Our Russian Adoption

We're finished!!!

2011-12-18T18:08:00.003-06:00

Happy 3rd "Gotcha Day" Nick!

Nick's adoption journey is now complete! We finished his final post-placement visit with the social worker earlier this month. As we talked with the social worker it was a great feeling to tell him that Nick is a completely normal, happy 4 almost 5 year old. Nick is in preschool where he learns and socializes like a normal little boy. Any delays he had when we took him from the orphanage are gone. His health is good too. He still has his heart defect but he is now just monitored twice a year by the cardiologist. If you didn't know he had the defect you would never suspect there was one.

Nick knows he is from Russia and we talk about this fact with him all the time. We want him to proud of his heritage.

Nick still has some memories from the orphanage but I imagine these will fade the older he gets. At this point, it seems as if there won't be any deterimental effects from starting his life out in an orphanage. He is completely attached to everyone in our family and is adored by anyone who meets him. He is one special little boy and we are so blessed to have him in our family. He is the "crowning jewel" of our family. Why we were so blessed with such a precious boy we'll never know but we are forever grateful for the blessing of our little Nick.

Orphan Sunday

2011-11-06T16:11:00.005-06:00

I thought since today is Orphan Sunday I post a picture of one of the cutest little boys who is no longer an orphan. We are crazy in love with this little boy. Alex went to homecoming awhile back. Since she is not allowed to date until she is 16 she went to the game with some friends. Usually your date gets you a mum to wear to the game. I didn't want her to not have a mum so I had a friend of mine make her one. She also made a mum for Taylor and Lauren too. By the end of the homecoming game I was wearing both Taylor and Lauren's mum. Alex kept her mum on.HALLOWEEN 2011
I talked Nick into wearing last year's Iron Man costume. He didn't mind at all as long as he got to bring a gun (toy one of course) with him.Lauren is into the Twilight series so she wanted to go as a vampire. She cannot wait for November 18th when Breaking Dawn part 1 comes out.
This is the first year Taylor did not dress up in something pretty for Halloween. Taylor and one of her friends went as "Dumb" and "Dumber" from the movie Dumb and Dumber. Taylor was "Dumb".
Alex and her friend, Taya, went as a baby and an a grandma.

Me and nick

I've got a good dad

2011-10-17T09:04:00.002-05:00

Last night Nick asked someone if they had a dad. I guess because he had never seen their dad. After he asked that question he then told them..."I've got a good dad". I have to admit I got a bit choked up with that sweet comment he made about Chris. It definitely made Chris happy to hear that too. What a sweet boy!

New Boots

2011-09-18T23:24:00.002-05:00

Nick needed some new boots. He was so excited when we found some that look very similar to Dad's! He thinks because they look so much like his Dad's he now needs to keep them where Dad keeps his.

Now I have another pair of boots to trip over in my bathroom when they don't really get put up where they are suppose to be.

The Girl's First Day of School

2011-09-03T22:01:00.003-05:00

Now that the girls have been back in school for 2 weeks I thought it might be time to post their first day of school pictures. I'm a bit slow...

Alex--started high school. It is crazy to think I have a daughter in high school.

Taylor---7th grade.

Lauren---4rth grade.
Taylor was not excited that Lauren wanted to have the same "first day of school" outfit as her...just in another color. I kept telling her that the biggest compliment anyone can give you is if they copy you.

Nick started preschool the beginning of August. He is adjusting to the new school. He thinks he is so big going to school like his sisters do.

It's been a crazy summer!

2011-07-17T22:50:00.017-05:00

This summer has been crazy busy. I have barely been home. We've camped a couple of times, took the family on a cruise, been to church camp, a wedding and then to tennis camp and gymnastic competitions. I am worn out. I have one more trip to another church camp this week and then I can finally stay home. I am looking forward to being at home. Here are some pictures from our summer...so far.

Nick loves to eat at the Asian restaurants where they prepare the food in front of you. He calls them the "fire" restaurants.
Nick and his Russian friend. This little boy with Nick was the very first child we had ever met who was adopted from Russia. Meeting this boy was the catalyst for Nick's adoption. To me, these boys look like they could be cousins!
Nick loves Spiderman! He also loves soft serve ice cream. He ate his body weight in ice cream while he was on the boat.

Cute boy
With my sister, Kumari, in Mexico

Alex & Taylor souvenir shopping

Sombrero shopping in Cozumel

Nick watching a movie on the ship's deck

Nick admiring Uncle Coby
Lauren
Taylor
Alex

A family picture at Chris' brother's wedding

Taylor & Alex went to tennis camp while Lauren competed in her National Trampoline & Tumbling Competition.

A very excited Lauren!

It's not Nick's birthday but...

2011-05-31T21:22:00.002-05:00

Today is not Nick's birthday. His birthday is in January. However,I read this poem today and it sums up feelings I feel on both Nick's birthday and on Mother's Day about Nick's birth mother.

A BIRTHDAY

It’s my Childs birthday today. He just went dashing by me. His eyes are sparkling with the excitement only meant for today. Presents, kisses, hugs, cake, ice cream; it all seems so natural. It’s a ...day for looking back and looking forward.
It's my child’s birthday today; but there’s something very different happening inside of me. This should be a day of complete joy. A day for thanksgiving;but I’m stopped in the midst of all this excitement. I’m stopped because my thoughts are with “someone” else for a time. It’s my child’s birthday today.I have no memories of his life growing inside of me and fighting to be released. I have no memories from the beginning months of his life. Another “someone” was there. Another “someone” suffered for my joy. It’s my child’s birthday today; but “someone” somewhere is feeling emptiness inside. I wonder if she is wondering:Wondering who he looks like
Wondering how big-how small,wondering if he laughs much,wondering if he will wonder someday, too. It’s my child’s birthday today and in the midst of this blessed day that was given to me I have a prayer: Oh, God that I may never forget that “someone” suffered so much to give life to my child. That “someone” loved my child so very much in that she gave him the right to live. May I never forget for a moment and especially now, today, to offer a prayer of thanks for that “someone”, and that you, dear God, can always be there by that “someone” to help her through the hurts she will have when she stops to think that today is “my child’s birthday”.

I truly feel immense gratitude for a woman I don't know, who lives half-way around the world. I feel grateful to a woman who chose to give my son his life. I don't know if she ever does think about Nick. She may not. We'll never know. What I do know is that I am grateful to her for carrying him to term. She has given our family one of the greatest gifts that one person can give to another.

Alex's 8th Grade Celebration

2011-05-14T19:47:00.008-05:00

From brirthdays, to egg hunts to trips...

2011-05-02T10:58:00.005-05:00

Nick hunting for Easter Eggs with his Halloween bucket. He was determined to hunt eggs with his Spiderman bucket and NOT his Easter basket!

I went to Time Out For Women this past weekend with my in-laws while Alex & Taylor attended Time Out For Girls with their cousin, Blakely. It was a fantastic weekend. Taylor turned 12 in April. She wanted a "Vera Bradley" hipster purse as her birthday gift. He grandma fulfilled her wish.While me, Alex & Taylor were at Time Out For Women/Girls Chris took Nick on a weekend camping/riding trip with his Poopaw (Grandpa). They also had a great time.
We were all spread out this past weekend as Lauren was at her Regional Competition for trampoline and tumbling. She went with her friend. She too had a good weekend and competed well.When does life slow down???

National Qualifier!

2011-04-10T21:20:00.004-05:00

Lauren qualified to go to the National Trampoline and Tumbling competition! I am so proud of her. Last year she missed qualification by a score of .10. It was heartbreaking for her to be so close but still not make it. This year she solidly qualified to compete at Nationals in all 3 events. Lauren placed 4rth in the state in tumbling!

Memories....

2011-03-22T22:22:00.002-05:00

This is a picture of Nick the very first time we laid eyes on him in the orphanage. I have posted this picture before. I have this picture on my iPhone. I can't remember why I have it on my phone, but I do. Tonight Nick was scrolling through my pictures, as he often does, and when we came to this picture I stopped him. I asked him if he knew who the little boy in the picture was. He said, "yes, it's me in Russia". Then I asked him if he remembered me and Dad coming to visit him there. He then said, "yes....then you left me". This is exactly what happened! How heartbreaking that he remembered that we went to visit him and then we left. He didn't know that we were coming back to get him. He just knew we went to visit him and then we left.
Out of curiosity I wanted to see how much he could remember so I asked him more questions. I asked him if he could remember any of his friends there. He couldn't. I asked him if he remembered if he slept in a bed or a crib. He said a bed. I asked him if he slept alone. He said no, lot of kids. He then grew tired of the questions and went to play.

I am convinced he has memories. I don't think he remembers much but the few memories that he has could possibly explain why during the night he often asks, "are you there mom?"

A Precious Sight!

2011-03-19T11:04:00.000-05:00

Hello....(addendum added)

2011-03-10T17:10:00.002-06:00

I know it has been FOREVER since I have blogged. I got a new camera for Christmas and I do not like to figure new electronic things out. So, I procrastinated dowwnloading pictures because I knew it would involve reading a manual. Ugh! But, I finally read the manual and got some new pictures downloaded. It really wasn't even that hard to figure out.

Lots has happened since my last post. Our 2 year post-placement report was completed in December. Only one more report left to do! WooHoo!

Nick turned 4 in January...crazy! They get to be 4 so quickly when you adopt them at 2 years old! Nick's health is fantastic and he is finally gaining weight and eating! He has a cardiologist appointment tomorrow for a check-up. He hasn't been to the cardiologist for 6 months because he has been doing so well. I am anticipating a great check-up tomorrow too.

This 4-wheeler is one of Nick's favorite Christmas presents! He wants to ride it everyday!
Nick gave me and Chris our favorite Christmas present this year! (It still brings a tear to my eye when I think about it.) On Christmas day,after everyone had opened their gifts and were off playing, Nick and I were sitting on the couch getting one of his toys out of its packaging. (You all know what a job that can be!) As I was working with the packaging Nick turned and looked at me and said...."Mom, I'm so glad to be a part of this family."....WOW! What 4-year old says that? It was a precious moment and one I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life. It makes us wonder what he remembers. We'll never know if he remembers details of his life in the orphanage or just emotions. What made him say that? It melted my heart though.

I think this picture of Nick shows that he is looking more like a little boy and not a baby boy.

