A little bit of this, a little bit of that

I have so much on my mind right now and so much I could blog about, but all of my focus has been on getting our house ready for the market. We have been painting, organizing, cleaning, and still have much to do! I didn't think we had that much crap until I really started going through everything! It's amazing all of the "stuff" we carry around...bits and pieces of our lives represented by things like a book, a little note, pictures, music, etc. Some of it is easy to get rid of and some of it I will never be able to get rid of. So, I feel like I have been in that place of "taking stock." (Grey's Anatomy reference!) I have also been thinking A LOT about Guatemala lately with Eli's upcoming birthday and our upcoming first family day. So many emotions.

In the midst it all...we have still mananged to appreciate life's everyday adventures!

Eli's FAVORITE place: the fire station right beside our house. He has already been invited to the station by our neighbor fire fighters several times and I think we will all be on a first name basis very soon! I swear we talk about fire trucks all day. One of the first things he does every morning is run to the window to see the fire truck. He loudly announces every morning: "FIRE TRUCK! FIRE TRUCK!" We have 4 fire stations in our town and he knows if we are getting close to one. He has this super fire truck radar! It's very funny!
Enjoy the first soft serve ice cream of the season! We are ready for summer.

Having loads of fun with Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head.

Helping daddy in the kitchen. This is minutes before pea picked up a compact flourescent light bulb and chomped down. Needless to say, it shattered in his mouth. It was a little scary! Luckily, Jason saw him just in time to get all of the pieces out of his mouth. Of course, the other scare with CFL bulbs is mercury so we had to open all the windows and stay out of the kitchen for about 20 minutes. It is amazing how quickly accidents can happen even when we are right there.

My two fave fellas. Aren't I lucky? :)

Lastly, I am still in awe of how fast my little pea is growing. He was so excited about his new table (thanks to craigslist!) and insisted sitting there for dinner. Where is my baby?

Birthday Wishes

Can you believe my baby is going to be TWO in 2 weeks? Wow! I think pea also knows his birthday is fast approaching. We received a Little Tikes catalog in the mail last week and he has been pouring over it ever since! I think he is starting to narrow down his choices...maybe.

Carefully considering the swingset with the "curlie slide."

Then and Now...and a request

Here is another "this time last year" post! Last year at this time we were celebrating my birthday in Antigua during Semana Santa. It was AMAZING!! It was our 3rd visit trip and we were so incredibly lucky to be spending several days in Antigua during this time. Most hotels in Antigua are booked up to a year in advance for this celebration. Our dear friend, Kimberly, was living in Antigua fostering her son and she so generously offered to let us stay with her. At that time, we had never even met one another other than through blogging. This is, yet another, one of those very special connections we made through our journey. Kimberly was such a wonderful hostess and helped us celebrate my birthday, Eli's 1st birthday (we celebrated a couple weeks early), and gave us the opportunity to experience Semana Santa.

Here we are in Antigua on my birthday last year.



Me and my Pea at home on my birthday this year.

We not only connected with Kimberly that week, but also Brittney, Danny, and Kinsey. At that time, they had only been in PGN for about 3 weeks. Well, it is over ONE YEAR later and they are still waiting for their daughter to come home. They have endured so much and their hearts are very heavy right now. Please take a moment to stop by their blog (click on their names above) with some words of support and encouragement. We all know how much that means.

Dinner with Daniel, Brittney, and Kinsey in March 2008

Spoiled...YUM!!

So, my birthday is coming up and I decided to spoil myself a teeny bit. I stumbled upon this site that makes homemade Guatemalan sweetbreads and delivers them right to your door! Oh, my mouth started watering instantly and I just couldn't resist. Check out the site HERE. I just HAD to order the Champurradas and the Pan Mixto. We were spoiled with Champurradas on our first visit when we took a day trip to Antigua. Our wonderful guide, Alfredo, bought all of us a half dozen or so Champurradas from a local bakery and we thought we had died and gone to heaven! Delicious! We were also spoiled on our pick-up trip because our apartment in Antigua was right across the street from a bakery. We typically treated ourselves to a daily dose of deliciousness! Believe it or not, I didn't even get a picture of the bakery! Shameful. But, here is a picture of our street and the bakery is on the lefthand side.
My order confirmation stated that my goodies will be baked and shipped on the same day. YUM! I can't wait!!

