Date night and baby prep

Last night was the second time since J came home that TJ and I had a date! It was a much needed time for just the 2 of us. We had so much fun even if we were only gone for a few hours. We dropped J off with our friends the Raymers. This is the only people so far that J will stay with without a fuss, including my parents. We are so blessed to have them close by! Jerrett loves to play with their two little girls and Alison and Scott are well versed in Jerrett's hang ups since their oldest daughter was adopted at the same age that Jerrett was. They know how to deal with the fears, anxiety, and tantrums because they know what the underlying fear is. But we were still a little worried this time. It was the first time that we had gone out at night and left him with anyone plus we have been having a rough month with Jerrett. But all went well and we are excited.
Not only did this give TJ and I a chance to spend some alone time together but it was also to prep J for when the baby comes. Since we do not know when the baby will actually be here, we want J to be prepared to stay with the Raymers no matter what time of day. Thankfully their house is on the way to the hospital! The plan is to drop Jerrett off with them when I go into labor and he will stay with them until my mom and dad can make it down here to pick him up. It only takes mom and dad 2 hours to get here now so that is great! But knowing that Jerrett will be ok with the Raymers is good to know. We are really hoping that we do not have to make this flying trip in the middle of the night but we also know that the baby will be here when it is here and there is nothing we can do to control it. Once mom and dad get here though, they will pick up Little Man and take him to the hospital and to the house. Hopefully I don't have to stay at the hospital for too long. I am not a fan of them plus we want J back into his normal routine as soon as possible. We will be leaving J several more times before the baby gets here just to make sure that he is super comfortable in knowing that even if we leave him, we are coming back to get him. That is still his biggest fear.
Anyway, I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband and it was wonderful to go to a grown up restaurant and not have crayons sitting on the table and spilled water glasses. We love our little man and love having him with us, but have missed getting to be a real couple instead of just parents. We are going to make more of a point to make time for each other without kiddos.
Now off to finish cleaning house, we have a super busy couple days planned! Tonight is pjs, hot chocolate, and driving around looking at Christmas lights! Finished off by sleeping in the living room with the tree lights on. Tomorrow is going to see a movie with J and coming home to just spend time together and make reindeer food. We will leave Santa what he requested, chocolate milk and Oreos. That is what Santa told Jerrett was his favorite! We will also read the story of Jesus's birth. Sunday morning we will wake up see what Santa brought and then cook a nice breakfast before heading off to church in our new Christmas clothes! We have a nice dinner planned and we will make Baby Jesus a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to Him. The rest of the day will be spent playing and just being together. And Monday TJ is off work! More family time. So pumped!

Christmas Part 1

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas celebration at my parents house. We had a long and crazy weekend but it was loads of fun. The first picture is of Jerrett and my mom making and decorating Christmas cookies. That is a tradition that Mom started with us when we were little. Jerrett loved helping to make the frosting to go on the cookies and loved to lick the frosting off his fingers even more! But in the end we had some pretty cute cookies. The next picture is of TJ and his new toy. He is more than a little excited about the new shotgun that mom and dad bought him for Christmas. Even more excited about the reason for it. Dad, the boys, and TJ are in the beginning stages of planning a big bird hunt in SD. I think that while they go out and hunt, the kiddos and I will stay at a hotel with an indoor pool! Brrrrrrrrrrrr! Hoping that the trip is next year and that we can save enough money that I can give TJ the trip as a gift. But in the meantime, The guys hunt at Grandma's house for quail and go to the Panhandle every year to go pheasant hunting. TJ has a rifle but did not have the shot gun needed to go bird hunting. Now he is all set and ready to go!

Lets see... The next picture is of Jerrett and his Christmas gift from his Uncle Chris. My older brother loves this little guy like crazy and is just a little bit ornery. Chris bought Jerrett a collectors edition of retro Hotwheels. A cool gift that Jerrett loved; however, my lovely brother wrapped each individual car separately and then wrapped them all in one big box. There were like 50 cars in the collection! Poor J sat there and unwrapped these little cars forever! But he loved it. He has not stopped playing with them since he got them.

The next picture is of Jerrett, his Uncle Russell and his cousin Addison. Since she lives so far away Jerrett does not get to play with her very often but they get along really well. She just turned 6 and is the cutest little girl ever. In this pic, they are both using Russ as a jungle gym. Good thing that he is big and strong, these little monkeys were crazy! I was so glad to get to pend time with Russ and Bizzy. They are both super busy with their jobs and we have not gotten to see them since Easter! Russ is a restaurant manager and Bizzy just finished up nursing school and is working at a veterans hospital. I have the best one day to be sister in law ever. Not only does she put up with my rotten little brother, but she fits in with the rest of the family perfectly. I am so glad not to be the only girl anymore. Prayers are going out for her right now though as she is preparing for a trip home for the first time in many years. Bizzy is from Washington state and so it is quite a trip home for her.

And this is one of my favorite pictures ever. It is our first family Christmas picture. I look like road kill but I still love it. Traveling while pregnant is not exactly fun and relaxing! But... we had a great Christmas full of family and fun. Today, Jerrett and I are at home relaxing in comfy clothes and TJ went back to work. Not a whole lot planned for this week. Sort of recuperating from our trip. Thursday night though, I have a date with the most amazing man ever... my husband! I am so excited to be able to go to a grown up restaurant and have a conversation with him just the two of us. I cannot think of a better gift that the Raymers could have given us. Jerrett will hopefully do well without us. He has stayed with them several times when I have doctor appointments and just going over there for playdates so our fingers are crossed that he will do ok for a few hours while we go eat and finish up a little bit of Christmas shopping.

Jerrett has not really been himself since Thanksgiving, a bit extra clingy to me and so we are praying that the night goes well. I will share more of this later when I get into my post for the Folsom's after Christmas. But for now, I am getting off and going to play race cars with my little man! God bless and hope everyone has an amazing week!

Congrats!!!

Got some awesome news today! I just found out that one of my good friends from college and his wife just found out about their adoption! They are working on an international adoption and received their match this week! Since this is not the exact same as our adoption, I am not totally sure on all of the details but I do know that it will still take them quite a while before they get to travel and meet their new little boy for the first time! Matt, Courtney, I am so incredibly happy for you guys. God is good and you guys were so faithful in waiting for what He had in store for you guys. You are in for a whole new journey now.
They have asked me to gather some info on attachment and bonding as their little guy is not an infant either. I promise that I will get some info put together to send you from our research as well as get you some contact names of some other great people to speak with. I will also post some basic stuff on the blog after the holidays and things calm down a little in our house.
Anyway, just thought that I would share their good news with you. We are so ready to meet your little one and are so happy for you. We will be praying that God will continue to work in your lives as you prepare for your new little boy and for your little man as he waits on his mommy and daddy to come and pick him up half a world away!

