Birthday girl, life as a family of four, and general long overdue update! As you can guess, with a new little one in the house, life has been quite a bit busier for me. It is a good busy though, and I absolutely would not have it any other way!! But we have had a LOT going on! I am sure that you all have noticed my lack of posts and pictures on Facebook as well, so I figured that it is time for a long overdue update on how we are all doing. Kaleb has been home almost two months now (October 14) and we really are adjusting pretty well. Better every day in fact! He came home on August 14, right before our two local fairs and we took him to both fairs and he did pretty amazing. He only had one day in that whole almost two weeks where he was pretty fussy and that was mainly just because he was hungry! But for a child who has had virtually no stimulation, he did amazing! Kayti and Kaleb seem to get along very well. They do not play a lot together yet, but she totally enjoys mothering him and telling him what to do! And right now he doesn’t seem to mind! We do have to remind Kayti quite often to share her toys and that if she takes something from him she is to give him something else. She has had a few moments where you could almost read the jealousy in her face when he was getting a lot of attention, but for the most part she is an amazing big sister and loves helping him with toys, helping give him a bath and getting me his clothes, etc. She even voluntarily gives him a kiss good night. She loves to sit and sing to him and it is pretty adorable!! He is sleeping in his own bed already and sleeps there throughout the night. Well, I should say most of the time he stays in the bed, but on a few occasions he has been sleeping elsewhere on the floor by the bed or sometimes the bedroom door, etc. He eats very well! Much better than Kayti first did. Actually, he eats like a little linebacker. A typical breakfast for our little man is a piece of toast, 1-2 scrambled eggs, 1-2 pieces of bacon or sometimes sausage, a cup of yogut, a banana, and sometimes a cupful of cheerios. He eats almost everything, but is more a fan of soft foods (ie yogurt, pudding, mashed potatoes, pasta, applesauce, bananas, etc..) and so far is not really a big meat eater other than bacon and garlic bologna! Strange considering the fact that Kayti absolutely loves meat! He is just now starting to drink well from a cup for me. He does not really like sippy cups or bottles AT ALL and struggled to drink from a regular cup for weeks but is now starting to get it! He is attaching well to all of us and seems like he has been here way longer than two months! He loves to blow kisses! He has a killer smile and the most BEAUTIFUL dark eyes and is definitely going to break some hearts someday!! He is always on the move! He loves trucks, tractors, and pretty much anything with wheels just as Kayti did as well as anything that lights up, makes noise, playes music, does something, etc! One good thing is that he seems to have a much better attention span than Kayti. And let me clarify that statement. She has an amazing attention span IF it is something that she is interested in, but if she is not, she will sometimes zone out! I know that this is probably one of her orphanage mechanisms! And that’s ok and she is getting better all the time! Focusing is definitely going to be one of her main goals at school!! She had to get a final set of shots before school and didn’t even flinch! She even made the nurse Connie cry as when we were leaving she said Thank you lady. We were so proud of her for that!:) As you know, she started kindergarten this year on August 27 and really seems to love it. It took some time for her to get used to going from a 3 day a week, 3 hours a day to 5 days a week all day kindergarden, but we have adjusted her bed time and she seems to be fine with the long day now! She is doing well and going to her regular kindergarden room more and more! One of my main concerns was her playing with the other kids, and from what her regular kindergarden teacher said at open house she has about 3-4 girls who have mothered her and she now even goes to them to play, etc, which is really wonderful news! I know that she still craves adult attention, as that is what she has missed her whole life and tends to gravitate to adults more than other kids! We have also noticed that her speech is getting better and her vocaublary is increasing all the time! She is putting sentences togther all the time. One night Dale was a little later than usual coming home from work so we started eating before he got there, and he suddenly he was standing at the sliding glass door waving at her and she said Hi Daddy, come in, sit down, eat! LOL! She is able to ride a small bus with just a couple of kids on it now so I am very happy about that! A friend of the family whom we have known and gone to church with for years is a bus aide and that has been a big blessing! Thank you Norma Jean for taking care of her on the bus It makes my heart smile to see her recognize you every Sunday and run back to give you a hug!! Of course, she has already gotten sick twice, as well as coming home with hives on her legs the second day. I am extremely fortunate and blessed to have a job that I have been able to leave to go get her when I needed to and take time off with them when needed!! Actually, we all had our own strain of something for about two weeks in a row. Hers and Daddy’s were mainly sinus, mine was more in my lungs (bronchial), and Kaleb’s was mainly in his ears. All in all, about two weeks of one or more of us not feeling well. I think that she has allergies and we have an appointment with an ENT to see about allergy testing and possible allergy shots on October 13. Hopefully this will help! Thankfully, we all seem to be on the mend now and other than this Kaleb seems to be in perfect health, other than some excema on the backs of his legs! It probably didn’t help that we had two weekends in a row of very busy activities. On Sunday, September 21, Kaleb was baptized and officially became a member of the family of God. We had a beautiful lunch after the church service thanks to mom!:) Really don’t know what I would do without her!:) Thank you mama and Grammy! We love you! I also had a photographer friend take some pictures and they turned out beautiful! Thanks so much again Kristen! I think they would have been even better if Kayti had been feeling a little better! Then, on the following weekend on Saturday the 27th, we had our annual fall party and turned it into a Welcome