The face says it all

Okay, first I have to apologize to Roc. If anyone ever posted a picture like this of me in a blog, I would freak! But I was so happy to capture Roc - fed up! He gives this sort of sad, sort of pissed look when you are sitting on the couch and he wants to be in your warm spot! If you ignore him, he then starts in with the verbal hints. I had to laugh at him today, just being Roc and wanting to keep warm. I have never seen such a seat stealer. Apparently, "seat save" has no effect on spoiled rotten dogs!

Week 14 - GO Ravens!

Well, another good game for Joe and the Ravens - Ravens 24, Redskins 10! An now the Ravens are 9-4! Joe was 10/21 with 134 yds, 1 TD and 1 INT! It was fun to watch! Hope they continue this winning streak right into the post season!

It's Here! It's Here!

Finally, finally we received our I-171H which is our I-600a approval in the mail today! Remember when we were finger printed in September and had to got to US Citizenship and Immigration Services? Well, our approval letter is dated on October 11, 2008! I have no idea why it took almost two months to get mailed from the northern part of our state! Well, I do have some idea....

Back up to Wednesday, Nov. 26th - I tried to call USCIS with no luck. So, I then called our adoption agency. The woman I spoke with was so nice and helpful. She gave me an e-mail address for USCIS. I sent the e-mail on Friday Nov. 28th. I got an auto-reply back within minutes. The reply had a few FAQs and then a phone number to call too! It said I should receive a response within 2-3 business days. So, I waited and stalked my e-mail.

Now it is Wednesday, Dec. 3rd and still no response. I decided to call the number from the e-mail. You can only call in on Wednesdays from 1-4 pm, so if I didn't call that day, I would have to wait a whole week before I could call again! I got Justin down for a nap and called at 1:05, didn't want to seem overly anxious! I got a recording about the proper time to call in and some other contact info and then nothing. Okay, maybe they are late getting back from lunch? So I called at 1:20, and 1:40 and got the same recording. I kept listening to the whole thing because I was afraid that it would change at the end!

Finally at 1:45, the nicest woman picked up. She found our info in her computer and said they were waiting on something on their end. She asked me to hold on while she got our file. I could tell that something was wrong by her voice. She said well, your file was approved on Oct. 11th, I have no idea why your approval has not been sent out yet! WHAT!!! She said she would get it done and send it out to me right away!

My theory is that the file, at some time, was waiting on a clearance to come back. The clearance came back and was put in the file, and an approval (I-171H) letter was written. But, someone forgot to update the computer, so it appeared that it was not ready to be sent out! I am just hoping that this was our paperwork snag, apparently everyone had at least on during the process! Better to be before referral than after referral!!!

Honey Smacked

Justin somehow stole the whole box of Honey Smacks and decided to have himself a little snack! He was so happy the have the whole box. You see, his mom usually puts his snacks in a little cup with a lid. Those cups are no fun because you cannot spill anything out of them, or make any kind of mess. What a mean Mom! He got the cereal all over his face and clothes, and even wiped a bit in his hair! It did make a big mess, but Justin had a great time!

caught!

the cute and innocent look
thinking of a way out "He mad me do it!

Poor Roc

It's a good thing this dog gets his fair share of crumbs, because he puts up with a lot! Justin pulled a bowl with a little milk in it off the counter, and it landed right on top of Roc's head! The poor dog ran away scared. I had to laugh when I saw the milk drops all over his head! After Roc was startled, I did let him lick up the milk off the floor. He deserved it for getting hit in the head with the bowl!

Justin is 19 months!

Oh my! I thought it was bad when he hit 18 months, 19 is so much worse! I cannot believe how big my baby is! Justin is finally starting to talk more. He does repeat a lot of words now, but uses them sparsely. Some new words are marshmallow, lollipop, hot, football, monkey, apple, banana, milk, juice, pillow, dog, Elmo, cookie, and spoon. I think there may be a few more, but I cannot think of them right now.

Justin is so happy and loves to play rough. One of his favorite things to do is wrestling with his brothers! He jumps off couches and down steps. He is so close to jumping with two feet at the same time - he will get it soon, he tries so hard! He is really becoming obsessed with Sesame Street. He wants anything in the stores that even looks like a Muppet! His favorites are Cookie Monster and Grover! It is hard though because Elmo stuff seems to be everywhere. I guess he has gained popularity with Elmo's World, but my kid wants the blue guys!

I finally turned his car seat around because he refused to sit backwards. I was having the hardest time getting him buckled and then he rode in a friend's car forward facing and was fine. So, I turned around his car seat - and problem solved. I was trying to make it to two years, but things don't always work out as you plan. And I was tired of fighting with him every time I put him in the car!

Justin still hates, and I mean hates the bath - and shower. He used to like it as a baby and then one day started screaming hysterically! It has been months and months now. I have no idea what to do with him. Luckily, it is winter time and he only needs a bath a few times a week. I really hope he gets over this before pool season!

The Candy Man

This is Sean's idea of how to decorate a ginger bread man! He had to do the project over Thanksgiving break for school. It was a family project, so Brian, Sean and I did it together - with a little help from Justin! He was not allowed to use markers, pens, crayons etc to decorate it. He wanted to use real candy, but it soon became too heavy for the paper. So, I asked him if we could use the wrappers to make clothes for it. He thought it was a great idea, I cut out the wrappers and the boys glued them all on! I think it turned out really great!

Best Seat in the House

Justin was eating a snack today and started screaming! I had no idea what was wrong, he just kept pointing at the wall! It took me a few minutes, but I finally realized that he wanted his seat moved over to the heat vent - the heat had just come on! He loves to sit and have the heat blow in his face. He was happy as anything when I slid him over a few feet! The little things in life!

happy guy

worried about his ball rolling awaylove the feet crossedhe is going to be mad some day,

but I think he looks like Happy here,

(Baby New Year from Rudolph)