Adoption Book Giveaway Winners!!!

Thank you to everyone who entered!! Even if you are not the lucky winner(s) don't be discouraged...this book retails for $10.95 so it's very affordable and I hope you get a chance to order a copy and share it with your families!!

And now for the winners...

Drum roll!!

Selected by Random.Org the two lucky winners are:

Comment #1 and Comment #20

Congrats Jen and Amy! 
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I will be emailing you soon so I can send the book to each of you!!

And I forgot to mention that they are signed by the author...way cool!!

Thanks for entering and please help spread the word about this wonderful book!!

LDS Adoption Book Giveaway!!

About a month ago I got an email from Shari Guess, author of a new children's adoption book called Once Upon A Baby. She's hoping to spread the word about this unique book portraying LDS adoption! I was so excited when she asked me to review it and agreed to send me 2 copies to giveaway on my blog! 
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 Of course the best way to review a children's book is to read it to a child, so as soon as I pulled it out of the packaging Adam was on my lap and we eagerly started reading! 20 minutes later I had read the book to him 5 times upon his repeat request! We LOVE this book, I even got teary eyed the very first time I read it :)

I love a book that can get my 4 year old to ask questions and in this case Once Upon A Baby prompted a great little talk about adoption. He asked me repeatedly if the book was about him and Cooper and loved the illustrations. When we got to the part in the book that introduces the birth parents he asked me if that was Diane and/or L. The book beautifully portrays our premortal existence and the illustrations tie into Shari's sons personal adoption story..if you visit her website www.onceuponababybook.com,  you can read her story and gain an understanding of where her passion and love for adoption all started!

Here's a little sneak peek into the book:

So now for the GIVEAWAY!!

Shari has graciously given me TWO copies of Once Upon A Baby to give away to two lucky winners!! By following the instructions you can increase your chances of winning with multiple entries so read the following carefully!!

 
Here is how to enter:


To enter this giveaway  leave a comment on this post...you will automatically be entered! ...just make sure to include your email in your comment so I can contact the winner!

You can get extra entries by doing any of the following and leaving an additional comment for each one...don't forget to include your email in each entry too!

LIKE Once Upon A Baby on Face Book (leave a comment here saying you did)

Follow my blog (if you already follow just leave a comment here saying so)

Add my button to your blog (leave a comment here letting me know you did)

Share this giveaway on your Face Book wall (leave a comment letting me know)

Blog about this giveaway, include a link back to this post (make sure to leave me a link to your blog post in your comment)

The giveaway ends Wednesday at 9pm
I will be picking a winner through Random.org...GOOD LUCK!





Full disclosure: I was not compensated in anyway for this post. I love adoption and want to spread the word!

Mommy reminiscing...

This is one of my favorite pictures from our vacation last year and I love it for a number of reasons. . I love that Adam and I got to share a special moment together feeding these birds. We share a fascination of animals so when we do things like this together it makes me extra happy. .
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To any other person it might not have been a big deal..but to Adam I know it was magical so it made it magical for me too.
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I love that he paid close attention to the instructions he was given.
For a 3 year old that is no easy feat! .


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He stood perfectly still even though he was quite surprised and little bit scared when all these birds landed on him and practically tore his shirt off! .
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He held his little cup of nectar as steady as he could and I only wish I could have captured the moment right after this one, when he was grinning from ear to ear.


I LOVE this boy!

Adoptive Couple Spotlight: Paul & Rachel

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 Check out this cute family who's hoping to adopt again!

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Paul and I met while attending college. We lived a couple of blocks apart from each other, and were in the same ward (Church). I (Rachel) fell for him fast. I remember telling my roommates soon after I met Paul how cute I thought he was, and I asked them if they thought there was any way that he would ever notice me. After a few weeks flirting and trying to feel things out one of Paul's best friends asked me out! I was completely confused and worried that now Paul would never ask me out. Apparently the guys hadn't talked about things and when they did they decided to let me make the choice between them. After a few dates with both of them it was apparent to both Paul and I that there was something special between us.  We enjoyed being with each other so much that we continued to spend as much time as possible together. We enjoyed several fun activities like rafting down the river, country swing-dancing, and cooking dinner together. We also spent a lot of time studying in the library.  We were married in December 2005 and have enjoyed sharing all of life's adventures together since.
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Rachel loves cooking.  One of the many things on her bucket list is to go to culinary school, although right now she's learning and experimenting with food for Paul and Adalaide to enjoy (or not enjoy as the case may be).  She also enjoys sewing and is currently enjoying making toys and a quiet book for Adalaide.  As the youngest of eleven children (eight girls), Rachel loves talking and could talk to anyone forever, about anything!
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Paul graduated a few years ago with my Master's Degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University and shortly thereafter earned his CPA license.  He loves sports. In particular basketball and baseball. The New York Yankees are definitely his favorite baseball team and the Utah Jazz are his favorite basketball team.  Growing up he dreamed that he would play for the Jazz, but that got cut short when he didn't make the high school basketball team. :) Dreams sometimes change...
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Adalaide is our beautiful little girl! She joined our family in June 2010 through adoption and we have enjoyed every moment with her (especially the late nights/early mornings)! We have loved watching her grow and learn new things each day.  She is a very energetic little girl and keeps us on our toes.  She loves animals and can tell you what any animal "says" (even animals like a butterfly, a turtle, and a ladybug - we got creative)!  She loves babies and will be a great big sister.
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Our blog is: http://www.paulracheladoption.blogspot.com/

Our profile: https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/26379362/ourMessage.jsf

Our e-mail: paulandrachel1207@gmail.com

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The truth about the SAHM- Stay-at-Home-Mom

While we were waiting to start our family my number one goal with our future kids was to be a stay-at-home-mom to them.  At the time I didn't think that it would ever be a possibility but a couple of years before Adam was born my employers allowed me to start working from home. I continued to work from home after Adam was born fully realizing how blessed I was to be able to be at home, keeping my salary and not have to take him to daycare and miss out on those big milestones from the first year.

