can't think of a creative title for this post...

Cason is sick...he has some sort of stomach bug...it's icky.  Weird thing is that he has no fever at all...just vomiting and diarrhea.  So sad.  :(

Wesley had his 4 year Well Child exam on Thursday...he is in the 13th percentile for weight and the 20th for height.  He is healthy right now!  He got his immunizations (the ones that he can have at least) and was very tough. If his immune system wasn't compromised, he would have needed his Chicken Pox booster this time.  It's just so frustrating to me, the topic of immunizations.  I  won't get into it too much on here because it's just not worth it, but I get so angry that my child's life is at risk because of these awful viruses that go around.  Viruses that shouldn't be seen anymore because of our access to immunizations.  Viruses that Wesley will never be able to be immunized for because of his medical condition.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Counting down the days until my big cookie exchange!  And it is going to be much bigger than last year!  I had 11 people last year and it's looking like I will have about 21 this year!  Eek!  So excited!  It is something I look forward to doing and will continue to do annually.  It was SO FUN last year.  It is my way to create a fun, girls night for my family and friends at a busy time of year that often time is overwhelming and stressful.  We acquire our desserts all in one night that we can give as gifts to friends, coworkers and neighbors or serve at our Christmas gatherings while also getting a few hours of stress free fun!  I plan it for months...literally!  I so love getting spend this time with all of these wonderful ladies and I am hoping this little party is a tradition for years to come!  I love throwing parties (got that from my mom!:)).

I wrapped some presents and put them under the tree...this kind of feels like it was a mistake to do now that all I hear every 15 minutes is, "Can't I just open 1 gift?!  Pleeeeeeeease!!!!"  Ugh.

I am so excited about all of the Christmas cards I've gotten from family and friends!  I think we've gotten 20 now. :)  I created a card wall in our kitchen on our magnetic chalkboard.  I drew a huge tree on it and covered all of our magnets with Christmas wrapping paper to hold the cards on the wall with.  It looks so fun and it's one of the happiest places in my house I think!  I love seeing the smiling faces of all of our loved ones every time I am in the kitchen.

We have to put the gate at the bottom of our stairs in the living room now.  Cason is ALWAYS on the stairs otherwise.  He can only go up and fall down them...hasn't figured out how to slide/crawl down them yet.

Our garbage disposal broke.  I went YEARS without one and yet it's killing me to have gone the past few days without it now that I am used to it.  I was spoiled by it.  We need a new one STAT!

I have a major laundry situation that needs addressed...I seem to always have a major laundry situation that needs addressed.  It's so annoying.

That's it for tonight!

2 women

2 of the most important women in my life share a birthday.

My mother turns 60 years young today.

So blessed that I get to call her my mother...she is amazing and loving and giving and I hope that I "grow up" to be even a little bit like her!  She has taught me and continues to teach me so much and I cannot imagine what I would do without her.

I love you, Mom...Happy Birthday!

 

And my dear friend, Lora.  I have said it before...she is so much more than a friend to me.  She is always here for me and my kids, she is supportive and loving and caring and so much fun!  God put her in my life YEARS ago...like 20 years ago.  Our friendship has grown and become one of the most important relationships in my life.  I love you, Lora...I cherish my friendship with you and love you more than words!  I cannot wait to celebrate with you tonight!

 

 

Family Update...

Tate - He is reading.  Like for real reading.  I am so proud of him!  He LOVES school, thinks his teacher is the best teacher in the world (we think she's pretty fantastic too!), is thrilled that Ava and Kiley get to come play after school on weekdays and loves that his best friend from his class lives 3 doors down.  He can't wait for it to snow.  He is growing up so much!

Wesley - Just today when I was changing his pants, he said, "whoa, poop?"  I asked if he had to poop and he said yes, hopped up, ran to the bathroom and pooped!  This is huge...potty training has been a major struggle.  I was so proud of him!  Wesley is a spaz as usual, full of energy like no other child I know.  He is hilarious too!  He LOVES singing and dancing while listening to his iPod, he loves his brothers and is getting so big!  He wore some jammies last night that I put him in back in the spring and they were WAY too small!  He doesn't get night feedings anymore, so he is hungry all the time.  His favorite food?  Hot dogs.  He would eat them for every meal.  He is improving with his communication too...it's still a struggle, but he is talking much better.  He loves school so much and thinks it is so cool that he gets to ride the bus.

