Family Photos

It's been way too long since I posted to the blog but I temporarily lost the password and wasn't able to log in. I have it now and will hopefully be posting more. 
Our family photos turned out so cute and we actually had a wonderful time taking them.
It was fun and a lot of work to get pictures with our almost 21 month old busy baby.   Kai will be 21 months old on October 9th and Hunter turns 10 that same day!!

MalaKai turned ONE!!!

The boy is ONE! I cannot believe it, but it's true. He is a giggly, little chunker, with the best smile ever!!! He seriously brings joy and rejoicing wherever his little legs crawl him. He is beloved by many many cousins and family and friends. He loves to say, "Mum mum" and "Dada" but not too many other words yet. He will definitely be walking soon but he knows that crawling is so much faster. He is a GREAT eater but he really doesn't like CAKE.;) Our little Kai-Kai is growing up way. too. fast.

Kai's first birthday party was wonderful. So many people there to love him! Enjoy some pictures of the event of the year and THANK YOU so much for coming to celebrate with us.

Hunter adopted a brother.

I wanted to share something I wrote on our adoption blog on here......

It's been months since I've updated our blog. I blame it on the fact that we brought home an infant who has kept us very busy. We have been 'adopting' our new son into our family, our customs, our life and definitely into our love. MalaKai is nine months now and brings joy and giggles to us on a daily basis. 

Today is one of those really busy days. 
The kind of busy day that there is no time to write a blog. 
Life happened so beautifully today though and I MUST tell the story. For in years to come it will need to be remembered.

My husband left this morning on a very early flight and I was alone in bed. About 5am rolled around and my nine year old son, Hunter came running frantically into my bedroom. He was shaky and crying. I immediately scooped him into bed with me and proceeded to grill him with  EVERY possible question about what could be wrong. 

"Did you have a bad dream?" "Are you sick?" "Does your tummy hurt?" "How can I pray for you?" Every answer was, "No." How could I possibly be wrong about EVERY one of my questions? 

In my deliriously tired state I remembered that I have learned that my when my son has something emotional going on he will keep it inside until he is ready to let it out so I gave up my interrogation and tried to sleep. (Oh precious sleep that I don't get much of with my little Kai) 

All morning Hunter would toss and turn and cry a little. Still no answer. What seemed like 5 minutes later.... 6:30am  rolled around and Kai let us know that it was time for our family to start the day. 

Hunter and I started getting his bottle ready and he let me know that he was ready to let "it" out. 
"Okay," he said. "It's a really embarrassing thing." To which I assure him every time that I have plenty of embarrassing moments and he can tell me anything. I wait quietly. He makes me guess at his cryptic words and I finally get it out of him as he collapses into my arms and cries, 

"I want more time with Kai!!" 

Through his crocodile tears and snot bubbles he tells me how much he is missing him while he is away at school. He doesn't want him to grow up so fast. He starts asking how long it is until Malakai turns one year old and then sobs again. He asks if I've captured pictures of Kai doing things that he keeps missing and on and on. 

I'm holding him and my sweatshirt is becoming increasingly wet from tears and has now become a tissue that is full of snot. Silently, I begin praising God and thanking Him for giving my son a brother. A brother he prayed so fervently for. A brother that Hunter has most definitely ADOPTED into his heart. A brother that Hunter will pray for, spend time with, pour into, teach, and sometimes torment. He knows now so beautifully what it is to have brotherly love. A love that you can't explain to someone. A special place in your heart for your brothers and sisters. (Your blood siblings, your adopted siblings, your siblings in JESUS!)

Oh how beautifully God orchestrated family! He showed us these earthly relationships to give us glimpses of love. The kind of heart wrenching, shaky, feverish, undeniably passionate and straining love. The kind of love that you don't want to miss anything because you adore that person so much. I watched Hunter's heart ache and stretch with love for hours this morning and I know Malakai is feeling it.

I believe God is showing Hunter, love on a whole new level and when all is said and done it will be just a very small insight into Father's extravagant love for him.

9 Months old

Malakai is crawling, pulling himself up from a sitting position to standing and really shaping an absolutely wonderful little personality. He LOVES new things and he loves to be around people and crawling all over them. He is eating all sorts of new foods. He loves his veggies and is really enjoying pasta now as well.
We finally had family pictures done a couple of days ago and I wanted to share them with you. We chose to do them in our home since this is where we are a lot right now. We sit around on the floor with Kai and play a lot. Enjoy!

5 1/2 months

MalaKai is growing chunkier and cuter by the second! He is really starting to be much more content and joyful as the days go by. It seems so long ago that he was pre-term and had to fight hard for life. He makes us laugh and gives us joy EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

Loves his Daddy and being tickled by his beard. Chubby wrists!!!

Play date with my sister and friend! He really enjoyed being in between two beautiful girls!

One of my favorite photos ever. I plan to have many more of these as the years go by. The brothers being goofy and loving each other.

He LOVES Mommy's straw cups!!! 

Almost got it....

Haha hahahaha haha!

Kaister

Malakai is 15 weeks old today. A few wonderful things about him.
-He talks and smiles everyday.
-He loves playing with his toys.
-He is trying desperately to get his whole fist into his mouth.
-He sleeps 11 hours a night and loves going to bed at 7pm.
-He eats every 2 hours during the day.
-He despises his car seat but takes naps in his swing.
-He takes his baths in the sink.
-He IS LOVED!!

Easter 2013

My sister made his Easter onsie. All of my boys wore ties.

Bow tie.

Big smiles!!

Taking a bath.

Malakai 7-Weeks

Malakai is thriving at home. He is growing and eating and we fall more in love with him daily. He got a virus last week but was better in 5 days and the Doctor was pretty surprised by how fast he got well.
He is 7lbs now and has definitely found his lungs! Enjoy the pictures!

 

Kai and Mommy

Kai is having many times during the day that he is VERY awake. He likes people to be around!!

Cheeks are getting chubby!

Hunter feeding Kai his whole bottle!!