Faster than fast...quicker than quick...SUPER ISAAC!

~Oooohhh.... Spooky~

I bought this cape off of Etsy.com (I can post the link if anyone wants it, I just have to dig around for it). It is AWESOME! He just loves it. The fabric is shiny and his favorite color of course, and the monogrammed emblem is really well done. I did his shirt with iron-on letters. This is going to be his Halloween costume this year. He is really into the idea of super heros but we are not into the traditional boy super heros that are marketed to younger and younger kids, so we came up with our own masked man! He wants to wear the cape and mask ALL the time, even when we go out to run errands. He even wore it to his school's open house. What a goof!

Toddler bed!!

"I'm a big kid now!"



Vivi has moved on from the crib. After a few escapes (she scaled the crib wall like a marine!) and the dr. saying it was time, we bit the bullet and bought Vivi a toddler bed. It is really cute and we love the extra space that the room feels like it has now, but she does not like to stay in it! My nightly routine is for over an hour to say "get back in your bed", from my position on the couch, every time I hear their bedroom door open. We don't talk to them or allow extra drinks or stalling tactics. We just say "get back in your bed" and then we hear the door shut again! It is kind of funny. The not funny part is going in there once they have passed out and walking around a land mine of toys. I am hoping this transition does not take too long!

Presidential Debates

Did ya'll watch the debates? It is the first year I've done so. Sure was interesting! Looks to me like our next president will also be our first African American president. This country is ready for a change...in many ways.

If Obama doesn't win the election, maybe Isaac will in the year 2040. Atleast throughout his childhood, he will know that it is possible.

What we do when brother is at school!

Vivi's new word is "guy guy". She says this when she wants us to do something for her, like put a puzzle piece in a puzzle or an outfit on a doll. She also says this when she wants more of an activity as you can hear in the video! She loves this phrase. I let her watch the video and she kept saying "guy, guy!" Funny girl!

18 month check-up

Today was our well check and here are Vivianna's stats:

Weight- 21lbs. 9 oz. 10th percentile
Height- 32.5 75th percentile
Head Cir.- 17 2/3 10th percentile

This is consistent with her growth from birth! Her weight and head have remained around 10% and her height higher. The Dr. said not to worry about beefing her up, her body should be allowed to grow at it's natural rate as long as she eats a balanced diet, which she does. So she will keep at her 12-16 oz. of whole milk a day until she turns 2.

It makes it easier to carry her around!!

We scheduled her flu shot for October 4th, so we will see if she gains any weight in the meantime! SO far she is Mommy's little peanut!

Happy Adoption Day, Vivianna!

Today we celebrated Vivianna's adoption day! One year ago, we went to court and finalized. One of the fun things about being adopted is that you get a birthday party and an adoption celebration every year! Woohoo!!

Today, after church, we went to the mall and had lunch with our friends; went to Build -A -Bear, and had a sugar cookie cake (our adoption day tradition!). Vivi did a Puppy at Build-A-Bear and we did the same voice box in hers that we did at Isaac's. It says "Vivi, it's Mommy and Daddy. Happy Adoption Day!" We put two hearts in her bear, one for her birth family and one for her adoptive family. It was a really fun day! Incidentally, she wore a brown dress w/ pink dots last year and a brown dress w/ivory dots this year! Too funny!

Below is a digital scrapbook of our celebration!

Above are two pics...one of her passed out after court last year, and one today of her passed out after her fun day at the mall!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Tagged

I was tagged by a blog buddy in Austin, Liz

Here are the "rules" of the game:
1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.

So here are my random things and to those I tag...you know you love it!

1. I like my hot food HOT, like burn your mouth hot, and my cold food really cold. Room temp does nothing for me, unless it is a rice krispie treat.

2. If I had cable I would watch Animal Cops, alot. Of course, only when the kids were in bed. Random...I know. But there is something satisfying about seeing people pay for what they do to animals. I also like Judge Judy- for different reasons.

3. I have a recurring nightmare that I am in school and have to go to class but I don't know where the class is and haven't read the books. It is usually the end of the school year so I am trying to figure out how I am going to get out of this one so I don't fail. Not sure what the meaning is of this one!

4. I wish I could sew. But I don't have the patience.

5. My purse is a black hole. Literally. Stuff that goes in there is never seen again.

6. If I was not a Mom, I would be either (a) A Child Life Specialist in a children's hospital or (b) advocacy work for orphans in Africa

And maybe someday when my Mom duties are done...I will....

So now I tag:
Brandi (who is on vacation w/her husband and 2 daughters, but can do this when she gets back!)
Lena (who has a daughter just days apart from Vivi)
Stephanie (a foster mommy that I know from college)
Kelly L. (parents twin boys and an infant son, whose adoption was just finalized!)
Gloria (who I miss terribly because she is in Dubai as a missionary w/her husband and daughter who is 3 weeks younger than Vivi)
Paige (a 7th grader who I used to nanny for and is a faithful follower of this blog!)

