Ryan's First Christmas

Christmas morning at home:



(Looks like Santa was very pleased with how well
Ryan behaved at church on Christmas Eve!)

(Ryan got the bruise when he slipped and fell

at Grandma's house last week. We should have asked

Santa to bring him a helmet along with all the toys.)

(Trying on Daddy's new hat.)

Christmas day at Grandma and Grandpa G's:

This weekend we're off to Grandma and Grandpa R's
for Christmas, Part 2!

The Christmas season is always a crazy busy time, but I underestimated just how much longer it would take to do everything while parenting a toddler. Rob has very demanding work hours, and December has also been the busiest month I’ve had at work since I went less-than-half-time last summer. We finally decorated our tree (beyond Ryan’s sock) last week, which we normally do right after Thanksgiving – since it’s so much work, we like to be able to enjoy the finished product for several weeks. (We are very grateful to the genius who invented the pre-lit artificial tree, or it still wouldn’t be done!) Ryan is enjoying his first Christmas tree -- we know this because he frequently points to it and says “ba!” :-)

(We're so happy that we need a gate around our tree this year!)

We managed to bake a few batches of toffee and shortbread this week, but never did get around to putting lights on the tree outside or candles in the windows (food always takes priority around here). Next year we’ll be starting all of our holiday projects in October!

The one thing we really wanted to get done by Christmas was our adoption video. Rob has been hard at work on it and has it just about ready. We're looking forward to sharing it with our families next week, and may also create an abbreviated version (the full version is 30 minutes) to post on our blog.

To our family and friends awaiting a Christmas card with Ryan’s picture, those will finally be in the mail this afternoon. Another thing I didn’t realize before becoming a parent and putting my son on the couch in his Christmas sweater to take his picture for our cards, is how impossible it is to get a 1-year-old to sit still for 5 seconds and/or sit still and smile at the same time. Every time Ryan smiled or laughed, he would also wave his arms in front of his face or start rolling around on the couch, and any time he sat still momentarily, he became very serious. Some of his expressions and antics were too cute or funny for us to delete many of the pictures that weren’t quite what we had in mind for our cards:

(Could he possibly look more disgusted with the picture-taking process!)










And best of all...


(Next year I think we'll spare ourselves the challenge and just shell out for 50+ 3x5's of his pictures from Target!)


Ryan likes his "Christmas in the Manger" book, especially the page with the 3 Wise Men, and the picture of Baby Jesus at the end, which he always studies for a while.


His all-time favorite book is still "Goodnight Gorilla," which we’ve had to read a minimum of 10 times a day since October. He even makes a gasping sound right on cue when we reach the page where the zookeeper’s wife opens her eyes and discovers the gorilla next to her in bed.


He still carries his Fisher Price phone around for a good part of the day, and has been receiving quite a few calls lately. Apparently this one was for Daddy:





Even in mid-December in the northern U.S., Ryan resists getting dressed and prefers to walk around in his diaper all morning. Funny how in subtropical Taiwan they always had him all bundled up, but in the cold of winter here he prefers to stay undressed!





We understand Santa will be bringing Ryan some great new toys and lots of new books! Ryan has already given us the best present (besides just being here) – he started saying “mama” and “dada” this month!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas Portraits

Ryan had his first 2 professional photography sessions this past week. On Monday we went to Target to have his Christmas picture taken, and on Wednesday to a local photographer for what I originally intended to be his 12-month pictures. This photographer I chose was booked during October and the first half of November, and then I had to postpone the late November appointment we had with him after Ryan fell against the corner of a cupboard door over Thanksgiving weekend and had a scab on the bridge of his nose (it healed fine). We finally made it last Wednesday and got some nice shots (which Rob keeps pointedly referring to as Ryan’s “14-month one-year pictures,” as if it’s a crime of motherhood that I failed to have my son photographed at exactly 12 months). But the day we finally went was the day after our referral anniversary, so if an official “occasion” is required to have a portrait done, that should do! Hopefully we will have those proofs back next week so that I can scan and post them. In the meantime, we received the electronic copies we ordered of the Target photos, and have posted our favorite shots below (plus the sepia one above). Ryan managed to dunk his head into the dog’s water dish about 10 minutes before we left the house for the appointment Monday morning, but fortunately his hair falls right into place as it dries so there was no evidence of the incident in his pictures!












Ryan wouldn't smile at either of the sittings -– if it can even be called a “sitting” when he spent 99% of the time walking around exploring the studios and getting into everything. I don’t know why he became so serious in front of the camera (at home, he LOVES to pose for pictures), but at least he wasn’t crying or afraid. He also loves looking at pictures of people lately, especially of himself, and he always laughs when he sees a picture he particularly likes. Since he is also into prolonged lap-sitting lately, I can keep him amused him for long stretches of time by holding him on my lap and scrolling through the photos on our computer. He cracks up every time he sees the pictures of himself in his Halloween costume, and he also seems to like his Christmas pictures (the Target ones much more than the ones with Santa!)

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Our Referral Anniversary!

THEN...



...and NOW!



It was one year ago today that Ryan first entered our lives. We fell in love with him the moment we saw his picture, and he was at the center of our thoughts every day during that long 7-month wait to bring him home. Sometimes it's hard to believe he's been a part of our family for 5 months already, but at the same time, it feels like he's always been with us and we can hardly remember what life was like before he came along.

For a fun look back on how Ryan has grown and changed over the past year, I made a photographic timeline with a picture from each month.

Referral - December 2006 (2 months)


January 2007 update (3 months)


February 2007 update (4 months)


March 2007 update (5 months)
(We should have included some haircutting scissors in that care package!)


April 2007 update (6 months)


May 2007 update (7 months)


June 2007 update (8 months)


July 2007 update (9 months)
(We received this picture by e-mail on the morning we left for Taiwan.)


July 2007 (9 months)
(Post-Adoption)


August 2007 (10 months)


September 2007 (11 months)


October 2007 (12 months)


November 2007 (13 months)


Today - December 11, 2007 (14 months!)

We hope all the families who are anxiously awaiting referrals will see the faces of their precious babies soon!