2nd post placement visit

We have our 2nd post placement visit this afternoon and I will have the boys better prepared this time. If you remember our last visit you know these visits can be pretty comical.

We are excited to keep things moving so we can finalize Catie Beth's adoption. I will post later about how things went. For now I am a crazy cleaning lady!! I don't know why I stress so much about these visits. Our Social Worker Joann is the best ever. She has three boys as well and we always have a great time talking about our kiddos. She has never left our living room but I always feel the need to have every room as clean as possible.  

New blog

Hey guys the time has come for me to start a new blog.  This blog was started with the intention to keep family and friends informed about how things were going in our adoption process for Catie.  I have discovered how much I enjoy blogging and I would like to continue to blog to keep our family and friends up~to~date on our family.  You can now find out how our family is doing at Journeys through Life, Love, and Laughter .  Click on this link to view our new blog. I am going to try and keep the old blog about Catie's adoption.  I know I have gotten way off the topic of  adoption at times.  I bet most of you thought we were all done with her adoption but we actually still have several things to do before the adoption is final.  We still have two more post placement visits with our social worker.  Then we will receive the consent to adopt from our agency.  Then we can have our attorney file a petition to the court in our county for Catie's adoption.  At that time we will wait for a court date and we will have to actually go to court and appear before a judge to  finalize Catie's adoption.  Once her adoption is finalized we can then apply for her Certificate of Citizenship.  Then we will be done.  :o)  Clear as mud right?

I love these pictures....

CJ~"do you want to see the woof, woof?"

Catie~ "Woof, woof"  with a big smile then she taps on the window to get Doogie's attention.  (that is our dogs name)
Doogie is checking things out.  
Catie is very concerned about Doogie getting so close....so she grabs CJ.

What a good big brother.....he is taking care of little sis and telling her it's Okay.
Aren't they just the cutest little kiddo's ever?  

Video

Here is the video of our journey to Catie Beth.....We shared it at her baby dedication. It is on youtube and is public so I will most likely take it down after a few days but enjoy while you can. Grab a tissue you might need it. ;o)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!!!

Well today was our sweet Catie's first Birthday!!  We had a lot of family in town and had a great time celebrating.  We will see if anyone wants to come and visit us again.  We kept everyone hopping all weekend long.  It started out with soccer games on Sat. morning.  All three boys had games and luckily they were all at different times so our family could see each of them play a full game.   Then we were off to have a very special birthday party for a very SPECIAL BABY GIRL!!  Catie was a trooper and made it through the day with a short half hour nap.  

She was funny opening her presents.  She loved all the cards!!  She also loved the gifts but she was so funny to watch with the cards.  I would open one and she would grab it from me and babble as she looked at each card very intently....It sounded like she was reading the cards to herself.  What a cutie pie!!  And of course no first birthday is complete without messy cake!!  

After the party we all piled into our cars and had a fun dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  It was busy but we all enjoyed getting our fingers dirty eating wings.  Then it was off to bed.

Today we all made it to church on time.  This is a huge feat for us as I think since Catie has been home that had not happened yet.  Of course we skipped Sunday school and only went to the late service.  We had Catie's baby dedication today. It proved to be a tearful event.  After waiting so long for little miss to come home it was surreal to be celebrating all these milestones together.  She is the most amazing blessing in our lives and we are so excited to watch her grow up and become a beautiful woman someday.  

Okay on with the pictures

Catie's first photo shoot!!

I took Catie to have her picture made for the first time this morning.  It was a challenge to get her to smile.  She wasn't scared, she just didn't know what to think.  Here is a sampling of our first photo session.  I may be a bit biased but, Isn't she the cutest little girl you have ever seen? 

Left over pig tails

Check it out.  Catie has such cute hair!!!  This is what is left over after we take out the piggies.  No kidding her hair stays like this until we wash it.  LOL!!