Daddy's Post

Carol isn't feeling well today. She's taking airborne and trying to nip it in the bud early.  She feels like she is getting a sore throat and maybe a little bit of an upset stomach.  She didn't want to let her reader's down though.  She knows how much you look forward to seeing the most beautiful boy in the world, and who could blame you.  So without further adieu, another video and some more pictures.

Putting Quinton to sleep:

 

Don't tell the nannies. :)

Mommy is proud of her sleeping baby.

 He is still sleeping, but he looks so cool.

This was the only way I could get a picture of him in sunglasses.

 I love his expression.  He is checking out the camera with curiosity.

 Daddy and QB making Mommy laugh.

How precious.

Such a happy boy.

He is definitely a gift from God.

What are they teaching these kids? lol

I couldn't make a word out of these blocks if I tried.

Love Like Crazy

Today was lots more of the same for us. It was not the same for some of our friends though. We are thrilled that several of our Reece's Rainbow friends had court today and there are now 4 less orphans in the world! We are a little jealous, but thrilled for them beyond words. While we wait for our court date (less than a week away now!) we continue to bond with our little one. I tried on his "mommy's new man" onesie today and it fit perfectly! I don't want to bore anyone with details from the day since we kinda do the same thing every day so I'm going to jump straight to the good stuff. We figured out (ok, Brian figured out) that the reason we have had such a hard time uploading videos is because they were in HD, so we shot some today that are not in HD. So, as a special request from my MIL, here are some videos of her grandson :) Enjoy!

 We got some great pictures today too, but we had to sneak them. If Quinton sees the camera, he just gets this curious look on his face and tries to grab it.

Surprise! It's a...

It's a girl! 

Oh, wait. That's my son LOL. We went to pick up Quinton for our afternoon visit and he was dressed in a pink shirt and pink tights....and I thought the pink and purple panties were bad! Oh well. There's not too much we can do about that one.

Quinton decided to be a stinker today. He was very happy, but apparently has decided he does not want to smile for the camera, so there are not too many great pictures today. Sorry :(  I think he is just really interested in it. The flash distracts him and he wants to play with it. He is so curious about everything. Brian called him Curious George. I think it is really amazing to him to get to see and touch things he has never been exposed to before. He loves textures like the wallpaper and his Daddy's face. He loves sounds like the baby apps on the iphone and he loves visual stimulation (hence him being so distracted by the camera flash). Look how he spent the first 16 months of his life:

That's where he spends the majority of his day-laying alone in a hard wooden playpen. If he is lucky he might get a rattle or 2 tossed in there. This breaks my heart, but it makes all of his firsts even sweeter. He is loving life for at least 4 hours a day and I can't wait to get him home where he can love life all of the time.

We were very blessed today to go out to lunch with the missionaries that I mentioned in an earlier post. They took us sight seeing and to TGIFridays for some American food (thanks again ladies-you made our day). It was such a blessing to get to see Quinton's birth city and to just break up the monotony of our everyday routine. Rita is from the Ukraine and her church here in this region provides a lot of humanitarian aid to the baby house, orphanage, and local hospital. She told us so much about the history of this country and how it became what it is today. We had a wonderful time. I wish I had thought to get a group shot of us all. Here are a few pictures from our outing today followed by a couple shots of Quinton.

 This is a place that overlooks the river where couples come when they get married.

 us in front of a fountain

 in a park with the circus behind us

 in the city with Jackie and Rita

 Quinton too busy REACHING FOR HIS MAMA to sit still and smile for a picture!

 Quinton and his lovely little hat that he would not leave on (we had to hide from the nannies because every child should wear a hat!)

 Quinton trying to rid himself of another hat!

 just being silly

 Quinton being thrown up tossed up gently in the air by his daddy ;)

 You can't see his sweet face in this one, but this little guy is bearing weight on his legs! This is the same little boy who could barely hold his head up a week ago! 

Well, that's all for now. I guess we will see what tomorrow brings! I know I say it all the time, but we love and miss you all and we can't wait to get home so you can come meet our little love bug!

Nicknames :)

I am pretty sure that it is going to take my son forever to actually figure out that his name is Quinton. He picks up on things so quickly, but this one is his  mommy and daddy's fault. Baby's make you do and say some really silly things. I think we call him just about everything but Quinton. So since not much happened today, I figured I would share some of the nicknames (some of which I have no idea where we came up with them) we have been calling him. Oh, but first-lots of people have been asking about his clothes size and I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the 6-9 month outfit fit him best. I am thinking that it must have been a pretty big 6-9 months because we have been trying on some of his 12 month outfits and they pretty much all fit too. The onesies and pajamas and shirts fit fine. The shorts are just a little bit too big. I wanted to take some pictures of him in the outfit we chose for gotcha day, but I decided to wait until the day we bust him out :)

"Bubby"-I think this was a combination of buddy and baby. The nickname stuck :)

 "Q-ball"-This is Brian's nickname for him. When we decided to keep his Reece's Rainbow name (Quinton), Brian started calling him Q-ball because he did not have any hair in his baby picture.

