Happy 3rd Birthday Cody!

Here is Cody all dressed up for his first day of preschool! He loves his backpack and wore it all morning!!

First Day of Preschool!

Today is Cody's first day of Preschool!! I was so worried, scared and happy for my little boy today. He was supposed to ride the bus, but due to miscommunication with the bus transportation, my mom and I took Cody to school. I was relieved because I met his teacher and got to take pictures of Cody in his classroom on the first day.

Loving the table set!!

Enjoying the new toys

Here are a few of the candids taking over the past week or so. They love their new toys that they received for Christmas. And Cody will be getting more this weekend when we celebrate his birthday!!

Update to our meeting

We met with our lawyer for the first time today. She took down all the information so that she could do the paperwork. We meet with her again on Thursday to sign all the papers. She will file for an adoption finalization court date on Friday! So, we should hear when our court date will be on Friday. Praise God!! I am just so thankful for a quick lawyer so that we can get this process over with!! Our lawyer was estimating a February 12th date since it would be about 30 days after her filing in court. What a great early Valentine's Day present that would be. I will post when I know for sure. Now, my thoughts are on planning the Adoption Bash!!

Wonderful news!

Today, Cody became an adoptive placement in our home!! Many of you know that on a cold, snowy Tuesday, January 27, 2004, we brought home a 10 day old premie straight from the hospital. I was called at 10am on my cell phone in my classroom and I was on break when our caseworker called. I was in shock to get a newborn placement! I was even in more shock when they asked if we could be placed with him at 5pm that same day! We didn't know how long we would keep him, but I fell instantly in love with him. I will never forget the day as long as I live. And now, 3 years later, he switched from foster placement to adoptive placement. We were given his lifebook and signed LOTS of agency paperwork. Tomorrow, I call our lawyer to get the ball rolling to finalize his adoption! Praise the Lord!! We are overjoyed! His adoption will probably be in February!! We are going to have an adoption bash to celebrate our dream coming true! And another wonderful surprise is that we can start calling him by his new adoptive name with our last name. This is great because we can enroll him in preschool with his new adoptive name with the notarized papers that our agency gave us.

Alot going on...

Well, Cody's case in foster care is coming to an end! Praise the Lord! On January 4, 2007 Cody will become an adoptive placement and no longer a foster placement. Then we hire our adoption lawyer to prepare the paperwork and file in court to adopt Cody. His finalization court date should be in February! Finally, our precious son will be legally ours forever!! We are busy planning an adoption bash to celebrate this event!!

Cody starts preschool around his 3rd birthday! He gets to ride a big, yellow schoolbus and will attend preschool 4 days a week for 2.5 hours. I know that preschool will really help him.

We had to take Carleigh to the dr yesterday. She has an ear infection in her right ear. Boy it wasn't any fun diagnosing it though! It took 3 adults to hold her down and flush out the ear wax in her ear so that the peditrician could see inside her ear! Poor baby! She is doing better and is speaking lots of new words. This week, her new word is "up." Whenever she gets up or wants us to pick her up she says "up." She also says "book" alot. She is on the verge of a vocabulary explosion!

We are also planning Cody's 3rd birthday party! January - March will be busy with birthday parties and adoption celebrations, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Loving the kitchen!

Carleigh loves her kitchen set!

Christmas evening

We had Christmas dinner with Jennifer's family at her sister's house. The kids got to open their presents from Mamaw and Pappaw and Aunt Connie, Uncle Jerry and cousin Brittany. They were in toy overload afterwards!! The biggest hit was Carleigh's Baby Grand Piano. They were fighting over it!!

Christmas morning

Santa was good to Cody and Carleigh this year. Carleigh received a kitchen set, play food, Doodle Bear, books, V Smile Baby videogame system and lots of clothes. Cody received a preschool center, Little People Preschool playset, Wiggles microphone, cd player and lots of clothes.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas eve, we celebrated with Matt's family at his sister's house. Cody and Carleigh loved spending time with their cousins.

Christmas Party

On Saturday, December 23, we went to a Christmas party and the kids got to see Santa again. (We have seen Santa 3 times!) Cody loved Santa but Carleigh was terrified of him again!

Santa came to our door!

And brought Cody a firetruck, bunny and book. Carleigh received a bunny and a baby doll! Carleigh wasn't so sure about Santa this time!!

Enjoying Babysitting!

Matt and I are babysitting our close friends' baby. He is such a cutie pie. The moment Carleigh woke up and saw the baby at our house for the first time, she said "Baby." She has been mesmerized by baby DJ. Even Cody has watched him and is so gentle around him. When he was going home, they watched as his mommy put him in his carrier, making sure that he was all right. Ok, it gave me an urge to adopt again, but I still need to wait a few years!!

Enjoying my time off!

Yesterday was my official first day off for Christmas. I am thrilled to have two full weeks off! I do not have one gift wrapped yet!! So, tomorrow I am wrapping and cleaning my house! I plan on baking later in the week and may let Carleigh make her own special Christmas cookie. I am hoping to slow down time over the next two weeks.

Cody's IEP meeting was last Friday at the Kindergarten Center. There were 14+ people there and at first it seemed overwhelming. However, Cody is going to be the happiest little guy when he gets to attend preschool 4 days a week starting around his 3rd birthday! He also gets to ride a school bus!! My little baby boy whom I brought home from the hospital at 5 lbs 2 oz is now old enough to attend preschool! It is amazing how time flies! Carleigh will be in preschool before I know it.

Not so sure about Santa...

So sweet with Santa!!

Gotta brag!!

Last night was the annual Foster/Adoptive Parents & Family Christmas Party at our agency. The winners were announced for the "Cutest Kids" Photo Contest. Cody and Carleigh were the WINNERS!! Woohooo!! I knew that their Halloween costumes were adorable and would be highly considered as the best at the agency. Cody's prize was a Thomas the Train set and Carleigh won a Disney Princess Baby Doll!! Also, they watched a magician, had pizza, played in the toddler fun zone area, and got to sit on Santa's lap. Santa gave Carleigh a handmade blanket wrapped around a lavendar Care Bear and Cody got a coloring book, crayons, stuffed bear and candy. We had a fun time and I ran into someone that I went to elementary - high school with!! What a small world and we were wearing the SAME holiday sweater!!

Above and below are a few pics of the Christmas party!

Christmas Card Photo

This is the photo that will be on our Christmas card this year. It is almost impossible to get a perfect shot of two very active toddlers. I really like Cody's smile in this pic! Many of you will be receiving this photo in the mail within in the next couple of weeks.