Friday, April 25, 2008

LITTLE HELPER

Nate likes to help unload the groceries, put them away and throw everything in the trash. He's now saying "trash" and "flowers" every day. That sounds kind of funny together...haha. Actually I have some beautiful parrot tulips on the dining table so every time he has a meal, he points to the flowers and says "fowrs".




Monday, April 21, 2008

GROOOOOSSS!!

This morning while Nate was in "Room Time", I heard him start crying just before the timer was to go off. Sometimes he does that because he just doesn't want to play by himself, he wants mom or dad in constant view. It wasn't an "I'm hurt" cry...more like, "I'd rather be out there than in here" cry so I didn't think much about it. When the timer went off I opened his door and smelled a poopy diaper. He had stopped crying by then and said "Hi" when I came in. That's when I saw it........

UGH!!! A BIG BLOB OF POOP ON THE CARPET! I immediately scooped him up and put him on the changing pad. OMGosh there was poop everywhere. He had a blowout, so here I am trying to take the diaper off, telling him to hold still so he doesn't roll around in it. But it had already creeped up his back and then it spilled out the diaper, smeared onto the changing pad and some of it fell on the floor around his legos. As I was mortified, I heard this smacking noise and turned around to see Harvard making a meal of the mess on the carpet!! By that time, my stomach was flipping and I thought I was really going to puke. So I'm yelling at Harvard to get out of the bedroom, trying to wipe up as much of the mess on Nate as I could, then side-stepping what was on the carpet to scrub him down in the bathtub. After I got him clean, I wrapped him up in a towel and blankets on the floor and started sterilizing the room and his toys like a crazy woman.

Of course, Don had just left the house right before I walked in his room so I had the pleasure of grossing myself out...and you too...thanks for sharing in my misery. haha.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

CHI & THE D-BACKS

Had a great time in Phoenix at the CHI AZ adoption picnic and the Diamondbacks game! We got to meet Marianne, our adoption agent, and it was awesome to see so many other families who had adopted internationally. Two of the couples had adopted from Ethiopia and we are seriously considering that country next. Their boys were beautiful! Nate was pretty shy around everyone but he still had a fun time and got a white teddy bear as a gift.

The D-backs game was a lot of fun too...especially since we won! Nate did pretty well. We had to let him run through the halls a couple of times to get the wiggles out and he only cried once during the 8th inning because he was getting tired. Other than that, he did really well and the loud noise didn't even phase him. He even clapped and tried to whistle like dad! He also had his first corn dog (or hot dog for that matter) and was a pro munching on it without help, down to the last bite. Then he wanted to eat nachos and was so careful to dip it in the cheese and ask for a napkin when his hands got too sticky. What a champ!

CHI PICNIC AT MCCORMICK RAILROAD PARK


MEETING THE FAMILIES...NATE BEING SHY


US & OUR ADOPTION AGENT, MARIANNE


WATCHING THE CAROUSEL


NATE WANTED TO RIDE WITH MOM


SOMEBODY SAVE THE PANDA!


GO D-BACKS!


DAAAAD, I'M TIRED!


STRETCHING THOSE LEGS

Friday, April 18, 2008

SERIOUSLY NOW...






Our little boy DOES like to laugh....I just keep catching him in his serious mode and after I snap the photo, he smiles and laughs. Every morning when he gets up, he wants to be wrapped up in this blanket to watch his Baby Einstein show while I fix breakfast. It's a special blanket to me because we've had it since I was a baby and it was one of my favorites. It's amazing how quickly Nate is learning these days. It used to take him a week to learn a new sign and not without a lot of crying and frustration. Lately, when I show him a new sign, he'll mimic it right back to me! He's now signing "More" and "Drink" and I'm sure he would do more but it helps him to have a purpose and visual to go with it. He won't do a sign out of the blue. There has to be a reason for him to say "More" or "Please". Today he stared imitating the hand motions to a Baby Einstein song, "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round & Round" and he's mimicking more words now, not just sounds. He'll be talking before we know it. We now have to be careful and watch our language. haha. The other night, he was playing with a couple other kids and one of them started crying. It sounded like Nate, but I wasn't really sure. I came in and said, "Nate were you crying or was J.J. crying?"....a rhetorical question of course b/c I really didn't think he'd understand. To my surprise, he pointed right at J.J. and held the pose, very deliberately! However, I did notice some tears in his eyes so I don't think he was being entirely truthful. ha! Not that an 18 mo. old knows the difference. Later that night he got in trouble b/c he refused to come when we called him. I walked him over to where I was standing...not very gently or comfortably, so he would get the picture. But I left it at that because I knew he was really tired. As I was getting my stuff together to leave, I looked over at him and he had placed himself in timeout! He was standing with his nose to the wall so I had to tell him timeout was over so he'd leave! Crazy kid! He's getting smarter by the minute.