Two of the things Chris loves in life. Go figure?!
Taylor went to her Junior Cotillion dance. She really didn't enjoy Cotillion so she probably won't be doing it next year. Alex is getting into photography and is constantly shooting pictures of anyone and anything. She took this picture of herself.Lauren celebrated her 9th birthday last week. Grandma gave her this American Girl doll for her birthday. She is elated with this gift. We have contemplated getting Nick out of our bed and into his own now that he is healthy and sleeping better. However, just as soon as I start to think about doing this he says things in the night that make me think he still needs to be in our bed for security. Two of the most impressionable things Nick has said in the middle of the night in his sleep are...."Mom...are you there?" (As soon as he felt me next to him he went back to sleep.) The most recent one was just a couple of weeks ago and he asked me in his sleep...."Mommy, will you keep me safe?" That one was a gut wrencher! So, for now, he continues to sleep with me and Chris. Nick has even told me that he doesn't want to grow up and sleep in his own bed. Hopefully he will be sleeping in his own bed by Junior High :-)
It is hard for me to refuse these chocolate brown eyes!
ADDENDUM (3-11-11) Today Nick went to the cardiologist. The cardiologist said that Nick's heart "looks fantastic"! He has had a complete recovery and doesn't have to have another echocardiogram for 6 months. The Dr. thinks that Nick's heart defect will very likely resolve within the next 5 years. Hallelujah! We are so grateful!

"Gotcha" Day #2

2010-12-17T21:30:00.002-06:00

December 16th was Nick's 2nd "gotcha" day. We didn't get to do too much to celebrate because Chris was out-of-town and I was taking kids in many different directions that night. I did get him a little snowman cake and a Spiderman balloon. That's all it took to make him happy!
The baseball hat Nick is wearing is a favorite accessory of his. He wears the hat daily and if he can't find it there is a problem!

We are immensely grateful to have this little boy in our lives!

Catch up post...

2010-11-03T10:43:00.007-05:00

Nick and his best friend, Dane. Dane is only 9 months older than Nick. Look at the size differences. I think they are on opposite ends of the growth chart!

Pumpkin carving

Trick-or-treating with friends on the golf cart.

Halloween costumes...Alex didn't dress up this evening.

A close up of Nick so you can see he is finally growing hair!

Nick climbing but Alex could still out climb him any day of the week when she was young. She was put in gymnastics because she always had to be climbing so she could be on top of things. Nick attempts to climb. He scares me because he isn't as coordinated as Alex was as a little girl.

The old man had a b-day. We celebrated at a friend's house!

Attachment.....

2010-10-08T10:37:00.003-05:00

One of the biggest challenges of adoption of an "older" child is attachment. We have worked very hard at getting Nick to solidly attach to us as his parents the last (almost) 2 years. But, I always worry is it enough. I think he is attached to us but is he really? I mean really attached...I received my answer a couple of weeks ago when we had a BBQ at our house with friends. I decided to invite Nick's babysitter and her family to attend this gathering. This lady is becoming a great friend of mine and I wanted to see how our 2 families would blend together. Prior to her coming over I started thinking about who would Nick go to if he needed something at the BBQ. Would he go ask Ms. Amy or would he ask his mom or dad? I was sooo hoping he would ask me or Chris if he needed something but since he spends a lot of time with Ms. Amy I really wasn't so sure. I was almost dreading to see what he would do at this dinner.

Well.....he asked me and Chris for things he needed!!!! Talk about relief! I think it would have broke my heart if hadn't! Oh how we love this little boy!

Update on Nick's health....his heart looks "fantastic" says Mr. Cardiologist. Nick doesn't have to go for another echocardiogram for 6 months!

The end of summer...

2010-09-03T13:00:00.004-05:00

When the older girls stopped gymnastics recently they decided to get more involved in tennis. Alex played in 2 tournaments this summer and didn't do well at all. Chris was very frustrated so he decided to dust his tennis racket off and help the girls with their tennis. Chris played some college tennis but he hasn't played in 25 years. He has had a great time playing again.

Last Saturday both Chris and Alex competed in a tennis tournament. (Taylor isn't quite ready to compete yet.) Alex has tremendously improved in the last month. She actually looked like she was playing tennis! She even won her first match which advanced her into the winner's bracket. She then lost her 2nd match. But, both tournaments she played in this summer she had lost her first match which then had her advance to the consolation bracket. So, there has been a definite improvement.

If you ever have wondered where our girls get their athletic abilities from it is from Chris. (I wish I could claim that talent but I can't.)After not playing tennis in 25 years Chris goes to a tennis tournament and takes 2nd place. How disgusting is that? He was shooting for 1st place but had to forfeit the finals since it was on Sunday and he had church meetings to attend. We were all proud of him and his accomplishment. What a stud. It was fun to watch him play too. He was playing guys literally 1/2 his age.

Chris with his 2nd place trophy

The first day of school 2010. Alex-8th grade, Taylor-6th grade and Lauren-3rd
Alex and Taylor both had a good first day of school. Lauren griped for 20 solid minutes about school and everything about it when I picked her up that day. I finally had to tell her that if she couldn't say anything positive I just didn't want to hear it. She was making me crazy. She is sooooooooo dramatic about everything.

Nick loves to wrestle. He was trying to take Lauren down before we left for school.

Nick wanting a "first day of school" picture.
We are off to camp this Labor Day weekend. Nick is so excited I think he might bust. He normally is very cranky in the morning (not a morning person at all!) but not today! This morning he talked non-stop about camping and what he needed to pack up to go.

In terms of Nick's health the cardiologist told us a week ago that he typically doesn't see such a favorable recovery after an infection like Nick had. He also told me that when a child with a VSD gets endocarditis that once the infection is resolved they usually have to have surgery to fix the VSD. The cardiologist is so pleased with Nick's recovery that he still wants to just "watch" Nick. So...no surgery....for now at least. We are going to keep praying that he continues to have a great recovery. He is our miracle boy.

Stuff...

2010-08-22T14:00:00.004-05:00

Nick's PICC line came out Friday!!! He is finished with his 6 weeks of IV antibiotics! Woohoo! He was so excited to get all those tubes out of his arm. Fortunately it wasn't a painful experience. Now he just has to do aspirin therapy for 4 months to prevent platelets from accumulating on the scarring he has on his tricuspid valve. But, overall Nick is doing well and the cardiologist is very optimistic that he won't have any long-term problems from this infection. We are so grateful.

Lauren has decided that she enjoys washing dishes by hand. It sure would be nice if this would last. I feel confident it won't though.We have come to the end of an era. Gymnastics is over :( I am sad, Alex is very sad but due to the limited resources where we live Alex can no longer progress in this sport. Since moving isn't an option for our family the decision was made to quit the sport. It is a very expensive sport and takes an enormous amount of time to just be stagnant in it. She also had some knee problems that has contributed to this decision as well. It breaks my heart that Alex cannot fulfill her dream of being a college gymnast because of where we live. Fortunately, she developed a lot of skills besides gymnastics from her time competing in the sport. We will all miss it.
Taylor is also finished with gymnastics. She just lost interest in the sport. Lauren is finished with artistic gymnastics but is going to continue on with trampoline and tumbling for awhile.

School starts tomorrow!!! WoooHooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I do it"

2010-08-04T19:36:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned in previous posts Nick likes to take charge of his medical care. As much of his IV antibiotic administration that I will let him do the happier he is. So, I let him flush his lines with saline before and after his antibiotics. When he is finished I hook up his medicine and I do the heparin flush at the very end but Nick does the rest. He is quite good at it too. He even reminds me when it is time to get hooked up to his medicine and when his "ball" (antibiotic) is empty.

Flushing PICC line

Unscrewing syringe

I can tell Nick is feeling better because he is having a lot of temper tantrums lately! You got to love the 2 & 3 year old years.

Home......finally!

2010-07-27T17:49:00.005-05:00

We are soooooo glad to be home. The infection in Nick's heart started shrinking and there didn't seem to be any problem with his heart conduction system so he was released to go home. It was a very long 12 days! He is home on IV antibiotics because he still has the infection and will for awhile. He will still have a lot of visits to the pediatrician and the cardiologist in the next while. But, he is on the mend.

The girls did not like Nick in the hospital at all. They were so worried about him. After Nick had been in the hospital 5 days we sent them to stay with Chris's parents. I am so grateful they were willing to keep them. Their Aunt drove out here to our house and picked them up and took them there. She does a camp for them every summer and it was the same weekend. The girls had a blast and it took their minds off of Nick so they didn't worry so much.
As you may remember, Nick has a congenital heart defect which did make him more susceptible to this type of infection. However, the cardiologist told us that only 1 in 20,000 kids with a VSD will get this type of infection. I don't know if this will mean that he will have to get the VSD repaired now or not.

One of our friends brought this head lamp to Nick as a gift. Nick absolutely loved it. It provided many hours of entertainment. I would never have thought to buy one of these but it was a fantastic gift. Now he can be like Daddy since Chris has one too.

Nick had all the nurses wrapped around his little finger. They all thought he was just precious. Of course he is!!! He was a good patient too and didn't complain a lot. He only threw 3 temper tantrums in the 12 days he was couped up in the hospital. That was very impressive to me.

By the end of Nick's hospital stay he was very proficient at taking his own temperature, putting the blood pressure cuff on and hooking up the cord that connected it to the machine. Once it was hooked up he would push the button to start the machine. He put the pulse oximeter on his finger, he could place every heart lead in the correct connection and finally....he loves to flush his own PICC line with a syringe. (I need to take a picture of that. It is very amusing.) Most of the nurses were very patient with him and let him do all this.

A big thank you to everyone who prayed for Nick. You cannot imagine how much we appreciate all of your prayers. :)

Hospital....day 9

2010-07-18T13:38:00.003-05:00

Hi all....today is Nick's 9th day in the hospital. He is responding to the antibiotics so we are hopeful that sometime this week he will get to go home. Last Tuesday they put a PICC line in his arm so that he could continue to receive IV antibiotics through his arm for the 4-6 weeks after he goes home from the hospital. He was a bit cranky the day they put this in but other than that Nick has really been the ideal hospital patient. He has thrown a few temper tantrums but not as many as I would have expected from a sick child confined to a hospital room.

This coming Tuesday they are doing more blood work and another echocardiogram. What they find from these tests will determine when they will release him from the hospital. The cardiologist wants to see that the "vegetation" (his infection) on his heart valve is shrinking before they release him.

Hospital

2010-07-11T16:26:00.003-05:00

The final verdict on Nick's illness is bacterial endocarditis. He is in the hospital probably for the next week and then home for 4-6 weeks on iv antibiotics. More later..

News...

2010-07-07T23:58:00.002-05:00

Some news with pictures later...

Alex and Taylor competed in a national gymnastics competition this past week. Alex took a 3rd and 4rth place. Taylor placed 6th in one event that she says is her "worst". Not sure how placing that high in the nation could be called a "bad" event.

