Their first prom...

experience was last weekend.  I know, a little young to be going to the prom, but last weekend Gabriel, Michael and even Isabelle got to know a little bit more about the prom.  Our counsin Alicia went to the prom and to celebrate with her, we went over to see her, and take pictures with her all dressed up before her date picked her up.

The prom extravaganza started on Friday when Isabelle, Michael and I went with Anita, Alicia's mom to the school pep assembly.  See Alicia was nominated to be on the prom court and she was going to find out about it at the assembly on Friday.  Family was invited to secretly watch the assembly until the royalty's names were revealed.

The assembly itself was amazing with skits, performances and cheers.  Michael was in awe and when a group of the senior guys, including Alicia's date, did a lip sync performance of Justin Beiber's Baby song Michael was sold... he really liked Daniel (the date). 

Then on Saturday we were invited to stop by Alicia's house to see how beautiful she looked and take a few pictures.  Oh and I made the boys get dressed up to have their picture taken.  If you're going to have your picture taken with a beautiful girl, you have to at least try to look as nice as you can right? :-)

As we finished up taking pictures, her date arrived and we quickly tried to sneak out without interrupting them too much.  As we were driving away Michael said, "Mom so where is Alicia going to live now?" "What Michael?" "Mom, where is Alicia going to live now that she is married to Daniel?"  Smiling and laughing on the inside, I said, "Honey, she's just going to prom, I don't think she's getting married yet."

I just hope I can clarify by the time he's old enough to actually go to prom, that there is no marital business that happens at prom.

Until next time,
Angie

Isabelle goes to school...

For the first 6 weeks of her life, Jarrett and I were able to stay home (at different times to stay with her), but now the time has come for her to begin going to school. It isn't too bad, so far she only has to go on Wednesdays when I go to work.  At the end of this month she'll start going more regularly but for now we are slowly easing her into the idea of school.

Turns out, although it is an adjustment for her, it is actually a bigger adjustment for me.  I had been counting down the days until I had to take her to school, and Jarrett and I had many conversations about how I was nervous for her to go to school, with so many kids and SO MANY GERMS!  I worried that she would not be given the constant attention she is given at home and that somehow she'd forget me over the course of 9 hours.  I know these are serious worries right. :-)

And then the day she had to go to school came and being that I had the flu the day before and still felt terrible the next day (on her first day of daycare), I in someway was thankful for the exhaustion and crappy feeling because it distracted me from the ache in my heart as I handed her over to the teacher and said good bye for the day. I guess it was obvious that I was having the same feelings that many other moms (maybe dads) have when they drop off their precious bundle for the first day... all of the teachers from the other classrooms seemed to be lined up in the hallway providing reassuring comments and support as I walked Michael to his classroom...
             ...She'll be great
            .....don't worry about her
           ..... we'll give her lots of love and attention
          ..... just remember it is harder for you than it is for her.

I tried my best to hold back the tears as I did know in my heart she would be just fine.  It was just me missing her like crazy.  The teachers and school director said I could call at any time to check in and I took them up on their offer.  I called a few times and with various noises in the background, there was one noise that stuck out.  It was her... I could hear hear crying.  They reassured me that she was crying because she was hungry and they were warming up her bottle.  I called Jarrett, who I think questioned my level of seriousness when I said, I just called the school and I could hear her crying in the background.  But it was true, I could tell it was her distinct cry.    When I called back about an hour later, I didn't hear any crying and was reassured she was sleeping peacefully.

At the end of my work day, I raced to get to her and could tell it had been a day of adjustment for her too.  She was crying and her eyes were all red and puffy... I could tell she had been crying for a while.  They said she was fussy.  As soon as they handed her over to me, I spoke to her, she stopped crying, looked into my eyes and immediately she seemed at peace.  It was the first time I realized, she knows who I am and that I am a source of comfort and love for her.

This past week was her second week of school and things seemed to go better.  When I checked in with the school, they said she was having tummy time and playing with the other babies.  I'm not quite sure what constitutes "playing" at 8 weeks old, but hey, it sounded good. When I picked her up from school Wednesday afternoon she was again crying but her eyes were not red and puffy.  A good sign. 

Later that night I realized she had also decided to bring home some stuff from school with her... GERMS.  As the evening progressed she became very congested and started coughing.  I of course immediately thought the worse so I made an appointment right away for the next morning to see her doctor.  By Thursday morning, I could tell, our baby girl did not feel good at all.  She, normally very happy and content as long as she's fed and has a clean diaper, was very irritable, sad and wanted to be constantly held.  After visiting the doctor and ruling out RSV, whooping cough ( who knew there is an outbreak of it) and other more serious illnesses, the doctor said, she's picked up a case of a "daycare respiratory virus".  The doctor has also reassured me that as long as she continues to go to daycare, there will be additional daycare sicknesses she'll be getting.

So the last two plus days have been spent with trying to help her find ways to breath and stay comfortable.  I feel so bad for her as you can tell it is exhausting for her just to try and get enough air.  We have humidifiers running in each room she is in, we have bugger suckers (or those bulb things the hospital gives you) within an arm reach and she has become a permanent attachment to my body.  That is only way I can keep her comfortable and to make sure she is still breathing okay.  Her congestion seems to be getting a little better this morning and I hope we are on the up and up. 