Pea Hugs

Awwwwww...I LOVE my Pea Hugs!!! Pea gives the BEST hugs! He usually gets a running start and then just jumps into my arms squeezing as tight as he can. He has almost knocked me over a couple times! But, I love, love, love it! I can't get enough of my pea hugs!!

Spring Forward

We are ready for SPRING!! This winter has just been ruthless, hasn't it? We have definitely been enjoying our little heat wave over the last couple of days. It has been sooooo great to finally get outside without the fear of frostbite!

Spring is by far my favorite season. I just love that the world seems to come alive again. Spring brings a sense of renewal and new beginnings. This spring is especially special for us as we have much to celebrate! Eli will be celebrating his first birthday at home, we will celebrate our first family day, and we will hit that very important milestone in which the scales will tip between the time he lived in Guatemala and the time he has been home.

And, as I have alluded, there are other changes happening for us as well. We are getting ready to put our house on the market! Now, I know most of you are thinking "big whoop!" Well, the big whoop is we are not exactly sure what will come next, but we are planning on some big changes. It is something we have been thinking about for quite awhile, but the time was never right...until now. We have no idea how everything will unfold so right now we are focused on getting our house sold, especially in such an uncertain housing market. Needless to say, this is a very transitional time for us, which is very exciting and also a little scary! But, we have faith that everything will fall into place, knowing that this is our heart's desire.

With that said, we have been busy with projects around the house to get it ready for the market. We have LOTS to do over the next several weeks and we have quickly learned that nothing happens fast with a very busy toddler around!

Goin' Crazy!!

I wasn't kidding!! Here is my first digital scrapbook page. So fun! I used a tutorial on The Shabby Shoppe, including the free scrapbook kit. If you are interested in giving it a try and you have some version of photoshop, just click on the shappy shoppe link and go to tutorials. You will be addicted!

Technical Difficulties

Soooo, some of my peeps are having some technical difficulties accessing the blog since I went private so I switched back to public for now! In the meantime, check out this other cute photoshop creation that I, again, stole from Pineapple Princess! Isn't this cute?!?! This was FREE. Check out her blog for the link and you can have your very own desktop calendar!

Pea Faces

My blogger pal, Pineapple Princess, inspired me to play around more with Photoshop. I have been trying to figure it out on my own and I just don't have the patience! For one, I am not a techy so it takes me a little longer to figure out "techy" stuff and two, I just hate reading directions! Not a good mix! So, Pineapple Princess posted an excellent tutorial on creating collages. So I decided to give it a try. It was SUPER easy! So, you may be seeing more experiments as I navigate my way through all the bells and whistles of photoshop. Woohoo!

Pinch me

I have been reflecting a lot lately on "this time last year" as we quickly approach some very special anniversary's. This time last year was probably the most stressful month of our entire adoption process. We were stuck in that terrible CNA registration mess and there were a few days in which we weren't sure our attorney was going to get our case registered in time, which would mean the unthinkable. It was simply terrifying and I think I held my breath the entire month. Jason and I clung to each other tightly and tried our best to distract ourselves as much as possible, but it was impossible. I suffered from terrible insomnia during the worst months of our process, but especially last February. I spent many anxious, sleepless nights on the couch knowing I had to stay strong for my sweet son, knowing that I would never give up until he was home...yet feeling like I was falling apart. Those were dark days.

What a difference one year has made. It seems like a world away, yet it also feels like just yesterday. As I watched little pea help us take wallpaper off today, I had one of those "pinch me" moments and that loud voice in my head kept chanting "MY BABY IS HOME." Thank God, my baby is home. To top it all off, Eli said his name for the first time today, "Eyi." So sweet!

And, the best of all....Eli said "uv you" for the first time when Jason put him to bed. My heart just melted.

Such a good helper!
He was also very eager to put the "papeh in the twash" after he peeled if off the wall.

6 month follow-up

Today we drove to Columbus for Eli's 6 month follow-up (it's actually been 8.5 months since his last appointment) at the International Adoption Clinic. He is up to 31lbs (95th percentile) and almost 35 inches tall (75th percentile). He's a big boy for his age! Our appointment lasted about 2 hours and included a physical, a developmental assessment, another TB test, and more bloodwork.

