Random Rantings

Christmas morning...

I enter the hallway in front of Jonas's (jonases..jonas'???) room.
I turn to look in the door and I see :

1. diaper on the floor
2. pj pants
3. pj top
4. empty toddler bed
5. one nekked guatemalan boy with a train hat on , lying on the floor wrapped up in a blanket.

Uh...ok.

Someone call for a nekked boy burrito? He was just lying there, sucking his thumb. "good morning mommy". Like... hey, this is our new christmas tradition... naked on the floor sleeping...didn't you get the memo?

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It occurred to me today that I will have a 13 year old and a 16 year old at the same time. Can I please time travel to the future to remind myself to take my anti-depressants?

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I bought my husband a dutch oven for christmas. I think that officially makes me the lamest wife in the universe. (does it make up for it that I bought him some AXE body spray? ) (no?...makes it worse?) Oh well.

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Technically, I am five months pregnant (on paper)...so technically, I can totally have as much ice cream as I want. What? .. It doesn't count? But what if ... oh forget it.

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Would it be wrong for me to.... oh nevermind. If I start the sentance with, "would it be wrong" it probably is.

Uh..I'm listening

So yesterday I dropped J off at "school". When I have time, I sit an hang for a little while. I usually sit on a glider near the door and read books to the snotty nosed kids..they are for some reason the only ones who are drawn to me. Anyhoo, this time, my favorite of the little girls came up to me with a book about a kitty. (I adore this child, she is so cute and has this little tiny voice...agh) Anyway, I am sitting there reading...she is sitting on my leg. She turned to look at me, took her hand and stroked my face and said, " You are a beautiful princess."

OH. MY. GAWD.

Is that what little girls are like?

I thought I was going to dissolve like one of those alka-seltzer tablets right there in that glider.

I have been having a lot of anxiety about raising a girl. One of my friends who has three kiddos said. " I have two boys, and they are awesome. But having a girl.. its indescribable."

I guess we'll see!

Do they make light up shoes for grown-ups?

Seriously, this is the cutest picture ever! My MIL sent

Jonas these scrubs today. Now I just need to buy G

some light-up Thomas the Tank Engine shoes!

And in other news, I meet with the adoption attorney tomorrow morning at 9:30.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Exciting news

So..uh. We are having a baby! Sort of. We have been matched with a birthmother who is carrying a girl and she is due in April. OH MY GOODNESS.

Soooooo, as we all know, it takes a village to raise a child. It also (as we know too well), takes a village to afford an adoption.

I have added a paypal button to the sidebar of this blog. Seriously, I know you don't have any money...neither do we. But if you find some change in your cushions, consider sending it our way. It will go to a great cause! : 0 )

Blessings,
Kecia


PS. I have video of Jonas saying, "I wanna be a big brudder", but I thought it was tooooo Sally Struthers begging for money, so I will just leave that up to your imagination!


Ok...I'm gonna go throw up now...or eat some pickles and ice cream...holy crap!

My heart hurts and my tummy feels sick.

Ok, so this is a horrible, horrible story. This family was just a month away from bringing their beautiful child home from Guatemala. The child and her foster family were murdered during a home invasion. No details are available at this time. Please read below to help support this family.

My God. This is unthinkable. Hug your children tight tonight.




The Azhderian Family still owe alot from the adoption of Josi. They just sent the last payment for Josi a few weeks ago of $12,800. This horrible tradgedy should never have to happen to any family and then have to end up paying for an adoption when their child will never come home to them.If you are like me and want to do something for this sweet family and do not know what to do, here is a wonderful way to honor precious Josi. They have a chip in button on their blog you can donate any amount to in Josi's name. I am praying that God will help them not have to worry about the financial end of this with all that they are going through right now.If you want to help me with the memorial fund for Josi please post this on your blog, spread the word to all your adoption friends, or you can send them to my blog. I think together we all can show our love to Azhderian family in their time of crisis. Chip in button is on their blog or click it below. I know money is tight but please help if you can.

