5 Months Home - 17 Months Old - Valentines Day - Happy CNY

We are still here...

Just have been settling in and enjoying life as a family!

Hope is coming along.  She is sleeping through the night. finally. and taking regular naps.  It took her a full 5 months to relax enough to sleep comfortably in our house.  It was a tough time... I'm so glad we have that behind us.

Now that she has met all her mobility milestones we are working on speech.  She can now say, Hi, Bye-Bye, Up, Down, Chris, Eat, Uh Oh and Woof!

We started signing with the girls just for fun and it is amazing how quickly they are picking up the language.  Kate signs, Eat, More, Milk, Please Bye- Bye and Hot.  Hope is signing Eat and More!

We are keeping busy cooped up most of the time indoors due to the cold temps here in Michigan but we have had enough lunch dates at the mall here and there to  keep us busy.

I have more to post on soon... I have pictures of our Meeting Eden and Valentines Day.

Next Saturday we are having a special Chinese New Year celebration so I'm sure I will have some pictures to post on that!

Halloween - Scrap Pages (Part Two)

Don't forget to peek below for more pics!

Halloween - Scrap Pages (Part One)

Our Halloween day had many stages!! Our day began with a trip to the mall for lunch with our cousins!!! I'm having so much fun digi-scrapping and learning new features of Photoshop every day!!

(Don't forget you can click on the pictures for a closer look at those sweet smiles!)

Slash and His Groupies!

(Click to view larger)

Chris' "No Smoking Commercial" Assignment!

Are you tired of people telling you not to smoke? Or are all the no smoking signs not giving you the big idea? Well, you shouldn’t be. If you smoke, you are actually putting all kinds of chemicals into your body.

• Here’s a list:
• arsenic (or rat poison)
• alfalfa (not the bad hair day)
• ammonia (toilet bowl cleaner)
• acetone (nail polish remover)
• carbon monoxide (car exhaust)
• formaldehyde
• hydrogen cyanide
• D.D.T.

Have you ever wondered why they don’t have ads for cigarettes, chew, or cigars on TV? It’s because they aren’t allowed to, it’s against the law. All these poisons are why.

Smoking causes lung, throat, stomach, and bladder cancer. Lung cancer is responsible for killing 1200 people EVERY day! Do you want to be one of these people?! A healthy lung is nice and pink, but a smoker’s lung is black, shriveled, charred, and disgusting. Tobacco also causes heart disease and strokes. Smoking is responsible for bad breath, yellow teeth, and 85% of lung cancer. It is even dangerous for your family, friends, pets, and everyone around you. In haling others’ smoke can cause lung cancer just as much as if you smoke. This is called second-hand smoking.

Since cigarettes contain nicotine, a highly addicting chemical, it is hard to quit. Two cigarettes are all it takes to become addicted. Because of nicotine, your body tells you that you need it. Listen to your body when it tells you you are thirsty or hungry, but not when tobacco is on your mind.

Smoking is deadly and the only reason for it is suicide; so please, no smoking. If you smoke, please ask your doctor about any ways to quit, with medications or gums. Have you always told yourself that winners never quit? Well, not now, quit, and you just might win.

(I just had to post this... One of Chris' best writing assignments to date. Chris is very passionate about this subject since he never met his grandfather and recently lost an uncle due to lung cancer)

The Danger of Caffine Addiction

Anyone who knows my Jim, knows how he loves his Diet Coke. I have weened him off of it here at home by simply not buying it anymore.

But.... he does know where to get it... below are pictures of his company car after leaving a bottle of Diet Coke in it on the coldest night of the season... Addiction can be a terrible thing...

We now lovingly call this vehicle the Slushy-mobile!!!

January Update - 22 Months

I just wanted to check in and say "Hello" to everyone who stops in here regularly. I can't believe I am still getting hits on my "Boring-not updated-sad about the wait" blog! I don't want to lose complete touch, so I am going to post monthly, around the time of our LID-iversary, (22 Months on the 22nd) until we get closer. My spirits have been high these past few weeks, I am focusing on the rest of my life and enjoying it!

Chris and Jim went on their Winter Camping trip with Boy Scouts last week-end. I spent time with girlfriends and sorting family photos. (last years New Year's Resolution!) Jim has been waiting and preparing for this camping trip for six months. It is the time where the boys can earn a Polar Bear patch. The only requirement: Stay outside for 24 hours in tempuratures below freezing. What????

As an All Girl - American Woman - I ask WHY??? The only answer I get is a sly smile with a twinkle in his eye.

So while I was bundled up in my flannel pajamas, in my king sized pillow top bed with sateen sheets and extra loft comforter, my baby was sleeping in the snow...

I pulled Jim aside as he was packing, and informed him that the only reason I was allowing Chris to go on this was because of him. That if my baby came home with frostbite or pneumonia, he would suffer beyond his wildest imagination. To this my husband, stared blankly, like a deer in headlights...

In the end... my son had the time of his life. He got to hang with 19 other boys, sleep in the snow, cook every meal for his patrol, have snowball fights, go sleding, share jokes and bodily functions and in the end, earn his Polar Bear! I don't think he's a baby anymore...

No frostbite, no pneumonia not even a sniffle but maybe a sore butt from that sled landing!

Blessings Overflow

In light of this month's devastating 5 day referral batch I am angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed with grief. I emptied Hope's room out today, packed up her little pink things and stripped the crib. The reminder of what may never be has become unbearable.

I keep reminding myself that I'm alright. That God is good and that I am blessed.

As I am typing this it is getting dark and bitter cold, after a beautiful day of sunlit snow. My house is cozy warm and we are enrobed in the smells from the pot roast simmering on the stove. Chris has the sniffles and is cuddled up on the couch with a new video game, relaxed and enjoying himself. Jim is on his way home from his first day back to work after 2 weeks vacation, I know that he is looking forward to a quiet evening after his long day and hour long drive home in the snow. There is something so comforting about settling in on a cold winter night. It is in these quiet moments that I can reflect on my blessings and thank God for all I have.

My cup overflows...My Joy is in the Lord

Merry Christmas Everyone!

12 years ago...

at 8:57 p.m. I became a mother. The begining of the most precious time in my life. How much he has grown. How much he has changed me...

Happy Birthday Christopher, I love you.