Tomorrow is a big day. We're going up to Phoenix for a CHI adoption picnic (Arizona chapter) and I'm really excited to meet other families who've adopted. It's at a fun park that has a train, carousel and other rides too. Later that night, we're taking Nate to his first Diamondbacks baseball game! He has his jersey and everything and it's Faith & Family night with a performance by Todd Agnew after the game. Not sure we'll be able to see it because it will too late and Sunday starts pretty early. Looking forward to it and hope that Nate is not too cranky with all the overstimulation. We just have to figure out how to keep his nap in the afternoon!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

QUILT SQUARES WELCOME!

Tammy....it's not too late to send your quilt square! So far I have about 5 and need many more to go. Still trying to decide on a design. I love the Hawaiian quilts where they have one big applique that symbolizes something. I like the turtle (Honu) design and thought about putting that in the middle and using the squares as a border. Still thinking about that though.

These are some sea turtle patterns I found below. If you have more suggestions, I'd love to hear them!



Sunday, April 13, 2008

BUILDING BRIDGES






I just picked up this mega lego set for Nate. Holy cow, does he love it! He now understands the "toy section" at Target. He kept pointing to toys and saying "eh! eh!", just wanting to touch and play with them all. It's a whole new level of comprehension. I used to wander the toy aisles and he could care less. Those days are long gone.

He's beginning to add new words to his reperetoire like "Sit", "Trash" (because he likes to put things in the trash), and still says "Dad", "Hi", "Harvah (Harvard)", and sometimes "Mama" but not much. He likes imitating sounds that he hears too. AND...be still my heart....he is eating his veggies again! After the Saag Paneer episode, I went out and bought a mini food processor, steamed and chopped fresh veggies, then cooked them in curry powder and a little milk. He's been wolfing them down ever since. Hey if that's all it took, I'm good with that. He also likes grilled veggies and ate all of his grilled asparagus and acorn squash. Yea!

Today we went to another movie after Nate fell asleep in the stroller. This is the second movie we've been able to see while he's napping. We saw "Leatherheads" and it was awesome! Totally worth it.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

NEW BLOG

Hi everyone.....we have added a new blog. It's geared more toward our life and experiences as a pastor's family and we designed it to give people a way to connect with us. I remember, before Don became a pastor, that I always wondered about what the pastor and his family were like. They were sort of the mystery people because it's practically impossible to really get to know them on Sundays. Since Don has been a pastor, I totally understand why. Everyone wants to talk to you in a short amount of time or there's things that have to get taken care of for service and there's no way to really talk to people. So, we decided to start a separate blog that allows everyone to find out what's on a pastor's mind, what things they experience and really how they're just people like anyone else. We cry, we laugh, we get mad, we act silly. But most of all, we love God and Christ and want to know more about him too.

You can view our blog by clicking on the link to the right or just click on this: MEET THE SULLIVAN'S

By the way....it's pretty time consuming to keep up 2 blogs so I'm sad to say that I will only be posting once a week from now on...unless you get lucky and I feel so inclined to add an extra post during the week!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

NICK JR. SHOW

When we were at our friend's house this week, she introduced me to a fun show called "Ni Hao, Kai Lan!" It's like Dora the Explorer, only it's a chinese girl and you learn chinese words on the program! We don't have cable so I didn't know about it but thought my blogger buddies would be interested in case you didn't know. Here's a summary about it:



What the Show's About
"Ni hao!" That means "hi" in Chinese--and that's how Kai-lan greets you every day! Kai-lan Chow is an exuberant Chinese-American preschooler, almost 6, who wants you to come play with her and her best friends.

Kai-lan's world is infused with Chinese culture and is brimming with magical sights and sounds, and everywhere you turn there's something amazing and beautiful to see. Along the way, she and her bilingual buddies speak in English and Chinese, but they always need kids' help to find creative solutions to the daily dilemmas that come their way!"

Find out more about it at their website: "Ni Hao, Kai Lan"

SPONTANEOUS ROAD TRIP

BREAKFAST BEFORE SCHOOL (AND THE MALL!)