Sounds of the season

Happy Thanksgiving

Random thoughts whilst I avoid paper writing.

The setting: Kitchen, breakfast time
Jonas was sitting in his booster chair eating breakfast. G and I were rushing around packing lunches, making our own breakfasts and we both ended up in the same cabinet. We were joking around fighting over a protein bar...totally not thinking about how we sounded.

G: "Hey, I want that"
me: "No, its mine, I want it."
G: "mine, mine"
me: "gimme gimme"
Jonas: "HEY GUYS! You have to take turns, you have to share!"
G and I: hysterical snot out of nose laughter.
Jonas: "See, that's better."

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The setting: Bedtime, Jonas's room
(not sure if I wrote about this or not)

Every night before bed, we read J stories. Regardless of which stories we read, we have to read Sam I Am. We have been doing this for about a year now.

me: "Ready for Sam I Am"?
Jonas: (head nod, thumb in mouth)
me: "I am Sam"
me: "Sam I Am"
Jonas: Gently touching my arm, "Let me try mommy, let me try."
Jonas: "that sam I am, that sam I am. I do not like that sam I am".

He went on like that for a page and a half.

me: "Would you like ...."
Jonas: Interrupting. " No mommy, let me try it. I want to read it."

and so it went. He got all the way to "would you like it in the rain" and the sleepy's took over.
One of the cutest moments ever!

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The setting: Kitchen

Jonas places the red mesh hamper thingy over his head.

Jonas: "To infinity and beyond*" and runs around the kitchen with his "wings" out.
*Toy Story reference for those that are Disney impaired
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Ok. back to work. Two more weeks of the semester, then I have a whole month off! wooo hooo

Canadians are pushy!

Please be patient...last three weeks of the semester..I am OVER LOADED. Here are some pictures and a video for a very pushy canadian woman I know! Enjoy!

This video contains sugar free footage...believe it or not.

For the doubters

Pumpkin fever

Hola. So today we went to this really cool (ha) pumpkin festival. There were cannons shooting pumpkins, performing pigs, 150 craft booths (I didn't look at a single one), many food options (which almost killed me as I am on day 7 of the South Beach Effin Diet), pony rides....you get the picture.

Well, it was a warm, WARM day here in Florida. Jonas was fairly perky when we got there. But after awhile he didn't want to do anything but sit in the stroller. Usually when I ask him to smile for pictures he is a real ham, but he just looked sad (see new header picture). So we decided that he was tired,and we left. When we got home, he felt really warm to me. I took his temp and it was 102.4. OMG. So I basically drug my poor child through the pumpkin festival with a temp and it was already hot outside. I made sure he drank lots of fluids, and gave him some motrin. About an hour later he was totally back to normal. Sigh.

I have no idea why we are so obsessed with him yelling, "YEE HAW", but here's a video from the pony riding portion of the day. (This was one of the first things we did, I think he was feeling pretty good here.)

Just cuz

Have a happy Friday!

Mommy Magic

For several months now, G and Jonas have been going to inflate world ( we called it bouncey) for an evening of bouncey awesomeness every Friday night. Friday night I work at my internship till about 7pm and then I go home to unwind. This particular night I couldn't get my boys out of my head. So, when I wrapped things up with my last client, I loaded up my stuff and headed out to bouncey. I felt this strange sense of urgency to get there.

I parked next to G's truck and I walked, and then ran into the building. I entered the first room and turned right and ran right into my guys. Geoffrey was holding Jonas...G looked at me and said, "It's bad". I then noticed that Jonas was sobbing. I moved behind G so I could see J's face and it was bleeding. As soon as he saw me he held out his arms. I grabbed him and we walked out of the circus like space into the calm of the front room. My boy was sobbing, blood trickling down his lip, onto his chin. I asked for a wet paper towel. When J gets upset, he does this, head twisting thing that really sucks to watch. He is so present in his fear and saddness. I asked the woman behind the counter if she had any bubbles..I knew I needed for him to slow down his breathing. No bubbles. I pulled my hair out of my headband and had him blow my bangs out of my face. We did that for a few minutes and he calmed down. I knew I just needed to hold him till it passed. With tears still streaming down his face, he looked at me and said, "I'm happy Mommy."

