Life, Universe and Everything

Here's a little bit of what we have been doing.

The kiddos and I made finger puppets out of pipe cleaners and pom-poms. I hot glued a small piece of fabric over a glue stick then wrapped the pipecleaners around and decorated them. The kids love them!

Here's the animals the kiddos requested: Antelope, Mountain Goat, Parrot, Doggie, Giraffe, Tiger, Bunny, Crazy Caterpillar.

I added the aliens. Evil Mr. Pineapple, Green Dude, Ms. Squiggles, Flower Head and Cherry Crab.

James first experience with rice cereal. He is so big (97% percentile) the doctor is having him start now. He was so excited he started trying to eat through his bib.

James is also teething.

I've been making/canning homemade applesauce - delicious!

He rolled over for the first time on July 28th!

Pardon my foot!

Antelope Island- I drove there with my kiddos and two of my best friends Kaitlin and Tiffany. I have known Kait and Tiff since I was in elementary school.

Kaitlin was awesome and requested to carry James.

Sarah wouldn't look at my camera she was too busy running to the salt water.

Looks like she's flying.

Mikey is right behind her-they got sandy and wet but had a blast.

Chub, Chub - I've never had a baby this tiny! Sarah was 2 when we adopted her and Mikey was 1. So, having a baby in the house is a new experience for us.

If the sound doesn't work-sorry. He was giggling.

Baby Girl

Sometime in the last few weeks, or maybe not yet-a precious little girl was born.

She will have dark brown hair, big brown eyes and probably weight somewhere around 5-7 lbs at birth. She will be half cuban and in some ways look similar to my Sarah-Ruby.

Somewhere a couple is happily adoring their new baby. Her brother, with bright red hair getting used to his new sister.

LDS Family Services decided to go for their adoption family. They have also decided that they will not tell the other couple that we even exist. It would be better for the other couple to live in happy uninformed bliss.

The Lord allows us our agency. Most would say "If the Lord wanted her in your home, she would be." and though I slightly agree- the Lord allows us our agency. He told us in his power to prepare for her, and we did everything in our power to do so. But I can also see the Lord watching the choice that birth mom picked, and hurting in His heart-as I am hurting in mine.

My children will know they have a sister. She will not have a name or a face-since we'll probably never see one, unless she seeks us when she's 18.

For me, I have to treat this as a death. My little girl died and I never was able to see her. Whisked away quickly, my child who I will never know, can't hold a funeral for, I don't even know her proper birthday.

NICU

Baby James is doing alright. He is still in the NICU on oxygen. His lungs are just a little preemie. I have had several nurses ask if I had gestational diabetes-no. He is the largest preemie in the nicu and actually has cute little chubby cheeks. For a few days he was the only one, but now he has been joined by several girlfriends. As the only boy he is teased by the nurses because "he just wants to be with the ladies."

It's interesting to listen to the other parents in the nicu. Optimism is high in the nicu. Parents celebrate the tiny successes, quietly whispering to their newborns. The parent next to me has been saying, "the first thing I noticed about you." to his newborn and in response to others. Funny though that he has now said " the first thing I noticed about you was playing with your tongue." yesterday it was something entirely different.

So, James the first thing I noticed about you was how active you were. I felt you jump as early as 13 weeks. I noticed you jumping strongly the entire time and when you got too long you jumped your way out 4 weeks early. At birth the first thing I noticed was your high squeaky cry. When I first saw you I noticed the dimple in your chin- just like your daddy has. When I saw them checking you I noticed your cute little toes, and how active you were kicking. When I held you the first time I noticed your curly light brown hair and dark eyes. I noticed your long fingers and the way you love to grab at everything. Lastly, the very first thing I noticed about you, is how much I love you.

Brave

Oct 30th, 2011

Fine, time to be "brave"... weird pictures of me. When I first got pregnant, I obviously was overweight, so I've been keeping close tabs on it and so far have officially only gained 4 pounds. Yea me!

Jan 2012

Baby Shower

My friend Emily asked for comments about a picture she has of her little one. This is the comment I posted. I liked it!

"Yo ho, yo ho, a baby's life for me.

We play, we giggle, we eat, and poop,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.

We cuddle and coo and can give a loud hoot,

Drink up MILK me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a baby's life for me.

We bounce, we sing, we dance, and grin,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.

Mystify and mesmerize, and even hypnotize,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a baby's life for me.

We rollover and charm, and wake in the night,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.

When we wake all the city, we give mommy a fright,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.

We're darling princesses and handsome princes,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.

We're cute and amazing, really quite sweet,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a baby's life for me.

We're criers and whiners, and take loads of time,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.

Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads,

Drink up MILK, me 'earties, yo ho.