The Love of our Life is Short and Chubby

I use to go for the Tall dark and handsome. Little did I know my heart would be stolen by a short chubby boy with bright blue eye.

I feel like the last 3 months have flown by. It seems our days and nights pass so much quicker. No longer are they filled with small tasks, busy work schedules and home projects. We now have Tubby times, Laughter, and Laundry (lots and lots of laundry) added to it. Finding a balance can be rough some days, when your out a sitter, works has been hectic or your basement floods... again.  But then  you get a smile that melts the worst days. It's like the brightest ray of sunshine that puts you back into the here and now. Letting you know that all that doesn't matter.

This little boy ceases to amaze me he can coo, smiles some of the biggest smiles, sits up in his Bumbo and loves tummy time (to a point) His most favorite thing is tubby time though. If he is in any kind of bad mood, a tubby will turn that frown upside down.

The best thing about our family and how we received this little boy. Is that we don't just share these small milestones with just each other. We get to share this with his amazing birth mother. Each picture or small moment that passes we include her. We know that other then us, there is only one other person in the world that finds so much joy in the first poop after a week of constipation.

Last Sunday we were able to have an impromptu visit From Finn's birth mother and brother. She came to drop off clothes from Finn's brother. She had not seen him in person since the day she placed him. I'm so grateful she came in and visited for those two hours.

I loved watching her with him. She fed him rocked him, talked to him and kissed him.
Her love for him is so great. It was her love that brought him into this world and it was her love that placed him with us. I am grateful that he will grow up knowing how much she loves him.
I love talking with her and all the comparisons to his brother.

As I watch this little boy grow, I constantly feel torn between excitement at each milestone he passes, and then the remembrance of not too long ago he was so small and new. I can't wait for him to walk and talk and to see who he will be. But I hold dearly to the first smile, first laugh, first coo and all those small moments.
Who knew someone so small could take up so much room in your heart.

Cloud 9

After the birth of our son we have been on cloud 9. I know changing diapers and spit up is not a vision of heaven but for us it has been. After 10 years of waiting to see what Heavenly Father has in store for us we get to experience this heaven. The journey that brought us to this point has not been easy. There have been moments it has broken down my very soul. But I know this is where I'm supposed to be.

I have tried writing this entry so many times. I can't even begin to put into words what the last 8 weeks have been like. Leading up to this beautiful little boys birth, to the smiles and little moments I get holding this sweet angel.

I had been talking with Oliva all day on January 7th. We talked about how she was feeling, when she was finally going to go in. We texted back and forth until she could not text anymore. Durring this time I waited until Mike got home from his last day at his job. (he was starting a new one 2 weeks later) I sat and talked with Mike's brother and his family, who were coming up for a visit and a class. Great timing in my opinion.
It was at 5 am January 8th that we packed and made our way to the hospital. My sister in law pushed us out the door.
The drive to the hospital was quiet. Mike and I just smiled like kids, we could believe this was  happening.

We arrived at the hospital and just waited. It was through those next couple hours we talked with Olivia, her parents and boyfriend. We shared some of the most amazing experiences. Those moments I will cherish and love forever. The love that filled those rooms was unmistakable.
It was Oliva's dad who came to tell us, "he's here" we cried and trembled. It was then we entered the room. And we were introduced to this precious gift. We got to hold him, this little person we had been waiting so long for.

That night we stayed in the hospital just 2 doors down from Olivia and her family. She wanted me to have the other wristband and for us to be with him. Late that night Olivia, her family, and ours (the ones in town) filled that hospital room with love. We took turns holding this angel boy. Talking laughing and sharing. To me that was the moment I couldn't love open adoption more. This room filled with love for this boy. That is the way it should be.
I could share so much more of these first 24 hours. But they're some of the most special things that took place that are so sacred.

I want to end this post sharing the love that I feel for the Woman that made me a mother. I know it's not mother's day. But God sent me an angel. And in her strength and her pure heart, she gave me the greatest blessing, that I can never repay. Because of her, I will strive to be the best mother for this little boy, because of her he will know everyday that he came from the purest love.

