New Pictures of Our Family

Jason, Jalen and Joely

Finally a recent family picture!

Laila and Ali

May 2010 and Exciting News!!!

Well,I have been a bit behind on the blog lately. We have had so much going on lately that it was just put on the back burner but I'll get you up-to-date. Jalen is now 18 mths old and actually getting some long hair (for him at least). His hair is still so blonde that it is hard to tell in some lights but up close it is there and getting quite long especially on the sides and in back. He has been talking up a storm although it is still his language of trying to communicate. We can usually tell what he is saying but I'm sure others can't so well. He constantly still says "uh-oh" and now loves calling the dogs which ends up sounding like "ay-ya" for Laila and "ah-la" for Ali. He has been doing better at day care with his biting reports although in the last 2 weeks I have had 3 papers to sign off on 2 in regards to him being bitten for no reason and 1 for him running and falling flat on his face and ending up with a big fat upper lip and scratch up to his nose. He's a tough boy though and none of this phases him. Jalen also has his school pictures taken so I will put them up when I get a chance. They turned out so cute! We have been having quite a bit of rain and thunderstorms here too and as I'm sure you've seen on the national news, some tornadoes. We are lucky that Ada generally gets missed though so even though we have had some warnings already and alerts to take cover, we have not been hit.

In other news, as most of you know now...We're Adopting! We are so excited and have started the long process towards adopting a little boy or girl from Ethiopia. We have a new website dedicated to our adoption process and would love for you to follow along and pass it on to anyone you know.

http://expecting-from-ethiopia.blogspot.com

here are a few pictures from the month of May so far...enjoy!

Jalen in his MSU t-shirt from papa


Jalen playing with his friend Carter (and Carter's mom Heather)


Jalen and Mommy during the tornado warning, watching the storm


Our back and front yard during the big storms



Playing ski-ball at a b-day party for a little girl in his class


Riding on the carousel, notice the healing fat lip


Riding on a choo-choo


Hanging out with Carter and his parents (Heather and Buck)

April 2010

Well, it has been over a month now since I have last posted, wow how time flies! Jalen is 17 mths now and just changing and learning new things every day. He is trying to repeat things now all the time and has been saying a lot of new words, although most are now 100% clear, we can tell what he is saying. He does say "hola" pretty clear though and it took me by complete surprise when he did. He loves it when I sing the Spanish alphabet to him because it is so upbeat and fun and I am hoping to teach him Spanish more now that he is repeating and starting to talk. He also can sign "more", "please" and "thank you" although he generally blows a kiss when you tell him to say thank you. Here are a couple pictures from Easter in AZ, I am having problems uploading pictures on here for some reason so if you want to see all of them, check out my facebook page. Between now and Memorial Day we have a lot going on, getting together with neighbors for a cookout, having Home Depot come in and install blinds in our windows, going to McKinney, TX for Jude's 3rd birthday party, going camping with Hilary, Joshua and Jude in Sulphur, OK, going to OKC for a day for a continuing education course and then Jen and Ryan are coming here for Memorial weekend, we are so excited!!!

Daddy and Jalen

Mommy and Jalen

Sunny days in OK

Here are a few pictures from the last couple days. The rest are on Facebook so check them out!

Out to dinner with some friends

Carter (one of my lil patients)

Carter and Jalen at dinner

Jalen climbing on the step stool

Jalen getting set up for his nightly bottle, he does this every night when we mention the word bottle

New pictures of Jalen

Jalen is just cracking us up lately, he laughs out loud so often and it's so cute and he is just getting so smart we can't believe it! When asked, he can point to his ears, head, tongue, mouth, foot and his favorite...belly button. He has become obsessed with belly buttons now that when you ask him to show his, he immediately will go up to you and try to lift your shirt up so he can see yours, I guess it's only fair :)

He also seems to understand almost everything we say to him and generally follow directions, unless he wants to have selective hearing and you can yell at him as loud as possible and he won't even acknowledge you (this is especially when he is near the dog dishes because he loves to play in them of course!)

Jalen in his new jammies from Grammie

Jalen loves straws


playing on his laptop, starting to get a little hair too

He pulled the step stool up to the window so he could watch the rain

In another pair of new jammies from Grammie


This seems to be his pose of choice lately, always pointing and followed by a "huh" sound

Mommy trying to do her back exercises after injuring herself in Jalen's tunnel and being swarmed by Laila and Jalen, also Ali but she moved by the time the picture was taken

Jalen in a new outfit from Karen and Otto from Crystal Lake


Night time with Daddy

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jason and I both have tomorrow off work for President's Day and we have had a very nice weekend so far...we went out last night for dinner, dessert and wine and Jalen stayed home with his first (non-family member) real babysitter, Emily. Jalen loves Emily, she is a 19 year old college student that works at his daycare so it worked out great, we loved having her too and definitely will be having her again. we also went to one of my patient's birthday parties and Jalen was Mr. Social as usual. We also got a random snowstorm for a few hours this morning so Jalen loved watching it out the window but it warmed up later in the day and is practically already gone.

Jalen posing today in a new outfit from Grammie (thank you!)

Mr. Serious

My patient Carter and his mom Heather...Carter had a stroke before or during his birth and does not use his left arm very well and is a little delayed in his motor milestones so I see him every week to work with him, he's such a sweetheart and I love working with him.

Heather, Carter, Jalen and Me

Jalen sitting patiently watching Carter open gifts (and eating a cheeto apparently)

Trying to get his slippers on that Auntie Julie and Uncle Brian bought him (little blue fuzzy clog slippers), his feet are a bit chubby even for these still so we did get them on but they didn't stay long enough for a good picture, we'll work on it :)

Laila begging at the kitchen countertop while I make dinner

Ali wearing her new collar and tag

Laila wearing her new collar and tag

Jalen sleeping on the floor (this was after he fell asleep in my arms and then semi-woke up fussing and turning so I let him climb off the couch and instead of running around like I expected, he laid down on the ground and continued his sleep (not for long though, of course we moved him right after the picture, to his crib)