Beautiful new blog!

No, I did not suddenly develop mad design skillz since I set up this blog. I'd like to thank Melissa for the beautiful new blog theme! As you can tell, she's an absolute pro - she asked me for my general preferences (colors, style, text, etc.) and even corrected my horrible grammar! She will be joining the staff of Blogovers with Love, a site that designs custom blog themes (like this one) in exchange for donations to help children at the St. Lucy's Center and Chung Yi orphanages in Taiwan. What a fantastic and worthwhile cause - I recommend you check them out!

Anyway, thank you so much! It's beautiful, and I love seeing our baby's cute face at the top.

And the name is...

Many people have asked us if we have a name for our son.

I had originally planned on keeping our baby's name a secret until we actually got him. I thought that would be fun to keep it to ourselves for a while, and so I've been telling people it's "Lancelot," which has a certain nice alliterative quality. (Other possible candidates: LeBron, Enrique, Rambo.)

Well, last weekend we went around to share the baby pics with our neighbors. And while we were visiting our neighbors across the street, the husband casually says, "So, the baby's name is XXXX XXXX, right?"

Apparently, Jeff had told our neighbor in a fit of excitement.

Knowing his penchant for opening gifts early, I am actually not surprised that Jeff spilled the beans. And so, after a short period of contemplation I decided that if the Traffords know our baby's name, then it wasn't right to keep that from our parents. And of course, once the parents know, why not siblings, etc.

So, here it is (drumroll please...)

Christian Kai Lehman

The Chinese character for "Kai" comes from his birth name and means "triumphant, victorious". It's not as regal as Lancelot Lehman, but we really like it. I hope he does as well.

Second set of pictures

Our poor little guy was born premature at 34 weeks and weighed only 4 lbs. 3 oz. When I discussed the referral video and pictures with our doctor at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, she noticed (and we did as well) that his left leg appeared to be hitched up the entire time. So, when we formally accepted the referral on the 19th, I mentioned to our case worker that we'd like them to check out his left leg/hip for any potential problems.

We received a new video and pictures on the 22nd - they are really on the ball:

And look, his leg is down! (How old are kids when they get their first haircut? Because I seriously think he may be ready soon.)

He looks very pleased with himself. Kind of reminds of me of Jeff (ha ha).

And here is an updated video, which just about kills me with its cuteness:

Some more highlights that you really appreciate after the 5,000th view:

• 0:06 - Looks at camera and sort of smiles
• 0:14 - Sleepy?
  
• 0:19 - Absolutely adorable look on face
• 0:23 - 0:30 - "What, you're worried about the left leg? Well, let me show you!"
• 0:46 - More left leg moving. "Can you stop filming me now, please?"
• 0:46 - 0:47 - Tongue sticks out. Squirming around and looking cute is hard work.
  

The doctor was very reassured after seeing this video. Her professional assessment was that he looks great, very alert and absolutely 'adorable'. I'm glad to know that his cuteness has been medically validated!

First post!

I've decided to set up this blog for the hundred five people or so who are interested in seeing pictures of our baby! I'm guessing that 99.9% of the page views will be coming from me.

Anyway, here is the first set of pictures and video that we received on February 14 of our beautiful baby boy, born January 4, 2008 in Taiwan :

He is so handsome, isn't he? I'm definitely getting the Cary Grant vibe from him.

Waving hello. Of course, this could also be random hand placement, but I'm choosing to interpret it as the obvious sign of infantile genius.

"What's up with this pink blanket?"
(Side note: practically EVERY single baby referral picture I have seen from the adoption group has the same Hello Kitty blanket. As someone mentioned, either this blanket is getting some serious mileage or they buy them in bulk. Fortunately, I like Hello Kitty.)


And, here he is in motion!

Some highlights to enjoy:

• 0:14 - Looks up
• 0:23 - Yawns
• 0:39 - Makes adorable face
  
• 1:00 - Looks up again