Officially ours for two months today

Two months ago today, we were standing in a courtroom halfway around the world when a judge made a decision that would change our lives forever. She declared us to be the parents of our son! It's amazing to think that two months have already flown by since then. As my faithful readers (I'm grateful for you all!) are painfully aware, I have not updated this blog in almost a month. It's hard for me to believe. Then again, I rarely have a moment to myself! Now that I am on this side of mommyhood, I am amazed that any of you moms are able to update blogs with regularity. This is a very impressive feat, and not one that I am sure I will be able to live up to. But I am hoping to get better!

In general, things are going REALLY well with our family. We are thankful and blessed beyond words. We feel like attachment is definitely happening. Even when we're in groups of people, Sam never reaches for anyone else to pick him up but the two of us. And when he wanders around exploring, he is constantly looking back to make sure we're still there. Often when I'm holding him and he meets someone new, he'll give them a big smile, and then turn his head away from them and bury it into my shoulder. I am told that these are all great signs of attachment, and it does seem that way to us. We're going to continue to be cautious for the next several months, and then we'll reevaluate our plans later this fall. The line of people waiting to hold this boy is very long! :-)

Sam is a joy to parent. He is so much fun and loves life. He is always smiling and laughing. Today he spent a couple hours just exploring and playing in the kitchen. He is able to play a little more independently once in a while, and it's a nice time for me to be able to get a few things done too.

Since I last posted, Sam has met all of his grandparents, one set of great-grandparents, and an aunt and uncle. We are looking forward to introducing him to the rest his extended family, though of course he won't remember any of it. But we will have pictures to document it all!

In looking back at my older posts, I realized I never updated Sam's medical plans. He has surgery scheduled for September 15 in Jacksonville. It will be an open abdomen surgery, and will take 3-4 hours. That is a long time for my baby to be under anesthesia! He'll be in the hospital for 3 days (they think) and I'll be able to stay in the room with him the whole time. Ben will stay with the parents of one our students in Jax, and will be with us every day in the hospital. As part of his surgery, he'll get a stent put in one of his ureters to help it heal properly. Then, we'll go back to the hospital three weeks later to have it removed. It will be a rough several weeks in our family. We'd appreciate your prayers, and I promise to keep you all more updated.

A few other tidbits about life with Sam: He is using 15 signs consistently now, which is so fun. He loves to communicate and tell us when he sees lights and fans. He is getting three molars in (at the same time!), so sleep has been a little rough. But otherwise, he had been sleeping about 12 1/2 hours through the night. We are loving that when it happens. He has progressed from walking to running, and doesn't slow down for a moment. Today he figured out how to climb up onto the kitchen chairs, and tried to get up on the table. We have a little monkey on our hands for sure!

This post is getting long, which is my fault for waiting a month! But I want to share a few pictures before I go. You'll notice the creative shots with the grandparents, since they can't hold him yet!

With Grandpa and Grandma Anderson at our house (Sam is sitting on our car)

With Dandie and Papa Nugent in Atlanta (can you see Ben's hands holding him in the chair?!)

With Nana Nugent at Uncle Packy's wedding in Jamaica

Family picture in Jamaica

He LOVES to play with my Swiffer. Now if I can just figure out how to get him to actually clean with it...

Superman time with Daddy

Climbing under the chair, right before he figured out how to climb on top of it!