I'm in the army now mom

we got our cord and thus we have a couple of pictures from our trip to tennessee. erik liked ryan's army beret although he kept taking it off and just wanted to play with it.
and erik's cuteness with uncle ryry and auntie brittany! i wish we had taken more pictures but i felt like there wasn't much to take pictures of, mostly we relaxed and didn't do much which was nice but didnt create much for fun pics. we feel lucky we will get to see them again next week!

Erik has a new development which is quite fun for us. he is learning to pull himself up on things. since he still doesnt crawl he hadnt much opportunity, but lindsay actually taught him this weekend how to stand up in his crib. needless to say the armrail has been highered.

family pictures

holy cow there is so much to catch up on.....earlier in november we had our family pictures taken and we just got them back! we are so excited to have nice ones. and my hair looks great thanks to my friend kim who did it for me!
over the holiday we traveled to tennessee to visit with my younger brother and his wife. it was a lovely visit and it was fun to see them being all grown up. i still have a hard time imagining my younger brother being an adult. i still think of him as the baby who wipes off the game board when he isnt winning in tantrum fashion and talking him out of his toy to switch with mine (always of course claiming that the one he will get is better), or just getting him to do things for me. ok so the last one, i am pretty sure i can still get him to do things for me........i don't know maybe that is a big sister thing, but i am good about these days, i don't abuse the privelige like i did when we were growing up. his wife is gorgeous and so sweet, we were lucky to be able to crash in their apartment with them for a bit. we got a new camera but accidentally left the cable at their house so no pictures until we get that.
now we are planning christmas stuff and it's so fun! today we played christmas music and did some gift shopping, i put up decorations, it has been great!

anxious with emotions

today i am anxious. partly because i have a doctors appointment, partly because i am taking erik with me to my doctors appointment and mostly because i will be discussing issues with my doctor that are a part of my infertility. every time i visit with the doctor to discuss my infertility, medication, how everything is looking i get all nervous. sometimes more than others but my emotions are running high today.

adoption and infertility surround me everywhere. i love it and hate it. i love being a part of adoption, i love all the knowledge and insight i have gained, i am not fond of the roller coaster of emotions, or getting blindsided by them. i feel like this journey we are on has been great, ugly, miraculous, frustrating, and am coming to learn that i dont always feel like this journey has been a trial. sometimes........most definitely but other times i wish others could feel the miracle that has, is, and continues to happen in our home and family.

so today as i talk with her i am praying that i will feel a calm assurance and get my questions answered, that i will walk away with peace of mind and then as i drive home i will ponder on all of this and hopefully gain some perspective.

sweetness

these are a picture of some beautiful roses that the best man on earth gave to me last week. and these were taken five days later........i know these roses are seriously so great! it's been a week now and aside from a few petals that i have pulled off they still look good on our table. lindsay and i declared that monday to be "mushy monday" i told him on sunday that if we were really going to do it that there needed to be flowers and chocolate involved, and he pulled through! yes mushy monday is extremely corny but it was fun and every once in a while we get corny like that.

in other moon household updates......

many have asked me about dance- it is going awesome, every week I have more fun and can feel my body remembering things. i am no where near the best in class, but i think it may be safe to say that now i am not the utmost worst either. i have been working on my flexibility and am so close to have my splits on the right side! it feels good to be back in the studio and doing what i love! and my wonderful teacher has even said that my leaps look better. can't beat a great complinment!

adoption-looks like we will be waiting until early next year for the finalization to take place. it still is frustrating but i have found peace with it all. in the end we know erik will end up with us and that is what matters. he is such a sweet spirit and definitely has found his family through serious miracles. adoption has been such a blessing in our lives and i feel like i have gained some serious big picture prospective throughout the past five years.

linds and i - fabulous! i mostly mention this because my dad still asks me questions when i talk to him on the phone one on one like a fathers interview when i was growing up. and yes dad don't ever stop.......i love talking with you and getting that personal time with you whether in person or not. i love your perspective and knowing that you still care about me and look out for me even though i am married.

not much else has been going on, just prepping for the holidays.

last year on thanksgiving lindsay and i did not go home but went backpacking with one of our close friends to some hot springs.................it was great. it was totally untraditional which i think made it easy to not really compare to the traditional feast. it was our last turkey day without a child. it was fun times with matt and you couldn't beat the views, hot springs, the beatiful nature, and not to mention we didn't have to worry about black friday crowds or consumer chaos that ensues around the holidays. don't get me wrong i love shopping and doing those things, but last year was unique and one that can't be beat. i most definitely missed spending time with family but dont regret our decision in the least.