FUN WITH FRIENDS ON THE MALL CAROUSEL




Don & I decided that after a few stressful weeks, we needed to escape. At first we thought about heading up to northern AZ but we were so tired we didn't think we could do the 4 hour drive. Then, our friend called late Sun. night and wanted to know if we were interested in visiting a successful and rapidly growing start-up church that she sings with & it meets on Monday nights....with the added bonus that we'd get to sleep over at our friend's house and visit! So we said, "why not?" and headed up there Mon. afternoon.

The church was awesome...super friendly, contemporary and it was interesting to see how they are doing things with limited resources and volunteers. They've grown to about 300..just added a Sun. morning service last month and are adding a second Sun. service this month! It was very uplifting and encouraging for us to see and talk with their pastor and worship leaders.

We had a great time catching up with Mary & Jason. I always feel like I'm on vacation at their house. They are long time friends and we can totally kick back and relax with them. Their 3 kids had a great time with Nate and our Boston Terrier, Harvard. Nate actually did really good compared to the last time we saw them. He seems to be more comfortable with other kids and friends of ours now. Tues. afternoon, all the over stimulation caught up with him and he had a meltdown that lasted over an hour. Not too bad but we knew he was teetering on the edge until we got home late. I went shopping with Mary on Tues and another good friend, Eileen, called and met us at the mall. Nate had fun playing with her 2 boys at the mall play area. He was already tired that morning. We stopped at Target on the way home and the poor kid was falling asleep in the cart! His head was bobbing around with his eyes closed and he kept smacking it on the cart, so I had to take him out and let him sleep on my shoulder.

I mentioned in a older post that he's being picky about eating his veggies..particularily (sp?) green ones. But then last night, we went out for Indian food with our friends and he totally SCARFED down the Saag Paneer (creamed spinach with cubed cheese). He kept asking for more and I wasn't going to turn him down! He also starting signing "more" for the first time, when I asked him if he wanted more to eat. So now he knows 4 different signs. He's still trying to imitate sounds and a few words that we say. When we were driving up to Phx, I kept telling Harvard to "Sit!" So Nate would try to say it but it sounded more like "sh**" with a southern accent. Hmmmmm......not exactly the word I was looking for, especially since he's a preacher's kid. haha! I suppose it doesn't help that we were busting up laughing after he tried to say it!

Well, we just got in and I'm pretty tired so..it's off to bed. ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Friday, April 4, 2008

KID STUFF

I absolutely LOVE kids clothes. It is almost like an addiction for me...there's just so many cool outfits and shoes out there! I like unique things though...stuff that you don't always see everywhere. Even better...I like to score a bargain! Here's some fun photos of Nate's stuff.

I love Vans but they're kind of pricey for a toddler's growing feet, so I found these slip on sneakers at PayLess. They have Space Invaders characters on them. My favorite video game back in the day.



This is a Polo outfit I found at Marshall's. I didn't see any others like it and since the plaid madras are coming back in, I thought it would be fun and cool for summer.




These are a great find from Ross. Polo boat shoes! I went back a few weeks later and they're no longer there.



These are fun beach shirts from Old Navy. I liked them because they don't have the traditional puppy dog, dump truck or dinosaur on them.




Super cool camo corduroy blazer from The Children's Place!



And lastly...my favorite diaper bag that I bought in China. I made the mistake though of buying it at the first shop we came to, on Shaimin Island, after leaving the medical exam. They have higher prices so I paid 85 Yuan for this (approx. $12), and other stores on the island were charging 65 Yuan (approx $8-9). Then I got back to the hotel room and the zipper broke on the inside pocket. So if you go...shop around first and test the zippers on all products!

NATE'S NURSERY

Sorry for the late blog. This has been a really tough week for us, spiritually. Can't go into details but man....it's really amazing to see how Satan can take an awesome thing that God is doing and turn it into something negative for some people. It makes you realize why the Bible says to be prepared in all things at all times.

Ok, Sharon, this one's for you. Waaaaaaay back in July of '07, I had a post of Nate's nursery. I think the photos might have been hard to see though. He's still in his crib so nothing's changed since last year. I knew I wanted to do a jungle nursery theme. My favorite part of Disneyland is AdventureLand so I decided to do his room that way. Since we're renting, I didn't want to paint a mural on the walls, so I got a big roll of canvas and painted a mural on that. Then I made a sign above his closet door that says "Nate's Imports" and put other jungle-y type decorations around the room. Most of them, I already had. It was a blast decorating and I still love walking into his room. The only extra thing we added was a giant snake that we got from IKEA and we weaved it in and out of his crib rails.

I'm already thinking of his next room theme. I'm tossing around a lodge/ fishing theme, or a surfer theme, but not sure about that. I'm not really into traditional sports themes like football or baseball.