Category: Home Life

Nadia has been able to say Ma and Da for a while. She clearly knows that Mike is Dada and gets excited when he gets home from work and usually says, “DA!” as she speed racer crawls for the door to have him pick her up. I know that she knows I am Mama, but she has not said it to me. When she gets upset, she often goes repeats, “ma ma ma ma” over and over.

On Saturday Mike was holding Nadia and said, “Where’s Mama?” And Nadia turned right and looked at me. Then she said, “Ma ma.” I got so excited!! Then Mike said, “Kiss Mama” and kissed me on the cheek. Then he said to Nadia, “Kiss Mama” and she leaned over and kissed me. I just started crying because I thought that my heart was going to burst right out of my chest. Then Mike said it again and she kissed me again. I cried some more – tears of joy of course. The sweet little baby open mouth sloppy kiss is just too sweet for words.

Today she has looked right at me and said, “Ma ma.” Or pointed to me and said, “Ma ma.” This has been the best birthday week EVER! Nadia “gave” me a mommy birthday card, she took her first tentative step and she said mama and gave me a kiss. God is good and has blessed me so much with the best husband and sweetest baby ever.

Hi all. I have been wanting to do this post for a while, but I finally had time to get all the items and photos together! I just wanted to share some photos – knowing that they don’t do the items justice – of some special and handmade gifts that Nadia has received.

The outfit above was given to Nadia by Grandma Brooke on Labor Day. It brought tears to my eyes because it’s her adoption day outfit from 40 years ago. She has no children of her own and she wanted it to stay in the family. We were truly touched by this sweet gift.

This painting was done my Louanne’s sister Aunt Tahni. The verse is so wonderful and the painting matches all the other paintings in Nadia’s room perfectly.

The blanket above was made by Grandma Linda. It should be noted that this was made after she had a 3rd stroke, so quite a lot of effort went into it, but a side benefit was that it was good rehab for her. It’s stamped cross stitch.

This blanket was given to us by The Petermans and made by Randy’s mom Nancy. The photo doesn’t do the color purple justice….it’s a fantastic shade.

Grammie had this blanket embroidered for Nadia. The cute thing about it is that it’s small enough for her to cart around the house with her, even when she is crawling.

Karen and Ken M. had this crib sheet made for Nadia. It’s bright white with the red lettering and matches Nadia’s room colors. What a totally cute idea!

These 2 blankets and bibs were made by Aunt Sharon’s best friend Amy in MO. The blankets are not only cute, but soft and comfy.

This TOTALLY adorable hat was made by a woman who works with Mike, named Leigh. It’s the cutest thing and should keep Nadia’s head toasty this winter.

Hi all! Nadia was baptized in our church on Sunday September 23rd. There were so many great photos from the weekend that I uploaded a bunch. My cousin Jen and her roommate Shawnaka drove up from Houston for the event (and they attended a Ranger game). My Aunt Paula, Uncle Roger, Grammie and Mike’s Aunt Joy and cousin Janis also attended. Our friends Arvel and Laura came, but left before we took photos. Thanks to everyone who came to share her special day. Grammie bought her dress that Mike and I picked out and Roger and Joy matched without knowing it. 🙂

Here we are with Pastor Darwin Jordan after the baptism.

The night before Karen and Kaye hosted the ‘Sip N See’ for Nadia at the McCarty’s house. Many people from our church came to the party and they did the sweetest thing. Kaye and Karen gave everyone a slip of paper with a letter of the alphabet on it (some people got 2). Then they had to write down a prayer or a Bible verse that started with the letter they were handed. Then once everyone was done, they went around the room and read them to us. It really was the sweetest thing. My friend Jaquelyn had ‘Z’ and she started her prayer with ‘He is the Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end’ I was already a little choked up from the sweet things that were said, but that was a fantastic way to end the list. God is good and he brought sweet Nadia into our life. Then Kaye put the book together for us in alphabetical order and gave it to us to bring home and save for Nadia. Thanks to everyone who was a part of that….we were truly blessed by your love.

Here are some photos of Nadia playing with cousin Jen.

Jen took these photos in the car on the way home from the church. Nadia was one tired baby after all that excitement.

Nadia is 11 months old today. Some of you might remember this little dress from the China trip when it was ginormous on her. Now it’s just a little big. It’s a 6-9 month dress. Hee hee. Mike and I had fun last night taking her shopping to pick out some 9 month winter clothes. She is growing and getting taller, but we still think she will be in 9 month clothes through the winter because they are all big on her now.

So what is Nadia up to this week? We really think that she knows “Da da” means Mike. It’s adorable how excited she gets when he comes home. She makes a beeline for him and says, “Da da!!!” It’s enough to melt my heart. She is feeding herself the puffs and wagon wheels with ease, she has figured out how her Leap Pad – Fridge Farm toy works – not just how to turn on the music, but where the little farm animal parts go. She is doing well with the sippy cup, but still needs a little help if it’s filled too full. Soon she will be a pro at that. She has learned that you can put small things inside big things. From her stacking cups to her rings and links, she is seeing how they all fit together. She cruises like a speed racer along the furniture, the kitchen cabinets, the chairs at the table – you name it, if she can get up, she moves along.

She still takes 2 naps a day. She has 3 bottles and 3 solid foods a day. She doesn’t want to go to bed at night. It’s like she is so happy to be with both of us playing that she doesn’t want any part of sleeping when she could be playing. Once she gets to sleep, she sleeps all night except waking up at some point early in the morning for a bottle. She makes the cutest faces and smiles all the time. She gets a little fussy when she gets too tired, but even that is not all out crying.

We are so in love with her and blessed that God has brought her into our family. We can’t imagine life without her and it seems like she has always been with us.

P.S. Saturday AM – Nadia had her 3rd tooth pop out overnight. It’s been trying all week and it’s on the top.