Grandma Gladys

As you all know we choose to have an open adoption with Aliya's birthmother. Well, we haven't heard from her since March, but a few months ago we received a letter from Gladys, Aliya's maternal bio grandma. We have been corresponding through snail mail and phone calls for several months now and finally decided it was time to meet. We met at Olive Garden in Lima on Friday 12/26. I was so nervous. I thought I was going to throw up the entire way there. But as soon as she came in all the nerves melted away. We had a wonderful lunch and visit. Aliya only let her hold her for about 30 seconds, but she didn't mind. She brought gifts for birthday and Christmas. Our bio mom did not join us for this visit. According to Gladys she is not in a very good place right now. Whether that means mentally or physically we're not sure. We didn't ask, and she didn't offer. Our visited lasted about 2 hours. Aliya looks a lot like Gladys. We are so glad we got this time with her. One of the reasons we choose and open adoption is that we want no secrets with Aliya. It's kind of obvious she's adopted, and we want to be able to answer as many questions that Aliya will have one day about her bio family.

Outside of Olive Garden afterwards


Gladys trying to get a good look at Aliya

Christmas 2008

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning! Aliya was actually interested in unwrapping her gifts, not just eating the paper! Enjoy!


This one is not of Christmas morning, sorry! It's of Christmas evening, we went over to my grandma's for dinner. Aliya wore the most adorable Santa dress, but we took it off before we ate. After the meal she just crawled around in her tights and onesie. Everyone one joked that she looked like she was heading to dance class! Who knows, her feet do turn out when she walks, she's constantly in 1st position! Here is her discovering papa H's beard


Mom Channell sent her the CUTEST handmade hat and poncho set. She wasn't too sure about having it one, I hope to get a good shot of her in it! Thanks mom!


The kids got Jon a picture frame this year. Here's Jon and Joel right before they left to take Joel to his mom's.


She asked santa for her two front teeth...she didn't get them...


One of Joel's favorite gifts this year came from Grandma Sylvia and Papaw Tom, a game chair.


Aliya and her new "show".


Now that our family is complete we decided to start a tradition of getting a family ornament each year. We found this one at Cracker Barrel and fell in love with it!


Aliya opening her gifts, she handed each piece of torn paper to me...it took FOREVER for her to open her gifts!


Joel opening his new suitcase/duffel bag. (I should have cropped myself out of this one)


Jon opening his frame.


This was the first time in five years that there have been gifts under our tree for Jon and me. Well, Joel always makes us gifts at school, but this was the first year we had purchased gifts. We decided a few years back that a card will do from the two of us, as our money is better spent on others. Well, this being our fist year as a complete family we decided to exchange gifts "from the kids". Joel wanted to get Jon new T-shirts to wear while he cleans the house. I just couldn't bring myself to spend money on that, so we opted for an electronic picture frame for him to take to work. The "kids" got me a beautiful pendent necklace. It's the mother and child circle. It has two children on it and Jon had them add my birthstone and the kid's too. It is beautiful! He spent way too much on it, but as he said, this is a very special Christmas for me...my first as a mommy!

Rewind a bit to Christmas eve...we went up to Defiance to celebrate Grandpa B's birthday and Christmas. We at lunch then for the first time in my entire life we did Christmas before Grandpa's birthday. Joel was trying to hard to be patient, but his cute little smile won everyone over and he got his wish to open his gifts first! His favorite gift from that day was his new Steeler's Fathead from Grandma and Grandpa W. All his other gifts were a close second! We stayed at Grandma's until around 5p then we headed down the highway to Jon's dad's house. They had gifts for the kids and we enjoyed an hour visit. We got home in enough time for the Fathead to be put up on the wall and Aliya to be changed into her PJ's. Then we got back into the car and headed to church for the 10:30p service. We both thought (hoped) Aliya would sleep during church...WRONG...there was a baby in the isle next to us and she was fascinated with it. She kept saying "baby" over and over again. I ended up taking her to the nursery to play for a bit. She crashed out in the van before we were even out of the parking lot.

Joel was due back to his mom's at noon on Christmas day, so we just laid around ALL DAY! It was great! We finally decided to get around and head to grandma H's around 5pm. We had a wonderful meal and fellowship with everyone! We missed seeing Kris and Greg, they were in FL. Dad will join them tomorrow in the sunny state and then drive back with them in a few days. We will have our Christmas with them when they get back into town!

