She wanted to go outside!

Boo has really taken recently to helping us let the dogs in and out of the backyard.

Even when they don't want to go.

He gives a little helping hand...

Or a pull and a shove...

Poor Lexi.

Four months home!

Today marks four months since we brought Baby J home and we really cannot believe just how fast the time has gone!  So much has changed in our lives that some days it is hard to take it all in and really realize that he is ours, now and forever.  I sometimes find it hard to remember how things were before we brought him home; that is how much of an impact (obviously!) he has made on our lives!!  J is a super kid and no other one could have fit as well into our family as he does.
We think he's going through a growth spurt, as he is sleeping more and not quite as picky about his food as usual.  He has been sleeping through the night for the past week (knock on wood that I'm not jinxing us again) and some nights going 11 hours!!!  And I am super excited to announce that the past two naps and two nights that I have put him to bed, I have actually left the room before he's asleep.  This is a major milestone, as my leaving has been followed by either no crying or less than 5 minutes of the crying that says "hey, come back in here with me, but if you don't, I'll go to sleep anyway."  He seems to be liking his crib a bit more these days and is not terrified of being alone in his room.  When he wakes up in the morning, he'll now cry out a couple of times to tell us he's awake...if we don't get in there within a few minutes, then he lets us know that we're taking too long!  I can't wait for the day that he calls us by saying mommy or daddy, but that day will come and I'm trying to be patient!!
The poor boy is also cutting his top two canine teeth at the same time.  He has had one tooth or another (molars) coming in for the past 2 1/2 months!  No wonder he's picky about his food.  But other than that (and drooling buckets!!), he really is doing well with the teething.  Two more to go and then he's good until his two-year molars start coming in, right?!?!
Now for a bunch of cute pictures of our son...what, were you expecting otherwise?!

Giggles...

 ...kisses...

 ...and hugs with Grandma.

 Hanging out with Daddy watching football and using J's phone.

First trip to the pumpkin patch...loving the ride in the wagon!  Guess I know what will be on his Christmas list.

With his Illini gear on. 

Doesn't he look like he's about to get into trouble?!?!  I adore this boy!

Flying high and loving it with some help from Dad.

Sleeping in (until 7:40 this morning!).

Snack time on the stepstool made by Great-grandpa.

I haven't put in a picture of our first two babies lately.  Lexi and Jinx resting after a day of being chased around by a toddler.  Poor tired girls!

Lexi puts up with soooo much!

A video try...

trying new video:

We took Baby J for a walk outside the agency prior to the blessing from Dr. Kim.





Chris giving J his first meal on Gotcha Day.





J and Lexi getting along.

A new nephew, birthday cake, gift, house update, and video try

While typing this post, I received word (and a picture!) that I have a new nephew!! My sister and baby are doing well...as is her husband, I suppose...they didn't say anything about him! This is son #2 for them. So, my parents now have 3 grandsons...what will Brenda deliver next month?!!?

So, this post is going to be a mish-mash of things. Wednesday I made a cake for Baby J's birthday...it turned out very yummy, but I'll have to take Chris' word as I still cannot taste much and definitely couldn't that day!! I can vouch that it looked good, though!

We still have plenty left over if anyone wants to come continue the celebration with us!!

Last week, I went to an event where first-time mamas can buy gently used children's items (toys, clothes, strollers, cribs, books, etc) for their little ones. I got about 7-8 outfits, some large plastic connecting blocks, and a possible Halloween costume for Baby J. I also bought him his first, and probably only, horse!

Won't he look cute in this with some dark brown pants?! A friend of mine also got the cutest little pumpkin costume with orange and green striped leggings for her little boy...they're going to be the cutest boys out for candy, I assure you!!

This horse might be a little big for him now, but he'll definitely be able to grow into it.

Chris just finished another project on the back deck that has been waiting for a few months until it got warmer out. We had to replace the deck wall along one side and of course, the kind we wanted did not come in the exact length he needed, so he had to do some cutting and rebuilding (kind of like a puzzle). Well, it turned out amazing!!! You can't even tell that they weren't bought at the store like this. I've got such a handy guy for a husband. I forgot to get a before picture, but I took some during the project and at the end.

Measure twice, cut once...

...and it will turn out perfect!!!

Now to stain it all for the summer. :(

Okay, trying to figure out how to get our videos uploaded from the camera to the blog. I am trying with a short one first that Chris took of Lexi giving Jinx a bath the other day. This is common, especially after they come in when it's been raining outside. The picture isn't the best, but this is just a test run.