this year will be a bit different than normal but not like last year. i will indulge you after the holiday to share the details.

erik- i almost forgot to tell you........the little man has received his first tooth and the second one is breaking through, so cute!

nana's visit and so forth

As i said in that last post lindsay's mom has been down here helping me out and spending lots of great time with erik. it has been wonderful, help with chores, help with erik, and just can anything beat having family around? she has read lots of books and...............
on sunday she sunbathed while crocheting in the back yard which i thought was quite cute! up in washington temps have been low and we even heard of snow one day while she was down here. but here we have been having weather in the 70's which is perfect!

earlier this week we took erik to his 9 month well baby check and also had the doctor check out his cold and see what we could do to help him. he has bronchitis i think is what the doc said and said that he will most likely catch all the viruses this winter and have to be on a nebulizer throughout the winter until spring......yuck! he doesnt mind it for a bit but he doesnt like to sit there the entire time. he is 20 pounds (which i could of swore he was more) and a stinkin' 28 3/4 inches.....holy cow! he is average for weight but 78th percentile for height.
lindsay is home now...........thank goodness and erik wasn't quite sure what to think when linds came home. it has been about 3 weeks and when linds first walked in erik looked at me with a confused look on his face and wanted to see my reaction and of course i was happy. then when lindsay went over to get erik out of his high chair erik turned away from lindsay and hid his face in the side of the high chair. but after just a couple of minutes he remembered and realized who lindsay was and things have been happy since!

also this month is national adoption month. more posts to come on all that soon!

the itsy bitsy spider

erik was such a trooper for halloween. he is really sick with a chest cold and so we didnt actually go out, but he had the cutest costume so we dressed him up for a few minutes and took some pictures. i feel so bad for the little man........his voice is hoarse and he whimpers after he coughs every time like his throat is sore. poor little man. i am so glad that nana is in town though because otherwise i don't know what i would do, she has been our saving grace! she does what grandma does best and has been taking care of me and erik. she gives me breaks and is taking time to bond with little man which i am thankful for. she is a great example of time management.

i will let you in on a little secret. i am not the best housekeeper. i can keep things picked up but i have clutter tendencies and a serious lack of motivation to deep clean. i clean enough to not have our house be filthy gross but i am not as good as i could or should be but miss nana is a busy worker bee and helps me to see how to do everything.

a visitor and some daddy loves

this was our lovely visitor that we had last week. i went outside to take the trash out and there is a bush right along the side of our house by the door and birds have been staying in there. well when i walked by all the birds spooked and flew out, this one happened to think the house was good escape. this bird peed and pooped on the blinds.......lucky me and finally after making everything dark except for the doorway i got it to fly out. it was pretty comical.
this is erik's newfound love. a book about trucks that smash and crash. he absolutely loves it and will sit still while you read it over and over and if you pick up a new book he will look at where you put this one down. i got it from the library and am pretty tempted to go out and by a copy for him to keep. i didn't realize he would start getting into the "boy" stuff so young, but he loves to wrestle (well be turned and rolled) and i know he will be all boy here in the next few months.
and finally a love note to daddy. erik even wore sweat pants that match daddy's today in his honor.

-that's right haley his socks usually don't match anymore. every once in a while he gets a match, but he has joined the mismatched sock ranks. gotta love it!

the goods

so this doesn't look like much but it has taken me hours to finish each of these projects. the one i am most proud of is the flannel board, it was the quickest but i was intimidated by the idea. i have been wanting to make one for a while to use for family nights and also just for erik to learn and play with as he grows but was scared to do it. it was easy and i am lucky enough that i had the visual aids already i just needed to adhere flannel on the back of those. i would still like to make some fun felt things like shapes and backgrounds, maybe some bugs, dinosaurs, vehicles or something that isn't so church related for the fun times. but i am just excited it is done. i made the board pretty big but it could be made small like 12x12 or 8x11 to fit in a child's lap. i actually may make a small one for in the car since everything around here is such a drive.

i also make file folder games and paper dolls which was totally fun. and then a felt doll. i definitely want to try out more dolls and see if i can get better at them and will probably make a one eyed monster one for erik. i have been having so much fun crafting. i am hoping to work real hard on a scrapbook and then get some crocheting and knitting done. i have thus far only knit and i cant do more than scarves but i have a dvd to teach me to crochet and i am hoping to venture a little farther with that to make more than just scarves.

if any of you have ideas or links to other handmade items, please share!

the new walk

a wonderful friend let us borrow a walker for erik to play around in and up until about a week ago he couldn't figure out how to move in it. then he started scooting backwards and now he's really starting to learn how to get places. he loves to sit in front of the dishwasher or oven or fridge and touch and bang on the different surfaces. i think he bounces a lot when he walks because he also has an exersaucer that he bounces in all the time. i don't know, just a guess. but isn't he cute?

this post is in all lower case because yesterday erik got a handle on the laptop and pulled off the shift key and even though the cap is off it still works, but is a lot harder to type with so i am going without for laziness sake. babyproofing officially begins!

