Happy Birthday Matt!

Happy 8th birthday to my Matt! We had a great day of celebration for Matt today. He started his morning off with bacon and a vanilla inst*nt breakfast shake for breakfast (his pick) followed by presents. We also celebrated with a friend party today. Here is my big guy blowing out his candles. I thought it was a cool picture as you can see half the candles being blown out.

Matt's party was at a semi-pro baseball game. As the birthday boy he was able to meet a player and have his hat autographed ( he also got an autogragphed ball for big brother Josh:).

Here is Matt throwing out the first pitch to the game.

We had an added bonus with our baseball game. We got to see Dice K pitch the first few innings as he is getting ready to head back to the Red Sox in the next week or so.

All in all it was a great day.

Happy Birthday Matty! We love you!

How We're Doing

I have to say that I have that nervous butterfly feeling again in my stomach. I was doing well organizing what I call the Tri-fecta of events. Back to school, Matt's birthday and traveling to Taiwan. In my book any one of these events is BIG and requires care and attention.

Well- my tri-fecta just went from 3 events to 4 events. Not even sure what to call that. Jake has been under the weather for 11 days. It started with a fever( 24 hours) and moved on to a cough. On Tuesday he was diagnosed with Pneumonia. The poor guy. He is usually a little tornado and has been lying about the house and laying down at the beach. So not like him. He has started taking antibiotics and rebounding a little bit, but he HATES liquid medicine and that was the only kind they prescribed. Three times a day we have a small battle over this. We had to go to the emergency room to see a doctor and get x-rays. We were told that we needed to follow up with are pediatrician and possibly have more x-rays as his first one showed signs of asthma. Poor Jake.

I decided that was it for me. We are leaving the beach a few days early and heading home. I will be packing everything up today. I hope to bring him back to the doctors on Friday and find out more information. Did I mention that this could be catchy. All three boys have been sleeping in the same room and we have all been coughed on directly in the face. We need to get Jake well and keep everyone well. I cannot get sick and I can't have anyone else get sick. There is simply too much to be done and not enough time.

Okay, I feel a little better now.

PS. Congratulations to Jami on receiving Final Ruling! You can follow her journey by following the link to w8n4#2&3

Hurricane Bill and Jake News

My baby boy has done a lot of growing up this summer. Tonight he lost his first tooth!
(Memere, Pepere & Nonni...this picture is for you.)

Hurricane Bill skirted the East coast this weekend. We were very fortunate to have beautiful weather with some fantastic surf to check out.

The waves were BIG and the surf was STRONG. You did not have to venture out far to catch a wave. The beach was packed and you could hear the pounding of the waves and the laughter of everyone enjoying being tossed about. Everyone but Jake went in and it was soooo much fun. Poor Jake has been sidelined with an end of summer cold and ended up taking a nap on the beach.

Phil and Matt getting ready to boogie board.

Matt, Phil and Josh in the surf. The pictures do not capture the size of the waves.

Waves upon waves crashing in.

Matt showing off his hurricane moves.

This last picture is right as we were leaving the beach. They officially closed the beach at high tide. The tide(without the storm) was to be the highest tide of the month and with the storm surge it was extra high. Matt is posing at the entrance to the beach. Notice the benches on either side of him and the water mark on the sand where the waves were coming to rest! Shortly after we left we heard that they told everyone left standing on the beach that they had to go too. It was quite something to see.

About a week and half ago Jake hit another milestone. As I was out back to school and baby shopping Phil took the boys to Tennis. As the story goes another 5 year old girl made fun of Jake's training wheels. He was beyond mad and told Phil that he was taking them off as soon as he got home! Phil called me and filled me in. I didn't think he was ready balance wise but boy was I wrong. Here is what happened:

The training wheels were taken off. Phil gave Jake a running push.

Phil ran next to him for a few steps

And off he went!

And he kept going and going and going. Thats it, 1 push and he was done. Way to go Jake!!! We are so proud of you.

P.S. Jake rode his bike to the candy shop the next morning and guess who he saw. Yup, the girl who made fun of his bike. He sat proudly on his bike and let the girl take a good long look at his 2 wheel bike. The look on his face was priceless.

