A Boy and his Bear

My what a year it has been!  My baby boy is now 1 and has grown so much!  He went from being 7 lbs 7 oz and 19 inches to 27 lbs 5 oz and 31 inches.  He has always been an angel baby and that hasn't changed one bit.  He is still a great sleeper and the most content baby ever.  I'm so incredibly lucky to be his mommy.

1 day

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

Family through the years

I LOVE family pictures.  Because I'm always either chasing after a child or behind the camera, I have very few pictures with all of us.  So I make a point of getting pictures done about every 6 months.  Our kids change so fast that I want to be able to freeze time, even if just in a picture.  So here are our family pictures over the last 3 years.  :)

November 2009

May 2010

July 2010

September 2010

November 2010

December 2010

April 2011

October 2011

December 2011

March 2012

April 2012

July 2012

August 2012

August 2012

October 2012

November 2012

 What an amazing 3 years it has been!!!!!!

Anxiety Update

Over the couple days, my anxiety has taken a sharp turn down.  I haven't felt it for more than a couple seconds a day.  I seriously can't believe it.  I don't know if I was stressing out over Joey turning 1, or just all of the sadness that surrounds that day since his birth mother passed away.  I don't know if it is my change in diet.  I've only been allowing gluten for one meal or treat a day, instead of all day long.  And I've noticed any time I have sugar, that is when my anxiety creeps in so I've been avoiding any processed sugars too.  I'm hoping I can fix this through diet and leave any of those pills alone!  But I'm really happy to feel like myself again.  My house is the cleanest it has been in months.  And I'm laughing and running around with the kids again.  It's seriously a great feeling.  Even with all this yucky rain here, I'm feeling sunshiny.  :)

Take that anxiety!

Over the last couple weeks, I've been having these little heart jumps followed by my breath catching.  I didn't think much of it and it would go away after 1-2 seconds.  Then, the frequency was increasing and increasing.  On Wednesday, it was to the point that I couldn't move and it was causing me to not be able to breathe for a few minutes.  So I went to the doctor.  And of course, she prescribed me some Xanax.  She also ordered a blood panel, but thought the Xanax would help in the mean time.  Well, I took 1 pill and was drowsy and groggy for the entire day.  I couldn't stand on my feet for more than 60 seconds.  It was terrifying and horrible.  I'm hoping that I get some answers from the blood panel.  In the mean time, I've been trying breathing exercises and relaxing and trying to take control.  So today, after Grace's special day, we decorated for Christmas.  It definitely brought some peace and relaxation to our home.  Maybe not the actual decorating part, but there's something magical about Christmas decorations.  :)

Our Christmas tree.  It's 32 inches tall.  Then we have a bronze reindeer and sleigh, wooden duck, vase with ornaments, and countdown blocks to Christmas

Goofy and Mickey getting their Christmas tree. :)

Belle's gown

Nutcracker Mickey

Winter Micke and Minnie ice skating

A little lighted village

Willow Tree Nativity and our stack of Christmas children's books.  There are 19 so far.  We just need 5 more to have one to read every night of December before Christmas.

Mickey and Tigger on rocking chairs.  They turn on and tell part of the Night Before Christmas story.  Both kids think they are hilarious.

We sang Christmas songs and I let Grace put an ornament up.  We did have one break, but that was due to silly me dropping one.  It was a great night and I really hope this anxiety can get under control soon.  It's not the most horrible feeling, but it's a lot like having the hiccups non stop for hours on end.  Really obnoxious, but not the worst thing in the world.  Hopefully it will go away soon.

Grace's Adoption Day!

 

2 years ago 11/30

Last year 11/30

Today 11/30

Today was Grace's adoption day!  2 years ago she officially became a Colvin.  I'm so lucky to be her mom.  I got to drop Joey off at a friends, and spend the whole morning with just me and Grace.  We went to see Rise of the Guardians and Grace had a blast eating candy and watching a movie.  She loved being able to climb on my lap and not having to share anything with Joey.  After that, we went and bought her a balloon.  Due to a helium shortage, we had to buy a cheap balloon on a stick, but she was super happy about it.  Then we grabbed lunch and went back to get Joey.  I spent the time in the car telling her about her birth parents, saying how glad we are she was placed in our home, and that I am so happy I am her mommy.  It was such a fun time and I'm so glad that I got to spend time with her one on one.  I love being her mommy and that she is my baby.

And, funny story...  When we went to the movie, the ticket lady must have over heard me call Grace "Sis".  After the movie, the lady who took our tickets when we got there was talking to Grace and calling her Princess and said, "Oh, your sister is a princess too."  I was dying laughing.  I guess I still look young enough to be Grace's big sister.  I didn't have the heart to correct her.  ;)

Thankful month is almost over!

I'm just going to throw in the towel for the days I've missed and for the days I know I will miss over the next couple days.  But instead, I'm just going to write some of the things I'm thankful for.

I'm so thankful for Robby's family.  We were able to spend Thanksgiving with them and had such a wonderful time.  I got to cook our own Thanksgiving vegan meal and it turned out wonderful.  I even had a couple people sneak some of our vegan food over the traditional stuff.  Hopefully I can keep working on perfecting it and adding more and more dishes so that it's something everyone would eat.  I still can't do Tofurkey though.  I'll stick with the sides.

