Dancing Machine

Sorry this video is sideways, but it is just so cute, I had to share it!  

Ian LOVES to dance and last weekend he got to show off some of his moves at the Safe Kids Fair.  They had a trailer set up with TV's on the side which were playing a dancing video game.  Ian went up to it and started following along.  

He is just too cute!!!

A Secret

Psst... I have a secret. 

A really exciting, nerve-wracking, and exhilarating secret. 

Want a clue?

Did you guess it?

Yep, we are going to foster again!!!  We are officially on the active list to take foster placements again, and could be getting  

"the call" any day now.

Mike and I have known for quite awhile that we wanted to foster again, but we were just waiting for the "right time". 

(Is there really even such a thing???=) 

Anyway, at first we thought we would do it at the end of last summer.  I knew, with how active Ian is and how much he LOVES to be outside, that it would be too hard for me to take on another little one during a busy summer with a very active 18 month old.  Mike agreed, so we decided to wait.  

Soon, we found ourselves facing the end of the summer and we still didn't feel ready.  Ian was still such a baby to us, plus I knew I wasn't ready to give up the days where it was just me and him.  Also, by this time, we knew my surgery was coming up, AND the holidays, so we decided to wait until after Ian's birthday. Maybe after he turned two we would be ready.

Well, his birthday came and went, and we still didn't feel ready.  We started thinking that maybe we would sign up in the spring.

Then, all of a sudden, it kind of hit me.  I found myself thinking about it A LOT, and wondering if this was the time.  I would be doing every day things and would start thinking about what it would be like to be doing those things with two kids, instead of one.  I would be shopping and would be drawn to the baby section of the store and I would wonder if I would need to shop from this section soon.  One day I had a random thought about our family's birth dates, the years in which we were born, more specifically.  Mike's ends in a 5, mine ends in a 7, and Ian's ends in a 9.  Would our next child's birth date follow the pattern and end in 11?  

I wondered if we were ready. 

Then one day, during the midst of all these wonderings, we received a letter in the mail from our RFC, Lori. (She is the person from the Utah Foster Care Foundation who is assigned to us and other families in our area, who gets to know us personally so she can help make the best match between us and our foster children).  The letter contained a routine form and a note saying that she would need to come out soon and have us sign it in front of her.  I talked to Mike and asked him if he thought we should just tell her we were ready when she came over to have us sign the form.  We remembered that with our first little guy, Hayden, we had to wait a couple of months for the call, so we knew that even if we agreed to be put back on the list now, it could still be spring before we were selected anyway.

Long story short, she came, we signed, and we are actively on
the waiting list once again!!

I am SO excited about this!  There is nothing in my world quite like that phone call informing me that there is a child who needs us.  

I cannot wait for that phone call!!!  

And apparently, I am not the only one who is excited!!

I thought Ian might still be a little too young to understand what is going on, and once again, he has shown me just how little I really know!!  We started talking to him a few weeks ago about bringing home a baby.  At first he said he didn't want one, but that quickly changed.  

 Ian is now getting a baby brother...have you heard?  No?  Well, if you come over, he will tell you all about it.  He will probably even show you the crib where his baby brother will sleep.  He calls it "baby bed" or "baby night night".  

No, we have not specifically asked for a boy, but Ian seems to think that's what we will get.  And based on the fact that a lot of the foster families in our area, who are asking for babies, are also waiting for girls, he is probably right.  However, without any prompting from us, he decided all on his own that he wanted a baby brother.  (At least we would be prepared, since we don't have any pink clothes=)  I guess we will find out soon enough if Ian will get his wish.

 So, there you have it.  
The secret is out.  
Soon, we will be adding to our little family.  

New adventures, here we come!!

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Today is my love's birthday.  

Today I get to celebrate having him in my life.  

Today I get to shower him with love and tell him how much he means to me.

Today we are going to party like it's 1999!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!!!!

