Friday, January 30, 2009

Fun In The Snow!

Well the girls had a snow day on Wednesday. I can't seem to get them both back to school for a full week since before Christmas Break. We got close to a foot dumped on us on Wednesday, and that was on top of the snow already on the ground. We made the best of it and had some fun in the snow.
The girls dug out a tunnel in the snow by the big drift by our driveway!

This picture just cracked me up!

This is all the snow by our mailbox! We didn't get any mail that day!

Andrew couldn't figure out why his toy wouldn't go anywhere. Behind him is the basketball that he couldn't roll, and the broom that he couldn't use. He was getting quite frustrated!

Last week Andrew and I went for a visit to see Kim and Matthew. We spent about an hour to get them and ourselves ready to go outside, for about a 30 minute stay outside. It was fun anyways!

Andrew loves to put on his daddy's coat. I think he has some growing to fit in it.

Andrew has been very tired before bed time. Last night he was begging me to put him to bed and a few days before that he fell asleep sitting by Megan watching TV. I guess I'm wearing him out during the day!

Monday, January 26, 2009

You Changed My Life!

My daughter Alisha has a God given talent to write music. A few days ago she wrote this song for Andrew. I thought it was so sweet, and I wanted to make sure I captured it for Andrew. I didn't get all the song on the video because I ran out of memory space. Maybe another day I'll capture all of it but for now here is the video I got and the lyrics to Alisha's song. I love to see how there is such a strong bond between my children. It is more then I could of ever asked for. God has blessed our family.
YOU CHANGED MY LIFE
(written by Alisha Stahnke for her little brother Andrew)
Your smile means the world to me.
For you I would cross any sea.
I remember the first time I saw your face.
I couldn't help but to cry and cry.
Cuz right then I knew that you were the one.
Who could and would change my life.
Your beautiful, your beatiful, my love.
You changed me, you made me, who I am.
I love you, I thank you, you have changed my life.
Your laugh can brighten up my day.
You make me happy, when I'm not okay.
I remember that first night you came home.
I hope you know your never alone.
I can't believe how much you've grown.
Since that day, I haven't been the same.
Your beautiful, your beautiful, my love.
You changed me, you made me, who I am.
I love you, I thank you, you have changed my life.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

My Crazy Weekend!

I was sick for over a week, and on top of it I had one of the busiest weekends ever. What bad timing! Andrew has fully recovered from being sick, which only took three weeks, and then I decided to get sick myself. I started off with just a sore throat but then it turned into a sinus infection. School was cancelled on Thursday and Friday because of the cold temperatures, so I had Megan home with me. On Friday afternoon my friend Mary dropped off her two girls for me to watch, because she was going out of town on a retreat. I had both of them over here till Saturday at 5pm. Then at 5:30 on Saturday, I had my uncle from Colorado over, my grandma, and my parents. Then on Sunday off to church we went. It is my brothers church and we help with quite of few things. We leave the house at 8:45 am, and we aren't done until 1:30 pm. Then off to a baby shower for my sister in law at 2:00 on Sunday. Me and my girls were there till 5:00, and then we got home at 5:30, where my friend Ginger and her girls from Columbus, came over to stay till Monday. As the weekend went on I kept feeling sicker and sicker. On Saturday I started getting pressure in my ears, and then by Sunday I couldn't hear much out of my ears, and I started getting dizzy. By Monday morning, I couldn't even get out of bed because the dizziness was so bad. I had an inner ear infection which was causing the vertigo, and that was on top of the sinus infection. I felt horrible at this point because I had company over, and I couldn't do anything. My friend Ginger was so understanding about it and was helping me with Andrew. I never get a sick day, so maybe it was for the best that I had someone there to help take care of me and Andrew. I got an antibiotic in me on Sunday, so thank goodness by Monday evening I was feeling much better. I didn't get many pictures of my eventful weekend so hopefully soon I'll get back to taking pictures like I usually do.




Here is the only picture I took all weekend. Andrew decided to chill with Megan and my friend Mary's girls while they were over.


The other day I turned the inauguration on, and Andrew grabbed his chair and pushed it into the middle of the room and started watching it. Even though I didn't vote for Obama, it was a historical moment that I can tell Andrew one day that he watched with his mommy. I do pray for God's guidance and protection upon our country, and I do have peace everyday because I know that He is ultimately in control.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Our Miracle Journey Home!

