New Video of Cadence

Since she's gone this week to FL, this is what we have when we miss her :)

VIDEO

Cadence Shae Update

While Shaun has had a pretty rough week (see post below) Cadence has been the complete opposite! With the exception of driving us crazy as she is constantly around Caleb Shaun - which makes him scream - she has been nothing but a joy to have around. It makes me a little sad to see her become a big girl but very happy with the big girl she's becoming; all at the same time! Maybe it's just because my pregnancy emotions are out of control :)

Yesterday we had a conversation that went like this

ME: Cadence, get away from your brother! Do you not hear him screaming?!?!

CADENCE: "Yes ma'am". she walked away and then came over to me and said

"Mommy I'm sorry that I was disobedient but I need to tell you something"

ME: What would you like to tell me?

CADENCE: I know I'm not supposed to be in Shaunie's face but it's hard for me to stay out of his face because I just love him so much because he's my brother.

So, I pretty much felt like a schmuck and just had to reiterate that even if she loves him that when she's been told to stay out of his face, she needs to do what she's told even if it's hard. and to work harder to choose obedience. to which she said "Yes Ma'am" and went on her way.

The other day she was playing in her room and I walked by her door and saw this. So sweet! She was reading books to Ella and had obviously been there for quite a while. She loves to "read" us books and make up songs that she plays on the piano and sings. At bedtime we now have to take turns because it's always been that I would sing her a song but now she wants to sing me a song. They're always made up songs about whatever thoughts are going thru her head at the moment. I love them!

It's a little hard to see but, we got her entire name on the same piece of paper! I now find the letters to her name written on papers all over the house. She even painted them on a picture for her Daddy the other day.

and for those of you who care and have been asking (Terica) here is a picture of me all pregnant - 26 weeks today to be exact. less than 100 days to go until Creed makes his appearance!

Caleb Shaun Update

Teething is no fun! He now has 2 teeth on the bottom (the middle 2) and his eye-teeth - on either side of the middle ones - are working on coming in. It has been a hard week for us with lots of fussing over these teeth. Poor Shaunie is miserable! But we're just hoping they break thru soon so that he can go back to being the happy boy he normally is.

Caleb is always happy when Daddy is around. These next pics were taken by Chris (which is why he's attentive and happy)

He LOVES Slang and is always trying to get to him to play with him. Thankfully, he's not mobile yet so Slang can still get away :)

Working on therapy to stretch out the left side of Caleb Shaun's neck.

These next 2 pics are what we've seen the most of this week. Either fussing or chewing on anything he can get into his mouth :(

and after a long time of fussing, this is what we accomplish :)

The Park

The park around the corner from our house has great walking trails all thru it. We came across a bridge with a creek running under it and thought it would be lots of fun to see if we could get to the water. Awhile back we went down with Kagan, Christa, and Adaline - but I didn't have a camera with me. So, we went back last Friday and met up with the Staring girls to play in the water. It was so much fun! and because the days are getting much warmer, it was nice to have our feet in some cold water! I'm thinking that this is a spot that will be visited alot as we move on thru the summer. Cadence can't wait to take her Daddy to play in the water too! He finished school next week so then we can definitely all go play together.

Summertime's Coming!

Music Recitals are over! The weather is warmer! The garden is beginning to produce! All signs that summer is on its way! We love summer. Not only is it hot :), but Daddy's home! The school year will be over in a couple of weeks and then one week of Rock School for lessons and we will be in vacation/get ready for Creed mode. I love this time of year - in case you haven't noticed.

Shaun has another tooth that has broken thru this week. So, that's been not so fun with it coming thru but now that it's thru the skin, he seems to be much better with it. It has also helped tremendously with his feeding therapy because EVERYTHING is in his mouth these days which means that his gag reflex has diminished considerably - just because his mouth is getting used. So now, he can swallow bites of food (and some he puts in himself) without choking on them!

The pictures at the bottom are of us playing outside last night. Chris finished up teaching early and we got to have dinner and play together before heading to Bible Study. Yay for summer coming and us getting to eat and play as a family more regularly!