Mike's Birthday 2008

Random Pictures

Here are a few random cute pictures I have taken recently of my favorite little guy.

One day Ian brought his "white blanket" (his new favorite) in to lay next to Ferris on the dog bed. He brought a toy to show him and they snuggled together for a while=)

We cannot get our laptop out without Ian wanting to play some game on it, so here he is, playing computer games with Daddy.

(Sorry about the binkie that is in the way of his cute face in some of these.  We are down to just two and I think he senses that we are trying to get rid of it because since we started trying to wean him, he seems to want it all the more often=(

Recently, my sister-in-law gave us some p.j.'s that her son had outgrown but were still in good shape.  Most of them were in Ian's size, but one of the pairs was size 12 months, and of course, those were Ian's favorite!  I told him they were too small and we would have to save them for our next baby, but he wanted to wear them anyway.  So I said okay, all the while thinking to myself, "they're not even going to fit up over your shoulders".  

Well...

Yes, they fit.  He is almost 26 months old and he is wearing size12 month jammies.  (I just love that little squirt!!!!!)

Admittedly, they are stretched a bit and the sleeves are a little short, but he loves them.  He wouldn't take them off to get dressed that day and ended up wearing them for 24 hours straight. 

One night, he asked to get in the jumper swing.  He loves this swing and just goes wild in it!=)

Have I mentioned yet today how crazy I am about this kid?!?!?!?

I Heart Short Hair

I did it!  

I chopped off my hair, and you know what?

I LOVE IT!!!

This past year was comprised of a whole lot of me trying to talk myself out of cutting it again, and now I can't figure out why I didn't just do it sooner!  I think I am simply a short hair person.  

But I have had a lot of people say to me, "It isn't that short!"  So don't be surprised one bit if it is even shorter in the next month or two!

I didn't dare go too short with this haircut.  Having just gone from the longest my hair has been in a long time to my first significant cut in months,  I didn't want to go into shock.  But I have wanted to go even shorter for a really long time, so maybe I will finally quit trying to talk myself out of that one too=)

But as requested, here are some before and afters.  Enjoy!

This is me and my niece Sophie on Christmas Day 2010

This one was taken about a week ago, after I colored the grays=)

And here is the cut...
(Sorry about the weird coloring.  Just for the record, I loathe self portraits!!)

I am still playing around with it to see how many different ways I can style it, and I am having a lot of fun.

Welcome back my short hair. Oh, how I've missed you=)

Now...if I could just figure out how to apply makeup...

Romantic Comedy

I have figured out how I would describe my husband in just two words...

Romantic Comedy

He is one of the funniest people I have ever met.  His sense of humor is what drew me into his charm from the beginning, and is one of the biggest reasons that I am still smiling now, almost 17 years later!  He is usually the life of any party, and can come up with the funniest things, seemingly out of nowhere.

But he also has a really tender, romantic and sweet side that only I get to see. This makes me feel like one of the luckiest women in the whole world! 

Funny AND romantic... seriously, do they come any better?

I THINK NOT!!!

For Valentine's Day this year, my sister had the ingenious idea to swap babysitting for each other.  (I honestly don't know why we don't do this more often!)  Anyway, she offered to take Ian overnight on Friday night and we took her boys Saturday.  This way, we each got a Valentine date and our boys got to have two cousin sleepovers in a row!

I told Mike about our superb arrangement, and he voluntarily offered to plan our date for us.  

He said, "how about I come up with something and surprise you?"  

Yes,  ladies, he is real.  And believe me, I would clone him if I could because he would make me one RICH lady!!!=)

So Friday afternoon, our "romantic comedy" themed date began.  I dropped Ian off and came home to get ready.  When I walked in, a dozen roses were there waiting on the kitchen table to greet me.

And another dozen on my nightstand. 

I just love that boy!!!