There will be many benefits to her attending school and I have to come to accept that unless we win the lottery and I can stay home, there will be many drawbacks to having her attend school as well.  And well, we'll just have to get through those drawbacks one illness at a time.

Until next time
Angie

Easter bunny!

Last weekend our adoption agency had a family picnic which we attended. Low and behold the Easter Bunny made a guest appearance.  It seemed there was a photographer that accompanied the Easter Bunny around and after the kids got their pictures taken, they were given a special piece of candy.  Gabriel and Michael intrepreted the proces to mean that each time they got their picture taken they were deserving of a piece of  candy.

Can you guess which 2 boys were more than willing to have their photograhps taken?  I tell myself it was becuase they were so excited to see the Easter Bunny, but I think we all know, I'm only fooling myself. 

Candy is such a great motivator....

Until next time,
Angie

Batman Mania

Michael loves Batman and when I asked him what cake he wanted this year for his birthday he of course said a Batman one.

Since I spent way too much on a Batman cake last year, I decided this year, I'd attempt to make him one. And although not perfect or even that great looking, I think it passed the most important test....his.

Oh and I'm betting next year he'll say he'll want a Batman cake again, so I just washed and tucked away the pieces so we can do it all over again next year.

Until next time,
Angie

Precious baby...

Every morning is a race these days, well even before Isabelle's arrival, mornings were a race around our house.  It is race to get up, race to shower and get ready and race to get out of the door before being really really late.  Today was no different.  After racing around and giving orders to the boys about specific steps to get ready, I jumped in the shower and in 5 minutes I was ready for the day. I quickly changed Isabelle, loaded her into her car seat and with a "hurry up" and a "we are really late"  we finally backed out of the driveway.

As I looked in the rear view mirror I was able to get a glance of what my back seat looked like.  Three kids, three car seats and not a spare inch to give, and the boys all smiles as we raced down the street. (I have to say, just 2 short years ago, looking in my rear view mirror to an empty back seat was a continuous reminder of the wish I was still waiting to come true.  Boy have I sure been blessed now).  As I looked at the boys with grins from ear to ear, I quickly realized they were smiling because they were admiring their little baby sister in the car seat between them.  As they doted on her and she smiled and cooed back, Michael paused from talking to her and exclaimed, "She is such a precious baby." 

Upon hearing him state that I verbally agreed with him and then thought to myself "Wow, I'm impressed he knows what that word means and can use it in a sentence." 

Before I could finish my internal thought Michael interjected again, "Mom, what does precious mean?"

I laughed, and said, "Michael what do you think precious means?"
to which he responded, "Mom, I think it means that Isabelle is perfect." 

And with his response, he accurately described just exactly how we feel about her.  I simply responded, "Yes, honey it does kind of mean that and  I couldn't have said it better myself."

Until next time,
angie

St. Patrick strikes again...

Okay this post is a little late but better late than never right?
Last year the boys were surprised to learn about St. Patrick and this year, Dad and I were surprised to learn that Gabriel and Michael still remembered him.  So on  this year's St. Patrick's Day morning when the boys awoke, they immediately started looking for traces of St. Patrick the Leprechaun's visit.

Unfortunately, there were none.  Turns out St. Patrick forgot to visit...

Well at least he forgot to visit on St. Patricks eve.  That didn't stop all of us from celebrating on the lucky day.  We proudly put on our finest bright green shirts and pretended to be Irish.  In fact, Gabriel has decided it is so much fun to be Irish, he still randomly shouts out, that he wishes he was Irish.  We went on about our day and wished many people a Happy St. Patricks day. 

But as the day went on, Dad and I quickly learned that the boys were disappointed to see that St. Patrick, the Leprechaun had not come to visit them.  We reassured them though that maybe it wasn't that he forgot them, instead it was that he just hadn't been there yet and would stop by later that evening..

And what do you know, turns out Mom and Dad were right.  On the morning after St. Patricks Day, the boys awoke to signs that in deed the great St. Patrick the Leprechaun had left them a few of his special coins...

Outside the boy's bedroom was two piles of coins placed in a circle with a heart in the middle...

Showing off their proud collection...

And even Isabelle was given a gift from the generous Leprechaun

Here she is holding the Leprechaun's heart in her tiny little hand...

 And she celebrated by wearing the cutest green onesie and clover socks her uncle Nolan brought back for her from Ireland.  Although I can't post a picture of her in the onesie, it reads, "Probably the best baby in the whole world"  We completely and whole heartedly agree with it.

And here is a picture of her super cute booties... Thanks Uncle Nolan!

and Happy St. Patricks Day (belated).

Until next time,
Angie

It is July? Nope its still March...

but that doesn't mean it isn't swimming season for the boys.

Just this past week, Jarrett's aunt and cousins from Chicago came out to visit for Spring Break.  Although it was in the mid-80's, for Katherine and Claire (Jarrett's cousins), they thought it was the perfect time to take a dip in the pool.

And as soon as the boys heard about the tiniest chance that swimming was being discussed, they were all in, and begging to go.  So swimming they went, even though the water was just about 70 degrees.  Although the girls insisted it was 70 degrees, I think it may have been a little colder than that but better to just say 70 degrees, rather than 60-something right?

Here are few photos from the fun they had...

Thanks for coming to visit Claire, Kathering and Annette, it was great to see you and we sure had a lot of fun!  Come back again soon!

Until next time,
Angie