Waiting Children

Sometimes I look online at the pictures of orphans waiting to be adopted. I don't know why I do it to myself; I always end up in tears. I used to do this, before we were blessed with Caysen. It hurt to look at them then too, but now it hurts so much more.

Why does it hurt more? Because I replace those faces with Caysen's face. He could be one of those waiting children. In fact, there's a good chance he would be a waiting child because he is considered special needs. If the hospital in Taiwan hadn't called Holly & Trena, or if H&T had ignored God tugging at their hearts to take him in, there's no telling where he would be right now. I love him more than I can ever express, and it breaks my heart to picture his face on one of those lists, lists of children who don't have a mommy and daddy. Actually, it makes me physically sick!

In comparison to some other places, Caysen probably would have had it pretty good as an orphan (if that's possible). There are places in this world where not only do the children not have a mommy and daddy, their basic human needs can't even be met. No food, no shelter from the elements, no shoes or clothes, infected by all kinds of horrible diseases, lucky if they get one meal a week! And then there are the ones with special needs who are institutionalized if they are not adopted by a certain age (usually about 5 years old)!

It makes me want to adopt them all. Yep, all 147 million of them! Lance and I can't do that alone, but the population of the US is about 300 million, so if each adult/couple adopted one child, we could make a pretty huge dent!

Am I going to stop looking at the sweet faces of the waiting children? Nope, not going to happen. Is it still going to hurt to look? Most definitely! But I think it's supposed to hurt. I need to be reminded of those precious children every day because it is my duty, as a servant of God, to care for them.

If you have a child, adopted or not, just try and picture them on one of those waiting children lists without shedding a tear. I'm not saying that we all have to adopt, but do something. There are so many ministries around the world that can use support of all kinds, volunteer work, monetary donations, food or clothing donations, the list goes on...

I totally get it, I used to ignore the orphan and life was good. But now I know, and I can't ignore it. Like I said, it hurts, but I want you to know too, because it will never get better if we keep ignoring it. I'll leave you with a picture of a sweet boy who is not on a waiting child list, he is our "one less."

One Less

I love this song!! I don't really need to add anything because it says it all.

Scheduling, Planning, Organizing! Oh What Fun!!!

Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood

by Jamie C. Martin

A good infertility/blogger/fb/mama friend of mine recommended this book to me while we were in the process of adopting. I finally picked it up a couple of weeks ago and I love it! If you are a type A personality, and a mama, you have to get this book!!

The book gives great tips and examples on how to parent with intention. The author's point is that we should go about being a mother the same way as we go about any other profession (yes, motherhood is a profession). For example, would you go to the office with no plan of what you are hoping to get done during the day? If we are taking our job seriously, we should make a plan, have a schedule, and follow through. Would you head to work, briefcase in hand, with your jammies on? I don't think so. Not to say that lazy days don't exist, but doesn't the day seem to be a lot more productive if you start with a shower and clean clothes?

As a side note, Steady Mom has one biological child and two adopted children. And she's a Christian. Both things I like and can relate to :)

For more information on the book, you can go to www.steadydays.com or you can check out the author's blog (which I also follow) www.steadymom.com.

Living In a Bubble

Something happens when you bring a child into your family. I don't even know how to explain it, but I'm going to try. As we've settled into our new life as a family of three, I've found myself feeling like Lance, Caysen, and I live in our own little bubble. God lives in our bubble too ;)

There is so much going on around us, but it doesn't really matter, because life is oh so good in our bubble. I find myself having to make a conscious effort to be a part of the rest of the world, but it's hard because what we have together is so incredible and fulfilling.

Don't get me wrong, we are always on the go, running here and there, and we love spending time with our friends and family; but it has changed. Maybe because we are so much closer than ever before, it makes all other interactions seem a little different.

I do know that living in this bubble allows me to have so much joy and peace. I've got so much love to give, and a God who loves me so much that he will take care of me and my family and lead us each step of the way.

