Lincoln - 11 Months Old!!

Did I not just write a 10 month old blog post for him? So tell me, where did this last month go?? And looking at my calendar for December, it's not likely to slow down, which will be even harder because then my baby will be one. Let's not go there yet. My heart can't handle it.

So what has this monkey been up to lately? He is definitely proving to be a unique child. I say this positively! Let me share a few examples.

Most babies have an attachment to a blankie, or teddy, or stuffie. Nope, not this boy. You know what he is attached to? Two ends that are from those foam floor mats. Those two ends go everywhere with him. He crawls with them; he climbs with them; he kisses with them; he opens up my cupboards with them; it's getting to a point that to get a picture of him without them in his hands is difficult. Oh, and if you dare to take them away?? Look out!!!! The pictures will show you what I mean by this obsession:

This would have been a sweet picture....if those thingees weren't in the way!

Feel sorry for him, don't you! Can you guess what we took away?!

and don't take them away from me again!!!

In the last two weeks, we've also had to childproof our cupboards. This is where Lincoln is very different from his sister. We only had to childproof the cupboard under the sink for her. There was no need for the others to be childproofed because she never went in them!! Well, for Lincoln, every single door is now locked. And he actually is having more fun with them now because he can slam them open and shut, open and shut!! They only open up about 2.5 inches, which means he has lots of fun banging them back. Such a boy!!

(note what's in his hand??!)

One other thing that I find makes Lincoln interesting and unique, is his love for books already. With Keziah, I made a point to sit down with her every day to read to her. It often resulted in a frustrating experience because she would sit on my lap for all of 3.7 seconds, enough to read 2 words, and then she wanted off. Something must have clicked though, because in the last year, Keziah will now sit and look at books for half an hour, on her own! She LOVES books!! And this love must have been passed on to her brother through osmosis, because although I have rarely sat down to read to Lincoln, he also loves them!

I have learned not to holler through the house "what are you two up to?" when it's quiet, because this is often how I'll find them. Sorry for the not so good picture...I didn't want them to notice I was taking a picture of them! That'll be the end to the quiet!!

When I do read with him, he can sit through 4 or 5 books without squirming an inch.

Here he is making all kinds of sounds as he is turning the pages!! Too precious!

And so we look forward to another month before he is one, DV. By the way, do any of you have a birthday (or a child's birthday) in December right around Christmas? Lincoln's is the 30th of December, and I am trying to think of ways to keep his birthday separate from all the other festivities. I know he won't know the difference yet, but one day he will. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

(my 'adoption Q & A' post is being worked on. I was going to drop it, not thinking there was an interest, but then I did receive a few emails with a number of questions. I hope to address those in the next few days. So it's not too late to ask your question yet if you have one :o)

November is....

Before I write a post about adoption, I would like to invite you to ask any question about it. Your question may very well be someone else's question, so let's together uncover the idea of adoption. You may be wondering about the process, openness, how we decided to adopt, what took so long for us to come to this decision, the laws, private vs. children's aid, fostering/adopting, emotions involved, how does it all work etc. etc.

You can leave your question in the comment box signed annonymous if that makes it easier to ask the question, or you can email me with your questions. You will find my email address at the top of the page under the tab "Contact Me". I will leave this for a few days and then come back to it with a blog post about adoption (if there are any questions/comments/interest), where I will do my best to answer the questions that are asked. I am no expert and every adoption story is different, but that shouldn't keep us from helping others to become more aware of adoption or to help others in the understanding of what adoption is about. So ask away! :o)

Thanksgiving....

I know. I don't live in the United States, and so today is not Thanksgiving Day - not the official holiday kind anyway.

But here in our home, it is a thanksgiving day. Not only because I think every day should be a thanksgiving day, but because this day is filled with a bit more thanksgiving than yesterday. You know why? Because it was this date a year ago that we received the blessed news that we were chosen. Chosen for a baby, that is.

It all started with going back on The List in April of 2011. We again filled out the paperwork necessary, got the police checks and fingerprints done, all to prove we were fit to be parents. I am sure once our kids hit the lovely teen years, they will really wonder how we passed The Test of being fit to be parents, but that's a long ways off from now :o)

We did put ourselves on three lists this time. With Keziah, we just went on the list at Beginnings. This time we went on Beginnings, Jewels for Jesus and a list in Waterloo/Kitchener. We had heard that to receive a second child through adoption might be more challenging as many birthparents like their baby to be the first/oldest child in the family. You may wonder why, but it kind of makes sense, I guess. Think of how much attention that first child receives!! So we felt that by putting our names on a few lists, the "chances" might be higher for the opportunity to adopt another child.

We also knew that we most likely would not be chosen as quickly as we were with Keziah. You can't get much quicker than being on the list for only 5 weeks!!! And so we waited. And waited. Being made to wait for something is so refining! You can only put your trust in God, because as soon as you don't, you can easily get down, frustrated, disappointed, impatient, angry, bitter, you name it. I know because those are some of the feelings that I struggled with as we waited to see what God's plan was for our little family.

And yet, after only 7 months of waiting, with lots of possible opportunities to adopt a baby or toddler (that year we were presented with at least 15 situations, 2 of which we went after), with two disappointing and discouraging "no's", one in July and one in September, we received an email on November 19 of another possibility to adopt a baby that was due December 27th. We were interested in this one (and no, we did not know if it was a boy or a girl. People ask that. I wonder why....) and allowed our profile to be presented to the birthparents. We knew they were looking at the profiles on Tuesday, November 22nd, and so we hung on tight in prayer. It could very well be another "no", like the last two we were presented for. I remember praying not for a "yes" but more for the strength and encouragment to be able to take another "no". The last two times I did not take God's answer of "no" very gracefully. Actually, to think of it. I still don't take His answers in humbleness when it doesn't match up to what I want. Yup, still refining.

