Our little sweetheart turned 18 months old on May 3rd! This felt like a big milestone to me for some reason so had Alan help me with a couple of photo shoots in an effort to get a really good portrait. The best shots are in April's post but there are a few more in this one.
Here's what I wrote about Gracie in May:
- Learned to climb and is constantly climbing on chairs and other furniture.
- Loves to stand on a chair at the kitchen table and play with crayons
- Also loves climbing on the playground and goes down slides all by herself. She takes off down the sidewalk toward the park at every opportunity.
- Has zero sense of danger so we have to watch her very closely. I feel like I'm saving her life all day long!
- Pretends to talk on old phones or anything that resembles a phone. Her jibber-jabber is super cute!
- Said her first words on May 22nd - "mama" and "daddy" one right after the other! Alan and I both win!
- Went to nursery at church by herself for two weeks then started crying hysterically when we tried to leave her so now one of us always stays and plays in there with her.
Mason wasn't happy about having to comb his hair and didn't want to change into nicer clothes but he really wanted me to take a nice portrait of him to send to his birth mother. I feel like this picture is a good representation of where he was mentally at that point. I can still see some pain in his eyes but Mason's old, happy self is beginning to peak through.
Our stake re-aligned some ward boundaries at the end of April and our family was one of a handful of families from Edy Ridge Ward that got moved to Cedar Creek Ward. We had been in Cedar Creek for five years before Edy Ridge was created so we already knew lots of great people there, but I was surprised by how emotional this change was for me. We had served with and loved the wonderful families of Edy Ridge Ward for the past 10 years. They had been by our sides during the hard times of our adoption journey and celebrated so big with us when Grace finally came. Many of my sisters there told me they cried tears of joy when they heard the news. They truly were our ward family. Teri Cluff, my friend and the RS president brought us this cute gift basket and was so good to continue to invite us to the ward bbqs over the summer.
It was a huge tender mercy and both Spencer and Mason had friends in the new ward as well. Some moved over with us and some were already there. Spencer was still very sad to leave his awesome, huge Priest's quorum in Edy Ridge though. Bishop Anderson is amazing with those boys and I think Spencer was particularly sad to lose him.
We've been going to Cedar Creek Ward for 4.5 months now and Alan and I are slowly starting to feel more at home there. I'm teaching Mason's class in primary and Alan is in the deacon's quorum. We take turns taking Grace to nursery so neither of us gets much interaction with other adults. There are a few sisters who go out of their way to reach out to me though and that helps. I do love that Cedar Creek Ward is much more diverse than Edy Ridge. There is a greater variety of ages, races, and family situations and there are at least three other families who have adopted children!
Mason wanted to practice taking pictures with my good camera while I talked to my parents on the phone one Sunday. This is his best shot and I included the one he took of me since I'm not in very many pictures on this blog. :)
Another home track meet, another 3k.
I took these two to Wilco to see the chicks one morning. Mason LOVED them and took about a hundred pictures that I had to delete. Haha!
Mother's Day. Gosh I'm so grateful for these three miracles but I think Mother's Day will always carry too many emotions to be very enjoyable for me. There were too many years of wishing I had a child or more children. Now there is the ever present knowledge that two of my greatest blessings came at the cost of another mother's heartbreak and the life-long effects that will have on those two miracles. There is also now the pain and deep sadness of watching my own mother struggle with early on-set Alzheimer's disease. I don't have a lot of experience with terminal illness, but I'm having a hard time imagining a more cruel disease. There is just something about the immense sacrifices the mother's in my life have made that make Mother's Day feel more heavy than celebratory.
Our cute niece Kimmie came to visit us for a couple of days. Alan has always had a special bond with Kimmie and keeps in touch with her over Marco Polo. She has faced some really tough stuff and has come out stronger because of it. She was super cute with Grace and helpful to Alan and a track meet all day. We're so glad she made time to come see us!
Grace finally started to transition to from two to one nap/day and that allowed us to go to story time at the library. She sat on my lap the entire time until the crowd thinned out during playtime at the end. Mason was timid like that too at first but he loved it after a couple of months of going consistently. I expect Grace will be the same. She doesn't get to interact with other kids close to her age much so this will be really good for her.
Alan turned 45 on May 20th! We opened presents first thing in the morning and then went to Red Robin for dinner. This was the first time in several years that Alan hasn't been timing a track meet on his birthday. He works hard year round but track season is another level of busy. Alan is such a great dad to our kids and partner to me and we are so blessed to have him!
District track meet in Newberg for Spencer. This was the final meet of the season for Spencer. He gave it his all and finished 7th with a PR of 8:56 in the 3k. His race was pretty late at night and Alan was timing the meet so I hired a babysitter to come hang out with Mason while Grace was sleeping so I could go to the meet. I will never forget that Bishop Anderson from Edy Ridge Ward was also there just to support Spencer. We weren't even in his ward anymore and no other boys from Edy Ridge were running but he came anyway. That was so touching and I teared up in the stands when I saw him cheering and taking pictures.
I got to attend the 4th grade field trip to the Will-Stauffer farm in Aurora with Mason. It's a cool colonial farm that provides a pioneer type experience for the kids. They got to dip candles, use a buck saw, make their own candle holders with a hand drill, make and eat their own rolls, and use fabric squares to design their own quilt pattern. It was a fun day and I'm glad I got to have that experience with Mason!
Grace finally got interested in using a spoon to eat her hot cereal for breakfast!
"Helping" mommy unload groceries. :)
Grace was big enough to play on the playground so we spent a lot of time at the park around the corner as the weather got nicer.
Spring piano recital at the Steinway store in Lake Oswego for Spencer. Man, this kid works hard on his music! Mason had been taking a break from piano for a few months so he didn't play at this recital. Spencer was the final pianist and did a phenomenal job. I was standing in the back with Grace by that point and got to see the store manager's impressed reaction as Spencer played. That was gratifying. Ms. Lorraine pushes Spencer pretty hard. He has really learned a lot from her this past year and it is good.
Of course, we had to get Salt 'n Straw to celebrate afterward since it is just a few stores up from street.
