Busy Bees

We are busy bees around here lately! With the excitment of spring coming, there is so much to do! Saturday we helped our friends, the Raymers, move to their new house. I am green with envy. I love their new place! Not so much the moving part though. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to move or help people move. It is the one time that my OCD with organization is a good thing and appreciated! I love trying to figure out how rooms will be used so what the best way to set them up would be. I love organizing closets. Color coordinated and done by season. Yes I know I am weird but there is nothing like the feeling of knowing that everything is in the right place! So it was fun getting to help them move. Monday brought Jerrett's first swim lesson! He did so well and I am one proud momma! He out swam some of the older kids in his class! He is so fearless. He stuck his face right in the water and started blowing bubbles just as the teacher asked. She did not even have to bribe him to go all the way under water which she did with the other kids. He loves to go under even if he does come up coughing. TJ and I felt that he really needed the lessons since we are around the water all the time in the summer. Between the backyard pool, the lake and floating trips, he needed basic water safety. He is going to be a real little athlete and we are so excited! Tomorrow is Wednesday. Going to be the first day in a long week for us. Jerrett and I are leaving with the Raymer girls for Ada bright and early. Alison and I have an alumni basketball game one night and a baseball game the next. All procedes go to two very special people and I am really excited to be able to help out. I am excited to get to go and see not only people from my class but ones from before me and ones after me! I am super excited though for the baseball game. No I am not playing but because of my little brother, I lived on the baseball field for years. All of his old team mates are playing and I am ready to see them and their families again. No ie, I will more than likely cry seeing all of those guys out there playing for a charity. Those boys are like brothers to me and their families like my family. So excited to get to show off my little guy too! TJ has to work for part of the week so he is not going to get to come down until Thursday night. But we have some fun packed in with him too. Jerrett gets to meet his Uncle Jose and ride in his cop car! I am not sure who is more excited about that, Jerrett or Jose! I am so glad that J has so many people that love him and want to spend time with him! Lets see what else is going on... Yesterday was my favorite big brothers birthday. Not only is he my brother but he is one of my best friends. I was so blessed that he and TJ are close too! They always run off and play golf or go to the movies or something when we all get together. So glad that they get along so well! Jerrett and I called Chris on his birthday. It is so sweet to hear J sing him happy birthday and tell him that he loves him. What a blessed little boy to have such a great uncle! I guess that is all that I have right now... I will have loads of stories and pics I am sure after we get back!

Finally!!!

I promised you an update with some pics so here they are. I have a ton and most of them have been posted on facebook but here are a few from last weekend. It was a gorgeous day and we took our little monkey to the drive through safari. He loved all of the animals and feeding them. He and TJ are holding Riley the monkey in the first pic. It was so sweet to hear him laughing and loving on this monkey. We took a picnic lunch and spent most of the afternoon there. Jerrett loved getting to see all of the animals up close. I am not sure what his favorite part was because everytime you ask he will tell you something different. The little baby goat you see in the pic above was adorable. Jerrett liked riding the little pony but was not up to riding the camel. He learned a new fact about camels and he tells everyone! Camels have green spit. He thinks that is the coolest thing. He also loved the big buffalo that came up to the car and he got to pet.

Some other fun things we have been doing... driving a rental car while mine gets fixed. It smells like something died in it. Totally gross. We went and had a physical done for Jerrett. His medical records were a total mess. He was missing several different shots so on Friday he received not one but 3 vaccinations. That did not make for a happy baby. Everything else checked out great! He is tall for his age but pretty low in weight. His dr is so amazing! Dr. Joel as he wants to be called is a young guy who loves kids. He and his wife are actually in the process of adopting so it is really nice to have someone who understands the whole process. So glad we found him. This weekend was pretty busy as well. Yesterday the sweet ladies at our church through Jerrett a shower. It was so much fun getting to know some of these sweet ladies. He got so many fun new things and a lot of new books. Today ( Sunday) was spent at TJ's softball practice and then at home trying to clean and entertain little man. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day. We are hopefully going to pick up our car and then I am going to do some shopping. We are having some new family pictures taken on Thursday and I am looking for some new photo props and clothes. So much fun! I will post more later.

Sorry!

So I know it has been forever since I posted or put up pics. We had a really long week and I dont really have time to get into it right now. I promise a longer post later today or tomorrow once TJ gets home and can help entertain Little Man. He is not so great at entertaining himself yet. But I don't mind too much. I love getting to stay home and play with my baby boy. He is the most fun person I know and he keeps me on my toes. The next post will be a long one with pics. Like I said we had a really really long week so theres lots to tell you! ' til later when I can type more!