Cason -  He is all over the place, into everything.  He is pulling himself up to everything and climbing the stairs.  He imitates sounds and words and babbles ALL the time.  He is getting more attitude as well, which is good.  He gets angry when his brothers take a toy from him that he was playing with.  When he accidentally rolls a ball or pushes a car out of reach, he gets mad if he can't get to it.  Again, a great step in his development.  He is still the snuggliest, happiest boy though!  He eats anything we put in front of him, he snuggles into the shoulder of whoever picks him up, he laughs at the drop of a hat and has the best smile.  He attracts attention everywhere we go.

Sean and I - We are busy as usual...Sean with work, me with the kids and photography.  Sean has just taken a class to be a preceptor and has a new nurse that he is working with now.  He loves his job and I love mine. :)  I have the best clients ever. Period.  I am amazed after every photo session at how wonderful every single one is.  I love working with people!

We are so looking forward to the Christmas festivities to begin!  To me, things will start next Thursday when I am having approximately 20 ladies over for my cookie exchange!  I loved that evening last year and am going to make this an annual thing!  Can't wait for a fun adult evening with a bunch of wonderful women!

We will celebrate Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve and then Sean's family on the night of Christmas and then mostly on the morning of the 26th.  The kids don't know that we (along with Mike, Sarah, Leah and Kayla) will be going to a waterpark hotel for 2 nights after that.  It is their big Christmas gift and they are going to freak out!  We have decided to not bring Cason.  He isn't too fond of pool areas with his sensory issues and the echoing that goes on in hotel pool areas.  We are so blessed that the DeCooks offered to keep him for the 2 nights we will be gone.  He loves them and is completely at home with them and at their house.  He will have much more fun with them and it will be much easier for us to enjoy our time with the 2 big boys without having to comfort a distraught Cason.  And fortunately, he is young enough that he won't know the difference!

After our return home from our mini vacation, we will be enjoying having the boys off of school to spend some time with at home for a few days.  They are going to be spending New Years Eve with Mike, Sarah, Leah and Kayla at their home while we party with my side of the family in Muscatine.  Again, we are so blessed that we have Mike, Sarah and the girls here and that they love our boys so much that they are willing to take them on for the night...it's no easy task!

After we ring in 2013, the boys don't return back to school until the 8th!  It will be fun to have a good week of all of us home to start out the year, but I am sure ALL of us will be ready for school to start back up!  Still, our Christmas festivities will not be complete, we will be celebrating Christmas with Tate's birth family in January and also will be celebrating Cason's 2nd birthday, Tyler, Leah, Abby, Linda (my mother in law) and Sarah Peakin's birthdays on the Peakin side.  My sister's birthday is also in January!  It is a BUSY month!

I am hoping that we will have a low key February and then we'll be ready for our almost 2 week spring break vacation we're going on in March to Florida!  I have a feeling, the next few months is going to FLY by!

Ava's 6th birthday party!

Last Saturday, we spent the afternoon at Chuck E Cheese celebrating Ava's 6th birthday!

 

I cannot believe our kiddos are 6!  Where has the time gone?!

 

The DeCook Famiy...

 

Love these girls...

I believe Tate was trying to be sneaky at stealing a coin off of Ava's crown here.  And it just wouldn't be typical Tate if he didn't have food all over his face!

I love watching the friendship between Ava and Kiley!  They are so cute together and growing such a fun friendship!

Kiley and Tate went together and got Ava and iPod and headphones...she was thrilled!

All the kids had so much fun!

Make a wish!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Ava June!

One year ago TODAY...

I will never forget receiving the call on December 9th last year that we were going to be getting a baby boy that we would hopefully be able to adopt.  I remember where I was standing in my kitchen, I remember who I called and what they said as I sobbed about what to do.  We had inquired about Wesley a few months before that and we had hope we would get him, but if we said yes to this baby, would they not give us Wesley if we ended up being selected for him?  I was torn, I was scared, I was worried I would make the wrong decision...so I let God make it.  A few days later, we met the baby...Cason.  Oh my goodness, I am so glad we said, yes, so glad we took that leap of faith and trusted God to work out all of the details.  I will always remember December 9th 2011.

Happy 4th Birthday, Wesley!

The first time we ever saw Wesley's face was when we looked at this picture...

