Christmas Giving and Glory in the Sky

It is always a joy to get ready for Christmas by putting up the Christmas tree and decorations. I just love Christmas and love to change the house into the wonderful decorations and bake cookies and other goodies for the holidays.

There are certain traditions that I want to implement into our family to make it a part of every Christmas season and one of them is to get our family including our children involved with giving to others in need. Robert and I do this year round, however, to show the love of Christ around Christmas time especially is more meaningful.

This Christmas season it was time to go through Andrew's abundance of toys and separate the ones he wants to keep and the ones he wants to give away to a little boy who doesn't have any toys. So to my surprise Andrew got into it more than I thought he would. We went through each toy and I had him put the toys he wanted to give away on his bed and the ones he wanted to keep away in his closet. To my surprise he filled his bed with toys so much so that we filled 3 trash bags full of toys. I kept making sure that he understood that the toys he puts on his bed were the toys he wanted to give away.

King Andrew - Too Cute

This year Mommy made Andrew a King's costume to dress up for Hallelujah Night at our church. He's been playing with this crown we found in one of the storage units that we purchased for the past couple of weeks, therefore, it just seemed to make sense for him to have a King's costume.

It was too cute when I asked Andrew the night before the party to let me measure him so I could size him up to create the costume to fit him. The next morning when I tried it on him he overwhelmed me with this gigantic hug and said "Thank you Mommy....You're the Best Mommy Ever" He was so excited and wanted to wear it to school. I still needed to put my finishing touches on it therefore he had to wait until that evening.



Andrew was so thrilled to be dressed as a King and let me just tell you he was sooo precious in his costume. Here are some pictures of the evening.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

This year for my birthday Robert asked me if I wanted to do anything special for my birthday. So I thought about it and thought it would be nice for all of us to go to the local farm and take a hayride to the pumpkin patch and go pick pumpkins with Andrew, Robert, my Mom and my sister Marli.



It was hilarious to see Andrew go running through the pumpkin patch trying to decide which pumpkin to pick. He's just like me in that aspect....I got to see all of my options before I select. Well finally Robert said, "Come on and just pick one". Andrew then went over to this fairly large pumpkin and tried to pick it up. The pumpkin was about half of Andrew's size. I snapped a picture just as Andrew bent down to try to pick it up. Too Funny.



After picking pumpkins Andrew got to ride a pony and then see all of the animals on their farm. It was a fun day out in the pumpkin patch and we all went back to our house for some dinner and some cake. YUMMY!

Starting to sell on Ebay for Adoption

Yard Sale season is coming to a close for the year and I knew I had to learn how to sell on Ebay to keep the cash coming in for the adoption in the winter months. I kept putting it off and putting it off because I was afraid of the unknown. Well, Finally I met with the Post Master of our local Post Office and inendated him with question after question regarding how to figure out the shipping cost (since the shipping cost has to be listing in the listing of the item before it's sold). He was nice enough to walk me through utilizing the Shipping Calculator that is listed on their website http://www.usps.com/ as well as ebay's website under the Sell tab.

I stayed up multiple nights until the weeee hours of the morning after Andrew went to bed so I could concentrate on learning how to list and sell, pack and ship our items. We listed a few barbie dolls that were still in their original boxes and to our surprise we made about $100.00 on a couple of barbie dolls for the first week of sales. Not bad. After I sold them I was remarkable surprised at how easy Ebay makes it for you to send an invoice, connect with Paypal and print off shipping labels. I didn't know what I was fretting about because it is easier than I thought.

Since we've been going to auctions and purchasing large lots of items we are well stocked up for the winter to sell on Ebay. Christmas is right around the corner so it will be intersting to see what kind of activity we'll have selling on Ebay.

If anyone would like to check out what we are selling on Ebay and possible get in on the bidding on any of our items here is the link to what we are selling http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/getitnow1013 Happy Bidding!!

Our Home Study is Completed

We are so excited to see the next step in our upcoming adoption come to pass. Our home study is completed and we have just sent it along with the application and fee to the Department of Homeland Security USCIS in the state of New Jersey to receive our approval to allow us to bring back into the United States our recently adopted child. This approval also gives our child immediate citizenship once we reach the USA upon our return.

We hope to receive this approval quickly since that is the last thing we are waiting for before we send our dossier to Ukraine for their approval and invitation to come to Ukraine to complete our adoption.

