LOOOOONG Weekend

So we had a really long weekend with Jerrett. I am thinking that the honeymoon period may be over. Bring on the tantrums and the testing! Anyway, part of it just had to do with the fact that Jerrett was really overwhelmed this past week and part of the weekend. First he was still pretty upset that Tyler was here. He thought that he was going to have to leave again. Friday our friends the Raymers came over. Jerrett loves these girls and was great at having them in his house. This was our first set of kid visitors. He did great! They came over for potato soup and just to hang out. The adults got to talk and enjoy a conversation while Jerrett and the girls played in his room! The first pic is after we had gotten all the kiddos in their pjs. Alison had the great idea to bring the girls jammies so that they can travel home and go right in to bed when they get there! I am so stealing this idea. As you can see from the picture, he loves getting together with these girls. He calls them his girls. He's especially attached to Sasha who he talks about all the time!

The second is just a cute picture of my little man. He really is changing since we brought him home 2 weeks ago! He is already in big boy underwear all the time other than through the night! He is such a good boy and never has accidents. We have a real routine going on which is good for him and for me. We play a lot and we also work on our letters and numbers. He is such a smart little guy! Tomorrow we are headed to the dr for a well check visit. We just want him to get into our dr so that we will not have any problems getting in once he needs to see a dr. He is also going to get his second haircut! He is such a big boy.

We are headed to OK this coming weekend. TJ had some vacation time that he had to burn so he is taking off Friday so that we have more time down there. Friday we are driving to Piedmont. some of our best friends just had a baby boy last week and we are dying to go and see him! The whole family actually. It has been months since we have gotten to see Erin and Ryan. We talk often but it has been way too long since we have got to sit down and really talk. I am excited to go and see them! I miss Erin so much!!! Anyway, we will see how Jerrett does with a little baby and another little one his same age! After we go and see them, we are headed to Clinton to go and see Mom and Dad. Well not just mom and dad. This time Jerrett will get to meet my brothers! I am not sure who is more excited, the boys or Jerrett. He is really wanting to go and see the big boys. I am sure that they are going to get along great! My brothers will spoil him rotten. On Saturday the big boys are going to play golf like always so that leaves me, Jerrett and my mom to find something to do. TJ is so excited to teach Jerrett to play golf but he is a little young still and doesn't know how to be quiet. So that leaves him with the girls for the day. Maybe we will take him for a pedicure. Would teach TJ to leave him with the girls! On Sunday we are headed to OKC or Shawnee, not sure which yet. But we are going to go and meet my grandma and aunt and uncle. I am so excited for them to get to meet Jerrett. My aunt and Uncle are adoptive parents as well and have been a huge support for TJ and I as we have gone through this whole process. We love them so much! They are planning a small celebration for him this weekend. Just my parents, us, Grandma and them. It should be fun and since the only other kid is my cousin Taylor. He will not be too overwhelmed. And I am sure Tay will take offense to the kid label, she just turned 18! Which is crazy by the way. But Jerrett is one loved little boy and I will definitely post pics from our busy weekend! Yall have a good day!

