Dunlop's Front Porch

Moving On

2008-10-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

So, as you can tell, I have given up on blogging. I find with life and 2 little kids, it just takes up way to much time. But I do really want to keep sharing pics of our little cuties, and the rest of us.

So I have set up an account at Flickr, that is a lot easier and less time consuming for me to upload photos to. I am keeping them set so only friends and family can see them. If you would like to be added to our contact list, go to flickr and create a user name then request to be our friend. Here is the URL for our flickr albums. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunlopfamily/

I have already downloaded two recent albums of the boys, with more to come.

So tata for now,,,maybe some day i will be back to commentate on life.

Happy Birthday Matthew

2008-04-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to believe that as of thursday, Matthew is one year old!! This year has flown by, as I guess it does with a three year old and a baby. :-) I feel like I just turned around and there Matthew was, a one year old, Oh soooo cute. I put together a slide show for his birthmom of the past year, and the one thing that jumped out at me was how much Matthew smiles and laughs. In almost every picture, from 2 months old he is smiling or laughing really big. In spite of lots of spit up and being sick for several months, he always had an easy smile.

This past weekend has been a flurry of activities for his birthday. On thursday, his actual birthday, we had his birthmom and her sister over to play for awhile and then we all went out to dinner. It was so great to be able to spend time with her on that special day, and to let her share in it with us. Her love for Matthew is something that we cherish and that we know will be a blessing to him in the years to come.

We also had his doctor appt. that day, and the poor kid had to get tested for allergies. They tried to take blood out of one arm, but of course he squirmed and ripped the needle out, uck, it bled everywhere. So they had to do it in the other arm... then he had to get 3 shots. Needless to say he was not very happy after that and slept most of the afternoon away.

On Saturday Matthew experienced grass for the first time and loved it! He immediately was pulling at it and laughing, then of course eating it. It was so great to have such beautiful weather and be able to play outside.

Chris was able to finish the chicken coop and the chicks are now happily out in their house, or running around the backyard. (or running away from Isaac...hehehe)

That night we celebrated Matthew's "Gotcha Day", the day he officially became a part of our family. We went to Olive Garden for dinner, where we went on that day last year. I think he must have eaten at least 3 breadsticks, that kid can put it away for sure!

On sunday we had Matthews birthday party. It was such a nice day and we were able to relax outside. We had a bunch of bubble toys for the kids, and I think the adults had just as much fun with them. My deck will be cleaned when it rains for sure.

Matthew loved his cupcake! He shoved that thing in his mouth soooo fast, and his feet were kicking in delight. Thank you to everyone who came to make this such a special day for him.

Easter Chickens

2008-04-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

Here are some great pics from Easter. We had all of Anne's family over for dinner and the kids had a great time hunting for eggs and eating candy!! Isaac could not keep his eyes closed while we hid the eggs, so my sister tied a dishtowel around his head, that just made him look arabian! :-)Matthew is so active now, crawling everywhere. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, you always know what he is feeling, usually through laughter luckily. He loved "taking a ride" on grandpa's belly. When dad would laugh, Matthew would bounce up and down laughing hard.

And now for a chicken update....we are getting ready to move them to the backyard! Yeah. They are soooooo big. With the wild weather we had this last week, I am glad I did not do it sooner, but I am ready for them to be outside, not in our basement. Chris and Isaac have been working hard to build the coop. Though as you can barely see in this picture, Isaac is actually up playing in the dirt!
Here is the coop without the roof or any doors or windows cut out, but you get the general idea...I am really proud of Chris for turning into a "home builder" :-)

Here are the chickens in thir box, peeking put over the top.

Matthew and Movie night

2008-03-21T16:05:00.001-07:00

This is a pretty random post...basically so I can post some cute pictures from the last few weeks. Matthew is closing in on a year, I can hardly believe it...here are his 11 month pics that I took.

He is soooo smiley. He has finally started crawling and it has been an adventure. He basically has bashed his head into anything he can find and is currently sporting 3 big bruises. In one day he got two bruises and a bloody lip...poor little guy. That was the day after he fell and got a bloody tooth at the gym. Luckily he was fine and he didn't really seem to mind.

One of the traditions that we have at our house is Movie night. Isaac loves Movie night. Last week we rented "Peter Pan" because, of course, it has pirates in it. I love this pic of Isaac standing with his Popcorn box waiting for the Popcorn to be done. He gets so excited for popcorn.

All the boys settled down on the bean bag for the movie, and Bogey circled around waiting for the dropped popcorn, she was rewarded for her patience.

This is a picture of Isaac's St. Patricks day breakfast of green eggs, green honeydew melon and green milk....I think he thought I was weird for having him eat all this. :-)

I just have been hit lately with how big these boys have gotten. I am amazed that I can wake up in the morning and they both seem to have grown a foot overnight. Isaac is such a big 3 year old and amazes me daily with the things he says. Having him potty trained has been the best thing ever!!!!!

And now that Matthew is crawling he is so much more interactive. This morning he has been following me from room to room and talking up a storm. He says da-da and ma-ma a lot, but I don't think he knows what they mean yet.

First (2nd) Trip to the dentist!

2008-03-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took Isaac in for his first dental check up....but... Matthew yelled at him, Isaac got sad and cried, and then wouldn't let go of me to let anyone look in his mouth. Poor kid wouldn't even sit in the chair. So luckily they referred us to a great kid dentist and we were able to get an appointment for today. We had been reading books all week on going to the dentist and he was so excited. I was so suprised by his reaction yesterday.

So today we talked up the dentist a lot and how he could watch a video and play with toys. He was so excited to go. When we got there he enjoyed playing with the toys in the waiting area.

Once we got called back, he walked right into the room and asked where the toys were. The hygenist let him pick out a video, and he thought that was pretty cool. He explored the room, wandering around pointing things out. Once the video started he decided it was ok to sit in the chair if mommy sat with him. Sure! He was a great sport and pointed out the xray and the light to me.

When the dentist came in, he talked like a duck which made a huge hit with Isaac. Then he opened right up and let the dentist count his teeth and brush them.

No problems. Isaac has great healthy teeth, now if we can just get him to stop sucking his thumb so we keep them that way. (We will start working on that soon, but lets finish potty training first!)

Our cutie pie

2008-03-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

I Can't get over how big Matthew is getting. Our friends have a 2 week old baby and seeing him makes me realize how fast this past year has been. In the last 3 weeks Matthew has finally been really healthy for the first time since November it seems. He has been really happy and laughing always. For the longest time he has not crawled, but rolled wherever he wanted to go. Just this past week, he has finally figured out how to crawl forwards. He still doesnt go far, and rolls around a lot, but he is definetly crawling.

He has also gotten 4 new teeth this week. That brings him up to a total of 12 teeth, before the age of 11 months!!!! Wow, he has a lot of teeth.

He has started trying to pull himself up to a standing position, but hasn't quite mastered it yet. But if you stand him up, he stays for a long time. He loves to stand at his "piano" and play music.

Here are the latest chic pics from Wednesday. They are now 2 weeks old and oh so big. We took them outside for the first time and they loved it, but were cold. Isaac's new fun job is to hunt in the backyard for worms to feed to the chickens. They go crazy for worms.

They have started to roost, and will jump to the top of their cage, or your shoulder when I take the lid off of their cage. While out in the backyard, Omelet took up permanant residence on my shoulder. So cute! I can't wait until they are able to be in the backyard permanently, running around and have more freedom. Soon, hopefully some time in April.

Mr. Funny and his brood of chicks

2008-02-29T08:39:00.001-08:00

Week one chick update: The chicks are all doing great. I am amazed by how fragile they are, and yet how much they grow each day! Every morning I go down to clean their brooder and see that they have a bunch of new feathers. The black one (Omelet) is several days older than the other two and it makes a huge difference. She is bigger than them and has a lot more feathers. Isaac loves to go down and see them. They run and hide behind their food when they hear us coming, but the minute we put treats in our hands and say "here, chick, chick, chick" they come running and eat right out of our hands. Isaac loves to feed them.

Here is a picture I took yesterday after a week at our house (they are 10 days old now) and you can see how their loosing their down covering and getting new feathers. They seem to have tails coming in and along the top of their back. From yesterday to this morning the black one has gotten a lot more!

Isaac had a wal-mart gift card for his birthday, so we went down and let him pick out a new bike helmet. I liked the Cars one, but he insisted on the one that had Bert and Ernie on it (Sesame Street) He was so excited to wear it and the arm and knee pads that came with. He played outside all afternoon wearing the whole ensamble. His shirt fits perfectly...it says "Mr. Funny" on it. You can see his scissors in his hands, he was going around cutting on my bushes.

Sorry I have no pics of Matthew, we went to the duck pond yesterday and the camera was not working...ugh. I will get pics soon, he is so happy and healthy lately. For the first time in literally 3 months, we are all healthy at one time. It is soooo nice, I had forgotten what that was like. :-)

On a side note, potty training is going well, Isaac has stayed dry for 3 days now and is not wearing diapers during the day anymore, even when we go somewhere. YEAH!!!!!!

We have been invaded by...Pirates! Arghhhhhh!

2008-02-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we had a Pirate Party for Isaac and his friends. What a great time we had. We decorated the porch in a pirate theme, complete with a plank to walk up. In the background we had the song from the Pirates of The Caribbean playing to help set the mood.

Chris printed off the big pirate ship picture, and we had a big pirate flag covering the door. It looked awesome and is still up as I hate to take it all down. We were blessed with a really nice sunny, fairly warm day (by february in Oregon standards!)

Our first ship of pirates "walking the plank"!

Here is the band of scallywag pirates that met everyone at the door. Chris's parents were here for the weekend, which was really nice. (Matthew had fallen asleep, so did not join the party until later)

Capt. Isaac was so excited to greet everyone! He talked like a pirate all day (and again yesterday , and today...)

Everyone got their pictures taken on the porch, and most had dressed up in full pirate gear, it was so cute to see them all decked out!

