Children's Museum

What are we doing here?

On Sunday we headed to St. Paul to spend some time at the Children's Museum thanks to the Feierabend Family recommendation. Anthony fell asleep during the ride down and, to our shock, was extremely subdued throughout our time there. We definitely enjoyed exploring the different rooms and are looking forward to going back when he's (1) more awake and (2) when it's less busy. (As a side note, every third Sunday of the month it is FREE admission to the museum. That is really great; however, the massive amount of children and parents was a bit overwhelming for all of us.)
I am hoping to be able to go back again this summer during a non-busy weekday to play and learn with Anthony and then meet Mark for lunch.

He started to warm up when we got to the water section. How fun!

Water and balls?! Perfect!

The HUGE Clifford was very exciting for him. Thankfully daddy boosted him up so he could touch his face.

NEMO! Lately all fish have become a fascination for Anthony and, coincidentally, named Nemo too. He loved the big goldfish and probably could have stayed there for hours.

Genius Child!

This is so Kathy Lee of me, but I can't help myself! I need to take some time to do some serious I'm-so-proud-of-Anthony bragging. (Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, that's what our family blog is all about in the first place, right?)
Every day we spend time counting; it's become a common thing in our house just like saying the alphabet, pointing out colors and singing songs. For many weeks now he's been counting to three. Last week he surprised me by continuing his counting and getting all the way up to ten. Of course he ends with YAY! and starts clapping while I'm completely in shock and feeling like we have some sort of genius child. Sunday while coloring he counted his colors and went all the way up to twelve. Wow-zer! (Of course he was calling the brown color blue and the yellow was always green or red or orange, but never yellow. We still need to work on that one!)
I'm just so excited he's interested in learning and is clearly picking up new things each and everyday. Especially since the doctor was originally worried because of his lack of language skills when he first came home. It truly is exciting to be around a two year old who is constantly saying new words, forming longer sentences and surprising us with his new knowledge.
Who knew parenting would be this rewarding and fun?!

A Weekend at HOME!

We have been busy lately - okay, the past few months - and most weekends have been spent traveling. Don't get me wrong, I love being up north with our family and spending time with friends; however, I was really missing lazy days spent being at home. This past weekend we finally got just that! There was time to play together, watch Cars...again, do laundry, take naps and clean without any need to look at the clock or rush to another destination.
On Sunday while I was cleaning up after breakfast Anthony put his farm and animals from his room out into the hallway. It was so cute watching him play there for the longest time; I think he enjoyed a weekend at home as much as I did!

Everyone needs an exceptional friend

On Saturday I received a very touching email by a very exceptional individual in my life. I hadn't realized it, but quickly learned it was a year to the day after learning about Anthony. At the time we didn't know his name, the circumstances or even the fact he would very quickly enter our lives and become our greatest gift.
Here's the email I received a year ago from our social worker at LSS:

Hi Tonja,
I thought the best way to catch you during the day would be via email, so I apologize that I couldn't ask this question over the phone. Ali, who you and Mark have met before, is working with a birthparent that is currently parenting an 18-month old and is looking to make an adoption plan. I know that your profile states that you are open to up to 12 months, but I am wondering if you would consider an 18-month old? If so, your profile will be included with others for the birthparent to look at. Please let me know as soon as possible.

This particular email and contact from our social worker brought so much hope to the waiting process. We hadn't heard anything since October and those were the longest and most painful three months of my life. There were many days I felt consumed by not hearing anything and couldn't get out of the very un-Tonja-like fog of sadness. It felt like the process would never end and I feared that our desire to become parents would never actually become a reality.
Like most days, I found solace in confiding with the people who cared and supported me sharing with them the emotions of this amazing journey.

Thank you so much, Jenn, for being a constant support system in my life last year and always finding ways to continue that support throughout this year. I'm not surprised that you kept this email with my personal message to you and sent me an email to celebrate our "anniversary". In fact, I've come to learn your thoughtfulness knows no bounds and for that I will always be grateful.

