Jimmy * Esther * Zeke * Lilly

Our darling little Lilly is already 1 month old! Jimmy and I can hardly believe it, time is flying by so fast.

My mom came to visit, and brought Lilly 7 new dresses. She looks so cute in all of them!

My birthday was on Monday, and I have everything I want, and more, so I am hard to shop for. I told Jimmy I wanted this dollhouse shelf for Lilly’s room for my gift. Jimmy put it together before leaving for work,  I love it in her room!

My friend Karin made Lilly this darling blanket.

Zeke’s Grandma Charlotte made Lilly this cute blanket. My friend Tracie made the fun bow, it’s really cool because the bow clips on and off the headband, so you can change it to match different colors.

Here is Lilly today, at one month old! Grandma Z made this cute butterfly blanket for Lilly.

We love you Lilly!

I am so thankful for Jimmy! He is the best husband for me, and the best Daddy to our two beautiful children!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Jimmy as a dad, and the things we love about him…

Jimmy and newborn Ekeziel

Jimmy and newborn Lillian

Daddy helps us learn new things.

Daddy plays, and is lots of fun!

Daddy teaches us to get back up when we are tackled by heavy blows.

Daddy takes us to church.

Daddy teaches us to reach high for our goals, and keep trying.

Daddy takes us camping and plays outdoors.

We love Daddy’s kisses and snuggles

Daddy teaches us that education is important.

Daddy takes us on fun vacations, like to Hawaii. (Anytime you want to take us there again Daddy, we’re ready!)

Daddy helps us feel better when we are sad.

He takes us on horsie rides.

Daddy knows sometimes we just need to be held.

The most important thing Daddy does for us is to love us! And we love him so much! Happy Father’s Day Jimmy!

In case anyone hasn’t noticed by now, I use my blog as my picture journal (:-)  Here are a few, (or I guess 22), pictures from our wonderful Wednesday…

Zeke and Lilly were all smiles in the morning.

After breakfast, the three of us sat on the couch and watched “Cars”.

We dressed Lillian in one of her dresses that she is quickly growing out of.

Zeke wanted to put on his “Cars” shirt, hat, back pack, and shoes, and he said he was going to school.

Zeke wanted Mommy to wear his hat and back pack, and he wanted to take pictures. He loves  taking pictures, and does a decent job (:-)

He packed his back pack with some pf his “Cars” books, cars, his motorcycle, and Buzz Lightyear…looks like a fun school day. He tried to go out the front door, but I convinced him the back door would be much better.

He studied biology, and waterology today at school. Luckily he didn’t catch the bee he was going for with his bug net.

We swapped his “Cars” shoes for his sandals, and then we changed his sandals for his “Cars” rain boots.

Time for a new outfit.

In between outfit changes, Zeke wanted to wear just his Darth Vader slippers.

He wanted Mommy to wear them too.

Lillian woke up from her nap just in time for Zeke to take his.

Lilly helped me tidy up the house, and was soon fast asleep again.

My friend made us a tasty dinner, which I really appreciated since I had a meeting at 6pm.

Lilly in her 7th outfit of the day. She doesn’t spit up, but she did have two eventful diapers for her daddy to change while I was gone.

Zeke teaching Lilly “patty-cake”.

I love my life!!

Today Lillian turned 3 weeks old, and Samantha had her baby boy today around noon! We get to go see him tonight. I’m really excited for her and her husband!

Jimmy went back to work yesterday. I was a little nervous to do things all by myself, but it was a lot easier than I was anticipating. I even ventured out of the house to Walmart to get some pictures, and both kids were so good!

Here are some pictures, the first two are of Lillian today.

3 weeks old!

Riding in the car, a little squishy.

Lilly’s hair after her bath

I love the poses she does!

Grandma Z made this darling blanket for Lillian

bunny slippers (:-)

Lilly met her Aunt Adela, (my oldest sibling), Sunday. Adela made Lilly this cute doll, and pillows.

Me, my two sisters, my mom, and my daughter.

Zeke loves his little sister!

We are home! It was very emotional leaving Grand Forks. Our hearts were breaking for Amy as we said goodbye Thursday morning. I was so sad our whole way home, and I know my pain was nothing compared to what she was going through. We know Amy loves Lillian so much, and that because she does, she was able to place her in a home where she will be completely loved and adored by a mom and a dad, and a brother, and tons of extended family members. Amy always said it wasn’t about what she wanted, it was about what was best for Lillian. We have the greatest love for her, and Zach, and his parents in helping this miracle happen.

I had many tears on our way home, but it wasn’t until I saw our family as we were coming down the escalator that I finally had tears of joy. It was so neat to see them, and having them meet Lillian made everything more real. Sometimes it still feels like a wonderful dream, and I have to remind myself that we do in fact have a daughter!

All of the women were crying together, we had all been anticipating this moment, and it was so neat it was finally here!

Jimmy’s mom, my mom, and my sister Shirley holding Lillian. I really loved talking with Shirley because she and her husband have also adopted 2 children, and because of that, they can empathize with us about all of the emotions that are involved with adoption. 

Grandma S holding Lillian for the first time

Grandma Z holding Lillian for the first time

We were so excited to get to my parents’ home to see Zeke. We really wanted him to meet Lillian in a more quiet setting with less distractions. We went in and spent a few minutes with him, and then we told him we had a surprise. Jimmy went out of the room to get Lilly, and when he brought her in, Zeke immediately wanted to hold her, he said, “I wanna hold him”. We took a video of it all, and the link to it is found here.