I wanted to post this two days ago but I have been sick, and I haven't got much done. Anyways, we got home one year ago on the 12th with our Andrew, and was united with our girls. I never told the story of our journey home because I couldn't re live the experience when we got home last year, but I don't want to forget things that Andrew should know, so writing it on my blog is the best way to journal it for Andrew one day to read. It is a long story so I apologize for all the horrible things that happened that I had to write about.


The night we were leaving Kazakhstan we put Andrew to bed around 8 or 9pm, and then we got our stuff packed up and ready to go. We decided that it was pointless to go to bed that night because we were going to start heading out around midnight, and we didn't want to take a chance of not waking up. Our poor little Andrew only got about 3 or 4 hours of sleep and we had to get him up to leave. One thing that made my husband and I uneasy about our arrangement for leaving, was that our facilitator decided to head out of Kazakhstan and she went back home to Kyrgyzstan two days before we left to go home. She made arrangements for a young man to come and pick us up and take us to the airport. She set up a meeting with this young man who was around 20 years old. He spoke pretty clear English, but I was nervous that he might not show up, and who knows what we would of done to get to the airport.


We waited in the lobby, meanwhile Cain was checking out of our room, and we got the lovely surprise that our room was about double of what we were told by our agency because we were there during their Christmas. Yikes!!!!! How were we to argue at that point, we were leaving, and we don't speak Russian. Finally our guide showed up and we were off to the airport. I think he didn't have a car of his own, so he got a driver for us. This young man went in with us to the airport and got us in the proper line, and he was off. I do believe he was only paid a small amount for taking us there, so the longer the driver was there, the less he was making. Anyways we waited for our turn and we handed the guy our tickets, and they kept shaking their heads and pointing to the board. To our shock we realized that our flight was cancelled, and we would not be leaving till the next day at noon. Originally our flight was suppose to leave at 4am. Then I had some jerk say to me that spoke little English, you should always check the flights before you leave the hotel. Well duh! Of course I know that now, but we just assumed that our facilitator would of checked on that for us but she didn't. I remember standing there and telling Cain that I was going to start crying, and he said no you can't right now. I remember looking over and seeing a mob of people just camping out in the airport ready to make a night of it. How was I suppose to stay up all night with an infant who just wants to sleep. I remember panicking because we had no interpreter to help us change our flights. I remember then just saying a prayer "God, I give this all over to you, please help us".

Then before I knew it this young man that took us to the airport came walking out of nowhere. We asked him why he was still there? He said "because I just didn't fill right leaving you here, and I didn't know why". I knew why. God told him to stay there. He then went with my husband to start sorting out our tickets. They quickly came to the conclusion that they were going to have to leave the airport building and go across the street somewhere. That left me with Andrew, and all the luggage to take care of. I found a spot to sit and then Andrew decided to poop right through all of his clothes. I couldn't believe it. Couldn't you pick a better time! We did find out later that Andrew had a parasite so he would do this several times a day. So at this point, I couldn't take him and all our luggage to the bathroom, so I was stuck changing this most horrible smelling diaper right there around all of these people. Meanwhile a lady looks over at me and says isn't he cold? Well of course he is cold, but I have to change his diaper and all of his clothes!

Then if all of this wasn't enough I was just passing time and I looked on this giant TV screen that was in the airport to see pornography on the screen. Okay, at that point I was beyond uncomfortable, because my husband left and I didn't see him for quite some time, and I was basically stuck sitting there watching all our stuff because I couldn't possible go anywhere with Andrew, and all the luggage. Then again I remember praying "God please help us, I give it all over to you". Then I looked up and I saw some Americans that we met two days prior, at our embassy appointment. They adopted from Kazakhstan. What a miracle again! The lady came over and talked to me and they were on the same flight in the exact same situation. I told her, her husband, and another lady who was there on trip one to adopt, where my husband had to go to change the tickets. So the mother and the little boy stayed with me and the other two went to find my husband for me. Praise God we found someone to help us.