I've done a horrible job of explaining it, but I think it might just be one of those feelings that can't be put into words. Or maybe it's just me? Either way, life is good :)

Catch Up

I've got a few pictures I have been meaning to post, so I'm just going to make a "hodge-podge" post and include them all.

First, my parents bought Caysen a Jumperoo for his birthday, and he loves it!!

Only problem is, the little shorty's feet don't touch the ground.

Unless he stretches as much as he possibly can; then he can touch with the tips of his sweet little toes.

We put a box underneath him though, and now he can jump away!!

A few weeks, Nano and Dudley came for a little visit because they were going to be in the area.

Caysen loved seeing his Nano again :)


Sweet boy has also been able to spend some time with his cousins lately:

And here he is snuggling with daddy on a lazy Saturday morning :)
Whew, almost caught up. I just took these pictures yesterday. I got the blocks out for Caysen for the first time; he really seemed to enjoy them!

14.

Caysen, you are 14 months old! I can't believe how much you've grown and changed since we've been home. Here is what you are up to:

You can sit up unassisted, without bracing yourself on your hands; but you still need a pillow behind you because sometimes you get so excited, you forget to balance and you fall backwards :(

Just this week, you have really figured out how to bear weight on your legs. Now that you've discovered it, you pretty much think it's the coolest thing ever to stand up straight (with mama or daddy helping you balance).

It turns out that you are lactose intolerant; no wonder you never cared for formula! We've got you on rice-milk now and we're adding soy formula to your food and packing the calories in wherever we can.

You babble and talk more every day. You have really found your voice over the past month and you think it's pretty great!

You are so close to saying da-da, but you have no idea what it means. Mama just tries to get you to say it because she knows how special it will be for daddy ;)

You wore 9 month pajamas for the first time last night. There is still plenty of room to grow into them, but it's hard to believe you are up to 9 month clothes now!!

You can hold your own bottle if you are reclined, but you haven't figured out that you have to tip it up when you're sitting ;)

You are still a good sleeper, and mama and daddy are so thankful for that!

You start physical therapy this week; no doubt, you'll continue to amaze us :)

You are also starting a toddler group this week, which was recommended by your PT coordinator.

You take baths in the big bathtub now; no more sink baths.

You weight 14 lbs!

You are still the most perfect and precious, sweet boy, and we thank God every day for letting us have you in our lives :)

True Religion

"Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

At one of our baby showers, a few good friends gave us a photo session with Chelsea of True Religion Photography.

Back in mid-september, we met with Chelsea and she took picture after picture until Caysen was too worn out to keep going.

Not only is Chelsea a great photographer, but she's also an adoptive mama, and she gives a portion of her profits to the Orphan.

You can find out more about Chelsea and True Religion Photography at: www.truereligionphotography.com

Here are a few of my favorites from our session:

Out the Window. Part Two.

Well, day one of calorie overload didn't go so well. Caysen was already having trouble keeping his food down before changing his diet, but yesterday he was having...ahem, other digestive problems along with the vomiting.

He had all dairy yesterday, besides one oz. of blueberries, and let's just say it didn't help ;)

So, we're throwing that plan out the window and letting him live on oatmeal and pedia-lyte for a couple of days. The dr. is suspecting lactose intolerance at this point, so there's a good chance we'll be switching him to rice milk. For now, we're going to let his little system rest; and then we'll try adding the dairy back in slowly to see what happens. If he starts having the same issues, then we will know that lactose is the culprit.

I'm just hoping we get it figured out quickly because even though Caysen is a trooper and doesn't act like he feels bad, I know it can't be fun for him!

Out the Window

The thing about parenting is sometimes you just have to take anything you've ever been told, or read in the many "guide-books", and throw it out the window. That was yesterday for me.

