Lake Hamilton

We had the best time in Hot Springs this week! We stayed on Lake Hamilton for a few days, then spent our last day at Magic Springs. I'll post those pictures in another post. We were there with Ryan, Tara, Eden, Mom, Brooke, and Tara's niece and nephew Morgan and Jake. 

They loved jumping off of the upper deck of the barge! I couldn't believe Brody did it, but that boy has no fear, and he only did it about 199 times! 

Jake and Beckett rode Big Mabel together!

Tara and I even took Levi and Eden for a ride. 

Brody waterskiing! So proud of him!

And more jumping, of course!

We celebrated Ryan's birthday while we were there!

Breakfast on Tuesday morning. They thought they were so special drinking out of these glasses ;)

Brent, Brody, and Tara hanging on riding Big Mabel. 

More skiing! Look at that smile on his face!

All About Lennox

   It was like Christmas around here last week! On Tuesday morning we received pictures of Lennox from his 13 month well baby visit to Eastern (the agency in Seoul). The first thing I noticed was that he had gotten a big boy haircut! As much as I loved his long hair, this new haircut looks so incredibly cute on him, too! It shows off his precious little round baby face more. There were two close ups of his face and one of him sitting down playing with a little tiger xylophone toy. So precious! 

   Then later that afternoon, my phone buzzed again, and it was our case worker sending us more pictures! These were the pictures our agency representative took last week when she was in Korea visiting the agency. There were three pictures of him sitting with both his foster mom and foster dad! They were so funny because you could tell he wriggling trying to get free from their arms so he could go play. There were toys all around him, and I could tell he was just itching to get down.  In the last one, his arms are up in the air, his back is arched and his little lips are poked out. Haha. Love seeing a part of his personality that we've never seen before! Also, I can't even begin to describe how special it is to have these pictures of both his foster mother and father. So many parents adopting from Korea never see or hear anything about the foster father. In the pictures we have of all three of them (these and a few from his 9 month visit), his father dad is always holding him. It makes me so happy to know that he has an active father figure in his life, and that he has two parents who are loving him so well until we are able to bring him home. I cannot wait to meet these people when we go to Korea, whenever that may be. 

   So, we were just on cloud nine admiring and showing off these adorable pictures of our little Lennox all week, when we got another surprise on Thursday evening! We received his one year written update and the professional pictures taken of him at his Tol (first birthday) celebration last month! He was wearing a beautiful Hanbok (a type of traditional Korean clothing worn only during special occasions), but it was obvious that he was not thrilled to be dressed up. He looked like a grumpy little emperor! Ha! You can even see a little tear on his eye in one picture. As part of Korean tradition, they lay several different items in front of them (a microphone, coins, a pencil, computer mouse, toy airplane, gavel, etc), and whichever item the child picks up first, is supposed to indicate his future career. Lennox chose the gavel, so perhaps he has a career in law ahead of him? :) 

   The progress report was SO much fun to read, as well. We learned a lot of neat little things about our little boy at one year old! This is what it said about him:

~ He takes 8 oz of formula every 5 hours. He likes to pause halfway through the feeding for a while, then finishes the rest of the formula. 

~ He drinks water out of a cup. 

~ He eats rice twice a day, eating two spoonfuls each time. He likes to eat his rice with seaweed soup and radish soup. For a snack, he likes sweet potatoes, pumpkin, bananas, and cherries. Cherries are his favorite! He also likes to pick up and eat diced snacks. He does not like potatoes. When he is full, he closes his mouth tight. 

~ His foster mother gives him a bath daily, and he really likes to bathe. He doesn't even cry when his face and hair is washed. 

~ He foster mother brushes his teeth, and then she gives him the toothbrush, and he likes to pretend to brush his teeth, too. 

~ He sleeps from 9:30 pm to 8:00 am, through the night. He gets a little fussy before bedtime, but the foster mother holds him and pats him, and he falls asleep soon. He takes one or two naps a day,  for two to three hours each, but tends to wake at very small sounds. 

~ He walks well, and he likes to climb on furniture. He will pull an object over to the furniture, then climb onto the object, then the furniture. 

~ He likes to roll and throw a ball. 

~ If we say to him "Joo-se-yo" (please give it to me), he will give us whatever object he has. 

~ He likes to push buttons on toys, and he loves toys that have sound. He can mimic animals sounds after hearing them on a toy. 

~ He can say "Omma" or "Momma". 

~ He likes to pretend he is mopping when his foster mother mops. 

~ He likes to locate a hidden object as a game. 

We are so thankful for God's provision in these updates during a time when I was having a difficult few weeks dealing with this ever-growing wait time. We are thankful for a healthy beautiful little boy, loving foster parents, and movement in Korea (even if it's slow movement). We are thankful to have these little bits of information about him as a one year old, so that we will be able to share these things with him as he grows up. We are also thankful that we should be receiving a new video of Lennox within the next few weeks! 

"What I'm Lovin'" Wednesday

-This stud muffin washing my car!

-Summer days spent outside

-Catching Brent out working on his baseball swing ;)

-Beckett building toys that he says are for Lennox

-Trying my hand at my Mamaw's toffee recipe

-Lake days with the fam

-Halloween costumes in July

-Finding old beach pictures at my grandmother's house from my SR year - so funny 

-This boy. A sprinkler. And a trampoline. 

-Playing at Noni's

-Pedi/manis compliments of my little sis

-Holding this sleeping baby

-And receiving several new pictures our sweet Lennox!

Sun, Sand, & Surf {Gulf Shores 2013 ~ Part 3}

Our last night in Gulf Shores, we decided to try out the popular LuLu's Seafood! I hear of so many people talking about it, but we've never tried it. We had a great time! It was an hour and a half wait even at 4:30 in the afternoon, but there are TONS of fun things to do while you wait. 

I wanted ONE family picture while we were here. Never going to happen. NO ONE will look at the camera. 

Or if they do, Brent closes his eyes. Sigh. 

The boys' favorite thing to do while we waited was play beanbag toss! They seriously did this for 45 minutes. 

Once we were seated, there was a band playing, and the kids just loved it. Great atmosphere. 

We came home from LuLu's, and the boys had a late night swim!

Beckett and I were up bright and early again this morning and headed for one last morning on the beach. He wanted his picture with a palm tree. ;)

He made friends with a crane.

And found a starfish!

And this is how he felt about having to go home. 

We had such a fun little trip to our very favorite place, and we already can't wait until we are back again! Hopefully we will have a little black headed tot with us next time!