Day 10/365 Photo

January 10, 2010

Goodness, where does the time go? We had a very productive couple of months so life has not been dull to saw the least. Thanksgiving was really nice. My brother Randy, niece Samantha, and nephew Landon came in town for the whole week. The kids were so excited to see them. We did so much stuff including going to the zoo, rainforest cafe, dolly steamboat (canyon lake), ghosttown , desert botanical garden, etc. We got to do a lot of things in one week that we had not done with the kids since we lived here. It was also nice to have other family here for Thanksgiving for the first time since we moved here. I also started working seasonally at bath and body works which has been a lot of fun but really hard to leave the kids with a justified reason. I am now done with the seasonal work and will stay on with them to do floorsets once a month. December 8, Maw Maw Emily passed away and I flew into NOLA to help Paula with housework, errands, and go to the funeral. I miss the kids and Mike while I was away for 5 days but at the same time, I am glad I was able to be there to grieve and saw goodbye. I also got to spend some quality time with my Dad which I had not done in a while. We went to Academy and bought tons of LSU and Saints gear (Saints 14-3 right now and playing cardinals next weekend in playoffs), we also went out to lunch and then I went with him to help him buy a new suit. It rained so much the last night I was there that my dad's whole street flooded and I was not able to go meet my mom for dinner. Christmas was very relaxing this year, we just stayed home on Eve and Day and hung out, cooked, and let the kids enjoy their gifts. Alice is doing so well in Prek, Rose is in preschool doing well, and Anderson and Roman are boys :) We just registered Anderson for soccer to start in February and we plan to start the girls in dancing school again in July. My friend Terry was in a terrible car accident yesterday with her family. A drunk driver ran a red light, thank god they are okay. We are going to NOLA at the end of the month for Mike's 15 year highschool reunion. We can't believe it has been that long already. The kids are all excited to see everyone, it has been a year since they have been there. Other than that, I am so excited for the new year. I look forward to continually get the house organized as well as start to do a little sewing on my sewing machine. I got it right before I started working and haven't really used it yet.

NOVEMBER 2009-1

We have been doing a lot of stuff lately, keeping busy. The kids love riding their bikes outside, Anderson loves riding his Diego scooter. We went to our friend Leslie's house last night for a bbq. Alice and Rose just take to other people so well. Rose loved swinging with Greg and talking with Leslie while Alice really got attached to Courtney and Danny. It is so cute to see this interaction since the kids don't have aunts and uncles around, I think that is the way it would be if they were around. on two different occasions, both Alice and Rose tried to walk in the house and walked right into the closed sliding door. I told Leslie, her doors are too clean, ha ha. They were crying and I was trying not to laugh bc it was pretty funny. On a day like today, Lisa, respite provider, will come and help out, I have a Dr. appt, and then Alice and Rose have school. I am also working at Bath and Body Works tonight as a seasonal employee so that will be fun. I found a piece of paper with some stuff jotted down, I will note it on here.

Roman- said Moma real clear on 7/20/08, stood on own for 10 seconds 7/21/08, walked 3 steps 7/10/08, 8/16 not crawling at all, walking very good

Rose- finally said I love you on 8/17/08 :)

HALLOWEEN

We had a great day today trick or treating for Halloween. Alice was a witch, Rose a flower fairy princess, Roman spiderman, Anderson superman. We had a party yesterday at Rose and Alice's preschool. Roman stayed home napping but Anderson came with me to the party and he had a great time, he participated in all of the activities as if he was a student in the class. Alice will be starting pre-k next week at her same school. This will be great as it will prepare her for kindergarden next year as well as help Rose build her independence and self confidence. Alice is very smart and perceptive. She knows her upper and lower case letters, can count to 20 and knows her shapes. She can also write her name pretty well. We plan to get her tested into kindergarden early next year since she misses the cutoff by 21 days. This will allow for each child to start kindergarden one year behind the other, helping to support their independence and make their own friends. All of the kids are so great, each one has their very own personality. Roman and Anderson are now saying back "I love you too" when I ask them to, it is so cute. We have been doing a lot of activities for the fall, we went to the pumpkin patch, participating in mom's group at church, we also go to the gym a lot and they play while I work out. We are barely ever home, I try to entertain them all day long. My housework does suffer for it but at the same time I fell like, before we know it they will be 18 and going to college so I just try to spend every moment treasuring the time I have with them and I feel so blessed to be their mom. I love each and every one of them so much.

