Getting a New Clubhouse

Hi everyone!

 

Just a quick update to let you know that Nicholas is doing great!

 

He recently got a new clubhouse that Dad put together for him, so he has been out enjoying some nice spring weather.  Actually, we were out there playing today, and he has worn himself out.  This is the best afternoon nap we have taken in quite a while!

 

One of his favorite things to do these days is pretend to talk on the phone.  He does have 3 toy phones, but even if he’s not using one of those, he will hold anything up to his ear and say with the cutest Southern accent "Hey"!  Yes, he learned that from his very Southern parents!  The phone thing…I am not sure why he learned that so easily.  Neither of us like to talk on the phone alot!

 

Nicholas is still not talking very much, at least not understandable words!  He carries on conversations in his "language" all the time.  He occassionally attempts "I love you".  And of course, he says Mama and Dada.  Another frequently used word is Belle.  Belle is the name of our terrorized cat!  He is obsessed with her and she does her very best to avoid him.  He has said Lexie before.  That is the name of our biggest dog, but he doesn’t call her often.  He has not attempted Cricket’s name yet.  She is the smaller dog.  I think he is obsessed with the cat because she is so small, and also because she wants nothing to do with him!

 

He is also getting bigger everyday!  He was weighed recently and is now a whopping 27 lbs!  Some of his 18-24 mos clothing is already getting small!  Everyone tells me that I need to save grocery money, because I have a football player on my hands!  I guess time will tell!

 

Hope everyone is doing well, and I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend!

 

Sonya

A Week of Firsts for Little Guy!

Hi Everyone!

 

Nicholas and his parents had a very busy week and poor little guy is paying for it today!  He has slept so much today.  The weekend at the beach wore him out!

 

At the first of last week, I decided it was time for Nick’s first haircut!  After all, he would be seeing his girlfriend at the end of the week!  We had to look our best!  His grandmother, or MaMaRee, cuts hair, so she came over and did the honors!  He did very well.  We distracted him with the PBS Kids Sprout Channel (his favorite TV channel) and it went as smooth as could be!

 

After I got off from work on Thursday, we drove out to the Outer Banks.  We were meeting the Misyaks who were vacationing there.  Those of you who have read this blog from the beginning may remember that we were in Kazakhstan with the Misyaks.  Our children were in the same group room in the orphanage and their birthdays are exactly one week apart.  Therefore, Sharon and I have already arranged their marriage when they turn 30!  Ha!  Ha!

 

We were actually very curious whether or not they might remember each other.  When we arrived Thursday night, Galena was already sleeping.  The next morning when they saw one another, there seemed to be no memory of the other.  It took a few minutes for them to warm up to each other and begin to play.  After the play started however, there were some kisses and hugs between the two!  There were little tiffs too!  Each wanted whatever the other one had!  It was all very cute.  It was awesome to see Sharon, Rob and Andrew too, and I hope we can see them all again soon.

 

Another family, the Lauder’s, were vacationing with the Misyaks.  They also have 2 children, Samuel and Eliza.  Nicholas enjoyed playing with them also!

 

This trip was, of course, Nick’s first beach trip!  It won’t be his last.  He had so much fun playing in the sand.  He was also very attracted to the water, and at one point, got a bit too close.  He discovered quickly that the ocean is cold in April!  That didn’t deter him from heading that way again on Day 2!  My days of napping and reading on the beach are long over!

 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

 

Sonya

 

 

 

 

You Know You’re an Adoptive Parent When…

I borrowed this from the blog of another adoptive parent who’s children are patients at my office.  I loved it, and I am sure Anne will not mind if I share it!

You Know You’re An Adoptive Parent When . . .

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.

2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.

3. You can’t watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.

4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.

5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.

6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child’s ‘real’ parents.

7. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.

8. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.

9. You believe God’s heart is for adoption.

10. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.

11. You know what the word ‘Dossier’ means, and you can actually pronounce it!

12. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.

13. You have ever been ‘pregnant’ with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth. (2 years!)

14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

-Author unknown

And we are off!

Hi everybody!

 

All is well in Boykin world.  As you can tell by the title, we are now off and running!  Nicholas decided 2 weeks ago to walk full-time, and it has been non-stop since!  If he decides to crawl at all, it must be nap or bedtime!  While this creates more work, it is so fun to watch him.  His curiosity and his will is so strong.  There cannot be one unexplored corner of this house.  Now with Spring here, there will not be one unexplored corner of our yard!