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day at Sesame Street

I can't believe it's been 2 years since we've been home with Andrew. Wow, how time
flies. We decided to do something special for our second Gotcha Day (the anniversary of when we officially became a family) and go to Sesame Place to celebrate.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Andrew get so into the rides...even the rollercoaster. He just made the height requirement to ride the mini roller coaster with an adult, therefore that was the first ride he wanted to go on. Robert and I looked at each other as if to say "hum...He's either going to back out at the last minute or ride the rollercoaster with us and just as it's slowing down to let us off he'll be saying"Again, Again". Well, he LOVED it! and was yelling just as we thought, "AGAIN....AGAIN!! So we rode it one more time and he was wanting to ride it AGAIN. But that was enough for Robert and I so we distracted him to move along to see the rest of the park.


We had a ball riding the rides and Robert even crawled through the tunnels and netting with him. He almost got stuck trying to keep up with Andrew. Andrew really needed someone to go through it with him since there were areas that he needed assistance climbing to the next level as well as it being huge....that we didn't want him to get lost. Here is a picture of Robert trying to keep up with Andrew in the netting tunnel. Too funny.



In the heat of the day we made our way over to the water rides. There was this one huge family tube ride that had a big rubber ducky at the top. The line took about an hour to wait through but it was well worth it. We all loved it and got soaked and screamed with delight especially with the last drop off in the slide.



After the water rides we took a break and went over to find some of the characters from Sesame Street. Andrew was so cute when we saw Ernie from a distance greeting other children. He stood a distance away from Ernie and peered around the corner in awe that he was so big and real. Too cute. We also met Cookie Monster, Elmo and Oscar the Grouch. Andrew was so adorable at the end of the day when we were all waiting for the parade of characters to come down the street on their floats. He had this look of anticipation and he was waiting so patiently but when they approached him he hid behind Mommy.

Niagra Falls & Canadian Zoo

We decided to take a long weekend and drive up to Niagra Falls for a mini vacation. It took us 8 hours to drive up to the Canadian side of the falls. We got there just around dinner time and checked into the hotel. The hotel we stayed in was within walking distance of the falls so after we ate we took a walk to view the falls. As we strolled down one of the side streets near the Skylon tower we noticed that everyone was looking up in the sky, so of course we looked up and found a man walking on this tightrope that was as high if not higher than some of the buildings around him. I'd say he was approximately 3/4 the height of the Skylon tower. One of the newspapers stated that he does this twice a day. A little too daring for me.

We walked on down to the falls and it was starting to get dark. It was a beautiful view with an actual rainbow going over top of the falls. Since it was getting dark we decided to call it a day and walk back to the hotel. It was an easy stroll down to the falls since we were walking down the hill. What a workout walking back up the hill. The hill is so steep that they have a ride that will take you back up the mountain/hill. But we decided to get a work out on our glutus maximus' instead. Wooo and what a work out it was. We had a beautiful view of the falls from our hotel room that night and were able to watch the fireworks as well. I think that was the first time that Andrew saw fireworks since he is usually in bed before they are set off at home on the fourth of July.



The next day we were able to do the touristy thing as most people do at Niagra Falls and go on The Maid of the Mist boat and take a boat ride near the falls. We also took a walk behind the falls and walked out onto this observation deck that was built very close to the falls. Andrew loved getting sprayed with the water. He squealled with delight as he walked down to the observatory deck with Robert as I took their picture. Too Funny. He could have stayed there all day getting a shower with the mist from the falls.


He loves to get wet. One time it poured while we were in church and then it brightened up as we were walking out to the car to go home. Andrew sees this huge puddle and walks right into it. He was knee deep in water. Needless to say we weren't thrilled about that and had to change his clothes once we got him back to the car.


Anyway, After the falls we took a walk through the Butterfly Conservator and were surrounded by thousands of different kinds of Butterflys. It was funny when we entered the conservatory, one of the people who worked there gave me a small like-radio which told all about the different kinds of butterflies as you walked through. We then started to walk into the conservatory to see the butterflies and Andrew started making a mad dash back to the entrance doors that we just walked through. I couldn't understand what was up with him and when I caught up to him to get him to come inside the conservatory I saw him reach for one of the radios that they were loaning out to people. The lady said it was okay for him to use one so then he was happy and followed me into the conservatory. Robert saw us come back into the area with all of the butterflies and asked what happened to us. As I went on to tell him what happened we looked Andrew and he had the radio up to his ear and was talking into it like it was a cell phone. We both chuckled as we watched him pretend he was on the cell phone.


