Good times...

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving this year...three of them to be exact. Our first was at my parent's house, then on to my in-laws house and one more bigger get-together with my husband's fam today. We had two fun football games (plus eating leftovers and drinking colorado bulldogs) at my parents to boot. Last night we even snuck in a party with some good friends that were home visiting from Nashville. Fun, fun, fun stuff.

Little man was extraordinarily amazing these last 3 busy days. I was prepared by other mommies that there would be some sleepy meltdowns due to the running around, but he did great. He even took long naps in the ever changing places we'd find as semi-quiet. I'm so proud of him and even more so as he is so engaging and pleasant to be around. The 6 weeks of colic is starting to be a faint memory. ;) What a stud.

Here are some fun pics from the last few days:

Some cuddlin' time with cousin Ella.

Declan was all propped up in Ella's old walker. He really liked it (especially when he was a perfect view of the TV...his favorite obsession). 

Cute little man!

Lovin' me some Declan....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I'm thankful for...

Declan Isaac. My hubby. Family. Friends. God's provision. (and much more)

Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!

3 months old and my 100th post!!

Declan was totally chillin' in his Bob Marley t-shirt that Aunt Kellie got him in St. John. I'm pretty sure he might be the cutest kid I know.

So...my little man is 3 months old today!!! Some things to remember (I'm already having to look back at months 1 & 2 to remember weights and stuff):
Today: November 25th, Declan is 3 months old!
Weight: 12 lb, 2 oz + (he was weighed a week ago)
Nicknames: still going by Decs, Decker, Buddy but has picked up Monkey. His arms are always flailing and he looks like a little monkey.
This past month...
-He found he hands. He likes to shove them in his mouth as much as possible.
-He also found his cute little voice and we wish we could understand all the little yelps and coos he says. Some day he'll have words but for now the noises melt my heart.
-The formula war marches on. The Ali.mentum powder formula is on the shelf and we now are stocked with Ali.mentum liquid ready-to-feed ($9/day...woot woot). His tummy is handling it really well so that's what we'll be on for awhile.
-Unfortunately the baby Eins.tein mat isn't his favorite anymore and he gets fed up with it after about 5 minutes. What is his new favorite?? The TV. Yes the stupid TV...he cranks his neck to see it. We're hoping he doesn't really like TV but that he likes the colors and movements and light. We do not want him hooked.
-As seen in a previous post, my cute tiny little boy has some serious neck strength and he likes his Bum.bo already. Woo hoo!
-In total, this last month, Declan slept through the night 4 times. Not too shabby. We'd like more, but we're happy he's pretty great overnight so one feeding isn't the end of the world.

This next month brings our first holidays with our new family. I absolutely can not wait!!

Hey you!!

I'm excited I can keep track of my readers! So, please click on my "followers" link to the right hand side and join the list of those that keep up with my blog! Woot!

Just in time for Thanksgiving...

...We got an awesome new centerpiece for our table!!
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Want a closer look?? I know you do!



Seriously, though, how long should we wait to use our bumbo? We tried it out today and he loved it!!

Yes, I'm a MckMama addict and you should be too.

I found a blog forever ago of a hip, fun mom with kids ages 3, 2, 1. Yes, you heard right. The kicker? She was preggo with #4..sweet baby Stellan. Early on, Stellan was giving a poor prognosis of living outside the womb and the intense prayer circle went in full effect. Super long story short, he was born completely healthy and confused the heck out of a gaggle of doctors. She's got a little contest going on her always entertaining blog. So, go check it out. Word of caution- you will become addicted. :)

Open adoption

This past week I've had several people inquire about our open adoption. I don't mind talking about it because I'm passionate about adoption. There are definitely details that are private and personal to our family (how "open" is our adoption, details about the birthparents, etc). If anything is specifically asked about those issues I tend to give more of a surfacey answer. Truth be told it is hard for people not in our boat to understand our relationship with the birthparents. The comments started from day 1 when people heard that the birthparents actually brought Declan to our home after they signed relinquishments instead of us picking him up from the agency. To us, this was such a special and memorable moment and it was surprising to me when we heard comments like "THEY came and brought him...that's crazy (or weird) or wasn't it uncomfortable?" That day was amazing and, though it was heartbreaking to know it was the hardest day of their life, it was amazing to see their strength and their certainty of their decision- in person.

I know by now that our situation is not completely normal. We had an "identified" match (a mutual friend gave our number to Declan's birthmom and she contacted us). But the best part of our match were the months we were able to build a friendship with the birthparents as a foundation for our future. We truly see them as part of our extended family and we hope, especially for Decs, that it stays that way.

Please know it's not all roses in open adoption. It takes a great deal of effort (emotional, etc) and consideration on both sides. We are forever grateful to Declan's birthparents and are thrilled that he'll have 2 more people to love on him as he grows. We hope he'll be a bright, open minded, educated child (regarding adoption and other things). We pray he feels special and adored no matter the fact that he didn't grow inside of me. We've vowed to not hide or sugarcoat how he joined our family but instead to celebrate it.

Now to all those that say "I just could never do an open adoption," I want to say that you're right, you might not be able to. BUT...I did have some of the same thoughts and judgments before reading a handful of great books (Spirit of Open Adoption is one that comes right to my sleepy mind). After meeting Declan's birthparents there was no question that we CAN do this. Let me be the first to say I'm no expert on this topic. My son is 13 weeks old and I'm sure we have a lot of learning and experiencing to do. But through many conversations I've realized open adoption might not be for everyone, but it is our life...and we're blessed.

So I've changed my mind...

