Our Little Climber

While Mike was off work we worked on a few projects ... one of which was putting a closet organizer in the boys room. While we were working on that we pulled our little step ladder out. Dominic discovered he liked this ... and proceeded to climb all the way up. Everytime we took him off ... he would get mad and start to climb over again.

Bunk Beds

Mike and I had been talking about Jordan and him getting to the point he needed a big boy bed. We were a little hesitant because of the new freedom that would give him ... and were we really ready for that? Even though he could climb out of his crib ... he was really good about staying in there when we put him in bed and he would only climb out after we came in the room to get them up from nap time or in the morning. We had been looking around at beds ... but just weren't ready to spend the money or to go to next step.
One day on the way home from my brother's farm we decided to stop at a store just to look. That quickly changed when I found some sturdy bunk beds for under $200. Of course, they were already put together and Mike didn't want to have to take it apart ... ready or not, Jordan is getting a new bed!
He was so excited ... he would climb on it ... and had the biggest grin on his face.
Constance announced that she would like to sleep on the top bunk ... until Dominic was big enough to sleep on the bed. (yeah ... don't think so ... we have not left the ladder attached because we don't want Jordan climbing to the top)
Bedtime and Nap time have been interesting ... obviously some days are better than others. The first day ... I had to put Jordan back in bed 3xs. The 1st time I went in he had climbed in Dominic's bed. Of course, Dominic had been asleep ... NOT ANYMORE! The other times he was playing with his toys. One of the times he heard me coming ... I heard "uh-oh!" when I unlocked his door and saw him running back to his bed.
The first night Mike went to put Jordan to bed ... he didn't have a problem at all ... which he was quick to point out to me. He put Jordan in bed and told him to stay there and he did. I told Mike he could put him to bed from now on.
A couple nights ago after we had put the boys in bed ... we heard Jordan and Dominic laughing hysterically ... that was until Mike and I went in and crashed their party. (I had grabbed my camera first) ... We found Jordan in Dominic's crib. We put Jordan back in his bed and left behind two unhappy boys.

Visiting Bugs -- A Very Unwelcome Guest!

This week has been a fun one.
Constance was off Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr., day. She enjoyed spending some time with the cousins who came into town. She had school on Tuesday and everything seemed to be ok ... She did come into our room at 11pm and of course, she didn't want to go back to her bed. She finally did with a lot of help from Daddy.
Wednesday morning she was running a low grade fever and complaining about her throat hurting. In her 7 short years the illnesses she has had are either colds or strep. During one school year she had strep 5 times. So when she complains about her throat hurting Strep comes to mind immediately. After a quick Doctor's visit we found out it was not strep just a virus. Ok ... so we wait for it to run it's course. No problem. We left the Doctor's office with a pretty pink pan ... her stomach was not too happy with her. As soon as we walked through our front door ... she got sick. I was so thankful for that pretty pink pan.
By Thursday she seemed to be doing a little better. She had managed to keep food in. Whew! But Dominic decided that he was going to fill diapers ... it would have been nice if it had stayed with just nasty diapers. By the afternoon he was not keeping anything in. One time I was holding him and he shared the joy with me. This is not looking too good ... 2 out of 5 sick.
Friday everyone seemed to be doing ok. Constance was still complaining her stomach was bothering her but she was keeping food in. Dominic was starting to eat again and keeping everything in.
Saturday ... Everyone seemed to be doing better when the day started ... Constance quickly changed that. The kids spent a little time at my parent's house so I could go and help my brother out. When we came to pick the kids up we found out that Constance was not feeling well at all. The bathroom was becoming a good friend. I quickly got the kids home ... Constance spent most of the night in the bathroom holding her pretty pink pan. At one point she asked me if she was going to die ... she had never had her stomach hurt so bad.
It has been about a week since it all started and it appears (fingers-crossed) that everyone is healthy again. Thankfully only 2 of the 5 got sick! I hope it stays that way.

