height check at 35 months old.

37 & 3/4 inches tall

she is 35 months old.

IS that tall or what?


Today we weighed her at home with clothes on ....

31.2 lbs.

At 35 months:

your child is 31.2 pounds, and that is
at the 59th percentile for weight.

your child is 37.75 inches, and that is
at the 64th percentile for height.

your child has a head circumference of 19 inches, and that is
at the 41th percentile for head circumference.

Ahhhhh moments

While driving around today, the song "Feeling Stronger Everyday" by Chicago came on the radio.... Julia quickly said "Daddy plays guitar (bass) to this song". WOW, she is so smart to recognize that song and associate it with Jeff playing to it at home. I love it!

I love a good yard sale score for kids clothes

Yes, I buy a good majority of Julia's clothes 2nd hand. So what. If you can find the bargains like I do, you would do the same or I hope you do already.

Today I went to a sale (before our car broke down, that is another story in and of itself) by our house today and found 40 pieces of clothing for 25 bucks. That included one Harley Davidson winter jacket for 1.00, a Children's place winter lined coat for 3.00, several sets of 4T pajamas, two piece dresses, 4 or 5 pairs of old navy and children's place jeans with adjustable waist lines (score!!) and a good number of 4T (and a few 5T) shirts and play pant separates to mix and match. I LOVE IT. The lady was so happy someone could use these clothes. I saw not a snag or stain on 99% of the clothes. Two of them that do have stains, I know I can get them out. One coat has a nick in the front bottom, not so noticeable. I now have all kinds of 4t items for her winter wardrobe. I am so excited about this.

Finding bargains like this make me so happy. I am on a tight budget (just ask me about the car costs we have had lately) and these finds really help ease the budget for her clothes. Now I need to focus on some clothes for her gymnastics class she will be taking and a few pairs of shoes and boots for the winter. Thank you sellers! This lady today had such wonderful prices (average was .50 cents and 1.00 at most) on her clothes. When I saw the Harley Davidson jacket, I about jumped out of my skin. It ROCKS, even daddio says so (future wanna-be harley owner). LOL

I also found two picture frames that were brand new and a few hand crank flashlights for Julia to take camping.

The day was capped off by hubby rescuing me from our broke down car (that cut my yard sale time, booooo) and taking Julia over to Tower Grove Park wading pool to meet up with her cousin and Aunt.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, bargain bliss.

Oh, and thank you to our friend Crissy, who donated some clothes to Julia this past week also. Winter Snow pants, dresses, pj's. Some 5t so those are for next year. YEAH!

some milestones and musings and birthday wishes

milestones of late are that she is totally potty trained (shhhh, no jinxing me, ok! ) she has had 1 accident in the last 4 weeks.

sending Happy Birthday wishes to Julia's birthmother.

of late, Julia has been playing the "I'm pretending" card. She will role play and then say she is playing "pretend". She is so cute and I love listening to her make up her stories. I need to start blogging them so I can remember to tell her when she is older what kinds of pretend and make believe she talked about at this age.

Fall 2010 Consignment sales resale events

Yes, it is that time again ladies... Fall 2010 consignment and resale events.

I will just start the list of notices I have gotten so far. Please check back often as I will update this list as soon as I get a new notice of a new sale..

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3 R Kids Consignment Fall/Winter 2010 Sale:
Sale will be held at Atonement Lutheran School Gym, 1285 New Florissant Road North, Florissant, MO 63031 from September 10-12, 2010.

Sale hours:
Friday, Sept 10 - 6p-9p
Saturday, Sept 11 - 8a-4p
Sunday, Sept 12 - 1p-4p (50% off most items)
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Recycled Kids Sale
http://www.recycledkidssale.com/news.html

>>>Belleville, IL-September 11th-12th
Location: 200 South Belt East Belleville, IL 62220 (No Admission Fee)
Saturday Sept. 11th 8:00am-4:00pm Sale to the Public
Sunday Sept. 12th 9:00am-12:00pm ½ Price Sale to the Public
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http://www.kidscloset.biz/sales/saint_charles_county

kidscloset
KCC ST CHARLES COUNTY SALE LOCATION:

DISCOVERY CHURCH

8134 MEXICO RD

ST PETERS, MO 63376

GENERAL PUBLIC SALE HOURS:
Wed, Sept 29th - 9 am to 6 pm
Thurs, Sept 30th - 9 am to 5 pm
Friday, Oct 1st - 9 am to 5 pm
Sat, Oct 2nd - 8 am to Noon
(Fri/Sat 1/2 price sale day)
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Mehville Baby Mania sale
Fall Baby Mania Sale
Please join us in the Mehlville High School parking lot
When
Sat Oct 16 8am – 12pm Central Time
Where
Mehlville High School Parking Lot


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EXPIRED
EXPIRED:
Recycled Treasures LLC Kids Consignment sale August 6th -8th!
West County-Kids Consignment Sale (Chesterfield)
SALE INFORMATION
HTTP://WWW.RECYCLEDKIDSTREASURES.COM
LOCATION: GATEWAY ACADEMY 17815 WILD HORSE CREEK ROAD, CHESTERFIELD, MO 63005

