Oh What a Memorial Day Weekend...

This weekend started off with a bang. Just before we left to go to see Shelby's family in Massachusetts, we got the video and picture CD from our friend Eric who was over in China recently. He and his wife Stacy are adopting a little girl from the same orphanage as Saxton, so he made a visit to the Yiwu Social Welfare Institute. He was able to get some great video of Saxton and his daughter playing with the nannies.

We are proud to say that Saxton is full of energy. He was clapping and dancing with the nannies as they sang songs to the Saxton and Grace. It was very exciting to see him in motion and to hear his little voice say "a-ee." We must have shown the video to different members of Shelby's family at least ten times. But every time we were excited to see Saxton, as if it were the first time we saw him. By the way, my arm is black and blue from where Shelby kept hitting me and saying, "DID YOU SEE HIM!!! HE'S DANCING AND CLAPPING!!!" Oh well, they are great love taps and I couldn't be more excited.

We had a great weekend up in Massachusetts. Sawyer's (and Saxton's) Bupshi and Papa spoiled him with gifts. What else are Grandparents for?

Then we celebrated Shelby's Birthday (which is this Sunday) with a beautiful cake...

...and some fireworks!!!

We hope you all had a great weekend!! I know we did!!!

Missing Mommy....

Last week Shelby was on a business trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. While she was gallivanting around the world, Sawyer and I were bummed that we couldn't go with her on this trip.

So, while we sat on the couch and did the guy thing (watch any sport on TV even if we don't like it), I thought I would update you all on what is going on.

Last week we started occupational therapy for Sawyer. While he has made a great amount of progress over the last few months, he is still very behind on talking - he is not vocal at all. The Philadelphia area Early Intervention group is awesome to work with and seem to be more in tuned to what we, as a family, can do to help Sawyer progress further. This past Tuesday, we had his first appointment with the pediatric doctor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She gave Sawyer a clean bill of health and got us started on getting acquainted with the Cranial Facial Team at CHOP.

On the house front - just like our house in Maple Valley, this house needs some updates. So we started in the master bedroom. Of course nothing goes as planned. We originally thought that we could rip up the carpet the previous owner put over very nice hardwood floors and refinish them. Well, when I was taking off the baseboard, it went through the wall. The room now looks like this:

Hopefully in a week or two, I will have it all back together.

Just today, the dishwasher died, too. So, Sawyer and I took a look at it.

Tomorrow, Sawyer and I will be replacing this dishwasher with a new one. HOW FUN!!

OKAY!! I know the real reason you people come here..... AND NOW THE STAR OF THE SHOW....SAWYER!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Are DTC!!!

We were informed that Saxton's paperwork has been sent to the CCAA, TODAY. Sawyer's Little Brother is one step closer to coming home!! We are very excited.

So let the buying begin. We basically need to double everything that we have for Sawyer. Today we bought a double stroller so they can sit side by side. Once we get our room refinished, we will put the finishing touches on their room.

If all goes well, we should be traveling to China in August or September. Wish us luck!!

Another Picture!!!

A very nice gentleman by the name of Eric was on a business trip to China and he was able to get permission to go to the YiWU Orphanage to spend some time with his daughter and Saxton. He took the picture I posted this morning and a couple other ones. We still have not got an update, yet, but we will post it once we do.

Here is a picture of Saxton walking around the orphanage. Thanks Eric for the pictures, we can not wait to bring him home.

New Picture of Saxton...

Here is the latest picture of Saxton. We should be getting an update on him soon.

Congratulations to Mike, Nancy, and Melanie!!!!

Mike, Nancy and Melanie are expecting an addition to their lovely family. The will be traveling to Taiwan later this year to bring their four year little girl home. While Shelby, Sawyer and I sit inside during a massive Nor'easter, and watch our backyard flood,...

we can not think of the words to describe how happy we are for them. We are hoping that we are able to time it where we can go over to that part of the world at the same time and meet up in Beijing.

