Jake and Kelly's World

My dilemma

2012-01-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

It's that time again for us to update our adoption paperwork. By law our homestudy has to be updated yearly, which includes 2 different sets of fingerprints, physicals, drug tests, tb tests, etc. and then the caseworker has to come to the house to check it out again. It costs us about $600/yr for the updates, and this is the 2nd year we've had to do updates (we also did all the paperwork to initially become approved to adopt baby #2). So that's 6 times each of us has been fingerprinted, 3 drug tests, 3 physicals, etc. I won't pretend it's not getting old. Yesterday Jake and I sat in the 3rd circle of hell (aka the health dept waiting room) for 2 hours waiting to do our drug screens. It seems a silly thing to complain about, but both of us were really impacted by the verbal filth spewed by some of the others waiting. I really wanted to say something to the teenage girl repeatedly using the F-word with a little girl sitting behind her but was fairly certain I would have been physically accosted had I done so. I was so saddened by the situations I witnessed. I overheard one pregnant teen, there with a very young looking boyfriend, say "I hope its a boy." Her boyfriend replied "I do too, I have enough girls." One teen and her friend came in and were seated next to some of their other friends, one of which was pregnant, who happened to be there at the same time. From their conversations I overheard several of these unmarried teens already had babies at home. So sad. Anyway, back to the adoption stuff. I started researching other adoption agencies to see what other options we may have. Nowadays healthy infant domestic adoption is almost completely reliant on a birthmother choosing you to parent her child, which is a system that seems to work well. But there are no waiting lists, no guarantees. It could take a day, a year, 10 years, or never happen. The upside to us using another adoption agency in addition to LDS Family Services would be to make ourselves visable to more potential birthmothers. More exposure = greater chance of being chosen. At some agencies it is common to wait less than a year, and some even have babies that will be born soon ready to be matched. Some adoption agencies place many more babies than others, for reasons including that they spend a lot more on advertising and employ a lot of adoption caseworkers. This translates to higher fees for us, the potential adoptive parents. Anyway, as I was searching around I could not find any other adoption agencies that we can afford at this time. There is one inexpensive agency in Georgia that I know of, but it will not accept us because we are LDS. One agency based in Georgia that I called quoted me $38,000. The going rate for adoption of a healthy caucasion, hispanic, or asian baby seems to be $25,000-$35,000, with a couple exceptions of only around $20,000. I'm sure the cheaper agencies have more potential adopting parents, meaning we'd be less likely to be placed with a baby. For $30,000 we could adopt internationally, but there is at least a 2-3 year waiting list for every country I've found. The wait to adopt from China right now is 5 years. We have enough saved for an adoption through our current agency, but we don't want to use our entire emergency fund for adoption, because, you know, we may need that money for an emergency. And Jake's car has over 100k miles so its a ticking timebomb. So, we're trying to decide what to do. Our options: borrow from Jake's retirement fund, take out a loan, save even more monthly by cutting back more, or me working more. There's not a whole lot left to cut back out of our budget. We already don't have cable, use Ooma for our home phone, and have prepaid cell phones. I coupon a lot. We don't have car loans or student loans. As a federal worker Jake won't get a cost of living raise for at least 2 years. I don't have a shopping habit, and Jake is really good about selling his old electronics to pay for his new gadgets. We just don't feel right about taking out a loan to pay for adoption. I can't really explain why, it just doesn't feel right. So that leaves me working more. Not loving that option either, as that impacts our home life, but it's probably the best option. I've been researching travel COTA positions in Florida, where my parents live. I would work full time at a facility there for 13 weeks. Gavin and I would stay with my parents, and they would watch him while I work. Jake could visit a couple weekends a month. A problem is that open positions in their area fill up fast, so there is no guarantee I could get one. And I'd have to pay at least $200 just to get my FL license to practice therapy before I can apply. And I'd have to pull Gavin out of school. And we'd be away from Jake and our regular routine. I could probably find some p.r.n. openings in my area, but most are about a 40 minute drive away. Which doesn't sound like much but by the time I drive Gavin to the babysitters, drive to work, work for 8 hours and take an hour lunch, then drive back to pick up Gavin I would be away from him for over 10 hours (He's usually only awake 12 hours a day!). That's ok once in a while or when he's home with Jake while I work, but I just don't want to be away from him on a regular basis if he has to be at a babysitters. I feel for moms that have to work full time. So I'm not sure what to do. You can't put a price on a baby, and I'm sure whatever amount we end up paying for our next adoption will be worth it, but I'm not sure what do next. I love being home with Gavin every day. He's playing outside in the backyard while I type this, and it is so joyful to watch him. I do believe his current life, which today includes school, lunch as a family, family time, playing with legos, and playing outside is the best life I can give him. It makes me sad to think about sacrificing any part of that for a better chance at another child. A child who isn't guaranteed to arrive, a child I don't yet know but long for, a child I know will bring such joy to our family. That's my dilemma. At the same time I feel guilty for even wanting another kid. We are truly blessed to have Gavin, and I thank God daily for him. A lot of women never even get to be the mother of one child, let alone the two or three I would really like to have. And I know my experience of waiting for a 2nd child is trivial compared to the physical trials many go through to conceive and bear children. But it's a trial never the less. Every time the phone rings and it's an unknown phone number from an Atlanta area code (where our adoption agency is located) my mind automatically wonders if this is the call. An old aquaintance called last night and my mind automatically wondered if this person was calling to tell me they knew of a baby to be adopted. I loathe telling everyone I know to be on the lookout for a baby for us. Several times this past week as we are updating our homestudy I have found myself apologizing to Jake for being unable to bear children. Which is dumb because if I had been able to conceive we wouldn't have Gavin, and I'd rather have him than any other child, including my biological child. I am thankful for the opportunity to adopt again, and count it as a blessing. I am tired of the mental gymnastics I perform, increasingly so lately, to try to figure this situation out. I do have faith that we will adopt another child, and know God will do His part, but am scared I am not doing enough, or not taking the correct actions at the right time. Who knows, maybe we'll get a call tomorrow...

Before I forget

2012-01-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

I am constantly amazed at how aware Gavin is of things going on around him, and how he remembers small details from months ago. Last night I made Gavin and myself a smoothie (by the way I added a few handfuls of fresh spinach leaves and I couldn't taste the difference). Out of nowhere, Gavin says "Uncle Tom likes smoothies too," from our Florida trip in October. He's always saying stuff like that, and I need to start writing it down. He's also has a really good sense of direction (very unlike me). Often times in the car he can tell where we're going by what roads we're on. He'll ask "Lowes?," "Brayden's house?," "church?," and "mee maw pop pop?" if we go on the highway.

Go Fish

2012-01-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago we spent a Saturday afternoon at Go Fish in Perry, GA http://www.gofisheducationcenter.com/visitUs
It was very cool and well worth the visit. It's a fishing and wildlife educational center and a fish hatchery. It's the type of place you know the government has no business using tax payer money for (and they spared no expense) but enjoy anyway. Lots of aquariums, alligators, hunting simulators, fishing simulators, boats, educational displays, and an outdoor fishing pond.

The saltwater fishing simulator pulled Gavin off his seat:

Gavin sat still for about 20 minutes of fishing outside. It's a nice setup, with free use of poles and free hotdogs cut up for bait. Gavin did get aggravated a couple times because he wanted to cast the line, even though he had no clue how to do so. They didn't catch anything.

Sunbeam

2012-01-02T05:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at church Gavin progressed from nursery to the Sunbeam class in Primary. This will mean more time being taught the gospel, singing, and doing activities and no free play time. I had been talking to him about this change for the last few days, and he was not too happy about it. He wanted to stay in nursery - "No, toys! Wanna pay toys!"

