Here are some more pictures of my handsome boys

The Boys are Back in Town

Hello all! Everyone in the Baldwin household is currently germ free (for a change) and trying to survive this miserable winter. Zachary is currently on winter break and we are enjoying a quiet week at home. School is going well for him and he continues to look forward to his weekly guitar lessons. Pretty soon we will have a rock star on our hands I'm sure. The Wii is a favorite game for us right now, and Zachary loves to beat his parents in some crazy racing game that I don't quite understand and as a result play very badly. Zachary continues to be a good big brother and I love to watch him take care of Alex.
Alex is doing very well and the pediatrician is very happy with his progress. He is growing by leaps and bounds and he still amazes me with the amount of food that he takes in. Climbing and Thomas the Tank Engine are currently Alex's favorite things to do, so needless to say baby proofing is a priority in our home. Another favorite past time is giving Zachary surprise hug and kiss attacks, spontaneously jumping on him in an effort to spread the love:)
I love to watch Alex and Zachary interact. I was initially concerned about the age difference between the boys, and whether or not they would have a close relationship. I shouldn't have worried because they are wonderful together. Alex looks at Zach like he is the sun, moon, and stars and Zachary is very patient with his little bro. They played Mega Blocks the other day and pretty soon the Matchboxes were having battles with Star Wars clone troopers. You have to love when that happens.

He has chosen....

Just so you know that my youngest is not a front runner (I say my because Don does not agree with Alex's decision). He has made the very important and life shaping choice...... of football teams. Yes, my son is a Giants fan (both actually). Don is a very lonely and sad man today. GO GIANTS!!!!!!!

Pictures from Hershey

Christmas and Beyond

It was a wonderful and crazy Christmas at the Baldwins. Alex had a great first Christmas and Zach loved to tell him all of the things that we do as a family during the holiday season. Alex is too small to truly understand but he did get caught up in the excitement. Zachary's Santa list seemed to grow by the day and soon it was Christmas Eve.

The boys had a great Christmas Eve spending time with both families. Alex was pretty overwhelmed when it came time to open presents so Zach stepped up and helped his little brother out. Christmas morning came and we had to wake Alex up. He was relaxed but seemed pretty surprised to see his grandparents at his house. The boys had a great time opening their presents and we enjoyed a breakfast to celebrate Alex's first Christmas with his family. We spent the day with our families and had a ball seeing the boys play with their new toys.

Two days after Christmas we went to Hershey, PA for a mini vacation. The boys loved the pool and we spent our time at amusement parks beautifully lit up with Christmas lights, eating chocolate at Hershey Chocolate World, and enjoying (and shopping) in Amish country. We even saw a calf being born, boy was that an interesting conversation with Zach. Zach became a temporary worker for Hershey and searched high and low for the perfect vacation toy (like he didn't get enough already).

Our Stars

The boys are enjoying the holiday season and all that it entails. Zachary was so excited to get our tree with Alex this year, and loved climbing on the trucks at the Boght Road Firehouse. His Santa list gets longer by the day, and he was very sweet finding items in the Sunday papers to buy for loved ones. Zach's guitar lessons are going very well and he has added Jingle Bells to his growing song list. Last week we went to Zachary's first night time Christmas concert and it was wonderful. His group sang so well and Zachary seemed like he had a great time performing for the crowd. Though he was nervous, Zachary is definitely not shy;) Zachary was also named Star of the Week. We are all very excited about this and are happy that he is putting such effort into school.

Alex continues to thrive and seems unfazed by all of the holiday craziness. He is growing by leaps and bounds and thankfully we are almost up to date with all of his shots. The poor little guy is getting 4-5 shots a doctor visit! Alex's vocabulary is growing and the pediatrician reports that his speech is advanced for his age. Not bad for a boy who never heard English before May!

Another Day of Firsts

Thanksgiving has come and gone; leaving us thankful and sick as well. It was a wonderful day for us to enjoy each other and be thankful that our family found each other. We all had a good day though Alex got sick that night. It's unfortunate that Alex seems ill frequently like Zach was in his first year home, though I know it will get better as he build antibodies.

Alex is doing so well. He loves going to day care and Emily is there to make sure that everyone is nice to her cousin. Of couse they all love Alex, he smiles and they are putty in his hands;) Alex looks at Zach like he is the sun, moon, and stars all rolled into one. It's so neat to see him run after Zach and try to imitate something that he has done or said. Zach continues to be Zach and makes me laugh daily with his imagination and sense of humor. He loves taking his guitar lessons and has given us many concerts (who knew there were so many variations of Mary Had a Little Lamb).

Now the Christmas season is upon us and we look forward to showing Alex the wonder and craziness of it all.

