Author: Laura Kent

Here are the boys at Grandpa and Grandma’s house ready to go trick or treating. Andrew’s a dinosaur and Tommy’s a vampire bat.

Andrew really enjoyed walking up to each house and picking up the candy and putting it in his bucket. And then of course eating a few when we got back! He’s definitely a fan of Halloween! ?

Pumpkin pictures are one of our yearly traditions. Here’s last year:

And this year! What a big guy!

We also did fun activities at the pumpkin farm:

Andrew’s still doing lots of sign language. He saw this at the kids’ hair salon and asked to eat it! It’s actually sugar scrub for the bathtub.

Andrew’s loves putting things on right now. He puts on shoes and hats and glasses. He even attempts to put shirts on.

Andrew wanted to help bake cookies but I kept telling him “no, hot.” So he went over and got the oven mitt, lol.

So google photos made this video for me and it was so cute, I had to share. It shows videos of Andrew over the past year.

Over Labor Day Andrew got to spend some fun time with his cousin Josephine. She’s only 4.5 months younger (but really closer to 3 if you take Andrew’s adjusted age).

Here they are back at Christmas when Andrew was coaching Josephine on tummy time.

And now they’re both walking and playing alongside each other.

This past weekend, Andrew finally put all the pieces together and became a walker! Now he walks most places.

He’s also developed quite a sense of humor. We were talking about the name of body parts at dinner so he put his cucumber on his nose, then on his eye, then on his head!

He’s also quite resourceful. He knows how to help himself in the fridge.

Every day’s a great one with this little man!

Brothers on a train ride

Riding a raccoon

Second visit to the Arch

He was awake a little bit longer this time.

Here’s the boys last year at the Arch.

Doing dishes with Daddy

All tired out after school

So much had happened this past month it feels like way longer than a month has passed.

Andrew is doing great at daycare and learning new skills like crazy.

He’s added “Hi” and “buh-bye” to his vocabulary and we’re pretty sure he calls Tommy “baba.”

He can reach door knobs now! I didn’t get the picture in time, but he was trying to open the door after Dada left.

And he thinks he’s too big for the high chair now. They sit at tables at daycare.

He’s also getting pretty good with a fork and is already stacking blocks.

As usual we are just so impressed with his progress!

Andrew said his first word this week! “Dada” It wasn’t really a surprise because he loves his daddy!

He can also say “Uh-oh” when he drops things. Says “Du” when he’s done and “mama” when he wants more.

He’s taking lots of steps these days, but mostly when he walks towards daddy.

Andrew also started school this week. It was a hard decision, but I decided I would go back to teaching this fall. So Andrew now goes to daycare while I’m at work. It was a tough week emotionally (for both of us) but he has adjusted quite well. Here he is in his classroom doing activities. That’s his happy face.

We had a great time visiting family up at the lake in Minnesota.

Andrew got his first ride on the speed boat.

And he got to roast marshmallows

He really enjoyed hanging out with Grandpa .

And had lots of fun cousin time.

Here’s the cousins last year on the dock

And this year!

Andrew’s loving swimming in the lake with Tommy, Daddy and Grandpa this year.

A year ago I got a phone call that changed our lives. It was our adoption counselor saying that the papers were signed and that we could come pick up our new son the next day. I had taken Tommy to the Museum of Transportation to take my mind off the waiting and I was in the gift shop when the call came. Somehow I kept it together and was able to get all the necessary logistics for the next day while simultaneously telling Tommy, no you’re not getting a new train set. When I got off the phone I was shaking. We bought some ice cream and went outside and just sat quietly eating ice cream, trying to process what just happened.

The next day we showed up very nervous at the Bethany office and came home with this tiny little miracle. It was the first time we ever saw him and we were instantly in love.

We celebrated his adoption day with an ice cream cake tonight.

He’s still a miracle, but a little bigger one now. In celebration of his adoption, he took his first steps yesterday! We haven’t caught it on video yet though. So here’s some other cute stuff he does.

He eats popsicles in the cutest and messiest way possible.

And he’s so strong!

Here he is folks! 20 lbs, 30 inches tall and ready to take on the world! He has a whopping 12 teeth, eats basically anything and everyone agrees he’s a very happy, easy-going guy.

Remember this little sweetie?

Look at him now!

Remember that helpful big brother?

Now he’s helping him get into trouble!

It’s been quite a year. Andrew has already knocked 8 states off his bucket list:

Kansas

Hawaii

Arizona

Utah

Illinois

Iowa

Minnesota

Missouri

He’s flown on a plane and ridden a train. He swam in the ocean and went down into a mine.

And he makes every day wonderful!

We had a fun celebration with friends and family last weekend. Andrew enjoyed his first ever cupcake.

Before

The first bite

He had a lot to say about it,

and felt pretty proud of his work.

Thank you to everyone who has welcomed, loved and supported Andrew over the past year. Though I feel like the first chapter of this adoption journey has come to a close, it will certainly be a life-long journey for Andrew, so keep that love and support coming!

Finally I want to ask you all to remember in your prayers today Andrew’s birth mother. She will forever be a part of our lives and Andrew’s story. We keep in touch with her through email and I know she reads this blog and enjoys seeing updates on Andrew. I know she loves him very much. And we love her for making all of this possible!

The big birthday is almost here so here are a few updates on how Andrew is doing.

He’s learned to go DOWN steps now too.

He loves to climb and can get himself into his jumperoo by himself.

He still loves water and he’s started bear crawling.