However, when the time came to change classes Gavin did fine. His new teacher brought him a sunbeam t-shirt, and they walked down the hall together as a class to the primary room.

However reticent he may have been, Gavin did a great job in Sunbeams today. He sat still during the entire time in the primary room. He may have gotten a little wiggly in his classroom. I asked Gavin what he learned from his teacher today. He said "Stop, Gavin. No crawling." At least he learned something.

End of year wrap up

2011-12-30T15:52:00.000-08:00

Forgot (and was too sick) to post this earlier:

Enjoying the nice weather on Wednesday:

Twice Gavin got off his motorcycle and turned it over. His explanation: "wanna transform!"

Santa's visit

2011-12-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Santa Clause was nice enought o visit our house a day early (Friday night) so that we could spend all day Saturday playing with toys and then go to church on Sunday.

For the past month every time we asked Gavin what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas he said "big fire truck." Every single time. So he was quite pleased with this gift. It took him a while to open his other presents because he kept going back to play with the fire truck. If you ask him now what he got for Christmas he will tell you "Big. Fire truck. Ever!" I'm not sure if he means biggest ever or best ever, when questioned further he agrees to both.

Thank you Wake and Leslie for the awesome digger!

This is a toy phone you take apart and fix by assembling all the pieces with a screwdriver. Once you fix it it rings and various characters call asking for help fixing things. One of the characters is named Kelly, which freaked Gavin out the first time he heard her name. He looked at me with a suspicious, quizzical look. What's funny is that Kelly calls and says she needs help because her shelves are falling down. Every single time Gavin thinks she says her shoulders are falling down and points to his shoulders (or sometimes he gets confused and points to his elbows).

Giant spiderman and batman wall decals, also courtesy of Jake's parents:

Elmo laptop:

Later in the day my good friend Robyn stopped by with a present for Gavin - lincoln logs. I didn't realize Gavin was ready for them yet but once he figured out how they work he was on a roll building all kinds of huge structures:

According to Jake Gavin spent a great bit of the day on Sunday (Christmas day) building with lincoln logs. I saw one of his creations and it looked just like the example fort on the box - quite complex. No pictures because the camera battery was dead, and Gavin likes to "crash" his creations as soon as they're done. I spent just about all day Sunday in bed sick with some viral tonsilitis type bug. Jake has it too, but he had had the worst of it a couple days earlier. Jake was well enough to take Gavin to church while I slept. I think I might have had my first migraine. For about 24 hours my head hurt, ibuprofen didn't help, and any light, noise, or movement made it worse. I feel really bad for people who deal with that type of pain often. Jake and I are both still a little sickly today but so far Gavin is ok. He had his first bought of pink eye a couple weeks ago, and colds off and on this fall. Hopefully that will be the extent of his illness.

Gavin is lucky enough to have a 3rd set of grandparents in his life - from his birthmother's family. In my sickened state I forgot to check the mail on Saturday so their present was waiting for Gavin when I remembered to check the mail yesterday afternoon. A cars pez dispenser and a glow in the dark bumblebee shirt. Here Gavin is wearing the shirt over his pajamas because he demands to wear it nonstop. He also carried the car from the pez dispensor with him all day today.

What I find most remarkable about this Christmas is that every single item Gavin got was a winner. Nothing was too frusterating or hard for him to play with, and he has played with everything he received. I think he's growing up.

Getting ready for Christmas

2011-12-27T12:35:00.000-08:00

This year Gavin was able to better understand the nativity story and could name the key players. His favorite are the 3 kings.

Gavin even occasionally arranged the nativity scene appropriately. He did, however, like to pretend to make the angels eat the bale of hay no matter how often I reminded him it was for the animals.

Mee maw and Pop pop came to visit for Christmas bringing gifts of transformers. Mee maw was able to find a type that Gavin was actually able to transform all by himself.

Ready for Santa with new batman pajamas with cape courtesy of Jake's parents (he also got a spiderman set of pajamas):

Our latest

2011-12-27T12:02:00.000-08:00

New suit:

The past 6 months or so have been really tough around here, but it seems we're starting a new chapter in Gavin's development. His behavior has been much improved this past month. His fits are much less frequent and of shorter duration, and he's easier to reason with. He seems to understand things better, and is a lot more fun to be around. His speech has improved immensely, with him mostly speaking in incomplete sentences now. He tends to leave out prepositions, the word "the," and sometimes the first word of the sentence. His attention span has also changed. He's always been attentive to things that interest him but now it's easier to predict what will hold his attention. I was able to clean the whole master bathroom and put away laundry last week while Gavin watched a Care Bears movie on netflix. He watched the entire movie without wandering off. This was the first time since we've moved into this house that I've been able to clean that bathroom while home alone with Gavin. Usually Jake watches him whie I clean, because Gavin can't be trusted to wander the house, and wouldn't stay put long enough in our bedroom. This sounds like a little thing but it makes my life a lot easier.

Gavin is also starting to make good use of the motorcycle Uncle Tom bought him a couple years ago - he can steer it pretty well on his own now:

Star Wars

2011-12-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

First of all, here's Gavin's impression of an ant using baby carrots:

Next, Gavin has been really into all things Star Wars the last couple months. Here's his "C-Pee-Pee-Poe-Poe (C3PO)" made out of blocks:

Here he is as a stormtrooper. He usually makes a gun out of blocks to go along with the mask, but this day he used a lightsaber (the feather duster). Gavin often times pretends to be Darth Vader in the mask and cape too, and he sings the darth vader song while doing so "bah-bah-bah-bah buh bah-bah buh bah" Sometimes he's Darth Vader without the mask, and puts a scowl on his face and does the breathing sound effects.

Also, Gavin has not been happy with the angel on our tree. He has noticed that every other Christmas tree or picture of a Christmas tree that we see has a star on top, and he wants one on the top our tree too. It seems to really bug him. So I put the star he made at school on top of our tree. He wanted me to remove the angel completely. I did, but he wasn't happy with how I was putting the star on the top of the tree. He kept saying he wanted me to "hitch" it on the tree. He even showed me his toy truck trailer with the hitch on it to try to illustrate. I wasn't sure what he wanted, and couldn't make him happy, so I just put the angel back on. In retrospect maybe he wanted me to use one of the ornament hooks to "hitch" it on the tree. But he hasn't fussed about the star since the night I put it around the angel's neck so I'll let sleeping dogs lie.

Happy Days

2011-12-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

Today all is well in the world. We are healthy, I am rested, and feel more stress-free and at peace than I have in months. It is 77 degrees outside and sunny, and Gavin is enjoying digging in the dirt. Life is good. Time to blog.

Deep Thoughts

2011-12-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid one of the funniest segments on Saturday Night Live was "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy." Many were hysterical, but my family favorite has always been:

"One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to DisneyLand, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "DisneyLand burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real DisneyLand, but it was getting pretty late."

Occasionally events in life have caused this quote to come to mind. Saturday evening was one of those times. It was time to put up the Christmas tree. Gavin was super excited, because we had told him that this year we would put a big tree on the floor where he could see it, rather than the Gavin-proof mini tree we've put out of his reach in all his Christmases past. So we get out the box that contains our big tree and start assembling it, branch by branch. Gavin helped by fluffing up the branches. He was excited. And then we realized something got lost in our move last year:

Yup, the top portion of our tree is lost. What's odd is that I can remember cleaning out our attic in our old house before we moved, Jake asking me "what's this?," and me telling him it was the top of the Christmas tree. Somehow it just got thrown away. Or maybe its hidden in our attic somewhere and we'll find it when we move out of this house some day. Either way, we didn't have it for Gavin on Saturday. Epic Fail. So, we go online and find a great tree at Walmart that was easy to put together too, assembling in only 3 parts instead of having to insert every branch seperately. Jake went to go get it while I cleaned up the old tree. He got home, we opened the tree, and there were 154050493494848437478423874378 loose branches in the box to be assembled. It would have taken hours to assemble, every Christmas for the rest of our lives. Turns out we were wrong about the easy assembly part. We put it back in the box to return to the store. Epic Fail #2. It was at this point that I was glad I had been raised by a mom that always knew how to deal with situations like this. We got down the little 4 foot tabletrop tree, and I sat down next to Gavin to talk to him. I told him that he was going to have his own personal Christmas tree that he could decorate any way he wanted, emphasizing that this was going to be his tree. His eyes got real big, he inhaled deeply, and exclaimed "thank you Mommy!" while throwing his arms around me. After we assembled it (in 3 easy pieces, prelit!) Gavin looked up at it (it's about 6 inches taller than him) and said "hooge tee (huge tree)" Epic Win.

