Isaac: 18 Months

  

At his 18 month appointment, Isaac was 24 lbs., 12 oz (34th percentile) and 32 1/2 inches (57th percentile).

Says night-night, amen, all done, uh-oh, Dada, dat (that), juice, please, no-no, bye-bye, hello,and TA-DA (my favorite--though sometimes it's "da-ta")

Signs please, more, thank you, eat, juice, book, train, plane, truck, motorcycle, fish

Animal sounds horse, cow, pig, dog, cat, bird/chicken, snake, monkey, lion, elephant

Identifies on himself head/hair, teeth, ear, eyes, nose, mouth, feet, shoes, belly button

The biggest change for Isaac over the past few months is sleeping in his new bed! 

Isaac's favorite things right now

• Bath time!  Once he hears the word "bath," he is UP the stairs!

• First trip to his future college, Taylor University...which also means first trip to Ivanhoe's!  See him reaching for the spoon!  (And, check out his little Taylor University letter jacket from Grandma Missy!)

• Playing with friends! Isaac LOVES other kids and gets so excited whenever he sees another child, whether or not it's someone he knows!

Isaac and his cousin, Griffin!

• Helping Daddy with projects around the house and outside
• Dipping food in ketchup/applesauce/syrup....a few weekends ago when I was gone on a Saturday morning, Dave showed Isaac how to dip his pancakes in syrup. Since then, he always wants something to dip his food into! So far, my favorite combination that he's put together was dipping every one of his orange slices into ketchup--YUM!  :)
• Walking up and down the stairs--this makes me nervous, but he does pretty well holding on to the spindles 
• His toy vacuum cleaner...when it's "on," it sings the following words to the tune of "Home on the Range."  "Home, home on the floor...I can vacuum from here to the door."  Can you guess what's stuck in my head every day?!?!      :)               

I can't believe we're halfway to TWO!  Happy half-birthday, Isaac!

You've brought us more smiles & laughter than we ever imagined!

Daddy's Helper

Several tiles in our entry popped up last week.  A friend of ours who owns a foundation repair company came over on Monday to see if it was due to a foundation issue or not, and thankfully it doesn't appear to be!  When there's a project, Isaac is all there!  He had a lot of fun "helping" Dave pull up all the tiles! 

By the time Dave was nearly done, Isaac was so hot & sweaty that he plopped down next to Dave.  He got a cookie for all his hard work...look at his little smirk!  ;) 

Pink AND Blue.....

 PINK AND BLUE....

We never thought that there'd be TWO!!

WHAT?!?!?  Your first thought might be that our birthmother in North Carolina found out she's having twins!  No, that's not it...but there are TWO babies coming this summer! 

Since Isaac's adoption, we've been blessed to stay in touch with Isaac's birthparents.  We've met them several times over the past year and a half & still send pictures on a regular basis. Last November, Isaac's birthmother called to say that she was expecting.  We had been praying about starting the adoption process again.  But, since it was so early in her pregnancy and we didn't know what she was planning to do, we signed with Adoption Network.  But, God has allowed our relationship with Isaac's birthmother to grow, & she's kept in touch with us throughout this whole pregnancy.  We have prayed our hearts out for the little life she is carrying. 

Though there was a small idea in the back of our mind that we *might* end up with 2 babies, we figured that the chances of that were very slim since it hinged on both Isaac's birthmother deciding to place AND getting a match from Adoption Network very quickly.  Well, you already know that we were thrilled to have a match for a baby boy earlier this month....and now we're so excited to share that Isaac's birthmother has chosen to place her BABY GIRL with us too! 

We've been bursting to announce this, but decided to wait until the paperwork was processed by the adoption agency.  We are working with the same adoption agency in San Antonio that finalized Isaac's adoption to complete this adoption.  Since we've known about this possible adoption for a few months, we didn't accept the match of the baby boy until we'd talked with both birthmothers and made sure they were both comfortable with there being two babies so close in age in our family.  (They both said "yes," but thought it was crazy!)  We've also made many calls to social workers & lawyers in both Texas & North Carolina ensuring that there are no legal issues with doing two adoptions at the same time.  (It took them quite awhile to get back with us because they all said they've rarely heard of this....but thankfully neither state rules against this situation.)

You can only IMAGINE how excited we've been!  As if that wasn't quite enough news, these babies are due just three weeks apart...June 16 and July 8! 

