Friday Quick Takes (59)

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Huge news for Anthony this week!  He took his first steps!  Just like with crawling, he started doing it in the pool (strange kid!).  We put him just deep enough in the zero depth pool that he couldn't sit or crawl.  He walked between us a bunch of times, taking up to 6 steps at a time.  The next day, he did it again, on dry land this time.  He's done it a few times since then.   We now know he CAN take steps.  He chooses not to most of the time, but it's not a matter of ability at this point, it's a matter of will.  He's a super fast crawler and he's not ready to give up that speed just yet.  His PT will be very excited with his progress this week!  He'll be 17 months next week, so he's no longer considered behind!

 

--- 2 ---

We enrolled Anna in a 2 year old dance class for the semester.  The teacher is a mom from our parish and her own daughter will also be in the class.  She's super excited about it and LOVES the leotard that we are borrowing form a friend.  We're hoping it helps to wear our little energy child out a little bit!

 

--- 3 ---

Our local sweet corn festival was last week.  Both kids LOVE corn (of course, I failed to get any pictures of Anthony).  Anna devoured her ear and has asked every day since "Go to corn festibal again today?"

 

--- 4 ---

Although most of my pictures are of Anna this time, Anthony has been making his personality known around here!  He is talking up a storm.  He says tons of words (his PT is constantly amazed at what he says to her).  He tries to keep up with Anna verbally.  He counts to three, skips four, and says five and six also.  He is a people lover and is friendly to EVERYONE!  The ladies at daily Mass just love him and he says no less than 30 "hi"s each and every time we go. He bats his pretty eye lashes and can captivate any audience that way.  He loves to socialize and when given the choice between kids or adults, he talks to the adults every time.  It's so amazing to see him grow up.  And equally as amazing to see how vastly different my kids are.  They give me lots of laughs and lots of gray hairs...

 

--- 5 ---

I'm loving all of the fresh produce from this mild summer!  We've gotten things from friends, visited the farmer's market a few times, and we have our own eggplant (or maybe 2 now!) growing in the backyard.  I'm still holding out for my red pepper plant too, it's looking like I may have some buds!

Anna kept eating the fresh green beans raw and saying they "taste like celery!"  She's such a helper in the kitchen.  She always wants to help with everything.

 

--- 6 ---

Another picture of my helper.  Anna wants to do it all.  Here she's feeding her brother frozen yogurt and he's not complaining one little bit!  He adores his big sister and wants to do everything she does.  He's been calling her "sissy" a lot lately and it is super sweet to hear.

 

--- 7 ---

We had a little family fun night last week and used all kinds of free coupons for our evening out!

We ate out, a rare occasion around here!  Anthony was incredibly enthralled with the "entertainment", the busiest road in town during rush hour.  And he didn't complain about the dinner of noodles either!  He was in little boy heaven!

We then went to one of Anna's favorite places, the Frozen Yogurt shop.  She's a fan of any yogurt that has "cake" in the name or picture.  She said it was "elicious!"

 

Then we went to our local baseball team game.  They're the Cornbelters (see a theme around here?).  Anthony loved watching the game and was talking with daddy about "balls and cars".

The Zoo Lady (face painting) was there and Anna actually wanted to do it.  Usually she gives us a vehement "NO!"  But she decided a green flower would be a nice treat.  She LOVED it and it was a very nice (and free!) treat for her.

Our little baseball fan!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Friday Quick Takes (58)

--- 1 ---

  Big news in our house!  Anna's pooped on the potty 3 days in a row!  Not the big news you expected?  Well, it's definitely a big deal to us!  She's been potty trained for about a year how and it was relatively easy.  However, for the last year, she has yet to poop on the potty.  She just waits for a diaper at naptime or bedtime.  It was getting very frustrating.  What was the trick?  Apparently she just wanted the bathroom door closed to do it.  Why she didn't tell me that, I have no idea.  Now if only we could night/nap train her...

 

--- 2 ---

We did some shopping last weekend.  Anna has pretty much grown out of everything 3T, so with cooler temps approaching, she needed some clothes!  Apparently this girl loves to shop!

 

--- 3 ---

We went shopping on our way down to family reunions.  We had a reunion for my grandma's side on Saturday and my grandpa's on Sunday.  Saturday night's reunion was also a surprise 65th wedding anniversary for my grandma's sister and bil.  We had a lot of fun and Anna had a blast dancing all night.  She's still talking about the "party where we did dancing and had "irthday cake".  Apparently "birthday" cake is the only kind of cake there is to my 2 year old!

 

She seriously didn't stop dancing all night long!

 

A decent shot of the crowd

Anthony excited about the music too!

 

 

 

Anna and my grandma

 

 

Anthony and my aunt, Sister Margaret!

I didn't really take pictures on Sunday, other than my sleepy girl conked out in the stroller!  We had fun at the park with family!

