Crazy Christmas Days!!!

Santa has come!

Christmas this year was great! Exhausting, but great! Owen became interested in the presents once he realized there were toys underneath all that colorful paper. We had a busy couple of days, traveling to visit friends and family and I am still drained from all that occurred. Here are a few photos from Christmas day!




I think Santa left the train more for Daddy than Owen!!! :)


He really loved his Fisher Price toys although it isn't that evident in this photo!

Freaking Out About Finances!

Ok so here it goes, We have nothing really standing in our way of adopting except money. It is expensive! I want to raise $10,000 and think we can swing the rest on our own but that amount seems monstrous to me right now! I have ONECAUSE (SEE TOP RIGHT OF BLOG) and we are planning a big yard sale in the spring, more on that later, and now my newest scheme.......recycling!!!

Yep you heard it right, recycling. I know this is something I should do anyway but this adoption has pushed me over the edge into a huge pit of aluminum. I am collecting cans and going to turn them in for cash. I guess it helps me and the environment at the same time but I must be honest. As I was crushing cans in the cold on the back patio this morning I just felt overwhelmed about all that we will have to pay......HELP!

So if any of my friends want to collect cans at their home I will pick them up, crush them and put the money towards our goal!!!!

Ladies Night Out!

It is often difficult with all the life changes, mainly babies, for all of us to get out. But last night thanks to the organization of Heatherbean we all got a night to ourselves! It felt a bit like old times, if you don't count the phone calls to all the husbands checking on the little ones!!! Haha! We went out to dinner at Moe's, my fav, and then ice skating at Centennial Olympic Park. I was truly terrified and made close friends with the wall. Despite my fear of falling I had a great time! I really appreciate the times I have with my friends and am grateful for these relationships even if I did have to risk my life to hang out with them...:)


Heather, Me and Jennifer


Way to go ladies!




Me and Jessica pretending to be pros, she was much much better than me!


Heather had the task of carrying a little bun so she was our cheerleader on the sidelines.

My Sleepy Boy

I have often heard that there is nothing more beautiful than a sleeping child. I believe this statement to be true. They seem so innocent and pure while they lay there dreaming. I snapped these photos the other day of my little Owen, just thought I would share them.

Family Photo Shoot

Dustin, Me and Owen


This was our first family photo shoot. I don't know how we waited so long to do this, Owen is almost one year old now. My friend Heather took the photos, THANKS girl! Here are a few!


The love of my life!


Owen is a very happy baby. We make jokes about how he is going to be a comedian when he grows up because life is hilarious to him.


This makes me really nervous!!!

Ok so...um.....this is going to be harder than I thought!

I have been trying for the past month to ween Owen off of his pacifier. He loves them so it hasn't been easy. I would put one up and then another would somehow magically appear in his mouth as he rounded the corner of the hall way. Where were they coming from????
I had come to the conclusion that my son was stashing his pacifiers for later use with the knowledge that Mommy wasn't going to give them up so easily.
Well, yesterday I found them! The stash! Set neatly in a pile under his crib behind a toy basket!!!
When I asked him about the stash he gave me an innocent smile.

The photos themselves are incriminating.





Needless to say, this is going to be harder than expected. I don't think Owen is going down without a fight.

A Renewal of Spirit

We put up all of our Christmas decorations yesterday and I must say that I feel different. The last several years at this time I have felt a little saddened about Christmas. It just hasn't been the same. That feeling of pure excitement, human connection and giving has eluded me. I used to love the Holidays as a child and young adult but I suppose all the stresses of daily life, career, bills, relationships and my views about the world just hasn't allowed me to regain that feeling.

Until Now!!!

I feel so excited! I know this renewal is because of our son Owen. The amazement in his eyes looking at the tree, him dancing in the living room to the xm holly station and knowing that Santa is truly coming to our home this year is invigorating. I feel like a new person, a different person. I can't wait for Owen to wake up Christmas morning and see what Santa has brought him!

I feel that tingle you get at Christmas, that connection to all people.

In short, I am happy and excited at what this holiday season brings to my family.


Owen Dancing!


Peppermint Goodness!


Our Christmas Tree


Owen's first pro Christmas photo!

A Litte Pick Me Up!

We are at the very beginning stages of adopting. I am reading a ton of literature about trans racial adoption and planning how to deal with the paperwork and finances. In the meantime I often have dreams about us seeing our little girl in person for the first time. I am excited. I think about Owen and his sister playing, us at the park, the zoo, or dancing to the XM Ethel channel in the living room.

Needless to say I have told many about our decision to adopt. I guess I expected people to react in a joyous manner but that is not often the case. People generally respond "oh, yeah I heard about that", "you can't have anymore kids?", "isn't that expensive?" and one actually asked what children from Ethiopia looked liked and once I told her they are African, her response...(long pause)"oh".

But today I went to my old job to drop off a wedding album for a client (she works where I used to teach) and saw many old friends and coworkers. As is often once you start having children the question on everyones mind..."you gonna have any more???" Once I told them about the adoption many of the above responses followed.

However, two of my coworkers were particularly excited for us. They asked about the process, about the children of Ethiopia and talked about Owen becoming a big brother. I told them of some of the other responses I had received and one of these women told me that we were going to bring a little girl into our home and love her. She will be loved and that is what matters and will make us a bigger and more complete family. She said she knows our little girl will be beautiful, just beautiful.

These women I respect and spent a great deal of time with while I was employed there. Their words meant a lot to me.

If they read this I want to say Thank You. It gave me a boost to stay excited and motivated through the very long process that awaits.

I would like to say thank you to Heather and Laura too for all the encouragement.
Your excitement for me from the both of you means a lot.

Now lets start buying cute sun dresses and overalls so that at least my kids will look cute when I am at Walmart in my sweatpants!!! haha

Bubbles and Mohawks!

Owen loves his Bath time!



Mommy loves giving Owen interesting hairdos during bath time!!! :)

Spiders!

Ok so I had resolved not to get Owen a costume this year. He is only 9 months old and lets face it, he doesn't care one way or the other if he has a costume. But somehow I was in Walmart today and my cart directed me toward the Halloween isle! I couldn't resist. I saw a dozen little pumpkin costumes and one lone spider costume beckoning to me. So here it is. Owen as a spider.

I have been tagged!!

Heatherbean tagged me so here it goes.

Jobs I've Held:
Bank Teller
Gallery Coordinator to a nonprofit gallery
Manager of a profited gallery in Atlanta
Art Teacher of Middle and High School
Photographer
Business Owner (current) of MyLife Photography
Art Professor at a small college (current)


Places I've Lived:
Griffin, Ga
Statesboro, Ga
Atlanta, Ga
and back to Griffin again
Nowhere fabulous for me either Heather, sigh....


Foods I Love:
Cilantro, I cook with it a lot
Cheese, any kind!!! mmmmmmmmmmm
Black beans
I pretty much will eat anything and I always love to try out new Rachel Ray reciepes!!!


Places I Would Rather Be
Almost anywhere in Europe or some beautiful Beach.


Movies I Love:
Victor Victoria
StarWars (the originals)
Harry Potter (the first 2)
Bridget Jones Diary
I am kind of stuck on this one. I don't get out to the movies much anymore.


TV Shows I Watch:
The entire Buffy series
The entire Angel series too!
Top Chef
Project Runway
Pretty much anything on TLC and Bravo!!
I find myself somehow watching the occasional Maury paternity test show too (sorry to admit that)

Tag You Are It:

I don't really know anyone to tag. I need to make more friends that post blogs...:(

Here is a photo of Owen in his Halloween PJs though...too cute!



Owen..9 months old

Fall Fair Fun!

Me and some of my friends took all our little ones to the state fair in Perry this past weekend. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. Things have changed so much for all of us in the past 2 years, marriages, babies and more babies!!!! It took us nearly an hour after we got into the fair to get settled in feed all the little ones and begin our site seeing and riding of the not so secure fair contraptions! It was a different kind of fun for me than we all used to have. It was more special and endearing to see all those little faces so mesmerized by the lights and sounds. Life has gotten sweeter and I am looking forward to a little more sugar soon!


Charlie, Chase and our little Owen!

Jessica, Me, Heather and Marlena

Our men and our little men!

Big Decisions!

We have been debating for a very long time the option of adoption. I believe we have reached a decision to do it! We received our adoption packet last week and are reading tons of literature on the subject. We are still reading and talking about the different programs available to assist us in this venture. I am excited about the possibilities.

We are hoping to adopt a little girl and begin our paperwork next year. We want Owen, our son, to be near the age of 3years old when she will come home to us.

Names have become a big topic in the house as well: Zoe, Rory, and Dustin's favorite Meg...I am not sold on this yet.

We have also registered with OneCause which is a fund raiser to help us pay the enormous expenses that will rack up with the whole adoption process. We would love for any of you to register with OneCause on our behalf. It is a way for you to shop and also help us with our adoption while also donating a portion of your purchase to the National Adoption Foundation. You must register our email in order to aid in our fund raiser: catherineritchie@bellsouth.net

We are excited about our growing family!