Apple Juice & Cameras Don't Mix

These days it seems I need to "pack" no matter where we are going. Travelling lightly, even to the grocery store, seems to backfire on me, so I now try to make just one trip to the car carrying everything I could possibly need. One night Cohen and I were headed to my aunt's house for dinner so I had: Cohen, his booster seat for dinner, diaper bag, purse, and almost forgot his sippy cup. I threw the cup in my purse and we were out the door. When we got to my aunt's house I discovered that the sippy cup had leaked on everything in my purse... including my camera! I had just about given up on my camera ever working again when Robby took it apart and let it dry out some more. That must have done the trick because the camera is now working again! So here are a few pictures to catch up from the apple juice/camera catastrophe.

Cohen and I recently met Kim and Alex at the park for a playdate. We all had a great time yet I only managed to take one picture the whole afternoon!


Cohen continues to keep me on my toes. One afternoon he decided to play quietly by himself... WITH POWDER! Instead of getting mad about the mess he had just made, I grabbed my camera and took pictures. When I asked him what he was doing, he pointed to his diaper and said, "Poo poo." I thought it was a nice try on coming up with a quick response because his diaper was perfectly dry.

Yesterday was the perfect day for a trip to the zoo -- beautiful weather and everyone else in Louisville was either at the Derby or a Derby party. Cohen enjoyed watching the lions this time and "roared" as soon as he saw them. Robby took him in the lorikeet exhibit and he was really interested when one lorikeet landed on Robby's shoulder and started pecking on his beard.



Cohen's latest favorite toy is a can of tennis balls. He loves throwing them for Bailey and having her bring them back, but the most fun was when he decided to open the can while laying down...

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The lastest about Baby Girl is that on Thursday I will be 35 weeks along. My doctor said she is throwing a party at 36 weeks and dancing in the delivery room when she is born. (I have the greatest doctor and you should see how thick my chart is!) I am getting anxious for her to arrive, but at the same time I'm trying to enjoy every last minute of one-on-one time with Cohen. Still not quite sure how we're going to handle having two under the age of two, but feeling very thankful that we have been given these two amazing blessings!

What's Cohen Been Up To?

Cohen is on the go non-stop these days, which means there is always some fun and excitement around our house. (It also means I sleep very well at night.) He loves to get ahold of the phone to call Daddy. Today he was sneaky enough to grab it and head for a corner in his room, hoping I wouldn't find him as quickly that way.


He is also very interested in his Baby Sister's room where we have been spending some time getting things ready. The ladder is definitely his favorite thing in the room and he is already taking after his Dad and working on his climbing skills.



He discovered today that Boo & Bailey's dog crate makes a cool playhouse...



And he absolutely loves to play outside!

Loving Some Cookies

Cohen is amazing us with all the things he is doing and saying these days. He used to just point out all the trucks we would pass while driving by saying, "ta, ta, ta." Now he can spot a Jeep on the road and tries to say Jeep. His Daddy is so proud!

Another favorite thing he is doing now is telling everyone I am his Mama. We will be in the grocery store, a restaurant, church, or wherever and he will tell others that I am his Mama. If Robby is with us, he will introduce Dada too. I just love it because I know that there will be a day when isn't so excited about being seen in public with his Mom.

Until recently, Cohen hasn't really seemed to notice that my stomach is getting bigger. We talk about his baby sister in my belly and practice being gentle with his baby doll, but he is still so young and doesn't understand what is going on. Which is why we cracked up at dinner the other night when he out of the blue he pointed to my stomach and said, "Ball!" I think he was trying to figure out why he couldn't have toys at the table, but Mommy could.

Baby Girl is still doing well. We have about two more months to go and I am starting to feel a little panicked about getting her room ready. We have so many little projects that need to be done. We (and when I say "we" I mean Robby) are putting up crown molding and replacing the carpet in both Baby Girl and Cohen's rooms. We still have to touch up the paint on the furniture in her room. And as if that is not enough, we also decided to replace the carpet in our bedroom with hardwood. So, I think we have plenty to keep us busy these next two months and I will be so happy to have everything finished.