At the zoo he and Tommy rode the carousel. Andrew was so excited. I put him on a bear and he held the pole and clapped his hands and bobbed his head to the music. Then he tried to get off like he was all done, but the ride hadn’t even started yet! He didn’t realize it was going to move, lol.

He loves to read books and will climb up on the couch by himself and look at books ?

We went on vacation and I think the boys’ favorite party was the luggage cart at the hotel!

And he’s generally just a pretty chill guy who likes to “hang out.”

Andrew celebrated turning 11 months old with his first fever.? He’s feeling better today though.

He’s still very tall and today he reached up to the table and pulled a placemat, cup of milk and plate down on himself.

I pulled him aside to get a rag, but he crawled back over and I found him face to the floor slurping the milk off the floor. ? And he was eating the crumbs from the plate, so I guess he just thought it was a good way to get a snack.

He also celebrated 11 months with a water table for the backyard. Andrew LOVES water!

No steps yet (my prediction was wrong), but he seems to be very close.

Here are some photos from the end of Andrew’s 10th month.

He sticks his tongue out when he’s really focusing on something, so cute.

Big man on the playground.

Ball pit fun at the Magic House

Hanging out at the Botanical Gardens

We went to Channel 9’s PBS Storytime today and Andrew got a bib for having a MOST account (college savings).

Lol, that’s his new toothy smile. Here he is more seriously contemplating his future.

Afterwards, Andrew ate his first Pappy’s BBQ. He loved the smoked turkey and the deep-fried corn. At first I cut some corn off for him and he was happy.

But then he saw me eating it right from the cob and got offended, so he had to try it that way too.

Here are some videos! We don’t actually spend all our time in the living room as it might appear from these videos, but we do spend quite a bit.

Music cube

Crawling Race: Speedy McFlash wins!

Andrew pushing the train

Andrew continues to be a very active and friendly guy. He’s up to 18 pounds and he now has 6 teeth! I had to get a pic of him whining so you could see the teeth. He has started to assert his opinions more. Oh boy! Like right here he’s saying, enough with pictures, I want to get down!

Here he is hanging out at the park. He loved this, he couldn’t stop laughing.

He’s still cruising on furniture and trying his darndest to stand unassisted. Stay tuned for standing pictures soon.

Andrew had a great first Easter. Here he is ready for mass to start. And here’s the whole family.

After mass we had lunch with Grandpa and Grandma and took some more photos outside.

Andrew did his first egg hunt last weekend.

And we found some eggs left by the Easter Bunny at our house this morning. Andrew looks like he’s saying “Oh Easter Bunny you sly dog.” Andrew got cheerios in his eggs!

This is Tommy’s “make-up” work for our week on vacation.

The letter O

O is for ocean.

O is for octopus. Tommy’s Daddy took this video. Watch the middle of the screen.

O is for old banyan tree (150 years old)

O is for Old Fort

O is for Ono, which means delicious in Hawaiian.

Andrew got to celebrate his 9 month birthday in Hawaii.

We went to a Luau that evening and Andrew really liked the music and dancing.

And of course he had his first trip to the beach.

Besides lots of new experiences, Andrew is also working on new skills. He’s learned how to go up stairs! Luckily he’s a slow mover, so I had time to run up, take this picture and get back to spot him.

Can’t wait to see what the next month brings! Maybe more hair??

As far as we know, Andrew’s a wee bit Irish. So top o’ the morning from these two little Irish men.

We had a busy weekend. We went car shopping and Andrew helped test drive for us.

And we enjoyed the nice weather by going on a family hike.

Latest weigh-in says 17 pounds, 5 ounces and everyone comments on how “tall” he looks.

Andrew spends most of his time standing up these days

And we still have lots of adventures, here he is at the orchid show at the Botanical garden.

Regretting his choices… lol he just keeps getting himself stuck under the high chair (we do help him out)

Hanging out with friends

Andrew’s getting really good at standing these days and is starting to cruise on the furniture. Here he is just hanging out.

We celebrated Daddy’s birthday this week and he set up his new tent in the family room. Looking forward to some family camping this summer.

Andrew’s adoption was finalized by Judge Hemphill of St. Louis County today! That means he’s permanently our child now and we’ll have a birth certificate and everything to prove it.

Andrew had to “stand around” for awhile waiting at the courthouse.

Afterwards we had some yummy stuff to celebrate.

But Andrew was too worn out from the proceedings.

Please continue to keep Andrew’s birthmother in your prayers. We are absolutely indebted to her for this amazing gift she has given us by choosing us to raise Andrew. We pray that she is at peace with her decision and that she’s able to stay a part of Andrew’s life as he grows.

We flew to Arizona to celebrate Uncle Kevin and Tia Paola’s wedding in Sedona. It was a little chilly but the scenery was beautiful.

After the wedding we took Andrew and Tommy for their first trip to the Grand Canyon!

We’ve had so many adventures lately I haven’t had time to post them all.

In January we celebrated cousin Josephine’s baptism

During the “big freeze” we escaped the cold by going to the Climatron at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Andrew came to Tommy’s school to volunteer for a day with me and enjoyed getting mobbed by kindergartners. And I’m not being sarcastic, he really loved it.

Andrew will be 7 months old on Sunday and it’s incredible how much he’s progressed in the past month.

Now he can sit himself up and play with toys. He loves this drum Great-Grandma Riley got him!

He pulls up to standing on everything available.

If you take your eyes off him, he’s gone.

He also discovered that the cat food in the kitchen was a tasty snack (!) and that had to be moved.

He learned how to say consonants last weekend and treated everyone at mass to MA-MA-MA-MA the whole time. The church had great acoustics.

And possibly most importantly, big brother Tommy is teaching him to love trains already.