Tyler visit and random thoughts

Jerrett's SD case worker came down for his visit this week. It was sort of a joke. Don't get me wrong, TJ and I both totally love Tyler but it was a complete waste of SD tax dollars to send him here. He arrived on Tuesday afternoon. We did not see him. The first time we saw him was at 5:30 on Wednesday! He met us at the house and we hung around here for about 30 minutes and then we went to eat. Thursday he came over about 10:00 and met with our worker and us to go over a form. He was there for about 2 hours or so and then left. He did not fly out until this morning (Friday). Poor guy had to be bored to tears! There is not a ton of things to do around here. Anyway, the visit went pretty well other than totally upsetting Jerrett. In the past whenever Jerrett saw Tyler it meant that he was going to have to pick up and move again. So Jerrett was a total mess the last couple days. He is still a little young to express those type fears but you could tell that is what he was thinking. He needed lots of extra loves and cuddles. Not that we mind that. I love to snuggle with my little guy!
Today is our first attempt at big boy underwear. He has been doing really well with using the potty and so we are trying to move on to the big boy panties. We will see how it goes.
Jerrett is the funniest little man ever. He loves to sing and is so smart! Sometimes it is hard to remember that he literally just turned 3 a couple months ago. He has 3 years before he starts school and he already knows all his colors, shapes (even the weird ones like diamonds and ovals), he knows his abcs and can count to 25. But the kicker is that he can already identify lots of his letters. And the letters he knows are not just the ones in his name. One of the things that Jerrett had to do before we brought him home was take an aptitude test. This is an intelligence test for kids age 2-6. Its the closest thing to an IQ test that you can give to a young child. Our little guy scored off the charts! His intelligence was scored at a year and a half over his chronological age! That means that intelligence wise he would be ready to start kindergarten this next year even though he still has 3 more years! That is crazy. He also scored extremely high in his motor abilities. We can tell that he is going to be athletic and TJ and I are so excited! We were/are both still really active and am excited that our son loves to be as well. Jerrett is an extremely busy little boy. He rarely ever sits still. He also does not have a slow speed. He is full speed all the time. He doesn't walk. He jumps or runs. He doesn't watch tv. One we don't really allow him to watch tv and two he can't sit still that long. I am not complaining though. I hate that parents use a tv as a baby sitter. I mean I am a stay at home mom there are plenty of things to entertain him with. We build with blocks, play trucks, play outside even when it is cold. We do arts and crafts and just pretty much go from the time we get up until nap time and then we are off again. Staying home, I think I am more busy then when I went to work! There is more housework to do and less time to do it in. But I refuse to have a dirty house so Jerrett is learning how to do chores too. The tv is NEVER on during the day and this is the first time that I have sat down all morning! Jerrett is great for keeping me going too! Starting in March, our little guy is starting swim lessons as well as we are trying to bribe our way into the 4 year old karate class. Don't know if we will actually manage that yet or not. We want to try for tball but he still technically has 2 years to go and he will miss the fall deadline for soccer by a few months. I love that soccer starts at 4 instead of 5! So in the mean time TJ and I are doing our best to challenge Jerrett and to teach him new things to keep him interested. He is such a smart little boy and has tons of energy. I am ready for it to be warmer outside so that we can start doing even more outside and burning some more energy! We are so blessed with our little guy. we love him so much!

Catch up

So we have had a busy week! We are now starting on our second week at home! It is hard to believe that! Last week we were pretty much house bound. Our area received about 18 inches of snow which is a record for here! It was crazy! It was also so cold that we could not really go outside and enjoy the snow. We spent most of our time inside playing with cars and building with blocks and working on potty training. Fun and exciting stuff! It finally started to warm up on Thursday. Friday TJ went back to work for the first time. It was weird to be without him after we had been together everyday for 2 weeks. I think that is the most time that we have spent together since our honeymoon! So on Friday it was just me and Jerrett. My parents were coming in for the weekend and so Jerrett and I decided that we needed to shovel the driveway so that could have somewhere to park and not have to trek through the still many inches of snow. So thats what we did after nap time. He took his toy shovel, a sand bucket and a big Tonka truck and I had a shovel and we clearded that whole thing! I definately got my exercise that day! Saturday afternoon Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa showed up. Jerrett loves my parents. He was so excited to see them, He speaks to them on the phone almost everyday and was really ready to play with them. They did not dissappoint. Dad played tools and trucks and mom read stories, put together puzzles, and played tools. He loved showing them all of his toys and all of his tricks. Jerrett definately has them around his little finger. He is the only grandchild on my side of the family and so is going to be a little rotten. Thankfully Mom and Dad know of TJ and my decision about the amount of toys and junk that he can have and they agree so instead of showering him with things, they got down on his level and really played and spent quality time with him. That is what he is going to remember not the stuff that they buy for him. Even today when he woke up he asked if Grandpa was going to come by and play with him. They left on Sunday when Jerrett went down for his nap. He gave hugs and kisses and said that he wanted to go to their house soon and play with their dog. I think that leaving was harder on mom and dad than on Jerrett! But he hasn't stopped talking about them. After he went to the bathroom on his own yesterday, he wanted to call grandpa and tell him. I told Jerrett that Grandpa was at work but he told me that Grandpa wouldn't care and that he wanted to tell him about the potty because Grandpa would be happy. We compromised and he got to call them before he went to bed. Last night was Valentines Day and I had two of the most handsome men as my dates! That is what two of the pics above are. My two handsome boys! How I love both of them! We did not do anything to big. we went to a Mexican resteraunt here in town. And then came home and did gifts. I got a new watch and some perfume! TJ got some new shirts and a picture frame for his office. Jerrett got some art supplies and some candy. All in all it was a great day! This is another big week. Jerrett's worker from SD is coming down here for a visit. He will be here this evening through Friday. During that time, we have a meeting with our case worker here in town as well as a well baby visit for Jerrett with our family doctor. But we are getting our routine down and Jerrett is doing amazing. He is adjusting quicker than we thought that he would. That includes answering to his new name. He is just an amazing little guy and we are so blessed!

