More Random Pictures

Some One Month Pictures

I really wasn't in the mood to be photographed, but Mommy insisted that since it was my one month birthday we take a bunch of pictures. She had to send some to my birthmom, so she was trying to get some to show how big I am now. I endured the photo session, but saved my best expressions for after she put the camera away. Hehe.

SwagBucks Update

Well, it has been just over a week since I put up the information on SwagBucks. I already have 58 SwagBucks which is equivalent to one $5.00 Amazon gift certificate or $5.00 Starbucks gift certificate and about 13 more towards the next one. I haven't aggressively been searching everything known to man, but when I've had to do a search, I've used their search box.

2 Things I've Learned:

Number 1. It's important to have friends to be successful. Of my 58 SwagBucks earned, 44 of them have been from friends. You can get up to 100 SwagBucks per friend signed up, so those can add up.

Number 2 You don't get SwagBucks every time you search. That is what I would love. Just give me one for every time I ask you for information. Instead you randomly (or so it seems) get them in varying quantities (1, 3, 5) whenever they so decide.

All in all, it hasn't been bad - wasn't that difficult to sign up friends (thanks to everyone who signed up), and has already netted one gift card - though I am waiting for a few more. I think I'll go for the $20.00 Target card and use it formula for the little guy. I only need 162 more for that. So keep searching... :)

SwagBucks

I heard about swagbucks.com through the Money Saving Mom website. Swagbucks is apparently a basic search engine much like Google is. However, the big difference is that Swagbucks gives you points for searching. Then you can redeem those points for gift cards to various places.

Sign up is super easy and does not require any sensitive information that you wouldn't want to give out. No fees, no phone number or address required...

You get three points for signing up and you can download their toolbar to search easier or you can go to swagbucks.com each time you need to search for information on the internet. After only 45 points you can already qualify for an Amazon gift card.

The great part is that the points really can add up because you can get referral points from friends who are doing their searching through swagbucks too. If you do a lot of searching and your friends do a lot of searching, you just went from being able to get an occasional $5.00 gift card to being able to earn a lot more. There is one blog that tells how a lady earned enough gift cards to cover her Christmas gifts just by using swagbucks and signing up friends.

So, if you are interested and wouldn't mind using my referral, here is the link:

http://swagbucks.prodege.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=245533

If nothing else, it could be interesting just to see the potential.

I Love My Boppy

Grandma Staples, Aunt Barb, Aunt Danelle and Aunt Lynelle gave me this Boppy and I love it. Mommy and Daddy say it is much easier on their arms when feeding and I like to hang out on it in between feedings. I hate to be vain, but I think I am pretty cute. Watch out, ladies!

My Boys

Okay, so it is 1:50 a.m. and Jonathan is 3/4 of the way through his 4 ounces. For some reason, I have sleep on the brain, so I thought I would post a few of my favorite pictures of my boys while sleeping. This first one was so cute...I came out into the living room to find them both sound asleep and Jonathan looked so happy and content to be sleeping next to Daddy.

The best part is that in life BJ (before Jonathan), I usually couldn't get away with taking many pictures of Mike either awake or asleep. Sometimes I would get one that I thought was hilarious only to find it deleted off the camera next time I checked it. Now, Mike lets me take more pictures (and sometimes just must be so exhausted that he has no clue I'm doing it). WHOHOO. :)

Works of God, Love of Others

Seriously. The last six weeks of my life have been a big time work of God. As I sit here and look down at my beautiful son, I cannot help but praise God for all He has done. We went from losing Angel (that is what the birthmom named the little girl who was stillborn who would have been our daughter), to finding out about the potential for this little guy, to hearing that we had actually been chosen again, to the joy of seeing our little guy come into the world 10 days ahead of schedule (I think because he was anxious to get out and meet his mommy, but maybe I'm a little off in my thinking). :) He has been an absolute delight and we give God the glory for directing Jonathan into our home.

Often I will just sit and hold him and look down at his cute little face with amazement that God would entrust this little one to us. I cry now just as I did before him, but now I cry with a full heart, thankful for the sacrifice of his birthmom who chose a different life for him - who chose to put him in a family with both a Mommy and Daddy who would love him completely. Even when he is fussy (which really isn't that often), I remind myself that I would choose full arms of a temporarily fussy little guy than empty arms and a heart continually filled with ache and longing for the chance to be a Mommy. I praise God every day and thank Him for bringing Jonathan home to us.

Part of the way God has been blessing us is through friends from near and far, family, my volleyball players and friends from church. Last night the church had a baby shower for us and it was such a blessing. Here are some pictures for those who missed it and said they wanted to see pictures...

