Family of Four!

We are so happy to share the good news that Ethan Wyatt has joined our family. Here we are together for the first time!

Daddy with Ethan

Mommy with Ethan- so in love, again!

Landon kissing his little brother!

We have been so blessed throughout this transition- from our prayerful agency praying both families through, to the generous hospitality of extended family, to a sweet, content precious new baby boy! We are in awe at how all the details fell into place! I feel there is just so much emotion to relay I don't know where to start. Looking back over the past 5 years, it's amazing to me how God has transformed us! To sum it up, we learned you can't plan to have children, and you can't plan not to have them either! God has His plan and timing, which is far better than ours anyway, and it's been so awesome to see His plan unfold in our lives, and in our boys' lives as well.

Here are just a few more pictures that we have to share!

My favorite picture of my two boys together!

Then, when trying to ask Landon to smile really big so we could take a picture, this is what we got!

A smile with closed eyes! So, we said, "Landon, open your eyes and smile!" ...

Such a ham!!

Another family shot!

Landon loves his little brother- he loves to help from feeding Ethan (yikes!) to rubbing his head, and saying, "No Ky, Etin" (my favorite!) 

Landon even tried playing cars with his little brother! One day, honey, one day soon enough! :)





Sandy Cove!

Landon and I just got home from spending the week down in Maryland with my family...my (almost) WHOLE family! - aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, cousins, you name it! We spent much of our hot week in the pool and doing waterfront activities...oh yeah, and eating ice cream! Here are some pictures of our week at Sandy Cove!

First Canoe Ride!

And 2nd Pony Ride!

Miniature Golfing with Daddy, Mommy, Grandpop, Nana, and Aunt Sarah

Nice, but hard to get family picture

Our fun, much easier to capture family picture. Guess which boy had to be asked to pull mommy?

I can't believe it, but I don't have ANY pool pictures. My sister does, so I will be sure to get some from her and upload them as soon as I can. Landon was very independent in the water by the end of the week, and even jumped off the diving board to my sister (and lifeguard) Aunt Sue. He kept signing for and saying "more" but my heart couldn't take any more jumps, so we went back to the 3 ft. area to play.

Sidenote: I just added a picture to my last post- Landon helping Daddy put Baby Ethan's furniture together.

 

Baby News: We may be getting a call any day now! The biggest news is that we received our adoption tax credit from 2010 and sold Greg's truck, so now can pay for Baby Ethan without any more loans- praise God!  And, to top it off, Greg's Godparents have graciously agreed to let us stay with them until our interstate paperwork is completed, so we will not have to survive in a hotel for 1-2 weeks...not to mention the $ saver that is as well!

My Aunt Ruth, Uncle Walt, Jed, Hannah, Leah, Elijah, and Michaiah all stopped by today to drop off these matching adorable homecoming outfits- Love them!! And, can't wait to see our boys in them!

Baby Ethan's Room

Today is a GOOD day!

Reason #1: Our house finally is back to "normal"! I guess I should explain that our house has been sort of a mess lately- we had to move the office (now Baby Ethan's new room) down to the basement. We decided to set up the desk on the partially finished side which meant we had to rearrange furniture and such to make a space for the desk, file cabinet, printer, etc. We decided the other two tall bookshelf units were best suited over on the unfinished side...another, much larger, project! There was no room over on that side to walk, let alone put 2 huge bookshelf units! So, the mass clean out of the basement began...about a month ago, as soon as school let out.  About the same time, our friends started unloading their baby stuff on us. For a month, our living room had looked like a baby storage unit- car seats, strollers, bouncy seats, bags of clothes, exersaucer, pack n play...ah! Don't get me wrong, we are SO, SO thankful for all of our wonderful friends who helped donate their things for us to use for Ethan. We could not have afforded to buy all of that! I'm just happy that I now don't have to walk in my front door to a mess of clutter only to stress at the thought of all there was still left to do! So, today marks the day our house is in "order" (as much as it can be with a 2 year old !) Unfinished side cleaned out, office stuff taken down (by the way, I have to note that it's amazing how much paperwork you accumulate over 8 years! From now on, I'm shredding more often than once every 8 years!), baby room arranged, and a gazillion baby donations washed, and put in place. A successful day!

