It has been a long time. Andrew turned 6 years old on December 23rd, 2013. He is half way through kindergarten and doing very well. We have lost contact with the birth mother. I am unable to reach her and even her mother (Andrew's birth-grandmother) has no idea how to contact her. Speaking with Andrew's birth mom's mom (I will refer to her as Gamby) has been very insightful. We send each other pictures of Andrew's birth mom and Andrew. She even has some recent photos of Andrew's other siblings which has been fun. My hope is to reconnect with Andrew's birth mom again. We often look at pictures and videos to keep the memory fresh in Andrew's mind.
He plays for a basketball team with his fellow classmates at his school. He has a good circle of friends. He is a loving and sensitive boy and maturing every moment.
It has been how long?
Andrew and His Cousin
So much time has gone by. Andrew is now in his second year of preschool. He is learning at such a fast rate. It has been a while since we have seen his mommy. She seems to have fallen back into a dark period and I hope she can find herself out again.
I was able to begin a relationship with her mom. She gave me some helpful information about the birth mom and her past as a child and young adult. I still try to call her but now her phone is disconnected. I am waiting for her to reach out to us. During this waiting game, I show Andrew all the videos and pictures with him and his mom to keep her memory fresh in his head.
We had family in town (on my mom's side) and Andrew has a cousin who is about 10 months older. They had such a great time playing together over the Thanksgiving holiday. We are going Christmas tree shopping tomorrow (saturday). Andrew is very excited.
More to come......
Andrew and Mommy
Well, it's been just over one month since our last visit with Andrew's birthmom. She has been busy getting her life in order. She's attending a trade school, where she is studying to be a Medical Office Assistant.
She has a new boyfriend that seems to be really good for her. She has gained weight and appears not to be using any longer. My partner and I are keeping our fingers crossed that she can hang in there and complete her schooling.
I took pictures of Andrew at the park before Mommy came and then got a picture of them together when we had pizza afterwards.
Andrew Starts Preschool
He cried his first day, second day and third day,(fourth day is tomorrow)when we left him at school. The teachers however say that 20 seconds after we are gone, he stops crying and begins to play. By the third day he made friends with a boy, Brandon. Brandon is a year older than Andrew but they seem to get along really well.
We are so proud of our son. We are excited to see his vocabulary improve as well as his independence.
Andrew turned 3 last December.
Here are some pictures of him going to school on his first day!!
Stop The Bully In The Schools
I wrote the below article. Click on the link and let me know what your thoughts are on the issue.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6992912-stop-the-bully-in-the-schools
Andrew Is Potty Trained
He's ready. Now only wears underwear and no more diapers....WAHOOOOOO!!!
He wakes up and comes to us and whispers, "pee pee". Then one of us go with him and he goes. He also does number 2 in the potty. He won't use his potty anymore, he has to use the big boy potty now.
He's ready for preschool!!!
The Preschool Application
Our son Andrew will be starting preschool next year (sept 2011). I just completed his application and will submit it tomorrow. There is a great preschool near our home that is affiliated with our Church. It's a great environment and we are excited about it.
Our little boy is growing up so fast.
I am sure Andrew will have a tough time at first since he has really never left home without one of us by his side. I need to get comfortable with the idea myself. I'm so nervous to leave him and I am afraid he will pick up on this. I hear people with older children saying, "My Evan took three weeks of crying every day until he finally got comfortable with the idea"...or "My Sophie took one week and when it was time to pick her up, she did not want to leave".
I don't know what to expect, but I do know it has to be done. Andrew is getting close to being potty trained and we anticipate by next year, he will be pamper free.
I
Tonight, before bed, I put him in time out because he was not listening, we gave him a bath and put him in bed. I said good night and to give me a hug and kiss. He looked away and said "no". It broke my heart, he's never done that before. I told him, "well, Daddy loves you, I will always love you, good night". He is becoming so much more expressive with his emotions. Sometimes they are beautiful, but tonight it stung a little.
On a more positive note, the Birth Mom gave us some pictures of his siblings. It was cool because Andrew looks a lot like his brothers, even though they come from different fathers. I'm going to make a scrap book for him and collect as many pictures as I can.
Mommy and Andrew: September 12th 2010
Well, we finally got together with Andrew's birth mom. She is working really hard in getting her life together. She went back to school and is doing really well. She put back on some weight and seems very happy. It was a great visit and Andrew had so much fun.
Andrew, at first, was a little upset and not comfortable but only after 15 minutes, he and his mommy started where they left off. It had been 3 months since Andrew saw his mommy because she had so many conflicts and we were always having to reschedule.
Here are some pictures to share:
So Much Going On And Trying To Get Caught Up
Andrew is 2 1/2 years old already. We are heading to the Philippines to celebrate his 3rd birthday there. Our son has really grown and is about 40 inches tall.
For Father's Day, we took Andrew to Water World in Concord, CA. He had a blast. He loves playing and splashing in the water. It was in the mid 80s so the weather was perfect.
We are meeting his birth mom this Sunday. There have been some issues between her father and us and we are trying to work that out. It was about a month ago when the birth mom's father (who she is living with), started asking us for money. I was completely honest and told him we will not give him any money. It has caused a bit of strain in our relationship which has trickled down to the birth mom.
When we see her this Sunday, I will talk to her about what we are feeling in regards to her dad asking us for money. I want to make sure this does not get in the way of our relationship or make things uncomfortable for us.
Here are a few pics of our son at Water World. It was the greatest Father's Day ever.
Using The Word Adoption
It is amazing how fast our son is putting words together and forming sentences. Sometimes my partner and I look at each other and think, 'How the heck did he learn that'. Just the other day he counted to ten with out any prompting.
His bedtime stories began to change as we implemented the word adoption. We believe it is time to start using the word more and more.
We saw his Mommy about three weeks ago and we had originally planned her to join us to our outing to the zoo, but she got ill with the flu, so it was just us three. Andrew had a great time even though his Mommy was not with him. We didn't take many pictures because we found ourselves running after Andrew about 90% of the time. But...here are some.
Andrew is TWO?
I can't believe it, but it's been two years since we brought our son home from the hospital.
He's doing great. He's putting words together to form simple sentences. He will soon be ready for Preschool.
We have not seen the birth mom in about two months. Every time we would plan a play day she came down with a bad flu and or other complications. Then one weekend it rained so we had to cancel...but we plan to see her this weekend so stay tuned for more pics of Andrew and his Mommy. In the meantime, enjoy these updated pics of Andrew.
A couple of Videos in the Philippines
One video is of our house and the other is our littl guy taking a bath outside in front of our home in the Philippines.
Hello From The Philippines
Well, we are a little more than half way through our vacation. The time is flying by. Andrew has adjusted very well to the time change (16 hours forward from PST). At first, it was a bit difficult because his Daddies did not adjust as well as him...but we are back in sinc.
Here are some pics of Andrew with his neighbor TJ. He took a bath outside at our neighbor's house. He had so much fun playing in the water that he did not want to get out.