Pics

So I promise I will try and get some more photos on here soon. I can barely find the time to blog much less upload pics! Lets see what we have been up to... We had a wonderful weekend. The harps came up this on Saturday so we got to visit with them and love on Jaylee and baby Rhett. Jerrett and Jaylee are so sweet together! They play so well and he gave her a hug and kiss when they were leaving. I sure miss having Erin and Ryan nearby. Selfishly I wish that they were still here but I know that God moved them to where He wanted them and we still get to see them!
Sunday morning we went to church and had a blast! Pastor Jack called us up in front of the whole church to introduce Jerrett and show a little bit of our story with the rest of the church. We did not know that was going to happen so it was a little embarrassing but we are so blessed to be at a church that is so willing to love on us! After that was lunch and naps for the two guys. That afternoon we went to watch Jacy at her soccer eval. Jerrett got to play with his two favorite"cousins" at the playground afterwards. Then Alison showed us the new house they are building. I am so happy for them. It is amazing! They so deserve it. We then went to dinner at their house. It is so much fun when we get together! So glad that we have such great friends!
Monday brought not much. Jerrett and I had to go and order another new fridge because the one that we had ordered had a fork lift driven through it before it could make it to the house. Yay. After that we did a little shopping. Our lives are definately starting to turn into the mundane. I love it!! Being a stay at home mom is the best job that I have ever had. Hearing my little guy tell me that he loves me and is going to be with me and TJ forever is the better than an raise or praise I got for a huge project when I was working. I am so glad that I turned in my high heels for legos and hot wheels. I can't imagine dropping him off at day care every day. That would totally break my heart. I know that TJ struggles with that too.

Decisions Decisions

We are facing several decisions coming up that we really have to make but really don't want to when it comes to Jerrett. I would say that they are not serious decisions but in reality they are. It has nothing to do with the adoption. Jerrett is our son he always was even when he was living elsewhere and he always will be. The problems are a couple physical things that are going to have to be addressed. When we first got Jerrett I noticed that his little penis did not look right. I feel really weird typing that out and even weirder for having to ask people to confirm my concerns. I have not really seen that many male private parts. A few babies that I have babysat and my husband. So I wasn't entirely certain what was normal. Anyway, his is not. Whoever had done Jerrett's circumcision did not do it very well. It is actually really weird looking. Now it does not really effect the way that he goes to the bathroom or anything like that but down the road we do not want him to be embarrassed or made fun of. I just keep thinking about the locker room and how hard those are to begin with without having to be embarrassed that you look different. So the question wasn't to have it fixed but more along the lines of when to have it fixed. The other issue is that there seems to be a little lump right next to his belly button. I am thinking a hernia. That by itself is nothing really serious either, boys tend to get those. But once again something that might need to be fixed. That means they would have to put my poor little baby under to fix both issues! And the same dr could not do both surgeries. That means having to go through this twice! It totally has me stressed out. My sweet baby boy having to go through something that scary just turns my stomach. We are going to our GP this next week to see what his thoughts are and to send us to a specialist or whoever we need to see. The timing here is kinda tricky. We are still in an adjustment phase with Jerrett and don't want to interrupt the attachment that is going on by something traumatizing him and setting us back but we also still want him to be little enough to not really remember and to heal quicker. We are thinking in the next couple months if that is possible. Keep us in your prayers and pray that this does not set Jerrett back as he is doing so well.

Our little man

Jerrett is in big boy underwear! We have not had any accidents since we started wearing them. He wears them even when he naps. Now all we have to do is work on night time. He is still sleeping in a pull up for bed time. It is sort of a toss up on whether or not he wakes up dry or not. The goal is the next month or so to not even be in those.
He is doing so well. Jerrett has surpassed all expectations that we ha for him. He is flourishing in our home. It is so great to hear him tell us he loves us and to hear him calling us mommy and daddy. He said his first prayer all by himself today. What a glorious sound! Usually we have to start the prayer and then he finishes and adds to it. But at lunch he said his own prayer. He thanked God for the food asked that God help him be a good boy and then for God to be with Grandma, Grandpa, and Sam. Pretty cute and funny. His sleeping is getting better. He usually goes down right away when we put him down at 8:30. But he almost always wakes up once during the night crying. usually about 2 am. TJ or I will go in there and usually all he needs is a hug to go back down. Then he is up for good at about 6:30. I love the 6:30 thing. I am not one to sleep in so having him up means I don't have to be quiet! We get alot of stuff done because we get up so early. He also still takes a nap. About a 2.5 hour nap! Yes its hard to go out and about town in the afternoon if we need to but he is actually good if he skips it too. Jerrett is just a good boy. We could not ask for anything better. It is hard to imagine our lives with out him in it. I cannot wait until spring break and my parents come back. We are going to build Jerrett a sandbox and a fort and put up his swing set. He is such an out side little boy. He loves playing in the dirt and getting totally dirty. I love it! I never wanted a sissy boy who was afraid of dirt. I like manly men like m husband and my daddy. I pray the Jerrett turns into as good of a man as TJ, my dad, brothers and Terry. He has some great male role models in his life. Manly men who still have tender hearts as well as hearts for God. Jerrett is such a blessed little boy. But not half as blessed as we are that he is here.