Reason #2: Baby Ethan's room complete! ...with the exception of hanging his lettered name above the crib. Here are some pictures!  I took them with my phone to make for a quicker upload, so pardon the poor quality. The walls are the olive green they were when we painted them for the office when we moved in, even though they don't look that color in the pictures.



Reason #3: We are off to Sandy Cove with the family! Well, Landon and I are...Greg has to work today. But, he is joining us for the day on Monday. We are looking forward to that! He has to work Wednesday and Thursday (and we come home Friday) because he gave his vacation time back when we decided to bring home Baby Ethan. :-) All for the cause! He was supposed to stay down with us on Tuesday as well, but instead he will be driving home late Monday night to take Dakota in for surgery on Tuesday morning. About a week ago, out of the blue, she just couldn't stand up. Going back about 6 months or so, she would limp off and on, but nothing major. Then about 2 months ago, she began to get "stuck" with just her front paws hanging off the side of our bed at times. I don't know whether she injured it chasing something outside, or if it was a gradual injury, but nonetheless she tore 3 knee ligaments. Why is it that everytime we bring a child home our dog is having surgery? Back in December 3 days before our 2nd trip to Russia, Dakota was recovering from a cancerous tomor removal surgery. I know, I lost you in the technicality of that term :-)  Please...no more surgeries...or babies for a little while! :)

Hmmm...will my next post be of our fun Sandy Cove trip, or will it be to announce Baby Ethan's arrival? With a July 27th due date, who knows?!?!!!

Jam Packed July!!!

I have been wanting to blog now for what seems like...wait, maybe it has been...weeks! We have been SO super busy lately. If we aren't off enjoying the summer together, we are at home trying to rearrange the house to make room for the new baby! Here is a glimpse of our past few weeks of fun!

Our wonderful friends Lori and Darren invited us down for a few days while they had a shore house. This was our 3rd summer enjoying time together while they were on vacation in Sea Isle. Their son, Caden just turned 3. He and Landon are great friends (AKA brothers) and had a great time at the beach!

Daddy teaching Landon how to build a sand castle...

only to  be stomped on by the "destroyer" seconds later!!

The boys!

The daddies and their boys looking at the dolphins!

Loving the beach!

I just adore this picture!

So, he was a little scared on his first ride...

And, a little better on the 2nd ride!

And loving it by the third ride!!

So, on to the next ride- the catepillar roller coaster!!

And, look how he came off the ride!

Again, again!!! :-)

Other than coming down with a fever and sore throat while at the shore, we had a great time, and Landon got to enjoy some firsts!

Next up, 4TH OF JULY!!!

The Pitman Parade

I hid my tears behind my sunglasses while taking this picture...happy tears, of course!

Landon with Nana and his cousins watching the parade

After the parade, we joined our other wonderful friends, the DeVol's and the Minter's for a BBQ! Landon had a good time running around wtih the girls, playing in the pool, and "dancing" on the trampoline!!  Listen up, do you hear the "I dance, I dance" chant?!?!



After a fun day in the sun, we walked across the street for FIREWORKS! No one would have ever known it was Landon's first time- no tears, folks!

Today we had our second visit to friends' houses in one weekend where Landon got to spend time in the pool. I'd say he is getting comfortable! No more clinging to mommy like in June at Mom N Tots camp- we are jumping off the diving board all by ourselves!





In addition to being busy having fun, we have been busy preparing the baby's room!  We are working on getting the rest of the furniture put together, and hope to have pictures up by the end of the week. Afterall, with a due date of 7/27, we could get a call now any day! The very thought gets me nervous and excited. Of course, excited to meet our new son...yes, that's right, I said SON! (our agency called on Friday and had found out the gender. So, they asked if we wanted to know...YES!!) And, of course a little nervous- sleepless nights, unfinished room, etc. Okay, back to the happy thoughts! :) Another baby BOY! Landon will have a little brother!