Mike, Nancy and Melanie; Sawyer, Shelby and I are so happy that your long wait is nearing it's end. Congratulations, we can not wait until we see pictures!!! BTW-We really miss you guys!!

For the other people who want to see more pictures of Sawyer, here they are...

Sawyer laughing at Cao

Sawyer's First day at his new play ground..

We are moved into our New House....

We have moved into our new house. While we are still not organized, we are making progress. Sawyer is LOVING his new backyard. He runs all over the place laughing. Shelby and my dad enjoy sitting on one of the many benches in our back yard, where we all can enjoy watching the birds and Bee Bee chase the squirrels. Thank you all for the nice thoughts. Once we get more organized, I will post more pictures. Talk to you all soon.

We Are together Again...

After two long weeks apart, we are together again. My father and I arrived in Princeton, NJ at 3:00 am in the morning Eastern Time, after driving nine hours on Sunday and for 18 hours strait, yesterday. We only stopped to let the dogs out to do thair business, get gas and food.

I was extremely happy to see Shelby and Sawyer again. It seemed like I was gone for a couple of months. It is amazing what can happen in a couple of weeks. Sawyer is now tall enough to turn off and on light switches. This should be a fun game for daddy and Sawyer to play.

Well I have to unload to truck, only to reload it again this Friday when we get to move into our new home in Yardley, PA. Enjoy the pictures from today. Talk to you soon.

The Sun is Setting on the West Coast...

Over the next few weeks, I will be packing up the house, driving across the country with three dogs and then moving into our new house in PA. Luckily I won't have to do the drive alone. My Dad will be flying up to Seattle and will be accompanying me on my voyage to the East Coast. I am very excited for the move and I am going to miss Shelby and Sawyer very much during this transition.
So, wish us luck and we will post when we can on our journey out East.

Mom and Sawyer are out East...

Shelby, Sawyer and I went out to the East Coast last week to move Shelby into her temporary housing, get Sawyer started at his new daycare and to get Shelby ready for her new job. I, unfortunately, had to come back to Washington to close up shop here and get ready for the final move into our beautiful home in Pennsylvania.

Enough about us!! We know you people really want to see and hear about Sawyer. Sawyer had a rough night the first night we were in temporary housing. Shelby got this great apartment, fully furnished with everything you can think of, but Sawyer did not feel comfortable there and would not go to sleep for us. He finally went to sleep about midnight, but at three in the morning, he started screaming and crying. We tried everything to calm him down, but nothing worked, until....Shelby and I, with the great voices we have (we are talking American Idol preliminary reject. Our voices are so bad, we would be on the show just to see how bad of a nasty comment Simon would give us) starting singing to him. He settled down very quickly. The next day, he settled into his old routine. He is loving his new digs and his new toys. We truly think he likes exploring new places, just as much as we do.

Wish us luck out our move out East.

We are Moving.....

We are moving to Yardley, Pennsylvania. Shelby has accepted a position at Novo Nordisk in Princeton, New Jersey and will be starting her new job on March the 5th. I, on the other hand, will be staying behind to finalize the sale of our house in Washington.

We will update you all with pictures of our new house, Sawyer's new school, Sawyer's and Saxton's new room and their new backyard. But, for those of you who want to see updated pictures of Sawyer, here they are...

The Long Overdue Update...

Sawyer is doing GREAT. He is acting like the two year old boy he is. He has been even more vocal since his latest operation. He now is multi-tasking (running and screamming/luaghing). It is so much fun watching him develop and grow. When I get a chance, I will update the blog with some pictures.

The Surgery is Done.....

His lip revision surgery is completed. The Doctors said he was doing great he would be able to start his recovery in the comforts of his own home. He is already playing with his leap frog table and his books. In no time, he will be back to his old self. We are very tired right now and we will describe the surgery in a later post. Have a good night.

Scott, Shelby & Sawyer (who all are waiting for Saxton).

A Father's Love...

A famous person once said , "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."