It didn't take long for us to pursue learning more about him!
I will never forget the first time we met him!  He was FULL of energy and spunk!

It didn't take long for us to know we wanted him to be part of our family!

And then it happened, he actually became our son!  It's amazing how things have changed for him and us in the last year of his life!  He was almost 3 when we inquired about him after seeing his picture and now he's 4!  His life is completely different...everything about it!  You would never know though...he has taken all of the change and the chaos like a champ!

He got 2 new brothers and new parents...

 

New cousins, Nanas and Papas, aunts and uncles.
He has jumped into each of their loving arms with gusto and accepted all of them as they have accepted him.  We are in awe of him and his resilience.  He has had a full year with lots of ups and downs and more change than any 3 year old should have to endure in such a short period of time.

We have had LOTS of fun...

 

Lots of family time...

Some scary times...one which included a week long stay in the hospital...

And then recovery.
We moved into a new home and he got his new signature haircut! :)

We have celebrated holidays...

Started school...

Cheered on our team...

Walked the Kidney Walk...

Spent lots of time with family and friends...

Celebrated more holidays...

And then it had been a year since we first saw that picture of his adorable almost 3 year old face...just like that.

And he's 4...
 

 

Oh Wesley, you have taught us so much!  You embody a whole type of strength that we didn't know existed.  You've been through more in your life than many will have to endure in a lifetime.  Our love for you grows stronger with each day that passes and we just cannot express how blessed we feel to have you as our son.  You are such a gift to us.  We love your energy and your constant joy, you have the most incredible smile in the world and you give the most amazing hugs!  We cannot wait to watch you grow to become the man you were created to be and look forward to being there for you every step of the way!  Happy Happy Birthday, Wesley Xander, you are loved beyond words!!!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Random Thoughts...

Sometimes I let my young clients take pictures with my camera of me. It works like a charm to warm them up to me. A 3 year old client of mine took this picture a week or so ago. Very smart picture...cut off my double chin, focus is on my eye. I see some talent here! ;)

 

 I am sick.  I knew yesterday that I was getting a cold, but this morning I feel terrible.  No fever, just major chest congestion...you know, the kind where you try not to cough because it hurts so bad.  For some reason my neck hurts, like on the outside.  And I think I have a sinus infection.  I feel like complete yuck.

I am so happy to be getting Christmas cards in the mail!  I love Christmas cards!!! :) I especially think it's just so fun when I open them up and see that the pictures on the card are the ones I took!  I've gotten 2 so far.  I can't wait to get ours in the mail so I can mail them out...they are so cute, probably my favorite Christmas card we've ever had.

I did go PRE Black Friday shopping at WalMart and Target for the first time ever.  It was NUTS.  I was practically forced to go. ;)  However, I did get some good deals.  I didn't wait in the long lines for any of the big ticket items, but managed to score some jammies, sweatshirts and games for the boys for very cheap!

Cason is pulling himself up to everything!  It's very fun and the boys still scream and clap everytime he does it like it's the first time.  So cute.

I am not a fan of the character Sponge Bob.  I mean, it's weird because the show kind of cracks me up...sort of embarrassed to admit that, but it's true.  I just don't like having Sponge Bob THINGS at home...even shirts and stuff, just not a fan.  Anyway, Wesley LOVES Sponge Bob...LOVES.  I wanted to avoid a Sponge Bob birthday party for him, so I had a different plan, but as the day approaches, I am starting to feel like he would be more excited if his cake and party supplies were Sponge Bob rather than my alternate plan.  So I am giving in...a Sponge Bob party it is!  I'm sure we'll all survive. :)  I am ordering his cake today and was planning on heading out to pick up party supplies, but just feel so terrible that I don't know if that will happen.


We are firming up Christmas gifts for the boys.  We aren't really getting them much since their big gift is our little 2 day trip to the Waterpark outside of Chicago the day after Christmas, but they will have things in their stocking and something under the tree from Santa.  We are definitely including one of these headlamps for each of the big boys.  I KNOW they will think they are so cool and I can just see them running around the house with these on all the time!

I haven't told Sean this yet, but I am hoping to get Wesley completely potty trained over Christmas break.  Wish us luck...potty training is very difficult with him and we don't have a very good potty training track record (Tate was just short of 4 when he got potty trained).  Apparently potty training is not one of our strengths in the parenting arena.  We knew and were told that Wesley would be a lot more difficult to potty train than the typical child due to his excessive fluid intake, but that has decreased due to the elimination of his nighttime feedings so now is a good time.  I think we're going to need more than just a weekend with him though, so Christmas break is what I am thinking will work best.