If its not one thing...

Our weekend was a combination of great and not so great. First we headed off to OK for a visit with family and friends. We get about an hour down the road and I realize that the camera battery is dead. Would not be a problem if we had just a cheapy camera that took normal batteries but nope mine has a battery that looks like a cell phone battery and I did not want to have to track down a Bedfords or any other camera store just to buy a new battery. so no pics of this past weekend. I was pretty bummed. TJ had taken off on Friday and so we headed to OKC pretty early. We got there early enough to go to the mall and do a little shopping. Jerrett did really well. After the shopping, we headed to Piedmont to see our good friends and their new little baby Rhett. WE got about 5 min from the mall and all of a sudden a dude rear ended us. No one was hurt and not really much happened to the car. Jerrett didn't cry or anything. He told me, "I am ok mommy. It scared me a little but I am ok." He is too cute! So we had to wait for over an hour for a stinking cop to get to the scene. After he was done we were off again. We got to the Harps and got to love on Jaylee and baby Rhett for a little while. Jerrett did really good with the baby. He had never been around one that small before. It was fun though.
Once we left the Harps we headed on to Clinton to see Mom and Dad and the boys. Jerrett got to meet my brothers as well as Grandma and Grandpas dogs. They have a really big one and a little one. And that was Jerretts names for them. Big and little. It was pretty funny. We were a little worried about taking Jerrett somewhere and staying the night just due to his not having been with us for very long yet. He needed quit a bit of reassurance that this was Grandma and Grandpas home and that Jerretts home was with mommy and daddy. Over all he did wonderful! Saturday morning TJ's dad or PaPa came down to Clinton to meet Jerrett and have lunch. Jerrett loved his PaPa. They talked about cows and tractors and then Terry went back to my parents with us and Jerrett showed him his farm toys. We were so glad that Terry came down and saw Jerrett.
After nap on Saturday, Grandpa packed up Jerrett and invited my mom and I along. We took Jerrett to the ice cream shop and then to the park. This was when I really wished that I had my camera! Seeing my parents climb all over the playground equipment, going up and down the slides and just enjoying their grandson. Jerrett loves my parents and speaks about them all the time. He wants to call them at least once a day and anytime I am on the phone he tells me that he wants to talk to his grandma. He is so blessed to have grandparents that love him and want to spend time with him! He has never had grandparents and so this is a big deal for him,
Sunday we went to my grandmas house for a small family get together. Jerrett got to meet his great grandma and aunt and uncle and cousin Taylor. Actually I guess it would be his great uncle as Don is my dad's brother. Anyway, that doesn't really matter. He was one loved on little boy and he soaked it all up. He was so good even though he had not taken a nap all day! Grandma and Aunt Tami had arranged a Toy story theme for the day. He had a cake that was made by a lady that my aunt knows. It was amazing!!! I wish I was that talented. The best part of the day though was just getting to see my uncle. He has recently had some pretty serious health issues and it was great to see him up and going. God is good and now my uncle is on the mend. Jerrett loved getting to play with Taylor. Taylor is 18 and just so much fun to be around. She had him climbing trees and running around outside.
After that we headed home. We left relatively early so that Jerrett could be in bed close to on time. Well we got home and opened t he front door and was about knocked over by a horrible smell. Sometime while we were gone, the fridge quit working so everything had thawed and rotted. Great times. Jerrett and I went and got a new fridge yesterday. Just what I wanted to do! Oh well. I refuse to let a car accident and a bum fridge over shadow the amazing blessing of getting to spend time with the people that we love most in the whole world. People keep saying how blessed Jerrett is to have us but if you ask anyone in my family, and they will tell you that we are the ones that are blessed.