The room was decorated with a jungle theme since that is going to be the theme of Jonathan's nursery. The decorators did an awesome job and I loved it all!

I liked the wall decor and they actually took it down for me afterwards so I can put it up in his room. You might not be able to see from the pictures, but there were stuffed animals everywhere. My friend Julie is in the middle of this picture...she saved the night when halfway through the service I realized that I had forgotten to bring the thank you note envelopes (our church will often use those at a shower to instead of a guest book because then you already have all your thank you note envelopes addressed). Since Julie's little girl was a little loud in the service, she had to be out in the hallway anyway and she quickly ran to the store to hook me up. She rules.

This was the AMAZING cake that Erica's mom made for the shower. She has such a gift! I have had the privilege of seeing many of the cakes she has come up with and I'm always so impressed. I do have to say that this is my favorite of her cakes though - it fit the theme so perfectly.

Many of the pictures of me opening gifts ended up a little blurry or I didn't like how I looked in them, so I refused to put them up (okay, so I'm a little vain apparently - shocker).

All in all, the shower was such a big blessing and encouragement for us. Between this shower and the shower that my volleyball players threw for us, we are set on diapers for awhile. Jonathan also received many cute outfits which I'm sure you'll see in pictures to come. Thank you to those of you who played a big part in this night. It really was special and more than I ever expected it to be. The work behind-the-scenes is much appreciated. We are thankful for those who have poured out their love and support through this entire process. We know that God has worked through many of you to be a blessing to us.

One quick side note...I think I'm finding that I now do my best blogging at midnight. Scary.

Yes, we are still alive

Daddy feeds me often. We enjoy our bonding time together.

Us at church my first Sunday. I wore this super great onesie that says "Mommy's Little Man"

Check out my great basketball outfit. The pants are so huge that Mommy rolled them up , but I think I look pretty cool.

Mommy was taking fifty thousand pictures of me this night and I was sick of the flash going off in my eyes. She was trying to take a picture of me with the beautiful blanket my great grandma made just for me. I guess I could have cooperated more and given her a nice smile, but I wasn't in the mood.

I have really long fingers. Everyone keeps saying that I should learn to play the piano when I get bigger.

Hey everyone, it's Mommy talking. Sorry for the long delay in posts...it seems like being a mommy and keeping up with everything else in life takes a little more of my time. I also have the good excuse that for awhile Mike had the plug at work that allows me to download pictures of our little guy. I will try to do better. Apparently 12:31 a.m. is a good time to blog since Jonathan doesn't feel like sleeping unless he is being held by Mommy (he is currently blissfully lying across my lap on the Boppy, but I know if I go put him down and try to sleep, he'll decide that he is going to be fussy).

Loving Life With my Two Guys

Mike caught these pictures of Jonathan sleeping the other night. There weren't even posed...he was just sleeping like this on the couch with his daddy.

I have to tell you that Mike has been so great with the little guy. One night earlier this week he sent me to bed and took care of Jonathan all night long so that I could catch up on sleep. It was blissful. He comes home from work and is quick to want to spend time with us and take care of our little man. He has done a great job with him and with taking care of me during this time. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is also a great daddy.

More Pics of Jonathan David

Aunt Barb and Mommy and I - my cousin Allan took this picture and everyone told him to aim for the baby. Don't Mommy and Aunt Barb look funny with no tops on their heads? :)

Daddy and my cousin Michael and I

Uncle Brian and I

I like to sleep in my car seat.

My cousins and I.

What Else - Of Course - More Pictures of the Little Guy!

Here I am chilling out in my bouncy seat - just trying it out so Mommy could take a picture of me with my eyes wide open.

This is a great picture of me in my swing. I could sleep for hours in it if they would let me. I'm still too little to fit totally, so Mommy swaddles me all up so that I can't move while I'm in it, but I still love it.
Here is our first family photo since I came along. It is kind of fitting that it was in a gymnasium because I think I'll be spending lots of time in gyms over the course of my life.

Another family photo - unfortunately I put my hand up at the last moment so you can't see how handsome I am in this one - but at least you can see that my Mommy and Daddy are totally happy to have me.

Stay tuned for more...they are always taking pictures it seems, so I'm sure you'll see lots more of me in the days to come...

Doing Great!

Well after our first 24 hours at home with the little guy, I have to say he is doing great. He hardly ever fusses. We are so thankful for the sacrifice of love his mother chose when she chose to make an adoption plan. Unfortunately, there are so many out there who would rather choose to do a quick abortion than to give their babies a chance to live. This birthmom knew that she wasn't at a point in life to have another baby and instead of aborting gave us the chance to love this little guy.

