Christmas Letter 2009

If you look closely at this card, you may see the frostbite forming on our fingers and noses. We had our holiday pics taken on the coldest day possible in December. I know I've turned into a pansy, but it was only in the 30's that day. Since then temps have gone back up to the 50's and low 60's. That's more like it.

This year has been quite an exciting one. We started out in January trying to get approved to adopt again as soon as possible. After G's finalization and sealing in May of last year, I knew that we needed to be ready to adopt again, because there was another child coming to our family. I have to admit, I've always thought it was a little hokey when I'd hear of people that said they felt there was someone missing in their family, but that's exactly what it feels like. So, we were ready at the start of the year, but God had other plans. It seemed like every road block possible came up while we were trying to get approved. Finally in mid March, our case worker called us and let us know everything was ready and our profile would be available online for expectant parents looking for an adoptive family. She asked us first to make a paper copy of our profile that she could show to someone the next day that was coming into the office. So I scrambled to put pictures together and make them look nice and I took it over to their office. And then we waited, but not very long.

On April first our caseworker gave me the best early birthday gift I've ever gotten. She brought a birth announcement and letter from our daughter's birthmother. That night put us into motion for the next couple of months. We were so lucky to be able to get to know her and her family before the birth. They have been such a blessing in our lives.

Our daughter was born in June and she turned poor G's world upside down. He hardly knew what to think of her, but at least he was so busy doing and going and growing, that he didn't have time to be jealous of the new usurper in momma's lap. He's growing so fast. The beginning of the year, he was just newly walking and now he just runs everywhere. He has such a sweet disposition, he loves to be with friends and he now loves his little sister. When she is sad, he shares his woobie (blanket) with her and he helps her play her musical toys to keep her entertained. I love to watch him play with other children his age because he loves to share although I'm not sure where he got that from :)

Jared and I are so thankful this year to be surrounded by family and friends who we love. We hope that you feel the love of the Savior in your life as we have this year.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Catch Up

So raising 2 children is so much busier than I thought it would be... Sorry, I should be better about posting. I spend way too much time being exhausted lately.

Baby M is still perfect. She sleeps through the night like an angel. She is now going through some stranger/separation anxiety thing, though, so she makes it perfectly clear that she prefers to be held- all. the. time. I do love holding her, so it works out, but sometimes the nutrition level at dinnertime suffers. It is way easier to make ramen with one hand than it is to make pretty much anything else.

Fortunately, G still appears healthy enough that our pediatrician forgets that he has a heart condition every time he sees him (Hmm, has he always had this murmur?) And the cardiologist says everything still looks good and she'll see him in 6 months again. Which brings us to the first event I didn't blog about- G had his birthday! 2 years old now and so big it's crazy!

Such a character! Here he is savoring his cake

He is just so excited about all the presents that he doesn't know what to do with himself.

He is really making the effort to talk now, although most of what he says is akin to navajo code talking. He is VERY interested in the toilet- so much so that he flushed about $30 worth of makeup down the drain, the day I got it in the mail. Mommy had a come apart, Daddy held it together once he realized the plumbing was okay. It could be worse, right? We could be replacing plumbing, carpet, and so on. I'll say it again- I'm not looking forward to potty training.

On a more positive note, he has also rediscovered books. I found a book called "Waddle" which has animals that move when you turn the pages. It's really cool. He loves it and always asks for it first thing in the morning. His favorite toys are now books and we spend a lot of time each day picking up and putting away all his books.

Malihah has just turned 6 months!

She can turn over from her front to her back and from the back to her tummy, too. She is almost sitting up on her own. She is eating baby oatmeal every morning and now starting every night for dinner, too. She also loves to talk, saying dada dada dada every chance she has an audience. We are getting ready for our court date next week for finalization and are looking forward to early January when we will seal her to our family in the temple and have her baby blessing.

Check back soon, I hope to have the Christmas family update posted in the next day or 2.

Twice the fun

G and June bug had a great halloween this year. G really got into decorating his own pumpkin. We let him use magic markers for the occasion.

He wasn't really sure about sticking his hand inside the pumpkin when it came time to clean out the one we carved, but after a few tries, he finally got his hand in and pulled out some goop.

Very scary.

Jared and I then headed off to Africa on Safari. We found a lion cub and a baby giraffe that we just had to bring home. Surprisingly, they were easy enough to smuggle through customs.

Boy, that lion really got into collecting candy. I had no idea they could have such sweet tooths.

Our little June bug wasn't feeling so great over the weekend. She is getting her two front bottom teeth at the same time. So, here's a pic from earlier this month with her usually happy attitude.

3 Months Old

Our sweet baby girl is 3 months old now. She is growing so fast and learning every day. Her latest and greatest achievements include smiling and cooing, sitting up with support, sucking on her fingers and thumb and just this week she moved in with her brother.

These pics were taken in the Bimbo (with it cleverly hidden). I love it that I can take pics of her while she is sitting up now. And you can see her double chin, too- bonus!

G was amusing himself with the contents of the junk drawer while I was taking pics of June bug. If you click on the pic, you may be able to see the half inch cut at the end of his eyebrow. He and a friend were running around the front room and he sliced himself open on a pot that is supposed to go back to my stepmom. It seems to be healing well, which is good, because we wanted to avoid a second expensive ER visit this year (Jared's face is fine, now, thank you). G is just too fast for his own good.

Bouncing and Bimbos

Our Labor day weekend was lots of fun. We had Jared's parents here and went to Peach Days in Hurricane. G loved the bounce house.

We were sad to see the old folks go. It was nice to have them here.

June bug was introduced to the Bimbo today. She loved it- for a little while. It's nice to have a change in perspective sometimes. (the bimbo is an off-brand Bumbo. Jared named it)

Hits or Kisses

I went back to work 1 1/2 weeks ago and it went pretty well- I only cried once I got there and I only cried when I was by myself, so at least I avoided making a show of myself. Fortunately also I didn't have the sickest baby in the unit like I did my first night back after we got G. It would have been nice to take another month and a half off, but family finances being what they are, my paycheck is needed. I really do enjoy my work, so that is a good thing, and it seems I have been hogging our June bug all to myself, because it took me leaving for her to really get her daddy wrapped around her little finger.

Baby girl was looking so cute the other day, I thought I'd take some pics. She is more awake now and has started cooing and smiling which just melts my heart.

G man has a difficult time sometimes deciding what to do with her. He is really good for the most part. I think he steals her binky when I'm not looking. He doesn't get to have his, so why should she get one? It is hard to tell though, because she still spits it out quite a bit on her own. He doesn't hit her often, only when he's mad at me. Most of the time he just tries to kiss her. It's very cute. I wish you could see it, but G just gets interested in the camera when he hears it turn on, so once the camera turns on, the kissing stops. Here is what I did get, though.

I hope they will grow up to be the best of friends (as all parents do :o)).

One Month Old

Our June bug is now a month old. I still can't believe she's been here that long, but I suppose that's what happens when all your days run together. In honor of her first month's birthday, here are some pics. They may not be as professional as Dion's, but I think they turned out pretty good. I love that she is awake a bit more during the day and I was able to get her during one of those times. What a sweet baby she is! We are so lucky to be her parents!

BTW, I also tried to get pics of G, but he runs a lot faster than she does :o)

4th of July

I hope everyone had a great 4th of july. We are still recovering a little from our trip up to Salt Lake, but here's some of the highlights of our trip.

On Friday the 3rd we went to Hogle Zoo. We saw Lions and Tigers and Bears a plenty, but G-man's favorites were the snake he got to touch, the monkeys,

and the Elephants.

It was a really sunny day, so the inside of her car seat was all our June bug got to see, but she slept most of the time anyway. Here is G-man riding in style in the new double stroller.

Daddy and G riding the carousel. He looks very focused here, but he enjoyed it a lot.

The rhinoceros was okay, but Grampa's kettle corn was the BEST!

Here he is learning that it is best to let sleeping cats lie.

On Saturday, we spent the day with my sister in Provo. We went to the parade downtown, we had great parking and good seats and a good time. I won't bore you with pics of the parade, although Miss Utah did look phenomenal on her pig float. Baby M looked super cute with her patriotic outfit and her red bow brain-squisher and she was happy as long as she was being held.

G looked very patriotic too as an All American Boy

Later in the day we got together at someone's house that had a great view of the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. G and his cousin took the best seats early.

We set off lots of our own fireworks. This is June bug's close encounter with a sparkler.

The official fireworks were great, but the highlight of the night was G and his cousin and another almost two year old playing with poppers.

Beautiful Girl

We had pictures of our little June bug taken just 3 days after we brought her home and our photographer has posted some 'sneak peeks' on her website. You will want to check them out. They are so beautiful I cried. Here is the link

dionsenecaphotography.blogspot.com

Adjusting

It's been almost a week since we brought our little June bug home and there has been lots of adjusting around here. Jared now has the responsibility of helping G-man if he gets up in the middle of the night. I have primary mothering responsibility for June bug and am trying to meet the needs of a newborn and a busy toddler. Even G-man is adjusting to being a big brother. Some things have been easy. Somehow he knew instinctively that the new pink binkies were hers and not his. He only needs gentle reminders to be 'soft' with her. But today I found him in an interesting place.

I guess it's been hard for him to give up some of his old toys. Who can really blame him, though? It's never easy to find out the world doesn't just exist for only you.

Little Angel has arrived home

Wanted to make a quick post....This is Jared.
Mom is worn out from taking care of the new little one the last 2 nights at the hospital and has retired for the evening. But asked if I would load a picture of our little Angel that came home with us tonight. Gillie has so much to share about this wonderful event, I don't want to detract from her thoughts and beautiful words. So here is a picture and stats on the blessing that has become part of our lives! I'm sure her little face will show up here a few more thousand times in the next few months, so this is just the beginning.....

Baby on Her Way

It looks like today may be the day our baby girl is born. Our birthmom is in labor and Jared and I are just hanging out at the hospital in the NICU breakroom. G is at home with grandma- hopefully taking a good long nap. I will let you all know when I have any announcements to make.

Summer is Here

Southern Utah is officially HOT.  We go to the splash park a lot and try to go to the pool when we can.  The first couple of weeks of June  G and I will be doing mom and Tot swimming lessons as long as the baby holds off until her due date.  So in the meantime, on the days we can't get to the splash park, I got a little sprinkler pad for the back yard.  We played outside this morning before it got too hot and G had a ball.  He even let me get a few close up pics.

Easter Weekend

Here we are at the park before the rain started.  We ate at the pancake breakfast before the easter egg hunt.

G was not really keen on waiting for the countdown to start.

It didn't take much time for him to figure out the drill- Pick up candy...

Put candy in the bag.

After the hunt, we picked up G'ma and G'pa and drove to the Clark County Fair.  G especially loved all the animals.

I think we may be raising a cowboy.

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend!

Too Lucky for Words (but I'll write some anyway)

Just a little update for you all.  We met with our new birthmother yesterday.  She and her mother came to the agency to meet Jared, G, and I.  It went really well.  Jared said he was just as nervous as when we met Michaelene.  I was okay because I felt like I knew a little bit about what to expect.  Garrison was pretty good during the meeting, even though he doesn't feel really well.  She and her mom are really sweet and they seem very excited about the adoption.  She is 16, really pretty and quite mature for her age.  Her mom reminded me a little of my mom.  She is a convert to the church and she is very protective of her daughter.  I would tell you all more, but she lives locally here and nobody knows she's pregnant, and she'd like to keep it that way until she's ready to talk about it.  Both she and her mom knew we were the couple they wanted once they looked at our profile, but her mom waited until she had picked us to say anything.  All I can say is that I feel really blessed and lucky right now.  I don't really feel worthy to be so lucky, but I'm not complaining.  I just know there are a lot of really great couples waiting for children through adoption.  I am just so grateful that God sees fit to bless us with another child so quickly.  And lucky us that we get to have Michaelene, this new girl and their families become part of our family, too.

I am excited to have a little time to prepare for the arrival of our little girl, too.  She is due June 12th, so we have just over 2 months.  I have been invited to come along for the next doctor's visit, too.  I'll have to mind my P's and Q's so I don't get myself uninvited ;o).  

Lots of Growing Going On

The other day I caught G reading the morning paper.

He may be more advanced than I thought...

We are working hard to get the garden boxes together so I have a place for all the little seedling plants that are taking over the kitchen.  G wanted in on the action.

Notice my domestic prowess extends to power tools as well.  I only had to ask Jared once why I couldn't get the drill to go into the wood (it was spinning the wrong way).

Did I tell you he is smart?  He's getting so good at helping, sometimes too good.

Now the big news.  Jared and G came to my work to visit on Monday night with our social worker.  Here we are checking out the ultrasound pic of our soon to be little girl!  Jared felt the need to document for posterity.  We are super excited that we have been picked so quickly and we are looking forward to meeting our new birthmother on friday.  We will keep everyone posted on developments as they come.