I am in awe that today is the last day of 2010, and it honestly brings a little sadness to see this year end because it easily has been the best year ever in my life.

To kick of the new year we bought our first house and learned a lot on the way. Savannah turned 3 in February and a few days later we found out we had baby number 2 on the way. I struggled with trusting that this baby would grow healthy after our miscarriage in 2009 and felt like gagging for weeks (leading us to suspect we had a boy this time around). I graduated from college! I didn’t blog about it, but I got a new car as well to replace my 18 year old handme down. As my pregnancy continued to thrive I switched to a midwife to get the birth I desired. We found out the baby was indeed a boy and we named him Jaxson with an X.  I craved spinach and got maternity photos taken. Savannah started preschool!  As I my belly grew, we stocked up on cloth diapers and prepared his room. I thought my water broke, but it didn’t, and I dealt with weeks of prelabor symptoms. On my November 5th due date I experienced false labor and then dealt with the emotions after. And finally, on November 12th Jaxson made his arrival! Since then it’s been an emotional but wonderful ride through the holidays as new parents of two.

In short: A house, a car, graduation, a baby. 2010 was full of blessings! I don’t know what 2011 has in store after such a fantastic year, but 11 is my favorite number so I’m hoping its just as wonderful in different ways (I mean, I know we won’t be buying another house, car, or graduating again!). And most importantly, I hope 2011 is God filled as our family seeks Him more in the new year.

Happy New Year!

I know I don’t write about adoption much anymore with this whole pregnancy/birth/Mom of 2 thing happening the past year…but it’s been on my mind lately thanks to MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. I went back and read through my journals from when I was pregnant with Kaylee and after placement and I decided it might be beneficial to switch gears away from Mommyhood sometimes.

For starters, we had a Kaylee Christmas visit December 11th. It was amazingly fun as usual! It’s funny though, the older I get the more I end up spending most of my time socializing the with adults rather than spending time with Kaylee. And that’s partly because Savannah and Kaylee run off to play before I barely even get to say hi!  Kaylee did get to meet her new brother though and held him a time or two. The good thing about hanging out with Kaylee’s parents is that I get to hear all the stories about Kaylee, how school is going, her crazy habits that are very similar to me or my sister, and the fact that wants her hair to grow darker like mine is. Good stuff!

As both of our families have gotten busier and busier each year, we have a hard time keeping in touch except around birthdays and holidays it seems. Plus, Kaylee doesn’t really talk on the phone much. So, they got me a web camera so we can Skype! I still haven’t hooked it up yet but it’ll be neat to “see” each other and talk more often if our schedules can align.

I love that Savannah and Kaylee are “best friends.” Totally melts my heart! Savannah counted down the days for a week and every day (a 100 times a day!) asked if we could go NOW? She was so excited to give Kaylee the gift she picked out just for Kaylee. Our Christmas visits are one of my favorite days of the year, probably because we have formed our own traditions each year and for one day we’re one giant family all together :-)

If I had gotten around to getting cards printed, this would be the picture. Consider this your Christmas card from us :-) Merry Christmas everyone!

I know, I know. Christmas was 3 weeks ago, and I’m just now getting to posting pictures?  Life is busy.

The high lights:

-Savannah got way too many toys. I guess that happens with a Dad who’s a kid at heart himself and many sets of grandparents.

-She got pretty much all things princesses. The only thing she asked for this year (she went right up and told Santa herself) was a Snow White dress.  We used this desire as a bribe to reward her for sleeping through the night (it worked!) and so Christmas she finally got it. It’s funny how much she loves princesses and yet she’s never watched any of the videos, fine by me.

-Mark’s big gift from me was Panther’s football Tickets. He’s a huge sports fan and didn’t think we could afford tickets right now. His face was priceless! (Once again, I love me some mommy board finds!)

-I got mainly house stuff for Christmas and loved every minute of it. Between gifts and giftcards, we’re almost all set to go now!

-We had our Kaylee Christmas visit, staying the night again.  Savannah and Kaylee had a blast playing  together, I love watching them and the friendship they have formed.  Kaylee is really possessive over Savannah being her “baby sister” and doesn’t like to share play time with her brother, poor Blake gets left out. Mark and I had fun hanging out with their parents as always.

