I Should Get A Sticker

I should get a sticker for surviving this morning.  Unbearably loud, screaming children.  A 2-year-old who knows what she wants and who makes my least favorite sound in the whole world when she doesn't get it.  I was feeling on the edge of losing it by 9am.  Not good.

I loaded everybody into the van and just drove.  They still weren't quiet...but at least they couldn't hit each other :) We needed a few things from the store and they are usually pretty well-behaved in public so we wandered the aisles and picked up milk and bananas.  Hannah wanted to walk but I wouldn't let her out of the cart...and the noise began.  I gritted my teeth and headed for the checkout.

I heard behind me, "Somebody's tired!" but didn't realize at first that the comment was directed my way.  I turned and saw three older ladies smiling at me and my cart full of children.  I smiled then turned and continued on, wondering to myself, "Did they mean Hannah...or me?!?"

Some days this job is exhausting.  Some days I feel like these little ones are sucking the life out of me!  After a snack (for them), a huge coffee (for me), a little more driving and an hour outside, things are looking a little better :)

Here's to hoping we are in for a better afternoon!!

She's Home

Please believe me when I tell you that this little one was totally thrilled about her pigtails and that she laughed hysterically when I picked her up and showed her in the mirror.

You wouldn't know it from this picture, but today we heard more laughter from this little one than I think we ever have.  I mean, hearty belly laughs, throwing back her head because it is that funny kind of laughs.  

It feels like a whole new level of home for our little darling.  She feels safe, and she is happy, and it is so good to see!

Now if only we could get a picture of that...

Today's Favorites

Telling the boys about our wedding that was 9 years ago today!

Matthew seeing his math book on the table this morning and shouting, "I want to do more math!"...and then watching him do it on his own!

Hannah sitting with her brothers and listening to 6 books!  Today was the first time for story time with all three...thankful for hearing aids and for all the progress this little one is making!

Taking a little breather from the little ones after Brad got home and coming out of the bedroom to find this...

I thought it was too quiet!!

It's been a good day all around and I am blessed!

Feeling Full

Lately that is the word I would use to describe life:  full.

My heart is full, my days are full, it seems as though I couldn't imagine adding anything else in right now.

This is a new feeling for me.  When Matthew came home, I knew there was another little one waiting for me somewhere.  Within 6 months of him coming home, I was spending my evenings searching online looking for him.  I found him, by the way :)

When Nathan came home, I thought that was it (at least for a long while).  He had such a difficult adjustment and life was so difficult for months and months, and I resigned myself to the idea that maybe two was it for us.

And then all of a sudden, about 7 months after Nathan came home, I started to feel it again.  That pressing, unrelenting feeling that there was another child out there who was supposed to be in our family.  I really can't explain it except to say that I could not get it out of my head.  I could not pray it away, reason it away, or stop thinking about it.  Every night I was again online, searching for our child.

She found us, by the way!

I wondered when Hannah came home if I would still feel like this.  I wondered if I would struggle because really, we cannot adopt again right now.  Our house is full (and then some!!) and we are focused on finishing to pay off our debt (a goal we set before we started adopting!).  

Somewhere in the last 7 months though, I have settled into the idea that this is what God wants for our family for right now.  In many ways it is a relief to just be living this instead of waiting for the next big change.  Before, we would just start to enjoy things getting easier and then we would bring home a new little one and it would get hard again!  This time, it's just getting easier!  Do you know what happened last night???  I slept 8 straight hours!  And the crazy thing is, that is becoming more and more normal!  For a person who was being woken up 2-10 times a night for years (oh I wish that were an exaggeration) this is a big deal.  

I am certainly not saying "We're done!".  But I am saying, "I think we're done...for now."  I honestly believe that God could bring us another child tomorrow if He wants, and that would be okay (a shock, but okay).  I hope and pray He brings us more down the road.  We are so blessed and there are so many children waiting for families, it's hard to imagine not being a family to more.  I can't wait to see what the coming years hold for us!  It has been an adventure unlike anything I ever imagined.

Weekly Wrap-Up

I forgot to share my favorite quote of the week yesterday...

Nathan just learned the words to "Jesus Loves Me"

but he gets a little messed up..he keeps going around singing,

"Yes, Bible loves me!  Yes, Bible loves me!"

I often hear him singing in the other room

followed by Matthew saying, in a slightly irritated voice,

"It's JESUS, Nathan!  JESUS loves you!"

