Addi Boo, Addi Boo, I Love You!

So I barely made through last week. . .I'm home with Addi on Wednesdays, so I ignored the laundry, the bills, and everything other chore and had fun with a little photo shoot.

 

 

 

She loves to blow raspberries! Okay, okay, she just likes to SPIT and make lots of noise while she's at it!

 

 

I tired her out and she fell asleep right there on the floor. . .

 

Here's a shot from a couple of weeks back of our reflection! I love this expression! She thought it was so funny!!

 

I missed Addi Boo terribly my first week back at work, but I made it. . .and she still remembers me. Addi Boo, Addi Boo, I Love You!!!!

And for those who are wondering, yes, I still tend to my other two kids too! Pictures of them coming soon!

I'm so behind and I'm so not ready. . .

Happy Valentine's Day, and Gung Hay Fat Choy!

I am so behind on my blog, and I'm so not ready to return to work. Tomorrow is the day. I fed Addi her last bottle for the evening with tears running down my face. She fell asleep on my shoulder which she never does because she likes to be face out or simply lying down on her back with her face nuzzled into her co-sleeper. Her left hand was wrapped around my neck and her little fingers were holding on to my hair. She is getting so big, so fast. She loves to hold my finger if she can't fall asleep by herself. She screams, not cries, for her bottle, but cries if she's scared or startled awake. She already knows faces and won't let just anyone hold her. She prefers her bottles warm, she's quick to burp, and I'm guessing she's just over 14 pounds. She is a happy baby and she talks up a storm! She loves to spit and blow bubbles, and loves to smile!

Addi-boo, I have enjoyed every minute of being home with you and I'm going to miss you so much tomorrow. Don't forget who Mommy is, okay? I'll look forward to your big smile and that sweet giggle when I walk through that door. I love you to pieces.

 

 

Guess Who Turned 5?

 

Happy Birthday buh-buh. You have been quite the challenge lately but I'm sure it's not easy growing up. In a very short period of time you went from a lonely only to a big brother of two. At five, you aren't into the "boy" things I hear other kids are into. You march to the beat of your own drum! You love your stick horse, you love animals and especially if you can carry them around in a cage, you are riding a two-wheeled bike like a pro, you STILL love the color yellow, you enjoy Kinderdance, and you are a serious negotiator. You love food, especially udon and chicken teriyaki, and you are STILL in love with Hannah Montana. You love to sing and dance and are quite the comedian. You have an old soul with a sensitive heart. I love you buh-buh. . .

 

 

So, he put a few extra candles on his cake. After all, he is 5 going on 15.

 

Yeah, yeah, he still has had his paci. . .but he was ready to give it to the doot-doot fairy.

 

Well, maybe he's not so sure anymore. . .

 

 

 

His first words after making the cut. . ."Oh my gosh, I can't believe I did it."

 

To his Dad he then says, "Since we broke off my doot (paci) I think we should break off your finger." (Easy there mobster.)

 

My little monkey at 10 months old. . .you will forever be my baby buh-buh. I hope the year ahead is full of blessings. I love you.

 

And I know I tell you to be a big boy all the time, but don't grow up and run off too fast sweet P.

 

Can you beat THIS record?

It was bound to happen, right? The worm. . .the virus. . .ugggh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I believe my beloved laptop caught the bug from a thumb drive that I borrowed from my dad. So, first I panic, and get that nervous feeling in my gut like I've been invaded. Then I immediately shut it down. I start to wonder when I last backed up my photos to the external hard drive. . .then I think my external hard drive is corrupted because it wouldn't turn on - ummm, try the switch was off in the hall, so the there was no power to the outlet I was using. . .and THEN I call the beloved H* support desk. . .and I'm sold on this "tune up" to fix everything. And THEN I wait on hold for 2 hours. Literally TWO HOURS. I feed Addi, change Addi, put Addi to sleep, Addi wakes up, the nail gun is shooting outside my bedroom door (Remember the floors?) and I'm STILL on hold. Contractor laughs and tells me to drop the call and dial again. . .smart contractor. . .I wait another 15 minutes, finally talk to the tune-up guy who can't help me because I have a wireless issue. Mind you, it's been over 3 and half hours now, I've had a fruit leather, some almonds a few sips of water all day, and I'm told by the guy who I just paid H* almost a hundred bucks to help me that he can't help me so I can go back to normal tech support which is free, and the wait is only a short waiting time. Short is relative term. . .try another 15 minutes. I finally get to talk to Elmo. Yes, Elmo, as in the red furry guy, who is a gem, and a smart geek in the Philippines who helped me to reconfigure the whole damn darn computer. By dinner time I was released from a days work of H* support talk, to eat dinner to only fight another battle - RETURN of the payment. Oh, and Elmo scheduled for someone else to call me back to finish up the "reconfig" - yeah, that didn't happen. . .Elmo used up half his shift one me.