Travel Plans

We have bought our tickets to Taiwan! This was a fun and scary thing to do. On one had I was so excited that we are going to go and get Lauren finally. Then I looked at the flights and got a dose of reality. The going there doesn't phase me, it's the flight back, re-entry and jet-lag that are a little scary. We decided to spend the night in San Francisco to break up the LONG flight home and to rest and regroup. I know that I will be dying to get home to the boys but I wanted to make sure that when I walked off the plane to meet them that I was ready to give them all the love and attention that they ( and I) will need. I have never been away from them for so long. Why is it that everything has a bittersweet component?

Here is are schedule:

Tuesday 9/8 Depart for Taiwan in the evening
Thursday 9/10 Arrive in Taipei at the crack of dawn
Friday 9/11 Lauren is placed in our arms
Saturday 9/12 Sightseeing
Sunday 9/13 Sightseeing
Monday 9/14 AIT appointment
Tuesday 9/15 Pick up visa, evening flight out of Taipei, spend the night in San Francisco
Wednesday 9/16 Flight home and our Forever Family Day

Our amazing social worker is working on our sightseeing schedule with Mr. Yeh and once I have more info I will share.

I think our trip will be here before I know it. We have 1 week left of summer vacation and that always goes by to quickly. Matt's birthday is next weekend and then the kids go back to school. To be honest...I could take another month of summer vacation with my boys:)

For now Phil and I are going to take the kids to the beach and check out the waves. Hurricane Bill should be kicking up some heavy surf off the New England coast.

We have Final!!!!!!!!!!

We got the call a little while ago. Lauren is officially ours and we will be traveling around Sept 9th to go and bring her home:) I am so excited! We are all so excited. I have been hoping for the call and nervous about travel dates. The dates work so great for our family. I will be home for Matt's birthday and party and the boys 1st day of school ( Jake's first bus ride!). I will have just enough time to get the kids back into a school routine before I take off.

Stay tuned for more details...

Lauren in motion

Our girl in motion.

Here is our August video update of Lauren. She looks so cute and mobile! I am going to need some gates sooner rather than later I think.

We also got updated measurements of our sweetie.

As of July 29th:

Height: 25.5 inches

weight: 16.5 pounds

I think she may be a peanut:)

I wanted to say a special thank you to everyone who commented and sent me e-mails after my freak out post. It meant so much to read your kind words and great advice. I am so thankful. I have gone shopping and organized much. I did get a baby carrier ( the M*by D), plan Matt's party and buy some back to school clothes for the boys. I think I am ready for the call now:)

Little Miss August

It's update day! Here are the latest pictures of Lauren. Look at our girl sitting up! You go girl. We are so in love. It won't be long before we can hold her in our arms, we hope.

Congratulations Tracy and Family!

We want to welcome Lauren's newest cousin who arrived this afternoon in Texas. Welcome to the world Barbara! My mother and I have nicked named her GiGi (Gorgeous Girl). Pictures to follow as soon as they make it here via e-mail. We have seen her precious, 7 minutes old, face via text and let me tell you that she is a cutie pie.

10 Day Waiting Period Officially Over!

This past Friday market the 10th day in our mandatory 10 day waiting period. This means that as of today we COULD receive our Final Ruling and be invited to Taiwan to get Lauren. Holy Cow! I am VERY excited to get final ruling and go get our girl. I am also FREAKING out at all that I need to accomplish. Here are some of the highlights that woke me up at 4:30 this morning:

I think I need to get a diaper bag . I usually do not carry a traditional diaper bags and can usually make a larger pocketbook or tote function as a diaper bag. But...I am going to Taiwan, I will be doing LOTS of site seeing with Lauren and traveling for an entire day on an airplane with a baby I do not know yet. How many different outfits will I need to have on hand? Diapers? Toys? Do I need a big diaper bag?

Will the Moby baby carrier/wrap work for me? IF so what color should I get. I like the black because it will go with everything but then again I really like the lavender color, but lavender does not look good with my red hair. The brown is nice too. Definitely not the blue:)

Where do I find the locket I want to get Lauren's birth mother? I looked at many of them on line this morning (5:00am) Can I get a silver one or will that be considered not nice enough? I am trying to go with the sentiment of the gift. They have it in white gold too, but will that be considered too much? How do I get a picture of Lauren in there?

All the other gifts I need to buy for our trip...Should I bring gift bags or gift wrap and ribbon? Will sand dollars/star fish survive the trip? Do people like salt water taffy? (very beachy gift) What kind of Lobster themed gift could I do?

