I'm Back....

...and wishing we were still on vacation! We had a really nice time at the beach and as always it went by way too fast. I will definitely be posting some beach pictures and talking more about it - probably in several different posts, but I am going to post some "non-vacation" pictures this time. We actually got back on Saturday, but have just finally "settled" down today. When we got in Saturday, my in-laws were already at our house. Kenny's nephew's wedding was on Memorial Day, so we were able to visit with alot of Kenny's family over the weekend. Isabella really enjoyed having them here, as soon as we got out of the car she saw her cousin Josey and within minutes was holding hands with her. Josey is 6 and Isabella 3, but they played so well together. They also haven't seen each other in 2 years, but instant friendship. Here's a picture of them: Isabella was so sad Tuesday when she woke up and Josey wasn't here. I wish we could live closer to all of our family so she could grow up with all of her cousins. After they all left, on Tuesday Isabella had gymnastics and then yesterday we spent some time with her little friend Makenna-- thankfully -- since she had been with grandparents and cousins for the past 10 days, she was definitely wanting to be entertained. While we were on vacation, we missed a little awards time at gymnastics, so they did a little thing for Isabella and one other little girl who had missed as well. Isabella was (and still is) so excited about the little medal she got. Daddy met us for lunch and she was so excited to show him and then we had to go show it to Papa and Noni and she even wore it to youth group last night. :)

Isn't she my cute little gymnast?!? :) She will continue to do gymnastics over the summer, but not as often. I wanted to keep it up though, because I think its good for her and I didn't want her to forget things over the summer and start back up in September -- forgetting things, meaning forgetting how to stay in line, take turns, listen to her teacher, etc. :) And for the last little set of pictures I'm going to post Amelia's portraits that we had taken before we left. I believe GLouise asked me to post them and I'm always happy to oblige and post pictures of my girls. After I post beach pics you may get tired of seeing them. :)

Going to the Beach

Well, after a busy last couple weeks preparing for vacation, now I am definitely ready for it. We will be leaving tomorrow morning and returning the next Saturday. The day we return my in laws will be coming in to stay for a few days as Kenny's nephew is getting married on Memorial Day. Most of my busy-ness has been totally self inflicted. Of course, there is the normal stuff, tons of laundry to do, writing my list of things to take, packing, cleaning -- extra for company :), but then I also spent most of my morning/afternoon taking Isabella to Daddy's work to drop her off there and then I went and got Amelia's 1 year pictures taken. I realize it seems like something I could have done after I got back, but we promised my mother-in-law an 8x10 for her mantle when she came down and since I procrastinated, well I had to do it today. I don't normally go get my girls pictures taken, this was the first time for Amelia and I only did it once for Isabella, but I would definitely recommend Portrait Innovations if you have one close by. I learned about it from someone else and I was very happy with the pictures of Amelia. Although, Amelia didn't want to sit or stand still, so the fact that they got any pictures was a miracle. Then as I mentioned before, I' ve been sewing the last couple weeks for my girls -- I'll post pictures of them in their outfits when we get home, because I'm sure to be taking some while we are at the beach. :) I'm so looking forward to being away on vacation!!!!! Of course, I'm sure some of it will be "interesting" as we have a 1 year old, 2 y.o, 3 y.o, 4 y.o and 11 year old (obviously, he's not a problem) That many little kids in a condo is going to be..... loud. :) Lots of fun! I probably won't be posting again until after Memorial Day and then you can expect to see lots of pics. Have a good week!

Daughter for Hire

I've decided that I should rent Isabella out to anyone who needs to go swimsuit shopping. I could make a fortune! Yesterday I took the girls to the store and I was trying on some swimsuits. Isabella kept saying (in her "I didn't know there was an inside voice" voice) "Oh mommy, you look pretty!" "That is SO cute, mommy" "I like that, mommy" "You're cute, mommy." I'm sure everyone in the fitting room and surrounding area heard her. So any of you dreading to try on swimsuits -- contact me, she is guaranteed to make it easier and almost (ALMOST) ennjoyable. :)

Happy Funty's Day!

I know I'm late, but I still wanted to post and say that I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. If you are confused by my title (you should be) here is the story behind it. Sunday morning I was up and in the family room and I heard Isabella waking up and talking to Daddy. Kenny said he told Isabella to come in and tell me "Happy Mothers Day" -- to which she repeated it to him "Happy 'Mutters' Day". She came in the room with her little excited grin on her face and said "Happy.... Funty's Day Mommy!" :) I have no idea how she got it all confused, but it was so cute -- after that she said it correctly all day.... to everyone. :) We had a really nice weekend, my girls and I went to a Mother/Daughter brunch with my mom, my sil and her mom, and my niece. Then came home for the girls to take a nap and went back out shopping with my mom --- no children along, and then out to eat with my hubby, kids and my dad. Then Sunday, my sweet husband made me breakfast and had Isabella help him get presents ready for me. I told him that I really appreciate how he got her all excited about Mothers Day and doing stuff for mommy. Then after church, we went up the mountain and went to the same place we went for my very first Mothers Day. I wanted to go last year so that I could get pictures with Amelia on my first one with her, but it had to have been the windiest day of the year plus I was sick, so I definitely wanted to do it this year. I don't like pictures of myself, but here is one with me and my precious girls.
Unless you've really struggled with infertility you have no idea how it feels to dread Mothers Day. To not want to sit in church and hear what a wonderful thing motherhood is, to hear others being recognized for having the one thing you are longing for -- children. I've heard alot of people say that lately, some who are still struggling/waiting to be a mommy. I hope that I can always be sensitive to those around me that are still waiting to be able to celebrate. It has also made me realize more on Mothers Day what a wonderful and special gift it is to be a mommy. Some of you, just celebrated your first Mothers Day and I remember so well what a wonderful feeling it was to finally celebrate my first Mothers Day with my precious little one. Being a mommy is definitely the best, most wonderful, encouraging, discouraging, hard, fun, rewarding, frustrating, fulfilling thing I have been called to do. I don't take for granted how blessed I am and how wonderful it is to be a mommy. There are so many more encouraging and rewarding days, but then there are the days where I get so discouraged thinking I am going to fail at this and raising my girls to love and serve the Lord is one thing I don't want to fail at. I read on someone's blog recently that a friend had mentioned to her that as mothers we can take too much of the responsibility/control in our own hands and forget that God is bigger than us and our sin (paraphrased and reworded. :) And then I realize that being discouraged, not trusting, etc is sin and then I get discouraged about my sin, and..... its a vicious cycle. :) I am constantly praying that God will mold me to be the mommy that my girls need and that He will control their hearts and draw them close to Him. Thank God He is in control because choosing a sinner to raise sinners seems pretty crazy to me.