waiting patiently at WIC office

first time bowling

all of our babies

Round and Round

Round and Round we go, where it stops, nobody knows....
Just had a little incident with the kids. We just got the carpets cleaned and they decided to run in a circle with sippy cups of water and spit it on each other and all over the floor. It is so hard sometimes to get over the respect factor. It is hard because they are kids and they don't understand that we just paid money to get the carpet cleaned and you spitting water on the floor then walking on it will make a stain. Oh well, I guess when you look at it in hindsight, it is not a big deal, kids will be kids.
On another note, Roman will be 2 yrs old tomorrow. They are growing up so fast. I just keep trying to hold on to every moment that I have with them and feel blessed that we have these beautiful children to share our life with. Roman is singing his ABC's and saying so many words, phrases, sentences, etc. that I can't even count. He is so smart. Everyone even says so too, for instance when he is in childcare at the gym or church they remark on how smart he is. Roman and Anderson have a special bond, they love being around each other and at times one can't do something without the other. Other times they do fight but that is normal. Alice and Rose are the same. In the morning they all hug each other and are happy to see each other. Alice and Rose just started preschool about a month ago. They go three days a week 2 hours a day. It is an academic preschool so they are strictly learning. We will move Alice to a Kindergarden prep program once she turns four this month. We plan to get her tested to start kindergarden next school year. We have it planned so that each child will start Kindergarden separately, that way they will have their own friends and independence. In addition, Rose will definitely need another year to prepare for Kindergarden after Alice starts since she is younger. The girls can both spell their name aloud and are learning to write their name. They are also counting really well and able to identify the letters of the alphabet really well. They still have a lot to learn this year but it is exciting to see what a difference a month makes in preschool. Last year they only went for a couple of months to this preschool and before that they were at Kindercare which was primarily a daycare but it kept them stimulated during the day. Once we adopted them, we longer got assistance for Kindercare so that is why we have them in a shorter program now. We are blessed with having respite care so I have our respite worker come a few times a week so that I can go and run errands or just do things for myself, like today I got my haircut and had lunch with my friend Cherrie. Yesterday I had a Dr appt, etc. so it really helps to have some help with the kids. The kids love her, she does crafts with them and is nurturing with them. Today she brought Roman a birthday present and they made cupcakes for his birthday. Also once a week the kids are going to camp at church while I attend a Mom's group. This has been a great way for me to talk with other mom's who also have preschoolers as well as have the kids in an activity. Other than that we usually go to the gym and they play in the kidcenter while I work out. So we keep pretty busy all the time. Mike and I try to go out on a date once a week to get some time by ourselves to talk and reflect on our life and this has been really nice. Here are just some tidbits for the kids:
Alice loves pink and Hello Kitty
Rose loves purple and Princesses
Anderson loves Spiderman
Roman loves Diego and Cars
both boys love to play with matchbox cars now and the girls are still into their babies.
When I ask the girls who they want to pray for, they say Hello Kitty and Princess
Also when I called my mawmaw Alice yesterday, Allie said "can I talk to her, she has the same name like me" I said, "Yes baby, that is how we got your name" Then we also talked to MawMaw Paula and Paula asked Alice if she remembered her and she said "yeah, we swing at your house and go on the slide and ride in a pink car (pink barbie jeep). " It has been 8 months since we saw them and she still remembers all of this.
Also another thing that Alice remembered recently is that I showed her a picture of her bio mom and asked her if she knew who it was and she giggled and said her name and said she always cries when she sees us. She hasn't seen her in a year and I can't believe she still remembers that. Well I will close for now, hopefully I will be able to write sooner next time. I love you Roman, Rose, Anderson, and Alice. You will never be able to fathom how important you are to me and Daddy. You are our heart and our world and we live for you everyday. Love you so much, love mommy

Time Flies

Time is just flying by. Rose and Roman still take a good solid nap, while at times it is easier to just keep Allie and AJ awake and not fight to get them to sleep and interrupt the good 3 hour nap Rosie and Romo will take. So I sit here in our bedroom contemplating folding clothes as I watch Allie and AJ take turns covering up each other and pat each other's back and I think, "wow, where has the time gone". Our youngest child will be two in September and there are no more babies. I feel as though sometimes the growing up part is worse for us because we missed a big chunk of Allie, Aj, and Romo's earlier life since Allie was 1 yr old, Romo 8 mos old, and Rosie 2 yrs old when they came into our lives. In some ways it is nice not having babies anymore so that we can do more things, for instance, we will go on our first camping trip at the end of the month or like in a few years when we can get nice things in the house and not have to determine how it will be damaged by the kids. It would be difficult and like starting all over again if we had another baby. At the sametime I feel as though I want to have another baby to do it all over again and cherish it since our situation we have now happened so fast and it was more just being in survival mode all of the time. Well I could dwell on this everyday or I could just be at peace and try to enjoy each and every moment with the kids and not try to rush to the next thing. I choose to enjoy it and want to just make their life as great as possible so that when they grow older they would have had good guidance and great childhood memories. These kids are a gift from God. There was a time when my life had no purpose and I thought I would never have children and I still can't believe we have four beautiful healthy children that are all ours and I never want to take that for granted.
In closing there is one thing I really want the kids to know: Roman had the worse diapers out of all of you, and I mean BAD! His room still smells from the one he had this morning so Roman, you owe me big time, and the other kids should make you wipe my ass the most when I need it.
So some new things Roman says, "a mess", "spongebob"
Anderson says "look Allie, you" while showing Allie a picture of herself, also "little bear"