Thank Goodness for Grammy!

It's 6:50am, dark, negative 23 degrees, yes, that's right - 23 DEGREES BELOW ZERO - and there's Grammy, sitting in her warm mini-van, waiting to jump out, transfer Owen into his car seat and sneak a chocolate doughnut into my Yukon. We wait until we're both out of traffic to call for the daily update. (This was back in February, by the way)

It's 3:00pm, Grammy has already driven to our house to pick up all three boys (at 10:30am), taken them to her house (approx. half hour drive), fed them lunch and a snack and they are all napping (or almost). Grammy is expecting a call from me discussing when and where we'll meet for the transfer; instead she is asked if they can stay for supper (we're with Henry at the vet), then later I call to ask if they can spend the night (we're a mess and it's too late to wake them up). The next morning I pick the boys up after they're fed a special breakfast of "Mickey Mouse" pancakes.

These are just two examples of the enormous support our family is receiving from my folks, known to the boys as Grammy and GeeGee. Not that other family members are absent - everyone has been super supportive! It's just that Grammy in particular has become like a third parent to the boys and at this point we could not function without her! Here is a sample of Grammy's weekly schedule:

Monday - meets Owen and I at the Rite Aid parking lot in Bangor (6:50am), he transfers to her van, she drives to Orono, feeds him breakfast, gets him dressed (he travels in pj's), they play, maybe go to library group, have a snack, nap, more playing, then lunch (GeeGee works nearby and often takes long lunches!). After lunch more "Grammy time," possibly a visit to great-grandmother, Nanny, or some other adventure, another snack, reading books, nap, then back in the van to meet Mommy in Bangor around 4:30 or 5:00!

Tuesday - Grammy drives to Winterport and picks up Sam & Charlie at preschool (this involves moving carseats, getting both boys into snowsuits & boots -hopefully not for much longer- checking with teachers, packing backpacks and loading boys into the car). After the pick-up she either goes to our house (less than a mile from school) or drives them back to her place. She feeds them lunch, they play (outside if weather permits), read books and eventually nap. The pick-up scenario varies, either waiting at our place for Daddy to get home from work or another loading in to the van to drive to Bangor to meet me. If the older boys are in Orono GeeGee also takes longer lunches when possible and is also known to sneak away early to accompany Grammy on the ride back to Bangor.

Wednesday - repeat Monday's schedule

Thursday - repeat Tuesday's schedule

Friday - schedule varies - Grammy usually has the older boys for sure, Owen as well some days. Usually the babysitter comes to the house until 10:30 or 11:00am, then they're with Grammy until one of us is home. Lately she has been taking the boys back to her house - imagine - Grammy traveling alone with two 4-year-olds and a 2-year-old! She's amazing! We really can't thank her (and GeeGee) enough!!!

Other reasons we're thankful for Grammy and GeeGee:

*they are willing (and excited) about taking the boys overnight
*they feed the boys -a lot- and believe it or not the little guys eat up a storm!
*they communicate with us constantly - which boy is doing/saying what on any given day
*despite their grandparent status both have agreed to try to help us parent, rather than spoil the boys, which is the usual grandparent role
*Grammy takes an enormous amount of photos, which usually bothers me, but without them some very precious moments would have been undocumented (Note: all the photos in this entry came from Grammy's camera)
*they are incredibly patient and supportive - not just with the boys, whose behaviors are at times difficult to deal with, but with me! As a new, overtired, sometimes frustrated/confused/worried parent - I know I can be a real nightmare to deal with at times!
*did I mention that GeeGee still works full time and Grammy works for the U.S. Census Bureau one week a month?

Thank you Grammy and GeeGee!

Note: These photos are from the past few months. For those of you in warmer parts of the world - yes - we still have snow on the ground in Maine!

R.I.P. Henry

Our family dog, Henry, passed away yesterday suddenly. He was eight years old. He will be sorely missed by all.

Winter Fun!

Here are some great photos of the boys and winter fun! Sam and Charlie especially love playing outside; they shovel at Grammy & GeeGee's and have built a snow tunnel at our house with Daddy. Owen is getting into it more now that he's mobile, or on days like yesterday, sunny and in the 40's - perfect for making snowmen. We took all the boys to Portland for the first time, to visit Uncle Allan and Zeynep. They loved it! They were amazingly good in the car (Sam puked, around Augusta), which bodes well for future adventures. They have also been riding bikes a lot - in the house! Yes, our house is set up for indoor bike riding; believe me, it takes a lot of firewood carried up two flights of stairs to heat a space that big! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've joined Facebook, which can chew up hours on the computer. Today was a big day - the last (of 4) post-placement visits from the social worker. Now the agency generates yet one more official document that we take to the county courthouse to have the adoption "finalized" (just a technicality, we've been guardians since August). Also, Kindergarten registration! I can't believe it, Sam and Charlie are off to the "big preschool" next year. Hope you are all happy and healthy!

