Wow...what a year it has been! Such an exciting year to say the least. It's been almost a year since I posted last, yep, I've been that busy. I began documenting all milestones on cloud/calendar. It just seemed to be easier.
So a little about this year....I purchased a new vehicle several months ago. I really love all of the options, including the moon roof, however, I miss the space that my Sequoia had. When I trade this one in, I'd like to get another Sequoia or an Expedition.
We lost 2 of our furbabies over the past several months, Ali and Ziggy. One had CHF and the other had bloat. It's been rough to say the least but we got a blue Dane, Stellablue. I've became really good friends with the breeder, love her to death. Stella is feisty, just like her mama (me)! She is going to be the type that growls at people before they come in, I can just tell. She began having a big girl bark when she was still tiny. Stella also went on a beach trip with us this summer. Of course, like the rest of us, she loved it. She's almost 6 months and is pushing close to 70 lbs. I absolutely LOVE her! She already is such a great protector, which without Ziggy, we really need. The breeder, Tracey, put me at the top of her list for pick of the liter when she has more. Not sure I want to take on another Dane at the moment and in a minute, you'll know why.
Our summer has been CRAZY busy. We traveled about all summer and loved it. We went to Covington and Atlanta, Ga, the beach numerous times and Fl. It was so much fun with the family that I literally cried when I knew that our family trips were over. I'm teary right now thinking about how much fun we had this summer, traveling as a family...seeing and doing things that we don't normally do. In Ga, we went to the set of the Vampire Diaries and the Originals. Yessss, I'm a groupie..and??? I LOVE Ian Somerhalder and the rest of the cast. We went to the Coca Cola plant in Atlanta which was really neat. At the beach, well we did what we normally do, cook-out, hang out at the pool, go to the beach and spend QT with my family since all 3 in a row are owned by my aunt, cousin and my mom. Florida was our most recent trip. We stayed at a gorgeous resort with a gorgeous pool and tiki bar. While in Fl., we went to the Magic Kingdom one day which was nice, but it was soooooo hot, we also traveled to Sanibel for the day. The remainder of the time we pretty much hung around the resort. Everyday, Matthew would wake up and the first thing he'd say was "pool". We had just as much fun there as anywhere, it was so relaxing and it was nice not to be on the go constantly.
So, onto our most recent, exciting news. We adopted a newborn baby boy born on Aug. 13th. Strangely, it's been a year since my 1st mc after having Matthew. It's really crazy how things turn out. A year ago, my heart was shattered and now is jumping with joy. We named him Dylan Sloan. Sloan is after my grandpa which I miss every single day. The birthmom and I have a great relationship. I want Dylan to always know how much he was loved by her and that's why she chose a better life for him. Our family has adjusted very well. He fits right in with us. The day he was born, we arrived to give our hugs to the birthmom prior to the c-section....once he was born, we were the first to see and spend quality time with him. The birthmom's mother was there and she also got to see him. I know this was very difficult on her but they all knew it was best. He's 2 weeks today and he grows more on us each day. He's a really good baby. He does have his days and nights confused but that's ok, we're very consistent in getting him on a good schedule. He only cries when he's hungry or needs to be changed. He's precious!!!!! Matthew and Tommy are in love with little Dylan. I'm so glad that they love him so much or it would have made the adoption difficult. We had a room at the hospital the entire time Dylan was there. The nurses were amazing and took such good care of our family. I'm still trying to soak it all in and actually haven't given up on having another biological child. I had a mc in Aug. 2012 and in late March 2013. Since then, we have tried and have had several procedures and still nothing. I was on fertility meds while we were waiting to see if we were going to be Dylan's adoptive parents. I surely didn't want to go off of those if the bm chose another family. During the week of Dylan's grand debut was the week I would find out if we conceived. I was actually relieved that we got a negative test. I want to be happy about Dylan right now and I just didn't want attention off of him. We chose not to do fertility meds this month but I believe I missed my ovulation. Oh well, there's always next month. I'd love to have 4 children. I thought 3 was my magic number but I really want to try for that girl. I'll be the mom with 4 boys...LOL...or 3.....3 is just fine.
I will admit, the day Dylan was born was very emotional for me. As I was walking down the hospital hall, I saw displays of baby things, breast pumps etc. I had a breakdown as I walked down the hall as I'm teary now just thinking about how my heart hurt that day. I was glad that my bestfriend was there to talk to about everything since she understands more than anyone ever has, even Gabe even though he really tries. As happy as I was, I was also devastated about all that I have been through and to wish I was the one in there having a baby. The pump brought back memories of nursing Matthew. Those days are gone and I miss them terribly. I never thought I'd say I miss nursing but I do, I miss it a lot. That was bonding time for us. It's hard to believe my tiny little baby is already 2 1/2. Where did the time go? Just yesterday I was laying in the bed having horrible contractions but excited non the least that my baby that I tried so hard for was on his way. There's no feeling in the world that will ever compare to meeting your baby for the 1st time. With Dylan, the adoption was so fast that we didn't have much time to plan for it, we didn't have time for a shower or anything. We didn't announce to the family that we were adopting until a couple of days prior to his due date. Like I said, it's been a crazy, exciting summer.
Tommy hasn't began school yet which has been wonderful, I love the longer summer! I'll be so sad when he goes back. He has been such a huge help to me this summer with Matthew and now Dylan. Matthew is in speech therapy because he's unable to articulate his words very well. He's a smart lil boy but his speech isn't quite there. I absolutely LOVE his therapist. She's awesome and takes little videos of him and sends them to me. Those are memories and she knows how crazy I am about keeping all of that stuff. So anyways, once a week, for an hour, Tommy and I would drop Matthew off and go have lunch. It was so nice to spend that time with my oldest, most handsome 11 year old. I know I'll probably cry the first time Tommy isn't with me during that hour, that was our time since we don't get that very often. Oh geez, here goes more tears. I never ever ever cry anymore, I don't have time to. No seriously, I don't. I just love all of my boys so much and this summer has been so much fun with all of them! Hard to believe Tommy is now in middle school! Doesn't feel right! Just yesterday I was holding his tiny little hand walking him to kindergarten. My baby is growing up too fast, all of them are! I seriously don't know what I'll do when they're all grown, I don't even like to think about it. I suppose then I'll spoil my grandkids :)
So more about the summer. I went to the NKOTB concert in June. I passed up a family trip to Sanibel just for this concert and let me tell you, it was WELL worth it. The package tour was awesome, best concert in a while! Last week, I went to Bruno Mars. That was ok, not as good as NKOTB but it was good. I'm going to Maroon 5 in a couple of weeks and Justin Timberlake in November. I'm so excited for JT!!!! That was the summer concerts I wanted to go to and get to go to all of them.
I'm looking forward to the fall, pumpkins, leaves...all of it and my favorite time of the year, Christmas! It will be fun with all of the boys this year. I don't know when the elves will find time to appear but lets hope they do...haha
I sure hope a year doesn't go by before my next update, I rarely ever get behind the computer and refuse to type all of this from my cell phone.
The update was good, gave me time to reflect and a few tears here and there since I seriously have no time to cry about anything or even get mad...Hahaha! Now I know why my sister is always even tempered...all of those kiddos, she doesn't have time for emotions. LOL.....
