TORCH LAKE!!!

We were fortunate enough to spend a week up at Torch Lake.  Loved every second of it!!

Gus' 1st dip in the lake.  He wasn't so sure about it at first since it is cold...but eventually loved it!!

My Little Miss.  I LOVE how sassy this little girl is and how chaotic those curls can get.  Isn't she beautiful?!?

Gus and his mask...so he can go diving.  :)

Sunrise at the lake.

Two of my favorite boys!

All of the "kids" in the lake.

Gus FINALLY got to meet my cousin, Karen.  Loved spending time with her!

PEEK!!

Gus just adores his big cousin, Brendan!  They are so sweet to watch together!

Camera-shy, Alexis...I FINALLY got her to look at my camera!  HA! Gotcha, little lady!!  The Knight family came up with the Gyolai's and joined us for the week.  It was great to get to know them better.

Gus and his Aunt Sarah.

Gus getting a feel for the water.

Cousins!!  Love these kids!!  Can't wait until the Stoike kids come for the week and I can get a picture of all 7 of them in the lake!  That will be so fun!!

Had a great week with these 4 kiddos!

Swidorski Wedding

We got to see our good friends, Jacob and Sara Swidorski and their kiddos, Ewan, Ellie and Rachel.  We were so lucky to spend so much time with them while they were in town since they need to see so many people when they are in Michigan.  We miss them tons and always look forward to any time that we can spend together!  Jacob's brother, Brandon got married so we all went to the wedding and then we splurged on hotel rooms so that we could spend some undivided attention with them!  (Yes...we were selfish!)

Joel tried to entertain the 3 out of the 4 kids during the outdoor wedding.  Lucky for us we brought snacks...it was like feeding pirhanas with 4 little mouths ready to chomp.

Wanna dance??  The kids had a great time dancing at the reception.

Silly faces in the pool.  The kids...and their daddy's had some pool fun before we had to part ways.

Just us boys!

Getting 4 smiling kids was not going to happen!!  So we will take what we can get!

Growing up, I was lucky to grow up with my mom's life long friend, Elaine's kids, Shine and Amy.  I am thrilled that my kids will have a similiar experience.  I am excited to watch the Stapleton and Swidorski kids grow up together and form life long friendships!!

Plethora of Paranoia

Sometimes I even amaze myself.  I really think that I should have a blog about my many paranoid parental moments...I have many.  The first would have been 5 minutes after Gus was born.  I watched as the doctor handed this goopey mess over to the nurse who brought him out to me and put him in the warmer.  I watched cautiously.  Gus' birthmom could still change her mind.  What if she saw him un-goopey and decided that he was too beautiful to live with us and that she wanted to keep him.  I watched through tears as the nurse lovingly cleaned Gus up and took his stats.  She turned to ask me if we had a name picked out and she stopped mid-sentence to ask if I was okay.  I guess the look of sheer confusion was written across my forehead.  (It is pretty obvious to others when my wheels are turning...I show it all over my face.)  "I'm fine...but is he supposed to be that color??"  "Yup, don't worry, he is just getting his blood flowing.  He is fine."  And then I could answer the question, that I had been waiting to answer..."Augustus".

Two weeks later we were at the pediatricians office for Gus' check up.  The doctor asked if I had any questions.  She had no clue what was coming her way.

"Should I buy him a horse?  It looks like he is bow-legged.  I'm okay with that.  He would be a good cowboy.  But do his legs look funny to you?"

After she stopped laughing at me she responded, "umm...you try being curled up in a uterus for 9 months and then see how your legs look....he is fine."

At our last appointment, I had more silly questions for the doctor and she chuckled at me.  And she explained to me that as a parent, she is very similiar to me.  And then has to switch to doctor mode.  So she understands my kind of crazy.  I then asked if I could take her home with me.  She politely declined but said that she was only going to work parttime this fall, so maybe she could babysit Gus for us.  What?!?  How cool would that be?  But I know that she wasn't serious.  But seriously, could you get a better babysitter than a pediatrician?  I bet she charges a lot.  (Sorry...rambled there for a moment.)

