Where does the time go?! We’ve been home for one month, and the time is flying by. We continue to settle into a routine, although the routine we have now will be altered as I prepare to return to work. We’re both in complete denial, and we are only now starting to investigate day care options.

It’s strange, but we’re actually not overly worried about Max in day care (provided we find the BEST possible place, of course!). I took Max with me to church for the first time last week, and he hung out with me for the hour that I serve in the “one year old room” in Kids Club. He did so well and was so happy to be playing around other kids that I actually left him for a second hour with the next round of volunteers and I attended church. We attend a very large church, and when a child is not doing well in Kids Club for whatever reason, a couple of LCD displays flash the child’s assigned number inside of the auditorium so a parent can be alerted. I have to admit that I was just slightly distracted as I kept looking at my number, then the LCD display, then my number, then the LCD display, throughout the service. Of course, when I went to pick up Max after church ended, he was waving and blowing kisses to the volunteers, and he was downright giddy. We know he truly enjoys being with other children, or at least that’s the story we will keep repeating to ourselves when we drop him off at day care. ☺

A few people have asked about Max’s eating, sleeping, and general settling-in routine, so I’ll mention a few details. He is sleeping in his own crib in his own room through the night (knock on wood) and he takes an afternoon nap. He is a very sound sleeper, although he shifts around a lot in his sleep and can often be found sleeping with his little butt in the air or his feet hanging through the sides of the crib. He wakes up each morning between 8 and 9 (can you believe it?!), and he eats a big breakfast. We then spend the morning playing and “learning” – I try to focus some actual activities on some of the development areas that are slightly behind, so we do a lot of reading, singing, and talking together. We also use our mornings to visit friends or run the occasional errand. He eats lunch at Noon, and then we just play and hang out (indoors and outside) until nap time. He goes down for a nap at 2:00, and I am instantly at the computer and on the phone, working throughout his nap time. He wakes up between 4:30 and 5:00, and then we chill, and contemplate what we’ll have for dinner. We have been taking hour-long walks around 8:00 each night – we bought an In-Step Safari All-Terrain stroller, and I LOVE it -- and he goes to bed between 9:00 and 9:30. For both nap time and bed time, he sometimes fusses, and occasionally cries, but most times we hear him talking to himself and his toys and settling himself down over the course of a few minutes. There you have it – the true Hollywood story of a toddler. And yes, yes, yes, we do know how lucky we are that we have a child who sleeps when we want him to. ☺

Max is learning so many new things, and we have been working overtime to teach him how to go up and down the stairs. We have a two story house, and a finished basement where he keeps his “big” toys, and he arrived with zero skills in the stair-climing department. And, we have the “falling down a few stairs” stories to prove it!. He sorted out how to climb up relatively quickly, although he seems to think it is always a race as he pants and climbs as fast as possible. But, going down is a different story. For the first few weeks, he just wanted to take a step into thin air and hope for the best! I spent a lot of time crawling backwards down the stairs on my stomach with him standing at the top of the stairs laughing at me. He will finally come down the stairs backwards, but not without stopping every few steps and clapping for himself (I might have over-delivered the “cheering” part of our lessons). Of course, when he stands up to clap for himself, he wobbles a bit and appears ready to tumble down the stairs backwards! Needless to say, our lessons continue….

Of course, our routine is tossed aside at times, particularly during travel. We just returned this week having been away for six days – some planned, some not planned. Last weekend, we were in the Toledo area, visiting my Dad and his wife, my brother and his partner, and my mom. I’m from Toledo, so the trip was also planned during a time that two of my high school friends were in town (one from Poland, and one from Washington DC). Glenn and Max had a boys’ night one evening and I had dinner with four friends who were my closest friends during high school. It was a great “grown-up” evening (i.e. no high chair at the table), and I was reminded yet again of the Girl Scout mantra: “Make new friends, but keep the old, as one is silver and the other gold.” I have many wonderful “silver” friends – including so many new amazing friends who have come into our lives during our adoption journey – but there is true joy in an evening out with those golden friends.

My father and his wife live on a small private lake just over the Michigan border, and Max could have spent days there just staring at the boats and the water. Isn’t it amazing to watch our children experience so many firsts?! Unfortunately, because of the rain and the humidity, the mosquitoes were the worst I’ve ever seen them at the lake. We had to literally run from the car to the house, so Max did not get to go boating. My Dad was kind enough to purchase Max his first life preserver – Michigan has very strict life preserver rules for children, and comfort is obviously not a priority. You can see how happy he was modeling his life jacket in the picture below! We had a great day, joined by my brother and his partner, and we can’t wait to visit again when we can get out on the water.

