enjoying the show from the inside.

Dear Daughter and Hubby are sick so I compromised with the 2 year old and instead of taking her sickly self out in the snow, I brought a big bowl of it inside the doorway and she is having a blast! I then got out the cookie cutters and she is having even more fun.

Merry Christmas

Although I am not one to celebrate in a church, I am so thankful to God and his blessings in our lives. I pray at home every day and today , Christmas, I am especially thankful for the WHITE CHRISTMAS and my family, Jeff & Julia being here with us to celebrate.

I pray for Julia's birthfamily. I know God will take care of them. I have presents here for them, but have not heard from them to set up a date to meet. I hope we hear from them soon.

My prayers to those that don't have family near or have lost them. My dad is one of them. He has been in heaven for just over 14 years now and I still miss him. Julia and I went in the driving rain yesterday and put a Merry Christmas sign on his grave ... FUN TO THINK today it is covered in SHOW. WOOOOOHOOO. He loved the show.

my civic duty

today was my first of a few days of jury service. I had to arrive at the civil courts building at noon and sat for 2 hours through several jury pool callups. I was called on the third round. Tomorrow, I serve on my second jury of 7 called services. FUN.

wordless wednesday

job status (or lack of) and highway 40 (64) reopening

Well, I was all excited for the last few months knowing we were coming to an end of the construction of the shutdown of highway 40 / 64 in St. Louis. This is one of the main thoroughfares from the Mississippi West to Highway 70 in Wentzville, MO. For over 2 years it has been shut down for various parts of the construction and has made myself an MANY others change their course and time of commute each day.

The sad part is my excitement has turned to sadness that I can only enjoy the opening of this highway for the next few weeks after having traveled that route for two various jobs in West St. Louis County. I traveled from McCausland west to Highway 270 for several years and of the last 12, going on 13 years, I went to 40 and Mason. Well as of 12/31/09 I will no longer be needed for my services at my current job due to job elimination. Damn Recession, Damn Economy.

Yes, I got let go from a large insurance firm in St. Louis after 12 full years of service. I was told on November 19th that they no longer needed my position due to parts of the job going to the California "BIG BROTHER" part of the company. So the other parts of my job will go to my fellow (less seniority than me) co-workers on the help desk. I am essentially a Systems Security Administrator. I have been doing this type of job for several years, although I carried the title of Assistant to the director of I.T. I was moved over on the help desk , not by choice,(which I use to run by myself 10 years ago at the same time I was assistant to the dir.) in 2008. I molded into a newly created job, minus the title of SSA.

There were many closed door meetings in the last few months that several of us suspected jobs were going to be cut, but honestly it took me buy surprise because I was the only one in my department let go. I had the most seniority too! Sad. I applied for a job in the company, but I will not put my hopes on it to be my luck to get the job. I think I'd have a better chance at winning the lottery before I would get hired back on. I wish everyone else at the company much luck in keeping their jobs. The 4 people (including myself) that were let go this past month will figure it out. One of them actually was with the company 22 years. Can you believe that? very sad.

Meantime, I wait to train my replacement locally for parts of my job. I will then enjoy my days I can drive on the newly reconstructed highway.

Oh, in the middle of working out my days at my company, I got served with Jury Duty for the City of St. Louis. FUN. I report at noon on the 14th. I will crack up if I get pulled onto a jury for a few days when I should really be training my replacement at work. Bahahahahaha

Thanksgiving blessings

Bless oh Lord in these thy gifts which we are about to receive from they bounty, through Christ our Lord, AMEN!

Dinner is served.

Thank you to my hubby who baked the turkey, made real mashed potatoes and all the fixings for himself, Julia and I. Yes, just the 3 of us. We are spending the day together and are loving it.

Thankful for family and friends.

I won't spoil this post, but I'll update about my job later.

Happy National Adoption Day 2009

Happy National Adoption Day 2009!

check out some of the good news and celebrations around the country.

We are so blessed to have adoption as part of our family and for the rest of our lives.

Thanks to open domestic adoption for our situation. Thanks to Julia's birthmother and birthfamily. Thanks to our families and friends that helped our dream of becoming parents come true!

For those trying to adopt or are thinking of it, ask me, it was a wonderful experience with our daughter's birth and Gotcha Day / Homecoming Day!

Check out the adoption ornament I got for myself and one for Julia to have when she grows up.



macy's holiday lane page

If you look at it on Macy's page, you can rotate it and see the 2009 on the other side. Very cool ornament this year.

I ordered with a free shipping option so look online for a free shipping coupon. Macy's did tell me they no longer carry these in their store so you have to order online from them. No problem. The cost is ok for a life time of memories.

CELEBRATE!

interesting statistics of intercountry adoptions to the US

http://adoption.state.gov/news/total_chart.html

First homestudy visit done for round two

Today, Halloween day, our social worker came to our house to update the first part of our homestudy (home study) so that we can adopt a little brother or sister for Julia. (btw, Daddio asked Julia if she wanted a little brother or sister and she said brother!, but we will leave that in the hands of the match to decide for us).

I am so excited to get this process on the road again. She did ask if we were going to sign with an agency at this time and we said we would stay at an independent status for now and let her know in a few months when we are tired of waiting on our own and trying to do our own advertising to find a birth situation, we will be calling the agency we adopted through for Julia's situation to sign with them. I can't imagine we will be willing to wait more than 5 or 6 months.

Meantime, I am going to work on getting some business cards printed stating we are looking to adopt a newborn or infant through domestic adoption. We will hand those out to as many as we can and then I will work on a web site to help us spread that word too. I know, not all birthfamily/mother situations have access to a computer, but maybe someone they know will and can pass our information to them and then we can mail them a hard copy of our profile.

Happy Halloween to you all. I'll post more in the next few days. I'll post the link to the new 2009 Christopher Radko adoption ornament too!

check out Julia's contest photo for adoptive families circle..

http://www.adoptivefamiliescircle.com/photos/full/328/

I entered Julia into the adoptive families circle website photo contest. She was in a halloween costume a friend let her borrow last weekend.

FUN!

prepping for our homestudy

As we move forward with wishing to add to our family, we have set a date with the social worker (our first social worker in town we used back in 2006). This Saturday will be our next homestudy visit. First in the steps to adopt again. Since we successfully adopted in September 2007, we let our homestudy expire so we have to go through the process of starting a new homestudy now instead of renewing like many do. We have many reasons as to why we let it expire like knowing we didn't have the money to adopt again anytime soon through an agency, nor did we expect to want to adopt again with a two year old in our lives. I do have that itch for a baby again.... OK, I admit, I HAVE BABY LUST really bad. REALLY REALLY BAD. I want Julia to have a brother or sister, I want another child, We want to be a family of at least four! No better reason than that, except that we are not getting any younger.

Cleaning house. What else can I say besides I want a maid. LOL I admit I have been neglectful in dusting and keeping a straight house so I am paying for it now by cleaning and cleaning roof to basement. Nobody's fault but my own.

I am excited to get the process started with the homestudy, but we are still holding off on signing with an agency just yet. We don't have the ready funds and can't borrow so we are hoping an independent (private) situation comes our way in the next few months by help of spreading our wish to adopt again by word-of-mouth! I am going to work on getting some business cards printed, but I am not sure what to put on them. Any suggestions? Sure, I'll be glad to hand one out to strangers. I have told our lawyer that we intend to adopt again and are doing our homestudy so I will give his information for our contact #.

Ok, off to clean.

What is going on in your world?

another resale consignment sale .. november 2009 (updated with 2 sales now)

http://recycledkidstreasures.com/

I found this today on craigs*list.

I faintly remember there being a sale last year in november, I wonder if it was this one.