  "QB"-sounds more like cuebee. It's a shortened version of Q-ball.

  "Buddy"-How could you not call him Buddy? He's so stinkin adorable!

 "baby boy"-because he is :)

 "cutie"-self explanatory

"sweet boy"-just speaking the truth

  "precious"-you agree, don't you? 

 "pumpkin"-Brian used to call me pumpkin. Apparently Quinton has taken over that one ;)

 "love bug"-I have never felt this kind of love before in my life. The name fits.

(The lovely outfit pictured above was chosen by Quinton's nannies who are very worried about his cough. It was a very chilly 68 degrees or so outside today LOL. He is wearing a diaper, undershirt, underwear over the diaper (somebody explain that one, please?), long johns, socks, a long sleeve shirt, a hat, winter coat and a hood. His face accurately expresses his feelings on the whole thing! Bless his heart!)

So there you have it-the reason Quinton may never learn his name :)

Day 7: Can't Believe It's Been a Week Already!

Seven days ago today, we walked into a little office where I sat anxiously as I waited for my son to come in. As I sat there, I wondered if he would love us like we love him. I had prepared my heart as much as I could that he might not be ready to receive all of the affection I had to offer. I sat back with tears in my eyes as he entered the room. As difficult as it was, I just sat there and took everything in. I wanted to jump up and wrap him in my arms right away, but I was afraid that I would scare him. So I sat for what seemed like an eternity, but after watching the movie play back, only amounted to a minute or so. When I finally got up to get him, it was a magical moment. You could hear my voice shaking and cracking and my body was shaking all over. I was nervous and excited all at once. Then the magic happened. He smiled at me for the first time. I swear, that was one of the single most wonderful moments of my entire life. He  flashed me a smile that God knew that I needed to see and he has not stopped since. Everyday I go to pick him up, he smiles at me with the smile of an angel.

Today when we went to pick him up, we were met with a prescription from the doctor. She had been there to see him and written him a prescription for four medications! We went to the pharmacy to get them for him even though we have no idea what they were. We just hope that they make him feel better. He is such a little trooper. Even when he is really sick, he still smiles and laughs for us.

So far, just about every experience we have had here has been positive. There are some things though that have broken my heart. Today was one of those days where I walked away in tears. They were not just quiet tears. They were run to the bathroom when you get home and sob, tears. My heart was absolutely torn in two. I honestly don't think I will ever be quite the same again. Because I chose to keep my blog public while we are in country, I am not at liberty to write about some things, this being one of them. I will, however blog about it when we get home and Quinton is safe and sound because I think that everyone needs to know about it.

Quinton was not feeling the best today, but we still managed to get a few good pictures :)

Ahhhh! I almost forgot the best part of the day. Quinton reached for me today! We have been trying to teach him that if he reaches for us, we will pick him up. He is not used to anyone fulfilling his needs when he cries or reaches, so he pretty much just doesn't do it. Today when he reached his arms out for me I squealed! He reached for Brian too. We passed him back and forth several times and clapped and cheered for his new "trick". Love him bunches!

For Quinton to Remember Someday: I Walked Through Poo For You :P

So, there's no way-absolutely no way that I can describe the smell that we woke up to yesterday and today. Someones septic system (or lack there of?) was spewing out of the ground and into the street. It smelled like sewage and dead animal and some type of propane gas all at once and it was EVERYWHERE. The great news is that I was wearing flip flops for my morning walk to visit Quinton. Mmmmmm Yummy! Gross, I know but if you're reading this and you really wanna know what's going on-this is it. So, to my dear sweet Quinton whom I would do absolutely anything for-please always remember that Mommy walked through liquid poo to get to you LOL. And all you can do is laugh.

Once we got through that lovely mess, we had  great visit again. We dressed him in shorts and a
t-shirt, but it was not long before a nurse came around and imitated his cough and that we must go back and get him long pants, long sleeves, and a sweater. We did it because they asked us too, but if you know me well, you have probably already guessed that I was rolling my eyes the whole time (after I flashed her a "sure, no problem" cheesy grin. He was a hoot at morning and afternoon visits. He absolutely comes alive and it is so beautiful to see. We cannot wait until the day that we get to walk through the big green gates of the orphanage forever! Honestly, there is not much more to tell today. We are just eating up every moment with our little guy. Here are some shots from today's visit: