Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving. Today there is so much that I am thankful for that I cannot list everything. Here is a short list of the things I am the most thankful for:

- both my boys - I love being a mom more than anything in the world
- Chris - he is the best father and husband I could ever have asked for
- my job - a lot of people have lost their jobs lately (even at my company) and I am grateful to still have a job that I really like
- my health
- GOD - nothing else would matter without Him

Musical Meme

Taking a break from posting about my beautiful boys to do this fun musical meme.

The Rules:
A.) Go to Musical Outfitters.
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year.
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you REALLY hate.

1. Faith, George Michael
2. Need You Tonight, INXS
3. Got My Mind Set On You, George Harrison
4. Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley
5. Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns N' Roses
6. So Emotional, Whitney Houston
7. Heaven Is A Place On Earth, Belinda Carlisle
8. Could've Been, Tiffany
9. Hands To Heaven, Breathe
10. Roll With It, Steve Winwood
11. One More Try, George Michael
12. Wishing Well, Terence Trent d'Arby
13. Anything For You, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
14. The Flame, Cheap Trick
15. Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car, Billy Ocean
16. Seasons Change, Expose
17. Is This Love, Whitesnake
18. Wild, Wild West, Escape Club
19. Pour Some Sugar On Me, Def Leppard
20. I'll Always Love You, Taylor Dayne
21. Man In The Mirror, Michael Jackson
22. Shake Your Love, Debbie Gibson
23. Simply Irresistible, Robert Palmer
24. Hold On To The Nights, Richard Marx
25. Hungry Eyes, Eric Carnen
26. Shattered Dreams, Johnny Hates Jazz
27. Father Figure, George Michael
28. Naught Girls (Need Love Too), Samantha Fox
29. A Groovy Kind Of Love, Phil Collins
30. Love Bites, Def Leppard
31. Endless Summer Nights, Richard Marx
32. Foolish Beat, Debbie Gibson
33. Where Do Broken Hearts Go, Whitney Houston
34. Angel, Aerosmith
35. Hazy Shade Of Winter, Bangles
36. The Way You Make Me Feel, Michael Jackson
37. Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin
38. Make Me Lose Control, Eric Carnen
39. Red Red Wine, UB40
40. She's Like The Wind, Patric Swayze
41. Bad Medicine, Bon Jovi
42. Kokomo, Beach Boys
43. I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That, Elton John
44. Together Forever, Rick Astley
45. Monkey, George Michael
46. Devil Inside, INXS
47. Should've Known Better, Richard Marx
48. I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love, Chicago
49. The Loco-Motion, Kylie Minogue
50. What Have I Done To Deserve This?, Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield
51. Make It Real, Jets
52. What's On Your Mind, Information Society
53. Tell It To My Heart, Taylor Dayne
54. Out Of The Blue, Debbie Gibson
55. Don't You Want Me, Jody Watley
56. Desire, U2
57. I Get Weak, Belinda Carlisle
58. Sign Your Name, Terence Trent d'Arby
59. I Want To Be Your Man, Roger
60. Girlfriend, Pebbles
61. Dirty Diana, Michael Jackson
62. 1-2-3, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
63. Mercedes Boy, Pebbles
64. Perfect World, Huey Lewis and the News
65. New Sensation, INXS
66. Catch Me (I'm Falling), Pretty Poison
67. If It Isn't Love, New Edition
68. Rocket 2 U, Jets
69. One Good Woman, Peter Cetera
70. Don't Be Cruel, Cheap Trick
71. Candle In The Wind, Elton John
72. Everything Your Heart Desires, Daryl Hall and John Oates
73. Say You Will , Foreigner
74. I Want Her, Keith Sweat
75. Pink Cadillac, Natalie Cole
76. Fast Car, Tracy Chapman
77. Electric Blue, Icehouse
78. The Valley Road, Bruce Hornsby and The Range
79. Don't Be Cruel, Bobby Brown
80. Always On My Mind, Pet Shop Boys
81. Piano In The Dark, Brenda Russell Featuring Joe Esposito
82. When It's Love, Van Halen
83. Don't Shed A Tear, Paul Carrack
84. We'll Be Together, Sting
85. I Hate Myself For Loving You, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
86. I Don't Want To Live Without You, Foreigner
87. Nite And Day, Al B. Sure
88. Don't You Know What The Night Can Do, Steve Winwood
89. One Moment In Time, Whitney Houston
90. Can't Stay Away From You, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
91. Kissing A Fool, George Michael
92. Cherry Bomb, John Cougar Mellancamp
93. I Still Believe, Brenda K. Starr
94. I Found Someone, Cher
95. Never Tear Us Apart, INXS
96. Valerie, Steve Windwood
97. Just Like Paradise, David Lee Roth
98. Nothin' But A Good Time, Poison
99. Wait, White Lion
100. Prove Your Love, Taylor Dayne

