Birthday Fun!

Happy Friday! I know I've been remiss in posting here lately, but we've had quite the past 2 months! Between Christmas and having all 3 of our birthdays in the same month, we've been going from one birthday party to the next! :) Not that we're complaining...

Anywho, I thought I'd share a few pictures of Lydia's FIRST birthday party (how unbelievable is THAT?!?!) and what we did (so that Auntie Lin can see!!), but Lydia insisted on sharing about her birthday herself. ;) Here's her party in her own words (slightly modified by me, of course )


Hi guys! I had so much fun at my birthday party, my Mommy went to a lot of work to make it special! Earlier in the day we went and got a special birthday balloon. I picked it out myself!! Here's Grandpa being silly with it:

Before my party, I got to talk to my Mama Heather on the phone! She told me Happy Birthday and that she loved me, then she talked to Mommy for a little bit. I was so glad she called!

My Mom made sure we had lots of pretty bird decorations, since I'm her little Tweeter  :) The big pink bird was a gift from my Auntie Lin for Christmas! It normally decorates my room, but it was perfect for my party!! My Daddy made the cool windmills as favors for my cousins and my Grandma Lisa bought me the little bird one time when she was visiting!

My mommy decided to make cake pops instead of a regular cake for dessert. I was sleeping when she made them, but I overheard her say that she'd never make them again! :) I thought they were yummy and pretty!



My Grandma Lisa & Grandpa Tony arrived about a half hour before my party began! I gave them lots of hugs and kisses!! Here I am posing with Grandpa...

I had a special birthday banner! It said "lydia is 1!" My mommy made it for me, and I really liked it!! Here I am showing it to you with Grandma Lisa.

Then guests started to arrive!! First was Auntie Fisha, Uncle Mike and my 3 cousins: Jack-Jack, Tanner and Sawyer!





"Hmm...am I almost the same height as you, Jack-Jack??" :)

 

I love my cousins!!



Meanwhile, my Mommy decided to try to look as cute as I do while sucking my thumb. I don't think she beat me, though, do you??

Then Gramma and Boppa arrived! (For some reason, my Mom didn't get any pictures of them...silly Mommy!!) After everyone sat down, we ate my favorite meal: Grilled Cheese, Mandarin Oranges, and Green Beans! It was soo yummy! Then it was time to open presents! First we took a family picture...

 And then I got to open some birthday cards! I read them very carefully...

Then it was present time! And guess what my Gramma gave me?? a CELL PHONE!!! I carry it with me all over the house and didn't want to share it with ANYONE at first! But now I try to share...

Then I got Kanga & Roo from my Grandma Lisa!! I gave it lots of kisses.

But guess what?? My Auntie Fisha and Uncle Mike also gave me a Kangaroo! I guess I love kangaroos!! :) Here I am hugging both of them...

There were lots more presents, but I can't remember them all right now...next thing I knew, they turned off the lights and were all SINGING to me!! I wasn't sure what to think...

And THEN I got my very own cupcake!! I couldn't believe it! I wasn't sure if I was supposed to eat it, so I just touched it at first...

Then I had a little nibble of frosting...hmm....yummy!

And then my Mommy stuck my whole hand in the cupcake!! I laughed so hard!!

I got chocolate ice cream too, and boy was it yummy!! I think I was maybe on a little bit of a sugar high here...

 And that was it! After I got cleaned up, I got to play with my toys for a little bit, but I was so exhausted! It was so much fun! I hope you liked the pictures!!

So there you have it! Lydia's version of her party. We had a blast and still can't believe that our BABY is now in the toddler stage! Unbelievable!! :)

The Meeting

November is National Adoption Month. Obviously, this is something I hope to promote, as adoption is near and dear to my heart.


And, ironically, it "just so happens" to fall during the same month that we will be visiting Lydia's birthmother, affectionately known in our home as "Mama Heather".

This will be the first time we've seen her since the day she was discharged in the hospital and she left Lydia in our arms. Granted, we have talked on the phone several times since then, and we've sent a good amount of pictures and even a photo book to her residence in the past few months, but it's not the same as meeting face to face. The last time she saw Lydia was when she was either 1 or 2 weeks old...I can't remember which, since it was with Lydia's Bridge Care mother and we weren't present.

Am I nervous? Heck, yes! And honestly, I'm having a lot of mixed feelings about the whole thing. Part of me hopes and prays that Lydia won't cry when Heather holds her (as she's begun to show a little bit more of that "stranger anxiety" lately), and yet a part of me almost wants her to cry...so I feel reassured of my role as her Mother. It's a mix of emotions, and though I feel calm about the meeting, I do find my overactive imagination running away on me sometimes.

