Love, Love, Love

Meeting new family members during the Holidays was a lot of fun.  How did it go, you might be wondering?  AMAZINGLY WELL!  EVERYONE LOVES COOPER!!!  Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, and even Great-Grandma!  

 

Merry Christmas

Trying to capture...

...just the right pose...

...for our Christmas Card this year proved to be challenging.

But we finally found it!

Merry Christmas 

to our 

FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

The Eve of the Eve of Christmas

We had our first Holiday unwrapping of the GIFTS!  It was M.A.G.I.C.A.L.!!!   Grandma and Grandpa helped create great memories for all of us.  We had a wonderful dinner...

Listened to LIVE, Christmas music...

Opened Cooper's First Christmas ornament...(with a little help)

And went RIGHT TO THE BIG STUFF...

Riley and Ellie were truly happy to help Cooper open his presents...

Christmas 2012 has only begun.  May the M*A*G*I*C of the Holiday

season be overflowing for you and your family like it has ours. 

I Believe

"Ohhh, I believe there are angels among us..."

Cooper, 3 months

Frankenmuth, Michigan!

The weekend getaway was glorious!  It even snowed big, nickel-sized snowflakes!  We traveled nearly 4 hours to Frankenmuth, Michigan and stayed at Zehnder's Splash Village.  Girls had friends to play with, Cooper was his happy little self, and we all enjoyed each other!  Everyone talked to Santa...and Cooper met Santa and Mrs. Claus for the first time.  They thought he was adorable!

Presents from Santa!

"It was a little extra, but I paid to have it snow!"

 

 

 

One of our FAVORITE families were there, too!

Zehnder's Famous Chicken Dinner

The memories of the weekend at Frankenmuth, Michigan are ones we love most.  Many firsts:  Cooper's first weekend getaway, first swim, first Santa encounter, first snowflake, first BFF spending the weekend with us; first time losing my winter coat TWICE!  Can hardly wait to do it again next year!

Oh! I have been experimenting with the settings on my camera.  So far, I'm NOT doing a good job with the pictures inside...  

 

3 Months

What a BIG BOY!!  Cooper is showing more of his funny and sweet personality!  He smiles BIG (but hard to capture in a pic!).  He has recently learned to hold his head up strong and follow our voice or movement.  He can suck his thumb!  I think it's one of the cutest images I have ever seen...a baby sucking his thumb.  I know, a possible hard habit to break, but nonetheless, ADORABLE!  He can lift his little legs up to the sky and roll himself over to one side!  Once he is on his side, he cannot return to his back yet, but in time...in time.   He anticipates his bottle (takes 3 minutes 27 seconds to steam to perfection) by looking at the glowing blue light and licking his lips.  He is captivated by shiny, blinky things and enjoys short, colorful books.  We sure do love watching him grow.  Girls are making sure Cooper experiences ALL of our Holiday Family Traditions!  OH WHAT FUN!

Blessings

Dear Jesus, 

We are thankful beyond words this year.  Many people have changed our lives for the better, including this sweet little fellow.  We cannot imagine life any sweeter than it is right now.  Thank you for the great blessings that are bestowed upon us.   

Amen

First "Pinchy"

When the girls were little, they named immunizations, "pinchies".  They said it felt like someone was pinching them.  Hence, the name "pinchy".  Cooper had his first  3 "pinchies" this week.  He braved through it all and only cried a little.   He was such a little trooper.  All day long, we called him, "Cooper, the Trooper".  

Two months old.  Hard to believe.  At his 2-month visit, he weighed 10 pounds 10 oz. and measured 22 inches long!  He doubled his birth weight!  He is eating well, sleeping well and LOVES baths.  I think he would stay in there until the water turned cold. 

I LOVE the idea of monthly pictures of babies.  Even bought some cute stickers (on onesie above) to document the month.  Now, let's hope I can remember to take Cooper's picture in the same chair every month.  I already forgot 1st month...

