Finally went swimming

We were going to go swimming yesterday, the weather was perfect! However, Cooper's best friend was coming to pick him up for a visit. He moved away two years ago and they definitely miss each other! So we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. We finally went on to dinner and sure enough, as we were finishing up, they called wanting to know where we were and when we'd be home lol. Oh well, it was a nice lazy day at home!

So today after Little Man's nap, we headed to an aquatic center about 30 minutes away. Our pool in town closed down, such a bummer. There is NOTHING in this town to do. Not sure why we live here sometimes!It was actually pretty chilly today for June, but off we went anyway! Addy isn't a huge fan of anything so it took her awhile to warm up to the idea of the water. She preferred to spend her time hanging out by the fence :)

Little Man on the other hand, had a blast!!! He LOVED the water! Can't you see that amazing smile on his face??? Oh yeah, you can't but I PROMISE his expressions are priceless!!!

Jake's Baptism :)

Jake was baptized down at the river today :) So proud of him and excited for his future!

Gotcha Day!

Today is Gotcha Day for our Little Man! I'm not sure why I still refer to him as that because we have called him MONKEY for months! It was Father's Day weekend last year that I headed up north to pick up this precious boy from the NICU :) I was so overcome with emotion, it was surreal thinking that I was going to care for this amazing little boy!

I never thought that we would be become foster parents. The thought of caring for a child then having to give them back is heart wrenching to even imagine. I still feel that way. You just never know what is going to happen. What I do know is that God is control of this baby boy and what his future holds. He has a plan for him. We definitely want to have him join our family, that would be amazing, we love him dearly :) When we were called about him we really didn't have to think at all about whether or not we would take this baby, it was a definite yes :) He needed someone to love and care for him and our entire family was more than willing :) He has been a fabulous addition to our family, he is loved and accepted and given as many opportunities to grow and thrive that we can give him!

He is now 13 months old  and is such an opposite child from what Addy was at this age! It's amazing how being born without several birth defects and medical conditions can help you! He sits up, crawls, pulls to stand, kneels (even on one knee at times lol), claps his hands, plays ball like a champ, loves music and his bath, babbles with several consonants, says and waves Bye Bye, eats like there's no tomorrow and thinks bananas are the best thing ever! He is very healthy and has only struggled with some lung stuff through the winter. 

We are still unsure of our future with him but as I stated, God is control and has a plan for our Little Monkey and hope and pray that what His will is will be done.

Happy Gotcha Day Monkey! We love you to the moon and back!

I thought it was summertime!

Ugh, I was sooo hoping that this summer was going to be illness free for all of us around! Addy is fighting her sinus stuff (appears to be improving :) and I came down with a sore throat. It started on Tuesday, nothing major at all. I even talked about having my tonsils out last year because I was so tired of constantly getting strep. Wednesday throat really wasn't hurting except once in a while, I just blamed it on drainage. Thursday night however, a different story. It was storming outside, the littles were in bed so the boys and I were playing Monopoly and I was fading fast, my throat was really beginning to hurt. I was secretly hoping that our power would go out (like our neighbors) so I could just call it a night and go to bed lol. Fortunately or unfortunately, not sure, the power did go out so I headed to bed!!! I was up most of the night with awful pain. I'm pretty darn tough but I just knew I had to have strep, I know that feeling well obviously ! I had to get up early on Friday to get Cooper to the church to head to St. Louis for a choir trip and Little Man was already up so I went ahead and dropped him off at daycare early, I didn't want to expo ( se him anymore than I had to! I couldn't call the doc until 8:30 but I called right then and no available appointments :( ugh. I even called another doc in my network in a close town, no appointments available. Well crap, I guess Urgent Care it is. Jake had baseball camp until noon so when I picked up him we ran through Sonic and got him some lunch and headed into Springfield. We arrived around 12:45 pm and the waiting room was packed :( NOT a good sign. When I was finally called back for triage I was told that they were really backed up but they were running a fast track and pushing through the minor issues quickly. Yeah! I had my vitals taken and my throat cultured. I was pretty hopeful that they would read the quick test, call me back, give me meds and send me on my way. Yeah right. We waited forever! Addy was good for a couple of hours but after that, she was D O N E! She's no longer my sweet little "I'm going to sit here and entertain myself nicely" angel. She's my I want to GO GO GO girl now! Thank goodness Jake was with me to take her on some walks around. I should have brought the Ipad but it needed charging ( I know I totally could have charged it in the van) and I didn't think we'd be more than a couple of hours. Little Man has to be picked up by 5 so I had to call in Scott for reinforcement! He came by and picked up Addy and Little Man's car seat and headed home with them. Jake stayed with me to keep me company :) It was after five before I was called back to see the doctor. The doc checks me all out and asks if they cultured my throat. Um, yes why would you not know this? He said "They tell me before I come in if it's positive." I"m thinking some not nice words because if I sat here all day to find out that I have a virus I'm sooo not going to be happy!! The doc finally decides to investigate a little  more and he says "Jackpot! You have strep!"  No kidding. I'm pretty sure I dx myself. I do that often with my kids. Maybe I should go back to school and become a nurse practitioner, I have a LOT of experience lol.

So, my prescription gets sent to the pharmacy (that closes at 6:30) and off we go. We made it by 6:20 and got my meds, got Jake to pole vaulting practice at 7 :) Storms starting coming in and Cooper is in St. Louis (where storms sirens were going off) and Jarika calls from Joplin because the sirens were going off and she was by herself. No stress for this mama at all. The day was officially a complete failure lol. So today I'm hoping for a much better day, meds have been started and I don't think I have to run anyone anywhere at this point :) We shall see, that has a tendency to change moment by moment! I'm looking forward to more of the pic above without any more illnesses!