We weren't surprised to learn that Eli has exceeded all of the developmental milestones for his age, especially in speech and language. He is doing great! In fact, the assesor actually asked us how confident we were about his birthdate, suggesting he could be a couple months older. Well, we are 100% confident with his birthdate based on the information we have. And, he now gets very shy and quiet around people he does not know so he did not show off all of his good stuff today!

His shyness and quietness around strangers actually makes me quite happy and relieved right now. When he first came home, we had some incidents of him approaching strangers in public and hugging their legs and/or grabbing their hands. One time, he grabbed a woman's hand at the park and started leading her away from us. When we redirected him away from the woman, he got very upset and wanted nothing to do with us. We were mortified! We definitely believe this was an attachment issue as he was transitioning home. These are the seemingly little things that no one really wants to talk about, but most of us experience them in one way or another when we bring our little ones home. But, it was huge to us and reinforced that we needed to continue practicing attachment parenting. It has certainly paid off because that would never happen now! He definitely knows his mama and daddy.

After the physical and developmental assessment, we were off to the lab for more bloodwork. It was just routine repeat bloodwork from his first visit just to make sure nothing shows up a second time. Unfortunately, little pea had to have both arms pricked. The lab tech started drawing blood and then the vein blew so he had to prick the other arm. Eli was such a trooper. Of course he cried, but he was more upset that he couldn't hold his whale/dolphin book!

After we left the clinic we hit our favorite store, Trader Joe's, to stock up! You gotta love Trader Joe's! Apparently pea does too. He had his own shopping to do. A boy on a mission...
"Ummm, excuse me daddy...where is the peanut butter?"

Hangin' out while we were checkin' out.

Just me and my peeps

Ahhhhhh....;)

I have been thinking of going private for a few months and it finally felt like it was time for a number of reasons. My number one reason is I just feel much more protective of my family and not as comfortable anymore having so much personal stuff available to just anyone. Of course, I am not naive to think going private eliminates that, but it at least gives me the illusion of privacy! On the other hand, as you can see from my last two posts, we have made some wonderful connections through blogging! Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined the number of connections we would make when I started this blog a year and a half ago. I could just go on and on about how we met this person, which led to this experience, in which we met this other person, who connected us to this resource, etc, etc, etc. Life changing. That is also why it took me so long to make the decision of whether or not to go private. Ultimately, at least for now, it is the right time to draw the shades. I love that so many of you are continuing this journey with us. I feel much more comfortable already! It's all good because I get to stay in touch with all my favorite peeps while keeping all of the creepies out! ;)

And, I have had so much on my mind lately because we are embarking on yet another big life change and now I feel like I can talk about that more. (no, we are not starting another adoption...yet. I know that is what you were all thinkin'!)

In the meantime, I will leave you with some cuteness! Eli has been so stinkin' funny and adorable lately. I think our trip to Maine cured him of the lil' monster phase he was in for a few weeks because he has not had any tantrums, throwing, or hitting since then. It is sooooo wonderful to have our sweet, funny boy back! Lately, he has been starting to repeat almost EVERYTHING we say. Seriously. And, he really pays attention! For those of you who know us very well, this could be a problem! Needless to say, we really have to watch what we say anymore. We even have to spell things out now so that he doesn't get all worked up about something like m-i-l-k, s-n-a-c-k, or his most recent obsession...N-E-M-O.

I am also learning to use this to my advantage. For example, Eli loves to drink water out of a regular cup. I mean, he LOVES it. So, he wanted to drink out of my cup tonight. I told him that he could drink out of my cup as long as he said, "mama rocks. " It worked! It sounded a little like this..."mama wocks. mama wocks. mama wocks." That's my boy!

Here are some more cutie pics from last weekend.

He was so excited when we got off the plane in Columbus that he was literally running around in circles! He also loved looking at all of the "panes, panes, panes." (planes)

More weekend fun

I am still reeling from all of the fun we had this past weekend in Maine. It was so special to finally meet Beth, Bobbi, & Donna and their families. I felt so connected to them even before we met and now even more so! Some may find it very strange that we would hop on a plane to visit and stay with people we have never met in person. Well, I suppose it was a risk! But, we all clicked instantly, just as I knew we would. When I saw Beth waiting for us at the airport, it was like she was an old friend I just hadn't seen in awhile. It felt so normal!