I've read many an article about the correlation between ADD and watching tv at a young age. So before Caysen came home, Lance and I agreed that there would be no tv for Caysen until he was at least two, and then it would be limited. Well, yesterday, Caysen had his PT evaluation and they actually recommended letting him watch tv to help him with language and communication. It was hard to digest (and I'm still trying to convince myself it's the right thing), but I get what they are saying. Even if I talk to him all day long, it won't be as beneficial as him hearing the different voices, tones, etc. that children's cartoons can offer. He now has a handful of videos from Sesame Street, to Dora, to Veggie Tales. He won't be a sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-day kind of a kid, but Lance and I are going with what the PT coordinator suggests and allowing him to watch a limited amount of tv every day. It's hard because I still think tv is a waste of time and doesn't benefit us intellectually, but I can see how it may be helpful when it comes to developing social skills. Let's hope this is the right decision.

Vegetables and fruits are good for us; we all know that. Growing up, our parents told us we had to eat our vegetables or else. In health class, we learned about the food pyramid and how the "fats" category is at the teeny-tiny tip of the pyramid. Most modern schools of thought advise us to eat raw rather than eating a lot of processed foods. Fruits and vegetables equal healthy, too much dairy and fats equal unhealthy. This may all be true, but for Caysen, we are tossing it out the window:

We went to the Dr. yesterday and my world was turned upside down. Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration ;) Caysen's pediatrician (who is amazing and great and wonderful) told me that "Caysen is the kind of kid that can feel free to add a dollop of butter to his food". Obviously, I know that babies can have more fats than adults, but our goal with Caysen is to pack those calories in any way we can and worry less about how many servings of fruits or vegetables he is getting in a day. The boy gets to live on pedia-sure, yogurt, and a sprinkling of fruits and veggies. He has a bit of a reflux problem and wasn't keeping his food down all the time, so if he isn't loving something we give him, it's better to give him something he does like, rather than him gagging it all back up and not taking in any calories. It goes against everything I believe to be true about nutrition...but once again, I get it. Caysen was born extremely early and he's still trying to catch up, so operation calorie overload has begun.

Life Right Now

We've been home for about a month and a half and we're finally getting settled into our new routine. Before we brought Caysen home, I was working two days a week at an accounting office, but I've slowly been phasing out and I turned in my keys on Monday! I'm officially a full time SAHM and I am LOVING it :)

Are my days incredibly full and busy? Yes! Do I sometimes not sit down until after 8:00 at night? Yes! Is the budget a little tighter than it used to be? Yes, Yes, and Yes!!! But I wouldn't trade it for the world! So I don't forget, this is what a typical day looks like for us right now:

6:30 Lance gets up.

7:00-7:15 I hear Caysen's sweet voice on the monitor and go get him out of his crib.

7:15 I pack Lance's lunch and make him a latte/cappuccino/coffee while he snuggles and plays with Caysen.

7:25 Caysen and I both get a smooch from Lance, and he is off to work.

7:30-8:00 Caysen and I commence on a 30 minute snuggle fest :)

8:00 Time for breakfast for the sweet man!

8:15-8:30 Caysen hangs out in his swing letting his food settle, while I eat a quick breakfast.

8:30-10:00 Play time on the floor (I do pt with Caysen).

10:00-12:00 Nap time for Caysen. Cleaning, planning, organizing, showering time for me.

12:00 Lunch for Caysen. If we have plans to go anywhere, we head out as soon as Caysen has been fed and bathed.

If we're staying in:

12:15-12:30 More swing time to let the food settle.

12:30-3:00 I play with Caysen, and help him work on the areas where he's trying to catch up.

3:00-5:00 Nap time for Caysen. I do more cleaning, laundry, etc. and usually take a break in there too ;)

5:00-6:00 Playtime for Caysen while I work on dinner.

5:30-6:00 Lance gets home from work and he and Caysen have some boy time.

6:15 Dinner for Caysen.

6:30 Dinner for Lance and I while Caysen plays.

7:30 Lance and I take turns every other night, reading Caysen a story and putting him to bed.

8:00-8:30 I take care of dinner dishes and usually do a little laundry.

8:30-10:30 Lance and I both kick back and take it easy.

10:30 Bed time.

Yep, I know, this has been a really boring post...but it will be interesting to us when we look back on it later and see how our schedule has changed and evolved.