I did go to baby mania today at mehlville high school and got some great deals. I was almost crying inside with the thought of having to buy 3t fleece zip up pajamas for her, also thought they would be too big, but I cleaned one and put it on her tonight after her bath and OHMYGOSH, it fit her head to toe. Not much room to grow in either. It is a Gerber brand so I think I am ok on the other brands (the childrens place and carters) because those two seem to run a little bit bigger per size.

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http://www.recycledkidssale.com/
November 2009 Toy Sale Calender, St. Charles County:

The Toy Sale will be held at 915 Jungermann Road (old Walgreens)

Tuesday November 10th 3:00pm-7:00pm Drop Off

Wednesday November 11th 9:00am-5:00pm Drop Off

Wednesday November 11th 6:00pm-8:00pm Workers Sale (Ticket Required)

Thursday November 12th 6:00pm-8:00pm Consignor Sale (Ticket Required)

Friday November 13th 9:00am-6:00pm Sale to the Public

Saturday November 14th 9:00am-5:00pm Sale to the Public

Sunday November 15th 9:00am-1:00pm ½ Price Sale to the Public

*Pick up of unsold merchandise Sunday November 15th from 6:30pm-8:30pm
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/bab/1426710036.html

Oct. 15 has become the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

With so many of our own babies that were lost tubally or in-uteral, this day is our day to remember the loss of an ecotopic pregnancy on July 16, 1999 (#1), Baby Boy Gudermuth miscarried at 8 weeks pg on Feb 8 2000. ectopic # 2 October 2000, Twins lost at 8w3d in October 10 2002, twins lost at 10 weeks in October 8, 2003, chemical pregnancy June 10 2005, and our last in-uteral miscarriage at 6 weeks in November 2005.

I was so grateful to carry them in my womb (or tube) and thank you all for the lit candles tonight and prayed with us to remember our babies.

Perfect Moment Monday

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

having had up and down experiences with a few local / national photo studios, I went to Portrait Innovations yesterday (on recommendation from several friends) with my now 2 year old for her 2 year old pictures. This was my perfect day. When I look at this picture, I see a fun, energetic, beautiful child that I love with my deepest core. Perfect Moments are to live for each and every day, not just Mondays. The photographer was so much fun. She kept Julia laughing so much that this was such a wonderful experience and honestly, I got more pictures in this package for less money than those other chain studios. I can't thank her photographer enough.
Enjoy.

Take a few mintues to read her adoption blogs, they are amazing

The leader of the local IAS adoption support group, an adoptive mother of three, blogs often and is now an Adoptive Families Circle blogger too! Check out her Three Yellow Roses. She has a link to her Adoptive Families blog too "My Paperwork Pregnancies"

wordless wednesday

open adoption .... wow

Open adoption ROCKS for us. Several months ago I might not have said that since it seemed we were in a time of our lives (including her birth family) that seemed more like a semi-open adoption, but the roller coaster ride is high up on the mountain with joyful news of more snail mail contact from Julia's tummy mommy and birth siblings.

ADOPTION ROCKS!

Happy Friday.

here are some 2 year old pictures and some with her birthfamily.

Approaching the incredible 2 years old

Our beautiful daughter turns 2 on Sunday. 24 months old. I still can remember the moment she was born (I was in the delivery room with her birthmother) and seeing her take her first breath was such a blessing and joy in our lives. I can tell her this story when she is older and understands it. I tell her when we look at her birth pictures that I was there and Daddy was in the hallway hearing her first cry. I will cherish this and share this with her every moment I can, especially on her Birthday each year. Thank you to her tummy mommy for making her adoption plan for Julia with us and helping her name her with us. We picked Julia's first name and her tummy mommy / birthmother picked her middle name. In adoption, sometimes the birthmother and or birthfamily will name the baby and then the adoptive couple will give the child a name they will call him or her. We were blessed to have her tummy mommy tell us she wanted us to pick her first name and she would pick the middle name so Julia Marie..... we love you.

Approaching the age of two bring so many fun and interesting times in our lives with our daughter. She has recently started this high pitched scream during both fun play time and times when she wants to defy our wishes and instructions. For example, tonight, we were playing in the back yard, it was getting dark and time to come in, I nicely asked Julia to please come inside now and she started immediately with the high pitched scream and running away from me away from the house. Oh the ears. I am sure the neighbors thought I was probably hurting her, but alas, I was not and was only trying to chase her around the back yard to catch her and bring her inside. Against her will, of course! The scream was not a screech, it was a long ear piercing scream. No, I am not the bad mommy and won't give into her screams. I finally caught up with her and she stopped screaming only 1 second before we reached the door and then politely waved goodbye to my neighbor sitting on her back porch. Oh great, the neighbors were really out there. Oh well. She raised two boys years ago so I am sure she knows this routine we have fallen into when Julia does not want to go inside.

We go for her 2 year check up next week. I last measured her at 37" tall, 26.6 lbs about 3 weeks ago. I bet she has grown since. Maybe my measurements were off though. Ha. I am going to have to buy 3T for winter for sure with this girl. Heck, some of her pajamas are already 4T, but they are fit tight style two piece pajamas.

the other night while daddy gave her a bath, she counted up to 15 with daddy. She will partially sign (asl sign language)and sing her ABC's with me. We sing in the car on the way to the sitters each morning and last week she sang all of You Are My Sunshine with me! sweet! She is learning her colors and can tell me what a triangle is. She loves to draw and color in her coloring books too. When she takes a bath, she always asks for her ABC bucket. She got this last year for her birthday and we always put them up on the tile around the tub when she bathes.


oh.. gotta go for now, stay tuned for more on her 24 month birthday update and her tummy mommy update. So here is a picture to enjoy for now....

I have updated the 2009 baby mania consignment resale events..

click here for my updated post.

Perfect Moment Monday

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

A few weeks back, I sent a box to Julia's birthmother filled with 2 update letters and pictures about Julia over the last year. In that box I included a few things for her birthsiblings, toys and such, and then I included a pack of stamped envelopes and blank cards (greeting cards) and wrote a little note to ask them to write back to us and Julia. THEY DID... Julia's birthsister "B", wrote us back in a days time. Literally. She included several pictures of herself and wrote us a nice little note that she loves us all.

Last week, we got more letters from both B and Julia's birthmother H. I LOVE IT. I got them out again and read through them today. That is my PERFECT MOMENT MONDAY!


I Capture Perfect Moments.

For more perfect moments, visit Lori

New Adoption TV .. online....

http://www.wetv.com/adoption-diaries

I have not had time to look into this, but my friend sent us the link... I'll post more about it later when I can view the topics and dates to air.

WOW.. a list of state by state adoption laws

this is a brief but well put together list of state-by-state adoption laws.

http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/adoptionlaws

Ok folks, here come the listings of the 2009 Fall baby mania resale events in our area

I am on the lookout for fall/winter clothes for Julia so it is time to list the local St. Louis area baby mania sales and events. If you know of one, please email me at twogoots @ yahoo . com (remove spaces).
I will try and list them in date order, but for now I will just list the few that I know of. I'll do a more thorough search and update it as soon as possible.


MEHLVILLE BABY MANIA SALE
Baby Mania Sale
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
8:00am to 12:00pm
Mehlville High School Parking Lot
3200 Lemay Ferry Rd
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sales that have already happened:
Just between Friends West county
Just Between Friends Fall/Winter Sales Event September 18th, 19th & 20th!
New Larger Location for Shopping!
Chesterfield Sports Fusion
140 Long Road
Chesterfield, MO. 63005

Public Sale Dates:

September 18th, 10am - 8pm

September 19th, 9am - 8pm

September 20th, 10am - 3pm
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Kids Closet Connection Fall Sale
VFW Post 5077
(Across from Ethyl's)
8500 Veterans Memorial Parkway
O' Fallon, MO 63366

When Sept 18 thru Sept 20th!