When we finally found a restaurant to eat dinner at we were all hungry....it was almost 6:30pm, which is late for us to eat dinner. We got seated and Andrew was acting up. He wasn't listening when I told him to stay in his chair. Then he started getting loud and he was just being unreasonable. I'm sure it was because he was hungry and tired, but since I warned him that if he didn't correct his behavior and do what I asked we would leave the restaurant. We ended up leaving the restaurant since he wasn't behaving. Let me tell you......he through a fit. We were walking down the street to the hotel and Andrew was crying, screaming and acting up even more. I told him the reason why we left the restaurant. We all were tired and hungry and here we were walking down the street about 8 blocks to get back to our hotel. After about 3-4 blocks I stopped to firmly tell Andrew we will not go back to a restaurant until he learns to behave quitely, sit still and eat his food. I told him that it's a priviledge to eat in a restaurant and that many children don't have the priveledge to eat at a restaurant and many kids don't have enough food to eat to fill their bellies. He quickly changed his tune and appologized for acting up and by the time we got to the hotel (8 blocks later) he was asking to go out to eat opposed to eating oatmeal (not one of his favorites) in the hotel room.

Since Andrew was on better behavior and we were all starving by then 7:30pm I made Andrew promise he would be good and sit still and eat his food if we went to a restaurant. So we piled into the van and went to a restaurant down the street and to both Robert and I surprise Andrew was a different child in the restaurant. He sat still, was quietly talking and he eat a considerable amount of food. We all had an enjoyable meal.

The next day we checked out of the hotel and took a 15 minute ride to the Canadian Zoo before heading home. It was a smaller zoo than what we are used to in the Philadelphia area and much more simplistic. We walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather as we visited the animal. We got to watch the Hippo's being fed and since there weren't that many people there we got a close up on that. Andrew and I got to also feed the Giraffes. Boy do they have looong tongues. We were up in the second story deck holding a few leaves on a branch (well I was since Andrew didn't want any parts of getting too close to the Giraffes) and out comes this tongue that is about 12-18" long. Once his tongue touched my hand I jumped and dropped the leaves. That was close enough for me, thank you very much. =)

We then headed over to the zoo university where the zoo keepers brought out different animals and told us some interesting facts about their habitat, what they eat and their behaviors. We got to pet a skunk (which was deskunked), baby turtles, and a baby alligator.



It turned out to be a wonderful trip. I've always wanted to go to Niagra Falls. I never realized though until now that it's best to stay on the Canadian side due to getting a much better view, closer to the attractions and within walking distance of everything.

Cai Help??? Cai Help?? Cai Help??

Andrew is quite the helpful child. He loves to get involved with whatever we are doing and wants to help. When he sees Robert or I doing something that he wants to get involved in and he will anxiously ask over and over again, "Cai Help?", "Cai Help?", "Cai Help?" Whether I'm making dinner, working in the office, cleaning the house, washing the car, planting flowers, or having a yard sale, Andrew insists on helping us and letting him partake in the activity of the hour.



He's a very curious little boy and wants to know what we are doing and "WHY". He'll ask you a question and then you give him an answer and then he'll ask, "Why". Then you tell him "Why" and then he'll ask "Why" again and then again and then again. It's funny to see him really think about your responses to the Why questions before he asks another, "but Why"? Finally I get tired of answering the Why's so then I'll say, "I don't know, what do you think?"

Kissy Face

One Sunday after church we went to Taco Bell to grab some lunch. While we were sitting in the booth eating out of the blue Andrew started kissing my cheek, then he took my face in his hands and kissed my nose and then my forehead. Then he thought he'd get Robert in on the fun and crawled underneath the table part of the booth and did the same to Robert. He kissed his cheek, nose, forehead etc. He was so cute how he out of the blue starts with all of the kisses. We finally had to tell him to stop and finish his food. Too Funny.

Baby Shower - Where's the Baby?

