All Done!!!

See the new blog info on the post below. I think we will have multiple authors so that we can cover lots of topics. Let me know if you think you would like to be an author.

We had a BIG, BIG day today!!! Today was "All Done Day"! Brayden took his last dose of INH today - yep, nine months of daily medicine is now ALL DONE! It was difficult, and we had to be creative, but somehow we got the medicine down each and every day. . . well, really we did miss 1 day during the nine months (other than the day of surgery and the day after) and there was another day that Michael gave him a dose and I gave him another dose without knowing it, but overall we did pretty good! To celebrate, Brayden got to take the last dose in some cake :)

Mmmmmm . . . I want cake!

Just a spoonful of icing helps the medicine go down :)

Ha, ha! The rest of you guys can catch TB - I am protected for 25-30 years!!!!

Parker Gabrielle looked beautiful (as usual) for All Done Day. She is such an angel baby! She slept from 9 pm last night until I woke her up at 8 am this morning! The baby girl is so, so good :) Also, she rolled over from front to back 3 times today! Way to go, PG!

Check out this fashionable attire -- thanks Emma & Jor Jor!

Hey, why didn't I get any cake?

A New Blog & Pictures

I have a new blog! This blog will continue as is, so don't panic my friends :) I've started a new blog that will be private, and I'm hoping it will be an outlet for me to discuss things in a public forum (which means I want lots of readers and lots of comments) but in a more anonymous way (which means that I don't want people I know in "real life" on there!). If you would like to be invited to this blog, please e-mail me. If you've never met me in person, you are definitely in. . . If you have met me, you may not make the cut ;)

Here are some long overdue pictures of the kiddos. They are doing great. Brayden is having a blast playing outside everyday, and Parker G is growing, growing, growing!!! For the past 2 nights, she has slept from 9 pm - 6 am, and she is on target to do so again (so far). What an angel baby we have!!!

I love to throw rocks!!!

Sitting pretty :)
Between those eyelashes & those lips, he really is something to look at :) We had another road trip today, and PG was not happy about it!!!

Bear Hugs & The Double Doozie

Brayden and I had so much fun today running around with Aunt Emma, Jor Jor, and Tia. We went to Build-A-Bear to make some bears for the Hugs Sweet Hugs program. If you didn't hear about the program, don't be shocked apparently the people working in the store knew very little about what was going on themselves! Basically, the first 200 customers at each BAB store today got to stuff a bear for free and those bears will be sent to children waiting for a forever family (internationally and in the US). Anyway, we stuffed the bears and we bought some clothes for them. Brayden's bear got a polo shirt, so that it would look like him :) Tia and Jor sent hugs and wishes with their bears . . . Brayden sent a little attitude with his! I (of course) got a little teary-eyed just thinking about the kids that will receive these bears. I am such a cry baby anymore.

We are putting the heart in our bear.

Bray-My had NO interest in taking pictures!

I hope not too much of this attitude rubbed off on the bear!

After BAB, we spent some time hanging out at the mall before going to Jordan's practice. The girls convinced us that they had been good enough to get a treat, so we got some cookies. Jordan (who is soooo funny about cookies) had to have a Double Doozie, which is 2 cookies with icing in the middle. I ate one, too, but we won't go into that! I gave Brayden a small piece of cookie, but he just nibbled on it and didn't act too interested. I guess he was just holding out for the good stuff b/c when she sat it down, Bray grabbed Jor's cookie! Here he is enjoying the Double Doozie:

Jor's not looking, so I'll just try a bite of her cookie. . .

Mmmm, this is pretty good!

I know I'm not supposed to be doing this --

Uh-oh, she caught me!!!

Ahhhh, this is the life :)

Parker G at 2 Months

Watch out world - Big Park is big!!! Parker Gab had her 2 month well visit on Thursday, and everything looks perfect :) We knew that she had gotten big (well, she started out pretty big, now didn't she?), but we didn't know how big!

Here are the 2 month stats --

Head - 39 cm (50th percentile)

Length - 22.5" (50th percentile)

Weight - 12 lbs 13 oz (80-85th percentile)

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

I just had to share this -- a mother spoke today in church, and she really touched me. She is a bio mom, an adoptive mom, and a foster mom, so she's definitely got some insight into motherhood. She spoke about her children's birth mothers and how adoption is a gift from God. She put into words something that I have felt so deeply but never been able to verbalize . . . "from His arms, through their arms, into my arms."

