Bear is up on twos!

He is finally walking without help. He will stand in the middle of the floor and just go. I knew it would not be long. It did seem like it took a while to get the hang of it but now he is going. He sometimes sits halfway and then crawls but he is getting there. I am so proud of him, It is fun to watch his face when he does it. Sheer excitement!



We have one week left before we are to be leaving to AZ! I am sooo excited I cannot wait! I can smell the cedar trees now and feel the warm blaze of the fireplace on the cool crisp nights. I can also taste the delicious foods that will be served up all the while we are there. Nona is an amazing cook (of course she is; she's Italian Ü) I also love to cook along side her. We make a great team in the kitchen I do think. She is so much fun and loves to have a great time with her family! I think that is probably why I love my MIL so much... She is her mother's daughter!

I am off to go play games with my hubby now! Yay!

Homestudy complete!

Okay so we are one step closer to Adoption. Today we had our homestudy for adoption. Our Agency comes out and updates all of our paperwork asking us how we function as a family... I tell them like dys!... hahahah dysfunction! okay, okay hold down the silence and cue the crickets!

So on with the homestudy... they ask us questions about our background; like abuse, violence in our home (I am so glad the dogs can't talk... they'd tell about the time that we took Duke and had him ... Well you know; but he can't so we are in the clear)... (Are those crickets?).

We told them that J's parents are recently recovering from a long line of drug and alcohol abuse and gun theft (hahahaha... for those of you not lucky enough to know them yet... his father is a Pastor and his mom... well she is the pastor's wife. She is MUCH MORE than that... She is AMAZING AND I LOVE HER!

It was about an hour and a half long and we got to air all of our dirty laundry and the clean ones too thanks to Bear pulling all my freshly folded laundry out... Good thing I put the panties away already... (ahahhahahahah okay sorry I am seriously distracted tonight but has anyone seen the movie ANGUS... there is this part on there where his undies get jacked and they are hung from the flag pole at school and as he sees them up there they are getting bigger and bigger and finally they fall off and land on his "crush's" face (i think that's how it goes)... so that's what went through my mind just envisioning Bear pulling my undies out in front of our caseworker... AND HER TRAINEE! But it also did not happen so I am again IN the clear... They were safely tucked away in J's lunch box (like you have never stashed something in a random place because it was convenient for the time) I sure hope he brown bagged it tonight! Surprise??? I hope he won't think it is like one of those little "love notes" preparing him for what is to come... I am going to go take some sleep meds guys.

Oh yeah back to the post. Any way our homestudy is done and now we are waiting for the case to be moved to the Adoptions unit (nov 20 or later this mo) then we get to carry on with the rest. The Director at our foster agency is saying that it should be no more than a month; two at tops but we will see... I am trusting God for this miracle before Christmas. WE are pushing limits and number havoc but numbers do not matter to God. He can and WILL perform what is to be witnessed by us and those around us in His time! AMEN! ( yes I have talked about God and my undies in J's lunch box all in the same post...and? I used a different paragraph hello!)

Mosieing right along now...We are getting ready for our Thanksgiving vacation... woohoooo... we are leaving for AZ for a week. We are headed to the mountains to visit J's Nonna at her cabin she had built there about a year ago. Beautiful and so relaxing. I am getting stir crazy just thinking about it; WE love spending time with them (his Aunt Catherine will be joining us as she lives with Nonna). there is something about traveling that just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside...It is getting to spend so much uninterrupted time together. I am praying for minimal melt-downs from Bear... He does wonderful and we have never had problems from him such as these so I am hoping that he will be able to function on the road the whole way too. It is a 16 hour trip one way sooooo... lots of Benadryl... hahaha j/k. Yes for me! (Gosh you are terrible)

I hope I don't have to drive. J loves to drive long road trips; so lucky am I. I just can't watch; He scares the tar out of me! Let's just hope this year it is tar... last year it was not so tarry, more like well I will spare you. I had a terrible virus that I caught just before leaving and it made for a terrible road trip to say the least (oh yeah and we had a 3 week old baby in tow). I took some immodium and then was scared to pass gas from there after, but felt like I was going to explode if I didn't... It was a scary toss up.... That stuff is no joke! I think you could use that stuff to stop leaky faucets or something... hahahahahahhahahaha... yes I am delerious... but it is my blog and if you are still reading I am terribly sorry... DId I mention that we are going AZ... Okay I have got to go now.

See you tomorrow.

Fall is in the air..

This is just a fun preview... I want to do some real fun ones eventually. It seems like every time the weather is just right... he wakes up and it gets way too sunny outside. The other day it was over cast, I thought "PERFECT PICTURE DAY! I will put him down for a nap and when he gets up we can go outside and take pictures"... HA! as soon as his eyes popped open so did the sunshine! So we were just outside playing today and got some fun pictures.








I am also doing respite this weekend (for you non-foster lingo peeps, it is caring for another foster family's foster child for the weekend)... He is 9 months old and so adorable. Bear LOVES him. They played to their hearts content. He is also a very big boy so they can pounce eachother and have a ball!



Bear seems to have to have something (usually balls) in his hands when he crawls somewhere. It is comical to hear him coming down the hall on the linoleum flooring... "clink, thud, clink, thud..." He was sitting in this foot stool that the top flips up on. He is such a goof ball! I love it! Never a dull moment!







Here is daddy gettin' some Bear hugs... mmmmm baby lovin' is the best thing money can't buy!