Later that evening, we headed to my mom’s house, and she was kind enough to hang out with Max for three hours while Glenn and I raced to a nearby golf course to play nine holes of golf. It started raining while we were playing, but nothing was going to stop us from enjoying this rare “date” together. (The rain scene from Caddyshack came to mind). Despite living three hours away, my Mom has been able to spend a lot of time with Max already, and he seemed to love his time at her house – no tears or anything.

While we were in Toledo, my aunt’s health took a bad turn. While we were in Kaz the second time, my aunt was diagnosed with terminal cancer. As such, we had planned a late August trip to visit her in Minnesota. My aunt (my mom’s sister) never married or had children, and she has always been so generous and supportive of my brother and me. It was so important to me that she meet Max, so we drove home from Toledo Sunday night, and Monday morning Max and I boarded a plane to Minnesota. My mom and my brother flew to Cinci from Toledo, and then we all flew into Minneapolis together. We visited my aunt Monday night, but she was sleeping and otherwise non-responsive. Max sat on her bed and stroked her arm and I am hopeful she knew he was there. We returned to visit her again on Tuesday, with my other aunt and uncle who drove in from Ann Arbor, and while we surrounded her and stroked her hands and arms, she died. It was as if she waited for all of us to be there, and then she knew that she could move on to bigger and better things. I will forever be grateful that we were all there with her, and I will forever hope that she knew Max was there and felt his presence. Of course, I know now that he has a very special angel looking out for him.

For that six day stretch, Max was an amazing traveler. He is a master at just “going with the flow.” The poor thing was in and out of his car seat and stroller and restaurant high chairs for six straight days, and other than some minor struggles with falling asleep in the hotel rooms in the pack-n-play (thanks for lending it to us, Heather!), he never cried or whined, let alone melted down. He was very good on the plane (if you don’t count pooping twice on a 90 minute flight – that was so fun to change him in the tiniest commuter airplane bathroom ever that did not include one of those pull-down diaper tables), and we learned that as long as he can look out the window, he is happy.

He brings us so much joy every single day, but the joy he brought to my entire family in the hours and days following my aunt’s death is indescribable.

That’s the thing about having a child – life goes on. In fact, we had long-standing plans to go to the zoo on Thursday that week, so we flew home Wednesday night, and we were off to the zoo on Thursday. One of our staunchest blog supporters during our Kaz trips was my “little sister” Salina. Salina and I met through Big Brothers Big Sisters when she was 6 years old, and she is now an amazing young woman and mother of two amazing kids, Austin (6) and Zoe (3). Austin and Zoe will always be considered Max’s cousins. They live about two hours away, outside of Lexington, KY, and they drove up to Cincinnati to meet us for our zoo visit. Max loved the animals, and repeated his favorite word, “WOW!” at the top of his lungs dozens of times.

Before we close this post (and get to the REAL content -- the photos!), we must send our best wishes to Susan and her family, who are in Kaz right now meeting their baby daughter (one of Max’s many future girlfriends). Susan has supported us and many, many other families as she and her family patiently waited for their call to Kaz. We are thrilled for her and we keep her and all of the families who are taking this same journey in our thoughts and prayers. The adoption journey is filled with so many ups and downs – with a few additional downs right now as things are slower both with the Kaz process and the summer – and we never ever forget how blessed we are to be home with our amazing son.

Max isn't crazy about his little pool, but he does love the sprinkler and the hose.

We attended church with my mom at the Toledo church where she serves part-time. This congregation has been praying for us for an entire year, and we were able to stand up with Max in our arms during church and thank them. Yes, I started crying. ☺ My mom then held an informal receiving line of sorts as church ended, and everyone was able to meet Max. We took this family photo afterwards. (Max was happier for most of the visit, but by the end, he made it clear that he was finished being "Mr. Personality.")

Austin, Max, and Zoe at the zoo.

Life-preserver angst.

Uncle Jerry and Aunt Wendy sent him some cool clothes, including this t-shirt. Uncle Jerry works for Hasbro (my former employer when Boys Toys/Kenner was in Cincinnati), so Max will undoubtedly always have his fair share of Hasbro toys and accoutrements.

So, we thought it was crazy to see our kids eating with big giant spoons while wrapped in towels at the Baby House. But, the thing is, Max LOVES soup, and it turns out that this culinary process works out pretty well! Some things never change.