There are so many things I think about on Mothers Day. Although, my mom and I have always been close, being a mother has definitely made me appreciate all she did. My dad was in the military, so he had to be gone months at a time -- I don't remember her actually complaining about it or anything, but I do know how hard it had to have been. I understand that even more since I am married and a mom. I also have been extra busy the last few weeks doing things for my girls, taking them places, lots of sewing... things my mom did for me.

And I'm so thankful for the wonderful godly husband I have and that makes me appreciate more my mother-in-law and the work she did in raising and teaching him. Even if he is the only son she didn't teach how to cook. :)

I also don't know how single mothers do it, and I know one of you who reads my blog is choosing to be a single mother through adoption. I am amazed. Maybe my husband just spoils me too much, but I can't imagine doing this by myself. I hope that those of you who are single moms have a wonderful support in your friends/family/church to help you out when needed and give you the encouragment you need.

Of course, two of the main people that have been on my minds even more this week are my girls' birthmothers. I woke up early Sunday morning to my precious Isabella crawling in bed with me to cuddle, then I was able to go and get sweet Amelia with teddy in hand and arms reaching out to me out of her crib because of them. I wonder how they feel on Mothers Day, is it harder than other days. I still pray that someday they will get in contact with us and maybe I can tell them just how much I love and appreciate them on Mothers Day. Every child is a gift, but it is also a special thing to see God choose your child for you and not use you/your body/your genes at all. Not long ago, Isabella was having a bad week -- maybe two -- where she was just getting into all kinds of trouble and Kenny and I were kind of laughing and said something like "Man, with as bad as she's being tonight we about shouldn't have given her that gift" (or maybe it was doing something special with her I don't remember) And I said "Yeah, aren't we lucky that God does the same for us." I am a sinner even more than my girls, I know I disobey my heavenly father and yet somehow He still gives me gifts I don't deserve. Above all He gave me His salvation and then He gave me a wonderful husband and then He chose to give me 2 unbelievably precious girls! I have so much to celebrate!

Last weekend

Since this weekend is upon us I thought I would post just a few pictures of last Saturday. I was going to do a slide show, but for some reason my slide shows have now turned sideways and I have no idea why. Saturday we took a trip down to the acquarium with our youth group, although you won't see them in any of the pictures because I don't think they were up to walking slowly around with an inquisitive 3 year old the whole time. :) We had a really nice time though. We went to a park first and had a picnic and then headed into the acquarium for the next 4 hours! I decided I'd post a picture of our sweet Amelia walking around everywhere, although I know a video would be better. Then Isabella and I had a little photoshoot time. She wanted mommy to take some pictures of her and I was happy to oblige. The funny thing though is that my Isabella is absolutely beautiful, and she has a great smile with her big dimples, but when you ask her to smile, she gives you the silliest looks, like she's not quite sure how to do that. Isabella LOVED the aquarium. I believe she has my love for anything wildlife/nature. They had a playground area and we asked her if she wanted to play and she said "No, I want to see more fish!" She really didn't get bored at all and would just look at all of the fish and take it all in. Of course, her favorite was seeing Dori. :) And although I don't have a picture of it because it was way too crowded, she touched a stingray and was very proud of that -- but she also makes sure to say that she didn't touch the shark, even though he kept coming up for her to touch him. I know the pictures in the aquarium are of her back, but she was happy so I definitely wasn't going to constantly ask her to turn around. The only part she didn't like about our trip was the 3D show they had. BIG MISTAKE! Lately, Isabella has gotten more afraid of things, I don't know if its an age thing, but its been more recent for her -- even the child that slid face first down the huge slide has been acting a little afraid of slides lately. Anyway, we go to the show and its a little cartoon and she's excited, she has her little 3D glasses on and at the beginning of the show a fish "jumps" out at you and you get splashed with water. She jumped off of her seat and was screaming "NO, MOMMY! I want to go HOME!" I convinced her to take her glasses off and it was fine for a while until they had something shoot out from under your chair, then a shocking sound, etc. Its kind of hard to explain to a 3 year old that this is all pretend and then trying to explain 3D, definitely not going to happen.

This picture of Amelia is supposed to be her "Diva" face (although I think I caught her in between so she looks a little like a pirate.) We now will look at her and say "Where's my diva?" and she will scrunch her nose and eyes and pucker her lips. Its so cute and we are constantly asking her. Yes, I realize we are training our children to do tricks, like you would a dog, but we get so much enjoyment out of this. :) With Isabella, we would say "Are you cute?" and she would cock her head over to her shoulder and give you this sweet little look. I love all the new little personality they have at this age. Amelia has been into everything lately, which has been slightly frustrating to Isabella, but hilarious to me. For instance, today Amelia was chasing Isabella around the room trying to grab her snack out of her hand, then Isabella went to go potty and Amelia followed her, which was fine, until Amelia stole Isabella's panties and was walking around with them. Then as Isabella was taking a bath today, Amelia threw Isabella's panties in the water - she has a fascination with the panties, lets hope she's a quick potty trainer. :) Actually, she also has a fascination for throwing things in the bath tub when there is water in there, she brought teddy in and threw him in the other day. I might just have been blessed with TWO little mischievious girls.

And my favorite picture of all is this one below. It just makes my heart rejoice when I see them enjoying each others company. I know that they will probably drive each other crazy sometimes, but I just pray that God gives them a special bond.

Where HAVE I Been??

I have really been slacking on my blogging lately. Along with daily life, some sewing projects, trying to enjoy some of the nice weather, the last few weeks have been very busy -- mostly good busy so I thought I would share pictures. Right after Easter, my cousin Trish and her kids came down to visit for the day. Christian and Amelia are birthday twins as so we wanted to get the kids together shortly after their birthday and get some pictures. Here's my two favorites - but I'm hoping Trish got better pictures, because the shadows on this one are bad. : Then there a couple pics of my sweet Amelia, who is just getting more precious.... and active every day. Yes, she is officially walking -- really walking, not just a few steps, she only crawls as a last resort. She's so cute with her little swaggering walk and you can tell she is really proud of herself.