My men

Oh boys, I love my boys! I have been having a fantastic time with my little man while the big one is away. Erik usually starts to get really cranky after a few days but so far he is doing awesome. I think part of it is that I have tried extra hard to keep his schedule and I feel more laid back this time as opposed to the other times.

The above pic was taken a few weeks back after the men took a nap together on the couch and it was a lovely sight. Erik has a hard time falling asleep with people sometimes because we have been pretty strict about putting him in his crib or down when it's time for sleep so that we could avoid sleep "crutch"s but not this day......he was so content to just lay there.


Anyways Just thought I would give a little shout out to my manly man and tell him I love him! I have been crafting up a storm while he is gone and will show some pictures of the goods soon. Can I just say I love homemade gifts and also love making them for other people.

Sommer

is patience really a virtue?

I know that we are to learn throughout this life that it is better to wait for things that we want and need to have better appreciation for them and to learn other great wisdom. But I am telling you I am really really sick of being patient! I am helpless in the situation which makes it worse and I feel anger stirring, which I really don't want.

Erik's adoption was supposed to be finalized in August.......obviously that has come and gone. I talked to the wonderful court clerk who I am pretty sure knows me by name now because I call her that often to get updates and find out what is needed or going on and she tells me there is a chance that the adoption may not finalize until mid February 2010. WHAT?!!!! I felt tears welling up as I was put on hold so she could check on something for me. Now it's not for sure which is reassuring but with how our attorney's have been with us this whole time it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if we have to wait until our son is over a year old for this to be done with.

You know I think one of the most frustrating parts is that we don't birth parents fighting us for custody or some of the other troubles that can happen with adoption but our birth parents are quite the opposite. The are both compliant and willing to do what is necessary to have Erik in our home. Haven't they gone through enough heartache and trouble for this to be drawn out. I can't imagine what it felt like for B when days after a wonderful visit to our house he was served with a court hearing because of logistics I don't need to get into. Seriously how would that feel? I can't imagine it felt great.

These are the days when I wonder why we have to be the couple to wait years upon years for our children to come to us, just to wait longer for him to legally be ours. I know some of you are thinking, it's just legal matters. But it isn't........I know he is our son, that he was meant for our family, and that he will always be a part of our family, but I am sick of explaining to people and having to bring paperwork to all professional offices proving that I have a right for him to be with me, that while his last name doesn't match mine but I am still his mother. And most of all I want more than anything for him to blessed in church and to be sealed to us in the temple.

At the end of the day adoption IS worth it, but still is a struggle. At the end of the day this little man..................................
..............................is most definitely worth whatever it takes and however long. Sometimes I just need to vent my airs. I can't believe I have the honor of raising this choice spirit of Heavenly Fathers. Because when it comes down to it, we are all God's children. I get to raise children here on earth, but we have the chance to return as brothers and sisters to him. This trial of mine will be with me for a long time. I know we are not done with adoption work. We plan to start the process over again when this is finished. You may think we are crazy, but if this is how we expand our family- then let's do it! We know we will and have relied on other's to help us with this journey and for that we are forever grateful. We know it takes a village to raise a child and we are proud to share him with friends and family. Off to kiss the little snookum's

Jabberwocky

Little man is getting much more talkative these days and while in the bath tub he just chatters away. I think he recaps his day for me or something. Most people don't get to see the chatty side of him because he is so calm and collected around others, but he will have something to say about it later! The car is another new favorite place for him to be a little jabberwocky. Since he sits in his new "throne" of a car seat he can see out the windows and he loves it. He still sits rear facing but he can see out the back and sides which is nice.

