A year ago...

A year ago today I was up early, as I am this morning. A year ago today I had the name "Mehandis" going through my mind all night. A year ago today I went to work and prepared myself to fib if asked the question "Have you heard yet?" (which I did get asked first thing in the morning, to which answered with the half truth of "still waiting"). A year ago today I could not take my eyes off of the referral picture we received via an email, the previous day, studying our soon-to-be son's tiny wet fingers, unbuttoned Mickey Mouse overalls and slightly curved ears.

Yesterday we celebrated the anniversary of receiving Mehandis's referral. It was amazing to look at the photo Michael and I took of our self the previous year, which is now framed in Mehandis's room, and think of all of the joy we have shared as a family since that time. Brings happy tears to reflect on how much our son has added to our lives.

Mehandis, Erin and I went together to the zoo recently and found the Dairy Complex the most interactive. Here Mehandis is in his milk truck, dutifully checking his blind spot for bovine. He gave some "moos" to the cows... but said lions say "meow".
Mehandis did not want to leave any of the animals when he was taken out of his stroller. He gave little yelps of excitement, jumped up and down and kept his eyes on the giraffes, elephants and donkeys. He was also excited to stand, stomp and splash in any of the puddles he could find.
Auntie "E" and Mehandis doing one of their favorite things together. Reading "a book" and another and another! I think she knows more of these books by heart than any of us do.
Mehandis had a great time with his cousins, Josh and Lauren, at the lake this past weekend. I walked in on Lauren teaching Mehandis his basic math facts, via Uno cards. Later Mehandis jammed with Josh on Rock Band, my son likes the guitar best. The three of them enjoyed cooling off in the kiddie pool and we loved watching them.

School's out for SUMMER!

Mine and Mehandis's summer officially started on Friday, June 13th. It was my last day of work and therefore Mehandis's last day of daycare. His teachers were very sad to say goodbye until fall. I walked in that Friday afternoon and found him in the arms of Ms. Shelly, who is the neighboring classroom teacher. She cheerily greets him each morning and gets his favorite breakfast of sliced banana prepared. He is known to "escape" out of his room to try and give Ms. Shelly a visit next door. Mehandis smiled for the above photo with Ms. Shelly; however, when she passed him off to Ms. Karen and Ms. Michelle, he got teary because he was ready for mom.

My Uncle Gregg was at our house when we got home on Friday the 13th. He came up for a visit from Michigan... and brought along several treats (including Sander's Hot Fudge Topping). Uncle Gregg got a wagon for Mehandis and spent Saturday afternoon putting it together.
Mehandis gives it a thumbs up! He not only loves going for rides in it, but pulls it around and fills it up with his "treasures".
On Father's Day we headed for Chicago to visit with my parents. Michael unfortunately was not able to be with us during this trip, but he spent his first father's day at the lake with his parents. A good time was had by all.

I was able to take a side trip to visit Kerbie and her new daughter, Ellory. We had some good conversation as the boys were being watched by others at that time!

Later Mehandis went to Millennium Park with my parents, uncle and myself. It was his inaugural visit and my first one since everything has been completed.

The bean was a blast! Mehandis checked out his reflection, shouted to hear his echoes and giggled his way through.
After the bean we walked over to the fountains. My parents have some great pictures of this. He was chasing the big kids through the water, blowing bubbles in the inch deep pond and making the biggest splashes he could.
We have lots of fun whenever we go to Chicago... thanks Mom and Dad!

This weekend we were able to celebrate a wedding with Michael's family. His cousin Drake married Lauren. Well... I can only assume that the vows took place since Mehandis and I were in the back of the church for 80 minutes of the 90 minute ceremony. Yep, he was a noisy little guy who really wanted to be part of the choir.

Here we are on the way to the dinner and dancing! We got a couple of dances in before Mehandis tuckered out.

And another big thanks to Michael's parents who watched Mehandis for a big portion of this past week AND got his naps in, prior to our night out!

Making a splash

I may have previously mentioned that it is not unusual for our son to go through 3 outfits a day at daycare. This is due to his exuberance with "water play". His favorite place in the one year old room is the water table. Michael and I needed to scrounge for extra pants, shirts and socks each morning so Mehandis would have clothes to change into once he super-soaked his school outfit. It reached its height when we were asked to bring in extra shoes, since he would soak these as well. Well Mehandis does not have that many shoe options... so if he drenched 2 pairs, he was going back in the morning "pre-rinsed".

