Finally Home

We finally made it back to Texas at 7pm tonight and have been trying to unload. I have given up for the night and will finish tomorrow. Hopefully I will have some time to catch up on our Tour de Arkansas for Natalie's 1st Christmas with some pics!

Traditions

After visiting with family and friends and reading several blogs, I thought it might be interesting, helpful and fun to find out what traditions others have in heir families. So, post some Christmas traditions you love. It doesn't matter how silly, or miniscule you might think it is, just post it! I need ideas for my own growing family.

Today I thought I would try Natalie out in her crib while I packed her up for our Christmas excursion around Arkansas. She looked so tiny in that huge crib!

Earlier today she was chillin' after she ate and enjoying some tummy time......enjoyed it a little too much I think!

Here she is from behind. Little froggy!

My sister asked why all of her pictures are when her eyes are closed so, Ashley, this one is for you!

and this one....

and finally this one!

She's looking right at ya

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! This will probably be the last post in awhile as I will be a little busy celebrating the birth of our Saviour with my new family!

Shopping Day

I finally had time to make some bows last night since I am not planning lessons, or writing newsletters, etc. So much fun!

I will be making some more today to give away as Christmas gifts. I love having time to do this! Cheaper too! My favorite bow is the one Natalie wore today when we went shopping. The pictures I tried to get were after a very long day so as you will see, she was DONE with me and the whole picture thing.....

Sorry there are no eyes...this is as good as it got! (check out those feet! Don't worry mom, she had socks on all day, but as you can see in the pic above it was messing up the photo so off they came!)

Isn't that the cutest bow?!

She did great! Now it is on to making Christmas cookies, watching 'The Holiday' and making more bows!

Celebrity

Katherine and her family, the McBee's, have been some sweet friends. Their son, Payden, has been our dog sitter for awhile and is completely amazing! He stays at our house, runs with the dogs, and is just the most amazing Christian high school guy I know. Their parents have raised these two so well. I tried to tell Katherine she could just move in with us and be our nanny, but that didn't work! God has blessed us with so many sweet friends that love Natalie. She has become quite the celebrity at church as many people still haven't seen her live and in the flesh! Everyone will definitely know who she is in that nursery. This was her third week at church and she slept like a charm again. We fed her at 8:30 and she had her normal 4 ounces. Then at 9:30 Katherine's mom, Kelley, told me she thought she was hungry again. I thought no way she just ate! But she did sleep 9 hours, so she normally eats 6 ounces when she wakes up. I told her to go ahead and feed her and that girl at 4 more full ounces! 8 ounces in 2 hours...what a chunk.

Tomorrow we are off to finish our Christmas shopping at Firewheel! Hope she does well. Maybe she will get some ice cream if she does=) Kidding of course.
6 days until Christmas!

SANTA!

I know it is always quite the dilemma for families to decide whether or not to "do Santa." We are all about it! I grew up loving Santa, but also knowing the real meaning of Christmas so I know it can be done. I just loved the magic of Christmas morning. From cookies for Santa, to footprints in the snow, to gifts under the tree.......it was all so mysterious and fun! I want that magic for my kids too. So, here she is with her first picture with Santa, a real looking one, too=)

Did I mention I only have one more day until I am home for three months?!?!

Miracles

This is a perfect time of year to remind ourselves that God still works miracles in our lives. This picture is here to prove it. Good friends with two miracle babies born 2 days apart. One is a miracle of adoption, the other of IVF (she actually has another IVF miracle, but she didn't make this picture). God is so good!

Waco trip

Our trip to Waco went very well. Natalie slept the whole way down there as expected. We met our case worker at a local restaurant called The Elite Circle Grille. It came highly recommended by two different friends so we went for it. It was very good, and the service was nice. I took advantage of their brunch menu, and Brian tackled a yummy Club sandwich.  We had a coupon for a free appetizer (thanks to our case worker) so we also enjoyed the chips and queso.  We spent about 45 minutes with our case worker just updating her on how we were doing as a couple, how Natalie is adjusting, and just an overall view of our lives since the last time we met. It seems like a waste because there is not really much to report in one month's time, but the law says we have to do it! Two down and 4 to go.......
After the case worker left M and the girls showed up to eat with us. She came with more pictures of the girls to give us, along with the signs for Natalie that the oldest made. It was very thoughtful. We gave her our letter and pictures for the first month that we never could seem to get in the mail!
Our lunch with 4 girls and a baby was quite entertaining to say the least. We are talking 8 year old, 7 year old, and 3 year old twins! They really did well, but the 3 year olds were very active as you can imagine.  Every time Natalie made a sound or spit out her pacifier the twins would shriek and giggle. The Lord blessed us by allowing NJ to sleep the entire 2 hour lunch. Thank goodness we fed her right before they came.  We left behind a pretty good mess with some angry customers I'm sure. We thanked the waiter several times and gave him a nice tip for being so patient.
After lunch we went to a local park for the kids to roam free and play. It was perfect except for the tornadic like winds. M held her while Brian and I played with the girls. They really warmed up to us quickly. The oldest two even asked if they could ride with us from the restaurant to the park.  They are really good kids, and we enjoyed the day with them. Each one of them got a chance to hold Natalie but we had to keep her wrapped pretty good with the wind like it was. We took lots of pictures that I wish I could post. Maybe once the adoption is final we will get to share pics of her half sisters. All of them are just beautiful. The oldest two have hair more like black girls, but the twins' hair is curly with a texture like white girls. WE are curious to see how NJ's turns out. For now, I leave you with her second week at church picture! Aren't her Christmas dresses just beautiful?