Nick has been running around the clock fevers for 3 weeks. I took Nick to the Dr. after 5 consecutive days of fever since I knew I would be gone on our trip to nationals. (Chris and Nick stayed home.) Our regular pediatrician was out-of-town but the guy we saw just thought he must have caught a virus and sent us home. So, off I went on my trip with the girls. We had a great time but Nick continued to have fevers the whole time I was gone. Poor little guy was miserable with fevers running 102-104 degrees. Anytime the motrin wore off he would run high temperatures.

When I got home from our trip I immediately took Nick back to the doctor (our regular one). Three weeks of fever called for extensive testing. Nick has had so many tests run on him this week to find the origin of his fevers. We don't have all the results in but at this point he has been diagnosed with pneumonia, mono, anemia and bacteremia. He is one sick little boy. I hope we don't add any additional diagnoses when we go back to the doctor tomorrow morning.

Two tired boys

2010-06-24T14:59:00.001-05:00

The other day I came home from work and running the girls around and this is what I found.
How sweet is that?

Summer fun!

2010-06-13T22:37:00.010-05:00

We just got back from taking the family on a cruise. We had so much fun and we made lots of great memories. We took so many pictures it was hard to know which ones to post. Here are a few of the pictures taken on the trip.

Nick learned that when we went back to our room at night there were always chocolates left by the cabin stewards. He always ran for them and ate them all. He was very possessive of "his" chocolates. Lauren frequently fell asleep at dinner.
Nick always had to sleep with his rockets.
Taylor had a tough time deciding which shell to buy.
The girls had a ball snorkeling at Magen's Bay on St. Thomas.
Nick ate his weight in ice cream on this cruise. We are starting to wonder if he is truly lactose intolerant because he never had bowel problems even while eating cheese pizza and ice cream all during the trip.

We were at a beach one day and Nick really wanted an ice cream cone. Chris took him to the local McDonald's and bought him one. Neither one of them minded that it was melting all over them.
My toes with sand on them looked so much like summer I had to take a picture.Lauren and Nick playing Nintendo while waiting for our plane home.
Prior to our cruise we had gone camping. We had a very special treat on this camping trip and a family that we had met in Samara, Russia met up with us. We wanted our boys to meet. We are forever grateful for this family because they helped us through a very tough trip where we lost our first referral, "konstantin". I don't know what we would have done without their friendship during that catastrophic trip. Our trip to Samara didn't end well but theirs did! They named their little boy Mick.

Nick and Mick

Pictures of the girls...

2010-05-10T23:17:00.006-05:00

Taylor-11

Lauren-8

Alex-13

I love my cowboys!

2010-05-07T10:31:00.008-05:00

Pictures of the girls and family to come later!!

Taylor's birthday, Easter and more...

2010-04-25T14:44:00.009-05:00

The birthday girl!!!

Nick helping Taylor open her birthday presents.

We are crazy about cookie cakes so I bought a VERY large one in hopes there would be some leftovers. Unfortunately, there wasn't much left after the party
Alex was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society this past week. What a lucky girl to be both intelligent and athletically gifted.

Two State Champions!

Nick on Easter morning

Nick enjoying the Easter festivities

My Mule Man

2010-04-06T21:17:00.004-05:00

My sister, Kumari and her husband, Ty, were here visiting us this past weekend. Ty is a fantastic photographer. He took a "gazillion" pictures. Will post more pictures later.

Spring Break...plus some

2010-03-22T13:46:00.006-05:00

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have posted! We have had a whirlwind of a month though.

Saturday Lauren was baptized. Both sets of Grandparents came into town to be with Lauren on her special day.

Last week the girls had spring break. We decided to go camping for the first part of the week. Chris's parents and his brother, Chad, and his family joined us. It was a great trip.

We bought Nick a package of water guns on our trip and for some reason the green one was his favorite. He carried it everywhere for about 2 days.

Cousins!

We took a hike during our spring break camping trip. We didn't have a pack to put Nick in so Chris carried Nick the entire time. It was cold at the top of this rock. Notice the attire Chris is wearing. Shorts and then he is wearing ear muffs too! Not-to-mention hiking in crocs! We really hadn't planned on hiking so he wasn't prepared with hiking attire.

Nick and Lauren "tractor shopping"

Lauren turned 8 on March 5th.

A very delayed post...

2010-03-02T13:26:00.002-06:00

Waaaaaaayyyy back in November my bloggin' friend, Barb, from Holmsweethomeblog.blogspot.com gave me this award. How sweet is that? It has taken me until March to respond to the award. How pathetic is that? Anyways...thank you Barb. I've just been a slacker. With this award I am suppose to post 10 random things about myself. Here I go...
1. I would rather eat sweets than food.
2. I love summer weather but prefer winter clothes.
3. I live in the country but would rather live in town.(The things I do for my
hubby!)
4. I don't cry much.
5. I love going to the movies although I don't get to do it very often.
6. I am very loyal.
7. I like a clean house but since we've had Nick......not always neat.
8. I gained more weight with our adoption of Nick than I did with any 3 of my
pregnancies. I don't have youth on my side any longer to help me get it off
either. :(
9. I've been dying my hair for years. Sad, but true.
10. I hate the forehead wrinkles I inherited from my dad. They are like the Grand
Canyon.
Those were kind of hard to come up with. Now I will tag some people so I can read random things about them...Jen, Bliss, Kumari, Amy, Laura and Lauren.

Nick has been sick for a week now. I am so tired of it. I'm sure he is too. He gets to coughing so hard he throws everything up. This illness is not very condusive to his weight issue.

Competition weekend

2010-02-15T13:01:00.003-06:00

Big weekend for the girls. It didn't start off so well with Lauren. She decided to sport some "Lauren" attitude at the beginning of the competition. The attitude won her a 8th and 6th place finish. Finally she was able to put her attitude behind her and she finished her day off with a 2nd place win. She was really pleased with this.

Taylor had a big day placing 1st in all events. Not only did she place 1st but she received a perfect "10.0" on the floor. Crazy. Alex was very jealous. Another Lauren picture with her showing off her 2nd place medal.
Alex had a good day taking 2 first place and a 4rth place. She scored a 9.8 on the floor which she was soo happy about.

The other night Chris and I were talking about the "girls" and Nick. Something that completely amazes us is how excited the girls are to see Nick after school everyday. They just cannot wait to see him, play with him and give him kisses. We thought that after a year some of this excitement would have died down but it just hasn't. Those girls are crazy in love with their little brother. Nick has been a huge blessing to our family.

A couple of Saturdays ago Chris and Nick were out doing "guy" shopping. I guess Chris decided that Nick was going to be potty trained because he went and bought underwear for Nick. We started potty training Nick that afternoon when they got home. I didn't know we were potty training but since his bowels were finally under control I guess it was a good time. I am pleased to say that Nick was very easy to potty train. What a relief! I was dreading potty training so badly that I was pleasantly surprised how easy he trained. After a week he was fully potty trained both night and day. He really didn't have that many accidents in that week either. I should knock on wood so there won't be a relapse. I am glad that is over with though.

Results

2010-01-27T11:14:00.003-06:00

It looks like Nick does NOT have Celiac Disease. Rather, he is lactose intolerance. I'm an idiot for not figuring this out sooner. After all he is the biggest yogurt lover on the planet. Combine yogurt and all the pooping he did. Makes sense...in hindsight. It sure is nice not changing 6 poopy diapers a day though. Maybe one of these days I'll consider potty training him.

A couple of weeks ago after Nick kicked me all night I thought to myself it is time he gets back in his own bed. However....a couple of days later in the middle of the night he called out "you there mom" and stretched his hand out to find me. He obviously still needs the security of me and Chris being right there with him. I guess he will continue to kick me..for now. Alex had a great competition Saturday with 3 first place wins!

He's 3!

2010-01-17T15:03:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe but Nick is 3!!! He got a lot of trucks and tractors for his birthday. He thinks this birthday stuff is pretty neat!
Nick admiring his gifts.
Nick with some of his birthday loot!
Friday we went to Nick's 3 year-old check up so he could get caught up on some more of his shots. Of course, he hated that. But, worse than the shots was the blood draw. Our pediatrician decided to test Nick for Celiac Disease. Nick's weight gain has been very poor. He is still in the 8th percentile for height and weight. When we first got him he was in the 2nd and 5th percentile. So, based on that and the fact that he poops A LOT and he runs random fevers for no reasons he got tested. I think we should get the results next week. I sure hope he doesn't have this. But, if he does maybe his bowels will get under control and we can start thinking about potty training. I haven't even wanted to go there with all the pooping he does. Not-to-mention the fact that I HATE potty training. :)

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T21:32:00.007-06:00

This year we spent Christmas with Nana and Poopaw (Chris's parents). We had a great holiday. Nick was so much different than last Christmas. He thoroughly enjoyed all the presents and chocolate this year! He was all smiles.

The kids and I left to go to Nana and Poopaw's on Wednesday afternoon in a whirlwind. We weren't going to leave until Thursday morning but there was a snow storm coming so we wanted to be ahead of the weather. Chris was going to come on after work Christmas Eve. The kids and I made it safely ahead of the storm. Unfortunately, Chris got stuck at home from all the snow. We didn't get to celebrate Christmas Eve or Christmas morning with Chris. It was so sad to not have Daddy there Christmas morning. Chris left for Nana and Poopaw's on Christmas day around 12:30. He didn't make it to their house until late that night. The roads were not good at all. We were so glad he made it safely.

It was no surprise that most of Nick's gifts were tractors.
Another tractor from Grandma. This one came with good "stuff" inside the tractor to play with too.Nick's first 'kill'. Just kidding :) Chris and all the uncles went hunting one day and they shot 3 deer. That was the highlight of the trip for the guys.
Poopaw had to give Nick a tractor ride even though it was freezing outside. I think the tractor ride was the highlight of Nick's trip. Nana with Nick's cousin, Zane, and Nick. Zane and Nick had a great time playing together.

The girls had a great Christmas too but just not any good pictures of them. I'm not the best photographer and Chris wasn't there to take pictures.

I hope y'all had a great Christmas :)

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!

2009-12-16T22:07:00.002-06:00

Wow! I can hardly believe Nick has been part of our family for one entire year as of today. It seems like the year went by quickly but yet when I look back a lot went on! To think that on this day last year I was in the bitter Siberian cold.

