Here Comes Trouble

Baby June bug learned to crawl yesterday, so I quick grabbed the camera and threw down a few cheerios to get her to do it again and this is the result. Today she didn't need any more incentive to crawl across the kitchen besides the siren song of the dog water bowl. She's already trying to pull herself up on things, so I'm sure walking will happen faster than we want it to :-)

Photography Exhibit

Garrison is fascinated by the camera. Not so much about having his picture taken. Last week I let him take pictures all by himself and this is what we got...

Pictures as Promised

We just received the pictures we took the day Malihah was sealed to us, so here are a few of my favorites









I tried not to duplicate the ones Dion published on her website, so you should head over to her site, too.
Here's the link
http://dionsenecaphotography.blogspot.com/2010/01/forever-family.html

Note to Self:

Play ring around the rosies more often.

Today at church the ladies got out of classes before the men. This never happens. Think about it- you know why: women just have more words to use each day. Usually Jared and G are just waiting for Relief Society to finish so they can gather me and June bug and all our stuff up so we can go.
But somehow today I got out of the room quickly and headed down an almost empty hall with June bug towards the nursery to pick up G. I peered through the door window and tried to stay out of sight as I watched ten two-year-olds playing ring around the rosies with their nursery leaders. Every single one of them had sheer delight on their face. Unadulterated and completely undisguisable as they all fell down. I took a moment and walked in to hold his hand and play it one more time.

A mother's heart has never been lighter.

Thank you Owen and Angie and Derek and Tomi for being such great nursery leaders. I know it's not easy to give up your own opportunity to participate in gospel classes to watch other's children, but it is so wonderful to know my son is enjoying learning basic gospel truth in a fun environment. You have blessed our family so much.

Sealing Day II

What a day! She is all ours, forever and ever! We had our baby girl sealed to us today in the temple and everything went so well. I finished her dress yesterday- it turned out so cute! Both she and G were very good for the babysitting temple workers. I was nervous about how she would do without me, since she is very much a momma's girl right now, but she didn't cry at all when I left her with them. I didn't even have time to worry about G until Jared and I were sitting in an adjacent room prior to the ceremony and I realized,

I just brought a TWO YEAR OLD into the temple!

Of course by then it was all too late and if he was going to be irreverent and run screaming around, it would happen, right? Fortunately, it didn't happen. As we sat in the room amidst family and friends, they brought in my two children, dressed in spotless white, no drool or Kool-aid stains anywhere. G ran straight to me, but was happy to sit on G'ma Judy's lap and June bug came in smiling ear to ear. I think she knew we were all there for her. She smiled the entire time and everyone was in love with her.

I am so grateful for the chance I've had to be mother to my two babies. The families they were born into are special to me because of the gift and sacrifice they've given. I am grateful to be a member of a church that believes that families can be together forever and that God designed it that way.

What a day :)

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.