I love my wife very much and now is a great time to reinforce those feelings for my lovely wife. I love her more than anything I can imagine and I don't think I tell her that enough. She is my inspiration, my light, my strength, my love. She means everything to me. I love her so much!!

She is the greatest Mother in the world. Sawyer and I are very lucky to have her in our lives. Thank you Shelby for being the best Mother and Wife in the World.

Update on Surgery...

Sawyer will be going in on Thursday to the Seattle Children's Hospital for his lip revision. They will reattach a muscle in his upper lip, redefine his lip line, minimize the extent of his scars, and reduce the width of his nose. While his nose might not look as attractive as the cute button it is, this is important for his later Rhinoplasty surgeries later in his life.

The best news of all, this is a day surgery. So, he will be able to recover at home in his own bed.

We've been Tagged with a book meme...

We were tagged by Holly at Waiting for Sarah with the meme...
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Write down lines 6-8.
4. Tag 3 people.

The nearest book in the office is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.

"On the other side of the glass, Hagrid was standing with his back to them, looking up and down the street.

"'Get here quick' said Harry pulling his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag."

And now to tag people. I will tag Valeri, Donna at Double Happiness, and since we'd like to get to know ya better Connie

How do you pass the time during the wait?

One would think that being through the experience of one wait would make the second wait easier to bear, but it doesn't. Furthermore, the CCAA is streamlining their process and sending out documents that need to be signed to verify that families are still willing to go forward with their adoption of the special needs children. Per our agency, this could add a couple of more weeks to the wait. A couple more weeks? What are we going to do for a couple more week while we wait?

There is plenty to do. We can watch Sawyer find himself in the mirror:


We could watch Sawyer play in his new favorite toy, the Rocking Chair.


We can wish......

For Sawyer's little brother's Pre-Approval Document!!!

But if the wait is really getting to you, you can alway make the dog do something stupid to make you laugh......But, we know one thing is for sure when it comes down to it, it does not matter how long the wait is or how much paperwork you have to fill out and sign, the end result is well worth it!!!!

Happy Belated New Year!!!

We have been busy. We had our first Christmas with Sawyer. He made out like a bandit. His Babcia (polish for grandmother) and Papa from Ipswich, Mass sent him more than a few presents. All he wanted to do on Christmas day was play with his new toys. He would ride his tri-cycle all over the house and sit and read his musical books. At times, he would make one of the books play music, then he would go ride his bike until the music would stop playing. Then he would run over to the book, push a button to make the music play again (usually the same song), then he would run over to his bike and start riding again.

We had another awesome imported gift this year. Sawyer's other grandparents (my parents) came to visit us from Colorado between the holidays. They were supposed to be here on the 21st of December, but Denver had a major snow storm and they couldn't get here until the 26th.


We had a great time with them. Shelby, my dad and I were playing Cribbage and Sawyer wanted to play too. Well, it would be difficult to play Cribbage with four people, let alone a two year old, so we gave him a deck of cards of his own. Then he was thirsty, so we gave him some water. Then he was hungry, so we gave him some arrowroot cookies. And then he got this bright idea that the cookie and cards were dirty.... do I need to explain more?


The whole time he was laughing hysterically.

BTW-My dad won every hand we played. I think he cheated.


After a long night of getting our butts whipped, and washing cards, Sawyer wanted to just lay around with Grandma.

Since my parents weren't here for Christmas, Santa Clause made a special trip just to see us all and see Sawyer's new home.

Sawyer was having a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and he didn't want them the leave. So he had Santa talk Jack Frost into giving Denver another major snow storm, which he did, so Grandpa and Grandpa got to stay for an extra day.

Now that my parents are back safely in Colorado, we get to start on our bathroom remodel!! My parents contributed to our bathroom fund as our family Christmas present. We are very excited to do this project, as we both love doing renovations to our house. It is our favorite hobby. Since we bought this house in 2004, we have remodeled every room except the bathrooms. So, this is our final touch to the interior of this house and we can not wait to "git 'r' done."