A Blessing Both Great and So Small

Almost one year ago we got a call that there was a baby boy in Grand Junction, waiting for us to take him home. We had a whopping 5 days to get ready for this minor life adjustment and thought it was crazy to go from 2 to 3 in that short a time. We learned this week that 5 days was really a luxurious amount of time.....

Our friends Jen and Tom and their 3 year-old son Tommy have been waiting for a placement for almost one year. They've been incredibly patient through the stressful days of waiting by the phone and have kept faith that God would bring them the child he had chosen for them. Even Tommy knew that his baby would come when God was ready. God was ready on Wednesday! They got a call on Monday night that a baby girl was born in Colorado Springs 2 weeks prior and the birth parents wanted to meet them. These calls are exhilerating but also quite scary since it's never a sure thing that you'll get chosen. Ends up, they did get chosen and took the baby girl home that night! No warning. Boom! Baby. 3 become 4. Just like that! Olivia Elaine is now a brand new blessing to our dear friends' family and we couldn't be more excited to cross that request off of our prayer list!

Unless you've gone through the adoption process, it's almost impossible to know what it's like. I can assure you...it's amazing and exciting and scary and unknown and a blessing and wonderfully stressful and it's enough to bring you to your knees and thank God for being the master of all things, great and small. Rylan will now have a little girlfriend with whom he can share a little part of who he is. And we'll have friends who we can share that part of ourselves with on a deep level. That's a blessing for us, so we thank God for Olivia and for all that she will bring to this world! Congratulations Jen, Tom and Tommy...from the bottom of our hearts, we couldn't be more happy for you and for your growing family.

Just Because He's So Spankin Cute

No reason for the post other than I'm having a "my kid is so cute and ya'll should be made aware of that" day. Little Dude is ridiculously happy these days, especially since its been in the 60s all week and we've been able to romp around outside. That make this mom VERY happy too. Dad has a gross cold, so that's not so good. We've managed to ward it off thus far.

We're off to our favorite mullet zone to load up on sweet peas, turkey with sweet potatoes, corn and squash and other unthinkable foods the little dude couldn't live without. Have a good weekend!

A BJ Armstrong in the Making

Have you met the aquaintance of BJ Armstrong? I spent countless hours growing up staring at his 5'5" cute little frame (lifesize), adorned in his Bulls jersey. He was mid-dribble and looked right at me from his home on my closet door. Never looked away once. Michael Jordan was to his right, but didn't have the honor of watching me fall asleep nightly.

Little Dude is on his way to becoming the next BJ (well, he's more of an albino version and doesn't quite have the walking thing down, but we're making small strides!). The videos below exhibit these strides. The second proves his budding potential as an athlete. Pappa will be proud.

It was a fun weekend in the 60's out here in the Mile High City. We dropped 100 bones at the nationwide chain of "great deals and even greater mullets," AKA Walmart, Dude attended his first hockey game at Dad's event center, we made a bedroom in our basement for guest privacy & enjoyment, our $4 per hour budget buster babysitter watched Dude Saturday night while we celebrated Wessums b-day, Dude surprised us with an unusually high average of 4 stink bomb diapers per day and on a more appetizing note, we were treated to scrumptious ribs at Oma & Opa J's house Sunday night.

Hope ya'll had a good weekend. Enjoy the week ahead!

QT with Nanna & Papa

We had a marvelous weekend with Nanna & Papa. Little Dude was in heaven with all the attention from some of his biggest fans. We enjoyed showing off our little monster and all that he is capable of (little things like screaming at the top of his lungs with squinty eyes count in the accomplishment category). See the video below for evidence of this trick.

We rented a cabin in Fairplay and enjoyed getting away. We were amazed by the enormous snow drifts everywhere. It hasn't stopped snowing up there for weeks. The cabin was beautiful, set in the midst of 4 acres of forest. We saw 30 deer, 2 moose and 4 mountain lions...just kidding. We did see a squirrel though. Little Dude immediately discovered the ceiling fan way up high and got a kink in his neck from staring at it the whole visit. Mile High Dad and I had to sleep on a full size bunk bed with a footboard forcing my love to sleep in a fetal position. We lost a Settlers of Catan marathon to my modest Father, thus getting stuck with the accomodations meant only for children and midgets. But we survived. Little Dude doesn't seem to mind being in the car for hours or sleeping in wierd places, so that makes trips like this one easy and enjoyable.

Little Dude has started waving, mostly at fans, lights and his reflection and also exhibited his ability to eat 2 jars of food, one of Dad's pancakes, a portion of Mom's waffle, cheerios, juice, 6 oz of milk and a portion of eggs in one breakfast in Breckenridge. And he didn't ralph it all up! We'll get him above the 10th percentile yet.

Thanks Nanna and Papa for coming out to visit! We had a great time and miss you already. See you again soon. Love you much!

Good friends, Good eats, Good times

Where it all began. Yes, they traded spouses for this shot. That's just how they are.

Valociraptor fell into a door and got his first major battle wound. He's a tough little buster.

"Baby Cheeks" entered the world in December! His parents are both slender, so we get a kick out of those sqeezable cheeks.

Dinner at B&B's house

When my folks are here and we get together with our Mile-High surrogate family, it's definitely worthy of a blog.

