Mission Accomplished- Pictures at Bottom

As it turns out, I was pleasantly surprised by many of the deals I found on Black Friday.  I scored an unadvertised special at Wal-Mart, where I only popped in hours after their sale started to look around.  I snagged ourselves a $160 play kitchen that I saw at Toys R Us just that morning for only $75.  Whoo hoo!  I got a $370 gift for my mother for $100.  Score!  My brother’s gift was $250, but was purchased for much less than $100.  Love it!  So today I feel accomplished.  I’ve gotten much shopping done, and only have a little to go.

Today involves hanging up our Christmas tree lights.  I love this holiday.  Not for the gift giving, which I admittedly love to give things to people.  I’m a giver.  I just love the music, the fun, the food, the family, the spirit of it all.  Ok, so some people can ruin the spirit, but the people I am surrounded by don’t do that.  I get to enjoy this holiday to its fullest thanks to them.

Also today, thanks to my in-laws who sent a generous birthday gift, going to get a few more maternity clothes and some flat shoes.  Thank heavens, because they are much needed!  The little girl is still growing and moving more with each day.  She’s riding low, and therefore I have a bunch of back aches.  Really this is the easy part of things, and so I have not much to complain about.  

However, if we were to discuss 19 month old behaviors.  That would be another can of worms!  What a lovely age.  Poor little guy has so many emotions that he has no clue how to express.  So, when he feels something he can’t relay, he explodes into this running in place type tantrum.  Poor kid.  I feel for him.  I would hate not being able to express myself!  Overall though, it’s awesome to watch a budding personality that makes me smile, want to pull my hair out, laugh, burst into tears, and just swell with pride all in five minutes.  That about sums that up.

Below is are some pictures from our family portraits.

Nursery decor pic up on the pregnancy page.

Is it just me or…

Is it just me or do the Black Friday ads kind of stink this year?  I guess it’s the things I’m in the market for this year.  Hmm…back to munching on veggies and dill dip while leisurely looking through ads hoping to find a golden nugget I managed to miss before.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Happy anniversary to my husband!  Love ya’!

What to say?

Thanksgiving is coming up…ummm…that means yummy prime rib, right?  I know, still have aversions to chicken and turkey.  So, we’re having prime rib.  I know, breaks my heart!

Black Friday.  Count me in!  I’ll be thinking about Jaime as she grabs her Starbucks.  Know I’m raising my own as a toast to a day of good deals and retail therapy!

My anniversary, on Thanksgiving day.  What a wonderful built in celebration.  I’ll count my marriage as something I’m thankful for that day.

My birthday, shortly after on the 3rd.  I find birthdays to be very special.  It’s the only day each year you get to celebrate just you for being well, you.

Colds.  We all have one.  Yuck.  How did I catch Rick and Phoebe’s cold from 12 miles away?  Hmmm…probably can’t blame them for this one.

2.  The number of pounds I’ve gained thus far.  I’m very happy with this number.  Let’s see what happens after Thanksgiving/anniversary/birthday celebrations, shall we?

Poop.  My kid did it on the potty.  Say, what?  Shocked me too.  Wonder how long before I can convince him to do it again?

So, there’s nothing and everything going on right now.

Healthy and it’s a…

20/20- All pregnancy related.

Twenty weeks down, twenty to go.  That’s right everybody, we’re half baked.  Ok, so perhaps only the little one is half way done baking, but it’s certainly a milestone to be celebrated!  Kicks are getting stronger, weight gain still quite non-existent (Yay!), and almost all food aversions are gone (except for a deep contempt for all white meat.) 

So things are going well.  Just waiting on the next ultrasound!

Attended

Last night we attended the adoption appreciation/Thanksgiving dinner party.  We got to say hello to the judge who completed our adoption and in general make our presence known.  We arrived fifteen minutes early, knowing we wouldn’t be staying very long.  It was late for Braden, and we got home just in time to put the tired tot down for the night. 