Cohen is way too busy for photo shoots these days, so most of my recent pictures of him are either blurry or taken when he is in his highchair. Here is a little clip of him asking for a cookie -- how can I say no?

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Easter Fun

We had a great time with family this past Easter weekend! Saturday we went to my Aunt Karen's house where Cohen learned the sign for cookie. He's been asking for cookies ever since! First he says "tut tee" while I pretend not to understand what he wants. Then he pairs the word with the sign and points in the direction of the cookies. Such a smart boy!

The Easter Bunny came to our house and brought Cohen some fun things. He loves his bubbles and asks for them whenever he sees them on the counter in the kitchen. He's still working on mastering the noisemaker that looks like a duck bill (we are not encouraging him to practice because it is pretty loud) but he does think it's funny when Daddy makes the noises. And he has had a great time with his soccer ball Easter eggs -- he likes to scatter them around the house and let Mommy find them. :)

Sunday we went to Robby's parents' house for some more Easter fun. Cohen had a great time searching for Easter eggs and looking through his Easter basket. He and his cousin Drew sat down next to each other and enjoyed tasting the treats in their baskets. They are just four months apart and are so sweet together. We hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

One Year Ago...

One year ago today we met Cohen for the very first time. What an experience that was! I remember feeling such excitement and nervousness as we landed in Guatemala. Robby and I got settled in our hotel room, changed clothes, and decided to go on to the lobby of the hotel to wait for Cohen and his foster mom. When we walked into the lobby -- there was Cohen! His foster mom didn't speak English and the interpretter hadn't arrived yet, but we managed to communicate and she let me give Cohen a bottle. All of our fears and worries disappeared those first few minutes and we knew Cohen was meant to be our son. Such a magical day that we will never forget!



Then...

Now...





Edited to add: Robby just gave me my last shot! I am now 28 weeks and won't have to have them any more. (Had to post this picture for my dad who hurts just a little bit when I mention getting a shot in the stomach.)

Pictures from the Zoo

Well, it has been well over a week since we actually went to the zoo, but these pictures are just too cute not to post. Cohen and I met Sarah, Caleb, and sweet little Grace at the zoo on one of those really warm days right before we got a ton of snow. This was the first time Cohen really noticed the animals. He got so excited and pointed in amazement. He loved the elephants, camels, giraffes, but overall I think the highlight of his day was hanging out in the back of a minivan(not mine -- Sarah's, which I am still giving her a hard time about) eating goldfish with Caleb.






Today we spent so much time at my doctor's office that Cohen made friends with just about everyone in the waiting room. Dr. Brown was delivering a baby and after waiting to see her we had to go to the lab for my diabetes test. As I was drinking the orange drink for the test, Cohen was alternating between saying, "Ju...ju" and holding his mouth wide open. He finally gave up and started mingling with the other patients waiting. One man showed him a picture of his dog on his cell phone. When Cohen said "dog" another lady pulled out her camera and began showing off pictures of her dog. Cohen continued to make friends with every new person that came in the waiting room until we were finally ready to go home.

Baby Girl still seems to be doing well. We didn't get an ultrasound today, but will go back in two weeks for one. It is hard to believe that her due date is exactly three months from today! We haven't even started getting her room together, so we will be getting busy with that very soon. Robby's sister is letting us use their crib and changing table and we plan on using a dresser that my granddaddy made for me in her room as well. The fun part is going to be picking out colors and putting it all together!

Whew!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Cohen's surgery went well today. He did such a great job! We weren't able to feed him anything before the surgery, so as we drove to Cincinnati he kept signing "eat." Finally, he said, "Nana," -- thinking if only one of them were here I would get what I wanted.

We went back with them and I held him as they put the mask on his face to make him go to sleep. We sang a few verses of "Wheels on the Bus" and he was asleep. It was so hard leaving him! But we are home now and he seems to be doing great. He is hanging out on the couch eating Cheerios with his Daddy right now. Thanks for all your prayers!