Kids Closet Connection Fall Sale Dates - September 17 - 20th, 2009 at VFW in O'Fallon!

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Stork Lady resale consignment event.. (THIS IS A HUGE SALE at the old MACY's in Crestwood mall)

LOCATION:
Former MACY's Dept. Store in Crestwood Court (former Crestwood Plaza Mall)
at the corner of Watson & Sappington Rds., Crestwood, MO 63126

DATES OPEN TO THE PUBLIC:
Friday, Sept. 25th - 9am - 7pm
Saturday, Sept. 26th - 9am - 4pm
Sunday, Sept. 27th - 11:00am - 3:00pm

(SUPER BARGAIN ALERT: Most items 50% off on Sunday!!)

FOR MORE INFO: www.StorkLady.net
or visit the craigslist listing http://stlouis.craigslist.org/bab/1323467948.html
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!LADIES... I have updated this sale below... IT IS HAPPENING.
http://3rkidssale.com/default.aspx
(here is the craigslist ad)
FALL-WINTER SALE 2009!!!!!
3 R Kids Consignment fall/winter sale
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Friday, October 2 9:00 am-8:00 pm
Saturday, October 3 8:00 am-5:00 pm
Sunday, October 4 12:00 pm-4:00 pm--50% off most items

VOLUNTEER PRE-SALE:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
12 hr Volunteer: 4:00-8:00 pm
8 hr Volunteer: 5:30-8:00 pm
4 hr Volunteer: 6:30-8:00 pm

CONSIGNOR PRE-SALE:
Thursday, October 1, 2009 4:00-8:00 pm

"FIRST-TIME MOM" SALE
Thursday, October 1, 2009 6:00-8:00 pm

VOLUNTEER AND CONSIGNOR 50% OFF PRE-SALE
Saturday, October 3 3:00-5:00 pm
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New 2 U Kids Sale
Our Fall/Winter Sale is August 27th- 30th ... see details below (link)
8500 Veteran's Memorial Parkway O'Fallon, MO 63366

http://www.new2ukidssale.com/
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First up: (DONE, dropping this to the bottom of the list)
Greater St. Louis Mothers of Twins Club
RE-SELL-IT SALE
Fall/Winter Children’s Clothing (single and twin)
Books and Lots of Toys
Baby Equipment (swings, highchairs, etc.)

August 29, 2009
Lindbergh High School gym
When: Saturday, August 29
Open to the Public 1-3 p.m.
($1 admission per person)

Where: Lindbergh High School
4900 South Lindbergh Blvd.
St. Louis MO 63126
PLEASE REMEMBER no strollers, diaper bags, etc allowed in the sale so if you have your baby with you, you will need to carry them in with no diaper bag (That is why I had Julia stay home with daddy that day).
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http://www.recycledkidssale.com/gpage3.html
Belleville IL
Our Belleville Illinois Sale will be September 12th & 13th.

(200 South Belt East, Belleville, IL 62220, Belle-Clair Fairgrounds and Exposition Center)
We will be having our 2nd Annual Toy Sale in November. Check back later for more details!

The joys of toddlerhood.... toddler antics

I have finally given in to the fact that Julia is a toddler and really is all about testing our will. LOL

Today, I came home from some yard sale mommy time and found Julia taking a nap on our bed. I walked into the bedroom and found her diaper on the floor.. NOT ON HER. LOL She has learned how to take her own diaper off. We are in trouble.

Last week she got so mad at me for wanting to get her dressed when it was time for us to leave the house that I left her pajamas on her and took her outfit with us to meemaw's house to let her dress her.

Vocabulary has expanded rapidly for her too. Vacuum was the latest new word I heard her say. She will repeat nearly verbatim of what we say so it is my own fault that she picked up a curse word this past week. No, I won't repeat it, I promise.

Please and Thank You are working well now .. we do have to provoke her saying them most times, but it is with "What do you say?" and she will say Please or Thank You after that.

I am trying to teach her ABC's to her in sign language and she has picked up several of the letters. She still won't sing with me though. LOL I sing the letters to her as we sign them and she tries to sign them back. Daddy saw her do this for the first time last night and was pretty impressed. She uses her sign for apple, grapes, milk, and Please. I am trying to teach her Thank You and mommy, daddy, dog, baby and many other words, but she just does not seem interested in learning them. I still want to find a sign language speaking person to give her her sign name. I know we can't assign a sign for our own names until someone else picks one for us that is of the deaf community. I will find someone, one day.

22 months has flown by. I think back to the day we were leaving the hospital with her and I was so nervous about being at home with a newborn, but now I am so anxious to learn about the next stage of her life and age. She is around older cousins each day so I feel she is ahead of her skills verbally and physically. I am going to try and find a tumbling class for her to take this fall.

Ok, off to put her new toy shelf up and clear out some of this clutter in the living room. Ha. Never ending battle of disorganized toys.

What a wonderful night... adoption support group meeting and letter from birthsibling

Tonight was the monthly first Thursday of the month adoption support group meeting for the IAS group and was shocked to see 24 other people (including the two leaders) sitting in the meeting room. WOOOHOOOOO! this is one of the biggest groups I have ever seen and I have been attending these meetings since early 2006. SWEET. I love it. The majority of the couples in the meeting were looking into or have or are going to adopt (again for some) through domestic adoption. Some were looking into International adoption. What a great time we had. I swear the meeting could have lasted another 2 hours on top of the 2 we spent there. Way to go IAS!

We stand in the same place with the homestudy as we were last time I posted. I hope to get a few more letters of recommendation written by family and friends to complete that task on our list soon. Then I will be able to send in our paper work to the social worker and get the ball rolling to become homestudy home study ready.

This past week I sent off a box with two letters of updates on Julia and pictures to her tummy mommy (birthmother) and some items for Julia's birthsiblings (birth siblings) too. I included some self addressed stamped envelopes just in case Julia's tummy mommy or birthsiblings wanted to write her back. Well, tonight when I got home, hubby said there was a card from Julia's birthsibling sister. SWEET.. It worked. She wrote us a short sweet note and included a few pictures of herself in the envelope! I LOVE IT. I am so excited to hear back from her. I hope this contact continues for many many years to come. Do any of you have an open relationship with our child's birthfamily? birth family

Have a great weekend. sadly we will be attending a memorial service for my cousin that passed from cancer last weekend. She fought a brave battle and is now in heaven with her sister and many friends and family. May her soul rest in peace. We love you and miss you Brenda.

home study update .. progress made

Hubby rocks! He got our birth certificates, marriage license certified copies. Thanks!

Things on our list completed and to do.......
-Finger prints done and turned in to the state trooper office with our payment for processing.
- Both of our physicals are done. TB tests are negative and cleared by the doc.
- 2 of the 5 letters we need are done. Two more asked to write letters, need to find a 5th person to write one.
-Work verifications are done
- Need to get Julia's info filled in from her physical in March (yes, we can use the info from then)
-Need to turn in the packet to the social worker with our first part of the home study fee!

We have already updated our picture profile and the social worker has a few copies. We have decided to not sign with an agency at this time due to money constraints. Hubby is still a contract worker and we need to have some extra funds in the bank if his contract is not renewed. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will know more on that. Meantime, we are telling all that we know that we are almost home study ready. You never know if anyone you know might know of a potential situation of a potential birthmother and baby. Heck, that is how we found out about Julia's birthmother's situation, but we had just signed with an agency so her birthmother did go through the agency upon our request. I am very thankful for the agency's help too because we were so blind to the process of adoption having not been through it before that.