One year!

Today is exactly one year since we received the phone call that would change our lives forever. I was sitting at work not really thinking about anything other than the Christmas break coming up when my cell rang. It was a SD number. This was not anything super surprising since we had been talking back and forth with different case workers in SD for a long time. But when I answered, not only was Tyler on the phone but his supervisor was as well. Thinking that we had made it to the next round of interviews with an adoption I was ready to answer a ton of questions in front of another panel of people. Wrong! They told me that there was not going to be another round of interviews and that we had been selected as the family for a precious little boy! I immediately called TJ. We both sat there quiet for several minutes. It was the call that we had been waiting for for so long. It was hard to understand that it had really happened and to a little boy that was so healthy with no serious issues. Our dream child. The child that we had prayed for for so long. The little boy that immediately felt like our son. After I called TJ I called Alison. I knew that my mom was in class and couldn't answer so I called the person I knew would totally understand what we were feeling. She cried with me and then we went into planning mode. We did not know exactly when we would be able to go pick up J but we knew that it would not be long. We had so much to do in such a little amount of time.
When I got home that night TJ and I immediately went shopping. We didn't know what J would come home with but knew that we wanted him to have a complete room with new clothes and toys waiting for him when he got to his new house.
Now we are a year past that phone call. The end of Jan will be one year since we left to go get J and Feb 2 will be our Gotcha Day. It is crazy what all has happened in that one year time span. How much our little guy has gone from a toddler into a real little boy. How much we have done as a family, how much TJ and I have grown. The love that we have between the 2 of us and the bond that is almost fully there. I cannot imagine not having Jerrett in our lives. God created this little boy just for me and TJ. We went through a lot of heartache in order to bring him into our lives but it is worth it. We are a forever family the way that God intended. We are a family of 3, soon to be 4, a very blessed little family unit who loves, laughs, and lives our lives together. We will continue to grow, the bond will continue to get stronger, the attachment more secure, and love will also continue to grow. We will serve God and live our lives for Him each and every day. Jerrett is an answer to so many prayers and we are so happy that he is with us. We are blessed.

Christmas Train

Here are just a few of the many pics that was taken on our trip to the Christmas Train. TJ and I were so excited to share one of our favorite places not just with Jerrett but with my parents this year! Everyone has a wonderful time. We were so worried because it had poured rain all day long and we just knew that it was going to be puring while we were there too. But once we got there and went to eat, the rain stopped! God answers prayers no matter how trivial they may seem! The temperature could not have been better. Jerrett is way more bundled up than was really needed but... My favorite part was just getting to experience the whole thing through Jerrett's eyes this year. As you can see in the pictures, his eyes were huge as he was taking everything in. There has not been one single day that has gone by that we have not talked about how much fun he had at the Christmas Train. His favorite part changes all the time. He loved getting to ride the train and the horse drawn wagon. Not so fond of riding the ponies though because he said it was babyish because they only went in a circle. That is definitely my son! I would have hated it as a little kid too, but I started riding horses way younger than he is. He also loved getting to see the Christmas story on the train. We talk all the time about how bad guys put Jesus on the cross. But now he can tell you that it was God who told the bad guys to put Jesus there because He loved us so much that he died for us. That is a little hard to understand for a 4 year old but he is really working on getting it! It is amazing to see God working in our little boy's heart at such a young age. That is one of our prayers for Jerrett. J will also tell you that Jesus is not dead that the guys put him in a tomb and when he was in there is owies went away and he rolled the stone away himself and went to live with God in heaven. Love getting to hear him talk about God!

Right now we are preparing to head to my parents house for Christmas. We always have a Christmas celebration the weekend before Christmas so that we can spend the actual holiday wherever we need to that year and never have to miss with mom, dad and the boys. I really like that because we are no longer going to be traveling for Christmas. A long time ago TJ told me that he really wanted our kids to be able to open their Christmas gifts at home on Christmas Day. So that is our plan. Now that we have J and the baby on the way, no more traveling on Christmas Day. we are actually really excited about this and the traditions that we can begin with our kids. Some Christmas's we may travel after we open gifts at home or the next day but that will be a year to year thing.

TJ and I also really want the focus of Christmas to be on Christ and not on what the world makes Christmas out to be. Yes we are doing Santa Claus but just not as much so as so many others do. We do not want that to be the focus. We decided a long time ago that we do not want our kids to be spoiled with gifts and think that is what the holiday is all about. Our children will receive 3 gifts for Christmas and that is it. And the three gifts are not huge or expensive gifts. But Christmas is really about Jesus's birthday and He only received 3 gifts so that is all they are going to get as well. One thing that TJ and I have been doing for years and just now got to include J in, is shopping for less fortunate kids. This year we had 5 kids to shop for and $100 per child. 2 of the kids were J's age and so he loved getting to help pick out the toys and clothes for those 2. He really knows and understands that these kids would not have anything if it was not for what we bought them. Our plan is to continue to do this with our kids in hopes of teaching them that giving is so much better than receiving. We know so many kids that are so selfish and just want want want for themselves, we really do not want that for our kids. Every time J gets a new toy he has to look through his old toys in order to find something to donate. He has been amazing with this and loves to be able to help others. Our prayer is that his heart is always tender and that he can share that with his younger sibling when the time comes. God is good and I love this time of year. God bless and hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Brag

This is going to be a really quick post to brag for just a minute. And this one is not about Jerrett but the other guy in my life, my husband! I am so proud of TJ. Sunday at church, he was approached to be a trustee with the church! This is huge for him. He did not even know what to say. TJ has not been a strong christian for very many years. I mean he was baptised 5 years ago! But he has grown so much in his walk with the Lord and I am so proud that others have seen the leadership potential in my husband. The other amazing thing is that we have only been members of this church for about a year.
TJ is such an amazing christian man and I am proud to be able to call him my husband. He has grown and over come many obstacles and old hurts to get to where he is today. He has come so far and I could not be happier for him. Our prayer is that he can serve in this role and really help make a difference. Not only is TJ a strong christian with a firm grasp of right and wrong and the Word, but he also has an amazing gift as a business man.
So that is my bragging post on my amazing husband. I love him more than he will ever know and am so glad that the Lord saw fit to bless me with TJ as my husband.

