Family weekend.

Someone's going to kill me when he or she sees the second picture, but until then, here is a picture of my family being silly. Look - even Little Brother is making a funny face!

The first picture is my dad with his five, count them, five grandsons. We do not do girls in this family. Nothing wrong with girls, of course.

This weekend was Little Bro's baby dedication at church. Rather than doing infant baptisms, our church does baby dedications where the parents stand in front of the congregation and promise to raise the child in a Christian home where Jesus Christ is Lord. Then when the child is old enough to understand what it means, the hope is that he will accept Christ into his heart as his personal Lord and Savior. The Bible provides numerous accounts of people being baptized as adults after publicly confessing Jesus as Lord. I don't think it's wrong to baptize infants, but I do think it is more personal and less symbolic when the person makes that decision when they are older. I was 26! That's quite a bit older than the norm.

We had an amazing weekend as usual! We had BB's dedication last September. It's a great reason to get together, and I love my family!

We are family.

My mom is in town today and the rest of my fam is on their way for Little Brother's baby dedication at church. My mom took these pictures today. She and Big Brother played outside most of the day and I went and got a pedicure. The man asked, "How long has it been since you've had a pedicure?" Should I be embarrassed? It was pretty bad...

Locks of Lurve

I started growing my hair long when BB arrived on the scene. I didn't have time for haircuts, man, so I just let it grow. I was going to donate to Locks of Love in the summer of 2007 but my hair wasn't quite long enough. Then I decided to see what would happen with pregnancy hormones and growing hair. Yep, it grew.

Lately it has been driving me crazy, getting wrapped around tiny fingers and caught in diaper tapes, so I knew it was time. Also with the departure of our nanny I thought a new day had dawned and I could reflect that in a new do. So here it is!

Before and after.

Coming clean

OK, I confess. Up until today I've had a nanny. She found the nanny cam and quit.

Just kidding. We always planned to have someone around for 6 months, and LB will be 6 months old next week! S came four days a week from 9 to 3 since LB was about a month old. She has been a big part of our lives and we'll miss having her around. I would have loved to have her stay two days a week or so, but a girl's got to make a living, right? She starts with a new family tomorrow.

I'm excited to try to do this by myself. And nervous. I've had the chance to take a nap when needed, have lunch with a friend once in awhile, and grocery shop by myself. It has been a real luxury.

When LB was first born it took him about 90 minutes to eat. I was dead set on nursing him and it wouldn't have been possible without S's help with BB. How would I expect a one-year-old to sit around for over 8 hours a day? No way, Jose!

It's been a nostalgic day, beginning with a doctor's appointment with one of the nurse practitioners who performed several of our fertility treatments and who saw me in the hospital the day after LB was born. I remembered all the times I sat in the waiting room watching the pregnant bellies and cute little babies walk by, while longing for years for a child. Now I am the lady with the cute baby, and I always look out for that face that I wore for three years. I remembered the exciting ultrasounds and weekly appointments as we anticipated LBs arrival, and the post partum visit when my emotions were even more raw.

I went to grab a bite to eat on my last day of "freedom," and ended up at the restaurant where my friends D, K and I met when D and I told K that we too were expecting. We were all pregnant at the same time. Before going in I was trying to figure out why I felt so weird today. I guess S's last day paired with these other things made me really pensive.

So off I go, into the real world of motherhood where I actually have to take care of two kids at the same time. I'm being a little silly, because it's not like I took off every day for the spa and left S home caring for my children. Things should be a lot easier now that LB can sit up and BB can follow directions, at least to a toddler's extent.

Insert encouraging comments here ______________.

Another favorite from the bluebonnet patch.

Don't know why this photo isn't rotated from photobucket. Oh, well.

"He's our climber."

BB is quite the climber. When I pick him up from Sunday School the teachers always say, "He's our climber!" BB's maternal birth grandmother told me that his bmom K was a climber. Isn't that fun info?

At the suggestion of some wonderful friends, I purchased a small climbing toy from Toys R Us. It's called a Kangaroo Climber. BB and Daddy put it together last weekend. We won't talk much about how BB fell off that same day, though.

Anyhow, here is the documentation!

Pucker up!

Friends DO let friends do face flops.

Big Brother and Little Brother are becoming best friends!

