2008..what a year!

It was a year filled with happiness, sadness, fear of the unknown and relief when things were working out.

A year ago at this time we were praying that Russia would be the way to build our family, now we are home, settled in and thinking about #2 (Well really number 4.....Yeah....I know...we are NUTS!)

January will be filled with all sorts of interesting things. Perhaps I will get the job I applied for and Ryan will get to experience daycare, or maybe not.
My dad has his cancer surgery on the 12th and we are all praying for good results.

A spring trip is in order, so I better start planning and figuring out how to use all those frequent flyer miles. That is just a few of the things on our plate!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Social Security Nightmare

This is insane! (Sorry, this may turn into a rant!)

I am trying to get Ryan a SS#. Our lovely local office is telling me I don't have the right documentation...but the kicker is...I DO! They are telling me I need to go to court to have him readopted here in the states, but I don't, because he came in on an immigrant visa and readopting him would strictly be a formality. Plus...after spending as much as we have, even a few hundred more is a slap in the face.

Trying to talk to the supervisor didn't work because she WAS the supervisor (the inbicile I talked to there). I showed her what the print out was from the SSA website and that didn't even help.

To top it all off, I tried calling their number (mind you I was there this AM) and they still have their closed for the holiday message on the phone. So know I am trying to get through to the national number to get someone who could possibly know something..(yeah right..good luck) and they are "too busy to talk my call right now...call back later."

I am not giving up...but, perhaps I may not pay all my taxes due to their stupidity................ARRGGHH

Ryan's First Haircut

Why are you doing this to me?????

















Seriously now....I don't LIKE THIS!


















Ahhh...bath time at Nana's and new short hair!
















Thank you Aunt Melanie for making me so cute!

Ryans first Christmas

Opening a present with daddy.













Aunt Lori and Paige among the huge piles of gifts for the kids!












Ohhh...Elmo. We call him ADD Elmo as he just doesn't ever stop talking. Oh well....we lived through the first round with Chandler and tickle me elmo...we will live through this too...LOL!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us to you! What a special Christmas this is for us having Ryan home and part of our family. He just doesn't even know what to think with all the gifts under the tree today.

Who is this man and why do you insist I sit on his lap???

All the kids sitting by Santa....doesn't Ryan look thrilled??
"Hey now, let me down! What do you mean I have to sit by this guy??"
"Ahhh...Nana to the rescue.....much better!"

Mom's little monkey........

Ryan's First Time in the Snow!

Hey mom...don't you know it's cold out here?

It took us 15 minutes to get him ready and he stayed out under 10 minutes, but I think it was worth it. He sure looked cute!

Why is Christmas so overwhelming?

I lost a bunch of presents I need to get ready for this weekend, so as soon as Ryan goes down for his nap, which is usually by now but he is showing no signs of slowing down yet, I am going to hunt them down!
I need to make a trip up to MOA and finish some shopping at stores they have up there and not down here in Rochester, but trying to find a day that works for everyone is not working. I think I may go myself and try and meet a friend up there for the morning/afternoon.

We want so badly to make Ryan's first Christmas special, but even now that I am home, the time is getting away from me and I am out of ideas. I think this year of all years, I need to move past the stuff and be grateful our baby is here and we are a happy family.

Ryan is showing signs of wearing down, so I better try and get him to sleep and go a present hunting!

Mommy's Little Plumber

Well, at least her little boy with a plumbers crack...LOL! He spilled all over his shirt and after we took it off he hooked his thumbs in his diaper and started pulling the diaper and the pants down as he was walking along...LOL! Aaron and I were laughing so hard we were crying. We had the worst time getting a good picture and these were the best we could do.

Saving the Christmas Tree!

We are trying so hard to save the Christmas Tree from Ryan! Either he is taking off the ornaments or he is trying to push it across the room! Soft doesn't seem to make sense to him as far the tree goes!

Christmas pic and more!

Oh no, I am stuck! Ryan's new thing is backing up into things and this time he backed into our stool and got his little tushy stuck in the circle part of it. OH..he was mad when they had to lift the chair up for him to get out.







We don't usually send out Christmas cards, but we are starting to take pictures of all the kids together to see if we can get a good shot. Here is our best one from tonight. All 4 kids...together, isn't life grand?

