Parenting No No

I'm doing a big parenting no no.  So I may be complaining in a few years when I can't get my son out of my bed.  But, for now it's just fine.

Yes, I've been partial cosleeping for the past few days.  It seems to be helping Jaemin sleep better.  If he sleep with me the first little bit of the night and goes to bed later he doesn't get up at night.  If he sleeps in his bed all night he gets up 2-3 times.  So I think, right now, it makes more sense to just let him sleep in our bed.

I think he wakes a little if he's in his bed and is continually hunting for us.  If he's in our bed he can find me right away.  He lies on me a lot of nights.  The only nights that are hard are when he has a cold and he snores like a freight train.  Yikes he's loud for a 1 year old.

I figure he's the baby, so if the last one cosleeps it doesn't feel like a big deal.  Of course, Brian is convinced he may not be the last.  :)  He says I've said that 4 other times.  :)  Well, what can I say.  God has laughed at us a lot!  But, love having these kiddos....even if there are a lot more than we planned.

Lisa

Social Security Card Name Change....check!

Finally.  After poor Brian had to go there 3 times he finally got them to do it.  Apparently, only one person in that office knows what actual documentation is required to change the name of an internationally adopted child on their social security card.  Catch is, she doesn't work the window and those people don't have a clue!

So for anyone out there reading this.  All you need is your adoption decree and your child's foreign passport with visa to show they're still a permanent resident status.  If you have a US passport or Certificate of Citizenship for them you can show that and get their status changed to US Citizen, but we've just sent off the N600 with his green card today to get the Certificate of Citizenship and that takes time.  What I found out is that if your child's visa has I551 on it, it also serves as proof of permanent resident status.

So on the 3rd trip there with the same exact documentation as the other 2 and one phone call from me they did it.   They really need to train the folks sitting at the window in that office.

One more trip after we get his Certificate of Citizenship and we don't have to do this for our children again...because no, we're having no more children.  :)

Sometimes, I really wonder how many hundreds of papers we've filled out for these 3 adoptions and how much time we've spent doing it and crossing our ts and dotting our is.  It's massive, I know it.

Lisa

Jaemin's Well-Baby Visit

Since it always seems that if I'm posting on Jaemin's health it's always when he's sick.  Unfortunately, he's had a rough time of it the last few months.  But, yesterday we had a well-baby visit.  He is 15 months and I had asked that they put off some of October's shots so he wouldn't be getting so many at once.  So, he got 3 additional vaccines yesterday...ouch!

The doctor did ask if he finally got over everything from a couple of weeks ago and I was happy to report he had.  The doctor felt so bad for my baby.  After weight and measurements he asked how his eating habits have been.  I told him that even when he's sick his appetite rarely decreases.  Jaemin can really put away the food!  He, by far, eats more than his 4 yo sister.  They checked his growth curve and he's doing very well.  He said with a little man who has had pneumonia 3 times in the last 4 months he was expecting him to fall off some, but he has maintained his curve very well.  He said he's still hovering at or a little above 50th in height and 50-75 in weight.  He said he expects him to be a stocky young man.  I have to laugh.  Chase used to be built the same way and has really thinned out.  We shall see.

He's a happy healthy little man.  He is, however, very tired of doctors.  He hates being weighed because mom has to put him down.  Then when they check his ears and anything else that requires them getting to close to him he freaks out a little bit.  He's fine anywhere else in any other environment, but not the doctors office.  They wig him a bit.

He's also been such a big boy that he's sleeping in a toddler bed.  He's done really well, but last night was a bit rough.  Don't know if the shots threw his little body off or what.  He woke at his usual 11-12 or so.  Just a quick back to bed as usual.  But, then he woke at 2.  I put him back down and he cried for me again.  Right as I was getting ready to walk back in his room Brian walked in.  He got him quieted down and went back to bed.  By 2:30 am, I could hear little man pitter pattering down the hall talking and babbling away to himself.  Happy as can be in the middle of the night!  He comes tootling into my room and stands beside my side of the bed and starts grunting as he pretends to pull himself up.  So I pull him into bed since he usually goes right to sleep in my bed.  Nope!  He proceeded to talk and babble away again.  Finally, I realized he was not going to go back to sleep, so I brought him back to his bed.  He laid down just fine.  But, by 4:30 am he was back in my room babbling away.  I showed him that everyone else was in their rooms sleeping and he finally went to sleep.  Come 7 am when it was time to go to daycare so mommy could go to work he was in a good sleep.  Imagine that!

I've never gotten as many sleepless nights with all 4 older kids combined as I have with my little man.  But, I will happily take them to have the joy of him in my life!

Lisa

Prayers for Haiti

Please pray for all those in Haiti now.  It doesn't sound good after their earthquake and they may be expecting a tsunami, which will just amplify the devastation.  It's terrible that a hospital collapsed.  A friend of ours adopted their son from Haiti and I just cringe thinking of why may have happened to his birth family in this.
Lisa

We like Jonas brothers, apparently

When it's on they were both zoning.  I've never seen this since they usually don't watch it.  Even little brother didn't break their concentration.

Becoming parents at older ages

Not that our mid-thirties are old, by any means, but am I the only one that noticed that people are waiting longer and longer to either have their first or continue their families?  I'm not talking about people who are putting these massive careers first or anything.  People just like us.

I felt so old when we found out we were having Jaemin at almost 35...of course I had only turned 34 when he was actually born.  But, when we grew up having a baby at that age was a bit older...or we thought.  My mom was about that age when my sister was born, but we were all almost 6 years apart.  Now, I'm noticing friends and acquaintances having babies now.  I think it's becoming more of the norm now.  Good to know that when J is in school he will NOT have the oldest parents.

On the flip side, does this mean that when Cole is driving in a couple of years and we have room in the van again we can adopt another boy??  Just kidding mom!
Lisa

Fun with boys and baskets

Jaemin found the big brothers later and sat with them, but first we found out how fun it is to sit in the toy basket.  Then, we found out it was more fun to empty the toy basket and get inside and read our book there.  He could have sat in there for a VERY long time.  He loves getting inside things.  The wagon from Christmas is still in the living room because he loves sitting in it so much.  We played in Jaemin's room for a bit too and he found one of his favorite toys before he want to see big brothers.  Remotes ARE a boys best friend.

I'm not sure what he's doing here other than walking.  But, he looks like he's dancing.  :)



He just looks SO big next to his big boy bed.