Silly boys :)

I am super happy that we survived the week.  When I looked at my planner last Sunday I about had a heart attack as I realized the number of appointments we had scheduled.  Two speech therapy appointments on Tuesday, an out-of-town doctors appointment for Hannah on Wednesday that I had to take all three kids to, followed by Awana, more speech therapy on Thursday, and physical therapy for Hannah on Friday (thankfully this one got cancelled!).  Occupying little ones in waiting rooms stresses me out so I was dreading all of these appointments.  Thankfully with a lot of prayer and some planning ahead, everything went well!  

Life these days is very busy with therapy and doctors appointments and trying to make time for school has been quite challenging this week.  Somehow we managed to get it all done, mostly when Hannah was napping after lunch, and I am really enjoying it and not feeling too stressed by it at all.  Matthew wouldn't even be in kindergarten yet if he were attending school so I really don't feel much pressure at this age.  They play a lot, and we sit down for maybe 30-45 minutes a day for focused lessons like handwriting, reading, math, and pre-reading activities for Nathan.  This month I decided to add in some science and we are learning about plants.  It has been fun to do some Pinterest activities together and I don't seem to dread crafts as much as I used to :)

Today we got to see my family which was lots of fun.  We are enjoying some cooler fall weather all of a sudden and it was strange to put sweatshirts and jackets on the kids after it being over 90 degrees just a couple of days ago!

No reason for this picture...just his "cheese" face making another appearance.  This kiddo made me very proud this week as he worked hard and learned the "f" sound and went off with his speech teacher all by himself to work for half an hour without any fuss.  Such a big boy!

This made me laugh the other day - our basset hound was sitting staring into the big fan that was on and her ears were just blowing in the wind!  The boys thought it was hilarious!

Heard Around Here

Heard in our house recently...

Hannah:

"Shoes!!!"

At 6:30am this morning.

Nathan:

"I want to pet Tinkerbell!"

Said about my sister's baby girl, Isabella :)

And when I started laughing he just yelled,

"I want to pet him!"

Matthew:

"What is a blood cell?"

"What is bacteria?"

"How do volcanoes erupt?"

"What is 4 + 2 + 6 + 8 + 29?"

Oh sweet boy, it is 8pm and I just can't talk anymore!

Hannah:

"Ball!"

About 29,589 times a day :)

Brad:

"She's asleep"

Matthew:

(with his arm around his nervous little brother 

as they walked into Awana together last night)

"I'll take care of you, buddy!"

Oh, my heart.

I love hearing what comes out of their mouths each day!

Everyday Stuff

When I was a teenager, I had a long list of Things I Wanted To Do With My Life.  All of them fell into what I would have called the "exciting" category.  I wanted to go places, travel the world, do big things.  I wanted to learn to fly, create new things, teach children across the world.

You know what didn't even make it onto my list?  Yep, you guessed it - being a stay at home mom.  It's strange looking back at who I was then.  I had absolutely loved having my mom home with me when I was little and really couldn't imagine it any other way.  I wanted to have kids but that seemed so far away.  When I thought about being a stay at home mom, truthfully the words that came to mind were dull, boring, chore, sloooooow days...not at all the life I thought I wanted.

I smile as I write that because I can say without a doubt that this time, right now, is the most content I have ever been in my life.  I feel the most fulfilled, the most challenged, the most excited about every day, and the happiest that I can ever remember being.  Of course it is stressful, tiring, frustrating, hard and all of that at times, too :)  But I am so thankful to be where I am, spending my day with these precious little ones.  Only God, in His amazing ways, knew that I wouldn't have to go around the world to teach children...He brought them to me!

Teaching Matthew these last few weeks has been so wonderful and I am so glad we have made this decision for our family.  He is reading up a storm, starting to write, and soaking up everything!  This week we made a mailbox out of a cardboard box and then made notes to pretend to mail.  Matthew wrote one to my sister, Sarah :)

This little girl is such a ham - she cracks me up!  She has been home 7 months now and I see even more evidence every day that she knows that we are her forever.  It's awesome to see!

There is a whole lot of laughter in this house, especially from these two crazy boys and their Daddy!  He let them brush his teeth the other night and apparently that was the most hilarious thing ever.  The boys were laughing so hard and we were laughing at them laughing!

Every day there are a hundred little things that make me giggle.  Like Nathan pushing his transformers around in a doll stroller.  He is such a little boy!!!

It may not seem from the outside looking in that I have the best job in the whole wide world.  People may look at me at the grocery store with a cart full of children and groceries and they may be thinking how glad they are that it's not them!  But I continue to look around in amazement at the little ones God has blessed me with and thank Him for giving me a life so good that I couldn't even dream it up on my own.  It was all Him, and I will never stop thanking Him for what He has done!

