I'm getting the itch!!!

Where is spring??? I want to go outside so bad! This summer is going to be so much fun now that G is older. I can't wait to see him walk in the sand, grass, go for a swim and even go to the park. Last year he was so little but this year he will know what's going on.

I also think that I'm going to sign us up for swim classes at the Y. Anyone do this, is it helpful? We have a pool in our backyard so I want to be prepared for anything.

I'm excited that I bought a jogging stroller. It was pricey but it looks and feels very sturdy. Now I need to find a jogging mate. I have three friends with children G's age so hopefully someone will be up to it....lol.

Most importantly I forgot to tell you all that we received our Foster Parent License on the 13th. I'm so geeked about that! We can only foster our nieces right now but after 6 months we can foster anyone. I'm really starting to think this may be the route we use to adopt #2.

That's it for now.

Honest Scrap...

I'm a little late but I was tagged (1st time ever) by Eileen. I've been waiting for the right time to do this...


The rules of the award:
1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap."
3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

1. I hate that I only had G for three months before my nieces came to live with us.

2. That we spent so much money on IVF.

3. I can never get pg by just having sex or making love (whatever you want to call it).

4. I wish that my little brother was here on earth. I know G would love him!

5. Even though we are raising 3 children right now, I feel like I'm not doing enough.

6. Sometimes I'm such an airhead.

7. I love spending money.

8. I love a great deal but there are definitely times/thing I will spend big money on.

9. I love Andre's body....from head to toe. Yes, he has pretty feet.

10. Sometimes I forget that G is adopted, it makes me wonder if I'm crazy.

I'm tagging these women...thanks for your honesty in sharing your stories and helping me to feel that I'm not alone in this journey:
Mandy, Lisa, Laura, Coleen, Tammy, Jocelyn, Maria

I just had to post a pic of all the wonderful gifts G received for his 1st birthday. These were taken once we got home. He had a lot of fun with all the balloons. He was kind of tangled up in them, all we could see moving across the living room was a huge ball of balloons, G's little legs were the only evidence that he was somewhere in there...lol. We really enjoyed all of our friends and family who made it such a special day.

Greyson's Birthday story....it's long.

This is my second post tonight and may not be my last. Although I am starting to fight sleep.

At 9:01am on February 16,2008 our son G was born. He weighed 6lbs 7oz. and he was 19.5 inches long. I remember the week before he was born we didn't hear anything from his BM, I was seriously worried that she had decided not to place and disappeared. G was due on the 19th, our SWer called on Friday the 15th to tell us that even though he hadn't heard from J, he was taking all the necessary docs home with him just 'in case'. Well, the next day I was working when I got 'the call' of a lifetime. Our SWer was on the other end, the minute I heard his voice I could hear the excitement. He explained that our baby boy was born and that we could visit him at the hospital the next day. J never felt the need to meet us, we were hoping that would change once the baby was born but nope...she wanted us to wait until she was discharged. OMG, the next 24 hrs were CRAZY! We were so excited, we couldn't sleep.

I love to think about the story of how G came in to our lives. He is my heart, I can't imagine my life without him. A and I were just talking about how much joy he has brought into our lives. I am so proud to be is mother and everyday I try my hardest to be the best mom I can be.

I'm going to share the whole story with you but right now take a look at some hospital pictures of G. My little king!



On this day my heart started beating for G....

We couldn't stop staring at him, definitely love at first sight.



I could post way more hospital pics but I'll stop. Our next feat was getting him home in a MI blizzard. I remember we brought a little snowsuit that totally didn't fit him. But what did we know...hehehehe. We ended up taking it off and covering him in blankets. This is him ready to go home with us....






Some of you already know but I'm going to tell this part of the story again. We were on cloud nine all the way home. Once at home we had plenty of family/friends stop over to meet G. We were proud parents, life finally turned around for us and our family was complete! After all we were trying to become parents for 8 long years. I vividly remember my guard finally coming down. I always had a pessimistic attitude, IVF never felt right to me. I hate that I felt/feel that way but it's true. Some where deep inside I never thought IVF would work for us. I feel my body isn't meant to carry a child. This was different. When I picked up G for the first time I felt the Lord speak to me. I know some of you may not believe me but I'm serious. He said 'this is who I made you wait for'. At that very same time I felt my heart ache disappear, I felt the burden of being barren lifted, I felt my spirit being raised up....I felt the tight grip of infertility become loose...my son was home.

Then after 5 days glorious days, we got 'the call'....this call is one that you pray you never get. It was our SWer, again I could hear his emotion in his tone. This time it was of sadness..he said 'D, I can't believe this is happening.' With that one statement I knew what was to come. In a half hour he was at our house picking up G. A came home and my parents rushed over, we were all a wreck. J called Bethany and told her SW that she could not go through with the adoption plan. She said she did not want any questions asked, she just wanted her baby back. When our SW got to our home, I was a mess. I was crying and screaming. I just wanted to run away with my son. How could this be happening to us. After everything we had been through, now more heart break. I told our SW, that God spoke to me, I said 'God does not lie', 'he told me this is my son and this is who I've been waiting for'. Mind you I'm crying hysterically as I'm telling him this. He even started to shed a tear and reassured me that he would do everything in his might to find us another baby. I told him no....'G is meant to be ours'. He didn't believe me and took him away. After he left I screamed b/c my heart was going with G...I was empty. As I remember this I'm crying, I'm crying b/c I will never forgot that pain. One minute I'm a mother and the next our son was gone. This is a picture of the day he left our home....

If you notice the carseat is not ours, that was the one our SW brought from Bethany.




G left our home on a Friday, I knew Bethany was closed for the weekend. I don't know why but I hated that it was the weekend. A and I stayed at home under our covers. We just cried and cried. A stayed home an extra couple days, he went back to work that Wednesday. Once G was gone thoughts of J calling Bethany again kept creeping into my mind. Every time our phone rang I would go running, hoping and praying that it was our SWer. I was online about 22 hours a day, looking for hope and support. I was in the deepest darkest place I had ever been. However, I was never mad at J, I could understand how her heart must of felt. I didn't want a child that someone could not give to me whole heartedly but that didn't mean I was ok, I was a mess. Every part of my being ached. Wednesday night I ended up staying up until 4am crying and praying to God to help me through this, somehow I finally fell asleep. At 9am on Thursday I was lying in my bed, again asking God for strength. I needed to get out of bed and make it through another day. I just didn't have any energy, I wanted to lay there all day. Around 10:30am the phone rang, I looked at the caller id and seen Bethany Christi...that's exactly how it looks on my caller id. I answered it...


A woman said 'Hello, is this D?'


I said, 'Yeah'


Woman said 'This is Nancy, I'm Ken's (our SWer) boss. Ken is not in the office but this is important therefore I thought I better call you. We've been talking with J since yesterday, we felt we had to be sure b/c of what she did to you and your husband.'

I said 'Ok'


Nancy said, 'J would like to know if you would like G back.'


I said, 'Are you, kidding....of course we will take him back.'


After that it was pretty much a blur. I know that A beeped in, I was freaking out so he knew something exciting happened. When I could finally speak clearly and tell him everything, he said 'I'm on my way home'!!!!


J wanted to finally meet us. We scheduled to meet her at Bethany at 1pm. We had to wait for two hours, we were on pins and needles. I kept thinking what if my phone rings again and she changes her mind again. OMG, that was an awful feeling. I just wanted to turn the clock ahead. We were at Bethany promptly at 1pm, we were super nervous b/c we had never met J before. She was there with her mother and G. She is a beautiful girl, as she handed G to me....she said 'He is now yours to keep', as tears were falling from her cheeks to the ground. I was crying to. It was bittersweet, I was crying tears of joy for us but also tears of sadness for her. I will never forget our one and only meeting. I love J for giving us the gift of life.


In the end, I know that God laid his hands on me the day I met G. G's story is exceptionally special to me, I learned that God in fact didn't lie to me. G is and was always meant to be my son. Our SW told us that BCS had to have a staff meeting before we came in b/c they never had a BM change her mind twice. We were the first....thanks to God!


So here are a couple of picture of our son on 2/15/09. We celebrated his bday a day early and we had a great turn out. Our family/friends cherish the story of how G joined our family and they were over the moon when we were reunited.

Went to Bethany today.

We went to Bethany Christian Services today for my niece. I take her to counseling e/o Monday, trust me, she needs it. This morning she told K (her 6 year old sister) that she was going to knock her teeth out. This was triggered by K getting to the bathroom before her...argh.
It's funny b/c I see a side of her that most people don't see. It's like she has a Jekyll and Hyde personality. This week we are working on how she talks to K, A and I. I have to admit somewhere along the way I've lost my patience with her but Rebecca (our counselor) is working with me on that as well.
Okay, so this is why I brought BCS up...while I was sitting in the lobby of the counseling center, I seen a pg Hispanic girl come in for counseling. She must have only been 3 to 4 months along. She was small and cute. I couldn't help but wonder if she was carry a boy or a girl. I also couldn't help but wonder if was making an adoption plan. As I was leaving I thought to myself 'if we start the adoption process for #2, maybe she would pick us.' I know that is not going to be possible b/c we are not starting the process for #2 for awhile but the thought still crossed my mind.....