I'll be honest and say we are hoping to adopt another newborn. I just have that baby lust again and it is strong. I think we could accept if the baby is a few weeks old, but if I were to be asked, I think a baby more than 3 months old would be out of the range of age I am wanting to be comfortable with for bonding. I know, some (even Hubby) might not feel that way, but that is my motherly instinct and internal want I feel.

I have had several people ask me if we want to adopt a boy or girl. I don't have a specific desire. I did with our first. I so wanted a girl and we were so blessed to have that dream come true, but now, I am not picking sides of gender because I feel what will happen in that way of gender will happen. We will be blessed with either gender. I wonder how you all felt with that upon starting the process for adopting # 2. I think hubby might have a different feeling on this (hint, blue). LOL

22 month update and home study process update

Oh wait, did I post here that we were starting our home study again? Yup, we have to start from scratch on the home study since we let our previous study lapse by court dates. I'll keep an update in the next few weeks on this process of becoming home study ready for domestic adoption again. Let the paper chase begin.

mean time...

Julia, you turn 22 months tomorrow, Monday July 27, 2009. I can't believe how much you have grown in the last few weeks. I swear your hair has gained about 1 full inch. YOu were so kind to let me put it up in piggy tails today and everyone loved them at the two birthday parties we went to. YEAH...

You are talking and talking and repeating everything anyone says. We really try and watch the negative talk and the bad curse words. LOL Reminds me of the 7 cardinal sin words George Carlin was forbid to say. No, we are not THAT dirty with our curse words, but you get the drift if you have and or had a young child that loves to mimic your words word for word. LOL

You love to venture outside as much as you can and really enjoy the wading pool at Tower Grove Park playground and wading pool. What a great free event to attend and to get a special treat from the farmers market each time we go is such a fun bonding time. We get to meet new kids to play with and sometimes meet up with mommy's gradeschool friends and their kids (Thanks Jenny).

You enjoyed going to the zoo two times last weekend. Heck, I'd go more often if I could with you. Grants Farm is on my list and Suson Park too again. I want to take you to the Butterfly house soon, but oh the humidity .. Not good for me.

We love the play dates you can have with your friends from my mommy friends that went through IF too. Nice to be able to still talk about what we all went through to become parents to you all. Strong hearts and minds bring us all closer together knowing we waited and tried so hard for you to be in our lives.

You are really getting into coloring (or taking daddy's ink pen ) and drawing around your hands and feet. You love it when mommy does this for you and you can admire the pictures each time.

tonight you fell asleep in my arms in the living room rocker. Man, that does not happen often these days, I loved that. I could look down at your sweet face and watch you sleep. Dream on baby, dream on.

Mommy and daddy love you so much.

10 years ago today started our journey through infertility and miscarriages

July 16th 1999, I was wheeled out of work on a stretcher with horrible abdominal pains. I got to the ER and found out that I was pregnant (after 6 months of no pills) only to find out it was the beginning of a crazy road of a malformed uterus and an ectopic pregnancy. This started our journey on a long 8.5 year road of infertility and miscarriages.

They had found a heart beat in the tube so we knew it would not survive. We had to do a shot(actually two, one in each hip) of methotrexate to "dissolve" the tubal ectopic pregnancy in my left tube. With in hours of the shot and going home, I was in total hives, allergic to the medication to "help" my body rid itself of this toxic pregnancy. Ugh. We were so blessed to have been pregnant, didn't even know I was since I had a "cycle" "Aunt Flow" just 4 weeks prior to that date of the ER trip. I was then wisked into surgery a few days later to remove the ectopic pregnancy before it burst in my tube. The tube was rendered useless due to blockage so we were told in a few months time to try again since my right tube was most likely open.

That day of the 16th of July 1999, I was so sad to know my body was not going to be able to keep a pregnancy. I was falling apart when driving home that next day from the docs office after the shots and just knew I wanted to try again ASAp to get pg. Little did I know it was just the beginning of a long heart-gut wrenching journey that would bring us a total of 9 heavenly angels and no biological earth angels. Multiple miscarriages, total of two tubal ectopic pregnancies and no live earth angels.

Thankfully after those 8.5 years, we took our journey to become parents into the world of adoption and are so blessed with our daughter, Julia. She is 21 months old and is the light of our lives. Never did I guess my road to motherhood or Jeff's road to fatherhood would take us that long bumpy road.

wow, crazy week past

quick ... someone please stop the yearly calendar from dumping us off in to August. I am not ready for August. Ok, back to July. Well, Hubby and daughter went camping Tuesday night. I went shopping. Wednesday night, I went to play bingo with my mom, aunt, uncle and a friend of my mom's. My mom won the horse derby and her friend won split game and got 20.00. LOL Paid for part of her night, but my mom is now being called money bags. She was happy! I might just have to go back and try my luck at the horse derby (pull tab games they play at the bingo hall). FUN FUN FUN.

Thursday night I went to visit my friend, who just had her bone biopsy, and then came home and chilled. Friday I got up and headed down to Onondaga State Park and had a great time. Met up with some other friends there and we all spent the day at the river (or at least Julia and I did for a few hours). They played up and down the bank of the river and doing a mini body float a few times. JUlia and I had to go back for nap time and we did crash. Ahhhh, nice weekend except for the horrible drive home from Leasberg MO to St. Louis. Rained the whole time and I Swear to you I saw a funnel cloud in Sullivan and even snapped a few pictures of it. I'll post those later. I never did hear sirens go off so I guess it was not a reported funnel. Yikes.

This coming week brings me a doctors visit to the dermatologist. I have skin tags from PCOS that need to be taken off. I have a few other moles and spots I need looked at and a blood mole that needs to be sealed off some way or another. It is a dangerous venture to shave my legs with this dang thing. One small knick and it will bleed for hours.

I hope this week brings you joy and peace. Love and warmth.

We are updating our adoption profile to give a copy to the social worker who will be doing our homestudy. We hope the profile is shown to a potential birthmother and brings us closer to our dreams of having a second child soon.

Happy Week everyone.

praying hard for my friend with cancer

I gained an everlasting friendship through our local infertility support group a few years back. That friend has just found out she has bone cancer. She is surviving 9 years of breast cancer and now this. ARRGGHHHHHH. I HATE CANCER. I FUCKING HATE IT.

I am holding her hand and being there for her as much as possible. Tonight, she asked me to just make a movie night for her and I. YOU BET I will. Next week will be rough for her and I hope to be there for her when she need to go laugh it up at a movie of her choice.

I told her tonight. Friends like you are precious and few. It is a saying I have seen throughout my life and it applies so much to our friendship over these few years and MANY MORE TO COME.

K, I love you girl, don't let your chin fall, if you feel it falling, let me pick it up and hold you through this.

surrogacy and jumping into a new homestudy

Yes, surrogacy is heavy on my mind tonight. We have one frozen ebryo left in the cryolab at MoBap with Dr. Wilbois. He is one of maybe two doctors in town that will consider doing surrogacy cycles as long as you have the embies and you have a surrogate and you have the legalities all tied up. See, I don't have a uterus any longer (after 9 babies in heaven) so I can't carry one. I can produce eggs for embies, but that is another story. So the one lone embie is waiting, frozen, for us to come put it back into a warm receptive uterus, just not mine. Do you know of anyone that has had a friend or family become their surrogate? I don't (well, most are 40 and above and not sure they would want to or be able to help us in that way.

Next step while waiting to figure out the surrogacy link....


I called the local social worker today to send me a packet for an independent home study process. See, we let our last home study we used with adopting Julia expire. So we have to start from scratch. Finger prints, physicals, lots of paper work and a new profile of us as a family of 3.

word filled wednesday

Instead of wordless wednesday today, I decided to share a few words from Julia.....


