Say my name, say my name!

As I type the title of this blog post I can't help but be transported back to my college days at Bowling Green State University. Before Beyonce was a solo singer she was a member in a little band called Destiny's Child, and they had a hit song called "Say My Name". My friends and I loved that song, we could not help but roll all the windows in the car and belt out the lyrics when it was on the radio.

Now as an adult that song's title has a entirely new meaning, now that Claire's adopiton is final we have to take a bunch of steps to get her name offically changed. The first step was getting her certified adoption decree, which we just recieved, then we have to wait for her new certified birth certificate, which will have John and mine names listed as her parents- I am really looking forward to recieving that! After we get that I head off to the social security office to request a new number and change her name. Then it's all about changing her passport, and getting all her shot records and medical records switched.

It seems like an exhausting daunting process, but I'm sure it will all be fine- to ease the stress I may have to dig out my old Destiney's Child CD have a sing along!

We are official!

It's official- Claire's adoption is complete, it was finalized this morning. I really did not think I would be stressed out, but last night I was super nervous and this morning I couldn't get to the courthouse fast enough. Once once I got to the courtroom and saw all our family and friends who had come to celebrate with us and our little girl I couldn't help but get chocked up. I made it all the way through hearing until the last second then the tears starting to flow, but I had to get it together so I could go take pictures with the judge.

It was an amazing morning, Claire has been ours since the first day we held her, but now she's legally ours, and no one can take her away. We are in heaven!

16 months

I can sum up this age in 3 words: SHE NEVER STOPS! This is has to be the most exhausting age. Every minute on every day Claire is moving, running, jumping or climbing, you name it she's doing it and it's all day long. By the time she goes to bed I am collapsed in a heap on the couch. We are going to start her in gymnastics class next month, it's a mommy and me class (now that should be interesting!) that is once a week for 45 minutes- they get to jump on trampolines and play in the foam pit- should be fun for her- this will be her first group activity, other then daycare.

More big news, our finalization hearing is NEXT TUESDAY, in less then a week she will be our forever daughter, we are thrilled and next Tuesday cannot come fast enough. So I will update with photos from court when that is complete.

In closing here are some basic facts about our little monkey!

Size 4 diaper
Wearing size 12-18 month clothes
Loves to dance, especially to the Batman theme song- thank you daddy!
Loves Elmo
Just discovered her ride on toys- she has been afraid of them since Christmas
Wearing a size 3 shoe
Loves her sippy cup and milk
Can eat with a fork and spoon, she actually prefers it this way!

Happy Mother's Day- a little late!

Well, in true mom's fashion I am a day late in wishing all the mom's out there a Happy Mother's Day! You know I always have to be fashionably late!!

We had a great mother's day, it started with Claire sleeping through the night, WOO HOOT! Daddy got up with her in the morning and let me sleep in until 10am! We pretty much just relaxed around the house all day, and went to dinner around 7pm. It was just the kind of day I like- relaxing at home watching movies.

I will admit that being a mom is the hardest job I have ever had, because it's 24 hours a day 7 days a week, when you are sick and when you aren't you have to work. But at the end of the day it's the most rewarding. There were so many Mother's Day's that I thought I would never get to be a mother and experience all the stuff that mom's do, so it's even more special to me. I really wanted to be a mom, because I have such a great one. Don't get me wrong my mom and I have had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day she is my best friend. People laugh when I say we talk or text at least once a day. She has taught me so much and when she tells me that I'm a good mom that means the world to me, because there are days where I feel like I am doing nothing right.

When I picked Claire up at school on Friday she was clutching this little green thing, I didn't know what it was- when I was finally able to wrestle it out of her little fingers I realized it was her hand print. Her teacher told me "she has not put that thing down since the paint dried!" It's the cutest thing, I love it and I will keep it forever!

So to all the mom's out there Happy Mother's Day! To those who are still fighting to be a mom, I've been there I know it's rough, but believe me it's all worth it at the end of the day!

Sleep is WAY overrated!

As many of you know babies and toddlers are all over the place with their sleep patterns, and Miss Claire is no exception to this rule. We are experiencing the dreaded "sleep regression" in our house right now, and I am just about at the end of my rope. It's amazing how much sleep you can actually function on- I have calculated that I am probably getting about 4-5 good hours of sleep a night, and amazingly I am functioning almost at 100%! HAHA!

We did the cry it out method when Claire was younger and it worked like a charm, that doesn't seem to be the case now days. She wakes up screaming bloody murder at 2am, just about every night, and then this morning she was up at 5AM, luckily we were able to get her to go back to sleep until 630AM. Both John and I are not fans of co sleeping, I just don't know why people think it's a good idea to sleep with their child, I mean the kid has to learn to sleep in their own bed eventually, why delay the inevitable?!