Pilgrim

2011-12-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

I love how Gavin's imagination works. When I picked Gavin up at school one day in Novemeber this pilgrim had no face. The teacher said we were supposed to put a picture of Gavin in place of the face. Gavin, however, had a different idea. On the way home he took the belt buckle and shoe buckles off to make the pilgrim into a "wobot."

Architects at work

2011-12-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

A week or so after Halloween I found a gingerbread village on clearance at Target for 90% off, $1. We made Gavin's house first:

His didn't get a whole lot of decorating because he couldn't wait to do this:

I finished mine next, and it was a perfectly acceptable house:

Meanwhile Jake, whose dream job is to be an architect by the way, got fancy:

I'm thinking maybe Jake should be decorating Gavin's birthday cakes from now on, he's got skills. Jake's house lasted about 3 seconds before this happened:

Yay for family fun.

Eatin'

2011-12-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

Gavin's favorite "trick or treat" are suckers.

He is not always a good eater. He usually picks around at whatever I cook for lunch, which is exacerbated by the fact that at lunchtime he's still full from eating a snack at school. But he still likes his canned veggies and raw baby carrots:

I can totally remember being a small child and eating cheerios in front of Saturday morning cartoons. What a great time in life:

turkeys

2011-11-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

Today at school Gavin made a turkey out of a pinecone. This afternoon we were sitting on our front porch watching a house being built on the end of the street. Gavin looked up at the pinetree in our front yard and said "lots turkeys up high."

Halloween

2011-11-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Trunk or Treat 10/29

2011-10-31T11:28:00.000-07:00

Fall happenings

2011-10-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

When we got home from Florida my apple order was waiting for me - 2 bushels.

We've been making lots of applesauce:

This picture cracks me up:

A couple weeks ago Gavin had a fall festival at school and got to bring home a pumpkin:

2011-10-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got back from a week in Destin. It was wonderful. Jake and I stayed in a condo on the beach for 6 nights while my parents 11 miles away in Fort Walton Beach kept Gavin. Uncle Bill and Aunt Joy were in town too, along with Tom. I had anticipated using my free time to update the blog with stuff I've been too tired to write, and to document a play by play of our trip. Somehow we ended up in a condo without internet access. It was a really nice, well furnished 7th floor condo with a great view but no internet. So I didn't get to update but I did get to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet. And I got one and a half books read too. I finished "The Help" and am half way through "The Entitlement Trap" about how to raise your kids so they're not spoiled brats. I highly recommend both books. The rest of the time was spent eating out, a little shopping, dinners with family, and lots of time on the beach with family. Several days the water was clear and waveless, just how I like it best. It was so clear I could see schools of fish swimming from the balcony of our condo. We celebrated Tom's 30th birthday (and Jake's 34th which was the next day, and my mom's 60th which is later this month, and my dad's 60th which is in November) on the 12th with a perfect day on the beach: kayaking, swimming, visiting, Jake snorkeling, Gavin shell finding, relaxing, and Mellow Mushroom pizza on the beach for dinner provided by Aunt Jan. Perfect. Here are a bunch of pictures of the trip:

The beloved Optimus Prime Grandma bought Gavin:

I didn't realize how big Gavin had gotten until I saw these pictures of me holding him:

Next 3 are from the 20th floor:

raining in the distance:

Another sign of Gavin's growth - long legs:

My mom is wearing the pink shirt:

While I read Jake played video games:

found a shell:

I've noticed my mom and I look a lot alike from behind:

Tom on his 30th birthday:

Jake's favorite beach activity, snorkeling:

Something to blog about

2011-09-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Gavin was extra tired after church - he couldn't make it in the door:

Today they had a fair type deal on base. Gavin had lots of fun on the rides. I wasn't sure if he'd like them. I can remember my mom having to take me off the kiddy bumber cars at Worlds of Fun when I was little because I was scared. Gavin showed no fear. In fact he squeeled with delight:

Jake said he kept turning the wheel to make the teacup spin until Gavin's face started changing color - then he slowed down.

Gavin did have second thoughts about this water slide. Once he got to the top he kind of layed there holding on for dear life. But it was too late to do anything but go down at that point. Afterwards he said it was scary:

Darn Dewey Decimal

2011-09-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today Jake and I picked out some books for Gavin at the library while he was at school. I found several books about adoption in the children's fiction section, classified by author. Then I looked up adoption books for kids in the juvenille non-fiction section. There were 3. The shelf that housed them contained, in this order, books about: blindness, physical handicaps, homelessness, adoption, global warming, and nuclear disaters. I thought it was pretty funny in a totally offensive, perverse way.

Our latest

2011-09-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Last week it cooled off around here. It's warmed back up this week, but the nights are still cool. The pool water is chilly, not sure if we'll be swimming again this year. But it was great weather for playing outside. The day this picture was taken Gavin turned to me and said "bye!" I asked where he was going, and he said "fight bad guys" while he ran off.

Gavin got some new "iders man oos" last weekend; he thinks they're pretty cool.

Shooting his web:

New shoes make you run fast:

Playing with his shadow this afternoon:

I've found a new website to waste my time/ enjoy. www.pinterest.com Check it out, it's awesome. It's a virtual pinboard. Instead of saving links to your "favorites" list you can save individual pictures and their links on here. So if you find a recipe/ new couch/ skirt you like/ new book/ cleaning tip/ quote that you want to remember you "pin" it, and can refer back to it later. Also, you can see what others, including your facebook friends, are pinning. It is really fun. I think the site is so genius I actually researched the company with hopes of buying stock. Alas, it's privately owned for now. Here's one of my favorite, albeit not exactly useful, things I found while perusing other's pins:

You may have to live in the south to appreciate this one.

So it's been awhile...