When he turned one I gave my two week notice and embraced the status of full time stay-at-home-mom.

I was in heaven!!

Fast forward almost 4 years later...

 I.am.exhausted. tired. and worn out. 

oh, and exhausted.

Now don't get me wrong, I do recognize how blessed I am to be home with my kids. So many moms out there have to work as a necessity all the while wishing they could be in my position.

I guess what I didn't realize is that it wasn't going to be as glamorous as I had hoped it would be  

(insert big sarcastic LOL followed by a snort here)

Just two days ago Cooper threw up in my face. 

Lucky for me he didn't get me just in the face! He also got the side of my head and hair, my neck and most of my cleavage.

The best part is that I'd just had my first shower in 3 days and had only finished blow drying my hair about 30 minutes before.

Today was super fun too. I caught his cute chubby little hands splashing around in the upstairs potty as Adam was standing there peeing into it. 35 minutes later we repeated the same scenario in the downstairs bathroom.

You may be asking yourself, Why are those children playing in the bathroom, don't they have anything better to do?

Lucky for us our kids have lots of toys. A ridiculous amount actually. I could literally start a daycare with the amount of toys in our downstairs play area and the boys bedroom closets.

But don't worry, they don't play with them!!!

Why would they want to when there are so many other options:

Jumping on the couches.

Asking for snacks.

jumping on their beds.

climbing on chairs.

Begging for snacks.

pushing kitchen chairs around.

run around and around the kitchen table.

Screaming for snacks.

laying on the kitchen floor while I cook so I can trip over them.

Opening kitchen drawers.

emptying the clothes from their dressers.

Turning the tv volume up to 47 with the remote they shouldn't have in their chubby little hands.

running back and forth across the room hitting the walls and screaming.

Insisting that if they don't get another snack this instant they will die right now.

And this just happened today!!

So now you may be thinking WOW if she paid any attention to her kids they wouldn't be doing that.

I may have to punch you in the face.

These are the things that happen when I turn my back to do dishes, laundry, make beds, vacuum, take my Prozac, play Angry Birds on my phone, or go to the bathroom.

All of these things are completely legit.

Besides I took them to the park for an hour today 

so shut up.

Thank heavens for Prozac. It keeps me...

 so I can have...

And if the Prozac isn't kicking in it's OK cuz my doctor told me that on hard days I could take two..

 

Thank heavens I have an unhealthy relationship with food. At least it comforts me.

I'm also learning to say NO more often. I think it's really going to help me..

 

And of course I have my girlfriends! You keep my sane, you know who you are!!

Not giving in to the snack requests between meals is really helping the kids eat all their dinner too!

 

Of course the reason I'm so amazing is because I'm so selfless..

and incredibly ambitious..

It's the little things that make all the difference..

 

Like having an established routine in place.

Of course, every day can't be as blissful as today was. I really am looking forward to tomorrow.

Go ahead, ask me if I'm happy.

Little Karate Kid

  

Adam earned his WHITE belt in karate last night and we couldn't be more proud of him!!!

For Valentines Day, on of his preschool friends gave him a Valentine good for 2 free karate sessions so we were really excited to go try it out and see if he would like it.

Adam did great during the first class and then had a whole week to practice everything he had been taught.  I had no idea that so much about Karate is based on respect, self control and obedience! 

Last night he went back for his 2nd class and Adam's instructor asked him to recite the things he had learned and also to show him all the moves he had practiced. We saw a lot of improvement for his 2nd time!

 Stretching and warming up to do some Karate.

Practicing front jabs with a target

 

Practicing cross jabs and remembering to say HIYAAA!!

 

Practicing his front kick

In order to earn his white belt 
Adam had to be able to break a board with his hand!!

Hear they are having a discussion about what it takes to break a board..

 

One...Two...Three....HIIYYAAAA!!!

HE DID IT!!!

I don't think he believed it at first lol.!!
We are so proud of him, he did a great job!!

18 months old!

Little Cooper J. turned 18 months old this week!

He is such a spitfire and keeps us on our toes all the time, it's a good thing he is so stinking cute!

I took him to his 18 month well baby and he got 3 shots. I'm not sure who cried harder, Cooper, or his big brother Adam standing nearby watching his lil' bro get shots!! 

Cooper can say a handful of words: "Okay", "all done" and "up".

He gets all his other requests heard by screaming! lol. He is soooo feisty and stubborn which makes our days very eventful most of the time. I've never seen a little boy quite as strong willed as he is! He is a very picky eater but we've found that he loves marshmallows, and ice cream and doesn't like to share either of those with anyone lol.

When he isn't screaming and being feisty, he is usually smiling. He loves to play and sit in our laps & for some reason he can't get enough of being in his big brothers room :)

Today was his first day of being in the nursery at church. He did really well and Clayton and I enjoyed a quiet couple of hours not having to chase him around the halls :)

We all love him so much and love his sweet personality, that contagious smile and those gorgeous blue eyes!