Bing and David vs. Jack and Jason

This is the only version of The Little Drummer Boy that I will listen to. When Bing Crosby and David Bowie sing it, it's just beautiful. When Jack Black and Jason Segel sing it, it's just tons of Christmas fun.

Happy Finalization Day!

I can't believe we are already celebrating the one-year anniversary of the finalization of Josh's adoption! It was November 21st, 2009, National Adoption Day. I've been thinking for awhile about how we could celebrate. I thought it would be fun to make some sort of craft for Christmas, but what would set this craft apart from all the other little crafts Josh makes at home?

And then I realized, Duh! This craft we can date and send to Joshy's birthmom every year. We sent her a little picture Josh colored last month that had a tree and little fall leaves we glued onto it. She said she loved it so much that it made her cry! So I bought a little kit from Hobby Lobby with ceramic ornaments and paint. I was serious about letting Josh paint them however he wanted. I even took off his shirt and pants so he could get down and dirty. I think they turned out well, yeah? I'm sure b-mom will love them.

I'm not very good at keeping a journal. I've tried many times and have failed every time. Back in the summer of 2008 (whoa, was it really that long ago?) I made one of my many attempts at keeping a journal. I bought a little notebook and wrote about 15 entries before ending it. I placed it in my beside table drawer and there it sat until just a couple days ago. I needed a notebook to write something down in. I knew exactly what it was when I pulled it out, but I just told myself that I could rip those pages out and throw them away, due to the fact that it's silly to keep a journal with only 15 entries inside of it...

Nope. No, not silly at all. Instead of ripping the pages out, I started reading them. Wow, that was such a hard time in my life. At the time I was heavily involved in working with a fertility clinic that could not figure out what was wrong with me. I wrote about how it felt to have what the doctors called "unexplained infertility". I wrote about the idea of adopting a child. I wrote about being chosen to adopt a baby. And I wrote about the loads and loads of paperwork that I never thought we would get through before the baby was born. I wrote about finding out that this baby was a boy. I wrote about recieving his ultra-sound pictures in the mail. I wrote about the fears I had that the birthmom might change her mind and decide not to place him with us. I just wrote about so much in those measely 15 entries. So, I don't think I'll throw those pages away. I'm so glad that Josh will be able to read them when he's older. I hope he finds them comforting on the days when he feels sad about being adopted. This chunk especially, "What a wonderful surprise it will be when we're blessed with a child. I look forward to that day. And I know it will come. I don't mean to dwell even though it's usually on my mind. But I do want my future children to know how happy I am to finally have them in my life."

I love you Joshy!

Cocoa Powder

Enough said....

Happy Halloween!

Josh was a scarecrow for Halloween. We took him to our ward Trunk-or-Treat and had tons of fun! I only had to reapply his makeup once. Here are some pictures of him trick-or-treating for the first time. He doesn't know how to say "trick or treat" but he would hold out his little bag and then say bye when we walked away. I wish you could see, but the top of his hat had a little bird's nest inside of it too.

And yeah, I cut my bangs. I think I like them but sometimes I don't. But most of the time I do... I don't know... I had to cut my bangs because if I didn't, I would have cut all of my hair. It needed some changing and I haven't had long hair in like 15 years, so bangs it is. I'm reminded of the movie 500 Days of Summer, when Tom says, "I hate her crooked teeth. I hate her 1960's haircut..."

Oh. I figured it out.

Josh misses Bethany and Adam. My sister and I went to New Mexico to visit the 'rents last week. It was much more fun for Josh to have cousins to play with while we were there. I couldn't figure out why he has been a little fussy since we got back. He's lonely! Poor guy. We did have a lot of fun. Now it's time to get used to a quiet house once again.

At the ruins next to Fuller Lodge.

Halloween, are you here yet?

Because I made the most awesome wreath. See?

And it's just sitting on my dining room table waiting for the most appropriate time to be hung.