I'm sitting on the couch typing this while Mike and Jonathan are sacked out together on the other couch. They looked so cute. Of course, he opened his eyes just as I took the picture. The more I see them together, the more thankful I am. He is an awesome dad already (and I totally knew he would be).

He's Home!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. As of this evening, our little guy is home. He is doing very well. Things went smoothly at the hospital today and we actually were out earlier than we expected. We look forward to the next days and weeks of experience life with a newborn.

I'm sure you'll get to see tons of pictures as time goes on. By the way, for those who have questions on how we came up with the name:

Jonathan means "God has given"
David means "Beloved"

The combination of the meaning of the names and their Biblical background, and a little of the fact that we just liked the names together were all a part in our choosing his name. He isn't named after anyone specifically in our lives.

Anyway, off to change a diaper - which I'll be doing much of in the days to come...

More Pictures from First Holding/Feeding/Etc...

More Pictures of Our Little Guy

Holding our little guy for the first time
Seriously, isn't that so cute?
Mike holding him for the first time.
Awww...he is going to be an awesome dad!
Yeah...I love him already. So precious!

Today we came to the hospital and were able to hold him for the first time and I fed him and changed his diaper. Then Mike helped me get his shirt changed. Yeah - that was the funniest part...I was so afraid of breaking him that it took us forever. I joked that it will take me 45 minutes to change his clothes.

We will be here throughout the day (hanging out in the general waiting room - yay for free wireless network) and going up every 3-4 hours to feed him. He is eating so well right now that the nurses have put him on a four hour feeding schedule right now, but that could change is one of his feedings is smaller.

YAY! He is beautiful and words cannot do justice to this entire experience and how we've seen God's hand at work. Watch for more pictures...they will be coming like crazy. :)

And Then There Were Three - Announcing...Jonathan David Herriage

He wasn't supposed to be arriving until October 27th, but God had other plans. We got the phone call this afternoon around 4:30 p.m. that the birthmom had gone into the hospital, but thought that it was just early contractions and that they would send her home. We planned to meet in Brandon this evening to register for baby items we'll need. Mike called around 5:30 p.m. to say that we needed to go to the hospital because they were prepping her for her C-section. WOW!

This evening at 6:16 p.m., our little guy was born. He weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces and was 17.5 inches long. The birthmom's mom called us and said "This is Grandma. You have a beautiful baby boy."

We weren't able to get up to the nursery until about 8:45 due to recovery time for the birthmom required before she could sign the paper allowing us to see him in the nursery. She spent some time with him and then sent him to the nursery. We scrubbed down and then went to see this handsome little guy. His temperature hadn't stabilized yet, so we couldn't hold him, but we could touch him. After spending a little time with him and getting some suggestions from the nurses on going home to sleep at night and coming back in the daytime to spend time with him, we decided to take their advice. This hospital doesn't provide a room for adoptive parents, so we would have been spending 3-4 hours in the main downstairs waiting room between each feeding. They said that we don't need to be exhausted when we take him home in a few days, so they recommended going home to sleep. We'll be up there bright and shining in the morning though as we wait out the next 48 hours and pray that the birthmom doesn't change her mind.

We can't wait for all of you to meet him. On a side note, we do think he has really long feet. :)

Bragging For My Baby (Sandra, that is)

Well, I am somewhat surprised that Sandra did not say anything in her blog last night about the game last night.

This season has once again proved to be a hair-pulling experience for her. She has a great team, the girls have raw talent that she struggles to get them to believe. It has been a struggle to get them to register in their mind that when they do what she teaches them that they actually do a great job. They score, which makes them happy, they then have happy going through them which causes them to focus and do better.

Well, apparently, last night was one of those nights. They played Community. This was the team that went all of last year without losing one game in the regular season. They then made it all the way to the championship game where they met up with us. We had only lost two games (to Community). They came to the game so confident that they were going to clean house. Our girls played their hearts out and were rewarded with winning.

This season was one where Community was definitely ready for some revenge. The first time we played them was in their gym and they took us to town. They played a great game. They only thing that was not good that night was their attitude. You could see on their faces that they were ready, willing and able to cause us as much embarrassment as possible. Well,they did a good job of winning.

Then they came to our gym. I did not show up as I was not feeling all that well, but did meet up with Sandra and two of her college friends for dinner. She had not told me that they won so I asked. I was not sure if she was joking with me when she said that they beat Community. I was so excited.

I guess that this is going to be a game to attend when we make it to the Championship game (if the girls win the rest of the games to get them there). They are definitely going to be out for blood. They do not want to lose the championship again to us. The only better scenario would be for them to lose in the playoffs.

