Long Time, No Blog......

I can't believe it's been almost 8 months since I have updated this blog, but in my defense a whole bunch of changes have occurred since March. so, I thought I would go month by month and give you a quick update. So, here it goes....

April
In April we had our first family of 4 pictures. (adcockstudios.com) It was very surreal to see Noah in these pictures. It felt like we had been wanting and waiting for him for so long and now that he was here it just seemed so unbelievable. He's such a cutie and we are so blessed.

May

We celebrated two very important milestones for our family. We celebrated Noah's 2nd birthday and also the anniversary of the day we accepted our referral for Noah. What that means is, last year on May 5, 2012 we received an email and some pictures of Noah from our adoption agency. From the moment we saw his sweet face, we knew he was going to be our son. So for our family this is also a birthday for Noah coming into our lives. 

In May we also got some difficult news. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. We were all so shocked and really didn't know what that road was going to look like. All we knew was that she was going to have a double mastectomy in July and would have to wait for results from that surgery to see how the doctors would treat the cancer. 

June

June was a big month for our family, we are finally complete with the birth of Jackson Seel Qureshi. He is our last baby and my third miracle child. I am amazed at all God has provided for us.

July and August

July and August were survival months, we were figuring out our new normal and trying to keep on keeping on. My mom found out that she needed to have four rounds of chemo and it was really hard to not truly be able to be there for her because of the new baby. 

September

In September we celebrated Kadyn's 4th birthday with a trip two visits to Disney. One trip was with just mommy and daddy. It was a really special time for her to have all of our attention. She got a special visit to the Bippity Boppity Boutique where she picked the most ridiculous hair style and got to wear her Ariel dress and get her make up and nails painted. Kadyn was in her version of heaven and loved every  minute of it! 

Then she went with her best friends Avery and Ella for a breakfast with the princesses. It was also Avery's birthday, so they love to celebrate together. 

Kadyn was so happy that grandma felt well enough to come celebrate

October

The best part of October was that it was my mom's last chemo treatment. She is a cancer survivor! I am so proud of her attitude and faith during this very difficult time. In every circumstance she praised God and even though she had some really rough days she was able to remain positive. Losing both breasts and all of your hair, in my opinion gives you the right to be pissed off, but she really took it in stride. She is such a pillar of strength and I am so proud of her!

And then there was Halloween.....

We all had fun! Especially Mr.Simmons

As you can see a so much has happened these past 7 months. We have had a lot of ups and downs, but we praise God for this journey he has put us on. God is so good and we are so thankful. I promise to not let this much time go by before we post again. 

The First Month

Life as a Family of Four......

      It's so hard to believe that it has already been over a month since Noah came home. I want to be perfectly honest and say there have definitely been some difficult days. It's hard to really prepare yourself for what to expect when a toddler comes to live with you. Noah has already been bounced around from place to place, been with many care givers and really no structure at all. So, the first week was a complete blur with lots of tears from him and me. I definitely wasn't ready for the sleepless nights and temper tantrums. We were complete strangers and Noah definitely hadn't ever been told he couldn't do something.  But, then there were the sweet hugs and kisses and joyful laughter, and finally came the sleep. Sleep can make everything better for me.

Celebrating Valentine's Day

Playing in the water table for the first time

       Thankfully, I have a community of moms that have adopted so I had them to call and ask questions about what to do as far as disciplining, sleep training and eating. Then there are the questions that you are too embarrassed to ask anyone. Worries about connecting and bonding and attaching. Eventually I had to swallow my pride and ask, and amazingly it seems like these are common worries and that I am actually going through the normal, crazy adjustment period.  Then there are all of the beautiful firsts... the first bath, car seat ride, trip to the farm, first slide, first swim in a pool, first park, birthday party, first disney trip, first time at church, and first time sleeping in a crib by himself.  In the beginning I felt robbed because I had missed so much of his baby life, but it is a really amazing gift to be able to experience so many firsts with this sweet boy, and see the amazement in his eyes.

Noah instantly took to grandma

first day at pre-school, he is going one day a week

        Right now things are great! We are living our new normal for a few more months until baby Jackson arrives, that's when things are really going to get interesting:) Kadyn and Noah are adorable together. They fight and love each other just like all brothers and sisters do. She loves bossing him around, which is no surprise to anyone that knows her. He absolutely adores her and follows her around the house copying everything she does.

brother-sister love

      It's amazing what some nourishment can do for a kid. In the last five weeks, Noah has gotten 6 teeth, three haircuts and his overall appearance has just gotten so much better. His skin is glowing and tummy troubles are all gone. We feel like he was hand picked from God for our family. We love him so much and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be his mommy. We praise God for his all His blessings!

Our visit to the farm

Uncle John

Aunt Erica

Avery loving on Noah