Bobby has a new job HR welcomed him to the company and he should have the complete offer (with the pay negotiation complete) by the end of the week. I am tickled pink!!

I have been feeling pretty nauseous the last 3-4 days so I have not been updating that much not sure if I am coming down with something or if its stress (I think its the latter).

So, rumor has it Bobby should be getting a job offer this week. HR called him this morning and I am waiting on him to call me and tell me what he knows. This job would be here in town in the company he wanted replacing the person who got the job in Texas he interviewed with. I am not counting my chickens yet, but I willupdate once he gets the offer.

Bobby started college today, he is taking two easy shmeasy IT classes this term to get into the swing of things, I am so proud of him!

Next month I am going to Washington for a few weeks to visit friends and family. It will be Matthew’s first flight.

Ok, the news I could not mention in my earlier post…

I am an auntie again! I will not go into the nitty gritty of it all since its complicated or post pictures since she’s my sister’s child, not mine, but she is BEAUTIFUL and her name is 0livia and I just cannot wait to hold her in my arms!!

The biggest news of all. We have retained an Attorney, I am adopting Austin!! We are all very excited! Austin is very happy (yet sad too, which is expected) and told me the other day he cannot wait until the adoption is final. I have already gotten my fingerprinting done, I just need to go get some money orders, a notary and head to the post office for my background check.

Anyways, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

VERY little. At his 15 month well baby he was 20 lbs even and 29 inches long. Well proportioned for his size, but still a small boy. You should see how much this boy EATS though, holy cow! The other morning at breakfast he ate an egg, a piece of bacon, and 1 1/2 Belgium waffles (not those lame-o toaster things, home made), and a cup of orange juice… like his brothers, the kid is HOLLOW!!!!!

He’s still not talking much (like his brothers at his age), but he is a climber! He can climb on the kitchen table, climb in his highchair, etc.

I absolutly adore his personality, he is such a cuddler. He will rub my arms and face when I am nursing him, and he comes and leans against you like a dog does when he wants picked up into your lap. He likes to stroke our faces and give slobbery baby kisses. He loves to lay with his daddy in the recliner, and is SO gentle with the animals. Now that we have just one dog, he is so good to her, as she is to him. They pass her bone back and forth, and he slips her snacks when he’s eating. I love this age!!!

…and I can’t tell you what it is!

Something amazing is in the works, but until its final, or close to it, I am hesitant to put it out on the web for all so see. And today I found out there are actually TWO exciting-I-cannot-post-to-my-blog-amazing-things happening!! If you feel you have a right to know, drop me an email SumnerRain@hotmail.com, otherwise be patient and I will hopefully be able to tell you in a few months.

Mine: My earliest memory was moving from a crib to a bed. I remember my parents moving the crib from my room into the back porch area and me trying to get back in it. I also remember waking up in the middle of the night with a cramp in my leg and my parents trying to figure out why I was hurting and I way in yellow footed pajamas. They finally took the PJ’s off and found I had wrapped a rubber band around my leg and it was numb”.

Austin: “Me being pulled out of bed because there was a fire. Garbage, newspapers, pop cans, and cockroaches on the floor [this was before he lived with us, when he was 2 1/2]. My favorite first memory was when my daddy was holding me and he was talking to xxxxxx [name withheld for privacy reason’s, Austin’s biological mother] and I was eating an Oreo cookie. I remember when my daddy brought me home, and you and Christopher were making chocolate chip cookies for me”.

Christopher: “I remember our house in Texas, it was one story. I remember my swingset in at that house. I had a train track in my room. I remember my cat Jay-Bird, and I remember getting Dezzie. I remember Jennifer, my mommy’s friend, and I remember going to her daddy’s floating cabin, the toilet had blue water… it looked like a blob”.

Today Mika (pronounced My-kah) found a new family to love her, and went home to live with them. We have had her since she was less than 2 months old and she has been a part of our family for 2 1/2 years. She was Bobby’s dog more than anyone else’s, and she stuck to him like white on rice. The decision to rehome her was a hard one, we have been talking about it for almost 2 years. See, we have another dog, Chloe, who has been with us since she was 6 weeks old. I hand picked her from a litter of 12. I have had Chloe for 3 1/2 years, and she helped me through some really tough times. I got her the week before Bobby went to Iraq and taking care of her and Austin & Christopher is what kept me sane. Well, Chloe is a very needy dog and needs to be the center of attention. I hoped getting Mika would give her a playmate and cause her to be less needy, but in turn it made her MORE needy and poor Mika did not get the attention she deserves.

Well, last week I met the perfect family who were praying for the perfect dog. They came with their children and met Mika and fell in love. They then invited us to their home to see how Mika would react, and then today they came to take her to her home. I am really hoping it works out, because I could not think of a better place for her to be. If it does not work out, we will take her back with open arms.

Austin did not take the re-homing of Mika well. He was fine seeing her go until reality sunk in, then he was in tears. He is such a sensitive child, and I hope he never loses his compassion. Christopher was not phased, he tried to make himself cry, but he could not do it. I think the fact that she is going to such a great home is what is making all of this bearable. When our kitten Jynx died, he had only been in our home for 4 weeks, and Austin cried for days, Chris cried, I cried and Bobby almost cried when he was telling the boys. Chloe seems confused, but I am sure in time this is the best situation for everyone.

