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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Spring Break

This past week while Brennan and Chase were out of school my mom came from Arizona to visit. The kids and I were so excited to see her! From the moment we got her until the moment she left the kids were all about Gramma do this, Gramma do that, Gramma sit by me!! :) I think she went home exhausted....a good exhausted though! ;)
We went to the museum, played outside, rode the golf cart at her house (her house here in Decatur), and went to Starved Rock to hike and swim at the Grizzly Bear Lodge. It was a fun filled week!




Gramma's golf cart is at maximum capacity!! ;) (Kullen's face is hidden back behind M's arm!)




Love this pic of my mom with her grandkids!! 


This pic just melts my heart!!!


Chase has been really sweet to Mayleigh. I think the boys are falling in love with their new sister!! (When she is not screaming in the car!!) :) 













We had such a blast at the water park. My mom and I were exhausted...but it was so fun! Mayleigh was such a fish. This was her first time (I assume) in a pool and its amazing how comfortable she was! Putting her face down in the water, laying on her back, and splashing like crazy!!! She fits in well with this water loving family!! It's going to be a fun summer at the pool. (again...exhausting, but fun!)












This was the best I got after many attempts of all 4!! :)


Love this face!!


As we waited for our pizza, Gramma bought the boys coins for the arcade! Brennan LOVES arcades! He had a ball! 







I loved this family slide!! We could all go down together and I could hold Mayleigh. We did this many times!! My arms were so tired from holding M. Got my workout in!! :)








The boys just couldn't believe that the hotel has bunk beds!! They loved it! We missed having Daddy around for our over night trip, but I guess someone has to work! ;) 



Sunday, March 9, 2014

As if life wasn't crazy enough....

This weekend we packed up the car and loaded everyone (and 50 million bags!) up to head north. A little weekend getaway. I wish I was more excited about this getaway. We were staying in a hotel and we were going to take the kids swimming and to a Children's Museum on Sat. Sounds fun, right? But as we drove there my stomach was in knots knowing that we had some big news to share with our kids. (yes we waited until the LAST min to share this with them!!) We were heading up north to look at some suburbs of Chicago. A few weeks ago Jeff was asked to relocate with ADM to Chicago. There has been talk that ADM was taking about 100 people from the corporate office to downtown Chicago. That news came out in Nov. and Jeff reassured me that he was not one of them going. So we enjoyed the holidays and went to China to bring home sweet Mayleigh after the New Year. When Jeff got back to work he started hearing rumors that the head of his department (who was going) was proposing to take the whole group.

Jeff was smart and gave me a little heads up when he heard the rumors. But he really kind of downplayed it so I really didn't think it was going to happen. I am so excited for Jeff. He is so excited about working in downtown Chicago. I on the other hand am still trying to get excited. Like I said earlier in my blog, we have some GREAT friends here and such an amazing support system. Not to mention, my parents live here half of the year. I am so thankful my parents have gotten to be as close as they have all this time. Now we will be living closer to Jeff's family which will be nice. His mom and dad and sister will be about an hour from us and his brother and their boys will be about 45 min. away. We are excited about that. My boys LOVE to spend time with their cousins so that will be fun to be able to get together more often.

 I  know Chicago has a lot to offer and Naperville is suppose to have amazing schools and it's suppose to be a wonderful area, but it is hard to think about starting over. New friends, new schools, new church, etc. The good news is that most of you probably know that Jeff got offered the opportunity to take a new job with ADM in Switzerland about a year and a half ago. Had it not been for Mayleigh and the adoption, we would be there now. So this feels so easy compared to that move we almost did. At least this isnt a different country with a different language. And its 3 hours away from what we know. That we can do. Getting home from Switzerland with 4 kids...probably wouldn't have worked too often! See I am finding at least a few positives for this move.

 So we headed up north this past weekend to check out some areas. We looked around Naperville and Geneva. We obviously will not be living in the city with 4 kids so Jeff will be commuting by train everyday. That will take some getting used to since he is used to having an hour to himself at the gym in the mornings. That hour will now be spent on the train.
So nothing like getting home with a new adopted daughter, trying to figure out her medical needs and seeing lots of doctors, adjusting to life with 4 kids 6 and under...why not just throw a move in there too! ;) The office will not be ready in Chicago until Aug. So you Decatur/Mt Zion people are stuck with us for another 5 months! We have a busy 5 months ahead! A few trips to Naperville to look for a house, a few trips to Columbus for testing and 2 surgeries, and a move. PHEW! Sometimes I just need to take a deep breath....one day at a time!
As we drove back into Mt. Zion today Jeff says, "we are going to miss this place." I second that!

Sunday, March 2, 2014

catching up...