Eli had a great time, too, even though I think he was a little overwhelmed by all of the excitement! He not only met some new friends for the first time, he also had his first sled ride and his first trip to the ocean!

Here is a short video clip of Jason and Eli sledding down Beth's backyard.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And, here are a few pics of his first visit to the ocean. Granted, we were not basking in the sun and digging our toes in the sand, but it was still amazingly beautiful! THANK YOU Beth, Keith, Sam, and Lucy for a wonderful visit!

Sneak Peek...

into our FULL weekend.

It was full of...


blissful chaos...

outdoor adventures...

several attempts at a kiddo group photo...

hugs from new friends...

absolute pure sweetness (this will be on the wedding invite)...

and a rare, uninterrupted adult dinner with friends while the kiddos played in the next room.

We had such a GREAT time!! More photos to come...

Leavin' on a jet plane

I am so excited!!!! We are going to Maine to visit some very special friends this weekend. Friends we met through our adoption journey. Friends who, on many, many, many occasions carried me through while we were waiting for Pea to come home. I first "met" Beth when she was my Secret Blog Pal in the summer of 2007. I met Bobbi through Beth and somehow Donna found us all! I cannot begin to tell you how amazing all three of these women are and how they touched me in so many ways. I am so grateful for their friendship and support and cannot wait to meet them all in person this weekend! We all talked about getting together "one of these days," but it took one e-mail from Donna informing us all that she was going to be in Maine and we all had our plans made within a couple of days. How great is that?!?! So, we are busy getting packed and ready to finally meet in person, what feels like, long time friends. Just wish us luck on the plane...I have a bad feeling we are going to be THAT family that everyone hates. ;0

I plan on going private by the end of next week so if you haven't commented, yet, and still want to continue following little pea's adventures, just leave a comment with your e-mail address. Moderator is still on so it won't be published for all the creepies to see.

Here are some pics of Fireman Pea. He LOVES fire trucks and he LOVES his snow boots. And, he is a little speedster on his car. You should see him take the corners in our house!

New Makeover

My familia was giving us a hard time yesterday because little pea needs a haircut in a big way. I think pea may have been listening and took matters into his own hands.

Long bangs? No problema! Pea found some hairclips. And some barrettes.

Or, how about a headband?

Two is better than one. (I know, the laundry is piling up.)

No makeover is complete without a little blush.

Notice the wall in the background? That is a hint...

DON'T FORGET!!!

Tomorrow is the deadline to purchase a cookbook to support Across All Borders!!! ONLY $15!!! That includes shipping. The cookbook contains about 250 recipes from adoptive families and a special section of Guatemalan recipes. It supports a wonderful cause. Just click on the link to the left to place your order. HURRY!!! Time is running out!!!

And, don't forget to let me know if you want to continue following our blog. Just leave me a comment with your e-mail address so I can send you an invite once I go private. I still have comment moderator on so your e-mail address will not be published.

I think it's time

I have been thinking about going private for a couple months and I think it is time. I have connected with so many wonderful people through blogworld and this blog has also enabled us to keep our friends and family informed of our adoption journey and life at home. I don't want to disrupt any of those connections so please let me know if you would like to continue staying in touch with us. Leave a comment with your e-mail address and I will add you to the "A" list. Don't worry, I turned on comment moderator so your e-mail address will not be published online for the world to see. I will probably go private in the next week or two.

A week in review

Just a few of this week's happenings in the life of little pea.

He is really getting into his megablocks lately. He has a megablocks car and he stacks the blocks on the car as high as he can before they all topple over. Then he throws his hands in the air and says "UH OH!" Repeat.
Porter trying to get some little pea lovin'. He really thinks he is a lapdog.

Silly faces!

He is also really getting into puzzles or "puggles." This particular puzzle has been sitting on the very top of his bookshelf out of sight. He has not seen it since summer. Well, the other day he kept pointing to the top of the bookshelf saying "puggle, puggle." I finally figured out what he wanted, but I couldn't believe he 1) remembered it was up there and 2) even knew what it was. So, I pulled it down and he immediately went to work.

Some big changes are happening around our house so we will be very busy the next couple of months. Stay tuned for details....