Home Kaleb party. It was an absolutely beautiful day weatherwise and we had a great time as always. Our thanks to all who came and/or helped! Kayti was still getting over her sinus issues and stayed in the house a lot, but also was out and played a lot, had fun, and went on the hayride! Now this weekend (Sunday) is Kayti’s birthday and I have ALWAYS had a big birthday party for her, but this mama is kind of partied out, so we opted for a quiet family day. Of course, there was birthday cake, ice cream, and most importantly presents. Hope this doesn’t this make me a bad mama! But between working full time, taking care of two kiddos, keeping a household running, and taking care of my 92 year old grandpa, this mama is rather tired!:) We also took Kayti out to her favorite restaurant Montana Chop and Ribs. She LOVES the steak there! I get a 12 ounce steak and split it with her and she eats AT LEAST half of it! Plus some of my salad and of course french fries. She amazed us while the waitress was taking our drink order! I said I would have a diet coke, Dale ordered an iced tea, and Kayti pipes up without any prompting and says I’ll have apple juice. The waitress explained that they don’t have apple juice only orange and cranberry juice and she gave her some choices and she said I’ll have lemonade then! So proud of her! First time ordering her own drink!:) She loved all of her presents! And when we picked up her cake she got so excited and said My cake, my cake!! As always around Kayti’s birthday, I think a lot about her birth mother and wonder if is thinking of her at all on this day and I also think of her five siblings and wonder if they are anything like her. I did find out from a caregiver at her orphanage that there were 3 sisters and 2 brothers and that the sisters were adopted 2 through BG foster care and 1 through international adoption to Canada which is more information that I thought I would ever get! We would LOVE to be able find her Canadian sister someday but would not even know where to begin to start to look. Her two brothers remained with her mother. I am not even sure how old they all may be because her mom is only three years younger than me born in 1972, so she could very well have grown siblings as she was the baby of the family. I really can’t believe that she is celebrating her third birthday with us! It does not seem like that much time could have passed. I can’t wait to see them in their Halloween costumes I just ordered! They are going to be Dora and Boots! I am now also sure Kayti is going to be so much fun this Christmas because the other day at Grammys she found a toy that played Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and mom said her face just lit up! So we know that she remembers! But then, this will now be her third Christmas at home too! Unbelievable!! It feels like just yesterday that we were picking her up from the orphanage. I have said it so many times, she has grown in all possible ways! She is a little over 12 inches (as in one whole foot) taller and around 15 pounds heavier for starters! We wore 24 month clothes when she came home that literally fell off. Now we wear size 5/6! She wore a size 7 shoe and now wears an 11 sometimes 12 shoe! That in itself is amazing! I am so proud and blessed to be her mommy! Kaleb’s too now! There are times when I look at the two of them, as well as Lianna and am just in awe that God could find children that fit our family so well. There is no doubt in my mind that they were hand selected by him for our family! We truly could not be more blessed. Lots of people have asked us, are you going to adopt again and I can say without a shadow of a doubt, our family is now complete. My heart and house are full and unless I would win the lottery which I don’t even play, we can not financially do another adoption! We are so very blessed and happy with what God has given us and are quite busy and content! Dale would be willing to adopt again way before I would! Adoption is addictive though! And again, I have to say, I really do miss checking for emails and news, etc!! But I will settel for living vicariously through my adoption group on Facebook and enjoy following their news and journeys! I will leave you with some pictures from our past few weeks and a cute video of Kayti singing to Kaleb in case you missed it on Facebook! Once again, our thanks to ALL of you who have and continue to support our family! We appreciated it more than I can ever tell you! Adoption is very hard and we definitely could not have done it without all of your support! Also, in closing, I would also like you to please do me a favor? Adoption is SO, so important…These are some of my close, dear friends who are adopting from Bulgaria as well and they all need us to share their fundraisers, blogs, and Reece’s Rainbow FSPs… Thank you in advance for helping! First, my sweet friend Chastiy and her family! They are bringing home three Bulgarian Blessings and still need around $12,000 to be fully funded. It is worth reading their story about their new daughters!! Please pray, help, share, advocate, etc!! Their Reece’s Rainbow link to donate is http://reecesrainbow.org/73524/sponsorvargas and I know they will appreciate your help! Also, my good friend Katherine who is also bringing home her second BG blessing! Her Reece’s rainbow link is http://reecesrainbow.org/79923/sponsorhorn. She is also having an American girl doll giveaway. I believe that it is an entry for every $20 donation…My amazing friends Doug and Lynda are on their third BG adoption and need help bringing sweet Christopher home..You can read about him and all of their fundraisers here, https://www.facebook.com/bringchristopherhome/posts/368610926629079 . My friends the Robinsons fundraisers are here adopttogether.org/robinsoncrewgrows. My friends the Ottens are bringing home two BG kiddos. Their fundraiser link is https://www.facebook.com/events/741112769306128/. Another friend Jennifer is adopting twins one who is blind from Burgas and their info is here: adopttogether.org/robinsoncrewgrows. My dear friend Denise is adopting two from the UK and her RR link is ttp://reecesrainbow.org/sponsordavis-7 And last but not least, my friend Ginger doesn’t need any funds, but would be happy to be linked up to others adopting. Her bloh link is: http://momentsdefined.wordpress.com/I am sure that all of these families will appreciate you even just sharing this blog or their links seperately on your walls. Many blessings and much love to all and will try to do a better job of keeping this blog updated!!