After consulting Google I have found that this seems to be a common problem in toddlers around this age, there is so much going on developmentally that sleep is just the last thing these kids want to do. I am still juggling with the idea that it's something to do with her allergies, she always seems so congested, but not much we can do there, she already takes a small dose of Claritan. I have also thought maybe it's more teeth, but I don't seem to see any new ones, so who knows!

I really struggle with being upset about her getting up at night, I love the extra time with her, just rocking her back to sleep, but another side of me just wants to go to bed, I have actually considered sleeping on her floor, however I have never actually done this! She seems to like me in her room, even if she's in her crib.

All this sleep drama has lead me once again to another online search- I am thinking ordering some sleep books online- gotta love Amazon- so we will see- I will keep you all updated to our sleep issues, until then nighty night!

Where does the time go!?

Lately I feel like someone hit the fast forward button on my DVR of life! I cannot believe April is half way over, and we are already making plans for summer 2011! I feel like Claire was just 3 months old and I was counting down the months to her first birthday party, now here we are she is 15 months old and I am hoping to slow down time, because I cannot believe she is on her way to 2!!

We do have some big news to share, Claire's adoption should be finalized in the next 30 days, WOO HOOT!! We are thrilled. We meet with our attorney next week and will hopefully get our court date for finalization. It's been a long road, but definitely well worth it!

I mentioned that we are making plans for summer- we are once again headed off the the beach for 4th of July- Myrtle Beach that is- to spend a week with Grandma, or "ga ga" as Claire affectionately calls her and Papa. I can't wait I love the beach at 4th of July, the 4th is a really big deal in the South- so this is the perfect excuse to make sure Claire is decked out in a special patriotic outfit, can we say big bows and monograms- come on it's what the south is known for!!

I have been a bit of a slacker when it comes to uploading pictures, but thanks to my mom here is a family shot from our vacation last month to Los Cabos, we had a fantastic time, can't wait to go back!

Hope everyone is having a great spring, and getting ready for The Easter Bunny- who is coming soon. I usually host Easter dinner at our house, but this year we are thinking we will be going out with my dad and his family, sounds good to me, reservations were always my speciality!

15 months already!!

We had our 15 months appointment today with our pediatrician. I cannot believe my baby is 15 months old, wow time really does fly. She is doing great, hitting all her developmental milestones, some are even ahead of schedule, that's my girl- we know she's gifted! HAHA!

She is still measuring on the small side, which is no surprise being that her birth mother is petite, she is about 21 lbs and 30 inches long. Our doctor is estimating that she will be about 5'2 or 5'3 when she is an adult. Which is just fine with me, there are way worse things in life then being petite. We are going to enroll her in gymnastics when she is 18 months, it's a mommy and me class once a week for 45 minutes. She loves to jump and flip around on the couch (I can thank her grandpa for teaching her this trick!), so hopefully she will love playing on the trampolines and mats and if she's going to be small, she may just be the perfect little gymnast when she's older.

We are looking forward to spring and warm weather, we just got back from Cabo and had a fantastic time, and Claire was so good. She was perfectly content sitting at the pool playing with her toys, she even took 3 hours naps on the beach chair under the umbrella- I guess vacation is hard work! I am now counting down the days until our next vacation, which will be Myrtle Beach for 4th of July. We will be visiting with friends and family and also celebrating Claire's adoption, which should all be final by then, my mom is planning a big party- that is what we do best in our family!

Here are some 15 month stats:
- size 4 diaper
- still wearing mostly 12 month clothes, some 12-18 months depending on the brand
- LOVES chicken, hates veggies!
- No more bottle or pacifier (YAY!!!)
- still loves Puppy and now George (stuffed monkey)
- sleeping 10-12 hours a night without waking
- is a total daddy's girl, John leaves the room and we have tears!

I am just in shock that she is getting so big so fast, she will be 2 in a the blink of an eye, but we know that means- another party to plan. I have some great ideas for her 2nd birthday, but y'all will just have to stay tuned for those.

Spring has Sprung

Finally we are experiencing some normal Vegas weather, it's 70 degrees today and just beautiful out. As we approach spring I am always brought back to 2 springs ago when we were just starting our first IVF cycle. I cannot believe it's been almost two years since all of that, it seems just like yesterday, but yet it seems so far in the past. That was the lowest point of my life and now I feel like I am on top of the world. There are days that I cannot believe I get to be Claire's mom, like seriously God chose me, and he chose John to be her parents, that just blows my mind.

On the adoption front things are moving forward nicely and we should have everything wrapped up and finalized by early summer, now if I can just convince John to have a party to officially welcome Claire to our family- we all know I will take any excuse to have a blow out party- I am seeing a pink lemonade party with shades of light pink and pale yellow accented with her monogram- since the party is all about her- we have to incorporate her new name!!

In other family news we are getting ready to take our first big family vacation, to the sunny Mexico- we can't wait! So stay tuned for lots of fun family photos!