While standing at the back door yesterday, she saw Hannah, our blond dog, in the yard going potty, she turned to me and said "Mommy, I see Hannah".... I loved it because she said it with such conviction.

Tonight, after daddy had just given her a bath,she lay on her changing table and asked/said "Tickle me?!". LOL Daddy always tickles her when he is trying to dress her after a bath.

She is saying please to some things now.
She is putting 4 and 5 words together in sentences.

I LOVE IT. I am trying to cherish every moment with her since I only get to see her about 2 hours each night on week nights.

Happy Father's Day

First of all, to all of you, like myself, who have lost their father to heaven, I send a special Happy Fathers Day to those dads. I visited the gravesite of my dad yesterday. I know he was not a flower type of guy, but I just had to put something out there for him. If I could afford it, I would have put a fishing pole and cooler of beer at his grave for him to enjoy. LOL He would have loved going to the fishing reserves out in St. Charles for his Fathers Day gift. Or he would have loved to be camping and sitting in the river with his umbrella over his chair watching the drunk idiots float by. Dad, I promise I'll do that for you this summer.

It has been what seems like ages since we lost him to cancer, but I still go talk to him ever once in a while and ask him to watch over us. Don't get upset that I have taken this picture. Sure, seems morbid to some, but I love going to his grave and sitting there to talk to him. Yes, I took a picture of his grave after I placed his flowers. I wanted to show Julia where pawpaw is.


To my loving husband and wonderful daddy to our daughter, Julia, I love you and keep up the great work, Daddy!!! We waited for nearly 8 years to have a baby. I am sorry I could not bare one for you, but thankfully through the blessing of adoption, I have seen you become the daddy I knew you would always be. Julia runs through the house yelling "Daddio" and wants you to pick her up and tickle her so much until she starts her hiccups. That is what makes it all worth ever bet of the waiting we went through to become parents. Thank you for being such a wonderful daddy to her and hubby to me!

wordless wednesday

Is she potty training herself?

I am so excited.. my daughter just went pee pee in her potty... WOOOHOOOO! She asked to go sit on it .. I Put her on there and then turned out of the room for a split second. I came back and and she kept pointing to the potty saying "Mess".... she pee-pee'd. !!!! YIPPPEEEE... Is potty training going to be early?

Quote of the week

as I was trying to put on her pajama pants, she grabbed them from me and said, "No, I do it".

Taking the big plunge .. again .... home study bound .... for number two

Yes, we are thinking of staring our home study process to adopt again.

Ahhhhh, the stir of emotions. A phone call tonight provoked us to dive into this seriously. We were thinking we would start the process again in a few months time, but after a call we got tonight to see if we had an updated "family" profile to potentially show to a situation with our original agency from 2006, we got excited, but decided to pass at this moment. To some it might bring heart aches if they pass on situations, but we are honestly not ready. We have to start the home study from scratch because we basically let it "expire".


We have decided there is no better time than now to start the home study process over again. Heck, it will take at least 2 months to gather the paperwork, get physicals for all 3 of us, finger prints, etc.... so that will bring us to the later part of summer so we will then get back into the process of looking for potential matches after we complete a picture profile to the perspective birthparents to review to see if they would like to select us as a family to become adoptive parents to their child. Bring a sibling home for Julia. Grow our family as we have always dreamed of and continue to enjoy motherhood and fatherhood. Loving, Smiling, laughing, teaching and hugging each moment in live as we grow with our children.

Ahhhhhhhh.... Just had to share this with you all tonight. Thanks for listening.

1 2 3 ... ready set go

those are the fun sayings my daughter has picked up. ONNNNEEEE.... TWOOOOOOO... THREEEEE....... and she also said REd, Seetttt, GOOOOOO. We need to work on that word "Ready". LOL

Do you have lots of plans for this weekend? We were suppose to go camping, but a childhood friend of DH's passed away and he went to the wake tonight and the funeral is tomorrow. So we are not camping again until July. Wahhhhhhh!

Going to get my coupons ready. Kmart is having a double coupon week next week plus I have my 5.00 off any purchase of 50 or more (diapers, people, diapers!! ) so that is a great bargain. I think the double is up to 2.00 so if you have a 2.00 off diapers, it becomes 4.00 off. Yipppeeee.

We are meeting a friend and her son (adopted through the same agency as Julia) at the park tomorrow to play in the water fountains. FUN. I can't wait to see them. Then I think we will come back home, nap, then swim in our pool. Ahhhh, summer is here.

Speaking of summer, I can't believe that when I was a child until I was 19 and moved out, I never had air conditioning in my house. Only a window air conditioner in one room. We lived with the pool open and a huge attic fan that kept us cool in the summer. Did you have air conditioning when you grew up? It is a luxury I am thankful for each day we have it on. Meantime, as in today, the air is off and the windows open with lots of fans going. Ahhh, beautiful weather.

Hoping you all have a beautiful weekend.

this stomach bug / head cold crud better stay away

After being sick Wednesday and Thursday with a bad intestinal thing, my sister (our daughters sitter) and our daughter were both feeling bad on Friday. So I was home again with her. She was feeling much better Saturday, but today she has either bad hayfever or she has a head cold coming on. Ugh. I so hate these seasonal things going around. I am praying she is feeling better in the morning. I can't take off work and hubby does not get paid if he has to stay home with her. Yikes. We don't have very many backup options so we will see in the morning what happens. I hope you are all feeling well.

Here are a few pictures from our play time in the Tower Grove Park water park area. We went to the Farmers Market and then played in the water for nearly 2 hours. Well, it was mostly water time, otherwise she was insisting on swinging too!

FUN!

20 months? What? tomorrow brings your 20 months birthday

WOW, time flies.

Wordless Wednesday a little early.

ahhh, the savings.

Coupons are a challenge I have come to like. I want to cover my taxes and then some for each time I go to the store. Today, I did that.

I went to target today with a list of items a mile long (well, the swimming suites for Julia and I weren't really on the original list, but I could not pass them up). After all said and done, I saved 47.03 with in-store promotional sales and coupons. My taxes were 16.99. My actual coupons total savings were 19.29. Now that is what I call a bargain.

Quotes of the week

This is what dear daughter said last night when we were all out front playing in the grass and running after each other to tickle each other.... after tickling daddy, he laughed and then she said "That's So FUNNY!". Bahahaha, my 19 month old said that as clear as day. WOW.. Them are some big words to be putting together. I love it. She has been saying 3 and 4 words together for the last few weeks.

This week she has another canine tooth coming in so she was very fussy tonight and threw a book at me, hitting me. This called for a time out and I had to hold my laughter mixed with of the moment anger when she kept laughing at me when I would put her into time out. WOW. this is a defiant girl and I think she takes after her 3 yr old cousin on part of it, transitioning at the babysitters because part of the adult attention is now focus on the new 3.5 month old boy in care. LOL Oh that change was expected. And her new adjusted bed time with a different wake up routine since she was born. WOW. So much going on so the acting out is not of much surprise in some ways, but the hitting and spitting has got to stop.

I can't wait for a long weekend to spend with her. Then camping a few weeks later and we can get in the river. YEAH! Oh and our pool is about to open so I am going to start her swim lessons in my back yard since I have not taken her back to the ymca again.

blessing of family

Today, a weekend after Mother's Day (and being evacuated / flooded out of our camping weekend), we took our mother's to the Cardinals Ball game. We had a great time doing a group tour, seeing batting practice on field and having some great field box tickets. Julia did great too. My mom and I walked her around to the family pavilion and let Julia play for a while. We are so blessed to have both sides of our families in town so it was a great pleasure to take both mom's (grandma and meemaw) to the park today.

