The month of December

All I can say is that we had a wonderful month! Christmas was great, first time at home in 9 years! Oliver loved the kitchen Brynn got him and all of the other great toys he got. I am still trying to recover the house. I really need to clean out the toy boxes and get rid of the baby toys. He is now all boy but still a little lover......

This past weekend was a milestone in his life, he has been with us longer than he was in the orphanage! To me that is huge, he is over coming his developmental delays and attaching to us more and more each day. I really don't think we have anything to worry about in the attachment department.

We had fun this past Saturday meeting up with our fellow travelers at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. Oliver and Evan are so different in size but so similiar developmentally. Evan is two months younger than Oliver but they seem to be pretty much doing the same things. Look back to my post in July where we had seen them this summer. The boys have changed so much!

9 Month Gotcha Day

Today Oliver has been with us 9 months. It seems like he never wasn't our son. I feel like he came from my own body.....I always wondered if I would feel that way. I knew I would love him and prayed that God would give me the ability to feel the same unconditional love I feel towards Brynn for Oliver. He saw me through, I guess I never doubted I would but maybe it was when would I feel it. Life is wonderful!

Oliver is doing great! He babbles constantly but we are still waiting for more words than up, mama, dada and ba(bye). We have an evaluation with early intervention on December 3rd to hopefully get speech therapy started. Our health insurance will not pay for us to take him to a private speech therapist. I know it is crazy but thank goodness there is early intervention. I think it will work since they come to your house usually, it will save me a long trip to the other end of town.

Michelle has had big news in the last week, she is returning to the University of South Florida to continue her education. I got an email from her last Wednesday morning with the subject line "I just need to vent" well she had finally been accepted in to USF's BS to BSN accelerated program. She had applied for the summer or fall 2007 term and been turned down. Evidentally she had checked the box to have her application considered in future terms. She wasn't planning on accepting the offer and I told her she was going. The orientation was on Thursday and she even asked me to go with her. A major step in our relationship, I think we are back to pre-February terms! Later when we were talking I said "You didn't send me that email for no reason." Her reply was "I knew you would make me go." I am a big pusher in the girls pursuing their dreams and not giving up. I reminded Michelle that Oliver is my dream and I never gave up. We are excited but not looking forward to the added expenses right now but she has to do this!

Last night we met Michelle and Stephanie for dinner in Tampa on our way home from Orlando. I sat at the table looking at our 4 kids thinking how truly blessed we are. Oliver was so happy to sit on Steph's lap and play with her glass of water and she was only too happy to drink from the cup afterwards. I see the girls all slowly growing to love him and truly care about him! Yes, even Michelle is warming up to him! Brynn and Steph are totally taken with him. I so wish I had the camera to capture the moment and I can never remember I have one on my phone:( God is good to us!

One year ago today Maxim entered our lives

One year ago today we received Oliver's referral, it was the day before Thanksgiving. We had been out and about preparing to leave for my parents house the next morning. I had a message from our agency director that they had a referral for us from Kirov for an infant boy but we would not be traveling until February! We were so excited! Here is the picture that was emailed to us that evening! Such an exciting time it was! Hard to believe we were transformed a year ago today. That little picture tucked in my pocket and put on my night stand to see first thing in the morning! Oh dreams do come true!

Brynn's car

Here is a video of Brynn's suprise on Friday, she got my parents old car. We had it shipped down from Omaha since my parents had it there for a summer vehicle. It is in really great shape, what a nice first car. We are hoping it will last until she graduates from college since it will probably take her that long to pay us back for it. I had to tape the surprise arrival for Don and my mom to watch. She was too funny!

The cutest giraffe you ever saw

Here is Oliver at Trunk or Treat this past Sunday night! He was so good and so sweet. He wasn't even afraid of Mama in her scary costume for the haunted house. My friends were disappointed, they thought he would be afraid of me and he would finally willingly come to them. But no luck there! He is one lil' mama's boy!

Six months ago today

Oliver Maxim became a Baer! It was one of the best days of my life! Sadly, we didn't get to see Oliver that day, which is a long story but he truly became a part of our hearts on February 4th, the day we met him! We knew in the first minutes that Maxim was our son, never a doubt for either one of us!

February 19th:

August 20th:

Walking update

I think this video speaks for itself!

Our other big accomplishment is on the sleep front! We are in the process of doing sleep training, thanks to my friend, Amy! She has been such a great help, she works at an international adoption clinic and will hopefully soon be a new mommy to a baby boy from Russia too! We are making major progress and hopefully nighttime issues will be a thing of the past. Thanks, Amy!