I love this little girl!

I know this is nothing new, but I love our daughter so much. She is in taking a nap right now and I just went and checked on her and was filled with this overwhelming love for her. She is so sweet, she has the most fun little personality, she is just the best! I feel so blessed to be her mommy and for my sweet husband to be her daddy. Here are just some pics of our wonderful little Aspen...

She has decided that she wants to feed herself now and she's awfully happy doing it!

But...

she never gets any food in her mouth....just all over her face, hair and of course, the kitchen

floor! So we still "help" her eat! She's so funny!

Malo built Aspen a toy box this weekend, and she wanted to get in and....JUMP!!! She is quite the jumper these days!

And here she is standing in her new toy box....

WE'VE GOT A COURT DATE!!!!!!

Ok, so I know I already posted today....and I was trying to be all positive and stuff....and I guess it worked!!! Our attorney just called and WE FINALLY HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!!! February 28th we will have Aspen's adoption finalized!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So be thinking of us that Thursday morning at 10:45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!! YAY!!! YAY!!!! This is the BEST day!!! YAY!!!!!! Yay! Yay!!!!!

My birthday!

Here is my little family on my birthday yesterday. I don't know why I ever complain about anything. I am a very blessed person; I have the best hubby and the sweetest little girl, I have an amazing family and wonderful friends. I have nothing to complain about and I don't actually like to complain...so why do i do it? Because I am not very patient and when I get in my little mind that something should be done in a certain timeframe (oh, like an adoption!) I just get frustrated that things don't happen when *I* think they should. But, I shouldn't. I should just relax and enjoy my good life and count my blessings! :-) (See the cake Malo made and decorated for me?!?!? What a nice boy!)

Here is Aspen stealing a roll from the bread basket
at my birthday dinner last night. She is getting to be such a big girl. She is 7 1/2 months old now and doesn't she look so grown up sitting in a high chair reaching for food herself? She cracks me up. Its amazing to me how one little girl can bring so much joy and happiness into our lives. She has the greatest little personality and the sweetest smile that can melt away any frustrations. Yup, we love our little Aspen.

She has been trying to crawl for a couple of weeks now, its really funny. She gets up on all fours, belly off the ground, rocks back and forth and then usually has to put her hands in her mouth and then collapses. Its really funny!!

And then here is just a picture of me and my Malo. Isn't he the cutest ever??? :-) I had a good birthday yesterday....I'm now 29 and not too sure how I feel about being in the LAST year of my twenties.....ahhhhh!!! :-)

And my really wonderful, beautiful AWESOME friend, Keila came to visit a couple days ago. Keila is so cool. She played with Aspen - and Aspen thinks she's fan-tastic!


She also took me out for a lovely birthday pedicure - always a welcome treat for my tootsies and she took me to Carrabas for a birthday lunch. Thanks, Keila! :)

So so *SO* frustrated!

Ugh! I am SO frustrated with Aspen's adoption process...we got a letter from the judge in the mail on Monday saying there were some things that were not submitted in our file....funny thing is this letter was dated December 19....not mailed until January 11! AND....the court clerk told our attorney on Dec 21 that our file hadn't even been looked at and wouldn't be looked at for 2 or 3 more weeks....well, obviously they gave her wrong information!!! Anyway, so I called our attorney and she didn't received that same letter we got...why, you might ask? Because the court clerk thought we didn't have an attorney and so they sent it to us! Which is so interesting because the lawyer's name is everywhere on the paperwork. So....anyway, because the laws are different where Aspen was born and they have different paperwork than Colorado, the judge here went ahead and said we can't finalize without Colorado paperwork....so the attny has to put together MORE paperwork (which of course costs us a million and a half dollars per hour that she works) and submit it to the courts. So who knows how long that will take?!?! 5 more years?!! Aspen will probably be graduating from high school before her adoption is finalized....and sealed to us. It is so frustrating and I've been trying SO hard to be patient, I really have. But everytime I turn around, there is another hangup...another problem, another delay of some sort. UGH!!!! So anyway, I suppose I can be done venting now; its just so frustrating. If we adopt again, I'm doing everything myself so that I can know exactly what is going on and I won't have to depend on someone else to get things done!!! Poopy crap! (wow, I sound like I'm 5.....). And she is the GREATEST baby in the whole world (I may be a *little* biased!) and we just want everything to be official. I mean, I know she is our daughter and we are her parents....I just want it to be official. (This last part should be read with a very whiny, pathetic voice...because that's what I am feeling!)