The above took place yesterday. . .today, I was still having issues. I called again, and hey, only spent 3 hours on the phone with H* but things are much better with my beloved laptop. Oh, except for the refund. . .my most recent support guy was in the US, so my problem would have to be escalated to another location. Can you believe that? I was being sent to a "Case Manager" when there was a "Case Manager" 10 feet away from the guy helping me, but it's policy. He told me I'd be calling Chile, but when I called and the recording was in English and French, I asked. . .Chile was really Canada. Guess they must have codes for the locations and the "C's" got mixed up? That or the guy who can fix computers failed geography and thinks Ontario is in Chile. . .Let me recap. 10:30AM ish to 4PM. No joke.

I told the guy in the US that I HATE Vi*sta, and H* should give us all a free upgrade. I may have to convert myself soon and become a M*c user.

Good news is, the only thing I lost is my FotoFusion scrap pages. . .wait, that's bad news, huh? I just finished scrapping all of 2009, but my exported files are gone. If you know how I might recover them, please do share. At least I still have the photos!

I keep photos on my laptop, a back up on my external hard drive, and I burn discs periodically. I think I'm going to back them up a third time on my other laptop and I'm seriously considering a Fl*kr pro account. Please share your thoughts on this too!!

If you made it this far, THANKS for letting me vent. I did this one more for me.

Love and Joy with Gracyn

I started this post back in December. I was going through a really painful period of bonding with Gracyn. I felt that our growing love was starting to slow, and I knew we still had a relationship that we needed to work on. My love for her still continues to grow and change with the seasons. She is a three year old girl, but she is still my 15 month old baby. In many ways, developmentally, she is about a year and a half to two years of age. As I sit here and type, I realize that she was 15 months old at referral, and two years old when we met.

I have been watching Addi grow so fast over the past 4 months, and it reminds me how much of Gracyn's life I wasn't there for. Seven more months and she'll have spent half her life with me and half without. I was heartbroken that I missed Gracyn's 2nd birthday by less than a week. But she had a happy second birthday with people she loved and with people who loved her. She had a cake! That was my hope for her. To have spent her 2nd birthday with us would have made for sad memories. Here's my girlfriend turning 2. . .

 

 

Gracyn is growing by leaps and bounds. She now asks to "baby" which means I cradle her in my arms like a baby and we just stare into each other's eyes and I love on her soft cheeks. She still loves for me to hold her face in the palms of my hands. She has the most generous heart. She shares with everyone. She might ask for "two" of something but that's a bad habit she learned from her big brother. If she's by herself, even if it's just pretzels, she will only take one. Well, this might not hold true with M&M's, but for everything else it does!

She will wear anything if I put the same thing on Addi or Peyt. She's finally learning to want what she wants, not just want what Peyt wants. She's a great eater, her muscle tone is improving, and she loves to pray. She knows the letters T, D, G, P, A, J, V, and S. Being the sweetheart that she is, she knows these letters because they are the first letters of the names of those she spends the most time with!

She's riding a tricycle and she's potty training! (Want a potty training tip? Put a sanitary pad in big girl panties and the dribble accidents are captured without clean up!) She would still rather clean house than play. Hope that's something that stays with her in her teenage years! And her eyes are still the most expressive part of her. She tells all with those big ole beautiful eyes. If someone gave me photos of just her eyes, I could name the emotion. There's her "surprise, uh-oh" eyes, her "guilty" eyes, her "scared" eyes, her "sad" eyes, and her "joyful" eyes. The joyful eyes that I waited so long to see with my own two eyes. . .