AND, our friends George and Shannon (AKA my BRFF- best running friend forever) who are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia just got their referral call! 11 months to the date of sending their dossier over! He is an adorable 5 1/2 month little boy with the most beautiful big round brown eyes! We couldn't be happier for them, and are SO ecstatic that our boys will be so close in age! God is good!

Wow...a whole hour of blogging? I guess I should post more frequently!



Mom N Tots Camp!!!

One of the summer weeks I had been looking forward to for months had finally arrived...and is now past. Landon and I went to a Mom N Tots camp together! I couldn't wait to spend every, well, almost every, waking minute with my boy while NOT having to worry about the laundry, dishes, dinner, errands, etc. that I normally share my boy with. We just got back, and we both had a really nice time together! I feel like we caught up, and that we got to enjoy doing some fun...and yucky things together.

Pool time!

Fun at the park!

Sandbox!

Finding buggies together!

Where there is a ball...there's Landon!

Making Buggy hats

A giant slip n slide...laughs the whole way down! Landon loved this so much, he was up, and had run over to get back in line before I even got up!

Creek Stompin' for more bugs...or crayfish...eww! :)

And, last but not least, the tractor ride!

Poor guy! But, it wasn't so bad if he had a cookie too! :)

The week was everything that I had wanted it to be- spending good times with Landon (without the responsibility of home!) and some good R&R for me.

So, we are home from Mom N Tots, and unpacked...and repacked, and headed to the shore for a few days with friends- all 3 of us! :)  Onto another week I had been looking forward to for months!

Let the good times roll!

PS- This week marks 4 weeks until the due date of our next blessing...yikes! So much to do! We are so excited, and thankful for these summer plans that we can spend with Landon...BEFORE he becomes a big brother (side note here: he was SUPER in tune to every/any baby at camp, and kept saying "mommy, baby!" until he had my attention, and I was looking. I was holding a friend's infant at one point, and he was saying, "lap" and pointing to his own lap because he wanted to hold the baby too! We are going to have one big helper on our hands!! :)  )



Tons of Fun!!!

I have to say, this year's end of school year was like none other in previous years. Of course, I was sad to say goodbye to my students, but the trade off of getting to wake up everyday knowing that I get to spend all day with Landon is definitely a reason to be happy! We have had 3 full days off together so far, and I have LOVED every single one! Prior to school being out, we did get to enjoy some fun times like church softball games, Family night at the Phillies game with my Poppop!

Here are a few pictures!

The SERIOUS look- when watching YODA and JAR JAR from Star Wars...hmmm....Greg is really rubbing off on someone! :)

The other serious face- watching the Phillies! Notice the catcher's mitt. Everytime someone hits the ball, Landon throws it down, and runs across the room, like he's running to 1st base!

A favorite toy- someone discovered that going down the driveway is a way you can REALLY pick up speed!

Thanks to Aunt Faith, who caught some fun moments at Daddy's softball game! OH, the glove...Landon has a thing for gloves! Every game, he needs to wear batting gloves!

He watches so intently, learning, taking it all in, and WANTING to play with the  "guys" as he calls them!

And, I decided to save one of my favorite's for last!!!

During our fun Family Night at the Phillies, in response to me kissing Greg, Landon says, "No, Landon Daddy" Someone was a little jealous! :)



There have been some pretty significant leaps in Landon's speech lately! He is really starting to put words together now, and even prays all by himself! It is so adorable. I am working on getting it on video, so you can hear just how cute! I actually have a short video, but the sound isn't that great. His prayers (head bowed, eyes closed, and hands folded) sound something like this: "Daddy, Daddy, Mommy, Mommy, Amen" followed by us adding in each additional family member's name, one at a time, with Landon repeating each one! I LOVE it!!!

Okay, you get a sneak preview here- don't tell Greg! Here's one of his Father's Day gifts- just came in the mail!

Okay- I should be getting back to cleaning the office and basement to prepare for the new baby! I can't believe we are almost down to 1 month!!