2011-09-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

...since I last posted. Life goes on. I have not exercised nor have I napped like I anticipated doing once Gavin started school. But I have run errands, done church stuff, and even had time to visit a friend. It's been so nice to be able to go to the grocery store without dealing with fits. Gavin continues to enjoy school, and his speech is improving quite quickly. He comes home with a lot of drawings/paintings/art projects. Some of them are pretty involved for a 3 yr old and I'm pretty sure his teacher does those while the kids play. Gavin has let his teacher take him to the bathroom at school a couple times, and has returned to his previous potty training status at home. As long as nothing too exciting is going on he's good to go. But if there's something fun going on all bets are off. We had dinner parties the last 2 weekends and he pooped in his pullup both evenings. I'm thankful I had the foresight to put a pullup on him before these dinner parties, and I'm thankful that Jake took care of both incidents without me even asking him. He's a great dad. And husband. Gavin continues to throw fits and act nutso pretty frequently at home. And doesn't listen. He responds to discipline (usually cries when put in time out) and seems to understand when I tell him why he is being punished but it does not prevent him making the same mistake again. And he finds trouble every time I leave the room. Every time. I go to the bathroom for 2 minutes and I find him hiding under the kitchen table eating jelly beans. One time it was the heel of the loaf of bread, like that was something really special. He can climb up onto our kitchen counter and reach the food in the top cabinet quite quickly. He's also escaped through the doggy door twice this week. Thank goodness for Jake, who installed child locks on the cabinet and screwed shut the doggy door today. And forget talking on the phone. When I try to do that Gavin goes nuts. He teases the dog, screams, and thrown himself down and throws fits. I told my mom I'm glad we were able to adopt Gavin because a lot of other parents would be beating him right now. We will not be doing that. Fortunately we do realize this is just a phase and love him anyway. He is still our loving, charming, funny little boy 60-70% of the time. And that other 30-40% of the time he just needs us to realize that little boy is still there, he's just hiding behind naughty behavior that will be outgrown with time. I am so thankful for prayer during this time, and for the answer to prayers I have received in regard to Gavin and parenting. I am also thankful that we have scriptures available to us and that we do a daily family scripture study and prayer to help teach Gavin morals, values, and about our Savior, who Gavin recently called "my fwiend Jesus," and has stated several times when pointing to a picure of Jesus "(he) loves me." Last weekend I hung up a picture of mine that I bought about 9 years ago when I was just starting to really think about how I would become a mother. I have not seen another piece of artwork that better represents infertility, the hope of becoming a mother, and miracle babies - and to me it perfectly symbolizes adoption. I hung it up in the hall on the way to our bedroom and I'm glad I did because each time I pass it I think about what a miracle it was that Gavin became our son, and how truly blessed we are to have him, fits and all.

(that's my reflection in the bottom middle, not part of the painting)

First day of school

2011-08-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

Gavin started preschool this week, 3 mornings a week 9-noon. This first morning when he woke up I told him he was going to go to school that day. He said, "Thank you Mommy!" and gave me a big hug. He seems to be enjoying school so far, every time I ask him what he did at school he says "play." So far the 3 days I've dropped him off his class has played with blocks, playdoh, and watercolors. Per the teacher the academic goals for the year are: know the colors and shapes, identify all letters and numbers 1-10, and count to 30.

Gavin came home from his first day and asked to play with his letter magnets, which he has never before acknowledged. He has also shown an increased interest in books this week.

At home he's also thrown a fair share of fits and his potty training has regressed. He holds it at school, except for that one day he pooped in his pants, but at home this week he's had a lot of accidents. At least his behavior at school has been good. I'm hoping it's just being tired and the change in schedule and he'll get back to normal soon. This picture kind of sums up overall how our week has been at home:

11 Years Later

2011-08-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is our 11th wedding anniversary. It has been an eventful, challenging year, and we are closer because of it.

Uncle Tom's visit (and Mee Maw and Pop Pop who don't get in pictures too)

2011-08-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

My brother Tom was able to get a few days off work and flew inWed-Sat. The visit went too quickly but it was great to see him. Gavin had so much fun with Tom swimming, watching transformer videos via youtube on the iPad, and playing the bee game.

New phrases

2011-07-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

This week when Gavin thinks something is really funny he laughs and says, "that tickles me."
The group of transformers that are good guys are called the autobots. Gavin is insistant that they are are called "apple bops."
When Gavin says his tummy hurts it sounds like he's saying his "puppy" hurts.

The transformers situation

2011-07-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago my mom told Gavin that if he did well with his potty training she would send him transformers in the mail. I told her which ones to order, and the package came a few days later. The item description on target.com was not quite accurate. What we got in the mail was 2 boxes full of legos, from which you were supposed to construct the transformers. Umm, no. So I returned those and let Gavin pick out what he wanted at the store. He picked a regular bumblebee transformer:

Yah, that's the arm that repeatedly came off. It's not supposed to. Transformers aren't quite as sturdy as they used to be. Also, Gavin couldn't quite "transform" the toy from a robot into a car by himself, which frustrated him and led to fits. So I tried again. Twice. Here was another attempt. This particular transformer was made for ages 4 and up:

It was too frusterating too. The last attempt was for ages 3 and up. It too led to fits. I hear enough fits around here without adding to them with a frustrating toy. So I returned all of them. 4 different purchases in all. And Gavin wasn't really all that upset. In fact, the next day, a Sunday, he was quite content to make his own transformer from the newspaper:

He played with that for several hours, then took it to church with him to play with during Sacrament meeting. Sometime while all this was going on, I think a couple days later, Jake finally found a transformer for Gavin that worked. So one day Gavin opened the front door and found another "package from Grandma." This was inside:

It's a hotwheels type bumblebee car with the robot imprinted on the bottom. Perfect. No "transforming" required, nothing to fuss about. Since Gavin has continued to do well with his potty training he got another "package from Grandma" with a similar transformer inside. There's one more waiting for him. Unfortunately, the toys were made a few years ago and discontinued. The BX only has 3 different types, and they're going for $20 each online. But I think 3 is enough anyway.

Totally unrelated pictures:

making cupcakes:

One of the few times we can count on Gavin to take a nap is after church. Almost every week he falls asleep on the way home.

My latest find

2011-07-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I ran across this article:
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/07/05/can-you-actually-earn-reasonable-money-from-mechanical-turk/
And I decided to try mechanical turk out for myself. It's actually kind of fun. Basically it's an amazon.com affiliated site that lets you perform various piece work tasks for a small amount of money. Write an article for a blog $2, complete a political survey $1, participate in a psychological study for a university $1.25, etc. I like it because I use parts of my brain that haven't engaged in a while - today I completed an English study for a university similar to the verbal portion of the SATs. So for I've spent probably 4 hours completing different tasks and made about $21. Not much but better than the zero dollars I would have made reading various blogs during the same time. It helps that I'm a fast reader and good test taker and can zoom through most of the tasks in about half the projected participation time. I've found it's best to stick with the tasks that pay at least $1.Worth a shot if you have some time to kill and could use a little extra spending money. (No I'm not making any $ of this referral and you bet I did check to see if I could)
www.mturk.com

How I used my Kohl's cash today

2011-07-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Gavin made it all day without an accident, which was impressive considering we were out shopping for about 4 hours or so. At home he wore shorts with no underwear on underneath this morning, and while out and about he wore a diaper which was dry when we got home. Then he switched into his new underwear. I am really impressed with Kohl's family bathroom. I've noticed family bathrooms at several stores but I don't think I've ever used one before. I don't know if they're all like Kohls', but that one had a low to the ground toilet for kids in addition to the normal toilet. And Gavin used it, with a little bribing to play with is new bumblebee transformer when he was done. I'll post more about that toy later - I want to enjoy my evening now that Gavin is asleep. But I wanted to share these super cute pictures first.

