Wheeee!!!! I love to swing!! 

Possibly The BEST Compliment Ever

I’ve had 3 different day care workers tell me in the last 3 days that Emily looks just like me. She is the cutest thing on earth, so I think that is probably the best compliment EVER!! 

 

When I think about whomever that mysterious person in the matching room who somehow put us together, I get teary eyed. How did they know how to give me my beautiful Emily, the absolute perfect child for me?  She is funny and smart and laughs easily and dances in the kitchen with me. I love her so much some days I think my heart will explode from all the love inside of it.   When she is hurt I turn into a Momma Bear GROOOOOOWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLL I’ll kill whoever made my baby cry! When she is happy, I laugh with absolute joy. Her very presence makes me happier than I ever thought possible. God bless that matching room person, whoever you are.

 

 

 

So Fun Baby

Have I mentioned that Emily is the cutest baby on earth? Because she totally is!!  She is doing 2 super cute things right now that I have to tell y’all about.

 

1^st Super cute thing:  If you say “where’s your belly Emily?”  She’ll pull up her shirt and stick out her little tummy so you can tickle her.  So cute. She also says something that sounds like (to me anyways) Tickle Tickle Tickle.  She loves it. And it cracks me up to see her big ol belly sticking out for me to grab.

 

2^nd Super cute thing:  She’s figured out how to play Peek a Boo with US. So she covers her little tiny face with her little tiny hands and we go “where’s Emily?!?”  and then she throws her hands off her face and smiles all SURPRISE! And then we laugh and laugh and laugh. It’s hysterical.  She did it all through breakfast for us this morning. It put me in such a great mood.  She is so proud of herself for “hiding” from us!!  If we don’t say the where’s Emily bit, she’ll peek out between her fingers to make sure we are watching her!!!  My smart girl doesn’t want to think we aren’t paying 100% attention to her!!

 

There are like a million other cute things she does, but these two are really keeping us laughing lately. I’m hoping I can get the peekaboo on video. It’s so funny.

 

5 Months Home

Yesterday made 5 months since we came home with Emily. It’s hard to believe it’s only been 5 months!  The time has flown by. She is doing so well and we are enjoying her so much, it’s just unbelievable that it’s been such a short time.  This weekend we are off to see some of Tony’s family and introduce her to the “other” Emily, her soon to be cousin!  We’re so excited to visit and show her off. 

 

It’s also hard to believe but T&I moved into our a house a year ago this weekend!! This last year has had so many changes.  But they’ve all been great ones. I feel so lucky some days. I look around and go, This is MY life?!? How did that happen? I got a beautiful baby, a house and a husband to be in like the blink of an eye!!  Never ever thought my life would turn out like this. Boy I’m glad I was wrong!!

 

 

 

 

For the Record

I don’t have any pictures of my other nephew, my BIG BOY nephew below. But it’s not cause I don’t love him anymore.  It’s because now that he is a big boy of 2.5, he won’t sit still anymore!  He used to love having me take pictures of him. But now, not so much. He’d rather run around or climb on the furniture or play with Grampy or something.  I’ll keep trying of course. But I didn’t want ya’ll to think I didn’t like him anymore. Cause I do.

 

 

Em playing with blocks at Grammy's house. You have to have one for each hand Mom!! 

My little nephew Cody Ryan. How CUTE is this kid?!?

Em sleeping in the car on the way to Grammy She-She's for Mother's Day. Her poor doll baby did a headstand for over an hour!! 

My friend Sara came to visit. Emily LUVED her. Must be because she's such a cool chick! (that's why I keep her anyways!)

Disregard how horrible I look (no shower, pjs etc) and see how Emily at 14 months is roughly the same size as Cody Ryan at almost 6 months. He is going to be a line backer. We're all hoping he gets a deal with the Patriots!! 

Emily with cousin Cody Ryan

A Non Mom

I’m so angry I can’t see straight.   Apparently Teleflora had a contest, vote for America’s favorite mom.  And they divided it into categories, (which in what world does Mom need further qualification?)  But they picked categories, Military Mom, and NON MOM.  The Non Mom was for mothers of adopted kids, or step kids, or like for grandparents who were raising kids.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME? In what world does being an adoptive Mom make you a NON Mom?  So I sent them an angry email. A very ugly, angry email. I called them ignorant jackbutts. (only I wasn’t PG) 

 

 

Let me tell you what this Non Mom has done today.

1)     Woke up early so I could get myself ready before Emily gets up.

2)     Got out her clothes for school.

3)     Wiped the boogies off her face (GROSS)

4)     Remembered that I need to bring wipes for school, so I hiked it back upstairs to get them.

5)     Fixed breakfast for Em and made sure she ate it.  This involves a lot of silly faces and YUM YUM noises on my part.

6)     Changed her diaper & put on her clothes

7)     Wiped her face AGAIN

8)     Got all the bottles and snacks and food ready for school

9)     Remembered that I left her shoes upstairs. *sigh* Back up I go

10)  Made at least 3 trips to the car to get all her stuff and my stuff in the vehicle

11)Changed her diaper AGAIN. Also realized that sweet potato and corn should be avoided for the next few days unless I want to see that color poo again. GROSS

11)  Wiped her face

12)  Put her in the car and drove like I was carting around a 7 tier wedding cake in the back. Sang “patty cake” and the “ABC” song

13)  Got to school and got her out of the car and walked in with her, my purse, her bag, feeling like a pack mule

14)  Wiped her face AGAIN.  She is a snot queen.  Debate in my head weather I should call the doc.

