Glamour baby

My girl with ALOT of curlers :)




Miss E :)


The "before shot"

We took Bug to have her "Glamour Pictures" taken. My sister bought a package for Bug and her boyfriends niece who is the same age. The girls had so much fun getting all dressed up with cool hats and scarfs. The makeup was slight (keeping mama happy) and just fun. Pictures come in Saturday so I will be sharing soon :)

~I received an update from my buddy Amy. She saw my litte baby girl in the play-yard hanging in the sun looking quite happy and content :) Amy said her "special mother seems to have a wonderful bond with her". Makes my Mama heart SO happy. Thank you :)

~Another group of families are heading out soon to bring home their children!

~Today was a sucky day :( I woke with a migraine, my neck/back was killing me and I had cramps. Yuck. My kids were wonderful and let me lay on the couch for a few hours. They are so wonderful. They would come over and pet my head or pull up my blanket and ask " Mama you ok?" I love my kids :)

OUCH!!

Ok. I tried to be brave. Seriously. But...

DANG IT! That hurt!!

The Hep A shot that is. My sweet hubby opted out after he saw the the large needle the nurse inserted into my small arm :)

I decided to only get the Hep A vaccine. We are not traveling out of the city, and plan to be smart with our food/water choices so hoping for the best :)

Support Adoption

Prettty cool ? Are u adopting? Have you? Know someone who is? You HAVE to have them!

My sweet friend Kendra has offered to fundraise for us by selling her "Support Adoption" magnets !!! We plan to buy lots of diapers/wipes/formula to bring with us for the orphanage & help with some of our travel costs. These are a must have :) She started selling them when she and I were adopting from Guatemala in 2006.(some countries may now be an option, while others have closed...)

We have the magnets on file cabinets, our cars, our families cars, our front door, neighbors cars, mailbox, you get the idea! They are wonderful conversation starters and great excuses to pull out our beautiful baby referral pictures!! They are well made and last. They are ONLY $5 including shipping!! Thank you Kendra!!! You are a dear friend.

Email her at~kjhoopin @ yahoo dot com (remove spaces) to pay w/a check or if you want ~

2 pay w/ PAYPAL~ her addy is ~kjhilty42 @verizon dot net

(remove spaces)

Thank you guys in advance :) :) :)

Change Ahead

Boo kept asking for "Mokey" the other night. I finally carried him in to her crib. (Can you believe she is 2 1/2 and has NEVER tried to climb out of her crib? )Anyway this cat weighs more then her...and loved to cuddle with the kids :) How cute are they?

How cool was the Inauguration? I LOVED it. My neighbor works for the Military, so he flew out to watch it in person. He said the air was filled with excitement ! And 10 degree winds :)

We walked into the Health dept to make an appt for our vaccinations to travel to Ethiopia, and Obama was just starting to be sworn in! It was so cool. Seemed very appropriate to me. We are planning to bring home our beautiful black baby girl, while the first bi-racial President is taking office! I loved how happy the whole Obama family looked, and how sweet they were dancing. History in the making...and we watched it :)

~My mom had her procedure, and thankfully didnt need the angioplasty. Her chest pains are due to other factors so she is now on a strict diet and healthy eating plan.

~I think my dh and I are only going to get the Hep A & B shots. I dont think the rest are necessary...any advice? I don't want to put a bunch of stuff in my body that we don't need....what to do??

~It was 35 degrees the other night when I ran to the store at 6pm~~~ CRAZY! The kids were so excited to see all the frost on the grass in the morning.

OH~ I started selling Avon to raise some funds for our trip to Ethiopia. If you are interested , I have a website (free shipping on orders over $30) or I can mail you a book. Lots of great stuff. I love their mineral foundation. Half the price I pd for Bare Escentuals (which I loved!) and works great. Leave a comment and I will send you the link :) Help a girl out :)

Due to a safety recall ..

