Camping is made for Abby

Wonder
Abby and her centipede --- "I love him so much, Mom!"

A Good Ending to a Bad Day

This morning was not a great morning. I woke up tired and crabby. I didn't get nearly as much done as I'd hoped while the kids were at the babysitting co-op. I've mentally looked up my "to-do" list and I can't even find the bottom of it. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the tasks on my plate right now. So this morning put me in a foul mood.

But things have turned up. I had a weigh-in today at Weight Watchers and discovered that I have finally met a milestone I've been eyeing for a month now - I am down 25 pounds (and a half!) I have 7 more to go until I'm at my goal weight - I'm so hopeful I will make it by my original deadline of Abby's birthday (August 26th). It's definitely attainable!

In other good news, I am going away on a scrapbooking weekend with Jennifer and her 3 sisters in just two short days... and today I found out that Jenny will probably be able to come, too! I can't imagine a more fun girls' weekend, with some great girls!

In a little while we are headed to one of our local kids' gyms for some open gym time, which should be really fun. All in all, a great ending to a day that started out poorly. Yay!

Is it sacreligious...

...if I see Ethan playing with a rosary, animating Jesus on the cross walking down the street yelling, "c'mon, beads!" as they trail along behind? Oh yeah. And I laugh out loud.

Just wonderin'. ;)

This one's for Jennifer

I have decided that I will share with you the names that Mark and I would have chosen for Baby #3. Last year, I listed the names that we considered, but were not chosen. But it's time to drop the big ones on you. [The middle names are for our great friends, Jenny and Paul, who would have been this baby's Godparents.]


The girls names are....

Leah Jennifer (runner up)
Elise Jennifer (the winner)

The boys names are...

Aaron Paul (runner up)
Simon Paul (the winner)

The end of waiting

It has been almost 2 months since our deadline past for adopting another baby. We set Ethan's birthday as our deadline over a year ago, giving ourselves a firm cutoff of when we would stop being "in waiting." When we figured our lives could be back to normal.

The truth is, I didn't pour as much of myself into waiting this time around. I didn't do any advertising or networking. I didn't look for situations that might work out. I didn't put much effort in at all. My life already was "normal", so there was no need to return to it.

It has taken me a year-and-a-half, but over that time I became perfectly OK and happy with being a Mom of 2 kids instead of 3. For all my complaining, I do realize that I have two amazing kids. Kids who are great friends to each other. Kids who are so different from one another in personality, temperament and interests. But yet kids who really, really enjoy one another. If you ask either one who their best friend is, they will choose each other. They are growing up together, sharing stages together. They are already close in the exact way I missed growing up with 3 much-older sisters.

Since May, I have been waiting for the dams to open up and the flood to come, the flood of my grief over the finality of our family unit. But they haven't come. Even when I feel tiny pangs of longing when I see a newborn, and I turn in on myself to really feel what I am feeling, the tears are few. I feel a little guilty about that, like maybe we shouldn't have even put ourselves out there for another adoption. Like maybe I didn't really want it as much as I should have. But then I remember that 18 months ago, I felt very differently than I do today.

And I think I understand what has happened to me in the last 18 months to change me so much. I have finally become content with what I have.

Summer, glorious summer

For the last month or so, our family has had one priority... to enjoy summertime. To soak up every second of fun that we can. To enjoy the weather, and each other.

We've succeeded.

Here are some pictures from the last month to let you know what we've been doing.

Ethan had a great 3rd birthday party with our immediate family. He had a space theme, and everyone got to make their own space hat. It was fun!

Our 5th tri-annual (once every three years) family reunion for my dad's side of the family. 61 of us met up in Tennesse for lots of great times. The kids especially had a ball!

Abby and Ethan's first time bowling. We shared the day with their cousin, Dylan. We had such fun!

Camping trip #1 (of 4, I think). The campground had lots of stuff to do. And we were lucky that our friends Jenny and Paul and 5-year-old Aidan came out to visit with us one night!
Check out my new campfire coffee percolator (thanks, Mom and Dad-in-law!)

My poor chipmunk! Mark got his wisdom teeth pulled last Friday. Yesterday, he had to go in because he thought he had a dry socket. The prognosis: "you're old." It's going to take a long time to get back to 100% for a 30-something patient. ;)

We had a visit from Mark's sister's family (Tracy, Jeremy, 3-year-old Lana and 2-year-old David). The kids had a great time playing!

My curious girl found my nail polish and decided to paint her toenails in the foyer (the left foot - pink on top of the white that Grandma had painted). Thank goodness she was very neat!

We spent a day with my parents at a local waterpark. Abby is enjoying the splash fountains, and Ethan loved to send the beach ball flying in the lake.