Isaac was happy to have his best friend Cole come. Cole just got a new baby brother on monday and we weren't sure they would venture out for our adventure. We are so glad they did. Welcome Pirate Ethan!!!!!

The kids had a great time playing games, especially musical chairs.....my favorite was Tori who picked a chair and stayed there the whole time!!! Kaetha was our winner, with Zander putting in a good race for 2nd. We also had a pirate ship pinata that was a lot of fun. I have never seen such crazed looks on the kids faces as they beat that thing as hard as they could.

Isaac had been asking for a pirate ship cake for months now as it is on display at the local grocery store. It was the coolest cake! It came complete with pirates to man the crows nest and fire the cannons. He loved it!

Matthew even got in on the fun...here is Master Mathhew and his pirate hair! Argh!!!

We had such a fun time and it was great to hang out with all our good friends. We visited for a long time while the kids hid treasure and played pirates! When everyone left Isaac crashed in about 5 minutes....that was one tired pirate.Thanks to everyone who came and gave presents to Isaac. Our house is overrun with pirates and we are having a great time playing with them!

Happy Birthday Isaac

2008-02-22T11:10:00.001-08:00

Hard to believe that our little boy is turning 3. Time goes by too fast. He seems so grown up now.

We aren't having a party for Isaac until tomorrow, so we tried to do somethings to make his actual birthday special. In the morning, I made him his favorite pancakes and put candles in them so we could sing happy birthday.

Then we drove to Oregon City to meet daddy for lunch. From there we drove to Mulino to pick up Isaac's Birthday presents....3 2 day old chicks!!! He knew we were getting them and was so excited. I had originally decided that one of them would be Rhode Island Red, but when we got there, Isaac insisted on getting the white one (a leghorn) So we ended up getting a Buff Orpington, a Austerlop, and a Leghorn.

They will live in our basement for the next few months until the weather warms up a bit and they get all their feathers, then we will move them out into their coop in the backyard. Hopefully by July we will be getting some fresh eggs.

Isaac loves the chicks, and wants to go down and see them first thing in the morning, and all day long. He is so gentle holding them and of course wants to hold the white one the most, that is definetly his favorite. He named the white one "peacock" and the brown one "Hashbrown" and the black one is "Omelet". :-)

Bogey seems to be oblivious to them, they chirp away and we hold them, and Bogey just lays on the ground looking bored. I am sure that when they start running around, she may try and go after them, but one peck from them and she will have her tail between her legs running the other way. :-)

Long time no Blog...Christmas and beyond!

2008-02-19T08:40:00.001-08:00

It has been a long time since I have blogged (obviously) I even comtemplated whether I would bother anymore, but I know of several people that love to see pictures of the boys, so I am renewing my commitment to blogging!

I will post a smattering of pictures from Christmas onwards, I was thinking that we had not done much, but as I look at the pictures I see that life has been eventful. But for the most part one or all of us has been sick everyday since around November. This has been the worst winter for that and we are all tired of it. It has made life really difficult around here and we don't venture out much. I can't wait until spring and hopefully we can get out of survival mode. UGH!

We had a great Christmas, as you can see by this cute, cute picture of the boys on Christmas morning. It was fun to see Isaac fully get into the whole Santa thing. Matthew seemed to enjoy his first Christmas, and was so excited to open presents (and then try and eat the paper!) We spent Christmas day here with Anne's family and then drove up on Boxing Day to Canada to see Chris's family. Luckily for us we purchased a new Mini Van the week before Christmas, so it was a much much more comfortable ride up to Canada.

Isaac at Grandma and Grandpa Dunlops house playing "Hungry, Hungry Hippo's"

Matthew sure enjoyed mashed potato's and Cranberry sauce...Mmmmmmm!!

Once we got home from Christmas we were ready to get going on the house. I had been without a kitchen floor for a few months, and though it was nice to ignore it and not clean it, I was anxious to get the kitchen done. Chris worked really hard and now we have a beautiful laminate floor. Chris did a great job installing it....now if I could just find time to finish painting the cupboard doors, and paint the walls, and get the trim done...ugh, I guess we still have a lot of work to do!

Chris, Happily putting in the last board! Way to go Mr. Handyman.

In January, we finally got enough snow to play in, but only for a few hours and then it melted. Isaac was so excited to go out and build a snowman, and Matthew loved feeling the snow and looking at everything.

The big news of the last month is that we have started Potty Training Isaac. He is eager to go on his potty and wear big boy underwear, but usually on his terms. That means that he does well for awhile and then will have 2 or three accidents on the carpet. I will be so happy to get our carpets cleaned soon! Today we went out to lunch at my Grandmas and he used the bathroom there and stayed dry all morning, hopefully this is a sign of things to come!!! I can't wait.

This last picture seems to depict our life the last few months. This is us visiting our friends Dave and Wendy in Canada last weekend. On the sunday that we were leaving, instead of playing with their two boys, Isaac climbed up on me and fell asleep (10am, very unlike him) He ended up having a fever that lasted most of last week. I feel like I have spent about a month on the couch with either kid sick or myself.

So there you go, a very quick up date on what we have been up to! Tomorrow we celebrate Isaac's 3 year birthday. WOW, I am amazed and sad at the same time...he is such a little boy now, no longer my baby. Will do a post on him and his special suprise for tomorrow.

Merry Christmas from the Dunlop Clan

2007-12-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

We just recently sent out our Christmas pictures minus the annual letter this year. We have just been swamped with stuff around here and did not get around to writing one. Hopefully you have recieved our cards and are now checking out the blog to see what we have been up to. Here is our year in a nutshell.

This past year has been a busy one and an exciting one. The highlight of the year happened in April - our precious son Matthew was born! He has been such a joy and a delight! He is the cutest little thing, and no matter how he is feeling, he is smiling. He likes to kick his legs and chatters non-stop. He has had acid reflux and will cover you in spit up if you are not careful, but I think we are finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel on that...it seems to be less and less. He is growing so big, so fast. He loves to sit on the floor surrounded with all of his toys and play and play. He lights up whenever Isaac is in the room. He is not crawling yet, but I suspect it will happen at any moment. He gets into the position, but hasnt figured out how to actually get moving yet.

Isaac is growing by leaps and bounds. He is a smart little boy who loves to jump and play hide and go seek. He knows all his letters and their sounds and counts pretty well too. His favorite letter is G, his favorite number is 5, and his favorite color is blue. He is showing himself to be fairly musical as well and loves to sing and dance. When he goes to Grandma and Grandpa Basden's he loves to play Grandpa's banjo and Grandma's Mandolin....he is even starting to get some rhythm. Isaac is a sweet, sweet, soul who is very caring towards Matthew and others around him. He loves to laugh and have fun! His favorite thing to say right now is "Come play toys with me!"

I (Anne) love being home with the kids and feel so blessed that we can do that. This past fall I have taken a part time teaching job with a Theatre Company called CYT, Christian Youth Theatre. They hold theatre classes for kids after school, as well as produce 3 Musical productions a year. I fell in love with the company and have since been asked to be on their Board of Directors for the Portland and Vancouver CYT's. It is as if God handed me the perfect company to fit my talents and interests. I will also be directing for them in the spring and again next fall. This has been a tremendous blessing in my life, and fits nicely with our schedule. Isaac has really enjoyed seeing the older kids and learning some of the songs and dances. Good thing I get free tuition, I will need it when he is old enough to take classes!

One of the things that we do with the kids is to go visit my Grandma and my Auntie at their Retirement home for lunch. The people there just love seeing the boys, and Isaac spends most of the time dancing and entertaining them. He calls it "grandma's castle" because of the way the building looks and just loves going there.

Chris is still working in the mapping department at Oregon City, and doing taxes during tax season. He is an awesome father who spends lots of time playing and roughhousing with the boys. All of his pants are getting holes worn into the knees from crawling around on the floor with the kids. Chris is in a men's Bible study group that meets every week at a local coffee shop. He has made some great friendships with the other guys there, and looks forward to it every week. He is quite proud of winning the "Most Hideous Holiday Sweater" award last week at our Bible Study's Christmas Party!

We have settled into the house now and have spent the past year doing many projects around here. The biggest one being remodeling the kitchen. At this point, we still have no floor and most of the cupboard doors are just half painted. Hopefully when life returns to normal in the new year (ha!) we can get that finished up.

We hope that you all are having a Merry Christmas season and wish you best in the New Year! Bookmark our page and come back often to keep track of our growing boys!

All is better...and Busy

2007-12-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

Life around here has been really crazy the last 3 weeks....we had a week of Matthew being sick, then travel to Canada for Thanksgiving, and then Anne was at the theatre all last week working on "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown". I thought I would get everyone caught up a little on us.

#1 Matthew is doing much better, sorry for the gross picture I posted...I honestly was not waiting for him to throw up so I could take a picture, it just happened that he did that right when I went to take a picture of him. But, really that is what was going on most of that week. We are going back to the doctor today, just to make sure he is 100% better, but he is really much better, just a little bit of a cough left. Here is a much nicer picture of him looking much healthier. This was taken at a family Christmas party we had at my Grandma's retirement home.

#2 Our trip to Victoria was wonderful. It was the first time that we had been able to travel up there since Matthew was born. He did really well in the EPIC car ride. Our drive on the busiest travel day of the year took almost 12 hours (it normally would be around 5) It took us 1.5 hours to get through Seattle and Everett, and then their was an 1.5 hour wait at the border, then we had to wait for the ferry. We arrived at Chris's parents around 11 pm, very tired. The boys actually did really well though, and they slept most of the way. It could have been a whole lot worse.
We had a nice relaxing time, and Matthew's cousins and Aunt Lorna and Uncle Bob enjoyed getting to know him. They were soooo excited to finally meet him.

