1 year checkup

At Isaac's 1 year doctor's appointment he got his round of shots, cried for about 2 minutes then was fine. He's such a tough little guy! I think the worst thing for him is when you have to restrain him and hold his arms. Then he gets really upset. His nebulizer treatments have stopped for now which is good. We'll probably end up buying one since he'll probably need it off and on for a few years and hope that his lungs get big and strong and that he grows out of the asthma and colds.

Speaking of big and strong he now weighs 18 pounds and is 28 inches tall. At 4 months old when we brought him home he was 6 pounds and 20 inches so what great progress he's made over 8 months. In recent days he's been getting more and more mobile. Scooting backwards, turning circles while he's playing, going from his tummy laying all the way to sitting up. And tonight he waved back to Great-Great (Laura's grandpa)! It was a definite wave and he didn't do it again but his mimicking is really picking up. He can make baskets now when he plays with daddy, something that is VERY important in our household.

We did have a birthday barbecue with some friends on his big day and his buddy for life Diesel came over with Adam and Katy. Here are the fellas partying it up! Diesel will be the fullback and Isaac the wide receiver one of these years...

Introducing.....Tenaye Abigail Michel

Tenaye passed court this morning! There were a dozen or so Hope agency families that were to have had cases heard today, but only three of them went to the judge before the power went out at the courthouse and in the city. The rest of the cases were postponed, but ours was one that went through. God is good. It is almost 11 months since her referral till her passage of court today and we are so excited that Isaac's big sister (not biological but they look alike we think) will hopefully be coming home this summer. Here is a slide show of pictures we've gotten from the Hope family website from other families who have been to the orphanage in recent months.




She will be four years old in mid-June and we speculate that travel to Ethiopia would be in mid-July. As we know more information we will be sure to post it. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughtful words from all of you!

Many Happenings...And a Birthday for Isaac!!

The last 2 weeks have been extremely busy with lots of twists and turns. Isaac got yet another bad cold and Dr. Andrews did a breathing treatment that worked in her office so for the past 10 days or so this has been Isaac 3-4 times a day.

Thankfully they really do help his breathing and his lungs and hopefully will help stave off colds in the future. He'll be on these for a while and will probably have some asthma but at least we now know how to help him when he has a cough and is all stopped up! He also has learned to enjoy bath time and splashes around and plays and hates getting out of the tub after about 15 minutes of playing. These pictures are from right after he got sick this last time and as you can see, he wasn't liking the water too much then but since he loves it!!



Laura celebrated her first Mother's day and it was a very special day for all of us. Our thoughts turned to Isaac's birth mother and father during both the recent Mother's day and his birthday celebration. We feel so lucky to have Isaac as our son and hope that they are proud that we are raising such a wonderful little boy. He is so loved by his family and our friends and he had so much fun playing and hanging out with everyone during his parties.



Isaac also had his first real haircut today. When we first brought him home he got a haircut because his hair was so patchy from all the tubes he had in his nose in the hospital. But this was a full blown haircut and while we hated to cut all those wonderful curls off his head, his scalp was getting very dry and he's so hot natured that we knew this summer he'd be sweating profusely! So with mixed emotion we cut his hair and he looks like such a big boy!!

We can't wait for our school years to be over so we can spend even more time with our precious little boy!!

Weekend with family

This past weekend Laura, Isaac and I drove to Olathe, KS to visit my sister and her family. It was a fun couple days catching up with their 3 1/2 year old twins Jacob & Audrey. We also got to see our niece Megan get all dressed for her senior prom and head out with her boyfriend Dijon.

All are doing just great. Isaac's cousins J & A LOVE to show him their toys, feed him his bottle, and be in his face whenever they can. They are really cute with him, and just want to be close to him. We visited Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead which was really fun. There were lots of animals to get up close and see, and even though it's for kids the adults really enjoyed it as well. Plus, it was FREE!!!

Today Isaac was supposed to have his first therapy session with Susan from First Steps but he is coming down with a bit of a cold and has a pretty good cough so we had to cancel that and he will probably spend Tuesday with grandma. May will no doubt be a very busy month as we finish up our school years, plus I am getting back into coaching next year as our varsity girl's coach.

This summer will likely be hectic as well with Laura teaching summer school, basketball camps, and a trip to Anaheim, CA with two of my students who are competing at FBLA nationals. Oh well, if we weren't going 90 miles per hour we would go insane!

Finally, it is just two weeks from Tenaye's court date! We are anxiously waiting for that but are realistic that there is a 50/50 chance that she will pass the first time.