Pixar Shorts

I love the Pixar short films they have made.
Boundin' ... which I think is one of my all-time favorite ones.
I am amazed at the ingenuity of the people who make these films. Sometimes I look at my life and feel like I am living the short films. I wonder if this is how they get their ideas, from their own personal lives.
I have taken to carrying a little notebook around with me ... or should I say I try to remember to take it with me ... so I can write down the little daily adventures in my life. I find myself laughing on a daily basis at the antics of my 3 little angels. Here are a few of their most recent "shorts":
Here I thought Jordan was doing so well eating his breakfast ... only to discover he was putting the cheerios down his shirt.
It took Constance 45 minutes to get ready for school ... when she is normally ready in 15-20 ... why? She had to finish the book she had started the day before.
When we are leaving to go anywhere ... Jordan has to tell everything "bye". "Bye tree", "Bye Princess", "Bye house", "Bye Sissy", "Bye Daddy's truck". Of course, he also gets on his little big wheel bike in the house and tells me "Bye Mommy", waves and then drives into the other room.
Driving to a different Fire Station ... Mike got the day he works changed and also the station he works at. This is new to Jordan and who knew it would be so hard on him. Previously, Mike was at the Fire hall by the airport ... which Jordan absolutely loved because he got to see two of his favorite things, firetrucks and planes. When I was taking the kids to see Mike at work after the change ... Every intersection we passed through ... Jordan screamed. We were missing all the turns to go and see his daddy. I don't think he believed me when I kept trying to reassure him we were indeed going to see Daddy. Of course, he was happy to see daddy ... but then he wanted to see the planes.
Dominic has discovered a new game. He will stand holding onto your legs and then he will try and step on your foot ... He started this with Mike and he would start laughing so hard he would almost lose his balance.
One day after Jordan had climbed into his car seat, he proceeded to look at the bottoms of his shoes and found some mud. After pointing it out to me he then started to lift his shoe to his mouth to "eat" some of the mud off. When I tried to tell him it was "yucky" ... He just looked at me and started to laugh.
Dominic has figured out how to unload things. He is really quite talented at it. Whether it comes to the laundry basket full of dirty clothes, the chair with folded laundry ready to be put away, the shoes put up for the night, or even the toy ark and all its animals. It doesn't matter ... He is pretty quick and so you have to work really fast ... or you will be on clean-up duty. Nope he hasn't learned that part yet.
Jordan discovering himself in the mirror and playing ... I think he learned this from watching Constance dance in front of the mirror and watch herself while she did it. It is really quite funny to see.
Recently the city was doing some repair work on some water lines on the street. Jordan would stand for hours in front of the window just watching the tractors work. He would get very upset when they would leave or we would leave our house to go anywhere. First thing every morning he would go to the window to see if they were there. He has had to say "goodbye" to the tractors ... they finished their work and have gone home.
My dad has a pair of boots ... Jordan has discovered them. I have gone looking for him at my parents only to find him in their closet taking his shoes off and putting my dad's boots on. It is funny to watch him try to walk in these boots ... they go all they to the top of his legs. Sometimes he is walking with the feet pointing towards his back. When he is done ... he takes them to my dad and tells him "grandpa's turn".

Gotta Luv 'em

After Jordan finishes eating his breakfast ... he tells us he is done and we get him down from the table, Mike is finishing getting his breakfast ready. Next thing we hear is Jordan, who has climbed back up into his chair (he is no longer in the highchair ... he has upgraded to the booster), telling Daddy, "Daddy sit" while pointing to where Mike usually sits. Mike sits in his seat with his oatmeal and the next thing out of Jordan's mouth is "Daddy, bite, bite, bite."

Constance and I were playing the Wii. We played a couple of games of tennis ... and one game of bowling. I got a spare upon which Constance informed me "That wasn't really that hard Mommy. Lot's of people can do that. Just thought you should know."

Jordan asks for some shredded wheat in a bowl without milk (like sissy). Mike puts it in the bowl and Jordan disappears into the living room. 5 seconds later he comes back in with an empty bowl and proceeds to tell us he is done. Yeah, right! Come to find out he dumped his shredded wheat into his bucket.

I was giving the boys some muffins for breakfast. I made the mistake of cutting the one for Dominic into quarters. I soon discovered that wasn't going to be enough as 1/4 went in his mouth followed shortly thereafter by another quarter. After I got those out of his little mouth, I cut the remaining muffins into 16ths. Something I will remember in the future.

Jordan is in "help you" mode. He likes to "help you" open the van door. He and sissy fight over who gets to open the door to the house. Today he wanted to help me carry the diaper bag from exercise. It was really fun when he wanted to help me open the cans of tomato sauce. For some reason he didn't think I should hold the can or the opener and would try to pull the can out of my hands while I tried to open it. Thankfully it didn't get dumped all over the floor.

I have been trying to help Jordan understand the concept of sharing a little more. Somedays are better than others. Today he was playing with one of Mike's firetrucks and I pointed out that it was daddy's and he was sharing with Jordan. To which, Jordan repeated that daddy was sharing. (Ok, sounds good.) I was putting something in the freezer and Jordan was right there. He saw the ice cream and quickly pointed it out and quickly said "Daddy share?" Checkmate.