AUGUST 6TH -6PM-9PM
AUGUST 7TH - 9AM-5PM
AUGUST 8TH - **MOST ITEMS 50% OFF THIS DAY** 10AM-3PM

Click here for directions to Discovery Church!
xxxxxx
EXPIRED
>>>St. Charles, MO -August 19th-22nd
Location: St. Charles Convention Center-
1 Convention Center Plaza St. Charles, MO(No Admission Fee)
Thursday, August 19th 9:00 am – 7:00 pm Sale to the Public
Friday, August 20th 9:00 am – 6:00 pm Sale to the Public
Saturday, August 21st 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Sale to the Public
Sunday, August 22nd 9:00 am – 1:00 pm Half Price Sale
xxxxx
EXPIRED
Mother of Twins Club
MOTC
Re-Sell-It will be August 21, 2010 at Lindbergh High School.
4900 South Lindbergh Blvd.
St. Louis MO 63126
1-3 pm for the public $1.00 admission
http://www.stlmotc.org/sale_flyer.pdf

A quote in Adoption I can relate to.....

"They told us that when we completed the home study, we were in the "pregnancy stage". The only difference is that we didn't know if we'd be pregnant the length of a rabbit or an elephant." MP

This came from another fellow adoptive mother. I love it. So true. We waited from Homestudy completion of March 2006 until September 2007 when Julia was born. It was a long long wait, but well worth every minute of it.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for washable markers (pic 1)

I am thankful for our daughter being potty trained at 2 yrs 9 mos (last month).
I am thankful Hubby found a job right after his other contract ended in June.
I am thankful for our friends and family.
I am thankful for getting the idea I need to get my behind back into college. (I am calling advisor tomorrow to set up appointment to see if I can get into the medical billing and coding for the fall schedule).
I am thankful for our beautiful daughter (pic 2)!

11 years ago today started our journey through infertility & 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 bicornuate 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.

more freebies

In my mailbox this week:

-Two free samples of MAYO (chipotle and olive mayo).
-1.86 fl oz Caress Whipped Souffle body wash (giving to my mom since I can't use items that have sulfates in them).
-free sample of Eucerin along with a 1.00 off coupon!
-Home Made Simple coupon book with over 30.00 in savings inside). My favorite coupon is the Magic eraser for Mr. Clean and then the Glade air freshener coupon.

prepping already for her 3 yr old party in September

a tent awning in Tower Grove Park between playgrounds. Sprinkler fountains should still be on, bring your suits.

Bring lawn chairs, Sun block, bug spray, kids swim suits and towels and yours too if you want to get in the sprinklers with the kids. hehe

I will be making Cup Cake Ice Cream Cones if I can figure out how to get them there without melting them. http://thefrugalgirls.com/2010/02/ice-cream-cone-cupcake-recipe-so-cute.html

No theme... just party time at the playground / park.

Happy Father's Day to Daddo and all those out there or in Heaven

Happy Father's Day to Daddio (that is what she calls him)! You are the best and make it so much better for Julia and I.

A few daddio and Julia pictures to fill our hearts with love.

I think we are trained

Ok, I know I am going to totally jinx myself here, but I'll say it.

I think Julia is potty trained.

She will sleep roughly 9 - 10 hours a night and has not had a wet pull up since 4 weeks ago. If we are out in public, she will ask to use the bathroom. The last potty accident she had was over 3 weeks ago when we were out at and she didn't ask me to use the potty. She got a talking to, but no time out for that incident.

Today, she woke up and went #1 on the big girl potty (dora seat on the big toilet) after about 20 minutes and then an hour later went into the bathroom and closed the door (hey, the girl likes her privacy) and went #2. She even tries to wipe. I have to stand outside the door now and wait for her to do her business and then she tells me it is ok to come in and help her wipe. LOL she is so independent.

I love it, a new stage in life. She is growing up so fast and I just can't believe I won't have to buy diapers for her ever again. I have about 10 pull ups left and I think she will take weeks to use those up. I am not set on putting her in big girl undies yet for night time. I'll hand onto those for a few more weeks to ease my mind that she won't pee-pee in the bed.

My little girl is growing up so fast. I so wish we could adopt or find a surrogate to have another and complete our family.

Parents as Teachers Quit us......

It is official. Parents As Teachers has CUT all future visits to our daughter and MANY other children in the St. Louis City PAT districts. I am So angry that this has been one of the state budget cuts that will affect our CHILDREN directly. I hate when our GOVERNMENT just does not care about the kids.

Where is the camera when you need one? (poop ment)

This is my hubby's post on FB tonight. Note the sad to Hilarious demeanor. LOL

Jeff G****** had a rotten day today-dealing w/morons at work, depressed at losing his job of 20 yrs & what happens to brighten his day? As he walked in the backyard w/his dogs and the kiddo, he sees both dogs "pinching a loaf". looks away, turns back to find the kiddo bent down also pinching a loaf - right along side the dogs. "What are you doing?!" "I'm a dog Daddio!!!" OMG I can't stop laughing. Thank you for the laugh kiddo!!

