The best birthday gift

Mama's birthday is coming up in a couple of days, so Daddy and Nicolas planned a nice dinner with all of our friends. The weather was perfect, if a little cool. We dined al fresco...it was lovely. Daddy decided that since we've been canning tomatoes and sauce and salsa and bruschetta like crazy people, he would go with the tomato theme. We ate all of the above...and it was all followed with delicious coconut lime cupcakes (omg! is all I have to say about them!). One of the highlights of the evening for me, was Nicolas singing Happy Birthday to me...to think, only a year ago we met and he could barely say Happy Birthday and now he's singing to his Mama

After everyone had gone home, Nicolas was done his bath and I went in to put on his lotion and get his pj's on. When I went into the bathroom, he was holding his hands closed together like he was hiding something so I asked him what he had, he said "look Mama, it's a star"  I said "oh! you caught a star!" and he said "for you, Happy Mommy's day, Mama!" I squeeked out a thank you, and huged him tight while tears ran down my face. He then told me to put the star in one of the candle holders in the bathroom and told me to water it...so if you come over and see a star in a candle holder...now you'll know why.

Thank you, my sweet little one...Mama loves you so much...thank you for the best birthday gift...ever!

Happy 3rd Birthday

Nicolas, you turned 3 a little more than one month ago...we can hardly believe how fast you're growing and how much you learn and change every day!

On your birthday, you woke up to balloons in your room...we had been telling you for days that your birthday was on monday, so when you woke up and saw the balloons, you said "don't touch, only Monday", because you didn't know what day it was...it was so cute! We ate breakfast and got you dressed and had some final preparations to do before your friends started arriving at 11am. Daddy had to do some errands so he went out and you stayed home with Mommy and Gram-Gram.

Daddy went to get the special pancit noodles, the bouncy house that we rented for your party and his friend Franck. You helped them to set up the bouncy house! Then your friends arrived. You all had so much fun jumping in the bouncy house! We ate lunch (home made fried chicken, bbq chicken, pancit noodles, matua (pulled pork) salads etc), opened presents and ate cake. Your cake was amazing! Auntie Shell made it...and it was so nice, that Mommy cried when she saw it!

You had such a fun day, surrounded by family and friends. It was exactly the kind of day that Mommy and Daddy hoped you would have!

We love you little Moose and we can't wait to see what this next year holds for you!

Mommy and Daddy
xoxo

Wake up sleepy head! 

The balloon wreath Mommy made for you

Helping Daddy and Franck to set up the bouncy house

presents

The coolest cake ever! 

The birthday boy

Our Little Chef

Nicolas came out of his playroom wearing his chef's hat the other morning...He then asked if I wanted him to make me pizza...I said yes, of course! (in case you're wondering, it's a basket and attached to the handle of the basket is a piece of bread and some cheese - all stuffed food toys from I.K.E.A).

Son, you are the cutest and most creative Little Moose! 

Every Day is Happy Mommy's Day

I love that Nicolas brings me flowers from the yard... dandelions and clover flowers...last week, i was reading on the front porch and I heard two snaps and when I looked up he was clambering up the stairs with these two flowers in his hands...he brought them to me and said "Happy Mommy's Day". Yes, Nicolas, it is a happy mommy's day (but next time please bring me the dandelions or clover flowers and leave the other flowers in the garden).

One year since THE CALL

 Today marks one year since that fateful day when we finally received THE CALL the one that we'd been waiting for. That day, one year ago, started out as a really bad day. I was tired of waiting, depressed and frustrated. All of that changed that afternoon after I got a message from our resource person and called her back to find out "what was wrong now". The joke was on me, because there was nothing wrong. In fact, everything was perfect. We finally had the call that we'd been waiting for...more importantly, we finally had a SON.

This morning when Nicolas climbed into bed with me, I told him that today was a very special day. He asked if there were going to be Easter Eggs. I told him that there wouldn't be any Easter Eggs today, but that one year ago, we heard his name for the first time, and we saw his picture for the first time, and we read all about him. He doesn't understand everything yet about his adoption, but it's important for us to talk to him openly about it.

Since it was a perfectly warm and sunny day with a slight breeze we decided to spend it outside. We broke out the sprinkler and we ran through again and again! We made a picnic and ate under the oak tree in the front yard and after lunch, we had our nap wrapped in home made quilts under the oak tree. After our nap, we played in the sprinkler again and a perfect day wouldn't be complete without playing in the dirt. Daddy made hamburgers on the BBQ for supper.

Nicolas, we are so very happy that you are in our life. We know that we would not be complete without you. This past year has been incredibly emotional and life changing, and we wouldn't change a thing. You are very fortunate to have so many people in your life who love and care about and for you. We hope that you will grow up knowing how loved and special you are. 

Watching Daddy leave for work

Every morning we look out the window to watch and wave as Daddy leaves for work. Sometimes Mommy holds Nicolas, sometimes he watches from his high chair. On this particular morning, Oscar and Nicolas both wanted to say good bye in the window.

We named our son!

We officially named our son on April 16, 2012. We had a meeting to begin the paperwork for the legal process of the adoption. While we were at the meeting we were told that we needed to take extra care to make sure that all the names in the document were spelled correctly. Eric asked if we needed to add Nicolas' middle name now, or if it was done at a later date. We had to name him now. We chose to keep Nicolas' given name, and his family name was obvious, so we didn't really name him before this week when we chose his middle name. We had many conversations about what his middle name or names could be, but we had not officially decided until that meeting. We decided to name him Nicolas Xavier Seguin.

We left the meeting with goofy smiles on our faces and feeling all shaky. We just named our son!