Waiting for Baby Girl Project #3: Sort through outgrown clothes

The walk-in closet in the room we plan to use as a nursery in a few months is full of 18-gallon-sized bins (30+, in case you care). I spent a good chunk of today going through sixteen of these bins to see what we could give away (171 items!). Those sixteen bins contained our stash of girls size newborn to 2T clothing. Here is a picture to document the insanity:

These are just the newborn girl's lightweight/spring/summer clothes:

Waiting for Baby Girl Project #2: Flower Hair Clips

I recently went to a class to learn how to make hair clips and headbands for baby (or little) girls. Here is one I made for a friend's daughter:

Here is one I made for Leah:

Waiting for Baby Girl Project #1: Morning Routine Chart

In an effort to stay sane until baby girl makes her arrival later this summer, I have come up with several projects to occupy my mind and time. I thought it might be fun to document those projects on this blog. Here is the first one:

The kids had a great time posing for the pictures for this morning routine chart. It's going pretty well so far, but we're only on day 3. ;-)

Scripture Study

A few weeks ago, we decided to start doing our family scripture study from the actual scriptures instead of the children’s storybooks. Of course, since our children are preschool age, we limit our family reading to one verse per person; and since the children cannot yet read, Anna or I whisper the words into one child’s ear, a few at a time, inviting him or her to repeat them aloud. The children absolutely love feeling like they’re reading, and we love that they’re learning to love the word of God.

This evening, we were reading in the First Book of Nephi, chapter 8. It was David’s turn to “read,” and I was whispering verse 10 in his ear. The following conversation ensued:

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘And it came to pass…’ ”

David: (giggles and whispers something incoherent—a common problem).

Jeff: “Come on, David; say it loudly: ‘And it came to pass…’.”

David: (says something slightly less incoherent).

Anna: “David, please say it nicely.”

David: “And it came to pass!”

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘…that I beheld…’ ”

David: “That I befald.”

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘…a tree…’ ”

David: “A tree.”

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘…whose fruit…’ ”

David: “Fruit.”

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘…whose fruit…’ ”

David: “I dunno.”

Jeff (trying hard not to laugh): “No, David; ‘…whose fruit…’.”

David: “I dunno!!!”

By this point, Anna and I were laughing so hard, we had to pause our reading. ^_^

Changes

Well, I'm sure that you can imagine a few things have changed since Halloween. I'm surprised it's been that long since I've posted, but not super surprised. The beginning of November begins the busy season for our family (as with a lot of families). Between November 1st and December 31st, my side of the family has 8 birthdays and 4 wedding anniversaries, not to mention Thanksgiving (which is sometimes Leah's birthday), Christmas (which is also someone's birthday), and New Year's Eve thrown in for good measure. It gets just a little nuts around here. That's my excuse, anyway, and I'm sticking to it for now. ;-)

Leah is now 5! It's really hard to believe. This age has really struck me hard for some reason. It's probably because she's now in preschool and seeming so much older by the day. I'm starting to wonder what it's going to be like to have a kid in kindergarten. I'm feeling stubborn about turning her over to the public school system, not because I'm morally opposed to public education, or anything. I just can't believe how short my time having her all to myself has been!

Leah (and us, of course) got to have a nice visit from her birthmom, Kellie, the week of her birthday. We did a lot of fun stuff like the children's museum and birthday party stuff that week. We hadn't seen Kellie for about 4 years, so it was a great time to catch up. Leah had her very first "friend-only" birthday party. It was a blast! I was so glad that we were able to have fun with some of her new preschool friends.

My brother Eddie and his family also visited that week (since it was also Thanksgiving), and it was fun to have them staying at our house. Kelly (my sister-in-law), was sweet enough to make Leah some awesome cupcakes for her family birthday party. Grandma and Pop also came into town for a few days, so we had a house full of guests for about a week. :-D

Christmas was fun, and we had some more family with us during that holiday. Grandma and Pop came a week early and celebrated with us so that they could be with Jaci on Christmas (and then head down to SC for their annual visit with John and Mary Lou). My sister Becca and her husband Dave stayed with us for a few days, including Christmas day. My sister Rachael was also home from college and hung with us for a bit before heading back to school. We certainly did make a lot of family memories during this holiday season!

Jeff and I celebrated our 20th anniversary of knowing each other and 13 years of marriage on December 30th. It's hard to believe we've known each other that long! He surprised me with some great gifts (namely, some diamond earrings and an awesome mix disc/video compilation). We went out to eat while my sister Rachael watched the kids. Pretty laid-back, but still enjoyable!

