Amazing BM!

I don't have a lot of time to blog as I REALLY need to clean up this house a bit because we are having our sub block party tomorrow and will have people over. Since I just put Izzy down for a nap I have about an 1 1/2 to clean like crazy!!! But I had to take time out to post an e-mail from our BM C. I just recently sent her a bunch of the professional pictures we had taken of Izzy at 15 months. She just received them and this is what she said. I have tears in my eyes

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!! First of all, i want to say that i am so thankful for meeting and having y'all as a part of my life. I thank you very much for having such a open adoption with me i appreciate it very very very much. :-} I got the pictures in the mail today. She is soooooooooooooo beautiful!! I can't believe how tall she is. She's very big. She looks very happy in all the pictures even with the one with her little tongue sticking out. HA HA HA HA. Thank you once again. I love them all. I went back to work just this week and it's smooth right now. Tell Chris i say hello and give the Princess a hug and BIG kiss for me tell her that i love her too. I will talk to u soon. Take Care and god bless. LOve AlwAYs, C

How awesome is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This wonderful woman has been through so much in her young life and I feel so much love for her. It makes me happy beyond words to read those kind words from her and know that she feels the same for us that we feel for her. Our adoption story is such a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

18 months

Well Izzy turned 18 months last thursday! I really can't believe it! She is such a big girl, defintely not a baby anymore! Her words have really started to come along the last month or so . Some of her newest are

Nana

High Chair

Buh Bye

Ball

Dora (sounds like dada)

ice cream(sounds more like hi meem)

Duck

Bubbles

Belly Button (sounds like bebe buh)

She is just such a little person I can't even handle it! She loves imitating what she sees us do, like every tuesday i write the babysitter a check and she likes to take the check book and pen (with the cap on) and write a check. She also likes to file her nails on teh nail file. She is still a pretty good eater, although she is getting a little pickier. Her favorite food is still Cheese, followed probably by hotdogs and ice cream :-) She has finally settled into the one nap routine pretty nicely and will normally nap 1 1/2 hrs-2 hrs which is GREAT. She still goes to sleep around 7 and wakes up between 7 and 7:30 although Sunday morning she slept until 9:30 and I thought she was dead!, she has NEVER slept that late! We have also taken her the last two weeks on our friends pontoon boat and she LOVES it. As long as she has her snacks and gets to go swimming she is a happy girl! She doesn't even fuss much about the life jacket.

I am lacking in new pictures because we had forgotten our camera at a friends house and just got it back on Saturday. Here are a few I have taken with my phone the last 2 weeks.

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