We also celebrated my Dad's 50-10th birthday. :) We spent the afternoon at the park having a picnic and letting the kids play. As you can see, even the big kids had fun -- yes that's my dad, sliding down the twisty slide on his 60th birthday. And here's a couple pics of Isabella and my nephew Garrett -- I had to post the silly one of Garrett because it is so Garrett and it cracks me up. (you might have to click on it to get the full effect of his little bug eyed look) Too funny -- these two are such good buddies!

Then last week my mom and I (along with my girls) took a quick trip up to see family. My aunt has been going through chemotherapy again and I've been wanting to get up there to see her. I figure my girls can always give an extra boost of cheer and sunshine, right? :) It was actually way too quick of a trip, but since her chemo is on Friday - we didn't want to go up during the weekend. And my mom had to get back to work so we had to make it quick. We travelled up Wednesday and came back Thursday afternoon. Here's a cute picture of my girls sleeping together there. But don't let these sweet sleeping girls fool you, most of the night was not like this. As I have mentioned countless times, Amelia LOVES her crib, and isn't so crazy about change, so she wasn't thrilled about being in a strange place in her pack and play. She did ok for her naps, but Wednesday night both of the girls were sleeping when I got to bed, then around 2 am Amelia woke up crying and wouldn't calm down -- which my sweet girl works herself up into a tizzy and gives herself diarrhea. My mom came in and got Isabella, so I could just keep Amelia in bed with me. This is what she was wanting - out of the pack and play with mommy, but she doesn't enjoy it at all. Unlike Isabella who will just quickly go to sleep next to me, Amelia was so fidgety trying to get comfortable. Then around 3am, I hear Isabella crying that she wants her mommy. Which I have to admit makes me feel good. She comes down the hall with my mom saying "I want to cuddle with my mommy" -- so now there are 3 of us in a double bed or at least 2 1/2, because I think half of my body was off the bed. :) For the rest of the night, I pretty much didn't sleep. Amelia would fidget, lay on top of me, sit up, pat my face, lean over and give me kisses (I know, how sweet!) Then Isabella would wake up and say "Cuddle, cuddle" and want me to put my arm around her. Plus, I had started having problems with my sinuses so I was awake with that as well. And all that complaining to actually say, when I got up in the morning and saw my two sweet girls cuddled together next to me, I had to take a picture of them and think how precious it is to have my two girls sleeping next to me (and then hope that it doesn't happen again anytime soon. :) It was nice to visit and see my aunts, uncle, and cousins, especially since my girls hadn't been up there since August --but definitely too quick. And if you think of it, please continue to pray for my aunt, my parents went up again this week so my dad could go to the drs appointment with her and he seemed encouraged by what the dr had to say. I obviously don't know God's ultimate will in her life, but I know that He is faithful and good. I am still praying for His healing because I know He is the only one that can heal and I'm also praying that He will be glorified through all of this!! I know that she is a testimony to so many around her, so I pray that He will continue to strengthen and encourage her.

Can't promise my blogging will be much better --- we don't have a free weekend until June so the next month will be busy as well. Once again, it should all be a good busy so I'm sure at some point I will have lots more pictures to share!

Easter Pics and Meet the Robinsons

Here's some Easter pics of the girls -- the one on my parents couch is the best of them, but not a good background. The ones outside are prettier in the grass, but the shadows are bad and I can't seem to get a good picture of my girls together -- one is cute of Isabella, but not Amelia, the other is cute of Amelia, but not Isabella. I guess that's the way it goes with more than one child in a picture. :)I had planned on taking them somewhere with lots of flowers on Saturday to take pictures, but the weather here was SO cold!! I will definitely be doing this in the future! It looks like it was pretty on Easter, but it was very cold, I had to get little cardigans for my girls because, of course, their dresses were made for spring, not winter weather. Its so interesting taking pictures of kids, We had a nice Easter. We had an Easter egg hunt and we colored eggs on Saturday. On Sunday we had a good service at church. We actually had 13 baptized. When I tell people that they say they think its crazy that we had a baptismal service on Easter, but I thought it was great -- what a great way to celebrate the resurrection of Christ on Easter. Our pastor hadn't really expected it to be so many when he planned this, we had a couple boys saved through Awana a few weeks ago and planned it after that, then we had more saved through Awana, some kids who had gotten saved at camp and wanted to be baptized, 1 teen and 2 adults so by last week the count was up to 13. It was great! Of course I loved dressing my girls up for Easter as well. Its so fun to see them all dressed up in springy colors. I know some people think that buying new dresses (although Amelia's actually was a hand me down from Isabella - poor 2nd child -- her hat was new though :) is too materialistic for a holiday celebrating Christ, but my mom talks about how her dad, my Pap-Pap as we called him, liked for them to dress up on Easter. He said it was a great way to symbolize the ressurection and our salvation --"putting off the old man and putting on the new" -- I like that. I think that will be a great illustration to use for my girls as they get older. Although Isabella still doesn't understand all about the reason for Easter, she was cute when we asked her what Pastor had taught them on Sunday morning. When he had the kids up front before Children's Church, he had some eggs (kind of like the resurrection eggs, but only 3) he had a rock in one for the stone, a piece of cloth in the other (the kids totally didn't get this one) and nothing in the last one. He went through and explained them to the kids and at dinner when we asked Isabella what she learned she said "About a rock, and then nothing was there" She might not understand, but at least she was listening. :) I hope all of you had a great Easter as well!!