Harry Potter

Okay, okay. He's awesome. The books are awesome. J.K. Rowling is awesome. I fought the urge to become obsessed with Harry Potter for a long time. Well, how long has Harry Potter been in existence now? Ten years or something? I remember working at summer camp when I was eighteen and one of the counselors started a Harry Potter club and would read to the kids during playtime. I didn't see what all the hype was about... But I do now! I finally decided to read the books and they are so good. I have finished The Sorcerer's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets in a matter of a couple weeks (it helps when the font is so big and there are pictures at the beginning of each chapter). I am anxiously awaiting The Prisoner of Azkaban right now. These books are so old that I have bought them off of Amazon for 0.01 each. I'm not ashamed to admit it - I love Harry Potter!

Look how cute little Daniel Radcliffe was back then. Aaawh...

Adoption Profile

We have finally posted our adoption profile with LDS Family Services! It's a little scary to publicly advertise ourselves like this. Yet, it's exciting at the same time. Click here if you want to look at it.

Tantrums

Meltdowns, fits, emotional breakdowns, whatever you want to call them... Josh has been perfecting the art. He started maybe a little over a month ago. Whenever he doesn't get something he wants, he screams. I know that doesn't sound too bad. But I mean, SCREAMS! And then he cries and screams some more and follows us around while screaming and crying. Oh man. I didn't think it could get any worse but last night I was proven wrong. It was bad. Our first mistake was letting Josh play outside after dinner. He seemed bored and didn't want to play with his toys and I was running out of ideas so I decided to let him brave the heat for a little bit just before bathtime. Our second mistake was letting Josh play with the hose while outside. I hate to say that it's a mistake to let your child have too much fun, but I almost feel like it is lately. Because there's the point where you have to put an end to the fun and that doesn't go over too well. He was soaking wet so I had to bring a towel out to dry him off. We stripped him down completely, diaper and all. Needless to say, Josh knew by the looks of the towel and us taking off his clothes, the fun was over. He let out the loudest scream I have ever heard come out of his little body. My ears rattled. I'm surprised the neighbors didn't call the cops. And then he proceeded to scream and cry for the next 45 minutes until bedtime. He didn't want his bath, he didn't want to brush his teeth, and he didn't want to put on his pajamas. Diego kindly tried to help me out but I declined because I didn't want to draw anymore attention to this crazy outburst. I was left totally frazzled the rest of the evening. What in the world happened?.... Today is better. I do believe half of his temper was because of a tooth that's coming in today. Whew, I hope that never happens again (of course, knowing full well that it will).

Is Anybody Else Sad About This?

What has happened to Mel Gibson? Seriously. What happened?

He went from this:

(Beautiful. There were so many beautiful pictures, I had a hard time choosing one.)

To this:
(Eh... not so beautiful.)

He has officially lost it. And I'm officially sad.

Satellite TV

Just got back from visiting the 'rents. I had a lovely time. The weather was awesome. I don't think it got above 80 degrees the entire time I was there. The fireworks were amazing. And Josh behaved really well most of the time (most of the time). He even slept perfectly in the crib at mom and dad's; naptime and nighttime.

But let me tell you - satellite tv is no good for me. Mom and dad just got satellite. I mean... it's really good for me because I love it so much. But it's bad for me because I love it so much. I watched a few too many movies. Some old favorites that I hadn't seen in forever. I bet most of you have never heard of these movies, except one.

First off, The Long Long Trailer.

I don't believe I have ever watched a single episode of I Love Lucy. Because I always found Lucille Ball to be a little annoying. But trust me, this movie is very cute. Nicky and Tacy are getting married and it's Tacy's dream to start life living in a large trailer. Their honeymoon is full of one disasterous event after another, all because of this very long trailer.

Next, To Kill a Mockingbird

Okay, this is the one that you all know. The book is good as well as the movie. The movie is seriously good, starring Gregory Peck and a young Robert Duvall. I won't give you the plot because you all know it.

Last but not least, Mask. Not The Mask. Just Mask. Ha ha! Don't hate.

This is a good one, trust me. Crystal will be so jealous that I got to watch this without her. A true story of a young boy named Roy "Rocky" Dennis born with a severe skull deformation. His biker chick mother (Cher) does the best she can to raise him as a normal human being. Just try and hold back the tears!

There were some others, I admit. But these were my favorites from the trip. What will I do without my precious satellite? Oh. Get back to work and be a regular functioning human being and part of normal society? Ah, fine.