Anyway, I'm done! Hope everyone else is having good days and no frustrations! Because i have enough that all my friends should be frustration free for at least a year! :-)

Snowshoeing....

Malo went snowboarding on Saturday without me...and I was sad, really sad. I didn't go at all last year because he was in Afghanistan and couldn't do anything fun and so I didn't feel like I should go do something fun that we've always enjoyed together without him.....now I wish I would've gone without him! But anyway, neither me or Aspen can snowboard right now, so we went snowshoeing. We went with my sister and my friend up to Rampart Reservoir and Aspen was SUCH a trooper!!! She LOVES being outside and she did a lot better than I thought she would. We actually were out for about 2 hours....a bit too long for Aspen, she got fussy on the way back, but she was fine. She is just such a trooper; I was super impressed with her! Here are some pics....

You can barely see her little eyes over the backpack! But she was ready to go!

Heartbeats....

I finally got to hear Blobby's heartbeat today! My last doctor's appt it just wouldn't work. We saw the heartbeat on ultrasound the last two ultrasounds, but this was different. It was so amazing to hear that fast heartbeat and have it confirmed again that there really, truly is a human being growing inside of me. That probably sounds so dumb, but sometimes it just doesn't feel real. But between the ultrasounds and hearing the heart beating away today, I'm feeling good about everything! :-) I actually cried when I heard it today....felt like a dork, but it was so special. We'll find out next month if Blobby is a boy or a girl.

My doctor also gave me two prescriptions to help with the throwing up. I had to leave him alone in the room with Aspen while I ran to the bathroom and threw up....then he asked me some questions and gave me meds. So hopefully that will help some. :)

Anyway, that's about all I know for now. :)

Christmas, adoption, sickness, etc.

These pictures crack me up!!! Aspen's first Christmas was SO wonderful; I can't believe how much more special it was with a kiddo, even though she's only 6 months old, she made it so wonderful. She had so much fun opening up presents; she couldn't have cared less about what was inside, but she LOVED opening them and playing with (a.k.a. EATING) the wrapping paper. She started doing this crazy happy squeal and she'd close her eyes tight and open her mouth and just let out this crazy noise that just cracked us up!

We were hoping and praying that Aspen's adoption would be finalized before the end of 2007, but sadly it was not. We found out the week before Christmas that the courts are behind right now and so it would be another 2 or 3 weeks before they even looked at our file. So....we wait another couple weeks....then we wait for a court date....then, then, then. I've struggled to stay positive with the whole process, but it will happen soon. I just want it to be official; Aspen is 100% our daughter, but I want the little paper that says so! And more than anything, I want to have her sealed to us...and the longer we wait, the more impatient I get. She is so much the greatest blessing in our lives. She really is one amazing little girl!

And one last side note, for anyone wondering where we've been or what we've been up to....I have just been really sick! I haven't wanted to get off the couch for quite some time....it takes all my energy to take care of Aspen....I can't do much more than that. I've had a few really great days, like 2 days in a row without puking, but that's about all I can go before it all starts again! Yuck! Like yesterday, I went and picked up some groceries and Aspen is big enough now that she can just sit up in the carts at the store (so YAY for not having to carry her gigantic self and that carseat!). Anyway, we did fine until we were going out to the car. So picture this....I'm pushing her and the cart of groceries in the parking lot toward the car....the wind is blowing in Aspen's face and the sun shining in her eyes, so she was not a happy camper to start with....and then I feel...the urge....to puke....and I do! So I'm trying not to let the cart with my child and my food blow away in the wind while I'm losing all the contents of my stomach....a little graphic and gross, I know..and I'm sorry!

But the good thing is....the baby is doing well and all seems to be going well. So no matter how sick I get, or how tired I am, I am grateful beyond measure that this pregnancy is going well. I have prayed for children for so long...our prayers were answered with Aspen and are being answered again with this little one who is rapidly growing in my belly! Malo and I couldn't be happier or more grateful for these blessings in our lives.

Anyway, enough of this novel! :-)