POTTY TRAINING!!!!!!!

Isn't he contagious!? His smile!?

BIG BOY!!!!

Showing off his favorite, ELMO! He's very proud of his underwear!

So, our last piece tonight, sorry to leave on such a gross note! :) We are POTTY TRAINING and doing WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I waited to post this as I was afraid that once I said something too soon that it would fall apart, but much to my happiness and delight, we are "day" potty trained with Ezra! That's right! NO DIAPERS for Ezra during the day! He only wears a diaper at night and during his nap. It's so fantastic! SERIOUSLY!

About three weeks ago, it was quiet and usually when it's quiet that's not a good thing! So I got up and went to look for Ezra and I found him in our downstairs bathroom, door shut, pants down, and trying to go potty standing up! If you know Ezra, he's a short and stalky kind of boy, very unlike his very tall brother, and at that point I thought to myself, "Okay, this boy is ready to potty train. He is watching his brother and daddy how to do it, and if he's starting to try and do it on his own, we're going to do this full throttle!" And THAT began the potty training! Since DAY 1, we have had TWO accidents! In THREE weeks! It's truly AMAZING! It's been the easiest thing ever! SO PROUD OF HIM! Here are some pictures to show his own pride! :)

And YES, we'll be working on transitioning him into a toddler bed soon! I'm sure some of you are looking at the crib in the background going, "ok, he's potty trained, but not in a 'big boy' bed yet." I know, I know! This mama just isn't quite ready for all this at ONCE! Bare with me! :)

Dinner with Daddy!

Tonight we went and had dinner with daddy at work! It's a very special occasion when we get to do this, so the kids were pretty excited! It was WONDERFUL! We miss daddy tons when he's at work and away from us. But we are SOOOO thankful he has such a good job, and that he still has a job! Can't wait to do it again! :) We love you daddy! Thanks for working SO HARD for us!

Movie night...........

.............or rather, just a walk! :) We (our family and my mom and dad) all prepared for a nice little movie night at the park with popcorn, fruit snacks, peanuts, waters, etc. Walked over to the park (since we live a few blocks) and found out they weren't having it that night even though the sheet said so! :) So, we just decided to finish with a nice walk and walk back to the house. We ended up watching Wall-E at home! :) We still had fun!

3rd Annual 4th of July Party

Boys helping Opa make the homemade ice cream!

"The Spread"

Drink Station

Our nice flooded backyard! :(

Erin hogging all the buns! :)

The grill masters!

The ladies and "D"

Roxann & mom

Erin (Aubrey's youngest sister) & Val (Aubrey's mom) surprised Aubrey and got to come to the
party! Val, though she lives in Illinois, has managed to make EVERY SINGLE 4th of July picnic we've had in the last 4 years! She's set the standard high, now she better not break the habit!

Some of the kids! :)

Wilbur, Juliette, Dan & David

Every year, we host a BBQ on the 4th of July for our friends and family! It never seizes to provide loads of fun, and this year didn't either! We had almost 50 people (parents & kids) in attendance, and WHAT A BLAST! It was cozy, especially since the kids couldn't go out and utilize our backyard as you can see because of the huge storm that hit the night before, literally! And it's the only day of rain this year! Go figure!

Benjamin and my dad made up the two batches of homemade ice cream that was to die for, and all the sides the friends made and brought were also so yummy!

Thanks everyone for coming! Looking forward already to NEXT YEARS!!!!!

Chavalah Update

Okay, so I have some more updates with specifics on Chavalah!