We went to the duck pond several times and fed the ducks and peacocks.
They were amazing and would eat right out of your hand. It was really fun. Isaac just loved it of course.
#3 This last week, Chris has played "Mr. Mom" in the evenings while I was off at the theatre getting the show "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown" up and running. For those of you who don't know, I have taken a part time job with a children's theatre company called CYT...Christian Youth Theatre. It has been a lot of fun and the perfect job for me. The kids range in age from 8-18. We still have shows this weekend at Mt. Hood Community College. It is a really great, HIGH QUALITY show, perfect to bring the young kids to.

Check out the website if you would like to purchase tickets, or give me a call. The Gresham outlook had a great article about the musical and the company on weds. I currently am teaching an acting class for them and will be directing for them in the future. I am looking forward to being around this week and getting caught up on housework, and spending lots of time with the kids. If you are wondering wether I fell off the face of the earth, I didn't, I just got swallowed up by the theatre.

On Saturday morning, I woke up to a high school flashback....our lawn had been "forked" and saran wrapped. The kids in CYT decided to show their love for me by filling our yard with forks and wrapping saran wrap all over our lawn, car and porch. Very sweet. Isaac LOVED it and thought is was really fun to stomp on the forks. They wrote all sorts of notes on paper plates and left those around. Funny Funny!!! Guess this is payback for all those poor people we toilet papered while in high school.

Along with all of that, Chris bought a new (new to us) car on saturday...a post about that to follow, and we had a family Christmas get together on sunday. So needless to say it has been a VERY VERY busy 3 weeks. I still have another weekend of shows to do as well. Ah, the busy Christmas season! :-)

Kitchen Remodel Update

2007-11-19T08:50:00.001-08:00

Well the kitchen remodel is SLOWLY coming along. We might just get done before Christmas, but I doubt it...who knows. One of the issues we had with the house is that the patio door was leaking under the floor just a bit. So we decided to replace it. (Eventually we want to replace all the old windows with much more energy efficient ones, so this got at least one upgraded) Here are some photos of the door being replaced. Chris decided the floor and everything else was more than enough work for him, so we did hire someone else to come in and do this. It only took them less than an hour to do the whole thing. Once they took out the old door, we second guessed our decision to not do French doors, but the new door looks great and we did not want to disrupt our view of our backyard with lattice in the windows.

Here is the new door all installed. It is so nice and white and shiny, the old one had turned a kind of Grey white and just looked dirty....notice no muddy dog prints on it....yet!

As for the painting, we almost have the cupboards finished. I still have 15 doors sitting in the basement that need 4 coats of paint on each side, but those can stay off for awhile yet. I havent even thought about the walls yet, those may stay until after we get the floor in.

This week while I was at Charlie Brown rehearsal, Chris put Isaac to work ripping off the old vinyl flooring. I was so happy to come home to find that the awful 80's vinyl was gone!!!

Isaac loves helping do any work around the house and is having a good time helping daddy whenever he can. Yesterday we were talking about what we were thankful for and he kept talking about the new door. :-) What a cutie.

Croup, Reflux and a lot of grossness

2007-11-16T09:02:00.001-08:00

If you have been wondering where we have been for awhile, these pictures tell all. Poor Poor Matthew started out Saturday with a bad cough, so we took him to the doctor and they gave us a nebulizer to do breathing treatments with. By Monday he was wheezing horribly all the time and coughing like a seal uncontrollably. Classic Croup symptoms. We were scheduled to go back to the doctor at 4, but at 3 he threw up all over my mom and was just not himself, so we rushed him to the doctor early and they were able to give him a steroid that would make his cough go away. It took until the next day, but he finally started sounding normal.

On top of all of that, whenever he eats, he coughs which makes him throw up all of his bottle. Our carpet, clothes are covered in rotten puked up milk...oh the fun of a sick child.
It is now almost a week later and he seems to be feeling a lot better, but he is still throwing up most of what he eats, mainly due to his acid reflux disease, combined with his cough. While I was taking the picture of the milk coming out of his nose, he decided to give me an even better picture.
(Note to Matthews Birthmom: I did immediately put down the camera and clean him up/ console him :-) hahaha) He really isn't bothered by it and just continues right on playing. So that has been our week, poor little guy. Hopefully he will get over this soon. So far (knock on wood) the rest of us have managed to not catch it.

Our little cuties

2007-11-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

Here are a some photos of our favorite little guys.

This is Matthew's 5 month portrait, taken Sept.

Here is Isaac at 2 years (taken in Feb)

Isaac and Matthew get on great. It's so cute watching them together.

Trick or Treat

2007-11-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

We had such a good time yesterday! This was the first Halloween that Isaac actually understood what was going on. He learned to say "Trick or Treat" early in the day, and was quick to say it in hopes of some candy!!! We dressed up early in the day so the kids could go to Kids Club at the gym all dressed up. Isaac was Bob the Builder, Matthew was a frog and I was an old maid. (I decided at the last minute to get in on the fun as well.) After that we headed over to my Grandma's retirement home to have lunch with her and my auntie. The people there love to see the kids and were so excited to see them dressed up. Isaac was saying "trick or treat" to all of them, and luckily they had candy to give him! We then headed over to my mom's work (the Dr. office) to "trick or treat" at all the desks of the people that worked there. That was really fun.

That night, my parents and my Grandma came over for dinner and to help hand out candy. We walked around to about 10 houses for Trick or Treating.

Matthew had a great time on his first time out trick or treating. He loves being outside and was happy to be carried around by us! He made such a cute froggy.

By this time, my costume was off, but I was still stuck with the make up...sad to say it was easier than in years past to find where to put the wrinkles on my face. :-)

Isaac was so cute, walking around dressed as Bob, with his candy pail in one hand and his thumb in his mouth.

Grandma was a good sport and wore the wee jimmy hat for awhile! We love her! (She'd kill me if she knew that I put that picture up, but I couldn't resist!)

Both kids fell asleep promptly last night and we were not far behind! Now if I could just stop eating all of the candy....and figure out a way to help Isaac not ask for a piece every ten minutes. I am trying to limit it to one piece a day, but I am so tired already of him asking me for more candy!!! hehehe

More leaf fun

2007-10-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

One of the annoying, but fun things for the kids during the fall season is the amount of leaves that we get at our house. Being at the bottom of a cul-de-sac that is surrounded by trees, the wind blows the whole neighborhoods leaves into our yard. It also doesn't help that we have two beautiful, but leafy Maples in our back yard. Finally we have had some nice weather, so we went out to rake up the leaves. Having kids makes a yucky chore a lot of fun. I actually look forward to it (a little)

We never get tired of seeing Isaac run and jump into the leaves. I cringed when I realized we did not change him out of his church clothes!

Even Mommy and Daddy got in on the fun. One of the great joys of being a parent is the freedom to be a kid again (even most of you think we have never really grown up!)

Matthew got to join in on the fun as well. He kept trying to eat the leaves (yucky!) But had a good time watching his brother.

(Notice the abandoned Chicken coop behind me....my intentions to get a few chickens were sidelined when we got Matthew, but I am anxiously awaiting springtime when we WILL get a few!)

Pumpkin Patch Day

2007-10-26T08:22:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we made our annual trip out to Hood River to go to the Pumpkin Patch and the apple orchard. We had all been sick for the last week and needed a day out of the house. Luckily the horrible rainy weather had ended and we had a nice dry day to be out. We started our day out at our cabin. Our friends the Lorenz's joined us for lunch and helped Chris load up the truck with firewood for our house. I love this picture of the girls and Isaac praying before they eat their lunch! How cute is that...and all done without any prompting from us. :-)

We then headed to Ramussens Pumpkin Patch in Hood River. They have a great storybook area for the kids, along with games and a easy corn maze. Isaac loved running around in the mud,and Matthew was curious about everything.

We then headed to our favorite apple orchard, Kiyokawa farms, in Parkdale. It is a longer drive, but well worth the extra 1/2 hour. Their apples are wonderful, organic and cheaper than the apple stands closer to Hood River. They had a Mariachi band and a great play fort for the kids.

Fall already?? Time flies

2007-10-16T09:21:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe that our little guy is now 6 months old, it seems like just the other day he was so small and cuddly in our arms. Now he is 20 pounds of laughter and fun (and a lot of spit up still) hehehe. Matthew is really such a joy to our lives. Watching him and Isaac play together is so cute, Matthew adores his big brother, and Isaac is turning into such a a good Mommy's helper. Here is Matthew at 6 months, and just for comparison (and because he is too cute) here is Isaac when he was 6 months

Matthew is super smiley (though the last 2 days he has been working on his top teeth and has been super fussy) Gotta love this pic of him with dad's wee jimmy hat on!

Fall is one of my favorite seasons, and we have the best tree's in our yard for watching the leaves change.

Though they are a bear to clean up. But having kids around makes the leaves fun and a toy. Isaac had a blast helping daddy rake the leaves and then jumping in them. He really has become all boy lately and any chance he gets to jump and run, he takes.

Welcome to the flock!

2007-10-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we had Matthew dedicated to God in a ceremony at our church. This is an occasion that we cherish as it is our opportunity to pray over Matthew, and pledge to him that we will bring him up to be a Man of God.

We wrote a letter to Matthew, that we read to the congregation. Being the sap that I am, I could barely read my part, and cried hard. :-)

Our elders then prayed over us and Matthew. This was so special to us, to have Matthew dedicated at our new church home. Everyone is so friendly and caring at this church, and we really feel like we have found a home.

After church we had our families over for a big lasagna dinner and also celebrated my birthday! We had a great time eating, and eating, and eating and just hanging out. We were glad that Chris's parents could make the trip from Victoria to be with us this weekend.

Summer Reading

2007-09-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

Isaac participated in the county libraries "summer reading" program this summer. For every 15 minutes we read, he got a sticker to put on his chart. Each 10 steps on the chart he went to the library and got to pick a prize out of the prize box. When he filled up the entire chart he got this great t-shirt. He was so proud of himself and will happily tell you it is his reading prize!

It was great to have an incentive program to help foster a love of books in him! He loves to read at night before bed, and at times wants to read himself (turn pages!) He loves to go to the library and look at all the books, and he now has his own library card. He gets so excited when he gets to give his books and his OWN card to the librarian at check out time.