Here are a few pics to share:

a hard weekend for those struggling with Infertility and miscarriages

Mother's Day weekend is a hard time of year for those that struggle with infertility and miscarriages. I hope your loved ones can give you a hug. I have been there and let me tell you it was some of the hardest times to get through, especially at church. I hope your church recognizes the mothers out there that have lost a baby in pregnancy and beyond and those that are struggling to achieve that ultimate dream of becoming a mother due to infertility.

I sat in church one year thinking that I would never become a mother. I would never be able to bring a child into this world to love and raise in my shadow. I feared it. I cried over it and I cried when the pastor asked all the mothers to stand up and be recognized. That next year I wrote a letter to the pastor asking him to please recognize those of us that had lost a pregnancy and or child in or after birth as we are moms to those babies and those struggling to become moms. He did it. Thank you pastor!

I have been there and I understand. If you have questions on how to deal with this, please feel free to ask.

Many understanding hugs and prayers to the angels in heaven we have lost. Mommy loves you.

I am so thankful Adoption has brought the love of Motherhood into my life and thank you to Julia's birthmother for making that possible. I did send her a Birthmother's day card combined with a Mother's day card because she is a beautiful mother to julia's birthsiblings!

Happy Mother's day to all friends infertile, those that have miscarried and those that are mothers after all the struggles. Hugs to all.

19 month update and random thoughts and milestones

yes, this post will be all over the place.

Monday, last week, Julia turned 19 months old. I keep thinking to myself that it truly can't be that long since I saw her coming into this world. Yes, I saw her take her first breath and believe me, when I go back and think about it, what a blessing it was to be there. I thank her birthmother every day in my thoughts for these wonderful moments I can relive.

19 months brings us to a very energetic, yet very inquisitive time in our lives. I do mean all of our lives. She keeps us on our toes with trying to outwit, outlast and outplay us all, including her baby-sitter (her aunt). LOL Yes, she is a survivor and plays the game very well. This past few weeks she has been working on breaking in her eye-canine teeth. She has been very cranky through it all and drooling again like she was when she was 4-10 months old. WOW... reliving slobber drool soaked clothes on her and I is fun. NOT. LOL She won't wear a bib like she did back then so she stands a good chance of having a soak shirt or two each day.

Time out is working so well that when she gets into trouble, I only have to ask her to go to time out and she does. She puts herself in time out. WOW... we are really working on explaining reasons for avoiding time out in the future and understanding the consequences of it once she finishes her one minute in time out. Tonight, after she went into time out for having hit her for no reason at all, I walked her over to hannah and asked her to apologize to hannah and she did. Ahhhh, it is working.

The vocabulary is blossoming so fast I can't keep up. She repeats everything, thus DH and I are really really trying hard to avoid the curse words. LOL. She also has picked up some lovely spanish from Dora and Boots. Fun. Her favorite word to say in spanish is "open". In Spanish it is ABRA, but Julia puts a little twist on it. LOL Sounds more like abuela (which means grandma). LOL, but we can tell she means open.

I have not posted much on the adoption side of our lives because, honestly, it has been a raw spot for me. I think DH is dealing with it better than I am. We are so greatful for Julia in our lives and blessed, don't get me wrong. Living with having lost contact with her birthmother has been my rough spot with talking about things here. I can't password protect my posts so I just don't post. See, a few weeks back, we got a call from Julia's birthsister and let me tell you it really stirred some emotions in me that I never really expected. Knowing she reached out to Julia and us is so touching (she is so young too, but understands that she has a birthsister in Julia), yet it really makes me ache with possibly what her birthmother is dealing with these days emotionally in the aftermath of placing her daughter for adoption. We have a semi-open adoption now, no contact with Julia's birthmother , but now her birthsister has, out of the blue, called and talked to us and asked how Julia is. We of course asked her how she and her brother are (julia's birthbrother) and she said all is well and even asked if she can send us a picture of herself. YES!!! I'll even send a stamped envelope for her to send it to us. I really hope we can see them one day again in person. Meantime, I am putting together the 1 year letter that was already written, another letter and many pictures again since then. I will get a photo book to put them in and send them off for Mothers Day and Birth Mothers Day this coming weekend. We told Julia's birthsister to call us any day, night she wants!!

Happy Birthdmothers Day to all of the birthmothers out there.

baby mania sale, tillis park playground?, grants farm 2009

Don't forget, Mehlville high school is having the baby mania sale this weekend. Saturday 8 am - 12 pm. I am making my list of things I need to find for Ms. Julia, who is growing out of her 18 month sizes at now 19 months of age.

Does anyone know why Tillis Park at McKnight and Litzsinger has the playground closed? it was roped off with yellow "police/caution" tape this afternoon when I drove by there. I have never taken Julia there so I drove into the park to see how "good" the playground was and it was closed. Hummmmm. Let me know if you have heard why and when it will reopen.

Grants Farm 2009. I bought a season parking pass. $40.00. Well worth it. Julia REALLY enjoyed it, we did too. The Goats were a great experience for her and it really brought back all the fun memories of when I was younger and got to feed the goats. Oh and the Llama too!

Oh beautiful day, but someone is under the weather

Ms. Julia is still not 100% after a bout of a viral infection this past week. I had to leave work early Wednesday to get her from the sitters and take her into the docs office. From there, diagnosed with this said viral infection, she spiked a 102.8 fever and was just shaking from the fever plus a few vomiting episodes. That is one scary thing. I watched her close all night. DH slept so he could go to work on Thursday. I didn't sleep very much. Julia did, only after I dosed her with motrin around 11 pm Wed. evening. She broke that nasty fever over night, but it still lingered Thursday. Now today, Saturday, she is not feeling great again. Such beautiful weather and we can't go out and enjoy it. sucks.

I am working my mom's ebay account until further notice. Ahhhh, it is busy. I am honest and say I miss that kind of extra spending money, but I sure don't miss the very very busy days where I would come home and have to work ebay sales instead of spending much quality time with Julia. My mom is retired and seems to love doing this ebay thing. Heck, I got her into it, so I am glad she likes it.

I hope you are all out enjoying the day. April 2009 has been a great month so far.

Oh, Julia turns 19 months on Monday. Where has the time gone? I am loving her new ability to put multiple words together by both speaking them and signing them. I continue to work with her on signing words. I'll never stop doing that. I don't know fluent sign language, but I do know many single words and I am learning some phrases to sign to her. I can sign the abc's and then sign "now I know my abc's", but I have to learn how to sign "Next time won't you sing with me". hehe

I think her favorite words right now are "outside" and "more". LOL She has started confusing Up with Down. So when she wanted up in her highchair, she said down and pointed to her straps. I enjoy hearing her talk to me in her gibberish talk. it is like she is telling me a whole story.

Walking the dog

Can you guess what happened to Julia just moments after I took this picture of her walking Hannah while camping?


I don't have a picture of the aftermath, but did you guess that she was on the ground flat out after Hannah took off fast after a bird on the ground? Yup, she was. Hannah won't run off, thankfully, but Julia did not like the idea of being drug on the ground for a few feet because Hannah wanted so much to eat that bird and didn't care that Julia was the one walking her and the line ran out of the leash. Julia didn't let go of the leash when it ran out either. This is the reason I won't let Julia walk the dogs on concrete!

Dear Daughter....

HAPPY FOREVER FAMILY DAY TODAY

adoption is a blessing in our lives and will always celebrate with joy in our hearts.

CVS is coming.. CVS is coming. And Wendy's too...

Ok, two things coming to the greater St. Louis area are CVS and Wendy's. Well, Wendy's is not technically in St. Louis City, but McKnight and Manchester is sure close enough. Also, CVS stores are going to POP up very soon on a Walgreen.s corner near you. WWOOOOOOHOOOOOOO. Yes, as a former employee of Walgreen.s, I tell you this CVS deal moving opposite corner of nearly all walgreen.s in the future is going to give them a run for their buck. CVS also has much better savings deals than walgreen.s.