Ton,
What a difference a year makes. . .
You sent this to me a year ago today. I remember the events that unfolded over the month that followed very clearly, but probably nothing compared to your memory and emotions. Can you even remember the excitement & anticipation, yet apprehension to be hopeful when you got this email?
I saved this email for this very reason; I was hoping it would be an "anniversary" to celebrate.
Thank you for being my friend enough to let me in to your anticipations, disappointments, the proud right along side the not-so-proud ones.
I think you are an amazing mother and things unfolded for you and Mark just as they were supposed to. I'm so thankful you've allowed me an intimate look into the last year of your life and your journey to motherhood.
j

On most days I feel like I need to pinch myself as I look at my life now. This year has been an amazing adventure as a parent and I find myself giving thanks everyday for the little and big things that have transpired.

I know there are so many others, dear friends and strangers, out there who have and are experiencing the emotions of waiting to become parents. My heart goes out to them as they wait in their roller coaster of emotions. My hope is they will be blessed and quickly realize the tears, disappointment and heartache was completely worth it. As they wait hopefully they, too, have exceptional individuals who will support them along the way.

Hanson Wedding

Carol, Peg, Debbie - the beautiful mother of the groom - and Barb

Grandma Carol and Papa Marv

Tiff and Dana

Olivia, 1, enjoying some time out on the dance floor too!

Jocie wore her pretty, black dancing shoes and had a great time dancing the night away!

This weekend Joey and Steph - Mark's cousin - got married in the Anoka/Oak Grove/Ham Lake area. It was a beautiful wedding with a fun reception afterwards. It's probably not a surprise the highlight for Anthony and I was the dancing. (We've been practicing our moves for a long time now!) As soon as he heard the music he wanted to dance and continued to do so until he hit his limit right as Billie Jean came on. (Darn it! I love that song.) We went home shortly after and all of us were in bed and sleeping by 10:00! Even though it was an earlier night than usual we had a great time and enjoyed being with Mark's family.
Unfortunately, my camera batteries died pretty early in the night and I wasn't able to get many photos of the night. I'm especially bummed that I got none of the beautiful bride and groom. (Looks like I need to invest in more rechargeable batteries. They just seem to work better.)
Congratulations, Joey and Steph! Thank you for letting us share in your special day.

Who needs a spoon?

On Friday night we had a quick cereal dinner - which happens to be my absolute favorite type of meal at anytime throughout the day; not Mark's, though - before we headed out to watch the Bulldogs play some basketball. Anthony always loves eating cereal, but decided to take it to the next level by lifting up the bowl to slurp up the milk. The result was a big mess, lots of laughs from us and Rice Krispies stuck everywhere on his face. I doubt he'll ever want to use his spoon again.

Just my luck...

I absolutely love playing games. I think it all started way back with rounds of Sorry, Splat!, and Hungry, Hungry Hippos with my siblings. As I got older I fell in love with cribbage while playing with Erin and then Boggle became a family favorite too. Of course our family got addicted to Tetris and Mario games when we got our Nintendo system, but for the most part I grew up playing board games. In college Rachel, Molly and I never put away our games; they were always left in the living room so that we could occupy our time in other ways than studying! It was during those years that I played cribbage almost nightly as well as Hand and Foot. Playing games has just become a staple in my life.
Sadly, for me, that hasn't been the case lately. I cannot even remember the last time Mark and I pulled out a game to play. It just doesn't happen any more. Needless to say, I was elated when he suggested we play a round of Scrabble this weekend! (I can remember lots of fun times hanging out and playing Scrabble in our ten years together. The best was a few years ago when it was super cold and snowy over the winter break and we were stuck indoors trying to stay warm. We spent those couple of days eating, drinking hot chocolate and playing multiple rounds of Scrabble.)
Anyway, it was a great game on Saturday. The score was close, the words we were coming up with were good and it was great to spend time playing together once again. Then Zoey comes along to see what we were doing and walks all over the board. Great.
I guess I'll have to wait for another full moon, 40 below zero day when the stars align and Anthony takes a long nap to get in another game. (Maybe by then I can fully learn all of the crazy "Bergeron rules".)