Buzz Cut!

2007-09-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

Isaac had his first haircut with clippers today, just like his Daddy.

This is him before.

During.....

And after. He LOVED it!

Cute kids, kitchen painting....randomness

2007-09-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything. We have all been sick with colds and not doing much of anything this past week. Ugh. I am doing better, Isaac is doing ok, but Matthew still has quite the runny nose, poor kid. It doesn't seem to be slowing him down much though. This is the cutest video I think of the boys playing together. Isaac is so good with Matthew, and Matthew adores his big brother. He will follow every move he makes!

Matthew has grown so much this last month. Yesterday he rolled over from his back to his front, but I was in the other room and missed it! I waited and waited for him to do it again, but alas he would not perform on command! :-)

He is also sitting up much better now. Here is a great picture of him sitting and playing with his Octopus toy. As long as he has the boppy to support him he does really well! I can't get over how grown up he is now that he is sitting up better. Hard to believe he will be 6 months old in a few weeks. Time sure does go by fast.

We have also been in the middle of remodeling our kitchen, and this is taking up tons of our free time. We are going to be replacing our ripped vinyl floor with Pergo, and decided that if we wanted to paint the cupboards we should do it before we put in the new floor. This has turned into a much bigger job. We decided to cut beadboard to fit into the doors and fancy them up a bit, and also paint the walls and replace the tile backsplash. I hope to be done before Christmas, but I dont know if that will happen. Each cupboard requires, sanding, 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint! We have 46 doors and drawers to do.... a lot! But if you know anything about me, you know that this is what I love to do. I love to remodel our house. The first picture is the before, and this picture is where we are as of today. We have the top cupboards done, now we just need to paint the doors and put them back up. Then we can tackle the bottom. I am waiting to take the doors off the bottom cupboards, as then little boys can get into them. Amazing how just white cupboards will brighten up any room!

What they do for fun!???!!!!!!

2007-09-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Chris and his guys group went out to play paintball for Scotts birthday. I expected him to have a few bruises, I did NOT expect him to come home with hickey welts all over his body! Ouch. Why would you go play this game!!! (He has done it 3 other times) He said it did not hurt, but see for yourselves!!! He has about 7 good size welts all over his body! OUCH!!! The things these guys do for fun. :-) I hear Kyle has quite good aim...he is the one that inflicted the largest one (bigger than the quarter!)

My personal favorite is the one right in the middle of his chest!

The bumps on the welts have gone down today, but the bruising is turning a delightful shade of lavender and purple! Maybe if I get bored and can't sleep I can play connect the dots!! He is quite proud of his bruises and keeps looking at them to see what color they have changed too! Just like a little kid, I tell you!

Officially a family!!!

2007-09-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today is the day that we have been waiting for. Our family is now "officially" a family! We have known in our hearts that we have been a family for almost 5 months now, but nothing was official until all the adoption agencies and lawyers filed their paperwork. Today we went to the Multnomah County Courthouse and stood before a judge while she signed the official paperwork that finalizes Matthew's adoption.

Now we can FINALLY travel to Canada to visit Chris's family, something we could not do until we got his birth certificate with our names on it. Unfortunately with Chris's work schedule we won't be able to go for awhile. Oh well

Going before the judge is a little anti-climactic, after the initial days of birth and signing of papers on his Gotcha day. This is not as emotional or as tough, but just as important. I have never worried that anything would fall through on our adoptions, but at the same time it's nice to get all the paperwork and legalities finished.

My mom came down to help us celebrate - unfortunatly my dad is swamped at work and could not make it, but really wanted to. We are just glad to hear that he is busy! He is a great grandpa who is wonderful with the kids, so we will give him some slack!!! (love you daddy!!!)

This is a picture 2 years ago when we finalized Isaac's adoption. We had the same judge that we had this time for Matthew. These judges deal with some hard issues during the day, so an adoption is a great, happy way to start out their day! It is one of the only positive family issues they get to be a part of.

Matthew was all smiles for the judge and did not spit up on his new outfit even once!!! That is a record for him. He is such a great mellow boy. Love the big eyes and big cheeks. The Dunlop boys are the cutest in my opinion!!!

Afterwards we went out to breakfast (a tradition we started with Isaac's finalization) We went to a great place in Portland called Mothers Bistro. Isaac saw the homemade blackberry muffins when we walked in the door and couldn't wait to get his hands on it! He devoured the thing. The food there is wonderful and the atmosphere is great. I would highly recommend it for a hearty good breakfast!

Isaac the water boy!

2007-08-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

Isaac just finished 5 weeks of swim lessons at Mt. Hood Community College. He loves the water and is fearless when it comes to being in the pool! Last year we started in the mommy and me class, just singing songs and playing games, but this year we started working on actual swimming skills.

Chris was able to come a few times as well. Isaac loves being thrown in the air, but his favorite activity is jumping off the wall. He does not mind going under a little when you catch him. Each class consisted of singing some group songs, swimming with either foam barbells or kickboards, and practicing our skills. It was hard to get Isaac to want to do anything other than jump!

By the end of the 5 weeks he has learned to lie flat on his back and let us pull him around, kick and move his arms at the same time, and has grown more comfotable putting his face in the water. I am hoping that by next summer we can move him into the first round of swim lessons.
Last night in the bathtub he was "swimming" and was actually doing pretty well. He was putting his face int he water, wich he would not do earlier and was laying flat on his back in the bathtub. He discovered that when your ears are in the water, your voice sounds different! I had a hard time getting him out of his bath!

If anyone in the area is looking for swim lessons, I would recommend Mt. Hood, we have really enjoyed them and they are reasonably priced. I think sign ups for their fall session start this week.

First foods and 4 months

2007-08-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

Matthew had his first bowls of rice cereal yesterday. He gobbled it right up! I had tried to feed him on the day he turned 4 months, but he just kept spitting it out, this time he couldn't chow it down fast enough!

Here's to hoping that this will stick to his bones and help him sleep through the night. (We are still up at 3 am most nights)

I realized I never posted his 4 month pictures, here he is, all 16 pounds of him! He is doing great, and just about to grow out of his clothes. Hard to believe he is smaller than Isaac was at this age. As you can see in the picture, Isaac adores his baby brother. We have been really blessed so far as Isaac has adjusted beautifully to having Matthew around and will now say "love baby Maffew!"

Our third child

2007-08-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

No, don't worry, we're not pregnant. Just wanted to post some photos of our dog Bogey (yes, this is Chris).

A recording of my day!

2007-08-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Roll Call

2007-08-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

So I hear from tons of you out there, "Oh I looked at your blog, loved the pictures", but without comments, I don't know you were here! So, I am taking role, if this is the only time you comment, that is fine, I just want to know that you stopped by! :-)

Here is how to post a comment for those of you who do not know. At the end of each post there is a place that says "0 comments" Click on that and then you can add your comment, and read what others have said! It is that easy.

So please, let me know you stopped by. I too am a lurker on several blogs and comment rarely, so I am just as bad! Thanks for reading our blog, I am glad we can keep in touch with so many people around the world!

Ellie the Elephant

2007-08-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

When I was 5 years old, my uncle made me this wonderful wooden elephant. I named it Ellie. It was a favorite item in our house growing up. I sat on it into my college years when watching movies and tv. It had grey ears, but I would pull at the pleather and have since pulled off the outer covering, other than that it is in great condition.

The other day we pulled it out of storage for Isaac. He loves riding on it and climbing on it. It is so fun to see my son enjoy this piece of Basden history. Thank you Uncle Ron for such a great heirloom. I am sure one day our grandkids will be playing on it as well.

Unique Dunlop "family" get together

2007-07-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

This last month has gone by in a blur. The last weekend of June we spent at Eagle Crest resort for the 51st annual Bowe Family Reunion (moms side of the family) We had a great time relaxing and getting caught up with family that we only see once a year. Chris and I were able to leave the kids with Mama and Papa and went hiking at Smith Rock park, along Misery ridge. The name describes the hike well. I was so happy to get to the top! We spent a lot of time at the pool.

We came home time to attend our friends Steve and Traci's annual 4th of July BBQ. Isaac loved setting off fireworks, and to this day he still watches for them out our back window. It was fun to see him enjoy the sparklers!

The next day Isaac's birthmom "T" flew in from Texas to spend a few days with us. We had such a wonderful time hanging out with her. Isaac had a great time laughing with her and getting to know her. It was fun to see some of the similarities that they share. We are so lucky that Isaac will get to know her!

On the Saturday that T was here, we had a "Dunlop Reunion" at our Cabin. Matthews Birthmom and Birthaunt joined us at our cabin for a day of relaxing and hanging out with the kids. It was wonderful for the two birthmoms of our children to be able to meet. They share a unique bond. We loved being able to have our "extended family" all in one place. We are so thankful for our family.

On Sunday we drove T up to visit Mt. St. Helen's. Being from Texas this was a unique experience for her. She really was impressed with the beauty of it all. Unfortunately there was cloud cover just over the crater all day.

The rest of the month has been a blur, we have spent most of it just having good family time and getting things done around the house. I can't believe that we are coming up on 4 months with Matthew, I am afraid to blink as he and Isaac will be in college! I looked at him the other day and he has really chunked out, gone are the frog legs of a newborn, here are the sumo legs of a baby!

Peekabo!

2007-07-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Matthew's ABC Adventure

2007-07-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Isaac's ABC adventure

2007-07-16T13:11:00.001-07:00

Do I look pretty mommy?

2007-06-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

It was awfully quiet the other day. When I went to see what Isaac was doing, I found him with my tube of Mascara. I give him credit that he knew that it went on his eyes. (He loves to watch me put on my make-up) I also found that he had tried to color the television with it as well. You have to wonder about a quiet two year old, they are always up to something! :-)

Matthew Two months

2007-06-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe it has been two months since Matthew was born. Each day he changes and grows and our love for him grows too ! Life with him in our family seems complete. Each month we take a picture of him on our blue chair to gauge just how much he has grown. He is now 12.5 pounds, and growing like a weed.

