Out of the Mouths of Babes...

This afternoon I was on the verge of tears about something very, very dumb. Riley picked up on this and said to me, "Mommy, don't be frustrated. Jesus will give you peace."

It is amazing to me the things that we have taught this precious 2 year old that he is now repeating back and encouraging us with.

NC State

This afternoon we head to Raleigh to watch the Wolfpack play. The game starts at 7:30, but we are heading out earlier to tailgate with my sister Karoline and her roommate Taylor. My dad and my brother John are coming with us, too! We have season tickets that we share with another couple, so this is our first game of the season. We can't wait!!!

NOTE TO SELF...

When locking the van (yes, I don't think I ever posted that I now drive my "dream car" a Honda minivan!! And, I am NOT being sarcastic...I have always, always, always wanted a minivan to FILL with children. Michael was okay with the minivan...I am still working on the "full of children" part!!) do NOT manually lock the doors, instead use the nice feature attached to the key called a remote. This ensures that your keys make it out of the van before it's locked!

Only 3 More Days...

Until Riley gets to see the Wolfpack play!! After a great win last weekend we are excited about this Saturday--despite all of the team injuries, we still believe!! :)

October 2006

Adventure in the Great Outdoors

For those of you who know me in "real life" this post may surprise you!

This weekend Michael, Riley, and I went CAMPING!! (Stop laughing!!) We had SO much fun! And, yes, we were camping outside in a tent, in sleeping bags, and I didn't pack one toiletry! (Well, does hand sanitizer count as a toiletry??? If it does, then I did bring one...)

We headed out Saturday afternoon after watching the NC State game (GO PACK!! What a win!!!) We first went to Hanging Rock, but there were no campsites left. The park ranger was very helpful and said that he had heard over at Pilot Mountain that they had a few campsites still left but just a handful. We booked it over to Pilot Mountain (about 25 minutes away from Hanging Rock). When we got there only 2 campsites were still available.

Everyone around us had already set up their tents and their sites for the night. We quickly got to work on setting up the tent. My dad was so nice to let us borrow his tent. His infamous words were that this new tent of his was "very, very easy to set up." After probably about an hour, we did finally get the tent up. (Dad, don't look!)




So, after getting the tent set-up well enough that we could get in it to sleep for the night without worrying too much that it might fall on top of us, it was time to eat! Michael made a fire and we had a blast roasting hot dogs, eating chips, and then making smores! Riley really, really enjoyed it all. He was sooooooo excited to see the fire and to eat his favorite food (hot dogs)!

The two highlights for Riley were getting to sleep in his brand new Cars sleeping bag and getting to carry a flashlight around. We all really had a fun time being together and enjoyed a fun family weekend. I think I am willing to even go back again another time...just for one night and as long as my dad shows us next time how to set up the tent!! :)

UPDATE from yesterday's post...

Ahhhhh...what a wonderful Friday....the non-napper decided that today would be a good day to snooze. Hooray, maybe we are back to being...

The Non-Napper

Riley decided almost 2 weeks ago that he was finished with napping. I have tried my best to disagree with this decision, but so far Mama ain't winning! In the past two weeks he has only taken 2, maybe 3 naps. This makes for a very long day!

I am still putting him in his crib and trying to make him nap the first 30-45 minutes, when that doesn't work I go back in and give him a handful of books. Yesterday, when Michael got home from work I was sharing that afternoon's nap woes and Riley interrupted to say that he only wanted ONE book at a time. Sorry, I don't see that happening.

The good thing is that he's not trying to climb out of his crib, he just yells for me most of the time. This is one mom who is really missing the 2 to 2 1/2 hour break I used to enjoy. Sigh.

Here are pictures from the napping baby I miss!! (Taken the first week Riley was home in 2006).

Today we celebrate Riley's 2nd Gotcha Day! 2 years ago today he was carried off of a plane in Detroit and handed to us. Our lives have truly never been the same. Riley is a treasure and we cannot imagine our family without him. Today we are celebrating by making airplane cookies and then we are taking him to Chuck E Cheese for pizza and games.

I came across this on another adoptive mom's blog. It really sums up well the love we feel for our son. Below it is the link to the video we made for Riley's first birthday...we have posted it before but it really captures the essence of September 13th, 2 years ago!

We Are So Blessed
by Brenna Fay Rhodes
copyright 1997

We are so blessed. We have the opportunity to pray and wait and plan and hope and dream and work for our child. Circumstances don't allow us to take our child for granted ~ ever. We do all these things for so long and at such great emotional cost, that when our child is finally in our arms, we truly cherish every minute. Every second.

