It's Been A While...

It's been about two weeks or so since I was last able to blog. It feels like an eternity and like a bazillion things have happened! It's already after ten (my bedtime is like 9ish these days), so I'm going to update via pics.

What have we been doing, you ask???

SOCCER.

Lots of soccer! Gus absolutely loves going and it's fun to watch him and Steve on the field together. His last class is next Saturday, but we signed him up for another twelve weeks. This next session will be a transition session for him because he'll be turning three on May 11th. Once he's three, he can move to the 3-4 year old class, but that is a no parent class (no adults on the field with the kids). He's not quite ready for that yet, so until he is, the current class will work just fine.

 

 

The little guy on the left kept getting into Gus's "personal space" and he was giving him shoves and lots of looks. Gus looks like a giant next to the kid doesn't he??

MOMS Club Events.

We've had a variety of events to attend and Gus and Hugh have enjoyed them all. We have been to the park a few times, and even did a tour of our local Chick-fil-A! That one was a big hit!

 

Saying hello to the people in the drive thru!

ENJOYING SPRING BREAK.

Gus had spring break last week and he had a great time while out of school! We went to visit Steve at work and had lunch with him, we watched movies and had popcorn, and we worked on some school stuff!

 

Tracing shapes, letters, and numbers

 

Counting

 

Retelling/Sequencing a story (Five Little Monkeys)

 

Arranging monkeys by size

 

 

Coloring

 

Working on a maze

 

Reading his Thomas and Friends magazine

 

 

Lunch with Daddy

 

Shooting hoops with PB

 

Gus cried at the part when Mufassa died.  :-(

TUMMY TIME. 

Lots and lots of tummy time for Hugh. And lots and lots of looking cute.

 

Almost rolling over... but not yet.

 

Hugh has discovered the joys of Purry Como.

 

Watching me cook dinner

 

SITTING UP (for a second or two) AND AMAZING US!!

HAIR CUTS.

Both Gus and I got our hair cut for our family pictures!

FAMILY PICTURES.

For the first time EVER we went and got our family pictures taken by someone not connected to us. I usually take all of our pictures, but then I'm not in any of them. To celebrate Double Adoption Day (there will be a post about this), we went and had pictures taken. We go tomorrow to pick our the pictures that we want to keep and I can't wait. This is our sneak peek that Jeff (our photographer) posted on his FB page.

FAMILY TIME.

We've been enjoying spending time together. We had mulch delivered last week and so we went on a brief walk and looked at the mulch from the street. Gus and I spent some time outside today (it was GORGEOUS) and he rode his big wheel while Ned and I watched.

REARRANGED ROOMS.

We are getting a new mattress (YAY) and so we decided that we'd add a king sized bed up in the room that was Gus's room. That room was nice and big, but the closet is not finished, so all his clothes were still in the nursery. 

We decided to move the crib and rocking chair into the middle room (was my photography room and library), and then we moved Gus totally into the nursery (his original room). His clothes are all in there anyway, and it's a smaller room (which will keep it fair when Hugh is older and will wonder why Gus's room is bigger). We are working on moving things around, but for now it works. Gus is totally set in his room and is quite pleased.

 

Hugh enjoying Gus's dino bed

 Gus tucking Hugh in  :-)

 

 

Hugh did NOT want to share the bed!

READY FOR THREE.

We are preparing for Gus's third birthday. The party is all set and it should be a great time. As soon as he turns three, he'll begin the Fisher Kids Responsibility System. It's such a great system to teach kids how to be responsible and independent. He'll get commission for doing one chore a day, that he'll pick from his chore bucket. He also will have things that he's expected to do each day (tidy his room, pick up toys when finished, and clean his spot at the table). I'm eager to see how he does with this!!

HUGH'S BAPTISM.

He's getting baptized tomorrow morning at the 8:45 service. I'm really excited and can't wait for him to be welcomed by the whole church. We're joining CTK next month, but it's going to be a great day. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow of Hugh in his outfit and him with his god mother. Here's a picture of him with her tonight taken at dinner.

We also finalized Hugh's adoption, but I'm going to do a separate post about that. Sorry it's been so long... no one told me how crazy it'd be with two kids and I just don't have time to sit at the computer and blog anymore!!!

Siblings

I have two brothers. One is my twin and the other is five and a half years older than me. Being that I have an older brother, I've never known a day of my life without having a sibling. Until becoming the mother of two, I didn't realize how much I took for granted by having siblings in my life.

When we adopted Gus, it was the happiest day of our lives. He was the answer to so many prayers and was loved and adored before he even arrived on this Earth. He made my life change the minute I held him, and at that moment, I knew I'd never be the same again.

Fast-forward to July of 2012. When the opportunity to possibly adopt again came our way, I was excited. I had been looking at agencies and had had a few phone calls getting information from some. We weren't financially ready to start the process yet, as we still had our house in NC on the market. However, I definitely wanted a sibling for Gus and wanted them to be close enough in age that they could play and enjoy each other, but not too close or far to be a problem.

As fate would have it, we received an offer on our house in NC just before finding out that we had a match with Hugh's birth mom. Our family of three was soon to become a family of four.

We didn't tell Gus about a baby coming. We didn't know it was 100% going to happen, and until there was a baby to introduce to him, we didn't think it was appropriate to even bring it up. We knew he would be excited for a baby, and we were eager to see how he'd interact with a sibling.

 

The last picture of our family of three

As soon as Hugh arrived, our family dynamic changed again. We had a beautiful baby boy and a 2 year, 7 month and eight day old toddler. :-) 

Gus has loved having a baby brother. For the first two weeks we were in NC waiting on ICPC clearance, and we were in tight quarters. Gus liked to see what Hugh was doing, only to be disappointed that he was sleeping (AGAIN).

Once we got home, Gus had other toys to play with and things to keep him busy, he hasn't been on top of Hugh like he was when Hugh was first born. That's not to say that he doesn't like him though... he loves "chew" as he calls him. LOL

What's even cuter for me is to watch Hugh react to Gus. He absolutely LOVES his big brother. He watches Gus all the time and loves it when Gus talks to him and interacts with him. It's really sweet.

 

I'm really looking forward to watching them grow as siblings and hope that they become good friends. I don't have any sisters, so I don't know what it's like to have a sibling of the same gender, but I'm certain it's different from having one of the opposite gender. I hope they always remember that their relationship matters. I know while they're little, they won't always be friends, but I hope that as they grow up they learn how to relate to each other and they develop a deep love for one another that lasts them well into their adulthood.