It's been about six week since we got home from China. It is crazy to think about the difference in Mayleigh from when we were in China and now home. She is 100 % a completely different kid. She is so happy and has brought so much joy to our house! So different from the way I felt in China. To be completely honest, I had a lot of scary feelings about what I had just done to our family. I remember thinking, everything was just fine with our family of 5.....luckily we trusted that this was our plan for our family and we now feel so complete with Mayleigh. Everyone is adjusting and doing well. Kullen is finally acting more like himself and doesnt seem so sad all the time about having to share his mommy with this new strange girl in his house! Now that doesnt mean that he doesnt sometimes try and push her or hit her in the head with a sword but overall, he is doing better.
Actually a few posts ago, I wrote that I was getting out with some girlfriends for dinner. Jeff was doing dinner and bedtime with all 4. I decided to check in and text him about an hour or so after I left. He said things were good except Mayleigh had her first bloody mouth!! He was cleaning up from dinner and thinks that Kullen pushed Mayleigh off the mini tramp in our family room. When she fell she bit down on her lip. Right under her bottom lip. Jeff was nervous that she bit through it and maybe needed stitches. OH BOY! I texted him back asking if he wanted me to come home but the whole time I was praying he would say no!! :) Luckily she recovered quick and was off playing in no time. We had our neighbor Kelly (who is our dentist) run over to take a look and make sure he didnt think she needed stitches!! (thanks Angie and Kelly...you guys are the BEST!!!!) But all looked good so I stayed out and they carried on with their night! PHEW! First night out with my friends...I REALLY didnt want to go home!! ;) 
Mayleigh is chunky up quite a bit. I think she is up to around 22 or 23 lbs. She looks so different than when she was in China.  


                            M in China                                                 Home with a loving family!     




What a crazy difference!!! Her face has filled out so much! And wow, has her personality come out! She is quite the character. Fits in well with her brothers! ;) She has figured out the word that you say when I put a camera in front of her! It doesnt exactly sound like "cheese", more like eeeeessss but she says it just like Kullen!! But for some reason she thinks she is suppose to put her arms in the air at the same time! 




First bath!! We had been showering her since since she always wanted to be held in China. We honestly were a little grossed out about the possibility of poop in the bath since she has no control over when she poops with her stoma. But if we do a pretty quick one we are good!! And she LOVES it. She is definitely picking up english because when I say we are going to take a bath...she gets super excited!!



First day at church! Bad pictures but wanted one of her in her cute dress!! We were literally walking out the door and of course we were running late!! ;) That is how we roll with 4 kids!!




First time at MOPS with all the moms!! :)


Enjoying a ride!! 



We tried the park on a pretty mild day. She enjoyed it for a little while!!


She loves the trampoline!!! I was a little nervous because the boys would bounce around her and she would get bounced all over but she just giggled and giggled!! I am sure we will be spending lots of time on it this spring! Thanks neighbors! ;)



Mayleigh finally meets Adalee!! I met another adopting mom on our FB group when I realized she just lived about 20 miles from us! Tammy and I got together a few times while we were waiting for our girls and then they went for Adalee in Nov. We finally got the girls together to play!! :)



Silly girls!!



M has discovered how much she likes sunglasses!! 


I just LOVE this pic!!! She LOVES to go to the mudroom and put the boys boots on! 


Playing at the mall play area! She was LOVING it!!


I started potty training Kullen this past week. Go figure, she likes sitting on the potty WAY more than Kullen! But we are proud of K!! He is doing great so far. It's been a couple days of naked playing and he has not had an accident in a few days. Ok, well, he did poop in his underwear yesterday. But if you know how much trouble pooping was for my other two, you know my expectations with that department are NOT high! We are just hoping for the peeing right now!! :)



Even though he has had a rough transition with her home...I know he loves her!! And this little one LOVES to give kisses to all her brothers! Well, anyone actually. She was trying to kiss our pastor today! :)


We cant remember what life was like before Mayleigh. She fits so perfectly in our family and we are totally in love!!! 

Snow day!!

We have had a ton of snow this winter. Fun in some ways but I am now over it!! I finally got the energy to bundle all four kiddos up so we could all enjoy the snow together. I wasn't sure how Mayleigh was going to like it but she had a good time!! She loved being pulled in the sled and she loves sitting on the boys ride on trucks!


Such personalities!! Love them all!!!!





Big brother pulling his sis!! 


Just LOVE that smile!! 


Our first pic of the 4 kiddos!! We are complete! 



Checking out her brother's toys!!


Kullen was not sure he wanted her riding with him!





Enjoying the outdoor toys!! :)




Sweet Chase enjoying the snow mounds! Its fun living in a cul-de-sac and they push the snowplow makes huge snow piles!