What's New?

Well...I returned to the gym today! I know...it's a miracle. I haven't been for 4 months while I was feeling too sick. I plan to continue going 3-4 times a week. I'll be doing walking on the treadmill and some light weights to tone my arms. Baby Guy was thrilled to go and play (and eat cocoa puffs) and didn't want to leave when it was time! The nicest lady in the world works in the gym daycare. It makes it so easy for me when the kids are begging me to go:)
As for our adoption wait......and wait.....and wait. We are waiting still. I keep thinking it will be today and then another day goes by and another week goes by. I'm not being very patient as I sit and stare at the phone and check my email about 20 times a day. We have been told, "It won't be long". I'm not sure what that means or if it's helping me?
I'm almost 16 weeks along now and really starting to feel good (and poke out..hubby now says I stick out 3 miles!). I am still having heart burn and an acidy stomach but it has been better this week. I can't eat any onions, garlic, or citrus and nothing spicy or any chocolate....boo hoo. I'm hoping to feel the baby move soon. That is my favorite part of being pregnant. I'll have an ultrasound at 20 weeks....and yes, we want to find out the sex of the baby! We have names picked for either sex. We always have names picked early...sometimes even before we knew of our children! We love those Irish names:)

A Few of My Favorite Things

Soup and bread
Dove Bars
Steak and salad
Warm cookies
Fresh pineapple
.....can you tell I have food on the brain?

Snow Day

We woke up this morning to a beautiful scene of snow. The boys (well 3 of them) had a fun time playing outside. Tuba takes after his mama and prefers to stay inside by the fire in our pj's.





A Few of My Favorite Things

Buttered salted popcorn
White t-shirts
Starting a good book
Clean floors
Freckles

You've gotta love dessert!

Mmmmmmmm......chocolate pudding!

Costco List

As we were leaving for Costco I said out loud that I need to grab my list. Mr. P quickly told me not to forget to put "motorcycles, video games, and a big screen TV" on the list. Hmmmmm...I've heard this somewhere else before?

Beautiful Ethiopian Adoption Story

http://www.benefitorphans.org/one-family-an-ethiopian-adoption-dvd-documentary.html

A 35 minute DVD documentary of the Cohen family's journey from Vermont to Ethiopia to be united with their daughter Meskerem who was orphaned by HIV/AIDS and is leaving all that is familiar to her -- her extended family, her culture, her language -- to begin a new life in America wrapped in the arms of her new family.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at a fundraiser in which we viewed this beautiful film. The featured family is one of the families in There Is No Me Without You. It's a truly wonderful story of loss and love. I highly recommend this film...and the proceeds benefit the Grace Fund which gives grants to place special needs children, large sibling groups and older children into families.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Cold crisp sunny days

Sight seeing drives in the car with my family in this kind of weather

Yummy hot drinks for those drives

What's New?

Well, I went maternity clothes shopping yesterday. I no longer had any pants that fit and was spending all my time in flannel pj bottoms. I even had them on when our priest visited this week! It was fun to shop but all the stores are full of Spring clothes...shorts, capris, tank tops...and it's 33 degrees outside! I did find some good jeans and a couple tops. I really feel pregnant now and look it (not just frumpy and chubby). My hubby commented that my tummy is "sticking out a mile". Yikes, what will he think 5 months from now?
On the adoption front...we are just waiting. I believe that we are next on the list for an infant girl! There is another family also with the same dossier date as ours so I hope we both get referrals the same day. Hubby is REALLY anxious to get the call! He's got to get going on his shots and travel plans soon.
Here's the boys this morning playing "space ship" in the closet. I had to open the door to take their picture. It reminded me of playing "airplane" with my sister when we were little. We had neat little flash lights to use.



A Few of My Favorite Things

Cetaphil Lotion
A Clean Car
Veggies and Dip
Fresh Sheets
Butterfly Kisses From My Boys

The Due Date

Well today is our adoption due date...sort of. When we sent in our dossier we knew referrals for baby girls were taking about 7 months. We are at that 7 month waiting mark. We should hear news of new referrals soon and know more about how much longer it will be. I was overdue with both of my pregnancies and this feels sort of the same......waiting a bit more! We are ready for our daughter...but of course there will be the additional months of waiting after referral until travel to bring her home. Waiting, waiting, waiting.....not so gracefully.

Baby Names

Mr. P says that since we are having two babies we should name them Lilo and Stitch. We won't be letting him choose the names!

A Few of My Favorite Things

The Library
Burt's Bees Apricot Oil
Cotton clothing
Green grass
Clean floors

The Crock Pot

I am trying to make more dinners ahead of time or get started earlier in the day. So, this morning I put Potato Soup in the crock pot to cook all day. It was yummy, easy and little clean up. My pregnancy nausea/hideous heartburn isn't gone yet (I keep hoping it will be subsiding soon as I'm almost 13 weeks along and this is when I felt better with the other pregnancies). Having cereal or take-out for every meal is wearing thin so I'm trying to cook but have it be easy. I need quick, easy and yummy recipes for the crock pot (or ones for getting rid of heartburn). Leave me a recipe in the comments section...I'll be soooo thankful. Better yet, come on over and cook it for us;)

A Few of My Favorite Things

Books
Slippers
Tea with milk
Quilts
Watching a movie in bed

Love at church

I love our faith. We converted to Orthodox Christianity 11 years ago. I love our church. When I walk into our parish I often think to myself how excited I am to be there surrounded by so many loving people. The beautiful Nave with icons, candles and incense immediately calms my soul. Today I was especially happy and thankful at the church. My hubby was working so the boys and I were on our own. Sometimes this is a daunting task (I know...what will it be like with 2 more in tow?). The Orthodox church traditionally does not have pews in the nave. We have a few pews at the back and on the sides but the center of the nave is open. We stand for the services. Of course, you can sit when you are tired too. The great thing about the open floor plan is that my kiddos stand with us, sit in front of us on the floor or wander around and sit or stand with others. Baby Guy is in the SUPER busy phase and often much of the service I spend walking in and out of the service with him. Our narthex has a large window so you can still hear and see the service and take little noisy ones out when needed. Today was such a blessing. Baby Guy-Busy Guy spent the service (today was a baptism and liturgy) with different people holding him and entertaining him with watches, books, trinkets, etc. Our boys have wonderful Godparents (with 4 daughters) who all love to have the kids sit with them. I had a wonderful time with Mr P, and Tuba got to serve on the altar today. It still gets me all teary to watch him carrying the candle. It was a great day. Thank you to all the wonderful people in our church!

A Few of My Favorite Things

dark chocolate covered almonds
painted toenails
kittens
flip flops
sunshine

Should boys own a Nativity Set?

My boys received this beautiful Nativity Set for a Christmas gift. It came in the mail late so they opened it today. After opening the box and setting up the scene I was giving a little "talk" about how they should treat the Holy Family and play with the set in a respectful way. Mr. P...of course...says, "the people can still be rocket ships, right Mom?".


Having just watched The Sound Of Music...I thought it would be fun to add "a few of my favorite things" to all my blog posts. Here's the first.

A Few of My Favorite Things

lip gloss
meatloaf
little boys with fresh haircuts
flannel pj's
pictures of people

Exciting News!!!

The Wild At Heart Family is getting wilder! We are thrilled to announce I am pregnant. We are expecting a baby in July!!!!! We were hoping to wait until we got our referral of our soon to be baby girl from Ethiopia and announce them together....but it looks like our referral may still be a couple of months away. We are busy planning and looking forward to "twins". Twins who won't have the same birthday but will be fairly close in age and be born around the world from each other!