Two babies due

three weeks apart

in two states that are separated by a 20 hour drive...WOW!

We're already rallying both grandmas for lots of help as we juggle traveling to North Carolina for the baby boy's birth and then coming back to Texas in time for the baby girl's birth.  Our minds have been in overload as we've tried to figure out how to manage all these details.  Just the other day, our social worker laughed, "If you two can handle the stress of two adoptions at the same time, two newborns will be a piece of cake!"

 
Several people have commented on how special it will be for Isaac to have his "own" sibling in our family.  The truth is that both of these babies will be his "own" siblings.   We are so excited that God is weaving our family together and that Isaac will have two new siblings--not necessarily through blood, but through the gift of adoption.

Now that the paperwork is processed & the news is out there, Dave has given me permission to go "pink crazy!"  Here are some of the fun clothes I found at JBF and my mom found at Macy's over the past few weeks.  I've had so much fun looking at nursery ideas for this baby girl's room!  Be ready....this girl is going to have the "pinkest" of everything!  We can't WAIT!

So, here we go!  We're doing our best to get ready for three under two!  It's going to be a BLAST...and maybe a little crazy!  ;)

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."
Ephesians 3:20
(The Message)

Waco Zoo

Last Saturday, we met Isaac's birthmother at the Waco Zoo.  My mom took Isaac to the Fort Worth Zoo last month while we were on vacation, but this was our first visit to the zoo with Isaac.  We loved watching him mimic all the animals.  Since the zoo, he's constantly been making snake, lion, and monkey sounds--adorable!!

There was also a native Texas area with teepees and mud huts.  Isaac must have liked the acoustics in this teepee, because he was in there a long time shouting and yelling!  See the stick in his hand?  He carried it around the zoo the entire 3 hours we were there!

The crocodiles & otters were his favorite animals to watch.  This slide went through the otter's pool! 

 My favorite picture of the day!  So thankful for my two boys...soon to be three of them!

Baby Rinn is on the way!

Since we turned in our paperwork to Adoption Network, we've been anxiously waiting for a match.  But, at our homestudy on February 5, our social worker said that most families waiting for a second baby wait much longer than families waiting for a first baby.  He knew of five Texas families who had all been waiting over a year for a second baby.  Even though this wasn't quite the news we were expecting to hear, we kept praying that God would give us peace as we waited.  And, while we were excited about a placement, we also wondered what would happen if our next adoption was as heart wrenching as Isaac's had been.  The verse that God gave us during this time of waiting was Isaiah 46:3-4:

"Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel,

you whom I have upheld since you were conceived and have carried since your birth.

Even to your old age & gray hairs I am He.

I am He Who will sustain you.

I have made you, & I will carry you;

I will sustain you, & I will rescue."

We know that we serve a big God Who is not dictated by timelines or "average wait times."  Even while we were praying that God would sustain us through an unknown time of waiting, He already knew that this last Friday would be a HUGE day for our family!  Our phone rang around 6:00 p.m. with a MATCH! 

We're so excited that Isaac's going to be a big brother....

to a precious baby BOY due on June 16 in North Carolina!

Isaac's excited, too!

We had our first talk with this baby's birthmother last night, and it was GREAT!  We both got off the phone and couldn't believe how smoothly it had gone.  She had such a kind, warm voice and already seems like such a sweetheart.  We know that there are a lot of details that have to be taken care of, especially since we'll likely end up staying in North Carolina up to 15 days after his birth.  Dave keeps telling me that working out all the details and the travel involved is the EXCITING part of adoption!  I'm still trying to imagine how we'll drive 20 hours home to Texas with a newborn!  But for now, we're delighting in the fact that there will soon be two boys in our family.  We couldn't be more excited! 

Isaac's Getaway

While Dave & I were on our cruise, Isaac had his own little vacation to Grandma Missy & Grandpa Kal's house!  The week didn't start off too well, since my mom had to take Isaac to the doctor for what ended up being a double ear infection.  But, my mom is the best nurse around, and she had Isaac feeling betcxter in no time.  She even took him for his first trip to the Fort Worth Zoo! 



Wearing Grandpa Kal's hat & checking out the statues
at Tom Thumb.

There's always something to clean at Grandma's house!

And, Isaac really likes riding in Grandma Missy's car

because her carseat is forward facing!  He loves looking around!