I don't know what he meant. He was not scared anymore, he didn't want me to be scared. But what he said to me was this:

I got hurt and my mommy magically appeared. I am happy mommy...that you were here when I needed you.

Now, I know as well as you do that Geoffrey would have handled all of this just perfectly without me there. But that I got to be there...that I was led there...

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I had a dream a few nights ago where Jonas and I were in a body of water. I saw that a shark was coming. I threw Jonas away from the shark and sucessfully averted any harm. Once I got to where he was and was holding him close, someone came by and cut him with a sharks tooth on purpose. I was distraught, so much so that it woke me. I sat up in the bed and began to cry. What is the lesson? I can do everything in my power to keep this child safe, but sometimes, bad things are just going to happen. I can be there to help heal the wounds.

I can only imagine that life will be full for this child. I cannot spend too much time thinking about all the ways to prevent him from experiencing pain. For me, pain was just one part of the journey to who I am now. Denying him the experience of deep saddness and moving through struggles would be a crime.

I just hope he remembers that when he is scared and hurt, that I will always be here to hold him till it passes.

Practical Parenting

The economic crisis is real and it is hitting home. Instead of worrying about it, I have decided to just teach my child some practical skills. We are starting out with the "how to sleep on a park bench and stay warm" skill. Please note that he is covered in the Christian Science Monitor...so...it will have to be an upscale park bench.

A boy and his cat

So, I am posting this very, very long video because I am so

full of joy over the amount of empathy my son has. The dialogue

pretty much goes like this:

Sadie : Meow (can I go into the garage?)

Jonas: are you hungry?

Sadie: Meow (of course but..can I go into the garage?)

Jonas: What's wrong?

Sadie: Meow (seriously, can I go into the GARAGE?)

Jonas: Ahhhh

Sadie: Meow (look dude...I just wanna go in the garage!)

Jonas: You're OK

This continues until he remembers that he doesn't really

love cats, he loves Thomas the Tank Engine.

Communication Explosion

So, my boy...he is not just talking, he is communicating. He is also singing a lot. He sings in the car all the way to school. He sings on the potty, he sings while he plays. Its so cool when we can recognize a song. I'll try to get some video of him singing for you.

Tonight, I was filling the tub preparing for his bath; he was in the playroom. I yelled, "Come on Jonas, time for your bath." He responded, "Just a minute mommy." I SWEAR... I almost fell in the tub laughing. I managed to gather enough breath to say, "What are you doin'?". He pops his head around the corner... "I'm fishin'."


This video was taken a month or so ago while we were watching the Spiderwick Chronicles. Jonas was instructing something to "go away". I don't remember what.

Random Shots, your welcome

Yeah, I'm ridin' in the kitchen

MY NEW BIKE RULES!

Uhmmm...yeah, I totally think Obama should be president.

The elusive mommy shot

Holding on tight at the river

I know, more pictures please

Hey, I know! I'll post some yummy new pictures this weekend...geesh, keep your pants on!

Oh, Hai

Last night at 1:45am I heard.... "click" the sound of the baby gate. G asked if I heard it, I told him I would go make sure one of the dogs hadn't gotten past the gate and into Jonas's room. I climb out of bed, pass through the living room and I am greeted with, "Oh"... "Hi Mommy". My child climbed out of his crib, left his room and made his way past the gate. I yell to G, "we have bigger problems than dogs in the boy's room!" I swooped Jonas up and went back into his room. He had thrown his blanket and pillow on the ground. I can only imagine he had the foresight to use it as a landing pad. G made his way into the room. I swear he almost looked proud. He said, "show me how you did that". So I put Jonas back in the crib and he proceeded to lift his leg onto the top rail and hoist himself up. HMPFH. I seriously thought I had another year of this crib thing.

