the driving cars could see. We had 2 open house signs, that were put by the road to say "Yard Sale" pointing towards the home. A friend of mine brought a big bunch of balloons that we tied to each open house sign. These signs caused nearly every driver to slow down and turn down our street to come to our sale!
Blessing #4) The Bake Sale and the Bakers. The Bake Sale probably brought in half of the money. Without the bake sale, the shoppers could have paid for the item out in the yard and they could have left to their cars to drive away. The Sake Sale was placed near the house as a "check out" point next to the Evan poster I made. We had a variety of donated items that people could purchase for 50 cents each. But this check out point allowed for the conversation of the adoption to happen naturally as we were allowed to give the shoppers one of our adoption hand out cards as well. So many times they would pay above and beyond once they realized the cause.
Blessing #5) My Mother. My mother planned out the bake sale. She made and froze cookie dough ahead of time and baked hundreds of cookies the day before. She even planned for hot dogs and all the fixings so we could serve a meal for $5.00. She watched and fed David for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! I couldn't have done it without my mother!
Blessing #6) The Volunteers. During the actual event the following volunteers were vital to the success: The planner and her son. They also kept organizing the clothes and items the entire time! My sister came to help and boy did she! She helped at the bake sale with the check out. She answered questions and helped direct the shoppers. My cousin came both days to help! She is super good at selling stuff! She complimented all of the items people were purchasing and took the time to showed how items worked and complimented the value of items as well. My cousin also helped to hand out the adoption cards in a sincere way. My uncle happened to be in town for the event and helped with pricing and putting together the furniture items. He stayed for the entire event for both days! On Sunday he even serenaded everyone with his guitar playing, and helped with the tear-down of the sale. My dad helped with the setup, tear down, cooking hot dogs, and was awesome in putting some great "handy man" items out for the sale! (This is a brief detail of my volunteers, but you get the idea on how each person fit into a different role that made the experience such a success!)
Blessing #7) That the event itself was a blessing! Looking back it was amazing to see the process of being a blessing all around me. Let me explain. Some families came and needed to be blessed. If they were having a baby they got 2 bags of baby clothes for $7.00! What a blessing for them. Some families got so many children's toys and household items for just a couple bucks- what a blessing for them! Some families wanted 1 item, and gave $100 for it to bless Evan. What a blessing for us and for him! Some families returned back after paying to give us baked goods and additional donations to sell. We kept seeing new items show up hour after hour! Our baby clothes lasted and lasted, the supply never seemed to ran out, and I still have several boxes leftover! On Sunday everything was nearly 25 cents and people kept coming to buy items, but our "inventory" never dried up! It was unbelievable- this event was an eye-opening experience of how God's economy works. Though I sold literally $500 worth of priced items we brought in $3800 in 2 days! $3800 all for donated items that someone deemed as "junk". This was a true success.
Blessing #8) Prayers. Thank you for your prayers. This event was covered in prayer from start to finish! The day before the event my parent's pastor happened to be over at their home to visit, and he saw us start to put together the yard sale. He prayed over our sale. On Sunday we had another ordained pastor come to pray a blessing over me in particular and the sale as well. Later that day one of the shoppers asked to pray over James and I and she prayed more over the adoption paperwork aspect and for the sale as well. It was so neat to see that each person in their prayers focused on a different aspect of this adoption process. God is so good- He wanted all of it to be prayed for so He could send His angels out to get to work on answering these prayers!
It was a true pleasure to have been apart of an event such as this. It took a lot of effort, but Evan is so worth the time and energy. I loved how it brought the community together to support such an awesome, uplifting cause. But above all, I saw first hand God as Jehovah Jireh - God our Provider. Glory to the Lord!
Blessing #1) The Planner. I had an old co-worker at work that told me that a yard sale would be our big fundraiser. We spread the word and started to collect items from other friends and co-workers for the past 5 months. She let us store the items at her father's empty basement for the time being. This co-worker priced and cleaned about half of the donated items before driving them back to my parent's house. She acted as the 2nd cashier putting her foot down on hagglers trying to negotiation the prices on items. A quoted phrase: "You see that boy over there? (Pointing to the Evan poster I made) You really are trying to keep 25 cents from him? Well I'm sorry- the price stays!" (They were trying to talk their way down from 50 cents to 25 cents.)
Blessing #2) The Location. We had the sale at my parent's house. They have a 1/4 acre lot next to their home adjacent to a busy main road. The area was private enough to leave the items overnight without having anything stolen too!
Blessing #3) Signage! I had a banner from my old business that was made out of vinyl with reinforced holes on the corners. So I turned this banner around and made with HUGE lettering "EVAN'S BIG ADOPTION FUNDRAISER" and it was posted so all of the driving cars could see. We had 2 open house signs, that were put by the road to say "Yard Sale" pointing towards the home. A friend of mine brought a big bunch of balloons that we tied to each open house sign. These signs caused nearly every driver to slow down and turn down our street to come to our sale!