We got ready and then went to see the romantic comedy "Just Go With It".  We are movie people and would probably go see just about anything, but Jennifer Aniston is one of our favorite actresses, and who can go wrong with an Adam Sandler comedy, right?!?!  

After the movie, Mike took us to "The Wild Rose" restaurant where he had made reservations.  It is a cozy and romantic new restaurant that just opened in our area, and he had been wanting to try it out since we first saw it.  

Let me just tell you, it was one of the best dinners I have eaten in a really long time!  Of course, my date was fabulous, but the food was...well indescribably delicious!  From the first bite, to the last, (with WAY too much consumed in between) I was in absolute heaven!  It is owned by the same guy who owns the "Tiburon" restaurant, and I would HIGHLY recommend going to one of the two.  It is pricey, but you will not be disappointed!
So, so good!!

Then we came home, fed the dog, changed our clothes, and headed out to wrap up our date in true comedic fashion.  Mike had gotten us tickets to go see "Spamalot".  This would be a very weird show if you had never seen "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", but if you are a fan of the film, the musical will not let you down.

We thought it was great and laughed - A LOT!

So, there it was...
a romantic comedy for starters, a bit more romance, and a touch more comedy to round out what was a truly wonderful and memorable Valentine's Day date.

Thank you so much Honey for the love and care you put into our relationship and for keeping things special all these years later.  I appreciate your thoughtfulness SO much and I am so grateful to have a husband that likes to do sweet, wonderful things for his lady.  I am so lucky to have you and I am grateful for you every day...but today I get to celebrate having the best Valentine I could have ever dreamed of.

Happy Valentine's Day - I LOVE YOU BABE!!!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

And to my littlest Valentine...I hope you grow up to be just like your Daddy!  The two of you make my heart feel like it is filled to the brim every day!  I love you my sweet baby!

(Aint that the truth!?!?!?=)

Haircut

Remember this post?  The one about my hair funk, and my decision to let it grow as long as I could?  Well, apparently "as long as I could" has amounted to about 9 months, more or less.

I am giving in.

I like short hair.  I like the ease of it.  I like how fast I can style it and when I am done, it actually looks styled!  Plus, I am tired of our bathroom looking like Sasquatch came to visit every time I take a shower.  I am tired of having to spend so much time getting my longer hair to resemble anything decent, and then to have it fall flat and look totally un-styled an hour later!

So there you have it.  

Adios, long hair quest!  

I am throwing in the towel.  

It is back to shorter, more manageable hair for me.

Hooray!!!

Flashback Friday: "Finally..."

Flashback Friday's ~ This idea began one day while I was perusing through some of my old posts on a private blog we had set up for friends and family while our son was in foster care.

A lot of really wonderful things happened to our little family while we had our private blog set up, so every now and then, I am going to re-post some of those wonderful memories. I hope you will enjoy looking back at them as much as I do!

This time of year is very special for me because it was this time of year that I first met my son.  Every winter, since first meeting him, has reminded me so much of our first snowy days together.  Each time I bundle up to go outside, and feel the bitter bite of cold in the air, a rush of memories come flooding in and take me back to this time two years ago.  To peaceful days of holding my precious new baby, bundled up inside our warm house, while the cold and snowy world outside went on without us.  In fact, it sometimes feels like I am actually back in that winter and the past two springs, summers and falls never even happened.  It feels like it was just yesterday, but it also feels like I have known him forever.
I think my heart has=)

  Today's post is another memory from the journey to meet my son, but this one happened just one winter ago.  At this time last year, we were awaiting a decision on the appeal that Ian's birth father had filed on our case.  It was a very stressful time for our family, full of worry and fear.  So today, in honor of our struggle to be the family that we were always meant to be, I bring you... Finally.

"Finally..." - originally posted

February 1, 2010

As you have all heard by now, our battle to keep Ian is coming to an end...FINALLY!!! We are SO relieved that this will soon be behind us and he will be legally ours forever!! 