Recently I went to a baby shower and took Andrew along with me. It was a wonderful time seeing friends I haven't seen in a while. Andrew got into it and wanted to help the Mommy-to-be open up her gifts. He would take the gift over to her and help her unwrap some of her gifts. The Mommy-to-be took a quick break to cut the cake and it was at that point where I went up to the Daddy-to-be (with Andrew in my arms) and gave him a hug as I said to him,"Congratulations, Daddy". Andrew heard what I said and immediately Andrew said, "He's not your Daddy". I then replied to Andrew, "I know he's not my Daddy, but he's the baby's Daddy". Since Andrew knew he was the only child at the party he replied,"What Baby"? So I touched the Mommy-to-be's tummy and said, "The baby that is inside his Mama's tummy". Well, I opened a can of worms telling him that. You should have seen the perplexed look on Andrew's face as he looked at the Mommy-to-be's tummy. He then asked, "Why don't the baby come out"? So we then explained to him that the baby still has to grow and get bigger before he comes out.

When it came time for the Mommy-to-be to finish opening her gifts Andrew jumped in again to help. At one point the Mommy-to-be stood up to take a stretch and I knew exactly what Andrew was going to do next. He looked up at her big belly and gently took the bottom of her maternity shirt and looked up it and said in wonder, "Where's the Baby?" He was so cute about it that it made every laugh.

Well since that day of the shower, Andrew has asked me many questions that I wasn't ready to answer yet. Questions like, "Did I grow in your belly Mama?", "How did the baby get in the mommy's belly", "Why don't he come out now?" and many others. The one question that he's been asking the most was "Did I grow in your belly?" I didn't want to confuse him even more and didn't know how to answer honestly so he would be able to understand at the young age of 3 years old. So when he first started asking I wouldn't know how to answer so I didn't and changed the subject. This way it bought me some time to figure out how to answer his question in a way he could understand. So when the question was asked again, I just simply told him that he grew in another ladies tummy. From then on little by little I've been telling him of his adoption story and how we became a family.

It was so precious to see the look on his face when I told him that God had a special baby boy named Andrew in Ukraine to be our son. So Daddy and I got on an airplane and flew to Ukraine and met Miss Alla (our translator in Ukraine). Miss Alla then took us on a long train ride to come and visit you. Andrew was thoroughly enjoying the story especially when I told him of when I first held him. I told him that he was a little scared since he didn't know me so I was trying to calm Andrew down and I started singing to Andrew, "You are my sunshine". He immediately smiled and recognized the song(since I sing it to him often) and started singing it with me as we danced around the kitchen. Andrew received it well and still asks and talks about how we became a family.

Adoption Paperwork Started

It's official. We have met with Adoption's From The Heart (our home study agency) and are now in the paperwork process of our second adoption. Most people have asked us if it's easier and quicker this time around since we have adopted before. Even though we've been through the process before and been through all of the red tape in the past, we still have to do it all over again just like it was our first adoption. If we get our paperwork for our home study completed and the home study is complete by the end of August we will save $800.00 on our home study since this update on our home study from last time is before our 3 year expiration date of our home study we had done for adopting Andrew. So that of course is what we are going to do. We have our fingerprint appointment lined up already and have already started gathering some of the paperwork needed.

We are so looking forward in adding to our family again and bringing home our second child and a sibling for Andrew. Andrew is going to be a wonderful big brother. He is such a helpful little boy and plays nicely with other children. We haven't officially told Andrew anything yet about our up and coming adoption since he won't be able to understand that he has to wait a while. Once it gets closer and we submit our paperwork to Ukraine and get closer to traveling we will tell Andrew and prepare him. As of right now it's just the beginning and we have a ways to go before we get a travel date.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mommy's out there. This Mother's Day was quite memorable with Andrew. Andrew is much more expressive this year opposed to last year when he was just learning how to say Happy Mama's Day (instead he would say, "Happy Mama" and "Happy Day"). Last night I had some trouble sleeping due to a post nasal drip so instead of keeping Robert up all night with me coughing, I went out to the living room to watch some television and fell asleep on the couch. I must have been sleeping soundly because Andrew during the night had woken up and came out to the living room where I was and decided to cuddle up next to me on the couch. I didn't even feel him lay down next to me because I was pleasantly surprised to find him next to me when I woke up on Mother's Day morning. When Andrew woke up next to me he turned and smiled and said with a sleeping look on his face, "Mommy, You're Precious". Well that was enough to melt my heart for the day. How sweet. Andrew is always so full of compliments and tells me all the time, "You're the best Mommy in the whole wide world."

