I have much to post about with Christmas and I still need to post pictures of our apartment. But I wanted to post now about the end of 2011 and looking towards 2012.
We had a really great 2011. It was full of many changes, but so far most of them have been very good changes.
I'm grateful for all of the life-lessons I've experienced and am still experiencing this year. Some have been really hard on me, still are, but hopefully there will be something to learn at the end of it all.
I'm grateful for my children who continue to grow and learn everyday. They are such good boys, sweet and tender... and a little feisty. ;) But I'm so grateful that they know how much I love them and I'm so grateful to have their love.
I'm so VERY grateful for an amazing husband. He is so amazing with me. Always willing to listen, give advice, let me cry on his shoulder, provide, help raise our kids, helps around the house... etc. He is more than I could have ever hoped for and definitely more than I deserve.
Onto a brand new year... 2012! I have a feeling and hope that it's going to be an amazing one. I have many things I'd like to accomplish this year, so I'm writing them down and hopefully will check up on them to see how I'm doing.
1. Always on the top of my list, bring another child into our family... in whatever way possible.
2. Find Ryan a full-time job
3. Move out of state
4. Get into a home... and I'm okay if we're renting it. It's a bit too much to buy a home right after moving out of state. We want to make sure we like an area before we buy a home there.
5. Get some kind of schooling done. I would really like to do the EMT program at the DATC and I hope we can come up with the money for me to do that.
6. Go to Disneyland. :)
7. Spend lots of quality time with Ryan and my boys.
8. Get a job.
9. Laugh a lot.
10. Be happy and content with whatever comes our way.
That's a pretty hefty list of goals. I'm not expecting to accomplish them all, but I hope to at least be working my way towards them.
Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Darek and Ian's Adoption Story - Part 2
So I didn't intend it would take 2 weeks to get to part 2, but I'm finally sitting down and have a little while to write the rest of it out. So here it goes!
I remember walking through the airport with Alice and feeling very much dazed. I couldn't imagine that this was all real. We were very sleep deprived but the excitement was keeping us awake. The nerves started to set in for me. I had no idea what to expect. Even though we had some details, there were a lot of other questions and worries I suddenly had. How big are the boys now? Are we going to be seeing and talking to the birth mom? Am I going to see them and love them like I loved Alex? I hadn't questioned this before because I didn't think I'd have issues with that with all the foster kids we'd had over the years and knowing how much I loved each one of them. But this was different. These weren't my siblings, these boys were my children. I remember shaking in the car ride over to the hospital. Alice told us we were going to go over to the first hospital - Norfolk General to see Baby A. After we were done there, we'd walk next door to the other hospital - Childrens Hospital of the Kings Daughters (CHKD) to see Baby B. I tried to enjoy the scenery, since this part of VA was a place we'd never been before. But I don't remember really caring about that.
We finally got to the hospital and checked in. We went up to the NICU in that hospital. Even though Baby A was doing fine, he was still being kept there because of his size. We had been told that he would still be on a feeding tube and we'd need to learn how to use that before we left. We got to the NICU, washed our hands, checked in and went in to see him. I remember the layout perfectly. We went around a little corner and there he was, laying in his crib. My first reaction was the shock at his size. He was the tiniest baby I had ever seen! And he was double what he was at birth! Then I looked into my sons face. He was so beautiful. He had the softest, curly hair and the sweetest little chubby cheeks. How in the world could a baby so small have chubby anything!?! He had big, beautiful brown eyes that looked right up at me. I was in love. Plain and simple. This little boy was ours. I was his mom. After Ryan and I had looked at him, it only took a few minutes to decide that Baby A was Darek. I had wanted to see them both before deciding for certain, but I was 99% sure he was Darek. I was expecting wires and tubes, but he didn't have any of that. I asked the nurse about the feeding tube and she told me that he got sick of it a few days ago and pulled it out and had been taking bottles just fine. I was in awe that this tiny little guy who still wasn't supposed to be born for another month and a half was this perfectly healthy baby boy. I wanted to scoop him up and take him with us right then, but there were still tests they had to do to be sure he was ready to leave. So we said goodbye temporarily to him so we could go meet his brother.
It felt like this crazy maze going out of the 1st hospital over to the 2nd and I swear it was an hour before we got there, although I'm sure it was just minutes. Alice had told us that Baby B was not doing as well, but that he really just needed more time. I was a little more nervous to see him because I wasn't sure how he would look or how severe the problems were. But as we got closer to the NICU at CHKD, all of the worries seemed to go away. We had to check in at the front desk before heading back. The secretaries there were so wonderful as we told them who we were. We were told what room and bed he was in. We got to the room and had to wash our hands really well. I'd like anyone to try and stand there and wash their hands for the full 2 minutes, when your baby is just out of sight right from you. It's nearly impossible. But I managed to get through those few minutes and head back to his incubator. There were probably a total of 10 babies in each section and I remember looking at them as I headed back to my baby. He was the last one in that row, right next to the window. As soon as I saw him, I had the same feelings I had with Darek. I knew so quickly that he was my son. I felt like I already knew him. It was such an amazing feeling. And as soon as I looked at his face, I was totally positive about the names. He was most definitely Ian! I wasn't as bothered by all the wires and tubes as I thought I would be. I just focused on his beautiful little face. He features to me were softer, sweeter almost. He was asleep when we got there. We opened the holes to the incubator and put our hands on him. Again, he was so tiny. He had the softest hair with the most beautiful curls. The nurses gave us some information that I didn't understand even a little bit. But they told us that he was the sweetest baby in there. He was always so good and they loved to come sit with him. I can't remember how long we were there with him, but it didn't feel like very long before we left to go eat and talk about signing papers.
We went to the cafeteria and ate. All of a sudden I started to feel a little tired. After we ate, we found a little quiet area in the hospital and sat down with Alice and signed the adoption papers. She mentioned that there was still a certain time period that Beatrice (our birth mom) could change her mind, but assured us that she was sure that wouldn't happen. We got a little bit more information about Beatrice and found it interesting that she already had 2 little girls and was 20 years old. We asked if we'd be meeting her, but Alice said she wasn't really interested in meeting us. We were a little sad but were okay with whatever she thought would be best for her. We went through the enormous stack of paper work and signed our names a million times.
After we were done with the paperwork and feeling like everything was official, we headed back over to Norfolk General to get our baby Darek. We got over there and there was still so much to do. They hadn't done his car seat test, which was going to take a while. He still was hooked to monitors and needed to be dressed still (which I couldn't wait to do). So as we waited, I took a little time to step out and call a few people, including the people we were going to be staying with in VA. We had been bugged all day by excited family members, but there hadn't been much time to call or update people. It was getting to a point where everything was just taking so long. Alice was getting quite impatient (not that I could blame her) and was more than ready to leave. She suggested we just leave for the night and come back tomorrow for his release. WHAT?!? Oh no, I don't think so! We were so excited and had come so far, I wasn't going to leave my baby at the hospital, when I knew I could wait just a little longer and have him come home that night. So we waited. After everything finally came through and we talked to the doctors and nurses about appointments he would need in the next few days, we finally got Darek dressed, in his car seat and left the hospital. It was an incredible feeling! Alice pulled her car up and we loaded him in.