Ok - now totally off topic. Has anyone seen the movie "Meet the Robinsons"? Kenny had Friday off and we almost went. We had planned on taking Isabella to the zoo but it was WAY too cold. We ended up not going and from what I'm reading from other adoptive families/groups, I'm glad we didn't. This is the link to what an adoption website says about it and how they are meeting with Disney over this http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/media/20070409_press_disney.php I know my girls aren't old enough to grasp what the storyline is talking about, but I would have been upset if we went. I won't get into all of this, but I thought I would throw this out for anyone who hasn't read the reviews on this and who might be thinking about taking their kids to see it. I'm sure they were trying to make this movie as humorous as possible, and of course it has a happy ending, but I definitely don't want to watch anything that portrays adoption in a negative way. Maybe I'm just totally out of the loop, I probably am, I just had no idea it was about adoption at all. If anyone who has adopted has seen this, I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Birthday Pics and More

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I promised birthday pics, so although her birthday party was a week ago, here they are. I posted a couple of her so you wouldn't have to wait to look through the slide show. Since her actual birthday is the first day of spring, we had a "springy" party, although I didn't include pictures of the decorations, we had butterflies, flowers, bright springy colors, a butterfly cake and I served "caterpillars" on a stick, buggy mac and cheese, and cheesy "cocoons" (see if you can figure all of those out.) Amelia loved eating her birthday cake, much more than Isabella did her first birthday. She jumped right in! She was so cute and of course the slide show is mostly of pictures of her eating her cake. :) She got lots of cute presents, but wasn't extremely interested in opening them, except she loved the stuffed lamb Noni and Papa gave her. All together, I think she had fun and of course the other kids had a great time playing together, I think Amelia is ready to be up and running around with them.

All of last week was really busy. We had the party, 2 nights of special services at church, Thursday night Kenny's sister and family were in from Michigan so they came over to visit, Friday night, Kenny had an all nighter with the teens (for which the girls and I stayed late, but not all night!) then Saturday we went shopping with Noni while Daddy slept and then we were given tickets to the circus, so we went Saturday night. AND let me tell you, THANK GOD the tickets were free, because I can't believe what a money maker a circus is. If you're wondering why one of us isn't riding the elephant with Isabella, it's because we weren't "monetarily" prepared for the circus. We hadn't thought about breaking the bank and bringing a ton of cash with us. They had the slide, the elephant rides, a polaroid picture with a tiger in a box ($10, no thanks!), some jumping thing, the toys, the food, etc. etc. We weren't total grinches, she just had to pick wisely what she wanted. :) She loved riding the elephant and she also got to slide down the big slide. As you can see, she's our little daredevil, going down head first. I think she had fun, although I have learned that I am not a big circus fan. Maybe it was just this particular circus, I don't know. I liked some of it, but not my favorite thing to do

And the BIG news of the week: Thursday night, Amelia decided to take her first few steps!!! Out of the blue, we were all sitting around talking, she stood up next to Daddy and was standing there for a while (which that's nothing new) and then all of a sudden she took one.... two....three steps. We, of course, grabbed the video camera and she refused to do it for the camera. I think Kenny might have gotten her to take a step for the camera, but once she sees the camera she is more interested in getting over to the camera than trying to do anything else. So, I guess I don't have long until she will be completely mobile!! I think it will be so cute when she starts walking, but I definitely don't push it or worry about it because I know that will just prove that she really isn't a baby anymore. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. She'll go from being my baby to being my big girl that rides elephants by herself, slides down the big slide head first, ...... and I know that happened WAY too quick with Isabella.

"STELLA!"

I promise, that somewhere in the near future, I will be posting pictures of Amelia's birthday party. Life just has a way of busying itself so that I haven't had a chance to sit down and blog. And then there are also those moments when you don't want to sit down and blog because you know you will somehow waste too much time in front of the computer. Its been a little bit of both lately as well as the fact that I've had sinus problems that I'm just getting over (I hope)
BUT, I had to share a couple funny stories about Isabella. Quite honestly, this child keeps me laughing on a daily basis. A little bathroom humor, lately she has been wiping herself more when she goes potty, but after I let her do this we had to make a new rule that she can wipe if she goes pee pee, but I have to wipe after she goes poop (you can put the pieces together with that one.) Anyway, yesterday I walked in the bathroom and she had a big smile on her face and said "Mommy, I'm going to go poop so you CAN WIPE ME!!!!!" In a, aren't you excited that I'm doing this for you kind of way. Oh yes, darling, nothing makes my day more. :) Then today, she was going potty and Amelia crawled in there and I heard Isabella yell at her "Get Out -- it stinks in here!" She's such a little nut. For the next story-- A little background, just last week we got cable - or actually a little more extended cable because if we switched our phone over and had our phone, internet and cable service all together it would be the same price we were paying for our internet, basic cable and telephone service we already had. This, of course, benefits my husband greatly because now he has ESPN -- which is huge since he's from Michigan and they rarely show Yankee college football in the South if another (albeit not as good) southern college is playing. :) This will make my husband extremely happy come the fall. Along with this, a friend of mine had mentioned another kids network called Noggin. I try not to let Isabella watch too much television, but there are some shows that I like. One of these is Miss Spider's Sunny Patch. She might not be learning anything like counting, alphabet, etc. so its probably all just be for pure enjoyment rather than educational purposes, but I personally am a big David Kirk/Little Miss Spider fan, so I let her watch it. Isabella has most of the books, so she enjoys the show. ANYWAY --(the little background is longer than the story itself :) -- On Noggin they have a couple commercials or fillers right before or after the show and one of these is for some kind of kids awards (which no, my child will not be watching) the commercial goes something like this -- "Justin Timberlake will be hosting this year's, etc.....he's a talented singer" --- here he is dressed up in a cape and sings FIGARO!...... "he's a talented actor"..... here he yells STELLA! I personally didn't think anything of this commercial, she's seen it a couple times, but no big deal. Well, last night we decided to take a walk and Isabella noticed that she could hear her echo and wouldn't you know it, my child screams out "STE -LLA!" I about lost it! And yes, I have realized even more how careful I have to be with what she watches as well as what I say in front of her. Who knows what this child would repeat. :) Again, I promise in the near future to post birthday pictures of our big one year old!!!

Happy 1st Birthday!!!!

Today is Amelia's first birthday -- I really think this has been the fastest year. It really doesn't seem possible that a year has passed since we drove through the night and then held our baby girl for the first time when she was just hours old. I realize I didn't have to go through labor, but not sleeping for 40 hours is no piece of cake. :) Obviously, she has changed so much in a year but most of all, I cannot even begin to express how much more precious she has become. I truly cannot imagine my life without her and I am in awe of how God has "doubly blessed" us. I feel like there is so much I could share, and I was going to write a long post talking about her, but then I decided that I would instead maybe write her a letter to save for her. Not that I have a problem sharing personal things or my emotions, but I think it would probably end up being rather long. :) But I didn't want the day to end without me mentioning Happy Birthday to her and Happy first day of spring to the rest of you. And if any of you are in the area, here's an invitation to her birthday party next Monday. :)

And here's a picture that I took today of her doing mine and Daddy's new favorite face -- her scrunchy face. She does it when she is being silly or when we are playing something like Peek a Boo with her. She cracks us up everytime - and I do believe she knows how much we enjoy it and how cute she is. :)

Up to our elbows...

Yes, we are still pretty much up to our elbows in poop -- sorry for being descriptive, but ... oh never mind, most of you are mommy's you know what its like. Poor Amelia is still sick - but she is doing better in some aspects. She is actually eating now, which is a big plus. I took her to the doctor's on Friday and the verdict is....... she's fine. Ok, I don't think he meant totally fine, but she doesn't have any throat or ear infection. He said its probably a virus and maybe some teething on top which caused her not to want to eat. Thankfully, she doesn't have an infection, but I just wish there was more I could do for her. She's lost some weight and looks so skinny to me, but the doctor didn't seem too worried about that. Right now she is only 17 pounds, which being as long as she is looks even smaller to me. Pitiful -- so pitiful. :( The only funny thing was that at the doctor's office, he came in and started checking Amelia out and of course, she hated this. He put the stethoscope on her back and she was sitting there with her mouth wide open, tears coming down her face, but making no sounds. The doctor and I both kind of laughed and he said "Ok, now take a breath." :) I believe she is either going to be my extra emotional one - or just my drama queen. Along with everything, she has been SO clingy to mommy. She doesn't want daddy to hold her, feed her, etc. and if I leave the room she cries. Today, Kenny was trying to feed her some cereal while I got something else done and she was turned around in her chair crying after me, I went over and started feeding her and she was fine. Kenny said "How's it feel to be SO loved?" :) Thankfully, his feelings aren't really hurt. Oh, the other cute thing during this whole sickness is that she will cry for her teddy -- I'll be cuddling her and she'll say "te-ddy" until I go and get her little teddy bear for her -- how cute is that?! Keep her in your prayers still, I don't know how long this "virus" could last, but I hope she is over it soon, she definitely doesn't need to lose any more weight. And please pray that I will be able to find the right things to help boost her immunity, she just seems to catch things so easily. On a better note, the good news -- everyone else in the house is still healthy, Praise the LORD!!

Sickness and what nots....

Sorry, I've been rather absent from blogging lately. It seems like its been crazy busy around here -- I know, aren't we all?!? We were able to spend this past weekend at the beach with my family, but now that we are back Amelia is sick. Poor thing, she doesn't seem to have a very good immune system. Now that she is going to be one (in just a week!!!) I can hopefully give her some more things to try and boost her immunity. She has had a high fever, which will break a little, but she can't seem to get rid of it all the way. She has had diarrhea, threw up once, and won't eat. Yesterday, she ate a couple bottles -- although then she had diarrhea so its not really staying in her. This morning, she wanted to drink water, but then that's what she threw up and she would only eat a couple bites of cereal. My mom went and got Pedialyte for her, but she won't drink it either. I think she has a sore throat with all of this -- I kind of knew this might be coming because Kenny was feeling sick over the weekend with the sore throat, congestion, muscle aches and everything and now I am getting a bit of a sore throat myself. I've got an e-mail into the dr, but I'm assuming they will tell me to watch her and make sure she takes in some fluids today, etc but its probably some type of the flu virus. UGH! She is so pitiful this time, she just lays their in my arms. The good news is that Isabella isn't sick --- at all --- just the contrary, she's been extra active and not understanding that baby sister is sick. Isabella has never been sick, she gets colds every now and then, but she has never been sick so she really has no idea what it means to feel sick like baby sister is. I told her this morning that she had to be careful because baby sister doesn't feel good and she said "Yes, she does, she feels good!" :) Praise God that only one of them is sick! I hate to see Amelia sick, but I can't imagine having both of them this sick, so God is gracious to me! And I'm glad she is sick this week and hopefully she will be all better for her birthday party next week!

And now for a couple funny stories -- first of all while we were at the beach my nephew Garrett who will be 4 in May told my mom that he wanted a baby sister like Amelia --- he has a little sister, but he wanted one that was the right color, he wanted a brown baby. :) Not going to happen, but how cute is that?!

Yesterday, I got Isabella up -- of course the day she has gymnastics, she decides to sleep in alot :) - and as she was going potty, I was sitting in front of her and she pointed to my shirt. My shirt was kind of a tie dyed look with brown, turquoise, orange and white. Anyway, she pointed to a brown spot on the shirt and said so happily "BROWN!"...... "Like poop is brown!" I about lost it, but I tried to just say, "You're right", because I knew if I cracked up she would think this was funny and then repeat it somewhere else. :)

So, I might be absent a little longer. I do have a small memory card for my camera so I can take pictures again, so if everyone gets and stays healthy I'll post more pics soon.

New Design

Ok -- so its March and I'm just now getting around to changing my Christmas background -- instead I've put one up with a Christmas picture -- sorry. This background won't be staying long (I hope.) I actually had been planning on changing it a while ago. A friend just asked me the other day when I was going to change it, she said she thought that maybe since it was my blog I hadn't noticed it as much -- oh yeah, I noticed it, just hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it. Around Valentines Day, I was hoping to get a cute picture of my girls together so I could use that at the top -- no such luck. Amelia, although as smiley as she can be, when the camera comes out, she starts crawling toward me everytime. So I set it up, get the girls sitting down and then as soon as she sees me, here she comes. :) Then I actually got a cute picture of them outside 2 weeks ago, when for some reason my camera gave me this message "Card cannot be used" -- so now I am totally out of a camera because something is wrong with my memory card and I'm going to have to get a new one. Ok, not totally out of a camera, I still have 2 film SLRs, but what good does that do my blog! :) Frustrating!! Thankfully, I was able to get my pictures (about 600 of them) off of the card, but I can't use it in my camera and it won't let me format it. I'm hoping maybe someone can help me correct this problem, but if my card is shot, I guess I'm going to have to get a new one soon because I have someone's first birthday party is coming up soon!!! :) Anyway, maybe I'll start posting some old pictures until I get this fixed, until then enjoy this crazy mixed up purple design I've created.