Luckily we have a pack n play set up in our bedroom for hasty storage of a toddler. We got him to fall asleep pretty quickly.

So, today I purchased a toddler bed and another baby gate. I have no idea how he is going to react to this bed. I am going to super duper toddler proof the room. I'll let you know how it goes.

Can you home school for college?

Sleep is upon us. The boy has re-integrated into his old happy "nite nite mommy" mode of retiring for the evening. This is a beautiful thing, in ways I know I will never be able to articulate here.

This child, this beautiful boy child of mine, is awakening into this VERY present, charming, free spirit of a person. There are these moments when Jonas does or says something and G and I look at each other and just shake our heads in wonder. I swear it is other worldly when he does these things..chimes go off and the picture gets all fuzzy like there is a weird filter on the lens of my life. (the following examples may seem trivial to many and glorious to few)

• Sitting at the dinner table, by dinner I mean mcnug's (thanks Jaden) as a snack before going to inflate world G tosses his cup into the trashcan and Jonas says ( I swear to Buddha), "Good throw dawdy!" (Dawdy is the new daddy for those not paying attention.

• Jonas spotted the letter "P" yesterday. G asked, "what letter is this?" Jonas replied, "P". "P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Syndey". UH..What? OH! Yeah, we have watched Finding Nemo one or forty-two billion times, but still!

Ok, so both examples include either terrible nutrition or terrible parenting in the form of watching Disney movies... too bad.

Last night, while watching the Olympics, one of those (you know the kind) commercials came on television. This one showed the mom helping the daughter decorate her dorm room at college...and the mom had to leave the child at the school and go back home. (You mean they don't have the adjoining suite for the mother...uh... huh? Oh na'uh I will SO be living on campus with him.) I looked at G , shook my head and said OH MY.... he wouldn't even let me finish. He said, "we will not speak of this for this is not something we shall speak of." shew. Ok, good. Denial is my favorite form of dealing with the potential/inevitable growing up and growing away from me (that is totally my job to prepare him for and the entire goal of parenthood) that my child will do. UGH

Ok. I have pictures of all sorts of fun things. I'll get to it this week.

Thanks for tuning in.

Runnin' on empty

Hola Mi Amigos

I am currently living in funky town. I am angry and depressed and majorly stressed out. My kiddo decided about two weeks ago that he will not sleep unless I am in the room with him. I feel trapped and powerless and frustrated; ineffective and overwhelmed.

I have come to the conclusion that I need some professional help to deal with this sleep situation. Its BAD. I have read that when going through developmental growth that they (kiddos) will regress in other areas, but this is CRAZY. When we leave him, he screams bloody murder. Whats worse, he can now say words. So he will scream PEE PEE POTTY, or MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMY. It makes me want to stick spears in my ears.

Additionally, I have realized that (as I wrote somewhere else) that I am attempting to pour water from an empty vessel. I cannot give and give of myself without replenishing and expect to be a sane person. So... I need to figure out how to "fill up". If you have any ideas, let me know.

Jonas' myspace photo

Ok, this picture is very funny for several reasons:

1. It looks like a self portrait.

2. He looks totally gangsta.

3. He wore this hat and glasses for 4 hours straight. He has never worn them

before or since.

4. I feel kind of scared of him when I look at it...like he could totally kick my ass.

Getting the hang of it

So, G and I had an appointment tonight with a financial planner. Now, I know you are thinking... don't you have to have money to plan something of the financial nature? Yeah, yeah we know that and the short man with the initials on his cuffs and the very fancy cuff links told us that too. (BTW, its odd to me that people with money think its "fancy" to have shirts with no buttons on the sleeve...that really is a sign of like, oh shit I lost a button and I don't have any money to buy another one so I'll stick something shiny in it to hold it together) but I digress. The real story is about how I had to take a toddler to a one hour meeting about our not having any money to plan for.