We will be meeting with two specialists at the Phoenix Childrens' Hospital within the next four weeks. The first will be on July 28, ON her first birthday, oh well, with a Neurologist. Her appointment is at 10 in the morning Arizona time, so if you could be praying for us that morning, that would be great. It will be our "initial" appointment discussing our concerns and seeing what the doctor wants to do with testing, and her future. The reason for our visit with the Neurologist is quite simple. Several things have shown up the older she's gotten. She has a very weak left side! Everything on her left side is very limited, the latest thing they've noticed is when she "cruises" (she really doesn't cruise but they try and get her to do it while they are here), she drags her left toe/leg/foot. She doesn't "pick it up" like a normal step. She also has stiffness in her shoulder area like her brother, and although she looks perfectly normal, Chavalah has learned to pretty much do everything or compensate for her left side, looking perfectly normal. The last thing of concern is that Chavalah is STILL sleeping nearly 20 hours a day! Yes, A DAY! And at 1 year old, she should be awake MOST of the day with maybe a short nap in the morning and a longer nap in the afternoon! And when she wakes, she doesn't make a noise, she'll just lay there. I'm constantly checking to make sure she's still there, awake and breathing! And if I don't, she'd lay there without a peep for eternity! So, these are the things we're going to be discussing. More than likely, we'll be referred and scheduled for an MRI to make sure there hadn't been a stroke in utero, and to rule out Cerebral Palsy as we did with Ezra at about this time in his life!

Our second appointment will be with an Orthopedic Specialist at PCH on August 10! Also in the 10 o'clock hour range. If you could be praying for us then also. They will be doing x-rays of her left leg to look for anything abnormal bone growth wise there. When she stands and pulls herself up to things, her left foot literally twists and her toes point AWAY from her body in an "L" shape and she stands on the arch of her foot, not on the flat of her foot. When you keep her standing and physically move her toes so they are facing straight out in front of her as they are supposed to be, her knee looks all deformed from twisting to make it "forward" as normal.

These are all very minor things in light of what COULD be happening, but all things that are still very "abnormal" and just need to be checked. Once we have been to these appointments and "diagnosed" what they actually are, they will be documented and HOPEFULLY by the end of August, beginning of September, we'll be able to hand in ALL our paperwork to our adoption specialist and she will then be able to submit everything to finalize her adoption. THEN we can contact our attorney! I'm guessing Octoberish before we have a court date with the judge! We'll see! Might be a tad sooner, or a tad later. Still I believe it will be THIS year.

Thanks again for praying!

JUST PLAIN CUTE!

Are my children not some of the cutest kids you've ever seen!? :) Okay, so I am EXTREMELY bias, but I really think they're adorable! :) Just a few cute pics from the last week or so. Growing like CRAZY!!!

Things are happening!

Lots of stuff is happening around here! Still moving "forward" with Chavalah's adoption, but there have been a few very important things that have come up that have to be resolved medically before we really feel comfortable proceeding with. As Chavalah is growing and doing more things, some very noticeable things have come to our attention that we are seeking help in properly recognizing. Most of you know, her life started off with a serious addiction to Meth and Emphetamines. At levels the state of Arizona had NEVER SEEN in an infant child. In fact, they took Chavalah two times, thinking the first one had errored out when it was "impossible" her level could be that high. Turns out, it was NO ERROR! We've known this all along, and have still chosen to care for her as needed, and truth be told, she really has done EXTREMELY WELL and for that we are truly grateful for God's very specific watch over she and our family! However, now that she is getting older, a few more things are going noticed that were not as noticeable before. Nothing confirmed yet, but please be in prayer for us as we head through this next phase of specialist appointments, MRI is in the works, and some x-rays. I'm actually very much at peace right now, and hope to continue to be. I will elaborate more as I have more "facts" as right now there are no "facts" to worry about! :) Just please be praying.

As for the adoption, nothing has "stopped" the process, however, with these new medical issues popping up, it is very key and important that these things are WELL DOCUMENTED BEFORE her adoption, so that she can receive the help she needs as she continues to grow. We are continuing to get the paperwork back that we are needing as part of the adoption process, and our adoption worker is contining to retrieve her information to see this process in the making.

Nothing else to report though at this point. Check back as I will be posting our appointments so that you can be praying more specifically!