Where and when can I get a pretty little dress for Lauren to wear on Gotcha day. I think I need more hair clips. I want to get some of those cute head bands with big flowers that clip on. Where do I buy these so they look nice and not cheesy. Maybe I should ask Hannah Claire's mom this....she has the best hair accessories.

Then there is all the August back to school stuff:

Matt's birthday party- When should we do it, what kind of party, how big, what if I have to travel and Phil has to manage the whole sha-bang. When do I need to get the invites out by. Do not forget about the gift bags.

Back to school shopping- Does everyone need a new backpack? Where the heck did I put those supply lists the boys brought home from school in June and what exactly has to go in the "me" bag that Josh needs to bring in the 1st day of school.

Fall sports: Does Josh need new baseball shoes? Should I be getting Matt the travel soccer backpack and jacket that I see all the kids sporting. I am not sure if it is necessary but I don't want him to be the only one not sporting the town gear. Are all the parents still doing this? I know things have changed with the economy.

So those are my biggies for today. If you have any advice or opinions on any of the above mentioned please feel free to comment or e-mail me with suggestions. I need some help here people.

Ok- just breath....

Sending Well Wishes

Some of my blogging buddies are over in Taiwan right now. Two families are over there to be united with their beautiful baby girls. Another family has just been united with their adorable little boy. You can follow their journeys by following the links below to Hello, Hola and Nihao, Red Thread to My Daughter and Live, Laugh, Love.

Congratulations to Lisa and her family on their beautiful new daughter Paige. Congratulations to Joyce and her family for reaching the end of their long, long journey to finally have Trey in their arms. I am anxiously awaiting the gotcha day of Michelle and her daughter Tessa!

Currently there is a Typhoon baring down on Taiwan. Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers

Happy 7 Months!

Lauren turned 7 months old yesterday. Happy 7 Months baby girl!

Family Fun at the Beach

We had a really fun weekend with family visiting us at the beach. Mike and Shannon drove ALONG way to come visit. We had a couple of good days at the beach. Here are many of the boys playing boccie ball at low tide. It's fun that my bigger boys are now strong enough to get in on the action. My nephew William really wanted in to the game. We gave him his own light weight ball. He didn't think it was the same though. Lauren has a little cousin who was born just 3 weeks before her. Sweet Alyssa has got everything ready for Lauren in their own little girl town.

I did some hair accessory shopping. My friend's daughter had these great clips in her hair this past spring and I was so excited to pick some out. Aren't the cute! I found them on Etsy. They are made by Maya Papaya. I had one made with an L for Lauren. It does look like an L but the boys were wondering why we got Lauren a clip that said 3:00. LOL.

Miss Alyssa acted as a fashion model for me. Here she is sporting a Life Is Good onesie that Lauren also has and the green flower clip. The clips really stay in the hair! It was really fun getting to see Alyssa in action. When I watch the videos of Lauren and see her pictures she looks like she is growing up so fast, and she is. Seeing Alyssa this weekend, I got to see that 7 months is still very much a baby.

Here is our crew. Alex, Alyssa, Zach, William, Matt, Jake, Josh and baby Ryan.

Thanks for coming to visit. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

We are a baseball loving family. We all went to see the Se@ Dogs play on a beautiful summer night. Major league ball is really fun to watch. Here are the boys with a statue of the mascot. Phil and the boys. The boys are enjoying an ice cream in those little plastic baseball hats. They brought the hats home and now their stuffed animals are supporting the team. Josh goes to every ball game with a baseball, glove and sharpie. He dreams of catching a foul ball and getting an autograph from a player. Well, his persistence payed off. We were near the bullpen during the game. Josh kept trying to figure out how to ask for an autograph and how to get around the security guy who shoos you away from the players. He DID it. One of the pitchers said he would sign a ball for him. Josh threw it down and then the player asked if he had a pen. Josh could not be happier passing down the sharpie that he brings. Here is the pitcher autographing the ball.

Josh is waiting patiently and nervously for the ball to be thrown back to him. The pitcher was really great. He passed the ball around the bull pen and 3 players signed the ball.

Here is Josh with his newly autographed ball. He looked up all the players the next morning.

Matt earns his orange belt

Just a quick picture of my Matty. He loves Karate and is so proud to have earned his Orange Belt. Way to go Matt! We love you.