That Most Wonderful Time of The Year!

    For this is truly turning out to be the most wonderful time of year for us. With Christmas right around the corner, there is so much that is going on with the Berry's.

 

The biggest adventure right around the corner,  is the birth of our little one. In just a couple of weeks we will be able to take on the biggest responsibility ever given to us. To be parents!

With the preparation of our little one, we have been putting the finishing touches on the room, washing clothes and prepping toys.

One of my dearest friends through a baby shower for me, after much pushing I accepted and ended up so over joyed by the love and support we received from our friends and family.

 

 In addition to our little one on the way, Mike has applied for a new job. He applied to be security for our church headquarters. He is so excited, and knows this will be a perfect fit for him. He has been moving a long pretty quickly through the process and will be going to what should be his final interview on Wednesday (fingers crossed).

To help us get into the holiday spirit we have set up our book tree for it's final year. We know that next year with a little one running around a book tree will not be making an appearance, So to one final year :0)

We hope that as the year come to a close and the Christmas season is upon us. That all our loved ones find joy and happiness. And thank you to all those who have made this one amazing year!

Here's to 2016. She is going to be an AMAZING year!

Life can change in a flash

Not to long after our last blog post we were contacted by our first and only birth mom. And what a roller coaster it has been since. The first contact we got from her was through an email on adoption.com It was a small get to know you and inquire email. From there our relationship has grown. As the pregnancy has progressed our conversations have become more frequent. We love the bond that has grown. She has shared so much with us and us with her.

So our months have been spent getting ready for baby. The joy to do this after 10 years of waiting has been indescribable to measure. We have been making big changes to get ready.

Heather has gotten a new job, closer to home, with better hours. No more driving an hour to and from work. She works just 20 min away (door to door)
We have also spent almost every free moment getting the baby's room ready as well as the upstairs done. It is finally feeling like home and almost ready for the little one.

Our birth mom has kept us in the loop daily. From inviting us to the ultrasound to find out the gender to telling us his favorite foods and when he keeps her up all hours of the night. We truly feel like we haven't missed a thing.

With Thanksgiving and then Christmas right around the corner we have so much to be thankful for.
We moved to a state where the only people we knew was the few family that lived here. We did't know why we had to move, we just did. Since our move we have moved into our beautiful home, gotten some great jobs, made some amazing friends and has been given the opportunity to meet our amazing birth mom and grow our family through adoption.

BABY BERRY DUE JANUARY 2016

To new beginnings and changes

We've had some big changes during these last couple of weeks. We started the process of getting our ducks in a row to buy the house that we are currently renting, Mike started the background process with Saratoga Springs PD and Draper PD, and we are well on our way to getting completely out of debt! We also had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Adoption.com event for our area. We were really excited and were fortunate to be able to attend.

This was a big change in a positive direction for our adoption plan. Adoption.com is the largest adoption website in the world and could open so many doors for us. It will, hopefully, lead us to a missing piece to our family puzzle.

The Adoption.com event gave us so much information and assistance on our journey.  Plus, they had free cookies.  And who doesn't like free cookies! They also had a photo area were we could get some updated photos. We were sure in need of some updated photos. With Mike going back into law enforcement the beard is gone. Sad to see it go. I have always been a fan of bearded men, and Mike's was epic. Not only has he shed the beard. But we have both lost about 50lbs.

So now we are just rolling along, working hard to accomplish our goals, and so excited to see what this year has in store for us.

P.S. Look for our new profile on Adoption.com!

"The Holidays are coming! The Holidays are coming!"

So, it's been a bit of time since our last blog post. Sorry about that. Things can get rather hectic around the holidays. Both Heather and I have been working prett well non-stop the last few months. I'm still building doors and she is still taking calls with ARUP. Good ol' grown-up life!