We tried to keep busy that day, trying hard not to check our email a 1000 times. You see, if it was a 'no', we would be notified through email. If it was a 'yes', we would get a call.

I had a meeting that night and left without receiving an email or a call. Don't ask me what that meeting was about though. Good thing I did have the job of Secretary for that committee, as it helped me to somewhat focus on the task at hand. Once the meeting was over, I left and called Nathan. He still had not heard anything. And so we thought and remembered that making this decision was a very difficult one for the birthparents, and so it could take a few days.

I came home around 10:30 and Nathan greeted me at the door. Well, wouldn't you know it, after I hung up the phone with him, he got a call. The Call. That's right!!! It was so neat that he got it, because I got Keziah's. So each of us had a turn to share the news with each other!!!

While we were chosen for Keziah after 5 weeks of waiting and then waited 4 months for her to be born, here we waited 7 months and then had to get everything ready in 6 weeks! Good thing we had a big helper to help us get things ready :o)

Sure enough, just over 6 weeks later, we welcomed into our lives, Lincoln Denver Edward Helder. We can't thank God enough. All 3 of us can't get enough of him and love him to bits.

Having a boy sure brings a whole new perspective to life!

But I can't just end here. While we go through our many "anniversaries" of thanksgiving, we can't help but think of those whose prayer requests have not been granted. Their prayers may have been answered, but not with the answers they had hoped for. May we all be a hand and foot to one another by not only sharing in each other's joys but also share in the hardships. And if you are going through a hardship, whether it's related to the topic of adoption or not, whatever that hardship may be, cling to our Sovereign God, the One who knows so much more than what our feeble human minds can ever know or understand. And never forget these words of our heavenly Father, written in Colossians 3: 1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

No, not easy to do. Good thing we have the gift of His Holy Spirit. Then these words can bring much comfort and focus/purpose/perspective. May God continue to surround us all with these words and His love. And may we all have a beautiful thanksgiving day everyday.

Lately....

Although it's been fairly quiet in the Helderhood, that doesn't mean the camera wasn't busy! Here are some pictures of what the camera has caught the last few weeks....

My two monkeys. I love Keziah's beautiful smile in the first picture, and I love Lincoln's cheeky grin in the second. Now to combine the two would be great!!

Doesn't he look so lonely in his crib all by himself? He throws everything out of his crib every single time he is in bed.

Looks like he is pretty proud of himself in figuring out this new trick of dumping everything out!

We've erased all toys off their lists for this year and put instead: Tupperware.

Nathan took last week off. Somewhat. It sure is hard to stay out of the office when it's on the same property as your house!! But he tried. On Monday and Tuesday we snuck out, just the two of us, to Erie, Pennsylvannia. We like to shop there (last time was 5 years ago) due to NO TAXES. I know, you pay for the gas to get there, but it is so fun to buy something at $19.99 and the cashier says, "That'll be $19.99, please." When you have to pay 13% on pretty much everything here, shopping there was thrilling!!!!

Keziah and Lincoln stayed with Uncle Jay and Aunt Jenn. We didn't drop them off until after 3 in the afternoon, but here is Keziah, all ready and packed to go to Kathryn's house by 8:30 that morning. Do you think she was a little excited??! :o)

This is what happens to Lincoln when he becomes a little too vocal at the table. But don't feel too sorry for him.....see the next picture...

"You still think I'm cute, don't you, Mom?"

We've also enjoyed having some friends over to play with. Here is Lincoln's friend, who is 6 months older. These two are learning to play together.

And here is Keziah's friend. Doesn't it look like they are having fun? Keziah was so thrilled to have Eden over. We don't get to see too much of her friends as a lot of them are now in kindergarten.

And lastly, we spent some time visiting with two very special people. My oma and Nathan's oma. We can never spend enough time with these two matriarchs!! Both of them are in their 80s, just a few years separating them. We thank God for them and pray that He will continue to bless them with health as we enter the cold season (this prayer is also for my other Oma who lives in BC. Distance sucks sometimes....wish we could visit her more often).

Tree House!!

The other day I was in the familyroom reading my book folding laundry, when I hear:

"Mom! Don't come yet! My treehouse is not finished!!"

Oh. Okay. Needless to say my curiosity was piqued as I was pretty sure the last time I checked, there wasn't a tree growing in our house. I kept on reading, er, folding, until my curiosity got the better of me. And so I checked. And this is what I found:

This first picture is of our front hall. Our front door is never used and so I had made this into their little toyroom. Believe it or not, it is looking a little empty of toys and blue/green floor mats. Where could they be??:

Here she is, slaving away, moving all her toys and buckets into her treehouse:

And here you have it: her "treehouse"

What's the matter? Can't see the tree?? C'mon people!! Work on that imagination!!! :o) She saw the long hallway as her treehouse and they actually played "in" it for quite some time. Hey, whatever works, right??! They had a blast so that's what counts.

Her mean ol' mother did make her clean it up again at the end of the day to transform it back into our hallway:

The next day she wanted to build it again. I said no. I know...cruel, eh? Trampling all over a 3 year old's world of imagination. But I did build her a fort using the table. She quite liked that.

Peek a boo!!

Dress Up

Despite what I think about Halloween (which you can read here) we still love to dress up and have fun!! So the day after Halloween, we went to Value Village to scoop up some sweet costumes at 50% off. And now our dress-up box is a little fuller. This is what we found:

A unicorn:

An adorable zebra:

and a cow:

We didn't buy any costumes for Lincoln. But that's okay. You don't need much to look like a clown anyway!!