Happy Valentine's Day - 5 weeks to go...

This past week has been great! Since Nicholas came home from Russia he has been receiving Early Intervention Services to help him with his speech and language skills as well as his gross motor skills. Early Intervention (EI) is a wonderful program that services children ages birth to three. Since Nicholas is turning three in a few weeks he is now stopping with his services. He has attended a weekly play group for over a year and has really enjoyed this part of EI. Earlier in the week we made cupcakes for Nicholas to bring in on his last day. Below is my little cutie pie licking the cupcake beater. He especially loved licking the beater, putting on the sprinkles, and putting the colored wrappers in the muffin/cupcake pans. It worked out so well that I had a snow day at work and was able to go with him to his last play group. I was grateful to be able to personally thank the teachers for all their hard work. Also, I want to thank Connie, Nicholas' Gram, who has taken Nicholas to play group every Wednesday for over a year and attended the mandatory parent group while it was in session. What an amazing Gram he has! In addition to the weekly play group, Nicholas has had a woman named Pat come to our house weekly to help with speech and has taken part in hippotherapy, horseback riding, to improve his strength and balance. At this point he is pretty much caught up in all areas and I expect he will be exactly where he needs to be come summertime. Of course, he is ahead in many areas already as he continues to spell words and now can spell out about ten on the frig with his letters :-)

Cupcake baking...

One thing that Nicholas has also struggled with since coming home is congestion. He always sounds stuffed up and has had a chronic runny nose. After a series of tests it was determined that Nicholas really needs to have his tonsils and adenoids removed as both of these are enlarged and partially blocking his airway. The surgery is scheduled for this coming Wednesday. He will be staying overnight due to his age. We know this is a relatively simply procedure however we are still a bit nervous and will be thankful when it is behind us. I would like to ask that everyone adds Nicholas to their prayers this week as he goes through this procedure. Your prayers are so appreciated! He is having it done at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence and Scott and I will be staying at the hospital the whole time he is there.

As you know today is Valentine's Day! A couple of weeks ago I picked up a Valentine M&M's book at the library book sale for a quarter and he has absolutely loved it. He reads it all the time and puts the right colored M&M's on the pages to complete the activities. At the end he always eats two M&M's. The first time we told him he could only have two and ever since then he simply has two as he knows that is what it allowed. My goodness we are so blessed with such a good little boy! Here he is this morning doing the book...

Nicholas received a few Valentines this week and had fun making his own to mail out too! Here he is with his favorite one. This one was from his Great Grandfather and he loved that it played music. Here he is dancing while it plays the tune...

In five weeks from tomorrow our birthmother is due to give birth! We are getting more and more excited! We hope to talk with her next weekend and will keep everyone updated.

Happy Valentine's Day!