Ahhhhhh, more later

in times of missing her birthmother so much... I give you a picture of my precious gift from her birthmother

My heart melts as she shows her growing age and words

OH MY GOSH.. I had to totally hold back the tears this evening while I held the phone for Julia to let her leave a voice mail on daddy's cell phone. We won't see him until Wednesday because he is out camping (yes, in this crazy weather).

She calls daddy... DADDIO and says is with conviction and long drawn out sounds. I'll try and get it on video so you can hear it. Well, I told her to tell daddio... "Daddie, I love you" and it came out of her mouth so sweetly and with her head tilting with a pucker of the lips as to kiss the phone. My heart melted. I can't wait until daddio listens to his voice mail when he heads into town tomorrow to get cell reception. hehe She said "Daddiooooo, luv vu"..

Lately J has been saying the word MESS. She will spill something accidentally and look at it and say "mess" and look at me like she is going to get in trouble. LOL Well, today she was at the sitters (aunt c's house) and looked at aunt c and said "mess"... then this 18 month old was so smart to go put herself in time-out. When I called to check on her today, my sister said she knows of no mess that j made and still is shaking her head lauging that j put HERSELF in time-out. WOW.. This child of our is growing into a smart and very understanding of the literal meaning of things. Time out works for her so well too, even when she is not in trouble and demands to put herself there for no good / bad reason. Ha

The jibber jabber is just amazing. She was in the car with me last night, saw a lady walking a dog down the street and said... "Mommio, doggie dieuolikeh leekousoieehng. slsliehgotutuellls ... theiosoe !!!! !" and ended that jibber jabber with a smile. LOL I just replied back "Oh, is that so?". LOL

She wants to be outside all the time. Walking into the house from work, she will walk over to me and say "Outside". She gets home with daddio about an hour before I do and she is so desperate to go outside. She loves to play on the porch, climb down the stairs (unlike me, falling down them with her in my arms, ugh) and then loves to go up and down the neighbors lawns picking the poor mans flowers (a.k.a, dandelions) LOL .. She says "Flowers, Ummmmm"... picks them and smells them. See, she is learning and landscaping at the same time for us and the neighbors by picking all their weeds. LOL

Now here she is smelling the "Good" flower at my house, you remember, those red tulips that keep reblooming every year even with me not digging them up and replanting them over and over. Nope, I just leave them suckka's in the ground and Look how pretty!!! WHen I took this picture, I could hear her snorting in and out of her nose to SMELL the flower. LOL

Yard Sale Tracker

I know there are several different sites locally that host yard sale trackers.. this is one I bookmarked a long time ago and stlmommy.com recently put on her blog too...


http://www.fox2now.com/marketplace/ktvi-yardsale-index-html,0,3350708.htmlpage


I don't pay for the suburban journal anymore so I go to craigslist and pull a list of yard sales I want to go to and print them in small font from a word document. I have a street guide in my car and off we go on Saturdays. How do you track your favorite yard sale areas to visit? local paper? craigslist? another site like the like I posted above? Share your favorite with me.

Let the happy week begin

Praying that this is a happy week for many many out there in the job world! My husband, that he gets a contract extension on his job, that at&t does not strike, or it will put a huge financial strain on my extended family.

Lets make this happy.

Sunday I am thankful for the time we got to spend with a very excited 17 month old that wanted to play outside, even while cold and windy (snow was gone by time we got outside).

Thankful for my husband, daughter and families.

Thankful for a great nights sleep last night (tonight< not looking so good as it is 12:15 and I have to get up in 5.5 hours to get ready for work. LOL)

Thankful for two very very patitent puppies that don't snap at Julia when she climbs on them or sticks her hand in their dog food bowl when they are eating. God BLess then for that!

Thankful My DH cooked the pork tenderloin on the grill (well, at least part of the way since we ran out of propane. He finished it in the oven. YUM.


Prayers and Thanks is how I got through the day today.

we fall down the stairs and then she has her 18 mo check up......

ahhhh, my lovely knee on my left leg gave out on me while carrying Julia down the front concrete steps this afternoon on the way to the ped's office for her 18 mmonth check up. No blood, just scraped up palms, fingers and a little side of her head and Oh my knee. Not so much scraped up knee, but already turning nice yellow and green bruise colors.

The doc looked her over and said she is great, no need to worry about the fall since it was just a wisp of scrape marks on her head and fingers. She must have fallen on my purse for the most part. Nothing better to do this so un-graceful fall in front of the neighbor, who just happened to get out of his suv at the same time I yelled "OH NO" and we went down. He helped check on us both and helped pick up some of the diaper bag items that fell out. Lord knows julia needs her "mimi" (new word for binkie). LOL

I say my MOMMYEGO was just crushed. I had not done anything this bad to our child and hope to never do anything again. No, I won't list the bad things that COULD happen because I don't want to have nightmares about that that has not happened yet.

Julia came in at a slow weight gain, she is now 23lbs 3 oz, which is down to 45% average on scale from the 50 she was at last time. No concerns from the doc though. . let me look back as I think that might be even less than last weigh in, I'll post them later.
Her height on the other hand is 75% at 32 3/4 " tall. I do believe this is much taller. Again, I'll have to go back and check her stats from the last visit to the ped.

Happy 17 month Birthday sweetie

our freebies from today's trips to two toys r us stores

Percy lights and sounds (17.99 retail) and Thomas (12.99 retail). Plus the dvd from little people for their birthday and a coloring page Julia colored there (not in pic). FUN.

We love a freebie.. Thomas the Train.....

TOYS R US.... (no, they are not paying me for this advertisement. )
check out this link to the Thomas the Train FREE wooden train.

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/coupon/927219.pdf?EDID=PQDXT1-NS2PJ-HIEZCF-ZBA6NE-THM6N-v1

Today and tomorrow only. one coupon per guest , WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.

we are heading there now.

good luck.

consignment sales....... updates

Don't forget there are SEVERAL consignment sale events this weekend..... St. Louis surrounding areas including one in IL.

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http://www.storklady.net/ShoppersA.htm
Stork Lady's Semi-Annual Sale:
SPRING - SUMMER 2009 SALE
Saturday, March 21st: Open to Public - 8:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday, March 22nd: Open to Public - 12:00pm-4:00pm - 50% off most items
* LOCATION: ST. ELIZABETH'S GYM -1420 S. Sappington Rd - Crestwood 63126 *
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http://stlouis.craigslist.org/bab/1079689524.html
MOMMES is having a giant (a whole Gymnasium full) Kids Re-Sell-It sale on Saturday, March 21, 2009 at Metro East Lutheran High School (MELHS), 6305 Center Grove Rd., Edwardsville, IL 62025 from 8am – 12pm. This is a sale you will not want to miss. It is open to the public. Admission is $1.00 per person for all over age 12.