Here’s what struck me though.  We received a certificate of appreciation for touching the life a child…blah, blah, blah.  I almost laughed out loud.  Are they kidding?  I deserve no award for raising our son.  Trust me there are times I feel like I might deserve it after a long morning of tantrums, reflux, and running in circles, but none of that has to do with adoption.  In my book, adoption isn’t award worthy.  Nope.  Ours was a simple case of a child who needed loving parents, and would be parents hoping greatly for a child to share their love with.  Regardless, I will tuck the award away so that one day Braden may look at it if he wishes. 

It was noticed only minutes before our departure by a worker that I was indeed expecting.  She came over pointed directly to my belly and asked, “So, when is this one due?”  (As if there were sooo many before it.) “April,” was my short and sweet response.  Then came the frenzy of excitement by the workers.  Weird.  Perhaps they knew it would be in bad taste to come down on one of the honorees of the evening.  Or, perhaps they were simply excited for us.  Either way, we were (as expected) given the whole, “This same thing happened to so and so!  They adopted and bam!”  I grinned not wanting to make waves, but inside I was screaming, “There’s no damn adoption fairy who impregnates those who adopt! Grrrrr! It cost over $25,000 to make this child, some crazy science, and an angel we call an egg donor!”  However, I refrained to not makes waves as we have two more months left where they could contest our adoption.  I didn’t like it though.

Ok, ’nuff said about that.

Much is Happening

Whew!  Wow!  The CMAs were a blast!  There was nothing like watching tender off camera moments like K.ieth U.rban rubbing Nicole’s back and planting tiny kisses on her cheek throughout the show, Carrie dancing like nobody is watching during Kenny’s set, and watching first hand that moment where Bra.d P.aisley plants a kiss right on K.imberly’s baby bump after winning an award.  Overall, it was a great night that started with some kick butt food.  Yeah, it’s all about the food these days!

This weeked we waded through the nastiness that is sick toddler after another round of immunizations.  Yuck.  I believe the worst is over, and things should be back to normal.  It’s official that Braden has adjusted to life sans pacifier.  Naps are now naps, nights are full nights.  Amen.

I read my calendar wrong, and tonight is the oh so fun S.ocial S.ervices Th.anksgiving/Ad.option Celebration dinner.  I made my dish to pass, even though I think as an honoree you shouldn’t have to.  The dinner starts at 6, meaning J.ustin has to come home a bit early and we won’t be staying to eat. The munchkin goes to bed at 7 or slightly there after, and I’m not disrupting the routine for something none of us is going to enjoy.  We’ll get there a bit early, do our mingling, see those who need to be seen, smile real pretty, and high tail it home.  Yep, that about sums that up.

This weekend, I’m excited as the amazing local ladies (Kel-depending on the exciting things going on in her life right now!!!, Jess, and Sharah) are coming over for a dessert party!  It’s the first gathering in our new place. I love these ladies!

Wednesday I get my flu shot.  Fun, fun, fun.

Sunday is family portraits day, perhaps I can throw a few up here afterwards.

We have much going on around here, and I hope to share some of it with you soon.

Christmas Gift!

I just found out I’m not watching the CMAs tomorrow on tv, but rather I’m attending them with my mom! Thanks little brother for our super cool Christmas gift!

Also found out I’m headed to Missouri the day after Christmas to visit family.  Busy, busy, busy over here!

Put a sock in it!

Well.  Hmm.  We did 100% ditch the pacifiers.  Night isn’t bad.  Nope.  It’s the napping that gives us trouble.  With the pacifier, Braden was sleeping from 3 to 4 hours during the day.  Yeah, I know!  It was what he needed though.  He’s going through a growth spurt at the moment.  Now, naps are down to 1 hour, and boy does it show. 

Braden woke up the other day, and my mom went to pick him up.  She came back with a sockless child.  That wasn’t the strange part.  What was odd was that he had sucked on his nice and smelly sock to soothe himself to sleep and most likely while asleep.  I’ll give the little guy points for creativity!

