First Milestone... Three Months Home!

I would have liked to post more often, but I am thankful I have been able to at least put up an update every month. (Warning: lots of pictures in this post!)

So, we have now marked THREE MONTHS HOME! 

This is the first milestone to reach as we see how he changes after 3, 6, and 12+ months home.

So much has happened in the last month, and growth has been abundant!  Mark and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary in June!  We are so thankful that after 9 wonderful years of marriage as a family a two, we have now celebrated it as a family of THREE!  We went cherry picking at a local orchard.

We found out that Gambo REALLY loves cherries!

He wanted to pick EVERY one.

Mark celebrated his first Father's Day too.

These two love each other so much!

We took our first out of state trip to Colorado to visit lots of family and friends.  He met his granny and grandpa.

He also met lots of aunts, uncles and cousins.

I attended a baby shower for my sister-in-law because she and my brother are having TWINS!

Back at home, we tried to endure the 108 degree weather by swimming with friends.

"I Heard It Through The Grape Vine"...  A nice blessing is that we bought a house with two grape vines out back.  (Just wanted to get that song stuck in your head!)

So after watching the vines grow and the bunches of grapes ripen,

We picked our first grape harvest of the year.

Holding back how much we cut, we still managed to get over nine pounds of grapes.

I just made a batch of homemade grape freezer jelly today.

And we still have at least that much still on the vines.

(We found out that Gambo really likes grapes too!)

Time For FIRSTS.....


This month Gambo got his FIRST tooth, debuting on top. (Yeah, our son is cool like that!)

(Okay, so it was two days before month 3, but close enough.)  He has since grown one on the bottom, and has the 2nd top one coming any day now.

He took his FIRST steps!  And now today was cruising for long stretches in the house (so much more control now!)

He also celebrated his FIRST Independence Day!

It is pretty sweet to see our little Ugandan in the United States now.

Fourth of July included barbecuing, swimming,

and swinging on the hammock.

We also kept him out WAY past his bedtime, so that he could see his FIRST fireworks.

Sleepy baby!

1st Fourth of July!

Cuteness...

In addition to the grapes, we are getting closer to harvesting a HUGE tree of plums!  A few were ripe, and we found out that Gambo LOVES plums too!

He couldn't keep his mouth off of them.

He loved to try out his (two) new teeth on them.

Gambo thought it would be a great idea to play with ALL of his toys tonight.

Then he started pulling even the bins down.

Ooops... he got caught!

(Sorry for the naked baby, he had just been outside playing with the hose and got all wet.)

And I have to post this pic of my cute little Ugandan drummer boy.

He loves to drum!

Oh, and he has also started a recent OBSESSION with the guitar.  He loves to hear us play and try to play himself.  He points at it every morning when we walk by it.  We have literally spent 2 hours with him just playing guitar, piano, and drums.  And that was just the morning jam session.  He wants to play again in the afternoon.  Ha!  I think we have a musician in our family!  (As a side note, I am getting a lot more practice at playing, since he wants to hear it everyday)


Home Study....

We just had our 3-month Post-Placement home study visit.  Our Home Study agency will write a report on how we are doing, and how Gambo is developing.  It was good to have the social worker over to show off our son, plus to be reminded of how far he has come.

We love the progress he has made, but we are still very careful to keep building that trust and bonding with him.  It has really been paying off, because now we receive some of the most sweet hugs ever!  I mean, he squeezes tightly... it's so adorable!  He is settling into a schedule, and it has helped him relax more.

He also has increased his understanding amazingly!  He knows so many more words we say, and he is even communicating very well using baby sign language.  We've tried to teach him a few words here and there, and I can tell it has made our day, especially meal times, much easier and calmer.

Blessed...

If any of you are waiting for your little one to come home... please let me say what I always valued from others...  THE WAIT IS SO WORTH IT!  Our son is one of the most amazing gifts we can ever receive.  He melts our hearts and makes us smile every day!  He is such a wonderful fit for our family, and we can't imagine life without him!

Two Months Home Update!

Since we arrived home April 4th, tomorrow will be two months since E has been home with us!

*New Note: Many people choose to use nicknames for their kids on their blog, so we don't have to write out his name for the public to see.  So instead of writing "E" all the time, I am choosing to write out his nickname that we call him at home, "Gambo."  (If you want an explanation of why we call him this, just ask me)

OK, now... Month two has actually gone better than month one!

Isn't he a cutie!

We saw lots of progress in month one, but it was still a tough month to get used to the new dynamic in the home.  On top of that, the month was filled with doctor's visits and blood draws for Gambo and for me, since I came home from Uganda with something.  It turns out I had mononucleosis.

I am much better now and so is Gambo.  In month two we finally decided we needed some structure to Gambo's day and started scheduling him.

"Hey, if the shoe fits..."

It hasn't been the easiest thing to do, but I think he likes it much better than when he spends his day wondering when he'll eat or take a nap.  It also helps me know how our day is going to look.

Sliding around in a box is way fun!

In the last month Gambo has made a lot of progress and celebrated a big milestone... his first birthday!!! (more on that later)

-He makes a lot more sounds with his mouth, trying out new ones each day.
-He has learned to climb our stairs... and also learned to climb down (as of yesterday).
-He has gained more weight and height.
-He began teething and cut his first tooth!  One of his upper front teeth just broke the surface yesterday!

I wish I was as flexible as this boy.  He would be a yoga master!

And one of the biggest successes this month.... he has started showing real affection.

This is not something that many mothers of biological children tend to think about.  But as an adoptive parent you always wonder if your child really wants you, is faking affection, or really doesn't trust you yet to take care of them for the rest of their life.  Trusting and caring for someone is scary since there is a risk that they could leave you.  So, sometimes it is easier to withhold affection so that you can't get hurt.

Though we didn't realize it at the time, when we first got Gambo, he was withholding affection.  

I know that now because in the past month he has surprised us with showing affection!!  This is so amazing as we see just how much we are both starting to love and care for each other, him to us and us to him.

I'll never forget the first time I felt Gambo really give me a hug.  Yes, he hung on to me before, but this time, he had his arms wrapped strongly around my neck and was holding tight with his head resting on my shoulder.  It melted my heart and gave me butterflies!  It's kind of like falling in love with someone, as they give you their first hug.

Gambo is now giving lots of hugs... and even kisses!  He hasn't quite figured out how to close his mouth yet, so they are big open mouth, wet slobbery kisses... and I love them!  He even loves to cuddle now!

Other big happenings in month two: I celebrated my first Mother's Day!!

It's been a long wait for this.  It is strange how my opinion of Mother's Day has turned around so much since last year.  For the past several years, actually, Mother's Day for me has been pretty painful.  It was a day that I didn't want to go to church and have them ask all the mothers to stand up, while I sat quietly.  But this year, I was so happy to be Gambo's mother that it made the day so special.

Not only that, but the other special event on Mother's Day was that, at church, we dedicated ourselves to raising up Gambo for God's glory.

This is something that we are serious about and enjoyed the privilege to share our hopes for our family with our church here.

Let me just clarify, we did not baptize Gambo.  Baptism is something that he will have to make an individual decision about when he is old enough, and only when it is a public testimony to him having a saving faith in Jesus Christ.  Second, we did not dedicate/anoint him in a way that we are assuring him of his future salvation.  We cannot save our son.  ONLY GOD can save him.  It is not up to us or based on if we "dedicated" him or not.  Third, we were basically wanting to commit ourselves to raising him in a godly home, teaching him about God, and serving him to the best of our ability, so that God is glorified through us, and hopefully through Gambo if he chooses to follow Him.

OK, enough heavy stuff, what else has he been up to?

-Right after the one month update (when I said he was only "army crawling") he started crawling on his hands and knees.  Now he does this type of crawl a lot!



-We took our first family vacation and got away for a few days to sunny Palm Springs, CA.

We enjoyed a nice (and HOT) hike

Up to a small waterfall

We went swimming

And we celebrated his first birthday with his Gram, Grandpa, Uncle, Aunt, and cousins!

"You want me to do WHAT with this cake?"

 He didn't really like eating the cake

 But he enjoyed getting all messy and then getting Mama!

 He opened presents

Then I wanted to do something special and took ink prints of his feet and hands at one year old.

Cousin Brittany is helping

This is something that he probably didn't have done when he was born, so it was neat to have those first prints of when he is a little baby and to look back on them in the future.

We are thoroughly enjoying our new life as a family, and we are more in love with Gambo every single day that passes!