Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Six years ago, God blessed my sister Danelle and her husband with this little guy (Matthew). I was in Guam when he was born, but I came home for Christmas that year and I was able to hold him when he was just 8 days old. The first picture was from this summer when I was helping him do some fishing on the dock.

Since I was thinking of his birthday and saw these pictures, I thought I would post a happy birthday message for him. Maybe my sister will see it and show him. Hint hint. I'll have to start making this a tradition for the nephews and nieces.

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. :)