It's about time!

Well what can I say things have been crazy and the last thing on my mind has been to update the blog. I am sorry. As most of my friends know my stepdad (Ray) passed away on September 26th. He had been in the hospital since July 14th. He is truly missed and my life will go on but there will always be a big hole where he is missing. Britton was very fortunate to get to meet him, but her time with him was cut short and for that I am very sorry. Britton has helped me get through this tough time, by just being herself, such a happy baby.

I really can't believe that next week she will be one. She is the best thing that has happened to Chad and I. We are closer than ever and so much in love with our little girl. Here are a couple of pictures of Britton and her Poppy (Grandpa Ray).

9 months old

Wow! It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing Britton home. The last few weeks have been crazy. My step dad has been in the hospital and undergone surgery with more treatments to come. We have been truly blessed and humbled by all the support and prayers that we have received. I truly believe that Britton has been some of the best medicine for her Poppy (the name Ray wants to go by). She is such a bright spot in all of our lives.

Britton is crawling all over the place and being so much more inquisitive. Just tonight she has started pulling herself to a standing position. I don't think it will take her too long to figure out how to walk. She now has 5 teeth and I am pretty sure another one on its way in as well.

We recently took Britton to Portrait Innovations for her 9 month pictures. I have attached a few here.






Thank you for checking in on us! Have a great week. Yes, Grandpa Bill, we have pictures for you that we will get in the mail this week. Love you!

Giggling little Girl

Here is a video of Britton and her cousin Maddy playing on the Fourth of July. Remember to go to the bottom of the page and mute the music first.



I guess that I either need to post more videos or write down the way to upload these videos to the blog. I finally figured it out.

Have a great weekend!

4th of July and more.....

So let's see, I can't think of any great excuse for not updating in the past few weeks except that I am spending quality time with my baby.

There are a ton of pictures to share of what has been going on in our life. Britton is getting so big and we are having so much fun with this little girl. Her personality is really showing up now. She is getting so close to crawling. She is talking so much and we are enjoying her giggle. We celebrated Grandma's birthday, father's day and the fourth of July.

Here are the pictures and there is also a video at the end from the family fourth of July celebration. We have also spent some great times with really good friends. I also think that Britton has met her future boyfriend.


Clapping for Grandma on her birthday!

Father's Day! Spent the day with Daddy!


Dinner with friends and hugging Sam. Sam is 1 year older than Britton. I think they may be destined to be together later in life. If not a couple the best of friends!

Just Chillin'


Working on crawling.


Hanging out with oldest cousin Clint at the twin's baseball game. Just after this picture Britton pulled on Uncle Chris' hat with such force that Clint got the blame. Sorry Clint.


Meeting Lauren for the first time.


Hanging out with Renee at Travis and Jill's Whopper of a party. We had such fun. I think that fireworks lasted about 3 hours.


Hanging out with Daddy during the fireworks. She was never phased by them. She even fell asleep.


Fourth of July outfit.


First flower for Britton's hair. Lucky had to check it out.


One tired baby, after shopping with Grandma and Mommy. Daddy and Poppy (Grandpa Ray) were playing golf.


Britton and her Poppy!

I hope that everyone has a great Friday. I hope to finish Britton's room this weekend. I am still working on the characters for the walls and need to hang a few things, but we are almost there.

Thank you for checking in on us!

She is growing up...

There are so many things to update you on. Britton is getting so big and I can't believe how fast it is going. It seems like just yesterday she was born, but no she is already 7 1/2 months old.

Let's see if i can remember everything that has gone on with her in the last month. Mother's Day was awesome. We went to church and then to brunch with my parents. We met at Applebees. Britton sat in the highchair at the restaurant for the first time. Of course she was the life of the party (As I sit here updating the blog she is sitting on the floor talking to her toys). Britton and Chad gave me a mothers bracelet that Chad actually made (not just ordered).

In the highchair at Applebees.

The 11th of May the adoption became final, so the following weekend we had a party celebrate and to thank the many family and friends for all the love and support we were given through out the entire process. I just can't believe that from the time that we started looking into adoption and then getting our beautiful daughter was less than one year.

Playing with Great Grandma at the Adoption final party!

Daddy's birthday was the 21st of May and also the day that Britton's first tooth broke through. This little girl is very rarely fussy and teething does not see to bother her for the most part. She now has two teeth. She also started on her vegetables the week of May 15th. We have also moved into the big bath tub.

Memorial Day weekend we did so many things. We went out to the lake one evening to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. (really Grandma wanted to show Britton off) Saturday evening we spent time with Mike and Toni and their daughter Sidney. Toni smoked chicken for dinner, which was awesome and then we got to take Britton swimming for the first time. She is going to be a water baby. We just have to be careful of the ears. Then on Monday we went to the zoo as a family. Britton loves to be outside.