Trick or Treat!

Look it's Yoda!
The gang's all here.
Kisses for Alex:)
Daddy and his boys.

The Brown's Halloween Party

Even Clone Troopers need to have fun!
Yoda is planning his next move.
Taking a rest from the festivities.

Catching up

How time flies! Alex has been home for almost 4 months and it feels like forever. He has cut teeth (finally!), talked, walked, had an operation and what seems like a million shots, been baptized, and celebrated his first Halloween. Whew! I don't know about Alex but I am tired. Alex has taken it all in stride, and amazes us every day with his smiles, ever present laugh (he is his mother's son), and determination. If you have not seen Alex since he came home you may not recognize him. He is growing a lot and LOVES his food. Alex is beginning to get ham hocks for legs (in addition to the big belly) and they are soooooo cute! He is healing well from his surgery and the surgical site does not bother him at all. The umbilical hernia is still there but we have been assured that it will resolve itself.
Alex's christening was a wonderful day. Aunt TT, Uncle Corey, and Aunt Melissa are Alex's godparents and Alex looked adorable walking around his party, possibly becoming overwhelmed with how much family he now has;) After that Alex and Zachary celebrated Eastern European day with all of our friends whose lives are touched by adoption. Everyone had a great time making crafts, learning new words and listening to a local teacher tell us a story in Russian. Zach and Alex were especially attentive, I could tell that Alex still remembered the cadence of the language; he was mesmerized as the woman spoke.
The Baldwin family attended the annual Brown family Halloween party and we had a great time. Somehow Zachary had convinced us to dress up Alex as Yoda and Zach complimented him by wearing a Clone Trooper costume. Both boys had a great day, and we all went home exhausted. Halloween was another great night. Zach, Alex, Kara, and Emily had a ball and our posse had a ball cruising the neighborhood for sugar.
Zachary is doing well and is so excited to begin his guitar lessons next week. I am afraid that we have a budding Jon Bon Jovi on our hands. He is great with Alex, and seems to have all of daycare/before care putty in his hands. We are blessed to have such wonderful boys.

Check out my Slide Show!

The surgery was successful!

Alex had surgery today for two of his hernias. He was such a trooper and seemed to really love the valium;) He played in some ride on cars in the PACU until it was time to go to the OR and had a ball. They let me go into the OR room with Alex until he was asleep and an hour later he was done. We were home by 12:30 and he (and Don) were alseep soon after.

Camping at Alpine Lake

Here are some pictures of us camping at Alpine Lake. Everyone had a ball, and we all enjoyed a new trailer.

All is well

We have had a quiet couple of weeks and are enjoying the end of summer. Zach, my homebody, is loving his quiet time with mom and dad and Alex is doing great. He is gaining weight and I daresay I saw some cellulite on his newly chunky thighs. He enjoyed his first camping trip and was a wild man in the water, though we substituted smores around the campfire for rice cereal and pears:). Alex's surgery has been scheduled for September 28th and we are anxious to get it out of the way. Zach continues to be a super big brother and is helpful in so many ways. This Sunday Zach, his dad, and Uncle Corey are going to Zach's first Yankee game. He is over the moon about it and took his clothes out on Monday in anticipation of the big day. Toodles! I will post some pics next week as I left my camera in my in-laws vehicle. Oops!

Alex turns 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex was the life of the party tonight. He tore into his own personal cake like it was his business! Our boy will definitely love baked goods, he could not get enough. Alex had a great birthday and was so tired he went to bed without a peep.

Today we went to the surgeon and are planning when Alex will have surgery for his multiple hernias. He has three but only two need to be operated on. Otherwise he is doing great and still sleeping like a champ.

Settling in

After a couple nights of great sleep, Alex went on a bit of a strike. The 3am wake up call was a little rough, but he is on a much better schedule now. Alex is the same smiley baby that we fell in love with in Karaganda. He is babbling all the time, and is pulling himself up constantly. We definitely will be seeing him walk soon.

Spitting up also seems to be Alex's favorite thing to do, so we've changed his feeding schedule to see if the reflux improves. Luckily the spitting up doesn't bother him, but we still want to make sure he puts on weight. The doctor did find a hernia so we will be meeting with the pediatric surgeon to see when it needs to be taken care of. The doctor is very pleased with how Alex is doing, and feels that he's right where he needs to be.

Zachary is turning out to be a super big brother. He loves to pick Alex up and talks to him in the cutest voice. Zachary is willingly sharing his tv time and even gave Alex a Star Wars figure to play with (that is true love to Zach). I have been trying to convince him to go out with me for some one on one time but he doesn't want to leave his little brother.

Have a good weekend!