Lots going on

So the bad blogger is back! There has been a lot going on in our house. We finalized our adoption on August 27. We were lucky & had a judge that was a good family friend. That made the day even more special.

We have spent almost every weekend looking for a place to rent so Paul doesn't have to commute as long anymore. Right now is driving 2 hours each way!! With Minnesota winter here, the drive can get even longer with weather conditions. The good news is that we finally found an apartment the we both like!! It's huge & we will start to move in next weekend. We are keeping our house so we can come back home on weekends & whenever Ava & I feel like it. Paul's commute will only be 30 to 40 minutes.

We celebrated Ava's second birthday. Wow. I have a 2 year old! She wasn't interested in the singing or cake & candles. The candles were "hot" & she wouldn't blow them out & she didn't want to touch the cake. She just licked it. She looked bored while we sang to her. LOL.

We tried to get a family picture during Thanksgiving. She was a typical 2 year old. Thirteen pictures, one kind of good one....with her laying on our laps...not really looking at the camera.

Now the Holidays are upon us. Do I start putting up decorations here at home (since we'll be back here) or do I start packing? It's going to be a challenge deciding what we need at the apartment & what to leave here for when we come home. When will I get my shopping done? What about my baking? I guess I'll just watch some TV & then decided what to do!

Driving

Grandpa Bob & Ava both like small cars.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Where have I been??? Well, let's see. Life with a toddler is busy.

Ava is doing great. She is almost 21 months. There are times when I forget that she has only been with us for 4 months. She just bring us so much joy & happiness. We have had all our post placement visits with our social worker. Our paperwork is in & we have a court date for our finalization!!!!

Ava is learning new things all the time. She is climbing on everything & chattering all the time. Some times we know what she is saying & other times, we have no idea! I bought her an awesome set of DVD's. "Baby Signing Time" has become the new favorite DVD for our little girl. She loves to watch the babies & is learning sign language. It's amazing what she picks up. She can sign eat, more, milk, car, shoes, hat, cereal, frog, mom, dad, baby, grandpa, coat & so many more. She is growing like a weed. She is wearing 24 months clothes & size 5 shoes. I can't believe how fast she outgrows clothes. She loves to snuggle in the morning with me. This past week we had some thunderstorms in the evening & she loved watching the lightening. She kept wanting more & laughing when she saw it. How do you explain that mommy & daddy don't control the lightening? Some of her favorite foods are dill pickles, milk, ranch dressing, raisins, and animal crackers.

The big news is that Paul accepted another job. We will be moving sometime after our adoption is final. I hate to leave our small town where I grew up & where my family lives but we have to do what's best for our family. Paul will be moving from being a school principal to chief information officer at a high school. Basically he will be in charge of all the technology. It's his dream job. He started his job in July & has been commuting 2 hours each way to work. We need to get closer for him! After 4 hours on the road & a full day of work, he comes home happy & ready to play with Ava. There is such a change in him. The stress level has dropped. We have spent a lot of evenings & weekends looking for a place to rent & at different areas to live in. I am getting tired of looking. Hopefully we'll find something soon.

Wow!

Wow! Am I a bad blogger or what? Where do I begin??

On February 19th, just four days after my brothers funeral, I got a call from our social worker. She said that M, the birth mother that we were matched with back in November of 2008, wanted us to adopt her little girl who was now 15 months old! Thank goodness I was working at my husbands school. I went right down to his office & put our social worker on speaker phone. We had a match meeting on March 26th. Just a couple of hours after we left the meeting, we got "the call". M did want us to adopt Ava!! On April 6th, we met with M her mom & sister, & the birth dad & his mother. First we did the cooperative agreement with M & her family. She then went to sign papers while we met with the birth dad. He signed his papers when we were done.

The next day, April 7th, we began the transition with Ava. She spent time at our house with us every day. That went so much better than we expected. M & Ava stayed overnight on the 13th & 14th. I really LOVED having M here! She is so much fun. On April 15th, we had a Blessing ceremony for Ava. That began our life as full time parents. We were still in legal risk until the 20th. Our social worker has been here to visit us once since we got Ava. She was so impressed with how well Ava is doing.

Ava is now almost 18 months old & the joy of our lives!! She is so much fun. We have already been through some teething with her! She is learning new things every day and so are we. When we started the adoption process, we said that we would accept a child from birth to 4 years old. As our wait got longer, we increased that age to 8. I never dreamed that we would have a toddler. We didn't have a lot of time to prepare for her. Thank goodness for great friends who came through in a hurry with clothes & other things we needed. We love Ava so much & are reminded every day about the sacrifice that M made in order for us to be parents. We love & miss M & can't wait to spend time with her again soon.

It's a.....

GIRL!!!!

We have a beautiful 16 month old little girl named Ava Marie. We are in legal risk right now which means that up until 4:30pm on April 20th anyone can change their minds. I know we won't change our mind!!!

Awesome new Movie

Check out this awesome new movie called Babies. It comes out on Mother's Day.

Well....

Still waiting...

Still Maybe...

Still keeping my fingers crossed.

Maybe?

Keeping my fingers crossed!

There is so much I want to share but I can't

I deleted all of my posts. I think I am going to end the blog for a while. There is so much going on that I want to share with you all but I can't. I may start this up again so don't delete the address just yet. I just need to get through some things first. Check back because you never know when I might post something. Thank you all for your support & understanding.

Laura