Thanksgiving

Here are just a few pictures from our Thanksgiving break. For us there was not much of a break but the fast trip we had was so full and fun that it was so worth it! The top pictures are on the day after Thanksgiving decorating our Christmas tree. Not sure why it showed up first but oh well. The other ones are at Grandma's house at lunch time. I regret not getting more pictures but was so busy that I forgot most of the time. The first one is of Jerrett sitting on Uncle Don's lap. My uncle Don and Aunt Tami have been some of our biggest supporters thru the whole adoption process and love our little boy to pieces. The feeling is mutual. J tells all of his friends about how his uncle Don is a hero because he is a fire fighter and he helps people. He also plays with Jerrett and takes him exploring up at the pond and in the woods at Grandma's. The girl in the picture is Madison. She is Jerrett's cousin I think. She is actually my cousin's daughter so I guess she is technically my cousin. But anyway, Jerrett had so much fun playing with her and her little brother Nolan. Nolan is 5 and those boys are so much fun together. You cannot get them to come inside and eat. They wanted to be outside playing and getting nasty. I am so glad that Jerrett gets to have that same experience with his cousins that I had growing up. Nolan and Madison's dad was my cousin Jerrid. He is my age exactly and holidays were so fun getting together and exploring Grandma's. We used to get into all sorts of trouble. It has been about 4 years since we lost Jerrid in a horrible car accident and holidays are the worst time. We miss him so much! Anyway, the last 2 pics are of what the guys in my family do. The first is of TJ skeet shooting. It was his first time to ever shoot skeet and he did so well! I was so proud of him and he had a blast. TJ loves getting to spend time with my dad, brothers, and my uncle, learning and just getting to spend guy time with them. The last picture is of our sweet little Jerrett in his ear protection just like the big boys. He was out there with them the whole time and even tried to beg them to let him shoot. He is not quite big enough yet but will be soon and I definitely see a bb gun in his future! After shooting skeet for a while, the guys decided to sight in TJ's shotgun and just mess around at the shooting range that is set up on part of the property. J and Nolan were distracted by that time and decided to play on the big dirt pile and get totally nasty before lunch. While the boys were out playing, the little ones and the big ones, us women, were in the house cooking. I love getting to spend the time with the women in my family in the kitchen. For as long as I can remember it has been a gathering place to learn not just how to cook but also life lessons and how to be a lady. I love the time spent learning and loving with them. Once the guys came in and got cleaned up we had lunch and then the guys all rested and the women cleaned up. About 3 or so we headed down to Granny's house.

By this time we had a pretty cranky little boy on our hands but thankfully he slept the whole way to Granny's house so by the time we got there he was good to go. Jerrett is the youngest at Granny's house too. But this time by about 10 years so he is spoiled rotten by all of my cousins and uncles who love to play with him. They wore that little boy out! He was so tired that he could barely eat his dinner. While we were there though I learned some great news! Mom, Dad, Uncle Kent and my Aunt Ginger have decided to build my granny a new house!! I am so excited for her and also a little sad. The house that she lives in now was built by my grandad for her and him as a wedding gift on the ranch that they own. It is just a small little farm house that is so full of love and memories not just of my childhood but also the childhood of my mom and her 3 brothers. But the house is close to 50 years old and since Grandad passed away, and the lovely OK weather, the house is falling into irrepair and is not a great place for my granny to be as she gets older. They are going to salvage as much as the stuff in the house now to put in the new house, including the cabinets that my grandad built in the kitchen. And all of the woodwork that he handcrafted. But I am so happy that she is going to be getting a new place that is safe and modern with central heat and air and a dish washer! The plan is to build the new house behind the current one. So hopefully next year we get to have Thanksgiving in Granny's brand new house! I am so happy and excited for her. I know that she is sad to leave the house that she has been in for so many years but this is what Grandad would have wanted.

Next blog I will tell you all about our Christmas decorating and my birthday but right now I need to get a certain cranky pants down for his nap!

Thankfulness

Last year, I did a post a day for the month of November, but as you can tell that did not happen this year! I am a little busy chasing around a very active little boy! I would not change that for the world though. Anyway, back to thankfulness... I am actually just going to list a couple of the things that I am thankful for.
1. I am so thankful to be the daughter of a King! God is the center of our lives everyday. Without Him, I would have nothing. God has so richly blessed me with so much more than I deserve. My life did not turn out the way that I thought that it would, but God had bigger and better plans for me. I am so thankful that He loved me, a wretch, enough to send his Son to die on a cross for my sin. As a mother I can not even begin to understand how hard it must have been to watch your own Son die, and not really watch but to turn your back. I know that I take my salvation for granted at times but it is the most important thing in my life. I just forget the magnitude of the sacrifice made for me!
2. My husband is a real blessing and I am so thankful for him. TJ is my rock and my best friend. We have weathered many storms together that have only made us stronger as a couple and as Christians. I am so proud of TJ, he has grown so much in the past few years. He is really growing and flourishing in his role as the leader of this house and as a christian man. He is the first to remind me that we need to turn things over to God and that worrying doesn't accomplish anything. Lately, ?I have been even more thankful for him. When we found out we were expecting this baby, we knew we were not in for an easy trip. The doctors had told us before that with my history of miscarriages, our chances of losing another baby were even higher than normal. But TJ and I immediately dropped to our knees and really believed God and His word and knew that everything would be fine. Anyway, we found out that I would need to take medication in order to sustain the pregnancy. We did that. TJ held my hand after draw after draw of my blood. Twice weekly visits to the dr 30 minutes away for the first 6 weeks. Then weekly visits after that. One horrifying trip to the dr when I started spotting. And being on such severe restriction that I could barely do more than get up from the bed and move to the couch. TJ was there for it all never accepting anything less from me or from God than the best. His faith was unshakable. He picked up the slack where I could no longer do my normal activities. He did the laundry, took on more responsibility with Jerrett, swept the floors and cooked our dinners. He did all of this without complaining except that I was trying to do too much. I love TJ so much and just thank him for all that he has done these past few months and years. I thank God daily that He chose TJ to be my husband. You hear people say that they love their spouse just as much today as the day that they married them. I cannot say that. The truth is that I love TJ so much more now than I did all of those years before. That was a childish love that has grown into a life sustaining everlasting love. He is my best friend and my husband. I cannot imagine my life with out him.
3. Got to add Jerrett to my list! He is my little man and the answer to so many prayers. I cannot imagine what our lives would be like without him either! He has filled a hole that we did not even know was there! The process to bring him home was not a short one or an easy one but we are so thankful that God led us down that road. Jerrett has the biggest heart of any little boy I know. Don't get me wrong, he is ALL BOY, but he is also very tender hearted. He knows when I am sad or something is bothering me without me having to tell him. As much as he loved going to rodeos, he hates seeing the bull dogging and team roping because he is afraid that it hurts the calves. His biggest fear is making me or TJ not happy with him. I hope that he always remains tender hearted. Our prayer for him is that he grows up to be a manly man of God but to remain gentle and tender in spirit. That is something that is so unique to him and I love getting to see him develop into that man everyday. I know that he is only 4, but you can catch glimpses of what is to come. I love that little boy with all my heart and know that God has big plans for him. I am also so thankful for how far Jerrett has come in 9 short months. We still have a long ways to go as far as attachment and true bonding, but he is doing so well! He definitely knows who his mommy and daddy are and we are working on the stranger danger part and appropriate interactions with others. You can see the attachments that form in his small world and it is such a blessing! I thank God daily for Jerrett and bringing him into our lives.