Before long all of them came back and they got our flights changed. We were going to have to wait until noon to leave, but we all had the same problem, what do we do in the meantime. Let's just say the lady who was there on her first trip was so feisty that she demanded that the airline pay for a room for her, her friends, and I guess us her new friends. They suggested the hotel right there by the airport, but she said no your going to put us up in the Hyatt ($400.00 rooms), and she demanded it for all of us. So they gave it to all of us! What! a bed to sleep in for a few hours, that was another miracle from God. These Americans were so nice. They had their own driver with a mini van, and they packed us in with them and off we went to the Hyatt. By the time we got there and went to bed it was 4am in the morning. Andrew of course had a hard time sleeping because we were messing up his routine, and total, I got about 2 hours of sleep. I couldn't complain because it was a soft bed, and we had a wonderful breakfast before we left to go back to the airport. Our first flight was from Almaty to Frankfurt, Germany around a 7 hour flight, I think. We had the bassinet for Andrew right in front of our seats. Andrew was a perfect little angel. He kept just napping on and off, and then would play, eat, and repeat. When we landed in Germany our layover was only about an hour or so. However, this is when things started going bad again.



We realized since our flights were changed, we no longer had the bassinet seat for Andrew. So I got in line and we talked to the lady for quite a while about getting a bassinet seat ,but she kept saying that all those seats have been taken and there was nothing she could do for me, except to wait and see once I was on the plane if they could accommodate me. The couple behind us in line had the same problem, except the only difference was the guy argued with the lady longer, and they gave him a bassinet seat. That made me so mad!!!!! Just because I'm nicer shouldn't mean that I get less!!!!!! I tried to keep it together, but when I got on that plane and I saw that there was no room between the seats I stood their in the aisle way and the tears started flowing. I never cried at the airport, but I held it in around 20 hours, and there was no way that the waterworks were going to be held back any longer. I had every flight attendant running to me asking what was wrong. I had several say they would check on the situation, but each one of them came back with sorry Mame I can't help you. I decided to suck it up and just sit there and once again I prayed to my God and I said "I give this over to you Lord, help me through this eight hour flight". Andrew was sleeping in my arms at that point, so I decided to close my eyes and try to rest. Then the head flight attendant came up to me and said he could move me to business class with a bassinet seat, but Cain would have to stay behind. I said "I will take it". I was treated like royalty. I got a seat that completely laid back, I got better food, and great service. Cain was jealous but he was okay with the fact that he got to sit alone for 8 hours and sleep. On the other hand I got another 2 hours of sleep on this flight!



During our traveling we realized that when we were to land in Chicago they only gave us 20 minutes to get on the next flight. There was no way to get through customs, immigration, check out our luggage, check in our luggage, and have time to walk everywhere. We tried every trick we could come up with like asking the officer if we could skip to the front of the line in customs because we were limited on time, but nothing helped. We finally found where we needed to go and there were no more flights leaving that night. Luckily, Cain and I learned a few things along the way. We demanded a room for the night because it was the airlines fault for planning two flights with only a 20 minute layover. The lady argued with me but at that point she didn't know who she was messing with. Finally I got what I wanted and we were put up in the Hilton for the night.



I then had to call my daughters to tell them we were not going to be there that night at 10pm. I felt so bad because they were heading out the door with grandma and grandpa at that point. When Megan got on the phone with me, she was so mad she wouldn't even talk to me. I of course was crying again, because I just wanted to get home.



So off we went to find our hotel. I felt like we were walking in that airport for hours, but I think it was because we were so tired. By the time we showered, and got to bed, I slept for another two hours. When we got up the next morning, we realized that all our clothes smelled horrible, so trying to find something that wasn't stained, or smelled bad was impossible. Finally we were headed off to get on our last flight. Yeah, for us we were chosen for the more thorough check and they searched every bag and every pocket of everything. We finally got on our last one hour flight to Cleveland. During that one hour flight Andrew decided to poop three times. The drama just wouldn't stop for us.


Finally the moment we waited for finally came and we were united with our girls. It only took 41 hours after we started our journey home, with a total of 6 hours of sleep for me. The hard part was, we got home at 9am in the morning, so we had to try our best to stay awake most of that day also. I figured it out and I went 67 hours hours with only three, 2 hour naps along the way. I was tired for a good month after that, and every night I would be falling asleep around 8pm. In fact one night Andrew was playing on the floor and I was laying there by him, and then suddenly I woke up to find that we were both sleeping on the floor.

I still thank God for watching over us on our way home with Andrew. It will be a long time before I get on a plane and leave the country, but there is nothing that I wouldn't do all over again for my Andrew.



