Book Review

I just finished an amazing book and I had to blog about it. My neighbor loaned it to me. The book is called With or Without You and it is written by Deborah J. Wolf, it is her first book. The story is mainly about a mother and her relationship with her two daughters, one is 15 and the other I think is 12. One of the daughters gets pregnant and decides to place the baby for adoption. I think I would have enjoyed this book even if there was no adoption theme but because there was and it hit so close to home I enjoyed it much more. The characters take on a life of their own and I just loved the writing style. I shed some tears and some smiles. If you want a heartwarming easy read for the summer I recomend it. For those of you who have been touched by adoption I think you will enjoy it even more and pleased with the way the adoption was portrayed. The author has two adopted children and it says in the chat with the author that the adoption story isn't related to either of her childrens adoptions. I am off to search the net to see if i can find a myspace or facebook or blog for the author and leave a comment.......

Terrible Mother!

Well I won the worst mother of the year today! I took Izzy grocery shopping, loaded the car with groceries, put Izzy in the car, took the keys from her and threw them on my front seat, shut her door and went OH SH**!!!!!!! Yep Izzy had pressed the lock button on the keys, so I had locked her in the carseat in the car with no windows open and it is80 degress out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called my good friend/neighbor first who is a teacher and home for the summer, she is not reac able...I start to freak out, (at this point Izzy is still happy in car playing with her crocs) My husband is a good half hour away and i am stuck. SO i called my other neighboor and asked her if her mom was at teh house with her daughter and luckily she was so I explain to Lydia the neighbor that I need her moms help. Her mom calls me I tell her how to get in my house, where the spare key is and wait. THIS WAS THE LONGEST 10 min or whatever it was OF MY LIFE!!!! After 5 mins or so Izzy is now screaming and reaching for me and I was doing all I could do to keep it together. What a horrible feeling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a couple people ask me if i needed help, i explained my problem, both of the women said they have done it before, but at the time it isn't making me feel better. Thank god the grocery store is only about 5 mintues away. LYdia's mom came and I got izzy out and poor kid was so worked up and sweaty!!!! I felt TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Note to self, always keep phone in my pocket, (thank god i had done that!) and never close the door with keys and kid in it even if i think it is unlocked!!

Summer Fun

I feel like I never have time to sit down and blog lately. So here I am trying with Izzy playing with her crayons and paper on the floor next to me. We will see how long this lasts. We have been having such a wonderful summer! i love the nice weather. Izzy loves going for walks, going to the park, playing in her water table and playhouse outside and going swimming. I haven't taken a ton of pictures lately, it seems like she is tough to photograph these days she is always moving and won't smile for the camera.

A few weeks ago we went to the Hot Air balloon festival with our neighbors and their two kids and Izzy loved seeing the big baloons. We also live right around the corner from a great petting zoo. Here are a few pictures

I am starting to feel better about Izzy's speech, it seems like in the last few weeks she has really started talking more. I had been dreading our 18 month check up because she was no where near the 15 words they wanted her to be at by 18 months but I would say she is about there now...maybe a few shy but I bet more will come in the next couple weeks. I know she understands everything and she is very social so I am not really worried, I think she is just taking her time getting the words out.

Tagged

Brooke as tagged me here are my answers. I am not technically savvy enough to link her blog in the post but she is Dinkypopsnomore if you are wondering.

1. Where were you 10yrs ago?

June 1998 I was in in college at MSU getting ready to leave for my study abroad program in England. I spent most of July in London and Nottingham doing a packaging study abroad program. Total blast!!

2. 5 things from my to do list

-Go to the grocery store
-Change the cat litter box (yuck!)
-Do Izzy's laundry
-Mail pictures to family in Austraila and to the birth mother
-Figure out what jewlery of my mom's i am going to wear with my bridesmaid dress next Friday

3. Favorite Snacks

Hmm, I love snacks and try to be good lately. Since I managed to take off 15 or so lbs i am trying to keep it off. But I still do snack. Dark chocolate, almonds, popcorn and ice cream are probably my favorites lately

4. What would you do if you were a millionare?

wow, if I had endless millions I would....probably adopt again, take my family on an awesome vacation somewhere. Travel to Greece and Italy. Buy property up North a big log home. Donate lots of it. Pay off my in-laws condo so my Mother in law could retire.