For Real!

FINALLY! Owen is walking for real! Tonight, after supper, he took a leap of faith and walked out toward the middle of the room and just kept on going! He's been hanging on to one finger, or a table, chair or wall for weeks now, but he was so proud when he let go and made it from place to place unassisted! This is a big deal, because today Owen is 2 years, 7 months, and 29 days old. Yeah Owen!

Mommy turns 40!

Yes, it's official, I am finally "over the hill." I remember poking so much fun at my host-father in Germany when he turned 40, now it's happened to me. The good news - I feel great - I'm incredibly happy. The bad news - I am getting saggy and wrinkly in certain places where I didn't used to be. The grey is accelerating, but that began long before now; and really, I am so much wiser!

The older boys and Eric baked a cake on my actual birthday, and Grammy had another one at her house - the present - taking all three boys for a night so Mommy and Daddy could have a date! Only the second date with no kids in 5 months! They are sleeping well at Grammy & GeeGee's so I predict more frequent dating in my old lady future.

News about the boys -
Sam rode his bike tonight -for real, the first time- his "big boy bike" with training wheels! Charlie is still mastering the pedals on the tricycle and Owen is foot-propelling his new red trike. They are all making major progress with the language. Here are a few catch phrases I overhead and wrote down last week - already this week they are even better-
"Daddy, Owen color my paper." (Charlie)
"Daddy, don't eat my esgetti!" (Sam)
"Mine!!!" (Owen, whining)
"Mommy, Henery drinking water." (Sam)
"Mommy, cuyur (color)?" (Owen)
"I no like Lacey." (sort of whining, Charlie) (Lacey is the babysitter, who he really does like and who is awesome!)

Sam is by far the most verbal, and tells complex stories about what has happened throughout the day, including who had time-out and for what offense (including himself, "Daddy, I whiny."), what they had for snack at preschool and if anyone was out sick. He is the most dramatic and, like Charlie, quite sneaky. Charlie is the hands-on guy, constantly on the go, moving things from place to place, taking them apart. He is having a burst of improvement with his language right now, which we really welcome, since we think he has become accustomed to letting Sam for speak for him, which he does frequently. Owen is walking more on his own (several steps in a row) but still prefers to hold to something most times. He also still crawls and scoots, and now he is climbing gates and other items! Charlie weighs over 28 pounds now and Sam broke 30; we haven't weighed Owen for a while but he's probably around 22 pounds, which is 7 pounds more than when we picked him up in August! That's all for now, here are a few cute photos of the boys playing around with each other - they generally do play quite well with each other; two at a time works best most days, but they also enjoy hanging out as a threesome.

First Steps!

Finally, it happened, Owen took his first real steps today! Of course I couldn't get a photo of it, but these were taken today and show some of his other methods of mobility. To be fair, he has taken single steps unassisted before, but today there were three steps! The first time, naturally, was to get from his chair to the couch quickly to whack his brother Sam who had stolen a toy! Happily, a few minutes later he took three more steps into Mommy's arms - joy, joy, joy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to All - Welcome 2009!

Well, 2008 proved to be quite an eventful year! We are looking forward to the new year more than any other as it will be our first full year together as a family! It has been just over 4 months and we still can't believe it's really happening - this is our life now! We cherish every day and are constantly amazed at the remarkable progress all of the boys are making! We have enjoyed our time together so much over the holidays and were fortunate Eric and I both had time off. We can't help but think back to last year at this time; we were still very much in the paperwork shuffle and had no idea if the boys we had already fallen in love with would really become our sons! Families waiting for adoption are a special breed, and you really can't imagine it unless you're living it; hope and faith are critical and in the end I feel like our family was always meant to be!

Here are a few cute photos from the past couple of weeks - there are always so many more I don't have time or space to share - please don't feel bad if one of you (you know who you are) hasn't been published yet! I'm working on it. Peace-

*In the photos, the baseball hats are their first, from Uncle Allan. Sam is wearing the red shirt, Charlie the print. Also, Owen loves to eat cereal - and is getting quite good at it!