Bebops

2011-07-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

Between the potty training and the frequent 3 year old tantrums it's been kinda rough at our house. Gavin is doing wonderfully with the potty training, taking himself when needed, as long as he's naked from the waste down. Often times Gavin even carries his potty into Jake's computer room when he wants to watch him play video games. The problem lies with the underwear. When he wears it it's constant accidents. As of today we've started with big bribes to try to get him to stay dry. A week or 2 ago Gavin watched a Transformers movie with Jake. Gavin is obsessed. He talks about "bebops" (robots) all day long. He has a magazine with a picture of a yellow robot in it, and he kept pointing at it over the course of several days and saying what sounded like "mawbaybe." Any guesses? Today I finally figured out what he was saying - bumblebee, the name of one of the transformers. Gavin is also getting quite upset that his hotwheel cars don't transform into robots. He has had several large throw himself on the floor fits over the issue. I keep telling him no matter how big a fit he throws I can not turn his hotwheels into transformers. So as of today we are bribing Gavin that if he can keep his underwear dry and go on the potty he can watch transformer cartoons with Daddy. My mom is sending him a couple transformer toys (Bumblebee and Optimus Prime to be exact) to aid in the bribing. Jake has even told Gavin he can look at his childhood collection of transformers if he can keep his underwear dry. Gavin got so excited when we told him this at lunch time he immediately got down and went and peed on the potty. Then he excitedly told Tyler all about the bebops. I went to the grocery store this afternoon and while Gavin was home with Jake he was able to stay dry and use the potty. Later this afternoon, on my watch, he wet himself. I'm thinking maybe Jake should take a week off work to potty train. Gavin continues to keep me entertained. Occasionally I bring up our adopting again, asking him if he would like a baby to come live with us in our house. He always says yes, and always says that he wants a girl baby. A couple times when I asked him what we should name her he said "Jill," then pointed to his head and said "hat," telling me about the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. I guess rolling down a hill sounds fun to him. I'm thinking there must have been an episode of "Super Why" that told that story that made such an impression. Today I asked him about the baby again. He again said he wanted a girl baby. I asked him what she will say, and he said, "wah, wah, I want Gavin, I want Gavin" in a sing song voice.

4th of July

2011-07-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great Fourth of July. Some friends joined us for swimming, eating hot dogs and pie, playing in the backyard, and watching fireworks. Gavin of course loved having all the friends around to play with. He also loved the fireworks, becoming so excited that he ran around giving everyone hugs. I think he also liked the staying up way past his bedtime part. We didn't shoot any fireworks ourselves, but there were plenty going off around our house. We all stood in the front yard and pretty much turned in circles as they went off in every direction. There were even some small ones going off in our cul-de-sac, reminding me of our 4th of Julys on Shiloh Court when I was little. Except without the bottle rockets.

Sun Protection

2011-06-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

When I swim mid day, this is what I look like:

I like sun protection. I haven't always, but I've noticed signs of sun damage on my skin this year and am trying to minimalize any further issues. So, I wear a hat, sunglasses, an SPF 50 swim shirt (from the boys dept at Walmart $8), and SPF 50 sunscreen.

Gavin likes sunscreen too:

Gavin's bedtime prayer last night

2011-06-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

"Bless Mommy,Daddy,friends,church,big trucks,dirt."

Swimming!

2011-06-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

6/18 swim from Kelly C on Vimeo.

Pool!

2011-06-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

Isn't that a beautiful pool?

I don't really even want to go into what a stressful ordeal it was to get it that way. It's too depressing. Suffice it to say it took a month and we ended up draining it and starting over.

But it was worth it for this guy:

We're in the pool almost every evening now, after it gets late enough to not have to mess with sunscreen. Gavin could stay in there all day. He just finished up 2 weeks of refresher swimming lessons. He still requires some occasional cueing to stay in the correct form in the water but all in all he is an awesome little swimmer. His biggest problem is that he often times doesn't want to stop to rest or turn over and float to breathe while swimming - he just wants to go go go. But somehow most of the pictures I took are of him floating. I have a video too if I can ever get it uploaded.

Our garden is doing pretty well too:

update

2011-06-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

I just sent an e-mail with the following update, so I figured I might as well update the blog with it too:
Gavin started swim lessons this week and is a little fish. He picked right up where he left off last year. His teacher is working with him on stopping to turn over and take breathes - Gavin sometimes forgets to come up for air. We've had some issues getting our pool opened up but should be swimming in the next couple days. He is also finally ready for potty training - when we're home he uses the potty about 75% of the time, but needs a reminder each time. I'm hoping he will be trained by the end of the summer so he can start a 3 morning a week preschool program in August.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-31T18:47:00.000-07:00

We once again spent a long Memorial Day weekend at my parents house in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We got there Friday afternoon and left Tuesday morning. My parents watched Gavin for us each day so Jake and I could have time alone, and then each late afternoon we headed to the beach. This way we missed the brunt of the crowds and didn't have to apply sunscreen. Double bonus. The bay worked best for Gavin this trip, so that's where we mostly went. The water is super shallow there so it's great for him to play in. We also lucked out for the 2nd year in a row and the water temperature was in the low 80's, warm enough for even me to get in. During the days Jake and I shopped, ate out, and saw Pirates of the Caribbean in 3D Imax. We managed to eat at 3 of my favorite restaurants: Helen Back Pizza (ate outside on deck on the water - best view for a pizza place I've seen), La Paz (Mexican - catered our wedding), and Whataburger (best fast food ever). The only downside to taking Gavin on vacation is that he doesn't sleep as well as he does at home. Saturday morning he woke up around 4am. My mom and I got up with him, and we were at the park by 6. But it was a gorgeous morning, and the park is on the sound so we got to watch all the boats go by. Here are some pictures from the trip. They aren't all in chronological order.

Fun with Grandma while Jake and I were out:

Train Ride at Uptown Station:

Fountains at Uptown Station:

Sunday evening trying out our new boat in the bay:

Passed out on the way home with a found shell in hand:

Friday evening on the gulf:

Saturday evening at the bay:

Monday evening at the bay:

Watching the Curious George movie on Jake's IPod:

Potty time

2011-05-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

Gavin's favorite place to potty train:

Bad Guys!

2011-05-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

Gavin likes "bad guys." He likes watching them on tv, pointing them out as they walk by at the store (embarrasing), and pretending to be one. I've learned a few things about bad guys from Gavin. First of all, they always have to wear a hat, and preferably sunglasses too:

Sock caps are the best kind of bad guy hats. Baseball caps are permitted, but they have to be worn backwards. Burger King crowns are ok if worn upside down. Bad guys always furrow their eyebrows and make faces like this too:

One day Gavin was on the back porch while I was messing with the pool. He went inside, I figured to get a toy. A couple minutes later when he didn't return I went to check on him. I found him hiding in a corner with a pan of brownies:

Good times with the pool

2011-05-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

We've all been sick for what seems like forever. Bad colds all around. And it's taking forever to get over them. We're all still a little sniffly at times. And today there is something in the air outside that is giving me the same allergic reaction I get when I'm around cats - itchy, watery eyes, throat closing up, runny nose, etc. Benadryl helped a little, but of course makes me super drowsy. I tried to nod off a little on the couch but Gavin poked me and said "wake up!" Good times. In the midst of being sick over the last couple weeks we've been working on our pool. We got it opened up, cleaned out, and the water is now clear. We also added a saltwater system to reduce the need for chemicals. In dealing with the pool I have learned a lot about pool chemistry and have actually found real world uses for what I learned in high school geometry, algebra, and chemistry classes. The guy at the pool store jokingly asked me if I wanted a job when I knew more about the chemicals I needed than he did. Measuring a portion of the circumference of the pool I was able to determine our pool is 24ft in diameter, which is pretty big for an above ground pool. We're still working on getting the salwater generator to produce enough chlorine. Friday we went ahead and put the stairs inside the pool.

There they are laying sideways on the far end of the pool. This is not where we put them mind you. When you put the stairs in place you're supposed to put sandbags on a shelf underneath them to keep them in place. Well when we opened up the pool there was lots of sand on the pool floor. I figured one the bags of sand the previous owner used for the stairs last summer must have ripped. It was my bright idea to use bags of salt instead. I figured that way if it leaked we wouldn't have to vacuum it all up, we could just let out some of the water to maintain the proper level of salt in the pool. That obviously is not going to work. With the pump turned on the stairs went round and round the pool until the salt bags fell out. And the weather is in the 60's today and it's been raining off and on, not exactly great weather to fix this mistake. Oh well. Hopefully sometime this week we'll get everything straightened out and be ready to swim. The garden is going a lot more smoothly. So far everything I planted is growing and nothing has died:

Touch a Truck

2011-05-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

After work today I met Jake and Gavin at a charity "Touch a Truck" event in Macon. It delivered on it's promise to be "A family-friendly one day event that will allow children of all ages to come look in, climb on, hear stories and learn about a variety of vehicles and modes of transportation. Bring your children to see a helicopter, fire engine, ambulance, motorcycle, police car, bomb squad vehicle, hearse, garbage truck, dump truck and more!" I still think it's a little weird about that they had a hearse there. Gavin of course enjoyed the event but was a little overstimulated by all the big trucks - he had trouble at times enjoying each truck because by the time he got up close he would see another truck he wanted to go look at. It reminded me of Tyler's first Christmas when he was a puppy. We got him a big bag of assorted dog toys. We opened the bag and dumped all the toys out at once. Tyler was excited but quickly went from one toy to another whimpering, unable to decide what to play with - overstimulation.

