BIG news!

This post is a bit overdue, but we've been busy. Zachary became a big brother on Monday, September 14 at 1:47pm. Tyler Cole Hershman is the luckiest little guy around to have Zach has his big bro. Zachary has taken quite well to his new role and seems to really love his little brother. He wants to hold him, touch his little hands and feet, talk to him and he even helps burp him. Zach says..."OOOHHH, he's so tiny! I want to snug him. I'm a BIG brother! He's so cute. I want Tyler, please." It's all very cute.

In other BIG news, Zach started school and is loving it! So far, Chad has dropped him off each time and I have been picking him up. He says goodbye to Chad and plays in his classroom for a while until it is time to go home. Every time I come to get him, he says: "Mommy came back!" He seems to really enjoy it and talks about what he does often. He plays at the sand table, the playdough table, the train table, with cars and trucks, in dress up and on the playground. He also eats snack and a little lunch before his morning is complete. I got to spy on him yesterday and he was so cute. It looked like he was having a great time!

Big Boy!!

Zach is officially sleeping in a big boy bed. We changed his room around on Friday night and he has done such a great job with the transition. I was hesitant because he is a boy who loved his crib. He would happily go in each evening and during each nap. Zach would stay in his crib for as long as I wanted him to each morning. He would play, sing, talk and snug with his stuffed animals. I didn't want this to end. But, it was time. The first two mornings in his bed, he woke up crying for someone to come get him in the morning. We told him over and over again that he cannot get out until we come in to get him. He has listened so far. This morning was the first time he woke up and stayed in his bed happily until I went in to get him, 4o minutes later. He would have stayed longer. When I went in, he was happily hanging out with his stuffed animals. He enjoyed having myself, Sophie and Reba all come into his bed to snug this morning. He is excited about his new accomplishment and announces that he has a big boy bed whenever he goes into his room. He eagerly climbs into bed each night. What a big boy. Next big boy step...PRESCHOOL!!

Happy ZACH Day!

Two years ago today, on August 19 2007, we met our son for the first time. What a perfect day. We drove to BaVi in a van with four other wonderful families. We all chatted, laughed and observed the scenery wondering how we were all going to react when meeting our babies for the first time. We stepped out of the van at the orphanage, cameras in hand. We took off our shoes, walked in and were told to find our babies. Zachary was alone in a crib. He smiled the second I looked him in the eyes. I like to think that he knew I was there for him :) I scooped him up and have not put him down since. We spent almost two hours at the orphanage holding our babies, hanging out with the nannies and checking out the place where our children spent the first six months of their lives. Saying goodbye was so very hard. We are forever grateful to the women who cared for Zachary until we could. It was hard for the nannies to say goodbye to these babies that they loved so much. Chad and I cried. The van ride back to the hotel was much different. We were all getting to know our babies and trying to figure out what they each needed. Zachary was content sitting on our laps and looking out the window. Chad had to wake Zachary up to get his photo taken for his passport. That was the first time we heard our little boy cry. We thought it was the cutest. Back at the hotel, we took some pictures in the lobby then headed up to our rooms. We spent the rest of that day bonding with Zachary in our room. He was perfect. He still is.

I don't think we will ever forget any part of this magical day. I remember it like it was yesterday. It changed our lives forever and we could not be happier.

THEN...NOW...

Two years ago today...

We were excitedly waiting in Vietnam for the next day to meet our son for the first time. It was Saturday. We thought we would have to wait until Monday but were happy to receive an email that said it would be Sunday morning. How did we ever sleep that night when this little man was waiting for us and in the same country?

