November 13, 2013

Month of Thanksgiving 2013

Today I am thankful for:

BIRTHDAYS! Yep, today is my birthday, officially in the dirty 30's. What is that supposed to mean anyways? Maybe don't tell me.

I am so thankful for birthdays. Growing up, I would wake up to balloons and streamers in my room on birthdays. As a kid, I really hated birthday cake, so my mom always got me a big cookie from the mall. As an adult, I have grown to like cake, but there is something nostalgic about a giant cookie on a birthday. Hint, hint:)  

As a mom, I want to make birthdays as special as possible. It takes extra effort with my boy,  who celebrates his birthday two days after Christmas. Who planned that? HA! Not me:) No, for real. I had no part in his conception:)

How do you celebrate birthdays???

Happy (Un)Birthday to My Three Year Old!

Happy Birthday to my sweet sweet boy!!! Ok, so I totally know that it is not your birthday today, or that we are really anywhere near your birthday (cough, cough, Dec. 27)....I didn't forget. I promise. Just didn't write out a blog post and I didn't want to forget...so here we go my sweet son. 

I cannot believe how much I love 3! I think I say that about every age, but it is so incredibly adorable, and cuddly and funny. Throw in a few tantrums and that is your life little buddy. 

I could easily see your transition from 2-3. I hated two. I am sorry, I love you sweet boy, but man, you had me going at two. Especially this summer. OH. MY. WORD. Terrible twos cannot even describe what you put us through little dude. 

The transition from 2-3 was BEAUTIFUL. You started communicating in a deeper way with multiple sentences, asking lots of questions. You are a huge help to baby J, one of the foster kids in our house right now, which helps out your mamma a ton! 

You are a mamma's boy right now. That was not true at 2. I really believe then that you hated me. It's a nice change around here. 

You are a terrible eater. I don't know how you will ever grow, because you don't eat child! Unless it's crackers, especially cheezits. 

You love monster trucks, trains, Thomas and Buzz LightYear. 

I am really excited to what this third year of life will bring to us buddy. I love you more today than when I first met you. You captivate my heart in ways I didn't think possible. And, I love that you are a mamma's boy:) 

We'll work on that. Dad says you can't live with us when you are 35.  

The Big 3-0

In honor of my husband's 30th Birthday

30 Reasons Why I love you

1. I love that you are the most amazing father. 

2. I love that you are such a hard worker. 

3. I love that you bought me my fist DSLR. 

4. I love that you will talk smack about Western Michigan University 

5. I love that you spend time with my family. 

6. I love watching King of the Hill together. 

7. I love that we are pursuing adoption together. 

8. I love that I can totally be myself with you. 

9. I love that you have always sacrificed and have given me the "better" car. 

10. I love that you sacrificed and bought me a "new" car. 

11. I love seeing you passionate in ministry. 

12. I love listening to you sing and play guitar. 

13. I love that you can make me laugh. 

14. I love our inside jokes. 

15. I love that we are on the same team. 

16. I love that you cook. 

17. I love that you enjoy having people over at our house. 

18. I love that you don't mind having college students around all the time. 

19. I love that you will volunteer with InterVarsity. 

20. I love that we have the same heart and passion in many areas. 

21. I love your kisses. 

22. I love your hugs. 

23. I love to hold your hand. 

24. I love that you are always in my corner. 

25. I love that you can be and are honest with me. 

26. I love your quiet presence. 

27. I love your patience. 

28. I love that you let me get Lila even if she is a big huge pain. 

29. I love that I can wrestle through ideas with you. 

30. I love doing life together. 

30 Date Ideas that we will do in the next year. 

{2}

Dear Sweet Cheeks,

I don't really call you that. Sometimes I do. I get to call you whatever I want, because I am the mom and right now I am thinking about the day that you won't let me kiss those pudgy cheeks, so for now....it's sweet cheeks.

Or Batman. You have no idea who Batman is, but you got some sweet Batman pajamas for Christmas and you insist on wearing them and going by "Batman." When I went into your bedroom this morning, you said to me. " Sleep. Where Batman go?"  I am not sure what that means, but Batman is on your mind.

Enough stalling. I have been stalling on writing this post. Somehow if I don't admit to the blog world that you are two, then you are still my baby. I am afraid that soon I will forget all of the details, so I must write!

You are two!! Do you know how old two is? Two is old, let me tell you. It is old enough to shout "Merry Christmas" in the middle of your sleep. It is old enough to put 5-6 word sentences together. It is old enough to tell me that you want a "Samich and diet coke" for a snack. It is old enough for you to throw tantrums like a crazy man and then put yourself in time out. It is old enough for you to snuggle and give kisses and hugs and brush your teeth. It is old enough that when I pull out a camera, you say, "Smile and Cheese."

I am loving two---even the tantrum throwing stubborness. I am loving that you understand so much, and can communicate so well. I love that you have an amazing imagination. Just this evening, you put a blanket on the floor and started jumping on it, exclaiming that you were indeed jumping in the water and splashing.

