halloween 2009 preview!!

I am always one to love a surprise. Giving or receiving – either way! But this is too cute to hold onto for another 2 months. So I give you a peek of what Holden will be this Halloween. Don’t worry, we are working on our roar. And though it doesn’t sound scary yet, it’s pretty darn cute. Just wait til we come knocking on your door and you’ll see what I mean. I have to give props to my sister, Amy. When she gave me a lot of cousin Cameron’s fall hand me downs, she passed on his costume from last year. A Halloween costume felt like a big decision at that moment. Normally I would like to have endless options and pick it out myself. But, I put on the headpiece and couldn’t resist it. And now you know why, right? Cutest little lion that I ever did see! (And in case you’re wondering, Holden IS planning to wear pants on Halloween.)

Painting with wa-wa

So I took some of the advice listed. This idea was given from both Amy and Liz. And it didn’t require much planning. So this morning we tried painting the sidewalk and driveway with water. Holden calls it wa-wa. And he loved it! It sure doesn’t take much to entertain at this age. Which is so great! Here are a few pictures from our morning.

Incredible Article

If, like me, you love adoption, then go here and read what some churches are doing. At the bottom left of the page click on Adoption Ministries Thriving in SBC Churches.

It makes me wish I was a member of that congregation. Hope for 100 sounds amazing. Something incredible to take part in! But I know instead that God has given me this passion to share wherever he places me. And I don't think he is going to place me in Tyler, TX or Louisville, KY. So it reminds me of what I need to do. To pursue these passions he has put in our hearts. And hopefully these church leaders and the adoption community can inspire more churches to do the same. There was one particular line that stuck out to me: When congregations adopt, foster, or minister to orphans, people are saved. Wow! I would love to hear your thoughts.

climbing boy.

Holden has officially learned to climb. He stands on his little tippy toes and pulls himself up onto the couch, chair or any other piece of furniture he thinks he should be on. So he thinks he is such a big boy now, sitting all by himself on the couch. But normally, he is not sitting. He is either nose diving into the cushions or burying his face among the pillows. He goes into complete hyper mode when he is unattended on the furniture. Normally laughing and slobbering all over everything. Makes you want to avoid sitting my furniture, huh?
Have I mentioned how much he LOVES his books?! There is normally always a book in his hand.

Grandma’s visit!

Jeremy’s mom came up to visit this past weekend. She and Holden had a great time catching up on each other’s lives. As soon as she walked through the door, they reached their arms for each other. Then Holden layed his head on her shoulder and just hugged her for at least 2 minutes (with no breaking). He was being super sweet and super affectionate. Who doesn’t love that!?
Then he started telling her all sorts of stuff. Remember he is quite the talker. Holden and grandma played with his toys, read books, went to the neighborhood playground and had some quality time together. Jeremy and I enjoyed the visit as well. Thanks grandma for spending your weekend with us. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you! See you next time.

buboos.

Jeremy told me a little story about something that happened yesterday morning while it was just he and Holden, as I had to be at church extra early. And then I was able to re-witness the whole experience myself, just this morning. I left Holden alone for a bit while he was finishing up his breakfast. When I returned, this is what I found. With his leaky sippy cup from all his chewing on it (that has since gone in the trash), he poured most of his milk onto his tray and was practicing his bubble blowing abilities. He is not too interested in blowing bubbles in the swimming pool, but he does like to watch me. But in a shallow pool of milk on his tray, it is a completely different story. And instead of knowing what he did was wrong. He looked at me so proudly when I walked into the room. And he said "buboos". And luckily my camera was right there in the kitchen, ready to savor the moment.

a yummy time with playdough

Oh the challenge of creative play at 15 months! I have made several solid attempts at "creative play" with Holden in the last 3 months or so. But it seems that I am normally way above his little head. Coloring has been a success. And yes, I do realize that coloring doesn't sound all that creative. But it's something new and different for him to do. So yesterday I thought I would pull out some playdough and let him go at it. I was a bit skeptical of what he would do with it. I tried to put him in a big chair at the kitchen table, but he could barely see over the top. So then I placed him in his highchair, kind of wondering if he would think the playdough was a snack since he was sitting in his eating chair. I personally remember loving the salty goodness of my mom's homemade playdough as a child. I was constantly, sneaking bites to eat as I played at the kitchen table. I wonder if she remembers that? I probably wasn't as sneaky as I thought.

Minutes later I learned that sure enough, he wanted to eat the playdough. At first, I kept trying to explain: no eat. We play, smash, pinch, squeeze it. But we don't eat it! Then I finally caved. I'm sure there's no harm in eating the stuff. He ate some, had a disgusted look on his face and spit most of it out. Which, by the way, he often does with his food now. Grrrr. So I thought to myself, problem solved. He doesn't like it. The store bought stuff must not taste as good as mom's homemade stuff. But even if he didn't like the taste, he continued to nibble here and there as I cooked dinner. Any other suggestions for creative play at this age? The toys in the house just get plain monotonous. Not so much to him, but to me.

15 months.