Vacation Fun

We had a great vacation. Zachary enjoyed every minute of it, after the first couple of nights. He had a hard time sleeping for the first two nights and asked to go home. The boy loves his cribbie at home, that's for sure! Once he was used to sleeping at the "vacation house" (as he called it), he was fine. We went to the beach a lot, hung out with the Barans, played with Adam and Sarah, spent the day and evening with some other friends and walked around P-Town. We did not have one day of rain. The weather was perfect!
Zachary and Quan got along well. Quan is a much more aggressive kid than Zach, so Zach was able to learn to stand up for himself which is so important. If Quan tried to take a toy away from Zach, he would say: "No Quan, I'm using that." We had to teach him to hold on to that toy tight b/c he would say it but still let Quan take the toy. He learned fast and after a few days was a pro. They played together well, hugged often, ate together, shared toys and watched some quality Backyardigans :) I think they really enjoyed seeing each other every morning when they woke up. It was quite cute.
Zach loved going to the beach everyday. He would get wet while playing in the water then literally roll around in the sand. He was covered head to toe every time we went to the beach.

I think Zach was happy to come home after a long week away. We all were. We had a blast but it was time to come home and we all knew it. Mimi and Grumpa took care of Zach on Sunday and Zach got to ride on Grumpa's boat. Lucky boy! What a perfect way to end our great vacation.

Finally some sun

The summer is finally here and we are happy to be enjoying the sunshine on most days. We've been keeping busy going to the zoo, the pool and the beach among other things. And we're always hanging out with friends and family.

Zachary is turning into more of a big boy each day. He cracks us up all the time with the things he says. He talks non-stop. And asks a lot of questions. We have not gotten to the "why" stage yet but I'm sure it's coming. Some common things he says...

*"What's Mommy (Daddy, Sophie, Reba, etc) doing?"

*"Where are we going?"

*"What's that song (or house, or boy, or truck, etc) about?"

*"Daddy (or Mommy) be so proud of me."

*"What's that?"

*"Want a drink (or a snack, or some food, or a show)"

*"Watch this Alyssa..." Followed by some kind of trick like running fast or jumping or spinning. He heard the kids I took care of say the same thing, which is why he calls me Alyssa when he says it :)

I've taught him to say "Good morning, Mommy" when he wakes up in the morning. As soon as I would step into his room, he would say "Want sumpin to eat." Now, he's much more polite. Although, that request comes quickly after our good mornings.

Recently, he said the funniest thing when I went to get him out of his crib. His police car was on the shelf next to his crib. He said..."Why'd Daddy take my police car away. That's Zachary Chien's police car!" He said it with such a little attitude and his little hands on his hips. I laughed a lot. It's the funniest thing he's ever said. I assume he had been thinking about it for a while because he said it as soon as I walked in. I guess Chad took the police car away before putting Zach into his crib the night before. How dare him! After he said it, he did say "Good morning Mommy" so, that was good :)

We are off to the Cape for all of next week. We are renting a house with Lisa, Shaun and Quan. And Zach's Aunt Sarah and Uncle Adam will be in the next town over, so that will be fun! I am hoping for good weather!

Here are some recent pictures of the fun we've been having...

At the beach with friends... Swimming with Aunt Sarah at the pool... Swimming with Uncle Adam at the pool...Looking cute...Riding on a train at the zoo with Mimi...Playing with bubbles with Grumpa...Smiling for the camera at the zoo with Quan...Looking at the big bear with Quan...Zach and the jaguar...On a train ride all alone like a big boy...

Eating some lunch with Quan...

"No anuvum rainy day, pease."

Translation...No another rainy day, please.


It's been raining off and on (mostly on) here for weeks. It's getting old. We've been trying to keep busy doing fun things inside but we are running out of options. We are ready to go to the pool everyday. We are ready for the summer heat. Today, Zachary was looking out the sliding door, watching the rain. That's when he said: "No anuvum rainy day, pease." Although we've been keeping busy inside, clearly he is also sick of the rain.

Ways to keep busy in the rain...

Bake cookies...

Help mommy with the dishes...Climb, jump, slide at a super fun indoor play place...Play outside in the pool in the rain. You get wet anyway, right...

Play at another, equally as fun, indoor play place...Finger paint...Read books in the tent...Play in the puddles...