Adoption Day

Yesterday was a day we will never ever forget. We adopted our precious children and named them Judson and Talitha Blanco. The last year in a half has been a tremendous test of our faith and full of new ways to trust The Lord with each day. I have seen my weakness, I have had thousands of tears. I have also had to run to Jesus many days and I get to experience his strength and the joy that comes from depending on him. 

Judson is an active, athletic, hilarious little boy. And God has grown him in so many ways to calm his little heart, to trust us as mommy and daddy, and really love his family. He's starting to help me with his siblings, bless his heart, he's only 3 and he's wanting to be the man of the house when daddy's at work. He will one day be incredibly gifted at baseball, basketball and drums. Seriously. He also loves our parents, his forever grandparents. And he has two best buddies, Truett and Nathan. 

Talitha is spunky, hilarious, loud and stunningly beautiful. She keeps us active, and we chase her all day. She's interested in all things breakable, all things with a plug-in and her current favorite is the computer keyboard which also serves as her drum. She looks up to Judson and really loves him. She is in love with daddy, he means the world to her, I'm so grateful for Ernie as her daddy. He is such a gift of a godly daddy in her life. We think she will be a great dancer, she's got some rhythm starting.

So we are now forever a family of 6. God has met us in our times of need and brought us this day of adoption in his amazing kindness and mercy. We love you Judson and Talitha!

                                    

Superman

This Superman is such a Mama's boy.

9 and 10 Months

This boy is a happy kid. So happy sometimes that he screams at the top of his lungs to express his joy. 

No crawling yet, but he's so curious about walking. His legs are strong and likes to take steps if we help him and he can push a walking toy for a couple steps. 

He got his first hair cut last month, you can see the sad tears in that picture! But his hair grows like a weed, goodness.

Oatmeal is his favorite food right now, with a little cinnamon:)

His favorite book is "Me with You", a really cute book about a daddy bear with his cub. He giggles when I turn the pages.

"Aw, what do you think of him turning a year soon?" someone asked. I can't even handle it yet (weep), so don't ask.

 

It's been awhile

Sorry for the lack of posts. We have been having a lot of family time this week which has been incredible. Theres more of my short series to come and also an ernie brooks update. This Picture should help while you wait:

6 and 7 months...soon to be 8

Let's all just try to understand how its possible that our little E will be 8 months in 4 days. It's unreal how much he's changed in the last couple months. I need time to slow up a bit.

I'll just begin with the big one: he says DADA!! It makes us fall a part every time. His dad is truly his favorite person in the entire world...and I'm ok with that (i mean, i do feed you and clean poop through the day but whatever) there's nothing sweeter than to watch our baby just fall over laughing at his daddy.

He sits perfectly (ok, to the ladies at church who watched him fall like 3 times a few weeks ago...I know). He loves just sitting on a blanket with a bucket of toys. It blows my mind when I watch him pick up a toy, then when he's done he'll reach all by himself for a new one in his basket. What?!!

He loves clapping. This makes everything funny. We have to stop, clap and cheer for many things: the tv, the dogs, bath time, books, poopy diapers, visitors, anything.

He's eating a lot of foods. His favorite is sweet potatoes by far, which is fine with me I'll bake some for me too! He also loves pumpkin, acorn squash, apples, avocados and pears. It's been really fun and messy.

For some reason, nothing captures his attention like his little sign language video...he is filled with happiness as I walk towards our DVD player and he claps as I push play. His friend Nathan has let him borrow a little bouncer in the shape of a car that he watches it in, so we like to think of it as his baby drive-in movie.

Our home is full of lots of baby laughter that I remember just longing for this time last year.

Our Christmas baby

I haven't updated on Ernie Brooks' months since 5 months. He's in his 7 month now...oops. Well, that will still have to wait. It's been busy busy busy. I will say though, he's a whole different boy than a couple months ago, so just hang tight because that update is coming soon.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on some photos of our little one from Christmas day. 

 

I love having boys

My son is has entered the crazy, grabbing, hollering, messy (MESSY), hungry 100 percent boy stage...and I am so ready for it. I'm ready to have crazy, running all over the house days when he is few months older. Even getting in the car is so humorous: Ernie is slipping down my hip, my diaper bag has fallen to my elbow, and im still trying to hold it all as i attempt to get the dog into his crate. I think: i look so funny, and this is all totally what i dreamed about doing since i was a little girl.
I love the wrestling matches we have when he would rather suck his toes and bring his feet to his face than get his diaper changed. I love when I'm trying to feed him his rice cereal but he's busy wiping it on his face and clothes. I love when he gets up from nap time and he laughs and wants to pet his dogs. I love that he has recently started to "eat" my face and I pretend he's a mom eating monster and he thinks it's so funny. All this comes from the sweet kindness of God.

2:30 yesterday

Wake up from naptime joy. And perfect spit bubble.

Baby Visits Great Grandma

We went on a trip to my old stomping grounds so the baby could visit his great grandma. My grandma is a huge joy in my life, as she has experienced great loss before and her faith in the Lord encourages me as we walk through our loss of Haddon. Just yesterday I found the note she wrote me of encouragment when I was first pregnant with Haddon, and the note she wrote us after he died is on our refrigerator: "happy with Jesus, life unending, could not ask for more." 

So, of course she was anxious to meet our second little boy! That kid did awesome on the plane. Both flights when we were getting off we had moms say "There was a baby here behind me??" or "He didn't make a peep." Of course when he had a major poop it was interesting trying to change him on my lap. At one point I handed the baby to Ernie so I could take a little nap, and when I woke up I told him how I felt so much better. He looked at me and was like, "You were asleep for like two minutes." haha, I guess any shut eye these days is like super fuel.

I forgot to mention, this trip started at three in the morning.  Yeah, we are those people who, if it saves us money, we buy the 6am flight. We were defiitely zombies when we woke up. It was just wake up, feed the baby,  down some coffee and fall into the car. But we made it! 

The coolest thing was Ernie Brooks rolling over for the first time, in front of family!!

He LOVED his great grandma

4 months

I can hardly believe all the changes this month. He's such a different boy than 1 month ago.

Baby Ernie:

Is 16.8 lbs and 26 inches long.

He's belly laughing.

Is sitting up in a bumbo, playing with toys on the tray.

Reaching for toys when you place them in front of him.

Sitting in a bouncer, he especially loves being in it in the kitchen with me.

He's mimicking us when we make noises like raspberries.

Chomping on his hands is his favorite past time.

He's squealing louder than ever. And laughing about it.

He had his first airplane ride and did great.

He's laying on his belly with his head up so much better.

Oh, and HE'S ROLLING OVER. He rolled over for the first time on our trip!

Some pictures lately

Life's been good. Me and the boys all caught a cold at home, but it's still been good! Here's some pictures of things lately, except Ernie Brooks and his friend Nathan. Gosh that was like a month ago.

2 months

Oh my. I love the two months stage. It's been my favorite so far!

-He smiles and giggles at us.
-He cracks up at the bird mobile on his swing.
- He takes naps pretty regularly in his own room. (not just wherever I am anymore, sad). And seems to be sleeping longer.
-He went on his first vacation. He was a trooper!
- His tummy is starting to hurt less I think, as I suffer through the no dairy thing except half and half in the coffee (suffering! I even eat pizza with no cheese people). I crave a glass of real milk everyday:) although chocolate almond milk was this wonderful revelation in my home. I'm getting off track here.
-He is chunkier than ever, fits into a 6 month sleeper.
-We made a switch to size two diapers.
- It looks like he's starting to get up just once a night.
- He's so thrilled when he sees daddy.
- He's really enjoying baths now.
- He is showing so so so much personality.

He's just such a happy baby.

Our trip to the mountains

Last weekend we spent some time with Ernie's family in the fresh mountain air. And rain.
Ernie and I love going there. It's a cute little town that is perfect for family trips. I got to spend some extra time with Ernie's sister which I really enjoyed!
We just so happened to be up there around the time of our anniversary (4 years!), so we spent the afternoon at a really cute cafe and browsed antique shops, our favorite past time up there. We also walked around the beautiful lake up there, our other favorite past time. So here are a billion pictures of our stay up there and our baby. It is his first vacation, so he's basically in all of them.
Thanks to Yvette again who took some of these photos!