There are many other things that I could list as things that I am thankful for but I am not sure if there would ever be enough time for me to list them all. So to sum it up, I am thankful for the life that God has blessed and trusted me with. There is nothing that I would change. I know that my life is not perfect by many standards but we are made perfect in our imperfections. I am happy with my life and I am one blessed momma!

Long day and random thoughts

I love getting to spend time with my guys. Knowing that tonight I would get to do that is what helped get through a rotten day! Have you ever had one of those that you just wish that you could go back to bed and start all over? That was today for me. J woke up at the crack of dawn and was understandably cranky. Then as we were in my and TJ's bedroom making the bed and getting laundry put up, the door bell rings and the dog goes nut. Seriously who rings the doorbell at 7:00 in the morning. Scared the crap out of me! So I didn't answer the door, what added to me being a big old scaredy cat was Capone running from the front of the house to the back of the house barking and growling like crazy. Anyone who has been around our dog knows that he very rarely makes any noise at all. But the running back and forth freaked me and J out. Come to find out it was just our lawn guy coming to poison the yard for winter weeds. Seriously dude? 7:00 in the morning? Anyway, after I got the kid and the dog calmed down we began our day. Cooked breakfast all the fun morning chores that I do every day. The plan for the day was to go and finish the Caring and Sharing shopping that we didn't get done last night. TJ and I look forward to this every year. His area at work always gets several kids and we get to go shopping for them. Well this year there were many more kids. TJ alone got 5 kids! And we get $100 to spend on each one. Getting things that were on their needs list and getting as much as we can on their wants list makes for quite a bit of chaotic shopping! But Jerrett was a trooper and handled it really well. He helped me pick out clothes and toys for several of the kids. He knows that all of this stuff is going to kids whose families cannot afford to get them Christmas gifts and winter clothes. He is such a sweet little guy and was sad to know that there was a little boy his age who did not have warm clothes or any toys to play with. I hope that his heart is never hardened. I thank God daily for our little man and for the blessing that He has trusted us with.
So that trip went well. When we got home though, that was a different story. I was getting J ready to go down for his nap when I look out his window into the butterfly garden. There laying on top of our flowers in our Dish. Yep this lovely wind that we have been having totally broke the pole that our dish was on in half! A metal pole! So after talking to the Dish Network people, they let me know that a guy would be out to the house after 3 to fix it. That was great because it would give Jerrett about an hour and a half nap that he really needed. 45 minutes later the phone rang and the repair man was on his way! Normally I would love that kind of prompt response but on top of Jerrett needing a nap, this pregnant momma needed one too! I am blessed to have not been sick at all but do get tired a lot. I am sure it has nothing at all to do with trying to keep up with an active 4 year old! So no nap for me! I met the guy outside so that he would not ring the doorbell and start the same barking frenzy that I had to deal with earlier in the day. That seemed to work ok until Jerrett woke up screaming. Thinking that there was something seriously wrong, I run in there to see what is wrong. "Momma there is a man outside my window!" So my hope that the repair man wouldn't wake J didn't work. Oh well. So now J did not get the nap that he needed nor did his momma!
But I knew that we had plans for the evening. TJ, J and I met some of our friends for dinner and then to go out and get ice cream. Alison is my best friend. we have been friends since high school and I love having her so close. She is like an aunt to Jerrett and he loves her to pieces. Alison and Scott's girls are Jerrett's best friends and they play so well together. They were and are such a support for us through the adoption and since as they have been through it. After we got our ice cream we went and did a little birthday shopping for me. I love having birthday month instead of just one day to celebrate!
My friends and I decided long ago that instead of just getting one wish on your birthday, you should get one wish for every year of your age. This year I don't have 30 wishes but just a couple that I would wish over and over. I am so blessed in my life and have everything that I could ever want. There is no material thing that I can even think of wanting. All of my wishes from when I was younger have come true. I have my very own Prince Charming who I love more than he will ever know, I have an amazing smart and sweet little boy who is everything to me, my family is healthy and closer than ever, my mom and dad are moving closer to us, and we have a baby on the way. My life is amazing. A few of my wishes would be, a continued healthy pregnancy, this is a high risk pregnancy and I have been on severe restriction through the whole thing, but if I have to do nothing for the whole 9 months in order for this baby to be born at term then I will do it! I wish that Jerrett will keep adjusting and attaching as he has been. It has been an amazing 9 months with him but has not been without challenges! I wish that I could be a duck, let things just roll off of my back instead of internalizing everything. I get my feelings hurt way to easy. I do not hold grudges or get upset with people but instead turn everything back on myself. That is no healthy for my well being and the stress that it causes is not good for the baby either. I am actually supposed to be totally stress free this whole pregnancy and so far that has not happened at all! Thank goodness that I am healthy and have low blood pressure to start with! Anyway, as I sit here snuggled on the couch with my Prince Charming watching some football, I wish that everyone could be as happy and as loved as I am. I am blessed and know it.

Holidays!

