MAYLIN2007

I can't believe it has been a year since we got our referral! Where is time going? Maylin is growing too fast. Where has my baby gone? With everything we have been through to get her, we really know she is the ONE for us. It is amazing how things work out. Things have changed so much since this little whirlwind came into our lives. Big brothers have become putty and sisters have become sweeter and daddy has become her "I will do anything for you" man. She has engaged our hearts. Below are some pictures of how life has changed. The foot with the high heel is Jay's. Just shows you what a daddy will let his little girl do! He truly is the Father of the Year. The other pictures are just to show how are lives our better and fuller. The pictures of the kids being pulled in a basket, started when Austin thought it would be cute to pull Maylin. Of course, that only lasted a minute and then she wanted to do the pulling. The kids would push themselves with their arms. She neve...

A few days ago, my nephew, his wife and their baby were in town for a job interview. Luckily, they stayed with us. Maylin was in love with Two, as she calls him. His real name is Crew, but she can't say it. Hey, close enough for a 2 year old. Anyway, they loved each other. She a little more than him, but isn't that how real life grown-up boy/girl relationships are? They had so much fun that when they left, we were left with the screaming fit you see her pulling off on the floor. She cried and yelled, "Two, Two! No, home!" She was also in love with my niece's rain boots. It was amazing to watch her stand on one foot while she lifted the other into the tall boot. What balance!  

  Yep, that's us on our wedding day Jan. 27, 1990 at the ripe old ages of 22 and 21. Young and skinny. We can't believe how much we have changed. Not only physically, but emotionally. We love each other more. A lot more. We were married in Los Angeles after meeting at college and dating for 18 months. Last night we celebrated with dinner and a movie. We talked about how much has changed. First change, we have 4 kids and probably an extra 40 pounds between us. We are also no longer financially strapped. We both agreed however, that some of the best times were when we were dirt poor and I mean dirt poor. Our favorite memories are when I was finishing my last semester of college and quit work to carry the load. So Jay was supporting us with his part-time job of $400 a month! Our rent was $300 a month, so for food and gas money Jay sold his plasma and I cleaned a little old ladies house on Saturdays. Sometimes when we were out of money and food we would go to campus and look for p...

  Hours are spent sitting on this little yellow chair playing "Little Pet Shops". She loves them! She will hold one of the "Little Pet Shops", rock it and tell you in this little whisper, "Shhhhh. Baby." The whole time having her finger over her lips in the shhhh position. Play is best if you are dressed like a mom, high heels and a purse. Make that two purses.

  Maylin hasn't really liked the snow before, but this time she LOVES it. Guess her borthers and sister have rubbed off on her.

Last night I had a moment. You know one of those moments that bring everything together. I had just finished tucking the kids into bed, and Maylin and I sat on the couch to cuddle. She quickly fell asleep with one hand tightly gripping my hair. As I looked at her I thought about how just moments before she fell asleep she wanted her cheek right next to mine...kinda squished together. Then I thought about how she will just come up to me and lay her head on my leg or shoulder and sometimes she just wants to hold my hand. I started to cry as I looked at her laying there so sweetly. And I thought, this is my child. From someone else's womb and from far across the sea, but she was mine. I couldn't believe how she loves us. How we are her everything. It is amazing to me that in such a short time we really are her mama and her dadhe. It truly is remarkable how love just comes and how family just grows. I often feel so badly for her biological mother who had to give her up and how she ...

From my last post, you can tell that motherhood, at least for me, has its ups and its downs. I am sure it is that way for many of you. One day your kids absolutely drive you up a wall, the next you are just plain tired and don't know what to do with them and then the next, they do something wonderful and everything is right again. Okay, maybe not completely right, but on the way there. I guess after the last few days of being on the downhill side, today we started to head upward again. My grumpy attitude is definitely on the mend! Awesome Austin as we like to call him, received his Bronze Palm in scouting yesterday. I don't know much about scouting except for the Eagle, but this is the thing after the Eagle and is a pretty big deal! He did it on his own and we are proud of his dedication and accomplishments. Also, tonight he performed in a school play and did a wonderful job. The play was a twist on the traditional Shakespeare. It was so funny and the kids did a great job. Aust...

Sigh! And make it a bit one. Have you ever had one of those days where everything bugs the heck out of you. Where you just can't take any more. Well, I was there yesterday and unfortunately in my early morning attitude, it obviously carried over. I'm still grumpy. First, Alex got a ripstick for Christmas. They are skateboards with two instead of 4 wheels and they bend in the middle. I am thinking I bought my son a death trap or at least a broken bone trap. Anywho, we have tile or wood from one end of the house to the other. Since it is snowy outside he has been riding up and down the tile/wood. Of course I have asked, yelled, taken it away, but he still does it. I think he knows now I am serious and it won't be ridden again inside, after the scene I made when I saw the quarter size hole (a seriously deep hole) in the wall. To bad it takes something like that to get them to listen. The picture below is of Alex riding past the formal dining room. Second, you know those adopti...

I have cut Maylin's bangs several times, but she has never had a real haircut. Her hair was all different lengths in the back and she could have used one awhile ago to even things out, but since she is my first child to have hair, I just couldn't do it. Yes it is true, my other kids were bald until age 3+. But finally, I broke down and had the length cut so it all matches. They took off about an inch and yes, I kept the hair. She did great, except for holding her head still. You can see daddy finally had to step in and hold her head.

Not only does Maylin love, obsess and adore lip gloss, she now is all about nail polish. Holy cow! We have hidden them from her, but she still finds them. It is almost as if she has a nose for nailpolish. She seeks out and finds it. At first she wanted you to paint her nails, but now, she wants to do it herself and paint your nails while at it. She has about 5 layers of polish on her toes now. It is so thick and the color almost looks black. Of course she doesn't stay on her toes. Down to her first knuckle is also painted. When she has her "toes" as she calls the polish, she will come up to you, tilt her head to one side, raise her eyebrows, hold up the bottle and say "Toes?" Meaning, can I paint your toes! She is so cute how can you say no? Of course, she kinda pulls off your socks and shoes so what really can you do? The other night she went around the room and painted everyones! The boys, including Jay, are still all excited over their sparkley toenails. Ha h...

Kenzie dressed her up and Maylin put on her own "ip oss". She loves "ip oss" and wears it every chance she gets. You can tell she misses her lips most of the time. Kenzie tells me I owe her bunches of lip glosses because Maylin has used them, eaten them or lost the lids. Maylin is truly a girl.

37 minutes. That is exactly how long Maylin's naps were yesterday and today. I can say, "THIS HAS TO STOP!" My eyeballs are falling out of my head. I can't even begin to tell you how precious that 1 1/2 to 3 hours of nap time is to me. I can take a quick cat nap or I can clean (my family would like that at this point) or I can just sit and veg! So, I was thinking it was a fluke yesterday. Heck, she went to sleep last night at 7:30 p.m. and slept until 9:30 a.m. Her regular night schedule is 10 p.m. to 7:30 ish. So I was thinking she really needed that nap and was making up for it. But, when it happened again today I really started to panic. This can't be it!?! She is too young and I am too old to have nap time end. Please, please tell me it isn't so. (I wouldn't be this upset if she would sleep at night. She only seems to sleep well if she can rub my hair. Let's say I don't sleep well hanging off her twin and its hard to sleep having your hair rub...