2 Months

It is hard to believe that Corinna is two months old. Time has passed so quickly. She is growing so fast weighing in at 11lbs 2 oz and 22 1/2 inches long. She can hold her head up and smiles a ton. The smiles are quick and hard capture with a camera, but hopefully soon we will get a good one. She is also just barely starting to make some noises. They are sweet coos that is just music to my ears. She had her first bathtub bath last night. She just lost her umbilical cord stump so she finally took a real bath!

Answered Prayer

God answered Elise's prayer on September 15, 2009 at 12:36pm when Corinna Lynne entered this world. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 20 in long. Today she is 9lbs 1oz and 21 in long. Low on sleep, but so deep in love. She is so very precious to us. The adoption will be finalized in six months (Colorado law requires a six month waiting period), but we are past legal risk with parental rights having been terminated.

Preschool 2009

Elise started preschool last Friday and there were no tears from her or me. I love her teachers and after getting to be the line leader on her first day I am pretty sure she loves them as well.

The Veggies of My Labor

What we have here is the effort of 6 good girlfriends taking three days working 9m-10pm and the result (well the portion I took home anyway)

Spaghetti 15 quarts and 8 pints
Green Chile 24 4oz jars and 4 half pints
Salsa 12 half pints and 14 pints

Wish Her

Happy Birthday! I won't tell you how old she will be... I will just tell you the 34 ways I wish I were there to help celebrate! Happy Birthday Becca!

Summer So Far

Wondering what we've been up too. Watch and see.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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9 Years and Counting

It was nine years ago about this time that we made vows to spend the rest of our lives together. Happy Anniversary- I love you Tim!

Post Preschool Park Picnic

Tuesday we spent the morning at the park with Elise's preschool. The weather was wonderfully warm and the games were great. It was a nice way to end the year.

While Daddy is away......

THE GIRLS WILL PLAY

God's Writing Our Adoption Story

Okay, so my title gives away our big news, but we want to give God all the glory for all He is doing! If I started at the beginning this post would look more like a novel. So here is the cliff notes version. It has been about a two year journey of miscarriages and medical testing, heartache and healing, stubbornness and submission, waiting and praying. We clung to a promise from God that our joy would be made complete with the second. The hard part of a promise is that it's God's promise, to fulfill at His timing, in His own way! The best part of a promise from God is that He always 100% of the time fulfills His promises! There is much, much more to our story than I have written and maybe someday I'll post it here, but for now here is where we are in the process:

Application Accepted- Check
Homestudy Approval- Check
16 Hours State Required Training- Check
Birth Mother Book- Check
Waiting for Match- yep, here is where we are... waiting.... still waiting...

Snow Day

When Elise discovered it had snowed overnight she quickly announced "I want to go play in the snow!" I told her she could go outside after breakfast. So at 8:30 am Elise was outside wearing snow boot a size too small, gloves and hat from last season, and pajama pant as snow pants. As you can see by the pictures the 33 degree snowy weather didn't keep her from having fun.





























We came inside to warm up and drink some hot cocoa. While making the cocoas I found Elise sitting on the heater vent!

Becca Upate

Okay so I'm pretty sure that not only is Brooke stuck, but Becca is somewhere behind the crib too! If you look close enough you might see her. It's really not true and I have talked with my sister many, many times since that post and her real reason for not blogging.... well you can read it here...

Nesting has been in full force and I often spend my evenings looking for
something that can be scrubbed with pinesol. The smell is simply
intoxicating. I've started keeping the jug of pinesol on the counter so
when I walk by I can open the lid and get a quick sniff. Alex has
contemplated banning me from this, but it seems he might not have to. My
giant 20 gallon Costco pinesol finally ran out and so I bought a
new/smaller one at Walmart. But I'm going through withdrawal. It
doesn't smell the same. In fact it smells kind of gross. Alex even
smelled it and verified that it doesn't smell the same. Thankfully I
found another bottle under the kid's bathroom sink. It doesn't have very
much left and will probably not last but a week. After which I may go
try and buy a new bottle. I still have 5 weeks of no sugar and have
found that a quick sniff of pinesol is an ok replacement for icecream. I
thought of posting this on my blog but am afraid I would get DSS called
to my home. I looked online, however, and found several other pregnant
women with the same queer fetish. One lady put it in a spray bottle and
would spray it around the house, which I thought was a good idea. I
decided not to subject Alex to that since he's really not fond of the
smell. Since I've been so bad about posting I would just
e-mail you.

