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Visiting T-Man's Birth mom

We took a three hour drive south and spent the weekend visiting with T-Man's birth mother. It was nice to see her, give him the opportunity to visit with her and to see her family.

We think the WORLD of his birth mother and thank her so much for the life she gave to T-Man, for how well she took care of him for 9 months and for what she did for us. We are truly blessed and so grateful for her and the miracle of adoption. We are so certain that another child is meant to join our family. We don't feel cursed with infertility, but rather so blessed by adoption. We don't understand why we were chosen to have adoption as our means of building our family, but we are so grateful that we were!

While visiting, she took him on a carousel ride, worked puzzles with him, and we took him to the children's museum. He was also a huge fan of the water table! It was a nice weekend away!

When T-Man is tired, he's "loopy-tired" meaning he moves at lightning speed, is giggly and overall a goof to watch. Last night he was "loopy tired". Eric picked him up and put him on his lap. He said, "You need to calm down. Take a deep breath and calm down." T-Man's reply - "No, Calm Up!"

Bob the Builder - On Stage at the Chicago Theater

We took T-Man to see Bob the Builder on stage. He has been singing, "Can we fix it? Yes we can" for the last three days straight. Overall, the play was enjoyable. We decided that we could do without the 20 minute intermission and the length of over 1.5 hours. But it was an enjoyable evening out together. As we were walking from the theater to the restaurant, there were unexpected fireworks going off over the river. T-man liked those but thought they were loud. It was bizarre to see the reflection of the fireworks on Trump Tower and to hear the sound bounce off and echo around the buildings.

Tonight I went into Tyler's room to find him in his bed.
Mommy: "Good choice, T-Man! I am so proud of you for staying in your big boy bed!"
T-Man: (in a whisper) "Mommy happy; good choices"
Mommy: (While straightening the sheet and blanket) "I love you! Thanks for making good choi..... Hey, wait a minute! Where are your pajama pants?"
T-Man: (in a whisper) "Good choices"

Imagine my surprise when I found the pajama pants wedged into the chair cushion and T-Man without pants. Hmm.....If you are in your big boy bed, but your pajama pants are not, were you out of your bed?

Chicago weather: 3.5" snow and 19 degrees.

We were not about to go outside today - 19 degrees, yeah right! (Not to mention the thoughtful gifts - bronchitis and laryngitis that I got for my birthday!)

Can't go outside? Next best thing - bring the snow inside!

Materials required: 1 bucket of snow, 1 blanket, 1 mini-shovel or dinner utensils, 2 bowls, mittens, scarf, mini carrots, cloves for eyes, sticks for arms, one baking tray.

T-Man and I sat on the family room floor and built mini-snowmen inside. We had the best afternoon! "Oooooh, c-c-c-c-c-c-cold" was about all T-Man could say. Even the dog got involved (no, don't go there, there was no yellow snow -- she just licked the snow) .

Photo: not ours; ours melted before we could snap pics. Too much fun playing, didn't even think about a camera.

Not only is November National Adoption Awareness Month, but it is also the time when I can "legally" start playing my Christmas music and not hear too many complaints from the "Hub". I can't describe the warm fuzzies I feel when I hear almost any Christmas song ("Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" excluded). The toe tapping and uncontrollable singing started in the car this morning when I heard "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by the Barenaked Ladies.

My little heart was crushed and my dreams of becoming an American Idol contestant shattered when from the back seat I hear, "No Sing, Mamma". I think I will cry myself to sleep tonight after I sing a few Christmas songs to settle myself down.

"Say Please"

This is what my two year old son said to me. Apparently he did not care for the way I was clutching to/pulling on the photo he had twisted up in his sweaty little boy hand. I love his greasy little cheese covered fingers, but didn't care for them on the photo my friend just had made for us of our Halloween gathering.

As I calmly explained, while pulling as hard as I could, the need to let go of the photo, my very smart little two year old quipped, "Say Please".

Okay T-Man, point taken! Apparently, someone needs to teach mommy some manners! I think I got a dose of my own medicine and did not really care for the taste.

I Love, Love, Love this quote:

"While we try to teach our children all about life . . . our children teach us what life is all about."

Fall in Illinois is just beautiful!! It is the most romantic time of the year and the prettiest, in my opinion. The colors this year have been so vibrant, the weather unseasonably warm, and it just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside! Tyler and I spent the morning jumping in leaves, walking around the neighborhood pulling his red wagon and collecting "crunchy leaves" as he calls them, off of the sidewalks. I thing today's walk qualifies as one of the best ever!

Someone just LOVED Halloween this year. He got to pass out candy, trick-or-treat to a few houses, and dress up in costume. Oh yeah, and by the way, Tyler loved it, too :)

He actually "got it" this year. He was having a blast running to the door to pass out candy and shouting, "hurry, hurry, hurry" until the second to last doorbell ring when three middle school boys came. One was wearing a red skeletal mask and the other two had black masks with no faces. The eyes lit up red on one of them. T-Man took one look, started shaking, turned around and bolted between Eric's legs and took off as fast as he could in the other direction in tears. It was cute in a sad and pathetic sort of way. The last doorbell ring was two princesses so I don't think we have scarred him for life.

Going door-to-door was his favorite I think. He went up to each door and acted like he was best friends with everyone saying Hi, trick-or-treat, thank you, saying his name and age, bye-bye, etc. He didn't want to carry the package I made for him to hold his candy in, but we held it and at least we had something to store the loot in. He is one cute UPS man if you ask me!

Shake It, Grandma, Shake It!

I am certain that an image here of any Grandma shakin' it wouldn't be appropriate so I am taking this opportunity to post an image of T-Man.

We were at Grandma and "Pa-Pa's" house playing with a toy car. The concept is you shake the car and hard as you can for a bit of time. When set on a smooth surface, it takes off running.

T-Man shook it, sent it on it's way down the top of a coffee table and Grandma caught it on the other end. As Grandma picked it up, T-Man yelled, "Shake it, Grandma, Shake it!!"

"We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life. But those who make their journey home across time and miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands."
~ Kristi Larson