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ANOTHER ONE I FOUND ONLINE
Children's Consignment Sale!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Our mom’s group has over 60 moms from the Metro East as members.
Great bargains will be found for:
Children's clothing and shoes from infant on up.
(pajamas, dresses, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants, coats, costumes, etc.)
Toys of all sizes for all ages
(too many to mention!)
Lots of Baby Equipment
(High chairs, baby swings, baby bath tubs, baby monitors, etc.)
Toddler Playground Equipment
Sports equipment for kids
Maternity Clothes
The sale will be located at:
Whiteside Elemetary School
(Just east of Old Collinsville Road on Lebanon Avenue)
2028 Lebanon Avenue
Belleville, Illinois

Saturday, March 21, 2009
Time: 8 am to Noon
www.metroeastmoms.homestead.com

Mothers and More Chapter #126 serves the Metro East area located in St. Clair County across the river from St. Louis Missouri. Many of our moms are from O'Fallon, Shiloh, Fairview Heights, Belleville, Mascoutah, Lebanon, Swansea, and Caseyville, Illionis areas. Please see our website for more information: www.metroeastmoms.homestead.com
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The Original St. Charles County Consignment Sale

Spring and Summer Sale - March 19th-22nd

915 Jungermann Rd. St. Peters, MO
http://www.recycledkidssale.com/index.html

THIS ONE STARTS TOMORROW (THURSDAY 3/19/09) check their web site for open close times.
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apparently I missed the 2009 edwardsville kidmania that is held in Edwardsville IL each spring at the high school. I finally found it online after searching again. Shoot. It was March 7th. Dang it. I'll try better next year to find the date and post it sooner. I bought so many things there last year for when Julia for when she was just crawling and into walking. (Time to sell those items now and buy bigger and better toys. LOL)
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huge kids resale. Established location ( we've been there for 7 years) Looking for consigners for a childrens resale in ofallon,mo on Friday may 8 and saturday May 9th. Only 20 percent comission ( not 30 like all the rest!!!). 10.00 holds you a spot in a great sale that is sure to make you some extra cash!! all details including contact info is posted on our website www.momsofmultiplekidssale.com Check ii out!!!

huge childrens resale (ofallon, mo)
Reply to: sale-msfa5-1101584806@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-03-31, 9:24PM CDT


huge childrens resale friday may 8 from 7-9pm and sat may 9th from 7-11 am most items half price on sat may 9th from 1130-100. Consigners wanted !! We are the only sale in st charles county who only take a 20 percent consigning fee. see our website for details www.momsofmultiplekidssale.com or contact Jhelland8663@yahoo.com

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I also found this on craigslist today.... not sure if anyone else has heard about this, but I'll list it here...maybe they will post more about the sale there soon.


Big Kids Consignment Sale - $7 (Wentzville)
Reply to: sale-htut3-1080005974@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-03-17, 10:58PM CDT


We are having a kids consignment sale to raise money for the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 323. It's only $7 to register as a consigner and you receive 70% of your sales. For more information, please email us. It is April 25-28 at the American Legion Hall in Wentzville.

lack of words equals more pictures to post of fellow adoptive moms and kiddo's

All three kiddo's here are adopted through the same agency! Thanks to the mommy in the middle having let us know of A Gift of Hope Adoptions just prior to the birth of their son Liam, we signed with that same agency. All 3 of us mommies know each other from attending the former local infertility support group. So glad we met and now have 3 beautiful children to make our lives so full of love!
Landon, Liam, Julia (Richelle, Cindy & myself).



Julia in daddy's truck on the way back from her friend Landon's birthday party sporting her new cool sunglasses from her friend Liam. (ssssshhhhh, we are working on the bottle issue!! I know, I know, she should be off it, but honestly, I think she and I are just not ready. We will get the talk from the Ped at her next appointment in 2 weeks so the breaking of the bottle and bink are coming soon!)

Hockey and Baseball all in one day...

I just sat down to check my email. Prior to that I changed the tv channels to the St. Louis Cardinals baseball preseason game in FL against Atlanta Braves. Sweet. Nice to get into the baseball thinking mode. Then I tuned in the other satellite station to the St. Louis Blues Hockey game. Ahhhhh, no better sports day than this.

We went to a mouse race fund raiser last night and had a blast. The cause is for a great friend of the family that is fighting ovarian cancer. mid-40's and fighting cancer. Just sucks, but she is doing well and was so happy to see us all last night. While participating in the card mouse game and the mouse races (well, actually they were gerbils, LOL) they held an auction. I knew there would be Cardinals Baseball items to bid on. DH and I both looked at each other and set a limit on our bidding since we just got our tax return back. WE WON a split bid on eight Diamond box seat tickets and on field viewing of batting practice with group pictures pre-game. OMG. I am so freaking excited. All we need to do is set up the date with the vp of sales that was there last night at the event. OMG.. I am so excited. We have never bought nor bid on something like this before.

So we have 4 tickets. I wonder if they will let us take Julia and maybe one our nephews with us for our 4 tickets.. if not then we need to talk about who we will invite for the other two seats. My Aunt, uncle, his sister and brother-in-law split the other 4 tickets. I don't know if we can all do the same game, but how exciting as a life-long St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan to be able to do this. I am excited about the 2009 season for the Cardinals so this takes it to a whole new level of excitement.

I truely feel as though we are getting out of the season of cold and into the season of Spring and renewed love of Sports.

GO BLUES. I really hope they can get into the playoffs. shhuuuuu, I know, I don't want to jinx the good run they are having. OH man, the blues almost scored as I am typing this. hinote tried hard. GO BLUES

Oh, the other night we were watching the Blues game and I was telling Julia that this was "Hockey" and she tried hard to repeat the word. She is looking at the screen now and said "hooociiieeee". I love it.

Have a great day.

Time Outs, already?

Julia just has had her first day of time out with her babysitter (Aunt Chris, my sister). J has been hitting, spitting at Aunt Chris and her cousins so I told her to start with the time out corner and she did. First time this morning (sister just called me), it took her 20 tries to get Julia to stay in time out for 1 minute. We use 1 minute for each age of the child that they have to stay in time out before they can leave time out and then say they are sorry and or a full apology to the child or person they did something to. Discipline is good. I like time outs if you really work them for the benefit of the child to understand that they need to pay a consequence of quiet punishment time in time out and to realize what they did was wrong.

So now I am working on a time out place in our house. Wall by the doorway between the dining room and the hallway.

Hitting, spitting and kicking provoked the necessity of time out this past week. My sister and I see a lot alike with our discipline with kids so that helps so much for us as husband and wife to be able to do this at home with our daughter too.

Seeing them eye to eye level after the 1 minute is over for her and discussing what the reason was that we put her there for is so worth it each time plus having her say sorry and in the future to give a full apology to that person she did this bad act to will teach her to not be mean again.

How did you institute time outs?

WOW... pictures of Julia and some links to some freebies...

I am all for freebies..... I often browse other sites so let me share these all with you. I got the links from an email I get often from Money Saving Mom blog

Arby's Roast burger for free with purchase of soft drink: http://www.arbys.com/arbyscoupon/?cid=bn_yahoo300x250030509

Baski n Robbins coupon for one free Sundae:
http://www.baskinrobbins.com/coupon/20090328BOGOSundae.html?cid=469973&jid=12790868&mc=XX&eid=900285&cmpid=email_ext_000016_4

Make sure you use an email you are ok with getting surveys and such from the company if you do fill out your address info. I get free samples from different companies all the time. I love it

HUGGIES diapers coupons... $5 off 1 or $3 off 1... also watch for the Walgreens circular in a week and they have these huggies on sale so you SAVE BIG plus watch what their register rewards are for that week. EVEN BIGGER savings. I love being frugal and this is the way to do it.
I don't usually stock pile, but at great savings like this, you can't pass it up especially if Target is still more expensive after coupons!!!!!!!!!!


Here are a few pictures of my sweetheart 17 month old. I know, you moms all gush over your babies growing up so fast too so I thought I would gush here also. This past week she has started putting 2 and 3 words together. FUN. We had a blast at the zoo yesterday so I'll post pictures from there later this week. Also I'll try and blog about my feelings of late with the adoption side of things. I ache for not having contact with J's birthfamily anymore, especially since birthdays are coming up again. I still have Christmas Gifts here for them too. I am so afraid to mail them off. More on that later this week. stay tuned.