Our Adoption Day

One year ago today, April 3, 2007, we met our son. In some ways, this day is more monumental to us than Tommy's birthday because it is the day we became a family. The day we had worked towards for months, traveled around the world for, and wanted for a very long time.

We've been looking through our pictures from our trip to Vietnam, and of course, of the day we met Tommy. Looking back at those first pictures, we realize what lucky parents we are to have such a happy and easy-going baby. We were so fortunate that he bonded almost instantly with us - there was no grieving, no wailing, no signs of distress, and for that we are very thankful to his nannies at the Tam Ky Baby Centre.

Tommy, we love you more than we could ever have imagined.

Last year at this time....

we were in Hanoi, biding our time until we flew to Danang on April 3. We had met two of the three families we were traveling with, and also two families in the travel group ahead of ours.

We spent the day walking around West Lake and visited the Tran Quoc Pagoda, and we went to dinner at Bobby Chinn's with two of the other families. We joked that it was like a last supper for us - as a childless couple, that is.











Offerings of money and fresh fruit to Buddha. This picture always reminds me of the book Stealing Buddha's Dinner - a very good read.

There was something very peaceful and calming about West Lake and the pagoda. I remember watching this guy fish - and it sounds silly now, but I thought, wow, I'm in Vietnam. And I'm going to be a mom tomorrow. How did this happen? How did we get here? And that guy is just fishing - doesn't he know how important this moment is in our lives? See, it does sound silly, but I was so wrapped up in my own anticipation and nervousness, that I failed to take in a lot of the surroundings and beauty of the country.

Check out the Baby Boy

View a few pics from Tommy's Celebrating Adoption photo shoot this past weekend with a great photographer, Melissa Waller, in Monticello, Illinois.

We celebrated Easter weekend with my two sisters and their families, and one of my brothers and his family. I took almost no pics the entire weekend, so I have nothing to share here.

This coming Saturday marks the day we left for Vietnam one year ago, and next Thursday is the first anniversary of meeting Tommy. We cannot decide just how to celebrate or mark the occasion.....stay tuned.

Frequent Flyers

A few days after we returned from our trip to Florida, Tommy got his third haircut - this one is really, really short! But, he looks great!

Here he's wearing his Mr Mischief shirt -- very fitting for the little guy. This was taken on Tommy's 17 month birthday, March 13.

Early last week we received the very sad news that one of Doug's uncles had passed away, so we all flew to Boston over the weekend.









We drove to Cambridge to visit Doug's grandmother and Tommy's great grandmother - he loved her, his great aunt, and running around the house! Here he is holding a stuffed cat he found while he was nosing around -- they also had yummy cookies that he helped himself to!









A wooden goose at his great grandmother's house -- he thought it was a car.











Hanging with his cousins -- I'm not sure if he's picking Caroline's nose or giving her a cookie.....he had a great time with all of his cousins - and despite the circumstances, it was fun to see everyone.










Tommy proved to be a great traveler once again. Here he is hanging in the Fisher Price children's area at the Manchester airport - our flight was delayed an hour, but Tommy was perfectly content running around the terminal pointing at anything with wheels and hanging out in the play area.

Doug and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday with his family, and of course, Happy St Patrick's Day a bit late!

Beach Bum

We spent our first family vacation on Captiva Island, Florida. It was a great 4 days and we wish we could have stayed longer!

Tommy was a great traveler - we're hoping he continues to be one.


















Tommy literally dug right in to the sand. He also took a big taste of some sand, but decided he didn't like it and didn't try again.
















Tommy wasn't interested in the pool - we think because the water was fairly cool. He loved the beach - absolutely loved it. He ran up and down, up and down, tried to chase birds, and watched all the other kids on the beach.













We spent Monday morning with a couple we met en route to VietNam - they live in Florida and picked us up on their boat. Tommy did great except for about 2 minutes before this picture was taken - he lost his lunch all over Mommy! Fun!










Our last night in Florida - waiting to sit down to dinner at the Mucky Duck.
















It's hard to see, but Tommy is showing his tongue - a fun new game he's learned. He seemed to enjoy the Florida lifestyle and said he wishes his grandparents lived there so he could visit more often!

Our vacation was just enough to get us through these last weeks of winter......I think!

Ready for Vacation

This is Tommy one week ago, before we left for vacation. I've been rotating toys every couple of weeks and he discovered a push-n-go Thomas the Train that he can't get enough of - this picture shows him watching the train go - I think under the couch!



















Here's his favorite toy du jour.

And this is crabby Tommy, ready to get out of the Midwest for awhile and also very mad because he's just too tall to walk under the kitchen table.

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

Just when we thought spring was around the corner with a "warm" (30 degrees) weekend, it snowed again!
We took Tommy on two wagon rides this weekend and he loved looking around at all of the trees and people walking their dogs.
We celebrated Tet with some other families and their Vietnamese children two weeks ago. Tommy's friends Nicholas and Andrew were there. Tommy did not like the dragon dance performance - it was loud and he was scared, maybe next year he'll like it??






Asleep in the highchair - I think this was a no-nap or very short nap day and he fell asleep eating.....note the State Farm bib, courtesy of Uncle Mark - Tommy loves the bib because of the bear

Ah, more snow!

I just love the hat!

Tommy is very interested in shoes - his and ours. Here he was trying on Mommy's UGGs

Sharing a cupcake wiht Daddy at the Tet party - authentic Vietnamese cupcakes. Ha!

Tommy with his buddy Nicholas - you can't tell in this picture but they look a lot alike.