Alisha informed me later that during this picture we took, all she could think of was how bad we smelled! I told you I couldn't find any clothes that didn't smell like those countries! Also, Alisha rolled down the window on the way home, in the middle of winter, because she couldn't handle how bad we smelled in the car! Needless to say everything got a good washing when we got home!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Stahnke Family Would Be Proud!

So today we are stuck in our house because of so much snow, and all my plans have been cancelled. In fact, I have been stuck in my house all week, trying to get some things done, and before that I was stuck in the house because Andrew was sick for weeks. I'm going a little stir crazy. However, we will try to take the kids sled riding this evening, if the snow slow downs enough for the snow trucks to clear the roads. Andrew has never been down a hill on a sled so that should be interesting. Anyways, since I have time to spare, I thought I would tell a cute story about our Andrew, since one day I'm sure I'll forget to tell him.
So the other day Andrew and I were in the kitchen and I was getting dinner ready. I always ask Andrew to give me love, and he usually gives me a hug and a kiss. Sometimes I ask him to blow me a kiss, and he will. It is the cutest thing. So the other day, I asked Andrew to blow me a kiss, and he didn't respond, so then I asked him to blow me some love. The next thing I knew, he let one rip, and it was a loud one. I then told him that wasn't the kind of love I had in mind for him to blow my way. I just couldn't stop laughing. I don't think I have ever used those words blow me some love, and for him to perfectly do that at that moment was to much. For anyone who knows the Stahnke family, they know they would be proud of our little Andrew. He is truly becoming a real Stahnke. Good job Andrew! You will fit right in!
The view from the back of the house!

Here is a view from my front door, and I guess they are calling for quite a bit more snow still! To bad it isn't a school day because school definitely would of been cancelled. This always happens on the weekend when we have places to be!

Here is a cute video of Alisha and her little brother that I took the other day! My girls can always make him laugh.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Things are getting easier!

Well things with Andrew have been getting much easier. Wait!!! Did I just say things are getting easier! I never thought the day would come. First of all Andrew has been taking his one nap for longer then when we first switched to one nap. He use to only sleep one hour for me, and now he is sleeping anywhere from 2-2 1/2. Awesome!!!!! He also has been sleeping 9-10 hours strait without waking up at night. I also recently started making him go to sleep on his own and overall he is doing great with that. I have to admit that I have enjoyed rocking him to sleep every night, but the time has come that, that is no longer working, and he needs to learn how to fall asleep on his own. I have seen him trying to get out of his crib and as soon as he grows a little taller he will be getting out, and I need him more use to being in his bed alone and falling asleep. The thought of a bed in his room makes me want to cry. Part of me is excited that he is growing up but the other part wants him to stay my little baby. Then Andrew has been getting better about playing on his own some. Just the other day he allowed me to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes and he never bothered me once. I guess there are no more excuses of not using the treadmill.


We have been still dealing with some issues from the RSV virus that Andrew had. I continue to give him a breathing treatment everyday to prevent the breathing issue from coming back. The Dr. suggested doing it for a year. I'm going to keep him on it for a month and see where he is at with things. I am also looking for a different pediatrian's office because I haven't been happy with his current office. The problem is there is 5-6 doctors in this office and everytime my son is sick he sees a different doctor. Also, none of the doctors have taken the time to learn anything about my son, and to them he is another patient in and another patient out. I feel when you adopt there are some different and special issues that you need to be aware of and I feel it takes a special Dr. to feel those requirements.







We had Andrew's one year follow up since he has been home with the other doctors office yesterday (this is the peditrician's office that deals with adopted children and their issues and not Andrew's regular pediatrician). There is a specialist who spent an hour checking his develpment and she wrote down some expectations she had for Andrew before we got there, and he surpassed all of them. He is right on target for everything aside of his speech of course, but she felt he was at a 18 month level for that, and that was much higher then I thought it would be. That means Andrew is only 3 months behind on that, and he honestly wasn't saying much until October, so you can see how far he is jumping to close the gap. Also Andrew was ahead about 3 months on some of his other skills. That made me feel great. Then we saw the psychologist, and basically at this point we just got to start treating Andrew like a regular little boy. He has surpassed all of his adoptive issues, but that doesn't mean something may not arise in the future, but for now, Andrew is a happy adjusted little boy. Then we saw the pediatrician, and the outcome of that was, we have adressed all of the health issues since Andrew has been home and there isn't much more we need to do. We do need to follow up in February with another echo for his VSD to make sure the whole has started closing up. I guess we will continue to do that every year until the whole is completely closed. I'm hoping that it is completely closed now, because when anyone listens to his heart they can't hear a murmer any more. The other thing we will need to follow up with from time to time until Andrew is caught up verbally is the craniofacial team. They are keeping an eye on the gap in the back of his pallet, but for now there is nothing they can do for him but wait to see what happens once he is talking. The outcome on Andrew has met and surpassed my expectations in every way. Andrew is a fighter, and there isn't anything that seems to hold him back. I'm just sad because he will have no need to go back to this office anymore, unless he starts having some adoption issues, so that is why I need to now find the perfect Dr. to take on all of his issues and not just when he is sick.