2008 was an amazing Christmas. I am overwhelmed by the generosity my family and friends show us each year. God is so good!

**Stay tuned for more pictures**

Aliya's Steppin' Out

When I picked Aliya up from Ms. Jenn's on Friday I was told some exciting news...Aliya took 5 steps! I burst into tears instantly. Tears of joy and tears of disappointment that I missed it. I know, I know, she'll be walking the rest of her life, but it's the fact that I missed those first steps. So all Friday night and yesterday I tried to get her to walk to me. NOTHING! Flashbacks of when she started rolling over flooded my head, she rolled over for over a month before she'd do it in front of me, was she going to do the same with walking? Today was my Sunday to work in the infant room at church so I was in there with Aliya. (Once she starts walking well she will advance to the walkers room) So I'm telling everyone about her birthday party and how she walked on Friday and how I missed it when I look over at her and she takes 3 steps towards me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She probably would have taken more, but I was sitting pretty close to her on the floor! Everyone in the room cheered for her and of course she clapped for herself! Of course, I cried, again. Something is seriously wrong with me! Hopefully after she gets up from her nap she'll feel like doing some stepping for daddy!!!

Thoughts on Joel

So I was talking on the phone with my mom this afternoon on my way to pick up the kids when she told me about a conversation she and Joel had last weekend. Joel told my mom that he signed up for basketball again this year because his friends wanted him to. My mom then asks "Only because your friends wanted you to huh? Would you smoke pot if your friends wanted you to"? Joel got really quiet and got this blank stare in his face and replied, "I don't know what that means". I not only giggled when she told me this but was reassured that my 10 year old boy holding onto his childhood in a world that is growing up too fast around him.

Joel is getting so big and I don't just mean physically. He is maturing into this amazing young man right before our eyes. He is thoughtful and gentle. Don't get me wrong, he loves to rough house with Dad, but is so kind hearted. He stands up for what he believes in and has a faith strong beyond his years. Listening to him pray before dinner, being so honest with God that he is thankful for his family and to have a safe place to live and a family eating together at night...such sweet words.

As Christmas quickly approaches I am constantly asking him what he wants for Christmas...expensive video games, of course! But then he says something that makes my heart smile. He'll say something like, "I know money is tight, so something small is fine". What 10 year old says that? And means it? He is amazing.

He does NOT want any more siblings. One is more than enough he says! He still loves his little sister and boy does she love him. Being a step mom is hard work, but he makes it so easy!!!!!

I love you bug!

Party Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Aliya's party on Saturday, thanks again Laura!!!
They are out of order, but you get the idea.

Aliya opens her gift from Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Mike! It was a fav by all the little ones!


We didn't get a shot of the family before Joel had to leave for his mom's...


Aliya was moving a bit too slowly opening her gifts, Brody and Gage decided to help!


Izzy and Isaac take a second for a quick shot!


Aliya got several new books!!! We have lots of reading to do now!


Here's just one view of our living room...41 people in our house! Thank God we have an open basement!


Aliya checking out her new "Snuggle" rug that Great Grandma H. made her!


She was very interested in her new sparkle shoes from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Kris


The cake and singing! I tried my best to make her a lady bug cake!


Vanilla cupcakes were also served. Here's Aliya enjoying hers!



Thanks again everyone who helped set up, clean up, cook, take pictures, put toys together...we couldn't have done it without you!

Birthday Girl

Aliya turned one on Saturday!!! We can't believe how fast this year has gone. Unfortunately I have no pictures to post right now, but hopefully will get them up soon. (I couldn't find my camera so my SIL, Laura, took a ton of pictures (thank you!) and she emailed them to me yesterday. We are having issue again with our computer at home (I hate Vista) so hopefully I can get them posted soon. Anyway, on to the fun part!

Saturday was a BLAST! We were up late the night before getting the house ready and staged just right, I prepped all the food early in hopes to have a calm morning! YEAH RIGHT! Aliya was up early and into everything. She was mesmerized with the balloons (booms) all over the house and kept trying to bite them. We blew up several red balloons and drew black circles on them to resemble ladybug spots. My SIL, Kristi, and her kids showed up around 9:15a to start helping me cook! I am so thankful she was there, I couldn't have done it without her! (thanks Kristi) Quickly into our cooking I realized that we didn't have enough oven space to bake everything at once so I called our neighbors and asked them if I could use their oven around 11:30a for about 40 mins. They were so gracious and said "no problem". I was starting to stress out as the clocked quickly approached 12pm. Guests started arriving right at noon and kept coming and coming and coming. We prepared enough food for about 25 people and ended up having about 41 in our house. Our house was full of people!!!!!!!!!! How I misjudged the amount of people that RSVP'd I have no idea!?!?!?!