I follow about 30+ blogs daily. Blogs of women struggling with infertility, mommies, those waiting to adopt, those who have adopted, friends, etc. I would say only 1 or 2of these blogs are restricted like I have made mine. So after thinking long and hard and changing a couple security options, I've opened my blog back up. I really have enjoyed my 98 readers but stupid blogspot limits it to 100 readers total and I think that my journey (especially with our adoption) is something that can help others and I hate to think that no one else can read and learn from my life because of a "number of reader's cap" that blogspot has.

So for now, I'm OPEN. :) Tell your friends. Just kidding. Keep reading and commenting. I love to hear from all my real life friends and blog friends.

My little sheep...

As far back as I remember Declan's breathing has sounded very sheep like. There is no other good way to explain it. Our doctor mentioned at his 2 week appointment that his "mucus is still drying up" and not to worry. Well, now that he's almost 3 months and he still sounds the same I decided (with some Nana encouragement) to take him to the doctor.

Turns out he has narrowing of his larynx (it's official name has 23 letters and I can't pronounce it). So of course I have mommy guilt that I didn't get it checked out earlier but it's all a learning process, right? So from here, we see an ENT specialist in early December so they can take a closer peek down his throat and what not. Sounds like a great time for mommy and baby. Not. Anywho, the doctor predicts that our visit with the ENT will go good and that they'll tell us he will just grow out of it. *Fingers crossed*

Poor little sheep. :(

Please pray!

I stumbled upon a blog tonight of a sweet young family who is adopting their second child. They had the blessing of bonding with their new daughter at the hospital and, right before taking her home, they were told the birth mother had doubts and is going to take her home for now. My heart completed dropped because I know how she feels. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone and reading her posts brought back all those emotions from 3 months ago. So, please please please lift Adrienne and her family up in your prayers. (click on her name to link to her blog)

I can attest that our God is so big! I'm praying for the birth parent to have the strength to make the right decision for her baby and for Adrienne and her family to have peace with that decision.

Too cute not to post...

Baby wearing...

It's national baby wearing week. I had no clue, but I read it on someone else's blog, so it's got to be fact, right? ;) I haven't worn Declan nearly as much as I had planned to but I still really enjoy doing it when we do. He's pretty fond of it as well. :) My favorite so far has been the moby but I also like the Peanut Shell. I'm going to ditch the stroller more this week and wear my little guy. :)

I'm buying a billboard to say....

For the first time...

DECLAN SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT!!! WOOT! WOOT!

Don't miss this freebie!!!

I was watching O.prah today and she has a fabulous giveaway on her website. Just go to www.oprah dot com. Click on the free gift from Snap.fish button on the front page. You can then link to their site and create a 20 page custom photo book (bound with hard cover...$29.99 value) for FREE. The kicker? You have to create it and put in your order by Sunday. GO DO IT. Our custom book we made was "Declan Isaac chronicles...birth to 12 weeks". Fun fun!

Happy Birthday to my Honey!!

I can call him my honey shamelessly because we both call each other honey constantly to the point that family has made fun of some of our conversations ("honey, no not that one...yes, honey, that one....no, honey, it's that one over there"). So, anywho, I want to give a huge shout out to Mark for gracefully turning the big 2-8 today. I look forward to a childless dinner soon. xoxo

So fresh and so clean...

Can't a girl get some sleep around here??

Let me preface this post and say that I have had bad insomnia for years. Until Declan joined our world, I used a wonderful drug called Ambien to give me my 8 hours of fabulous sleep. (Disclaimer- don't start taking it...you'll be hooked...it's highly addictive). I quit cold turkey to put on my mommy hat and, frankly, I'm usually so exhausted I don't need it.  Well now that my wonderful son is pretty predictable (he eats around 10pm, around 2am and around 6am) I should be able to get more sleep. 

This is how it goes in our household these last couple of months: I feed Declan his 10pm feeding and then hang out on the computer or watching t.v. until about midnight. I usually get pretty tired around then. I go wake Mark up at 1am to start his "shift". He lets me sleep from 1am to 5am by myself in our room. That's the only sound sleep I get! Why you ask?? Because I can't sleep with the monitor on!! It's like a crazy mommy instinct that won't let me drift off in to deep sleep! My hubby doesn't understand at all. 

So now on the weekends we have this new plan: I feed Decs at 10pm and then go to bed (no shifts on these days). Mark then does the next feeding when Decs cries and then I do the next. Honestly, I don't get good sleep on this new plan. I do it because Mark likes the normality of us both going to bed in our room. 

Last night I was so excited for my beloved 4 hour shift of sleep in my room monitor-less while Mark rocked his shift out on the couch.  I was super sleepy and drifting off when a loud beeping started. I got Mark and he climbed on a dresser to take down the smoke detector that had a low battery. I go back to bed to try again to sleep. This is where my past insomniac ways hit me- I have huge trouble falling back asleep after waking up. So I start getting sleepy again and there it went again...that loud beeping!! What the freak is going on?? Mark came back in and realized it's the dang carbon monoxide detector. ARG. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep AND it was a work day. I zombied my way through the day and hope to get more zzzzzzs tonight.

Any tips on making this whole sleep thing work better? I'm at a loss. I'd like to exit "survival mode" and become a bit more normal. Ultimately I'd love Deckers to drop his 2am feeding and sleep through the night but whatev. If anyone in blog land has any good ideas, let me know!

November 4. 2008.

Woot woot!!

Did you? 

Halloween 2008

Watch out for the ferocious sleepy dragon!!



We had a blast at our halloween party. The kiddos were so freakin' cute. This is my favorite picture ever I think:



We trick-or-treated at my parent's house too. Declan got a little love from his cousin Batman (aka Shauny):



Declan had to be stylin' to run errands on Halloween with his mommy and I think he liked his spider shirt!