Wasn’t she the cutest little puppy?

Jacob is not doing well after his declaw. He has not eaten much of anything since his declaw and he has not pooped since Tuesday. I have even offered gormet soft food in addition to his regular food and he’s turning his nose up at it. He’s also been throwing up a couple times a day. I am calling the vet in the morning, I am really worried about him.

Matthew turned 15 months old yesterday. I can’t believe its already been three months since he turned a year old. Everyone thinks he’s around 11 months because he’s such a small little boy.

So, for milestones… He’s walking, he’s running, he’s dancing, he can climb up and down the steps. He’s constantly talking, we just don’t speak his language. He understands a LOT! When the older boys are in trouble he will yell at them and wag his finger at them… he is also now faking that HE is in trouble and will fake cry and get his nose on the door where we do time outs. He just started giving five on request, and will follow simple instructions like ‘go get me that ball’.

We are still nursing 3-5 times a day, and he can drink from a sippi cup also. We are still using cloth diapers, even though everyone swore we would hate them. I LOVE cloth! He’s still using his sling a lot, and now his Ergo carrier. We have used his stroller 3 times now in his life. He sleeps in his crib, as much as I wanted him to co-sleep, he sleeps 11-13 hours at night before waking, and takes a 2-4 hour nap in the afternoon. I must admit I love good sleepers, I have not had a bad sleeper yet, so I am counting my blessings. People wonder why I would love to have such a large family if I did not have fertility issues, and I think part of it is how great my children are.

I love this photo of Matthew, it has to be one of my favorites. He was 10 months old in this picture.

Oh man, I wish I could send a live sound feed of my cat Jacob to you guys. I know Jennifer would sympathize, I don’t know who else reads this but I am about to go insane!

So, the story goes that my cat Jacob, rather AUSTIN’s cat Jacob, is a destructive little devil. The world is his scratching post and the math equation is

‘destructive cat + new furniture = pissed off husband or basement/outdoor kitty’

and Jacob is just too much a part of the family for that. So, he’s stuck in a mesh port-a-crate which is probably 2ft wide, 4 feet long, and 3 feet tall. Its for his own good. The first few minutes home from the vet, while his feet were still bandaged, he decided to jump the baby gate that sits atop the basement stairs. Needless to say, the poor kitty took a tumble down the stairs. Thank goodness he’s on pain pills, but for his own safety he needs to be confined to where he is not jumping.

So, he is meowing and meowing and I am losing my mind. The boys and I took a trip to Petsmart today to get some treats for poor Jake.. a smaller litter box than what he has, but bigger than the travel box and covered in case his lack of poop was from shyness, some feline pine litter since he cannot use the scoopable for 2 weeks and he does not like the shredded paper. We also got some soft food as a treat with his antibiotics and pain pills, and mice toys to play with while in kitty jail. Austin felt he needed a nice soft bed for in his cell, but he just told me what he thinks of it by urinating in it. As if I did not have enough to do today, I get to do more laundry, YAY! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my front loader HE W&D, but when there are a million things to do before the weekend…. thankfully I have most of it done. I need to vacuum the other three floors of my house and go grocery shopping, but those will have to wait until Matthew wakes up.

So, before I run out of battery power on the laptop, and before the baby wakes up, I will tell the story of Jacob.

Jacob came to us in November 2003, he was just 4 months old and had been surrendered to the humane society. I had just started a new job downtown as a CNA and Austin had a doctors appointment a few miles away from my employer. We lived at Ft Carson at the time, so I had about a 20 minute commute to and from work. I had taken the afternoon off to go pick up Austin from school, take him to the doctor then back to my work so I could pick up some paperwork. Austin was feeling pretty bummed out about his daddy being in Iraq, so I decided to take him to the Humane Society so we could love up the animals like we did all the time when daddy was in S. Korea. When we got there we found that the cats & dogs were all in cages behind Plexiglas so there was no way to pet the animals. So I told Austin to pick out two cats that he wanted to take into the meeting area so we could pet them. He chose a cute little 6 week old tabby, and a young orange and white cat. Well, the kitten was on hold for another couple, so we met with the orange kitty, named Orange.

When we took Orange into the greeting area he immediately climbed on Austin and starting purring and nibbling in his ear. Austin looked up at him and said “OH PLEASE MOMMY! I love this kitty, he is so sweet and cute and I will take good care of him!” I told him no, that we already had a dog and a cat and two chinchillas, and daddy would kill us if we brought home another pet. Austin looked up at me with his big blue puppy dog eyes and said “Please mom!?” at this time Orange had crawled into my lap…and I gave in. Austin decided that he liked the name Jacob better, so Jacob he was.

A few days later we had all fallen asleep in my bed watching a movie when Daddy called from Iraq. Austin was awoken by the phone and groggily said “don’t forget to tell daddy we got a new kitten, and he can kill me later for it” and promptly fell back asleep. Other than being destructive, Jacob has been the best cat. He loves to play with the older boys in their room, he sleeps at the foot of the bed and gets up in the night to perform ’rounds’ and check on each person. He likes to lick the babies hair when I an nursing the baby, and rubs all over the dog.