It works!

2011-05-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

quote of the day

2011-04-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

(after walking through the bedroom where Jake was sleeping)
Gavin: "Daddy."
me: "Is Daddy sleeping?"
Gavin "Yah. Cutes."
me: "Daddy is cute when he's sleeping?"
Gavin: "Yah. Big Cutes. Big Daddy."

Weekend in review

2011-04-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

I always plan on taking pictures when we have dinner parties but I never do. I planned on taking pictures of all the Easter food too but I didn't. I did take pictures of the desserts before everyone got here:

And then I took a picture of the leftovers on Sunday to get an idea of our feast:

It was fun having a big group for Easter dinner; there ended up being 8 adults and 7 kids. After dinner the kids did an egg hunt in the backyard and then played for a couple hours while we all sat on the back porch visiting.

Gavin enjoyed his "boid":

which, by the way, I got the idea for making here: http://www.whattoexpect.com/blogs/astudentatmamauniversity/easter-desserts-for-kids-ooey-gooey-chickie-nests

The vegetables I planted a couple weeks ago are growing fast:

our peach tree:

the lettuce from seeds is sprouting:

the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and stevia are growing crazy fast:

this grape tomato plant in particular:

pear tree:

I think the only things that are not going to make it are the 2 rasberry bushes we planted. Someone keeps stomping on them:

I realized I never posted the final result of all our hard work in our flower beds. Here it is:

And in other news we have a new (to us) riding mower...

that doesn't work. Luckily it was free (actually free + $80 for a couple parts it needed). It was given to us by Jake's coworker Steve, who it was given to by another coworker named Steve. Steve #1 was given a better mower, so he gave this one to us, which worked the day he dropped it off. Jake thinks it has a bad starter. Luckily Steve #2 has a spare starter he's giving us, so hopefully it will be up and running soon.

Easter eggs

2011-04-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

You can tell you have a boy when he decorates his Easter eggs with fire trucks, rockets, and bikes:

Gavin was enthusiastic about eating one of his eggs for breakfast. But he didn't like it. I asked him if he wanted me to cut it open so we could see what is inside. He replied, "trick or treats?" If only real eggs contained candy. Then I might actually be interested in raising chickens.

Tomorrow night we're having a group of friends over for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt. I made these for dessert for the kids (and a few extra for the parents):

Action figures

2011-04-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

Gavin has started really playing with action figures. This week he has spent several hours with his "bad guys" playing at the kitchen table:

One evening this week Gavin sat in this box watching cartoons. Notice the look of concern in the 2nd picture. Gavin is quite empathetic and can be moved almost to tears when told a story about something sad.

I love to see the temple...

2011-04-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

The Atlanta LDS Temple has been closed for renovations for almost 2 years. The renovations are now done and the temple has been open for tours for a couple weeks before it is dedicated and closed off from the general public.

Since most of the temple is normally closed off to children, this was a great opportunity for Gavin to get to see the inside. We went on our tour Wednesday. In preperation we had a family lesson on the temple geared toward Gavin on Tuesday afternoon. I taught a little lesson about the purpose of temples while Gavin looked at a slideshow of temples around the world (http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/). He then constructed a few temples of his own out of blocks.

His favorite was the Salt Lake Temple:

The tour on Wednesday was wonderful. We met up at the temple with our friends Dale and Angela and their little boy Brayden. Also, it was our stake's (group of congregations in our area) day to volunteer at the temple, so we knew many of the people working at the open house, which added to the experience. The inside of the temple is even more beautiful than before. The ceilings and chandeliers were awesome. What stood out to me most was all the different pictures of Christ throughout the temple. There were pictures before, but I never really noticed them. Now the beautiful artwork really stands out. Gavin did a great job on the tour. He was a little reluctant to have shoe coverings put on him before entering but once he saw that his friend Brayden was wearing them he allowed it. Gavin was rather quiet throughout the tour. I enjoyed pointing out all the neat stuff for him to look at, like the mirrors and the ceilings. The only time I recall him talking at all was when we were in the room with the babtismal font - Gavin said "water!"

Angela, Dale, and Brayden:

Gavin and Brayden:

After the tour Angela and Brayden rode home with Gavin and I while Jake and Dale stayed to work at the temple. Their job was to man the water table in the refreshment tent, where everyone goes after the tour to eat a cookie and ask any questions they may have. Their shift was 4pm-8pm. In Jake's own words, he thought this was a "cake job," but soon found out it was harder than it looked. He ended up getting quite a bit of exercise, constantly switching out water jugs and filling water cups from a dispensor for hours. Luckily our good friend Sister Kozak was handing out cookies so at least Jake got a snack. 4300 people toured the temple that day, many during that last shift. That's a lot of cups. The tours ran late and Jake didn't end up leaving the temple until around 10pm, getting home right after midnight.

Also speaking of temples, I'm excited that one is being built right outside my home town of Liberty, Missouri. It's scheduled for completion sometime in 2012. Here are the details: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/kansascity/

The Upside

2011-04-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

There is an upside to having a kid with a speech delay. Thursday all 3 of us were at Publix grocry shopping. A thin, wrinkly old lady pushed her cart past us and said hi to Gavin. She had stringy hair pulled back in a pony tail and was a little hunched over too. Gavin pointed at her and said "MOMBIES!" a few times. He can't pronounce a "Z." I just played dumb and calmly said to him, "yah, she looks like a mommy doesn't she?" while the lady was in earshot.

Week in review

2011-04-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

Gavin spent most of the day Sat the 2nd pushing his new bubble mower around the backyard:

We have trees! We (mostly Jake) planted a fuji apple tree Thursday:

and a peach tree:

and I planted a little raised vegetable garden:

We were happy to discover we have real dirt in our backyard, not just all clay like at our old house. Since the holes were pretty easy to dig Jake went back to the nursery and picked up and planted a pear tree too.

My mom and Aunt Jan visited Wed evening through Sun morning. Jan advised us through the tree/garden planting on Thursday, then we managed to get in some sight seeing Friday and Saturday. On Friday we visited the Air Force museum, then Lane's:

and Grandma spoiled Gavin with a bunch of cars and trucks:

On Saturday we visited the Georgia Music Hall of Fame:

and Aunt Jan bought Gavin a souvenir:

What $122 buys you

2011-03-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

1000 adoption business cards from spacesforfaces.com:

and a blog book from blog2print.com:

table of contents:

Posts from when I started the blog in November 2008 through the end of 2010:

The book ended up being 210 pages long. For those interested in making their own it cost $77 after coupon code. I signed up with the website a few months ago and they recently sent me a 15% off coupon so I decided to go for it. I'm quite pleased with the results, and happy to have a hard copy of the blog. It's fun looking at it with Gavin too.

What a handsome boy

2011-03-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

I got Gavin to pose for some pictures today wearing his new suit. He was suprisingly cooperative, and seemed to think it was fun running to different spots to take the pictures.