Happy 11 Months Baby Girl!!

Amelia is 11 months old today!!! Only one month, which I'm sure will fly by, until she is 1 year old. She most definitely gets more precious (and adorable) every day and every morning when I get her out of her crib I feel like the Grinch where his heart grew two sizes, some how I feel like I love her more every day. Owlhaven did a good post in response to another blogger having this fear of not loving her second child as much as she did the first and I remember having those same fears. I remember after we got the call that her birthmother was in labor and then as we were driving through the night thinking "Are we crazy? How could I possibly have any more love, how could another little one come close to being as precious to me as Isabella, maybe we shouldn't have done this, maybe we should have stopped with one..... :) " Then I think about how we almost didn't have them show C our profile, we were afraid we were jumping into another adoption too quickly, maybe we should just wait. Then God just really tugged at our hearts and we had to say "Ok, Lord you're in control, if this child is meant to be ours, then You have C choose us and you will work out all the details." And now I'm so thankful how God worked things out and I can't imagine my life without her. She is such a sweet little baby who now makes me smile and laugh so much. Her little personality just cracks me up. And I don't know what it is about her, but I have to squeeze her and kiss her a hundred times a day at least! :) So many things I love about this precious girl...... I love the way she reaches up for me to hold her and how she will climb on top of me as soon as I sit on the floor with her. I love that she isn't as "tough" as Isabella, and although maybe a little dramatic, she loves to be comforted by mommy if she even slightly bumps her head. I love that even though she doesn't warm up to people easily, that she will always look to me for reassurance or hold on to me tighter when a new person talks to her. I love her beautiful eyelashes. I love the cute little wiggle she does when she is crawling and I love how she dances to music. I love her little giggle. I love how as soon as Daddy comes in from work, that she will automatically crawl to him or want him to pick her up. I love how she plays peek-a-boo, especially when she forgets to cover her eyes or won't have anything in her hands, but will put them over her head like she is holding up a blanket. I love her cute curly hair and her precious little lips. I love how she lets go while standing and makes this cute little face like "Look at me!" I love that in the top picture, she looks like she is happily reaching up to me, but in reality, this was what she was wanting.....

I love the way she loves that little bear and will giggle, squeal and smile every time she sees it. I love her, love her, love her!!!!

You were made perfectly to be loved - and surely I have loved you, in the idea of you, my whole life long. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Isabella's Valentine

Here's the picture of Isabella from yesterday. Daddy bought both of the girls stuffed animals -- without mommy even knowing about it. I think Isabella was pleased with hers. I thought it was sweet that Kenny did that since we all know that daddy's are a girls first love. :)

Little Ballerina

I had a quick little photo shoot with Amelia today -- got a few pictures that I just love, but this was probably my favorite. Maybe I'll post some of the other ones when I get a chance. She seemed to be quite content in her little tutu, so I think she's going to be a little girly girl as well. Hopefully I can get another tutu made so I can get pictures of both of my girls together in little tutus. I also tried to take pictures of both of my girls in "valentiny" clothes, but Amelia wouldn't cooperate for that one, but I think I got a cute one of Isabella. :) Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. My honey and I are going out to eat tomorrow night because a friend has volunteered to watch my girls. I'm so excited -- a night out with just my hubby!! My parents are watching my girls Friday night so we can do something with the teens so I knew I didn't want to ask them to watch the girls two nights in a row, so it was a huge blessing that she volunteered!!! Today was full of everything hearts for Isabella, heart pancakes and heart shaped banana pieces for breakfast, we made heart shaped sugar cookies for Daddy and Papa/Noni, then I hid a couple little presents around the house for her -- which she loves to find presents -- so it seemed like a good day, until we got to my parents and when they asked her if she got anything for Valentines Day, she said "I don't remember". Wow, lasting impression. So my feelings are a little hurt, but she actually isn't feeling good tonight so maybe that's what's wrong. Hope yours was full of love!! :)

Little girls need no excuse to wear a tutu

Just rambling

To begin with, just a couple days ago I was forced to switch to the new blogger, so as I signed on today to create a post it came up with comments that needed to be "moderated". All of these comments were from weeks ago -- what's up with that? I had been getting most of them in my e-mail, but I didn't get these. And like I said it was just this past weekend that I updated..... I'm so confused. Anyway, I'm sorry to those of you whose comments didn't get "published" until now. I wasn't ignoring you, I just never got the comments.

No pictures to post, but I am definitely going to have a couple little photo shoots with my girls the next couple days (maybe not today as they keep having runny noses) I've been slacking on doing that. And I definitely need to post a new picture of Amelia smiling because she (finally)has 2 teeth!! A few weeks ago, her two bottom teeth came in. She looks so cute --- no signs of any more coming in anytime soon though. She has been so funny lately, she likes to play peek-a-boo, which is nothing new, except if we sit on the couch and she is on my lap, she will lean over and bury her face in the pillow until I say "Where's Amelia" and then she will quickly pull up and look at me with her cute little grin. She also likes to do this to people as they open the car door, the other day Kenny opened her door to get her out and she flung her head around to look at me (at the other door) but I could see the little look on her face and I said "She's playing with you" and sure enough she jerked her head around to look at daddy. And of course, she thinks she's hilarious. She also likes to play peek-a-boo with those around us if we go out to eat. The other thing she did today was that for the past few days I keep trying to get her to say mama (other than when she is crying), but she always says da da and smiles. I kept thinking she was just trying to tease me and then today I found out that I was right. This morning, I went to get her out of her crib -- at the time she was saying Ba Ba (I'm not sure if it was for bottle or Bella) and I picked her up and she said "Ma..." squealed, kicked her little feet and buried her head in my chest. Honestly, it was just like "Oops I wasn't supposed to say that" It was so cute. She's become a little more social too -- she's actually been in the church nursery a few times and has done well. Today at Isabella's gymnastics class, she played with the toys and other kids on the floor rather than just clinging to me. The only time she freaked out was when she crawled down in front of some other mothers, looked up and realized they weren't me, then looked at the lady standing behind her thinking it was me and started crying, like she had lost me. Pitiful, but it does make me feel good. :)

