Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Baby Toys
My neighbor, Stephanie, has been GREAT letting us borrow stuff for Cruz. I got rid of most of my baby stuff. She brought this over thinking Cruz would have fun playing with it. Guess who will not let him near it... the ones who are NOT babies. I took a picture and told them I was blogging it. They said I wouldn't... (note Cruz's face with the what in the world is going on look). Even the dog was in on the action, and Silas must have been in the pantry stealing a snack.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Another Chapter in Cruz's little life...
*This post is for Cruz to read someday. It lacks entertainment value!
Cruz, baby, I love you with all that I am, but you have rocked and currently are rocking my world. I had never had a sick pregnancy until you. I had never had a baby with tummy issues as severe as you. I have never had a baby with blood in their diaper indicating allergies, until you. I have never had a baby that did not sleep through the night until 9 months old, until you. I never had a baby that made each day a guessing game ,until you.
Case in point... I thought we had grown out of our "dairy" issue. I had introduced it back into my diet and the little man did not seem to be bothered by it at all. Last week, I made a push toward eliminating a daily feeding and substituted soy milk in it's place. (We have tried a formula, but he hates it). All was fine and good until Saturday when the poop started flowing and by yesterday I could visibly see the blood in his diaper. I happened to be near my docs office yesterday when he just had a bad diaper and I made a stop by. They saw me and tested his diaper. Yes blood, and yes from the look of the diaper, indication is an allergy. Based on what has entered into his diet most recently we are suspecting soy. Which baffles me because I never took soy out of my diet and he has not had any issues (though I did not drink soy in heavy concentrations only baked into products). So we are off to the allergist tomorrow to have some blood work and see if we can pinpoint our allergies.
I just cried and cried yesterday. I am exhausted with it. I am tired of putting things into my child's body that hurt him. I am tired of it always being something else. Yes, I know it could be so much more, and I am so thankful it is not. But today, I am just tired. It has been a 8 month battle of figuring this baby out and I am no closer today than when the blood first appeared at 7 weeks. I am hoping that tomorrow provides some answers!
Cruz, baby, I love you with all that I am, but you have rocked and currently are rocking my world. I had never had a sick pregnancy until you. I had never had a baby with tummy issues as severe as you. I have never had a baby with blood in their diaper indicating allergies, until you. I have never had a baby that did not sleep through the night until 9 months old, until you. I never had a baby that made each day a guessing game ,until you.
Case in point... I thought we had grown out of our "dairy" issue. I had introduced it back into my diet and the little man did not seem to be bothered by it at all. Last week, I made a push toward eliminating a daily feeding and substituted soy milk in it's place. (We have tried a formula, but he hates it). All was fine and good until Saturday when the poop started flowing and by yesterday I could visibly see the blood in his diaper. I happened to be near my docs office yesterday when he just had a bad diaper and I made a stop by. They saw me and tested his diaper. Yes blood, and yes from the look of the diaper, indication is an allergy. Based on what has entered into his diet most recently we are suspecting soy. Which baffles me because I never took soy out of my diet and he has not had any issues (though I did not drink soy in heavy concentrations only baked into products). So we are off to the allergist tomorrow to have some blood work and see if we can pinpoint our allergies.
I just cried and cried yesterday. I am exhausted with it. I am tired of putting things into my child's body that hurt him. I am tired of it always being something else. Yes, I know it could be so much more, and I am so thankful it is not. But today, I am just tired. It has been a 8 month battle of figuring this baby out and I am no closer today than when the blood first appeared at 7 weeks. I am hoping that tomorrow provides some answers!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Bragging just a little...
I see the looks we get, I know what many of our friends and family think about all we put into baseball. I know that a lot of people ask how baseball is, but then stop listening when we really begin to tell. I know that some think that Baylor playing as much as he does for this age is over the top... however, what a lot of people do not understand is what level this really is. The commitment he (and we) have put into it. How much he loves it and how being on this team has built his confidence. I don't know where Baylor will be in baseball in 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years. But for right now we are enjoying the ride.
