Perfect day

All I've ever wanted in life is a healthy child (or children) and an amazing husband. I have both..I know I'm blessed. I also know that I'm such a dork because I often say to Jeremiah, "This is all I've ever wanted. I'm so happy." He makes fun of me by saying it when he knows I'm thinking it. I'll admit it...the past few weeks I've been kind of grumpy (although..I'm almost positive Jeremiah would say I've been extremely grumpy). As you know, we are adopting and it's been an emotional journey thus far. I've come to the realization that God is in control of our adoption. Thank goodness I'm feeling like myself again. I don't want to be grouchy or annoyed around the people I love. I want Jeremiah and Olivia (and everyone else) to see God's love radiate from me. I want them to see how much I adore them because they are truly all I've ever wanted in life.
On a different note, I had the day off today. I had such a spectacular day with Olivia. It was one of those days that I wanted to last forever. The weather was perfect and we had a blast being together. First, I took Olivia to the soccer fields. She'd never been to an actual field before and it was fun to watch her kick the ball around. After Olivia ran around for a bit, she went and sat down on the sandbag (the one that holds the net down). She said, "Mommy..I'm tired. I take a nap now."


After we played soccer we went to the lake for a picnic. We ate lunch and then played with her toys for awhile. Olivia took our blue blanket and turned it into the ocean and used some leaves for the sand. Then she told me that her dolls were going to the beach. She also heard birds chirping and we talked about how birds eat worms. Then she said, "Mommy...what do worms eat?"
I love this age! Every second I'm with her I just want to squeeze her. I could watch her play all day.

Best Summer Ever!

Today was my last day of summer break. I'm going to be honest, I did tear up a bit when I was feeding Olivia breakfast this morning. And...then I did tear up again when I was putting her down for a nap because I treasure the cuddle time we have before and after her naps. We've had an absolutely wonderful summer. I tell Jeremiah all the time that I could definitely be a stay at home mom if the opportunity was given to me.:) It's not an easy job, but I do enjoy being home with Olivia.
Every time I get down about leaving my girl, I just think of the parents in Africa right now. Have you read this article: http://news.yahoo.com/tortured-choice-famine-child-lives-170128855.html. It is heartbreaking. I can't even imagine what those parents are going through. Those parents would give anything to be where I am right now. It has definitely made me more thankful for what I have. While I can be sad that I'm not with Livi every day, I'm definitely praising God for the life He has blessed me with.
So to end on a positive note, I'm going to list the highlights of my summer break (in no particular order):

1. Spending every single day with Olivia
2. Watching Olivia grow up over the past months-I can't believe the phrases that come out of her mouth! It's amazing how much a child can change in just a few months.
3. Listening to Olivia sing songs at lunch time and when she wakes up from her nap.
4. Laughing, laughing, and more laughing with Olivia every day. She is hilarious.
5. Seeing Olivia dance at the wedding we were at last weekend.
6. Spending a night in St. Louis to celebrate Jeremiah's 30th birthday (He doesn't actually turn 30 until September).
7. Having a date night with Jeremiah for our anniversary.
8. Spending numerous days at my parents' pool.
9. Our vacation to Hilton Head with my entire family.
10.Watching Olivia watch fireworks for the first time.
11. Walking on the beach with Jeremiah
12. Watching Olivia play in the ocean with my dad
13. Sitting on the beach with just my two sisters.
14. Spending a few days with my mom and Livi
15. Watching Olivia play with her cousins
16. Hanging out with friends from high school
17. Hanging out with friends from Champaign
18. Receiving our USCIS letter with our fingerprinting date
19. Receiving numerous financial donations for our adoption
20. Picnic lunches at the lake with my girl
21. Finishing most of our dossier paperwork
22. Meeting new friends through adoption
23. Hearing Olivia say, "Mommy when is our baby boy coming home? I hug him and kiss him." Also when she says, "Ethiopia is in Africa. Where baby boy's mommy and daddy go?"
24. Going to the Cardinal's game with friends
25. Spending numerous days off together as a family.


There are so many more memories from this summer and I could go on and on. I'm just so thankful for the blessing of being off in the summer. Now..I just can't wait for next summer. Maybe I will have both my kids home with me by then!?:)

Winnie the Pooh

Jeremiah, Olivia, and I went to see the "Winnie the Pooh" movie last night. We thought Olivia might be a little young to sit through the movie, but we wanted to try. The movie was only about an hour long and she loved it. It was fun to watch her face light up as she watched the movie and saw the characters she loves to read about. We decided to get her some popcorn because it was her first movie. Olivia kept her hands in the popcorn the entire movie. It was sweet to watch her because she only took out one piece at a time.
When the credits started rolling, I put Olivia down on the floor. She looked at me (with a quivering lip) and said, "More...I watch more Winnie the Pooh." I told her that it was over, but we'd watch it again. The entire way home she was sad. When we talked about the movie (or asked her questions about it), she started to tear up! We got home, put her pj's on, and then started to put her to bed. Olivia lost it and starting hysterically crying. I hugged her and told her to use her words. All of the sudden she blurted out, "Want more." I said, "What do you more of?" Between her cries she blurted out, "I want more popcorn." Oh my gosh...we were trying so hard not to laugh. After Jeremiah explained that we could have popcorn another day, she stopped crying and went right to sleep.
We thought she was sad because the movie was over, but she was actually upset because we threw the remaining popcorn away.