He is doing so well with her! We were a little nervous, but he is taking on the role of big brother like a pro! He loves to help feed her, and he gets her diapers for us. When she cries, he gets concerned for her, and he loves to have her riding in our car with him. We bought some gifts in the Minnesota airport for Lilly to give to Zeke, but I think he would have liked her just the same without them. We are so happy he loves her! 

My parents’ house was decorated so cutely with tons of “It’s a Girl!” decor.

Suzy, (Jimmy’s sister ), made Lilly these darling bracelets that I love! She has three boys and one girl, and her daughter, Mallory, is such a little girly girl! Mallory sang Lillian some princess songs, and I took some cute video clips, I just need to upload them.

kissies from big brother

Our whole little family, together at last.

View from my parents’ front porch of a double rainbow; and extra special welcome home gift from above.

When we got to our house, we found more surprises! Thank you to the mystery people who came and decorated our door!

Lillian woke up at about 1:30am, and Zeke woke up too. He was so excited about Lillian, and wanted to hold her and help out. We had some fun middle of the night family bonding time.

Lillian in her crib

We are so happy to be home with Lillian, we love her so much!

Last Friday Lillian’s Grandma Linda, and Grandpa Dave came up for a visit. We had a great time talking, and learning a little more about Lillian’s awesome birth dad, Zach and their family. During their visit, they also offered a beautiful blessing prayer over Lillian, that she would grow up knowing God, and have a close relationship with Him. Dave is a pastor of an Evangelical Christian church here in North Dakota. I would love to attend one of his meetings someday, he seems like he would be a great leader of a church! I know I would enjoy his sermons too, he’s such a genuinely kind person. Linda is a fun, outgoing, and very musically inclined person. We hope Lillian inherits her musical abilities.

Linda, Lillian, and Dave

My favorite of Dave and Lilly

My favorite of Linda and Lilly

That evening they took us to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. (Zach is on the left end.)

It’s finally official! We are so, so thankful everything went well today, and we know this is definitely going to happen now! It has been an emotional ride these past few weeks. Adoption is always nerve racking until it’s official. It seems like the adversary works hard to stop good things, such as adoption, from happening. We know Heavenly Father is stronger than the adversary, and nothing but His power could have helped everything come to be.

We are so thankful for Lillian’s wonderful birth parents. We hold them in our hearts with great love and respect.

Today was also Lillian’s 2 week birthday. She is growing little by little, and continues to be such a happy baby! We love her so much!!

Jimmy, Lilly, and me after we got back from the court today.

Yesterday, we took Lillian outside for a picnic lunch. She seemed to really enjoy looking at the trees, and the sky. We ate under a pretty tree that had pink blossoms. You can see the blossom petals on the ground behind Lillian. 

Daddy sharing his “Cutie Pie” with his sweetie pie. I think Lilly was disappointed she didn’t actually get to try it.

Jimmy calls this the angel shot. 

We miss our Zeke so much! This is by far the longest we’ve ever been away from him. We chose to leave him home because we thought he wouldn’t have much fun staying in the hotel suite, and we knew it would be important to have one on one bonding time with Lillian.

A few times since we have been here, I have considered paying the $1,700 to fly him and an adult out. Then I come to my senses and realize he would be so bored in the hotel, and he is having lots of fun back at home with family. I don’t regret our decision to have him stay home, he is so happy every time I talk with him on the phone. This time with Lillian is so priceless, it’s neat to have Jimmy here all day too, and seeing him with Lillian warms my heart.

Thank you everyone who has been helping Zeke have a fun time, especially Mom and Shirley who have had him the most. I know he is a little high maintenance, and always on the go, and I appreciate your patience with him. I also know he is in good hands, and that you are treating him as kind and gentle as I would. 

Thank you Grant for the pictures and videos, they have helped us so much! Below are some links to some of those videos, and pictures taken of Zeke at Grant and Shirley’s house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYodIrlRDlM

In the above video link, you can see Zeke’s plan click in his eyes right at the beginning. He wants to do it so bad, and finally he hides his eyes, and slowly turns his hand around to accomplish his plan (:-)

I like this one of Kendall and Zeke. The teddy bear by Zeke’s leg is his special bear that he loves to sleep with.

Below is a link to another video. You will be able to see why I don’t play light sabers with Zeke, only Daddy does (:-) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKlUfhpWVy8

I can’t wait to see Zeke with his baby sister! We think there will be some transitioning for him as he realizes he has to share being the center of mommy and daddy’s world, but we also think he will be a sweet big brother to Lillian. I’m so excited to watch their relationship grow!

Today Lillian turned one week old. We took her to her one week doctor visit and she’s doing great! She weighed in at 8 lbs. 13 oz. We were surprised to see she had dropped from her birth weight because she eats so well and doesn’t spit up very much. Lillian was so good and patient as the nurse practitioner preformed her check-up.

Also, we found out today that we will hopefully be able to come back in a little over a week.

Big hug for Daddy

Lillian is so calming and peaceful. I just sit and hold her, and stare at her for hours and hours without the need for any other entertainment, she is so precious.