3 Month Update and Lots of Pictures

Sorry I havn't posted for so long but I am back to work now and things are really busy. Chris is staying home with Samuel for now and it is working out well. I spoke too soon in my last post about Samuel sleeping for 7 hours straight. We can usually get one 5 - 6 hour stretch but that is about it. I know he'll start sleeping better soon so for now I am just enjoying my time with him at night since he is so cute and full of smiles all of the time. He is also not a great napper. He likes to take several short cat naps but does not really take a long nap or two during the day. It makes Chris' days more difficult but I know Samuel will get better with that too.

Samuel turned 3 months old yesterday. I cannot believe he has been with us that long. Time is going so fast. Just three more months and we'll be able to finalize his adoption. We are in the process of pulling together a set of pictures and writing a letter to send to R. She asked for a letter and pictures at 3 months and again at 6 months. I am have a hard time with the letter because I am sure that she is still struggling with everything that she went through and I do not want to open any wounds. I hope she enjoys seeing his pictures though.

We took Davis and Samuel to Portrait Innovations on Sunday for formal portraits (3 month pictures for Samuel and 5 year (a little late) pictures for Davis). We also did some holiday photos. Here are some of the better pictures (Samuel was way more interested in eating his hands than smiling but we got a few cute ones).

Halloween 2008

Things are going really well. Samuel has started to sleep about 7 hours straight at night (too bad it starts at 8 pm but it is definitely an improvement). I start back to work tomorrow. I know I will miss both my boys like crazy but it will be good to be back.

A few pictures from Halloween:

Sir Davis:





Clone Trooper Davis (he wore one costume to his school party and one to trick or treat):





Samuel the Ghost (this is what he thought of the whole Halloween thing):

Weekend Update - State Fair and Pumpkin Patch

We had a really busy weekend last weekend. Davis was off of school on Friday so we went to the State Fair of Texas. It was fun but not something we'll do every year. Chris' parents flew in that night for a quick visit. It was the first time they met Samuel and I don't think he was put down the whole weekend. We went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday. Here are some pictures from the State Fair and the pumpkin patch that I thought I would share.

Samuel on the pumpkins:



Davis and Samuel at the Pumpkin Patch:



Samuel at the Fair (this is what he thought about it all):



In Front of Big Tex:



Davis and Chris on the Texas Star Ferris Wheel:

Two Months

I can't believe that Samuel is already two months old. Where has the time gone? I go back to work in just over a week. I am going to miss him like crazy but know that Chris will do a great job with him during the day. He is still not a great sleeper. He may go 4 hours at night but not more. After talking to the doctor today, I am going to try just giving him his pacifier the next few nights to see if we can drop the middle of the night bottle (he is only taking 2 oz and the doctor thinks he might not even be hungry but just used to waking and eating). I would really like to get him to 6 hours soon so I am not a walking zombie at the office. His stats at two months are:

Weight: 13.6 oz. (close to 90th percentile)
Height: 23.5 inches (75th percentile - this went down but doctor was not concerned since it is really hard at this age to get a good measurement)
Head circumference: 15.5 (25th percentile)

He got two shots and the rotovirus vaccination orally. He did great with his shots. He is sleeping peacefully now.

We have our fist post-placement visit tomorrow. I am not sure what to expect but I am sure it will be fine. I just need to clean the house a bit so we have a decent place to sit and talk with the social worker.

A picture from today (exactly 2 months old). Checkout the adorable smile:

Small Milestone

We had a minor milestone last night. Samuel spent his first night in his crib. It went really well. He did not seem to mind at all and I think that both he and I slept better and I know Chris slept better (he didn't hear him on the monitor at all). He has stretched one of his night feedings from 3.5 hours to about 4 - 4.5 hours but he only goes about 3 hours after that. I am hoping that he stretches that to 5 - 5.5 hours by the time I go back to work. I only have 4 more weeks off and I intend to enjoy every moment (even those when he is up in the middle of the night after just 3 hours). He is doing really well and Davis is loving every minute of having a little brother.

I plan to follow up with our agency this week to find out how the termination of paternal rights is going. I am going to assume that no news is good news on that front but I'd like an update none the less.