Our Little Guitar Hereo !




Andrew has loved playing with his guitar since he got it. Infact, when he first got it, he knew exactly how to put it on, hold it, and play it. He cracks me up! Here is a personal concert by Andrew!



The Little Piano Man!


I heard someone playing piano the other day, so I went into the next room and to my surprise Andrew learned how to get up on the piano bench and was playing. What is amazing about it was that Andrew was playing and not banging. I think he may have a future in music.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Andrew's Gotcha Day Party!

What a wonderful day we had with Andrew. I know he will have no memory of it, but we will have the pictures and the stories to tell him about his celebration of being home for one year with his forever family. The day before Andrew's party we took him to McDonalds play area to play. It is the first time Megan has ever taken him up in there to play. When he got up there and I called his name he looked down at me and started to cry. I think he thought they were leaving me, and he didn't like that feeling. Then Alisha went up there with him and he was fine. I'm glad we had a practice run of a play area because his gotcha party was at the Amazone, which has a play area 4 times as big as the play area at McDonalds. When we first got there with him, he was ready to take off and play. We were there before any one else, and then Grandma and Grandpa Johnson got there and Andrew was so excited. Then more and more people kept coming and then Andrew looked puzzled as to why everyone he knew was at this big place where he was playing and having fun. He is use to get togethers of family and friends being at someone's house. Andrew had a smile on his face most of the night, and I can't wait one day to tell him all about it.

Let's get this party started!

And I'm off to play! I'll see you later mom!



This place is so much fun! I love it!



Wow that is a fun slide! I'm finally getting big enough where I can go down them now!




I love how the video games light up, even though I didn't get any tokens to play any of them. Thanks for taking me around to see them Alisha!




Wow what are you doing here Kylee? I'm so glad you came, were going to have so much fun!


Why is everyone wearing white vest?

I love playing with mommy up here!

Hi Lanny! I'll come down here to your level.

It looks like you girls are having fun!



Hey there, we're just hanging out watching Alisha and Sarah do the dance game!

Time for cake!

What a difference a year makes!

Finally, daddy gives me some cake to eat!

Wow, that play area must of tired you out!

Our day was so crazy yesterday that we didn't even get a moment to take a picture of Andrew and give him his book that I made him, so I had Megan take some pictures before church today!

Here is the book that I had made for Andrew. If anyone is ever over the house, I'll always have the book sitting out so I can read it to Andrew, so feel free to take a look at it.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

My Megan on Americas Funniest Home Video!

I wanted to write a quick post to let any one know who sees this before tomorrow evening that my Megan will be on America's Funniest Home Video, on Sunday night Jan. 4 on ABC. Depending on where you live you will need to check your local listings for the time. Here in Ohio it is on at 7pm. It is a video of Megan getting excited and falling after opening her American Girl Doll last Christmas. The funniest part of it to us, is when her sister Alisha was laughing so hard she can hardly breathe, meanwhile Megan was screaming. They may edit all of it out except the part where she falls. Last year this happened a week before we left to go get Andrew. There was one point on our trip when we were in Kazakhstan bored out of our minds, being trapped in our hotel room, with no television, but one channel, and Cain and I just laid on the bed and started imagining this video wishing we had it, then we just started laughing our butts off. It's a keepsake that's for sure!! Megan I'm just glad you are all right from your fall, and we can all laugh at your expense now.

Andrew's Gotcha Day!

A year ago today we got our sweet little Andrew at the Bishkek Orphanage in Kyrgyzstan!
I have included a few pictures here, but check out the video above to see all the changes Andrew has made in a year. It blows my mind how much he has grown and changed! The journey of adoption has been the most humbling, and life changing experience of my life. I'm thankful God placed it on my heart to make a difference in this little guys life. What I didn't know was how much of a difference he was going to make in mine. Some how Andrew has already thanked us for all we did with just his sweet little kisses, hugs, and his perfect little smile. He has turned into one of the happiest little boys I have ever met, and I hope I can always be enough for him!

