Summer Reading

Isaac participated in the county libraries "summer reading" program this summer. For every 15 minutes we read, he got a sticker to put on his chart. Each 10 steps on the chart he went to the library and got to pick a prize out of the prize box. When he filled up the entire chart he got this great t-shirt. He was so proud of himself and will happily tell you it is his reading prize!

It was great to have an incentive program to help foster a love of books in him! He loves to read at night before bed, and at times wants to read himself (turn pages!) He loves to go to the library and look at all the books, and he now has his own library card. He gets so excited when he gets to give his books and his OWN card to the librarian at check out time.

Buzz Cut!

Isaac had his first haircut with clippers today, just like his Daddy.

This is him before.

During.....

And after. He LOVED it!

Cute kids, kitchen painting....randomness

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything. We have all been sick with colds and not doing much of anything this past week. Ugh. I am doing better, Isaac is doing ok, but Matthew still has quite the runny nose, poor kid. It doesn't seem to be slowing him down much though. This is the cutest video I think of the boys playing together. Isaac is so good with Matthew, and Matthew adores his big brother. He will follow every move he makes!

Matthew has grown so much this last month. Yesterday he rolled over from his back to his front, but I was in the other room and missed it! I waited and waited for him to do it again, but alas he would not perform on command! :-)

He is also sitting up much better now. Here is a great picture of him sitting and playing with his Octopus toy. As long as he has the boppy to support him he does really well! I can't get over how grown up he is now that he is sitting up better. Hard to believe he will be 6 months old in a few weeks. Time sure does go by fast.

We have also been in the middle of remodeling our kitchen, and this is taking up tons of our free time. We are going to be replacing our ripped vinyl floor with Pergo, and decided that if we wanted to paint the cupboards we should do it before we put in the new floor. This has turned into a much bigger job. We decided to cut beadboard to fit into the doors and fancy them up a bit, and also paint the walls and replace the tile backsplash. I hope to be done before Christmas, but I dont know if that will happen. Each cupboard requires, sanding, 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint! We have 46 doors and drawers to do.... a lot! But if you know anything about me, you know that this is what I love to do. I love to remodel our house. The first picture is the before, and this picture is where we are as of today. We have the top cupboards done, now we just need to paint the doors and put them back up. Then we can tackle the bottom. I am waiting to take the doors off the bottom cupboards, as then little boys can get into them. Amazing how just white cupboards will brighten up any room!

What they do for fun!???!!!!!!

On Saturday, Chris and his guys group went out to play paintball for Scotts birthday. I expected him to have a few bruises, I did NOT expect him to come home with hickey welts all over his body! Ouch. Why would you go play this game!!! (He has done it 3 other times) He said it did not hurt, but see for yourselves!!! He has about 7 good size welts all over his body! OUCH!!! The things these guys do for fun. :-) I hear Kyle has quite good aim...he is the one that inflicted the largest one (bigger than the quarter!)

My personal favorite is the one right in the middle of his chest!

The bumps on the welts have gone down today, but the bruising is turning a delightful shade of lavender and purple! Maybe if I get bored and can't sleep I can play connect the dots!! He is quite proud of his bruises and keeps looking at them to see what color they have changed too! Just like a little kid, I tell you!

Officially a family!!!

Today is the day that we have been waiting for. Our family is now "officially" a family! We have known in our hearts that we have been a family for almost 5 months now, but nothing was official until all the adoption agencies and lawyers filed their paperwork. Today we went to the Multnomah County Courthouse and stood before a judge while she signed the official paperwork that finalizes Matthew's adoption.



Now we can FINALLY travel to Canada to visit Chris's family, something we could not do until we got his birth certificate with our names on it. Unfortunately with Chris's work schedule we won't be able to go for awhile. Oh well

Going before the judge is a little anti-climactic, after the initial days of birth and signing of papers on his Gotcha day. This is not as emotional or as tough, but just as important. I have never worried that anything would fall through on our adoptions, but at the same time it's nice to get all the paperwork and legalities finished.

My mom came down to help us celebrate - unfortunatly my dad is swamped at work and could not make it, but really wanted to. We are just glad to hear that he is busy! He is a great grandpa who is wonderful with the kids, so we will give him some slack!!! (love you daddy!!!)

This is a picture 2 years ago when we finalized Isaac's adoption. We had the same judge that we had this time for Matthew. These judges deal with some hard issues during the day, so an adoption is a great, happy way to start out their day! It is one of the only positive family issues they get to be a part of.

Matthew was all smiles for the judge and did not spit up on his new outfit even once!!! That is a record for him. He is such a great mellow boy. Love the big eyes and big cheeks. The Dunlop boys are the cutest in my opinion!!!

Afterwards we went out to breakfast (a tradition we started with Isaac's finalization) We went to a great place in Portland called Mothers Bistro. Isaac saw the homemade blackberry muffins when we walked in the door and couldn't wait to get his hands on it! He devoured the thing. The food there is wonderful and the atmosphere is great. I would highly recommend it for a hearty good breakfast!

Isaac the water boy!

Isaac just finished 5 weeks of swim lessons at Mt. Hood Community College. He loves the water and is fearless when it comes to being in the pool! Last year we started in the mommy and me class, just singing songs and playing games, but this year we started working on actual swimming skills.

Chris was able to come a few times as well. Isaac loves being thrown in the air, but his favorite activity is jumping off the wall. He does not mind going under a little when you catch him. Each class consisted of singing some group songs, swimming with either foam barbells or kickboards, and practicing our skills. It was hard to get Isaac to want to do anything other than jump!

By the end of the 5 weeks he has learned to lie flat on his back and let us pull him around, kick and move his arms at the same time, and has grown more comfotable putting his face in the water. I am hoping that by next summer we can move him into the first round of swim lessons.
Last night in the bathtub he was "swimming" and was actually doing pretty well. He was putting his face int he water, wich he would not do earlier and was laying flat on his back in the bathtub. He discovered that when your ears are in the water, your voice sounds different! I had a hard time getting him out of his bath!

If anyone in the area is looking for swim lessons, I would recommend Mt. Hood, we have really enjoyed them and they are reasonably priced. I think sign ups for their fall session start this week.

First foods and 4 months

Matthew had his first bowls of rice cereal yesterday. He gobbled it right up! I had tried to feed him on the day he turned 4 months, but he just kept spitting it out, this time he couldn't chow it down fast enough!

Here's to hoping that this will stick to his bones and help him sleep through the night. (We are still up at 3 am most nights)

I realized I never posted his 4 month pictures, here he is, all 16 pounds of him! He is doing great, and just about to grow out of his clothes. Hard to believe he is smaller than Isaac was at this age. As you can see in the picture, Isaac adores his baby brother. We have been really blessed so far as Isaac has adjusted beautifully to having Matthew around and will now say "love baby Maffew!"