Here's what I did:

I brought the portable dvd player (with the power source!)
I brought the Finding Nemo DVD
I brought apple slices
I brought juice boxes
I brought a box of raisins
I brought his stroller
I brought (SHUT UP) chicken McNuggets (thanks for raisin' them yummy chicks Jaden)


I got to the meeting early, asked if I could go into the room where we would meet to set up. I plugged and arranged and pushed play and my kiddo didn't make a peep for the entire hour. Well, except to yell, "SCAWY FISH" and "OH NO" and "DORWY".


I RAWK!

PS. I know a really great financial planner if you have any money to plan for in a financial way.

Tightrope

G: I read your blog today.
Me: (he did? cool...uh oh! he read the blog)
G: Is there any particular reason why you want planet earth to think I am a wife beater?
Me: (uh oh)
G: Do you have anything you'd like to say on there that would alert homeland security about me, or the DEA? Could you go ahead and post that stuff right away?
Me: Apparently you have come across a post you did not enjoy. (cringe)
G: Can you delete posts?
Me: Well, I have to consult the managing editor.
G: (not amused)
Me: Yes.


Well, I've had my first lesson in Blogging 101: Your family may not appreciate the same level of transparency that you do.

HUH? You mean there are people who don't want their private stuff all strung out there like grannies panties on the clothesline? Hmph.

I wrote this post and my sweet husband isn't reveling in his moment of sarcastic glory. He is (understandably) concerned that you all think he is a monster. He took a risk and acted a fool and I basically paraded him around school with his pants down. So...Here is my public apology.

Sorry baby, didn't mean to hurt your feelings or make you feel like your privacy was violated!

I believe this boundary is one that many, many bloggers are learning to traverse (without a net) on the net. I will do my best to hold my pole straighter, or at least warn them if I'm gonna tell the whole planet their bees wax!

Twins on Tuesday

Hi.
Right to business here.

G and I have decided to actively pursue another adoption..Domestic this time.

Well, in standard A-family fashion, I scour the internets for resources, contacts, etc... I put feelers out here and there and WHAM!! I get an email yesterday thatstates the following... " Would you be interested in 7 month old twin girls,please let us know asap." UHHHHHH HuH? Of course my dear husband (who obviously, and for no good reason, sees his wife as wonder woman) says, YES YES YES, that would be SOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome.

So I email the social worker back... we exchange a few emails, a phone call. ThenI hear, "Oh by the way, she's signing the TPR Monday, so you'll needto travel no later than TUESDAY."

I think, Tuesday of The week that is theCOMING week on the calendar in the month I am CURRENTLY living in, in the year of2008, on planet Earth?

Suffice it to say that we are not going to be having twins on Tuesday. There isNO WAY something that happens this fast can be the right thing to do. I am assuredthat there are other interested families and I need not feel guilty about not being ready.

So I guess the moral of the story is that we need to get our butts in gear and makesure we really mean it when we say we want to add to our family. Apparently, the universe is taking us VERY SERIOUSLY.

Get a spatula

I need someone to scoop me up off of the floor please.

J and I were in the playroom. I was sitting in the glider...gliding. He was playing with his kitchen set. He walked over to me and gestured to get up into my lap. I picked him up and held him for a few seconds, he turned to look at me and said..... ready? "I love you". Just like that, no prompting...looked me right in the eyes and then made his I'm-ready-to-kiss-you-now face. I gave him a smooch, said I love you too, and off he scampered.

I tried to hide from him that I was sobbing.

Who knew someone so small could make such a big impact on my life. This momma thing is good!

Gotcha

Today is the one year anniversay of bringing our beautiful boy home from Guatemala. Who knew that time would pass so quickly? The joy and meaning in our lives has increased immeasurably. Grateful is too wimpy of a word to use. We are humbled and honored to be given the opportunity to parent this boy. He is a shining light and has made me a better person.