Blessing #4) The Bake Sale and the Bakers. The Bake Sale probably brought in half of the money. Without the bake sale, the shoppers could have paid for the item out in the yard and they could have left to their cars to drive away. The Sake Sale was placed near the house as a "check out" point next to the Evan poster I made. We had a variety of donated items that people could purchase for 50 cents each. But this check out point allowed for the conversation of the adoption to happen naturally as we were allowed to give the shoppers one of our adoption hand out cards as well. So many times they would pay above and beyond once they realized the cause.
Blessing #5) My Mother. My mother planned out the bake sale. She made and froze cookie dough ahead of time and baked hundreds of cookies the day before. She even planned for hot dogs and all the fixings so we could serve a meal for $5.00. She watched and fed David for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! I couldn't have done it without my mother!
Blessing #6) The Volunteers. During the actual event the following volunteers were vital to the success: The planner and her son. They also kept organizing the clothes and items the entire time! My sister came to help and boy did she! She helped at the bake sale with the check out. She answered questions and helped direct the shoppers. My cousin came both days to help! She is super good at selling stuff! She complimented all of the items people were purchasing and took the time to showed how items worked and complimented the value of items as well. My cousin also helped to hand out the adoption cards in a sincere way. My uncle happened to be in town for the event and helped with pricing and putting together the furniture items. He stayed for the entire event for both days! On Sunday he even serenaded everyone with his guitar playing, and helped with the tear-down of the sale. My dad helped with the setup, tear down, cooking hot dogs, and was awesome in putting some great "handy man" items out for the sale! (This is a brief detail of my volunteers, but you get the idea on how each person fit into a different role that made the experience such a success!)
Blessing #7) That the event itself was a blessing! Looking back it was amazing to see the process of being a blessing all around me. Let me explain. Some families came and needed to be blessed. If they were having a baby they got 2 bags of baby clothes for $7.00! What a blessing for them. Some families got so many children's toys and household items for just a couple bucks- what a blessing for them! Some families wanted 1 item, and gave $100 for it to bless Evan. What a blessing for us and for him! Some families returned back after paying to give us baked goods and additional donations to sell. We kept seeing new items show up hour after hour! Our baby clothes lasted and lasted, the supply never seemed to ran out, and I still have several boxes leftover! On Sunday everything was nearly 25 cents and people kept coming to buy items, but our "inventory" never dried up! It was unbelievable- this event was an eye-opening experience of how God's economy works. Though I sold literally $500 worth of priced items we brought in $3800 in 2 days! $3800 all for donated items that someone deemed as "junk". This was a true success.
Blessing #8) Prayers. Thank you for your prayers. This event was covered in prayer from start to finish! The day before the event my parent's pastor happened to be over at their home to visit, and he saw us start to put together the yard sale. He prayed over our sale. On Sunday we had another ordained pastor come to pray a blessing over me in particular and the sale as well. Later that day one of the shoppers asked to pray over James and I and she prayed more over the adoption paperwork aspect and for the sale as well. It was so neat to see that each person in their prayers focused on a different aspect of this adoption process. God is so good- He wanted all of it to be prayed for so He could send His angels out to get to work on answering these prayers!
It was a true pleasure to have been apart of an event such as this. It took a lot of effort, but Evan is so worth the time and energy. I loved how it brought the community together to support such an awesome, uplifting cause. But above all, I saw first hand God as Jehovah Jireh - God our Provider. Glory to the Lord!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
This Saturday!
This Saturday is Evan's BIG Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale Event!
We have SOOOO many donations!
Thank you everyone who has donated either money or your good-will items. Thank you Ron for getting the church's OK for using their tables for the event. Thank you to my friends and family who are stepping up to bake desserts and to those who will be donating your time and energy to help me with the sale. Evan thanks you!
Everything mentioned in my last post will be happening! My parents have stepped up to gather the necessary ingredients to serve "meals" of hot dogs, chips, cookie and a soda in Styrofoam containers. I couldn't have done that, thank you to my wonderful parents and for letting me have the sale at your home! :-)
I'll post pictures when all is said and done of the event!
Now about the adoption, I am apparently waiting for the notarized & finalized home study to come in the mail. Then on to the dossier!
I should be doing a David update soon with his milestones, since he will be 22 months old on Saturday. WOW! Time is sure flying by!
We have SOOOO many donations!
Thank you everyone who has donated either money or your good-will items. Thank you Ron for getting the church's OK for using their tables for the event. Thank you to my friends and family who are stepping up to bake desserts and to those who will be donating your time and energy to help me with the sale. Evan thanks you!
Everything mentioned in my last post will be happening! My parents have stepped up to gather the necessary ingredients to serve "meals" of hot dogs, chips, cookie and a soda in Styrofoam containers. I couldn't have done that, thank you to my wonderful parents and for letting me have the sale at your home! :-)
I'll post pictures when all is said and done of the event!
Now about the adoption, I am apparently waiting for the notarized & finalized home study to come in the mail. Then on to the dossier!
I should be doing a David update soon with his milestones, since he will be 22 months old on Saturday. WOW! Time is sure flying by!
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