Legacy of an Adopted Child

"Once there were two women, who barely knew each other. One is in your heart forever, the other you'll call mother. Two different lives, shaped to make yours one. One became your guiding star, the other became your sun. The first gave you life, and the second taught you how to live it. The first gave you a need for love, and the second was there to give it. One gave you nationality, the other gave you a name. One gave you the seed of talent, the other gave you an aim. One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears. One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears. One gave you a family, it was what God intended for her to do. The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you. And now you ask me, through your tears, the age old question through the years. Heredity or environment....which are you a product of? Neither my darling...neither, just two different kinds of love". - Unknown

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A long, overdue NOVEMBER update

It's hard to believe that the month of November is almost over! It seems as if ever since we've been home with Logan time is going WAY to fast. He is literally growing up and changing every day - almost too fast! But, we are all doing great and enjoying each and every moment that we have together. Since going back to work, we have all gotten used to our new schedules. Logan is a real trooper about getting woken up at 6:15 in the morning to go next door to the babysitters, waking up every morning with a smile. This month, Logan met Aunt Lauren - her and Mom came down to babysit, while we went to a wedding. Logan had a BLAST with Mimi and Aunt Lolo and it was nice to have them here to help out. We also survived the Nor'easter that hit our area pretty hard. We didn't have any damage to our home, but had some pretty bad flooding in our neighborhood (the water came up to the top of the first step of our porch, completely covered the yard and the streets were impassable). But, we survived and enjoyed having a day off of work to spend together as a family. We also enjoyed a trip up to NOVA for a wonderful shower that Ginny Murphy hosted for us. It was so fun to bring Logan over to meet everyone and we were touched by everyone who came to celebrate with us. This weekend we took Logan to his first football game (Nicole's school won the regional game) and he loved it. There was so much for him to look at, lots of people for him to wave to and plenty to keep him entertained. We are looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving and taking Logan out to Luray for the first time. He is continuing to learn new things all of the time - he loves to wave "hi" and "bye", he says "dada", "dog", "mama" (not to Nicole, but when he's eating), he copies sounds and motions, still loves tires (or anything that he can spin with his finger), gives "high 5s", took a couple of steps by himself the other day (still not walking, though), gives us kisses at least once a day, loves kisses from Maggie and so much more!
We were talking this weekend about how special this Thanksgiving will be for our family this year - we have SO much to be thankful for, we don't even know where to begin. It's hard to believe that this time, 2 years ago, we were just starting the process. We were overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork we were being asked to complete. We had no idea what our journey was going to be like. We were touched and blessed by all of your kind words, encouragement, support and continued love. We never would have thought that 2 years later, we would be blessed with such a perfect child to help us start our family. We knew all along that God would lead us to the child that was meant to be with us - but having Logan is truly amazing and we pray every day that we are the parents that he needs. Those of you who are reading this and have children, know exactly what I am talking about. My adoptive family friends who I have met along the way, I know can relate to the variety of feelings and emotions that we are experiencing on our first holiday together. My adoptive family friends who are still waiting for your child, stay strong and know that your time is coming. I can't wait to read about your first holiday with your child and how much they will change your life. So, thank you all for always being there for us and we couldn't ask for better family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving! We love you.

Loving a visit from Aunt Lauren

Playing at the park with Mom

The beginning of the effects of the Nor'easter - this wasn't event he worst of it

Logan's first football game - GO WOODSIDE!!!

"Can you believe that play, Mom?"

Logan playing INSIDE the toybox

Hanging out with Uncle Ryan

Sunday, November 8, 2009

One month already?!?!


Well, it's been awhile since our last post, but we've been busy chasing around a now, 13 month old! That's right, today Logan is 13 months old and as of tomorrow we will have been home with him for 1 month - TIME IS FLYING!!!! Since our last post, we enjoyed the rest of October, hanging out together each day, visiting with Logan's grandparents and other family members and of course, celebrating Logan's first Halloween (which as you can see from the picture, he was lion and didn't quite understand the concept of giving the candy away to other people!!!). We have also successfully made it through our first week of Mom and Dad going back to work and Logan staying with our wonderful neighbors! He has done so good and it has been SO hard to leave him every day, wondering what new thing he is going to do or learn that we have to hear about instead of see for ourselves. But, he is in excellent hands and is so loved by our neighbors. The favorite part of my day is when I come and pick him up and he sees me through the door and this ENORMOUS smile comes across his face and he starts crawling toward the door. I LOVE THAT MOMENT!!! But, he's doing really well - he is definitely growing, he is getting more hair, he is teething again, he is going to start walking on his own very soon, we have noticed that his "thumbsucking" has stopped, he is sleeping better through the night, and he just keeps us busy - always on the go! Anyways, we hope you are all doing well. In case you didn't know, we have another website strictly for pictures of Logan and the website is http://adaywithlogan.shutterfly.com. We will still keep the blog for updates and some pictures, but have the other one as well.