As of now, the plan is to meet Heather at a McDonalds near her place of residence at 12:30 on Satrday, and chat and hang out for a while. If it's nice out, maybe we'll visit a park, but otherwise we'll just be visiting together....and hopefully Lydia will be in good spirits. :)

Dear friends, would you please pray? Pray for peace for my anxious mother's heart, and peace for Heather's as well. Pray that Lydia will be in a good mood!! :) Pray that conversation would flow smoothly, and that seeing Lydia in our family would bring healing to Heather's heart, and a joy for her future. Pray that we'd have an opportunity to share the Gospel. These are just a few of the things on my heart.

As always, we are indebted to you all for lifting us up to the throne of grace!! I will definitely post about how the meeting goes! :) Thanks!!

Finalization!!!!!

I had this post all typed up last week, but then my computer ate it. Kind of like your dog eats your homework...except this is for real!! :) So...here's the info on how our adoption finalization day went!!

Finalization was Friday, Sept. 30th at 10 am. My parents and sister, made a trip up to join us for the momentous occasion, and Joe's parents, sister and her 3 boys accompanied us as well!! First we got ourselves spiffed up, and then took a photo of the girls...



Then we all made our way to our local county courthouse, where our social worker, Laura, and the Honorable Judge James Duvall awaited us. Aside from the fact that Liddy pooped on our way to the courthouse, and we had to do a quick diaper change on the floor of the bathroom, we arrived with 10 minutes to spare (thankfully)!

Laura walked us into the courtroom, and told us to sit up at the defendant's table. She and the rest of our family sat out in the courtroom watching area. As we waited, Liddy enjoyed the echoing sound of her hands slapping the table, which I quickly shushed once Judge Duvall entered.

Waitin' for the Judge...

He greeted us and stated the formalities of our court precedings, and then asked which one of us was going to be taking the stand to testify. He told us we could arm-wrestle for it...hehe...but we had already decided that Joe would be the one. So Joe, lookin' all handsome and spiffy, took the stand, and Judge Duvall proceeded to ask him a few questions. Things like how long we'd been married, if we owned our house, how long Lydia had been living with us, where we both work, and if he understood that we will be taking responsibility for Lydia as her parents for the rest of her life. Then Judge Duvall asked me if I agreed with all his answers, and I nodded.

There were a few more moments of the judge reviewing our request (things like whether the termination of parental rights had been finished and about her name change), and confirming things with Laura. Then he looked at us both and said, "There are a lot of bad things that happen in this courtroom. This is one of the few happy occasions." and then he went on to say, "I would like to be the first to welcome Lydia Joy Kathleen Roemer....I think that calls for a round of applause!" I gulped back tears, grinned and joined in the applause. And I'm pretty sure that the grandma's and auntie were crying too... :)

Once everything was finished, we asked if we could take some pictures with Judge Duvall, as well as with Laura. And they were happy to oblige! :)



Us with Judge Duvall. Liddy looks very underwhelmed... :)

 

Us with Laura!!



Lots of smiles...and check out Liddy's sneakers! :)



After finalizing (yay!) we went down the hall to order her birth certificate, which went smoothly (except for the moment of panic when I realized I didn't have any checks in my checkbook! Eek!! Thankfully, I found a starter check in the back of my checkbook...though I just found out that they will not accept it, so I have to send another. But still. Minor problem. ). And then we all went to one of our favorite places, Buena Vista Park! It has a gorgeous view of the Mississippi, and we'd never showed it to my family before, so we thought it would be a beautiful spot for a few family pics.

We attempted to get these 2 five-months-apart-cousins to look happy,
but they would have none of it.



The Roemers...family of three!! :) :) :)



Haha...I know Joe looks silly, but I couldn't resist showing how much Liddy
loved her high tops!! :)

Squishy kisses!!!!!!



Weber-Roemer family



Roemer family!!

And that sums up our Finalization day!! Woohoo!! Hopefully posts will be coming more frequently in the future! :)

Seven and Eight

Yes, yes, I know that Lydia turned 8 months (how is that even POSSIBLE?!?!?) this weekend, and I STILL haven't posted any of her recent milestones!

Well. Here it goes! :)

In the past month and a half, Liddy has really increased the different types of foods she's tried, as well as her ability to be active! The girl is CRAWLING now. Unbelievable!! A whole new world has opened up to her....and she's LOVING it! Unfortunately, this also means that she has to learn what the word "no" means. We're working on it.... ;)



This is the closest thing to her crawling that I've captured on film! :)

I didn't think that Liddy had lost any of her chubbiness in her cheeks until I was looking back at pictures from when she was 4 and 5 months old recently. And she definitely has! I think with all her crawling and endless energy, she's burning off the chubbiness! So sad.... :(

Lydia sort of understands playing peek-a-boo now, and loves to pull the blanket off of her head when you toss it on top of her. She also has mastered kneeling in her crib, and the first thing I see in the morning these days is her little downy head peeking up at me over the crib rail! Ha! :)

Also, she sucks her thumb ALL the time now. I'm hoping she outgrows it eventually so we don't have to teach her that you can't suck your thumb for your whole life! But for now, it's fine. And I must say, she looks ADORABLE with that little thumb in her mouth! :)


See what I mean??