My First pictures with Andrew. You can tell in the photos how withdrawn and sad he looked!
First picture with Daddy!

Our first picture together back at the hotel!

One year later!

Today we are planning a small get together with family and friends to make this a special day for Andrew. I feel like we never got to celebrate when we got home last year because we wanted the bonding to take place and we didn't want to take Andrew out around lots of people. I will post picture of Andrew's special day later. I do want to do something special for Andrew's gotcha day every year, and this year I decided to write Andrew a story book of his adoption story. I wrote it in a fairy tale way where it would be easy for him to understand. I want to read it to him all the time, and I'm hoping that will help him not have a dramatic experience of when we tell him he is adopted. It has pictures of him and us in it, and that should help him understand. Below is a letter to Andrew. I know he can't read, but one day he will be reading these blog post and I want him to know how I felt when we got him and how I feel today.


My Dearest Andrew,

One year ago today you were placed into our arms as our son. It was the first time we even saw you, and legally on paper you were already ours. No words can describe the feelings I had that day. I was so in love with you before I even met you, but for some reason the feelings were different when they placed you into my arms, then what I thought they would be. I was scared to death when we got you, and you were so much smaller then I ever imagined (you weighed 12 lbs. at nine months old). They gave me your measurements, but the pictures we had always made you seem so much bigger. The thing that was the most shocking was how sick you were. I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to give you what you needed, but God provided everything we needed even in Kyrgyzstan. I will tell you that story one day also.

For some reason I didn't cry when I got you, and I ask myself why all the time? Before we got you or even had the referral of you I would sit in your room, and pray over you and just cry for you. In fact, I would cry of just the thought of you before we got you, but when you were right there in my arms, I think I was just so nervous, tired, overwhelmed, scared, and excited that the tears didn't come. Trust me I have cried of happiness many more times then I want to count since that day.

I will never forget my first day with you, because I kept thinking, when is this little boys mom coming to get him, and then I would remind myself that I was your mom. I think you were also ready for me to take you back to the orphanage after the first couple of hours. Somehow, and someway the bond since then has grown much more then I ever dreamed it could between us. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank God for you. The thing that has made the biggest impression on me that someone told me was that "God trusted your Dad and I enough to give you to us". That helps me overcome any obstacle we may have, because I know God choose me to be your mom, and there isn't one doubt in my mind that you are not suppose to be with our family.

I will never be able to tell you about your parents because we know nothing about them, but I do know, that if you one day choose to have a personal relationship with God, that will be all the family you will need. God will be the one who will get you through the questionable times, and of course I will be hear to support you through everything as well. This has been the most amazing year with you Andrew, and I can't believe the things you have overcome in it. You are on target with all your development aside of your speech, and that you have been making great strides to catch up with since your surgery in October. I will never forget the first time I read your medical reports when we received you as a referral. Your dad and I thought they made you sound almost dead, but instead you are the most alive little boy I have ever met. I love you Andrew more then words can say. I look forward to what life will bring you, because you deserve only the best. You are a wonderful, loving, fun, little boy, and I'm glad I get to be your mom.

With all my love,

Mom

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!

What a great time we had at our friends house Bob and Susan! We have spent new years with them for at least the last 7 or 8 years, except of course last year because we were picking up Andrew. We got some great pictures of some of the couples at our 80's themed party, even if you don't know these people it will take you back to that time, and it's good for a laugh. Andrew did awesome last night. I put him to bed in his pack and play at our friends house and we stayed until about 12:30 in the morning. We then put him in the car and I put him back to bed when I got home. It took a little bit to get him to sleep both times, but he did great and slept the rest of the night for us. It's a wander he was able to sleep at the party because I counted up to 30 kids there. Yikes!

Andrew with a wig on that we borrowed from our neighbors house!

Even my Megan played along with the 80's theme and found something to wear. She picked this outfit out by herself. Good job Megan!

The whole family but Alisha, but don't we look groovy. Alisha had other plans for new years! I guess hanging out with mom and dad for new years isn't cool when you are 17.



Our gracious host and hostess! Thanks guys it was a lot of fun.

Andrew, I can't wait to spend a new year with you!