I didn't realize how stressed I was about this situation until I found out it was over.  I truly believed in my heart that we would end up together, but there was always that nagging fear... the what if's?   I thought those fears were buried pretty deep within myself, but last Friday morning I found that they were right there below the surface, waiting to be released.  Finally!!

Let me tell you how it happened...

A couple of weeks ago, I called the Court of Appeals to see if I could get an update.  I knew that our attorney's office was checking in periodically, but I hadn't heard anything in a while, so I wanted to see what information I could get on my own.  I was told that I could check the docket for our case on the Court of Appeals website.  I wasn't listed as a party on the appeal so the only thing I could see was if any activity had been entered. As you can imagine, I had been checking the website every single day since.

Last Friday morning, around 7:30 a.m., I checked it as usual.  My heart started pounding as I read the following words, "Per curiam decision".  A DECISION had been made!!!!  I frantically typed out an email to our attorney's assistant asking her to look into it and find out what had been decided, and then I called Mike - at work.  Yes, usually he is home on Friday's and on any other week, he would have been home when I saw this.  However, this was the ONE week that he had some training and had to go into the office on Friday.  I knew his training started at 8:00, so I called him before he went in to tell him what I had found.  I told him that I would text him as soon as I knew anything, and that was all I could do.  I am sure he was pretty restless that morning!=)

I, on the other hand, was not restless.  I was EXTREMELY restless, anxious, nervous, antsy, jittery... you get the picture.  After about an hour and a half, with no word back from the attorney's office, I called the Court of Appeals. I could not wait one more minute.  If I didn't get an answer that day, I was going to have to wait until Monday, and I think that literally might have given me a heart attack!  Luckily, unlike the District Court, the Court of Appeals is open on Friday's, so I got to talk to a live person.  I said, "I know you can't give me a lot of information, but how can I find out what the decision was, besides going through my attorney?"  She said, "Oh, those decisions are public record.  If you have the case number, you can just look it up online and read it." 

WHAT?????????? 
After two and a half months of waiting for this decision, I was only a few key strokes away from our answer.  My fingers were shaking as I looked it up.

As the words came up onto my computer screen, I realized that I was reading the actual court document stating everything about the appeal - what was being contested, how the court was ruling on it and why, and all in the legal wording of the court. 

I will admit that the first time I read it, most of the words were lost on me as I was just searching for the words I had been waiting to hear.  I had to go back and read it again later to fully see what had been written.

My eyes started scanning the words - like I said, most of them just fluff that was in my way.  However, a lot of them did register... the part about what the birth father was contesting, and how the court was ruling.  Especially the part about how Ian should be allowed "an opportunity to establish a meaningful relationship with loving, responsible parents."  And the paragraph about us, that spoke of how we had been raising him as our own from almost birth, and how he had formed attachments to us, and been integrated into our family.  It was pretty powerful to read those words.  And then the words I needed...

"Accordingly, the termination of Father's parental rights is affirmed."

I broke out in sobs as I read those words.  It was over.  "The termination of Father's parental rights is affirmed."  No more fighting, no more waiting, no more what if's?  Ian is going to be OURS!!!

As the floodgates of emotion opened up, Ian looked up at me from where he had been playing on the floor and started giggling.  He crawled over to my feet and looked up at me with a huge grin.  I was making A LOT of noise sobbing, and he thought I was laughing and wanting to play.  I picked him up and hugged him tight.  When I pulled back a few seconds later, he looked in my eyes with a very somber expression.  In all his infinite wisdom, he could feel that I was not laughing, and he knew what I needed. He, my boy who is too busy to cuddle unless he is sleepy, leaned his little face close to mine and laid his head on my shoulder.  He let me hold him for several minutes and just cry.

Yeah...no words can describe that moment.

And Daddy finally got his text.  "WE WON!!!"

After waiting a lifetime for this little man, our wait is finally over.  Can you believe it?

FINALLY...