My Gap Model

Yeah...this kid is a ham and a cutie and he KNOWS it! He is modeling his super cute Gap outfit we were given as a gift. Isn't it adorable?

We were prepared for the worst last night with all the teething and low and behold he slept straight through the night without waking up until 6!

Holy Teething Batman!

I thought maybe Ryan would have 6 teeth forever. He was a happy little boy when he woke up this AM but not so much when he got up from his nap. He bit me several times and would just start screaming at the top of his lungs for no reason...or so I thought.
I happened to look into his mouth when he was crying and saw 3 teeth coming through. 2 on the bottom by his other 2 and 1 on the very top in the back. Kind of a weird spot for a lone tooth to come in, but oh well. I see some very long nights in our future.....sigh.

The boys go for a walk

Chandler and Ryan decided to go for a walk with Max yesterday before the snow came. It was still COLD outside so we got Ryan all bundled up to go and off they went. Ryan was sure cute in his little snowsuit.

We are SO thankful

this year that our boy is home with us and that we are a complete family. We are thankful that we have had a great transition with only a couple bumps in the road. We are thankful for all the blessings that have come our way through this process.

We NEED SLEEP

What happened to our great little kid? He is getting up every night again at 3 and staying up until 4 or 5. Then getting back up at 6:30-7a. It is making for a very long day for mommy and and tired and crabby baby for most of the day.

It may be time to put our foot down and let him cry it out. Man, I am so tired, I don't even feel like shopping. Moi? Not want to shop? Surely you jest. That is just wrong. I can hardly wait for him to go down for a nap so I can get one too!

We just got the call to schedule our first offiicial post placement visit, so I guess Ryan gets to stay...LOL!

Remind me not to get this kid off his schedule.......

Because if we do...NO NAP. He thrives on a schedule. An hour variance is fine, but no way can we do more than that.
Our neighborhood was having a party on Saturday and we took Ryan and Chandler over to my parents (Bailey was with her dad) and just planned on spending an hour at the party. It was so much fun we stayed 2 hours. When we got back to my parents Ryan was sleeping. But when he saw us he woke right up. So bath time was at 9:30 and bed time was at 11:00. Argh.
And then he decided to get up at 5:45a. With only a 1 hour nap the next day.
We were trying to get Christmas decorating done and bring in our new TV, so him not sleeping meant mom had to chase him around and the boys worked.
Oh well, he is down now, hopefully for 3 hours like usual. Christmas decorations, here I come!

Have you ever just had a night...

When nothing will make you happy?? Ryan did last night. Sitting amongst his many toys and loving family, this is the lovely face we saw ALL last night. Now, to be fair, both Ryan and mom have colds, but still...LOL! Isn't he pathetically cute?

He must still not be feeling the best as we have had 6 (yes SIX) poopka diapers this AM. (Heidi, if you are reading this, told you they never stop...LOL)! He is now down for his 3 hour nap and I already have dinner put together and am just going to eat some lunch and clean out my desk. Maybe catch up on some tivo.
Big kids have music lessons this afternoon, so we will be driving most of the afternoon after nap. Hopefully he wakes up much happier than these pics. :)

YAWN

I just awoke from my first nap in a LONG time to answer the phone so a telemarketer could try and sell me something.
Ryan had another tough night last night. The nap thing is working great, but it seems every other night we have a rough night.
Still loving being home again (thanks to grammy for staying with him so I could have an hours or so break today) and am finding my list grows longer each day with stuff I should be doing.
Bailey is loving basketball and Chandler is counting each snowflake until ski club starts.

My Happy BOy

Just another day at our house with our happy boy! What you see is pretty much what he does ALL day other than nap time. I am surprised he doesn't get dizzy with the circles he runs...LOL!
My last day at work was on Friday, so I am looking forward to a nice boring week!

Just for Aunt Brenda.........

Aunt Brenda sent us this card via email and Ryan LOVES dancing to!

It was a tough night sleep wise. Ryan was up at 1:30 and 3:30. So much for full nights sleep...dang it!

Why is it that.....

