9 Months!!!!

 Lydia,

Today marks the big 9 month mark, yes 9 whole months, that is how long it took you to grow inside me and for us to wait (im)patiently for you to make your entrance into this world.

This is the time that your grandpa schutz, who you will meet when we all return to home in heaven, loved the most, this is why they had 6 kids!! I can totally understand now because you are a ball of fun. You have grown so much and are learning so much I can't even believe my eyes.

You are crawling like a mad woman, all over the place, Aunt Sarah has to put the ottoman in front of the stairway, we have now baby proofed our house with sockets covered and your little play corner set up with toys.

You are pushing and walking behind your 3in1 walk and ride toy we got you for Christmas.

You are eating 3 meals a day, 3 bottles a day, and love your sippy cup!

You are in 12 month pj's and your 9 month shirts are out of here, your 9 month pants are short but the 12 months are too big, it's quite fun mix matching and dressing you in the mornings.

You still sleep like a champ, about 12 hours a night and then one good nap during the day!

You have experienced icepocolypse 2011 and we got to hang out and watch Sesame Street, Princess and The Frog, read books and have fun together.

You have another tooth, that makes 5! one on top has finally cut through and the other isn't far behind.

You wave to everyone now, whether you are leaving a room to go play with your boys (Ethan and Cooper) or someone else is leaving or entering a room,  you wave... A LOT. You even just learned high fives!

In church the other night you learned how mommy gives you eskimo kisses and if I put my nose to yours you will shake your head and giggle, melt my heart!

I love your fun personality, your smile, your laugh, your diaper butt as you crawl away from us to go discover something new, I love your dancing when a fun song comes on, I love every single thing about you!!

You da best daughter :)

Love,
Mamma

*9 month photo shoot to come but I won't have a chance until this weekend, so I waned to get my letter out on her actual 9 month bday this is a big one folks!*

The Icepocolypse is Here!

 For you fellow tweeps, #Icepocolypse2011 is the hashtag for this "catastrophic" event that is taking place right now outside my door.

As I type this, it is drizzling once again, wave 2 is on its way, and there is a chance it could be worse than the last. Please power stay with us!! I have been working from my kitchen table today because yes this would happen during an event week, a busy busy week. Lydia has been a jewel and taken an awesome nap so I could get some stuff done, so now I want to share what it looks like in my front yard. (Who knew grass could freeze like that?!?)

Hubby's truck is slowly sliding down our driveway... eek

hoping our branches don't snap

Lydia is awake, 2nd pot of coffee is brewing, and hubby's work just closed. Praying for safety for all who are in this same situation, I love snow but ice is a little bit scary!

Sicky Sicky :(

I don't know about where all of you live but around here there is a nasty bug running rampant! I have been coughing up a lung for the past couple days and poor hubby got up and went to the couch, then the dogs annoyed him so he went to our guest room, then he couldn't sleep so we both ended up watching tv at 4 in the morning :(

I just hope I don't get poor Lydia girl sick, I am constantly wiping things down and disinfecting my hands. I just can't help but want to snuggle her though bc she's just learned a new trick... eskimo kisses... :: I die::

Here is to hoping all of you stay healthy and safe if you are in the way of this storm coming through, I'm thinking tomorrow might end up being a work from home day if the ice hits like they say.

Working Mom Fail

I am so sad, our CEO is finally allowing a jeans day on the last Friday of the month and guess who forgot? So sad, it's crazy to think that wearing jeans changes my mood and my productivity but it does. I feel happier, more comfortable and therefore get more done and now I am sad :(   Fail. 

On a good note, I got to hang out with Lydia this morning while she had her bottle in our bed and watched Playhouse Disney, oh the little things!

Blizzard Bloghop -- Wish I could be star struck at Blissdom instead

 


Welcome to my little corner of the web! I like many of you wish I was star struck meeting some of my favorite bloggers at Blissdom this weekend but this will have to do! Thanks Household 6 Diva for setting this up.