Little man can say some babbles such as buhbuh, booboo, nienie, nana, and I think this morning I might have heard dada. Of course none of these have meanings yet but soon enough they will!

back in the glory days

I am totally freaking out right now. I am so nervous I am trying to continously give myself a pep talk so that I don't puke. You see.........well when I was in high school I was a dancer. I loved it, it was my passion, I loved competing and the art of it all. I quit when I was 16 for various reasons, one being not having confidence that I would be able to dance in college or make a career of it. Honestly I think I was right. At the time it was a huge deal to quit.......I remember calling the dance studio owner to let her know and as soon as I said that I wasn't going to be back in the fall I just started bawling, I was choosing to stop doing my passion. I know it's crazy.

Anyhow fast forward 10 years and I have been given an amazing opportunity to dance again in the studio. How could I not try it out and get back into something I love so much? I have a friend who is a studio owner here and would like me to be a substitute teacher for when needed, I told her I would be interested only if I could take classes and brush up my rusty inner dancer. So last week I went and observed a class to see if it would be an appropriate level to get into. Tonight I attend my first class as a student.

First off let me air my worries so that when I go I may feel a bit better.
- I will be a woman in her mid twenties with teenage girls.
- I used to have skill and now I don't. Trust me I don't......I tried to do turns in my kitchen the last two days I have just about died of dizziness. Not sure how that will work.
- I used to be flexible, now not so much.
- Did I mention I will be at least 10 years older than these girls? And I "was" a dancer......no pressure, now I will look I have never taken a class in my life!

I am so nervous. I am sure it will go fine. I know I will be continously discouraged over these next few months as I work on gaining back old skills, I know my butt will get whipped into shape as I leap, turn, and boogie my way on the dance floor, I know my passion will grow again and I will be so glad that I am trying this out. But at this very moment I can't help but think of excuses as to why I shouldn't go.

wish me luck!

Som

A house of Order

i am not sure what it is about having things organized and being prepared, but it just feels so good! I just finished figuring out next month's budget and it was like a weight came off my shoulders. I love knowing where every one of our dollars go and making sure that everything for that month will be taken care of. I love making the puzzle pieces fit!

I was introduced to Dave Ramsey's total money makeover by a friend (thank you Cristin) and lindsay and I implemented the plan about 4 months ago. We have hit a couple of rough patches but overall we have done way good and are making progress. And best of all it has been fairly easy. The hardest part has been limiting some of our spending habits, but when we see small steps being accomplished towards our big time goals......it makes it worth it. Ramsey's motto is "Live like no one else so later you can live like no one else." I have to remind myself that sometimes when I get caught up wanting to get lots of things but overall it hasn't been too bad. And it's also easy because we do everything that we can in cash. So each category has it's own envelope and we live off of cash all month. It makes it easier to see how much we have left and since we physically see it diminishing I feel like I make more thought out purchases.

I'll admit it was scary the first couple of times I went grocery shopping with cash. I have always spent around the same amount but still how embarassing if I went over my cash limit. I just make sure I always have a menu planned and a written list that I strictly follow and it has never been a problem.

I guess I am just telling you all that it feels good to have a plan and to follow advice that we have been given for years through leaders of our church about having a house of order and being prepared, because even in the tight months we can get a couple of extra cans of something and keep adding to our food storage while also adding to our emergency fund.

How do you all prepare? I am always up for suggestions or other people's experiences!

like a weed

Can our little man get any bigger? Looks like we will be putting him into the bigger car seat this week as his little piggies hang over and his head is above the top. Sad, sad day I tell you.

I am actually looking forward to the car seat that stays in the car, because he is waaayyy to heavy to carry in this car seat anymore. The other day I weighed him and he is already 20 pounds! Crazy! But sad that the little man has outgrown another item of infancy! The moon babe isn't no babe anymore, he is little man moon now!

so many things

Wow, the past month has been super busy and thus I have fallen behind on the blogging front. I don't know about you but once I start falling behind I feel less motivated to catch up. But here I am and so I will give you a brief update of some of our fun adventures.

The Air Force needed Lindsay for a day of work in Vegas and so Erik and I hopped along for the ride. The day of travel was long for Erik. It wasn't just the drive to vegas that day, but driving to go see Daddy at work and play there and then traveling to Vegas. It was especially hot in the desert that day and he was pretty pooped by the time we got to the hotel. As you will see in the picture below, he was completely content to just relax against the nice fluffy pillows. We couldn't even get him to turn his head......he would only move his eyes to look at anything.

The above picture also shows how our little man is filling out all nice and round. We thought he was going to be a string bean forever, but he loves solid foods and eats well!