Here is where mom is going to brag on her boy...
* Baylor is on a 9U team that (after this weekend's tournament) is ranked 28th in the NATION for 9U teams!!! (this is out of over 2,000 teams all over the country)
* His team is ranked #1 in their home region which is TN East. (There is also a TNW).
* This team is more fun to watch than any professional ball I have seen in a long time. (so I may have a little more personal interest at steak)
* When my son is up to bat, I want to puke just a little and get shaky... and I am so thankful that it is not up to me to have to swing the bat to hit the ball. When he steals a base I have to cover my eyes, and when the ball is hit to him I make strange noises that I am unaware of until he catches it.
* I saw my son have an AWESOME weekend where he absolutely ROCKETED the baseball. (his teammates were calling him "Bay-Rod" after the professional player "A-Rod"... he ate it up!)
* My son knows baseball's ins and outs in a way that amazes me for a 9 year old. He analyzes plays and understands things that just baffle me.
This child makes me proud in so many ways. I am glad he enjoys this...and we enjoy it with him for as long as he wants to.
Here is where mom is going to brag on her boy...
* Baylor is on a 9U team that (after this weekend's tournament) is ranked 28th in the NATION for 9U teams!!! (this is out of over 2,000 teams all over the country)
* His team is ranked #1 in their home region which is TN East. (There is also a TNW).
* This team is more fun to watch than any professional ball I have seen in a long time. (so I may have a little more personal interest at steak)
* When my son is up to bat, I want to puke just a little and get shaky... and I am so thankful that it is not up to me to have to swing the bat to hit the ball. When he steals a base I have to cover my eyes, and when the ball is hit to him I make strange noises that I am unaware of until he catches it.
* I saw my son have an AWESOME weekend where he absolutely ROCKETED the baseball. (his teammates were calling him "Bay-Rod" after the professional player "A-Rod"... he ate it up!)
* My son knows baseball's ins and outs in a way that amazes me for a 9 year old. He analyzes plays and understands things that just baffle me.
This child makes me proud in so many ways. I am glad he enjoys this...and we enjoy it with him for as long as he wants to.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Read This NOW
I have wanted to do a post on this for a while... but I don't have first hand experience. I just have heart touching stories told to me by friends and sweet sisters, and my own heart that aches for these children and rejoices that their cries have been heard.
Go HERE and read about Korah, and come back and tell me that it does not stop you in your tracks for SO MANY REASONS.
Go HERE and read about Korah, and come back and tell me that it does not stop you in your tracks for SO MANY REASONS.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
My thoughts on adoption...
So, a lady right here not hours from where I live did the unthinkable. She brought home a child from Russia, then basically decided it was too hard. She put him on a plane ALONE and sent him back to Russia. I have so many comments about this, but at this point nothing I say or feel is going to change what happened. There is no way she did not know the risk. There is no way she did not have people she could turn to for help. There is no way a 7 year old child who had been institutionalized for most all of his life did not deserve someone giving their all to help him.
This is my daughter, Eliza.
She has been my daughter since God put the call on our heart to adopt. You see, I get the benefit of experiencing parenthood 5 times over. Four of those times have been through the trial of pregnancy and childbirth. One of those times, the pain and wait of international adoption.
