Updates

I know it has been so long since I posted. Every time I look at my own blog I feel guilty for not posting. So much is going on right now. Life is going on right now. And I am loving every minute of it. Our little boy is now 1 year old. He gets cuter every day and learns more and more every day. He is my blessing. We celebrated his birthday in style. Party, balloons, cake and lots of presents. Since we don't have much family around, it was amazing how many of our friends came to his party. My brother and his fiance and Lily were there. Ryan was there too. Otherwise all of our good friends were there.

David is in Iraq now and will be there until next summer. Please pray for him that he stays safe and come home soon. So far he is doing really well.

Carrie is making wedding plans for March. She and Gus will be married in Princeton and we are all looking forward to the wedding. She has a job now teaching middle school music and reading in the Washington, DC area. Gus is beginning a new job as well. They seem to be doing really well together.

Ryan just started his senior year of high school. Hard to believe that he will be graduating next spring. When I met him, he was only 12 years old. Time sure does fly by.

My brother and Stacy are planning their November wedding. That will be here before we know it. Our whole family is in the wedding. Dwaine is the best man, I am a bridesmaid, Ryan is a groomsman and Ethan is the ring bearer. He better learn to walk really soon! Lily turned one in May and is walking all over the place. She is so cute!

Dwaine continues to be really busy with his job and I am still working part time and loving it. Other than that, not much more to report. We are all doing well and are all healthy and happy.

Here is a little parting picture:

Our trip to Quincy

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Video of Ethan

Here is a cute video of Ethan. Enjoy.

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Pictures are worth a thousand words

Click on the link to view pictures of Ethan. http://www.onetruemedia.com/my_shared?z=37c7bec2c360ea69b2702d&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Hi again

Ok, the blog needed a little facelift and I had a little time and some patience and through a little (ok a lot) of trial and error, here it is. I think I like it. I just wanted to test it out and post a couple more pictures of Ethan.

Enjoy....

Kelley

Here's the latest...

Man, time is flying by lately! I can't believe it is almost February already. Seems like we just got through Thanksgiving!

Ethan is 5 months old now and I can't believe how fast he is growing and changing. He is almost sitting up now and he is starting to babble and say da-da. I keep trying to get him to say mama but the more I try, the more he says dada. Oh well! Ethan celebrated his first Christmas and loved it. I don't have any pictures of him with Lily when they opened their gifts because my camera died! What kind of mom lets her camera battery go dead? He was so excited to open his presents and he loved all of them.



He is learning how to eat solid food now. He likes his cereal but only if it is mixed with a tasty fruity goodness. He is not so crazy about any green vegetables. He does like sweet potatoes and squash.


Everyone else is doing fine. Carrie has set a wedding date of October 10. They will be married in Princeton. Chris and Stacy have also set a date. They will be married on December 5th in Quincy. Dwaine is going to be Chris' best man and I am a bridesmaid. I guess it is actually bridesmatron since I am an old married woman. Ethan and Lily are going to be ring-bearer and flower girl. That will be a priceless picture to see. I am excited for everyone and looking forward to both upcoming weddings.

David is still in Kansas and is able to come home pretty often now. He bought a car and now has a means of transportation. He seems to be doing well and will be home to visit us again in February. The army is talking about shipping his unit to Iraq in June so keep him in your prayers that it doesn't happen. We are hoping that with the new administration, things may change.

Ryan is doing well too. Still plugging along in school and very involved in band and choir.

Well, I am hearing the baby cry so I better get going. Hope everyone is well!

Until next time,

Kelley

Oh, ok one more picture

It's been awhile....again

Well, it has been awhile since October. Many things have happened since then. I feel like I am writing this post very quickly before Ethan wakes up. I do most things while he is napping now and I don't get a whole lot done anymore or so it seems to me.

Updates - here we go....

October was the last month I was on maternity leave. I enjoyed every minute of my leave from work. I was gone for 12 weeks and am now just working part time so I can spend more time with Ethan. I also love being able to get household chores done during the week so the when the weekends come, Dwaine and Ryan are here and we don't have to do as much house work now on the weekends. We can spend more time together.

Ethan celebrated his first Halloween with us. He was dressed as a pea pod. Mostly he was a mad pea because it was a warm day and his costume was very warm also. He was a hot, mad little pea.

I started back to work in November. That is going ok and I am glad to be back to work also. I loved my time off but now I feel like I am still using my skills to keep up being an MRI tech. We celebrated Thanksgiving with the whole family here. Carrie came home, Dwaine's mom and dad were here, his sister Patti was here and David came home from Korea. He is back in the states for the time being. He had two weeks off here at home and then started work at Fort Riley, KS. Just a 3 1/2 hour trip from here. Much better than half a world away. Now at least he is in the same time zone. Kansas still seems like a foreign country, though.

The day after Thanksgiving, we had Ethan baptized. It was a wonderful day filled with family and friends. I was amazed at how many people showed up at his baptism. His godmother is my good friend Toni whom I work with and his godfather is my brother Chris. Carrie, David and Ryan were all there. Carrie fixed a wonderful meal for us all and we enjoyed it very much. She was quite the hostess. I think if her carreer in music doesn't pan out, she should start a catering business. :)

Carrie and her long time boyfriend Gus were engaged just recently and are planning an October wedding. It will be held in New Jersey. We are very happy for them both. We do really like Gus a lot. My brother Chris also became engaged to his long time girlfriend Stacy. They will be married in December next year. 2009 will be the year for weddings. They will be married in Quincy.

David is back from Korea and is stationed in Fort Riley KS as I mentioned earlier. He will be there until June when he supposedly will be sent to Bagdad. He will be stationed there for one year. Please pray that he remains safe or better yet, that his duty may be assigned to another place besides Iraq. He will be in Kansas until then. It is nice to be able to see him more often now.

Christmas has come and gone. Ethan celebrated his first Christmas. He was more interested in the paper and boxes than the actual gifts. He had a good first Christmas. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas Day here at home with our family. Then we travelled to Oklahoma for Christmas with the Gelnars. The trip to Oklahoma was an event that I am not too eager to repeat any time soon. We spent 14 hours in the car with Ethan both on the way there and on the way back. So in 3 days, he spent 28 hours in the car. Too much for a 4 month old. Take warning all of you who have small children. Don't do it! Our visit with the family was very nice though. Ethan got to see his grandma and grandpa again and he got to meet a few of his cousins for the first time and also Aunt Cindy and Uncle Joe. He did remarkably well on the trip.

Our adoption (which is the primary reason I started this blog) is at a complete slowdown right now. We were logged in in Feb. of '07 and they have been working on Feb of '06 for well over 6 months right now if that tells you anything. We are going to wait a year and then re-evaluate our situation. China is not looking so good right now. We may switch over to special needs but that is slowing down too. Our little girl seems soooo far away right now.

We are anticipating a wonderful new year with lots of love and good times both with Ethan and our other kids and my brother as well. We are looking forward to two upcoming weddings and lots of fun with Ethan. I will post pictures later on but for now I hope you all have a blessed and happy New Year.

Lots of love,

Kelley & Dwaine & Ethan