I just am so proud of Sandra and all that she has been able to do with the girls these last two seasons. Some have said that she got lucky the first season. But she has proved them all wrong by bringing these girls so far once again.

Oh, and I am excited about the baby coming soon too. I look forward to seeing Sandra being able to walk around the house with that little one in her arms and know that she does not have to give the baby back to their mommy. She is going to be a great mom and once she realizes that she is doing a good job maybe she will stop stressing and sleep. =)

Thank you all for your encouraging notes. We have actually started receiving things for the baby. So thank you all who have given.

14 Days and Counting

Birthdate. Well, at this point, we think that since we have heard nothing to the contrary that the C-section will be October 27th. I find it crazy to believe that in 14 days we could be parents. EEK! So much to do...so little time. I'm not sure what nesting is supposed to look like, but my desire to get completely organized and the house ready is certainly in overdrive.

Sleep. I think my body clock is also preparing for the upcoming changes in sleep times because for probably the 5th night in about a week, I'm wide awake and it is 12:51 a.m. This is actually on the early side of when I've been crashing lately. It isn't caffeine induced, either. I can go to bed with Mike early, but then I just lie there thinking. After awhile I figure that I might as well get up rather than do nothing. Then I'm up for hours. Mike still has to get up at 5 each morning, so he is sound asleep in bed and I'm wide awake in the office.

Names. We haven't picked them yet. We've got a list going of potentials, but nothing finalized. I think about that quite a bit each day.

Volleyball. Heading into the last two regular season games to be followed with playoffs starting the week the baby is born. JV is still on the bubble as to whether or not they will make it into playoffs. Varsity will definitely be in playoffs, but what remains to be seen is exactly which seed they will be going into it.

Basketball. Starts the next practice day after volleyball ends and goes through February.

There you have it. A quick rundown on the latest with us. One of my college friends, Kimmie, is in town until Wednesday and we've been enjoying catching up. With that, I'll probably spend a few minutes checking up on other blogs and try to get some sleep. Maybe I can fall asleep by 1:30...

She's Having A Boy

We met with the birthmom tonight. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us. I (Sandra) was stressed and nervous all day, so by the time we got to the restaurant, I wasn't really hungry and was feeling continued stress/nervousness. However, we made it through the evening and I think all in all it was a good meeting.

We did find out that she knows for sure that the baby is a boy. This is awesome because Mike has always wanted our first child to be a boy so that he could learn to be a gentleman and hopefully someday have a younger sister to practice his manners on. Plus, that way the sister can know how it feels to have a gentleman treat you right and that will hopefully prepare her for picking a guy with manners as well. So it is definitely exciting that we will have a boy.

Thanks again for all your prayers. We are supposed to find out the planned C-section date tomorrow.

Here we go again!

This is Michael.

This morning when my employees came to work one of them came and asked me that if she got pregnant would we want the baby. I said that I would bring it up to Sandra. I know that the employee's heart is clearly in the right place. She has a strong desire to possibly help those that cannot have children by being the vessel. It was obviously something that we, for a short time, thought about seriously considering.

Then around lunchtime the attorney's office called and said that they had a new birth mother that they were going to meet and wanted to show our profile to her. We said ok, but obviously we lacked much of the contained enthusiasm from the previous profile viewing.

She called back later that afternoon and said that the birth mother chose us. So we are very cautiously approaching this process. Most of the caution is from a financial stance, so we are going to look at everything closely, but we think that things should work out well enough. So here is the information we know so far:

* Mother is caucasian, dad is an illegal immigrant =)
* Mother is 35, light skin, blueish/green eyes, light brown hair 125 lbs. (pre-pregnancy)
* Mother has twin boys, 2.5 years old who are a handful, which is why she is choosing to put the baby up for adoption
* Mother is "due" October 27 - yes, I know =)
* Not sure, but it may be a boy. Two sonograms have been done, but have not been able to verify the gender of the child
* This Wednesday she will go to her doctors appointment and they will schedule the C-section, so we will have a definite date and time planned in advance (which Sandra is really happy about).
*She is planning to have the C-section at Brandon Regional hospital

We are surely going to take this moment by moment, but wanted to share with everyone we could the latest news. Will keep you posted. Thanks again for your prayers during the last whirlwind 8 days.

This is Sandra.

Amazed...that is all I can say. God is good all the time. He had a perfect plan even when we were going through all the emotions of this past week. I almost cannot fathom that His plan might include us being parents within the next month. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue on. We will keep you updated as we know more.

God is good...all the time...especially when I hurt...and when His plan is to turn those tears to rejoicing in such a short period of time I can only praise Him more.

There is no doubt that this was all part of His plan and that He is in control. There is nothing else to do but to give Him glory in this situation.