So it has been a month since my last post. There has been some issues going on in our lives that have sort of hindered me from writing as much as I should. There are some things that I have posted that have hurt the feelings of someone and so I had to re evaluate what this blog was about and whether or not I should continue with it. My intention was never to hurt anyone or to leave anyone out but apparently it happened and that is the last thing that I would ever want to do. To that person I am sorry if you felt that you were left out of the blog. It was not intentional. I post about what is going on in our daily lives and didnt really think about those that are not a part of it every day getting upset that they were not mentioned. I was really considering not writing anymore as I dont want to step on toes or make people mad, but TJ convinced me that this blog is not really for other people but it is for us and for Jerrett and for those that are going through the same long journey that we went through. So... I am back. I will continue to post about the daily going ons of our small family and on adoption issues and news. Those are things that I am passionate about. And if there is ever a chance that we can help another person through the process than we will. As well as raise awareness of the issues that come with adoption. I think that there is a great misunderstanding with what goes on after the child is placed and the expectations of how that child should behave. But that is another post for another day. Today I am just going to focus on what is going on right now.
Well in one week it is Thanksgiving. This year has flown by in so many ways! We are approaching the one year anniversary of our placement call! That is crazy! But as Thanksgiving draws near, I am reminded of all the things that I have to be thankful for that I totally take for granted at times. This will be the first year that TJ and I get to spend a holiday with our son. We are so excited to share family traditions with Jerrett this year. It is going to be so special with him there this year. He is definitely the thing that we will be most thankful for this year. We have a healthy, loving little boy. What could be better than that? The plans are for us to leave on Wednesday afternoon when TJ gets off of work and head to my Grandma's house. I am sure that she will have us a wonderful dinner planned for that night. She is really excited because she will get to spend some one on one time with Jerrett. He sure loves his Grandma M and she loves getting to see and play with him too. The next morning we will all get up and watch the Macy's Day parade in our jammies as we begin cooking our Thanksgiving lunch. My parents, brothers, Aunt, Uncle and cousin should all be arriving around 10 or so to help cook and celebrate. Since my family is Italian on this side, our Thanksgiving dinner is not quite as traditional as most people. The majority of our food will be Italian. But it is awesome and plentiful. I never thought of this as odd growing up, it is just what we did. I can promise you though, TJ looks forward to going every year that we are able! He talks about it for weeks in advance and then for weeks afterwards! After we stuff our self on food, it is time for birthday cake and pumpkin pie! This year my birthday is a couple days after thanksgiving but we will celebrate on Thanksgiving like always. After that we will sit around and talk and then my parents, brothers, and my little family will all load up and head to my Granny's house. This one is loud, chaotic and lots of fun. I have lots of aunts, uncles and cousins running all over the place and tons more food to be eaten. Granny's house is small and so we all cram in nice and tight and have a great time. The kids are all shuttled outside at some point to go and play. This used to be my favorite part as a kid. Since Granny and Grandad have a ranch, there was always so much to do and get into. Jerrett loves it there as well. He can run and play and get as nasty as he wants and no one really cares. There is nothing really off limits there since you are so far out in the country. There are always cousins and animals to play with.
We will leave Granny's house Thursday night sometime and drive all the way home because TJ has to work on Friday. We don't expect that he will be there all day so the plan for Friday is decorating for Christmas! I love going and picking out a fresh tree to decorate. This year, we will have J with us. And so it will be even more fun!
The next weekend we are kicking off with even more holiday traditions. We are heading off to the Christmas Train with Mom and Dad. I am so excited to share this with Jerrett. He loves trains and anything western, so he will love this place. TJ and I have been going every year for a long time now. It is a very special place to us. Last year we went with our nieces and nephews and had a blast so I know that this year with J will be even better. Plus this is the first year that my parents are getting to go.
On to my parents. They have amazing news! Dad was hired on to a new bank much closer to where we live! Dad has already moved but Mom will wait until school is over or close to it before she can come. But having them only about 1.5 to 2 hours away will be so awesome! We are all very excited to be close again. It just means that J will get to see them even more. He LOVES my parents and speaks to them almost every day so getting to see them more than once a month will be huge for him. Jerrett and my dad are especially close. I love that they have such a great relationship.
One more bit of news for you before I have to get off and go finish the laundry... Jerrett is going to be a big brother! Yep we found out on Labor Day weekend that we are expecting a baby in May! We are pretty excited and were very nervous for a long time and didn't tell anyone until the first trimester was over due to our past miscarriages. But everything is fine now. God is good. Jerrett is going to be an amazing big brother. We were and are a little nervous as to how he will respond to having to share us and everything but we have faith that God is in control in this situation. There is no difference in the love that we have for Jerrett and the love that we will have for this baby. Jerrett is always going to be our first child and just because he was adopted doesn't make him any different in our eyes. He is our silly monkey and our little man. God had a plan to bring him into our lives because we needed each other. Just as God has a plan for this baby.
Anyway, off to do my chores! Have a safe and fun holiday season and just remember what these holidays are all about, it is not the gifts and the glittery lights, but about a Savior who was born so that we may all have life. Love you and God speed.

Birthday Boy!

Grrr I hate not knowing how to fix my pics! Oh well here are some pics of our sweet birthday boy! The first one is one of his 4 year old pics. He is growing into such a little man! He no longer looks like the baby that we brought home 8 months ago. I cannot believe that it has been that long but it is also hard to remember a time when he was not a part of our family.

The second picture is of J and his little friends at his second party. There is a great little pumpkin patch here in town so we rented out the barn and let the kids have at it. We ate pizza and then went to the pumpkin patch where they each got to pick their own pumpkin off the vine. They loved it! After that we went on a hayride, played in some big haystacks and went through some hay tunnels. The kids were dirty and having a ball. The kids also got to ride in the mule train and had fun with none of the grown ups around. After that we went back to the barn for drinks and cupcakes. We asked that no gifts be brought to J's party only stuffed animals that we could donate to the foster system here in our area. Jerrett did not miss the gifts at all and was happy to know that other kids were getting toys. We are blessed to have such great friends and that they have kids Jerrett's age to play with!

Lets see the next picture is of Jerrett and my brother Chris. Uncle Chris is Jerrett's absolute favorite playmate. Chris is so great with him. They are building with a lego set that Grandma and Grandpa got J for his birthday. The real legos not the big ones for little kids. He was so excited! For days after Chris left, Jerrett tried to rebuild everything exactly like Chris had built it. I am so glad that J loves Chris so much. He was not only my brother growing up but my best friend. He is a wonderful uncle and spends as much time with Jerrett as he can.