The new year has been pretty quiet after all the family and celebrations, but it has brought some changes in our family, mostly for David. He finally "graduated" from nursery at church into primary. He did great the first couple of weeks, but we experienced a few problems yesterday. He spent a fair amount of the time upset because "primary is just so different." I'll admit I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out what is so different (they still give the sunbeams snack, but there is no play time; I guess that could be the issue). He hasn't been very specific about what is bothering him. :-/ Hopefully, this is just a small blip and all will be fine. He also started preschool at Leah's preschool this week (though on opposite days), so it's been a big week of adjustment for him. He seems to love preschool, so hopefully that continues to go well.

I think that pretty much brings us to now. Things should stay quiet for a little bit as we get used to the new schedule with both kids in preschool. Looking forward, I personally hope to get a little more organized this year. I have already begun this process and hope to keep chugging along with it. We, of course, also hope that this is the year we get to add another child to our family. :-D

Halloween 2010

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and Leah and David are my favorite kids. Put the two together, and this is what you get:

If you're unfamiliar with the children's show Yo Gabba Gabba, Leah is dressed as Foofa (described in the theme song as "pink" and "happy," a pretty good description of Leah anyway) and David is dressed as Plex ("a magic robot"). If you haven't seen the show, you should tune in sometime. It's an acquired taste for some, but the four of us appreciate its good values and quirkiness.

We now have enough candy to last us until next Halloween (unless we do something creative like regift it to other unsuspecting trick-or-treaters or try to pass it off as Christmas candy for the stockings).

David's Greatest Wish

While David and I were waiting in the pick up line at Leah's preschool the other day, we had a good conversation about our future baby. First of all, any time we've asked the kids whether they thought the baby would be a boy or a girl, David has always said it is going to be a boy and Leah has always said it is going to be a girl. Naturally! So, David was talking about his hypothetical baby brother as we waited for Leah the other day. He was insisting that we name the baby David. I lightheartedly drew his attention to all of the reasons that would not work so well. ("When I yell 'David' up the stairs, how will you know which David I need?") He quickly decided another David would not be the best idea. I asked him what other names we might use for the baby, and he said "Sarah?" to which I replied that, yes, we had been thinking about the name Sarah if the baby is a girl. He said something along the lines of "Oh, a girl named Sarah? Maybe we'll have a boy and a girl." I told him that would be great, but explained that it would probably be a boy OR a girl.

Fast-forward to this afternoon. David heard me finalizing some baby-sitting with my sister, Aubrey. She has agreed to watch David and Leah while Jeff and I meet with our adoption worker. I had told David earlier today that he'd get to play with his cousin Jacob on Wednesday because Mommy and Daddy were going to go to Indianapolis. While I was on the phone with Aubrey, David asked if we were going to Indianapolis today. I reminded him that, no, we'd be going on Wednesday. Both kids wanted to know why we were going to Indianapolis, so I explained we were going to meet with our adoption worker. I told them the adoption worker would help us when we adopt our baby. I was quick to say that we weren't getting our baby on Wednesday (I knew that would be the next question). David looked at me with his big, blue eyes and a serious face and replied, "Well, could you please tell him that we need a boy and a girl?" I gave him a squeeze and told him I would but that I still wasn't sure it would happen. ;-)

I'm glad the kids are excited about the new baby. I can't help but notice how excited they are when they get to be around their younger cousins and other babies and children at church and play group. They are just in awe, and I think that's really cool!

Playing With Food

I'm the kind of mom that doesn't mind too much if her kids play with their food as long as a) they're still eating it in the process and b) they're not making a huge mess I have to clean up later. So, this morning I wasn't too fazed when the kids were making shapes out of their mini waffles at breakfast. A bite here and a bite there created such exciting things as a fish, a snowman, and a truck.

Leah's final creation was a bit more difficult to decipher. I could only describe it as looking something like a llama doing an interpretive dance (Jeff thought I said Obama doing an interpretive dance!). I told Leah so, and she was quick to inform me it was a boat. I could totally see that after she started moving it around the surface of the table and making boat noises. ;-) I only wish I'd gotten pictures of their creations.

Adoption Training

Yesterday was our latest adoptive parents training—this time, in the Nashville, Tennessee area. It’s usually been in Indianapolis, Indiana, or Louisville, Kentucky, but our agency is planning to open a new office in Nashville, so our agency director has had his area of responsibility increased while he prepares the area and trains a new director, down there.

As members of FSA (Families Supporting Adoption), we generally attend these conferences every six months, or so. The classes are always great, and the kids love hanging out and playing with the other attendees’ children. This time, we were also asked to participate in a session on grief and loss, which was really great: we discussed not only the grief and loss of infertility (which is an issue shared by most adoptive parents), but also the grief and loss experienced by both birthparents and adoptive parents, throughout the adoption process. Having been through it before, both we and Leah’s birthparents know it’s absolutely worth it, but sometimes the things that are most worth doing are also the hardest to do. (Ask any parent!) ;-)

On a personal note, I’m thrilled to be back home and finally have nothing in particular coming up, to take me away. After two weeks’ vacation in New Jersey and Maryland, a week working on site at a client’s office in Georgia, a long Saturday in Illinois, and now a weekend in Tennessee, I’ve probably traveled more in the last six weeks than in the last year before that! Of course, I suppose when “our” birthparents (whoever they may be) finally contact us to come pick up our new child, I’ll be right back on that car and/or plane, and absolutely ecstatic to do so. :-D

Vacation 2010

I finally have a few pictures ready to share from our vacation last month.

On the second evening of our vacation, we went to dinner at IHOP with Aunt Jaci, Uncle Justin, a family friend named Jay, Grandma, and Pop. IHOP features a clown who does face painting, temporary tattoos, and balloon animals on Friday nights. There is also a "special visitor" each Friday. That week it was Diego. David kept alternating between whining that he wasn't close enough to Diego and being terrified of Diego, all the while refusing to get a tattoo or face paint. :-/ In true Leah fashion, she was all for everything. She got a beautiful easter egg tattoo, some butterfly face paint, and a balloon creation. The clown mistakenly assumed Leah would want a butterfly balloon, but Leah set her straight pretty quickly and requested a princess. All of the adults in our party watched in awe as this talented clown twisted the balloons into something that actually looks like a princess!

When we first arrived at the family's little beach house (or bungalow as we sometimes call it), the kids were incredibly excited. They couldn't believe they each had their own tv and alarm clock in their rooms!

Leah made her room her own just a little bit by unpacking her clothes and putting them in the drawers. This is so Leah, and we thought it was totally cute.

David got a bit confused and kept asking why we had moved into a new house. He then proceeded to sweep the floor.

More to come! (And at this rate I'll still be talking about vacation 2010 when vacation 2011 comes around :-P )

A Little Too Gunshy

I hope to have pictures from our vacation to share soon, but until then, I thought I'd share a story from our vacation.

Both kids are going through that lovely stage right now during which they blurt out their observations about the world around them before censoring them (because, hey, they just haven't learned to censor, yet). I, for example, have been informed more than once recently that I have a big butt and belly. I don't mind that so much as when the observations start branching out to people outside our immediate family.

We were at a restaurant recently, and David made one such observation. A man wearing ill-fitting clothes passed our table, and David cheerfully exclaimed "Someone has the biggest belly of all!" Thankfully, the man didn't seem to hear him, but we had a little talk about how it's not nice to talk about how people look.

Leah, as I mentioned, is going through the same thing. On our way to NJ she said, at the top of her voice, "Ewww, cigarettes!" as we passed a man smoking at a rest stop. I don't know how he couldn't have heard her. Eek! So, I again took this as a teaching opportunity and explained that, yes, cigarettes are yucky, but that it was rude to talk about it in front of people who are smoking. I explained that while I hoped that she would never choose to smoke because cigarettes are unhealthy, sometimes people do choose to use cigarettes and that we shouldn't point out unhealthy choices that people make. On another occasion, we were in a store, and Leah noticed a young man dressed in some traditional Middle Eastern clothing. We were far enough away that he didn't hear her, but she said "That boy is dressed silly." Again, I explained that people all over the world dress differently and that it wasn't nice to talk about how people dress.

It is no surprise that I was a bit exasperated when we were sitting at a restaurant on the way to NJ and Leah made another loud and rude observation. She said, "There's a girl over there with a crazy tattoo on her face!" Jeff and I were both seated so that we were unable to see said girl, but we quickly shushed Leah and reminded her that it wasn't nice to talk about how people look. In my mind I was envisioning a young woman with a lot of body art on her face. A couple of more times throughout the meal Leah said things like "There's the girl with the crazy tattoo again." I was starting to get really frustrated that Leah just couldn't seem to drop the subject!