Next my mom and sister in-law Wendy came down with Wendy's two little ones. We had a fun weekend. That was the weekend we had originally planned to have Erik be sealed and blessed because the adoption was supposed to be finalized but that hasn't worked out yet, so they came for a visit anyways. Erik met his cousin Isaac for the first time and people kept asking us if they were twins while we were out and about.

Little miss Ahnna couldn't be much cuter! She is great at conversating and loves to play dress up, the whole visit she was stealing shoes and wearing them around, then I gave her a bunch of accessories and turned her into a cali girl, adorable!

Labor Day weekend we decided to take a vacation with the little man into the great outdoors. We went camping up by bishop, ca and planned to do a dayhike with him in the backpack to see how well he would do and how much gear we would be able to take on the trail. He loves outside and couldn't have been happier on this trip.

Lindsay and Erik relaxing at Long lake during the break in our day hike. Elevation didn't seem to bother Erik, he is such the little outdoorsman.

Tryingto take a nap in the tent while I read a book. Not to successful but he was pretty happy for not napping well!

The Moon Family on the trail. Funny thing is, almost exactly one year ago, Lindsay and I did a loop on this exact trail having no idea that 5 months later we would become parents, let alone that we would take our child out on such a grand adventure one year later.

It was bright out that day and the sun seems stronger up at elevation so while I fed Erik, he happily wore my sunglasses and my pant legs (yes I have sweet zip off pants!) while he indulged in some formula!

The night of our day hike we were planning on continuing to camp but a thunder storm came through that afternoon. It was awesome, we played and slept in the tent while the storm came and passed, but then it was freezing and everything was soaked and Erik had a bit of a cold, so we called it good and stayed in a hotel in Bishop....so fun!

We took a stroll around Bishop the next morning and put Erik in his pack, the trip tuckered him out, not to mention the fact he loves his pack!

Next Lindsay went to Dallas to escort the brand new F-35 fighter jet to Edwards (our base of station) where they are doing tests on it before they actually use them. My husband seriously has such a cool job! It's hard that his job takes him away from home but he loves his work and it has provided us with lots of positive opportunities and helped us create some awesome relationships with people. Being a part of the military is a very unique experience and not for everyone but it is great! Some day I will write a post just about being a military spouse and a part of the soldier's world.

And lastly, well for this post anyways, we saw the space shuttle land. This was such a crazy cool event. Edwards is the secondary landing location for the shuttle and so it doesn't happen often, but we were able to witness the event live and it was breathtaking. We were a little worried they wouldn't be able to land because there were clouds out (the shuttle needs clear blue sky). Usually there are no clouds in sight, but that day there were. Luckily the shuttle had it's handy dandy jets that fly around giving live updates to it found a hole in the clouds. We drove out to a field right by the runway and waited. The anticipation was cool. There were cars lined up outside all of the gates of the base and people just pulled off all around the base to watch. All of a sudden we heard two sonic booms and then everyone's eyes were searching the sky to see where it was going to come through. Finally we spotted it....it looked like it was nosediving and going to crash into the Earth, it was free falling almost it was going so fast. Then it started to plane out and it was getting larger and larger.......then finally in came in for the landing and seriously the most smoothest landing I have ever seen. No bounces or jiggles whatsoever. The parachute came out once all the landing gear touched down and slowed it down (the shuttle has no breaks) to a stop. The parachute was way smaller than I imagined a space shuttle would need, but it worked!

Shhhh, don't tell anyone.........rumor is when the doors open to the shuttle and the astronauts come out it is gag inducing stinky! Just a fun tidbit! I guess if you hadn't showered in weeks and kept waste in baggies you would stink too!

Comic relief

This video cracks me up every time I watch it. Erik is so expressive with his face! His face is starting to change recently, he is a chunky monkey! He has hilarious expressions and his smile now encompasses squinty eyes, crinkled nose and arched eyebrows! It makes me chuckle just thinking about it. He is laughing more and is sitting better all the time. His rolling is still not good, but we will get there. Supposedly I will get a call within the next 3 weeks to schedule his evaluation- I was speechless. 3 weeks! If he was disabled I would be so mad that he would be put months behind farther and now he may be caught up (which isnt such a bad thing) but what an inefficient system!