-I gave Kaylee a photobook for Christmas that shares a little bit about her birthfamily. Most of it is my family of course since that’s what I have more access to, but I contacted Kaylee’s birthgrandma for some information about her Birthdad growing up I could include. I added a page or two or random facts like birthdays, where we went to school, our hobbies, eye color, etc. and also shared our dating story and some pictures.  Kaylee liked it, but was totally confused that her birthdad is not Mark.  Hm…don’t know how to explain that one to a 5 year old!

-And to end my winter break with a shabang, I had my visit with Victoria!  We had our week jam packed with things to do and it was a blast (exhausting, but a blast)!  I saw historical things like the Liberty Bell in down town Philadelphia, we went snow tubing in the Poconos (so much fun, everyone should go!), went bowling for her birthday, got our nails done (first time since I got married, what a treat), painted pottery, ate the most amazing burger and french fries I have ever had at The Pop Shop (it was on the Food Network, it’s that good!), and finally got to meet her birth family.  It was so much :-)

-I, however, decided I can ever live in the north because the drivers and the road designs (ie. lanes just suddenly ending with no warning signs) stresses me out way too much.  We seriously almost crashed 20 times.  I love my easy going south.

And the big news:

We close on our house next week!

I am unbelievable excited and have been shopping like crazy to get the rest of the house things we needed. We also bought paint tonight while it was on sale at home depot.  I cannot wait to see what a difference the paint makes. We just need a washer and dryer, food, cleaning supplies, and blinds and we’ll have a home :-)

Holy Moly! Has it been 2.5 weeks already since I posted?  Going out of town through my life out of whack and I’m still trying to catch up with all the things I’ve missed (101 emails, anyone? or 100 blog posts to read? or 174 facebook updates?).

Today was the first day of classes and I can tell I’m going to have a challenging, work filled semester. Thankfully, it’s the last one, but bear with me as I post when I can between assignments and the 100′s of pages of readings on top of laundry, spending time with Savannah, planning her 3rd birthday party, and oh yeah…buying a house and moving all our stuff and making it look presentable. I’m stressed just thinking about all this and I have a feeling my blog posts will get pushed down to the bottom of the to-do list. 

Hopefully coming this week:

-Christmas pictures

-Kaylee visit!

-My mommy getaway trip recap

-House news

In short: a lot has happened in the last 2.5 weeks so be ready for update overload!

I don’ t know what it is about Christmas break, I get in this writing slump even though I have all the time in the world to actually write something. It happens every year!

What’s been happening?  Well, for starters I ended up with 4 A’s and 1 B as my final grades. I’m pretty happy with that, being my senior year (and I just like being good at things, okay?). I’m so excited to have just one more semester to go, I’m ready to get it started and be done for ever!

House wise– my brain doesn’t stop working thinking about paint colors and room layouts now.  We’re still waiting on getting the inspection done, but since the house is 3 years old I doubt (I pray) anything serious will be wrong so we can continue to move forward.  We feel so at peace with our decision, not just in the house, but location and even moving out earlier than planned. We are ready. So ready, that I already started packing. I thought I’d get a head start while I’m not in school and since I’ll be out of town visiting family and Victoria (!) for two weeks.

I’m sure I’ll be back, eventually, when the Christmas hub-bub is over. When the ridiculous amount of toys are opened and thrown everywhere, when we’re stuffed with good food and filled with joy.

God has been so good to us, I pray you have a blessed,  joyful, peaceful Christmas as well.

I hope yall had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  We’re enjoying our trip to see my family and lots of good food, of course. We’re having a second Thanksgiving tonight with more family and to eat foods we didn’t get to eat yesterday (like stuffing and watergate salad!).  I know that we should be thankful for our lives and things within our lives every single day, but I’m glad we have at least one day a year to remind us of that and allow families time to take off work to be together.  We’ve got much to be grateful for and my heart is swelling with thanks.

I can’t believe Thanksgiving has technically already come and gone though. And, while I love Thanksgiving for the food and family time, I love that it also officially kicks off the holiday season and I can bring out Christmas music and movies without feeling lame.  My family’s tradition goes something like this: eat food, do lots of talking, come home tired, now bring out the Christmas movies! As soon as we got home from Thanksgiving lunch yesterday, we popped in The Polar Express (Savannah was in my lap the entire time because it was intense for her! I loved all those snuggles).

