12 Months

Our little monkey just keeps getting taller and taller and leaner and leaner.  Today at the doctor she had grown length wise just as fast as usual but slowed down on her weight.  She is going to be one tall lean little girl.  Matter of fact the doctor had to measure her height twice because he thought maybe the nurse had input it incorrectly.

After we had visited the doctor we met up with my Mom and Robyn at Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Adelé's 3rd and final birthday party.  Mom had made her the traditional 1 year old cake.  By birthday 3 Adelé wasn't as excited about smashing cake - because now it was just an every day occurrence (or so it seemed), but she did enjoy eating the marshmallow frosting and hanging out with her Grandma. 

We took her to the mall and she got her very own first helium balloon - she squealed the entire way home. 

Mom and Robyn left for home that afternoon and we stayed for church the following day.  As we were getting ready I realized we hadn't taken a Dinky and Ad picture for awhile.  Neither of them wanted to lie on their backs so we had to take it with them both sitting up. 

I took Ad's 1 year pictures on Grandma's porch.  She is getting so big.  She loves to clap her hands. She folds her arms every time we say prayers.  It was so cute the first night that we realized she was folding her arms with us as we were praying and now she does it quite often.  She also loves to make noise by running her fingers over her lips and making noise.  She's not walking yet but she sure is getting good at furniture cruising.  If Oley is in a different room than her she will make a yelling noise and wait for him to respond back, they will do this over and over again until he walks into the room or she crawls out to find him.  Her love for her daddy sure shows. 

She loves to wave at people no matter who or where we are, she is so friendly to everyone.  Although with all this friendliness she is also becoming very good at throwing fits.  I have a feeling we have a lot of these ahead of us. All and all she is still very happy!  She is such a great eater and transitioning her from bottles was not hard at all - she took to the sippy cup really well and will typically fall asleep with a little rocking before putting her down in her bed.  Her nightly routine of brushing teeth, reading stories and going to bed becomes easier and easier every night as she looks forward to brushing her teeth.

First Birthday

Our little Adelé got to have 3 different birthday parties.  The first one was a big one in Boise a few days before her birthday, then we had a small one at our house on her birthday, finally wrapping up with one with family up at my grandparents house the weekend after her birthday. 

She loved being the center of attention and especially was fond of getting to smash cake all over everything. 

Shawnie, Leimomi, and Emily all came over to help celebrate - she anxiously awaited their arrival!

 

We had Adelé's favorite pizza for dinner the night of her birthday.  While she ate I blew her some bubbles, she absolutely loves bubbles!

We had a white cake at her first party so we did chocolate the night of her real birthday!

Aunt Shawnie pushed her around the house on her new car.  She was so upset when Shawnie had to go. 

We are so blessed to have Adelé in our family!  Happy Birthday Baby!

Boise Birthday

Lucky for Adelé I had signed up to run a half marathon the weekend before her birthday, in Boise.  Since a lot of our family was going to be there Oley and I decided that we would celebrate her first birthday there  a few days early with a family birthday party.  Oley made adorable little Strawberry Shortcake invitations.  We left here on the Thursday before the half marathon and drove through the night.

Once we finally arrived everyone got very little sleep and then we got to work on getting everything ready for the party.  Her refreshments were going to consist of pizza pockets, strawberry's over pound cake, chocolate dipped strawberries, and birthday cake. 
I was absolutely dreading the half marathon.  I had not trained as much as I would have liked and so when Doug, Laur, Matt and I got to the drop off place Saturday morning the line was long.  I kept hoping that we wouldn't be able to catch a bus in time so we would just have to run the 10k instead.  Unfortunately, the we were able to get to the starting line before the start of the run, so away we went.  The first few miles were difficult due to the drastic change in elevation, but lucky for me the majority of the run was at a slight downhill grade.  My goal was just to finish in less than 2 hours.  I was able to finish in 1:55, so I was happy with that.  Oley ran the 5K. 

 Mom brought all the kids with her when she showed up to cheer us on. 

 I had crossed the finish line before anyone got there so I waited around for a little bit.  Once my baby was there she helped be celebrate!

 Oley was able to finish his too!

 We took a picture with the potato mascot.  We were in Idaho!

 The group that ran that morning.

Once we were done Adelé was ready to go pick up her cake and take a nap to get ready for her big party!
I am so grateful for everyone who came to the party to make it a fun time.  Allison and Lucas were able to be there, as well as everyone but Marilee and Jacob and Roarke and Mandy and their families.  Adelé had a great time! 