As much frustration as I had last week, I must tell you how funny Erik is and how happy he keeps me. Lindsay came home which was a relief. Although he came home with a stomach virus and I was taking care of both Erik and him for almost a week and he couldn't help out cause we didn't want to pass it around the house. Linds is now back in working order after seeing the doc and has contracted a head cold, the old saying is true when it rains it pours. But after my hardest day last week I decided I needed to pull myself out of the rut and gain perspective....things could be much worse. So I decided to pick a good attitude and take whatever came our way in stride. Luckily I made that choice before Linds arrived home otherwise I think I may have locked myself in the bathroom and had a sob party. I cooked homemade chicken noodle soup for the first time ever for my sick love (by the way it turned out spectacular, I even added a dash of curry powder-delish! I never seem to be able to follow a recipe exactly, it makes me feel too much like a perfectionist which is totally not my style). On friday we found out the sealing and blessing will not be held this month which devestated me for about 1o minutes..........then I remembered my decision to take everything in stride. I decided to feel relief and roll with it. We don't have a date yet but things look like they will be pushed back until octoberish.

Little man kept me in giggles since Linds has been home. The bond those two have is incredible I wish I could capture it on camera. Erik and Lindsay both light up like a piece of themselves has made it's way back to its spot when they are together. Erik returned to himself as soon as he saw Lindsay, no more fusses or crying and good naps! I know some of it is him feeding off my anxiety and I really need to stop isolating and get out so he sees more people than just me when Linds is gone. Also next time Lindsay leaves for any length of time we are going to video tape him reading a book and talking to Erik or something so that Erik can see him. It's hard because right now he doesn't understand and there is no way to explain, he just knows that Daddy is gone and then at some point he is home, poor guy!

Retail Therapy

So you know how I have had a rough going lately? Well today I decided to take hold of that and do some retail therapy. It was perfect! I had a $10 bill I was willing to spend and I went with the intention of going to the thrift stores to see if I could find any good toys or activities for the little man.



First stop was McDonald's. I know that is not thrift shopping but i was treating myself. I bought a few things off the dollar menu to satisfy my junk food craving. Then we headed to the first shop. No luck there...mostly just clothes for adults or older kids. Next stop we hit the jackpot. Usually this thrift store I find to be a bit pricey so when I went to the toy section I was a) suprised to see so many toys b)ecstatic that they were cheap! So with just under $7 this was my bounty for the day......


Can you believe it? They had another little people playset too but I didn't have enough cash. So now I just need to get some little people to help and I am good to go.


In case you can't see there is..

A fire truck that holds the large legos
A bag of the large legos
Alphabet magnets
Little people Jungle playset
a bib
An activity board and some miscellaneous small toys



I will admit, that felt wonderful!

Grinning and Bearing it

This was me today and yes that is spit up on my shoulder. This week and this afternoon especially was one of those weeks/days. I am trying to stay positive but secretly I have wanted to lock myself in a padded cell at least once a day. It doesn't help that Linds is gone right now and have also wished we live in the same town as our parents about 100 hundred times these past few days. Let's be honest this is how I would look if you came across me right now.....

I am not angry but beat. Let's go thru a quick run through of some of todays events, shall we?

-Got up early with Erik, nothing unusual

-Had a couple of girls from the ward dropped off because they needed to be watched, still going good

-After lunch we go to drop the girls off at somebody else's house. I was going to just drop them off and take Erik back home to nap but the homeowner's love Erik and offered to have him nap there and I could just hang out.

-Sure I say (stupid) why not, I miss adult conversations this week and a change of scenery is always nice (I tend to isolate when Lindsay is gone)

-Erik sleeps for maybe 20 minutes and starts screaming for the millionth time this week

-Has anyone seen a closet I lock myself into?

-Get a call from a center I had contacted earlier to try to get Erik evaluated for his motor skills under doctors referral, the lady treats me like I am stupid, like I don't know anything about his adoption logistics*

-Anyone have a mallot to knock some sense into this woman?

-The pair of capris I have on have started wearing a hole in the knees...no!

-Go home put him down again, sleeps 45 minutes and wakes up screaming

-try everything to calm him....takes me forever

-He won't go back down

-Is there a padded cell anywhere?

-feed him bottle and then some cereal,

-screams intermittenly during feeding

-watch part of a baby einstein video before the whining begins again

-time for bedtime (early tonight)

Me.....................utterly wiped out. I miss my little smiley man, the one who giggles and laughs at me. The one who will cuddle me or watch in awe as I read to him and sing. He is now arching his back when he gets into a screaming fit and it breaks my heart.

Hhhmmphf, tomorrow is a new day. I can only hope for the best. For now I am going to relish these quiet moments and read more than a paragraph from my book. Wish me luck!