15)  Got her situated with the teacher said good bye, felt bad when she started to cry when I left

 

 

But I’m only a Non Mom.  It’s not like I really care about her, because you know, she didn’t come out of my body.

 

I hope none of you ever ever purchase anything from them. I never will.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Muffins with Mom

 

So today was a very special day for me. Today I got to go to Emily’s daycare and have “Muffins with Mom”.  True, we sat on the floor next to our kids and had blueberry muffin smooshed into my jeans. But you know what, it totally TOTALLY rocked.  My first Mother’s Day as a mom with an actual child is this weekend. And I’m so excited! It was really hard the last 3 years to go by a Mother’s Day and STILL be waiting. In fact, it sucked. Especially last year, because I had been sure that I would have been a Mom by then, and I wasn’t. But this year is different, and I’m thrilled to be here and to have Emily and I’m just so darn happy!   

 

So Happy Mother’s Day to everyone this year!! Especially to my Mom, who totally rocks. J  Love you Momma.

 

 

 

 

Big Weekend!

I had a super weekend. Very busy, and very fun!!

 

But first, I just have to say that China is getting on my last nerve. THREE STINKING DAYS of referrals?!? Come on!  My heart goes out to everyone who is still waiting. It’s just stupid and I’m sorry for you all.

 

Now, back to my fabulous weekend!  My good friend Sara came down from PA to spend the weekend with us and get to meet Miss Emily. Sara and I met in college when we got stuck with the same crazy host family when we did a semester abroad in Spain. So I’ve known her for a long time now!  We had the best time and she loved Emily and Emily LOVED her! Sara has little girls of her own, so she was great with her. We did shopping and makeovers at Sephora and we went to see a movie. It was great. So here is the sum up.

 

After the pimping out that Shanny & Erica have done, I finally succumbed and bought a started kit of the Bare Minerals. It’s FABO! I’m totally pimping it out myself now. I have rosacea and it is hard to cover up. But this stuff does it. And the best part, you can’t feel it on your face. I mean, it really feels like I just woke up and washed my face and that’s it. So go buy you some.

 

ALSO big news, I bought my wedding dress!! My sister suggested that we go to the White House/Black Market store, but they really didn’t have anything I wanted. So Sara suggested the Jessica McClintock store, and I totally lucked out. The sales lady snuck in my dress with some of the other things I asked to try on. But when I put it on, I knew! It’s nice. It’s strapless but it has a jacket (a bolero?) so it covers up my yucky arms. It’s ivory colored and satin. Very simple. No beading, or lace or anything. I luv it!  Plus, even with tax it was under $200, and that’s what I’m talking about!  I bet I spend more than that on shoes and underwear and a veil. If I do a veil. I haven’t made up my mind about that yet. Maybe now. Maybe just a flower. We’ll see.

 

And finally I got to see Made of Honor Sat night. Like at the movie theater! It’s big news. I haven’t been to a movie since October, so I was pretty stoked. Plus, the movie has Kevin McKidd in it, who I think is totally hot. He was in Journeyman, which I guess they canceled, although I don’t know why. It was great. But he has a Scottish accent in this movie (which I think is real) and he is awesome. The movie is HYSTERICAL. Much funnier than I thought it was going to be. If you get a chance, you should see it.

 

Sara left yesterday around 4. boo. I’ll miss her. I wished she lived here.  I was sooo tired from our big weekend, I fell asleep at like 915 last night. I guess it’s good I don’t live the vida loca every weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny Faces!

Happy May!!

I can't believe it's May already!! This year is just flying by it seems. I sure wish it would have flown by while I was waiting for Miss Em.   But time is funny that way, isn't it?  We've had Emily for almost 5 months now. It some ways, it still feels strange to say the phrase "my daughter". I feel self conscious saying it. Like I'm faking it still. In other ways, I really truly can not imagine life without her anymore.  Neither can Tony. He was telling me last night just how much JOY she brings to us. All those morons out there who say, oh you're saving an orphan, she's sooo lucky. I want to punch them in the head now more than ever. If they had any idea AT ALL of how lucky I think that I am because I have her in my life, they wouldn't say anything like that at all.  I just thank God every day for her. She is the meaning of the word delightful in my book!  We laugh more, smile more, hug more, kiss more, all because of her. I'm just so stinking happy!! 

OK, enough mushy stuff!  On to bidness! 

• Yes, T & I set a date. Oct 25th. And we mean it. We booked the church and the reception place and just tonight met with yet another photographer. So we just have to pick one now.  Oh, and we ordered a cake. Only 500 other things to do yet. *sigh*
  
• We had Emily baptized a few weeks ago at our church. We did a super cool thing and had my handsome nephew baptized at the same time! So I was his Godmother and my sister was Emily's Godmother. Then we took all the family out to lunch. It was really nice. And Emily looked darling. Cody Ryan, my nephew, looked very handsome too. He's such a fun baby. All fat and toothless smiles. Love it! 
  
• The Prom was GREAT.  We just had a blast, all of us, and the proceeds, all 100% go to charity for terminally ill and chronically handicapped children.  It totally rocked.  Susan had to come without her hubby (he was off being an awesome American National Gaurd guy for the weekend) so I danced a slow dance with her. I think Tony was jealous, but seriously, I never laughed so hard in my life! I'll never be able to listen to Journey again and not think of that night!! 
• Still no word from work on weather or not I will remain employed. I feel like they will tell us tomorrow though, so think good thoughts for me!