We had stuffing, sweet potato casserole (thanks to my wonderful grandma), mashed potatoes, and peas/carrots.  I have no idea why we always had peas and carrots, but we did growing up.  I figured you can never go wrong with extra veggies.  Especially ones sauteed in oil.  Then I made a cherry pie from scratch and a vegan pumpkin cheesecake.  Both were delicious.  I'm so grateful for a mom who showed me how to make the best pies, and a dad who taught me how to cook a lot of those sides.  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.

I'm thankful for Robby's grandparents.  They are getting up in years and it was so wonderful to spend time with them over the weekend.  Grandpa Jake took the kids horseback riding.  They got to ride up and down the street.  Joey lasted a couple minutes and was content.  Grace was SCREAMING when we made her get off to give other kids a turn.  Then she just ran over to the other horse to pet it's nose.  Grandma and Grandpa are so sweet to us.  I will never forget Robby and my second date when Grandpa took US horseback riding.  I fell in love with Robby and his family then.  I wish we lived closer so we could go riding more often.

I'm thankful we were able to rent a car this weekend to drive down.  It was so nice to have some extra room and have all the awesome features of a new car.  And I loved not worrying about our car breaking down or putting hundreds of miles on our already over driven car.

Today I went to look at the website of the company Robby used to work for, and they are completely down.  I don't know if they are just fixing bugs or pushing a new feature, but the website does not work and there is no explanation.  I know if Robby was still working there he would have been working his crazy schedule of 18 hour days with no weekends and we wouldn't have gotten to go for Thanksgiving.  We would have been stuck at home while he was at work all weekend.  So even though him losing his job was terrifying, it has been such a blessing.  His new job has paid vacations, encourages time off, and discourages working over time.  He is learning so much there and growing so much.  I love seeing him come home so animated.  Sometimes we have to go through hard trials to find the bigger blessings.

Thankful

So, I missed a few days...  Oops.  :)  I won't go back, just keep moving forward.

Today I am thankful for laughter.

http://itjustgetsstranger.blogspot.com/2011/12/snuggie-texts.html

Now you can be thankful too!  This is hilarious!

I've found I've had to learn to keep a sense of humor as a parent and even more so as a transracial adoptive parent.  I get asked on a daily basis if Joey is "mine".  I was asked yesterday if I was the nanny and I don't think the lady was convinced until I told her they were mine through adoption.  Luckily I'm able to just laugh it off.  But I might take a page out of this guy's book and start messing with people instead...

Day 11 Thankful

Today I am thankful for naps.  I love my kids DEARLY, but sometimes I just need a break.  Naps are fantastic for this!  I love that I can put them down, walk out, and have 2-3 hours of "me" time.  And I love sneaking in and giving them a kiss while they sleep.  Because there is really nothing cuter than a sleeping baby/toddler.  :)

Grace asleep on my bed.  She just LOVES to nap there.  It takes her forever to fall asleep, but she's oh so sweet when she does.  :)

Joey in the pack n play.  He always sleeps with his bum in the air.  :)  It's so adorable!

Thankful Day 10

Today I am Thankful for my body!  I was able to run a 5K!!!  Over the past several years I have been battling severe back and hip pain, so to be able to run was a miracle!!!  I got to run right by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  I ran the race in about 31 minutes.  I don't have an exact time because I started late, but I'm thrilled I was able to run past the finish line and not crawl.  I can't wait to do another race and hopefully show my kids how great exercise is and have them join me in the future.

Day 8 and 9 Thankful

Wow.  This month is passing by so quickly.

Yesterday, I was thankful for Movies.  Without them, I'm fairly certain I would go crazy.  Grace loves Disney movies.  I'm able to turn one on in the morning after Joey goes down for naps, and then I can take 20-30 minutes to shower and get ready in peace.  Robby and I love watching movies together and it was the second half of our first date.  The winter season has a ton of awesome movies coming out that we are super excited for.  James Bond, Twilight, Les Miserables, The Hobbit, and more!  We will most likely be at the movies every other weekend.  :)

Today, I am grateful for our babysitter we have here.  I can call her the day before (or even the day of) to come babysit and she is always more than happy to.  She brings another little girl who is a couple months older than Grace along, and they have the best time together.  I never worry about the kids and I'm able to enjoy going on dates with Robby.  The instant she arrives, Grace runs screaming for the other little girl and they hug.  Then Joey books it over to our babysitter and gives her a big kiss.  She has made moving here so much easier knowing that I can trust someone with my children.  She's also super excited for us to foster to adopt and is willing to do additional certification so she can watch our foster kids too.  She's just incredible and we are so glad she loves our kids too!

Day 7 thankful

Today I am thankful for living in a country where we can vote. I brought the two kids along and they did great. Grace was seriously disappointed we weren't going on a boat though. :) So we went to Jamba Juice to make up for it.

Pictures are of us off to vote all dressed in patriotic colors, and then Grace enjoying her pretzel and smoothie.

Thankful Day 5

I am so grateful for Robby.  I met him 8 years ago this week.  I'm so glad he forced me to catch his eye and that he ignored the fact that I dated him roommate.  :)  I had to take the kids on an errand for a couple hours the other week and came home to a clean kitchen and soup in the crockpot.  He works a lot and never complains.  He comes home and helps with the kids and helps out around the house.  He's been through so many jobs in our 7 year marriage, but every job has been a better opportunity.  He often does side work on top of that allows me to stay at home with the kids and focus on being a mom. He's so supportive and loving.  He is always making me giggle.  I love him so much and I'm so glad he's mine.  :)