Got to have friends!

I can definitely say that I have been blessed in life! Wonderful husband & son, good home, good health, great family, but most of all a fabulous circle of friends! It's so easy to take people for granted, especially friends, but without them my life would probably be quite dull! I'm so happy that my girlfriends & I take the time to make time for each other with our "girls' night" every other month. The activity is always something different (eating out, bowling, occasional boozefest, etc), but it is always enjoyable-(especially after we get all of the "venting" out of the way) and relaxing-(did I mention that booze is sometimes involved). It is just such a great feeling to know that here is this group of people who have seen you at and through some of your best & worst times and they still like you & want to spend time with you! I know that I can call them and just let out all of my frustrations knowing that I won't be judged or ridiculed because they can relate and because they know that I will return the favor when they need me to. It's a good feeling to know (does it seem like I'm channeling Mr. Rogers here!) that you have that kind of support system out there for you any time you need it, unless I consider all the stuff they know & could use against me, but then I realize that I have just as much dirt on them! ;) Got to love those girlfriends-I wouldn't be where I am today without them!!!

A Funny Thing Happened...

A funny thing happened on his (Luke's) way to sleep...he actually fell asleep! A couple of weeks ago, we started the "tough love" for naptime & bedtime. The poor little guy had to lie in his bed and go to sleep on his own! We did sympathize with him some and went ahead and continued swaddling him at first. He adjusted very quickly (sleeping through the night by the 3rd night-overachiever-maybe-or just waiting for mom and dad to figure out that he was capable-probably!) We no longer swaddle and he still does very well with going down for his naps and bedtime, but every once in awhile (like this afternoon) he still likes to let us know about it. He'll lie in his crib just letting loose some of the most heart wrenching cries he can come up with (of course he doesn't realize it yet, but mom is one pretty tough/stubborn lady who won't cave-27 years vs 8 months-I think I can take him-most of the time anyways). He's tough and can keep up a cry for a good 20 minutes or so, but I just let him cry-mean mom-maybe-but I feel that as long as I know he's okay (no horrible monsters, he's not starving, & he's not trying to get out-yet) then listening to him cry is not so bad if it's making him more independent (how soon before he can get a job!) :0)

Diaper Rash Wars

We've been fighting the dreaded diaper rash for the last couple of days and let me tell you-sometimes I think it's just a losing battle! We've been applying all of the different creams and changing diapers regularly, but it is proving to be a worthy foe against all of our ammunition. I've also done some reading on the situation and everything I read says (along with what we're already doing) that "if possible, let the baby go diaperless for a few hours" to let him/her air out. I say that's all fine and dandy maybe if you have a girl because although they can have projectile peeing, most of the time if all they're able to do is sit-it will just happen directly underneath them. However, with a boy-it is always going to be projectile peeing-there is just no way around it! Are supposed to just let him be one with nature in his birthday suit happy & free and then clean up the messes wherever they may fall. Or could we use this as an experimentation with early potty training by setting up buckets all around him as "targets" and just hope he hits them! :) We could always try to get him to the toilet in time, but wouldn't that be a hilarious sight-me &/or Scott running with the baby to the potty (probably ending up with a mess to have to clean up anyway!) All I do know is that the battle continues... & hopefully we will come out victorious!

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Dear Luke,
I'm always curious as I sit and watch you play. First of all, I'm very glad that at (almost) 8 months of age you seem to have no problem playing independently for good stretches of time-it's a blessing that many people don't have when their children are that age! I am quite fascinated by all of the facial expressions (frowns, smiles, shocked, excited) you can make in a 30 second interval when playing with a toy. It makes me wonder things like what did the toy do to you, is hearing that same sound for the 10,000th time really that exciting, are you thinking about how to make it work again or a cure for cancer that you'll have forgotten by the time you can actually speak... You also always watch thing very intently. For instance, everytime I carry you down the stairs-you always have to crank your neck/body around so that you can watch my hand hold onto the banister as we go down-which makes me think...do you know something important about that banister that I don't...or is that something you just really want to learn to do-which leads me to think that you are going to be quite ambitious if that is the case! I often wonder if I'm thinking harder about what you're doing than you are, but with babies it's just so hard to tell. The one thing I do know is that babies get the fact that sitting on the floor, blowing "raspberries" with drool running down your chin and soaking the front of your shirt, followed up with a high pitched squeal is perfectly acceptable behavior! If only we could all be so lucky!!!

Love,

Mom :)

We've come a long way Baby!

Faith, Hope & Poop sums up the past year for me perfectly. It was only a little over a year ago that Scott & I were working on our adoption portfolio to "officially" begin the adoption process. The decision to adopt came after 3 1/2 very long years of trying to become pregnant. Finally, we had to decide which direction we wanted to go (pursuing further treatments or adoption) because either way it was going to be an expensive decision, since our insurance would not cover the steps we needed to take to continue battling our infertility. We were more comfortable "hedging our bets" you could say by going with adoption. I have lots of family members who are adopted/have adopted so it felt like the right path for us. Several short months later(July), we received the phone call we had been dreaming about and about 7 weeks later our son, Luke, was placed in my arms! It has been a surreal experience and it keeps getting better with each passing day. I can't even imagine our lives without Luke in them anymore. He brings us so much joy and always brings a smile to my face (obviously, I've blocked out all of those 2 & 4 a.m. feedings!). So to finish up this first official post, basically, it took lots of Faith & Hope to have Luke as part of our lives. It was not only ours, but that of many family, friends, neighbors, etc. with the help of God to have our prayers finally answered! (It's nice to know that all of those Hail Mary's do get answered...eventually) And well, as for the Poop part, many of my friends always told me as they were having babies of their own, that you never knew how important poop became and how much you LIKED talking about poop once you became a mother. (Amen, Sisters!)