Blog Funk

I have been in a major blog funk lately. Sorry, guys. Maybe my life isn't exciting enough. If anything interesting happens to me, I'll make a post. The least I can do is make the text pretty, right? Anyway, we're all doing well.

Oh! We're working on extending our adoption certification and we'll probably be back "in the market" for a baby in a couple months or so. Even though we worked with LDS Family Services when we adopted Josh, it was more or less a private adoption because we never really publicly advertised ourselves for people to look at. So this will kind of be our first real venture into the competitive world of adoption. So, wish us luck!

Bahama Bucks.

I've been trying to get Diego to go there... well, for as long as we have lived in Mesa. So three years. He just was not interested. "But Diego," I'd say, "They have theeee best snow cones in the world. And we live in Phoenix, one of the hottest places on earth. And it's over 100 degrees outside." But no. Nope, it never worked. He was never convinced. We did, however, have company over yesterday - someone who is not from Arizona and was feeling rather hot. I finally convinced everyone to take a trip to Bahama Bucks. "But Josh is acting a little cranky," I thought to myself, "Oh well, he will be happy to go somewhere. He always is." I ordered a small Pina Colada shaved ice with cream. Heaven. It's delicious. Diego takes a bite and says, "Wow that is really good. It's so smooth." Thank you! Have I not been trying to tell you that forever? I give a Josh a little bite and he seems to enjoy it. I scoop another bite for him but he won't take it. That's odd. Josh always wants more. Or "muh" as he says. Fine, more for me then.

Then the explosion! Barf. Barf all over me. Barf all over the table. Barf all over the floor. Barf. Our dear guest was able to swish to the other side of her bench (she was sitting across from me) and avoid getting splashed. Diego ran to the bathroom maybe five times and came back with wet paper towels to clean the mess. Josh screamed hysterically, causing everyone else in the joint to turn around and look at us and see what had just transpired. Dear guest kindly scooted the trash can all the way over to our table to help out. Bless her. Seriously. Everything got cleaned up. Even my pants, that were now soaking wet.

But what do we do now? We couldn't leave our snow cones. We just started eating them and we couldn't take them outside because they would melt instantly in the car. We had to stay and finish. I had to finish in my wet pants. Amidst all of this, I still really loved my snow cone. So freakin' delicious. As we got up to leave, I walked extremely close behind Diego so no one would see the disaster all over me. I wonder what looked more rediculous? My clothes or smashing against Diego all the way to the car? I don't know. We got home (Josh barfed in the car as soon as we pulled into the garage), ran Joshy a bath and I took a quick shower while dear guest waited downstairs. Poor thing.

A couple hours later we went to get dinner at Joe's Farm Grill. Pretty much the exact same thing that happened at Bahama Bucks, happened at Joe's Farm Grill. Only we prepared a little better for this outing; diaper bag with towels, an extra shirt, wipes, water, etc... Still equally horrific.

Check out the Choppers!

Finally he has some teeth! It's about time.

(ok, I know he looks a little crazy in this last one. which is why I like it so much.)

Boeing Family Day

A few weeks ago was Boeing Family Day. This year the company had an open house in which employees were allowed to bring their families to see the plant, which hadn't been allowed since 9/11. They had an AH-64 Apache Longbow Helicopter on display, which are manufactured here in Mesa, for everyone to see upclose. Unfortunately, personal cameras aren't allowed on site. So, if you wanted something more than a mental picture you had to stand in a very long line to get one from the company photographer. Knowing Joshy would be too young to possibly remember this experience, we needed some sort of photographical evidence of our trip. So, we stood in line for an hour just to get this single picture.

Allergies

The doctor just called and our suspicions were correct. This unlucky little fellow (who loves his blanky so dearly) is allergic to milk, eggs, almonds, and peanuts. The milk and peanuts we were already pretty sure about. Eggs and almonds were a total surprise. What do you feed a one year old that can't eat cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, or scrambled eggs? Oh and even though he's not allergic to it, he doesn't like lunch meat.

We had an appointment with Josh's doctor yesterday so she could give us a demonstration on how to use the epi-pen and she gave us a prescription for two of them. And we have an appointment with an allergist on April 14th. Bleh...