Aliya was wonderful Saturday! She was running on one nap and was pretty happy. She was beyond blessed with gifts and support! She received several books, CD's, a hand made "bear" rug that she LOVES to snuggle with on the floor, sippy cups, diapers and a ride and spin zebra. She wasn't very interested in opening her gifts, she cared more about the cards and envelopes (she likes to get her fiber from paper...). So her cousins and friend Gage helped her open her gifts.

When we sang "happy birthday" to her she clapped her hands and danced back and forth. Aveline helped her blow out her candle, I looked up and realized Jon was gone. He had run to Kroger to get more food! OOPS! So when he walked in about 10 minutes later we did it again. He never would have known but I let it slip! OOPS again! Aliya carefully studied her cupcake...and ate it like a lady. She was very clean and took small bites. Was this my child? I made her a ladybug choc cake, I'm pretty proud of myself! And white cupcakes with red frosting and M&M's for dots.

As 3pm approached the crowed started to say their good byes and head out. A few friends and family stayed back and hung out for a bit. I was beyond tired at that point. My feet and back hurt, I was done. My loving husband cleaned up EVERYTHING for me! (Thanks baby!)

So our little ladybug is one...I just look at her in amazement and thank God for bringing her to us. She is one blessed little girl to have so many friends and family who love her. We are thankful in so many ways!

Happy Birthday baby girl, mommy and daddy love you beyond words!

Thoughts

It's hard to believe that Aliya will be one this Saturday. This year has flown by. Last night we attended an adoptive family Christmas party, it was so much fun! Aliya was wonderful (praise the Lord!) she got down and played with the other kids, she ate well and was happy! I found it interesting that we were actually in the minority at this party last night. Usually when we attend one of these events there are more transratial families than same race families. But not last night, we were only one of 3 families that are transratial. Not that this is a big deal or anything, just different. We met a few new families and really connected with a family from Centerville that has a 3 month old daughter. She is BEAUTIFUL! They let me hold her for a good half hour...she was so tiny and I got the baby itch again last night. Aliya kept saying "babee" and trying to kiss her on her forehead. We exchanged numbers and emails and I hope to get in touch with them soon. They are a really cool Christan couple! Aliya started to get fussy around 8:15p, no wonder, it was an hour past her bedtime! We thought she'd sleep on the way home, but no. She yelled "ayeaayeaayea" (Aliya Aliya Aliya) all the way home. She crashed out hard the minute I put her in her PJ's.

Here a are a few updates on our little ladybug.
* Weighs 21 lbs and is 30" long
* Her hair is about 7" long when combed straight out, about 3" when curly
* Still cruising the furniture, no steps on her own yet
* LOVES to dance and move to any form of music
* Eats pretty much everything
* Won't eat off her highchair tray, only off a plate sitting at the table
* Is doing much better with not putting her plate on the top of her head
* Says baby, boo (balloon), football, thank you, mommy, daddy, Joel, done, amen, Jen, hi, bye, no no, ball, dog, kitty, papaw, gma, Aliya (I'm sure there's more, I'm blanking right now)
* Sleeps 10 hours at night at least
* Loves to hand mommy and daddy things
* Can climb stairs
* Loves to use her push toy to walk around, then when she hits the wall, she can turn it around, or walk around it and push it from the front
* Still amazed by Praise Baby
* Recognizes things on TV (football, balloons, baby, ball)
* Loves to go into worship with mommy on Sunday, she dances her little heart out!
* Is definitely aware of strangers, this all started about 2 weeks ago
* Is developing a diva personality, she wants what she wants when she wants it!
* When in public ALWAYS looking around and checking out everything
* Has transitioned to cow's milk pretty well. She'll drink it from a bottle with no problem, but we're still working on the sippy cup with it
* Still loves to kiss babies, still usually makes them cry
* Still loves to snuggle at bedtime and read a book and say prayers. She gives me kisses (both on the lips and cheek) and smiles at me all during prayer, it is really sweet
* Got her SS card in the mail this week, so she is 100% legally Aliya!!!!!!!!!!!