Jordan tends to leave his sippy cup anywhere. He really doesn't think too much about it. It is not uncommon for Dominic to find it and try to empty its contents before Jordan finds him with it. Normally there isn't too much of a problem when we get the cup away from Dominic until the other day. Dominic had finished his bottle. He had eaten. But evidently he wasn't done. He found Jordan's sippy cup and proceeded to drink from it. Jordan saw his cup and quickly took it back. Dominic got MAD. He burst into tears and kept trying to get the cup back from Jordan. Of course, this all happens while they were on my lap. After Jordan grabbed his cup, I picked Dominic up to try and get him to calm down. Normally that might have worked ... but Jordan came and sat on my other leg and so the cup was right there ...

This sums the past 2 days for me! At least these are the things I remembered to record.

The Christmas Story

A few years ago we started a new tradition with my family. My brother and father have purchased some land a ways out of town. My brother has a barn and some animals you would expect to see.

Just before Christmas ... depending on when all of my family can get together ... we go out to the farm to read the Christmas story in the loft of the barn. There is something about reading/hearing of the manger and smelling the smells of all the animals that creates a lasting impression.

The time and the energy my parents put into the preparation is amazing. It is a wonderful reminder why we celebrate Christmas.

Along with the surroundings, my parents have gone through the trouble to have the food be similar to what they would eat ... which the kids have absolutely loved. (surprisingly)

From the Christmas story, to singing Christmas songs, to enjoying the food and the other Christmas stories shared ...This is a tradition we all love and look forward to each and every year. It is nice to take a step back from all the hustle and bustle and enjoy the peace and to remember. I am so thankful for that gift. It is priceless.

Adoption

3 years ago we got a call that has changed our lives. We were in Idaho with Mike's family when we received a call telling us that we would be able to start the adoption process. Words can't even begin to express what was in our hearts.

We started the paperwork as soon as we returned from Idaho. I felt a strong need to get the paperwork done as soon as possible. I didn't want anything to be waiting on us ... so we worked hard for the next 4 months to get as much of the paperwork in as possible. Our caseworker came on a Thursday to do our home study. He told us there was a birth mother due in June and if we could get our paperwork finished ... we just lacked signing some papers, photo collage, letter to the birth mother and then approval ... he would really like to show her our profile. Wow ... we weren't expecting that. I asked him to email the forms and we would get it taken care of.

The following Tuesday, April 17, 2007, Mike was at work and I was headed home from my moms after printing off all the papers we needed to complete. The entire way home I kept going back and forth about taking the papers by the station to have Mike sign them. After going back and forth for a little bit I finally decided to go ahead and get it done. As soon as I got home there was a message from the caseworker, Matt, he was on his way to Nashville, TN (from Atlanta, GA) ... the baby was 10 weeks early, was there any way we could get the photo collage together, letter to the birth mother and one of the forms signed? He would come by to pick them up.

I put Constance back in the car and headed back to my mom and dad's (my computer was acting up). On the way I called my sister-in-law, Carol, and asked if there was any way she could come help me. She got her boys and met me. We quickly got the photo collage done. The letter to the birth mother came together after we found out a little about her. It was amazing. Matt came by at 10:30 pm.

The next day we went about our day. We were out running errands when we got the call telling us "Congratulations, you have a baby boy! How soon can you get down to the Hospital?" We told Matt we would be there in an hour, then the phone calls started, we had to find someone to babysit Constance.

We got to the hospital and met E. She was so sweet. We got the chance to talk to her for a little bit. She had picked out a name and we found out that she really like the middle name, "Emmanuel". We wanted to keep that. We picked out the name Jordan. E. walked with us down to the NICU so we could see him for the first time.

Words can't even begin to express how we felt. Love for E. for the sacrifice and the love she had and still has for Jordan and for the gift she has given us. Love for our little boy.

Jordan Emmanuel Cook was born on April 17, 2007 at 4:40am. He was 3 lbs 8 3/4 oz. and 16 1/2 inches long.

Constance had been praying for at least 1-2 years for twins, One boy and one girl. We told her about her little brother on her birthday, April 19. She was so excited. We took her to meet him. She was a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff they have in the NICU and couldn't wait to get him home.

Jordan was in the NICU for 2 weeks. We were given "grandparent passes" so we could come and see Jordan anytime we wanted to. I was there every day, Mike went when with me when he wasn't at the Fire Department. I am so thankful for all the friends and family who watched Constance so we could go and spend time with Jordan.

The adoption was finalized, after few little hiccups along the way on March 18, 2008.
We were able to be sealed at the Nashville Tennessee Temple on March 23, 2008.

Jordan has been such a blessing. He brings such joy and much laughter into our lives on a daily basis. We are grateful each and every day for the many miracles that brought us all together!