Life is Different

Life is definitely different with a child.....especially as a working mom. I knew this, but I really know this now. I get home and just want to hold her. But I have so many things that need to be done; like updating this blog! My floors are nasty, my dogs are nasty, my Christmas cards are still "to be determined" on my computer, etc, etc. Well, enough complaining for now.
Tomorrow we are headed to Waco to meet Natalie's birthmom and sisters. This will be the first time for the sisters to see meet Natalie, and we here they are super excited. We are glad to get to see them again, but hate that we are taking up yet another Saturday from home to drive more. We already drive so much!
The good thing is that we are able to knock out our second post placement visit with our agency. This should save us $50 or so. Every dollar helps! I will update later with how our visit goes tomorrow. I anticipate it going very well. No worries.
Wednesday night NJ went to her first Christmas party for Brian's work. We went to a local restaurant called Gloria's. They have amazing bean dip for those who haven't heard.......yummy! There are about 12 guys that work in Brian's group, and out of those 12 about half are still single, and only Brian and I and our friends, Aaron and Steph have children. No one in his group is over the age of 30. In fact, Brian, his boss, and Aaron are the oldest in the group. Isn't that strange?! God has really blessed him with a good work environment. Anyway, I said all that to say how CUTE Natalie looked for her first party. I was beside myself with excitement! I dressed her up like a little doll and then hurried to show Brian like a proud little girl. She was adorable! Don't you agree?!!? That silver bow just topped it off so nicely!

She definitely wowed the crowd! But who would have doubted that?

So behind

What a busy week and weekend this has been. I find myself coming home, loving on NJ, cooking dinner, eating cold food (because she has a knack for becoming ravished at the same time we are trying to eat), getting her settled and ready for bed, watching bits of a show, then to bed myself. No time for blogging!
The weekend didn't get any better because we did some running around Friday night for a bit.  Saturday we ate breakfast with friends at Chiloso (yummy!), watched the Rockwall Christmas Parade, and went hunting for our Christmas tree. So we were gone from 8-3pm. Once again Natalie was a champ! I borrowed a Baby Bjourn (sp?) from a friend to hold her during the parade and tree hunt. She slept the entire time with the exception to eat of course. This girl doesn't know how to skip a meal. And when she is hungry, you better get it ready fast or she will let you know ALL about it. Temper!  The  weather was unseasonably warm, but it worked out nicely for us to have her out in the fresh air. Here are some photos of our excursion:

Then we decided to take the opportunity for Christmas shots!

So the drama comes when we are paid and ready to load our tree, and the worker notices our tag and the tree's tag doesn't match! They mixed them up with someone else's tree selection. Both numbers had been paid for but ours had been taken. We thought maybe it all worked out but when we got home and set it up, we realized it definitely was NOT our tree. So 45 minutes of hunting, and $55 later, we had the wrong tree.

Practically ruined my night of Christmas decorating fun. It wasn't a horrible tree, but it wasn't OUR tree. We tried to "groom" it, but I was still bitter about how it looked.=(

On a lighter note, this morning was Natalie's first trip to church! She has been a bit crankier than normal this weekend and this morning was no different as we were getting dressed so I was a little worried. However, she did great! She recieved lots of "ooohs" and "ahhhhhh" and even a few tears from some dear friends who have been praying for us for years. Precious moments to remember!

10 more days and I am free to be home with Brian and NJ for 2 weeks as a family of three. After the holidays Brian is back to work and I am STAYING HOME! I'm so excited! Unfortunately for my coworkers I have mentally checked out already!

P.S. I forgot to mention that she ate 6 ounces in one of her feedings this weekend! Porker!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Whew! It has been a busy week and it is only Wednesday.
We loaded up the dogs and Natalie and left last Wednesday around 4 or 5pm headed to LR to spend Thanksgiving with my side. We trade off each year with our families for Thanksgiving. Too much driving, too little time!  Natalie slept the entire trip with the exception of our stop in Texarkana to eat dinner and feed her. We stopped at Chik-fil-A, and just happened to run into our old college friends, Amy and Eric Stogsdill! We haven't seen them in years, and have never met their little one who is 18 months now and not so little anymore. How random is that?! They were able to hold Natalie and visit for a bit before we both needed to get back on the road. They were headed south to Dallas so we were just switching places. So fun!
We got home to LR around 10ish, and the dogs were ready to get out! They love Mimi and Poppi's place because they get to chase and bark at squirrels all day. It is good exercise for them so we love it too!

We spent Thursday with my mom's side at my Grannie and Papa's house. This would be the first time any of my extended family had seen her live and in person so she got passed around quite a bit. Papa wanted to hold her so we propped her up in his arms. It was so sweet to watch him with her. He took her fingers and one at a time kissed them and put them in his mouth to love on her.
She handled everything like a champ. She is just such a content baby; we feel so blessed!
My neice and nephew wanted to hold her so badly. Audrey got to come down when we brought her home but Evan was in school so this was his first real siting of her! Since Josh was home with Evan he hadn't seen her either. They were both absolutely precious when holding her. They would lean down and put their cheek on hers, and look up and smile sweetly when someone asked them to. Evan was surprising at how much he paid attention to her and wanted to help take care of her.

In fact, one night Evan and Audrey were taking a bath and Evan wanted to watch as we gave NJ her bath. He was standing naked in the tub and we had her in a little tub by the sink. He said, "I can't really see much." LOL! He had to wrap in a towel and stand on the toilet so he could watch! Too cute! He was constantly patting her and putting her paci in when she cried. Love those two so much!
Friday was spent hanging out until our dinner with my dad's side that evening. She was again passed around to several, and handled it nicely!
Blog stops for now and she is ready for her bath, and I am running out of time..
To be continued..........