Well, I would say that today takes the cake.  I called this morning to try to get an appointment for Gus today for...bug bites.  I know!  Crazy!  Really....bug bites?  The bug bites were extremely large.  One behind his ear looked about the size of a half dollar when I looked at it this morning.  We were lucky enough to get an appointment.  And my paranoia paid off...left with instructions for 3 medications for Gus.  Apparently he is really sensitive to bug bites. 

I told the doctor that I felt like a nerd coming if for bug bites.  She joked with me and told me that if I wasn't careful, I was going to be added to the "crazy parent" list.  I told her it would be appropriate! She said that I was a normal crazy parent who was crazy about her kid and I am doing exactly what I should be doing...and I am quite entertaining.  I told her that she could write a book based on myself and my friend, Amy.  (Her kids go to the same office and Amy ALWAYS has good questions.)

So I decided that I don't care if I am a crazy, paranoid parent.  I am CRAZY about this silly little "bug bite" of mine!  Bring on the crazy!!!

Race for Home 2010

We were so excited when Bethany Christian Services, the adoption agency that we worked with, sent out info about the Race for Home 5K.  We did not bat an eye before deciding to participate.  How could we not participate?  How could we not support the agency that helped us build our family?  How could we not help other families experience the same joy that we have been blessed by?  So we decided to sign up as walkers and raise some money.  We weren't sure that we were going to be able to actually walk in it since Gus can't walk yet and we weren't sure what the path was going to be like and if it would be stroller friendly.  But regardless, we were going to raise money and go participate in some way.  We decided that this was going to become a family tradition for us and year after year we would raise money and participate in some way. 

The moment that we arrived we were greated by such warm smiles.  For an agency that covers 17 counties in eastern Michigan and helped process over 120 adoptions in 2009 alone, I am always impressed that they know exactly who we are.  We did participate in an info night earlier this year to represent their domestic infant adoption program, but we never expected that some of the staff members that we never worked with would remember us.  And maybe it is because our son does not have a very common name that we are easy to remember.  I like to think it is because Gus is just so adorable that he is hard to forget.  (I may be a little bit biased.)  We heard quite a few voices yell, "GUS!" as they welcomed us.  The staff at BCS is really wonderful and we are so lucky that we got to work with them.

Dawn was Gus' birthmom's pregnancy counselor.  She was the one who first called to tell us that there was a match and she was the one who held our hands and prayed during the happy and the tough times last summer.  Yes, she is on MTV's "Sixteen and Pregnant" and is a superstar, but she was our superstar first!  She is absolutely amazing and I thank God for her!!

Louise was our social worker.  She came to visit us after Gus was born and walked us through the adoption process all the way through finalization.  Louise got married last fall and Gus was very excited to send her "drumsticks" (cooking utensils) for her wedding gift.  We thought that we were so clever!!  Louise was fabulous to work with and when we apply for our second adoption, we will be requesting to work with her again.  Not only is she super fun, but she lives close to us so it only makes sense.  (She is also one of those people that I feel that I could be great friends with but that would probably be tricky to have friends as clients.  We will wait until we are done adopting, then we will pounce and make her and her hubby be friends with us.)

We are so very lucky to have BCS as part of our extended family and can't wait to work with them again when we expand our family.  And you better believe, we will be getting the rest of our family and friends more involved in the Race for Home as time goes on.

Happy 4th of July!!

We went over to Drew and Miranda Wilde's house for a 4th of July BBQ.  So hot...but so much fun!!

I'm gonna get you!

Happy Independence Day!!

Ladder Golf anyone??

Auntie Miranda....come and get me!!!

Gus huggin' on his buddy, Brodie!

Gus and Brodie will be spending every Tuesday and Thursday together at Aunt Miranda's this fall.  They are gonna be such good little buddies together.  So excited!!

A First for Me

Within the past 5 1/2 years that I have lived in this home, I have never taken a bath in it...only showers. I used to love taking baths at my parents house. When they built their house they put a beautiful old claw foot tub in the bathroom that my sister and I shared. Talk about luxurious! Ooo-la-la!! Perhaps that is why....my tub here is just a plain old shower/tub combination. Not nearly as fun.
I have been sick all week and decided that maybe a bath would be a good idea....Gus loves his baths. But I added something to my bath that Gus doesn't get in his...BUBBLES!!!