 

He is doing well with his sitter also.  He will sometimes cry when Lynn first arrives.  I have determined that is because he knows that Mom is leaving!  However, once they start playing…he forgets all about Mom!  Yes, Nicholas is easily distracted!  So far, we have only needed her approximately 3 days per week.  My days have had to start much earlier though!  Brent leaves for work long before we start thinking about getting up, so now, I have to get up much earlier to get myself ready so that I can then get Nicholas up and ready!  Oh well…who needs sleep, right?

 

Soon we will be off to the beach with the Misyaks!  Yes, our Kaz buddies from New Jersey are coming down to vacation at the Outer Banks for a week.  We plan to go out for a long weekend to spend time with them and let Nicholas and Galena reunite!  I cannot wait to see if they remember each other.  They were both in the same group at the babyhouse.  It should be alot of fun!

 

Enjoy your week!

 

Sonya

Easter Blessings

Hi Everyone!

 

As we approach Easter tomorrow, I have been doing alot of thinking about all that we have to be thankful for on such a special holiday weekend.  It was only 4 1/2 months ago, we were preparing to leave for Kazakhstan to adopt a baby.  It was then that we met Nicholas, and it has totally changed our lives and his.

 

It is amazing to me to see the changes in him.  I look back at his pictures from November and look at his pictures now and it blows me away.  He is so much more responsive to us now.  He is very attached and bonded to us.  He now shows his emotions freely.  I truly believe he is a very happy boy, and I know for a fact that he has made us beyond happy.  I don’t believe that Brent or I could even imagine life without him now…he is the love of our lives!

 

Recently, Nicholas has started "blowing kisses"!  I have tried forever to get him to do this…suddenly he does it.  We had a friend from church over to visit one night last week.  He blew her the first kiss!  Of course, I was jealous! 

 

He has a new favorite toy, too!  He has an empty Pamper’s box that he loves to push round and round the house. 

 

Nicholas has been waving "bye-bye"  for quite a while now, but this week, he learned a new wave for "hello". 

 

His daddy has this thing he does with his arms when Nick’s food is all gone.  Now, if I am feeding him and I tell him it’s "all gone", he does daddy’s arm movements.  It makes me laugh. 

 

When we go to get him out of his crib after nap time, he listens for us and then he quickly lays down in his crib and tries to pretend he was sleeping.  Then he cackles!  He is quite a prankster!

 

His primary mode of travel is still crawling.  He will take off and walk a few steps every now and then, but as soon as he realizes he’s doing it…he will stop and crawl!

 

This coming week is his last week at home with Daddy.  Daddy has to return to work on March 31st, so then Lynn will become our child caregiver on the days we work.  We are very grateful to her, because she will be keeping Nicholas in our home.  I think this will be more comfortable for him.  We are very fortunate that most weeks she will only be needed 3-4 days per week due to our unusual schedules.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!  Take care!

Growing Everyday!

Hey Everybody!

 

Our family is healthy again…thank the lord!  I did give Nicholas the flu in the end, but he handled it like a champ…probably better than Mom did!  However, if I never see my child sick again, that would be a-okay with me!  It makes you sad to see them feel so bad!

 

We got to go to the doctor for a well-visit yesterday.  He had a good visit…except for the 6 shots that is!  Nicholas is growing by leaps and bounds.  He is now 30 1/2 inches tall and weighs 24 lbs. 

 

This last week we have started using the sippy cup, and it is going pretty well.  There have been some melt-downs here and there, mainly in the first day and yesterday after the doctor visit.  I think he was so tired and stressed after the Dr’s appt. that he was missing his bottle, but after a nap he was good to go!  He loves food.  We are trying to break away from the baby food now, and he has been eating alot of new things.  He absolutely adores pancakes and anything with pasta in it!  He loves most veggies and fruits too, but sometimes the fruits take a little time.  He loves pureed babyfood fruits, but not so sure sometimes about eating it when not pureed.  It may be a texture thing for him.  Dr Hewett stressed reducing his milk/formula intake at this point and get more calories from food.  Nick loves his soy milk, so this will be an adjustment too!

 

He is very mobile, but still not walking on his own.  He will take like 2 steps on occasion, but then stops, sits and crawls.  He is so close.  I know one day we are going to put him down and he’s going to take off! 

 

Nicholas is officially a citizen now.  We received his citizenship paper work when we were all sick.  Brent took him to the social security office last week!  We are opening up his college savings plan and all this stuff!  It is almost overwhelming, but so much fun!

 

I hope all of you are doing well!  Take care and enjoy your weekend!

 

Sonya

Trying to Stay Healthy

Hey Everybody!