Now another bunch of nerves set in. We were going to be staying with a family in Chesapeake whom we had never met. We had originally thought we'd be staying across the street at a Ronald McDonald house, but found out they wouldn't let us stay there with an infant. So stupid. So a social worker had gotten word out in the area, through the church about our situation. And this amazing family had stepped up and agreed to take us in for the time we were here. We didn't know much about them, just that they were amazing to let us come stay. When we arrived at the Hunter-Holmes, we were brought in with open arms. And immediately, I felt like I had known this family for years. The family consisted of Steve and Pam and their kids Maya (who was 7 or 8), Avery (who was a month older than Alex - 5) and Ian (complete coincidence who was a few months old). They were all so excited to see Darek and had a hot dinner ready for us to eat, even though it was so late. They showed us where we would be staying and I think I stayed up for a few hours just talking to Pam. On top of having 3 kids, she was also the Relief Society President. I was amazed at the generosity of this family and will always feel in debted to them, in more than one way.
The next day we went back over to CHKD to spend more time with Ian. We took little Darek over with us. Because Darek wasn't allowed back in the NICU, Ryan and I had to take turns going back. They told us that Ian was doing really good that day and we could hold him that day. Because Ryan was going to leave the next day, I told him to take this special time with Ian. I stayed out with Darek and got to meet some wonderful people. The chaplain they had there, Chaplain Reggie, was amazing. We told him our story and he was in awe that we would do this. And of course we felt so privileged. He was in love with Darek and offered to sit with him for a little while so I could go back with Ryan and Ian. I'm so glad he did, because we got some wonderful pictures while we were back there together. We spent several hours there that day and had some wonderful time with Ian.
The next day Ryan had to leave. He left very early in the morning. Darek and I drove Ryan to the airport and said goodbye. It was so hard saying goodbye and I knew how difficult it would be not having him there. Over the next week, things were crazy! I tried to get to the hospital to see Ian as much as possible, but it was so hard with not being able to take Darek with me. Pam was nice enough to watch him when she could, but I also had several doctor appointments I had to take Darek to in the mean time. It was a very hard week. I did get to take a day and go with the Hunter-Holmes family to the Norfolk zoo. That was so much fun and a very needed break. Finally the day came for me to leave and go home with Darek. I went to the hospital that morning and spent some time with Ian. It was so hard to leave. I said goodbye to him, and kissed him. As soon as I left the room, I broke into tears. It was such a difficult thing to do to leave him there. I went back to the house, finished packing up our stuff and Pam took me to the airport. It was almost as difficult saying goodbye to her too. But I was also so excited to get home to Alex and introduce him to one of his new baby brothers.
I flew from Norfolk to Houston and had a 4 hour layover there. It was fun walking through the airport there with this teeny little baby. There were many people that literally thought I was holding a baby doll. It was fun to meet new people and share our story. Darek had some kind of stomach bug on our leg home from Houston and must have pooped 6 or 7 times. I spent most of that flight in the bathroom changing his diaper. And I almost ran out of diapers because I thought 7 diapers would be more than enough for a couple hours flight. We finally landed at the airport in Salt Lake and I took Darek in to the bathroom to change him one more time before taking him out to meet Alex, Papa and Grandma. Ryan had to work that night, so he didn't get to come to the airport to see us. The woman that had sat next to me on the flight had come out and spotted my parents, since she knew what was happening. She let them know how cute Darek which made them even more anxious. I'll never forget the looks on their faces as I came out with Darek. I asked Alex first if he wanted to hold him. He was so nervous and said no. So immediately my mom took him out of my arms. We got our luggage together and started to walk out. Before we got to the elevator, Alex said he was ready to hold him. So we stopped and Alex sat down and held his brother for the first time. It was amazing and precious for me to see. I'll never forget that moment.
The next month was filled with having a new baby at home, getting used to having Alex in school and Ryan at school and full time work. I called the NICU constantly, although maybe not enough. We talked about moving Ian to PCMC so he could be closer. We'd have ups and downs with him getting off the vent, then back on. It all continued until the day he passed away. I am not going to relive that day right now because just reliving the rest of this story has been so emotional. There will always be a void in our home where Ian should be. Always a part of me missing. But I love my son so much and can't wait to see him again.
I know I've left out so many details, but this is our adoption story. I love telling it and I'm glad to have it written down now so I can come back and read it whenever I want to.
I really hope that we will get the opportunity to adopt again. It's a magical experience. One that we will never forget and always feel so grateful to have experienced.
I remember walking through the airport with Alice and feeling very much dazed. I couldn't imagine that this was all real. We were very sleep deprived but the excitement was keeping us awake. The nerves started to set in for me. I had no idea what to expect. Even though we had some details, there were a lot of other questions and worries I suddenly had. How big are the boys now? Are we going to be seeing and talking to the birth mom? Am I going to see them and love them like I loved Alex? I hadn't questioned this before because I didn't think I'd have issues with that with all the foster kids we'd had over the years and knowing how much I loved each one of them. But this was different. These weren't my siblings, these boys were my children. I remember shaking in the car ride over to the hospital. Alice told us we were going to go over to the first hospital - Norfolk General to see Baby A. After we were done there, we'd walk next door to the other hospital - Childrens Hospital of the Kings Daughters (CHKD) to see Baby B. I tried to enjoy the scenery, since this part of VA was a place we'd never been before. But I don't remember really caring about that.
We finally got to the hospital and checked in. We went up to the NICU in that hospital. Even though Baby A was doing fine, he was still being kept there because of his size. We had been told that he would still be on a feeding tube and we'd need to learn how to use that before we left. We got to the NICU, washed our hands, checked in and went in to see him. I remember the layout perfectly. We went around a little corner and there he was, laying in his crib. My first reaction was the shock at his size. He was the tiniest baby I had ever seen! And he was double what he was at birth! Then I looked into my sons face. He was so beautiful. He had the softest, curly hair and the sweetest little chubby cheeks. How in the world could a baby so small have chubby anything!?! He had big, beautiful brown eyes that looked right up at me. I was in love. Plain and simple. This little boy was ours. I was his mom. After Ryan and I had looked at him, it only took a few minutes to decide that Baby A was Darek. I had wanted to see them both before deciding for certain, but I was 99% sure he was Darek. I was expecting wires and tubes, but he didn't have any of that. I asked the nurse about the feeding tube and she told me that he got sick of it a few days ago and pulled it out and had been taking bottles just fine. I was in awe that this tiny little guy who still wasn't supposed to be born for another month and a half was this perfectly healthy baby boy. I wanted to scoop him up and take him with us right then, but there were still tests they had to do to be sure he was ready to leave. So we said goodbye temporarily to him so we could go meet his brother.
It felt like this crazy maze going out of the 1st hospital over to the 2nd and I swear it was an hour before we got there, although I'm sure it was just minutes. Alice had told us that Baby B was not doing as well, but that he really just needed more time. I was a little more nervous to see him because I wasn't sure how he would look or how severe the problems were. But as we got closer to the NICU at CHKD, all of the worries seemed to go away. We had to check in at the front desk before heading back. The secretaries there were so wonderful as we told them who we were. We were told what room and bed he was in. We got to the room and had to wash our hands really well. I'd like anyone to try and stand there and wash their hands for the full 2 minutes, when your baby is just out of sight right from you. It's nearly impossible. But I managed to get through those few minutes and head back to his incubator. There were probably a total of 10 babies in each section and I remember looking at them as I headed back to my baby. He was the last one in that row, right next to the window. As soon as I saw him, I had the same feelings I had with Darek. I knew so quickly that he was my son. I felt like I already knew him. It was such an amazing feeling. And as soon as I looked at his face, I was totally positive about the names. He was most definitely Ian! I wasn't as bothered by all the wires and tubes as I thought I would be. I just focused on his beautiful little face. He features to me were softer, sweeter almost. He was asleep when we got there. We opened the holes to the incubator and put our hands on him. Again, he was so tiny. He had the softest hair with the most beautiful curls. The nurses gave us some information that I didn't understand even a little bit. But they told us that he was the sweetest baby in there. He was always so good and they loved to come sit with him. I can't remember how long we were there with him, but it didn't feel like very long before we left to go eat and talk about signing papers.
