About Me

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My husband and I, the Dynamic Duo, have been married since 2003. We've weathered the storm of chronic disease (diagnosis 2006), infertility (diagnosis 2007), turning 30 (2006/2007 respectively) a first adoption (2009) of a tender hearted, compassionate Ukrainian BIG boy (born 2006), who has told us he'd like a baby sister, baby brother, big brother, and REALLY big sister. We recently completed our second Ukrainian adoption journey, which brought us a daughter (born 2005). We'll see what else God brings our way!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

First day of school, poses, and playing

Eli's first day of school was May 17th, and he loves it! I was in shock when he came home the first day and told me he played with blocks...and I could understand what he was saying!











Aunt Wendy, Uncle Tony, CJ and Sam got Eli a hat. At first Eli didn't want to pose (he looks a LOT like my brother Alex in this picture!)...



Oh, this picture is for them? Sure, I'll smile!


Dave went to Tulsa in May. Eli had been talking about getting a kitty cat, so Dave bought him a little stuffed cat while he was out of town. Eli took it everywhere for about a week. And apparently the kitty cat is a pretty amazing goalie!



Don't forget your stick, Kitty!

Nice save!!


Kitty, here's how to play goalie...
Eli showing us a hockey fight with himself!


Saturday, May 15, 2010

We survived!!

Eli's tonsils came out May 6th and for the last 2 nights he's been sleeping through the night and not taking any pain meds. Now all we have to do is get him to eat more to add some weight to his ever growing body. I'm not kidding, either. He's grown another .5" since March!

I also have to give a shout out to my honey. We celebrated our 7 year anniversary on May 10, and in March we celebrated 11 years of friendship. I've dubbed this our 7-11 year :) On May 21st, we're dropping Eli off with my parents and spending the weekend at a bed and breakfast nearby. Our first weekend getaway! I'm planning on letting my sister in law have Eli for a night or two in August so Dave and I can go on another getaway. I'm really looking forward to it!

The other big news is that Eli is starting school on Monday! He's been going through some testing to assess where he is in his development. He's scored anywhere between 2-4 years! The teachers tried to encourage me with his development, but I told them he's exceeded any expectations I had for him this first year. His intellectual level is the highest score, putting him almost caught up for his age group. Pretty amazing! We have some gross motor skills to work on, so I'm going to enroll him in swimming and a sports clinic this summer. He's REALLY in to hockey because of my husband. Every night Eli says "Hockey Papa home." The program we've decided on is for more active physically challenged kids. He's going to get speech, OT, and PT. They said that they expect him to be ready for kindergarten in a year. Wow.

His independance is still expanding. He's scooting himself out of the Jeep and closing the door. He can also UNBUTTON!!! This is HUGE! Even in this month of nicer outside weather, I've noticed a major change in him. He also went inside a building at the zoo. We looked at the reptiles. His ability to accept new things is getting pretty normal.

I've also noticed a pretty big change in me over the last year. It's been a struggle to adapt to an active 3 year old, but I feel like I've got things in control now adays. Dave was out of town two days this week and Eli and I had a blast. We did finger painting, water coloring, drawing, watched movies, went to the mall play area...we were busy. And I had a great time, although I was quite happy to have a break when Dave got home.

I'd also ask for prayer. We're in the process of deciding on what to do to expand our family. When we decided on adopting from Ukraine, we knew that was the plan God had for us. But this time it's different. We've searchd several avenues, but nothing shouts "this is it". I'm not sure if it's the feel of a second adoption or if God is saying "wait". I think until we both feel secure in a decision we're going to wait. And I think the biggest reason to wait is that neither of us feels the need to get going right now. And so, we wait again :)