We went on to finish our meal, and as we got up Leah said loudly AGAIN "There's the girl with the tattoo!" As I started to remind Leah again not to talk about how people look, I looked over where she was pointing. It turns out that the whole time she'd been talking about a little girl, probably about 7 years old, with her face painted! I felt just a bit sheepish. I still think it was important to remind Leah not to talk about the way people look, but I also see the importance of having all of the facts instead of making assumptions. Honestly, I had cut her off each time she was trying to tell me about the girl because of the assumptions I had made. Had I just let her explain a little more, we probably could've avoided having multiple outbursts about it.

That's the great thing about parenting, both the parent and child can learn from the experience. ;-)

She Needs Her Privacy

At ages 4½ and almost 3½, respectively, Leah and David still generally share a bath. Thus, it is particularly humorous that immediately preceding this evening’s bath time (while David was running around naked), still-clothed Leah ran into the bathroom and demanded that he stay out. The reason?

“You can’t be in here when I’m changing into my nothing!”

Three-year-old Logic

A conversation between me and David, about two minutes ago, in its entirety:

Me: “David, please give that back to Leah.”

David: “But she’s not screaming for it.”

How can you keep a straight face to that?

She's growing up!

The next few weeks will bring some changes in our little Leah's life. First of all, some friends of ours have invited her to participate in hula dance lessons, and she will have a performance on September 4th. Leah has always loved dancing and has looked forward to the day when she can take formal dance lessons. We had intended to have her start dance lessons with another good friend from church earlier in the year, but, as happens so easily when you let it, time got away from us. It will be nice to see how she does with these lessons so that we can determine whether it would be good to have her continue. She is so incredibly excited! As soon as she found out when her first practice was going to be, she walked up and told anyone who would listen, "I'm going to learn how to hula dance on Thursday at 4:00!"

When we return from vacation in a few weeks, Leah will also start preschool. I'm having little mommy twinges about letting her go since this was to be my last year with her all to myself, but I know she will absolutely love it. Besides, I'm sure David could also benefit from a few hours a week with mommy all to himself. ;-) It has been quite the ordeal trying to determine which preschool we want to go with. There are quite a few in our area, so at least we had some choice. It got a little overwhelming at times. We have almost certainly decided on one, though, and we will be visiting to make that final decision and hopefully get Leah enrolled sometime in the next week.

I've had a few moments lately when I just haven't been able to figure out where the time has gone. One was over the weekend when I came across some pictures of David from early last year. While I love the stage he's in right now, I found myself longing to relive those earlier days, too. I had a similar moment with Leah this morning right after she woke up. I asked her to come to me. I picked her up and held her like a little baby. My mind brought me back to some of the first times I held her as a brand new infant. My mind couldn't grasp what all has happened in those almost 5 years! Was there ever really a time that I wasn't a mother? A time when I cried in anguish because I didn't know if I'd ever be a mother? Oh, how our lives have been so richly blessed in these 5 years. Nothing compares!

I've never been that great at preserving personal history. Blogs like this one have probably come closest, but I *gasp* really don't have a baby book for either of the children, for example. As such, it is so hard to recreate in my mind those days when my children were younger. I could tell you the more general things like Jeff changed jobs when Leah and David were "x" years old, but I so miss the specific feelings, thoughts, sights, sounds, and smells of an earlier time. I was telling Jeff how I hope we get to re-live (even if just in our minds) our favorite parts from this life after we die. I know that specific moments from my children's young lives will be among those.

See Jeff and Anna Run

Jeff and I did a 5K this past Saturday. It was Jeff's first one, and he seemed to have fun. It was my second official one, and I was happy to see that my time was a little better than last time. We had hoped to do better, but we had several things working against us. Mainly, I'd been laid up much of the week with a horrific toothache. Thankfully, I was MUCH better by race day, but I had lost a lot of sleep earlier in the week. I just didn't have the stamina and energy I'd been enjoying in the weeks leading up to the toothache. The race was also held later in the day than Jeff and I tend to run, so the sun was higher in the sky. This made for one hot run! We're still proud that we finished, though, and it was a really fun and different thing to do as a couple. My sister, Becca, also ran, so it was fun hanging out with her before and after the race. She's been at this a lot longer than we have, so we didn't stick together during the race. Anyway, I hope this is the first in a long line of races Jeff and I do together.

Melting My Heart

Sometime last night, Leah made her way into our room with her sleeping bag and spent the rest of the night, sleeping on our floor. When I woke up in the morning (Anna having already gotten out of bed), my little girl climbed into our bed and snuggled in, just holding me as tightly as she could. Talk about the best feeling in the world….

Anyway, given opportunities like this, I always make a specific point to tell my children how much I love them and how wonderful they are. This time, on a whim, I also posed a question: “Leah, why are you such a good girl?’