Bling, bling...

I swear I never thought this day would come. First I never thought it would come b/c I sadly started to believe that becoming parents would never happen for us. Well, we all know I was wrong, we persevered and we are in fact proud parents. Secondly, I never in my right mind thought we would spend a lot of money on a piece of jewelery for our child....but we did! And let me tell you it's the cutest thing ever! G has his own little bling, bling. Some of you may think it's not necessary but really what more could we buy our precious baby boy. You all know he is going to get a ton of clothes and toys Sunday, so we decided to get something that he will cherish for a lifetime. I just imagine him as a 19 year old boy moving out and take his little tiny bracelet with him...
With having said that here are a couple pics of his new gold bracelet. We had his name engraved on the front side and his birth date on the backside. I would have put Love, Mom and Dad on the backside but it's so small it wouldn't fit.

So tired.

G is going to be one in 5 days. He was on such a roll, he had never been sick. Well, for the past few days he has had an awful cough. Last night he had a hard time sleeping, therefore so did mommy. At about 7am he was screaming crying, I felt so bad for him. I called the doctor and was able to get an appt. for 10am. He fell back asleep and woke up about 9am, once again screaming and crying. Good thing our appt. was soon, we get there and after a quick check up, the dr. told me he has an ear infection. He is on amoxicillin, hopefully he will be better by this weekend. It's his birthday and we are celebrating it Elmo style!

Oh, one more thing. G is now cool, he can walk backwards. He does this often, I have no idea where he came up with this new trick but he thinks it's the coolest. I'll have to get him on video...makes me laugh!

First haircut!

A and I took G to see his barber Jamie. Jamie did a wonderful job, he was so patient. G's hair looks awesome. We can see his ears and his neck, he looks like such a big boy. There are going to be a lot of mom's mad at me but I gave G his first sucker. It was all I had in my pocket to calm him down. And boy did it work. He was so loving it. He was trying to bite it and smacking his lips...talking about huuuummmmm. I was laughing so hard.
Daddy also got a haircut. He is looking super hot. I'm not kidding. He just bought new glasses too....what a hottie my man is...lol.
Here are some pics of today's cut. BTW, I was the only woman in the barber shop but they were respectful and didn't try to hit on me...I got there before Andre.
Oh and before I forget G and I went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese tonight. He had a lot of fun, I could hardly keep up with him. That party was at 8pm, I was so tired we almost didn't go. We actually stayed longer than I thought. I'll include some pics of that too. Maybe you'll be able to see G's haircut. My gf's son is Omar Jr., he is a cutie too. The party theme was Diego, I almost went with Diego myself but ending up getting everything Elmo. Next week I'll have pics of G's first bday...YAY!







Look at that bouffant....lol.






G and Omar Jr. the birthday boy. Don't worry that's lipstick near Omar's eye...




Can you tell that he got a haircut?

What long weekend.

Saturday night we went out to Shanghi Japnese Steakhouse for A's birthday. It was so fun and the food was amazing. One of our all time favorites. I was so mad b/c I forgot my camera. Oh well, we'll definitely go again...this time ready to take some pics. G was so interested in the Chef and all of his tricks. You should have see his eyes bug out when the flames almost touched the ceiling. It sure did get warm.
I had a feast, shrimp, scallops and steak...omg, it was so good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Gr had a little chicken but a lot of rice. Everyone was nice and full when we left.
Saturday we took the kids tubing. It was above 30 degrees so we thought we better hit the slopes. We took G, he did pretty good. He had on three pairs of sweats, he grew out of his snowsuit already and I went to three stores with no luck finding another one. We it was cold but don't worry we took a break and went in the lodge to eat pizza and sip on hot cocoa. We stayed out there for 3 hours. We are thinking about getting season passes next year. G will be a little older next year and we really want him to enjoy the snow. Since we have long winters here, might as well try to enjoy them. I want to learn to snowboard next year. It looks so fun but at the same time it looks scary....well here are some pics of Sundays outing.

To my right is my nephew P, and of course T and K









My baby...trust me, he was not frozen...:)



I took this picture as we were going down the hill....





My nephew N and I.