New Pictures!!!

Cohen and I went to Lexington today for a photo shoot with his cousins Hayley and Ethan. This was our first attempt at group pictures and I thought they all did a great job. My sister and I decided we better practice with three kids since we are both expecting and will have five kids altogether pretty soon!





We also have a new picture of our baby girl! I went to the doctor this past Thursday and everything looks fine. My doctor still wants me to have one ultrasound each month until I deliver, which makes us happy. Other good news: less than three more weeks of shots and I will be finished! I know some of you have asked about pictures of me... and that's just not going to happen! :)


We rescheduled Cohen's surgery last month because he was congested, so as long as he is still healthy this Wednesday he will be having the surgery. Please keep him in your prayers. It is a routine procedure, but we are also talking about my baby boy so I can't help but be a little nervous.

Not so sure about snow...

I've been a slacker in the photography department lately, so I'm going to try and catch up. A few weeks ago we took Cohen to Murray for the weekend. It has been probably five years since I've been on campus and it was so nice to go back for a visit. Cohen enjoyed his first Racers game -- keeping his eyes glued mostly on the pep band. He would clap after every song they played and cheered every time Murray scored a basket.


We have been staying home a lot lately because of the cold weather. Cohen is Mommy's Little Helper and loves to "help" with laundry.



We've had snow the past two days and Cohen is still not so sure what he thinks about it. He loves to look at it through the back door. But once we go outside he gets a little concerned. Now it may be the fact that I bundle him up with layer after layer of clothes or the fact that the snow boots I bought on clearance last year are about two sizes too big for him, but he isn't as excited as I thought he might be about the snow.

Getting so big!

My little man is getting so big -- I can't believe he is now 15 months old! He is really starting to show us his sense of humor these days. He likes to tease us and make us laugh. Of course whenever we laugh he continues to do whatever it was we thought was so funny.

He is now walking everywhere he wants to go and those arms (that he held up in the air for balance) are slowing coming down. Now he likes to carry toys and books (or my shoes) around the house.

Today we went to story time at the library and he loved it. There were lots of other little ones his age there and he had the best time watching them, listening to stories, and singing songs. I think we will definitely have to go back!

Lastly, I have been tagged by Becca to tell seven weird or random things about myself. And I tag: Hunter, Emilee, Amber, Andrea, Katie, Alleen, & Emily.

1. I started having dreams about adoption in college. I had the same dream over and over about two little boys named Hakeem and Rashid who I adopted in my dreams.

2. I will not eat or drink after anyone -- not even Robby or Cohen. The thought of sharing a fork with someone grosses me out!

3. I have sympathetic pain for others. Just hearing the details about a doctor's visit or injury is enough to make me almost pass out. I come very close to passing out when I have blood taken or get a shot... yes, still getting a shot in the stomach every night though. :) Thank goodness Robby isn't squeamish and does them for me.

4. To Robby's disappointment, I am afraid of heights and do not enjoy rock climbing. The first time I tried, when I got to the top he said, "OK, now let go and lean back." Yeah, right!

5. I've had some interesting experiences working with young children in their homes. In one home, the aunt had a mental illness and started greasing my hair after telling me it looked dry. I did manage to get out of there before she gave me mini-braids, but I did have to wash my hair several times before it was back to normal. On another day, I forgot to lock my car doors and a drug dealer got into my car and tried to sell me drugs. After seeing my freaked out expression he quickly said, "Oh, my bad, my bad!" and got out.

6. I love, love, love ice cream and have been known to eat it for breakfast.

7. Although I am getting better, when Robby and I first got married I had a lot to learn about cooking. We still laugh about one of the first meals I fixed for him -- hot dogs and lima beans.

8. And one more just for fun -- I used to always hint around for Robby to do romantic things for me. He would ask me for examples and I told him, "You know, put rose petals on the bed or something." One day he switched out the pedals on his bike and called me into our room. "Look! I put pedals on the bed!"

Cohen wants to tell you...

"I'm going to have a baby sister!"