Bermuda Cruise Vacation

Robert and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary by taking a cruise to Bermuda. It was a wonderful trip and we had beautiful weather the entire week. Bermuda was one of the most beautiful islands that I have been to.

It was very clean and most of the homes and stores on the island were painted a pastel color. Since we arrived the first day after lunchtime, Robert, Andrew and I decided to get a 3 day bus pass and travel that afternoon to check out the different beaches so we could decide which one to go to the next day to relax and have some fun.



We visited Horse Shoe bay beach which had beautiful fine pink sand with a small cafe next to it (very pricey) and some huge boulders or rock formations near the beach. Very scenic and the water was so blue. We took a few pictures and then hiked up the hill to catch the bus to take us to the beach at Kings Wharf. Since we got there right as the beach closed they wouldn't let us in to check it out, therefore the next day we stopped there first.



We stayed on that beach for a short time soaking up the sun and Robert and Andrew making sand castles. Andrew thought he'd be funny and cool Mommy off from those hot rays by taking his watering can and filling it with water and running up to me to dump the water on me. I could see the look in his eye along with the smurk on his face as he was quickly approaching me with the water of the watering can splashing out as he was running. Andrew thought it was hysterical to hear Mommy scream from the cold water splashing on me, which made him quickly turn around to fill his can again. He was having a ball going back and forth filling his can just to run back and dump it on me. It actually felt good after a couple times so I didn't mind. I could see how much fun he was having therefore I just let him have some fun. I had to take some pictures of Andrew running with the huge grin he had on his face. He's such a cutie.





We finally packed up from Kings Wharf beach and have lunch at a nearby cafe before heading to Horse Shoe Beach. Kings Wharf beach was too rocky and the sand was very coarse with some larger pieces of shell and rock within it which made it uncomfortable to walk on. Horse Shoe Bay Beach sand was so fine and much more scenic. So we packed up and traveled to Horse Shoe Bay Beach to enjoy the rest of the day.

We had an enjoyable afternoon on the beach and splashing around in the water. The water was quite shallow and you could walk out a ways and the water would still only be up to your knees. At one point Andrew decided to hang out with Mommy on the blanket so we had fun burying our legs in the sand. Andrew got a kick out of not being able to see our legs after they were covered. The only downfall to going to Horse shoe Bay beach is that since it is located at the bottom steep hill. By the end of the day you are tired from the fun in the sun and you have to carry your belongings back up the hill to get to the bus stop. It's certainly a good workout for your glutes but it's worth the workout. Fortunately there was a mini van taxi at the bottom of the hill and would take people up the hill for one dollar a person so we took it.

During the evenings after dinner we would take a walk around the ship on their outside track to burn off some of those calaries we just consumed. Andrew loved to go into the video arcade with Daddy and help Daddy steer the racing car. Robert would crack up laughing as he watched Andrew drive off the track many times. As soon as Robert would go to help Andrew steer his way back on the track and Andrew insisted he didn't need help and wanted to do it himself. It's so funny to see how Andrew loves to drive the video race cars. Such a little boy he is.

Fundraising, Auctions and Yard Sales

We have started raising the funds that we need for our up coming adoption through running a candy bar and Home Interiors fund raiser. I gave some friends and family the fliers to help us fundraise and to my surprise we raised the initial money we needed to start the ball rolling with the adoption agency....which was the application fee.



I had approached my boss at work to see if I could add an extra day or two to my work schedule to bank that money for the adoption, however, it was a no go since the company was going into their slow season. I really didn't want to lose those 2 days anyway with Andrew. I really enjoy our time together and feel it's important to be home with him anyway, therefore, I wasn't too disappointed that my boss turn me down for adding extra days. I know that God will bring the money forth one way or another for this adoption and I already had some other ideas to go with.