PEE PEE ON THE POTTY

So this afternoon, whilst giving my darling boy a bath...he reaches for "the goods", looks at me and says, "Pee pee on the potty." I think I just smiled and nodded, I truly wasn't paying attention. He said again, "Pee pee potty!" "You want to pee pee on the potty?" "YES!"

I stand up, grab him under the pitts and place his slippery hiney on the potty. I am squatting in front of him, holding him on the seat. He's looking down at "mr. winky"..... I'm looking at "mr. winky" and lo and behold.... dribble, dribble. I exclaim, "PEE PEE"..."Good job, you are such a big boy" He BEAMED! He reached over and flushed, I asked if he was finished and he nodded. As soon as his feet hit the floor he says, "More pee pee potty". I thought to myself, "self... this may be a on and off the potty game here....but if its not..." So I put him back on the pot. To both of our delight, a stream...yes folks, a stream. I shouted all the encouraging words I could articulate, he squealed with delight...a good time was had by all.

Watching him on the potty was really kind of intense. It made me think about how hard it is to let go. Seriously, he learned, in the tiniest way...that its ok to let go. Of course, his lesson was just about urine this time, but it was the first of many opportunites to let go he is going to have in his life. I hope to be a part of those lessons....maybe not so much in a I'm-holding-you-by-the-armpits-watching-you-pee kind of way, but an equally significant way. It was about letting go for me too. It hit me that my entire job is teaching this kiddo how to depend on himself... to not need me at all. I think this must be the hardest part of mothering; a part that not all moms do very well. I really want my kiddo to be independant and self assured, to take off running and not look back; trusting that I will be there when he turns around. (Sigh)

Later..much, much later after dinner etc.. I put one of those, smaller kiddo potty seats onto his toilet. We got toward the back of the house, to go get ready for bed and I asked if he had to go "pee pee potty". He squealed, YES!! So this time he had a seat with handles he could hold on to, which was nice...for both of us.

He did his business. I said, you know, you can poop on the potty too! Do you know, my child loves me so much, he squeezed out a little gem for me...right then. I was so proud... I swear I almost cried.

Happy Fathers Day

He will grow and flourish because of the love he sees in your eyes

He will learn to love people even when they are stinky

He will treasure the important stuff

He will be grateful to be on this important journey with you

(pick up trip)

He will always look to you for guidance

(second visit)

He will always feel safe with you

He will trust you always

He will be a better man, because you showed him

that crying is something real men do
(first time you ever held him)

Mmm tasty, guess I'll pee on it now.

Can someone please explain to me why when my dogs do something naughty like, cruise the counter, snag a loaf of bread and devour it, that they insist on urinating on the packaging? I mean, what if we did that?

G and I went out to an awesome sushi restaurant... LOVED it, best sushi we've had in a while. What if when we were finished, to show our appreciation for this amazing meal, we stood on the table and peed all over the dishes. Seriously, what is the point?

Mom, don't read this post

Watching the results show for So you think you can dance. G is in the kitchen with the dishwasher running, I am on the couch. For clarity sake, "Stick up your butt" is a dancer on the show (one of the judges said he danced like he had a stick up his butt).


Me: hey, its stick up your butt

G: what

Me: Its stick up your butt

G: WHAT?

Me: IT'S THE GUY WITH THE STICK UP HIS BUTT

G: DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU

Me: disolving into hysterical, blackout inducing laughter


This is only funny if you know my husband. He removes worms from the sidewalk when it has rained really hard.