Everything went great at our doctor's visit today. I feel so much better and relax a little more as the weeks go on with this pregnancy. And I am so excited that we can say "she" instead of "the baby." My doctor said that everything looks just fine. We scheduled another ultrasound in four weeks just to make sure SHE is still doing OK.

We went straight from the doctor's office to Gymboree -- I had some Gymbucks that were burning a hole in my pocket. You know I had the best time shopping for baby girl clothes. Robby swears we were in the store for over an hour, but honestly it felt like about 20 minutes to me. :)

Thank you for continuing to keep us in your prayers. We're half way there!

Our Mission Project

Yesterday at church our pastor gave us an interesting challenge. At the end of the service we were all given a sealed envelope with different amounts of money inside. This symbolized the gifts, talents, and resources that God has given us. We were asked to pray about what God wanted us to do with the money we were given.

Of course I immediately began thinking about all the needs we saw in Guatemala. My envelope contained $20 and Robby's envelope had $10. We've prayed that we will use this money wisely and also contacted Dick Rutgers in Guatemala to see if he could think of a specific need we could help him with. He gave us several suggestions and they were all worthy causes. The money could pay for a special needs child to have a teacher come to their home since most children with special needs there are not allowed to attend school. The money could provide school supplies to children who want to go to school, but can't afford the supplies, uniform, or black leather shoes required to attend. The money could help build a home for families who are living in the most awful surroundings.

At first we didn't know how to choose the best cause. But then I remembered a clip from one of Dick's videos. He found this little girl living near a banana plantation. Her mother is single and has to work at the plantation each day to provide for her children. Because this little girl has special needs, the safest thing her mom could think of was to keep her tied in a hammock during the day. This girl desperately needs a wheelchair. I cannot imagine having to spend the majority of my day alone and tied in one place.

Please click here to see the video clip of that sweet little girl. The video is a little long, so if you skip to 4:13 you can see this little girl as well as the place where she calls home.

We will be sending the money we received at church along with a little more so that Dick can provide a wheelchair for this little girl. If you would like to contribute as well just leave a comment with your email address and I can give you more information. For $400-$500 Dick and a volunteer team can build a new home for this family. The homes are modest as you can imagine, but provide a safe, dry place for families.

It is our prayer that God will touch the hearts of just a few others so that we can use what we think of as an insignifican amount of money to dramatically improve the life of this one little girl.

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Cohen is loving the slide that Santa brought him! He hasn't quite mastered getting his feet around to sit down and slide, but that doesn't stop him from going down on his own.

I am dreading February the 6th -- Cohen is going to be having outpatient surgery in Cincinnati. We took him to a pediatric urologist several months ago to discuss a very minor condition his pediatrician and the Embassy doctor discussed with us in Guatemala. The urologist here in town seemed to think it was more serious than we originally thought and suggested two surgeries. We decided to get a second opinion in Cincinnati and felt much more comfortable with the urologist there. So please keep us in your prayers on the 6th!

In other baby news, things with my pregnancy seem to be going well. This baby is a very active little thing and it is so reassuring to feel the baby moving and kicking. This Thursday I will be twenty weeks along and we are going in for another ultrasound -- hopefully finding out if it is a boy or a girl. Our niece Elizabeth has said from the beginning (even before she knew I was pregnant) that I have a baby girl in my belly. How crazy would it be if she was right! Our friend Greg is convinced I am having a boy because I am craving steak like crazy. Check back again soon and see if we have news...

Happy Birthday, Robby!

When I was in my early twenties, my close friends Spears and Amanda and I were out shopping one day. We stopped in this card and party store where we were digging through the clearance bin full of birthday balloons. I remember saying, "See if you can find some for a 27th birhtday," to which Spears replied, "27! Who do we know that is turning 27!" (Robby of course turned 27 that year.) Like that was the most ancient age and we couldn't possibly KNOW a 27-year-old.

Now every year I like to tease Robby. "32! Am I old enough to be married to someone turning 32!"

Edited to add: Click here to see Robby on Rocksport's new webpage.

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