This year has had its ups and downs. Fortunately, there were many more "ups" than there were "downs". The biggest adjustment for me has been the lack of sleep. The first six months we had Nick he didn't sleep. He would get up between 6-8 times a night starting at 1 a.m. I get up at 4:45 a.m. so that meant not much sleep. I typically don't get to bed until 11 p.m. either. So...chronic fatigue. But, as of June Nick sleeps with us and he now will go many nights in a row without getting up at all. So much better.
Most of the "ups" this year I have already written about in past posts. An ongoing issue is the fact that Nick hasn't gained much weight since we've had him. The weight he has gained I think is just from him gaining height. But, he doesn't look scrawny so I don't worry too much. His total weight gain in a year is 3 pounds. WooHoo.

We are all crazy about this little boy. He truly is the miracle that completed our lives! I thank God everyday for blessing us with him.

Hello

2009-12-01T10:17:00.003-06:00

My birthday was on November 20th. (I won't mention how old I am now but the forehead wrinkles could give it away.) I had a fantastic birthday. It was one of the best I have had in a long time. The kids and I flew into Seattle to visit my family for Thanksgiving the day after my birthday. My sister surprised me with a birthday dinner with family and some friends right after they picked us up from the airport. It was great. She is the best sister!

All I wanted for my birthday was a Russian Nativity. Last December when we were in Russia Chris and I had seen some Nativities and really, really wanted one then. We didn't buy one then because they were expensive and we were really worried about money on that trip. We didn't want to run out of cash. I have kicked myself all year long for not buying one while we were in Moscow. Last month I e-mailed my friend, Mary, who lives in Moscow and was a spectacular tour guide while we were there to see if there was any possibility that she could get a Nativity for me. She was able to and our other friend, Kim, whose house we stayed in in Moscow, brought it over to the states with her. My Nativity arrived just in time for my birthday. Talk about service! What great friends. :) This is a spectacular Nativity. The picture doesn't do the artistry justice. The intricate carving and painting is amazing. I LOVE IT! I am so glad to have it. Chris will laugh at my poor photo taking abilities as I cut the angel's head off. It is too much trouble now to take another picture and get it onto the blog. Just know the angel's head is great too. :)

Chris and the girls putting Christmas lights up on the windmill.

The girls were messing around with Nick's hair the other day. This picture, although crazy, shows how much hair he is growing.

Do you decorate your Christmas tree naked?

Decorating the tree with his diaper back on! I didn't want to have any "accidents" on my carpet.

Woohoo....we have a State qualifier

2009-11-16T18:07:00.005-06:00

This weekend was the North State Gymnastic competition. Taylor was so excited to go and compete. She had her game face on! All of her hard work paid off and she qualified to compete in the State Competition. The top 10 gymnasts from the North part of the State earned a place at the competition. Taylor placed 6th...so off we go to the competition next month. Taylor will compete with the top 20 gymnasts in the state.

A very proud and happy Taylor! One of the things Taylor was most proud of is the fact that she scored a 9.5 on Vault and placed 3rd on this event. This is an event that Taylor has struggled with for the past 2 years. She was so excited when she saw her score. She was dancing around like a crazy woman.

A proud daddy. Chris chased Nick most of the meet. He swears we will never take Nick to another gymnastics meet again!

Taylor with Coach Al...the Vault coach. I think even he was shocked at how well she did on the vault.

Taylor and both of her coaches

Taylor admiring her medals. She placed in all 4 events. This is a HUGE accomplishment for her.
Words cannot express how proud we are of Taylor.

Today is Orphan Sunday

2009-11-08T20:04:00.002-06:00

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T17:25:00.006-06:00

Simply put....Nick loved Halloween! He thought trick-or-treating was the greatest. Friday night we went to our church's trunk-or-treat where you trick-or-treat out of the trunks of people's cars. Then Saturday night we went over to our friend's house and had pizza and then we all loaded up on golf carts to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood. The houses aren't that close together so the golf cart made it a lot easier. As soon as the golf cart would stop Nick would jump off and make a run for the door. If he wasn't at the front of the crowd he would push his way to the front. As soon as he got his candy he would run back to the golf cart and throw his candy in his bucket. (He wouldn't take his bucket to the front door...too hard to run with.) He was then ready to go to the next house. He never tired of this. We didn't stop trick-or-treating until about 10 p.m. I wish I had brought our video camera to record his introduction to trick-or-treating. Chris and I had some good laughs watching him.

A picture of all the kids before trick-or-treating on Saturday night.

Nick as spiderman. He definitely wouldn't leave the hat or glasses to his costume on!

Nick making himself laugh. He was trying to do some spiderman pose. I think :)

Alex as Cleopatra

Taylor as a Hollywood starlett.

Lauren appropriately dressed as a Runway Diva. The attitude is just a built in personality trait. :)
If Halloween was this much fun I cannot wait to see Nick at Christmas this year!

Hard copy

2009-10-22T19:19:00.002-05:00

We have received Nick's actual social security card!!!!

I was so grateful to the woman at the Department of Vital Statistics for all her help that I sent her a gift card. We would not have made the tax deadline if it wasn't for her! It is good to know that there are still good people in the world.

Just when you think it is all done...

2009-10-15T20:49:00.003-05:00

Yesterday from 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. I called the social security office every 2 minutes trying to get through so I could get Nick's number. The card isn't ready but I was able to get his number after an hour of trying. I almost started crying when I got his number. How crazy is that! I guess I had had myself all worked up that it was such an emotional relief when I had his number.

I immediately called Chris (well texted) and then I called our accountant so he could electronically file our taxes yesterday. Phew!

Today I got a call from our accountant....our tax return was kicked back because Nick's social security number was not recognized. Too new! WHAT!!!!! All that and it is not recognized. So I had to go and sign a hard copy of our tax return at their office and then mail it off. There is still a chance it will be kicked back because when they review our taxes Nick's social security number may not be in the system at that time either. GRRR.....I guess I will deal with that when and if it happens. The tax return did get today's date on the postmark....today was d-day and it needed that date.

One of Chris' patients gave us these pumpkins. Nick thought it was fun to have his picture taken and then run to look at the picture on the camera.

Done!

2009-10-13T22:10:00.002-05:00

This morning I applied for Nick's social security number! I only had to wait 1 hour. Once I was at the window it didn't all go smoothly. Their computer wouldn't allow passing some page because there wasn't a specific county that Nick was born in the United States. I had to produce all kinds of documentation...adoption decree (in Russian?), health insurance card with his name on it and his certificate of U.S. citizenship. Fortunately, the lady was really nice and was very caring and considerate. She was trying to get it done for me. Which she did. She also gave me a phone number that I can call tomorrow to get Nick's actual number. Phew!

Of interest was that the lady helping me at the Social Security office had gone to a luncheon on Monday and listened to a lady talk about her recent Russian adoption. The lady speaking was my friend, Lisa! How weird was that.

One year ago today we met Nick! This is a picture of the very first moment we meant him! I remember walking into the room and getting all choked up when I saw him. How we love this little boy. We cannot imagine our lives without him.

Friday...

2009-10-09T18:29:00.002-05:00

There wasn't a birth certificate in the mail Thursday but today at 4:05 p.m. the birth certificate arrived. By 4:36 p.m. I was at the Social Security office.....doors locked. They closed at 4 p.m. Grrrr...and guess what? Monday is a holiday so they are not open. This would almost be comical if it weren't such a vital thing to get finished.

Small town perk...

2009-10-07T09:00:00.003-05:00

Since I didn't get Nick's birth certificate yesterday I made a desperate attempt to get today's mail early. After I dropped the kids off at school I went to the post office to see if I could get today's mail early. That way if the birth certificate was in today's mail I could get to the social security office today rather than tomorrow. It truly was a great thought. The postmasters were great and gave me today's mail. But.....NO birth certificate! :( I now have a call in to my friend at the Department of Vital Statistics to see if it actually got mailed.

NO!!!

2009-10-06T18:36:00.000-05:00

Still no birth certificate. It is looking more and more dismal? :(

Not yet...

2009-10-05T16:30:00.002-05:00

Late last Friday afternoon my friend at the Vital Statistics office called me to tell me that she was mailing Nick's birth certificate! :) She wanted to verify our address. I was hoping the birth certificate would be in the mailbox today. It wasn't there...maybe tomorrow.

No stateside birth certificate yet! (long)

2009-09-30T17:43:00.004-05:00

Yes, it is true...we have been home from Russia for 9 1/2 months and Nick still doesn't have a stateside birth certificate. This is a true frustration. On January 14, 2009 we paid our adoption agency to complete the adoption recognition process which involved getting a stateside birth certificate for Nick. This was a fee that was sprung on us. We had never been told that we would be shelling out more money once we were home from Russia for more adoption expenses. We knew about post-placement visits but not this.

In February I went to the social security office with all the documents that the social security website says you need to take with you if you don't have a state birth certificate. They sent me away (after a long wait) and told me to come back when I have the state's birth certificate. This was frustrating because I wanted to get our taxes done and needed a social security number for Nick. The social security's website indicated that you could get a social security number if you had certain documentation with you when you applied. I had that documentation. I was still sent away.

So, mid-March rolls around and still no stateside birth certificate. I call our adoption agency and explained to them that I wanted to get my taxes done and did they know approximately when Nick's birth certificate would be arriving. I was told, rather snidely by one of the worker's at the agency that "everyone is in the same situation". Well....ok. No answers were forthcoming from the people I paid money to get a job done so I called the Department of Vital Statistics myself. Wow....after a very long wait on hold I get a very nice person who told me exactly who to talk to and gave me her number. I called her and she was very informative and told me that they hadn't even received a request for Nick's birth certificate yet (mind you this is mid-March). Interesting...I asked her once they have this request how long does it take to get a birth certificate....4-6 weeks. So, from my phone call to the vital statistics office it became very apparent that we would not have Nick's birth certificate in time for our taxes to be completed by April 15th. The lady at the department of vital statistics office then proceeds to tell me that there is something you can apply for called an adoption tax ID number. With this number you do not need a social security number for your newly adopted child in order to claim them on your taxes. Interesting to know. Wonder why our agency hadn't told us this information? I then ask how long does it take to receive one of those numbers....4-8 weeks. Obviously, I couldn't get one of those either before April 15 since it was mid-March. Wish I had known about this number sooner and the birth certificate wouldn't be an issue for 2008's taxes. I immediately call our accountant so he could prepare an extension for us.

April 15 came and went with no birth certificate. I felt ok though because we had filed an extension. Then in early May Nick's birth certificate came BUT his name was spelled wrong. OMG! Why they wouldn't double check spelling before the application was made is beyond me. I immediately (next day) took the birth certificate back to the adoption agency to it can get changed. More waiting.