Now you can understand why I jumped at the chance to register Mehandis in our park district's swimming class... for 18 month-ers and up. He loves his water play, signs "wash" whenever we mention bath time and splashes in every puddle he can make or find. Michael could not wait to see Mehandis in the water... he bought swim diapers just in case the lake at the cabin was warm enough. But we did not get the chance to try out "swimming" until the beginning of June. Michael met Mehandis and I at our tennis club, which has a pool, so we could test the waters.

Mehandis was pretty pumped about his sun hat and swim trunks!
I think he was pointing me out the door so we could get to the pool as quick as possible! But could you believe that he was so scared of the little kiddie pool. He clenched onto us and cried if we put him down. Every so often he attempted to be brave and dump water from cups or climb up and down the sides of the pool. The funniest was when a 2 year old boy came up to give us some swim lesson advice, "Just let go of him. Put him down." Then he decided to figure out the situation a little more and probed, "Why do you have this boy?". We did our best to suppress a little giggle and answered, "He is our son." This did not satisfy the curious toddler who proceeded to ask more "why's". I have found it more difficult to answer the questions of little kids since they really want to understand the deal... versus adults who are happy with the pieces we share with them!

Below are some great photos from the second half of our Memorial Day weekend. Mehandis had his first boat outing. He loved walking around the pontoon boat, prior to take off.



Thought he was pretty cool stuff, steering us down the lake with Bompa.

Then needed some cuddles from Mom when it got a little too windy for him.
Nanni was happy to offer some cuddles, away from the breeze, as well.

I want to share the news of several new friends whom were recently born. Congratulations to Lucia and Chris on their new son William. We are so excited to welcome Griffin into the Last family as well. Finally, Ellory is the new little sister to Brannon Moran! We can't wait to meet all of the latest arrivals :)

Saturday... in the Park

It is starting to feel more like summer! While Michael was putting boats in the water, Mehandis and I went to Chicago. My aunt, uncle and cousin were in town... so we had some fun Windy City adventures together.

We walked from my parents home to the Water Tower, which had a little art exhibit on display.
Then we found a great park, which my parents had previously found. It was right along Lake Shore Drive and had the lake and tons of green space surrounding it. Even better... it had swings! I had been searching for a park with swings for months, since I thought Mehandis would love them, but I could not find them anywhere in our area. Turns out he enjoys the slide a bit more then the swings, he does pretty well in my lap though.

My mom showed Mehandis how to blow the dandelion "fluff" off of the stem. He didn't quite get it though...

Mehandis just kept putting the fluffy seeds up to his tongue and then he would have to fish them out of his mouth. So perhaps soon he will be "growing like a weed"?

Come along for the ride!

Mehandis took his first bike ride today! I had snap the photo above when I saw how cute dad and son were in there matching helmets and sporty looks. Turns out that Mehandis fell asleep within the first five minutes of the ride... but I think he enjoyed it in his own way.

I think I got the subscription sign up (to the right of these entries) up and running. So please join us for the ride!

Welcome to the new site!

As I have previously spoken of, I felt that it was time to change the name of our blog site. Michael & Michele "did" adopt and now we are simply a family. Our new blog site address, which is Amharic for "family", now reflects that.

In light of our family, I thought that the following subject would be an appropriate starting point. On Sunday I celebrated my very first Mother's Day. Although we were a little emotionally and physically spent from the previous couple of days, it was a beautiful celebration. Michael's Grandma Wolaver passed away the previous week and her memorial and funeral services were held Thursday and Friday. The statements that were given about her inspire us to be a family like she and her husband nourished.

Okay, I admit I am pretty matchy-matchy. How could I pass up the opportunity for Mehandis to wear this shirt on Mother's Day. It was a hand-me-down from my friend Lori, who is a Harley girl, and I think it is pretty fun & funky.

Mehandis made this poster for me at daycare. It is cut outs of his little hands and says "Mommy my heart blooms for you." It is a much cuter picture of him than me... but remember I said I was pretty worn out that day.
This is how Michael, Mehandis and I spent a good portion of Mother's Day. All three of us snuggled in bed, after Michael made me yummy waffles, and we then napped from 12:30 until 2:30. Following that we slowly got up, did some errandy stuff, took a leisurely stroll to Blockbuster, made a great dinner plus jello cheesecake (my favorite dessert) and then watched Juno.

Very fun day... I felt lots of love coming from all directions!