Though I fully embrace adoption on all levels, and would do it again TODAY, I do not like to label Eliza or define her as "adopted". I don't walk around describing my children saying "I gave birth to these 4, and she is adopted". If given the chance or if someone asks, I typically say "She was born in Guatemala". She is my daughter, she is my child. She holds a piece of my heart like each of the others do. She is no different. We talk alot these days with her about Guatemala. She tells us "You and Daddy pick me up in My-mala". She loves to tease her brothers that until Christmas when Baylor went to Nicaragua, she was the only one that had ever been on a plane. Sometimes, I see the boys proudly telling friends on ball teams that "She's my sister" when she goes up to the fence to give them some love. Truthfully, we all forget that she looks a little different from the rest of us. It takes us off guard when we go out in public and people just stop and stare. I am sure they are staring at many things... the big family, the beautiful children, and the one breath-taking little girl, or even the mom who looks like she could use a nice relaxing massage. =)
So, I guess my theory on adoption is a little different. We did not "go get a child" because we "wanted a girl" or any of the other reasons people suggest. We adopted because God called us to grow our family and spoke very specifically to us that our daughter would be born in Guatemala. I could list all of the signs we feel came to us telling us the path to take, but some of that is for Eliza. So that someday when she asks us "WHY" we can tell her what we feel was God's plan for her life. She knows that her baby brother came from my tummy, and she knows that she did not (which is where all the My-mala talk has been coming from). She will also know the love of her birth mother and will have a precious picture of Marta Isabel kissing her on the cheek. She will know about Maria Elizabet, her foster mom, who cared for her for 9 months while we waited on the government to allow us to bring her home. She will know her story, she will know she is loved by so many people, and she will be instilled with a great pride for the country of her birth.
Her brothers know how long we waited for her and remember all the traveling we did and praying we did for her to come home, yet Callan still commented that he did not remember my belly getting as big with Eliza as when I was expecting Cruz. They have also cast votes and have decided that Eliza and Cruz have the same eyes because his are so brown. She is one of us, maybe not by birth... but in all of our hearts. She is our sister, our daughter, our cherished one, our love. We cannot imagine a day without her and praise God for her precious life and getting the pleasure of sharing it with her.
This is my daughter, Eliza.
She has been my daughter since God put the call on our heart to adopt. You see, I get the benefit of experiencing parenthood 5 times over. Four of those times have been through the trial of pregnancy and childbirth. One of those times, the pain and wait of international adoption.
Though I fully embrace adoption on all levels, and would do it again TODAY, I do not like to label Eliza or define her as "adopted". I don't walk around describing my children saying "I gave birth to these 4, and she is adopted". If given the chance or if someone asks, I typically say "She was born in Guatemala". She is my daughter, she is my child. She holds a piece of my heart like each of the others do. She is no different. We talk alot these days with her about Guatemala. She tells us "You and Daddy pick me up in My-mala". She loves to tease her brothers that until Christmas when Baylor went to Nicaragua, she was the only one that had ever been on a plane. Sometimes, I see the boys proudly telling friends on ball teams that "She's my sister" when she goes up to the fence to give them some love. Truthfully, we all forget that she looks a little different from the rest of us. It takes us off guard when we go out in public and people just stop and stare. I am sure they are staring at many things... the big family, the beautiful children, and the one breath-taking little girl, or even the mom who looks like she could use a nice relaxing massage. =)
So, I guess my theory on adoption is a little different. We did not "go get a child" because we "wanted a girl" or any of the other reasons people suggest. We adopted because God called us to grow our family and spoke very specifically to us that our daughter would be born in Guatemala. I could list all of the signs we feel came to us telling us the path to take, but some of that is for Eliza. So that someday when she asks us "WHY" we can tell her what we feel was God's plan for her life. She knows that her baby brother came from my tummy, and she knows that she did not (which is where all the My-mala talk has been coming from). She will also know the love of her birth mother and will have a precious picture of Marta Isabel kissing her on the cheek. She will know about Maria Elizabet, her foster mom, who cared for her for 9 months while we waited on the government to allow us to bring her home. She will know her story, she will know she is loved by so many people, and she will be instilled with a great pride for the country of her birth.
Her brothers know how long we waited for her and remember all the traveling we did and praying we did for her to come home, yet Callan still commented that he did not remember my belly getting as big with Eliza as when I was expecting Cruz. They have also cast votes and have decided that Eliza and Cruz have the same eyes because his are so brown. She is one of us, maybe not by birth... but in all of our hearts. She is our sister, our daughter, our cherished one, our love. We cannot imagine a day without her and praise God for her precious life and getting the pleasure of sharing it with her.
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