3 months

Perhaps there will be some use for the chicken costume after all this year! :0)

Happy Halloween!

This kind of love. . . .

CHICKEN COSTUME: $10

PRICE OF SUCKER USED TO BRIBE TO GET A PICTURE: $3

POTTERY BARN KIDS SPIDER COSTUME (ON SALE): $18



HAPPY PICTURE: $0
THIS KIND OF LOVE: PRICELESS!

IT MAY BE A FUN HALLOWEEN AFTER ALL!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Yeah, I know--it's really Thursday, October 16th--what can I say? Tuesday marked another year of my life passing--yes, it was my birthday. I'm officially 38 now. Not many people would admit that, I guess, but I don't see any reason why I would need to hide it. I can also honestly say that I am perfectly content with my life and living it exactly as I envisioned it approximately 30 years ago! :0)

We celebrated my birthday in true Miskell style by eating Papa Murphy's pizza and topping off our sickly full stomachs with Baker's Square peanut butter cup pie. Truly disgusting I must say. . . . and we had the pleasure of sharing our nasty putrid eating habits with Jada's birthmother--who spent the afternoon/evening with us. It was a wonderful treat for my birthday!

We had an awesome time!! She stayed really late and Craig had to go to bed before she left around 11pm. I'm sure most of you may squack at that! All I could think is that it must have been very difficult for her to leave at all--AND--she had to have felt comfortable enough to even want to stay that late--so actually, I'm happy about it!! I do pray that our relationship continues to grow even though she is off to another state at the end of the month to work at the Ritz--following her dreams in the hospitality/travel business. I can assure you, she will make it big, especially with her drive and personality! PERFECT for the business!! I can also see that I truly think Jada has inherited her spirit and that is why she is soooooooooooo vocal and always smiling!

My favorite moment was when she walked through the door and Jada threw out the biggest and most beautiful smile for her. I fought the tears. . . but it was definitely a precious moment! I know you are dying to see pictures--but for now, we will respect her privacy and cherish them in our home. She is beautiful, fun, smart, funny, adventurous, outgoing, and has just a ton of energy! Jada was on the fussy side and she bounced her pretty much the entire time. I'll have to ask her if her arms and legs were sore the next day! :0)

I still sit in awe and wonder just how lucky can we really be--to be matched with two amazingly beautiful young ladies who happen to be the first mother's of our children. How I love them so!

GOOSEBERRY FALLS!

We had the most FABULOUS weekend WAY up-north in Gooseberry Falls! You may think we are nuts to go on a vacation with a 2 3/4 year old and a 2 month old, but we haven't been ANYWHERE (except grandma and grandpa's) since Jakob was born!

MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:

• Craig forgot the directions and we didn't even know the name of the place we were staying at--after a few second guesses and a turn around back to the nearest town for gas--we found it! (We didn't argue too much over that one--haha!)
  
• You had to hip chuck our door to get in. . . and it was loud--not good while kids are napping.
• On our second night, we realized that our microwave didn't work so I convinced Craig to go work his charm to get us a discount on our stay. (It actually worked in Alaska when the remote didn't work at the hotel with only 3 channels.) He came back with a microwave in his arms. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants!
• It sounded like the walls were caving in every time the heat came on. I cracked up every single time!
• The shower was barely big enough for me to fit into and once inside--you either got scalding hot or freezing cold water that came shooting out like a knife cutting your back.
  
• I was so kindly blaming Craig for the odd smells in the room and when he took Jakob's diaper off (while Jakob was standing) his poo poo fell out all over the floor! hahahaha!
  
• Jakob's temper tantrums were quite the show--having them when we had to leave the parks or other activities. I could hardly blame him--it was so beautiful everywhere who would want to leave?
• The turn dial TV that got 2 channels of reception.
  
  

AMAZING MOMENTS:

• Our little Jada slept through both nights for 8 hours!!
• The blueberry cream pie at Betty's Pies!!
• Feeding the seagulls--that was SO MUCH FUN! Craig and I used to feed them all the time when we didn't have children, but to hear Jakob laugh so hard was simply amazing!
  
• The old fashioned thunder/lightening storm on Saturday night--great for sleeping (and keeping Jakob in bed since he was a little bit frightened of the "boom boom in the sky."

SPECTACULAR VIEWS:

We have a million pictures and I hope to finish a little digital scrapbook of our trip before Christmas. We are already planning our trip for next year!!

Piece of Cake!

I just have to say hats off to all you moms out there who make things look so easy! I think about my struggles as a parent and wonder how my very own mother made our lives so magical, cooked all our meals, cleaned all our rooms, did all of our laundry, did a great portion of our homework (while I slept!), and still managed to keep the house in order and have friends and a social life. And I remind you that she was 10 years younger than me with three children.

My mother had my little sister at the age of 40--so it's not that I feel old--I just wonder when I will magically feel organized and able to keep the house clean, have some meals prepared for my husband (who has been working unGodly hours lately), and feel like I have people to socialize with other than through cyberspace. (Don't get me wrong--all I really have time for right now are cyber friends--and I love all of you with my whole heart--but there is something to be said about "live" interaction in a social setting other than with people at work.)

The only thing I feel that I am not lacking in as a person is making my childrens' lives magical--even if it is in a messy house with last minute dinners consisting of scrambled egg tortillas--which was my idea, but my husband actually cooked. We worked too darn hard to get these beautiful beings in our family--so I'm not going to miss out just to have a clean bedroom. I'm getting better. . . and have been pretty good about letting go of a lot of junk and then recompiling it by shopping on craigslist. But--here are some moments that make every minute of my life so completely worth it! :0)

TRUE LOVE!

2 months

I can't believe that Jada is already 2 months old! Tomorrow we go in for her 2 month check up and her immunizations--ICK! I have to get a shot myself--so it should be a fun family trip--minus Craig. Jakob still has to get his hepatitis shot--so he may even get one himself. I'm not sure, though, as I may wait on that one for him. His last visit to the doctor was very positive and I didn't want him to get it yet. I'll see what his pediatrician recommends. It will be interesting to see just how big Jada really is. I bet she is in the 100% for everything--which will be completely opposite of Jakob who averaged from the 10% - 50% range (and still does.) I fed her some prunes (baby food) yesterday--simply because I don't think she poops enough. I know they say babies can go several days--but her poop seems to be on the border line of constipation! :0) Just what you wanted to know! Anyway, she loved the prunes and ate them off a spoon, smiling and talking. She is definitely going to be a good eater!! It will also mark the last piece of paperwork that we need to turn in to finalize our adoption.

Jada's birthmom was going to come over last night and didn't show up. I can't even describe how we were feeling. I was so sad and both Craig and I cried a little bit. She seemed so excited to finally meet everyone in her emails. My heart just broke for her and Jada. I just figured when the time came--it was too overwhelming for her. I didn't sleep very well. . . thinking about the future and how it would turn out if she never wanted to be involved with Jada's life. I pretty much held Jada for most of the night--praying that things would change.

We got an email from her birthmom this morning--apologizing--stating that she got sick and since she didn't go to school--she didn't have access to her email and couldn't get a hold of us. She said she still wants to get together. I still can't imagine how difficult it must be to think about meeting us in person and how stressful it may be for her. She is moving out of state for awhile at the end of October--so she maybe feels pressured a bit. I also hope that once she meets us she will want to continue seeing us when she can. It really made me sad to think about her not being in our lives--when we didn't know if she would even ever contact us again. I'm just thankful that she still wants to get together!

Well, I must be going. . . our house was clean yesterday--for our visit. I just don't understand how it can get so messy so fast. I'm off to clean the kitchen--AGAIN--and maybe get some more junk together for the garage sale that our neighbor is having. It would be nice to unload some stuff, recover some much needed space in our house, and have some extra cash for some fun snacks while we are in Duluth next weekend. (Or even just to pay for our hotel.) We are finally all paid up with all of our adoption costs--so it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders (actually out of our now depleted bank account), but we will be able to start our savings over quickly this time as tax season is almost upon us. I think we are the only people that are ever excited about doing our taxes! Too bad we can't get our entire adoption tax credit back all in the same year. We are still collecting on Jakob. . . . at least we know we won't owe anything for awhile--like probably 6 more years! :0)