10 months 5 days how they differ

10 months 5 days. WOW. That is such a neat thing to me. Today is 10 months and 5 days that Noah has been in my arms. Now, you may wonder why I chose to celebrate 10 months and 5 days specifically, well, that is EXACTLY how long it was from seeing the FIRST Picture our our Noah to the day they placed him in my arms! I waited for him specifically for 10 months and 5 days. Now we had waited for our first child together longer than that but upon knowing about Noah that was the wait. Our few month wait turned out to be much longer than we first knew. But it is hard to believe that he has now been with us as long as we held those pictures to our hearts! The 2 10 month and 5 day time periods differ from each other in so many ways. Then I clung to every picture, every email with even a fragment of news about him. Every word from someone who had picked up their child at St. Lucy's and seen him. I read and read adoption blogs of friends who found their baby after me and picked that baby up, I read of others who waited a long while and went. I read and read. ANYTHING to be involved in adoption. I found an amazing community of friends! I am so blessed that in that 10 month and 5 day journey I got so much more than just preparation for my panda boy I got a whole community of friends and a heart for orphans. It is such a strange way to cling to pictures of a child a world away and be so in love with your son but NOT be able to touch him, smell him, hear him, cuddle him, not know if he is warm enough, full enough, well enough. On and on your mind goes as you look at the pictures. You wait months and finally they send a picture that shows FEET! You are so excited to see his feet even in socks! It is amazing how good that can feel when you did not see it before and if you are totally blessed you get a video of him moving! Even a 10 second video is like better than the best selling movie :) It is so hard but you know that everything you do gets you closer and so you hold on and go. It felt like that 10 months and 5 days was years at the time. THIS 10 months and 5 days has flown by in ways, in others it feels he has always been here. Now I still treasure photos but to snap a moment in time because he is growing so fast and in two days he will be bigger, doing different things but I GET to be there for every bit of it! I just sit and watch him sleep so many times! I cant even put into words the joy he has brought to my life! :) Bobby and I both feel so incredibly blessed that God gave us this amazing creature to love! Has the last 10 months and 5 days been easy? not always, has it been easier than the first? in some ways yes, in some ways no. Sometimes it is hard when he throws a fit and is so upset and I just can't figure out what he needs. But at least I am here now and can touch him, hug him, comfort him. I thought since we lived on pictures for 10 months and 5 days I would share some pictures from today and from the reunion this weekend :) These are in an odd order here but I just dont have the energy today to fight with them to get them the order I want. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed spending the time with him.

Today we had an ice cream social at the park with the playgroup! THIS is Noah's FIRST ice cream cone ever! :)

playing on the floor with his elmo phone! lol hard and cold or not he prefers the floor everwhere! lol He would do this in walmart if I let him :) heehee

Runnin with Sam at the park

he loved runnin all over the park, we never made it to the playground. Just the open grass area was a blast today :)

such a sweet smile :)

look how far away he got from me with daddy! and this was taken with the full zoom on the lens so he was much farther away than it appears.

more of first ice cream cone :)

and more

Isnt he cute :)

I know it is not the whole Noah but it was so cute!

I LOVE this shot!!!!!!!!!!

more cuteness

can you tell I was loving looking at my son today! LOTS of pictures were taken!

he looks so big :)

I LOVE this shot of Bobby! It was soo good to see him smile! His mom and I were always partners for the skip-bo tournament at the family reunion and have won the trophy all but one year since we married! She loved the reunion and the tournament. Bobby became my partner for this year and we were determined to win the tournament in mom's honor this year! Well, WE DID! And you can see his reaction to coming into the cabin with trophies! heehee

Just a cute shot of Noah from the weekend :)

another shot of Bobby with our trophy's!

THIS was a miracle. After I got Noah to sleep he was moved and then put in my mom's arms! He usually will not sleep unless in my arms or right close by me. Mama was so excited to hold him at first. By the time this picture was taken she was tired :) lol

Here he is as my arm was falling off trying to play skip bo and hold him to go to sleep for his nap! lol!

We were in tears as Noah won a trophy for being the YOUNGEST child present at the reunion. We never dreamed our children would ever be the youngest because with adoption they dont come home as young and Noah is 2 his first reunion. Most years there are brand new babies under a year and this year for some reason none of those with new babies were in attendance so Noah won! Grandma would have been so excited! :)

Noah love Aunt Lisa's Chicken Spagetti so much he had some in his hair too! lol he ate it quicker than I could get it on his plate! heehee

Here he is getting his trophy! He was not quite sure what it was or what to think! NOW he likes it! Specially now that momma and daddy have one too :)

playing on Jei Jei's bed :)


Noah goin to wake Jei Jei up in the morning :)

lol :) he thinks she is funny :) Noah thinks if he is up everyone should be :) I wake up to him pounding upon me most mornings :) and saying HEY HEY HEY lol

so cute :)

This was taken by my family when I fell asleep putting Noah down! :)

This is the Cherry Chocolate Cake Celeste made for the dessert competition :)

We were in the cabin practicing skip bo the night before the tournament and so Noah had his boomo cards to play while we played :)

Here is Noah when we stopped for lunch on the way to the reunion :) He wanted a cookie for dessert and they were HUGE!

SEEE! Almost as big as his head! :)

Celeste has a thing about me taking her picture! ugggh!

This was Noah when we first got in the truck to go to the reunion! :) heehee He was so excited! He didn't know what a trip meant but we were excited so he was too! :)

How soon things change! Poor guy, he wanted out and he wanted mommy and screamed for 50 miles no matter what we did unless we took him out, which meant we couldn't drive. I worry when we go to taiwan because since he is 2 I think he has to stay in a seat of his own on the plane too. that is hours and hours!

I had to put something up for Jeremiah. I don't have new pictures yet though I keep praying the July updates will come soon! Seems forever since I got a new picture of him :( But the video we got when our agency traveled was wonderful and I watch it over and over and over again! :) Sometimes I get overwhelmed with how much money we have to raise and how quickly and how the economy is bad and and and BUT I just think about that sweet froggie boy waiting in Taiwan for us and think of the days when my two sons will be laying in bed between Bobby and I playing on a rare lazy morning with each other and us and I know that it all that matters. I get good news like the local Shriner's with a cerebral Palsy clinic is staying open and will have an appointment for Jeremiah as soon as we arrive home and I get excited and know at least I am working towards preparing for him to come home!