Christmas & Polar Express

We stayed in El Paso this year for Christmas since we were going home to St. Louis in January. It was sad not seeing family but so nice to just relax at home, especially since all of us except Stella had some sort of cold/sickness that week. We just hung out at home and Owen got to play with all his new toys.

Since we were staying in El Paso everyone sent their gifts. After we set all the presents out the night before I told Shaun this was ridiculous. We have such a generous family and it doesn't help that Owen and Stella are the only grandkids on all sides except for my mom's (I have 2 nephews so Stella is the only girl). I just hope the kids don't expect this every year.

This is how we found Stella Christmas morning.

Owen helping his sis open her first present.

One of the presents Owen asked from Santa was a jack-in-the-box. I asked him if he got everything he wanted:

Owen - "Yeah, well, not everything"

Me - "What didn't you get?"

Owen - "A computer and phone."

Me - "You have a computer and phone."

Owen - "No, one like daddy."

4 1/2 years old and he already wants a real laptop and a real cell phone. I told him not before he's 5.

She was more interested in eating the wrapping paper than the presents.

Gift from her aunty Rach and she has on the "Baby's First Christmas" hat that Owen wore for his first Christmas.

The week of Christmas we took a trip up to Durango, CO to take a ride on the Polar Express. We kept it a secret from Owen until we got there - not that Shaun didn't slip up quite a few times. He was so excited but I think we were just as excited.

Waiting for the train.

Here it comes.

Yummy hot chocolate. Owen didn't want his so I drank his too.

Stella's "hot chocolate"

Santa giving Owen the first gift of Christmas . . .

A bell

This was such a fun trip, I think we'll have to do it every year.

3rd Colorado Trip

So I have some major catching up to do. I'll post about Colorado first then I'll post soon about Christmas.

This will be short but sweet. Back to Colorado it was for Thanksgiving. Our last trip until April. The kids and I are soooo done with the long trips in the car but we definitely had a blast. Some friends of ours were up there too visiting their husband/dad like us so it was fun to hang out with them. Here are the highlights:

At the Butterfly Pavilion. Owen was so excited to hold the tarantula (I don't do spiders).

I can't believe how still he was when the butterfly landed on him and I can't believe I got the shot before it flew away. It hung out for a while on his shirt.

Just before leaving to go to a friends house for Thanksgiving.

Getting ready to do some snowshoeing. Stella in her little sled that was attached to Shaun. She ended up falling a sleep for a while. I think I would too if I was rocking back and forth and all bundled up.

Owen did great with the snowshoes. I was a little nervous but he had no problems. He just got tired after a while and got in the sled with Stella. She loved that.

Here's my little snow bunny on our way home to El Paso from Denver. And we had Shaun with us so it was really nice not to travel by myself with the kids.

2nd Colorado Trip & Elena's visit

This is way late since we've already been on our 3rd Colorado trip but I'll post about that later. Owen, Stella and I headed back to Denver at the end of October but before we did that Elena, Stella's birthmom, and Elena's mom, Mary Jo, came for a weekend visit. I'm so glad they got to come down and I was super excited for her to see Stella and see how much she's changed. Of course Owen thought they were there just to play with him.

We took the kids to a pumpkin patch on Saturday and went to church and out to dinner on Sunday.

I can't wait to see them again in January when we finalize the adoption and have Stella baptized. I'm so excited because Elena is making Stella's baptismal dress. Can't wait to see it.

We left for Denver the following Wednesday. Another 12 hr drive but it went pretty good. My mom and brother met us there too so we had a lot of fun. We went to the Aquarium and the Zoo.

Owen feeding the string rays.

Owen thought the flamingos were stinky.

We were there for Halloween too. Owen was a scary little vampire and Stella was a cute little kitten. When we went trick-or-treating I put on cat ears to match my little kitten. It was really cold but Owen lasted for quite a while. Stella just sat in her stroller all bundled up and watched all the kids running around.

The ride home to El Paso was not fun. I think we were all done with this long trip but we had one more to go.