My bath was delightful. I loved the citrus smell of the bubbles surrounding me. (I loved that I could smell them at all! I have been stuffed up with cold all week!) I loved how all of the tension left my muscles. I loved my bright pink, sassy, toenails peeking through the bubbles. (Thank you, Annie's Salon for the pretty toes! And in case you are wondering, no, my sister, Annie, does not have a salon. That is just what we call it when she does my hair or my nails.) Most of all, I loved how quiet it was! Our house is so little that often we can hear if one at the other end of the house hiccups. And I love my boys to pieces but they can both be pretty noisy at times. In the sanctuary of my bathroom, it was peaceful today. Not sure if my boys were being extra quiet, if Joel fell asleep and Gus was getting into trouble or if this bathroom is sound proofed more than I thought it was. Perhaps the noise was dampened by the shower curtain that I had pulled completely shut. (Now, I know that I was in the bathroom alone but I'm the crazy one who is always afraid that an intruder is going to break into my home and find me in the bathroom. I will show them! They can't see me if I am behind the curtain. But then I think, I won't be able to see them coming either. And I would be trapped without an escape anyway. So what good would a shower curtain do me anyway?! Regardless, I like the curtain closed!)

I feel so calm and relaxed after my super long bath. Yes, I refilled the tub twice once the water got cold. (Of course more bubbles!) And yes, Joel checked on me a couple of times to make sure I didn't fall asleep in there. And he was lucky he didn't say a word about how much water I was wasting. (Yes, my conscious weighed heavy on me when I filled the tub. I could almost hear my dad yelling up the stairs like he used to. "Don't you think you have used enough water?" And the answer would have been "no". It was a great bath!)

I must remember to take time out more often to take a nice relaxing bath. I am feeling so much better. Perhaps it is the cure to why I have been feeling so lousy this week. If so, I will take it!! No wonder Gus loves bath time!!

100!!!

TA-DA!!! 

My 100th blog post!!!  That seems a little bit crazy to me that I have posted so much!  Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Remember how I mentioned our fuss-a-lup-a-GUS?  Well, I finally figured out why.  Turns out that he is cutting MORE teeth!  Before school got out he had 4 front teeth and 3 bottom teeth.  He now has 6 on the bottom, including his molars. And as of this week, he cut the 2 top molars so he now has 6 on the top.  That's 12 teeth!!  This kid is going to be gnawing on steak before we know it!

In bigger news, my mornings with Gus took a turn today.  I have talked before about how much I love my mornings with my munchkin.  Today I heard a little voice bright and early.  I needed just a few more minutes so I brought him back to bed with me.  He snuggled so sweetly with me like he used to when he wasn't yet mobile. 

That only lasted a few minutes and I was just "resting my eyes" when I felt a little monkey start to move.  As I opened my eyes, I saw a little face peeking back at me with a giant smile on his face....and then it happened.  Two little hands moved to my tummy and started to wiggle around as the owner of those hands said "tickle, tickle, tickle!!" (or something that sounds pretty close to that) and let out a huge belly laugh!  So apparently he has learned to tickle me back.  Sneaky little monkey!!  So of course I tickled him back.  This continued for about 20 minutes but it was totally worth waking up early for it!

Jealousy and Selfishness

As a member of Facebook, I have been fortunate to share in many pictures of the joys in the lives of my friends.  There have been quite a few babies born recently and a lot of people put up those initial hospital pictures for everyone to see on facebook.  It gets me every time that grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc are at the hospital to share in this joyful time.  We weren't able to have anyone else come to the hospital due to the sensitivity of adoption.  So it was just the three of us.  I would have loved to be surrounded by our family and friends so that we could all share in the joy of Gus' birth. 

But then I realize that it doesn't really matter.  We had plenty of celebrations once he came home.  Not only that, but I was kind of selfish.  I wanted him all to ourselves.  We got three solid days as just our little family.  We could bond with him and cuddle with him and not feel like we had to share him.  (Okay, Joel did make me share with him. :) I would have held Gus the entire time if he didn't.) 

So when it boils down to it, whenever I have a little jealousy rising in my heart when looking at others pictures, I remember that it is okay to be a little selfish and to cherish those first quiet days as just our little family.  Those were beautiful days!