Updates...

today was a big day for us! we started off with an 8:00 meeting with cory, our lss social worker. we had a great visit with her, but it was a bit bittersweet...it was our final post-placement meeting! we are officially done with all of our adoption 'requirements'. it's kind of crazy and very hard to believe that this journey we began back in january of 2009 is complete. cory did share some sad news with us: los pisingos, cruz's first home, is closed. no one here is exactly sure why it's closed, but we have heard it's possibly a tax issue. unfortunately it's not sounding very good for them reopening. i've been thinking about this on and off all day and it makes me so sad thinking that it may not be there when we got back someday and it makes me wonder where all of the wonderful people there have gone. i hope and pray that someday they are able to reopen their doors and continue to provide a wonderful first home for more children. before cory left, i took a quick photo of her with cruz:

at lunch time, tia mel and i joined the kids at primrose for stone soup. we had a fun time seeing libby in her new room and seeing cruz with all of his friends. check out libby sitting at her table!

this afternoon libby also had her 9-month appointment. she was supposed to get her flu-shot, but we discovered that the poor girl has a double ear infection! so not shots for her, but we did get her stats: height: 28.25", 75th percentile weight: 17 lbs, 15 oz, 25th-50th percentile head: 18, 90th percentile heath is busy in the kitchen getting ready for thanksgiving. we certainly have a lot to be thankful for! happy thanksgiving to all!

9 Months!

little miss libby turned 9 months old on wednesday! what a little sweetheart she is.

all snuggled in:

if the camera is out, cruz isn't far away...a shout out to tia mel! we love you!

need to schedule libby's 9-month doctor appointment. stats to follow...pretty sure she'll be catching up to cruz soon! :)

Happy Halloween!

halloween was so much fun this year! cruz wasn't sick, the weather was pretty nice, tia mel joined us for trick-or-treating and the kids loved it! our celebrating started friday night with cruz and me going up to our church for their fall festival. he had a blast doing the cake walk, playing games, getting his face painted and dancing to a live band! we'll definitely be back next year.

on saturday we had a little break from our halloween festivities, but that didn't stop us from celebrating! we pulled off a surprise party for my mom's retirement! it took a lot of planning and a LOT of little white lies, but we did it. she was definitely surprised and had a great time visiting with several of her family, friends and former co-workers. unfortunately we didn't get many pictures...we were too busy having fun!

cruz provided the entertainment as he sang and played guitar with my aunt darlene:

monday night our halloween festivites continued with trick-or-treat street at primrose. we went to each classroom for a treat and fun game or activity.

on tuesday night, heath and cruz carved pumpkins!

finally, we had a blast trick-or-treating with tia mel on wednesday night! libby made it around our cul-de-sac and then she went home to help hand out candy with heath. we took cruz to about 10 more houses around the corner and then called it a night.

hope you all had a happy halloween as well!

Pumpkin Time

after a weeklong forecast of rain for last saturday, we woke up to the weatherman assuring us that "the rain had shifted" and it was now supposed to be a party cloudy day with temperatures in the upper 60's. with that promise, we decided to call grandma & grandpa johnson up (at 7:30 in the morning!) and re-invite them to go to a pumpkin patch! after twisting their arms (ha!), they agreed and planned to meet us at our house around 11:30 following cruz's haircut and trip to primrose to see costume kim. cruz had a blast singing and listening to stories with costume kim, but reminded us in the car that "i miss grandma". needless to say, he was delighted to see her and grandpa when we arrived back home. unfortunately, the weatherman seemed to get things a bit wrong...his original forecast was much more accurate than what he promised that morning. the sun never did come out, the misty, drizzly rain set in and the temp hovered around 50. so...we ended up going to a covered pumpkin patch/nursery and still had a great time, despite the cool, damp weather. cruz loved the hay maze (and chasing grandma around in it) and libby stayed all snuggly warm in her stroller. it was great being one of only about three families in the nursery...we pretty much had the rule of the place and the workers were so sweet. think we'll be making another trip back for our christmas tree this winter! dancing with his friends at costume kim

running through the hay maze

hi frankenstein!

libby all snuggled & happy

all in all a very fun day!

Eight Months Old!

yikes! life is busy! good, but busy. i just realized i haven't blogged since libby turned seven months. eek. anyway...as of today little miss libby is eight months old! it is unreal to me how fast she is growing up. she is now army crawling all over the place and can pretty much get herself wherever she wants to be. she LOVES watching her big brother - cruz can always make her laugh. she also loves playing with his toys now (especially his cars and trucks), so we're starting to see a little bit of jealousy come out. it's so much fun to watch them interact and start to play together. today cruz asked me if he could "play with libby?" so cute! nothing else too exciting to report. we're hoping to head to a pumpkin patch next weekend...if we make it, i'll do my best to post pictures! here are a few shots of libby at 8 months:

happy fall!

Libby is Seven Months!

time continues to fly by! libby turned 7 months old last friday and is getting to be such a big girl! here she is this morning all ready for school:

we've had lots of exciting milestones around our house lately:

+libby is now eating cereal & baby food 2-3 times per day and sits in the highchair for her 'meals'

+cruz is now sleeping in a toddler bed! we've only found him sleeping on the floor twice, so it seems to be going fairly well

+cruz moved up to the early pre-school 2 room at primrose the day after labor day

+libby is sitting up on her own

as you can see, life is good at the reedys!

love and hugs to you all!

Up North 2012!

last week we were fortunate enough to spend the week with my family at kavanaughs resort on beautiful sylvan lake near brainerd. after a crazy week prior (cruz getting over croup, libby's ear infection, my sinus infection, cruz's second trip to the doctor - which included another chest x-ray!), we were more than ready for a week of rest and relaxation. the weather was absolutely perfect and kavanaughs turned out to be the perfect family vacation spot for us (we've already booked the same cabin for the same week next summer!). it was wonderful having my family there to help with the kids and of course both cruz and libby loved all the attention from grandma, grandpa and tia mel!

highlights from the week included:

+ cruz LOVING superman ice cream & eating an entire cone by himself (twice)
+ renting the pontoon for the day - cruz caught his first fish (bigger than daddy's!)
+ libby scooting a little bit and rolling everywhere
+ libby's first attempts at baby food - bananas!
+ libby's first 2 teeth popping through
+ cruz & heath's "boys' trip" into brainerd for 'old mcdonalds'
+ libby, tia's & my "girls' trip" to maddens for coffee
+ the duck races
+ swimming in the lake & the pool almost every day
+ riding the surrey bike with cruz up front
+ flying daddy's balsa wood planes & grandpa's kite
+ a sunset walk on the dock with cruz & him saying, "i want to touch the moon mommy!"
+ cruz cuddling in bed with grandma every morning
+ walks with tia & grandma
+ an amazing week with the family

a look back at the week through photos:

thanks for a great week grandma, grandpa & tia! we're already looking forward to next year!