Merry Christmas

We had a fun day together as a family. Here's a few snapshots from the day and a video to top it off!

Jacob is opening his stocking, he had an airplane that he was pulling out here. Then he made a "neeeeeee-ruuuum" sound as if he was flying it.

While doing some snow removal we took Jacob outside for a short time. He loves walking around on the clear pathways and crawling through the snow.

Jacob is playing with a sand/water table that he got for Christmas. There are packing peanuts in it right now. He also got a cozy coupe car and twin cabbage patch babies. So far the babies are his favorite - however he seems to like all of his presents!


Ripping off the paper - he wasn't super amused by unwrapping, but he's take the gift inside and run across the room and put it somewhere else.

Isn't this crazy?! Lots and lots of snow! It's not finished yet, but seems as if by tomorrow the snow should be finished.

A highlight from the day:

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! The snow has bombarded us in NW IA, "the wind is whipping the snow in a furry" (according to weather.com). This morning Jacob needed a change of scenery so I thought that would be my only chance in the next couple of days to take him outside. He enjoyed the snow - even as it pelted his face! His friend Olivia showed him how to make a snow angel and he made one too (my camera battery had died by that point). She took him down her slide into a pile of snow. I pulled him around the yard in the sled. Those tracks are long gone now though.

We thought we would read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to Jacob, he was much too tired to enjoy the book, so we skipped page 2 to the end of the book!

Then we set out some cookies and milk for 'Santa'.

However, Jacob is too smart to not know what a cookie is and decided he would have the opportunity to enjoy a bit of one before heading to bed! He liked it.

We look forward to spending our Christmas snowed in! The only activity that will be taking place outside will possibly be working on some snow removal or running to the neighbors to hang out together. Our kids can entertain each other. I mentioned that we should hang a rope between our houses so we won't get lost getting to and fro. (Totally Laura Ingalls Wilder reference, but this weather reminds me of the winters they experienced.) It's suppose to continue all day tomorrow with the wind continuing to be an issue. That's ok to be trapped at home.

(For the sake of remembering when the next event happened I'm adding this to this entry...it really doesn't matter to those of you who read this though...) Yesterday, Dec. 23 started Christmas break for MB. I had decided that over break we would break Jacob from the pacifier. He only had it for naps/bed. We really didn't know how this transition was going to go, but we started it at nap time on Wednesday. It took Jacob a little bit longer to fall asleep (roughly 45 minutes as opposed to the 5-10 minutes with the pacifier). At bedtime it took him 15-20 minutes to fall asleep. Nap today didn't take too long either, 15ish minutes with bedtime tonight taking about the same. We just heard him crying a few minutes ago....I wish I had a little camera into his room so I could see him move around and soothe himself. So far this transition has gone better than expected. Good work Jacob!

Good night and we'll try to update tomorrow with Christmas pictures!

Christmas is almost here!

Another winter storm is preparing to attack our area in the coming week, right before Christmas. I really don't mind. School most likely will not be effected and we don't have travel plans. I think the timing is right for the storm. To make people slow down and hopefully focus on the true meaning of Christmas. (Yes, I realize some will not be able to make it to their planned destination and family is very special...sorry if your travel plans are thrown for a loop.)

I look forward to spending some quality time with my family of three, nestled in our home, with the 'pretties on' (christmas lights as Jacob refers to them). He is doing some amazing things - running, talking like crazy, and his love is so priceless. We have been teaching him baby sign for several months now and he's signing (and saying) "more", "please", "cheese", "diaper change" - we're working on others, and when we least expect it those signs will all the sudden appear. He says his own little gibberish prayer, folds hands, bows his head, says things we don't understand, and then "meh-men" and quickly asks for his food! He also enjoys "re-me" time (reading books) and dancing to music

and bathtime is a hit too.

Since it has been awhile since I have posted...here's a few highlights: We made a trip to Husker nation in Nov to watch a great football game. Nate and I enjoyed our time together while Jacob had fun playing with his cousins and splashing them in the bathtub. They however did not enjoy his splashing!


The day after Thanksgiving we ventured out to a local Christmas tree farm to find out 'perfect' tree. We did not have it go flying out of the truck this year. It stayed securely on top of the explorer. Thankfully! We were coming home in the dark, so it would have been very difficult to put it back on. We did have an adventure when we got it home, put the base on, lifted it up (the stop scraping the ceiling) and the tree secured - come to find out, no water was going to touch the bottom of the tree as the trunk was too short. Hmm...power tools in the house and a hack saw later, it's up and good! Absolutely perfect! It's beautiful.