*You may wonder what his adoption has to do with this evaluation. Since his last name is different than ours until finalization they ask my relation. I tell them and she thought we were involved with DSHS, I say no it's a private agency adoption and the nonsense continued from there. Basically she still doesnt believe me and treated me like I was stupid. Also she asked what his ethnicity is, what does that have to do with anything? Like I said Grinning with teethed clenched and bearing it

nonsense

All right sorry no pics today.

It seems I have not been as camera happy as of late. I need to get on that. I have however been in a total scrapbook mania and completed lots of projects that have been sitting and waiting for me. Usually with scrapping I go through phases where I am totally into it for a while and then I don't do it for months. But ever since I went to AZ in May I have been all about it. I don't think any of my kicks have lasted this long but I love it. Since my trip I have completed our wedding album, a backpacking album, Erik's adoption story book, An album about Lindsay and I and our courtship, and am about finished with an album about myself. I have also completed just random pages for a general family scrapbook. I told my mom last year that I would create scrapbooks with all of her family pictures if she would send me her photos and her scrap supplies that she had collected. It's a big thing, especially now that we take way more pictures with Erik here, but I love it. It's such an outlet for me. Plus with Lindsay having been gone more it gives me something to do while he is away at night.

Since falling into the grooveof motherhood I have also been able to find time for books and have been reading like I can't get enough, well that actually is true. I love love love reading and it was hard for me to read when Erik was a newborn but now I have found time here and there. I think it's interesting how when I am more busy I am actually more productive and have better time management than when I have less boundaries placed on me. Interesting!

Erik had his 6 month appointment this last week and he is doing well. He is 17 pounds 7 ounces (average), 27 1/4 inches (66th percentile), and has an average head size although his head is pretty flat on the back. I am hoping that will round out a bit as he grows, but we will see. He is a bit behind on gross motor skills, so I am up for any suggestions on how to help him learn to sit up on his own and roll from his back to front. Those are the two major ones. Also any tips or suggestions for age appropriate toys and activities I can do with him. I am in a creative rut as to how to entertain him lately. And I don't have an exersaucer or walker or anything. So good ol mom and baby activities would be great!

I will take some pics soon so you can see us! Also finalization stuff is coming along well and we are still on track to have the little man sealed and blessed at the end of the month! We can't wait!!!

Second Weigh In

After the first month of trying to lose weight, it was time for the official weigh in. My dieting started out well but got thrown off when I went to Scout Camp with some of the young men from church. I got back on track last week but came up a little short of my first month goal.

My overall goal for losing weight is 30 pounds in three months. I started out at 228 with a goal of 10 pounds for July. I ended up at 220 pounds, so I have just a little catching up next month. Last month, I just changed my dieting habits, so with some additional working out, I should be able to keep up a steady reduction of fat.

wax on wax off

I htought this picture was pretty cute considering Lindsay took it one handed and somehow captured Erik's smile without knowing it.

Welcome to moon family evening entertainment. Every evening Erik starts to get fussy about an hour before his bath and bed time, so we do all sorts of insane things to keep him entertained and distracted until it's time to play in the water. We figure playing and getting him to laugh is much more fun than continuously listening to his whining ( a new thing for him is to squeal and screach a lot for everything now). We still get fusses throughout but it's much more bearable when we play like goofballs. So the other night Lindsay decided to turn Erik into the karate kid and we got a kick out of it!




Erik actually kept his bandana on for a good twenty minutes or so before he pulled it off. So then we, well Lindsay started to hold ERik really high to the ceiling and bringing him down fast......that is the activity that gets Erik to laugh the fastest, it's super cute. Although tonight all I had to do was bounce him up and down while holding him in the cradle position and it was getting him going. If only my life were that simple to get a kick out of such things!


THis was Boomer last night, notice the frothy mouth. No our dog does not have rabies..............we showed him a big frog that was in our yard and he was pushing it with his nose and next thing we know he was frothing at the mouth, wouldn't drink any water and was trying to spit. It was funny but sad too. Finally Linds turned on the hose and hosed down his mouth the help Boomer rinse all the yuckiness out.

This was the huge toad...

We took a video of Boomer chasing it, but it was taking forever to load, so maybe another time. . Right after the video stopped Boomer punched the frog with his paw, but it escaped unharmed. I think he was trying to get it back for putting such a nasty taste in it's mouth!

Awwww! And this was my two men, one big and one small while watching tv earlier. So cute I couldn't resist. And no Lindsay was not smiling for me, he was laughing at the show. I was just lucky and caught it!

catching up

I know its not good to catch up that we should be keeping up but I tell ya, this summer has been busy. In a good way of course but that has left me little time to blog as much as I would like. Hence the recent posts that have mostly justbeen about Erik, I figured that would keep the far from home family satisfied with his new milestones! We feel like he is seriously growing an inch a night and learnin all sorts of new things.