This 4th picture is the birthday boy and me. We had his family party at the house in the backyard. We were just hanging out here waiting on his cousins to come and play.

The last picture is what TJ and I did to J's hallway the morning of his birthday. He woke me and TJ up yelling that he needed to potty but couldn't get to the bathroom because there were balloons every where! Later that day he and Capone had a blast popping all of the balloons.

All in all it was a wonderful birthday for Jerrett. It started on his actual birthday when we loaded up and drove 2.5 hours to the airport to pick up his Granny Blood (TJ's mom). Jerrett had not met her before so that was a pretty special birthday gift as well as getting to see all of the airplanes! We got home that afternoon and just hung out at the house with Granny Blood for a while. That evening she went to TJ's sisters house to stay so we started baking. We made cupcakes and a cake for the party. Once we got the sleepy head in bed, TJ and I blew up all the balloons you saw in the picture. It felt like hundreds! The next morning Jerrett had a soccer game. His Aunt Sarah and his Granny Blood came to his game. What a lucky little boy. After soccer we came home and warmed up. About noon or so, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Chris and Grandma M came. Jerrett was so excited to see them! After lunch a certain birthday boy had to take a nap and my grandma, my mom and I went to the craft fair for a little while and the big boys stayed home and watched football. I guess the party got started around 6 when the rest of TJ's family came over. We had sub sandwiches and cupcakes. when it got dark, TJ lit the fire pit and we made smores. All in all I think that J loved it and it was a special time for him.

We are so blessed to have this little boy in our lives. His birthday is one of those days when you can't help but think of his bio parents. Do they think about him on his bday? Do they miss him? We thank God for them because without them we would not have the healthy happy, smart little boy that we have. As hard as it is to believe that we now have a 4 year old, we would not have it any other way. Jerrett is a special little guy and we love him so much!

Its been a month!

I can't believe that it has been a month since I posted last! But i promised pictures so here are some from the past few months. So once again they posted in random order but oh well. The first one is of J playing soccer. He is doing really well but wishes that he would have been allowed to play up an age class so that he could have been with some of his friends from church. He does not like being younger than they are! Jerrett has so much energy and loves to run up and down the field. He is pretty good at dribbling too which is hard for kids as young as he is. We are very proud!

The second picture was taken at the zoo on Labor Day. We drove to a town about 1/2 way between where we live and where my parents live. I love this shot of J and his grandparents. Even though we live about 5 hours from each other, I do not think that there has been a single month since he has been home that he has not seen his grandparents. And he talks to them all the time on the phone. Anytime that he does anything he wants to call his grampa and tell him all about it. Dad is so good with him!

The next picture is of TJ and J at the county fair. Jerrett loved all of the animal exhibits and the chicks were in the petting zoo. TJ and I think that J is still too small to ride any of the rides so we did not do that but we did have a blast going through all of the exhibits and petting the animals. TJ is such a great daddy. Since he works so much all the time, we try to make the time that he does get to spend with J special.

This final picture is of my Grandma and Jerrett's great grandma. She loves him to pieces and the feeling is mutual. Here they are wading in a creek at a local park. She came up with my mom to spend a long weekend with us this summer.

So on to what we are doing now... Jerrett has his new teeth in. They look great! I am so happy with the dentist that we found. We received Jerrett's new birth certificate! That was huge to see our names on that piece of paper. More than anything we are preparing for a big birthday party! I cannot believe that our big boy is about to turn 4!! It can't be. But he is this Friday. We are having a party this Saturday evening for family. He wanted to have a pirate party so we are going all out. He is pretty excited about it. Then the next weekend we are having another birthday party! This one for his little friends. I talked to a local farmer and he is goin to let us rent out his barn. The kids will go through a corn maze, go on a hay ride, get to pick their own pumpkin from the patch and just have fun running around a farm for the afternoon. I know that my little country boy will love it. Just got to hope that the other kids like it as well!

I promise that I will post pics after the party and do my best to post at least once a week. That might not happen every week but we will see! Have a great fall week!

SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So sorry that its been so long since I have posted. We have had such a crazy month that I have not had a lot of time to just sit down and post. So I will do a quick recap and then hopefully be able to post more often!
First we had our court date! Jerrett is now officially ours, not that he wasnt before in our hearts. But it is legal now. The day was pretty uneventful and anti-climatic. He was already our son. We did not need a judge to tell us what we already knew! But he signed the paper that made it all legal. Now we are just waiting on the new birth certificate and SS card. The next day J had his first set of new teeth installed. They were horrible so we made the dentist take them out and redo them. He gets the second set installed this week. i think that we are all ready to have this over with! Jerrett aced his swim lessons again and got promoted to the advanced class. He loves going to swim lessons and hates the 2 week break between sessions! He has also started playing soccer. It is pretty funny to see a bunch of 3 year olds running around kicking a ball into the wrong goal. But he is having fun and getting to interact with other kids.
This past weeked we had a garage sale at a friends house. That in itself was an experience. I am so much more of a donate to get it out of my house type person! Oh well we are using the money for Jerrett's party and Christmas gifts. Jerrett decided on a pirate party. So that is what we are doing for his family party. we also decided to have a small party for some of his friends at a local pumpkin patch. I think that the kids will love it. Thats about all the time i have to post this morning. Jerrett and I have to run in to town. Hopefully I will see you guys back here soon!

Big day coming up

Tuesday is going to be a huge day for our family! We head to the court house to make J's adoption final! Woohoo!!!! It has been a really short 6 months but at the same time it feels like Jerrett has been with us forever. He is our son in every way possible and we love him so much! We have had such an awesome summer and this is the best way to cap it off. We are so excited to finally have this step done. We will definately be posting pictures from that day soon. It has been such a crazy summer that I have not really had time to post as much as I would like but hopefully things will start to slow down some and I can post more. Right now the boys are watching Alladin and I am finally getting some time to write. We are such a busy little family. Jerrett and I have gotten together with some other stay at home moms in our area and started doing weekly play dates. It is so much fun to have friends! For both of us. I need adult interaction and Jerrett needs to be around kids more. This fall is actually lokking pretty busy too though! Our play dates are moving from the splash park to the library for story time, Jerrett will still have swim lessons, he is playing soccer, Jerrett will be a part of cubbies adn TJ and I are teaching rec at Awanas. This fall also brings about Jerrett's first birthday with us. We are going to do it up big with 2 parties. We will do one party with our families and then one party with his little friends at the pumpkin patch. He is wanting a pirate party so that ought to be fun. I am really excited because all our families are coming. My parents, brothers, both of my grandmas, and some of my aunts uncles and cousins will be here as well as my best friend and her little boy! On TJ's side, his dad and Aleta, his grandma, his mom who has not even met Jerrett yet, both of his sisters and their families, and his step sister and her family! I am totally excited that Amanda will be here and that she and Paul are bringing Wyatt! Wyatt and Jerrett are such great friends and are so much fun to watch together.
All in all it has been a crazy time for our family and it looks like things are only looking crazier! I am going to really try to post more but we will see! We are seriously excited with this next step. We are truly blessed. God is good and really knows what He is doing.