We went to the cafeteria and ate. All of a sudden I started to feel a little tired. After we ate, we found a little quiet area in the hospital and sat down with Alice and signed the adoption papers. She mentioned that there was still a certain time period that Beatrice (our birth mom) could change her mind, but assured us that she was sure that wouldn't happen. We got a little bit more information about Beatrice and found it interesting that she already had 2 little girls and was 20 years old. We asked if we'd be meeting her, but Alice said she wasn't really interested in meeting us. We were a little sad but were okay with whatever she thought would be best for her. We went through the enormous stack of paper work and signed our names a million times.
After we were done with the paperwork and feeling like everything was official, we headed back over to Norfolk General to get our baby Darek. We got over there and there was still so much to do. They hadn't done his car seat test, which was going to take a while. He still was hooked to monitors and needed to be dressed still (which I couldn't wait to do). So as we waited, I took a little time to step out and call a few people, including the people we were going to be staying with in VA. We had been bugged all day by excited family members, but there hadn't been much time to call or update people. It was getting to a point where everything was just taking so long. Alice was getting quite impatient (not that I could blame her) and was more than ready to leave. She suggested we just leave for the night and come back tomorrow for his release. WHAT?!? Oh no, I don't think so! We were so excited and had come so far, I wasn't going to leave my baby at the hospital, when I knew I could wait just a little longer and have him come home that night. So we waited. After everything finally came through and we talked to the doctors and nurses about appointments he would need in the next few days, we finally got Darek dressed, in his car seat and left the hospital. It was an incredible feeling! Alice pulled her car up and we loaded him in.
Now another bunch of nerves set in. We were going to be staying with a family in Chesapeake whom we had never met. We had originally thought we'd be staying across the street at a Ronald McDonald house, but found out they wouldn't let us stay there with an infant. So stupid. So a social worker had gotten word out in the area, through the church about our situation. And this amazing family had stepped up and agreed to take us in for the time we were here. We didn't know much about them, just that they were amazing to let us come stay. When we arrived at the Hunter-Holmes, we were brought in with open arms. And immediately, I felt like I had known this family for years. The family consisted of Steve and Pam and their kids Maya (who was 7 or 8), Avery (who was a month older than Alex - 5) and Ian (complete coincidence who was a few months old). They were all so excited to see Darek and had a hot dinner ready for us to eat, even though it was so late. They showed us where we would be staying and I think I stayed up for a few hours just talking to Pam. On top of having 3 kids, she was also the Relief Society President. I was amazed at the generosity of this family and will always feel in debted to them, in more than one way.
The next day we went back over to CHKD to spend more time with Ian. We took little Darek over with us. Because Darek wasn't allowed back in the NICU, Ryan and I had to take turns going back. They told us that Ian was doing really good that day and we could hold him that day. Because Ryan was going to leave the next day, I told him to take this special time with Ian. I stayed out with Darek and got to meet some wonderful people. The chaplain they had there, Chaplain Reggie, was amazing. We told him our story and he was in awe that we would do this. And of course we felt so privileged. He was in love with Darek and offered to sit with him for a little while so I could go back with Ryan and Ian. I'm so glad he did, because we got some wonderful pictures while we were back there together. We spent several hours there that day and had some wonderful time with Ian.
The next day Ryan had to leave. He left very early in the morning. Darek and I drove Ryan to the airport and said goodbye. It was so hard saying goodbye and I knew how difficult it would be not having him there. Over the next week, things were crazy! I tried to get to the hospital to see Ian as much as possible, but it was so hard with not being able to take Darek with me. Pam was nice enough to watch him when she could, but I also had several doctor appointments I had to take Darek to in the mean time. It was a very hard week. I did get to take a day and go with the Hunter-Holmes family to the Norfolk zoo. That was so much fun and a very needed break. Finally the day came for me to leave and go home with Darek. I went to the hospital that morning and spent some time with Ian. It was so hard to leave. I said goodbye to him, and kissed him. As soon as I left the room, I broke into tears. It was such a difficult thing to do to leave him there. I went back to the house, finished packing up our stuff and Pam took me to the airport. It was almost as difficult saying goodbye to her too. But I was also so excited to get home to Alex and introduce him to one of his new baby brothers.
I flew from Norfolk to Houston and had a 4 hour layover there. It was fun walking through the airport there with this teeny little baby. There were many people that literally thought I was holding a baby doll. It was fun to meet new people and share our story. Darek had some kind of stomach bug on our leg home from Houston and must have pooped 6 or 7 times. I spent most of that flight in the bathroom changing his diaper. And I almost ran out of diapers because I thought 7 diapers would be more than enough for a couple hours flight. We finally landed at the airport in Salt Lake and I took Darek in to the bathroom to change him one more time before taking him out to meet Alex, Papa and Grandma. Ryan had to work that night, so he didn't get to come to the airport to see us. The woman that had sat next to me on the flight had come out and spotted my parents, since she knew what was happening. She let them know how cute Darek which made them even more anxious. I'll never forget the looks on their faces as I came out with Darek. I asked Alex first if he wanted to hold him. He was so nervous and said no. So immediately my mom took him out of my arms. We got our luggage together and started to walk out. Before we got to the elevator, Alex said he was ready to hold him. So we stopped and Alex sat down and held his brother for the first time. It was amazing and precious for me to see. I'll never forget that moment.
The next month was filled with having a new baby at home, getting used to having Alex in school and Ryan at school and full time work. I called the NICU constantly, although maybe not enough. We talked about moving Ian to PCMC so he could be closer. We'd have ups and downs with him getting off the vent, then back on. It all continued until the day he passed away. I am not going to relive that day right now because just reliving the rest of this story has been so emotional. There will always be a void in our home where Ian should be. Always a part of me missing. But I love my son so much and can't wait to see him again.
I know I've left out so many details, but this is our adoption story. I love telling it and I'm glad to have it written down now so I can come back and read it whenever I want to.
I really hope that we will get the opportunity to adopt again. It's a magical experience. One that we will never forget and always feel so grateful to have experienced.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thankful
Before November is totally over, I wanted to focus on some of the things that our family is thankful for this year. I've asked each member of our family to come up with 10 things that they are thankful for this year. I'll go first so I don't "cheat" off anyone else's. :) In no particular order, here are the things our family is grateful for:
Mandi
1. My husband and boys - I truly don't know what I'd do without them
2. Our new home - I love it more and more each day we're here
3. Family time - Since moving, we've been able to spend lots of wonderful time together exploring our new surroundings. I have LOVED every moment of this time together.
4. Extended family - I always love getting together with extended family and creating new memories.
5. Perspective - It's been so good to move to a place where I can see people who struggle but still feel that they have it all. I don't know if that sounds bad, but where we lived with my parents, it was a wealthier area and it showed sometimes in the attitude of people there. I'm glad to be "struggling" and get that perspective back of what really matters in our lives.
6. New friends - Ok, so a lot of my things revolve around moving. :) But it's been so fun already getting to know new neighbors and ward members. Our next door neighbors have kids about the same age as ours and come from very similar backgrounds. I'm excited to get to know them and others better and make some new, lasting friendships.
7. Old friends - I love my friends so much. They are my backbone and without them, I would go crazy. I'm so grateful to know that no matter where we end up, I will have my friends with me for life and beyond!
8. Possibility - I feel like I have a new life and am toying with many possible things in my future. I'm not sure yet what I'll do exactly, but the possibilities are there and are very real!