Pretties

That is what Vivi calls these sweet little dolls from McDonalds. They are an entire set of Wizard of Oz dolls with hair, clothes, and eyes that open and shut from Madame Alexander. I don't normally get into happy meal toys but when we got the good witch last week and Vivi loved it, I was hooked. SO I sent out an email to some family that I knew would want to help collect these and I now have Dorothy and the lion! When Vivi saw Dorothy she said "Hi!"
"Yeah, I got Dorothy and the puppy!"
"Ahhh...Dorothy, you are so pretty"
"Love you!"

The Much Anticipated Vest

Isaac was given his Awana vest and handbook on Wed. night. His leaders said that he has a great memory! He walked into class and slapped his booklet in the teacher's hand and said, "I've been workin' hard on this!". We all laughed at that! When we were leaving Awana, a gentleman leader across the hall said "Isaac- give me a high five!" So I guess the whole group knows him now! Not hard to do, I mean you can hear him a mile away!

Falsely Accused

I have never posted about this in detail before, but I thought today I might. The kids are napping and I was flipping through the channels while checking my email, and came across Dr. Phil. The topic is about being falsely accused of abusing a child. The first guest on was a woman that pulled up to a Walmart about 30 feet from a Salvation Army bucket, took her 3 daughters out and left her sleeping two year old as they went to put money in the bucket. She could see the car and when she returned an officer who had been in the parking lot approached her, screaming that she should not have done that and then arrested her, claiming child abuse! She was taken to jail and later the charges were dropped. She uses the examples that when she returns carts, runs into a friends home to drop something off, etc. -she has never been arrested for that! Dr. Phil had a woman call in that stated she has never left her child in the car alone and he asked her even if she is going to put a letter in a mailbox 6 feet away and she said yes! Even Dr. Phil saw that this logic was insane when he said "maybe we need to follow you around to prove that!"

Why am I bringing up this random show...well for those of you who know us, this very thing happened to us. We were given the blessing of a beautiful 5 month old African American girl from the state that we were told we were going to adopt. We named her Olivia. A few weeks after she came home, I made this same judgement call as the woman on Dr. Phil. On a beautiful 80 degree day in September, she had just fallen asleep and I ran into a Subway to put my order in while my mom stayed in the place to pay and get our sandwiches to go. I left the baby in the car with all windows cracked. I could see the car the entire time I was in the store which was about 15 seconds and I saw someone approach my car. SO I ran out and the woman walked away. The baby had woken and I took her in with me. I later called our agency to tell them about the incident because I did not want to be reported to the police and accused of neglect. Well, long story short- they ended up removing the baby suddenly three days later, because of my testimony, and we never saw her again. We were investigated for neglect, threatened that Isaac would be removed, and hired a lawyer. The longest month of my life ended with me being cleared of all charges of neglect by CPS. We were then given the clearance to adopt Isaac. Our agency never apologized for the role they played in this, and even went so far as to call a mandatory training for all foster parents to go over this policy, a policy that was not in existence on paper, previous to our incident. We chose to close our foster home two months later.

I was forever changed by this incident and still have moments of intense guilt and grief. The anniversary of the day she was taken two years ago was Sept. 12th, the day before Billy's birthday and it was not a good day for me. To this day I cannot look at pictures of her welcome home party or the announcement we sent out to all our friends and family. I think I have suffered post traumatic stress symptoms and still do. I hope no one has to go through what we went through. To be the kind of parents we are and to be put in the same category as an abuser had a deep long-lasting effect on me. I have even had mini panic attacks when I have been out with the kids, afraid something is going to happen to them and very aware that it seems people are watching my every move.

I chose to post this today because the show inspired me to. I also know that I have a lot of readers whom I have never met. I don't want you to think that from our children's beaming faces and our fun events that I post often about, that our journey has been a field of daisies. Far from it. I am thankful that the Lord brought me through this and cleared my name, so that I can go on to parent. But I will never forget that time in my life. And I hope that I can use my experience to have a greater compassion for people and the choices and regrets they have in their life. I also hold my kids a little tighter knowing that your life can change forever in an instant, no one is immune to tragedy.

Awana Club

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Here is Isaac practicing his Awana memorization verses and motto. He is mumbling and confuses the parts where it says "God" and "Jesus" but since they are One in the same, I don't make a big deal out of it and hopefully his teachers won't either! He is always so proud when he knows he got it down! He should be getting his vest tonight, so I will post those pics tomorrow!

Next week I am going to add the scripture reference to the verse, which is what the four year olds memorize, but I think he can do it too.

18 Months Old!

I cannot believe that my daughter is one and a half years old today! Wow. Time has really flown. Two years ago, I was traumatized by the removal of what I thought was going to be my daughter, Olivia. I didn't know how God could make something good come from the worst experience in my life. 6 months later, we stood in a hospital room in Waco and said hello to our baby girl. This child has brought so much joy and spunk to our life. Some nights I actually miss her when she is in her crib asleep! She has accomplished so many little things in her short life and I have been blessed to be by her side through all of them. Vivianna, you and your brother are my heart and soul. I love you sweet baby. Please don't grow up too fast!

I dedicate this passage that I found online to Vivianna's 18 month milestone!