You have a massive slight obsession with  Thomas the Train, The Jonah Veggie Tales movie and anything with a motor (cars, tractors, trucks, airplanes.). You LOVE oatmeal. I cannot understand how you can pack away so much oatmeal, but it is most definitely your favorite food. You still sleep with your puppy and pacifier (pacer). We might have to get rid of the pacer. You demonstrated some serious addictive behaviors today.......

Daddy is the coolest guy on the planet, and Lila our dogbeast is pretty much your best friend. I am trying to make Malachi be your best friend, because his mommy and I are best friends, but it's a slow start. At least you have stopped hitting each other. (And by stopped, I mean you didn't hit last time we saw him.)

You are an amazing sleeper. Thank you!! No, seriously. Thank you. You sleep 10-12 hours at night, and a 2-4 hour afternoon nap.

Every night, daddy takes you up to bed and prays for you and with you. It has become such a habit that you do not go to sleep unless "daddy pray." If Daddy is not home to pray, I am glad to pray for you buddy, but we know that you love it when daddy prays. We are praying for you to grow big and strong, praying that you would come to know Jesus as your Savior, that you would walk in the light of His word, that you would be a man who studies the Bible and lives a life worthy of the Gospel. 

I love you so much. I am so incredibly blessed to be called your mumma. I cannot even imagine what life would be without you. You are my sweet Caleb boy.

For your second birthday we had a giant party and Mima Kath's and Papa's house. Guess who came to celebrate?!??! Gramps, Nani, Uncle Jason, Uncle Joe, Aunt Kim, Aunt Jenna, Aunt J, Great Aunt Denise, Great Gramma W, Great Gramma S, Great Grandpa S, Aunt Angie, Uncle Jose, Noah and Sophia. It was a Thomas the Train theme, and the cake dyed everyone's lips blue. We had a great time celebrating you!!!

The Day I Failed as a Mom (otherwise known as Caleb's First Birthday Party)

What a day to fail, right?

Caleb's party was not what I had in mind. At all.

The problem is-- I don't really know what I had in mind. I hate event planning and hate forcing to be extroverted at said events.

I really hate the idea of first birthday parties. I mean seriously, what kind of person remember's their first birthday party? It is so much more for the adults. The rational side of me questioned why we would throw time, money and energy into a party for our baby that will not remember it. Why don't we do something cool for us?

So we went to a pizzeria and pub on New Year's Day. "You have a baby. In a bar. You have a baby in a bar." (NAME THAT MOVIE:))

I was frustrated that we could not make reservations.
It was hard to mingle with everyone, and even if I could do that well, I HATE mingling.
It was hard to blend our families and our friends. We were so appreciative that both came, but hard to have those worlds collide.
I did not make a sweet, awesome, thought filled homemade cake. I actually hated the cake, it was so lame looking. But who was I kidding? That's what you get when you order the cake the day before...(er---your husband orders it, and you expect him to read your mind about what kind of cake you wanted).
I wish that we had a bigger house that we could entertain our friends and family in
I wanted to get some amazing pictures of my son's birthday....of him, of people there, of us as a family.....

If the pity party is quite large enough, let me add that I hated all the pictures I saw of myself. I looked like a man, a fat man.

I am so going to be ready for his second birthday.

Today I shed a tear

Because my baby turned a big boy. We have been waiting a WHOLE year for his FIRST hair cut..

One

It is hard to believe that one year ago today I was coming to terms with the idea that God was not going to give us a baby for Christmas. I was struggling through the holidays, with faith, that eventually we will be a part of pursuing God's kingdom by caring for orphans. Just not that year. Holidays can be emotional anyways when you are grieving the loss of someone. In many ways, I was grieving the loss of Noelle, but in more ways I was grieving my prayer life. I thought for sure I had God say we would have a baby for Christmas. I was questioning my faith and whether or not prayer even worked.

Little did I know, an hour a way, there was a scared woman, in labor 3 months early. She had been in the hospital for a few weeks prior to Christmas, but decided (against the advice of the hospital) to leave the hospital, to go home to spend Christmas with her family. She found herself back in the hospital in labor. One

December 27, my son was born. I did not know he even existed at that time. Jon and I were even talking about going through foster care and other means of opening our homes up for children. He was born 3 months early at a whopping 3lbs! It wouldn't be until January 9th that we heard about our Caleb boy, but today, we celebrate his birth!

Today, Mr. Caleb, you are the light of our lives. You mean more to us that we could ever ask for or even explain to you. You have given us such joy and we cannot imagine life without you. We are slowly navigating how to be parents, specifically how to be white parents to an African American boy. We want you to know and appreciate your culture. We want you to love it, it is how God has created you. Wen want you to grow up to be a man that pursues Jesus with all of his heart, a man of prayer and a man that know the Word. We want you to feel like you can always come home, that you can come to us with anything and that your parents will be your support system.

Today....you are almost 20lbs, you are putting syllables together to form words, crawling like crazy, walking between the furniture, LOVING your new Christmas gifts, eating everything, sleeping 10 hours a night, taking 1-2 naps throughout the day, have 2 teeth and a contagious smile.

Today....we are going to cut your hair.

Today.....we celebrate you baby boy.