Darling Little Ones

In 2011, my daughter Sarah-Ruby came to me one evening and said, "Mommy, get ready you are going to have a little brother that looks like Daddy and a sister that looks like me." I've shared this before-but I left out the last part, because of uncertainty.

I called our birth mom's family (from whom we adopted Sarah and Michael) and they didn't know where Birth Mom (BM) was. Two weeks later I found out I was pregnant. 4 months later the birth family called back, BM was in prison and pregnant.

BM invited us to visit her in prison and we did with the kids. I didn't share with her that I was expecting because it didn't seem right.

Sarah-Ruby remained adamant that she was getting a sister. BM was expecting a girl. I was expecting James.

We discovered that BM choose another family to adopt the little girl and in March 2012--Caitlin was placed into a loving couples arms whom we are not allowed to contact. We don't even truly know her birthday. Also, I have never seen a picture of Caitlin, but I know without a doubt that she looks like my daughter. And Sarah-Ruby still insists that her sister should be in our home.

I have heard people say, "If the Lord wishes it, then it will happen." But I disagree with this statement. The Lord allows people their agency and allows them to choose what they will do with their lives. He told Sarah-Ruby about her sister and told Andrew and I to get ready which we did. But the Lord did not interfere with BM's agency when she choose another couple.

I hope that someday, we will be able to meet this couple, so that my little Sarie will have a chance to meet her sister.

I am expecting and due in June-another boy! We received a text tonight that BM is pregnant too, due the same week (or maybe the week before) that I am.

Merry Christmas, Review of 2012

Merry Christmas to you!

Changes this year:

James joined the family  on February 27th a full month early. He is a big boy (99% percentile for height) and has mastered sitting up, crawling and holding his own bottle. He loves to sit at the table and laughs at his siblings.

Michael is in Preschool and speech therapy class. He loves trains and My Little Pony. His teacher told me to get him different whistles/horns to help his speech which he loves to play.

Sarah is lovely Kindergarten and can read most simple books. She loves to write letters and especially grocery lists for when she goes shopping with me. She is a girly-girly and loves to do her hair, paint her nails and wear dresses.

Andrew is enjoying work at Wencor, where he was recently promoted to a full engineer. He was working in the inspection department previously. He also has been wonderful at helping me around the house.

Amy. I am getting used to being at home. It's been a rough transition from working but I'm taking things one day at a time. I still volunteer to OHMS on Thursdays for Science Olympiad and have started tutoring some local teenagers with Science Fair. In other news---shocker-- I'm pregnant again. Due June 19th 2013 o.O Yikes!

Kitchen Pictures to Drool Over

Kitchen Before:

On Oct 21st, our dishwasher line broke. We didn't discover this until 3am in the morning when Andrew woke up and thought he heard water running. They had to remove my entire kitchen and replaced it with this:

Kitchen After:

And you can see the newest MOBILE member of my house in the picture above-Little James started crawling.

At first I was apprehensive-Andrew removed the soffit and upper cabinets.

But I have to admit, I totally LOVE my kitchen now!!

Hogle Zoo

Hogle Zoo has greatly changed since I was younger. The newest edition is called Rocky Shores and hosts a variety of eagles, otters, seals, sea lions, polar bears and other bears.

We bought a year pass which also allows 2 visitors in free. So if you're in the area and want to go to the Zoo, call me, I'll get 2 people in free! :)

Polar Bear Awesomeness.

My favorite animal - Snow Leopard.

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.

2012 Pictures

Sarie and Mikey love having a baby brother. James giggles at everything they do.

James is a very sweet baby. He doesn't cry very often. He smacks his lips to tell you he's hungry and it's very easy to get him to smile. (Getting all 3 to smile at the same time is another challenge!)

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

My oldest 2 children are both meth, alcohol and other drugs affected. Several people have continued to tell me that my kiddos are perfectly normal and that they don't need any extra help. So, I'm writing this To be informative. I know my children. I know where they struggle. Yes, for short times my kids seem just like normal kids- but you don't see the everyday. Meth has issues of its own a lot of which haven't been pinpointed yet. Instead I will focus on FAS or fetal alcohol syndrome. Yes my oldest 2 have FAS. "An FAS child can have a spectrum of problems, ranging from learning disabilities to severe mental retardation.  FAS are usually very likable and sweet, generous to a fault, and usually have poor impulse control.  FAS children can have short term memory problems and be very untrustworthy because of it.  FAS women (in the moderate to severe range) tend to have FAS babies.  They don't have the ability to reason through the consequences of their actions.  They tend to be very sexually active when they are old enough because they don't reason well cause and effect.  They are extremely trusting yet resist anyone who tries to control them.  As younger children, they are apt to wander off, can't always remember simple instructions.  But always appear very capable and normal.  They are brain damaged.  The result of a birth-mother who drank while pregnant.  The severity of the FAS is normally related to how much the mother drank, but there is no way to tell until the child is older as to what disabilities she/he will have. parents of FAS children need to provide as much stability and routine as possible.  They they have to keep their eyes on them and give them a lot of wiggle room if they forget to do something after you told them the 100th time.  That their impulsiveness is a result of brain damage, not because they don't want to obey.  An older FAS child needs an advocate at all times.  They don't have the ability to make good decisions about where they go after school or with whom.  They are likely to get themselves into compromising situations." wifeandmommy.blogspot.com Sarah-Ruby has low impulse control. She likes to hoard things that aren't hers. She struggles with short term memory loss. She is very sweet when she wants to be. Michael has a speech delay, he struggles with partial hearing loss. Forgets simple instructions.