EDITED~I am removing these pictures of my lil' beauty :)
I was reminded some people out there may view my sweet girl, in a not wholesome way :(





Boo LOVES Tinkerbell. She fell in love w/ these panties at Target but, the smallest sz was 4T...after much fussin' my sister bought them for her. I thought they would be a bit big but on my teeny tushy girl they are HUGE! She will only wear them backwards so she can she Tink :) Notice the big baggy front LOL!



I asked her to pose with ice cream cup in hand....big mistake.
















She didnt want to waste a drop! Yuck!













Bug reading to Boo.




~We went to Peanuts appt today. All is well (praise God!) They figure the bones will correct themselves and the chance that one bone will stop growing is very slim! Yay!!! Only cost me $27 for another xray :)
~My moms procedure is re-scheduled for this Thursday.
~ Many babies being referred!!! I love the excitement of families falling in love with their new babies or child :)
~My friend Autumn (mom to baby boy with the LOOOONG eyelashes) is going to look for baby girl for me when she goes on her pickup trip. I am hoping she can hug and squeeze her for me :) Thanks Autumn!!
~My neighbor went to see Barack Obama be sworn in tomorrow!! I am SO jealous!!

Doctor Visit

He picked a bright orange cast

I took my son to the Ortho dr on Wednesday for his hard cast. What should have been simple turned into a strange experience. First after waiting with 3 kiddos (one very nervous) in the waiting room for 30 mins they call me to the window and with a straight face the young, naive girl says to me

~"Your bill for today is $3000 and w/insurance your 20% is $600. I can accept no less than $500 today, will that be cash or check?"

~"Uh?" "You want $500 right now?"

~"Yes"

~ "You ran it thru my insurance?"

~"Yes"

~"Seriously?"

~"Yes"

~"I will be right back.."

I went and called my insurance company, and confirmed this dr was in the network. And yes this is my portion to pay TODAY as this dr does not take credit cards or payment of ANY sort. I admit this was new and very uncomfortable for me...I thought we had good insurance but each yr we pay more and more out of pocket. And no...I didnt have $500 cash on me :)

So after going round and round with the young girl at the window, I finally filled out the Care Credit form. Thankfully that was there because they wouldnt treat my son ! I was very close to freakin out but didnt want Peanut to be anymore nervous as the time ticked by...

After 1 hr and 20 mins in the waiting room, we are called back. They decided the bones are NOT aligned and may need to be manipulated. AND the xray shows damage to the growth plate which the Dr says "may or may not mean his arm will stop growing." GULP. Seriously? So they put his arm in a cast and we have to go back Monday to talk to the head Dr. All this took about 1/2 an hr and cost $3000. Seriously.

Prayers & broken bones

Poor baby wore out from pain

PLEASE PRAY FOR SWEET ABBY !! She starts the hardest MOST life threatening part of her treatment tomorrow. She will be going thru some extremely hard days. For 6 weeks. There is a real chance her parents could lose her.....I am tearing up just typing this. I cant bear to think of this sweet child losing her life to this awful disease. PLEASE PRAY FOR HER. If would rather send positive thoughts, those are just as welcomed. Pop over to her families blog by clicking her picture on the sidebar. Let them know you have Abby in your prayers. God please protect this baby girl.

Busy busy these days. Makes missing baby girl easier. Or harder? I feel awful for all the wonderful parents I have met that are waiting on their first child. I know they ache..and each wait is so hard for them. I pray they find some comfort while waiting for their little ones. Then I feel bad when I realized I haven't thought of her all morning long. With 3 kiddos home, homeschooling, my physical therapy, and a life it has been nutty :) I do miss seeing baby girl grow , and the cuddles I know I am missing make me sad. I have to trust that she is very well loved and cared for, and will be in my arms in God's perfect timing. Crying ain't gonna help. I do understand the desire though ;)

The girls walking in the woods

Sunday we spent the day in the ER. My sweet boy broke his arm :( FIRST broken bone in 10 yrs. I was proud of his record :) He fell off a ladder picking fruit when the branch the ladder was leaning on broke. He was very brave thru his tears, even though it "hurts like hell" (heehee...I was so scared I didn't scold him) We go tomorrow for his hard cast. 6-8 weeks of fun ahead :)

Unusually flower Bug found in the woods

Amy is picking up her little bundle of joy right now in Ethiopia!!! SO happy for you :) they were in the group that passed court the first time. Very cool!!