Oh, yeah, I definitely lost it at that point!!!! Then I saw Julia's montage tonight, and I lost it again!!!! It's been a Happy, EMOTIONAL Mother's Day :)

Shout Out to Jor Jor!!!

This is a shout out to our girl, Jordan B! Jor had try-outs for her cheer team recently, and not only did she set a goal to make it onto a team that was in a higher age group - she wanted to make it on the highest level of difficulty team in the next age group! Well, she did it!!! Way to go, Jordan! You set your goal high, and you worked really hard to achieve it! You are one awesome kiddo :)

Here are some pics of our celebration dinner on Friday night --

Miss Youth Level 5, Bray-My, & Uncle Belve (aka Peanut) Jordan smiling for the blog :)

Jordan goofing for the blog :p

"Parksie-Poodle" & Aunt Emma (aka Kim)

Brayden Mynor was all business - a boy's gotta eat!

In kiddo news - Brayden Boy got a mini trampoline from his PT so that he could work on jumping. He loves it!

This is where he went as soon as we got home on Friday --And where he went as soon as he got downstairs today --Oops, I guess you can tell that the same toys are thrown in the floor and that I did not clean up the toy room last night!!!

Parker Gabrielle continues to be the sweetest baby girl ever. She is Angel Baby! I don't think she could get any cuter, either :)

Pretty in Pink

Hey, Gerber Baby - I'm after your job!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommas out there!!! Remember, even if you're temporarily separated from your child, you are still a Momma ;)

All That I Have Gained (Volume 2)

It is Mother's Day in Guatemala, so I'll post a warning to the weepy - I am pensive and sappy again tonight. . .

Where do I begin? How can I explain how I feel today? I delight in the joy of being my son's mother, but at the same time I feel immense sorrow that his birth mother does not get the chance to know the boy that her sweet baby has become. The past year has brought so many changes to Mynor, I doubt that anyone who knew him before could ever recognize him. He is bigger and stronger. He is fun-loving, and he has a great sense of humor. He is all boy; he likes to throw rocks, and he is tough. He gives amazing hugs and super sweet kisses. He is happy, and he is smart. He learns new things all of the time, and he is constantly full of surprises. I wish that she could see all of these things.

Dear O.,

I pray that somehow you know that Mynor is safe and healthy and happy and loved. I pray that you have peace when you think of him. Our son is wonderful. Thank you for giving life to our precious son, and thank you for making the choices that you thought were best for him. I promise to love him always.

One More Day

I've only got one more day . . . I have to go back to work on Thursday, and it is going to kill me. I know a lot of you thought I was cooking up some plan to stay home and send Michael back out into the workplace, but that's just not a choice we can make right now. Believe me, we've looked at it every way possible, and we just can't do it. We would happily give up the income and change our lifestyle, but I don't work for the salary, I work for the health insurance. In case you haven't been paying attention, our son needs good health insurance. So, somehow on Thursday morning, I'm going to drag my butt up, get ready and leave my sleeping husband and two children at home :(

Attention Co-workers: You DO NOT want to talk to me on Thursday. I will be in a VERY BAD mood.

I'm going to miss out on things like:

This - Parker's morning play time

And This - Brayden's morning play time

And This - Finger painting and a face massage during Speech Therapy

And This - Early morning bright eyes

And This - The kids learning how to play together

It will be hard, but it is what my family needs. I will just try to remember that at the end of the day, I can come home to THIS --

The Boy Who Doesn't Know How to Laugh

I know I've told you guys that Jordan and Brayden act like wild animals when they get together, but you really have no idea just how funny they can be. On Monday, Jor came over for a little while after school. She had to do her homework before she could play, so she went in the living room away from Brayden. He tried and tried to get her attention (yelling, throwing toys over the gate, etc), but Jor just worked away on her reading assignment. After she was finished, she went in to play with Brayden. . . by that time, he was mad at her so he ignored her. He literally turned his back to her when she tried to talk to him. It was so funny! He's way to young to be playing those games!! After a little while, he got over it and they had a good time. Here is a video of them playing the "smack Jordan in the head and she will scream" game -- very entertaining!

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I'm not sure how well you can hear it in the video, but Brayden gets SOOOOO cracked up but he does not laugh out loud. He holds it inside somehow. I've never seen anyone hold laughter in like he does, but we've tried everything to get him to let some air out, and he just doesn't. Oh, well, he's having a good time even if he still doesn't know how to laugh :)

Now, here are some pictures of Miss P-Gab from today -- just because I know you enjoy her cuteness :)