We’re working on helping him learn what to do with himself when he’s tired, because he truly doesn’t know how to handle it.  I’m sure with time it will all get better.

In other news, we were invited to the s.ocial s.ervies Thanksgiving dinner next week.  We would certainly not go if our names were not directly mentioned in the newsletter.  We wouldn’t go because it’s on a weeknight, it’s around Braden’s bed time, and I’m just too darn tired by that hour.  However, the judge who performed our adoption is the guest of honor, and as I mentioned, we’re in the stinkin’ invitation.  My beef?  We got the invite less than one week before the event!  I’m noticeable pregnant in most outfits I have, and that is a cause for concern for us.  However, if it is going to be “discovered,” I would rather have it in front of our judge where nothing can be scewed by an annoyed or biased w.orker.  So, we’re going.  Can  you hear me whining about it all the way over there?

I had my glucose tolerance test today (18 weeks 5 days) and passed it.  We will do a repeat in six weeks.  It appears my diabetes meds are working.  Yay!  Heard the munchkin’s heartbeat, and all was routine and looking good.  Excellent.  I love routine and boring appointments.  What a refreshing change of pace!  Next appointment is the anatomy scan, but I’m not revealing the date until it happens.  It can be any time between tomorrow and just after my birthday (December 3rd.)

Ok, back to cooking dinner now.

The Path

Over the weekend, we went to the local park.  We set off down a path covered with crimson and burnt orange leaves, and as our feet shuffled through the fall foliage, my mind drifted back to the last time we walked this path.  It was two years ago, and I was feeling mighty proud of myself as I had just reached the thirty pound mark of my total fifty pounds lost.  Clad in running gear and a heavy heart, my feet tore at the pavement.  I was not just running towards a thinner and healthier self but in search of a dream I was trying to hold close.  Each step, each drop of sweat, and each pound was to bring us closer towards a family of our own.

At that time, I could never have envisioned a journey that would take us through a topsy turvey adoption that would ultimately take sixteen months to complete.  I would have had no way of understanding premature ovarian failure and the need for donor eggs.  So many times I had simply wished for the end to arrive, our completed family.  Yet if I had hit the fast forward button, I would miss knowing  so much.

I would never know that heart pumping thrill of being called to pick up our new son.  I wouldn’t know that a mother isn’t something you become, but something you grow into.  It has little to do with giving birth or breastfeeding, and much to do with opening your heart to love and nearly constant worry.  I would miss the raffirming lesson that while Braden doesn not share our DNA, he shares something much larger, our hearts.  I would miss the lesson and resulting strength that comes with fighting for what you love and hold most dear.

I would never know that each step of my journey was preparing me for what was to come next.  I’m not saying that everyting happens for a reason, because trust me, I find that a big line of bull.  What I am saying is that often I needed to change my version of what I thought my life would look like or what would happen next, to allow the possibilites of what my new reality is to evolve.  Loving my son made the decision to move on to donor eggs easier.   While there was a certain loss mourned regarding my own womanhood, there was also a celebration in what could still be.  That ability to see past the hurt, the pain, and my old version of what was supposed to be, has allowed me this opportunity to experience pregnancy.

Walking down that path, I got to watch my son gather leaves, run, and giggle with excitement as he discovered new places to explore.  As I watched his face glow, I felt my own do so.  As I watched Braden run down the path, I felt my other child move within me.  I never could have imagined out of all that pain that infertility caused, I would be afforded the opportunity to experience such beauty.  What I am saying is this, be sure to allow yourself the chance to look past what you thought was going to happen to perhaps embrace a different plan.  Your initial path probably looked quite similar to mine.  I wanted two children, created at home, with no help from anybody.  Got that?  I had to let go of that dream and embrace something else entirely.  It didn’t feel 100% comfortable at the start, but after only a short while it was clear that I was allowing my previous set of expectations to guide my new journey.  Be able to change, to learn more about yourself, and to understand yourself.  My path isn’t right for everybody, but what is right is following your dreams no matter how remote their location.