I had to revert to the old settings in my blogger to insert this, then reset it to the new ones, so I can't wait to see what it's done to all my other posts!! Holding my breath as I post this...

What a week!

What a week this past 7 days have been!!!  Had some big ups and downs at work that I'm not even going to get into here; suffice it to say, yesterday I kept telling myself that I just needed to get through the day because now I have EIGHT DAYS OFF!!  Very excited about that.  :)

We finally got our dining room table and chairs in...after almost 3 months!  We ordered them December 31, since the tax rate was going up the next day and, at that time, the furniture store told us it would take 4-6 weeks for it to come in.  We were fine with that, as we didn't need it for any certain time. At 5 weeks, I called just to see if they knew when it would be delivered and they told me that it wasn't in and that it would probably take the full 6 weeks.  Okay, fine, still not a problem.  At 8 weeks, we hadn't heard from them and a phone call from me registered some surprise with the person that answered that we hadn't gotten our table yet.  So they called the warehouse: the table and four of the six chairs were in; they were waiting until all the chairs were there before sending it to the store for us to pick up.  O-kay, fine, getting a bit upset by this time, but still not a huge problem.  At 10 weeks, we were told that they had all the chairs, but not the table...what?!?!  How did they "not have" the table now, when they had it two weeks ago?!  Not fine, what the heck is going on, we want our dining room set!!  By this time, the guys at the store were getting impatient with the warehouse and told us that our table and chairs would be delivered to our house for free, to make up for our inconvenience.  After calling them daily, we finally got it delivered during week 11...in boxes!!!!!!  Maybe this is how dining room tables and chairs are received normally, but not having bought one before (we've only had small kitchen tables), we just assumed it would either come assembled or they would do it for us.  ha!  So then we had to spend the evening putting together the table and four of the chairs.  Never going back to that store again.  Although we've had bad luck with almost all of the furniture stores in town now, so if we ever buy furniture again, I have no clue where we will actually want to get it from!  But we really really like our new table and chairs; it makes the dining room look like, well, a dining room.  Here's a picture of our awesome table:

If all the above wasn't enough for one week, someone dented my driver's side car door when they were getting out of their car last Thursday.  It was such a windy day that the door probably got pulled out of her hand, so I don't blame her at all for it actually happening, but dang it, take responsibility!  I had just gotten back to my car when the people next to me were getting out, so I stood back to wait for them and didn't see it happen.  Luckily, there was someone in the car facing mine who did see it happen and told me about it when the other people went into the store...the person who did it didn't even say anything to me!  How lame.  So I went back in the store and asked them about it; the driver completely denied it, but he obviously didn't see it happen.  When I specifically asked the woman, she just stared at me mutely and then looked back at the guy, who again denied it.  Long story short, after seeing the dents (and the white paint from my car door on the edge of the dark car he was driving), he grudgingly admitted that it could have been them...after calling his friend who he borrowed the car from to tell her what happened!  I feel sorry for that woman having to pay to repair the damage done by her friends, but she was also a bit aggravated to hear that they had denied it so long.  Thankfully, the two big dents in my car door are going to be repaired soon!  It's kinda funny, though, my car got hit and I was the one who had to do all the work in order for it to be repaired.  This is actually the first time, yes, I said the first time, that I have ever had something happen to a car I'm driving!  Pretty good record, huh?

Chris and I are sending another and, we're hoping, final care package over to Korea this month with a family who is traveling to meet their son.  Thanks, M!!!  Next time, we're hoping it's us who is carrying over the packages for other families!  There hasn't been much movement, but the woman in charge of the Korean program is going over in April to visit and talk with the agency there.  That's great news and hopefully that will kind of start nudging things along again.  Baby J's birthday is two weeks from tomorrow, on April 14, and the family carrying the package for us is leaving on the 16th, so this will ultimately be his birthday gift from us.  I can't believe that we are still waiting for him to come home and are missing this milestone, rather than celebrating it with him.  If we knew back in January that we still wouldn't have him by now, we would have found some way for me to have gone over with B. and L. that month when they went to visit their sons.  (Both of their referrals were about a month before ours and they're still waiting as well!)  Leaving Baby J behind at that time would have been so so heartwrenching, but at least he would have met his mama and maybe remembered me when we go to get him and not be as anxious as he is bound to be.  And Chris and I would have had pictures of me with our son when he was still a baby; we could have had those precious memories.  I could have held him, kissed him, played with him, and smelled him (don't you just love the smell of babies?!).  Now the agency in Korea has said that they cannot accommodate adoptive parents visiting their children prior to travel calls because it places a lot more work on their shoulders, to set up visiting times and have the SW present.  I understand, and want them to have as much time as possible to work on getting the babies home instead of coordinating visits, but didn't they understand when they issued the invitation for parents to come visit that they would be inundated with requests, especially as the wait time between referral and travel call is getting longer and our babies are getting older?!!?  Friday will be six months since we saw our sweet baby's face for the first time and realized that our dream to become parents was finally coming true...now, if it would only turn into reality for us!  Here are some pictures of the birthday package:

His first Illini outfit, a nice birthday outfit (how handsome he will be in it!), a book where he can push the pictures on the side and it says the word (so he may learn some simple English words), and a stacking toy.  Can you believe I could not find those small plastic cups that stack inside each other?!  I remember those from growing up and wanted to send Baby J a set; he could practice hand-eye coordination and begin to learn that even though you can't see something, it's still there...like his mama and papa right now!  We're here waiting for you!

I'm also sending a disposable camera and a thank you gift for the foster family, for caring for and loving our son for the past 10 months.  I really like these statues and hope they will also!

Some shots of our "kids" over the past couple of weeks:

Lexi was buried beneath the blanket before Jinx laid down in the bed with her.  I pulled the blanket away to get this picture.  They have NEVER laid in the same bed to sleep!!!

One day last week, the dogs were rough-housing like usual so I wasn't paying much attention to them.  That is, until I heard this very. pathetic. whining coming from Lexi (the beagle).  Now mind you, she is (just a little bit) spoiled and whines a lot when she wants something, usually attention, not unlike a child, or so I've been told.  But she was no where near me and it continued, so I went to investigate.  Here is what I found:

I started laughing so hard because she looked so funny just sitting there, her head caught in a hole in the blanket they'd been ripping apart.  And Jinx just standing there like, "what's the problem, mom?"  I had to take some pictures!  Of course, I first made sure that my little one was not suffocating, which she wasn't.  My little wonderdog looks like she's got her very own homemade cape!!

Last, but certainly not least, I finished a baby blanket for my sister's baby shower mid-March.  I think it turned out well and am hoping my niece or nephew enjoys it for many years to come!!

Can't sleep...

Why am I awake at 12:30 am?!?!?!?  Well, I know why I'm awake (dear hubby's noisy nose!), but I just could not get back to sleep so decided to post some pictures.  Unfortunately, I also have to work in the morning, um, in 5 hours, to be exact.  After laying in bed trying to get back to sleep, obviously with no success, I uploaded some recent pictures.

Jinx and Lexi

Jinx rarely tolerates Lexi laying so close to her when she's napping, so I could not resist this picture!  As you can tell, they are used to me snapping photos of them close up...not fazed by it at all.

Before I sent the book to J that I wrote about in an earlier post, I was trying to find the Hangul (Korean alphabet) letters for Mom and Dad to write in it.  I came across a website (Zazzle) that sells Korean items and found this shirt...I could not resist it because it's so accurate:

the extent of my modeling career!

Here's a close-up:

I love this shirt!!  I wore it today (well, yesterday now) and we were out to lunch when someone came up to us, said they had noticed my shirt, and congratulated us on our adoption!  I will probably be wearing it frequently because I have to get good use out of it and once J comes home, we won't be "expecting" him anymore.  Yeah!!  Can't come soon enough!

Well, I am going to hopefully get back to sleep now.  Another 3 hours of sleep would do me well before working a 12-hour shift.  Maybe I'll get lucky and be put on standby so I could at least sleep in some.  Sweet dreams!

8 MONTHS OLD

I need to be getting to bed after a loooong day at work and meeting with friends to celebrate a referral for one of them (yeah!), but I just wanted to say that my son is 8 months old today!!  I leave you with a few photos of what I'm going to do now:

More Pictures

Not much to say, but here are more pictures of Chris' big weekend and J's room, plus the end of the weekend.

My man bringing home the bacon, er, venison.

Here are more pictures of us putting the crib together, with some help from our little ladies!

Caught her sticking her tongue out at the camera!

Here's the finished product...can't wait to see our son in it!!

After a busy day, my family sacked out...

...well, except for one little girl who has to know what's going on at all times:

Happy Thanksgiving!!  I know we are thankful for many, many things this year!

Some pictures...

Just wanted to post a few pictures from the last week for you all!!

Here is a teaser shot of J's painted room...
it's kind of a pistachio pudding green.

The rest of the room is a bit of a mess right now,

so no shot of the whole thing until later!