Uh oh...I go pee pee on the floor.

Many of Olivia's little friends have started the potty training process. I decided that I would start trying to potty train her after we got back from Hilton Head. The night we got back we got out the potty and made a huge deal about it. She sat on it one time and then decided she didn't want anything to do with it (and this lasted for about a week). Then we went out to lunch with Ava and Nicci and Olivia watched Ava go potty on the big potty. Olivia decided that she wanted to sit on it too. For the last week, Olivia has sat on the potty but hasn't gone to the bathroom. Of course we've been praising her like crazy for just sitting on it. We got a huge jar of M&M's and told her she would get three every time she went potty. She wanted the candy, but didn't care enough to go potty. On Monday, Jeremiah and I were in Target with Olivia. She saw a Cinderella barbie doll and wanted it. We told her we would give it to her if she went pee pee on the potty. Olivia was thrilled. When we got home she held the doll, sat on the potty, and then within one minute she went to the bathroom. We started clapping and dancing and she said, "Cinderella doll!" Now I always thought it was silly when people gave their children rewards for going potty. I thought that it was just a natural thing and that I wouldn't need to reward my children for going potty. I was wrong...the Cinderella doll was a great motivation for her. So after Monday I thought she would go potty on the potty chair...but again, I was wrong. She has sat on the potty numerous times and has never gone again. We still tell her we'll give her M&M's, we bought her this cheap toy microphone (like Grace has), and my mom even bought her big girl underwear for a reward. Olivia was excited about the underwear, but she still won't go potty.
Yesterday, I decided that I was going to take her potty multiple times during the day but I would also leave her diaper off. I thought that she would tell me when she needed to go potty (after we talked about how to tell me if she needed to go). She went from 8:30a.m.-10:00a.m. without going to the bathroom. I took her at least three times during that time and she didn't go. About 10:00a.m., she looked at me and said, "Uh oh..I go pee pee on the floor." She had gone on the floor and on her blanket. I know every child has accidents, but I don't know if Olivia is ready for potty training. I'm going to keep trying to get her to go, but I'm not going to push it. She's going to go when she is ready. I just hope it's before she starts first grade-ha.:)

My girlie girl

My parents are taking us to Hilton Head to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Isn't it nice that they are taking us, when it's their anniversary!?:) I can not wait to spend an entire week at the ocean with my family. Olivia and I went to Target today to get a few items for our trip. She had me cracking up the entire time we were in the store. Here are a few things that I heard her say while we were in the dressing room-I was trying on clothes and she said, "Mommy, that cute." I asked her if she liked my outfit and she said, "Yah...that cute."
Olivia was looking at me and said, "Mommy, I so wonderful." Later on she said, "I so cute." I guess she doesn't hear us compliment her enough at home-ha!
As we were walking through the clothing racks she said, "Mommy, I want boy look at me." Then she started saying, "Boy..look at me!"
When I was looking at shampoo she said, "Are you happy?" I told her I was very happy. Then a few minutes later she said, "Mommy..are you so sad?" I told her I was happy, not sad.
Then we started walking down the food section and she was belting out the song, "Jesus Loves Me" as loud as she could. The rest of our Target experience consisted of Olivia singing a few different songs, shouting "Hi peoples!" to everyone we saw, and talking about everything she wanted ("I want take that to beach" and "Oh my gosh, Mommy..I take that beach.").
She was an absolute doll and I enjoyed being with her. She sat in her cart for at least an hour when she said, "My booty is so hot." I started laughing and asked her what she just said. She repeated it again. I don't know where that came from!
I hope the people in Target thought she cute and not annoying. But...I'll never get enough of this little girl of mine. :)

New Adoption Blog

Hey! Jeremiah and I have created a new blog just about our adoption journey. I'll still post on this site about Olivia and other family things. If you want to follow our adoption journey, please go to this site:
www.ourjourneytofour.com
*If this site is down, please go to www.ourjourney2four.blogspot.com.

Thanks!
Kortny

Delightful Day

I really enjoy being home with Olivia. We had the most delightful day together today! We went to the park and then had to run many errands. I took her to lunch and we had such a great time. Olivia heard music playing in the restaurant and she started dancing. My girl loves to dance. It's hilarious. I think she has better dance moves than I do!
It's one of those days that I just tear up looking at my girl because I know that God has greatly blessed me. I know that Olivia isn't perfect, but she is perfect for me. As I drove home today, I was thinking about my number one responsibility as a mom. My first responsibility is to help her know God and the great love He has for her. Of course I want Olivia to be a great person. Of course I want to teach her to be respectful and care about other people. Of course I want to teach her the importance of contributing to her community and serving others. However, the most important thing for me is to teach her about Jesus and hope that she accepts Him into her heart. It's crazy for me to think that I love Olivia so much, but God loves her more than I do. I'm thankful that I go to Quest and the people will help me teach Olivia about Jesus and the love He has for her. But..at the end of the day, it's my job to teach her about accepting Christ in her life. This feels like such a big responsibility, so I know that I need to start teaching her about His love now.