Fun at home

Brotherly love! (My oldest and my youngest)

There has not been a whole lot going on here. I can't believe February is over and onto March. I am excited though, I heard the frogs Thursday night when it was 60 degrees outside. Unfortunately it was short lived as there were snow flurries today....ugh...come on spring.

Luca turned 21 months old on Feb. 23. Where is the time going. He can now point to nose, eye, ear, and show us his teeth. He also says 'eye' when he points to(in) your or his eye. He says 'hello' so cute! and Hi. I was busy cleaning the house the other day and turned around where Luca was playing with blocks...he had 9 stacked up and was adding number 10 when it fell over. I stopped what I was doing to clap and go watch him build some more. He is so proud of himself when you praise him. He gets the biggest grin and performs some more. Yesterday he had bumble ball type thing from a game we had that he figured out how to turn on. He would let it on the floor and it would bounce all around and roll across the floor. I loved watching him chase it around. He then decided he needed to make it stand still (without turning it off). I watched as he put it in a little wagon from the blocks and tried to lay the blocks around this rolling, vibrating ball to get it to stop rolling away. It was great how he placed the blocks all around this thing! I am so excited he is 'trouble shooting' things already. I think I have another smarty pants in my house.

He also now signs 'milk' which looks more like he is dancing, 'apple', and 'orange'. My mom seems to be upset that he "doesn't talk but just makes hand signals"...ugh, mom, that is communicating. He does have a lot of words he says too for only being in the US for six months. We are working on pointing to pictures and saying names for what they are. He makes the sound for horse now...a really cute, 'neigh'.

Nico is anxiously awaiting his "Gotcha Day" coming up on March 11. 6 Years!!! he will be home with us. I am going to buy him a little gift, go to dinner at a place of his choosing, and we are going to watch his coming home video. It always makes me cry. Oh yeah, loose tooth number 4 fell out (or he pulled it out). He has pulled all his own teeth out. So brave of him. My baby is growing up. He is still so adorably cute. I just can't believe this little boy is mine. I get so many compliments on them when we are out in public.

Brian is doing well. A typical teen; after lessons he is on the phone or the computer. I can't wait for the warm weather to do our lessons outside! He is filling out job applications hoping to land a part time job. He will be 17 in a month! I had to call Luthern Family Services the other day for some information (they completed my homestudy for Luca). I ended up talking to the woman who did the homestudy for Brian (she worked at Catholic Charities at the time). It was so funny!

Below are some random pictures of some fun we have been having.

The dreaded 4th loose tooth sticking out of his mouth. We couldn't wait for it to come out.

Luca loves giving the dog and cats kisses. Petey was giving Luca kisses, but I couldn't quite capture the picture. Luca is doing so good feeding himself with utensils (and his hands). He loves homemade icecream (well, any kind of icecream, but this batch of homemade was really yummy!
Head of curls! Luca's curls are getting tighter as his hair grows. Folks keep telling me it will be curlier if I keep it short. I don't know it is pretty darn curly. Here he is after a bath with his hair wet. I just love putting my fingers in his curls. No hair cut yet!!!

Valentine Fun

While I love being showered with gifts and love, it is really the displaying of love that I enjoy. I am not a material person and told my honey not to spend any money on Valentine's day(unless it was a nice peice of jewelry) buying my candy (don't need it - to fattening) or flowers that were just going to die anyway. I love spending time with my family, that is what is important to me.

I had to work Saturday night, so we went out Friday night; Michael, Nico, Luca, and I, to dinner at Chihauhau's (a yummy Mexican Restaurant in town). Brian was already at his dad's so missed the dinner. It was very nice to sit down with the love's of my life and have a nice dinner. My kids are so well behaved when we go out (well, they are very well behaved period). I am very proud to have them with me.

Nico talked Daddy into letting him stay home with him on Saturday night while Luca went to my sister's and me to work. Nico and Daddy made a trip into town and bought special gifts Saturday. When I got home Sunday morning from work....I had a beautiful green, palm tree plant and a current issue of STAR magazine (Nico knows I read the covers while standing in the grocery lines), and an adorable singing card. PERFECT gifts! I had Nerds Ropes for the boys and hugs and kisses and I love you's all day for my boys. (They get most of that all the time anyway).

