Now I Feel Bad!!

I have a few people that I work with that read my blog. I've found out from two people who have had babies in the past year that they didn't receive a blanket either. So, maybe it wasn't just me!!!!

But, now I feel bad. My mentor reads my blog, and immediately went out and ordered a blanket for Alex. Now that I found out that some of my co-workers didn't get a blanket either, I feel terrible!!

I should have just kept my mouth shut!!

Here's an old picture of Alex. I still have to download some more pictures - and I need to take more!! I'm horrible at taking pictures.

It's a Small World After All

This story is just wild, and I'm still amazed over it.

The other day, I was reading Crystal's blog. She talked about going to Toledo for a bridal shower. I grew up very close to Toledo. As I went to comment, I noticed that someone named Bekah commented that she also lived close to Toledo. I had seen Bekah comment on other blogs that I read, but had never checked out her blog or profile. (I have too many blogs to keep up with as it is!!)

I decided I was going to check out her profile and contact her to find out where she lived.

Imagine my shock when I pull up her profile and see that she lives in Archbold. People - that's my hometown!!!!! I about fell off of the couch!!!!

Needless to say that we have been emailing and just talked on the phone for about an hour.

The connections we have are amazing. (although not surprising since Archbold only has about 3500 people in the whole town) I was in the band with her older brother, her husband works with my mom's best friend's son, and the little brother of my best friend growing up is the person that introduced Bekah to her husband.

Bekah and her husband are waiting to bring their precious little girl home from Guatemala, and I'm so glad I found her!!

(So - Thanks Crystal - I owe you one!!!)

I Think I'm Overreacting

Something happened last week to me at work and I can't get it out of my head. I think I'm overreacting, and I hope by writing it down I can get over it!!

(if you read this, and work with me, please don't say anything to anyone about this)

I need to start by saying that Jay and I have been blessed with incredible support for our adoption by friends, family and co-workers. We truly are VERY lucky. I've heard many of you (and many on the a.com forum) talk about the non-support from various people. If anyone was against this adoption, they certainly didn't let me know about it.

My company/boss has also been very supportive of my adoption. Our company doesn't offer maternity benefits for adoption (just FLMA) but they do offer $5,000 in adoption assistance.

So, saying all of that, I can't believe that the following bothered me.

Another co-worker of mine just had a baby last week. We had just gotten all of the specifics (day she was actually born, height, weight, name) and someone mentioned that we needed to get the information to P. in HR so that the company could send the blanket. I asked what blanket were they talking about. They said that our company sends a baby blanket personalized with the baby's name, and date of birth to the hospital after a baby is born.

I never got a blanket.

Ok - now that I've written it down it sounds stupid. Alex certainly doesn't need a blanket, and it's really not a big deal. But - when they told me that, my heart just sunk. I had a baby - I just wasn't in the hospital with him.

Alright - I'm over it. :)

(and I don't have any new pictures - I'll take some today - I promise!!)

He's Growing Up!!

My little guy is growing up and I don't think I like it!!

He has pretty much grown out of his 9 month clothes!! We are on to 12 month stuff now. All of his clothes are now "big boy" clothes - no more cute one piece outfits that make him look like a baby. He's eating more and more big people food - and he loves to feed himself. We have the gates up (thanks Holly!) and he is moving all over the place.

And the kicker.....


He's now too big for the baby carrier. :( When we went to the doctor, he weighed in at 19 lbs 12 1/2 ounces! Jay just took the carrier base out of the cars, and installed the convertible car seats. Its makes me sad that he's growing up so quick. He'll be 11 months a week from tomorrow!! Where did the time go??

Spring Has Sprung

It's about time!!!

The weather here is beautiful - sunny and in the upper 70s. The grass is turning green (thanks to lots of rain we've had in the last week). There are baby cows and baby horses out in the fields. The trees are starting to bud out. The birds are back. I can open the windows on the house.

I love it!!! My favorite part is seeing the baby farm animals everywhere. There is nothing cuter than a calf or foal out in the field with his/her mama.

Happy Spring everyone!

Some Pictures

I haven't posted any pictures of Alex for quite awhile! Here are some from the past couple of weeks.

Alex LOVES to take the DVD cases and stack them on top of the receiver.....

Take them off......

Stack them again......


And then put them along the side. He's very serious when he is doing this work. I'm sure it all makes sense to him!
Here's the book we got from Alleen as a SBP gift. Alex LOVES this book!!!

I'm going to read this book all the way through!!

Thank you Alleen and Gabriella!!!!

This was my first attempt at keeping Alex in our family room.