A quick catch up then: On Halloween we went to my brother Ken's house and spent time with his family. Our nieces had some epic costumes and spent the evening trick-or-treating. Heather and I talked with Ken and Kim and I helped "inspect" the girls' candy when they returned. Gotta QC that stuff to make sure it's not poisoned! ;-)

For Thanksgiving we were able to go to California to visit our friends and family. We stayed Thanksgiving Day and the day after with my parents in Apple Valley. They had no idea we were driving down to see them. It was a neat surprise for the family. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Afterwards, we entertained ourselved with our nieces and nephews playing Mafia. A family favorite story-telling game full of murder, mystery, intrigue, and a kangaroo court! It was so much fun! The next day we just visited with everyone catching up from the past year spent away.

Saturday and Sunday we spent catching up with Heather's parents. We talked and went to dinner with her parents and Grammie on Saturday. Grammie is Heather's fiesty red-headed grandmother on her dad's side. You wouldn't know by the way she looks, or acts, but she is 85 years old! last year, we took her to Disneyland for her birthday and she didn't hesitate to get on any of the rides. She tells me everytime she sees me that she is mad at me for taking Heather out of California, but I know she loves me. We did take a few hours and visited some of our closest friends. We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to, sadly.

Sunday we were able to see our newest nephew. He is super adorable and has a TON of hair on his head, and everywhere else! He was born the day (a few hours, rather) before Thanksgiving. We both wish we could have spent more time with our friends and families. Hopefully next year we can take more time to be with them.

Next up is Christmas! We are way excited for this holiday. Heather kept insisting we start decorating for Christmas as soon as we got home from California. I was onboard with the idea, but our work schedules weren't. She was able to do a little here and there, but we still have a ways to go. Heather is allergic to real Christmas trees and we gave our plastic one away before we moved from California, so we are trying out a new method this year: a book tree. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would have. Fortunately, being a Berry I have a plethora of books at my disposal and it only took half my 'library' to make the tree. We topped it with our angel and trimmed it with lights. It really turned out beautifully. Heather is super creative and crafty! One of the many traits I love about her.

Well, it's 2 in the morning and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be so long between future posts. Until next time...

All things scary

Well, we got the official word.  We are approved!! This is such big news for our journey of adopting.  All we have to do now is sit and wait for an amazing birth family to pick us to raise their child.

This news kick started one our favorite holiday seasons: Halloween.

When I was a kid, I remember dressing up in anything my parents would come up with. This was both entertaining and humiliating at times.  See, we didn't have the luxury of always having those beautiful store bought costumes (you know the ones that fall apart half way through the one night of wearing them.) One year we went as christmas presents. No joke; a christmas wrapped box with arm, leg and head holes cut out. It was not so popular at the time, but looking back, my parents were extreamly creative.

Having this background of coming up with not only unique costumes, but also unique traditions on how to celebrate such a holiday, came in very handy when I met and married into the Berry family.  Little did I know nobody could do Halloween like this family.  Complete with family parties and trick or treating at some of the best locations that have been tried and true. But they were beyond creative for costumes and display.  There was no age limit to dressing up and all were encouraged. We would party until late into the night playing games and watching Halloween classics.

As Mike and I have moved out of California, there are so many different traditions we are able to explore, make, and try.

Last year, Mike and I were both trying to balance a schedule working retail at Cabela's so a lot of our usual traditions, as well as decorating, fell a little short.  I think we made up for it the day of this joyous holiday. We went to Mike's oldest brother's house.  We trick or treated with our nieces and were joined by my sister and her kids.  We had so much fun running around the neighborhood with the kids.  We skipped, laughed, and even played tricks.  We concluded our evening by settling in with our loot of candy we all collected and watched some Halloween movie classics.

This year we have settled into regular schedules.  This made it easier to do some of our traditions throughout the month like plan if our house should be decorated scary or fun.  Also, what kind of Halloween movies to watch through the month. This year we have chosen all things horror, with a mixture of some of our go to favorites: Clue, Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As we dove into the horror side, we wanted to try all the cult classics, you know the ones everyone talks about.  We can tell you the black and whites are truly terrifying and so much better than their counterpart remakes. As for some of the others, like Hellraiser and Evil Dead, I gravely think those were lost on us. Although some movies flop horridly, it's so nice to spend the weekend together in our pj's just eating junk food and enjoying each others compamy. It's hard not to love this holiday.