Five Question Friday

1. Can you drive a stick shift? No. I have never learned how to. Honestly no real desire to either. I hate being the passenger in stick shift cars too. I feel like I'm in a race car and all the shifting makes my weak equilibrium quiver.  

2. What are two foods you just can't eat? I can not handle olives. The smell, the taste, anything. Bleh. My husband and I both hate cantaloupe. It taints the entire fruit salad it is in too. Declan loves it so I buy it for him. And wash my hands vigorously when I'm done cutting it. ;)

3. Do you buy Girl Scout Cookies? What is your favorite kind? We are on a 2+ month "clean" eating health kick so Girl Scout Cookies aren't even on our radar. I do love Samoas and the Peanut Butter. Oh, and Thin Mints get an honorable mention.

4. How do you pamper yourself? I use to get messages all the time when I was going through fertility treatments (can I get a "heck yeah" from all the ladies that beat up their bodies undergoing treatments?!) Since Decs joined our world I haven't gotten one. *Sad face* These days my mom and I get pedicures during flip flop weathered months.

5. What is your nickname and how did you get it? Most my friends call me "Ash" which is pretty self explanatory. My dad calls me "Nicole" which is my middle name. Lastly, in college, I picked up "Smash" which still sticks with college buds. Oh, and I can't forget "Sparks" which was my maiden name...my high school buds still call me that. 

Check out other's answers to Five Question Friday here. 

Bowl Hins

At a play date Wednesday, Declan spent the entire time using his friend's bowling pins (which he calls bowl hins). I was shocked because he concentrates on one activity for a max of 2 minutes normally. My girlfriend told us to take them home and Mr D has been in bowling heaven ever since. He's spent HOURS daily setting them up and knocking them down. He wakes up talking about them and cries when he goes to bed because he wants to keep playing. His nanny was texting me pictures  of him in action because they played practically all day yesterday. I'm sure the shine will wear off but it's too cute for now.

The creative way he sets up and figures out how to knock the pins down is adorable. This morning he loved to sit in his little stroller and throw the ball from there. Don't you love the imagination of a 2.5 year old?! Keeps me laughing that's for sure. 

Wordless Wednesday - a boy and his hummus

Can't build character in the fast lane..

Our church has been doing a "Family Matters" series that has been fantastic. Sermons can be found at their website. I must HIGHLY recommend the sermon titled "Grace at Home". This is an excerpt:

I can't show you this clip without one other from that sermon.

Such a challenge and call to action for me as a wife and a mother. Life changing this stuff, life changing!

and so we wait. and wait.

Last May we turned paperwork in to our agency for adoption #2. We were excited but unsure we were quite ready to add to our family. Fast forward to today. We are SO ready for Declan to have a little brother or sister yet we sit and wait. Nothing has happened with our home study since turning in the initial papers in May. No meetings with a caseworker, no fingerprints, no background checks, nothing.

Fortunately March 11th is our next step. I say fortunately because I am not known for my patience. It seems like we've been waiting for-ever. Oh, yeah, because we have. We pray and believe that God knows who our next child will be. There are so many days I trust His plan for my life and there are definitely days where I just want to take the reins and "get things going" (such a weak heart, for sure).

When Declan came along, I forgot the majority of the physical and mental pain of infertility. As a mother life has still been peppered with many reminders- those "oops" pregnancies I hear about, the constant comparisons people make with their children (oh, he totally looks like so and so, etc), and now- the pain rises again. We can't just say, let's try for #2 and excitedly wait each month watching for those 2 pink lines. We have zero control over how quickly we're moved through our home study.

So we wait. And wait.

In our waiting I pray for a deeper faith. God definitely exceeded our expectations with Declan.  Pretty sure His plan with blow our socks off again.  Patience...patience...patience.

Where's Olivia?

I apologize for the sideways video of Declan but it's worth it regardless. There are so many things I love about it- his cute little voice asking for help, how he bolts off mid activity (it happens constantly), and his shocked turned excited expression to this modern day jack in the box.

V.day / 2011

Declan loved making some V.day crafts.

The mess was borderline unbearable for me. But he didn't notice.

 It's hard work being creative. (Notice the oatmeal in the hair!)

 Can he get any cuter?!

 V.day gifts for grandparents, frames for his nannies and a birthday card for his Uncle. Check, check, check. Bath time after? Check.

Pancakes and Nekkidness

So we have ourselves a predicament. Declan has developed a new, ummm, habit. Let me just get right to it: he strips down nekkid at naps, when we lay him down for bed and in the morning. Why is this not in the "What to Expect" books? They should add that chapter right along with the possible need of a crib tent and other things it seems my child randomly does/needs. So, smart friends, what to do? I'm leaning towards duct tape for tonight. No, really, I am.

On a different, not so strange note, Declan inhaled his Papa's home made blueberry pancakes this morning. Apparently he didn't get the memo that I'm not eating carbs and the torture that ensues preparing all his faves. ;)