In June I started to e-mail adoption agency about birth certificate. No response. I e-mailed them again. No response. Then I called. The person I needed to talk to wasn't there she would call me back. No response. Mmmm...long of the short in order to get answers I (again)call the Department of Vital Statistics. Once again....very informative. They were still missing some paperwork to complete the process to fix spelling of Nick's name. Interesting.

During July I knew the lady working on this process was out-of-town with her own Russian adoption so I didn't bother her. When August rolled around and there still wasn't a birth certificate in my mailbox I started making phone calls again. Still no response. Very frustrating. Once again...I called The Department of Vital Statistics. I find out everything that is missing in the process, type it up and take it to our adoption agency with phone numbers, names and processing numbers. (Just in case they had been too busy to know any of this.) When I very nicely present this information to our agency (in person) they already knew all the information I had spent 2 days collecting. I wouldn't have had to spend time collecting information if I would get a response to e-mails and phone calls. GRRR!

Now it is October. I've been making lots of phone calls to my friend at the Department of Vital Statistics. She is great! She has started calling our adoption agency too. We are in a time crunch now (again) for our taxes as our extension comes due on October 12. If we cannot file our taxes claiming Nick as a dependent and also use the adoption tax credit we will owe thousands of dollars in taxes. But, if we can claim Nick and use the adoption tax credit we do not owe any taxes. This is why Nick's birth certificate is of vital importance. I need it to get a social security number BEFORE October 12.

Monday my friend at the Department of Vital Statistics called me to tell me that she had finally received everything needed to complete the request to change the spelling of Nick's name. She was going to rush it through (normally it takes 4-6 weeks to process) and try to mail it out by Friday (tomorrow). If it is mailed Friday it will get to the adoption agency Monday or Tuesday of next week. Maybe next Wednesday I can go to the Social Security office to apply to get Nick's number. That will be October 7th. Maybe after 2 days of processing I can get his number (card wouldn't be ready but maybe his number). That would be Friday, October 9th. Remember taxes due Monday October 12th.

So...the long and short of it...it is a long shot, but maybe it will get done. Keep your fingers crossed. I am stressed out and sick of dealing with this.

No more braces!

2009-09-23T11:40:00.002-05:00

Taylor finally got phase 1 of her braces off last week. She has had braces for almost 2 years. We used to call her snaggle tooth. Not anymore! A shot of Nick so you can see how much hair he is getting.

Gymnastics

2009-09-13T19:16:00.002-05:00

The compulsory gymnastic season has started! Yesterday was Lauren and Taylor's first gymnastic meet of the season. We were at the gym from 7:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. It was a long day. But, this year I am not the Parent Association President so I did not have the pressure of running the meet.

This was Lauren's very first official gymnastic meet. It was so cute to see how excited she was. She had her game face on and actually did ok. We were really nervous that she would be the worst gymnast there. When Alex and Taylor compete we always check to see how close to the top they finish. With Lauren we were just praying she wouldn't be at the very bottom. They don't place the girls at Lauren's level but I don't think she was the worst one there. I'd say she was kind of in the middle.
Taylor had an excellent meet. She won 1st place all around in her age division. Talk about a happy girl. In her level and age division she was 1st on beam, 2nd on floor, 2nd on vault and 3rd on bars. I don't know her placement in the overall level yet.

Alex's gymnastic season doesn't start until January.

I've caved

2009-09-02T09:24:00.005-05:00

Nick hasn't slept well since we've been home from Russia. He would go to sleep fine but then starting about 1 a.m. he would get up 6-8 times a night. He wasn't up long, but often. Usually he would want a drink of milk and then he would go right back to sleep. It seemed as if he was just "checking" to see if I was there. After months of me not getting much sleep I (initially)started to put him in bed with us AFTER the first time he woke up in the night. When I started doing this he started to only get up 1-2x/night. Much better! Well, it is now official that Nick "sleeps" with us. For the past week Nick just goes to sleep in our bed. Amazingly he doesn't wake up until morning time when we do this. Crazy...I NEVER let the girls sleep in our bed. But, now Nick does. I have definitely caved due to lack of sleep. I guess with the first 3 kids I got my way of not having the kids sleep with us but now, with the last one, Chris is getting his way. He loves to have the kids sleep in our bed. I'm too tired to get up 6-8 times a night and with Nick's background I just can't let him "cry it out".....yet. Age (and tiredness)sure does soften you! Right or wrong this is how it is for now and I am not as cranky when I sleep!

Here are some more summer fun pictures. We took the kids to a water park and these are a few of the pictures.

Summer was fun but I am glad to have them back in school!

The Girl's First Day of School

2009-08-24T18:05:00.002-05:00

Today was the first day of school for the girls! They were excited and nervous but they all had a good day. I'm trying to figure out when Alex got so "grown-up" looking. ????
Tomorrow is Nick's first day back at "school" too. I had better go and get his bag ready. The mornings are so crazy and I'm sure the girls won't pop out of bed tomorrow like they did today!

The Ass Whisperer!

2009-08-15T18:35:00.003-05:00

Today Chris competed in an all mule rodeo. Chris has been breaking and training mules for the past 3 years. He was so excited and a bit nervous too. He really wanted to do well. He definitely did well. He came home with 7 belt buckles (1st place) and a new saddle which was the overall winner of the rodeo. Here he is with the kids showing off his winnings! We are so proud of him!

Nick loves, loves to swim. In fact, Nick can almost swim by himself. I know that sounds crazy but he has figured out how to move his arms and kick his legs. He can now swim about 3 feet by himself. Very strange indeed!
I'm proud of my 2 boys!

Cardiologist

2009-08-09T20:33:00.004-05:00

Friday Nick had a cardiologist appointment. I was really hoping things with his heart would be improving. Things aren't bad with his heart but it is "the same". We are still in the "wait and watch" mode. So, not necessarily bad news but I really was hoping for a bit of improvement. On a good note his heart is not enlarged and his pressures are great. Both good things. Nick doesn't have to return to the cardiologist for 6 months.

Here is a picture of Nick playing in his sister's room. I'm sure he was getting into their stuff and annoying them. He really likes to do that.
I found this random picture of Alex's eye on my camera. I have no clue how she made it this color or why she even took it. ????
The last few months we have been so busy travelling that my kitchen became a "dumping" ground. I never had time to clean it until recently. I stayed up late, late one night because I could not stand it any longer. I took a picture of the kitchen because it was so great to see it completely clean! Fortunately, since we haven't been travelling as much it has actually stayed clean. Always a good feeling!
Summer is winding down and we are getting ready to start school in 2 weeks! WooHoo!!!! I can't wait.

July pictures!

2009-07-26T21:43:00.009-05:00

June and July have been crazy busy with lots of travelling. I have a ton of pictures ...too many to post. Here are just a few...

While on vacation we took the kids to see Ice Age 3. Nick only lasted 30 minutes and then he and I went to the lobby. He loved this car video game. It wasn't pleasant when it was time to leave. I think Nick could have spent an entire day playing on this machine. You can see the "love" all over his face in this picture.

While we were on one of our vacations we got to go and meet my bloggin' friend, Kellie, and her newly adopted daughter, Hope. Hope is also from Siberia like Nick. She is from a different region there but not far from where Nick is from. She is absolutely precious. It was great to be with them. Nick's first pinata. He loved the suckers that were in there.

Mama's little helper.

Nick loves bathtime! It is hard to believe how much he used to scream when it was time to take a bath.
Chris and Nick on a motorcycle ride around the campground.

Me and Nick camping
The travelling is winding down now. I am heading to Las Vegas this weekend and then we will spend the rest of the summer around town.

Home....for now!

2009-07-21T21:37:00.002-05:00

Phew...we are home. This summer has been a whirlwind. I am exhausted and a bit strung out. I am in a constant state of packing or unpacking. When I am home I have to work almost everyday since I am gone so much of the month. Usually I only work 2-3 days a week. Anyways....

The trip was fun. Nick stayed with his Nana and Poopaw for the week. He had a blast. They love him. He even enjoyed his Uncle Coby teasing him to death. Nick always went back for more.

The girls and I headed south after dropping Nick off and took Taylor and Alex to gymnastic camp. They had a blast. Alex wants to go to this camp for 2 weeks next summer. Taylor said she wanted to go back but just for one. She didn't want to be away from me for 2 weeks. How sweet ! :)

Lauren and I got some good Mom and daughter time while the other two girls were at camp. We went to water parks, movies, shopped and ate out without chasing a two-year old around.

Chris was home alone missing me :) while we were gone! Poor guy!

I'll post pictures soon. Too tired right now...off to bed.

Traveling again!

2009-07-08T23:24:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow we are leaving for a little over a week and a half on vacation. We will spend some time with my in-laws and then I am taking Alex and Taylor to another gymnastic camp. I will not be able to post pictures for Nick's 7 month anniversary of his Gotcha Day. Nick's Gotcha Day was December 16th. Crazy how 7 months have flown by. Nick has definitely come out-of-his shell. He is the funniest little boy. He loves to tease and to laugh but boy is he bull-headed! It is so great to see what a "normal" 2 year-old he is. He is into everything, loves to run and pushes his boundries.
Nick was drinking root beer in this picture. We had a good laugh as it appeared we were giving our little boy a beer to quench his thirst.
Nick loves to run....especially if he knows we are trying to catch him. He has the funniest running stride. We are not seeing a future athlete...he often trips.
My awesome sister, Kumari, and Nick at the Hogle Zoo in Utah.
Well, I must go finish packing so I can have the car ready to leave when I go to work in the morning. I have patients until 2 p.m. and then we are off!

Lots of pictures!

2009-07-05T20:20:00.008-05:00

In June the kids and I drove to Utah to visit my sister, Kumari and her husband, Ty. Alex and Taylor also attended a gymnastic camp while we were there. We had such a great time! It is such a beautiful state. The company was fantastic too! :)

Ty took a ton of pictures of the kids. It was hard to pick which pictures to post. These pictures are some from the first CD of pictures. There are so many good pictures that I'll have to post more later.

Some cute pictures of Nick.

I love this boy!

Awesome pictures of the girls.

All these pictures were taken at Thanksgiving point. The gardens there are incredible!

$30,000

2009-06-29T17:33:00.001-05:00

The cost to remove 2 peanut fragments from Nick's lung! WOW!!!

Has it been 6 months already?????

2009-06-17T22:43:00.004-05:00

Then....

Now....
What a difference 1/2 a year can make!

Cruise to the Panama Canal

2009-06-14T22:28:00.010-05:00

Chris and I just returned from a cruise to the Panama Canal. We had an awesome time.