Chris was going on a trip and this is Lexi's

subtle way of saying she wants to go too!

Also, not the first time she has done this; she will climb

in most any bag that has our clothes in it...too cute!!

Finally, I gave the dogs a lick of a lemon and it was sooo funny!

After the first taste, Lexi would actually run away from it if I put it too

close to her.  Jinx wasn't sure she wanted to taste it, but she also didn't

want to pass it up since it was something new.  So she was guarding it

from Lexi, who thought if Jinx had something, she should get it as well.

Come to find out, it was the dreaded lemon!!  What I didn't get a picture of

was her howling at Jinx-and-lemon from a foot away...what a character!!

Garage Sale Success

So, before we get to the garage sale, Chris and I went camping - with the dogs - a couple of weeks ago. This went pretty well. Our older dog, Jinx, has been camping with us before and takes everything in stride. Loves being in the car and outdoors and adapts to new situations very easily. Lexi, our younger dog (who just turned two with a Frosty Paws treat thanks to Grandma Klein), is most definitely our princess. She is more anxious and doesn't make transitions well, but usually follow Jinx's lead (after a while), thank goodness! Of course, I forgot our camera AGAIN during this trip, so I have no pictures to show of them. After the first day, Lexi got more comfortable...or maybe she was just worn out from the 3+ walks they got daily and also being outside the entire day with us. It was beautiful weather, so we were only inside the camper at night. We may take them again, but next time, we should have our baby with us since it won't be until next spring. :( don't think we'll try that first trip with our child AND the dogs at the same time!!

Now, for the garage sale...it was a HUGE success!!!!! Even more so than I had imagined and, I think, much more than Chris had thought it would be. I had two friends who helped me sort, organize, and price items for a few days prior to the sale. They were unbelievable and I could not have done this thing without them!! Thank you sooo much, Sue and Theresa! Before they showed up on Tuesday morning, I was definitely feeling overwhelmed and like I had bitten off more than I could chew. These two ladies were my saving angels (or unicorns! they know what I mean) this past week! I really don't have the words to express how much they did, between the two of them, to help me out and keep me less stressed than I would have been otherwise.

Sue was also the one that helped me during the sale on Thursday. It was supposed to start at 3pm and we decided to start putting the tables out at 1:50; by 2pm, we had people starting to look through stuff, even though we continued setting up until 2:45, when we did our first sale and it did not let up the entire evening! We had gorgeous weather the entire week. My parents were able to come up and help out on Friday and Saturday and brought another table, which we needed! Chris had to be out of town on business until Friday evening, but he was back for the final day and tear-down of the remaining items. We had a lot of stuff left over at the end and have already taken half a truckload to a Goodwill/Habitat for Humanity-type organization, which they were thrilled to have. We will take more to Goodwill, baby clothes to the Crisis Nursery, and the books to the library. We have been so blessed by everyone's support and donations and want to pass this goodwill on to others who need it.

I will leave you with some pictures of the preparations and finally, the left-overs from the sale:



This is our front room the morning of the first day of the garage sale. I had to leave a pathway to get to the front door!




To this side of the front room, everything was piled up. Kept the clothes and most of the toys in here rather then storing them in the garage.




This is "appliance row." I did not have any way to get through the garage at all during this time. We had table after table jammed into the space and there wasn't much room left to get around.




This is a view of the garage from our garage door, the night before the sale started (this does not include the large pile we had outside under two large tarps that would not fit in the garage!)...




...and this is the same view on the evening we finished. We had already taken some of the leftover items away by the time this picture was taken. I cannot describe how many donations we had from people...it was unbelievable and heartwarming!

Again, we are so thankful for all the help and donations that we have received in the past 5 weeks and 3 days. Yes, that is how long we had once we decided to do the garage sale until it was over!! We are hoping that this brings more good news in the next couple of weeks...like the call that will increase our family of 2 to a family of 3 (plus the dogs, of course). We'll post here when that happens!

Stay tuned...

Our girls!!

These are our "babies"!!  Lexi is our 18-month-old beagle; loves to lay on the heat vent in the morning after being outside...she likes being a hot dog!  And, of course, I have to cover her up to make sure she gets all the heat she can. :)

Then, there's our first dog together, Jinx, an Airedale.  We can't believe she just turned 6 years old!!  What a big girl.  She is usually our laid-back one, unless we have visitors and then she thinks she's a puppy and allowed to jump on her new friends.  These pictures are kind of misleading since they don't usually lay around...only when we're lucky!

How sweet they look!!