I am so grateful that we have been able to add cute Ad to our family!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day has always been a day that I have dreaded and for rightful reasons (or so I think).  Going to church and having the awkward "will all the mothers in the congregation please stand up so we can give you a gift", or "please all women pick up a gift as you walk out of the chapel."  Or the well wishes from people wishing you a Happy Mother's Day - it was as if taking the knife and twisting it a little deeper and harder into my heart.  Not that that was what was intended by any of these actions, but that's how someone who is infertile, or at least I, took it. 
This year would be my first real Mother's Day.  I didn't know what to think of it.  I actually started to dread it two weeks before, knowing that it was coming.  I wished the world would just skip the weekend all together because I knew I never liked this holiday and this year was supposed to be different.  I knew that the joy I was feeling was because of an incredibly strong woman who was willing to sacrifice her baby so that I could become a "mother".  I have no idea what kind of strength that had to have taken from her, but she did it and now I am a mom!  Because I am now a mom, why was I not ready for this wonderful day in which we celebrate mothers? 

The day that Adelé was born is one that I will always keep deep in my heart.  Being in the delivery room with Allison and realizing that she had the strength to follow the Lord's plan to sacrifice her baby to fulfill the promised blessing for Oley and I to to become parents, was the most incredible feeling I have had.  My love for her grew tenfold as sweet Adelé was born and she allowed me to be the first to hold her.  As I looked down at our new sweet baby my heart was full.   

This sweet baby was the same baby that I had seen numerous times as I looked at a painting by Simon Dewey. 

This image is one that means the world to me.   One lonely night as I was having an incredibly difficult time dealing with my infertility this image popped up on my computer.  I was pleading with my Heavenly Father earlier that evening that I didn't understand why I couldn't have a child of my own.  Later in the evening I was at my computer and this image appeared, the Scripture "Doubt Not But Be Believing" came into my mind.  I knew that Heavenly Father had a plan for me and that I just needed to continue to have the faith and someday I would be holding this infant in my arms - one in which He had taken special care of, which would be reflected in the light of their eyes. 
When Adelé was born I knew that this was that baby in the picture and that I would get to share this perfect angel with Allison.  She would grow up knowing that she not only had one loving mother that she shared her life with, but she was blessed with the best kind of mother one in which only the elite of women can claim the title of and that is a birth mother. 
 
So why then was I having trouble being happy for this holiday? At the end of the day I realized that my anxiety over this holiday was not the holiday itself, but the pain I know that comes with this holiday.  The pain women all over the world feel.  The pain that women who are unable to bear children cope with, the pain that birth mothers who place their children deal with, the pain that children who have lost mothers at a young age have, the pain of grown adults who have lost their mothers deal with - all of this made me realize one thing the title of Mother means more than just bearing a child, it means loving a child unconditionally.  The statement a mother's love means much more to me now than it ever has before.  I am indeed grateful for the opportunity I have to have Adelé as my child, from the first time I held her to the first time I fed her the peace and optimism she brings to me is more than I can ever repay. 


I know that I have  Father and Mother in Heaven that love me.  I know that they are aware of my circumstances and I know that as Adelé grows she will carry this light with her throughout her life and will be able to bring hope and healing to everyone she encounters.  I love our birthmom and I am so grateful we get to share our little Adelé with such a strong woman!

Oh Baby - Stop Growing!

It's amazing how quickly Adelé learns how to do things.  It's as if she completely understands what we are saying but just can't fully communicate back to us.  She is able to say mama, papa, dinky, and lily.  But other than that it's just her cute little babbles.   Now that she is getting teeth she thinks that it is so funny to grab one of our fingers put it in her mouth and then tests how hard she can bite down before you say ouch.  It was cute the first time she did it but now it's gotten to the point of eek how do we break our child from biting everyone and everything.  She will go up to Dinky and try to bite him or when we are laying in bed she will lean over and bite your nose.  I don't know how we are going to break her of this biting thing.  you would think with only 4 teeth it wouldn't hurt - but by golly those suckers are sharp! 

The past few weeks have been us trying to keep up with all her new skills.  She still loves reading her books, especially the touch and feel books or panel books like her Brown Bear book.  She loves sliding the panels on each of the pages.  

If I am getting ready in the morning and I don't include her in my morning routine she is very upset.  So recently I have just been setting her in the sink to while I do my hair - she loves it!

 She is continually up to something!

 Her and Oley love to take naps together. 

 She has become so good at standing her self up on things she now only needs minor support to stay upright. 

 I love it when I can cuddle her while she sleeps.

Getting ready for church on Sundays is always a struggle for her.  She loves to sleep in and so when we have to wake her up at 8:30 to get ready she isn't a happy camper.  This week she at least gave me a smile before we left.

 A girl after my own heart!  She loves to share a good box of junior mints with me. 

I gave her a doughnut the other day for breakfast and she only ate a few bites and then finished up all of her strawberries.  She is such a good healthy little eater.  She loves fruits and vegetables.  She still just loves to eat green beans.