Legend has it that if you touch the wall of the locks in the Panama Canal your marriage will last forever. I had to think about it but decided to touch the wall after all. :)
One of our favorite places on the cruise ship was the piano bar. The pianist could play song after song after song without any music. Amazing!
Here is a picture of Chris just before he got a massage in Costa Rica. The lady did such a good job he went back for a 2nd massage after lunch too!He looks naked in this picture but he does have shorts on! :)Chris bought Nick a hand-carved, wooden top at a flea market in Costa Rica.
At least, he said it was for Nick. He spent hours in the room and all over the ship trying to learn to spin his...I mean, NICK'S new top. He did finally master the art of top spinning. Towel animals!One of the adventures we did was zip lining in Belize. I was very apprehensive about this adventure since I hate heights and speeds. It was awesome though!The rested couple on one of the ship's formal nights.
We had a great trip but missed the kiddos a bunch. The kids were happy to see us when we got home today! We decided that next time we go we are taking them with us! Maybe next summer.....

Busted!!!!

2009-05-29T11:13:00.003-05:00

This face was the first clue that something was amiss! Where did he get the lipstick from?I knew I had put my make-up away in the cabinet that morning. Alex doesn't wear lipstick yet. These pictures are blurry because he would not stand still for a good picture. I'm sure it was because he knew when I found.......this that he would be in big trouble! Trouble he was! He is crying because he got a bustin'! What do you have in your dryer? I have trains!It is hard to stay mad at this sweet boy though! Here he is all wrapped up in his Spiderman towel. He fell asleep watching Barney.I need to add lipstick to the list of things that I need to put on extremely high shelves. Lipstick will be put beside every other lotion/liquid/shampoo/body wash and any other liquid that comes out of a bottle because he loves to get into them and put them in his hair and on his body. Pump bottles are the most enticing to him.

I need to end this post because it is quiet. Quiet is not good. Nick is into something! It is time to find out what.

Nick's first camping/boating trip

2009-05-26T08:41:00.006-05:00

This past weekend we went camping with a couple friend of ours and their girls and Chris's family. We had a great trip with lots of good food...thanks to Chris and his dutch oven cooking and lots of fun times on the boat.

Chris and his brothers putting up the "kitchen". Chris has perfected his dutch oven cooking. He made biscuits, stew, cornbread and cobbler in his dutch oven. Delicious!
Roasting marshmallows...too much fun. Nick wouldn't eat any marshmallows but it sure was fun to roast them. One dirty boy!On the boat.

Nick had a ball this weekend. The only drawback was our campsite was by a road. We had to constantly chase Nick so he wouldn't get in the road. Nick has decided he liked to camp. Good thing since he has another camping trip coming up on July 4rth!

5 months! (UPDATED)

2009-05-20T14:39:00.003-05:00

It has been a little over 5 months since "Gotcha Day". This little man has changed from a pensive, quiet little boy to one who is full of personality and happiness. We thank God everyday for him! It is hard to remember life without him.

ADDENDUM: we just got home from the doctor's office. 2 great pieces of news...1) Nick weighs 25.9# WOW! Just a month and half ago he weighed in at 24#. Thank heavens for chocolate doughnuts! 2) We were just at the pediatrician's office not the cardiologist's but....he said Nick's VSD was not as loud as it was previously. I think that is good?! We don't go back to the cardiologist until the end of summer. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed until then. :)

You know you are a hillbilly.....

2009-05-11T12:42:00.004-05:00

As I was leaving the house this morning and loading Nick in his car seat I noticed my back rear tire was flat as flat can be. Why does this always happen when I am in a rush and it is cold outside and Chris is already at work? Who knows? So, I get in the car and drive to the barn. Climb over the fence...should 40 something year old women be even doing this...to get to the air compressor. Of course, I have trouble starting it. Soon our donkey, comes over to give me moral support. He must have been good luck because soon the air compressor roared to life. So, climbed back over the fence to get to the hose so that I can air my tire up. Tire is aired up and now climb back over the fence to turn off the air compressor and then climb back over the fence again so I can get in my car to drive off. All in the average morning of a hillbilly. I don't think I should even know how to operate an air compressor.

Yesterday Lauren and Nick were playing in the clothes hamper. They had a ball. Too bad the laundry fairy didn't come and do laundry before they were playing in there.
Since Alex got a haircut Taylor thought she needed one too. Does it get any cuter than this? I think not!And finally, Friday was Alex's 12th birthday. Where has the time gone? I'm not sure what was going on with the blue bow but she loved it. I think one day she may regret the bow selection. But, she had a great day!Yesterday on Mother's Day I spent a lot of time being thankful for Nick's birth mother. I am so thankful that she chose life! She has given our family a most wonderful gift.

Caught!

2009-05-03T21:36:00.002-05:00

Before we adopted Nick we had heard how some children from orphanages will sneak food or get into the pantry and just eat and eat. They might even hoard food or hide food in their cheeks to eat later on. I've even heard of people having to put locks on their pantries to keep the kids from eating all day long. We have never had this problem until now....I walked into the kitchen the other day and Nick was enjoying some Hostess chocolate covered doughnuts. He was caught red handed! We have finally found a food that Nick loves. Maybe we can get a pound or two on him.

Laundry and a new haircut

2009-04-30T07:57:00.003-05:00

Nick loves to help with laundry. Well, at least he likes to play with the dryer.
Nick is ready for school. Of course, he has his cologne on. Alex got a more "grown-up" haircut yesterday. She was very excited. Alex hasn't had her hair this short since she was very little and it was growing out. This haircut makes it look like she has thicker hair than she really does.
As an update...Nick is eating better. Not necessarily more food just better in the sense that he eats a bigger variety and a lot of different textures. He is down to about 1 carton of yogurt a day now. He used eat about 6 cartons a day. We dont' work with food issues with the speech therapist any longer. Now we just work with his talking. The main focus with his speech right now is increasing the number of words he knows and encouraging him to put 2 words together. For example, if he wants 'milk' he will tell us 'milk'. We are suppose to get him to say 'milk please' or 'more milk'. Sometimes I feel like a broken record repeating myself. He is saying more 2 word phrases but he still prefers to use just one word at a time.

My 2 favorite cowboys and a birthday girl!

2009-04-20T23:04:00.004-05:00

Many of you may not know that it is a fashion faux pas to wear your felt cowboy hat after Easter. Today my two favorite cowboys broke out their straw hats!
I took this picture of Nick Sunday before church. He is so funny because he has to put Daddy's cologne on before he leaves the house. A future lady killer!Taylor turned 10 last week. She is one precious girl. We went with some of Taylor's friends to watch the Hannah Montanna movie for her birthday party this past weekend. It is a pretty cute movie. I tolerated this movie so much better than Coraline or Wall*e. I thought I was going to have to slit my wrists watching those movies. Hannah Montana was very doable though.

Disneyworld!

2009-04-15T14:38:00.007-05:00

The look that made the trip all worth it!

Lauren adores Ariel. Meeting the "real" Ariel was the highlight of Lauren's trip.
So tired!
The kids.

The family

Princess Lauren

2009-04-08T22:40:00.004-05:00

I was very worried about Lauren when we adopted Nick. Lauren has been the baby of the family for seven years. It was seven years of Divaville. In her mind it is all about Lauren and I worried about her adjustment to Nick. I didn't want Lauren to resent him for booting her out of her position as the baby of the family. Lauren does have her moments with Nick but overall she is so sweet to him and she loves him so much. Except when he gets into her stuff. This is a picture of Lauren and Nick watching a movie together. About 10 minutes before this picture was taken Lauren was hollering at Nick to get his big head out of the way. They figured it out and watched part of a movie together until Nick had had enough of Fairytopia. Once he realized there weren't any tractors in that movie he was out of there!
Here is the resident redneck!Heading to Disneyworld in the morning.

The 3 best words!

2009-04-02T22:45:00.002-05:00

This morning Nick said...."wuv you mom". I have never heard Nick put 3 words together. He's been working on putting two words together but this was his first 3 word phrase. It was the greatest thing to hear coming from such a sweet boy. I love him SO much!

Nick has been to the cardiologist and the pediatrician this week. Both visits were great. Nick actually has gained a small amount of weight. I was extremely shocked since he didn't eat well during and after his hospital stay. In terms of his heart the pressure that is suppose to be high is high and the pressure that is suppose to be low is low. We don't have to go back for four months. WooHoo! Tomorrow we go to the pulmonologist who did his first bronchoscopy.

Nick's hospital stay

2009-03-23T16:52:00.006-05:00

It appears from this picture that Nick was all smiles at the hospital. I can ASSURE you this was not the case. All that IV tubing in Nick's hand got ripped out Thursday night during one of Nick's wild temper tantrums. Friday morning they had to put it all back in prior to his second surgery. They were able to get it back in with the first stick. However, while he was still in the treatment room he threw another wild temper trantum and out it came again. The next time the IV was put in is arm. It didn't come out again until he was release from the hospital. Here Nick is "King of the Hospital Bed". All the nurses thought he was as cute as could be. The girls came up to the hospital on Thursday night to visit their brother. They stayed about 3 hours. I think he was very glad to see them. Nick was released from the hospital early Friday evening. As soon as he was released I had to race home to pack. It was Alex's Level 7 State Championship meet this past Saturday. Talk about a whirlwind 4 days! We let Alex "pick" who she wanted to take her to the meet since there was no way Nick was in any shape to travel. Mom was chosen so Chris stayed home with Nick. We are very proud of Alex for a good season. She placed reasonably well for a girl who only trained a few months for level 7. She placed 4rth on the bars, 8th on vault, 6th on floor and 7th overall.She was disappointed that she didn't place at all on her best event--beam. But, she didn't perform her best routine. Too bad we couldn't use her North State beam routine. But, we are very proud of our now Level 8 gymnast. Alex will have until next January to train for the Level 8 competitive season. She is SOOOO excited that she is a Level 8 gymnast. I am so excited that Taylor and Lauren's gymnastic meet season doesn't start for 5 1/2 more months! Phew!

Peanut Update

2009-03-21T10:08:00.002-05:00

Thursday Nick went in for an outpatient procedure to have the peanut in his lung removed. I knew something wasn't right when the procedure was taking longer than expected. Finally, the doctor came out and told us that they had found the peanut but Nick's breathing had been compromised so they couldn't finish. Nick had to be admitted to the hospital to monitor his breathing, get antibiotics and steroids. They would try again on Friday with a surgeon. It was a long day and night in the hospital.