1st (of many) Trip to Denver

The kids and I went to visit Shaun in Denver a week ago and had so much fun. It was so nice for the 4 of us to be together again. Oh, and I LOVE Denver. I might just move there while Shaun finishes his residency. Not really, but it's tempting. We did a lot of exploring and we can't wait to go back. Shaun will be there until the end of November so we have 2 more trips scheduled - over Halloween and Thanksgiving.

I drove with the 2 kids so I was a little nervous about that but it went pretty good. It took us a total of about 12 hrs with stops. We had 2 more stops than planned on the way there but on the way back we only stopped 3 times. Both kids did really well.

We went to Breckenridge and walked around to see all the shops and let Owen play for a little bit. It was a little windy and Stella wasn't too sure about that. It would take her breath away. Can you tell?

We also went to Estes park and the Rocky Mountains to see Bear Lake and drive up to the top. We saw some elk but they were pretty far away. They looked more like a moving spot than elk.

We also went to the Children's Museum. Owen got to use real tools with daddy. He was in heaven.

We also got to see some of our friends. It was so much fun and we can't wait to see them again. That's all for now and here's a pic of Stella at 3 months just because.

HOME Sweet HOME

So we've been home for a couple of weeks now and are still trying to get in a groove. My mom and sis came down with me to help on the flight with the 2 kiddos and they stayed for a about a week which was really nice. Shaun's dad just left from his visit so now it's time to get into a routine. We have our 1st post-placement visit next Tues. The people who did our home study will be doing the post-placement visits. It's just to make sure we're all adjusting okay. Stella's doing good, she's just having some spitting up issues. Fortunately, I never dealt with this with Owen so I'm trying to determine what's normal and what's excessive. She's sleeping great at night - usually 4 to 5 hr stretches sometimes longer so I'm only really getting up once a night (sometimes twice). She is definitely an eater. This is the view I have most of the day. She's so pretty.

It's been a little crazy here with Shaun working three 24 hr + shifts a week so we only really see him every other night except Saturday's he is off (whoohoo) so we'll get a whole day with the entire family. The past 2 Saturdays we've headed to the farmers market in Las Cruces, NM (a town about 30 min north of us). We got this cute little onsie that totally represents the southwest. Isn't it adorable? It doesn't fit her yet but I'm sure it will soon enough.

September, October, and November Shaun will be in Denver, Colorado for work. BOOOOO!!! Owen, Stella, and I will head up there the last week of September and stay 2 weeks. We can't go the whole time because Owen starts pre-k the beginning of Sept. and we have the 2 dogs - too expensive to kennel them the whole time. Shaun will come back in November for our 2nd post-placement visit and then we'll drive back to Colorado together so we can spend Thanksgiving together and then drive back home together at the end of the month.

Here's Owen playing doctor. Daddy has him trained well.

This use to be Owen's favorite toy. It says a little prayer that I still say to Owen at night.

Stella's first real bath at home. Big brother was there to help. She loves her baths. Owen freaked out at first but not Stella.

She had a dr. appt. Aug. 2 and she was up to 9 lbs. 4 oz. so she's a healthy baby girl. I can't wait to find out what she weighs at her 2 month check-up. Unfortunately, she had to get blood drawn because she had a little blood in her stool and her dr. wanted to make sure there was nothing major going on. There wasn't and no blood since. I had to hold her little arm down. It was torture for both of us but she recovered quickly.

We finally got her furniture and are still working on the decorating. I got this quilt off of etsy.com and just love the colors. I bought some paper lanterns to hang above her crib and changing table so I can't wait to get those and hang them.

I bought these pictures before we were even matched. I love the colors in them.

One of the few shots with her eyes open and looking at me. Don't you just love it.

Well, that's it for now. I'll keep posting when I can.

Baby Stella has arrived

Stella Grace is here. She was born 7/7 at 8:47p. She's 7 lbs 3 oz and 20 1/4 in long. Elena did really well even though the delivery was long and rough on her. Elena and her family have been great during this whole process and I can't express enough how much we love and are greatful for her. We are so excited. We just brought her home (well, St. Louis home) today and it's so surreal.

Owen was very curious about her little nubby

Daddy seeing her for the first time

Elena (the birthmom)