Please don't be what I think you are

One week ago, my dear sweet boy was put down for a nap, like he always is, and drifted off to dreamland with the sound of his ocean machine lulling him into blissful dreamtime splendor. Wait...let me back up. His daddy put him down for a nap...WITH NO PANTS ON. A few hours goes by and I hear him stirring through the monitor. I usually let it go for awhile, depending on the noises he is making as sometimes he falls back to sleep. Well, I had one of those mommy moments...you know, the ones that say, "Psst, you better get yer ass in there cuz something is going on." Yeah, that kind of moment. I calmly walk to the "baby wing" of the house, pass the doggie gate, hand on door handle, ease open the door and see that my beautiful son is sitting up in his crib, sans diaper, playing with SOMETHING.... Something BROWN!

My god, the human brain is well equipt for trauma, DENIAL was my first response, I flipped through the rolodex of possible substances, no way could that be what I think it is, I said aloud, "Please don't be what I think you are!" I flip on the light, OMFG you are what i think you are. Hands COVERED, fingernails caked, little mudpies everywhere, he was actively pulling apart a little nugget when I finally looked at his face. The first thing I did was look at his mouth and asked him to smile... I am pretty sure none of it went in, but we did brush our teeth, TWICE.

I like to think he's going to be a pathologist and he was doing his first bit of research.

So, I yell, "I'M HAVING AN EMERGENCY!!" I remove the child from the crib and place him directly into the bathtub. So... do you fill up the tub w/ water and let him soak in the poop water? Do you just rinse? So many choices! I ended up filling up, scrubbing, draining water, rinsing out tub and then filled up the tub again with clean water.

I called my sweet husband, detailed the events and his response was, "We will speak of this to noone!"

Yeah, right!

I know, I don't call, I don't write

We are busy having fun. We've been to the pool, to the beach, to disney. I will update this weekend I promise!

Latest dance craze

Its been awhile since you've seen

the fanciful stylings of

our solid gold dancer

in action.....Enjoy!

Birthday Pics

The obligatory cake shot

This shot clearly demonstrates the frenetic energy

involved when a two year old has a bunch of balloons

Bouncy place video

Bounce much?

I know, I know, I haven't posted any birthday party pictures yet. You'll have to just hold your horses. The truth is, the camera is in the car and I'm too lazy to go get it. But let me tell you why the camera is in the car. G, J and I went to (horn section please...da da da da) INFLATE WORLD. Ok, get yer mind out of the gutter! Inflate world is this insane wharehouse space nearby that is full of GINORMOUS inflatable bouncy, slidey, crawl-through thingys. OMFG.

I saw a write up in a local-throw-the-damn-paper-in-your-yard-whether-you-like-it-or-not situations. It was amazing and Jonas had a blast. Too bad his fat out of shape parents were so fat and out of shape, because even grown ups can play!!! I swear to you there was this...this...monstrosity the height of the ruins in Tikal that my kid climbed up and slid down by himself . (ok, so it was only like thirty feet tall..but whatever, gosh!) He grinned and giggled for an hour straight. Yes there were squeals of delight and that crazy "girl scream" too. He was definately the littlest one there, but the other kids were kind enough not to squash him. The little girls kept helping him stand up..it was so awesome. So after an hour we had to drag my exhausted kid out of there, ok, we were exhausted too. But we will soooooooooooo go back there, with some skinny, in-shape surrogate parents who will bounce and play with my kiddo till he throws up!

Yeah, yeah, I took pictures of that too, you'll just have to wait.

I'm going to jail

Would it be wrong to throw the two hardworking men in front of my neighbors house into their freaking WOODCHIPPER THAT IS GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRING AT 8:00 at night KEEPING MY BABY AWAKE?????? ok, deep breath. Would it be an issue for anyone if I shoved their WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRING LEAF BLOWERS WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE??? Ok, I'm a little stressed. You would think my standing on the sidewalk with my arms crossed making an ugly face would make a difference, wouldn't you? WOULDN'T YOU??

sigh


I think they are done. Ok. good nite

The party was great

Jonas's birthday party was a big success! He had a great time with some wonderful friends and family. He made out like a bandit in the gift department, but he's getting ready to learn about getting rid of (donating to charity) the amount of toys equal to the new ones he got. I don't know that he will understand that this year...but this will be one of our traditions.