9. Our cats - I feel silly writing this one down, but I love our kitties so much! They add so much fun to our lives and I love that we got both of them from shelters.
10. Knowledge - I'm not the smartest person out there, far from it even, but I'm grateful to know the things that I know. And I'm grateful to the people who teach me new things on a daily basis (especially Ryan).
Now that I'm into this, I could go on forever, but I won't hog the whole post. The rest of them probably won't have as much explanation.... I just like to talk a lot. :)
Alex
1. Family
2. Pets
3. New house
4. Clothes
5. Shoes
6. Furniture
7. Food
8. TV/Movies and Video games
9. The Earth
10. Sports... especially soccer
I have a feeling he was just looking around and saying what he was looking at. That's okay though, cause all of those things are wonderful things to have.
Darek
1. Santa Claus
2. Snowballs
3. Christmas Tree
4. Kitten
5. Disneyland
6. Daddy and Mommy
7. Our new house
8. Alex
9. Other family members (he named all of them)
10. Lagoon
Ryan
1. Family
2. Our Country
3. Technology
4. Knowledge
5. Compassion
6. Agency
7. Air Conditioning
8. Employment
9. Understanding
10. Forgiveness
There it is... I probably would have stolen a couple from the different lists. We are thankful for so much more than that, but this gives a few things that top our list. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Mandi
1. My husband and boys - I truly don't know what I'd do without them
2. Our new home - I love it more and more each day we're here
3. Family time - Since moving, we've been able to spend lots of wonderful time together exploring our new surroundings. I have LOVED every moment of this time together.
4. Extended family - I always love getting together with extended family and creating new memories.
5. Perspective - It's been so good to move to a place where I can see people who struggle but still feel that they have it all. I don't know if that sounds bad, but where we lived with my parents, it was a wealthier area and it showed sometimes in the attitude of people there. I'm glad to be "struggling" and get that perspective back of what really matters in our lives.
6. New friends - Ok, so a lot of my things revolve around moving. :) But it's been so fun already getting to know new neighbors and ward members. Our next door neighbors have kids about the same age as ours and come from very similar backgrounds. I'm excited to get to know them and others better and make some new, lasting friendships.
7. Old friends - I love my friends so much. They are my backbone and without them, I would go crazy. I'm so grateful to know that no matter where we end up, I will have my friends with me for life and beyond!
8. Possibility - I feel like I have a new life and am toying with many possible things in my future. I'm not sure yet what I'll do exactly, but the possibilities are there and are very real!
9. Our cats - I feel silly writing this one down, but I love our kitties so much! They add so much fun to our lives and I love that we got both of them from shelters.
10. Knowledge - I'm not the smartest person out there, far from it even, but I'm grateful to know the things that I know. And I'm grateful to the people who teach me new things on a daily basis (especially Ryan).
Now that I'm into this, I could go on forever, but I won't hog the whole post. The rest of them probably won't have as much explanation.... I just like to talk a lot. :)
Alex
1. Family
2. Pets
3. New house
4. Clothes
5. Shoes
6. Furniture
7. Food
8. TV/Movies and Video games
9. The Earth
10. Sports... especially soccer
I have a feeling he was just looking around and saying what he was looking at. That's okay though, cause all of those things are wonderful things to have.
Darek
1. Santa Claus
2. Snowballs
3. Christmas Tree
4. Kitten
5. Disneyland
6. Daddy and Mommy
7. Our new house
8. Alex
9. Other family members (he named all of them)
10. Lagoon
Ryan
1. Family
2. Our Country
3. Technology
4. Knowledge
5. Compassion
6. Agency
7. Air Conditioning
8. Employment
9. Understanding
10. Forgiveness
There it is... I probably would have stolen a couple from the different lists. We are thankful for so much more than that, but this gives a few things that top our list. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Darek and Ian's Adoption Story - Part 1
My friend Amy posted her little girls adoption story in honor of National Adoption Month. After reading it, I've been inspired to do the same. I posted bits and pieces of it when we got the boys, but never went through the whole thing. Hopefully I can remember it all and hopefully get through it in one post. Just a warning... it might be pretty long. ;)
Ryan and I have always wanted a pretty good sized family (4-5 kids) and never thought it would be a problem. When it took 14 months and some fertility drugs to get Alex, we figured it would probably be the same with any future children. So we didn't wait long to start trying for another one after Alex was born. Each year passed with fertility drugs and procedures. After 4 years, some pretty bad break downs on my part and lots of failed attempts, we stopped the drugs and procedures and took a little break. The break didn't last long because we had such a strong desire to add to our family. We immediately started talking about adoption. It was something I always eventually wanted to do... this just gave us the opportunity to do it sooner than we had planned. We got the information we needed and started the process to adopt. It took us about 6 months to get everything completed and approved. We got our approval letter in February 2008. We knew that because we already had a child, we would probably end up waiting a bit longer than a couple without a child. We were expecting a possible 2 year wait. Even though it was a long time, we knew we were at least working towards our goal.
We were never really contacted by any birth parents within that first little bit and we weren't really surprised. Late on Friday, August 22, 2008 I saw that I had missed a phone call and had a voicemail. I listened to the voicemail. It was our social worker calling about twin boys in Virginia that were looking for an adoption placement. My heart skipped a beat. I was excited but almost immediately started to dismiss the call. Twins? Virginia? Right now? Alex was starting Kindergarten on Monday and Ryan was going to be in his 2nd week of his Radiology program for school. This would just be impossible! TWINS!?! But I couldn't shake the call. I casually brought it up to Ryan. His first reaction.... Twins??? I told him I knew and had no idea how we'd do it, but convinced him that it wouldn't be a "big deal" to just call our social worker back for a little more information. He agreed and I called her. She gave me a few more details including the fact that the adoption would be through another agency. She gave me the contact information and said to contact them if we were interested. Ryan again said he just didn't think it would work. I agreed but again said it wouldn't be a "big deal" if I just called the agency back east to get a little more information. After talking to the other agency and really getting the information about the boys, my heart was about jumping out of my chest. I sat down with Ryan and we had a very long talk about it. Ryan was pretty focused on the "twins" part of it and the horrible timing part of it. But he went off the feelings I had about it. I told him that if we wanted to proceed and get a little more serious about it that we would need to fax our paperwork to the agency over the weekend. He was so worried about it but said if I felt good about it that he was okay with proceeding. (I just want to note here that in NO way did Ryan not want these boys. He was so concerned about all the details... it's the kind of person he is and I'm glad he is that way. I tend to work from the heart and him from the brain. It works out pretty well because both of us think of things the other doesn't.) Over the weekend, I worked on getting our agency to fax back our paperwork. I felt like I was on the phone the whole weekend. I was also learning what a miracle it was that we were even notified of these boys. The news traveled through several social workers to get to our agency, which totally confirmed to me that these boys belonged with us. But I knew it was still a long shot for us to even be chosen. After we had sent all the paperwork in on Saturday, I decided to tell just a few close friends and family about the situation and ask them to pray for us. We were told that we would have an answer Monday morning.
Waking up Monday morning, Ryan had left for school and I probably should have been totally focused on Alex's first day of school. And I was to a certain degree, but the seconds ticked by so slowly and I was sure I was about ready to get some disappointing news. I got a phone call around 9:00 that morning. It was the director of the agency here in Utah. He said he was in contact with the agency back east and they had narrowed the couples down to 3.... and we happened to be one of them. He asked me several questions. How big is your apartment... will you have enough room for twins.... do you plan to work after bringing them home.... I answered the questions and when it came to working after bringing them home... I said no. NO??!? What was I thinking? Ryan had just quit his full time job so he could focus on school. He was still working part time and I was working full time and had the benefits. I honestly hadn't thought about it and had NO CLUE how we would pay for twins if I decided not to work. But I said I would not be working after bringing them home. And I wasn't lying. I really meant it. Boy, Ryan was going to be surprised about that! He said that was all he needed and would be calling back within an hour with a decision. I was a complete basket case! I can only imagine what Alex was thinking watching me pace around the house. I didn't sit still the entire time. An hour passed and no call. 1 hour 15 mins... nothing. 1 hour 30 min... they must have called the adoptive parents already and now they're going to call us with bad news. I was devastated. I was certain we were not chosen. And to know we came within 3 couples. It was a terrible feeling. Finally 1 hour and 37 minutes later. (I'm crying right now thinking about this moment.) I remember having a very solemn tone to my voice when I answered. He asked me if we were ready to fly out to Virginia to pick up our boys. I started crying on the spot. He said he'd give me a minute to gather myself. I had about a million things going through my mind and somehow managed to get some very important information down... including the fact that Baby A was going to be released from the hospital the NEXT DAY and we would need to fly out TONIGHT!!! I got off the phone and started sobbing. I grabbed Alex and hugged him and told him he was finally going to be a big brother. Something he had waited a VERY long time for and wanted so badly. I called Ryan to let him know he was going to be a Daddy again, but only got his voicemail. I left him a message... a weird message to leave on your husbands phone. ("Hey babe, can you pick up some milk on the way home? Oh and by the way, you're a proud new father of twins!") I had kept my Mom informed of what was going on and she knew I'd be getting an answer soon. She had her visiting teachers over when we got the news and they had no clue. I told Alex to go upstairs and tell Grandma that he was going to be a big brother. I crept up the stairs behind him so I could hear the reaction. There was a lot of screaming, then crying. We told the visiting teachers what was going on and then kindly told them they needed to leave... because we had A LOT to do!! We called my Dad and got him working on getting us plane tickets for that night. I really wanted to go to Alex's kindergarten orientation. I didn't want to miss out on it and really didn't want him to miss out on it. My Mom took off to the store and bought lots of teeny tiny little preemie clothes and diapers. After all... we had NOTHING! We had been given less than 24 hours notice and we were totally unprepared! I took Alex to the school around noon for orientation. I had to leave about 5 times to take phone calls, one of which was finally Ryan. He had finally gotten my message. Even with as nervous as he had been, he was so excited! I told him we were leaving that night and he needed to get things figured out with school and then get his butt home! He was worried about school and worried that they wouldn't let him take the time off. But they were so happy and excited for him and he had no problems getting a couple days off to fly out. Honestly, a lot of that afternoon was a complete blur. I remember orientation a little bit and then coming home to pack. I don't remember much after that. I remember Ryan getting home and getting really excited. I remember calling Ryan's parents and leaving a message for them that they were going to be grandparents again. And then I remember the airport. My parents drove us to the airport. We had decided it wouldn't be wise to take Alex. I hated making this decision and it's one I still kind of regret. Had I known everything I know now, he would have come with us and flown home with Ryan. But I won't get into all of that. It was so hard leaving him at the airport. We were so excited but I hated leaving him. He was so excited too and understood why he couldn't come, but still wanted to so badly. We hugged and kissed him a million times and said goodbye. We got to our gate, got on the plane and took off. It was a red eye flight, so we should have been sleeping. Right. How in the world can you sleep knowing you would be meeting your children in just a few short hours. I remember looking through a baby name book almost the entire time. We had 2 names to come up with and (no offense) the names we had picked out for "future children" didn't really fit for African American kids. :) So we really had to start fresh. Ryan and I had a really hard time agreeing on names. I had quite a few picked out and Ryan really didn't like very many of them. I look back at some of the names I had picked out and am SO HAPPY Ryan didn't like them. I actually kept a list of the names I had started looking at over the weekend we were sending our paperwork back. Even though we hadn't officially been chosen, I had already started looking at names. :) Here is my list dated 8/24/08 (Sunday).
I still very much like Keenan, but all Ryan could think of was Keenan Wayans... so he vetoed that one. I did get to use Ian Jacob and Ethan for a middle name. But Ryan really liked Darek. I wasn't really into that name at all. I figured he would drop it, but he kept bringing it up. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. But I didn't like a lot of the spellings. Derrick, Derek, Derick, Derec, Dereck... but when I saw Darek, it just kind of clicked. By the time we landed, we had the names Darek Ethan and Ian Jacob picked out. We just didn't know which name would go to which baby. We got of the plane, got our luggage and found our social worker, Alice, waiting to take us to our babies.
Ok, this is getting very long. So I'm gonna quit for the night. I will get to Part 2 soon!
Ryan and I have always wanted a pretty good sized family (4-5 kids) and never thought it would be a problem. When it took 14 months and some fertility drugs to get Alex, we figured it would probably be the same with any future children. So we didn't wait long to start trying for another one after Alex was born. Each year passed with fertility drugs and procedures. After 4 years, some pretty bad break downs on my part and lots of failed attempts, we stopped the drugs and procedures and took a little break. The break didn't last long because we had such a strong desire to add to our family. We immediately started talking about adoption. It was something I always eventually wanted to do... this just gave us the opportunity to do it sooner than we had planned. We got the information we needed and started the process to adopt. It took us about 6 months to get everything completed and approved. We got our approval letter in February 2008. We knew that because we already had a child, we would probably end up waiting a bit longer than a couple without a child. We were expecting a possible 2 year wait. Even though it was a long time, we knew we were at least working towards our goal.
We were never really contacted by any birth parents within that first little bit and we weren't really surprised. Late on Friday, August 22, 2008 I saw that I had missed a phone call and had a voicemail. I listened to the voicemail. It was our social worker calling about twin boys in Virginia that were looking for an adoption placement. My heart skipped a beat. I was excited but almost immediately started to dismiss the call. Twins? Virginia? Right now? Alex was starting Kindergarten on Monday and Ryan was going to be in his 2nd week of his Radiology program for school. This would just be impossible! TWINS!?! But I couldn't shake the call. I casually brought it up to Ryan. His first reaction.... Twins??? I told him I knew and had no idea how we'd do it, but convinced him that it wouldn't be a "big deal" to just call our social worker back for a little more information. He agreed and I called her. She gave me a few more details including the fact that the adoption would be through another agency. She gave me the contact information and said to contact them if we were interested. Ryan again said he just didn't think it would work. I agreed but again said it wouldn't be a "big deal" if I just called the agency back east to get a little more information. After talking to the other agency and really getting the information about the boys, my heart was about jumping out of my chest. I sat down with Ryan and we had a very long talk about it. Ryan was pretty focused on the "twins" part of it and the horrible timing part of it. But he went off the feelings I had about it. I told him that if we wanted to proceed and get a little more serious about it that we would need to fax our paperwork to the agency over the weekend. He was so worried about it but said if I felt good about it that he was okay with proceeding. (I just want to note here that in NO way did Ryan not want these boys. He was so concerned about all the details... it's the kind of person he is and I'm glad he is that way. I tend to work from the heart and him from the brain. It works out pretty well because both of us think of things the other doesn't.) Over the weekend, I worked on getting our agency to fax back our paperwork. I felt like I was on the phone the whole weekend. I was also learning what a miracle it was that we were even notified of these boys. The news traveled through several social workers to get to our agency, which totally confirmed to me that these boys belonged with us. But I knew it was still a long shot for us to even be chosen. After we had sent all the paperwork in on Saturday, I decided to tell just a few close friends and family about the situation and ask them to pray for us. We were told that we would have an answer Monday morning.
