More pics . . .

Becoming a cowboy

Not much new to report but I thought I would throw in a cute picture from July 4th.

The Summer = The River

Well John is back and Emerson and I are both happy to have a couple extra hands around. We have mostly just been settling into our new life with the little one. Which translates into things like lots of laundry, researching ecologically friendly diaper options, learning how to put together an exersaucer, and perfecting the temperature of a bottle. So, you know, the average kind of stuff! This week should be pretty busy with all of the festivities for the 4th of July. We are also hoping to get his SSN later this week as well.

Emerson is 9 months tomorrow

First off I must apologize that I am only posting pictures from Kazakhstan. John has the camera on the river, so this past week has unfortunately gone undocumented. He will be back soon and the pictures will start coming in. As for now you just get more pictures from our time out of country.

So life as a single mother has been pretty hectic this week. It will be nice to have John home for at least part of the day for the rest of the summer. Emerson is a trooper and loving the fact that he does not just have to eat on a schedule. The boy love food and has yet to turn his noes up at anything. I even finally figured out the rice cereal.

Yesterday he got lots of little people time in John Day at Beth's house as I had many errands to run in John Day and there was no way I could do them all with him in tow. I don't think he minded one bit, because when I can to pick him up all of Beth's grand kids were on the floor with him and excited to show me all the new tricks they had taught him. It was very cute.

I also heard from his pediatrician and there are a million blood test they want to run on him to get some basic health information. Also the International Adoption Specialist in Portland wants us to see her at least once to check him over and get a good base line. The only major issue we need to get checked are his eyes because we have very limited information about his O2 intake while he was in the pre-me ward. We shall see.

First Trip to the River

Emerson took his first trip to the river. It was a bit chilly so he only put his feet in, but he seemed to like it. We went with Jim and Kerri and Asya the dog. I survived my fisrt night alone with the little guy. Granted he woke up at 3am with a dirty dipper and did not like the idea of going back to bed at all. I tried my hardest to let him cry it out, but at last he wone and I rocked him to sleep. I did dream that he might sleep in because of this, but no, he woke the regular time. Speeking of waking, he is up from his nap. Hope you like the pictures from Almaty.

Welcome to Dayville Emerson

Last night a few friends hosted a community pot luck welcoming Emerson to town. It was great to see so many people come out and just to share our adventures in Kazakhstan with them. Emerson was a trooper and loved meeting all the new people. He has taken to "standing" with us holding him and he loves this new perspective on life. Our friends also did a money tree for us at the pot luck and much to our excitment there was enough there for us to order a nice three wheel stoller. Thank you everyone!

Yes, we are back home

So I often wondered in disappointment why many blogs had a huge gap between arriving home and the next update. I no longer wonder this as it is very clear to me now. We did make it home on Monday night after a wonderful party in Seattle welcoming Emerson into the Decker family. He did a pretty good job on the long car ride home (8 hours) and only cried when wet or hungry. We must get him one of those play things that attaches to the car seat, because all toys ended up just out of his reach.

Once home we were greeted with not only the fact that we have an infant but also that we are two months behind on our chores. We were very fortunate in that the house sitters left our place looking great. That is until we entered with exploding suitcases...

On Tuesday we spent most of the day in John Day running errands dealing with overdue bills and showing off the boy. I think he is going to be the poster child for our bank. Emerson is loving all of the attention and usually puts on a good show for all that are willing to get a laugh out of him. We can not go very far in Dayville without someone stopping to say hello. Ah the joy of small town life. We definitely missed it. By yesterday afternoon exhaustion had kicked in. While at the district office getting Emerson on the health insurance plan, John rocked him to sleep, sat down and fell asleep sitting right there. Come to think of it he also fell asleep on the floor while Emerson was laying in the activity gym. Emerson was wide awake and would pinch John's nose each time he snored. Too bad the camera batteries were dead.

Well time is limited and I predict that he will wake from his nap at any moment. Currently I am on a mission to find a good stroller that is up for gravel and dirt roads. We go for his first Dr. appointment on Friday and Friday night Emerson is getting a welcome home Put luck in Dayville City park. Too bad this kid isn't loved (not.) Then on Sunday it looks like he gets a party in John Day. John also found out that he leaves for 8 days on Saturday for the river. I will miss him, but I think he will finally catch up on his sleep.

Also if anyone out there wants to baby sit for an hour on Monday let me know.