Giving thanks

So much to be thankful for this year:

• My #1 thing I'm thankful for this year is easily Payton.  She has completely changed our lives in so many amazing ways.  I love being her mama and feel so lucky to finally be able to officially call her my daughter!
• I'm thankful for my sweet husband who challenges me, supports me, encourages me, pushes me, frustrates me and makes me laugh.  It's been awesome to see him grow into such a wonderful daddy and to share these past 11+ years together.
• I'm thankful for my mom.  She's always there for me and loves Payton just as dearly as I do.  I could not have made it through the past few years without her.
• I'm thankful for my newborn niece.  We got to Skype with them today and she was so adorable, looked just like a little baby doll.
• I'm thankful for my fun nephew.  Even though we live far apart, I love that we still have a connection, that he still knows me and asks for me.  He is certainly one of the things that helped most when I was struggling through all my losses.
• I'm thankful for our extended families, both near and far.  I love that we live in the same town as much of Shannon's family and that we get to see Payton running around with cousins and having such a great time.
• I'm thankful for our home.  While maintaining it and paying for it can be a struggle sometimes, I absolutely love our neighborhood and our house and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
• I'm thankful that Payton is taking a second nap today.  After getting up much too early, helping me put up the Christmas tree, going over to visit family and eat for Thanksgiving, running running running to keep up with the older cousins, she just crashed this afternoon.  On that note, I think I'll enjoy this peace and quiet and go take a nap myself  :)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!

(This is only a week late, but better late than never!)

Introducing our daughter Payton Alexis!  Born 6/15/10, adopted into our forever family 11/18/11!!

I'll share more pics from adoption day soon, but I'm waiting to get some from the rest of the family.  Shannon and I were so busy celebrating and chasing Payton around that we only took 3 pictures with our camera the whole day!  It was an amazing day that I'll never forget.

My cup runneth over

My brother and his wife had their new baby girl Farrah this morning.  Can't believe our family is adding two little girls in two days!!  We are so blessed!

Last little steps

We went to the CPS office this morning to read Sweet Pea's file (and her mother's file, which was much more informative).  In it, we saw pictures of Sweet Pea's biological siblings.  I had seen their names and birthdates on paperwork before, but had not imagined we would see photos too.  It was amazing how much family resemblance there is.  It made me wish we could have contact with them, but I know that's not an option right now.

There were also letters in the file that bio mom had written to the caseworker about how much she wanted Sweet Pea and how she was going to do everything she could to get her back.  We were both in tears reading these.  I'm happy to know that we'll be able to tell Sweet Pea one day how much she wanted her even though she wasn't able to keep her in the end.

Then we signed all of our adoptive placement paperwork and we were done.  It all was very quick and impersonal.  The adoptive caseworker we met with to sign the contracts is someone we've only known through phone conversations and emails.  I'm certain she's never even read the files herself.  She kept calling Sweet Pea a boy since she's only seen her name in paperwork and never met her in person.

We decided to stop off in the bathroom before our drive back home.  Shannon was bit by a flea while he was in there.  Couldn't get out of that place fast enough.

Now we're just counting the hours until Friday morning when the judge makes it official and we have our forever family!!

17 months old

Today Sweet Pea is 17 months old.  I'm thinking back to how far she has come in her little life.  From starting out at only 2 pounds and spending months in the NICU only to have doctors debate what they could do to help this sick little girl, wondering if she could even survive the heart surgery she ended up getting at 5 months old.  Fast forward to 7 months old when she came to live with us and was still so small (only 10 pounds) and so tense all the time.  Now here she is standing in front of me, this sweet tiny little ball of energy and love, wanting me to chase her down the hall and giggling all the way.

We are so very lucky to have this tiny miracle in our lives.  We had a weight check at the pediatrician last week and were thrilled that she gained over a pound in the past month, so now she's up to just over 16 pounds.  16 pounds at 17 months.

Adoption Day is Friday.

We go to the CPS office tomorrow to sign adoptive contracts and read her file.  This really is happening.  She really will be ours forever.  It's still all so surreal.

October in pictures

Here are a few cute pictures of our Sweet Pea from the past month.  Can't wait til we can show pics of her actual face in a couple of weeks when she's adopted and officially ours forever!!

"Shopping" at the Children's Museum

Picking out the perfect pumpkin at the pumpkin patch

Helping with the plants in the backyard

Kissing her singing skeleton "Jack"

Our little ladybug waiting for the trick-or-treaters!

Playing with the basketball goal that I had as a child