Last Friday

2011-03-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was a family work day. We spent about 6 hours finishing up cleaning out the flower beds. We still have to put down new landscaping fabric and pine straw. It was a pretty hot day, getting into the 80's. At one point Jake got the water gun out to help us all cool down.

Last Wednesday

2011-03-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

Remember the shiny new wheelbarrow Gavin got for his birthday? It's still shiny and new because Gavin would rather...

...play with a diet coke box:

while I cleaned out this portion of the flower beds:

We then moved to the backyard where Gavin did actually use his wheelbarrow a little. His favorite thing to do in the backyard is play in the dirt patch left when our septic tank was pumped:

Most of Gavin's socks are stained with red clay now. I soak and bleach but the stains remain. This day for some reason Gavin took his shoes off while playing in the dirt. I figured these socks were a lost cause and threw them in the trash:

My thought process

2011-03-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

So I was uploading pictures to do a new post, and I got a message saying I have used my free 1 GB of space and I would need to purchase more space if I wanted to post more pictures. So my immediate thought is to just make a new blog. That would be free. Then I remembered I just bought 1000 business cards for our adoption stuff that have this website listed on the back. And this site is also on our adoption page through LDSFS, which is a pain to get changed. So I'm going to just suck it up and pay the $5 a year to get more storage. But I'm not happy about it. And after we adopt again I'll probably be starting a new (free to me) blog.

I hate my camera

2011-03-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

I hate my camera. It can take really good pictures when the lighting is right, but in dim light or when the flash is needed the pictures kinda suck. And are blurry.

Gavin woke up with a little bit of a cold or allergies this morning, so he wasn't feeling too great and took an unusual 2 hour nap this afternoon.

Then we went outside and I finished cleaning out all the wood chips and leaves and such out of this flower bed. It became clear as I was doing so that the previous owners had never cleaned anything out of it, they just added more wood chips over the debris. I even found a rusty tire iron under the bush. I started cleaning the bed on Saturday, and it took about 3 hours total.

We were outside playing until after 7 tonight. Spring in Georgia is awesome. Then Gavin chased "bad guys" for awhile with his bow and arrow. He came up with that himself, I never really looked at a clothes hanger and considered it could be used as a weapon.

Castle building

2011-03-02T16:19:00.000-08:00

Today Gavin got his first issue of Lego magazine (it's free):

He saw the pages with the pictures of what kids have made with their blocks and of course wanted to get his blocks out. He wanted to make this castle:

He made this all by himself, and I think he did a great job:

Help us please!

2011-03-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

Friends and family,

We have finished our adoption homestudy at our new house and are ready to find our next child, but we need your help! Many times people who adopt are placed with babies found through a friend or family member. Please refer anyone who may be able to help us find our next baby to our online profile:

https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/16731488/ourMessage.jsf

There's also a link on the right side of our blog.

If for some reason this link doesn't work, go to www.itsaboutlove.org, click on "view adopting family profiles" on the left side of the screen, and search for us by the names "Jake" and "Kelly" at the bottom of the screen under "find a profile."

Thanks!

Warm weather = buzz

2011-02-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

This is how I've been spending my afternoons lately:

First buzz of the year (spent some time at the aviation museum today):

Playing on the J-STARS exhibit (Jake fixes electronics on this aircraft):

Family pics

2011-02-21T12:05:00.000-08:00

I decided we needed some updated family pictures for our adoption profile. We have tons of pictures of Gavin, a lot of Jake and Gavin, some of Gavin and me, but no recent pictures of all 3 of us. My photographer friend Erin took these for us in the woods by our house last Monday:

My favorite are this one:

and this one:

Here are the pictures!

2011-02-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

Last week before it warmed up. Birthday present from Wake and Leslie, complete with sound effects and "bad guys."

Putting up the shed yesterday:

2T shorts falling off:

Got the climber put together:

Flower beds cleaned out (somewhat) and bushes trimmed:

I didn't take a before picture yesterday, but just imagine all this brown and dead looking, and notice how you can't see the window behind the tree:

yesterday's result:

raked up dead lantana:

what we chopped off the tree in the flower bed. I don't like stuff blocking my windows. I found out from a neighbor (after we chopped the branches off) that tree is a saucer magnolia, which would have bloomed in the next month sometime. oops. I looked it up and it's supposed to grow to 20 ft tall, so if we didn't kill it we're going to move it to the backyard.

already getting blooms on one bush:

Moved the swingset today...

...so that we can see it from the porch

technical issues

2011-02-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry no pictures, for some reason I haven't been able to upload any pictures this past week. Will try again later. Gavin had his 3 yr check up last week. He weighs 33 lbs and is 38.75 inches tall. This puts him around the 75th percentile for height and weight. It's been really nice and warm this week and we've been playing outside every afternoon. Gavin has been enjoying playing with the older kids down the street, but is having trouble learning not to run into the street after them. He just gets so excited when he sees them he can't help himself. It's funny how the little girls try to keep him in line and tell him what to do. He doesn't listen to them either. Luckily our house is on a cul de sac so traffic isn't much of an issue. Today was so warm we were in shorts. We got a lot of stuff on our outside to do list accomplished. We put Gavin's climber and Jake's shed together in the backyard, and got our bushes in the front trimmed and flowerbeds cleared out somewhat. It looks so much better.

Happy 3rd Birthday Gavin!

2011-02-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

Might as well...

2011-02-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

As a child of the 80's who hung out with a lot of boys, this picture kinda sums up the musical influences of my childhood:

I can vividly remember rocking out to "Jump" by Van Halen in the Williamsons' basement across the street from us when the song first came out. I was 5. Years later when I met Jake I saw it as a sign that the first time I rode in his car the cd he was playing was old school Van Halen. So you can imagine the grin on my face today when Gavin chose "Jump" to be his first song to sing along to on the radio. He likes the parts where Dave raises his voice. And of course the chorus. Gavin also rocked out to the song, raising both index fingers up and down to the beat and head banging. Time to throw him in a mosh pit.

P.S. especially for Tom-

while searching for the above picture I came across where someone had typed out the lyrics for Jump. They made me lol. (In case you don't know any better (sad for you) these are not the correct lyrics):

I get up, and nothing gets me down.

i like to jump. and then go round and round

And I know, just how it feels.

You've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real

Oh can't you see me standing here,
I'm getting ready for a soccer scene I ain't the worst that you've seen.
Oh can't you see what I mean ?
Might as well jump. Jump !
Might as well jump.
Go ahead, jump. Jump !
Go ahead, jump.

Hey you ! Who said that ?
Baby how you been ?
You say you don't know, you won't know

until you begin.

Well can't you see me standing here,
I'm getting ready for a soccer scene

I ain't the worst that you've seen.

Oh can't you see what I mean ?
Might as well jump. Jump!
Go ahead, jump.
Might as well jump. Jump!
Go ahead, jump. Jump!

Computer literacy?

