Long Overdue Update

Sorry for the lack of posting . . . I just can't seem to get my act together these days. We've been busy, and now the kids have another stomach bug. I am DONE with puke. NO MORE I say!

Jackson had a great birthday. We had the fourth annual pool party with fabulous weather. This kid is good luck, we think. Either that, or no one dare rain on his parade, LOL!





Cooper is ready for his birthday rapidly approaching . . . he even knows how old he'll be!



Scarier yet . . . he'll be walking to his own party.

All better, and with teeth too!

thanks for the well wishes . . . Coop's rash resolved quickly and he was just fine! Then, on June 29th, he finally sprouted a tooth! Not to be outdone, tooth #2 was just behind it on July 5th! He turned 10 months on the 3rd, and celebrated by climbing up one step on the stairs. Here comes trouble. Oy!

J's b-day is tomorrow, but his party is on Sunday. I'll leave you with a few pics until I recap the party.

J's first fish!




Coop's first trip to the beach:

Poor baby

Not chicken pox, but amoxycillin allergy. Enough to scare the shit out of me.

Too cute

Can my kids be any cuter? And I can say that, because I have no biological input to either of them . . . so I am impartial (yeah, right)!

A few pictures from the weekend

In order, Coop and maternal Grammy, Coop, Cooper and bio-dad, Coop and bio-sister

The miracle continues . . . .

Our journey with embryo adoption continues . . . we spent this weekend in NH visiting with Cooper's biological family, and had an unbelievably wonderful time. Like, warm and fuzzy feelings for everyone. We met his bio grandfather on the maternal side, and his paternal grandparents who let us stay in their house while they were away for a wedding that night! Can they be any nicer?? Cooper also met an aunt, an uncle, and 4 cousins.I always seemed to have my camera in the car, but I will post some pics when Sue, Coop's donor mom, sends them to me.

We spent Saturday BBQing and meeting everyone. Then J* spent the night with Coop's bio-siblings . . . his first successful sleepover ever! Major milestone here . . . he usually starts off with good intentions at my in-laws, but ends up crying and coming home, so this was a BIG deal for us!

Sunday morning, we had breakfast together, then went "fishing" at the pond (really just catching frogs and crayfish with nets, and throwing them back). After that, we all went out to lunch, had local-made ice cream (yum!) and went to play in the park until the grandparents returned from the wedding to spend a bit more time with them before we traveled home. It was just too wonderful for words.

Now, road-tripping 4 hours each way with two kids was NOT fun, but well-worth the effort. Once we recuperate from that, hopefully we'll plan on more fun stuff for the summer.

3 milestones in 3 days

OK, someone stop this kid from growing up! Cooper learned to push himself to sitting from laying down on Tuesday. Wednesday morning I watched him pull to stand in his crib, and last night he decided it was time to crawl. No more log-rolling or commando crawling for him. Now I am in real trouble! If he would only start to say mama . . . .

Rapidly approaching adulthood

OK, maybe it should say rapidly approaching 4 years old and nine months old, but I feel they are growing up so fast!

Last night as J* was going to bed, he asked, "Mommy, where did you get married?"
I replied, "on a pretty island called Jamiaca. Where did you get married?"
He said, "I didn't get married MOMMY!"
So I replied, "oh, well, who are you going to marry?"
His exclamation, "JULIA"!
Now to break that to Julia's mom, my friend Erica.

Cooper still has no teeth. But he is certainly not letting that stop him. Check out those legs! Michelin Baby! And he is still the sweetest baby on earth. Just edible.

Happy Mother's Day to all in blogland!

I hope everyone has a very special mother's day, whether you are a mother or not. I dreaded this day for too many years, so I know how it feels to be a "mother in waiting". But it will happen for all those that want it.

I just wrote this as an entry to a mother's day contest, and I thought I'd share it here:

I feel so blessed to be a mom, for several reasons. We tried for many years to get pregnant, and did many IVF cycles, and spent way too much money. Nothing ever worked. I dreaded every mothers day and baby shower during that time.

I am a mom now. But only through the sacrifice of two other mothers. I am blessed in every way, by the grace of two other women.

One young girl picked us to be parents to her baby boy a few months before he was born, and we adopted him when he was 11 hours old. He is now almost 4. I think of her everyday, and pray that she is at peace with her decision to place her child in our family. She made me a mother, and I thank my lucky stars for that.

Another wonderful woman and her husband made me a mother for the second time, but pregnant for the very first (and only) time. They gave us their frozen embryos that were left over from their IVF cycles, once they were done building their own family through modern medical science. We transferred her embryos into my uterus and I gave birth to a miracle baby boy 8 months ago. He had been frozen for 9 years! He has met his biological parents and siblings, and we have a wonderful relationship with this "extended family".