As a comparison, here is Isaac at two months. Remember he was a month preemie, and did not start packing on the pounds until he was 4 months, at which time he porked out!!! At two months he was around 9 pounds (about what Matthew was when he was born) He obviously had a much different take on having his picture taken as well. :-) hehehe

Matthew is smiling all the time now and talks up a storm. This picture was taken on sunday and is one of the best smiling pictures I have seen on him. He really is a fun baby. Yesterday I could hear him cooing and Isaac would imitate him. It was really cute!

And yes there is a new look to the blog! I decided that pink no longer fit for a family with two boys. The picture is indeed our front porch in all its summer glory! The porch and the swing were big selling points for me. We love to sit out there and relax after doing yard work.

Video test

2007-06-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hi. I'm just doing a little test. Here's Matthew starting to smile and talk!

1st annual Dunlop Family Beach Trip

2007-06-07T07:38:00.001-07:00

Over Memorial day weekend, we went on our first family trip to the Oregon Coast. We found a cute little house to stay in that was only 113 steps from the beach. It was a 1/2 mile walk along the boardwalk in to town and a block off the beach. It was perfect for our little family.

We were greeted by these cute blocks when we arrived that said "Hi Christopher, Anne, Isaac and Matthew, Have fun in Seaside." It made us feel right at home. They had a huge bin of these blocks along with some wooden shaped blocks that Isaac loved playing with.
We lucked out with the weather, and while it was not hot, it was comfortably in the 60's. Matthew spent a lot of time in the front pack, being carried around and kept warm. He is a little cutie!
When we were down on the beach, Matthew had his own little pop up sun shade tent that kept him out of the wind and allowed him to sleep.
Isaac hadn't been to the beach since last year, and did not remember it. He loved the big sandbox and as daddy built sandcastles, Isaac enjoyed knocking them over.
Isaac's favorite thing to do was to play in the Ocean. He would run away from the waves laughing hysterically. He is a true Oregonian in that even though his feet were numb, he kept going back for more!
In the afternoons we would wander into town for Ice cream. Isaac got to rife on the Carousel . He was hesitant to get on it, but once it started up he loved it. He had been on it when he was little, but was too young to enjoy it.

Next to the Carousel is a hat store, Isaac had a good time trying on all the animal hats, his favorite though was the elephant! He was walking around making elephant noises.

Of course, no beach trip would be complete without Ice cream. Isaac loves it, but it sure does make a mess!!Isaac and daddy chillin out on the front porch, notice it was warm enough to wear shorts! Unfortunately for us it was in the 80's the day AFTER we left.

Matthew was very cute all weekend and finally started to enjoy his bouncy seat and playmat. He has grown from a newborn into a cute little boy that will smile and talk to you. This was really a fun time of bonding for us as a family, and will be an annual tradition!

Our little guy is getting big!

2007-05-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

Check out Matthew now! He just turned 6 weeks, and even though he's lost some of his hair, he's looking all grown up. He's started to make smiley faces and coo at us. He's such a cutie!

Wanted - Dead or Alive

2007-05-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

Booger!

2007-05-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Random photos

2007-05-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

Chris here. For the many, many people who breathlessly follow this blog, sorry for not updating it in a while. Both Anne and I have been sick for the last few days, and that, coupled with our complete lack of interest in keeping the blog current, has kept you hanging.

We're getting settled in with Matthew. He's such a little cutie! Here are a few photos.

The Big Brother

2007-05-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

Everyone keeps asking how Isaac is doing, having Matthew around. I was worried about this, as you hear stories of the older kid telling the parents to take the baby back and things like that. We tried our best to prepare Isaac ahead of time, even though we did not have a pregnant tummy to show him, or a definite time line of when the baby would come. We read a lot of books about new babies, and talked all the time about the room for the baby when we were upstairs, but I did not think it was really sinking in. When we found out that Matthew's BM had chosen us and we only had 4 days to get ready, we sat Isaac down and explained to him what was happening...again, just a blank look on his face, but at least we had told him. We tried to involve him in everything, putting together the baby bath, picking out clothes to pack, I even had him pick out a gift for the baby.

On the day after Matthew was born, we brought Isaac to the hospital to see him. I did not know how it would play out. We had a present from Matthew waiting at the hospital for Isaac (a "I am the big Brother" t-shirt) and Matthews Birth mom and birth aunt had bought him a book called "I'm the big brother" Isaac came in the room and got his book and was really excited about that. Then he kept pointing at the baby and saying "baby". When I went to feed Matthew, Isaac came over and wanted to help.

He was so cute. Later on when I sat in the rocking chair to burp him, Isaac said "mommmy, mommy" and I thought, uh oh. But I had him come stand next to me and he leaned over and kissed Matthew.

It was so sweet. He kept pointing out "babys eyes, babys hair, babys toes..."

Since then Isaac has truly shown his true personality....the sweetest little guy I know. He loves to give kisses to "MAffew" and is always wanting to help. I have learned to feed Matthew on the couch so that Isaac can cuddle up and not feel left out.

I knew Isaac was sweet natured and easy going, but I did not realize how much so until I have watched him with his brother. Dare I see he actually likes having Matthew around. When Matthew cries, Isaac is the first one over to him to make sure he is ok. When Matthew is not with us, he asks where he is. He is a great little boy.

I know there is jealousy to come, and fights, and a LOT of rough housing, but I am so in love with my two little boys. I never in a million years thought I would be the mom of two boys, but now I would not have it any other way. I decided though I better step up my game and start getting fit, or I will never keep up when they are older!! :-)

Introducing Matthew Walter Dunlop

2007-04-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it...we are the proud new parents of one of the cutest little baby boys ever (along with Isaac!) Matthew Walter Dunlop was born on Tues, April 10th at 8:31 am. We found out last week, on thursday that we had been chosen by his birthmom and life has been a whirlwind eversince!!!

We have spent the last few days at the hospital and on thursday we were able to take him "home" from the hospital. Home right now is a nearby hotel. We have to stay in the hotel until some paperwork gets approved by the state. Hopefully we can come home around tues. The funny thing is we are stuck only 30 mintues from home, but because he was born in another state we have to wait to cross state lines!! We are enjoying just relaxing in the hotel and getting to know our new son. Isaac has been able to come see his new brother and was very cute kissing him and trying to feed him. My parents have their hands full with him until we get back, but at least he can come visit us up here.

Matthew is a great baby. He is fairly quiet, not a big crier. He has been awake quite a bit today and has enjoyed just being held and fed. It was great today when he threw up all over my dad!!! hehehe.

I will do a more detailed post when we get home, but wanted to at least get some photos posted, he is just so cute!!!

Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle!!!

2007-03-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we took Isaac to see The Wiggles live in Concert for his birthday. We were so excited to go, and we had awesome 2nd row seats. Unfortunatly Isaac had been sick for a few days, but he still had a good time and enjoyed watching the concert. I am not sure though if he understood that they were real people and not on the tv! At one point one of the singers Jeff walked into the audience and right by us....Isaac kept saying "Jeff, Jeff!" Even at the end when he was tired and about asleep on our laps, he was still intently watching the concert. It was a great time.

Fuit salad...yummy yummy!! (Ok, so the guys have fruit on their head, they make millions of dollars doing this! )

Ahoy there, Captain Feathersword (we bought Isaac a feathersword at the concert that he loves)

Play your guitar with Murray!

It was the first time that we got to see the new Yellow Wiggle, Sam. Greg had to quit after 15 years due to health reasons. Sam did a great job. Isaac I don't think even noticed that it was a different guy.

The show was great. It was easy to see why these guys are as popular as they are. I thought I would hate them when I was given their videos, but they are a favorite in our house because Isaac dances and sings to them instead of just vegging in front of the tv. Isaac knows the moves to every song and will do them for you when you ask.

Quack, Quack, Cock a doodle doo!!!!

GOTCHA DAY!!!

2007-02-22T17:06:00.000-08:00

Today is Isaac's "Gotcha Day". The day that we actually met our son. After two emotional and tiring days of travelling to Texas, we were now ready to meet Isaac. In Texas, the BM must wait 48 hours after birth before she can sign over her parental rights, and while we were in contact with T during these two days, we were still very cautious. We always wanted her to know that we would support her if she decided to not relinquish her rights. We were on pins and needles constantly (though in hind sight, we had nothing to worry about).

We spent that morning wandering around Houston, not sure when everything would start happening. Isaac was jaundiced and was having some sucking issues, so we weren't sure when he would be released from the hospital.

One of things that kept us going was knowing just how many people were praying for us. Our friends that work at Family Life ministries had the entire staff there praying, and our church had been praying for us during their staff meeting that morning, not to mention all of our friends and family.

Finally we decided to go get some lunch, though eating was out of the question. Just as we sat down at Subway, our phone rang and it was the SW calling to tell us to come to the hospital...of course we were not dressed yet!!! We raced back to the hotel, got cleaned up and drove the 20 minute drive to the hospital. We were soooooooooooooooooooooooooo nervous. When we got ther I ran to the bathroom, scared to go up to the room and meet our BM and her family. I just could not believe that this was finally happening, our time had come.

When we got to the hospital room, we were greeted by our BM mom with big hug and smiles. I will never forget all that went on in that room. T was so glad to meet us. I was so focused on her, I have to admit I barely remember holding Isaac for the first time. I do remember a special moment when T and I were both standing over Isaac in his bassinet and I told her how we were forever linked as the mother of this precious little boy. It is not a title that I would ever take from her, but that I share with her. From the moment we met her we were forever family. She is like our little sister and we love her with the bottom of our heart.

When we left the hospital, we were at a loss as we all travelled down to the enterance together and eveyone drove off leaving Chris and I with Isaac. We stood there trying to figure out how do you get a 6 pound baby in such a big car seat! It took us at least 10 minutes to realize that he could not be swaddled and in the car seat at the same time. The rest of the night is a blur as I just could not believe that we had a little baby!!! I kept looking at him and thinking, wow! he is my son.

We went to Red Lobster that night for dinner, and everyone there was amazed that we had a two day old baby out for dinner, but when you are living in a hotel, dinner is limited and you have to eat somehow! He was the star of the restraunt!

We now have a "Gotcha Day" tradition of going to Red Lobster for dinner every year on Isaac's Gotcha Day to celebrate.

This really was the day that it all started and one that I will forever remember as the day I met two angels, Isaac and his BM!

Happy Birthday Isaac!!!!

2007-02-20T08:01:00.000-08:00

It was 2 years ago today, that the best two years of our life started. I was leaving church with Kayla in the car, when my phone began to ring. It was our BM's mother calling me to tell her that she had gone into labor...a month early!!! I about crashed the car, but was able to pull into a parking lot to talk and breathe. We talked for a few minutes, then I raced back up the hill (we were heading to Target) so I could get home and tell Chris. I ran up the stairs to ur front door, barely able to get it open and yelled "T is in Labor!!!!!!!!!!!!!" WE have another friend by this name that was three months pregnant and CHris says "that's a little early, what? I yelled, not that T!!! We sat nervously for a minute, and then realized we had not prepared for a boy and I knew that she could be in labor for a long time, so I needed to occupy myself while we waited. What better way to do that then to go shopping?

So Kayla and I headed back down to Walmart. I tried to call my mom while we were eating lunch at Quiznos, but they were just getting ready to get on a boat for a Mexican Cruise. I so desperatly needed to talk with her, and all I could do was a quick 5 minute conversation. We were not able to get a hold of her again until we were in Texas a few days later.

We then headed over to the Carters outlet and I ran around the store throwing any cute newborn boy things in my bag...I had no idea what was in there. At that moment, my phone rang. It was T, and she said....your son has been born, can you hear him crying (I am crying now as I write this). I about fainted right then and there. I went and stood in the corner and cried, I told the lady helping me "my son has just been born, and she looked at me really funny! T asked if we had a name to put on the birth certificate and we had not decided on one yet. I felt bad having to tell her we would call her back in 20 minutes! I paid for all the stuff I had, no idea what I was buying and raced home.

Chris and I had narrowed down our list of names and decided on Isaac in about 5 minutes. T liked it and was glad to know what to call him. We talked to her several more times that day, but also wanted to give her the time and space she needed to love on Isaac while we travelled there as fast as we could.

The rest of the day is a blur. We knew we needed to wait until Tuesday for the legal signing of Isaac, but we also knew we could not just sit here and wait. Our friends Brian and Susie came over and ordered dinner, helped us pack and she was a huge help booking us the best flights to get us to Houston. I have no idea how anything happened as I was in complete overwhelmed mode. I fell into bed late that night, not able to get a wink of sleep, wich was too bad as I would later see that I would not sleep again for the next 5 months!!!!!

Thank you to Alyssa our neighbor and friend for getting up at 5 am to drive us to the airport. We flew from Portland, to Seattle, to LA, to Dallas to Houston and got in to our hotel around 12 that night. Again, no sleep as I knew that the next day I would meet my baby!!!! What a whirlwind couple of days.

This is the last known photo of us without kids! (and its not so good, oh well)

And to think we are back to waiting for that one phone call that will make it all happen again...it is a little overwhelming, but wonderful to anticipate.

A "Curious" good time

2007-02-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Isaac's 2 year birthday Party (his actually bday is on tuesday) It is so hard to believe our little guy is two years old (more about that on tues.) We had a "Curious George" themed party that was a huge success.

When the kids entered they each got their picture taken beside Curious George and had their height marked on the measuring stick. They then colored monkey masks for the jungle hunt that we later went on to find hidden bananas.

Zander did well finding the Bananas on the "Jungle Hunt". He is such a cute little monkey boy!

Our special guest was the Man in the Yellow Hat, who came to read some Curious George stories to the kids! They loved him, and his hat!

I had made a Curious George cake and some cupcakes for the kids. Isaac was great this year, he smiled while we sang happy birthday and even blew out his candles!! He was so cute and clapped when he was done. (unlike last year where he cried the whole time)

I used Bananas as decorations, and the younger kids kept finding them and eating them...at least they are good for you! Even kids who don't normally like banana's got in on the action!

Isaac was so excited to have all of his friends over to play and just ran around all afternoon. It is so fun to see him play with other kids and interact with them. It shows just how much he has grown up. He has develped such a fun, humorous personality. I think he will be the class clown!! He loves to make people laugh.

Thanks to everyone who came and made this such a special day for Isaac. I hope you all had a great time. And a BIG EXTRA thanks to Angel for wearing that BIG yellow hat. You were a great sport! (He volunteered to do that without me even asking by the way!)

Super Bowl Fun

2007-02-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

So we don't watch football the rest of the year, but we will take any excuse we can to have a party! And this year, I actually knew who was playing and what team I wanted to win...The Colts of course. (Our missionary organization, CMF, is in Indianapolis, so we have some ties there)

A good time was had by all, and hopefully the Chili did not come back to haunt anyone that evening, if so I hope you all purchased your "toot tone" (funny email from Alyssa if you did not get it) I never knew Angel was so good at the fine art of "chili presentation" That sure looks too good to eat.

The Half time show was ok, Prince was suprisingly entertaining. The guys were out playing catch in the front yard, while the girls talked and talked and talked some more. ( I don't think we actually watched any of the game.)

Keeley seemed to enjoy her first Super Bowl... (Shawn, make sure you give her the one with the nipple!)

Isaac was just overwhelmed by the whole thing and slept through most of it! He did throw a mean football after he woke up, maybe he will grow up to earn his parents millions!!! hehehe

Best Friends

2007-02-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted....life seems to just get away from me. Looking back at these last posts, I laugh as it is now 50 degrees and we have been running around the backyard, playing with the ball and swinging on the swings.
I now have spring fever!

Yesterday we had a play date with our friend Olivia. Olivia is 3 months younger than Isaac and was adopted from the same agency in Texas as Isaac. We met her parents at a meeting here in Oregon and found out that they lived just around the corner from us. People often think they are twins or brother and sister! Isaac had so much fun having her over. He calls her livi Ah!! emphasis on the Ah! Isaac would give her things and say "peas" (please) He is a very polite little boy.

The first photo is of our little rock star playing a song for his girlfriend! Isaac is showing his musical side, he loves to drum on anything and actually has pretty good rythm, he also loves to crawl up onto the piano bench and play a song. (Again, no tune, but he is getting much more deliberate in the keys that he hits)
The second image is blury I know, but I just had to post it. These two love to kiss, and will have many good photos like this for their wedding slideshow! :-)hehehe.

The last photo is what happens after you play with your best friend for 2 hours. The minute they left, Isaac was sacked out on the couch, sound asleep! Nice for me too as I was worn out after playing with the two of them all afternoon.

Sledding fun

2007-01-18T09:47:00.000-08:00

I ventured out yesterday to buy a proper sled and Isaac and I had a great time walking around the neighborhood. Today we went out and went down the hill a lot (nice workout in place of the gym for me!) I figured I spent $25 for a sled I better get more than one days use out of it. Isaac loved saying weeeee as we went down the hill, and I LOVED having an excuse to go sledding.

Sadly enough the snow is melting and alas our fun in the snow is coming to an end. Here's hoping we get snow at least one more time this year!

More snow pictures!

2007-01-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

WoW! We finally got a good amount of snow. When Chris got home we went outside and played a lot! Isaac and I built a little snow boy, he had a great time piling up the snow and putting the face on. Today I am hoping to get out of the house finally and buy us a sled. We tried to sled on the lid to the sandbox, but it didn't work that well.

Bogey is really fun to watch in the snow. She goes ballistic! She runs in circles (i know...she always does) and she loves to jump into the air and try and catch snowballs in her mouth. She is really fun to watch.

And for the record, Chris made it home from work, no problem with chains on. We were glad to see him home safe. Still wondering what is in store tomorrow...will we have a third snow day???? (only teachers and kids hope so!)

Finally....a winter wonderland

2007-01-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went for a drive up to Mt.Hood so we could play in the snow. Last week was upsetting as the forcast kept promising snow, and then it never happened, we even had school cancelled on thursday because it started snowing, but then nothing happened and it was a beautiful sunny day. We pulled off into a camping area and let Isaac and Bogey run around. Isaac had only seen a dusting of snow, so he had a great time throwing snow in the air and running around. He kept saying NO! NO! (snow, snow) It was bitterly cold though, so we did not stay out too long. These are pictures from yesterday

Last night the newscasters called for a dusting os snow this morning, and after last week, I did not believe them. Much to my suprise it was snowing hard when I got up this morning! Isaac was soooooooooooo excited as he had never seen so much snow. This is a picture taken of Isaac trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue this morning in front of our house.

We got about 3 inches before it stopped around noon. Of course the entire Portland area is having a cow as everyone is stuck on the freeways. Why is it that when we get more than a dusting of snow, the news is on all day! When they started talking about whether the snow was good for snowballs I had to turn it off. The big discussion last hour was how they hadn't recieved any pictures from viewers of hummingbirds. Too bad.. hehehe. News is so fun to make fun of!

Chris went into work before it got bad, and now has to drive home in it! He went on his lunch break and bought chains, hopefully he wont have to stop too much. He promised me he would come home before it gets dark. (He normally has a 35 minute commute, but I bet it will take at least an hour if not more) ugh.

We went out for a walk in the snow earlier, unfortunatly we have no sled, but Isaac doesnt care, he just wanted to walk in it. It was all fun and games until his gloves fell off and then he cried because it was cold. He kept saying "owie,,,cold" poor thing.

As I have been writing this, my poor neighbor has been trying to get his car up the hill of our culdesac, he has gotten half way up and then slid back into his driveway at least 10 times....of course he is driving a mini with no chains, go figure. At one point he skidded the wrong way and about ended up in our front lawn. :-)

In the beginning...

2007-01-14T00:17:00.000-08:00

No, this isn't redheadedmama - I, Lokoyan, have hijacked the Redhead's blog for a night. This is what married people with young kids do for fun on a Sat night...

Isaac will turn 2 next month, so I thought it would fun to post a photo of him from each month. Here are photos of Isaac's first year - we'll post year 2 next month when he turns 2. Please feel free to post a reply, saying he is indeed the cutest little guy ever.

Isaac’s Birth Day! February 20, 2005.

When he was 5 days old, we took Isaac to the Johnson Space Center. He was the talk of the town, and everyone was impressed with how well Anne looked with a 5 day old baby! I sent this photo to Buzz Aldrin, and he signed it for Isaac. We also had John Glenn sign a copy.

March - Isaac’s 1 month portrait.
OK, that’s not Isaac's face – just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.

April - 2 months old, and very cute. Isaac had a full head of hair right from day one.

May - Isaac liked his bottle. Maybe a little too much…

June - I’ve always thought this would be a great advertisement:
“Texas A&M – One Serious Eduation”

July - For his wedding slideshow.

August - Mother and son at 6 months.

September - Flashing his beautiful smile.

October - Isaac has never seen a steering wheel he didn't want to drive, or a button he didn't want to push.

November - I can't remember offhand when Isaac started crawling, but by November he was into everything.

December - Isaac LOVES his baths.

January - All of a sudden, he started with this super-cheesy grin.

February - Hanging out with Daddy.

February 2006 - Isaac's 1 year portrait. We hadn't cut his hair at all, and boy, was it long. His Dad was really jealous!

That's it for year 1. I'll turn this blog back over to its rightful owner.

Lokoyan

Quack Quack

2007-01-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

This morning, it was nice and sunny, so I took Isaac on a walk to the duck pond by our house. Lately he has been walking around our house flapping his arms and saying "quack quack". He enjoyed feeding the ducks and kept saying "quack Quack to them. He of course had a meltdown when we had to leave! This is one of the nice things about our new house is being close to this pond. It is about half way between our house and my parents...we didnt even know it was there until we stumbled upon it this summer.

I can't wait until the nicer weather hits in the spring and we can stop "hibernating" in the house! I think Isaac is forgeting what it is like to play outside. We have to walk by the elementary school on the way to the pond, and Isaac cried because he could not go play on the playground with all the other kids. It was kind of sweet!!

When things are quiet

2007-01-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

When the house is too quiet, while I am at the Computer, I have to wonder what the litte munchkin is up to! He is pretty good about entertaining himself for short periods of time, which is very nice.

I thought it had been quiet for too long, so I went to investigate and found Isaac, not only playing in the bean drawer, but he had crawled in and was dumping them all over the floor. He had a good time, helping me sweep them up afterwards! He is a little devil sometimes, but all he has to do is flash that smile and my heart just melts.

We are home!

2007-01-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. Sorry it has been so long since my last post, we have been out of town for 10 days, and all my good intentions of doing a post while we were gone never happened. Hope you are still checking in to see what we are up to. Hopefully after our Christmas letters went out, there are a few more of our friends and family checking in on us....if you stop by, leave a note! I love to know that you were here.

Christmas was great, though Isaac and I were sick for much of it. We started our Christmas early by having my family (anne's) over for Christmas before we went to Canada. Everyone seemed to be sick that night, so we ate and opened gifts to a chorus of sniffing, sneezing and coughing! Ugh. Chris and I then took off the next day for Canada.

We had a nice drive up and Isaac did very well in the car. He is getting used to the long drive and the ferry ride. Luckily he started feeling better within days of us arriving, but I quickly got worse and spent most of Christmas day in bed with a fever of 102. Ugh. This is a picture of Isaac and I on Christmas day, not doing to well.

Isaac loved Christmas. He got really into opening presents and liked ripping the paper off everything. He was a wee bit confused though as he would just start playing with the new toy he got, and then we would make him open another. He really could have just had the one toy and been happy! It was great to see him so excited this time around. This is a picuter of Isaac in his new playhouse. He loves going into his house and peeking through the windows!

We had a great time with our family in Canada, we mainly laid low and rested a lot. Grandma and Grandpa Dunlop were great with Isaac and played with him all the time. I am sure their house is awfully quiet today.

Chris and I got a GPS unit for each other for Christmas so we could start Geocaching . We went on several searches while in Canada and found 5 caches. It is really a fun way to get outdoors and feel like a kid on a treasure hunt again. There are about 200 around his parents house, so it will keep us busy for several years while we go up. Here is Isaac and I at the duck pond at Beacon Hill Park. We found two caches there. Isaac loved chasing the birds, and slipped in the duck poo, as you can see on his pants. That place stinks bad from Duck poo!

Now that we are home, life is quickly back to busy. We are going to start remodeling the nursery in anticipation of a baby (hopefully soon!!) I hope that you all had a great holiday and that 2007 is a great year full of joy.

Being sick is no fun!

2006-12-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

I have not had much time to post lately...the week before Christmas is always a busy time. And now Isaac is sick, so we are just taking it easy.

Poor little guy has been fighting something for about a week, but I figured he was just teething as he never got sick. Then Monday night he had a rough cough and a temp of 101. Tuesday morning he still had those symptoms along with a runny nose. I was prepared to just wait it out as his cousin and uncle had the same thing. When he woke up from his nap though, he sounded like a seal barking and couldn't cry without terrible coughing, and his fever had come back. I suspected he had croup and had him into the doctor within the hour.

He of course perked up and was playing when we got there. But when the nurse went to weigh him, he got mad, started to cry and then started coughing. When the nurses around the scale heard him cough they all exclaimed "oh my...that sounds awful!" It was confirmed that he indeed has croup. Luckily we caught it before it got bad and were able to get him a shot of medicine that should be help. He seems to be better today, no fever and his cough, though bad, sounds better. He is sleeping on the couch now, wich is good considering he cried most of the morning and just wanted to cuddle. Poor thing. It is no fun being sick. At least it is this week and not next when we will be up in Canada for christmas! Hopefully Chris and I will stear clear of it as well.

Mom ingenuity

2006-12-13T09:24:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you have lots of presents to wrap and a almost 2 year old that needs to be entertained???? I filled a drawer with beans, and he has been quiet ever since. Question though, what do you do when you have wrapped the presents, put them under the tree, but then find the dog using her teeth to open one of them!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

HO HO HO!!!

2006-12-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

Isaac went and saw Santa today. I was hoping that we would get a picture, and figured he would be crying in it...if we even got that lucky. At 2 years old santa is a scary strange man in a red suit!

We went to our local mall, that I actually hate, but they have such a great Santa (same one from last year) with a real beard and everything. (You can tell its real by the nicotine stains!) hehehe.

Isaac clung to me and was not thrilled at the idea of saying hi, but Santa was a pro and knew just what to do to get a picture in the 2 seconds we had before Isaac ran back to mommy crying! We cornered Isaac with the basket oc candy canes and then I jumped back just in time for them to snap the photo!. I think in the photo he is just starting to reach back out to me. I think it made a very cute photo. (What photo of Isaac is not cute!) Maybe next year we will even get a smile out of him, possibly on Santa's lap.

Monday Cuteness

2006-12-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

I could'nt resist sharing these photos of Isaac that Chris took last night. Sometimes you just get the perfect photos. Isaac was in a great mood this weekend (he usually is), and just played and ran and laughed most of the time. He sure makes life so much fun! He loves wearing his santa hat, he walks around trying to swing the ball on the end...very cute. For the longest time I couldn't get him to wear hats, but now he loves them....calling them "At".

Theme rooms

2006-12-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

I thought I would do a quick post so that everyone can see some of the changes we have done to our new house. We love our house, but at 20 some years old, it needed some updating. Luckily the people before us, who had been here 6 years, put in all new carpet a few years ago, and had taken down most of the wallpaper.

The upstairs kids bathroom, was the worst of all of the rooms. It had light pink and grey 80's wallpaper, that was peeling off the wall around the shower. It was a very dark depressing bathroom. Every night when I would give Isaac a bath, I would pick at the wallpaper, and eventually one night, I couldn't take it anymore and I ripped it all down. That forced me to actually paint. We took down a cabinet that was not needed, painted all of the trim white to brighten it up and replaced the light fixture and faucet. Because it was the kids bathroom, I made it into a fun Fish,/ underwater theme. It turned out so cool. Here is a before and after photo. You can see that we are still stuck with pink tile on the sink, but at least our toilet, bath and sink are white. (I still need to paint the rest of the cabinet. Hopefully we will replace the linoleum soon as it is pink as well.) Gotta wonder about the 80's love of decorating with Pink!

I then decided to do Isaac's room, so that we could get him all settled before baby #2 arrives. This was really fun, though as you can see it took a lot of work. I decided to do a car theme complete with a mural. The woodwork on the trim and the window seat, along with the closet doors was pretty beat up, so I decided to paint it white. I hope to over the years paint all of our trim/ woodwork white. This is one of my favorite rooms that I have done, and I am looking to do another. It was really fun to be so creative with the painting, and not just paint it a single color.

I thank my mom and my mother in law for their painting assistance. Isaac loves his new room and points to the airplane and the cars and says "plane...car" over and over. He likes to jump on his bed and loves his slide. Thanks to mom and Mother in Law for the sheets and the quilt and a big thanks to Shawna Hoffman at church for the hand-me down bed. Nothing like free stuff!!!

My next project is going to be getting the nursery painted, hopefully before the baby comes. (I better do it soon, as that could happen any day) Once that is done, I am doing something for ME..I will paint our family room/ dining room, hopefully this winter. My goal for this summer is to get the kitchen cabinets painted white and paint the walls. Once that is done, I won't want to do anything for awhile!!

O Christmas Tree

2006-12-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend going out to get our christmas tree and putting up our lights. Chris had his first of two 5 hour tax exams...and thinks he did pretty good. The one next weekend is the biggie. 6 months of hard work is finally coming to an end, and I am so proud of him for taking on the extra work of two jobs, so that I can stay at home with Isaac. He is the best!

On saturday we went out to cut down our tree. Of course Isaac fell asleep in the car, and I was the horrible mom who decided to take him out of the warm car, and into the cold, cold wind so he could be a part of things. Needless to say he cried for most of it, and I felt horrible. Once we got home though he was quite enthraled by the fact that we were putting a tree in the house. He loved helping daddy string the lights and was quite excited to try and put the star on the top of the tree. (He lost his pants half way through decorating...not sure how!) :-)

I apologize for not posting more this week, I have had this post written since monday, but blogger was having probles uploading the photos, and then I got called into teach all week, anyway...I hope to post several times a week. And I LOVE comments, I like to know who is looking!!!

Let it Snow!!!!

2006-11-28T10:04:00.000-08:00

It has been snowing here all morning, not really piling up, but enough to go out and have some fun. Isaac kept saying "no, NO!" really excitedly and pointing at it (no=snow):-) I showed him how to try and catch snowflakes on his tongue. He liked stiking his tongue out. Hopefully we will get some more on thursday so he can really play in it.

Holiday happenings

2006-11-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at my sisters on Thanksgiving, and ate too much of course. Isaac has been in a really great, fun mood lately and spent most of the day running around her house laughing and playing with everyone. My niece Kayla and my mom make a gingerbread house every year, and of course Isaac wanted in on the fun. Playdough made a great substitute. He has been on a food strike this past week, not really wanting to eat anything, so he was not that impressed with the big meal put before him. He wanted to give great-grandma all his food. Maybe he thought she needed it more than him. :-)

I spent the next several days putting up our Christmas decorations. Isaac loves playing with the nativity set, though he keeps pretending to eat the baby Jesus. Very cute! (should we be worried) hehehe. Today it is snowing but not sticking. I took Isaac out on the deck to watch it come down. He keeps trying to catch it and calls it "no". I couldnt get him to eat breakfast because he was to busy watching the "no". (see picture of him turned around)

I am really enjoying this stage of his life as he is so curious about everything. I feel like I am reliving parts of my childhood again and finding joy in things that I had grown out of. We have an agreement this year concerning Christmas...Chris is not allowed to make any comments regarding how commercial Christmas has gotten. We are having a great time embracing the magic of the season and enjoying teaching Isaac all about the fun traditions associated with Christmas. (If you know me at all, everything has a tradition!)

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

We have so much to be thankful for every year, and it seems like this year we are especially thankful. We have really been talking the past several months about how we realize how blessed we are and how grateful we are to God for the many blessings He has bestowed on us. We give Him all of the honor and glory for what we have in our lives. So I thought on this Thanksgiving day, I would make a list of the things that I am thankful for, not for you the reader, but for me, to reflect and thank God for. I hope that it will inspire you to take time today to stop and thank God for the many blessings in your life.

Things I am thankful for.
My relationship with God, whos's wisdom and strength get me through each day
Chris, my most loving great husband, I count myself lucky to have married my best friend
Isaac...what more can I say, but that he is the most special thing in my life and I am beyond thankful for the privelege of being his mom. I never knew I could love someone so deeply (sorry Chris) :-)
My parents....again, two of the best people I know. They have been a true example of a great marriage, and really make our family complete.
My Grandma Bowe...I am so blessed to be able to spend time with her and know her love.
My sister and brother, and Kayla...I am lucky to be a part of a family that likes getting together and though we may be different we love each other and can count on each other for support. We have a great family.
All my close friends( you know who you are)... Being a mom and dad is hard enough on your own. We are blessed to have a great group of friends to have fun with and commiserate with. Thanks for liking us.
Isaac's birthmom...We will always be thankful to her and the love she has for Isaac. We are so grateful that we are able to stay in touch with her and get to know her. She is our angel.
My In-Laws...I was blessed with In laws that I actually love and get along with. I wish we were closer and able to see them more often, but the times that we do get to see them are so wonderful. Chris and I really are lucky.
Cornerstone Church...God led us to this church 6 months ago, and we are so happy to be a part of it and to be able to worship Him with such a loving group of people.
The people at PLAN and AIM...without these people we would not be a family. They are so wonderful to us as we wait to be matched with our next baby. We thank them for all they do.

We have been through trials, and things I never wanted to go through, but we stood strong to our faith in Christ, and this year we finally feel like we have been able to sit back and relax for awhile. We know there will be trials again, but we also know that God will always give us the strength to endure them. Without those trials, we would not know how good we have it during the good times.

Turning into a big boy!!

2006-11-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I have been most amazed at as a parent is just how quickly your children grow up. I knew this mentally, but did not realize just how true it was until I had my own child. I still feel like it was just yesterday that we were in Texas getting him, and yet here we are, almost 2 years later, doing it all over again.

Isaac seems to have taken off in the last few months. The amount of words that he says grows everyday, and he just acts more and more like a two year old. Two weeks ago we did the first of the "big boy" transitions. We moved him from his crib to a twin size bed. I had spent the last two months painting his room in a "transportation theme". (the banner behind the airplane now has wooden letters in it that spell ISAAC) We figured we might as well move him now before a baby came along, so there would be less upheavel in his life. He is a great sleeper. so I figured we would maybe only have a week of hard times. It ended up being a piece of cake. I think we only had one night where I had to put him back 3 or 4 times. He is content to sleep wherever. We have a railing on it so he cant fall out. He now gets up by himself and paddles through to our bed in the morning. I am so thankful for this easy transition. But it makes me kind of melencholy to see him asleep in his big bed. He looks so small in it.

We also got the potty chair out, just so he could try it out and get used to it. He is not anywhere close to potty training, but he sure has had fun sitting on his "throne" He will sit on it and then after about 2 minutes tell us "all done" (even though he hasnt done anything), stand up, flush it, and put the lid down and then go over to wash his hands! Now if I could just get him to actually do something in it!

I better run, I can hear him emptying my purse out as we speak (a daily occurance)

And so we wait....again

2006-11-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

I thought I would give everyone an update as to where we are with our second adoption. We started the paperwork process back in August, and finished up with our social worker visits by the end of September. I had forgotten just how much paperwork was involved, it seems to be never ending at times.

As of October, we are in the official "Waiting to be chosen" stage. The average wait time in a Minority Infant Program is 2-6 months. We have chosen to only work with our agency in Texas, and only want to have a bi-racial placement this time (similar to Isaac) so our wait could be at the longer end of that time frame. We trust in God that His timing is perfect. At anytime the phone could ring and our SW would tell us that a birthmom has chosen us to be the parents for her child. She may not be due for several more weeks or months. Or, the phone could ring and it would be our SW telling us to get our rears to Texas as a baby has been born, and they need a family right away. With Isaac we got the call that we were chosen by his BM about 3 weeks before he was born (he was a month early as well).

So we sit and wait. It has been easier this time around as our days are filled with being Isaac's parents. There are days where I think, "If they called today, I might have to say no as I am so tired!" hehehe (like I would say no!) I do get a slight lilt in my stomach when I look at the caller ID to see who is calling. It is really hard to not have a "due date", to not be able to plan, or know that in 6 months we will have a new baby. It is the unknown that is the hardest. Chris is busy taking his Tax Preparers course, and will be taking the state test for that in early December, so we are hoping for sometime after that as he is pretty stressed out. Though with Isaacs birthday in February, I do not want to have two birthdays too close together, so I am hoping for late December, early January. But who knows, we obviously learned last time to not plan anything because you never know what will happen!! It could be summer for all we know (God, I hope not) :-)

In the meantime we are trying to prepare Isaac for having a little brother or sister in the house. He just moved to sleeping in a "big boy" bed. In the swing you will see a stuffed Tiger. We are using that as a "baby" for Isaac to learn how to treat a baby. He knows not to push on the swing and to be "gentle". He is very gentle, and I think will do really well with a baby around. We have good friends that have a 2 month old, and Isaac is very good with her.

So, if you call here and I sound disappointed, it is only because you do not have a baby for me. As we get further into the wait time, I am sure it will get harder, but for now we are so busy, I almost forget that we could have a baby tomorrow! Wow, what a thought.

Star Wars fun

2006-11-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had some friends come and visit from Vancouver B.C.. We had a really wonderful time. They have 2 boys, ages 6 and 8. Isaac had a blast playing with them. I don't think he stopped moving the entire weekend.

On Sunday we went to OMSI to see the "Star Wars" exhibit. It was really cool. It had the actual costumes, models and props used in the movies. OMSI also has a natural sciences area for kids Isaacs age, with a play forest, sand area and water area. He had a great time just running from one attraction to the other. I am really hoping that someone will give us an OMSI membership for Christmas as it is a great place to be able to take Isaac to play, especially on the rainy days we keep having around here.

The Saga Begins

2006-11-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my Blog! I thought I would give a quick explenation of why I am doing this and what this blog will NOT be. I have resisted entering the world of blogging as I really don't feel I have a lot of new things to say that anyone really wants to hear, and for the most part I would rather talk with you in person. But, I have been thinking a lot about all of the people we know around the world (and close to home) that would like to know more about some of the fun things we are doing, and how Isaac and we are doing. I also have a plethera of pictures that just sit on our computer that no one sees. So I decided to set up this blog mainly for the family in Canada and Scotland, as well as other friends and relatives that might be interested. For the most part this is not going to be my personal journal, or my political/ religious soapbox. If I do delve into those topics it will only be because I just have to get my opinion out there. But really, I have not given this much thought, so who knows how it will progress.

My goal is to try and post on a fairly regular basis, so please check in often to see what we have been up to and the fun pictures we may have taken. We wish that everyone lived close enough to visit often, and we wish that we saw those who do live close more often. I hope that this will bring us a little closer together. Please respond as much as you like to my posts as I love to know that you have stopped by to look.

Heres to happy blogging!