And the good/bad thing from last week is that Isabella no longer is taking her daytime naps. I personally think she is too young to stop taking a nap, but we had been really struggling with her at night. We don't put her to bed really early, Kenny doesn't get home until 6:30, then we eat and I definitely don't want to just throw her in bed after dinner, plus she wouldn't have time with daddy that way. But we would start at 9:00, get her ready, brush her teeth, read, and she would be down by 9:30 ------ but not asleep until midnight!!! A couple nights, it seemed like a battle of wills, but other nights she would just be in there in bed wide awake trying to play with books, her stuffed animals, etc (nothing loud enough to wake up daddy, but mommy hears everything.) I don't understand it. At nap time, it had actually been easy, she'd go to sleep right away and sleep for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. And then in the mornings, it wasn't like she was waking up really late, she'd be getting up at 8:00 --- only 8 hours sleep for a 3 year old--- that doesn't seem right. Quite honestly, I was getting exhausted. I tried everything, giving her a nap earlier, we have a nightly routine to try to get her "ready to sleep", but nothing was working. So now, she has "rest" time, she has to go in her room, stay on her bed, but she can "read" her books or play with the stuffed animals/dolls. Then I set the timer and when it rings she can get up. Then at bedtime, she goes right to sleep and sleeps 12 hours!! She really doesn't get fussy if she doesn't have a nap, so that hasn't been a problem, the problem has been if we go anywhere late afternoon or evening, she ends up falling asleep in the car and then we are destined to have another late night. She seems too young to be outgrowing naps, but as long as she is resting and I get a little bit of quiet time, I guess I'm Ok with this. Plus, it definitely works better at night -- no more being in bed, drifting off to sleep, just to be woke up by hearing Elmo saying "Elmo loves you" as Isabella squeezes her doll. :) Did anyone else's little ones outgrow their naps at this age?

(Be forewarned, this is long) This time the last few years

The last few days hold a pretty big significance for us in many ways. Monday, February 2, 2004 -- we were able to leave California (very late) to fly home with our precious Isabella who was then 2 weeks old. We flew through the night and were home Tuesday morning, February 3, 2004. What a wonderful blessing to be home, our tiny little daughter was out of the hospital, we were no longer living in a hotel and we were finally able to share her with our family. When we got home, my SIL had a banner on the garage and balloons on the mailbox welcoming us. I remember my parents staying to watch Isabella while I slept a little. It was wonderful! It was also a funny memory, because I remember telling my parents "When you feed her don't feed her more than X amount, she may act like she'll keep eating it just because but she throws it up....." Sure enough, the fed her more than X amount and she spit up. Awww, my first "mama knows best" moment. :) The next few days were full of fun being able to share her and show her off to our friends and family. Fast forward to February 3, 2005 -- We, along with my parents, head back out to California to finalize Isabella's adoption. Yes, it had taken a whole year to get done with the post placement visits and then get a court date. We then finalized Isabella's adoption on the next day February 4th. What a precious memory!! Actually that whole trip is a precious memory. The finalization was wonderful and then afterwards we were able to head over to the hospital to show my parents where Isabella was born and where we spent most of our time for those couple weeks. We were also able to see the nurses (and God let the ones we wanted to see the most be there) that took such wonderful care of Isabella (and us.) That was a blessing, for us to be able to once again tell them how much we appreciate what they did for us and for them to see Isabella, 1 year later. Then last year at this time, we found out that we had gone through an adoption fraud (on so many levels). Sometimes I just say failed adoption, but it wasn't a failed adoption, it was a fraud. It actually starts before Christmas. Mid December 2005, we got on a plane and flew out to California. This time it was to meet our next potential birthmother. I had been talking to her on the phone at least every other day for over a month and she wanted to meet us in person. We flew out there and had a couple days of getting to know her. She was one of the easiest people to get to know. She was outgoing, loud, and very funny -- a bit rough on the edges, but fun nonetheless. We enjoyed our time with her, went out one day and bought some toys for her kids, and were able to buy her a few odds and ends and a coat as well since it was cold and she was never wearing one. (There is a reason I'm telling this part) On Sunday, we were going to meet her for breakfast, but then she wasn't able to, which in the long run was a big blessing for us. We took off that day and went to Sequoia National Park --- Kenny and I love being outdoors and we would love to visit as many National Parks as we could, so this was very exciting for us. We had a fun family day, took all kinds of pictures and I came back saying that was my Christmas present. Shortly after we got home, we got a call from our attorney saying that he got a call from someone out west that had another couple working with this same birthmother. In other words, she was working with us and another couple, getting her living expenses paid for by both parties. She had worked up a scheme with even the landlord to be able to do this. I was floored, I felt I had been stabbed in the back -- honestly I don't trust many people, I don't have the easiest time talking to people I don't know, but I was fine with her. Well, they did a conference call with me and the other couple and Andrea (the potential birthmother) to confront her on this and to let her know that we all know and see what her plans were next. This actually is a felony charge to do this. Anyway, she said she really was wanting to place the baby, chose us, took a good amount of verbal lashing from the other couple, but didn't flinch. She knew that she wasn't going to get any more of her living expenses paid for the next month from us, but she still wanted to press on. We continued our regular conversations and I tried to trust her as much as possible. She told us that she was wanting to fly out here to have the baby. We bought her a ticket to fly out here (a refundable one though), I talked to her one night, she was all set to come, the next morning I called her number and got a disconnected message. I called the airlines to see if she had checked in -- Nope. I then refunded my ticket, thanking the Lord that I had listened to Him rather than the secretary at the attorney's office in buying a more expensive, yet refundable one. So last year on the weekend of February 4th, we were supposed to have our second daughter, but God had other plans. Last year, this past weekend, Kenny and I decided to go to Nashville to take Isabella back to a Rainforest Cafe (that's where we took her in California for her finalization dinner) We wanted to get away and we wanted to celebrate her -- the precious gift that God had given us. My parents, my brother and his family decided to come with us and make it a family trip. It was great, we had alot of fun and it reminded me of what I have to be thankful for. Fast forward to this weekend, February 2007. The past whole week, I've thought alot about last year. Not just because of the adoption fraud, but because of other things that occurred after, I have no respect for the attorney we were working with, we stopped working with him, although I'm not sure if he even realized that, but he has never called us since. He was a Christian, I won't recommend him to anyone, but I also try to keep from becoming bitter. I know that God will be the one to judge his actions and I just pray that somehow God will protect others from getting hurt through him. But the main thing I've thought about is, Andrea -- where is she? Was she even pregnant? Does she have the baby? Does she think she got the best of us? Because she didn't, God hasn't revealed his reasons for putting us through that, but He has revealed that His way is perfect and that Amelia was His plan in our life. Has it caused us stress we weren't hoping for? Sure, we are definitely hurting more financially after losing the money to her and the attorney, but once again "My God shall supply all my needs." Did she keep the coat? Does everytime she put it on, make her think of us? Does she see our faces and the face of our precious Isabella and remember the kindness we poured on her? I hope so, I hope that somehow our lives touched hers, I hope somehow God used us in her life. So many times, my phone or someone in the store will go off with the same ring I had her number set to and I will think of her and wonder if she will ever try to contact us again. Although, the attorney supposedly sent an affidavit for her arrest (once again, a felony) I doubt he even did that, which bothers me because she will probably do this again to someone else just thinking she can keep getting by with this. But what has hit me recently is that honestly -- and I think my husband could agree with this one -- somehow nothing she did caused any bitterness in me, "somehow" I have forgiven her. I know that "somehow" is Christ. Quite honestly, I'm not that kind of person (none of us are) I don't like being "stabbed in the back", I don't like to be hurt, but once again God has brought about a peace that anytime I think of her, I feel sorry for her, but I don't hate her, I pray that God will bring her to know Him, I don't pray for bad on her. Two things hit me this Friday, mostly through this song by Casting Crowns (and this isn't even my favorite on the CD :)
Verse:
I will sing to the Lord
And I will lift my voice
For You have heard my cry
I will sing to the Lord
And I will lift my hands
For You have brought me out of the pit
For You have brought me out of the pit