I won't jinx myself........Potty training is going so well

for a few weeks now, I let the little sweetie (or terrible sweetie, remember terrible 2's are active) run around in her bare naked-ness! This, I think, has helped us with potty training her. She tells me when she has to go, even holding herself. She is in pull ups when we leave the house (as she will pee-pee in big girl cloth undies still) , but honestly, she will go for days without peeing or pooping in her big girl undies (pull ups). She will use the public toilets with less fear now (those dang bathrooms are loud from the super sonic hand dryers or the super sucking self-flushing toilets so I don't blame her).

She did so well with the sticker reward system after we unsuccessfully tried the m&m training (one m&m for peepee and two for #2). She preferred the stickers (thanks for the Dora Chart from Vanessa and Abbie's Mom!) so we went with that. After she grew old to the sticker idea for about 3 weeks, we changed over to a sucker ONLY if she goes #2 on the potty. It is working so far and honestly she has forgotten about her sucker (dum-dum's) 2/3 of the time. LOL NO, I don't remind her of missing her sucker either. I avoid it if all possible.

I am so proud of her and tell her that often. She goes nearly 9 hours at night without peeing. She refuses to go during the middle of the night and just holds it for a huge peeing session on the potty when she wakes up. This even rings true when she wakes in the middle of the night to climb in bed with us after she has a bad dream or two. She has not had a wet pull up at night for over 4 weeks. I love it. LOVE IT.

Julia is 2 years 8 months this week and is nearly potty trained. I am patting myself on the back each day (along with praising hubby) for us being so vigilant with potty training. We didn't push it on her, she was just ready to start training a few months back since her girlfriends, Vanessa and Abbie( who are 4 yrs old), are mentors for using the big girl potty.

I don't mind not buying diapers, heck, I have a bunch of size 5 still that I might donate to the lady I am babysitting for party time. She has a boy who is 17 months old so he will soon be into a size 5.

I think I will take Julia out next week for a little mommy and daughter shopping time and let her pick out some disney princess big girl cloth undies. I hope this might persuade her to give up the pull ups and lessen the accidents in cloth undies. Wish us luck.

jbf consignment sale this June 5 / 6

Just Between Friends
Kids Consignment Sales Events
Serving you in Kirkwood/Arnold, Mo

2010 All Season Sale!

When: June 5th,6th
Where: Arnold Eagles hall

1725 Jeffco Blvd, 63010


I don't get paid for these advertisements, but I do go to them because I can usually find some great bargains.

You must check out this blog.... Three Yellow Roses

Three Yellow Roses

The leader of our local IAS Adoption Support group writes a blog and let me tell you, she is a FABULOUS writer. I encourage you to take a few minutes to read the latest post and then take a few more minutes to scroll through some of her past articles she has written. She touches the raw emotions, the realities, the ups and downs of the roller coaster ride in adoption.

Come back here and let me know you checked her out. I'll see her at next months adoption support group meeting and will let her know you read her blog.

Cheers to some real, some fun, some tissue necessary posts from her.

no words, just pictures......

refreshed and now back to the monday world

this past Tuesday - Sunday, we went camping! WHOOOHOOOO, nice to plan it, put it all together and then DO IT! I was able to get off work Wednesday (babysitting) and leave out with hubby and daughter Tuesday night to meet up with my mom and her boyfriend at Meramec State Park in Sullivan MO. Sure, the forcast was crappy for rain, but we didn't care. We do not sleep in tents so I am ok with this and brought things to keep us occupied in the need to be cooped up in the camper for hours on end.

It was a nice family vacation.

ahhhhhhh, refreshed.

Perfect Moment Monday: A wonderful Mother's Day gift

I Capture
Perfect Moments.

After sending off the box the other day with two cards and two flip photo books and some games for Julia's birth siblings and Birthmother this past week, I figured I would not hear from her birthmother or family for a while. That sometimes happens when I want them to contact me back asap after sending them something, but *secretly* I have had wishes to hear from them sooner than later, but never get my hope up with living from experience in the 2.5 years of Julia's life.

Well, yesterday, to my surprise, while celebrating Mother's Day at Grants Farm with my hubby, daughter and another couple and their twins (my IF friend who GETS IT), I got a text message from someone. I popped into the shade (please remind me to wear sunscreen and to put it on dear daughter too for the next outing!) while at GF and looked at my text message. I figured it was a Target mobile coupon day or junk text from my phone carrier service or something like that, but NOOOOOOO, It was from H, Julia's Birthmother. WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO.

Realizing it was from her made me well up with tears. I was so stinkin' excited. It really did make my heart swell with excitement. I read it once and then again and again. I pulled hubby aside while Julia was feeding the goats and told him what the text msg said. He smiled and said Happy Mother's Day to me.

She wished me a Happy Mother's day and said she was texting from her new cell # and to bookmark that # now.

We went on to text each other about 5 more times. I can't tell you how much this filled in that void that was happening in my heart from not having heard from them in so long. I was afraid it might be months before they actually snail mailed us back or even phoned our cell #'s. Which, we sign every card and letter with our names and both cell #'s just in case they might get the itch to call.


That is my most recent Perfect Moment.


More Perfect Monday Moments at Lori's Weebles Wobblog!