Saturday morning Nico and I spent time making his valentine box for our homeschool coop valentine party on Monday. As kids we always made valentine boxes for school and there were prizes for the boxes. My dad always came up with the COOLEST ideas. (one year I had a record player and posted below is the guitar my mom actually still has in her attic). My creative little boy, Nico, decided this year he wanted a giraffe. OKay! A giraffe it is. A couple of years ago, his 4.5 year old mind wanted a triceratops....I was like - oh yeah, like we can make a shoe box look like a triceratops....well, we did,,,he used it for 2 years. So, a giraffe should be much easier. Once we got rolling it was great. See the pics below. (I am also posting the triceratops because he turned out awesome!) Nico is so imaginative and creative...I LOVE IT! His mind never stops going!

Guitar valentine box (circa 1975)

Nico's giraffe valentine box

So, on Monday we had the Valentine party and valentine exchange. The kids all made really cute crafts (decorative wooden hangars with their names in shrinky dinks on them). We ate yummy food and exchanged valentines. The kids just have a great time playing together and we moms love visiting and chatting and watching the kids. Luca is really settling in with the kids too. It is fun to watch all age levels interact with each other.

So, all in all, a great Valentine's Day for me...no complaining here!

6 MONTHS! Last Post Placement Visit

I can't believe it was six months ago (well as of Feb. 7 - I am writing this now after midnight) that Luca and I walked off the plane in St. Louis. I was so excited to be home with my new little Luca and to see my family again after 5 days. I was welcomed home by my wonderful boyfriend Mike, my two wonderful boys, Brian and Nico, my mom, sister, neice, my Aunt and Uncle, brother, sister-in-law, nephew and other neice. Also, two of my good friends from work were there (M&M).

Me walking into the greeting area at the airport with my bundle of joy....so very close to my heart in every way. He looks a little freaked out but quickly had smiles on his face and remembered Brian from our visit 3 months ealier, he went right to him.

Some of my family.

Luca added such a new dynamic to our home. My two oldests boys hardly ever fight now. Everyone just seems to get along so well. I love hearing them all laugh together and watch them playing and wrestling together. Neither Brian or Nico had adjustment issues. Luca also did not have issues. Everyone just blended together as if we were always there.

I have adopted three children now and it is amazing to me how you just fall madly in love with this child that you did not even give birth too. All three of my boys grew in my heart before I even met them. I knew if I couldn't have kids I would adopt. Even after getting divorced I knew I would have more than one child, even if I had to do it on my own. Not only did I do it once more, but twice. I am soooo happy with my family (and often think that there is one more out there waiting for me).

Luca has changed so much in the 6 months. He has such a great sense of humor at 2o months of age. He will do things on purpose to get you to laugh and pay attention to him; such as pretending to be coughing or sneezing, it will be so quiet and suddenly a loud scream comes out of him for no apparent reason other than to say 'hey, I'm here!', or he does some silly trick. He loves to put on other people's shoes, especially Nico's crocs and walk around in them (I have to get a picture of that). His vocabulary is coming along well...he says, mom, mama, daddy, dada, i did it, uh-oh, ow, daw-daw (dog), barks like a dog, meows soooo cutely like a cat, moos like a cow and now whinnies like a horse. He says, na-naa-na (banana with all the right syllable sounds), hello, bye-bye, he signs more, please, and thank-you. He is trying to say Bri-Bri for Brian. There are more but I can't think of them all right now. He now does a somersault on his own. (We are at the gym every week watching Nico in tumbling). He cruises up and down the stairs and is trying to walk down them holding onto the handrail. He builds with blocks and can stack them about 4 high before they fall over. He plays with toy cars, airplanes, helicopters (anything with wheels) and makes all the appropriate vroom-vroom, helicopter propellor sounds, and pushes or flies them along.

We also had our last post placement visit this week. It is good to finally have that out of our way. I know they are important for the adoptions of Guatemala, but having one more thing finished for our adoption is nice. (I still have to file for the new CoC with his new name and a passport). From the assessment he is on target for his age. He was so funny wrestling with his big brother that day and just walking around like he owned the house.

My boys tell me at least once a week, "I am so glad you decided to adopt again." It makes me so happy to hear that they love their brother so much. They are so understanding when it takes more time for me to change a diaper or cuddle with him before bed. We usually all cuddle together over a book. His bedtime is 8pm, Nico's 9pm, and Brian 10pm. I am a night owl so still have a couple hours for myself and for Mike.

Our family is perfect (and there is always room for one more - if it is meant to be).

Here are the new pics!

Nico sitting in the big ampitheater chair on our field trip. (20 months old)Here's a perfect desk for me! It's amazing how Brian gets any school work done, but he does!