 

She's talking up a storm! Praise God. I never thought we'd have to tell her "shhhh". Since Gracyn started talking more I've heard more "no's", a lot more fighting with her brother, but I've also heard some special words. It wasn't until tonight that some of those special words were so clear and so real. . .not just her repeating words. After reading her a book and praying with her I tucked her into bed. She would rather sleep with a hard book over a soft cuddly animal, so at her request, in went the book beside her. I left on the big bedroom light because she said the small night light hurts her eyes. I covered her up and said, "love you." And in her sweet voice I hear, "love you, mom." I walked out of the room with my heart smiling and overflowing with joy. She loves me. . .she finally loves me.

We've come a long way in a year girlfriend. Sweet dreams. . .love you.

 

Lame excuse for being so MIA. . .

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. So, here's the reason. . .I can often be found caught pretending to show Addi her reflection when well, in reality. . .ughhh. . .I'll just stop right there.

Here's the truth, from my almost five-year old kid's perspective:
"Uh, yeah Mom, she doesn't look like you. . ."

What I wanted to say, "Yeah, yeah. . . shut up be quiet, a Mom can dream."


Are you sure Addi? Not even a teeny tiny little bit of Mommy in ya????



The real reason why I haven't blogged? I'm simplifying my life. I'm purging and it feels so good! The house is empty. I sold it, gave it away, or it's stored in the bedrooms in order to put new floors in! WOO HOO!!! Now how in the heck is putting in new floors simple? I have no idea, but at least it will feel great when it's done!

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. . .

Happy New Year! (I have just about an hour 30 mintues to spare before the first day of the new year comes to a close!)

Kiddos were up past midnight, and we didn't even do the count down! We were getting ready for bed. But, they did enjoy sparkly juice and had a blast with horns and hats! Addi didn't get to wear her hat until this morning - and isn't she a cutie?

 

Our Christmas. . .
For the past two years we have challenged ourselves to spend less and to give more. We participate in Advent Conspiracy and this year the money raised was used towards Project Keep it Flowing. Keep it Flowing Ministry is committed to keeping life’s basic necessities flowing to the people who live on the streets of the “North B” area. It was formed to respond to the needs of our homeless community by serving and sharing for the Kingdom of God. This effort is supported by members of our church and our network of family and friends. This year we were able to share with 60 people who call the streets their home, duffel bags filled with brand new 30 degree sleeping bags, tarps, water bottles, socks, gloves, scarves, hats, water, snacks, toothbruses, tooth paste and hand santizer. As Peyton would say in his prayers, "God, please keep the people who don't have homes warm and comfy."

Christmas Eve we do a fun exchange at DH's Grandma's house.

 

Gifts hand made with love from each child for us!

 

 

I can't believe how much Gracyn has changed since last Christmas. Actually, I can't believe how much our family has changed, or better yet, grown.

 

Gracyn really got the hang of Christmas this year, and couldn't stop talking about Santa. Actually, she's still talking about it! G: "Santa, treat??" Me: "No sweet girl, Santa went home."

 

The weather was beautiful on Christmas day. Peyton enjoyed his new scooter from Gong-Gong, and of course my little girlfriend had to ride along too!

 

My littlest Sweet Pea's very first Christmas, and she slept through almost every bit of it!

 

 

Gracyn is like that doll, "little Mommy". She's a girl after her Mommy's heart. Work that camera girlfriend! She recently started talking up a storm. Peyton has actually had to tell her to be quiet, and all I hear 24/7 is "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" in her sweet little voice! Not Mom, not Mama, but Mommy. I typically hate the "junk" cluttering up the background of photos. However, I love how the cutter you see includes our engagement photo and the camera that Grandma allowed Gracyn to take pictures with.

 

Thank you God for my family. You certainly must have been thinking about me when you made each and every single member of our household.

 

Every holiday we go to the cemetery as a family and hang out. With each passing Christmas we stay longer and there's a lot more joy! This year it was great to see smiles and laughter.

 

Mom - we know you were smiling down on us watching the boys be silly. And yes, Mom, Darryl is riding a Dora scooter.

 

Isn't my Dad handsome?

 

My Dad makes won ton every Christmas. This year he made about three or four hundred! All by hand, and all by himself!

 

The last ride of 2009. . .It is such a blessing to see the two big kids enjoying each other. They have always seemed close, even from day one, but now they are two peas in a pod. Gracyn copies everything Peyton does! Then again, when I ask, "Who did that?" she's quick to say, "buh-buh". . .always ratting her brother out!

 

Wishing each of you a year filled with an abundance of blessings! Thank you for sharing in our our journey through life. We are looking forward to what 2010 holds.