Waking up Monday morning, Ryan had left for school and I probably should have been totally focused on Alex's first day of school. And I was to a certain degree, but the seconds ticked by so slowly and I was sure I was about ready to get some disappointing news. I got a phone call around 9:00 that morning. It was the director of the agency here in Utah. He said he was in contact with the agency back east and they had narrowed the couples down to 3.... and we happened to be one of them. He asked me several questions. How big is your apartment... will you have enough room for twins.... do you plan to work after bringing them home.... I answered the questions and when it came to working after bringing them home... I said no. NO??!? What was I thinking? Ryan had just quit his full time job so he could focus on school. He was still working part time and I was working full time and had the benefits. I honestly hadn't thought about it and had NO CLUE how we would pay for twins if I decided not to work. But I said I would not be working after bringing them home. And I wasn't lying. I really meant it. Boy, Ryan was going to be surprised about that! He said that was all he needed and would be calling back within an hour with a decision. I was a complete basket case! I can only imagine what Alex was thinking watching me pace around the house. I didn't sit still the entire time. An hour passed and no call. 1 hour 15 mins... nothing. 1 hour 30 min... they must have called the adoptive parents already and now they're going to call us with bad news. I was devastated. I was certain we were not chosen. And to know we came within 3 couples. It was a terrible feeling. Finally 1 hour and 37 minutes later. (I'm crying right now thinking about this moment.) I remember having a very solemn tone to my voice when I answered. He asked me if we were ready to fly out to Virginia to pick up our boys. I started crying on the spot. He said he'd give me a minute to gather myself. I had about a million things going through my mind and somehow managed to get some very important information down... including the fact that Baby A was going to be released from the hospital the NEXT DAY and we would need to fly out TONIGHT!!! I got off the phone and started sobbing. I grabbed Alex and hugged him and told him he was finally going to be a big brother. Something he had waited a VERY long time for and wanted so badly. I called Ryan to let him know he was going to be a Daddy again, but only got his voicemail. I left him a message... a weird message to leave on your husbands phone. ("Hey babe, can you pick up some milk on the way home? Oh and by the way, you're a proud new father of twins!") I had kept my Mom informed of what was going on and she knew I'd be getting an answer soon. She had her visiting teachers over when we got the news and they had no clue. I told Alex to go upstairs and tell Grandma that he was going to be a big brother. I crept up the stairs behind him so I could hear the reaction. There was a lot of screaming, then crying. We told the visiting teachers what was going on and then kindly told them they needed to leave... because we had A LOT to do!! We called my Dad and got him working on getting us plane tickets for that night. I really wanted to go to Alex's kindergarten orientation. I didn't want to miss out on it and really didn't want him to miss out on it. My Mom took off to the store and bought lots of teeny tiny little preemie clothes and diapers. After all... we had NOTHING! We had been given less than 24 hours notice and we were totally unprepared! I took Alex to the school around noon for orientation. I had to leave about 5 times to take phone calls, one of which was finally Ryan. He had finally gotten my message. Even with as nervous as he had been, he was so excited! I told him we were leaving that night and he needed to get things figured out with school and then get his butt home! He was worried about school and worried that they wouldn't let him take the time off. But they were so happy and excited for him and he had no problems getting a couple days off to fly out. Honestly, a lot of that afternoon was a complete blur. I remember orientation a little bit and then coming home to pack. I don't remember much after that. I remember Ryan getting home and getting really excited. I remember calling Ryan's parents and leaving a message for them that they were going to be grandparents again. And then I remember the airport. My parents drove us to the airport. We had decided it wouldn't be wise to take Alex. I hated making this decision and it's one I still kind of regret. Had I known everything I know now, he would have come with us and flown home with Ryan. But I won't get into all of that. It was so hard leaving him at the airport. We were so excited but I hated leaving him. He was so excited too and understood why he couldn't come, but still wanted to so badly. We hugged and kissed him a million times and said goodbye. We got to our gate, got on the plane and took off. It was a red eye flight, so we should have been sleeping. Right. How in the world can you sleep knowing you would be meeting your children in just a few short hours. I remember looking through a baby name book almost the entire time. We had 2 names to come up with and (no offense) the names we had picked out for "future children" didn't really fit for African American kids. :) So we really had to start fresh. Ryan and I had a really hard time agreeing on names. I had quite a few picked out and Ryan really didn't like very many of them. I look back at some of the names I had picked out and am SO HAPPY Ryan didn't like them. I actually kept a list of the names I had started looking at over the weekend we were sending our paperwork back. Even though we hadn't officially been chosen, I had already started looking at names. :) Here is my list dated 8/24/08 (Sunday).
| Order | Name | Sort | Gender | Meaning | More info | My Names | |||||
| Isaac |   | Boy | He will laugh | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Ethan |  | Boy | Strong, firm, impet... | More... | | Delete | |||||
| James | | Boy | Supplanter | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Ian | | Boy | God is forgiving | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Jesse | | Boy | Gift; wealthy | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Seth | | Boy | Appointed | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Jonah | | Boy | Dove | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Sawyer | | Boy | One who saws wood | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Joaquin | | Boy | God will establish | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Jude | | Both | Praise; thanks | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Jakob | | Boy | Supplanter; held by... | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Jonas | | Boy | Dove | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Jack | | Boy | God is gracious | More... | | Delete | |||||
| Keenan | | Both | Descendant of Cathá... | More... | | Delete | |||||
| | | | | | | | ||||
Ok, this is getting very long. So I'm gonna quit for the night. I will get to Part 2 soon!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Darek's Post
Questions about Mom and Dad
How old is Mom? 3 Dad? 3
What is Mom's favorite color? Pink
Dads? White
What does Mom like to eat? Sandwich
Dad? Mac and Cheese
How tall is Mom? Humongous
Dad? Humongous
How strong is Mom? Bigger strong
Dad? Really big strong
What do you like about Mom? Good
Dad? Good
What is Mom's favorite TV show? Kitty show or Hot Dog show
Dad? Team Umi Zoomi
What is Mom's name? Mandi Wood
Dad? Daddy Wood
About Darek:
Age: 3
Favorite color: Green
How tall: Bigger
How strong: Really strong
Favorite Food: Mac and Cheese
Favorite TV show: Bubble Guppies
What do you like preschool: Good
How old is Mom? 3 Dad? 3
What is Mom's favorite color? Pink
Dads? White
What does Mom like to eat? Sandwich
Dad? Mac and Cheese
How tall is Mom? Humongous
Dad? Humongous
How strong is Mom? Bigger strong
Dad? Really big strong
What do you like about Mom? Good
Dad? Good
What is Mom's favorite TV show? Kitty show or Hot Dog show
Dad? Team Umi Zoomi
What is Mom's name? Mandi Wood
Dad? Daddy Wood
About Darek:
Age: 3
Favorite color: Green
How tall: Bigger
How strong: Really strong
Favorite Food: Mac and Cheese
Favorite TV show: Bubble Guppies
What do you like preschool: Good
Alex's Post
I stole this from my sisters blog. I thought it would be fun to do with the boys. Here are Alex's answers:
What is your happiest memory? Disneyland trip with the family
Why do you like being a kid? So I can be active
One word to describe you: Athletic
What advice would you give your parents? Be more active
If you could be any animal, what would it be and why? Cat - So I could run fast
What do you like to do for fun? Play with friends
Tell about a funny time in your life. When my pants accidently came down outside... and just my pants, not my underwear
What is your favorite thing to do and why? Play soccer, it's fun and I like to get better
What is your favorite thing to do with your friends? Anything
What do you love most about your sibling? That he loves to play with me
What was the nicest thing you've done someone else? Raked their leaves up without being asked
What do you think you'll be doing 10 years from now? Getting good grades in high school
What is your favorite thing to do in the summer? Play with my friends
What would be the ideal allowance? Tell me how you would use it. $1000 per day. Buy everything in the toy isle.
