Our Little Adventure: Birthdays and Halloween

Happy Halloween! I totally meant to post an update earlier this week, but somehow, time just gets away from me! Lola and us went to see Gam-ma and Gam-pa last weekend for Gam-pa's 80th birthday. It was such a nice trip and Lola got to meet some more family...Her Great Aunt Chris, Great Uncle Ed, and Cousin Taire (I know there are some 1st's and removeds in there with that one, but let's just say Cousin Taire to keep it simple!) We have figured out there is nothing like a new baby to entice family you haven't seen in a while to make it out to see you! It's been a while since we've seen the Diaz's, and it was a delightful visit! Taire didn't get to stay for very long, but so glad that she came too! I just love getting to spend time with family! So does Lola!

We got our letter in the mail with our court time. Since we already had our court DATE, all we were waiting on was the time. We were glad to as there were a few glitches on OUR part in meeting the deadline. Typically, we sign in blue ink. I like blue ink, it's a much friendlier color than black, and it's easier to tell which is original and which is the copy. On our way back from Las Cruces, I was checking my e-mail and had an e-mail from the lawyer telling us we had sent her the copy of the paperwork, rather than the originals. Of course I freaked out as we were in the car and couldn't really check right then, but we were pretty sure that we sent originals. Of course this was AFTER the first set of paperwork got lost in the mail. She had called to ask us where it was, and we had mailed it more than a week earlier, so she had to fax it to us and we had to mail it back in. Talk about STRESSFUL! The other OOPS we did was not reading our homestudy paperwork closely to see that we had until the 27th to get our final post-placement paperwork in in order to file on the 28th. I read that date on the 24th. We made it, but phew! Not sure why I wasn't on top of all that, but glad I caught it before leaving town last weekend. Sometimes my blonde roots show! Anyway, we are scheduled to finalize on November21 at 1:00 p.m. Every time I think about that, it brings tears to my eyes. Still doesn't seem real!

We did not go all out for Halloween, just an orange "My First Halloween" onesie, black pants, and her pumpkin hat. Our neighbors typically have a pot luck in the cul-de-sac before they take their kids out trick-or-treating. One year, they just stayed and everyone passed out candy. The trick or treaters tend to skip our house as our lights are motion activated, so there is no way to keep them on. Handing out candy with the neighbors worked well for us. But we came back in when they headed out, which was fine as Lola is having a melt down. We think this is a growth spurt, she is sleeping a lot and started waking up a few nights ago in the middle of the night to be fed. Tonight we are going to try to get more rice cereal in her before she goes down. It lasts longer in her tummy, however, she gets mad at the bottle because it is so much more work for her to get the cereal out of the bottle. HOPEFULLY it will work.

Our friends, Russ and Rebecca, dressed Lola's BFF, Kate as Elvis...hoping they don't mind, but I HAVE to pass on one of her pictures. It is just to precious not to post! We have decided that we need to buy stock in Duracell! Every toy we own is run by batteries. I even tried to protest that fact and was going to buy a wind up mobile. I have apparently been living in the 50s as they do not make wind up mobiles any more. What a conspiracy! We have bought rechargeables, so tonight, Rodney rounded up all they batteries and they are on the charger. Still, that's a lot of batteries. Well, I think it's time to bid farewell to October--looking forward to having family closer to our time zone tomorrow, Gam-ma and Gam-pa will be the SAME time, and Nana and Papa Jay will only be an hour later. We welcome November! Lola will OFFICIALLY become a Sherrard and we get to see family at Thanksgiving...we truely have something to be thankful for!

Taire told me that her son, Josh, feels like Lola "dethroned" him...so Lola sent Josh a note: