New blogs!

A friend of mine at work asked me to pray for her friend, Lori. She sent me two of Lori’s blogs (I’ve added them both to my blog list!). One is called Lu Mein Noodles. Lori and her husband are in the process of trying to adopt a little boy named Nate from Vietnam. They’ve been going through this process for over a year. She recently left to go live in China for 10 months. Read about her incredible journey and please lift them up in prayer so that baby Nate can come home with his parents!!

Her second blog is about infertility. Through five long years of trying every means to get pregnant, they have been unsuccessful. She wants to share her story, her pain and try to help people see the “lighter side of infertility”.

I asked my friend, Jennifer if it was okay to post these two blogs for the blog world to see and she gave me the “absolutely!”… If Lori’s story can help anyone else who may be struggling with infertility or going through adoption, then she says it’s worth it!

Happy reading…

Christmas

Levi informed me last night on the way home from Cubbies that he wouldn’t be here next Thursday.

“Mommy, I have to tell you sumfin.”
“Okay, what?”
“I won’t be here next Thursday.”
“Oh, okay, where will you be?”
“I’m going to Christmas.”

He found our Christmas card picture from last year which is him playing in front of my aunt’s Christmas tree with a train set. Ever since then, he’s fixated on going to “Christmas”. I love his little mind. :)

50 cents

Let me tell you something...50 cents doesn't buy much these days!

Every week, my whole family meets up to eat lunch together after church. One of the places we go has those dreaded gumball machines out in the lobby. My dad has gotten into the habit of giving each grandchild 2 quarters to spend. That is one of the highlights of their week! When we finish our last bites and get ready to head out, you sometimes hear 5 little voices saying "Quarters, Papa!!!" He then goes to the cash register and gets change to hand out 50 cents to each of the little darlings.

Levi has gotten a Dora doll
and another Dora doll...luckily a different one!

One week, he got this monkey that is covering his eyes with his tail...weird.

And this week, he got a rooster tattoo! He loved it. He's gotten tattoos before, but would never let me put them on him. I think he was afraid it would hurt! He didn't get the concept that these weren't stickers. This week, I talked him into letting me put the tattoo on his belly.

He loved it! He kept running around saying "where's the rooster?", then he'd crack up and pull his shirt up. Life was dandy until the tattoo started to wear off. My happy child became horrified! He bawled and bawled, like a child that lost his puppy! I assured him we'd get a new tattoo next week and life would be good again...

Oh my.

Night O' Fun

There's just something about the idea of dressing up, walking around the neighborhood and coming home with a bucket of candy that warms my heart!!! :) Saturday was Trick or Treating and we had so much fun! A bunch of the neighbor kids, as well as Paul & Gretchen all met up and went together.

The guys staked their places on the driveway to hand out candy

Here's our big ol' group of kids... It was a lot of fun and Levi was the happiest Bob the Builder I've ever seen! I learned from a friend of mine (Thanks Janna!) that Mommy & Daddy get to take their "tithe" off the top...10% of the candy just for taking them around the neighborhood! Awesome!! ;)

Right after filling our bucket, we headed to Mom & Dad's for their annual Fall Festival. My parents do an incredible night of fun each year for their family and church family. There are big jumper bouncer thingys for the kids, a chili cookoff, a dessert contest, lots of hayrides, a big bonfire (that you can see from the Space Center), and even a movie for the little ones in the barn.

Levi got to help drive everyone on the second hayride of the night

Great Granny and Emmy watching "Over the Hedge" in the pole barn (think little Miss Emmy has Granny wrapped around her pinky?

Mommy & Levi on the hayride

My cutie patootie and me on the hayride - ahhhh!

The Ausmus' on the hayride - Bob, Jill, Janie and Reece

Travis & G-man

Jenny & Emily...Emily wasn't so sure about the hayride. She wanted to be with Papa on the tractor instead!

After all the excitement was winding down, Levi decided to take the little kids on his own hayride Cute!

I have such an amazing family and wonderful friends! God has blessed me beyond what I deserve!! I am so thankful for all the memories that are filling Levi's little head and each day I look forward to making new memories with him. I could just burst with Joy as we head into this fun holiday season... I hope everyone knows the JOY that Christ can bring into your life!!!

O Happy Day!

Well, today is the big “12 WEEKS”!!

I think most every woman in their pregnancy looks forward to the day when they can say they are 12 weeks along! The chance of miscarriage drops dramatically and all the major “functions” of the baby are mostly developed and just start growing bigger from this point on! Our baby is the size of a large lime and by the end of the week will be the size of a peach. My morning sickness has almost disappeared – thank you God!!! There are just a few nights a week that I feel icky, but I’m mostly feeling really wonderful. Still sleepy, but not like I’m going to pass out while I’m talking to you! :)

My parents are so giving. I think they are the most generous people I know. My mom, sister-in-law Jenny and I went to the outlet mall last night after work. We had a really fun time and Mom got me some Mommy clothes!! I’m still at that awkward “very few things in my closet fit me but my maternity clothes are too big” phase. I’m sure my friends are tired of seeing the same two outfits on me ALL the time!!! :) Now, I have a few more tops and another pair of pants to throw in the mix. OH, and I ordered a maternity COLTS t-shirt for when we go to the game! How fun. Just 12 days until our trip to Indy. Woo hoo!!! And my boyfriend is looking so good this season.
Hopefully they will have a great game that night! (I digress…)

Eric has been busy starting to finish our basement. We are going to move Levi’s toy room downstairs to make room for the new little bambino. I will start posting pictures soon on that process. How fun!! Guess that’s all for now…

Levi's baby woes

Last night:

Levi: Momma, does the baby make your belly sick tonight?
Me: No, Mommy’s belly feels good tonight.
Levi: My baby is making my belly sick. I think I need to go poopie.

(Potty break)

Levi: Shew, Momma, I feel better. The baby makes my belly happy now!

***************************************************

Oh, and I have to give a quick shout out to whoever passed down their Old Navy khaki pants to Levi (either Reece or C.J.). When I picked Levi up from school yesterday, he was so excited to show me the dollar bill that was folded up in his pocket! I asked him where he found it and he said “MOM, it was right here in my pocket the whole time!!” So funny! Looks like it was run through the washer and dryer a couple of times, but, hey…it all spends the same! ;)

Runway ready...

Today is my first day in a maternity top! I will be 11 weeks tomorrow (Tuesday) and, oh my, it’s amazing how your body starts to change so quickly once you’ve already had a child!! I still have two pair of pants that I can fit into, so we’ll be seeing lots of those pants over the next few weeks :)

So, picture this…cute me, in black slacks, cheetah print flats and a crisp, white maternity polo that ties right above the belly with a big yellow honey mustard stain from my sandwich at Penn Station. Awesome!