First real vacation...I guess

So each year Jeremy and I take a vacation somewhere warm, usually it was either Miami Beach or Key West.  He has his february break from school and I just take the time off.  This year was a little different because we are a family now.  I am assuming in the future we will be taking some Disney Vacation or some exotic vacation with James, but Key West is a tad out of out reach for now.  Anyway we thought this year was going to be roadtrip.  We could really afford plane tickets anywhere and well I am not looking forward to flying with James and I didn't really want to change planes.  So the road trip we decided on was Kentucky, the perfect place for a gay couple and their adopted son right??  Well we went and spent the time with our wonderful friends Josh and Robbie and got to see Robbie's teenage son Zach (who blew right passed everyone in the house in including his father, grandfather and Nana just to pick up James and hug him.) This was a 15 or so hour long drive that we did, with an 11 month old.  The key was to leave at his bedtime, which worked out great since James sleeps well in the car.  So we drove and ended up stopping on the way in OH to visit with a Co-worker.  She watched  James for an hour while we rested our eyes.  Then onto Kentucky via some of the longest stretches of nothing through OH and Indiana.  Finally made it and started our vacation.  It was almost a nice little "staycation" since Josh and Robbie are great hosts willing to take time off of work and not really go anywhere.  Since they live in Kentucky and there are some pretty neat things to do in Kentucky we planned a few side trips.  

We spent a day at the Mommoth Cave National Park and explored a 2 hour tour of the underground caves, this was way cool.  James enjoyed the looking part but the guide was very chatty.  Some stops were a TAD to long, but overall it was great and a place we probably would not have gone to on our own.  

Also as strange as it seems we went to a Bourbon Distillery and this was neat and short and I would recommend it to anyone venturing near Kentucky or Tennessee.  

While we were there James also hit a few milestones including learning to climb up stairs.  Josh and Robbie have a great house for a kid who is learning to crawl, walk and climb.  They have nice wide carpeted stairs and also drawers that easily open.  James had a great time banging on tupperware and pots and pans.  He stood up for about 30 secs on his own before he realized the watch he was holding onto wasn't attached to anyone or thing.

Now I bet I know what you're thinking.  Kentucky is not the most gay friendly place in America, how did you get along.  Well We did get some stares from some people (mostly getting out of church and eating at restaurants, but no one said any nasty comments to our face and everyone overall was friendly.  We never got denied anything, and we did not get bad service.  No one came over to us and mentioned how gay people should not be married or raise children together.  This made me happy.  Maybe a little uneasy if I didn't know what they were saying not to us, but it was fun.   Next up, a year!

9 months...almost 10

SO I haven't blogged in a while about James and I have been meaning too, really life gets in the way and you can't find time to do things that you want, like go on the computer and write about your kiddo and all the changes in his life.  Anyway, since we last left James I believe he was just about scooting around and we were  at about 6 months old.  So this was way back in September.  He was just starting daycare and all that stuff.  Well he has been there for a little over 3 months now.  She couldn't be any better!
Onto James and his development over the last almost 4 months.  Since then he has been eating a lot more, eating solid food and eating almost anything we give to him, I think he has tried nearly everything we have given to him and has liked it!  His favorite I think is still sweet potatoes, and nearly every fruit.  He has even tried grapefruit and liked it.  This kid is great.  So he is cruising along furniture, pulling himself up to the furniture, getting into things, moving from room to room.  I am amazed everyday at the things he does.  At this point he is even standing up in his crib and opening the door.  The bad thing there is no room in HIS room to move his crib,  The next move is for him to go into the guest room and I am not sure if we are ready for that JUST yet.
So he also started sleeping through the night without a bottle, he is getting up every once in a while for a pacifier but he goes right back to bed.  We are gearing up for his 1st birthday even though it is nearly two months away but you can't be over prepared!
The big event and news is that the adoption was FINALIZED!  It happened on 12/12/12  so we will never forget that date!  It took all of 10 min and we couldn't have been happier with the process.  Everyone involved was great and everything happend fairly smoothly,  now to get his birth certificate and we will be all set!