Four Year Old Theology

This conversation took place between Elise and myself yesterday while driving home after lunch. She asked me to guess what song she wanted to sing that started with the word Jesus. I guessed Jesus loves me and was correct. She was about to start singing when started this conversation......

Elise: Mom did you know there are two Jesus?

Me: What?!... What do you mean... who?!?

Elise: (proudly) Jesus and Jesus Christ.

4 Today

Four years ago today at 5:23 pm Tim and I fell in love with a little girl we'd waited nine months to see face to face. Sure you love them before they are born, but something happens when you first see, hold, touch your little baby for the first time... you fall in love. And in love we have been for the past four years. Elise is our oldest, youngest, favorite, not so favorite all rolled into a petite little blond 33 pound package of love. She is not always easy to parent, but she has always been easy to love. So we pause and celebrate a little girl who is four today. Thanks for teaching us a whole lot more about love.

Happy Birthday Elise!

Love,
mom & dad

Still Sick

Seriously! I think the health department is going to come and condemn our home as a breeding ground for germs. We took Elise in last evening to the urgent care because of course she didn't start crying that her ear hurt until after the doctors office was closed. They checked her ear three times, tested to see if the strep had returned, then tested for RSV and the results... NEGATIVE! So what have I learned when my daughter is not acting sick she probably IS sick, but if she is acting sick she probably is NOT sick.

Good Looking

Sickingly Thankful

Here are the top ten reasons why I can be sick and thankful

1. Insurance
2. She is not acting sick!
3. We have a pediatrician that listens to my mommy instincts when I bring in a healthy child saying she has strep and croup.
4. She is not acting sick or whiny!
5. I can watch the missed bible study video online.
6. Did I mention she is not acting sick or clingy!
7. My husband called from work to check on us.
8. Still not acting sick.. if you don't count the barking cough!
9. Library videos allow me some time not spent entertaining my sick kid who stayed home from preschool today.
10. One last time... she is not acting sick!

Here a CoPay... There a CoPay... Everytime a CoPay

So our unhealthy start to the year has continued into a month long sick-a thon! Elise is home from preschool (AGAIN) because she has croup. If it were not for the nasty croup cough it would be hard to tell she is sick. And just so she would not be the only sicky in the family I got pink eye to join in the fun. Tim is the only one who has somehow avoided all the fun!

Not Dead... Even Better

My washing machine is up and working for only $115 :) Elise is 24+ hours of being on antibiotics and is still showing no signs of being sick:) My husband came home early from work on a Friday:) Elise is still down for her very late nap:) And me, well my cold is still sticking around, but I have had some quiet time with the Lord and now am enjoying some quiet time with my husband:)

Unhealthy New Year

I started 2009 with stomach bug. It was only a 24 hour thing, but it was a very painful 24 hours. Now I've caught a cold which I can't seem to kick. Then just yesterday morning Elise started complaining her throat hurt. We went to the doctor that afternoon more for peace of mind and to get the okay to go to preschool. And guess who stayed home from preschool because she has strep! I honestly can't complain she is not acting sick in the slightest. The doctor almost did not do the test because Elise looked and acted so okay, but I decided since I made the effort and paid the money I should at least get proof it was just a cold. And just for fun my washing machine decided to get sick in the middle of my last load of laundry! Again I can't complain because it was my last load, I finished it at my parent's who lives a couple a streets from me and the repair guy is coming (for a reasonable price) in the morning to see the machine is just sick or completely dead. So stay tuned it... well... I'm hoping it can't get any worse.