Robert and I discussed it and decided that we could go to auctions, purchase items for minimal cost and resell it to raise the money. Robert found an ad in the paper for a storage unit auction and to my surprise it was being held on one of my days off and right down the street from our house. A couple of days ago Andrew and I went to the storage unit auction and ended up purchasing one unit that was full of what it looked like file boxes (about 30 of them) older office furniture. Nobody seemed to want this unit and I almost walked away from it myself (thinking that Robert was going to flip when he saw how jammed packed the furniture was thrown into the unit), but ended up purchasing the whole unit for $20.00. Let me just tell you that to our surprise that was a very profitable $20.00.



We found computers, printers,and a multiple amount of copper, brass, and steel pipe fittings in the until which we sold to a metal dealer. We sold all of the office furniture last weekend at our first Yard Sale as well as we sold the rest of the plumbing supplies, motors etc (since the unit was formerly owned by a previous Plumbing and Heating company). Robert and I were floored that in just a couple of days we came up with all of the money we needed for our Home Study Report just from a couple of days work. Praise God for multiplication and supplying our needs for the adoption. God is so Good! Hallelujah! Needless to say that I'm sure will be the first of many auctions to come.

Andrew the Elephant at Preschool Circus Play

Andrew and the rest of his class were assigned to be elephants in the school Circus Play. The parents had to supply the costume for this play. I figured since the school sent out a memo that the parents had to supply a simple costume I did just that. I had Andrew wear his gray sweatsuit and attached elephant ears I made out of felt to the hood of his sweat jacket and made a tail as well and attached it to the back of his pants. I purchased a soft plastic elephant nose for him to wear which he loved but he ended up wearing it around his mouth instead of is nose.





Robert and I were anxious to see the show and ended up sitting in the second row since we arrived early. The elephants were first to perform and were led out to the circus ring by their teacher. They had to walk around the circus ring one behind the other. Andrew looked so cute and was a little timid and followed the other children just as he practiced. When Andrew spotted Robert and I sitting in the audience taking pictures he busted out into crying. I wasn't sure if he was crying because he might have had an accident (since he was recently toilet trained and might have been nervous) or what. He kept following the other kids walking in the circle as he was crying and then the director of the school brought Andrew to us to calm him down. Andrew immediately wanted to sit on our laps and and was content watching the rest of the show from our laps. In a way it was odd to see him crying and doing what he was supposed to do instead of what he really wanted to do which was to sit with his Mommy and Daddy. I thought about it after the show and am surprised that he didn't just run over to us if that is what he wanted.


All in all it was a very cute and entertaining show. The strongman was hillarious how he had a built in muscles that was a costume he wore. He had his shades on and hammed it up a bunch.

Jonah & the Whale

Recently when teaching Andrew's Sunday School class at church one Sunday, I was surprised at how much Andrew was listening and paying attention to the lesson on the story of Jonah and the Whale. The next few days when we were traveling in the car he would recite how Jonah was in the belly of the whale because he didn't listen to God and go to Ninevah to tell the people there to be good. I proceded to explain to him that God put Jonah in "Time Out" since he didn't listen and do what God asked him to do. I then explained to him, "just like when Mommy has to put Andrew in Time Out for not listening, God had to put Jonah in "Time out" in the belly of the whale for not listening until Jonah promised God to do what God asked him to do and tell the people in Ninevah to stop being bad and start being good and to tell all the people about God and His goodness."



I asked Andrew how long Jonah was in the belly of the whale and he said for 3 days and 3 nights. I was amazed at how intently he must have listened to the lesson since other Sundays when I would teach his class all he wanted to do was play and not pay attention.



He was fascinated with the story of Jonah & the Whale and Andrew would periodically ask questions and talk to me about Jonah for the next couple of weeks.

Potty Power!

Since Andrew's birthday I've been working with him to get him more familiar with going to the bathroom on the toilet. We've used his training potty for a while and we finally got him to go Pee Pee on the toilet. Since Andrew has only occasionally gone pee pee on the potty I decided to finally break down and purchase an e-book on how to potty-train your child in 3 days or less. It was an easy read, which I read a few times to get myself ready for the big day. I had to mentally get myself ready for the messes and clean ups etc.
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I also bought Andrew a couple of DVD's on the subject. One which I recommend is called "Potty POWER!" It's really cute and they have real children (instead of animated figures)in the DVD so I think the kids relate better to it. I also got him another DVD called "Elmo goes to the potty" or something like that...not sure of the title. The Elmo DVD is okay...for real little ones if teaching on or around the age of 2 years old. I thought the Potty Power DVD was the best instructional as well as had a cute storyline.



