Baby No Longer!

I continue to be amazed by how time flies by and somehow Ian turned three on Saturday.  When we got home from China with Leah he immediately seemed so huge and grown up compared to her and abruptly lost his place as the baby in the family.  I have to admit I felt a little heartsick about that for a few days.  Those first few days Ian was adjusting to having us back after such a long time, and he had accidents and tantrums that were very unlike him (not that he's above throwing a good tantrum) but this was different.  I spent several sleepless nights hoping we hadn't somehow irreversibly upset the family dynamic, and I'm so happy to say that after a few days he realized mom and dad were back to stay and became the Ian we know and love again.  This kid has a personality (and hair) that's larger than life.  We couldn't love him more.  He lives life big.  He's loud, crazy, funny, and incredibly loving.  We love this guy and are so glad he is ours!  His life was created in a miraculous way, and he continues to amaze and fill us with love.  He is truly irresistible once you get to know him...which doesn't take long because he is one of the friendliest, most uninhibited kids around.  Now with that said, he's no angel.  He's got spunk enough for ten kids and Jer and I have already voted him most likely of our kids to land us in the principal's office but to know him truly is to love him.

Ian is a child of many hairstyles.  There's the feathery bed head...

The wet mop that he hates to have dried...

The huge, static trampoline head...

The freshly washed, curly (dare I say almost girly) do....

Now on to Ian's birthday.  We kept things very simple this year with everything we've had going on, and I think Ian had a great day.  He stayed in his jammies all day, opened a present, jumped on the tramp, and ate giant sugar cookies for lunch.

After a nap we headed to the park for a summer-themed party in cold spring weather.  Ian loves sliding and playing at the playground more than almost anything else right now, so he was in heaven despite the weather.  With his brothers and cousins to play with he had a blast.

The preparations for Ian's birthday were made very last minute.  As in the night before and the day of last minute.  I've always made my kids' cakes, sad as they are, and I hated to give up the tradition quite yet.  Before it was finished Ian guessed both dinosaur and then beaver.  Beaver?  Really?  Throw me a bone Ian.  The third time was the charm, and he loved his shark cake.  He especially like the mouth, which he called the tongue, made from a fruit roll up.

We ate pizza and fruit, played, sang happy birthday, and opened presents.  Ian loved every minute of it and was so gracious and thankful for all of the presents he got.

I had to peel him out of this Cars shirt a few days later for a much needed washing.  Ian's other favorite activity right now is riding his two wheel bike.  It has no pedals so you just glide.  He has become quite skilled and very fast on it.  Sunday night he tried out his new birthday bike helmet for over an hour and right before coming in spun a super tight, fast circle and ate the pavement with his face.  His teeth did quite a number on his lip leaving it very fat...nothing a little ice cream couldn't fix though!

One last Ian story:  Last night Seth had a soccer game.  In typical Ian fashion he was socializing with everyone around him.  He is not afraid to get right in your business, stranger or not.  He eventually got very chatty with a mom of one of Seth's preschool friends that he doesn't know at all.  He then proceeded to repeatedly tell her the "joke" Luke taught him (until eventually threatened with time out in the van).  It goes a little something like this.  Ian asks you, "Guess what?"  When you innocently reply "what," he goes on to answer with a naughty grin "chicken butt!"  He just can't get enough of that one.

One Month Ago

I've added nearly as much to this blog today as I have all year so far, but we've just had such big, major, fun things going on I can't let it pass. Once I finish this I am going to clean the bathrooms and mop the floor or die trying. Everyone is sort of napping or playing or at school right now, so I better grab this chance while it lasts!

Today is the one month anniversary of Leah's Gotcha Day...so here's a look at that roller coaster of a day in pictures.

Jer was pacing by the door for hours while we waited and waited.

I was just about as nervous and anxious as I've ever been in my life at this point.  Every other family had their baby by now, and I had watched and photographed it all through a haze of tears and I thought I might burst if she didn't show up soon.

The first Leah sighting...Paul stood lookout for us at the end and took this picture as she came in from the parking lot.

Our first look and feel of Leah in the flesh.  After months of waiting all the while hoping, praying, and thinking about her incessantly...there she was!

Bring on the ugly cry face..it was emotional.  She looked so tiny and scared all bundled up in that gigantic snowsuit.

One of our first family photos.  At this point everybody in our group was taking our picture.  I'm sure it was totally overwhelming for Leah.

Our guide going over the few items that were sent from the orphanage with her.

Jer signing on the dotted line to take guardianship of Leah for the night.