Last weekend we got together with Nate's family. Here we all are!

Jacob got his first sled ride by dad and grandpa also! He liked it and had fun waving to the people inside the window who didn't want to get bundled up. He eventually put his hand in the snow (on purpose), ate a little bit, realized it made his hand cold and got upset and the activity ended. We're looking forward to trying again after our storm hits and clears out in a few days.

Cousin Faith gave it a whirl too!


Merry Christmas to all of you!

Pumpkin patch & family photos

It's been awhile since we've posted here. When it's been nice, we've been outside taking care of yard work and playing and going to the pumpkin patch. While it's been rainy or snowy (which has been frequently) we have been playing with Jacob, assisting him in his walking, reading books, cooking, organizing school stuff, cleaning the garage and trying to stay healthy!

We had family pictures / Jacob's one year pictures taken the day after his birthday. We had a fantastic photographer who did a wonderful job. We are awaiting the arrival of our prints, but have the CD with all 100+ pictures.

Last weekend Jacob, Grandma Breen and I ventured to the pumpkin patch not far away. It was a decent day, but pretty chilly. Jacob enjoyed the kittens jumping all over the place, playing with each other in their cage. He in fact liked watching all of the animals.

Tomorrow is a girls night out to Point of Grace and Mark Schultz concert! I'm very excited as I'm a HUGE fan of Mark. I think I'll have to take a box of tissue along - his songs are all so touching. I'm excited to have a night out (and not be home while Nate goes nuts watching MI State football vs. Iowa on t.v.)

Jacob has been jabbering a ton in the month or two. Some of his words are: clock, tick tock, Ra-Ra (Rocky - his bear), baby, grandpa, cheese, ball, mama, dada, thank you, no no (tonight we were going to get pizza and I am pretty sure he said 'peeza').... He also will respond saying the sounds of these creatures: kitty, (MEAAAAAOOOOWW), puppy (wuf), sheep (ba ba ba ba), monkey (a gurgly throat like noise), lion (RRRRAAAARRRRRRR)

His walking is pretty unsteady, however he is gaining in confidence! His record number of steps so far is 11 a few days ago. It really won't be long and that's all he will be doing!

That's all for now. I'm not going to promise when I'll update again! Enjoy the fall season and hopefully we'll get more 'fall like' weather soon!

for my sister

Here's a new blog post! We'll put up pictures soon of a recent trip to the pumpkin patch. We're looking forward to finally spending some time outside to do some clean-up. We've had many days of rain and the sun is very welcome in our neighborhood.

Goodnight

A birthday celebration

Of course the pictures had to come first in the post!

I'm going to take you to a quick flashback...

One year ago on this fine 31st day of August Nate and I were attending LifeLight music festival in Sioux Falls. We have enjoyed attending this in the past, the past 2 years being extremely difficult in the circumstances that we were facing at the time. It seemed as if the speakers and singers on that Saturday and Sunday were focusing on being parents and joining the 'mommy club', another focal point was adoption. All of this compiling atop our emotions was enough to make each of us cry at different points, for different reasons. It seemed as if they were on the mountain tops being parents, blah blah, and ultimately that's what we wanted and were not being answered.

We arrived home extremely late Sunday night (A.K.A Monday morning) and not getting to sleep til after 2 a.m. on that first day of September, 2008. We were slightly unprepared to wake up Monday morning and begin a busy work day. Nate arose on a timely manner and getting to work on time, I on the other hand didn't have to work the pizza stand until late morning and was going to enjoy catching a few extra zzzz's.

I was woke up to one phone call that was sent to the answering machine, while a 2nd phone call 15 minutes later also went to the machine but was quickly followed by me jumping out of bed to hear that it was an unknown voice. After realizing it was our social worker I quickly called Nate who scolded me for not calling her first. She ended up calling Nate next at 9:06 to announce a baby had been born over the weekend and the birthmother had chosen us to be his adoptive parents and wanted to know if we were interested!? "I AM! But probably something I should talk to my wife about," was Nate's comment. (After getting the voicemail on the machine, I quickly got the camera ready in case this was "THE CALL!") It was, and not many people have seen that picture (remember: in bed, pajamas, home late, hair in shambles, tears being shed and general hysteria!)

