My How She's Grown

The photos above were taken each month, much appreciation to my sis for her patience. I love to see how Caroline's personality begins to form and see how she changes from month to month!

Oh Yeah, Babies Change Everything

Well, let's see. Time since September has flown by so quickly. Our days and nights are filled with being mommy and daddy to Caroline and learning as we go. And learning some more. And some more. Lots of tears, some hers some ours. Our adoption was finalized in May. Here's a photo of Caroline and her daddy on her special "Gotcha" day.






She had no idea of the magnitude of the event, she was just Caroline as usual. We celebrated with the family the next weekend.

We moved into a new house at the end of the school year. Here are some photos of her playing in her new, much larger, space!

Both of us are enjoying our summer off with her!

When I look back to my post "The Lazy Days of Summer" from last year, I can't help but laugh. Yes, babies really do change everything. But I wouldn't want it any other way!

Bundle of Joy

She's here! After a very long day in the hospital on September 4th (I'm sure it felt longer to the birth mom), Caroline has arrived! We brought her home on Friday September 7th. What a rush of emotions. We spent all weekend just staring at her beautiful face, still a little in amazement at how much our lives have changed in just three weeks. Miracles do happen, of that you can be sure.

Sooner than Expected

We got the call on August 13th. In the middle of the first day of school for me. I never in a million years was expecting it. In fact, when I got the message from the social worker, I assumed there was more paperwork to fill out. When I called her, before I could even truly focus on what she may want, I was hearing the words, "You and Kevin have been chosen." Of course, I was in disbelief, it was so soon. Surely we were chosen among other couples for an interview, I was thinking. When I verbalized that thought she said "No, she was adamant. She wants you." Wow. The world just sort of stopped for a minute. I remember telling her to give me all the details and then not even being able to focus on them through the cloud my mind was in - a million questions and thoughts were racing through my mind. I managed to squeak a few details out of her, found out that we'd meet our "birthmom" the following week, and then just sat in awe and disbelief.

So, here we are now. Fast forward two weeks. Our baby is due to arrive on September 3rd at the latest. The nursery is coming along. The fears are multiplying daily, my nerves are at an all time level, and I have never been happier at the idea of anything like I am about welcoming this new baby - baby girl - into our lives. To be continued . . .

Lazy Days of Summer

It's been pretty nice, I have to say, to be enjoying time off so far this summer. I've been working here and there, Kevin has just been relaxing. We have been very into The Sopranos, and have watched six seasons worth of episodes since summer began. Needless to say, we are going to have to really clean up our language before school starts next year.



I'm taking a photography class and am learning how to "play around" with digital images to adjust settings and create effects. Here's a photo of the kids I played around with. It's from Easter Sunday.

It pretty much sums up their personalities right now, Jack worrying and Mack just being cool with it all. Gotta love em.

Tomorrow we go to the Diocese Office to bring all of our paperwork and see what's missing, pay another $1000, and wait to hear that we are officially "in the pool". Fingers crossed.

Another Step Closer

Well, it's official. We have completed our "project" to turn in to the adoption agency. "Project" is a small word for a book in which you completely describe yourself, your family, and your marriage, including many interesting pictures of your life where you make yourself look so very desirable that someone carrying a child will choose you to be parents from the pool of all the other couples interested. Thank God they call it a "project" or they'd scare everyone away. So, I did ours on the computer and I think I did a great job. It's a new-age scrapbook, and I must say, we look like the ideal parents in this book. Shutterfly is a great way to make these books, and they're pretty affordable - even if you just want a scrapbook and not a "project". Here's a few snippets from the "project".

See what good teachers we are!

And we can have fun, too!

The Countdown Has Begun

Well...it's official. We are both counting the days until school is over. Truth be told, we didn't just start. Although this next month will undoubtedly d-r-a-g by, it truly feels like this past year has flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was dreading the start of the year. This summer will be interesting, as it is Kevin's first summer with no school or extra job. Finally he will be able to enjoy the truly fine reason for being a teacher - summer!

It's also the official baseball season. The kids have started t-ball. Here are a couple of photos of them at their first game. Had anyone kept score, we estimated it to be about 500 to 324. It seems as though the whole purpose of t-ball in this day and age is to teach the basics, everything except outs and scoring. No one is tagged out, everyone bats, everyone eventually runs home. Odd to me, but it seems to work for them. Lookout next year when the coach has break the bad news to them!

Go Cougars!