And now that it’s Friday, I can especially bring out my music favorites: Snowed In (renamed as The Christmas Collection here) by Hanson and pretty much anything by Amy Grant. It’s just not Christmas without them.  Don’t laugh, I was in love with Hanson as a 90′s kid and they still have a spot in my heart. Sure, this CD is pre-puberty and they sound a bit like girls compared to their latest awesomeness in a CD now that they are in their 20′s, but like I said, it’s just not Christmas without these songs!

Less than a month until Christmas! Crazy…

This has been the longest week EVER.  2 more days until we know what’s going on in this womb of mine. I’m still feeling good physically (aside from nausea) and I’m hopeful for good things.  I’m choosing to be happy this weekend, for if I do find out bad news Monday, I will have enjoyed my last days before reality hits.

But until I know what’s going on, it’s made me so thankful for Savannah. I swear, it’s like she knows her momma needs support and lots of laughs because she has been pretty amazing this last week.  I’m loving this age!  She knows how to make us laugh with her silly faces and games. She’s got this new game where she talks to things, like our fingers or stuff animals or anything she wants.  But, my favorite thing she does is how she gets three stuff animals, three bottles, three anything and they suddenly are mommy, daddy, and baby. It’s adorable to watch her use her imagination now and we all have a role in it.

Happy Birthmother’s Day to my fellow birthmothers! And Happy Mother’s Day to my fellow Mommies (and birthmommies) tomorrow.  Like I said last year, I love having two days to celebrate my roles.

Happy Valentines Day, folks!

And I? Am convinced that I have the greatest husband ever. (And in-laws.) Why?  Well, my husband took me a short trip uptown to eat last night (I know, a day early) at an extremely yummy restaurant by our selves. And then? Surprised me with a night’s stay at a swanky uptown hotel. Corner suit, no less.  He also attempted to pack me a night bag, complete with my make up in little baggies, my toothbrush, jammies, etc. Even a DVD player and movie! (By the way Leatherheads is kind boring). He did forget my brush though and facewash, but I survived and I’m just so thankful at all the little things he thought of to do for me!  It was absolutely wonderful to sleep in a giant bed with no sleep distractions but my sickly throat and nose. Oh, it was good to just rest and not have to be up all night with sickly Savannah!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend, too!  Do something sweet for your sweety :-)

I realize I’ve been missing for… oh…about 2 weeks.  Perhaps my brain needed a break after this tough college semester? I had intended to do more blogging over my Christmas break but it obviously did not happen!  I was too busy enjoying family, or just being lazy. Which, I think is pretty well deserved after a challenging college semester.  We are now finally home from all our visits, settling back into a routine (though school doesn’t start for us for another week) and enjoying being back on our own turf.  I slept like a baby last night, not waking up at all (which is quite rare for me). It’s good to be home!

So since it has been so long since I’ve made a real update. Let’s start with Christmas shall we?

As you can see, it was a jolly good time for all.  We matched a lot, both in our PJ’s and outfits.  There were more present than we could bring home (seriously, we had to leave some behind!). Savannah became a chef who enjoys tasting her own cooking way too much.  She also loves her new baby dolls so much, that she wants to be one of them. She is often found sitting in the baby doll crib, in the stroller (which is now nearly broken…), or attempting to climb into the baby high chair. But some times she does do good things like feed the baby doll or take her for a walk. Savannah received the tiniest little tricycle I’ve ever seen that will grow with her as she does. And she loved it, of course (see top left picture). She also was super thrilled about her bus book (thank you dollar aisle in Target). Mark got underwear for Christmas, ha!  Though, appropriately, it was xbox underwear. And I?  I got a new printer, a sea foam green tea pot (Tea is my new coffee), and drum roll please….

A new computer!  Technically, we bought it after Christmas but as Mark told me…it’s my Christmas, birthday and next Christmas present all in one.  I’m fine with that, we needed a new one desperately. My lap top is getting fixed but a brand new one will be more relaiable. Now if only the UPS man would get here with my package….

Also? While we were away we suffered horrible sleep issues.  One night (or morning?) she woke up at 1 am and stayed awake until 7. ONE AM! What nearly 2 year old can handle that much missing sleep? I know I can’t. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who stayed with her while I caught up on sleep.  She did this stunt again a few days ago, but got up at midnight instead. The trend seems to be this when she doesn’t nap. Yes, we will be inforcing the naps from now on. Period.  Here she is finally, finally asleep after a long night. Does she look huge to you, as she does to me? 

That’s pretty much the latest news for now, I’m off to play blocks with the girl!