Britton swimming at Mike and Toni's


Britton at the lake


At the zoo on Memorial Day

This week her second tooth has broken through and she is definitely becoming more and more independent. Last night Chad and I were working on folding laundry and Britton was showing great interest in the basket. So Chad picked her up and put her in the empty laundry basket. She loved playing in it for quite awhile. She is such a happy and curious baby.



Last weekend I did get a chance to work on Britton's scrapbook so I need to take some pictures and get a few of those pages up here for you.

Thank you for peeking in on us. Have a great week.

Update!

So I have really been slacking and I am very sorry.

Britton has been doing so many things this past month. She is now sitting up by herself and pulling all of her toys out of the basket just to find the perfect one to play with. She is holding her bottle by herself and we just started feeding her rice cereal this week.

On the 20th of April, she had tubes put in both ears. Since then she is even happier than she was before and when she talks it is quieter since she can now hear herself. She was such a trooper. I know one thing for sure and that was her surgery was way more difficult on mom and dad than it was on her.


Britton in her Easter Dress after church on Easter Sunday.

Sunglasses that Mommy insisted on buying for Britton.

Just before surgery. The nurses gave her the green teddy bear.

Last weekend we took Britton to the zoo for the first time. We plan to make this a habit after church on Sunday mornings. As is in the past we met up with our godson and family and enjoyed the Cinco deMayo festivities.

Tuesday evening we started rice cereal with Britton it was also the first time that she was in the high chair. She seems to really like the cereal.

Thank you for peeking in on us.

Almost 5 months

Wow, I really can't believe that Britton will be 5 months old on Monday. She is doing so well and is always so happy. We are so very blessed. Chad and I have always wanted to be parents, but never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would feel so absolutely complete and in love with this little girl so quickly.

I spoke with our attorney and we truly are playing the waiting game now that all of our home visits are complete. We just get to sit back and relax and wait for the six month mark. I can't believe that it is truly in only six weeks.

We have been doing a lot of playing on the floor and of course I have been taking pictures. I have a couple to post and a short video. Little Bit has found her loud (screeching) voice. It has been so funny to see her screech and then laugh at herself. Thank you for checking in on us.

Tomorrow evening I am going to spend the evening with friends scrapbooking. I hope that my creative juices continue. So I was able to get the video to upload. You might want to turn the music off at the bottom of the page and then come back and hit play on the video.

Britton Update

So, I know that I have slacked on updating everyone (sorry grandpa). The last couple of weeks have been really crazy. Britton came down with RSV and an ear infection. She is much better now and things are starting to get back to normal. I am so thankful for my mother in law and her flexible schedule that she was able to help us out so much. I think that it helped that she got uninterrupted time with Britton too! Even though Britton was sick she was still a very happy baby. I took one video on day 5 of RSV that I am posting at the end of this. You definitely would not know that she was sick just by watching the video.

With life getting back to normal, we had our last visit with the social worker earlier this week. It is a great feeling to be done with that, but now we just have to finish the 6 month wait for everything to be final. Our social worker, Iva, has been absolutely wonderful and we truly feel as though she is a member of our family after spending so much time with her through this whole process. Iva made things so easy for us and we really appreciate everything she has done for us.

I took a few pictures last weekend. I can't believe how much our little girl has grown. She weighs 18 pounds now and is wearing 6-9 months already. I just love to hear her in the morning and to see her smile when she wakes up. She is truly the light of my life! We are so very blessed. Thank you for checking in on us.

I have actually gotten to work on her book. Maybe this weekend I will get pictures taken of her pages and get some posted. Be on the lookout.

3 months old

Well this week Britton turned 3 months old. I took Friday off to spend the day with Britton and to take her for a 3 month follow up to the cardiologist to check out her heart murmur. Chad was not able to go to the doctor with us, I was a little nervous about this, but things turned out just fine. In fact we do not have to go back to see the cardiologist until she is 1 year old. Her heart murmur is getting better and we are past the time frame that it would get worse. Britton did very well during the EKG, listening, and then the sonogram. It is so hard to keep her absolutely still.






We have enjoyed a nice quiet weekend at home and not having to really do anything. We decided yesterday to have Britton's picture taken. The pictures turned out great, but the process was very trying. Our appointment was at 4 pm, they did not start on our pictures until almost 5 pm. We got done with one room and had to wait about 45 minutes for the next room and then another 45 minutes to view and order our pictures. Once we finally placed the order it was going to be another hour before they were printed so we decided to pick them up today. I think they were severely under staffed. I have attached a few of my favorites. I hope to get a couple of scrapbook pages done this next week for her book and will post pictures of those soon.

Thank you for peeking in on us.