Finally.....

So excited to say that it is finally official :) More pics to come!!

What a wonderful day! We were surrounded by faithful friends and family today who have supported and encouraged throughout this long two-year process. He is officially forever our son. Couldn't be happier and more thankful for the amazing gift he is. I have never met a sweeter, more affectionate boy! What a privilege to be his Mommy.

Our Crazy Week

Last week was spent recovering from the week before! We had been doing so well this winter as far as sickness goes. Abby was plugging along. She had some pretty huge asthma problems October, November, December and January. We had a ton of testing done because after her attack at the end of October she just wasn't bouncing back. She was having a lot of problems and seemed to also be having some scary side effects from a couple of the steroids.

So, the first week of January we had a massive amount of bloodwork done and several x-rays. The doctor was ruling out Juvenille Arthritis and some auto-immune issues.  We actually managed to meet our deductible for the year already :(. Good and bad. Good because we are done for the most part and bad because we shelled out a lot of cash in just two months.

Almost all of Abby's blood work came back normal. There were just a couple of things that were off that we are looking into a little more. That left us a little confused as to why she was having such a hard time getting back to normal. Appointments were made with new specialists and we waited and waited to get in. Finally in February we saw a new pulmonologist who is supposed to be really good here locally. I told him some of my concerns with her current medication and he took her off a couple and switched doseages on another.

Well, long story kinda short...

She started having trouble last Friday night in the middle of the night. We gave her a couple of treatments at home that were doing nothing at all. Jeremy took her to the ER early Saturday morning and texted me soon after that the doctors were very concerned and I got myself together, got my Mom to watch the others and headed out. When I got there her oxygen was low, her heart was racing and she was working so hard to breathe. They admitted her and treated her for the next 24-hours.

We checked in with our pediatrician on Monday and he and I had a very good discussion about Abby and her plan to get better and stay well. She stayed home from school all week and on Wednesday her teacher stopped by with a balloon and card from all the kids. What a fun treat for her!! She felt so special.



As I talked to her doctor (who has a child with a chronic illness), I realized that sometimes it really is what it is and you just have to cope. That was a good thing for me. I am always trying to fix it; take her to the next doctor; find the newest treatment. Not that anything is wrong with that, but sometimes I just need to do what has to be done for now. Worry about today. You know?

So, we got Abby home and that same day B started coughing so hard he was puking and wheezing. We  took him in on Monday (his birthday) and they started him on treatments. He kept getting worse so I called Tues and Wednesday. I ended up pulling him out of bed Wednesday night and taking him to Urgent Care for a 3 hour visit. His oxygen was low and he was needing treatments. He ended up at the ER and then was admitted for RSV. Good grief! I did love the time spent cuddling with her and caring for him. It was some good bonding time, but I think I would rather do it another way or at least in another place :).

So, things have been hard lately, but I am happy to report that my little people have turned a corner and are doing well!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Buddy!!!

Last Monday was B's 2nd birthday! Good thing we celebrated early because it ended up being one crazy week around here.

The weekend before his birthday, my brother, sister-in-law and niece came to visit so I thought it was a perfect time for an impromptu birthday party! I literally threw together a pizza party in about an hour. Yay for one stop shopping at the new Kroger. He received lots of fun gifts. Two of his Great-Aunts and Great-Uncles who live around here were able to come and he got a fun new truck and some Elmo videos and books. He loves both.

He also received a special gift from his Great-Aunt Sheila on his actual birthday!

 It brought tears to my eyes and made my heart happy. 

Now he has a quilt from her just like the other three! He loves it and it matches his room. 

We are looking forward to spending all your birthdays with you, Buddy! The countdown is on 16 days til court!!! 

Ahhhh

Jeremy suprised me with a NEW awesome laptop. This is so exciting!!

My computer has also been broken so I haven't been taking many pictures, which is a real bummer. Soooo....I got my computer out and uploaded some pictures and found a few surprises. The girls love to take pics and they got some cute ones.

There were about one hundred of their baby dolls :). So funny until I had to sort through 1500 pics!!

In other news.....

We are getting ready for B's finalization. We were sent the official noticed from the lawyer that our adoption hearing is in March. His second birthday is Monday and we are excited to celebrate him! He is a sweet little guy and we are eager for his time as a foster child to be officially OVER.

