Lincoln's Baptism

My boy! What can I possibly say about this cutie. He made the decision to be baptized. I am so proud of him. He had always said, "NO!" every time we suggested getting baptized. But after getting sealed as a family in the temple, he had a change of heart. He came to me one day a few months ago and said that he wanted to get baptized. We waited a few months to make sure that he wouldn't change his mind, and he didn't. The day was beautiful, and had so much love and support from family. I couldn't have asked for a better day. I gave a talk about Baptism, Cora gave a talk about the Holy Ghost, and his cousins and siblings sang, "I Am a Child of God". Then we had a get together at our house afterwards. I feel really blessed today.

Surgery for our Sweet John

We joined the post adoption surgery club yesterday. John had his third lip surgery to date, but first with our family. Can I say how much I love Primary Children's Hospital? They know kids and know exactly what to do to help the families and the children feel comfortable. Thankfully one of Rick's best friends is a Pediatric Anesthesiologist at Primary Children's, so we requested him. Honestly he was a saint (Thanks Miller!), and he was instrumental in helping me feel comfortable. He came and personally got us and walked us through each of the steps. John got dressed in his cute little hospital jammies (notice his baby Zhe Nan in his hospital attire), and picked out his mode of transportation to the surgery.

I was able to walk down the hall to a certain point and then had to leave him in Chris' very capable and loving hands. John was so enjoying the ride that it was not at all traumatic for him - I can't say the same for myself. If I ever wondered if I felt the same about John as the other kids in our family this experience absolutely solidified the fact that there is no difference. I had all the emotions of his mom. I love this boy. He is without a doubt my boy.

Chris took John back to the O.R. and told me that he sat John on his lap while he administered the anesthesia, while letting John play with a balloon. How sweet is that imagery? Then the surgery went very smoothly with Chris giving us text updates along the way.

All in all our boy was a trooper and so brave. I can't tell you how grateful I was to be in the room with him when he awoke. This experience has further bonded us. Overall I just feel so thankful for the kindness and the training for the physicians, and especially my sweet boy, who I am so thankful to be able to call son!

Happy Six Months Together!

Today marks the official 6 month mark. How appropriate that it falls on Valentine's Day - especially because my heart feels very full of love for this sweet little boy. 

I wish I could say that the entire 6 months were magical and wonderful. Some days I felt like I was just barely hanging on to sanity. But (for those of you in the thick of it) we have turned a corner and life is SO much better! I have drafted a post all about the hard times, but just can't convince myself to hit publish. Let's just say this has not been easy. I think the biggest contributing factor to that is having two 3 year olds. Twinning is not without some bumps in the road. 

I can say unreservedly now that I am LOVING this experience. John is such a cutie patootie, and a very welcomed addition to our family. Here are a few pictures to show how much this little love has changed since he joined our family.

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action.
~Mother Teresa

Adopting a Boy

My friend Angie sent this YouTube video to me about adopting boys. It is really sweet and made me so appreciative of our journey and our little cutie John. Have I mentioned before how much this child LOVES being in a family? On those days where he is really being a boy and a toddler at the same time (you know the days) I always take a step back and try to remember that he is so happy here in our home.

John loves to name everyone in our family every night before he goes to bed. He loves to talk about "mommy's car and John's car".  He loves to say "Hug, please", when he is feeling a little blue. He loves to have me sing to him every night before he falls asleep. He loves to remind me when I am cooking dinner that 1. "Mommy's cooking dinner" and 2. "Daddy's coming home!" He is quick to apologize to his siblings for throwing toys at their head. He loves ruff housing with his brother. He loves to talk about "John's house" and that dogs to do not live here :). He loves to be in charge of passing out treats to his siblings. He loves to discuss what kind of food he will eat after nap time. His favorites right now include, noodles, potatoes, muffins and ice cream. He loves to do acts of kindness and even more than that he loves the praise of "you are such a good boy" afterwards. He loves to play jump on the bed with daddy.

This boy loves being in a family, and the feeling is mutual. We love having him here. He was sick the other day and went to bed early. We ate dinner with just seven of us, and it felt so empty. If you are considering adoption - at least be open to a boy. He has changed our world, rocked our world, and improved our world. Plus - look at this face - are you kidding me?

Smiles

So ... I'm back. It has been a little crazy around here. Please forgive my absence. We have had 4 weeks of the stomach flu, 2 weeks of the regular flu, one overnight stay in the hospital - not to mention the regular chaos, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.

Things have calmed down a bit, so I wanted to catch up on happenings around these parts. First of all, John has had a lot of firsts with us. He had his first Thanksgiving. He could have taken it or left it. But we enjoyed having him around. He had his first Christmas, which he LOVED. And he went sledding, which I am assuming was his first time. He didn't really like it very much, but still fun to watch him. He has decided that he likes snow. He wasn't quite sure for the first little bit, but as with everything else, time really helps and he is slowly but surely spreading his wings and learning to try and enjoy new experiences.

I will update you later on all of John's accomplishments. But for today, I saw him do something for the first time, that made me so happy. I smiled at John and he smiled back. Up to this point he has not done that. I don't think I even realized he wasn't smiling back until today - when he finally smiled back. It is the little accomplishments that make this process really enjoyable.

My sweet puppies: John and Kate

Lydia

Lincoln

Cora 

John Eating a Bowl Full of Snow

Kate

Brigham

John's First Time Sledding

Brigham, Mia and Lydia

Christmas Highlights

Fun at the Farm

We went to a farm recently. John has been terrified of animals since he came to us, so this could have been really tricky. I am happy to report that he loved it. He was a little worried at first, but became brave pretty fast. It helped that almost all of the animals were behind fences, but we will take the victories when we can.

Copy Cats

These two! I'm kind of crazy about these two. They still have their moments, but in the 10 weeks we have been home, I have seen a serious transformation in both of them. One of my favorite things about Kate and John is that they love to copy each other. Kate has even gone as far as speaking Chinese. If Kate puts on a hat, John needs a hat. If John puts on a jacket, Kate needs a jacket. I'm guessing Santa will bring two of each toy this year ...

Here are some pictures of my favorite  three year old and my favorite two year old. Enjoy!

These cuties don't go anywhere lately without their whiskers

This is a side note, but this boy LOVES bikes.