Potty Training

So what is harder than potty training a little boy? Retraining a stubborn little boy! Jerrett was totally potty trained up until about Christmas. This is when he moved into a new foster home in preparation of his adoption.With young kids, pottying is a sorce of control. Not pottying on the potty is something that Jerrett can control. He doesn't have to potty and there is no way to make him other than to force him to sit there for hours on end. Jerrett is such a smart little guy and he knows how to use the potty, he knows when he needs to potty, and he knows how to change his own diaper! But with his world turning upside down, he needs a little bit of control. And this is how he chose to control his life. Not much fun for me and TJ since 3 year old poo is just as gross as adult poo! We are working on the pottying thing though. In the last 2 days, he has peed in the potty 4 times! That is huge for him. We have to force him to sit there but once he does and uses the bathroom, he is so proud of himself! Its a frustrating time since he was totally potty trained before but... So is life I guess. It just reminds me of my time working on the geriatric unit of Rolling Hills. Hopefully there will be no adult diapers in our future.

Monkey

TJ found the camera cord as we were unpacking some of bags and stuff we had. So here are some pics from the last few days. Once again they are a little out of order but I give up. The first picture is of my two boys watching the Super Bowl. Jerrett had to put his feet up like daddy and wanted his drink like daddy too. He is really into whatever TJ does. The next picture is of bath time tonight. LM and Capone have become the best of friends already. Capone is such a good boy and takes all of Jerretts rough loving. He is constantly getting put in a hug that more closely resembles a head lock and gets squished when Jerrett decides to give full body hugs. But Capone has figured out the Jerrett equals crumbs. The next picture is of the boys in the snow. We had a fun time playing in the snow building a snowman and having a snowball fight. Then it was time to come in and get warmed up and eat football food. the next 2 pictures are just some of the ones from when he got to see his room for the first time. He really was excited about it and loves all of his things. He keeps asking if they are really his. Jerrett is such a good little helper and puts his toys away when asked. We are having a little bit of trouble with bed time. I think that is when his anxiety comes out. But it is pretty rough on me and TJ. He has been fighting going to bed and then once there proceeds to wake up every couple hours screaming. Its tons of fun. We know that he is upset and that he is too young to express it any other way so we are hanging in there. It is hard to discipline a child who is so confused and hurting but we have to and actually have to be pretty strict for a while so that he knows who the boss is and that we are going to love him no matter what. But we are in it for the long haul and just have to prove that to him. For now, TJ and I are praying that God will give us the wisdom to help Jerrett. We are so blessed to have him in our lives and he is such a strong little boy. But we have to remember that he is just that, still a baby. With his huge vocabulary and how smart he is, it is often hard to remember that he just turned 3 a little over 2 months ago. But God can heal his heart and his hurts and we pray that God will enable TJ and I to be the parents that Jerrett needs and not the parents that we think that we want to be. A fellow adoptive parent told us that and I think it is the hardest thing to realize. Every parent has this dream about the type of parent that they want to be and they have it all planned out in their heads. But the truth is that a child may not need that type parent whether it is an adopted child or a bio one. And as the adults, we need to realize this and be the type parent that a child needs. Right now, our son needs a firm hand and strong boundaries. I love that he is independent and strong willed. I am both of those things. I never want to crush that spirit but at the same time, Jerrett needs to learn to respect authority and that sometimes other people do know best for him. We love our little man so much and cannot wait to see what God has in store for him!

