Iowa Christmas!

this past weekend we celebrated our first iowa christmas with cruz! we were able to take friday off and hit the road about 8:00 that morning. i was a little worried about how cruz would do on a 5.5 hour road trip at the 'antsy' age of 18 months, but he was a ROCK STAR! he slept for about 2 hours in the morning and then we stopped at panera in waterloo for lunch. the last 2 hours to eldridge flew by and he did great, chatting away in the back seat. we stopped at grandma & papa reedy's first thing and he was so excited to see grandma jill again! he hung out with her while heath and i ran a few errands and got checked in at the hotel down the street. that night we headed over to heather & nate's and celebrated christmas with heath's immediate family. cruz had a blast playing with his cousins quinn (8) and gage (5.5) and loved being auntie heather's little 'lover'! we're so glad the weather cooperated so we could spend some quality time with all of them. on saturday we headed out to the wheatland community center for the big ahrens' family christmas celebration. cruz got to run around with his cousins and heath's cousins' kids and had a fun time...though he didn't let grandma jill get too far out of his site! she finally got him to lay down and nap for a bit, despite the chaos that surrounded him. it was fun to see everyone again and spend time with jill's family. we headed back to the hotel that night and let's just say i now know why people (parents of young children!) recommend getting a two-room suite in a hotel! cruz seemed to get his second wind when we got back and didn't want much to do with sleeping when we put him in his pack & play! heath and i laid on the beds in the dark for about a half hour before he finally fell asleep (and so did heath!). sunday morning we got up and hit the hotel swimming pool for a while before heading back to mike & jill's for a short visit before hitting the road again. cruz did awesome on the way home as well...yay! all in all, a great weekend!

cruz in a box!

presents!

sisters-in-law!

cousins! gage, cruz & quinn

merry christmas! love and hugs to all of our family in iowa! thanks for a fun weekend!

heath, angie & cruz

One Year Ago Today....

we received the phone call that would change our lives forever! bettina from lss called me mid-morning to tell me that she and cory had news for us, but i had to get heath conferenced in on the call as well. if any of you remember, this was not an easy task! i knew this was the moment we had been waiting for for 20 months and now that the moment had arrived i couldn't locate the daddy-to-be! i finally reached him and we got everyone on the line to find out that we had been referred a ridiculously cute 5 1/2 month old baby boy name juan de dios cardona ospina! we both rushed home to open up the email with his picture and all of his info and immediately fell in love with him and knew he was meant to be our's. we are so lucky to have cruz as our son!

born in my heart:

mommy & daddy love you cruz and can't wait to see you as a big brother in just a couple months! (speaking of which....how ironic that i sat in the clinic this morning thinking about our call a year ago while i was now waiting for my 30-week baby appointment!). God certainly has his own plans for all of us!

Cruz's First Visit With Santa

on sunday we made our annual trek to gertens greenhouse in inver grove heights to pick out our family christmas tree. this year was extra special being able to witness it through the eyes of a child! we actually got to meet santa (let's just say waiting in line was definitely the hardest part for one little boy!) and take some photos with him. it was pretty cold so we had to make a pretty quick decision on the tree, but i think it turned out to be a good one. it's so much fun experiencing everything for the first time through the eyes of your child!

here comes the big guy himself:

waiting was definitely the hardest part:

the best picture i could get - at least he wasn't crying!

on the hunt for the perfect tree:

christmas tree shopping is hard work!

happy holidays!