Getting closer...

Happy (late) birthday to my sister Alyssa and my favorite husband Kenny!

At this point in the adoption process, months are just something to GET THROUGH and come out on the other side that much closer to our child. But January is full of birthdays! I need to slow down a little bit and be thankful for all my loved ones born in the wonderful month of January! For example, my dear, darling, wonderful husband, who is (and always has been) my rock. Without him, I'd be lost. Love you Monster!

Now, on to less mushy things. We are getting so close to Littlekid, I can hardly stand it! It's no longer something off in the distance; it's a REAL kid, and we're REALLY going to get him. We should have our dossier submitted in mid-February, and I hope to travel in March sometime! We could be in his country in two months! It's possible! I have had to restrain myself from packing. Of course, I was ready to start packing the moment we committed to him! I'm keeping myself busy making infinite to-do lists - Ken says I need a list to keep track of my lists! I'm also getting the boys' room ready. They have a walk-in closet, which was/is full of boxes of clothes, books, orphanage donations, and toys! Everything is now completely organized and I am quite proud of it - even though it is still a closet full of boxes! There's 3 boxes of BOOKS alone - the next stage of books (ages 2-3), a box for ages 4-5, and a 'big kid' box! Yeah, I plan ahead. While I was organizing, Brennan helped by putting clothes from the sell box into his dirty clothes basket! It was more for me to clean up, but it kept him busy for a good 10 minutes so I just let him go. :)

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Brennan now does 6 signs and recognizes a few more! He's picking them up more quickly, and would probably know more, except I haven't really been teaching him more. :) Right now we are working on mom, dad, water, blanket, cat, and where duck. I'm going to add on grandma, granpa, car, dog, and change (like diaper change). Now that he knows that signs mean something, he watches my hands more closely when I am signing and tries to copy me. I was only going to teach him a few signs to help us communicate better, but he still doesn't talk so I might start signing a lot more. That means I need to expand my vocabulary! I'm also working on learning Russian (hard!) and sometimes my brain just hurts. I've stopped speaking any Russian to Brennan, because I'm focusing on teaching him sign language and ENGLISH, for crying out loud. But maybe one day we will be a trilingual family!
Brennan is a little smarty pants, even without words. My favorite current Brennan trick is how he claps for himself when we say "Good boy"! It's too cute. He's also quite naughty! He's not allowed to play with the cat food, which he KNOWS. But he'll go over there and oh. so. slowly bend down, and if you don't tell him "No", he'll pick up some cat food...and then he usually gives it to me anyway! It's so funny how he knows he is doing something he's not supposed to, but he tries to get away with it! He's already smart enough to look and see if you are looking; I am going to be in trouble when he gets older!

This Thursday I am having my wisdom teeth out. I have never been put under, and I hate teeth, so I am really not looking forward to this! Luckily I have an awesome husband, and parents who live close by and will help me with Brennan while I am on pain meds. Actually, I am secretly looking forward to Saturday, because B will be gone all day and I will be able to lay around the house, (mostly) guilt-free! Pray for my surgery and that I don't chicken out!