Day 8

Still no camera cord. I am sure it is in one of the suitcases but who knows which one! Today was another long day. Jerrett woke up at 6 and was ready to go. We had to go and buy some groceries and stuff like that. After we did that it was time to come home and take a nap. TJ and Jerrett took a nap in our big bed while I went through Jerrett's things. One of his past foster familys obviously believed in quantity over quality. I would say that 80% of his stuff is going directly to the childrens shelter. Not all of it is bad or anything but seriously what little kid needs 15 pairs of play jeans and 45 play tshirts? Plus some of his toys are definately not age appropriate. Those will be going too. I really hope to find my cord today because our little man got his first big boy haircut! He told the lady that he wanted his hair just like his daddy. and it is. short on the sides and spiky on top

Day 7

No pictures today because I can't find my camera cord. Anyway today was another driving day. We drove from Sioux City, Iowa back to Pea Ridge. Traveling today did not go as smooth as yesterday. Little Man was tired of sitting in his car seat and let us know all about it. We also got into some snow starting in Joplin. So the last 45 minutes of our trip turned into an hour and a half. Fun stuff. So when we got home, we took Jerrett to see his room. He kept looking at everything and saying "This is all mine? No one elses?" It was pretty cute. we unloaded the car and started going through some things. Jerrett played in the snow while we unloaded the car. After that we had dinner and played around with new toys. Then it was time for bed and bath. It was a really long day!

Day 6

So once again blogger didn't post my pics in the order that I wanted them. Oh well, I am too tired to mess with it. This morning started off pretty rocky as Jerrett woke up at 1230 and at 430. That was fun times. Then we had to be at DHS at 800 for more paperwork. That only took about an hour or so. When we finished with that, we headed up to Keystone which is about 30 minutes from Rapid. That is where Mt Rushmore is located. We loved looking at the mans in the mountain as Jerrett said. We didn't stay very long because it was still cold. But we did stay long enough to take some pictures and visit the gift shop where Jerrett picked some gifts up for his cousins. After that, we headed off for our long drive, As you can see, we all took turns driving including Jerrett. He is almost as bad of a driver as TJ! Today we were on the road for about 7.5 hours. J decided to nap when he wasn't driving. He looks so sweet and innocent in this picture. You wouldn't even recognize the crazy man using TJ as a trampoline and screaming pillow fight as he smacks TJ in the face repeatedly. It is really funny to watch! Anyway, I better get off because it is little man's bed time and we are in for another long day of driving. But we will be home tomorrow! We cannot wait. we love our little monkey so much and can't wait to have him home!

Day 5

Today was a very busy day for the 3 of us. Mr. Jerrett decided that he would wake up around 6 AM (he is not a morning person) and then it was off from there. He has a ton of energy and it is hard to keep up sometimes. Gina and I haven't slept very well at all since we have been gone from home and are just ready to be there. Tonight we went to eat Pizza and play games with Jerrett's foster family and had an amazing time. Thank you so much to the Klassens for taking awesome care of our son until we could come and get him. Tomorrow we have to meet up with the social worker here in SD at 8:00 to sign a few more papers and go through a few of Jerrett's belongings to see what we want to take home with us and then we are out of here. On the way home we plan on stopping by Mt. Rushmore and possibly Crazyhorse Monument. He is such an amazing blessing to our lives and we are super excited to have him as our son. We love you very much Jerrett and look forward to you being with us "forever".

Day 4

So I don't like uploading pics on here. I need Alison to give me a tutorial or something. They never post the way that I want them to! They are all turned the wrong direction and not in the order that i wanted them to be in. Oh well, you get the idea. So today was the day that we got custody. We went and picked Jerrett up at 8:00 and have had him ever since. We went to a stock show and got to show Jerrett all about the cattle adn ranching world that TJ and I love. He got to pet a calf, baby goat, puppies, a mule, and a minature horse for the first time. It was so much fun to see him experience that for the first time. After that, TJ and I had some training that we had to go to. Fun times! But after training is when the fun started! We took Jerrett to the water park. Our little guy is fearless. He was jumping off the side of the pool and doing everything that the big kids were doing. After swimming we ate dinner in our room and it was time for baths, stories and bed time. He was a trouper the whole time. He never really cried or fussed even though he didnt have a nap! Tomorrow is more of the same then we get to leave early Thursday morning! We are a little concerned about the weather back home so we might have to take a detour on the way home.We will see. I think that we are all ready to finally be home. I miss my puppy and I am sure he misses us!