Friday morning they took Nick back to surgery. I was keeping my fingers crossed that his breathing was ok. When the surgeon came out he had a little plastic container with 2 peanut pieces in it. There had been 2 pieces in his lung, not one. He was successful. The peanuts are out! Nick is banned from peanuts until he is 25 years old.

My good friend, Bliss, had a great suggestion that I place those two peanut pieces on my "Mother-of-the-Year" award. I'll see what I can do.

Since Nick was going to be miserable after these 2 procedures and he was already going to be in the operating room we had Nick circumcised. Chris and I had decided that we weren't going to circumcise him electively because of his heart condition. We didn't want to put him to sleep for a cosmetic procedure with his heart condition. But, since he was going to be asleep anyways we took advantage of the situation and got that taken care of. Nick is not a happy camper today!

They released Nick from the hospital Friday evening because he did really well after surgery.

I'll post some hospital pictures later.

The peanut is coming out

2009-03-18T21:08:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow morning Nick is going to have a bronchoscopy to remove the peanut in his lung. I'll let y'all know how things go. Poor little guy.

It's About Time!

2009-03-15T17:50:00.004-05:00

We finally got to have Lauren's birthday party on Saturday. She was so excited. She had 4 friends over for brownie bites and presents and then we went to watch Race to Witch Mountain. Lauren had a blast.
Nick finally will (sometimes)drink out of a sippy cup! WOOHOO. This spiderman cup is one he likes fairly well.
I have to call the doctor tomorrow and give a report on the peanut in Nick's lung. Nick has had a good weekend in terms of eating and sleeping and he hasn't developed a fever. But, he has developed a fairly productive cough in the past few days. We will see what the plan will be after I talk with the pediatrician tomorrow.

Mother-of-the-Year 2009

2009-03-12T19:10:00.007-05:00

Can you detect the sarcasm in the title of this post? Let me tell you why I WON'T be receiving this award. Yesterday all the kids were eating peanuts for a snack..including Nick. Peanuts are something Nick likes and has been eating for 3 months. They also have lots of calories which he needs. He hasn't ever had any problems with them until yesterday. I think he shoved too many nuts in his mouth at once. You guessed it...he choked. Then he coughed and coughed and coughed, then he vomited, then he inhaled a peanut. Fortunately, his breathing wasn't compromised! We just can hear a loud whistle every time he takes a breath. Today I took him to the doctors to have him looked at. The peanut can be heard with a stethoscope but cannot be seen on an x-ray. The doctor thinks it must be a peanut fragment. I guess fragments are not always detectable on x-ray. No action was needed today. I'm suppose to call tomorrow and report how Nick is eating and coughing. Then we are to watch him over the weekend and see what happens. Monday..worst case scenario...he will be sedated and the peanut will be extracted. No more peanuts for Nick.

Here are a couple of pictures of Nick as we were getting his chest x-ray. He moves so fast I always seem to miss the upright face.Nick was just checking things out making sure things were in order.On another bad note, Nick only weighed in at 23.11 pounds. :( He has only gained .11 pounds since he had the flu 3 weeks ago.

And another bad note....Nick is incredibly cranky today. I mean cranky! I guess I would be too if I had a peanut stuck in my lung.

As a side note...Lauren's tooth is still hanging there in her mouth like a hillbilly.

Resident Redneck!

2009-03-11T10:14:00.004-05:00

No, it's not Chris...it's Lauren. She is about to lose this front tooth and she is so excited.If you can't see the tooth on the outside of the lip click on the picture to blow it up. A lovely site.

Alex made Level 7 state

2009-03-09T08:17:00.004-05:00

She's back! Alex had the north state gymnastic competition this weekend. This meet was the qualifier to the state competition. Alex really wanted to compete in the state level 7 gymnastic competition so she had her game face on! What a difference attitude makes! Alex placed 2nd on balance beam, 3rd on floor and 6th overall. I don't know where she has been but she is back and happy and motivated! We are so proud of her for her attitude change!Nick is living the tractor dream!
Nick always has a tractor in his hand! The boy is in love with tractors! This weekend he got to ride the tractor a lot with his dad and Poopaw (grandpa). He was in tractor heaven. Our baby girl turned 7 this past week. Here she is in her new outfit from her grandma and the Rosetta doll she wanted. We weren't able to have her party this past weekend because we were out-of-town. She was disappointed about that. The party is this coming weekend though so she has something to look forward to. It is hard to believe she is 7 years old.

Boo Boo and Hair

2009-03-01T10:57:00.005-06:00

An activity that our family does is gymnastic shows. During this time the girls like to take turns showing us stuff they can do...over and over and over. Handstands, cartwheels, walking on hands, backbends, pull-ups, dips etc. Well, last night Nick was participating in this activity by running in circles. He was having the best time laughing like crazy until he fell and hit a plastic dollhouse just perfectly and cut his head. There was blood everywhere. Of course, I wanted a blood picture but couldn't find the camera. So, here is a bandaid picture of the boo boo. He didn't cry long and soon he was back playing with his tractors.
As an FYI, Chris won the dip and pull-up competition. You go old man!

Nick's hair has grown like crazy since we got him. I know he still doesn't have much hair but it has tripled since December.

The other day he even had a few wild hairs that I had to use some spray gel on. I love spray gel! Look at all this hair!

A couple of weeks ago we had the flu at our house for 2 weeks. Ugh! All the kids had it. We were healthy for 1 week. Today, Lauren woke up with a sick stomach and has thrown up twice. I thought I was done with illness!
Just a cute picture of Taylor I took this morning as she was going to church. I didn't get one of Alex. She looked cute too!I love this girl!

Girl's weekend!

2009-02-23T11:51:00.008-06:00

The girls and I had a great weekend together. We missed the "boys" but they had a great weekend too.

The gymnastic meet was in a city 7 1/2 hours from where we live. It is a much bigger place than our town. The girls received quite the education. This picture is Alex trying to take a subtle picture of a guy with crazy hair. Look in the background...he is in all black so he is hard to see. We noticed other people asking to take their picture with the crazy hair guy. So...the kids asked so we were able to get a full picture of him. He was really a very pleasant guy but had some strange hair. The girls were in awe. It was very hard for them not to stare at him. It was so fascinating to them. Alex,as intuitive as she is, told me that that guy did that to his hair so he could get attention. You think?Lauren at the Rainforest Cafe
I met up with a friend I haven't seen in 10 years. She is still as cute and awesome as ever!
Finally, a picture of a happy level 7 gymnast. Alex had a great gymnastic meet but more importantly she was happy and had fun. I hadn't seen that spark in her eyes in quite some time.
It was a great weekend but good to be home.

Just like his daddy!

2009-02-19T17:00:00.002-06:00

Nick loves to wear his cowboy hat when his daddy does! My mom bought this hat for Nick for his birthday. His Nana bought him first pair of cowboy boots for Christmas. He is ready to go.

The girls and I are leaving to go to an out-of-town gymanstic meet this weekend. We are making it a girls weekend. Chris and Nick are staying home and being boys together.

Lots of stuff

2009-02-16T10:05:00.002-06:00

I've had sick kids at my house for 2 weeks! I'm ready for everyone to be healthy! Friday night Nick kept me up all night. I'm too old for that part of motherhood! His fever is finally gone but he still has a deep cough. Hopefully, that will be gone soon too!

Because Nick was sick I didn't get to travel to Alex's gymnastics meet this weekend. It was the first meet that I had missed of hers. She did better than at her last meet but had some bad attitude. We are telling her that if it isn't fun for her anymore now that her old coach is gone she just needs to quit. We don't have any other gymnastic options where we live. It has been such a hard transition for her with her new coach. I don't know what she will do. Taylor is doing fine with the transition to the new coach but she has also had this new coach in the past.

I didn't get to spend Valentine's Day with my sweetheart. :( But, he had fun shooting guns with his brothers and dad. They are big into these shooting competitions these days.

Valentine's evening was when Alex had her gymanstic meet. She did come in 8th on floor and 8th overall which is better than her 14th overall last meet. She is definately in a different league of gymnasts now. She is still missing an element on her bar routine which makes her start value lower. It also doesn't help when she falls off the bar either.

Nana got Nick this toy gun for Valentine's Day. He loves it! I guess it is staying in the theme of the shooting competitions.

Friday Nick was evaluated by Early Childhood Intervention. He is on target in his motor skills. But, he is about at a 16 month age for speech so he will start speech therapy. The Speech Therapist will also work with him with his food texture problem. Nick still isn't eating well but it is improving some in the fact that he will eat more than yogurt now. But, anything that is slimy like a noodle or is like a rice texture he won't eat. He will spit it right out. I don't think he has gained any weight since his last doctors appointment :( In fact, with his illness this past weekend I'm sure he has lost weight. Just great! Wish I had the problem of not gaining weight.

Big Weekend!

2009-02-09T10:13:00.005-06:00

This weekend we had family come into town for Nick's blessing. It was a lot of fun but crazy busy! Nick had a ball.

A family picture in the bright sun.Nick not wanting his picture taken. An extended family picture.Lauren and Nick having fun together! She is a great big sister. One of Nick's favorite past times. We are thinking we need to spray paint over the "Barbie".

2009-02-02T21:32:00.002-06:00

We were told that adoptive children sometimes regress once they are with their new families. This is even encouraged to happen. Here is a picture of Lauren, my almost 7 year-old daughter, regressing. She isn't even adopted. Lately, Lauren has been wanting to eat in this high chair. Nick doesn't even like sitting in this high chair anymore. The same day I took this picture of Lauren I also caught Taylor (almost 10) sitting in it eating too. So far I haven't caught Alex in it. Also, notice the laundry drying on the table as we await the delivery of our new dryer. Another big smile from Nick!

He's so much fun!

2009-01-29T08:24:00.004-06:00

Not the best picture of Nick but he's just so cute it doesn't matter.
Remember the boy who didn't like baths? Here he is playing in the bathtub without water and fully dressed! He loves his baths. Also, if he hears the shower running he will run in the bathroom and try to get in the shower with Dad whenever he can.Lot's of things breaking this week. Car had to get the engine worked on...$211. Next week we are scheduled to get the timing belt replaced....$500 and then this morning our dryer quit working! Everything always needs to be repaired at once. How does that happen? One more thing...$300 came due for our updated homestudy. Paying that today as well. We're broke.

Chris has been trying to make up for his "you're looking old" comment last week. Now he tells me how young I look. He is also trying to throw in the "you look thin" compliment too. I see right through his brown-nosing! Reality is I am looking old and this adoption has wrecked havoc on my weight too. :(

Husband Earns Bonus Points

2009-01-23T22:44:00.002-06:00

Last night out the blue my husband, who is normally the most complimentary and sweet guy to me, told me I looked OLD! What the heck! That sort of a comment is not the best way to earn bonus points. I'm thinking there should be some sort of payment for that comment! Diamonds would be appropriate payment but we just spent all of our money on our adoption so that isn't an option.