 

 

 

 

--- 4 ---

 Anthony is quite the character.  He is super super friendly and just genuinely loves everyone.  He's also starting to really get into toys and things.  He is obsessed with cars and balls.  He loves getting into everything, climbing the stairs, and he also really loves to dance.  Here's a video of my super cute son!

 

--- 5 ---

The kids have enjoyed watching Jeremy play softball this summer!  I was glad to catch this action shot.  Cecelia came to watch too!

 

 

--- 6 ---

Anthony got his foot braces this week for his severe pronation (feet turning out).  His PT thought he might take a few days to get used to them...  Not the case with Anthony.  He loves them and is standing so nice and straight now!  It's amazing what a little support has done for him!  Hopefully he gets walking soon, I'm ready for that big time!

You can kinda see them in his shoes in this picture.  They barely go above his tennis shoes, so you can hardly even tell they're there!  But look at how straight his feet are, they're not pointing in opposite directions!

 

--- 7 ---

 We had fun celebrating the Assumption yesterday!  We made some muffins with blueberries that Anna called her "Mary muffies".  It was also my niece, Cecelia's first birthday!  So we had a party and had fun celebrating her birthday. 

When we got to the party, I told Anna that some friends would be there and she said, "And Princess Tiana will be here too?"  I can't get enough of hearing what goes on in my 2 year old's brain!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

AWC

I haven't posted much on our adoption wait lately.  Mainly because I hate waiting and am having a hard time with this one in particular.  Maybe some of that has to do with the 14 pregnancy announcements I've had in the last month, all due Jan-Mar.  That's a lot to take in for someone who wants more children so very badly.

However, I think most of the waiting challenge has been the feeling of futility this time around.  I feel like what we're asking for as far as what we will take in the Adopting Waiting Children is just unattainable.  Those kids just don't exist.  It's one of those pot calling the kettle black things.  I'm always frustrated with people in our adoption support group who complain about the wait, but are only signed up for the "perfect" kid, having super strict parameters.  And now we've been one of them.  I was always hopeful with our other adoptions, this time I just felt like we were going nowhere.

Anyway, that's not where I was going with this...

We've decided to open up our parameters.  Originally we said we'd only take children under 5 who were available for adoption.  We're coming to realize that there are rarely children that age whose parental rights are terminated.  The foster care system in Illinois just doesn't work that fast.  Sure, there are plenty of babies and toddlers in the foster care system.  Many of whom will be adopted.  However, something like 90% of them are adopted by their foster parents. 

So basically, we have to be foster parents first if we want children of similar ages to the children we already have.  I've been slowly opening up to that idea but it's taken some time.  It scares me to bring kids into our home, get attached to them, and then possibly send them home.  Am I emotionally ready for that?

Well, you know how God puts those people in your life just at the right time when you least expect it?

There was a lady at the park today who I recognized.  She had come to our agency's Birthmom's Day celebration with her 4 adopted children and 2 foster children.  I recognize faces very easily.  If I've met you once, I'll remember you forever.  It's just one of those things I'm good at.  And I'll likely remember anything you told me (for instance, I remembered that one of her daughter's adoption was being finalized two days after the celebration).  Why I remember things like that, I just don't know.

So I normally don't just go up to people I recognize and talk to them, I'm just not comfortable enough for that.  Unless they recognize me too or I know them through my parents or in a few other circumstances.  This time was different.  I really felt like I needed to say hi to her.

I walked up to her and asked if she remembered me and explained where I knew her from.  Come to find out, she recognized me also because she grew up across the street from Anthony's birthmom.  She remembered us because J was with us at the celebration.  And she said Anthony looks just like J did at this age.  She used to baby-sit J and her sister.  Talk about a small world.

We got to talking about our kids' adoption stories and she shared some of her foster care stories after I mentioned being in the AWC program with the same agency.  I wanted to talk to her for hours, but between the 6 kids she had with her and the 2 of mine, we only got about 30 minutes.  But it was enough for me to feel incredibly opened up to foster care.  I let my guard down and it was like God was telling me that I could handle it.  It felt clear.

It's been on my heart for a while now and I needed a shove in the right direction.  God shoved me today.

Jeremy and I talked it over after he got off of work.  We talk about it a lot and again, had just been waiting for that sign that it was time.  We emailed our case worker tonight.  I'm ready for this portion of our adoption journey to begin.  I'm sure it won't be easy, but ultimately it's about helping kids during their most challenging time of need.  Whether or not God has more children for us to adopt, we are going to make a difference and be a parent figure to children who really need it.  We are going to use our infertility to change the life of more children than we thought when we said, "I do".

Water

We have spent just about every day doing some kind of water activity this summer.  Whether it's the pool, splash parks, playing in our own sprinklers or playing in the rain, we've been enjoying the chance to cool off.  Here are some of our recent water pictures!