I was mentally prepared and set aside Thursday, Friday and Saturday to devote strickly to Potty training. In the book it says to stay by your child's side for the entire day 3 consecutive days in a row. This way you can see the gestures and know exactly when your child needs to use the toilet.



I was quite impressed the first 2 days of training Andrew since he was running to the toilet for half of the amount of times he went in the day and the other half of the time he had an accident or didn't quite make it there on time. I was impressed since the previous months I was introducing the potty to him, I would have to tell him to sit on the toilet and would only sit there (without going)when I'd ask him to.



I figured "Wow! This is really working. By the third day he should be completely trained." WRONG!! The third day fell on a Saturday and Robert was home that day, therefore, Andrew didn't have my full attention and wasn't by my side the whole day as the last 2 previous days he was. MY FAULT....I didn't follow the book. Well wouldn't you know that WHOLE day he would have accident after accident and didn't even try to go to the bathroom in the toilet even when I would prompt him.



It was 7:00pm that night and by then I was so frustrated since he did so well the last couple of days and didn't even try on the third day. By 7:00pm I went into his room to get him ready for bed and changed him into a diaper. As I was trying to put on the diaper (which he hasn't worn one in the last couple of days) Andrew was refusing to wear it and started kicking and screaming, "NOOOOOOOOO...NOOOO Diapie"! So I told him that since he continued to go to the bathroom in his pants and not in the toilet he had to wear a diaper. Once he heard that he immediate jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom, tore off the diaper and went pee pee on the potty for the first time that day.



Since the third day Andrew has done superb and even started going poopy on the potty the Monday following (5th day) and has been going ever since. WOW!! Of course he's had a few accidents here and there but all in all I was so glad I read that book and dedicated the time to potty training him. WHHOO!!! WHHOOO!!

Andrew's 3rd Birthday

We decided to celebrate Andrew's 3rd Birthday at a childrens activity center that has birthday parties. It all kinds of fun things for kids to do and climb on such as a castle, a boat, moon bounce, a tractor, a stage with costumes, a music room, a grocery store, a puppet show area and a party room. Since Andrew has been in preschool this past year, I thought it would be nice to invite his classmates along with family members.





This kids and some parents (like my husband, Robert) had a ball playing in the different play areas. Robert had fun trying to dodge the sponge ball at our older nephew, Billy that was on top of the castle pretending to guard the fort. I'm not sure who was having more fun, Billy or Robert.



Andrew enjoyed playing with his friends and cousins and was excited to see them come to his birthday party. Andrew was asking me the previous couple of days if his friend Brooke will be at his birthday party. I told him that she was coming. When Brooke arrived at the party Andrew was in the play areas playing with his friends. I went up to Andrew and told him that Brooke had arrived. He wanted to go see her to say hello so I showed him where she was playing.



When Andrew saw Brooke it was the cutest thing. He immediately ran up to her and they both hugged each other smiling ear to ear. He then took her by the hand and held her hand on and off for half the day. It was so sweet but yet surprising to see him react that way towards her since I've never seen him in school react that way towards her.

After running all through the place for most of the afternoon he decided to grab a book and take a break to read some books. It was hilarious to me to follow him around the place as I was taking pictures and then once he saw the books in a corner he immediately took one from the bookcase and sat down to look at it.

Happy New Year! - Mommy, Daddy & Baby Sister

Happy New Year!!! This past month Robert and I were suprised when Andrew would sit between us on the couch and would repeatedly say to us "My Mommy, My Daddy....My Baby Sister.....then he would pause and say it again,"My Mommy, My Daddy, My Baby Sister". He has been saying this over and over again and Robert and I would just look at each other in amazement and with a look of surprise wondering where that came from. To our surprise, Andrew continued over the next month saying the same phrase to us like he was trying to tell us something. I had to giggle to myself as I have had it in my spirit to go back to Ukraine to adopt a little girl.



Robert and I have talked about it and prayfully considered adopting a child again from Ukraine. We are excited and happy to announce that we are going forward with our plans to adopt our daughter from Ukraine. We found out from Adoptions From the Heart, our home study agency, that if we update our home study before August of this year that we will only have to pay half the amount of a full home study. WHOO WHOO!!! Doing the HAPPY DANCE!!