Any lurkers out there that want to say hi? Guess yesterday was de-lurking day. Man I am guilty of lurking. I try to comment but sometimes....I am guilty.

Retail therapy & more

Matching outfits for Boo and baby girl
How cute?!!?


Paid $3 for the striped outfit and $2.12
for the polka dot outfit!
Plus Carters warm sleepers -$2!



LOVE babes in skirts



~30 pieces of baby clothes. Name brands too! Onesies, outfits, sleepers, skirts, leggings w/skirt overlay, jeans,tops, ohmy! Super clearance sale at JCpenney. Run dont walk! I didnt spend more then $3 on anything and most were $1-2.00 ! My kind of therapy! I even bought jeans and 3 shirts for Boo with Tinkerbell & Dora on them :) Baby girl is set for the warm months thru the fall. Boo came home in December so I have plenty of clothes for winter. It was so fun shopping :)

~I also started Decompression therapy yesterday. My MRI showed a surprise trouble spot(s) that are not good, so I am now in therapy 3 x's a week. I HATE that I have to do this but the thought of a ruptured disc is VERY frightening soooo I'll be doing it. I have to get this done and get better so I can carry baby girl in her sling all day :) Right now the aching and headache are making me a bit grumpy...
~My mom is going to have her 2nd angioplast on 1/16 ( prayers would be great)
~AND bunny is biting. HARD. Fun stuff.

Big day!

What an exciting day for families from my agency!! Autumn & Brian received the LONG overdue news that they are officially proud parents to a beautiful little boy! Go check out how beautiful he is here.

Our agency was closed for the holidays so today we are hoping it is "raining babies!" Can not wait to hear all the exciting referral news!! Anyone have some super exciting news to share? :) :)

4 Months old today

~Baby girl is 4 months old today!! In blogger fashion, 4 things I LOVE about her :)
1- Your big eyes . I can get lost looking into those beautiful brown eyes.
2- Your tiny little mouth. Your lips are so sweet , I cant wait to kiss them :)
3- Your big laughing smile that I was so lucky to see in several pictures !
4- That GOD has picked us to be your parents. I am in awe of this privelage. The chance to love you, and hold you, and see you grow and blossom is such a gift. We are honored.

COURT DATE

"Oh my gosh!! Ok. Wow! Ok ! Seriously??? Wow! Ok. "

That pretty much summed up my response when talking with my wonderful caseworker yesterday. Christy let me know all was well with my paperwork and "by the way, I have your court date..." Feb 17th is baby girls big day! I was giggling and laughing like a dork :)

Kinda cool right? :)

Christmas Day

Surprise! Santa brought Bug her bunny!



Lilly and Cookie enjoying their presents


In a SEA of presents from Granma, Aunt Meme,
Uncle Ry, and Nana and Pop-pa :)



The whole group at our house for Christmas

Bunny loves to be pushed in the stroller

Bunny watching "Wonder Pets" with Boo


Peanut's big present was an electric scooter (remember amazon NOT repackaging it?) We had him pretty convinced it was for his friend, not him so he was still surprised! He loved it.

Boo's big gift was the Rose Petal Cottage. It was a steal on Amazon. I HIGHLY recommend taking a sedative before attempting to put it together though......seriously the hardest toy ever! But very cute :)

Baby girl received a beautiful outfit , her own Christmas ornament, and a beautiful doll. Cant wait until she is HOME to enjoy them !

This was a great Christmas despite the stress of this last year. Prayers the New Year bring much happiness , good health, good fortune for all :)