Summer time

It has been over a month since I posted last! So much has gone on that I havent really had a chance to sit down and do this yet. So I will try to catch you up on the goings on of my little family!
--Church camp. One of TJ's best friends and mentors is a youth minister back in OK. He goes to a really small church that I used to have friends in. Anyway, he asked me and TJ to go with his group to Falls Creek as sponsers. I was a little nervous about how Jerrett would do but it was awesome! Jerrett slept in the boys dorm with TJ and the boys were so good with him. I think that they only woke him up one night. Jerrett was such a big boy and did everything with us except the nightly devotions. He was long in bed by that time. But he went to morning service, cabin devotions, and evening worship. He learned all the praise songs and was loved on by many kids. He had a blast and it was good to see him with the kids and to share his story. TJ led devotion one night and it was amazing. He shared his testamony about his parents divorce and his subsequent search for something. He told the kids that he started drinking and everything to deal with the pain. It struck such a vibe with some of those kids. We had 2 decisions that night! All because my wonderful Godly husband shared something so personal in his life that is so hard for him to talk about. I am so proud to be able to call TJ my husband! He has grown so much in the 7 years that we have been together. I love him so much and love seeing him work with youth.
-4th of July- After we got back from camp, it was time for the 4th of July celebrations. To kick off the celebrations, we drove into MO where TJ has a friend that ownes a firework stand. We loaded Jerrett and TJ up with fireworks. While we were up there, we discovered the best little hamburger joint! It makes my mouth water just to think about it! The next night we dressed up in our western gear and headed to the Rodeo of the Ozarks. I miss rodeoing so much! Getting to go and see all the horses and the events just really made me homesick. But we had a blast! Jerrett loved getting to watch all of the events but he loved bronc riding and barrel racing. He is such a little country boy at heart. Hopefully some day we will be able to give that to him. We are thinking of letting him try mutton busting next year when he is old enough. He would LOVE it. The next night we made it out to our friends house that lives on the lake. They grilled out burgers and then we packed up and drove to the marina to watch the fireworks. These were the first fireworks that Jerrett had ever seen. He would let out a little laugh everytime they would pop and then ask to make sure that we saw them too. He is such a sweet little boy. The next night was all about lighting his own fireworks. Our whole neighborhood was outside letting off fireworks so we put on quite a show. Although J is only 3, he insisted on lighting some of his own fireworks. He did awesome!
Kitchen- the next week was spent on getting the kitchen cabinets painted. It is really tough to get this done when there is a 3 year old running around! But we are all done except getting some of the doors hung again. They look pretty good though. Much better than they had looked at least! I am such a perfectionist that I can see all the little imperfections though. I am trying really hard to let go of those tendancies because I can see them coming out in Jerrett and I do not want him to be as consumed with being perfect as I was. Sometimes you miss out on the fun because you are too ocncerned with making sure that things are done right. I dont want that for J. J did help us paint some though and he had a blast. He wants to help with whatever we are doing. He is so not a baby anymore but a real little boy. It makes me happy and sad at the same time. We missed so much of his being a baby that I wish that he would stay that way a little longer. But seeing him learn new things and grow is amazing. Jerrett now knows all of his numbers by sight to 10. He can write them as well. He can recognize most of his letters and right many of them. We are constantly learning new songs and reading books.
Mommy and J trip- Jerrett and I took a trip to OK last week. We left early Tuesday morning and met my mom at the children's museum in Seminole. We had such a fun time even if it was hot! We rode the train and saw the swans and a couple turtles, we went through the big maze and got lost, we played with all of the fun things inside the museum and learned a lot! I love seeing my mom with Jerrett because she is so great at being a teacher and being a grandma. She makes learning fun for Jerrett and I hope that I can do that well! Mom and Dad did that with me and the boys when we were growing up too. Most everything that we did had an educational background to it. But it was never boring. Anyway, after we went to the museum we headed to my parents house for a while. We did lots of fun things but mainly just tried to stay cool! One night my brother and dad got out the slip and slide and tried to show Jerrett how to use it. That was hours of fun watching them all play and have a ball. Jerrett also loved playing on the swing that they had hung from one of the trees. They live minutes from the lake and so we spent some time there as well. I LOVE Foss Lake. It has sandy beaches and so you dont have to wear the uncomfortable water shoes and it is shallow for ever so you can walk out there quite a ways. Jerrett got to show off his swimming skills by not wearing a life jacket or floaties. He is doing so well with swimming! Jerrett and I headed home on Friday afternoon. We missed TJ like cazy and was just ready to be home with him. We spent the evening snuggled on the couch. That was the longest that we have been apart since TJ went to New Orleans after we first got married!
This week- So this week should have been a busy one too. Bible school is going on this week. Jerrett is technically not old enough to go yet but they were going to let him join the older class if TJ and I would help. We had great plans to do that until I got a phone call yesterday morning. They have scheduled Jerrett's oral surgery for this THursday. Since VBS is now at night from 6-830, we decided that it would be best to keep J at home and get him to bed on time so that he would be more rested for his surgery. We are a little upset that we dont get to help but having a good surgery and recovery is a little more important right now! So that is our life the past month!

Oh yeah!! Thrown in there for good measure was a visit from our friends the Harps! There little girl and J are the same age and so much fun to be around. We were sad when they moved back to OK. But we are still blessed to be able to see them a couple times a year! There were also a few trips to the splash park thrown in for good measure!