You know what I am most excited for today?  A shower...oh my goodness, I cannot wait for a shower.  It's been a couple of days...ya, you read that right, a couple of days.

I am getting SUPER EXCITED for the cookie exchange I am having in December.  I got the invitations in the mail, so I need to address those and get them out.  The cookie exchange was SO FUN last year and it's going to be bigger and better this year...at least that's the plan. :)

I am in 100% Christmas mode...Christmas music fills my house and I am feeling like it's okay to break out the Christmas socks now too.  I have had my Christmas jammies out for a while now.  I love our trees and just sitting in a dark room with just the glow of the tree.  I love Christmas time!

I have 1 more family photoshoot on Wednesday and I am done for the winter!  I have a couple of babies and a maternity session scheduled, but aside from that, I will be off for the winter.  It will be a nice break.  It's been BUSY for Jennie Peakin Photography in 2012!

Hoping to get back to blogging more regularly now that things seem to be settling down a bit in our lives! 

Celebrating Wesley's 4th Birthday (Round 1)

We celebrated Wesley's 4th birthday with the Peakin side of the family since we were all together for Thanksgiving and his birthday is in just under 2 weeks. It was so fun...he was genuinely so ecstatic. This is the first birthday he's ever celebrated with us, so I have no idea what he has done on previous birthdays. I do know that he soaked up the attention!

 

Wesley is not a huge fan of cake, so we decided to do a donut cake instead since he loves donuts!

He was so excited about it!

 

 

 

 

He got the first choice of donut and he chose the one on top!

Oh my, he is ADORABLE!

I cannot believe this beautiful child is my son...

Then it was time for presents.
Can you tell he was excited?!?! :)

He got lots of fun stuff, he LOVED everything!
His new Spiderman blanket is in bed with him as I type this...

And if I had let him, he would have worn his Cars snowboots to bed too...we decided to take them off though.  Ha.

And he is going to Build a Bear with the Peakin Family sometime soon to build himself a friend!  Here Leah is reading the card to him that is telling him what his gift is.  He is going to love doing that and he adores (as do I!) the picture Leah drew in the card...oh my, I have to take a picture of it and post it on here...so stinkin' adorable!!!

It was a great morning...Wesley is so blessed by his Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nanas and Papas and is going to soak up his next birthday celebrations for sure!

It is officially Christmas season in our house!

 

We have two trees up on our house.  One in the basement and this one in our livingroom upstairs.  I am IN LOVE with this whimsical white tree full of colored lights!  The tree in the basement was decorated almost completely by Tate and Wesley...aside from the top few feet that they couldn't reach.  They were so proud! 

New knobs!

 

 I love the new knobs I got at Hobby Lobby for our refurbished antique buffet turned TV stand in our living room! :)

a stomach bug

I think I jinxed myself when I made mention a couple of months ago about Tate having never had the stomach flu. Darn it. He is SICK...unfortunately our thermometer is out of batteries so I don't know what his temp is running, but it is HIGH...he is scorching hot! He was up throwing up last night from midnight until about 3am. He is still running a high fever this morning and says his stomach hurts.

 

He threw up so much last night that he broke blook vessels by his eyes!

I have a feeling this is where he'll be staying all day.

 

 And he is beyond disappointed that he is missing Kiley and Brady's birthday party.  I feel so bad for him when he's sick.  He's always so pathetic because it happens so rarely that he gets sick!

Now I'm just hoping no one else in the family gets it!

He says it...finally!!!

Watch "Cason says Mommy...sort of." on YouTube

Cason starting to take steps!!!!

next week?!?!!!

So I am in denial that next week is Thanksgiving week...total denial.  I mean, it was in the 70's a couple of days ago!  We have SO MUCH going on in these next 5 weeks, it's nuts.  I am sure everyone does though...it's just the time of the year, I guess.