Holden turned 15 months on August 1st. Today we went to his 15 month check-up. He weighed 24lbs.15oz (50-75%) and he was 33in long (90-97%). So he is tall. But we already knew that. He can officially reach the water spout on the fridge door and has learned how to make a puddle on the floor with the push of that spout. Along with soaking himself in the process. And he is into everything! He is now showing an interest in climbing and other fun tricks. Life has become a little busier at our home. Today at the doctors office, we were in the waiting room and he was playing in the toy area. A little girl, probably about 4 years old, came in with her mother and went straight to the toys. So Holden figured he had a friend. For the next 10 minutes or so, he became her shadow. He was right on her heels following her around and wanting to play with her. Then he started his silly peek-a-boo games. He would stand about 5 feet away and just stare at her until she looked up and smiled. Then he would act like his silly self. I and 2 other mothers were laughing along with his new little friend. But during his little games, my eyes welled up with tears 3 or 4 different times. And the only reason I can pinpoint is that I was completely overwhelmed with joy. He was doing his thing and making me laugh. And I just started thinking about how much Jeremy and I have laughed during the last 15 months. Just last night in Holden’s bedtime prayers, I thanked God once again for allowing me to be a part of this. I thanked him for creating my family in a unique way. I just can’t explain it. I feel like I did nothing, absolutely nothing, to form my family. Sometimes a human’s loss of control can create such a beautiful miracle. I mean, once we let go of something, look what God can accomplish. Holden is not the first evidence of this in my life, but he is by far the biggest.

Later at home today I watched as Holden pushed his big truck around the house fiercely. Yes, fiercely. He does nothing gently. And then I watched him practically sprint to his ball, fall to the floor with a bang, jump up and grab the ball again. And it was a reminder to me once again that he is no longer a baby. Instead he’s my little boy. And I know that makes some people sad. But each new stage, I love and I welcome. So again, I was overwhelmed and had more welling up of tears. I never knew what I would do with a little boy, but this one is sometimes more than my heart can handle.

Holden understands so much now. We have been watching Baby Signing Time on video and with it he has learned so many of his signs. It has helped much with our communication. On vacation, he told me on his own for the first time that he was hungry. We are making progress and I love that he can communicate with me in this way. He signs: eat, more, all done, please, thank you, cracker and milk. He is still quite the babbler and babbling most of the time that he is awake. The words he is saying clearly are: mama, dada or daddy, nana, poppa, cracker, ball, burp, baby. Words he makes a good attempt at are: shoe, milk, more, and others. He knows to quack like a duck and moo like a cow. Right now he thinks many of the other animals say moo also. We’re working on it. He is our entertainer. Let me rephrase that. He is THE entertainer. And it’s pretty much everywhere he goes. Just as you would imagine from the doctors office today. That is now life. He had rows of people on our planes (to and from Florida) in stitches because he was playing his games with them and working the crowd. He received quite a bit of attention with all of his tricks. Then as we waited for his stroller after each flight, I held him in my arms. As each person stepped off of the aircraft, he waved and said bye-bye to each face that passed. One airline employee said he was stealing her job. And this is my Holden. He has added so much joy to our lives and to those that fly Southwest Airlines. And there is a great big update on Holden.

Back from the beach!

Well, summer vacation has come and gone. Our 6 days in Florida were alot of fun. It was a low-key and relaxing time. I seem to forget how much I miss the friends that I never get to see, until I spend an entire week with them. And so last week reminded me of how much I have missed my dear friend. I haven't consistently spent time with Amanda since the age 16 (other than 1 summer during college). And so it was refreshing this week, being around her and her sweet family. I realized that while much has changed in our lives during the past 13 years, the friendship, amazingly, has not! I think that is rare. And so I consider it a gift. She is a gift! So Greg, Amanda and Max: thank you for sharing your vacation days with us!

In the past, Jeremy and I have always done vacations in early May. It's cheaper during that time, while the kids are still in school and it's technically during spring instead of summer. But I have always been a little sad by May 15th and sometimes even earlier, feeling that there is nothing left of the summer to enjoy. Or at least, that is how I always felt about it. It was just back to work. Back to the grind. (I still have those same feelings at the end of the day on my birthday. Sounds selfish, I know.) This year, we obviously went on a much later vacation, the first week of August. And this was actually great because I was anticipating it all summer long. And now I feel like fall is just around the corner. So not much time to whine about wanting another vacation. Anyways, enough rambling. Here are some pictures from our week. Some of the pictures are from Pompano Beach, where our hotel was located. Then on our last full day, we made the drive to South Beach. We just wanted to see it. It's amazing what 30 miles south on the coast will do. It was so blue and so beautiful there. See for yourself!

Sneak Peek

Well, we are back from Florida. It was a nice trip with our friends. It was very relaxing, when normally a relaxing vacation isn't my style. We are just about unpacked. And the laundry is going as I type this. Every time I opened a bag last night, I saw more sand. It was in everything! So we spent several days at the beach and literally brought some of it home with us. Many more pictures are coming; it will just take me some time to get them on here.