Jake is doing great in school. He is really growing up and maturing. We have his last basketball game of the season this weekend. It has been so much fun! He is excited about his end of season party next we

The girls are doing great too. They are really enjoying each other more and playing together a lot. In fact, I think they pulled one over on me yesterday. Cara said her belly hurt so they had me pick her up from school Wednesday. I told her she could go back Thursday, but she said she still wasn't feeling great...
However, based on how much fun the two of them had together; I am thinking she may have been faking a tad ;).

One last thing if you are a person who prays. Please keep my sister-in-law's family in your prayers. Her father was diagnosed last week with leukemia. It is very serious and his treatment is intense and horrible.

Looking forward to spending the weekend with my people doing lots of fun things :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Abby was ecstatic to go to school today because they were having their Valentine's Party. She worked soooo hard on her cards for her friends. After she signed each one, she organized them by color and worked hard to keep them away from B. :) Both Abby and B have a sweet tooth so that was a difficult task for her.

 

 

Even though these two don't always get along, I am thankful they have each other. At the end of the day, they LOVE each other so much!! 

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

XOXO

It's been awhile...

We have so much going on. My Dad keeps reminding me that I am behind on my blogging :). So, here's what's new...

We are working on getting B adopted! The county was granted PC, noone appealed during the appeals time and we have been matched :). That makes me chuckle. We actually attended an official county pre-match meeting where we were interviewed and it was decided that we will be a good family for him. Good thing since it's almost been two years. We have been assessed by a psychologist and she also thinks we are bonded :))! It is almost comical how the system works. Last week we called the attorney and he got the paperwork started and we did another batch of paperwork with the county. On Saturday I found more documents in my mailbox from our attorney and it was soooo exciting to see his adoptive name on them. It made it almost feel real!

So, about B. He is the sweetest little boy! We have our days, but overall, he is just a little ball of joy, love and happiness. He is so much fun when we are out and about passing around fist bumps and yelling "Hi" to everyone. When I take him to the nursing home to visit Grams he is so comfortable with the elderly and some of them are somewhat scary looking. He runs down that hallway happily and he will even give her a big hug when we leave. He loves his siblings and adores Jeremy. He screams "Daddy" when Jeremy gets home from work and runs in for a big hug. He is often wrapped around my legs giving me hugs and he follows me around. The other day we were working in the basement and it was just he and I. He had crayons and paper and was busy coloring at my desk. A few minutes later I went to the bathroom and he comes walking in, plops himself on the ground with his stuff and starts coloring. He is my little buddy. I can't imagine our family without him. He is just a sweet, sweet boy! I thank God for letting us love him. I feel sad for people missing out on him.

Speaking of that, Jake often worries about his biological family. In his mind, they must be like us because he really doesn't know any different. He will often ask if his parents can come visit him when we adopt him because he assumes they must miss him and that B must miss them too. The other day when we were talking through this he said out of the blue, "Tell me the truth Mom....am I adopted?"

It is hard for little kids to understand situations like these. It seems unimaginable to them that b needs to be in our home forever because our kids know that he does have living parents. We have kept it pretty basic with them that they aren't able to care for him. Heck, it is hard for me to understand. I always thought we would adopt internationally assuming that if you were lucky enough to be born in the US your parents had resources to take care of you. Sadly, this is not always the case.

Even though it does not always end well in foster care and children do go back to horrible situations, I still advocate and encourage people to get involved. There are children who need someone to speak up for them, to take care of them and to love them.

We are so very thankful that God led us in this way because we have learned so much. Jeremy and I have grown deeply in our marriage over the last two years. We have become a team and it is very good. We feel much more our own family unit of 6 than we ever have before.

Happy January

I am becoming a pretty lazy blogger these days. Covering the baby's face in the pictures is getting old :). It will be so nice when we don't have to do that. He has the cutest little smile and I would love to show it to you. Life has just been busy around here and I think about blogging and it just hasn't happened (along with laundry!).

Christmas was wonderful this year! All around good. New Years was equally exciting as we headed to Disney with the family. We drove and it wasn't bad. B enjoyed the characters and was passing out fist bumps all around.

In other news, Jake has started playing basketball. We rushed home from Florida for his first two games. They lost the first and won the second with Jake scoring the winning point in overtime! Very fun and a nice little boost for him. 

I love this picture of Jeremy watching his boy playing!

No idea why I can't rotate it!!