2011-01-24T06:25:00.000-08:00

If you have a toddler you must try this website: http://hiyah.net/online.htm

It contains a bunch of slideshows for toddlers containing pictures, simple animations, and some music and speech. Your kid controls the slideshow by pushing the spacebar. I liked the nursery rhyme section best, but of course Gavin's favorite was the transportation slideshow:

Gavin's speech is coming along pretty well. He's starting to say more 2 word phrases, and once in a while he'll say a 3 or 4 word phrase. Yesterday he said "I'll do it." A few days ago he got mad at me when I turned off the tv and said "turn the tv on!" It was garbled, but he said it. His vocabulary is growing every day, but he has some favorite words he says most often: "cars", "choo choo", "bad guys", "dig!" (big), "tools", "dire ducks" (fire trucks), "bee-bop" (robot), "juice", "hero", "babies" (means little or diapers), "worios" (can mean cheerios or m&ms), "Melmo" (Elmo), "iders" (spiders) and of course "dig duck" (big truck).

weekly happenings

2011-01-20T14:33:00.000-08:00

We had an ice storm overnight Sunday Jan 9. That's very unusual here, I can only recall one other time it has happened since we moved here. It's rarer than snow. After the storm our yard was covered in what looked like snow but was really ice. It covered the roads too, and shut down the town. School was cancelled for 2 days and the base was closed for a day and a half, so Jake got a snow day from work. We were all too sick to go play outside, but it took several days for all the ice to melt. On Saturday afternoon there was still a patch in a shady spot in the flower bed by our garage. It was a beautiful afternoon, so we all went out to play. First we took a walk on the wooded paths by our house. There are several, and we happened to end up at a dead end on the route we took. After that Gavin played in the remaining ice:

Then he helped me rake pine needles:

And Jake started clearing out the flower beds:

where we found this hiding under all the brush:

On Tuesday we took a trip to Lowes and found a tape measure keychain. Gavin claimed it as his own and has been busy measuring everything in the house:

Also of note this past week - I taught a couponing class at church last Thursday night. There was a large attendence - about 40 women, and they seemed to enjoy my presentation. Since then several of them have told me they have started using coupons, which is awesome. I love to help people save money.

The Best Toy Ever. Really.

2011-01-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

We've been sick. Gavin got it first, then me. Now Gavin and I are still sniffly and Jake has it. Sore throat, low fever, runny nose, cough, chills and hot flashes. I really thought it was the flu, but Gavin's doctor said it was just a bad cold. She gave Gavin cough medicine, which didn't do a darn thing. There's even a warning label on the medicine bottle that states it has not been shown to be effective for children under the age of 6. He was pretty miserable for about a week. Finally the past couple days he's been feeling better. Yesterday he felt up to taking a spin in a toy I picked up for a steal in an after Christmas sale. And it's the best toy ever made. It's a remote control car...that your kid rides in while you control!

With the flip of a switch it can be controlled by the rider through a pedal and the steering wheel. Gavin hasn't figured out the whole steering thing yet. He does like to run into walls. We have to keep the car in another room because Gavin has a tendency to sit in it, buckle the seatbelt, play with the wheel a few seconds, then yell "stuck!" Repeatedly. I got tired of unbuckling him.

Gavin's week in review

2010-12-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

Jake came home from work one day this week with an Iron Sheik action figure, given to him by a coworker for Gavin. Gavin thinks it's a pirate and was attached at the hip to it for a couple days, even waking up early yesterday asking for it (he did this by doing the Wiggles pirate dance when I opened the door to his bedroom yesterday morning). These pictures remind me of the winters of my childhood - WWF wrestling and severely chapped lips.

Yesterday Gavin's day only got better after the pirate dance. First, after lunch he got to see Daddy's car put on a tow truck, and drive behind the tow truck with Daddy's car to the shop to have the fuel pump replaced. Then, he got to watch a big truck pull up to our house and a little digger dig up our backyard to have the septic tank pumped. Luckily the septic pumping was planned, unlike the sudden death of the car. We had to have a septic inspection done for our adoption homestudy. Here's a bit of information for you - most septic tanks put in newer homes contain a filter, requiring the tanks to be emptied and the filter cleaned every 3-5 years.

showing how the digger works in 1st 2 pictures:

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa C

2010-12-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

Mommy's little helper

2010-12-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

Gavin has become interested in watching me cook. He has started pulling up a chair to watch almost every time I'm in the kitchen lately. I let him help here and there, but I have to admit it tries my patience. Example: I let him shake cinnamon into pancake batter recently. He ended up touching the shaker to the batter, creating more of a mess for me to clean up. The last couple days Gavin has been sick and I've been making him keep his hands off the food, which he isn't too happy about.

Who needs toys?

2010-12-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

Gavin's comment: "trick or treats"

dirt

2010-12-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

There is a bare spot in our yard where the previous owner parked a trailer. Gavin made good use of it this week with his trucks.

Thank you Uncle Tom

2010-12-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

We keep the nativity figures in this plastic bucket. Gavin carries it around and calls it his "trick or treats."

Captain Feathersword

2010-12-24T13:08:00.000-08:00

Gavin uses our fireplace hearth as a stage to perform dance routines he learned watching the Wiggles

2010-12-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

Santa's on his way

2010-12-21T06:09:00.000-08:00

We've been busy lately, and I haven't taken any pictures. Still unpacking. Christmas parties. Play dates. Fixing Stuff. Hanging pictures. Cleaning. I've spent at least 3-4 hours cleaning the jetted tub in our bathroom, most recently using q tips to scrub the jets. My advice to anyone building a house - don't put in a jetted tub! They really suck to clean. Gavin started back up with speech therapy. His therapist did an evaluation to see how he's doing. For expressive language he scored a 75, with an 85 being within normal range, putting his speech at a chronological age of 2 yrs 2 months. I'm happy with that. And he scored a 98 on his receptive language, which I expected. He has never had a problem understanding what we say to him. He even has started to understand the whole Santa thing. When asked what he wants Santa to bring him he says "choo choo." Always the same thing, except for yesterday when he was eating smores dessert pizza at the pizza buffet and we asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him. He pointed to the pizza. The last 2 mornings I have found Gavin looking out the window in his room when he wakes up. I asked him what he's looking for, and he said "ho ho ho. choo choo." Gavin has a word for almost everything now, it's just hard to understand what he's saying. It took me a while on Sunday to figure out he was calling the goodie bag he got from nursery "trick or treats". He still prefers to use sound effects a lot of the time instead of words. Instead of naming a type of animal he'll make the noise the animal makes. Instead of Santa it's ho ho ho. And he's still making all his truck sound effects. On the afternoons its been warm enough to go outside he likes to walk or ride his trike around our street picking up rocks, then puts them in his dump truck on the front porch to play with. He enjoys watching the teenage boys across the street from us skateboard, and does his own version by running sideways and jumping. Yesterday Gavin got his Christmas present from Uncle Tom - an unbreakable kid's nativity scene. Gavin flew the angels around for awhile, then noticed the 2 shephards with staffs, which he promptly used to attack each other and all the other nativity people. Jake called it the Quentin Tarantino version. And then Tyler tried to eat the baby Jesus. Welcome to my world. And Merry Christmas!

Baby Jesus

2010-12-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight I got out Gavin's little nativity scene and I explained who everyone was. I pointed out the gifts the wise men were bringing to Jesus, and told him they were bringing them because Christmas is Jesus' birthday. He picked up the wise man and said "Merry Christmas!" Later I asked him what the wise men say, and he responded, "Ho Ho Ho."

After we played with the nativity awhile Gavin decided to play with his Christmas singing dog. He sat it on the ground and then moved all the nativity people to face the dog while it sang:

Tyler likes the Christmas dog too:

Creating a Gavin-proof Christmas Tree

2010-12-05T15:54:00.001-08:00

This week

2010-12-05T14:33:00.000-08:00

It's been cold here this week and Gavin has been spending a lot of time in his footed pajamas. The non-slip soles on them work well on our wood floors, and Gavin likes to wear them, especially his super hero pajamas:

He continues to be obsessed with big trucks, and carries this one that my mom gave him around with him most of the day:

(the huge bug on the window kept Gavin occupied for quite awhile that day)

Last night Gavin tried on a couple pairs of new shoes, these "boops" were his favorite:

Meanwhile Jake hung our special order blinds on our front door last night. The front door was the only window in the house without blinds, and you could see right in from the street. It will be nice to have complete privacy in our house now.

Gavin looks super cute dressed for church, but was not in the mood for pictures this morning. He was upset because Jake had gone outside without him to heat up the car.