 

One day, Grandma Missy & Isaac went on a LONG walk to the Trophy Club Starbucks.  I guess my mom is already trying to turn Isaac into a true Scandanavian by getting him to drink black coffee.  Hmmmm....not so sure what he thinks of it. 

Though there's not a picture of it, apparently my dad gave Isaac an "epic bath" (according to my mom) that included water all the way up to the top of their Jacuzzi bathtub.  Isaac must have thought he was swimming.  :)
We're so thankful for grandparents who love Isaac as much as we do.



Our Getaway!

Dave & I were able to have a fantastic getaway 2 weeks ago!  We were hoping to squeeze in a vacation before we could possibly have an adoption match.  It was hard to leave Isaac for so many nights, since we've only left him for a weekend a few different times.    But, our pastor frequently talks about how vital it is for your marriage to go on vacation as a couple, and we couldn't agree more!  Getting away with just each other was SO much fun and so refreshing for our marriage.

We flew into Miami on Sunday night and stayed in South Beach.  After a crazy cab ride from the airport to our hotel, we ate dinner at the Clevelander right on Ocean Drive.  South Beach really is just as beautiful as everyone says! 





Key West

Our first stop was at Key West. We'd been there one other time, though we both thought it seemed much nicer than our last visit. We were only off of the ship for about an hour--just long enough to eat some frozen, chocolate-covered key lime pie! YUM!

 
 
 
 
 
 

Our favorite day was in Nassau.  I had been there 9 years ago when the Taylor Sounds toured there over spring break.  During that visit, we performed at both Atlantis and many churches around the island & also spent a day volunteering at an orphanage.  One of the churches we performed at during that trip was Trinity Methodist Church.  Dave & I found it downtown on this trip, too.

My driver for the afternoon :)

As soon as we got off the ship in Nassau, we were swarmed by guys working for a company that rented mopeds. Dave asked one of the guys what the rate was for an afternoon, and the guys said, "Curiosity killed the cat...I'll have you two on a bike within 10 minutes." :)  He was right, and it was a blast!  The only nerve-wracking time was when a dump truck full of Bahamians drove by us yelling "Left, left!--Dave realized he was driving on the wrong side of the road!  We spent the afternoon riding all over the western half of the island.  The views were gorgeous along the coast!

We also rode across the bridge to Paradise Island to check out Atlantis.  We were running short on time and had to return the moped soon, so we weren't able to spend too much time there.  Our moped wasn't necessarily the speediest one around....going across this bridge took all the gas it had!

When we got back to the port, the guy who'd rented us the moped offered to take our picture on the one they keep out front to allure tourists.  This one was a little flashier than the one we rode around the island.  (And no, I never drove.)  :)  We headed back to the ship after finding some cans of Goombay Punch in a little grocery in downtown Nassau.  (If you ever need a month's supply of sugar all in one can of pop, this is what you should drink!)  I remembered how good this Bahamian pop was from my trip there last time. 

Our last port was Royal Caribbean's private island, CocoCay.  Our ship was tendered quite aways from the island, so everybody rode smaller boats to the island.  It wasn't quite warm enough to lay on the beach, so after lunch we walked the entire length of the island, which at first didn't seem to far but ended up taking us about 2 hours.  The water was so shallow and was definitely the bluest I've ever seen...it was beautiful.  The far end of the island was completely empty--it felt like we were at the end of the world!

Dave discovered that the far end of the island wasn't completely empty, though.  He found the maintenance area of the island (hidden behind a lot of trees and several signs that said "No Guests Allowed"). Of course, there was a backhoe. I guess some things never change, even when you're on vacation. :)




 

Last time we were on a cruise, we were with a big group of friends, and one of our favorite things was eating dinner together every night.  But, this time we didn't necessarily want to eat dinner with different people, which is what traditionally happens at the main seating times. The point of this cruise was for us to have time together, so we signed up for "freestyle dining."  It worked out great, because we got to eat dinner whenever we wanted to and always at a table just for two.  :)  To say that we loved dinnertime on the cruise is an understatement.  Whenever we couldn't make up our mind on what to order, our waiters would bring one of each.  The good thing is that the portions were small...and the other good thing is that we took the stairs everytime we went to another floor of the ship.

We loved having a chance to get away for some great time together....and it was also fun coming home to this sweet boy!  My mom took this picture when he first saw us at the airport. Love that smile!