Chris has been giving Nick rides on his motorcycle. Do not panic Chris drives very slow. Also remember that we live in the country where there isn't much traffic around. Nick loves his motorcycle rides. You can see in this picture that the sun has gone down and he is still wanting to ride. Nick doesn't want to take his helmet off even when he is in the house. It is so funny to watch him walk with the helmet on. He is so top heavy that he is constantly doing balance checks.

He made the growth chart!

2009-01-21T19:20:00.002-06:00

Nick had 2-year check-up today. He weighed in at 24# and 31 3/4". These measurements put Nick in the 7th percentile for weight and 2nd percentile for height. For a post-institutionalized child this isn't too bad. What wasn't good was that he has only gained .4# since we've had him! We have been having a lot of finicky eating going on at this house. All that Nick wants to eat is yogurt. Yogurt, yogurt, yogurt. It is so frustrating. He is even particular about which yogurt. He can look at the carton and let you know if it is the kind he wants. It is crazy. We can get an eggo waffle in him occassionally and he will eat goldfish and some milk. Everything else he just spits out. Oh yeah, he will eat peanuts too. So, that is my child's crazy diet. We keep offering foods and hopefully he will start eating more variety soon! The pediatrician wants to see him in 2 months to make sure he is growing and gaining weight.

Big Weekend

2009-01-19T22:12:00.003-06:00

Here is Nick taking a nap on his way home from his big weekend. He was sooo tired. He played hard. He got good and dirty too. His cousins and sisters were great about playing with him all weekend. Notice what he is holding in his hand! The boy loves his tractors.
Friday night Alex and Taylor and I went to a college gymanstic meet. It was a lot of fun. We saw some good gymnastics and it was good to spend time with the girls.

Alex just did o.k. at her meet. She's had better ones. Her scores were 8s and 9s. She fell off the balance beam and the bars. Go figure. But, she was very nervous. It took her a long time to admit how nervous she was at the meet but she finally did. It was VERY obvious to me. I guess it is a good starting point for the season. At least she didn't leave there devastated. I was afraid she would.

Gymnastic meet

2009-01-16T14:12:00.002-06:00

Today we are driving 6 hours for Alex's first gymnastic meet as a level 7 which is this weekend. She is very excited but also anxious. She has been having a mental block about her balance beam dismount and she won't "go for it". But, she says she is ready for everything else. She was in tears last night about this mental block. I think, after talking to her after workout that she is just having a really hard time transitioning to her new coach. There isn't anything wrong with her new coach--it just isn't Amanda. Alex and her old coach, Amanda, are very close. They are friends as well as having a coach/gymnast relationship. Alex hasn't ever had another beam and floor coach except for Amanda. It will take time to develop a relationship with the new coach, Allison. I hope that Allison can be patient with Alex and not take it personally. Allison is a sweetheart. I just think the coach change came at a rough time for Alex since it was her old coach who mostly prepared her for her level 7 routines. Keep your fingers crossed that she will put on her game face and perform at the level we know she can.

First Day at Parent's Day Out!

2009-01-15T21:37:00.005-06:00

Today I had to start back to my Thursday job. When you work for yourself there isn't anyone to pick up the slack. Fortunately, I can squish all my work together into 2 days a week while Nick is at Parent's Day out.

Here is Nick with his backpack. He wouldn't hold still for the photo op which is why the picture is blurry.
A picture right before we walked out the door. He is smiling because he doesn't know what is about to hit him!
Nick loves this baseball hat and the little spiderman toy. Notice the intent look on his face.

Nick had a good day at "school". He was so happy to see me when I picked him up. He got a huge smile on his face and ran and gave me a huge hug around the neck and a kiss.

2009-01-14T09:46:00.010-06:00

Blog award: LEMONADE

This award was given to me by my blogger friend,Barb. They recently brought home their adopted daughter from Russia. She writes a very truthful and honest blog. Barb shares her feelings quite eloquently about some of the struggles and joys she has with her new daughter. Her family is almost a mirror of mine in that she has 3 boys who are similar in ages to our girls and then they adopted a child from Russia of the opposite gender. The link to her blog is: holmsweethome.blogspot.com.

These are the rules, as she posted them on her blog:

This award is meant for people who are positive, show gratitude, and of course: make lemons out of lemonade!

The rules for this award are that you post the graphic for it, write a post that links back to the giver, and then pass it on to up to ten others.

Leave a comment on the blogs that get the award, so they know what's happened.

And the award goes to . . . .

1) Kumari, the best sister ever. (tyandkumari.blogspot.com)_

2) Dana,a great friend who has been so supportive during our adoption process. She is awesome! (wdbbfamily.blogspot.com)

3) Bliss, another great friend who has been a positive influence in my life. (sawyerpicts.blogspot.com)

4) Kellie, a bloggin' friend who is waiting for a referral for a little girl in Russia. I even had a chance to meet her in "real" life which was awesome. (waldenfamilyadoption.blogspot.com)

5) Kelly, another bloggin' friend who I have so much in common with but have never met in real life. Maybe someday?! (mariettamania.blogspot.com)

6) Amy, another bloggin' friend who adopted 2 precious kiddos from Samara, Russia this past year. I've met her in real life too! (buglight1975.blogspot.com)

7) Joy, a bloggin' friend who just received her referral of a little girl in Russia. WoooHoo! Can't wait to hear more! (becomingamommy.blogspot.com)

8) Karen, a bloggin' friend whose posts make me laugh. She adopted a little boy from Russia who is a doll. (tiger-kar.blogspot.com)

9) Kim, another bloggin' friend who's adopted 2 boys and waiting for a referral of a little girl from Russia. (prudhomme-family.blogspot.com)

10) Patty, an unexpected friend. :) (therodriguesfamily.blogspot.com)

I had to type in the links because I couldn't figure out how to link them. Maybe I'll get it one day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2009-01-12T21:44:00.001-06:00

Today Nick turned 2!! He was a happy boy all day long! Here he is intently watching Dad light the candles.
Blowing out the candles.
Success!Nick loves this dinosaur he got at the shower on Saturday. For some reason he likes to play with it under the kitchen table. ??We are so glad is here with us!!! We love him so much!

Two-Year Old Shower

2009-01-11T18:27:00.001-06:00

These are my good friends, Dana, Paige and Laura. They gave Nick a baby shower Saturday. It was so much fun! These are some of the presents Nick got at the shower! Lots of fun stuff.
Nick had fun at the shower too! He was very well-behaved. Nick has had a crabby week so I wasn't sure how he would act at the party. Everything was fine though.He loved this battery powered car.
Nick and I spend a lot of time in the golf cart. He absolutely loves it.

Things We've Learned.....

2009-01-09T13:02:00.001-06:00

......about Nick since he became part of our family.
1) He loves the outdoors.
2) He loves to smile.
3) He hates to go to bed.
4) He hates to have his clothes taken off or put on.
5) He loves yogurt. That is about all he wants to eat right now.
6) He gets jealous of his sisters if we give them any attention.
7) He loves tractors.
8) He loves his Cozy Coup car
9) He has learned to love his bath.
10) He loves to brush his teeth.
11) His vocabulary consists of: Mama, Dada (or my mama, my dada), truck, tractor and poop.
12) He loves you to hold him.
13) He throws a great temper tantrum. But, unlike the female children in the house they are short lived.
14) He is intrigued with animals but doesn't really want them near him.
15) He can be mischievious.

Here is a picture of Nick on one our walks.

It has been a great three weeks. They haven't been perfect. We've had some rough days but overall he is doing so great.

Cardiologist

2009-01-06T13:07:00.000-06:00

When we accepted our referral of Nick we knew he had a Ventricular Septum Defect. He was scheduled to have heart surgery in Russia in October to have this repaired. When we accepted him for adoption we asked them to cancel the surgery in Russia so that he could be evaluated here in the United States. (His heart condition is what enabled us to get our court date so soon after we had met him.)

Today we had our first appointment with the Pediatric Cardiologist. We received great news. Nick does have a Ventricular Septum Defect but it doesn't need surgery right away. In fact, there is a piece of tissue flapping around by the hole in his heart that may possibly indicate that it is closing up on its own. Some other good things we learned is that his heart isn't enlarged, his pressure is good and his heart valves look good too! The doctor took him off 2 of his 3 medications and when we go back to see him in a month if everything looks good he will take him off the final medication too. We will continue to have Nick evaluated about every 6 months. If he does end up needing surgery it won't be for another 2-3 years. WOW! What a great day! We are so blessed!

Personal hygiene isn't so bad afterall

2009-01-02T19:53:00.001-06:00

Nick has decided that baths are not so bad after all. In fact, today when he got out of the tub he had a huge temper tantrum. Then he had another one when it was time to stop brushing his teeth after 15 minutes.

Chris and I both received a great gift from Nick today. He gave both of us (at different times) hugs around the neck where he actually squeezed us.These were a big surprise and not expected so soon from him. We were so excited. :)

He's still smiling!

2008-12-31T23:45:00.000-06:00

More pictures

2008-12-28T23:18:00.001-06:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

Our Christmas Miracle!

2008-12-27T18:52:00.000-06:00

Nick helped Chris and Granddad feed the cows in his pajamas and new boots! He is crazy about his boots.

He has some chomppers!

The homecoming!

Me and Nick outside the apartment we stayed in in Moscow.

Nick at the mall in Moscow. Notice the plate. He had to carry that plate everywhere that day. The first few days we had him Nick had some object that he had to carry around for the entire day. This habit has now stopped.
More tomorrow!

I lived in an orphanage last week?

2008-12-23T20:38:00.000-06:00

Nick's been with our family a week now. His transformation has been amazing! We have been so blessed. He is one big bag of smiles and laughs. He has thrown a few good temper tantrums but they were short lived and quickly forgotten. I told him he would have to do better than that to compete with his older sister, Lauren.

He still hates to be bathed and screams the entire time. We told him he needs to get used to being bathed because that is the American way. He knows as soon as we walk into the bathroom that it is about to be bathing time. He will immediately start throwing a fit. He survives it though and as soon as he is out of the water he quits crying.

He also loves to eat. I think he would eat all day long if we would let him. I'm sure some of that is the fact that he never has eaten on demand, just schedules. There are foods he won't eat but usually it seems to be because of the texture of the food not the taste.

He is just doing so great it is hard to believe he has only been with us a week.