Dad's Day Early

TJ, J and I are heading out of town for a week on Monday, so I thought that I might should do the Father's Day post early. There are so many amazing dad's in our lives. We are truly blessed beyond measure.
Dad #1---TJ!!!!!!!!!!!! This is not TJ's first father's Day. That was 2 years ago. We should have had a one month old baby or been 7 months pregnant at the time. We had a low key father's day because apparently no one else thought that TJ was a dad that time. But he was and we celebrated. I cooked his favorite meal, he got a card and a round of golf.
On to this year though... TJ is the best daddy that any child could ever ask for. He works really long hours and still comes home every night and plays with J. He gives him his bath every night and rocks him and sings every night no fail. TJ was made to be a daddy and J loves him to pieces. J idolizes his daddy and wants to be just like him. My prayer is that my baby boy will grow up to be half the man that my husband is. TJ is so strong. He has been the rock of this family for so long. Through the tough times of losing our babies, to family issues to the good times TJ has been the head of this household. I may stay home and "run" the house as far as keeping the house together and cooking. But TJ is definitely the boss! TJ is everything that I ever wanted in a husband. He is a tough country boy with a heart of gold. TJ is actually a pretty gentle spirit. He likes for everyone to get along and not have any issues. He is a fixer and wants to fix things when it is not even his fault. He is tender hearted and really feels for others. But he is also strong and stands up for what he knows is right. He loves God more than anything and after that comes me and J. That is how it should be. I am so thankful that God brought TJ to be my Boaz and to be Jerrett's daddy.

Dad#2--- My dad!! Where do I begin? Describing my dad is tough. Just like he is. Dad doesn't fit neatly into any box or label. My dad is a fortress. And that doesn't even have anything to do with his size! TO me he was always this strong hold and a shelter. Nothing could come close to me or hurt me when he was around. Dad is just that kind of man.He demands respect and he gets it. He is a hard worker and has drilled that into me since I was young. My parents got married really young. My dad was 20 and Mom had just turned 19. Dad was going into his senior year of college when they got married since he skipped a grade and started college at 17, Mom was a lowly freshman! Anyway, after they got married Dad dropped out of school and started working in the oil field. He did this for quite a while until he decided to go back to school. He graduated college when I was in kindergarten. Then we picked up and moved to a new town where he started his banking career. As I said, Dad has always been a hardworker. He is now a president of a bank. That is amazing for the short amount of time that he has actually been in banking! Anyway, Dad taught us so much more than just about hard work. He rally valued our education. Since we were young we always knew that our parents put money away for our college education. It was never if we went to college but when and where. As I kid I took that for granted but never once did I have to take out a college loan or get a job. Dad always told us that school was our job. He demanded that we make grade though. But he also gave us our love for sports. Dad was a college basketball player. The pics of him in those little bitty shorts make me laugh and cringe at the same time! Anyway, for as long as I can remember we were an active family. Mom and Dad played church league everything and us kids played whatever sport was in season.
All these were good lessons but there were 2 that stood out more than anything. The first was that no matter what, God should always come first. I can probably count on both hands the number of times that we missed church when I was growing up. That is quite a feat when there were baseball tournaments and soccer tournaments almost every weekend. Dad didn't just preach religion though. He lived it. Through the way that he loved on his family to the way that he took care of the finances. He showed us how to live Godly lives.
The other lesson that he taught us was about how to treat a lady. Or in my case to not settle for anyone that would not treat me as a lady. Dad treats Mom like a queen. Even when we were young and mom stayed home with us all day, Dad would come home and not rest and expect her to cater to him. He would help with whatever needed to be done. Dad can cook a mean pot of home made marinara sauce! He can iron and garden and knows how to change a diaper! He was always respectful and never demanding of my mom. And because Dad helped my mom out so much and treated her with so much respect, he got that 10 fold from her and from us kids. My dad always expected us to fall in line and be respectful. We did not have any real rules growing up other than curfew. But we definitely knew if we stepped out of line! I am so lucky to have him as my dad and Jerrett gets to have him as his grandpa!
Dad#3--- Terry. Terry is amazing. I love my father in law. There is so much of him in my husband. Terry works hard. Harder than most men I know. He works harder than he should. He loves than land and the animals that he has on it. He takes pride in taking care of it and in the way that he cares for his animals. He is kind and gentle and so patient. Those traits are not only traits he uses with his animals but also with people. He has a wicked since of humor and just shocks me at times with the things that he says. I can always count on him giving me a huge hug.
My lively 3 year old is now awake and trying to jump off the back of the couch onto a pillow so I better get of and get us both outside in the sunshine. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Father's Day! We love the dads in our lives!

Accidents

Jerrett is definitely all boy. He has 3 speeds, fast, faster and fast asleep. This has been a rough week for our little guy. Tuesday we had a playdate with Cher, Zoe and Raiden. All was going well, we had a picnic, played in the sandbox and pool. The kids get along great and Cher and I got a chance to talk. We had come in because Raiden was hungry and it was getting close to nap time. Long story short. Jerrett was running down the hall and tripped. He chipped his front tooth. He was screaming so hard his face turned blue. So I called TJ and we took him to the dentist immediately. We thought that all they would do was smooth out the rough edge and leave the chipped tooth. But nope, much worse. He broke the tooth and killed the nerve in it. Not only that but he completely broke the root on the tooth next to it. So the dentist told us that they are going to have to surgically remove his front two teeth. Yep loads of fun for our little man. Once they remove the teeth, they are going to create what is called a pedi partial which is like a permanent retainer with two false teeth attached. He will wear this until his permanent teeth start coming in. I took J to see the oral surgeon today and got some not so great news. J and I both love the guy that will do the surgery so that is not a big deal the problem is with his insurance. Since J's adoption is not final, he has medicaid. Once the adoption is final, we will be able to put him on our insurance. The problem is that medicaid does not think that J's accident was an emergency so the paperwork is going to take a while. 2 months. My poor baby boy is going to have a cracked tooth that will hurt every time he tries to eat. I hate all the crap that comes with dealing with medicaid.
Too top off the chipped tooth and swollen mouth look, yesterday, J was running through the house again. This time he slipped and fell and landed face first on a toy. So he has a wonderful bruise that covers more than half of the left side of his face. He looks like a prize fighter right now. I feel like a horrible mom but the truth is that he gets in trouble all of the time for running in the house. but the kid just doesn't walk anywhere. He runs. TJ and I will put him in time out for running and then as soon as he gets up he starts running again. We are running out of ideas. Oh well. I would much rather have an active little guy who would rather run and play than sit on his bottom and watch tv or play video games!