Good Friends

I have two REALLY good friends at school. My sisters always thought we were the same age because of the way I talked about them. Last year we had a school picture taken of the 3 of us. Yep, somehow the picture people managed to squeeze all 3 of our big heads into one small school picture. That's how my sisters figured out that we aren't quite the same age. Michelle, is 10 years older then me and Amy is my fathers age. Despite the age difference we have a lot in common (I would like to note that they are WAY more immature then me). Throughout the adoption process they have helped us through so many of the difficult decisions and step along the way. Every mile stone that is passed we have celebrate together, below is a picture of the cookie they gave to me today (they are just so nice). I've been waiting to make it through court to eat chocolate and celebrate the day.

I think they may have gotten my hair color mixed up with Nicks:)

April 22, Our Lucky Day

We just might be the luckiest and happiest people alive! Today, on the day our first son turned 3 years old, we also legally became parents for a second time. We made it through court in Ethiopia today and Geremu is all ours! We couldn't be any happier. Next step, wait some more- but now there is an end in sight. We have to wait 1-3 weeks for a birth certificate, then we should get a travel date shortly after that.

Cullen had a wonderful birthday today, it was low key but fun. He brought cupcakes to the sitters today and shared those with his friends, I'm sure Cullen was LOVING all the attention. We came home and played outside before doing a small celebration with just the three of us.

Leaving the Hospital

1st Bithday 2nd Birthday3rd Birthday

3 Years Ago

Three years ago today I went to school just like any other day. I had to leave school in the afternoon for a doctors appointment, it was a Wednesday and I had another stress test to see how the baby was doing. I remember laying on the table while they were preforming the test. The nurses tried to wake the baby then have the baby move because they were not getting the results that they wanted. I didn't know going into the appointment that I wouldn't leave the hospital or have another meal until after the baby was born. It would be another 2 stressful days until Cullen was born.

Fast forward 3 years to a similar situation. Who would have ever thought on the same day 3 years later I would be completely stressed out again about another member joining the family? Two days until our court date, please pray for us!

Ahhh, Nesting

The past 6 weeks I really have not been sleeping well. I know it's because I'm a little stressed, anxious and nervous, etc... so today I decided that I would do something about it. I started to re-do a bedroom for Cullen and his new brother. Yep that's right, if I can't sleep I'm going to get one of my million things to do before our son comes home checked off. The room isn't totally done, I have a bit of shopping to do and a few things I need to build but once it is finished I will take a few pictures and post them.

Nemo

What a beautiful day! Just want to tell one quick story before heading off to bed for the night. I think I mentioned that Cullen got a new fish this weekend from Erica and Katherine. The name of the fish has changed multiple times but I'm going to refer to it as Nemo because that seems to be its name ever other time. So Cullen has been really good about watching the fish and talking to it everyday. Today he decided to start putting stuff into Nemo's bowl. He started with his Dora vitamin. By the time I noticed it was in the bowl it was soggy, falling apart and hard to fish out. Shortly after telling Cullen we don't put stuff in the bowl I could hear Cullen talking to his fish. He kept saying "pretty", when I look at the bowl I notice that it's not visible and he was not referring to his fish when he says "pretty" but the mess he had made with his Packer pom-pom. The handle of the pom-pom was in the bowl and the poms were flowing out of the bowl and covering the outside so the bowl wasn't visible. Needless to say the second time I wasn't as calm as the first. The last straw was when Cullen put the cap from the water bottle into the fish bowl tonight. The fish is now out of Cullen's reach.

Special Guest

The all-star weekend line-up continued with my Aunt Kathy coming Sunday evening, she is staying until tomorrow (Tuesday) around noon. She is attending a conferences at the University in town. Last night we met at a fabulous restaurant for dinner then came back to our house to celebrate Cullen's birthday. Kathy also brought along a cake for the party- yummy, I'm not one to turn down a cake! Cullen LOVES his birthday possibly as much as I LOVE birthdays!

Tonight after dinner was over Cullen wanted a piece of his birthday cake from last night. Nick cut him a piece of cake and gave it to him. Cullen then infomed us that he "needed" a candle. After Nick gave him a candle Cullen proceded to sing Happy Birthday to himself (I think he gets this from his father). We still have a week to go until his actual birthday- this is going to be a GREAT week!

Early Birthday Celebration

When we woke up Saturday morning and looked outside this was our view- what is the date again?

Wasn't it just in the 60's last weekend? Saturday was a GREAT day, we met friends for lunch at Red Robin to celebrate Cullen's birthday early. Katherine came (she grew up down the street from our family in La Crosse, you might be familiar with her parents Julie & Jim) and Erica (Katherine's former roommate, she now attends UW) and Erica's parents (we LOVE them, they drove down from Green Bay). Cullen loved the birthday song they sang him at Red Robin, he kept repeating the one line he could remember.

After Red Robin we came back to our house for cake (that they brought) and gifts!

Cullen is now the PROUD owner of a fish thanks to Erica and Katherine. Later in the afternoon the girls went shopping and the guys stayed home with the kids. Nick's cousins Katelyn and Connor joined the party in the afternoon and spent the night. After pizza for dinner we did a repeat of singing Happy Birthday upon Cullen's request and polished off what was left of the cake. Cullen was pretty tuckered out by bed time.