My heart skips a beat every single time I lay eyes on my boys. They were always meant to be ours.

Sorry for the silence

I've been so busy! I've sold 6 Swarovski hearts this week! Hurray! It gives me a lot of satisfaction that people like my work.

In the middle of it all, Cooper turned 8 months and I didn't blog about it. Bad Mommy! as J* would say when he was younger (when I'd tell him no to something). Now J* really is a big boy, helping Daddy in the yard collecting weeds or twigs, riding his Spiderman bike, or watering my plants.

The Coop is clapping hands, saying Da Da, commando crawling all over the house, and just being so damn cute. He LOVES his big brother, and when J* is in the room, Cooper doesn't take his eyes off him. Only J* can make him laugh that deep belly laugh of his:

Coop laughing

My new hobby

Etsy Shop

Recap

See, not a thing accomplished this week, b/c of that darn Bloggy Giveaway Carnival! Well, I did manage to cast-on to make a froggy hat for Coop's BFF who was born on Leap-year Day. This is what it will look like eventually:



Cooper is sleeping pretty well - from 7pm to 5am on most nights. He's eating solids like a little piggy, just as his big brother used to. We have been enjoying the weather, spending most evenings outside playing baseball in the yard or eating on the deck. What a difference the sun makes!

Limited productivity expected next week

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival again!

We may all lose our jobs, but at least we'll have fun!

MORE Giveaways!

The twins are at it again! 5 Minutes for Mom is hosting a two week giveaway for toys for kids of all ages! Go over and enter to win some great stuff. I'd wish you luck, but I wanna win too!

Surprise, surprise

For some reason, I got a bug up my ass about Cooper not sleeping, so the night he turned 7 months, we took away his binky and started some serious sleep training with hand-held coaching from AZJenn. He did GREAT and it didn't take more than a few nights, which weren't so bad either! Now he's pretty much sleeping through from 7pm to 6am . . .

I feel like a NEW WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In seven months . . .

He's won our hearts (that took seven seconds),
he's learned to sit up
he's gotten no teeth
he's begun babbling da-da and ba-ba
he's had all his first holidays
he's grown up too fast
he's never slept a full night through.

I guess 6 out of 7 ain't so bad. Happy 7 months COOP!

Sorry for the "off-color" joke

You are all probably wondering why an infertile would play such an April Fool's joke as that. But, let us all remember . . . I am a rude New Yorker first and foremost!

AZJenn had it right . . . that was the +hpt from Cooper's donor embryo cycle. It was such a great day and my first +hpt ever, so why not recycle the picture. Hell, I should frame it!

I do apologize if I hurt anyone's feelings. The joke was really for hubby. He didn't believe it for a second, probably because he knows he hasn't "gotten any" in quite awhile, and I'm not the type that God would choose to create the 2nd immaculate conception!

The "oops" I finally wasn't hoping for . . .

Um, HELP!

Easter

We had a blessed Easter, despite Cooper having 103 fever and possible roseola, with an ear infection along for the ride. Poor thing. He was sent home from daycare on Thursday, and since they were closed on Good Friday, by Saturday I was stir crazy with the kids. We headed to the mall to work off some steam, and I got roped into the above picture, which turned out the be the perfect Easter card for the grandparents.

On Easter sunday, we went to mass with Nonno and Nonna, and Cooper slept through the entire thing (1 1/2 hours). J* fell asleep on me just before communion, so I carried him on my shoulder to receive the eucharist. Saw some wonderful friends at mass and chatted a bit.

Then we headed home for an Easter egg hunt. This is J*'s last year where all the eggs are his, b/c watch out for Cooper next Easter!








We tried to take some family pictures, but mommy looks so tired in all of them (I even deleted the one of mommy in the post below, b/c boy did I look zombie-ish!).

After that, we went to Grandma and Grampy's for Easter dinner. My parents outdid themselves with this meal! We had a crown roast of lamb with sausage stuffing, hand made pasta with sauce, asparagus, sugar snap pea and feta salad, and a chocolate chocolate chip cake for dessert. We lazied around for most of the afternoon, and headed back home about 8pm. Both kids fell asleep on the ride home, and didn't wake up when we moved them from the car to their beds. Gotta love that!

First-time Irish!

Not only did we celebrate our Match Day as a family, but we also got to celebrate Coop's first St. Patrick's Day! He is the only true Irish in the family, but we all pretended anyway, to make sure he had a great first holiday! We headed to Daddy's restaurant where it was a busy night, with party favors, corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread, and local bagpipers. Here are some pictures . . .