 

It has been pretty quiet here in NC!  I have been down with the flu, and Brent and Nicholas have been busy trying their best not to get it!

 

I discovered this week that trying to stay away from your child when you are sick is HARD!  Nick did not understand why Mom was home, but not spending any time with him.  He would get upset…of course, then I would get upset!  However, our efforts have somehow seemed to work, because so far, neither Nicholas or Brent have the flu…THANK THE LORD!

 

I do have some cute pictures to share.  Brent kept Nicholas’ portrait sitting this past week, and they came home with some adorable photos.  Please check out the photo album!

 

Have an awesome weekend!

 

Sonya

Kaz and China in the family!

Hi everyone!

 

Some of you may remember from earlier in our blog that I had a cousin, Jeff, who was in the middle of a second Chinese adoption with his wife, Tracie.

 

The photo that I am sharing today shows our families together at my brother’s house.  We were all there for a shower for Nicholas.

 

Jeff and Tracie’s oldest daughter is Hannah and the youngest is Jenna.  Jeff, Tracie and Hannah were all in China adopting Jenna at the same time we were in Kazakhstan adopting Nicholas.  I believe their adoption date is Nov 6th…the day we met Nicholas.  Nicholas and Jenna were also born only 3 days apart.  We hope they will grow up to be very close.

 

Hope you are all having an awesome day!

 

Sonya

Where has the time gone?

Wow!  I am at the office on my lunch hour!  I decided to pull up some blogs and realized how long it has been since I had done an update.

 

Since January 18th, Nicholas has been one very busy boy.  He has had 2 really big showers…one from the Boykin side and one from the Ashley side!  He was blessed with so much, and it is so obvious how much he is loved not only by his immediate family…but the extended family as well.

 

He has also had a BIG birthday!  He turned 1 on January 21st.  Because of all the showers and stuff, we had a small birthday party for him at the house.  It was just immediate family and just a few friends and their kids.  He had his first taste of cake…and the boy loves it!  At some other events since the birthday, he has been very insistent about getting his share of cake!  It has been decided that he truly belongs in this family!

 

We have been truly amazed by our little boy.  He is such a good baby!  He handles these social events like he has been doing them every day! 

 

He is almost walking now.  He simply needs to gain the  confidence to "let go".  He is barely holding on now, so the time is near.  He isn’t really talking yet.  He does say "ma ma"  and "dada" alot, but it is pretty random, so we are not sure he is associating it yet.  He loves music and will clap and dance.  One of his favorite toys is the Fisher Price Sit and Learn Chair.  It has a musical mode that just makes him light up.

 

It has been fun watching him experience new things.  Right now, he is not wild about sunshine!  It hurts his eyes.  We are trying to find him some sunglasses, but have only found "girly" ones now.  He likes the wind.  Last night it was very windy when we came out of a restaurant with some friends.  He loved having the wind blow his hair and gave the most adorable smile!

 

He gets attention whereever he goes.  Last night we ate at Johnny Carino’s.  They have an open kitchen.  At one point, Nicholas had the attention of all the cooks and waitresses pointing and cooing at him!  I am sure he simply had to flash that smile of his!

 

Well, that’s probably enough of me talking about my boy!  I promise to go home tonight and add some pictures to this update!  Since I am at the office there will be a slight delay with the photos.  Hope everyone is having an awesome week!

 

Sonya

 

Healthy and Growing!

Hello from NC!

 

Nicholas is napping, so I thought I might take this opportunity to give you an update on our little guy! 

 

He just came home from his pediatrician’s office today, and he is very healthy!  All of his bloodwork came back great!  Dr Hewitt was pleased with his development too!  He is truly a growing boy.  He is now 29 3/4 inches tall and he weighs 20 lbs and 11 oz!  The bad news is that he got 4 shots today!  Bummer!  On his birthday weekend!

 

Our assignment from Dr Hewitt for the next 6-8 wks is to work on self-feeding and developing his pincher grasp!  Lexie and Cricket (the dogs) will like this assignment, because it is amazing how much food hits the floor.

 

As I mentioned, this is Nicholas’ birthday weekend!  He turns 1 on Monday!  Brent and I truly cannot believe it.  It seems like yesterday that he was only 9 1/2 months and we were just meeting him.  At that time, he could hardly sit up on his own, and now we are eagerly awaiting those first steps, which shouldn’t be too far away.

 

We are also attending a big shower tomorrow that is being thrown for Nick!  That should be fun…I do hope the shots and the weather don’t put a damper on the festivities!  They are calling for snow here tonight and tomorrow!

 

Hope all of you  have an awesome weekend!

 

Sonya