What do you think makes a person good-looking? Bieber hair
Name two things we should do together as a family on the weekend. Boondocks and Chuck E Cheese
What is the grossest thing you can think of? People eating tarantulas
What is your happiest memory? Disneyland trip with the family
Why do you like being a kid? So I can be active
One word to describe you: Athletic
What advice would you give your parents? Be more active
If you could be any animal, what would it be and why? Cat - So I could run fast
What do you like to do for fun? Play with friends
Tell about a funny time in your life. When my pants accidently came down outside... and just my pants, not my underwear
What is your favorite thing to do and why? Play soccer, it's fun and I like to get better
What is your favorite thing to do with your friends? Anything
What do you love most about your sibling? That he loves to play with me
What was the nicest thing you've done someone else? Raked their leaves up without being asked
What do you think you'll be doing 10 years from now? Getting good grades in high school
What is your favorite thing to do in the summer? Play with my friends
What would be the ideal allowance? Tell me how you would use it. $1000 per day. Buy everything in the toy isle.
What do you think makes a person good-looking? Bieber hair
Name two things we should do together as a family on the weekend. Boondocks and Chuck E Cheese
What is the grossest thing you can think of? People eating tarantulas
Thursday, November 3, 2011
MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, it's not exactly what we had planned or how we thought this would go. But we finally got to a point where we knew we needed to get be out on our own again and decided that we weren't going to just sit around and hope we get a full time job. Ryan has two jobs already, so as long as he keeps getting the hours that he has been getting, we'll be just fine. So about a week ago, something happened that lit the fire in us to really start looking and just go for it. We looked at an old apt building that we had lived at previously that we had LOVED. Sadly, the only apt they accepted pets in was a much smaller apt than what we were looking for. So we moved on. We looked at a few other place south and north of us. We finally found a place in Layton, Utah that we loved and the boys loved. It allows us to have our cat with us (which was a necessity) and has a storage unit we can rent. It's quite a bit smaller than we had hoped for, but it has great use of space. There are negatives and positives to this move, but the important thing is that we feel very good about it. One of our major worries has been Alex and how he'll deal with it. He LOVES the apt., and really likes the look of the school. I don't think in his mind it will ever come close to Adelaide, but he'll give it a chance. :) I really hope that being in an apt complex, Alex and Darek will have the opportunity to make a lot of new friends. We will be in an incredible location... walking distance to the mall and movie theaters, so there will never be a problem of having nothing to do. I just have to watch myself with how easy it will be to go shopping! We got a great move in deal with this place, so we feel like we can take our time moving in. But at the same time, I just kind of want to get it over and done with too. So hopefully within the next week or two, we'll be totally moved into our new place. Once we have furniture and such in, we'll take some pictures of it!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
PRESCHOOL!!!
Today marks a very important day for Darek. He started preschool today! We have been telling him for a very long time (A VERY LONG TIME) that as soon as he was potty trained, he could go to preschool. He was sad when school started in August and he didn't get to go to school. A few weeks ago, Darek said something to Ryan about potting training and how he could go but didn't feel like it. Well that ticked me off and I decided this potty training thing was going to happen. He obviously knew how, but was being a lazy kiddo. So without too much trouble, he is finally potty trained. We're still working on night time, but he's even getting through nap time without accidents! So yesterday, after being almost a week with very few problems, I told him I would call and see about starting preschool. A lady in our ward has a preschool out of her home. Alex went to her and loved it! So I called and she said he could start the next day (today)! I got off the phone and told Darek and he got really excited.... and then really nervous. He went back and forth the whole night, but was really excited to tell his Daddy and Alex. As soon as he got up this morning, he got his backpack on.
I took Alex to school then came back, got Darek dressed and ready to go. I was pretty much planning on staying the whole time, since he has been a bit of a Mamma's boy lately. We walked inside, got his backpack and coat off and he was immediately interested in EVERYTHING around him. He realized that he knew 5 other kids in the class with him and all of a sudden it wasn't so scary. I stayed about 10 minutes and said I was going to leave and would be back to pick him up soon. He got a little upset, but I gave him a hug, told him I would be back and I left. No problems!
I came back to get him and he came out smiling and so happy... with his backpack on upside down! :) I talked to his teacher a little bit. She told me he did okay. No crying or anything, but he did have issues with taking toys from other kids and throwing crayons. UGH. She said he listened to her when she asked him to stop or give something back or pick something up, so that was good. I'm not happy that's the way he began things, but I'm not surprised either. And I'm glad she's the kind of person that will let me know how he's doing.
Anyway, he's very excited to go back tomorrow for HIS school. I know this will be such a wonderful thing for him and I can't wait to see what he learns. And I'm just a little bit excited for the 2 free hours I'm going to get every day!!! :)
I LOVE this last picture so much, because this really shows Darek so well. He is a very good eye roller right now. He was getting so annoyed at having to stop and take pictures this morning and before long I got some good eye rolls from him.
This little dude drives me so crazy at times, but I can't help but adore him. I just want to write a little synopsis of Darek at this point:
Limit tester
Loves to cuddle
Gives the best hugs and kisses!
Smart
Whiny
Hilarious
Cheesy
Sensitive to others (especially Alex)
Determined (In good and bad ways)
Demanding
Great Dancer and Singer
Sweetheart
I love this little dude so much and I am a lucky Mom to have such an amazing little boy!
I took Alex to school then came back, got Darek dressed and ready to go. I was pretty much planning on staying the whole time, since he has been a bit of a Mamma's boy lately. We walked inside, got his backpack and coat off and he was immediately interested in EVERYTHING around him. He realized that he knew 5 other kids in the class with him and all of a sudden it wasn't so scary. I stayed about 10 minutes and said I was going to leave and would be back to pick him up soon. He got a little upset, but I gave him a hug, told him I would be back and I left. No problems!
I came back to get him and he came out smiling and so happy... with his backpack on upside down! :) I talked to his teacher a little bit. She told me he did okay. No crying or anything, but he did have issues with taking toys from other kids and throwing crayons. UGH. She said he listened to her when she asked him to stop or give something back or pick something up, so that was good. I'm not happy that's the way he began things, but I'm not surprised either. And I'm glad she's the kind of person that will let me know how he's doing.
Anyway, he's very excited to go back tomorrow for HIS school. I know this will be such a wonderful thing for him and I can't wait to see what he learns. And I'm just a little bit excited for the 2 free hours I'm going to get every day!!! :)
I LOVE this last picture so much, because this really shows Darek so well. He is a very good eye roller right now. He was getting so annoyed at having to stop and take pictures this morning and before long I got some good eye rolls from him. This little dude drives me so crazy at times, but I can't help but adore him. I just want to write a little synopsis of Darek at this point:
Limit tester
Loves to cuddle
Gives the best hugs and kisses!
Smart
Whiny
Hilarious
Cheesy
Sensitive to others (especially Alex)
Determined (In good and bad ways)
Demanding
Great Dancer and Singer
Sweetheart
I love this little dude so much and I am a lucky Mom to have such an amazing little boy!
The Weekend - Saturday
Saturday ended up being another jam-packed day! We weren't quite sure what we were going to do, but came up with a pretty fun plan. Darek had his last soccer game of the season. I was sad I didn't bring the camera for the last game, but oh well. I'm sure we'll have many future soccer games to take pictures of. At the end of the game, the coach gave all the kids a trophy! Darek was SO EXCITED! He showed it to everyone and carried it around.
We came home after the game and chilled for about an hour. Then we decided to head down south. We knew we'd be going that way for the Real Salt Lake game that night, so we figured we would go to a place we'd never been. I saw on www.citydeals.com a deal for Planet Play, so I figured we could try it out. It's kind of a mix between Boondocks and Chuck E Cheese. Darek fell asleep on our way there and slept for the first 30 minutes or so. I finally had to wake him up, which was cute. We were sitting in the arcade area and I took him out of his stroller. He was out cold. I shook him a little... a little more... until I finally had to just sit him up to help him wake up. He still wouldn't open his eyes. I laid him back down and said, "Darek, you want to wake up and go play?" That got his eyes open at least. As soon as he saw where we were, he bolted up so fast and his eyes opened up wide. He got a huge smile on his face and couldn't wait to get down and play. We stayed for a few hours and had a great pizza/pasta/salad buffet lunch, played some arcade games, went on go karts, went mini bowling and got some great prizes. I think it's the boys new favorite place to go. As long as city deals has that special, we can afford to go there.
After we finished there, we went to our last Real Salt Lake home game of the season. For being one of the first 5,000 people in the stadium that night, we all got a free Nick Rimando (our goalie) bobble head. We barely made the first 5,000 and were so excited to all get our bobble heads. The game was pretty good and ended in a tie 1-1. We ended up placing 3rd in our conference, which means we are in the play offs! We have a play off game this week and cannot wait!
That pretty much ended the weekend. It's always nice to have a long weekend with the family and make the most out of it. We're going to have another really fun month ahead of us. I love this time of year with all the holidays. I am really looking forward to spending some time with my sisters and their families a lot in the next month. I'm sure we'll have lots of great posts to come!
We came home after the game and chilled for about an hour. Then we decided to head down south. We knew we'd be going that way for the Real Salt Lake game that night, so we figured we would go to a place we'd never been. I saw on www.citydeals.com a deal for Planet Play, so I figured we could try it out. It's kind of a mix between Boondocks and Chuck E Cheese. Darek fell asleep on our way there and slept for the first 30 minutes or so. I finally had to wake him up, which was cute. We were sitting in the arcade area and I took him out of his stroller. He was out cold. I shook him a little... a little more... until I finally had to just sit him up to help him wake up. He still wouldn't open his eyes. I laid him back down and said, "Darek, you want to wake up and go play?" That got his eyes open at least. As soon as he saw where we were, he bolted up so fast and his eyes opened up wide. He got a huge smile on his face and couldn't wait to get down and play. We stayed for a few hours and had a great pizza/pasta/salad buffet lunch, played some arcade games, went on go karts, went mini bowling and got some great prizes. I think it's the boys new favorite place to go. As long as city deals has that special, we can afford to go there.
After we finished there, we went to our last Real Salt Lake home game of the season. For being one of the first 5,000 people in the stadium that night, we all got a free Nick Rimando (our goalie) bobble head. We barely made the first 5,000 and were so excited to all get our bobble heads. The game was pretty good and ended in a tie 1-1. We ended up placing 3rd in our conference, which means we are in the play offs! We have a play off game this week and cannot wait!
That pretty much ended the weekend. It's always nice to have a long weekend with the family and make the most out of it. We're going to have another really fun month ahead of us. I love this time of year with all the holidays. I am really looking forward to spending some time with my sisters and their families a lot in the next month. I'm sure we'll have lots of great posts to come!
The Weekend - Friday
This past weekend was so much fun! I thought Cornbellys on Thursday would be the highlight for our weekend. I was totally wrong! I'm going to have to break this post up so I don't overwhelm it with pictures. Friday ended up being crazy, but so much fun! My next door neighbor and I decided to have a Halloween party for the neighborhood kids. We were so excited about it, but soon realized that we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We prepared all day getting the food and activities ready. We were going to rotate activities between our two homes so neither one of us would get too overwhelmed. Candace started off at her house painting some cute masks for the kids. While she was doing that, I set up a scavenger hunt. This was my biggest stress. A lot of work goes into getting a scavenger hunt ready. I had been up the night before planning it out and some of the day writing out the clues to make it all cute and fun. So the kids finished their masks and came over to eat before starting the hunt. I had made about 40 little mummy hotdogs, which the kids loved. I also made a snake calzone, which didn't turn out as I had hoped. As the kids were standing in the yard waiting for their food, two of them said, "Oh, the scavenger hunt won't be very hard at all since Alex told us where the hiding places were." My head shot up quickly (since I hadn't told Alex anything about the scavenger hunt) and I asked what they meant. They went on to tell me two of the places I had just hid clues and prizes. I was pissed! I looked at Alex and he knew he was in trouble. I got all the kids food and after they sat down outside on the grass, I calmly asked Alex to come inside really quick. I asked him how the kids knew about the hunt and hiding places. He said he had gotten up early that day and came over to the computer and found the notebook I had written everything down in. He tried to lie and say he only told them one place, but confessed that it was 3 or 4. I wanted to cry. All that hard work for nothing. I told him off pretty good about how he needed to consider all the work and time that it takes for something like that and.... blah blah blah. As punishment, I told him he could not participate in the hunt. He was bummed and tried to negotiate with me a little. He said I could just change the clues. HA HA HA! Oh well, if it's just that EASY! I explained that was not going to work and would take a lot of time. He looked pretty pitiful watching the other kids do the scavenger hunt and I felt like a terrible mother. But I stuck to my guns. I got over it pretty quickly (but writing it down now is bringing back all the feelings. I'll probably be mad at Alex when he gets home from school and he'll have no idea what he did!) and we continued with the activities. We did a mummy contest with toilet paper, Halloween bingo, pumpkin race (hitting a pumpkin with a broom) and ended the night with a movie. The kids had so much fun and Candace and I were totally beat by the end of the night. And I was silly enough to go see a scary movie with my friends that night that didn't start until 9:50! Smart, huh? It was a fun and crazy night. Candace and I said we'll probably forget what a pain it was by Christmas and end up doing a Christmas party as well. :)
The snake was pretty cute and I was sad I didn't get any pictures of the mummies. All 40 of them were gone before I got the chance. I didn't even get to eat one! :)
On the Scavenger Hunt!
The Mummy wrap was hilarious! The kids had so much fun decorating each other. And I got to be the judge!
These two were being crazy and didn't quite know how to wrap each other, so I wrapped them together. They are so cute!
I didn't get to see this whole race, but I stuck my head out long enough to take a few pictures.
All the kids with their masks ready to head in and watch a movie. They had so much fun, were insanely hyper and very cute!
I'm glad we live in a neighborhood that has lots of kids around. Alex gets along really well with the kids in the neighborhood. They have a great time with minimal fighting. I'm glad I can help do things like this, especially before we move.
The snake was pretty cute and I was sad I didn't get any pictures of the mummies. All 40 of them were gone before I got the chance. I didn't even get to eat one! :)
On the Scavenger Hunt!
The Mummy wrap was hilarious! The kids had so much fun decorating each other. And I got to be the judge!
These two were being crazy and didn't quite know how to wrap each other, so I wrapped them together. They are so cute!
I didn't get to see this whole race, but I stuck my head out long enough to take a few pictures.
All the kids with their masks ready to head in and watch a movie. They had so much fun, were insanely hyper and very cute!
I'm glad we live in a neighborhood that has lots of kids around. Alex gets along really well with the kids in the neighborhood. They have a great time with minimal fighting. I'm glad I can help do things like this, especially before we move.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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