My blog look is brand new as of this week. (swooons over Persnickety Pages and More's Talent) This blog is basically my outlet to find advice as a first time mother, brag about my darling baby girl, Lydia, talk about our crazy fur children and also share our newest adventure in the world of adoption. We hope to have enough funds saved in the next year or so to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. Why? Why not? You can check out the video that explains a little more about the why's when you have time, up in the Why Ethiopia Tab of my blog.

I love God, My Husband, My daughter, My dogs (ok sometimes they get on my nerves), rescuing said dogs, reading a good book, watching our favorite tv shows at night, sports and lots of sports, a good beer, and meeting new blog friends! So please come back and visit, grab my button if you would like to help spread the word and follow our adoption journey.

Enjoy your Blizzard Bloghop and stay warm!!

A BIG THANK YOU

 I want to take a moment to thank the wonderful, encouraging, sweet Shannon at Persnickety Pages and More for my awesome Blog Makeover, is it not the sweetest thing you've ever seen. I love how it incorporates our wonderful love for our Lydia Rose and the new journey we are about to embark on.

She ROCKS and I would totally recommend her to all that are wanting to have something done. (hahaha it sounds like plastic surgery)

THANKS SHANNON!! Check her out here

Finally The Announcement!!

We.

Are.



ADOPTING.

Someone is excited!!

I am sure most of you could have put the pieces together as I add blog after blog to my blog roll of amazing families who are on this journey as well. I find my inspiration in them and when I am feeling like maybe this isn't right for us, one of them posts something or I get an email from one of them that just solidifies the fact that this is where God wants us and this is what he has called us to do.

There are many factors that went into this decision and many things that were just simply God moments that made this all come about.

1. Awful Awful infection after my delivery, I would have never uttered the words adoption had I not been in that hospital bed with an unknown infection, a mama bear without her cub as my dad put it, angry and mad and sure that I would never go through the experience of child birth again.

2. Got over said angry and mad emotions as I grew to love and adore the blessing that is my daughter (BUT adoption was still uttered in that hospital bed, and a seed was planted)

3. Went to Women of Faith in August and heard the Chapmans beautiful story of adoption, saw countless World Vision promos and pleas for help. The seed began to blossom.

4. Read "Choosing to SEE" by Mary Beth Chapman... ok this seed is a full blown fire in my heart to help others just like their baby girls, just like my Lydia only not as fortunate to have been born in a country where the fact that I had to undergo an emergency c-section meant she got a chance at life, that we both did.

5. Stumbled across The Anderson Crew blog, randomly e-mailed Emily, which I had never done up to that point, I was a silent lurker. But I was moved by her announcement and interested in their journey. I thought China was where God was leading me until I heard the word "Ethiopia" and I started researching. The statistics, the stories, the pictures spoke to my heart especially my heart as a new mom.

6. Ethiopia took a piece of me from the moment we decided this is where we were going and it will be there until we bring our darling baby home and I hope it stays over there so I never become comfortable doing nothing to help.

Being a mom has changed me, God has used my new roll in this world to uncover a desire that I didn't know I had, to uncover a longing to help someone's Lydia, I see her in the eyes of the orphans all over the world, not just Ethiopia. But Ethiopia is where God put my heart, it is where God has a child waiting for us.

Our time-line is flexible as my husband and I do not have the best paying jobs in the world. So we are setting out on the mission to raise as much of the funds as possible before we are comfortable applying. We have chosen our agency, we have completed our pre-adoption paperwork and spoken with staff at our agency. We just feel as though we will be more prepared once we have a large portion saved and don't have to worry where the next check will come from. I am not worried, "My God is a God who provides!" he will help guide us in ways that will help bring this baby home.

Feel free to check out the Why Ethiopia section at the top of my blog, there is a video that rocked my world and I hope it will lead you to support us through the most important part of this journey... in prayer. Pray for Matt, Lydia and I as we answer the tough questions from those that won't understand, as we go through the paper chase and the wait that is the adoption process, and please pray for our child that we have not yet met, pray for the family and the mom of this sweet baby that we already love.

It's going to be a journey, one that will never really end because we cannot forget the others, we cannot pretend we do not know.

James 1:27 “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…”