We will be spending Thanksgiving with the Peakin side of the family in Colo next week and finally introducing Wesley and Cason to some of the extended family.  It'll be a nice getaway.  We will also be celebrating Wesley's 4th birthday with the Peakin side of the family the day after Thanksgiving, so that will be fun too! :) Sean will work the weekend after Thanksgiving and then my plan is to get our house all decorated for Christmas that week (if I can hold myself off from doing it THIS week!) and then on Friday Knutsons will be coming to town to visit!  We always get so excited for the times we get to spend with them as they are so rare anymore.  That Sunday we will be celebrating Wesley's birthday at our house with his previous foster family as well as friends.

Then it's Christmas mode...shopping, baking, preparing for my cookie exchange (which I am SOOO excited about), more shopping, etc.  We will be celebrating several Christmas's as usual, but I am excited that we will be hosting our Peakin Christmas here in the Quad Cities this year for the first time!  It's so nice to have a large enough house to make that a possibility.

We have started a bit of a new tradition (started it last year) that we plan to carry on through our children's lives.  We have started to realize that the emphasis on Christmas was so much about gifts.  This is not what we want as well as that our kids simply don't need more toys!  I don't remember what we got for gifts when I was a child, I remember the things we did, the places we went, the fun we had. There are a couple of gifts growing up that I really wanted, I remember getting those.  I am not saying our kids won't get ANY gifts, they just don't need tons and tons of gifts...I don't want to have to think up something for someone to get my kids just for the sake of someone needing to get them something.  That's silly.  So we have decided to take our kids some place every year...some place different each year and just for a night or two.  We know that is something they will always remember...eventually they will have the excitement and anticipation of where they will be going, but for now, they are too young (and the tradition is too new) to expect it and so they will just be surprised.  I can't wait!  We are going outside of Chicago this year to a waterpark hotel that has mini golf, laser tag and an awesome indoor waterpark.  We reserved a vacation villa that we will be sharing with Mike, Sarah and the girls this year.  It has separate bedrooms, a full kitchen and livingroom with a fireplace.  Eek, I can't wait!!!  The kids are going to FREAK OUT and it will be something they will never forget.  We hope to repeat that feeling for them every year and as they get older, hopefully the trips will be longer and we will be able to get more creative since as they age, there will be less limitations on what they can do.  I love starting new traditions with my family!

We will be celebrating Christmas with the Stewart side of the family on New Years Day...hopefully after ringing in 2013 together the night before, but that hasn't been determined yet.  We'll see. :)

I feel like the race is on and Christmas will be here before we know it!  I am READY...and I have to admit I've already started listening to Christmas music! :)

Seriously...

Sometimes I can't even believe he's my son. Love his sweet little face and personality so much it hurts!

Onward!

(random pictures will be dropped into this post that have no connection with what I am typing...just in case you were wondering. :))

 

So thankful the election is over.  Now we can move on with regular programming...both literally and figuratively!  I never missed regular commercials so much and the negativity I have seen on social media is disturbing.  I am ready for the political posts to go away and the mean remarks from democrats AND republicans to stop.  It's just ICKY!

So onward...

 

How about them Hawkeyes?!

Oh, wait...we won't talk about that either!

The holidays are coming!
I played Christmas music yesterday...oh yes I did!  I also completed my cookie exchange invite.  SOOO excited for that fun night with lots of women who I am blessed to know!
Also, we have our Christmas festivities planned and it is going to be a wonderful Christmas...our first as a family of 5!  Eek...I love Christmas and can't wait!  Now if I could talk Sean into letting me decorate, I would be sooo happy!

 

Cason is SOOOOO close to pulling himself up to standing!  He will pull himself up to my legs, but for some reason, he won't do it to furniture.  Also, we've been working on him climbing the stairs and he's almost got the hang of it!  Woohoo!  He is just unbelievable!

Wesley rides the bus to and from school now which has been amazing!  It was a nightmare lugging he and Cason into the school and walking to the farthest posible room to sign him in and then doing it again to pick him up at the end of the day.  It was always really bad when it was raining and I knew I was going to hate it in the winter!  So glad we were able to have him ride the bus!  Now our goal is to try and get him off of his pump for night time feedings.  He has been unhooking himself almost every night which makes formula go everywhere and he isn't getting any of it then.  We feel he's ready to be done with it and are going to try really hard to convince his dietician of this on Friday, but we'll see.  Wish us luck! :)

And Saturday is Wine to Water!!!  So excited to attend this event with my friend Lisa and sister-in-law, Sarah!  It is always a super fun event for a wonderful cause!

Now back to editing pictures...