Part-ay!

Josh's birthday party was pretty awesome! The weather was beautiful, tons of family came for the big event, and the cake was amazing. I do believe Josh became a little spoiled over the weekend, what with all the attention he got and the crap-load of presents he recieved. I don't think I'll make any more of his parties so extravagent but this was a big one so that's how I justify it. We barbequed at the park down the street because our house is just not big enough to hold so many people. And the cake - AMAZING.

Remember how I said the cake was amazing twice? Well, that's because it really was. Diego made everything on top out of pastillage. Did I spell that right? All the animals, the trees, the rocks he made. The water was made out of piping gel and tinted blue. The dirt is cocoa powder and sugar. Diego's dad made the whole cake and decorated and frosted the side. It was lemon flavored with a whip cream and lemon icing (joshy couldn't eat it though, because of his weird dairy allergy so he had to have a yellow cupcake with chocolate icing - also made by grandpa). He also made the adorable little mini cupcakes with little frosting elephants sitting on top. I wish I got a close-up of one of those.

1 year old!

Is he really one year old today? My baby's becoming a big boy! This past year was the best year of my life by far. I'm so sad he's not tiny anymore but so happy that he's healthy, and perfect, and right on track. Birthday party's on Saturday so more pictures to come!

Happy Birthday big boy!

I'm an Addict

Remember my ode to the MTV hit "16 and Pregnant"? Well, I am suffering from a major addiction to the show. I'm seriously an addict. The second season has begun and I have to watch all the episodes. I usually find myself super frustrated at the girls and how silly they're acting and I find myself feeling not as satisfied as I wanted to be when the show is over. But I still find myself looking for re-runs, hoping there may have been some parts that I missed, hoping to fill that void I always feel when it's over. I know why I watch the show. I have become so passionate about adoption and what a wonderful option it is that I hope one of these girls might consider it. And I compare. I compare how wonderful our birthmom is to the other girls. How mature and lovely and smart she is. I do feel the show does a good job of not glamorizing the whole teens raising babies thing. But it's soooo frustrating! I just want to smack those girls and hug them at the same time and yell at them "What in the world are you doing?" So, lets think about this:

-I absolutely HAVE to watch every episode.
-I watch to get a sense of relief but find myself very frustrated in the end.
-I look for re-runs hoping that a sense of relief will come but it never does.
-I know I need to stop watching but I always want more.

What do you think? Addict. Yes? I told Diego last night that I thought I was an addict and he said, "Well, if you're an addict, there's not much we can do." That's the spirit honey! Way to be supportive.

Our Tree

This is our tree:
Well to be honest, I don't know if it's really a tree. Matter of fact, I don't know what kind of a plant it is at all. But we call it a tree and that makes us happy. Mr. Tree, as I will now refer to him, has had many homes. We bought him when we lived in Los Alamos from... Lowes was it? Oh I don't remember and it's not important. Anyway, Diego felt he would make a perfect addition to our breakfast nook and he definitely did. Mr. Tree was happiest (or so I thought) living in that bright room next to the sliding glass window which led to a balcony overlooking the beautiful forest. But that home was short-lived. Although Diego and I had lived there for over two years, Mr. Tree really only lived in that house for a couple months before we found out we were moving to Phoenix. He went on vacation once. That's right, Mr. Tree decided it would be best to live with my sister, Marianne, for two months while we made our move to sunny Arizona. Even though it meant he had to deal with our little nephew crawling to him, pulling out his trunk, and carelessly throwing him on the floor almost daily. He stood strong and never complained once. It only seemed to make him stronger. Glad was the day that we were able to bring Mr. Tree home to us. We placed him in our new living room next to the entertainment center where he lived for another two years. But as before, Mr. Tree was starting to get bullied by another baby, our little Josh, and as much as they loved each other, we all mutually agreed that Mr. Tree might feel better living on the stair case. And boy does he ever! You see, last week Mr. Tree became a man:

Mr. Tree! How come you never told us you can grow flowers? A big, beautiful, long-sloaping stem of white flowers. They only open at night and they fill the house with a strong scent. A scent which has been causing me nightly headaches, but don't tell Mr. Tree that. I thought he loved living in our breakfast nook in New Mexico the best but Mr. Tree has proven me wrong. He loves his stair case home. It's as if he wants to thank me by giving me fresh flowers every night. Thank you Mr. Tree! I know he has brown spots, is covered in dust, and his shape isn't as uniform and well-rounded as other trees but we love him anyway. I hope he sticks around for a long time.