My mom got him the "smash" cake but my lovely, sweet, well mannered boy demanded a fork to eat his cake with! (I was so proud)

The after cake-scream-like-a-banshee-run-around-the-house-like-a-maniac portion of the afternoon was probably my favorite part. There were only four kids in all two 3 yr old, jonas and a 14 month old (Jonas was the only boy). We will definately do an outside of the house deal next year so the running and screaming can be boundary-less.

I will post pics in a couple of days...wrapping up the last two weeks of school for the semester!!!

My baby is two, her baby is two

Unbeliveable...time is going by so quickly. We didn't make a huge deal about today as we are having a big party on Saturday. I did however uncontrollably sob several times today thinking about his birthmother. We are starting the tradition of lighting a candle for her (one of those big candles in a glass container) on his birthday, to honor her and her bittersweet decision to let the universe find him a new family. I imagine she is thinking of him and wondering who he is, how he is....where he is. I wish I could tell her that he is safe and happy and loved. I wish I could thank her for the sacrifice she made, the immeasurable gift she gave to me, to her son and my husband. I know she did what she did out of love, so he could have opportunities that she could not give him, but how in the world do you make the choice to send your child away, to people and places you will never know? She must have a strong faith, or a strong will...or both. Nonetheless, I will be forever grateful to you J.D-C.F., your baby is safe and loved and we will remember you to him when the time is right and he can appreciate the gift you gave to him.

Giggles and the field trip

Waiting for the train with Jennie

Engineer Jonas at the controls.

It looks like a regular sized train doesn't it?

Here's a silly video for your enjoyment

Silly Sunday

I don't even have to say " say cheese" to get this face from him!

Geoffrey is spraying him with water.

He did it five or six times...EVERYTIME,

Jonas would say..."AGAIN".

No way is he gonna be TWO

I found this picture today. It was taken February 2007 on

our second trip to Guatemala. I can't believe this tiny baby

is going to be TWO YEARS OLD

in two weeks. Somebody hit PAUSE please!

Recovered memories

These pictures were taken on a trip up north in August of 2007. I can't believe how little Jonas is in these shots. What is harder to believe is that I let him get so damn close to those sheep!

Groceries

Yes, its a lot of handsoap. They were on sale for $1.00 a piece!

Just Sunday

If I feed you will you let me ride you?

Hmmmmmmmmm.

This is a wet butt from the slide,

for all of you thinking I let my kiddo

run around with pee pee pants..shame on you!

I am awesome!

The answer was yes!

JUST STAND THERE... DON'T TOUCH IT!!

So, Daddy went fishing today and brought back dinner!

Had to get a shot of his spoil and his boy. If this were

smell-a-vision your eyes would be watering cause this

man STUNK! Jonas is not smiling because he is breathing

through his mouth cuz his daddy SMELLED SOOOO BADLY!

Three things

1. Jonas is totally calling me Mommy now. He calls to me... "mommy" etc..
I cry EVERY TIME.

2. Today he was riding on a wooden "hobby" horse thingy, he turned his head to look at me and smiled and said, "YEE HAW"!. I have NO IDEA how he came up with that.

3. Today we were drawing on one of those magnetic-draw a picture-swipe it away thingys. I drew a picture of a doggie.... "OOOOOH DOOOGIE". He erased it. I asked if he wanted me to draw another one, "YES". I draw another one, and he erased it. "MORE, MORE" I drew one more and this time, he starts to swipe/erase and he stops and waves and says, "BYE DOGGIE". I almost died..

Lotsa new pictures & some video

These pics were taken at our local zoo

These pics were taken

Christmas Eve at a local

Playground.

Woah! Manatee are cool!

Wow! Manatee are awesome!

Stay tuned

Major blog posting this weekend. I have a lot of pictures to upload and some stories to tell. I PROMISE to do this by saturday night!