A few weekends ago we took Erik to the beach for the first time. It was super hot where we lived and figured the weather would be great at the beach. But we were wrong, it was super windy and chilly so we didn't stay long and Erik didn't get to experience the sand or salt water, sorry buddy!

In recent weeks he has started to grab and play with his feet which has been fun. Well aside from when he is trying to do that and squirm when his diaper gets changed, but I can handle that! Actually his diaper changes are some of my favorite times of day. That sounds funny, but I usually act super goofy to keep his attention from trying to roll or squirm too much and he usually talks a lot and laughs so its fun!

Ihad to record this moment with a picture because I had just turned on a baby einstein video for him to watch so I could make dinner and I sat him up sitting on the couch and he actually fell over into this position, I though he was going to fuss because he hates being on his tummy normally but he was just tired enough and entertained enough that he stayed like that with no qualms so I wasn't going to change a thing. He is just so darn cute, huh?

And another new thing, the tongue! He loves his tongue and likes to make all sorts of noises with it. His favorite thing to do at the moment is to stick it out and pant loud and hard, then he waits for us to laugh or mimick him and it the process repeats......too funny!

We had our last supervisory visit with our social worker and so that was nice to not have any more visits. We got the paperwork we need to file with the courts to start the finalization process this next month and...........................we heard from our birth parents and they are going to come visit us next month as well! We are excited to meet B for the first time and see S again. So we have lots to look forward to in the month of August, it will be splendidly busy.

THings should slow down in the fall and I see some trips coming up then to see some family or possibly travel to see Lindsay overseas in Europe! Yep, I may gather all my courage and travel alone with my 7 month old over the ocean to see his Daddy........we will see. We are on the fence about it right now,if so though I will need suggestions about traveling with a 6 moth old. Erik has traveled quite a bit, and I know he does well but by then he will be a lot more mobile. Suggestions?

peeved

all right so i have sat at this dumb computer or gone and done things and come back and i cant for the life of me get videos to post. earlier i got two to upload and when i went for the third my computer froze for the second time. aaarrgh! so sorry family, you won't get the videos tonight, it has been a long day and i will try again tomorrow! love ya

5 months and counting

I can't believe that Erik is 5 months old today! I would take a picture of him today but he is still sleeping and so I am going to use this time wisely...............by blogging : ) He is definitely way bigger than he was just a few weeks ago. Right after Alex and Haley he hit a huge growth spurt and is like a little giant. Ok not really but the difference has been noticable. A month ago he was taking 7 ounce bottles and he now takes 9! He about ready to start rice cereal and that should be interesting! I had to put all his 3-6 months clothes into storage. It was a very interesting experience to put his newborn and small sizes into totes, label them, and them put them away for another child or to give away in a few years. I love our little man and am so excited for the coming stages but I have loved having him be little. But he is definitely a fun little one and so tall. Even some of his 6 month sized clothes are getting short on him and I am freaking out a little bit! He has a good amount of this size clothes and they are all so cute, but at the rate he has been going he may not be able to wear them all, that is crazy to me! I am guessing he is about 16 pounds but he wont see the doc until next month.

Erik had some lovely visitors this last weekend! They came all the way from Arizona and it was such a nice visit. The big Erik's parents Chuck and Ilona came to see us. It was a blast hearing them reminisce with Linds and learning about stories I hadn't heard before. Ilona made an awesome scrapbook with pictures full of LIndsay and Erik all growing up. I didn't know this before but the boys met in 4th grade and were the best of friends up until Erik passed away.

This was another one of the awesome things that they brought for us. Its a huge blown up picture of Lindsay, Erik, and some of their other friends just after Lindsay(far right) and Erik(center in blue coat) had become friends. We are debating where to put it. It came from their elementary school hallway. And Ilona has been saving it for years. I love it.....it is so fun!

Chuck has a great sense of humor and personality that reminds me a lot of my dad. We went to the base one day and went to the flight museum which I am pretty sure Chuck thoroughly enjoyed!

Ilona is just a sweetie and helped to play with Erik or talk to us while I was getting him ready for bed or whatever. We are sooooooo glad that they came to see us and meet our Erik, they definitely are special people and we can't wait to see them again. We feel lucky that they could take the time to come and visit with us....pizza and all!