Her response: “Because you taught me to be.”

Wow. Just… wow.

Not Enough Dora to Go Around

A few days ago, Leah tore a page out of her Dora the Explorer coloring book and starting putting stickers on it. Somewhere along the line, this picture somehow wound up on my bedside table, and a scan (in case you hadn’t guessed) can be seen at right.


This morning, as I walked into my bedroom, I came upon Leah explaining the picture to her little brother. She was pointing out that there were three stickers featuring Dora. “That,” she explained, “is because there are three Doras: one regular Dora, and two robot Doras.”


And isn’t that just what the world needs?

Reflections

Nothing makes me feel better than the squeezy hugs and sloppy kisses my kids give me each day. There is nothing more sacred than the love and trust I see in their eyes. There is nothing more awesome nor more terrifying than being the center of an innocent child's world. I feel so blessed and privileged to be a mother to these special children. They are my world!

God Bless America!

We had a great time with family over the weekend. We had lots of goodies at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house, including a birthday cake for my sister, Aubrey (her birthday is the 4th of July). The kids (and some of the adults!) had fun playing frisbee, bubbles, t-ball, and soccer. At dusk we all packed up in our vehicles and headed to a local church for a fireworks display. It was rather impressive, especially for a small operation. David eventually decided he'd rather sleep on Jeff's shoulder, though I'm not sure any sleepage actually ever occurred. Leah "oohed" and "awwed" over the fireworks. She commented on how colorful they were and mentioned that she liked purple the best because it was the most colorful. ;-) We all went home that evening smelling of sunscreen and bugspray! A good time was had by all.

A Day of Firsts

This past Saturday was a day filled with firsts. We started the day with a bus ride. I had heard the day before that the city bus service offers a trolley bus tour of key points of interest for free on Saturday mornings. In true JeffAnna fashion, it started out as an adventure. First, we weren't sure we were going to make it on time. We did, thankfully, arrive with 5 or so minutes to spare, but my Punctuality Senses were definitely tingling. About 10 minutes later I started getting a little nervous that I'd read the pickup time wrong. We were 5 minutes past the appointed time, and there was still no bus. :-/ Thankfully, someone pointed us in the right direction. It turned out the bus was picking up passengers on the next block because of road closures for another event later in the day. So, we all boarded the bus for David and Leah's first bus ride! We didn't get to hear much of what the tour guide was saying because the bus was so loud and he didn't have a microphone, but we all enjoyed the ride nonetheless.

The bus dropped us off for our next "first." This was the first time this season that we went to the Farmer's Market. We had a nice leisurely walk as we perused the vendors' offerings. We couldn't pass up some fresh apple turnovers or cashew brittle! Jeff picked up some homemade summer sausage (one of his favorites) as a sort of Father's Day gift from Anna. It felt nice to be out in the fresh air.

Next, we took the kids to the local university Memorial Union. Along the way, they enjoyed another first—a very echoey walk through the underground tunnels from the parking garage to the Union. By "echoey" I mean that David and Leah took turns saying "echo!" to see just how much echo there was down there. Just as we were entering the Union, Jeff had an idea for another first later in the day. The Union has a bowling alley in it, and the kids had never been bowling before. ;-)

We walked around the Union for a few minutes taking note of what had changed (which was a decent amount!) since the last time Jeff and I had been there. We settled on a little shop we were somewhat familiar with for lunch. As we dined on our hamburgers and chicken fingers, I realized that none of had socks on. Why was this important? Well, we were pretty sure we'd have to have socks to wear those attractive bowling shoes. :-P

We had a big decision to make: Drive all the way home and get our own socks or drive to the local Wal-Mart to buy some new socks. It was a tough decision, but in the end, we decided to drive home for our own socks. We figured that way we could check at home for any coupons and call around to the various bowling alleys around town for the best deal.

We did get a pretty good deal for the bowling in the end, so all was good. On the way in, however, Leah announced that she hated bowling and didn't want to go. This is the way of the four-year-old. Almost daily we hear how she dislikes this or that thing that she's never tried. We gently remind her that she couldn't possibly know if she likes this thing or that thing because she's never tried! Anyway, it turns out she LOVES bowling. We had the place to ourselves, which made me feel a lot better since I S-T-I-N-K at bowling and get easily embarrassed about it. Leah even beat me once. After two games of bowling, the kids were more than ready for a rest and so were mommy and daddy.

We really enjoyed all the firsts. That is one of the fun things about being a parent: getting to see something for the first time again through your child's eyes.