More Milestones!

I'm trying to be better about documenting milestones so as to not have to remember a big update. So, this week we had a couple of things that are blog-worthy.

1st of all Cadence has finally figured out all the letters in her name! Granted it takes several pages to get them all written down, she's on her way. Also, we noticed this week that as she draws people - which she does alot - they have ears. This is definitely new. She's really aware of ears right now and even noticed in a different picture this week that someone's ears weren't in the right place. It was really a backdrop behind the person that looked like ears coming out of the top of their head but still, she noticed it - which I thought was interesting. So, maybe that's why she's drawing ears on her people but either way, I thought it was fun to see people with ears :)

I don't know what's up with the pictures in this post but they won't move where I want them too :( So, Caleb Shaun's big news is that he sits up! I literally left him in Cadence's lap this week and came back into the room and he was sitting beside her not being supported by anything. I couldn't believe it! So, there are some pictures of that too. He's getting to be such a big boy and we can't believe how quickly things are coming for him now. We're so glad - and the physical therapist definitely thinks he'll meet my goal of crawling by his birthday!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day must be the strangest of all holidays in my world. I don't love it and almost wish that we could do without TV, card aisles, or even church around this time of the year. I hate that somehow just because you have a child in your cart with you, you get this extra day of "special" that people without children - often times for a variety of reasons - don't get. I guess I just know too many people who would like to be moms and aren't. And those feelings are still way too raw in my own heart to jump on the bandwagon of overpriced Hallmark cards on a made-up holiday.

Having been a "mom" for 3 years now with this holiday, it doesn't really get any less strange as the years go by. Anyone who follows this blog knows that I'm a Mother who has yet to give birth to a child. But, nonetheless, I have these 2 crazy blessings who refer to me as "Mommy" ( at least the one who talks) that take up most of the thoughts in my brain every waking moment of the day.

This year having this 3rd crazy blessing actually inside of me, Mother's Day got even weirder. I've always love and respected birth moms more than I could ever put into words, and carrying a child myself has made me respect them even more. The kind of love that says "I want to give you the best you could have in life, even if that's not me" is unbelievable. To know that Creed takes up as many thoughts in my life as Cadence and Caleb Shaun makes me think of our birth moms almost daily. To know that they felt their babies kick, and move, and have to pee in the middle of the night - several times a night - and have back aches, and more body changes than should be discussed on a blog, and still make the unselfish decision to give that baby to us - or anyone else who has an adopted child - is mind blowing to me. It's the kind of love where we lay down ourselves for another person and the only person who I can compare it to is Jesus. Pre-children, He's the only person outside of my own parents, who ever gave me a gift at such a huge cost to themselves. Post-children, we have 2 birth moms in our world who fit into that "unselfish love" category.

I don't know what I'm trying to say here really except that I didn't get a corsage to wear to church (thank God), and there were no presents (except for one from my mom), I cooked our lunch just like any other Sunday, and I didn't even take the Bruster's gift card that they gave away at church because I never participate in the "mother's day give-aways" - although I did get out of dirty diapers for the day :) - but I am grateful to be a Mom and don't take it lightly that it's my responsibility - along with Chris - to help these little people that God has entrusted us with to turn out to be people who grow up to love the Lord and continue to grow His kingdom regardless of what kind of success that looks like from a worldly perspective.

I guess if Mother's Day can turn me all introspective and make me a little more grateful it's not so horrible after all - although I'd still like to do without the cards, presents, and flowers associated with it :)

We celebrated Mother's Day this year thanks to some dear friends who gave us a swing set. We spent the entire afternoon after church in the yard with the kids playing on our newest form of entertainment. I'm so grateful for friends who bless you even when you don't expect it. The smile and excitement in Cadence first thing on a Sunday morning that makes her play in the cold in her pajamas is really one of my favorite things in the whole world! So, here are a few pics of our playing adventures and I'm sure there will be many more to come as the summer wears on.