5. Places I have lived

-Grew up in Southfield, MI, lived in and around East Lansing Michigan during college, moved to Oak Creek Wisconsin after college for 2 yrs, bought condo in Racine, WI for 1 year moved into DH's house in Round Lake Beach IL for 1 year and have now been living in Milford, MI for 4 years

So I guess i have to tag people now, I tag Katd,Stillamomma, Rachel,Barely Sane..again don't know how to link it

Long Time

I heard from Izzy's birthmother this week for the first time in about 6 months. I was so excited to see a message from her. After reading her message I was saddened to find out that her and teh birth father are no longer together. I know I shouldn't be too suprised but it still makes me sad because he seemed like such a sweet guy. I hope he is doing well whereever he is. Although hearing that they had split made me that much more happy that they decided to place Izzy for adoption. I still can't even imagine the love they had for her to be able to realize they couldn't give her everything they wanted Izzy to have. The birthmom "C" is so sweet. It was so nice to see an e-mail from her. She wished both Dh and I a happy mother's day and father's day. I hope she is doing okay. I am sure she has had a rough few months. I sent her a bunch of pictures via e-mail and I am going to send some to teh agency as well.

It is always interesting when I mention anything about the birthfamily to anyone of my friends that have not adopted. They immediately get freaked and don't understand why I would want to stay in contact. I don't think you can understand it until you have lived it. "C" has changed my life forever and for that I will be forever grateful. I have nothing but love for her and I hope she continues to stay in touch. I can see C in Izzy everyday, Izzy is a beautiful baby and she gets that for C and the BF! It is so hard to explain the bond I feel with them even if i will never see them again.

My thoughts and prayers are with them always

Big Girl in her Chair

I had to post a few pictures of Izzy favorite new place to hang and watch her shows or just relax for a minute or two. My mom had gotten her this little Dora chair a while ago but Izzy has just recently taken an interest in it. She loves to climb in and out and sit in it and relax. It is so cute and makes me a little sad because I think she looks so grown up sitting in it like a big girl!!!

Wedding's Weddings and More weddings.....

I am in 3 weddings in 3 months!!!!! It is a bit crazy!!! The first one is coming up on July 4th. The other 2 are in September 6 days apart from one another! I was just looking at the calendar for the summer today and it is a little full between all the showers, bacholorette party's, rehersal dinners and the weddings! Don't get me wrong I am so excited for my friends and honored that they wanted me as part of their special day........but holey cow this is getting expensive!!!!!! Luckily one of the dresses(for the wedding on July 4th) the bride purchased for me which was SOOOOO kind! I am the only one standing up on her side and the groom's brother on his side so they decided they would purchase our clothes as a thank you! SOOOOO nice!

I had that dress altered the other week and because it was ordered back in October before my workout plan, she had to take it in 2 sizes!!!! That made me feel pretty good! I am excited now to see how it looks when it is taken in! The other two dresses are not in yet. One I know will have to be altered significantly as well and the 3rd one shouldn't be too bad because we didn't order it too long ago.

I celebrate my 5 year wedding anniversary this summer! My how time flies!!!! It is hard for me to even remember some of the planning and event details from the day. All of my bride to be friends will ask me how we did certain things at our wedding and I can't remeber half the time! I just remeber that when I got to the end of the isle and saw Chris down at the other end, that is all I saw, everyone else just disappeared. That is definately my favorite memory from the whole event.

So back to all the weddings, I hope I can be there for these girls as they plan their special day and keep all my feelings about the money and time commitments to myself. I really am so happy and honored for them.