Jer and his baby girl...he was hooked immediately.

Posing with the less than pleasant (especially the lady in red) orphanage workers who brought Leah before they walked out the door and never looked back.

Our first shot back at the hotel after we stripped down the layers to find a scared, sweaty, smelly little baby who had no clue where she was or what was happening to her.


One month later...Leah is beautiful and sweet, and we are so glad she's finally here.  What a blessing she is and what an amazing transformation she has begun.  Many people have commented that Leah is a lucky little girl.  I get what they mean because compared to where she's been her life is so much better but her beginnings certainly can't be described as lucky.  I think we're the lucky ones.  I have a daughter!  That still sounds weird.  Weird but good.

Yesterday I went back to volunteer at Luke's school for the first time.  He begged and pleaded for me to bring Leah.  Luke's teacher is amazing and has been so interested in Leah and the adoption, so she was very excited to see her.  All of the kids reacted so positively and just thought she was the cutest thing ever.  The best thing to see was Luke's face as he was literally beaming with pride and love for his little sister.  One month down, forever to go.

Spring and Easter Fun

Every year basically since college we have headed south to the desert for some sort of backpacking/camping trip over Spring Break. This continued during our married with no kids years and has since evolved to be mostly car camping with day hikes. It's something I look forward to each year. We missed the years right after Seth's and Ian's births but that's about it. This year we stayed home during Spring Break, but the kids still had lots of fun playing outside in the beautiful weather and spending time with friends and cousins. They celebrated Easter and hunted eggs with both sides of the family. We have enough candy and junk around here to last a lifetime. Those mini Cadbury eggs are of the devil...I can easily eat a bag myself but sadly I've eaten so many the last month I'm almost sick of them! That's saying something about the sheer volume I've ingested. We are going to wait and head south in May for our annual desert trip, and I can't wait. It will be Leah's first outdoor adventure. Here are pictures of another first...Leah's first holiday with her family...Easter. Adding a new baby to the family through the miracle of adoption certainly sets the tone for appreciating the Savior's life and resurrection.

Leah's Forever Day

Friday March 30th was a much anticipated day.  We were able to take Leah to the temple and have her sealed to our family forever.  It was awesome!  It was such a neat experience.  We had so many family and friends in attendance supporting us.  Our boys were able to come into the temple and witness the sealing.  It's an experience that I know Luke and probably Seth will always remember.  It's so comforting and amazing to know that a little girl born in China where there's not freedom to worship freely is now our forever daughter.  The blessings of the gospel and the temple are incredible.

Leah was very peaceful and happy throughout the entire event.  I think she knew it was a special day for her.  She was almost sleepy and out of it before the ceremony when we were trying to get pictures of her, but she was a little angel in the temple.  (Ian not so much.  For those of you who were there and know our spunky Ian let's just say it could have been worse!  For whatever reason he wouldn't nap and was just super grouchy from the get go that afternoon.  Then he wanted to stay in the playroom, then ride the elevator continuously, etc.  When he finally got to the sealing room he wanted to be part of the action and was not taking no for an answer!  Poor Cindy had to physically keep him from running to us.  I think it was about that point he shouted something along the lines of, "get your hands off of me!"  Yep.  That happened.  We all got a chuckle about it and the sealer picked up the pace quite a bit.  Oh Ian.)

I can't say much about the ceremony here, but it was great to have my mom in white helping with Leah and the spirit was very strong.  I couldn't really look around the room much at all our guests or the tears would flow.  Tears of gratitude and just pure happiness.  We are so blessed!

Our friend Candi took some beautiful pictures of our family, and I'm so grateful to her.  Leah was kind of out of it and not really performing at first but there are still lots of great shots of the family and my handsome little men.  Thanks Candi!

Welcome to our Forever Family Leah!

 I feel bad that some people had already left before we took this group picture.  We are missing some great friends who were there with us.  We had a fun dinner at our house afterwards in Leah's honor with about 65 or 70 people there to celebrate!

To my non LDS friends who may be wondering what this post is all about I'd love to tell you.   In case you don't know already, we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  You may know us as Mormons.  There are lots of misconceptions out there about our church so let me quickly clarify one thing--we are Christians!  If you'd like to learn more about LDS temples or our religion please contact me, or you can visit the church's great website www.lds.org.  If you do check it out, you should watch some of the "Mormon Messages."  The one called "Dayton's Legs" (click through to find it) is especially touching.  A website with answers to lots of commonly asked questions about Mormons and statistics and facts about our church is www.mormonnewsroom.org.  Thanks!