Junk Comments

Looks like I have to change my comment settings on this blog. Did you read the last comment on my last post? What in the world? What a weird thing to say. For your information, lady who lives in India, I already have a visiting teaching partner and it's not you. Guess you might go inactive now.

Toilet Paper

It has just been one of those days. Maybe it has something to do with the weather? We have been stuck inside all day because it's pouring outside. It started this morning when Josh decided to pee all over the couch as I was changing his diaper. And Diego decided to tell me, "This is why I always tell you not to change him on the couch!" Thanks dear. Later on this afternoon I was trying to work at the computer on some primary stuff when it became unusually quiet and that can never be a good sign when Josh is around. Well I think the picture below says it all. I think almost every kid does this, right?

(Please ignore the super dirty mirror. It's just water spots magnified by the camera flash.)

There is a reason why the trash can sits on top of the toilet these days. I'm positive some toilet paper was ingested at this point. I pulled out as much as I could but that stuff dissolves so fast, I'm sure I didn't get all of it. At least it's not poisonous. So I wadded up the almost full roll of toilet paper laying on the floor, gave Josh some toys, and went back to work. Once again - silence. Only this time it was followed by a strange squishy, squirty noise. I run back into the bathroom to find Josh kneeling on his soap bottle. Johnson and Johnson is all over the floor. Luckily, I had a newly acquired wad of toilet paper to clean it all up with. Now it's naptime and Josh is in bed. But what awaits for the rest of the day is a mystery.

Primary Secretary? Eeeek!

That's my new calling for our brand new ward. You know, I've been the 1st counselor in primary before and didn't feel nearly as stressed as I do now. It's not like someone was released and I'm replacing her. I'm starting from scratch. That means new attendance rosters, new hall signs, new scripture/prayer/talk assignment sheets, new scouts lists, new birthday lists, new sunday conducting forms, etc... All created by me! I do believe that once I have all my lists created I will enjoy the calling a little more but for now I live, breath, and eat primary. I'm super happy that I don't have to do sharing time or conduct on sundays. That I am thankful for. And I like leaving sacrament five minutes early to put attendance rosters in the classrooms. Ha ha! Maybe I feel too inadequate for this. Maybe I'm worried about having such a big calling at the same time as Diego. Is that it? I don't know. Wish me luck please.

Oh! One more thing. We have been successfully putting Josh to bed awake for the past two weeks. For naps and at night. I'm beginning to believe that Heavenly Father helped me have such an easy time training Josh specifically because he knew I would need a lot of time to work on my calling.

Okay.

So, I took a bit of a blogcation. Now it's time to play catch-up and post ten million pictures. Hmm, what has happened in the past few weeks? First of all, we got our temple photos from our friend Larry a couple days before Christmas and they're beautiful. Well, Joshy makes them beautiful mostly. Look how big he is! I can hardly believe he's already ten months old. I still feel like he's brand new and that I don't know what I'm doing. Our b-mom bought him the suit before he was born and it just worked out perfectly that he fit right into it for the temple and blessing. Don't you love Thanksgiving in Phoenix?

Next was Christmas. We spent the week in Los Alamos with family. Most of my gifts were kitchen-based because that's what I requested. Diego got a tool-box from me because that's what he requested. And Josh brought home most of the loot. He made off with clothes, toys, ornaments, and a kids tent/tunnel set. It's really cool, except he's a little scared to go through the tunnel at the moment. We're trying to help him work through his fears. His cheeks were super rosy while we were there because the air is so stinkin' dry.

And lastly, our ward split on Sunday. That being said, we were released from our calling as Activities Committee leaders. Diego already got his new calling as the executive secretary in the bishopric. That should be interesting. And busy! Poor Diego. I'll try my best to be understanding and not bug him too much.