Camping Adventures

I never thought I'd be able to say this, but I survived tent camping with three little children!

Phew!  That was a lot of work!!!  But it was a lot of fun, too, and I'm really glad we did it.  I think that we will try again next summer for sure and it will be even easier with the kids being a little older.

We found a great campsite that was private, surrounded by trees, and separated from other campers.  Plus there was a ton of sand everywhere and it was like a giant sandbox for the kids.

The kids absolutely loved camping!  Matthew actually cried when we left because he was enjoying it so much.  Hannah wandered around with snacks and was as happy as could be.

I tried to prep a lot ahead of time so meals were pretty easy.  It's never very relaxing to feed little children but it really wasn't much worse than at home :)

The kids were crazy excited about this little hill that went up from our campsite to the van.  They ran up and down it about a million times laughing and screaming.  I'm not sure how it could be so much fun to keep running up hill, but it sure kept them happy!

Speaking of happy...this is what happened when I asked Brad to give me his best, "I love camping!" smile.  Crazy guy!

Matthew looks like he's in a bit of a chocolate coma!  

Who could have guessed that sand and dirt with a bucket and shovel could occupy these little ones for hour and hours?  

Our littlest camper :)

All in all it was a great time!  Sleep was not terrible (it was a bit cold) and we ended up coming home early because of rain, but we were all glad we went.  I'm looking forward to more camping adventures next year!

A Perfect{ly} Normal Day

Today was a totally normal day...

And it was a really great normal day.

No big plans,

Left the house once (to grocery shop),

Had a headache that put me on the couch being

totally unproductive during the kids' rest time,

And yet it was a lovely day.

We had a visit from my sister and her new baby.

The kids have been thrilled to have another new cousin!

My sister had a baby girl a month ago and Hannah absolutely adores her.

We introduced Hannah to Isabella by telling her

this was her new best friend :)

I think Hannah agrees!

She lights up when she sees her and loves to hold her.

I can't wait to see these two grow up together!

We have had the best weather the last few days

and we've been soaking up every minute of it!

Playing in the yard...

Having some little impromptu photo shoots...

Spending hours in the sunroom...

These little ones have become not only siblings

but best friends over the last 7 months.

Seeing them play together, laugh together, make up stories,

help each other, care about each other...

it's amazing.

We are leaving for a 2 night camping trip tomorrow (if the weather cooperates!) and we had two little chairs...and three little kids.  Yesterday the kids and I stopped in at Goodwill and happened upon a third chair that was exactly like the other two (except it's got Mickey and Minnie on it instead of Cars!).  It was only $2 - how great is that?  Matthew was most excited about a Nerf gun we found for $1.  

The sunroom is full of stuff to take camping and it's feeling more overwhelming to pack for this than it was to pack for 2 weeks in China!  Seeing the boys' excitement about it makes it all worth it though.  Hopefully I'll still feel that way in a few days!!

Our Little Talker

When we first put Hannah's new hearing aid on I kind of expected a big reaction...or any reaction, really!  But it was hard to tell if she was hearing better or not.  She didn't turn when we said her name, she didn't react to loud noises, and I kind of wondered if it was even working.

Now that she's been wearing her BAHA for a few weeks I am starting to notice a big difference.  I think maybe she just had to get used to it and she may have been too overwhelmed at first.  She now turns as soon as we say her name, and she is starting to talk so much all of a sudden!  It is very exciting to see her progress in such a short time.

We had a lot of trouble figuring out where on her head to put the BAHA.  At first we had it behind her ear but it was driving us crazy!  It is on a softband, so it moves around, and when it gets hair under it and doesn't make good contact with her scalp it gives off an obnoxious feedback sound.  It was getting really frustrating to have to fix it every 10 minutes and Hannah was annoyed with it too.  Even though she asked for it first thing in the morning (by patting her head), she would pull it off when it was making the annoying buzzing noise.  

I'm glad we figured out a new place to put it on her head that works much better!  It is now up on her right temple and is working much better.  It hardly ever buzzes and she leaves it alone and seems much happier with it.  Success!

Hannah starts speech therapy next week so I was making a list of all the words she is trying to say.  I was surprised as I saw how many she really is saying (or trying to say) and I am adding to the list daily!  So far I have:

Up

Mama

Dada

Ready

Baby

More

"Right back" - when she is going somewhere she puts her finger up and tells us she'll be right back...it's my favorite!

Wet

Help

Daisy (our dog)

Done

Hot

Nana

Papa

Bye bye

Hi

This week when Brad was leaving for work she shouted, clear as day, "Bye Dada!"

I think she will be catching up to our two other little chatterboxes in no time at all!