Turning 2

Today at 7:57am our Mason turned 2!!

He has no idea what this day means.   He enjoyed the breakfast muffins and the evening dinner with cupcakes and ice cream.   He loved his gifts and playing with his brothers.  

For us it has been a day of remembering.   I thought of his birth mom today, like I did last birthday.   So happy she chose life.

Our little monkey keeps us young, active, and praying for wisdom. As any true 3rd child should do.  He is a gift, and I can't say enough about how blessed we are.
Thank you Jesus for this family!  It's truly your design.

Sawing Wood

I'm sitting on the comfy couch in a not so comfy position listening to a snoring, heavy toddler who has found comfort in my lap tonight. 
We are in another funky sleep "thing".  He has found his way into our bed every night this week and some of last.

What has always amazed me about motherhood is how much power I have in the comfort of my children. Mason goes from a screaming crib climbers to a snoring snuggle bear in the matter of minutes in my arms.  Dylan can get mad like no ones business, but I give him a hug and all the walls come down.  When Ty is feeling overwhelmed and is struggling so, he will lean on me, and as I put my arms around him I feel him let go and the world is better for that moment. 

What a blessing, what a feeling.  It's moments like these that make the other ones not so bad.  And trust me...those icky moments are pretty frequent with a growing almost 2year old.  But as he lays here sawing wood, I see the perfect precious gift that God has given us and so many hopes, prayers, and wishes run through my mind. 

Those hopes, wishes, and prayers have been listed in many other posts.  So while I sit here getting a back cramp, I will continue to thank Jesus for all of this.  It is so much more then
 I ever deserved and gives me so much more pleasure then I ever know was possible. 

Seasons

I love, love, love the cooler weather.  It reminds me that slower, cozier days are ahead.  We have been quite busy this September and not all of it is fun.
But now is the time when we find our groove, our flow, and some peace. 

My oldest is struggling this year to find his groove.  He started middle school with all the fun chaos of changing classes, having different classes on different days, and a true locker.  He loves most of what he's doing he just can't find a way of organization that works for him.  So we pray, email school, and talk with his doctor. 

My heart aches for him.  He wants to do well.  He wants to remember.  He wants to be just like everyone else.  And as his Momma, I wanna make it all right.  I want to fix what he doesn't like, but this is his journey.  And although we will go through it together it is his to
experience
learn from
And ultimately change or love. 

He is uniquely and wonderfully made.  He is the comic relief in our family.  He is our famous chocolate milk maker.  He is a fantastic big brother and a very loving son. 

It is this momma's prayer that he will feel his family's love, be held by his Heavenly Father, and will find his special place in this new season. 

Processed food...yum!

I have always been a processed food girl. 
American cheese...yes please
Twinkies...absolutely
Boxed helper meals...my favorite!

Then I had kiddos.
And I still didn't think about it.  Sure I "tried" to eat my veggies, but they just don't taste as good as a snickers bar. 

One kiddo was diagnosed with a tic disorder. We went the western medicine route and saw icky results.  So as a last ditch effort I consulted a naturopath.  We tried many vitamins/supplements and tinctures but nothing really worked. She wanted us to go dairy, gluten, hydrogenated oils, casein, and dye free.  That was a huge shock to this processed food loving family.  So needless to say that didn't work either. But we decided to try dye free as it showed a high correlation in studies to tic disorders and impulse control issues. 

Anyway we found that dyes played a HUGE part in our oldest son's behavior and tics.  Another huge shock was trying to stay dye free.  Dye is in everything, EVERYTHING.  So again this processed food loving Mamma had to drop the Kraft mac &cheese, M&M's, and marshmallows. But you know what...it has been totally worth it.

Since we stared this process 6 years ago, we have come to realize Dylan is allergic too. He shows a reaction to some sort of preservative or dye that gives him the nervous habit of scratching his nose...to the point of ripping skin off.  Then we adopted a child who needs the best food intake to help nurture brain connections to hopefully over come some brain damage due to FAS. 
Whew... big learning curve. 

What I noticed was when I'm away from home, and I now eat overly processed and dye filled foods I feel icky...go figure.  Still haven't made friends with the veggies, but two of my three kiddos have. 

Having a belief, whether it be religious, dietary (like I mentioned above), or family isn't always easy in this crazy world.  People have a TON of opinions and they aren't afraid to share them.  But like anything we do we prayed about it and educated the best we could and surrounded ourselves with people who support us even if they don't quite understand. 

I don't tend to buy into the organic only category.  I think there is a whisper of truth to both sides. What I do do is really watch what is labeled on the crackers or boxed snacks I buy, and when I can, make stuff myself.  No I'm not gonna grind my own flour, but I make muffins, granola bars, and other easy stuff. 

So if you're on this journey(or something similar:-). I'm praying for you...IT ain't easy but our kiddos are worth it!

Offically a Family -1 year

We have been enjoying summer so much that there hasn't been enough time to post.  We have celebrated our oldest's birthday, began a new school, had a very long baseball season, started new job positions for both of us old enough for jobs, and had mostly fun in the sun on our beach vacation.

This week we celebrate my dad's 1 year being Cancer free! And as amazing as that is, it reminds me that in a couple of days we will celebrate Mason's adoption day!

As this is our 1st adoption day, we haven't really decided how to celebrate. We've had a gotcha day already but this is the day it became official. The day the judge said Mason was in our family FOREVER!  The day we became the family that we are!

How do you celebrate that? 

I'm thinking a special breakfast cake.  Hey, any excuse for cake in the morning, right?! And lots of hugs for all.  Because above all else this is the day that weaved brothers together and reminded us that God loves to give you the desires of your heart.  Yeah, cake for breakfast sounds fitting 😉

Vacation

As we prepare for our annual family beach trip, I begin to remember what last year was like.  Our little man didn't have our last name yet, he wasn't walking yet, and his delays were ever present.

It's amazing the different a year makes.
He is officially Mason,
 he is walking, running, hopping, climbing letters
And he is closing the gap big time from where he should be to where he is. 

So enjoy your week

Bring on the beach

The good, the bad, and the messy!!

This weekend my hubby and two older boys went on a 4 day road trip to South Carolina to visit Grandpa.  It was a bitter sweet trip as my father-in-law is suffering with ALS and is deteriorating quickly.  They had a wonderful trip with lots of laughs and memories. 

That left Mason and I here.
home alone.
for 4 whole days.
by ourselves.

I missed my boys something awful.  And playing cruise director by myself to an almost two year old is exhausting and patience draining.  Let's just say there were many times this weekend that this mommy should have had a time out.  I'm not proud nor was it pretty....just keeping it real.
I think sometimes people view people who adopt as having some sort of parenting super power.  Just doing my part to dispel the myth.  :o)  I'm a sinner like everyone else.


Anyway, now that I've aired my dirt laundry, lets get to the messy.  I mean literally messy.  Today the boys and I played.  Like things you do over a whole summer we did in one day.
Today we:

Made breadsticks from scratch

Introduced the kiddos to the art of mud pie making. shhh...don't tell their aunt 

and created time capsules complete with map to find them in two years.  Nah, that map won't get lost in my well organized house.  LOL

 

 This was the best we could do for time capsules.  Old nip bottles that grampy found in the parking lot and took home to clean out because he thought the color was cool.  That's our Grampy!


So although there was some bad, there was lots of good and tons of messy.  And I take comfort in the forgiveness of my heavenly Father whose not finished with me yet.  And if my toddler throws some great temper tantrums in your presence, I have no idea where he learned them from...please don't judge. ;op