When you lose a spouse, they call you a widow(er)
When you lose your parents, they call you an orphan,
But when you lose a child or a baby, what do they call you? For an intensely profound loss such as this, why does society not have a "label" for it? Are they too afraid to speak of it for fear of it happening to them?

I almost forgot...

what a full night of sleep with no baby waking up felt like! None of us got up last night. I awoke at 6:30am when the alarm went off in a panic because I hadn't been up yet, only to be awakened by sweet baby coos from the kitchen. Aaron and Ryan were having breakfast and mommy got to SLEEP!!
Ahhh...life is good.

The story behind the story.....

http://www.chooka.net/baby/

As I sit here watching my baby chase the dog and use the new word he learned, I am reminded of how we got here and that we have truly only been home 3 months. It seems like it has always been this way.

The link above is the journal I used before I started this. Through the pain of the lost pregnancies, the Guatemala shut down, and domestic debaucle (as I like to call it), it is the story of how our family came to be 5 of us.

Life in the HOOD

Ahhh...gotta love the quiet life. Baby is sleeping, I am cleaning and I go to look outside....FOUR cops sitting in our cul-de-sac. I haven't figured out what they are here for, but I locked the door and have Max dog on alert.....LOL!

Ryan is being lovingly called "Bruiser" these days as he got into it with a coffee table at a furniture store and is sporting a lovely black eye. Never a dull moment. I have only 2 days left a work and I am DONE!

Chandler gets signed up for ski club tomorrow and Bailey starts B-Ball, so life will be busy again!

This poor kid, he just runs so hard that he crashes whenever he gets the chance. I put in him there to have a snack, turned my back and he was snoring...LOL! Aaron was home this time so he got to see it and thought it was pretty cute.

Ryan doesn't think much of TV, but put a slide show of pictures on the computer (hmmm...we haven't tried the Wii yet) and he will sit there for a 1/2 hour. He LOVES pictures and he and Bailey had so much fun looking at them.

CRAZY days!

Run here, run there, then run everywhere all over again. It seems like everything has to happen at once and then BAM...nothing to do....LOL!
Ryan and I have been running all over the place to get things done today and he finally crashed in the car....with no lunch. But he had plenty of snacks, so he should sleep a while and just eat when he gets up.
Tonight my adoption group meets so I get a bit of a break. Sigh....about time. With Aaron sick, I have had 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there of breaks, but a 2 hour one sounds just ducky to me!
My work has been extended through the 19th now, so I am almost done, but the finish line keeps moving..LOL!
Glad to see elections being over, 1/2 the house is happy with the outcome, the other 1/2 will have to get over it. :)

Crabby Pattys

What do you get when you get a sick dad, 2 tired kids (but MOM, it is really 10:00 pm, not 11:00 pm like YOU say, a toddler who just won't stop running, but decides not to nap?
A mom who would like to tear her hair out...LOL!

This last week has been a blur. Between my back going out, me being in the hospital, my mother in law saving us from my really being in tough shape, her dad getting ill and she having to leave, my mom getting the worst cold of the century, Aaron being down for the count for 2 days, hmmm, lets see, crappy election ads, phone calls, doorbell ringers during naptime. You name it, we have seen it this week.

Good news is, my back is getting better, the election is tomorrow and my mother in law is back in town...LOL!

Oh...I do go back to work on Friday, but now it has been extended another week. Sigh.

My auntie from CA leaves tomorrow so we had Ryan give her 6 kisses, one for each month we won't see her. He will be talking by the time she sees him again.

Well I am off to bed because it is really 11:00 pm. Those darn teenagers don't know what they are talking about...LOL@

Adoption Buddies!

Meet Louisa, Ryans friend from Burnsville. I have had these pictures since September, but am just now getting a chance to sort through them. Louisa is the daughter of friends (Hi Jeff and Audrey if you are reading this!) Aaron and I made at an adoption class last year. She was adopted from Colombia in the spring. Aren't they cute together? Who knows......an international love affair could happen....LOL!

More Halloween Pics

Bailey and her friend Mya are in the pink

Brenda (my aunt), Ryan and Paige my niece

Mommy's Little Monkey

Ryan had a great first halloween! The neighbors loved seeing him as did our family. My auntie from CA cam all the way out here to trick or treat with us!