It all started with B&B and Mom and Dad hangin out in college. They started popping out kids, one after the other. We vacationed together all our lives and stayed quite close. The parents started vacationing by themselves, imagine that. Now Mile High Dad and I are carrying out the tradition by living out here and spending a ridiculous amount of time with B&B's daughter "araCay" and husband, let's call him Wessums as well as B&B's son arkMay & wife Abs. We have 4 kids between us, so get-togethers now consist of noise, chaos, always good food and lots of laughter. The friendship that started with two couples is a growing circle that will hopefully continue for years and maybe even generations to come. Little Dude, Valociraptor, Baby Cheeks & my nephew "D" in Chi-town are all within 9 months of eachother. Princess P has taken on the role of a 3-year-old mommy to her boys. Good times ahead!

araCay, Abs & Princess P (I had to go buy the sweater to stay in the club)

Tiger Slippers, a Pee Session & Makin Waves

Little dude provides entertainment most would pay big money for....well, Mile High Dad and I would pay big money for. We understand the concept of thinking your kid is hilarious and so funny and smart when the rest of the world doesn't really see what all the hype is about, but since you all love us and the dude (the dude more than us we've learned), we share these videos with you.

After little dude's afternoon nap we played in his shoe drawer and found these stellar tiger slippers, given to us by the foster-care parents. Clothes only detracted from the cuteness of the slips, so we chose to let him romp around in a diaper and slippers. Fun times! If you look REALLY closely you might find half an ounce of fat on his left thigh. Unlike his buddy Valaciraptor and his cousin Dylan, who are up in the 90th%, dude is in the 10th % for weight. We're not starving him! He eats like a hippo.

Next you will see dude getting ready to get in the tub and choosing an opportune time to relieve himself. Mom's pants are typically the target for these occassions. Finally, Mile High Dad and the Little Dude had a blast playing the "makin' waves" game. Hes getting better and better at it! Soon we'll have to wear ponchos while bathing the lad.

It was a great weekend here! 50's, sun and lots of fresh air. And 3 games of Settlers of Catan, which I swept 2 of the 3. But who's counting. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to Vail to see Dad, Di, Steph and Brendan. While it might be beautiful down here, the mountains got nailed by foot after foot after foot of snow, so traveling wasn't so appealing. Skiing is pretty sweet right now for all you outdoor enthusiasts! GiGi, I'm talking to you! Better hit the slopes before that knee surgery is upon you! I'll be waiting at the bottom of the mountain, video camera in hand!

Have a great Valentines week! All you men, Hallmark IS open on the actual day, but selection gets real iffy. Mile High Dad can attest to that one...two years ago I got a lovely Mahogany card, which is wonderful if you're African American. Kinda wierd if you're not. I recommend writing a love letter. It lasts a lot longer and your odds of getting lucky go way up.

A Little Ceiling Fan Goes a Long Way

I know I just posted cuteness from Little Dude yesterday, but these videos need to be shared. After many months of our very good friend, the ceiling fan, being in hibernation, we turned it on today for kicks. This 15 minute session of pure glee followed. What can I say, the kid is easy to please. Note, the violent head shaking that leaves him dizzy and I would imagine a bit nauseous, goes hand in hand with uncontrolable excitement.

What Kind of Folk Own 4 Cars?

In our 6.5 years of wedding bliss, we have had the distinct and somewhat embarrassing pleasure of owning 4 vehicles not once, not twice, but three times. As of tonight, the Cruiser has a new home, so we're back down to 3 automobiles. Thank goodness. Mile High Dad gets much pleasure out of these short periods of excessive automobileness. Below is a gallery of every vehicle we have owned...Blaze, JD, Essie, Commy, Charlie, Isabelle...none newer than 1995...until our newest purchase, the Pilot. She has yet to be named.

2 Teeth,Tupperware & a Tickle Session

Little Dude has been through the ringer this week. I of course was worried that he was terminally ill, so I took him to the doctor, who smiled at me sweetly and told me that most of his symptoms were due to the tooth that had just popped through. Of course. It took a $125 doctor appointment to point that out. He did also have a nasty cold, but we're happy to announce that he's going to make it. And that at 10 months, he now has 2 teeth!

Today is the first day that he's been back to his normal self, so we've documented some of his cuteness. Between a tickle sesion, playin catch and a big tupperware full of tupperware, hes been having a gay old time. We're enjoying having our happy dude back. Can't wait to share him with all the grandparents making their way here in the next couple of months. Grandpa and Grandma Di this week in Vail, Nanna & Papa in 2 weeks, Nanna again in March and Papa and Grandma V at the end of March! We love visitors, so don't hesitate to plan a Mile High trip! One of our spare bedrooms includes a moose/bear border, Mile High Dad's 8th grade alarm clock and lighted trees (we haven't gotten around to redecorating that space). Guarunteed charm and coziness!

A Picture Says 1,000 Words

While I was in Texas, Mile High Dad and buddy Wes snuck off for some winter mountain fun. I just found these pictures on our camera and wanted to get a vote on which shot best depicts the two of them. Note, they set the camera timer to take these shots. I would pay a decent chunk of money to have been there to bear witness. In these shots I refer to them as "the poser" and "my mom tells me I'm really special."

Dude, do it again. I had my eyes closed.

We do love our Wes. He is definitely special. Here...they look much more mocho in this shot. We'll leave it at that.