Yesterday we were playing on the bed, and BB loves to fall flat on his face into the soft blankets. The other morning he got his baby brother to laugh and laugh as BB face flopped all over the bed. Yesterday it became LBs turn. BB would point at LB an I'd make him fall onto his tummy on the bed. After a few times I decided that LB had had enough. BB, however, did not agree. He kept pointing at his little brother and saying, "more" along with sign language. LB just went with the flow. BB laughed and laughed, "More. More." It warmed my happy little heart.

BB got a new train set today! He calls trains "nih." Earlier he fussed because he wanted to play with his nih before bed. He definitely needed a nap more than he needed to play train. AND, he just woke up so I'd better fetch him.

I've just had about an hour and a half to myself!

Texas bluebonnets

Every year in March, a beautiful thing happens in Texas. Bluebonnets and other wildflowers grow all over the highway. It was from an initiative by Lady Bird Johnson to beautify Texas highways, and it worked! Texans from all over pilgrimage to roadsides everywhere to take pictures in the bluebonnets.

I wasn't sure what to have the kids wear. Several friends recommended solid colors, but we have a paucity of solids in our wardrobes. I had to improvise. Big Brother is wearing his E=mc2 shirt inside-out, and Little Brother is wearing an Eldora Ski Resort shirt on backwards. This is why I included the last picture - you can see the logo that is supposed to be on LBs chest!

Coming from a long line of nerds.

I bought the Big Guy a great t-shirt the other day! Ain't it a hoot?

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansas

For about the past 17 months, ever since we were "sleeping" in a hotel bed waiting for BB to be born and come home with us, I have needed assistance getting to sleep.

God bless the U.S.A.

I can list all the states in alphabetical order and list every capital. It helps me get to sleep even though I sometimes have to run through the states several times if I'm really having a hard time.

I also list the states when I am stressed about LBs sleeping habits. When he's fighting sleep but I know he's tired and I'm getting frustrated (truth hurts), I list the states. It's like a bedtime story.

I have to admit it's losing it's potency. I think next I'll have to memorize U.S. presidents in chronological order, or list the books of the Bible in order.

I have Christine to thank for my capital listing prowess, because awhile back she listed an awesome website to assist with capital memorization. Now if I could just go back to the 3rd grace, I'd ace U.S. geography - a historically weak subject of mine.

WashingtonWestVirginiaWisconsinWyoming

Uteri

I'm certain that uteri is not the plural form of uterus, but doesn't it sound kind of interesting?

I was working on Big Brother's baby album the other day, and I was writing something about how he grew in K's uterus. Only, I used the word womb. You sometimes hear the term "tummy mommy" for birthmother, but something about it just doesn't feel right to me. For me, it implies that the birthmom ends her connection with her baby when the baby is born. That is certainly not the truth, even in closed adoption. In any case, did I want to say that he grew in her tummy, uterus, or womb. I decided uterus was too formal, and tummy was too biologically inaccurate. I thought 'womb' sounded like a pretty nice place.

So the other day BB was playing in LB's crib, a favorite pastime, and he came across a photo album in which are professional photos of K the night before she went in the hospital to have BB. We opened to a picture of her and I said, "Where's BB?" and he pointed right at her belly. I was surprised. Maybe he doesn't really understand it, but he did it again today.

Thanks in part to my new friend Brown (secretbmom.blogspot.com), I knew I had to tell K what BB had done. She was touched, for obvious reasons. I was glad it occurred to me to let her know.

Open adoption isn't always easy. Sometimes I see where K has written "my son" and I think, "No! Mine!" like an impetuous child who doesn't want to share. Sometimes I look at a picture of them together and think, "Look at that - she's his real mom," and then have to remind myself that we can both be his real mom in different ways. Sometimes, honestly, it's tiring to ponder how I can be a better and more consistent communicator with K. We have two busy, needy babies after all, and other responsibilities, too, making for a really busy time of our lives.

But, I really feel wonderful about our relationship as extended family, and blessed that our son will grow up knowing how unbelievably much we all love him and want the best for him. It's worth a little pain on our parts (ours and K's) to make the best life possible for BB. Parenting isn't about parents, is it? It's about children. Yours, mine, and ours.

Speaking of, LB was up several times last night, so I'd better get some sleep in case we have another one of those.

We love you, K!