Chorus 1:And I'll sing glory, hallelujah
I lift Your name on high
And I'll sing holy, 'cause You're worthy
I'll praise You with a dance

And I'll sing glory, hallelujah
I lift Your name on high
And I'll sing holy, 'cause You're worthy
I'll praise You with a dance
I will praise You with a dance
I will praise You with a dance

Isabella and I were dancing around the room and Amelia was sitting close to us just smiling and squealing. I danced over close to Amelia and she lifted her arms up to me that she wanted to be part of the fun. I had to choke back tears because it made me realize again how much I have to Praise God for!! That He didn't spare us from the trial or the tears, but He heard our cry and got us out of that pit. He heard our cry and gave us not one, but two beautiful little girls. And He has somehow given me something that is not of myself, to not have bitterness weighing me down, but to be able to Praise Him!! Its amazing and He is so worthy of all my praise!!

Snow Day

Thought I would share some pictures from our BIG snow storm we got. :) Ok, so it wasn't a storm and it was just barely snow, but still Isabella and Daddy had lots of fun this morning. Those of you from places where you normally get snow won't understand this, but when we get any kind of "snow", it normally turns to slush and ice rather quick (actually, we normally just skip over the snow and get ice storms) because of that and the fact that we southerners don't have any way to take care of the roads, things kind of shut down around here. Which is why Daddy got to stay home from work for a few hours and spend some time playing with Isabella in the snow. The lack of snowy weather is also the reason why Isabella is wearing a snow jacket that is closer to Amelia's size than hers. :) When Isabella got up this morning, we showed her the snow outside and she was so excited. She didn't even want to eat breakfast, I had to make her go potty and get dressed because she was ready to just go outside -- in her PJs. The first thing she said to me was "I need a carrot for his nose", she was already thinking up the great plan to make a snowman -- whom Daddy named "Melty" since that is probably what he is doing right now. Then Daddy got the sled out and they were able to sled down our little hill. She had so much fun (and Daddy did too!) Amelia and I didn't get in on any of the action. I would have bundled her up and taken her outside, but it was actually raining a little while they were out there playing and I didn't think she needed to be getting wet, especially with her little cold. I think she would have enjoyed it though. She and I stood at the door and watched as they were sliding down the hill and Amelia just squealed. Maybe later I'll sit her on the porch in the "snow" and get a picture of her first snowfall. :) After they were all done playing, they came back inside and I made them some hot chocolate and they sat by the fire -- what a fun wintery day. We don't get many of these types of days so we enjoy what we can!!

Dress Up!

This morning after breakfast, Isabella asked me to help her put her "princess" outfit on. She then gave me Dorothy's outfit and said "her wants to be Dorothy" -- so it was the first time my girls played dress up together. :) Then Isabella was so kind to say "baby sister is Dorothy, I'm the princess and you be the bad lady" (Maybe I should worry about how she views me as her mother. :) And then we went on to act out part of the Wizard of Oz. Although I will admit, "Dorothy" didn't hold up her end of the show, we got very few responses from her, none of which were her lines. It was fun for me to see a little glimpse of what the future may hold -- hopefully we will have many more dress up days!! Now if we could just get Daddy to project his head onto the wall so he could be the wizard........

What Jesus gave Isabella

Yet another funny "Jesus" story from Isabella. I hope I don't gross you out, but this morning, Isabella had a booger hanging from her nose, so I told her to "come here and let me get it." After I did, she said "Ouch Mommy, you hurt my nose" Me: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your nose" Her: "JESUS gave me my nose!" I guess it was worse that I hurt her nose since Jesus gave it to her. After stifling a giggle, I was impressed that my child was actually listening to me in Sunday School yesterday because we were talking about things that God gives us and what we can give to Him. I said "Yes, Jesus did give you your nose,...and your pretty hair,.... and your little lips..... what else did Jesus give you?" To which she responded "Boogers!" I couldn't stop laughing and she said "Silly Jesus." Her "honesty" made me think of the joy I get from my children and even from the silly things Isabella says. And just the way her little mind is thinking made me think of the joy God is getting from her as well because He is the author of all joy.