A few days ago, Liddy even pulled herself up to a STANDING position using our small chest where we store our remotes and the coffee table. I was absolutely stunned. I thought it was a fluke, until I saw her do it several more times today!! YIKES!

As well, she had her 6 month pictures taken (though now it's practically time to schedule her 9 month pictures!!) by my wonderful SIL Melissa Laska at MEL Photography. I'll share a few of my favorites from that session, as well as a few other random smiling ones. Enjoy!! :)

 

Smirk!



My lil' Sweet Pea



In awe :)



Officially Official!

I am pleased to announce that.......*drum roll please*........on September 30th, we have Lydia's adoption finalization in court!! YAY!!

What this means, essentially, is that her name will officially be changed to Lydia Joy Kathleen Roemer, we will receive a birth certificate with her adopted name on it, and everything will officially be official!!! We are THRILLED to pieces! :) This is our last step in our adoption journey with Lydia, and we look forward to not having to fill out any more forms or have any more social worker visits (though we love Laura!! :) ) or have her referred to by her birth name at the clinic!! Hallelujah!!

Guess it's time to send off our last (FINALLY! Uffda!) adoption payment today! Yippee!!

Half a Year

This Sunday, my baby turns 6 months old!! How can this be possible? I feel like it was just yesterday that we saw her downy little head peeking out from the hospital blanket as she was placed in our arms. How time flies...



The first time we saw our little girl

I remember when...

....Liddy's whole body would scrunch up when you'd pick her up from her papasan chair...

Here's her scrunched up newborn look! This was the day after we brought her home.

....She still fit into her moses basket...

....We still had the head guard attached to her car seat...

I can't believe how bald she looks here! :)

....Lydia would fall asleep on my shoulder before I even realized she was tired...

....Her vocabulary consisted of soft coo's and hunger cries (she's definitely figured out how to be loud now!)...

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It's crazy the ways that Lydia is growing and changing! Here are some of the things she's up to these days:

• Lydia can roll over! Mainly from her back to her tummy, though we have caught her going from front to back a handful of times. (Unfortunately, this new-found skill means that she wakes herself up often from naps or in the middle of the night from rolling in her sleep! :P)
• We started cereal for the first time on July 4th and haven't looked back since. She now eats it for breakfast and lunch and does a pretty good job of keeping it all in her mouth! :)



First time eating cereal!!



Liddy likes to play with toys in her high chair!

• Lydia loves her Baby Einstein activity center (she can jump in it and play with toys!) as well as her Jenny jump up. She loves to stand and watch Quincy walk around!



Such a happy girl!

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• Standing tall!

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• Speaking of Quincy, I don't think he's ever had such a #1 fan! He is a constant source of entertainment for our Ditty, and she loves to grab his fur and tries to put his nose in her mouth if he's close enough! (Gross!)
• Her hair is really starting to thicken up. I'm sure it won't be long before she's got long raven locks! :)
• Our "quiet" little girl has definitely found her voice! She loves to blow raspberries (constantly!!) and on certain days loves to squeal and "growl" just to hear her own voice. :) She's also developed what Joe and I refer to as her complaining, where she does a low-pitched vowel sound with furrowed eyebrows....makes us laugh every time!!

Peeking out from the cute sun hat her Gamma gave her!

 

We're amazed daily at the gift of joy we have in Liddy, and we love watching her learn and grow!!

 

Our precious gift!

4 Months!

Today my baby turns 4 months old. Is it possible that she's really this old already? One third of the way to being a year old?!?! That's just pure craziness!! Lydia will now have been home with us for as long as she was away from us in Bridge Care! It's kind of an exciting thought for me :)

Anywho....lately Liddy has been wanting to be in a sitting position more often, and she's really starting to be able to hold herself up in her Bumbo chair and reach for toys dangling in front of her! She loves to have her feet massaged with Baby Magic lotion, and is really beginning to follow us throughout the room with her eyes! She definitely seems to notice when we come and go and responds to our voices when we're in groups of people.

I just love her so much. :)

Here are some of her 3 month pictures as promised...though they're now a month old...but better late than never, right? Enjoy!!

(All pictures courtesy of MEL photography)



Doesn't her smile just melt your heart?? :)



"I am SUCH a diva..." :)



Pooped.



This is exhausting...but I guess I'll *try* to smile...

The orange blanket is a special prayer blanket made from my good friend Kelli!

...Beautiful...

Exhausted!

Thank you so much, Melissa for taking all the gorgeous pics! You rock!! :)