So, by 11:00 we were on the road to meet our son. After a long trip to Target and finding out way to this town we had never been to before and meeting our social worker, we met our son at 3:30 that Monday afternoon. It was the craziest day of our lives, but the most precious day too.

So looking back at last year's lifelight...what a way to end that weekend. It was completely the valley to the mountain top experience. It's hard to describe how we felt that weekend, sad, crushed, desiring something more. Then little did we know that our son had already been born and we were just moments from meeting him. God is GOOD and HIS timing is perfect. Of course, in the midst of it, it did not seem perfect.

Yesterday was a definitely a day of celebrating a precious boys life - one that we didn't even know about a year ago. Tomorrow is a day of celebrating our family and how Jacob came to be in our family. We are excited to share with him the pictures from that day (even though he's seen them a lot!) and tell him again the story of how he came to our family.

Tonight we will be celebrating by taking family pictures. The weather has been gorgeous - other than being slightly cool for this time of year. It hasn't been windy, the sun has been shining, and the grass is green.

We thank you for following our journey, giving us the support we needed and lifting us up in prayers. We have a lot more birthday pictures to share and hopefully can get a couple more up in the next few days - if you're lucky! :) Also, we'll let you know the link to Jacob's pictures when they become available. And, hopefully your Monday was less eventful than ours! (too long to share now on an already long post!)

...till next time...

N, MB, and J

endings

A few weeks ago we were sorting through documents and remembered we had not changed Jacob's info on a very important document. So we researched and found out all of the info we needed to do this and the next day make a trip to this office. The address is not found in "Wendy" (our name for our GPS) but the website said it was near Menard's. Alright, so let's type in Menard's to Wendy and I should be able to get close enough, right? Even Menard's isn't in the piece of equipment. I was headed to a town I don't go to a lot, but did know that Menard's wasn't far from Wal-Mart...so I maneuver around and just like that I find the office I need! It was actually quite simple and probably didn't need to waste time with the GPS, but a little security is nice on a hot day when you're alone with your baby.

So I unload Jacob - he's a load now! I always feel awkward going into a place for the first time, not knowing what to expect. Of course this time as I walk in the door sits a 'security guard' at his table desk and says, please sign in. So my sweat glands get going...uhhh...sign in??? As I think...well, you can read, so you can figure it out. I get this little receipt printed out and the guard says to write down that important number that we all have. I didn't know which number they wanted - mine or Jacob's (legally Ethan). The guard didn't know, so I just wrote down both. A little wait time and it was our turn. (Phew, cause that girl and her grandpa were a little overbearing...)

I hand over the documents - all of them that they listed online that were necessary for such a change. I had the paperwork already filled out because I found it on the internet which I figured would help me to be out of the office quicker. Evidently the internet was not correct as I was missing documentation. UGH! I drove 45 minutes and didn't want to leave without getting my business taken care of! So I figured I could call Nate at work and help get the info I need. Of course on called i.d. it states U.S. Government. Wouldn't that make you wonder! I was eventually able to get the information I needed from our clinic in town who made a quick transition with the fax machine. WooHoo! I wasn't going to leave the office without getting what I needed after all.

There was a lot of down time in between all of the hustle and bustle. Which is difficult with a squirming baby and strangers in the waiting room. And this security guard that did nothing but sit on his chair, have his hands folded with his chin resting on this hands (sitting up) There is a big binder sitting in front of him and a telephone next to him. The phone rings...ok....bye. Then he gets up and walks away. Weird. I couldn't sit in the same position all day.

So that's my story of the month!

This weekend we had our roof re-shingled. It looks great. It's nice to have the pounding gone. I was so worried about Jacob and wondered how he would take it. But, of course, no need to worry, he took his normal naps, and even slept in on Friday! Who could sleep soundly with a generator outside your window, men pounding and dropping heavy bundles above you? I'm thankful he was wonderful through it.

Sorry there aren't pictures this time. They are on the camera which is upstairs and I am literally too tired right now to go upstairs, get it, come back down stairs, upload the pictures to the computer, then get them onto blogger. Too much work for today! Soon and very soon though.

We anticipate Jacob's birthday in a couple weeks and are looking forward to celebrating!

Thanks for checking in on us and now everything that we needed to do to 100% completely make Jacob's adoption is finished.