May The Force Be With You

I was SOOOO excited for Halloween this year.  FINALLY, Eric would have someone to join his passion for Star Wars.  He had asked Riley and Ellie NUMEROUS times to dress up as someone from Star Wars:  Storm Trooper, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C3PO...ANYONE.  I surprised Eric with a handmade YODA hat for Cooper made from a kind lady at ETSY.  She made it quickly and sent it before Halloween.  We had planned to walk around the neighborhood with Riley and Ellie.  We thought Cooper would enjoy the view from his stroller.  Little did I know

that it would be raining and 30 degrees that night.  We snapped some pics and enjoyed the company of 6 trick-or-treaters in the warmth of our home.    Cooper's first Halloween was quiet and short lived.  But he sure looked CUTE!

Photography is a WORKOUT!

She is a saint.  Truly.  She is a kindergarten teacher, she was sick this day AND she is in her 3rd trimester of pregnancy!  Thanks to my good friend, Stephanie, we captured the essence of a great time in our lives.  Our first photo session.   

Sweet, little wrinkly lines on bodies are ONLY CUTE ON BABIES!

Pretty good...

Oh, keep looking at the camera...and smile...

"Mama, I think he's cold..."

My favorite.  EVER!

Can you read the letters on the ring?  It reads, "BELIEVE".

Daddy's picture for his desk

Lucky US

In hindsight I would:

~travel across the WORLD and back looking for you

~wait

~compile mountains of paperwork on your behalf

~wait

~complete 3 MORE home studies PROVING our LOVE

~wait

~do it all over for the chance to meet you and hold you close!

The gifts you bring to the WORLD are miraculous,

COOPER GANNON GRILLS!

It's a B.O.Y.!!!

Cooper Gannon Grills
September 6, 2012
4:11 pm
5 pounds 0 ounces, 18.5 inches 

10 Perfect Fingers

10 Perfect Toes 

Grown in our hearts...

...forever after!

Room for One More!

Wednesday  September 5, 2012....two hour delay...yeah!...Birth Mother texted me at the end of the school day as I was preparing my ART lesson.  Riley (who just arrived from the Middle School) saw her call ring in.  It read:  “Hi Tina.  I just wanted to make sure you talked to (attorney) about tomorrow in case you needed to make plans for your kids.  I can’t wait to see you both.  Aren’t you getting excited ?!!!"

WHAT???  Is this it?  Is it time to get my bags/car seat/ bottles, coming home outfit/diaper bag??  She would like for us to be there so we’d better get going!!   Good wishes for all families involved would be the ultimate request.  Please and thank you!!!!!

And We're OFF!

June 9-16, 2012  Disney World.   The long, two year adventure was beginning to seem endless, but we knew we weren’t complete just yet.  We decided to continue the search for YOU.  We agreed that upon our return from vacation, we would search for local adoption agencies, once again.   I couldn’t get to the internet fast enough.  Even while in Disney World, I searched for agencies on our iPad.

Weeks passed.  I prayed for a path.  I prayed for a sign that would guide us.  The internet would turn out to be a curse and a blessing at the same time.  Even though I searched and searched for the right agency, the same ones resurfaced and we were frustrated because none of them seemed “just right”.  Then, late Sunday (July 15, 2012) I stumbled across a name that looked familiar:  Adoption Attorney in Ohio.  I had talked to her before deciding on an adoption agency at the beginning of our journey two years ago.  Our conclusion (at the time) was this:  if we searched for YOU using a BIG adoption agency, we would have more opportunities to find you.  Bigger means better, right?  A BIG adoption agency would have more resources to find you.    Surely they would have their own attorney readily available...??.... 

Well, as it turns out, the timing of such an event was the answer to our prayers in many different ways.  Not only did she encourage us to meet her as soon as possible, she cut through all of the “mandatory” paperwork and placed what was most important FIRST:  to find the family for an extra special, perfect, little gift...YOU.   The miraculous part of it all is this:  if we made a commitment with her two years ago when we first talked, you would not have been created yet!  Your path and our path was meant to be crossed exactly right now.    We have waited for you and love you, even before you are born!   The waiting and the direction changes are all part of the ULTIMATE PLAN FOR US...all of us.  We are counting down the days until your blessings upon the earth.




Days....Days....Days....

Disney M*A*G*I*C*

My Favorite Guy!

Chef Mickey's

The castle takes our breath away!

H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S. !!!

On the beach behind our resort