We are blessed to be in our child's life. We are blessed that God planned for us to be a family, and that we were given the opportunities that brought us together. We get to see all the best parts of mankind in our wonderful children. All the goodness and potential and innocence and ambition and confidence and love. And what a beautiful sight that is.

We are blessed to have run this race. It is long, and very often it is practically impossible to complete. But we run anyway, and believe in ourselves and our child enough to the do the impossible. We run, knowing that at the end of this great race, a child is waiting for a chance at a wonderful life. And we get to be the ones to give him that life. Wow.

We are blessed that when our child laughs, we are the ones to hear it. And when our child cries, we are the ones she looks for. When our child feels pain or joy or accomplishment or excitement, he shares it with us. We are needed and wanted. And we are blessed.

We are so blessed to have had the chance to see life from a different angle. To see that things don't always go as you planned them out in 5th grade ~ because there are better things in store. To be part of the few who feel constantly misunderstood. To be the one always on guard against the rude or ignorant comment. To feel the frustration of not having the perfect comeback to that comment until three hours later. Our kids can use those experiences and lessons we have learned. We are deeper, stronger, more compassionate people because of this journey. And the world our children live in is better, because we grow in those ways.

Our child is blessed. He is patted and hugged and nestled and rocked and kissed and squeezed and taught and tickled and corrected and praised. He is told he is precious in God's eyes. She is certain of her value in our eyes. And she never wonders if she will be cared for tomorrow or the next day. She sleeps comfortably at night, safe in our care.

We should tell our children we are proud. We saved and scrimped, prayed and begged, planned and schemed, worked and worried. We hoped endlessly for them. We dedicated years of our lives to finding them, followed God's path to them, waited in His time for them, then brought them home to their forever family. We gave our whole hearts to our child, even before we ever saw his precious face. Now that is love. And parents who adopt know all about that.

Click on this:RILEY'S HOMECOMING VIDEO

Nesting...

I think I am in official nesting mode. I have always heard this talked about for women who are pregnant and I know I definitely did this while waiting for Riley. I still haven't bought anything for this baby because our baby seems so far away (and practically speaking because I already have some cute baby things from when Riley came home). So, the fact that I am nesting is a good sign to me that one day our home will have another baby.

I googled the term "nesting" and this is what I found:

Each woman will nest in a way that is unique to them. Below is a list of possible things a nesting mother will do.

Clean out the cabinets
Mop the floor
Rearrange furniture
Clean out closets
Clean a child’s nursery meticulously
Steam clean upholstery and carpets
Clean the bathroom
Stock the kitchen with food
Cook

Two weeks ago I cooked and froze 25 meals, so I can check the cooking and the stock the kitchen with food off of the list.

I am currently in the process of going through every room in the house and pulling out everything and either trashing, donating, or putting back. I am not one to keep a lot of junk around anyway, but you should see how much I am getting rid of! It is so much fun!

The article then goes on to say:

Nesting is normal and it is not hard on a woman’s health unless she exhausts herself.

Pregnancy normally will hamper a woman from doing things which are truly too strenuous. However, if a woman is nesting and trying to push a piano across a room, it is probably best if she finds something else to do.

I guess that is one of the perks of adopting....if I decide to push my piano across the family room I can and won't need to "find something else to do!"

It's Football Season...

Hooray! We love this time of year because it means lots of football! We are (of course!) diehard NC State fans. Right now, our team is 1-1....but it looks like it might be another rough year.

We will be taking Riley to his first game of the season the last Saturday in September...only 2 weeks away!

Here's some pictures of our favorite little Wolfpacker:

We have had a fun long weekend! Went by way too fast! Michael's aunt, uncle, and 2 of his cousins came to town for the weekend. We went to the water park Saturday and had a great time!

On Friday, Michael and I got a new mattress set. It is soooooooo comfy! (I may never get out of bed again!) :)

Riley got to move to the 2 year old class at church 2 weeks ago. He loves his new class! We ask him what he likes about his new class and his answer is "Goldfish!" Evidently, at snack time they get goldfish in this class instead of Ritz crackers. The other thing that he says he likes about the class is that in the bathroom there is a short, little potty. This Sunday he told us that "Them lets me stand up to go potty." (If his teachers or those in the preschool department read this blog, please know that yes, I think he is also getting the message of the Bible stories so please don't feel that your efforts go unnoticed! It just seems that this little boy--at this point in his life--is really into the goldfish and the potty!)

Here are some pictures of sweet little Riles: