Being Thankful

November is a rather important month in our family for obvious reasons. Two years ago at this time, Dominic and I were in New Jersey learning how to take care of our new baby while waiting for the phone call telling us we could head home. It was a crazy time since we hadn’t been prepared for a baby because we thought the process would take a long time – little did we know that our son would be in our arms less than a month after officially switching to domestic adoption – and we had no clue what we were doing. Everything we had with us to take care of Grayson was borrowed and we knew we were coming home to a house that was not ready for a baby.

So, when we reflect on Thanksgiving, not only do we think about the delicious turkey dinner we had eaten in the hospital two years ago, but we also are thankful for the family and friends who were, and continue to be, so supportive in our lives. We wouldn’t have been able to survive without them during those first insane months of adjusting to a newborn in our otherwise party-like lifestyle (at the time) and we know we continue to be lucky to have them in our lives now.

Now Grayson is two. He is a thriving little boy who we find incredibly intelligent and beautiful (or should I say handsome). At his doctor’s appointment last week, he has landed in the 92nd percentile for height and the 89th percentile for weight. The scale at the office said he was 31 pounds, but at the vet’s a couple weeks ago, he stood on their scale and was 32.5 pounds, so we’re thinking he’s realistically somewhere in between. He talks non-stop and is learning something new every day. I also enjoy watching him interact with his friends. It reminds me that he really is a little man with his own emotions, ideas, and personality and I thank God for him every day.

November is also important to us because it is National Adoption Awareness Month and November 17th (Grayson’s birthday) was National Adoption Day. I know I don’t often blog about adoption specifically, but it is obviously a key part of our lives. I try to stay active with our local adoption group, Adoptive Families and Friends, and I am always very willing to answer questions about adoption and/or the process we went through. So if you’re ever thinking about it or are just curious, let me know and I would love to talk about it.

I Will Catch Up Soon!!

This has been one crazy month!! I will post all the details very soon, but since it has been almost a full month since my last post, I wanted to go ahead and share Grayson's birthday party pictures. He actually had two parties again this year - one with his playgroup friends and one with our families. You can see the pictures from the family party here. The theme for both parties was dinosaurs and Grayson had a blast. I'm amazed at his interest in dinosaurs and we're going to continue to roll with it as we decorate his new room when the house is finished.

His two-year doctor's appointment went very well. Once again, he's very tall for his age. I'll be back soon with more information and more pictures.

So Very, Very Tired

I have now realized that the end of October and most of November is my busiest time of year. I remember last year, I was very stressed while trying to stay on top of things, and it has only gotten worse this year. It's all stuff I bring onto myself - planning Grayson's birthday parties, handling the publicity for my adoption group's National Adoption Day event, doing dictation for my sister, singing with the praise and worship group at church, dealing with house building stuff, keeping up with Grayson's schedule (which includes toddler time at the library, gym class, playgroups, parties, etc.), potty training, assisting with a baby shower, and trying to balance my own pathetic social schedule in the middle of all of it - but it still takes its toll. I'm not complaining, just sharing. I love my life. I love being busy. I'm just amazed at how busy I actually am sometimes and I'm now very, very tired.

At any rate, I mentioned that I would hopefully have some good pictures to share because this past week offered up some great photo opportunities. Of course Grayson was his normal "non-photogenic" self in that he refuses to look at the camera, let alone smile for me, but hopefully I think I was able to capture the moment in most cases.

Our first event was a birthday party for one of Grayson's friends. It was at a pumpkin patch and unfortunately, after many months of a drought, it decided to rain most of last week which resulted in some rather miserable weather for an outside party. Luckily the first hour was fairly clear, so the kids got to play outside. Grayson's favorite thing to do was climb on the haystack and here you can see his reflective look as he sits atop a hay bail.

Since the kids couldn't go out to the pumpkin patch on the hayride, they brought the pumpkins to them and allowed the kids to paint them. Grayson definitely enjoyed this and I had a blast just watching his concentration. His final masterpiece is proudly displayed on our porch.

Last Friday Grayson was invited to a Halloween party with his playgroup friends. This year Grayson dressed as a firefighter for Halloween. This was for practical reasons in that I purchased one of those fancy dress up outfits at an expensive kid's boutique a few months ago. The plan was to give it to him for either his birthday or Christmas, but when I started looking for Halloween costumes, it seemed rather stupid to spend the money on something else when I already had this. He loved wearing his costume and his friend Griffin gave him an early birthday present to go with it - firefighter boots - so he now likes to wear his boots all around the house. (The picture is from before we left for the party, so he's wearing his Chucks since he didn't have the boots yet.)

This past Tuesday we went to another pumpkin patch. We took Grayson's cousin, Brooks, and we also met up with a few of Grayson's friends there. The weather was much, much better than the previous week, so the kids truly enjoyed themselves. Grayson loved the giant "pillow" and he also loved going down the slides and through the tunnels.

On Halloween, we went Trick or Treating with his cousins, Tevyn and Trevor. This was not only Grayson's first time Trick or Treating, but also mine. We went to the local "neighborhoods" so the boys could be seen by people we know. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. Since we live out in the middle of nowhere, the houses are not very close together, so we did a lot of walking and after about an hour, Grayson was getting pretty tired and wanted to be held, which made it even harder on me. But we had a blast and Grayson brought home a ton of loot. And contrary to popular belief, I am allowing him to have some of it on occasion, but only after he eats all of his fruits and vegetables!!