On the mend

Just a little note on Victor.. he is doing alot better and is able to sleep laying down in bed again instead of in his car seat. He hasn't had a breathing treatment since Sunday and his cough is less.

Victor also experienced jealously for the first time yesterday. When I went to pick him up at day care there was another baby crying and both workers were busy so I picked him up. When I did Victor shot the other baby the dirtiest look! It wasn't funny because I don't want him to be like that but on the other hand his expression was hilarious!

It was bound to hapen..

Well we have all been lucky as far as Victor getting sick goes but finally the big one hit. On Thursday morning after a very bad night of waking up alot we noticed his breathing was very labored and he was very wheezy, so we called and got an early Dr appointment. Turns out Victor has RSV, a pretty nasty respiratory virus in young kids. So home we go with a nebulizer and some steroids. Half the time he likes the breathing treatments and tries to eat the tube, the other half he is very upset the whole time, poor kid.

Its Final!

On Thursday the family drove to Dallas for the final part of Victor's adoption. Our court time was early Friday morning so we drove up the day before to sight see and make a special occasion out of it. We checked in to our hotel and then drove to Dallas' historic district where we had fun exploring, visiting little shops, and having lunch. We were going to go to the zoo but it was getting too sunny out and Victor was getting cranky, so instead we went to a big mall in Dallas which reminded us of the Galleria here in Texas but it was about half the size. We bought Victor and Build a Bear there to commemorate the trip and named it "Dallas" on its birth certificate. That night Victor did very well in the hotel and slept with no problems in his pack'n'play until about 330 in the morning after which he was very awake.

On Friday at 730 we arrived at the courthouse and got to see alot of other adopted kids and adoptive parents. It was very special for all of us and we shared some stories while waiting our turn. Finally we were up and the whole thing took all of 5 minutes. The judge was very nice and said she never saw an adopted child who looked so much like the parents. I cried a little and we took a picture with the judge and we were done. Afterward we drove back to Houston and had dinner with the family to celebrate.

On Saturday we had an adoption finalization party at our house and it was a ton of fun. Victor was a perfect host and let himself be passed around and cuddled and only got upset when we tried to put him on the bouncy thing we had borrowed for the party. We served a menu of kid food from nuggets to hot dogs to an awesome cupcake cake we bought for the occasion. It was all very good practice for future kid parties.

Our cupcake cake "It's Final! He's stuck with us"

Victor with Auntie Bonnie watching the other kids play

Victor does not like all the bouncing

At Hermann Park

Today Richard, Victor and I met up with Robert, Kealy, and Sami at Hermann Park. We all had fun riding the train and playing esp. on the swings.

Victor Videos

Here are two videos I made of Victor, one of me trying to get him to laugh and another of him talking.

First Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday Victor went to the zoo for the very first time. It was a bit cold but we bundled him up for the outing. I am sure it was more fun for Richard and I than Victor who didn't know what was going on but he did seem to like looking at the fish.

Sitting up and Rolling Over

For Christmas Richard and Sarah got a video camera from Richard's mom. A few days ago I tried to test it out and boy do I need some practice. From the shaking hand to the heavy breathing I need to beter control myself when I am holding the thing. Anyway, here is a video of Victor sitting up then falling over and finally rolling over.

Victor and Teta

Victor loves when his Teta sings to him in Arabic and its always good for a smile and sometimes a giggle. We definately think its funny.

It was a long week

Well this past week Sarah's mom broke both of her arms in a fall she had on her driveway in Florida. Sarah went there to be with her through the surgery and Richard was in charge of our boys, Victor and Otis. He did an awesome job being a single dad for awhile. He got the baby up and dressed everyday for day care (and claimed that Victor matched down to the socks) and did the full night time duty of playing, bath, bottle, and bed for five nights. Because I have been gone there are no new pictures for now, hopefully some will come soon with maybe a video.

Almost done

This past Saturday we had our last social worker visit for the adoption. Each month since Victor was born we have had either a visit or phone call from our social worker who was also our adoption consultant. The visits have been nice, a how are you and the baby doing type thing, but by them being done we are just that much closer to completing his adoption. We go to court in Dallas and have finalization February 6. It a happy time where we swear before the judge that we will love Victor and treat him as a nature born child with all the rights of that for inheritance and such.
Having Victor so far has been such a blessing. Every day now he seems to be growing. It is amazing watching him discover new things. Lately he has a fascination with his feet and socks no longer can stay on. When he is in his exersaucer he grabs things with intent and push his feet to scoot around it. His mouth is a favorite thing to put new discoveries of course, mom and dad's fingers are a favorite to chew on.