All it did was teach him how to stand up.....

......and cruise!!

If you lay on the floor in our house....

...you will get mugged by the cat! Alex LOVES Lucky. Lucky thinks Alex is pretty cool. They are really funny together.

Here's Alex eating his first Girl Scout Cookie. We now have to hide them because if he even sees the box he freaks out. (and we had ravioli for dinner that night, can you tell??)

Do you think I need to teach him how to drink from a straw?? :) He's actually gotten really good about drinking from his sippy cup!! Yeah!!

And now for his latest......

Yes...he's walking with his little walker thing. this was the first night he was doing it (which is why you see parts of me in the pictures) He's now so good at it he can even turn himself around. I predict he will be walking independently by his first birthday!

Gates Anyone??

Alex is officially mobile - not walking on his own - but with his walker!!

We desperately need to get some gates up around the house. There are just too many to choose from!!! I'm so confused.

Pressure mounted? Hardware mounted? Plastic? Wood? With a mommy/daddy gate? Does price matter?

We have three places we want to put a gate up right now. One in our hallway, one to separate the family room from the kitchen and one on the stairs.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Anything I should stay away from?

Yikes!!!

(and we are starting to feel better - I'm still pretty wiped out - but Alex is better)

We're Sick...Again

What a weekend!!!

Jay stayed home from work both Thursday and Friday (which is very rare for him). He was running a fever, and finally went to the doctor on Saturday - Bronchitis

Alex started getting stuffy on Thursday, was pulling at his ear, and had some white spots in his mouth. I took him to the doctor today - Ear Infection and Thrush

I have a horrible upper respiratory infection. I haven't been to the doctor yet. I haven't really been running a fever - just stuffed up, and feel miserable. I ended up staying home from work today.

My parents were here Saturday and Sunday - my dad headed home on Sunday, and my mom is staying until Thursday morning. I'm glad she's been here as it's allowed me to take some naps.

Yuck - yuck - yuck!!!

(and thanks to everyone for your sweet comments to my last post. I too hope that Guatemala settles down in the future. And for all of you that are starting out - my thoughts and prayers are with your families. I hope you get your babies home soon)

Are There More Out There?

I haven't been able to sleep lately. I had insomnia really bad during Alex's adoption. I've been trying to figure out what my problem is.

I think I've figured it out.

I want to adopt another baby from Guatemala. By itself, this wouldn't seem like a big deal. I always thought that we would adopt again - someday. I thought maybe we'd wait a few years and then start again. (maybe for a little girl)

Adoptions in Guatemala are very much up in the air right now. The DOS is even suggesting that people shouldn't start adoptions from Guatemala. There is going to be a lot of changes going on in the near future, and no one knows what that is going to mean. Here's a link to the latest from the DOS.

http://www.guatadopt.com/archives/000600.html#000600

I think I might be grieving. I feel like I'm losing a child. It's the weirdest thing as we are in NO WAY ready to start another adoption. (financially, emotionally, physically, etc.) I just have this feeling that I may not have an opportunity to adopt another child from Guatemala and that makes me REALLY sad.

Pray for me....I need to figure out where God is leading me right now. I know his plans are bigger than mine. I need to trust in Him.

Oh - and I haven't talked to Jay about any of this, so keep your mouths shut!!! :)

Bad Blogger

I can't believe how bad I've been lately. Actually - I can - we've been really busy!!

Friday night, Alex went with me to Bunko. :) Poor guy!! He was wonderful (as usual!)

Saturday we went swimming with Michelle, her three kids, Tami, and two of her four kids. Alex had fun, again. Michelle, her kids, Alex and I (and Megan) then went to visit our friend Cindy's house (Megan's mom) to take Megan back home (she spent the night with Sarah Friday night). We miss Cindy!! Her family moved a little further away recently to be closer to Gary's job. We had a great time. (It was my first time to see their new house)

Here are some pictures from our day at Cindy's.

Here are "the boys." Zach (16 months), Alex (10 months), and Josh (19 months)

Here's the whole gang. Sarah (6) with Zach, Tyler (8) with Alex, and Megan (I think she's 7!!) with Josh.

I can't begin to explain the emotion I had on Saturday. As you can tell from above, the older kids are close in age. Then Cindy and Michelle got pregnant while Jay and I were TTC. I was so happy for them, but it was very hard on me. I saw them getting ready to have their boys - so close in age - and here I was still with no kids. They were already doing stuff together with the older kids, and I really felt like I was going to be passed by again.

Then - 6 months to the day that Zach was born, Alex was born. And here I was - with my two good friends, watching our little men "playing together," and it was everything I had hoped for. (ok - I'm crying right now writing this)

I know that some of you understand where I'm coming from. It's moments like Saturday that make me realize what a hand God has in everything. Alex came to us at exactly the right time - exactly. We are just so blessed.

Alex Goes to Washingtion

Ok - maybe not Washington - but Frankfort, KY (the state capitol).

Alex and I went and spent the day with Jay at the Kentucky State Senate. Of course everyone thinks he's the cutest and best baby ever. (and of course they are right!!)

Alex was introduced on the floor of the Senate by our State Senator. Jay's going to try to get a digital copy of the video, and there were a couple pictures taken that I'll post as soon as I get them.

What I didn't know is that Alex was named an honorary page for the day. Pages are usually elementary/middle school kids that come and spend the day with a Senator or Representative. They get introduced, they get a nice certificate, and get to see how the legislator works. They usually get to sit in their legislators seat for part of the session, and may be asked to "run errands" for the legislator. (get water, take a note to another member, etc.) I didn't know that they were going to make Alex a "page." We are going to take his certificate along with the picture that was taken and frame it for him.

He has no choice - he lives in a political family!! He better get used to it now.

Alex also has his first girlfriend. Alex is in love with one of the girls that Jay works with. He lights up when she walks in the room, and he giggles, smiles and flirts with her like you would not believe. She thinks he's pretty cute too, but I think the 21ish year difference might be a problem. :)

Here he is in his "froggy" towel that he got from Aunt Jamie and Uncle Chris.

Our Lunch Date

Alex and I had a lunch date yesterday with a fellow blogger. I recently discovered that Lori lives very near to me. So, she and I (and Alex) met for lunch yesterday. It was wonderful to meet her and hear about her journey. They are waiting to bring their son home. (I got to see pictures, and he is ADORABLE)

Now we can't wait until he is home so Alex has even more people to have play dates with!!

Thanks Lori - we had a great time.

I Need Your Help

I've got two things I need your help with.

1. Jay goes to a couple conferences every year, and I usually go with him to at least one. We then turn it into a mini vacation. (for example, one year we went to San Francisco for his conference - rented a car - drove through wine country - the mountains - ended up in Reno where we spent a couple of days)

We've decided that Alex and I are going to try to go with him to one of his conferences again this year. I think I know which one I want to go to, but thought I'd get your opinions. The choices are:

a. Boston
b. Philadelphia
c. Williamsburg

What do you guys think? (I'll let you know my choice later!)

2. I'd like to start planning (so we can start saving) for a vacation for just Jay and I. I'm thinking sometime next late spring (Mayish) or later. (Jay can't go anywhere from after Thanksgiving until about the end of April) We don't have tons of money to spend, and I think we would like to stay in this hemisphere. Any thoughts? It doesn't have to be exotic - just nice for the two of us. Cruises are out - Jay refuses!! We aren't outdoorsy types (I mean the hiking kind) but we like to look at pretty outdoors stuff!

I can't wait to hear what your thoughts are!!

Happy Birthday and my SBP

Yesterday was Alex's 10 month birthday. I can't believe he is 10 months already. It won't be long before he is celebrating his first birthday. That's just not possible!!!

Yesterday was just more proof that Alex is very laid back. I had a meeting in Frankfort, so the plan was that I was going to drop Alex off with Jay while I had my meeting. Most Friday afternoons are pretty easy for Jay. They were still in session when we showed up (which I didn't expect) so I had to haul Alex over to the capitol (where Jay proceeded to show Alex off to everyone). They we had to go back over the annex where Jay and I got something to eat. I then ran off to my meeting. Alex played in Jay's office, until Jay had a meeting at which point some of his co-workers watched him.

By the time I got back there, it was 4:00 and he hadn't had his afternoon nap!! He was as pleasant as ever. He didn't fuss at all. I gave him a bottle, and he was asleep in 2 seconds. We are SO lucky to have this little guy!!!

Then I get home, and my SBP struck again. We got another cute spring/summer outfit for Alex, and a great bath book. Alex has been reading/chewing the book constantly since I took it out of the package.

Thanks SBP!!! You've done TOOOOO much!!!

Alex Eating

For some reason, the latest group of pictures I took are all of Alex eating. I'm not sure what that means, but it probably means something. :)


Ok Mommy, what are going to feed me today?

You call this cheese? Let's see........

Um....I'm not so sure about this mom!

Oh, wait....maybe I do like this.

Ummmm......let me stick my tongue out at you!!

He LOVES cheese. He usually wants to have it with every meal. I guess it's getting some protein in him.