What is an Adoptive Mother?

"Being an adoptive mother is not for every woman. She must possess not only the natural mother instinct but an understanding and appreciation of the situation that brought a child into her arms making her a mother. The adoptive family came to be by choices made, choices made by the first parents and by the adoptive parents. This bond the adoptive mother has with her child grows over time, like the child did within his first mother’s womb. Day by day, touch by touch, with each tear, kiss, and memory made they became a family. Adoptive mothers have that special knack to let love grow.Adoptive mothers know that she’s a mender of wounds, not just of the physical skinned knees with a band-aid and a kiss, but of the heart. She gives love, acceptance, and permission to ask and talk about the day he was born and of his first parents.Adoptive mothers are embracers, not only of the child with many hugs and kisses, but of the child’s heritage and history. She embraces the facts of her child’s past with strength for herself and the child.This role is not for the weak of spirit, or the easily wounded. Loving a child not born to her but calling him her own, this is what she does, it is her calling. She is a mother."

Billy's Birthday

We celebrated Billy turning 29 this weekend by going to Red Robin for burgers with the kids Friday night and enjoying a yummy icecream cake. We gave him a DVD sitcom series that he wanted (Arrested Development). Then Saturday night, the kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, while we met up with our friends Jen and Jay at Kobe's, a very nice habachi asian food place that we LOVE! They were so sweet to give him a giftcard to Half Price Books, his favorite store! We topped off the night with our friends at Starbucks and stayed up way to late for us! I slept in til 7:45....crazy!! But it was nice!

Today, our church moved into it's new sanctuary, so that was fun! Isaac went to a new room, upstairs this time, and handled it well. We are working on getting him to memorize his verses for Awana on Wed. night. He should be getting his vest this week! I'll post pictures and more about what Awana is this week so stay tuned!

Hurricane Ike

DAVID J. PHILLIP/The Associated Press

A fire destroyed a home along the beach on Galveston Island as mammoth

Category 2 Hurricane Ike and its 110 mph winds approached on Friday.

The above picture with the headline Monster Ike is on the front page of the Dallas Morning News today.

Northbound traffic on Interstate 45 in League City, Texas, is at a standstill,

Thursday afternoon Sept. 11, as Galveston County residents flee the path of Hurricane Ike.

29 years ago today, Billy was born in Alabama during hurricane Frederic- the worst natural disaster for that state in history. Here is a picture and some details on that. He told me that his parents had to drive to the hospital during the hurricane, and his family could not get there for a day or so. Last night, his parents and sister rode the storm out in League City as the mayor told those residents not to evacuate because of the highway standstill you can see in the above photo. Thankfully, we have been able to be in contact with them through their cell phones this morning as their power is out. They have not suffered any major damage to their home or cars that they can tell at this time. I hate to say, Happy Birthday, Billy!! As it is not a very happy day with our sadness over the major flooding in Galveston and the loss of one of our favorite spots, the Kemah Boardwalk. But I do wish my husband a happy birthday. We went out last night to celebrate and I will post those pics later. For now, he is at a writer's conference and I am glued to the news footage while Isaac entertains himself w/Clifford shows on the DVD player. This morning he saw the news and said "Mom, why is there water all over those houses?" and then he said "We have to turn this off Mom, this show is scary." Yes it is, Buddy.

Yes it is.

Music

Billy teaches piano now (along with guitar), and the studio gave him this keyboard to use for lessons. The kids enjoyed it!

My Pride and Joy!

Isaac was Star of the Day today and very happy about this! He told me every day after school with a sad face that he was not star of the day. So when we showed up this morning and they put the star sticker on his shirt....oh boy....was he excited!!
This is me peering through the window in the door to capture story time.
His teacher Mrs. LeeAnn

This project made me smile to see my brown faced boy! Not sure what the long hair is sbout or why his eyes are glued so far apart...but hey, it's his project, right! Yesterday after school he was hugging Kyle and saying "Look mom, this is my friend!" And today another teacher told me that he went up to a girl in her class and said "You look beautiful today." because she had a big bow in her hair! What a sweetie!

Costumes

Many of you know that I love to put my dogs in costumes at Halloween time. Billy even has written about this in his essay, Our First Child,

"This was the first child my wife would play dress up with on holidays. For her
first Halloween, my wife bought Lucy’s costume in the middle of September. By
October, she had outgrown it. My wife shopped unsuccessfully at multiple stores
looking for a bigger size. When she couldn’t find the size, she switched
costumes. I’d come home from work to the dog in a loose-fitting pirate costume
one day and a tight Superman costume the next. By the 31st, my wife had
purchased and returned four costumes."

So you can imagine my excitement when Vivi and I came across several costumes, with none other than my Oscar as the costume model!! Okay, so it's not really Oscar but a dang similar look-alike! Atleast I got to see how he would look in various costumes before buying them this year!

The devil...which Billy will probably think is most fitting for Oscar!

A Clown An Angel...what I think to be most fitting!

I passed on these costumes because I am leaning towards an adorable stuffed lobster from Target. :)

And possibly a Bumble Bee for Lucy. Ha!