Cody's Adoption is FINAL!

Cody's adoption is final!  It finalized this morning.  Brent went to TX and was there less than 24 hours.  He is back home now (and preparing to leave for Bulgaria next Friday).  We have finished the "Finalization" cake.  He got his keepsakes. 

For the first time in Cody's life he is not a ward of the state.  He no longer has a social worker.  He no longer has a GAL.  He no longer has to have paperwork filled out at every doctor's visit, eye appointment, and dental visit. 

Cody is just an "Unroe" now.  :) 

I will post pictures tomorrow of him from tonight with his cake (that he picked out and helped decide what to write on it.  For tonight I am going to go and watch a movie with my crew, even though it is 11pm.  :) 

No Phone Call

Cody's GAL didn't call today.  I don't know if he would have talked to her or not.  She still could call tomorrow.  Bless his heart.  He just doesn't "know" her really.  He only met her twice I believe.  I always wonder if people like that have kids.  She is nice as can be, but really thought he'd remember her.  I always figure they don't have kids or they'd realize that their kids wouldn't "remember" someone enought to talk to them if they met them twice.  He surely doesn't understand that she has been deemed by the courts to be responsible for his "best interest". 

We are less than 36 hours from him not having a social worker or GAL any more.  :)  Legally FOREVER is just around the corner!

Cody's Phone Call Confusion

Cody's Guardian at Litem called today.  She wanted to know how Cody is doing.  I was happy to report that he is doing wonderfully.  He runs around all the time and gets around wonderfully without the braces now!  He hasn't had any issues with his breathing and even kicked a little viral thing that was going around without issue.  He fits in wonderfully!  (That's only natural since God planned him to be my little boy and a part of this family!)

She then wanted to speak with Cody on the phone.  I went in to see if he was awake.  We had an early appointment this morning and he was grumpy by this evening and needed a rest, but doesn't normally take naps unless he's just grumpy and needs to go lay down.  I was thrilled that he was awake and smiling after just about 20 minutes in his bed. 

I tried to explain to Cody that it was someone that he had met while he lived in his "old house" as he often calls it.  He really wasn't interested in the call though.  He heard the cell phone ringing and was more interested in that.  He knew that Daddy would be calling right about then.  I tried to tell him that we'd call Daddy back, but he was still distracted.  He asked "Who is that?" about who he was talking to.  Finally I took the phone back. 

She is going to try and call back tomorrow and talk to him.  I had Brent talk to him about "who" was on the phone since Brent had seen the GAL when he was visiting Cody.  That didn't seem to help though.

He is now royally confused.  He told some of his siblings that he had to talk to his "Grand Cousin" on the phone earlier.  He told someone else that he thinks his new brother is suppose to call tomorrow.  (He is very excited about Keith especially because Cody will get to be a BIG brother then!)

I have no idea if I can get him to actually talk to her tomorrow.  Poor little guy is so confused!

On a good note, in about 57 hours he won't have a GAL or a social worker for the first time in his life!!!!  He will be FOREVER AND OFFICIALLY OUR SON, just as he has been in my heart for years already! 

Julianne Pictures from Sunday

We had a boil water advisery until Sunday night from a water line break.  That meant that I didn't give Julianne a bath Saturday night.  Julianne likes to drink the water from the faucet and will drink bath water or eat the bubbles if she gets half a chance.  I didn't want to risk her consuming any of the water so I didn't put her in the tub and just washed her off good.  The problem is that her hair had been in braids and she took them down, so her hair was crimped looking.

I decided to put her hair up in twist on each side Sunday morning.  She looked adorable and she knew it!

Isn't she beautiful????  She even wore her brown glasses since

she was wearing brown clothes and shoes.

When bedtime came we took down the twists.  That left her with some beautiful "curly" hair.  I really wanted a picture (ok well maybe more than "a" picture).  Julianne was feeling especially ornery too.

 

Can you see the orneriness? 

When she sees the pictures where her tongue is sticking out, she laughs and shows me she can do it again!

She thinks this one is especially funny! 

Honestly though, she has such a big personality! 

I can't wait to see the personalities of her "Chromosomally Enhanced" siblings come out and develop after they get home.  :)

But with big beautiful eyes like these, who can resist her antics? 

Not me! 

My pretty girl can steal my heart every time.  Those giggles after she is ornery just make it all the more fun!  All in all she doesn't do anything bad, just a little ornery.  haha  She does have a bad habit right now of liking to "rip" things, but it is getting better.  Thankfully, she really doesn't have any other bad habit, just lots of giggles!

News

We got our written referral!  That is an awesome praise!!!  :)  You'll want to check in on our adoption blog regularly as Brent will be leaving in less than 2 weeks for Bulgaria!  I won't be repetitive and post all the same stuff here.  The link is on the side bar!  I'll post pictures from his trip as I get them and what he learns about my babies.  :) 

Julianne Loves Her New Pair of Glasses

We picked up a couple new pair of glasses for Julianne of Friday.  Dayton had gone with us, since he wears glasses too. 

I ordered her two pair several weeks ago.  I had ordered another pair of white glasses because they didn't make it home from Great Wolf Lodge.  I also ordered a pair that I hoped would be "Turquoise", since that is her favorite color.  We always do "Miraflex" glasses now and in general she doesn't destroy them (except for the brown pair that she CHEWED on). 

She LOVES the turqoise pair!  She squealed when she saw them at the eye doctor's office.  She wasn't happy when they took them off to adjust them either.  She has been going to find them and even trying to put them on herself.  She has tried to put other glasses on before, but they are hard to get on with the attached strap.  She usually gets frustrated and then isn't happy that I need to help her.  With this new pair, she is even willing to accept help when she can't manage them on her own. 

She is cute and she KNOWS it!

I think she is right and they are pretty cool!

Friday was My Birthday and . . .

I had really hoped for our written referral for my birthday present.  It didn't happen.  :(  I know God is in control.  I did still have a wonderful birthday. 

Denzell and Dayton made me two birthday cakes.  I walked away and they didn't need much help.  I reminded them to spray the pans and I did have to go and get the right beaters to go in the mixer for them.  (It was really cute because I was walking by and saw the beaters go flying across the room.  They had the wrong ones in the mixer and it shot them out.  hehe)  The two of them did the rest!

They beat up 3 boxes of cake mix.  The cakes were WONDERFUL!  I have to say I'm still impressed more than 24 hours later!  They put them in the oven and got them out all on their own.  Then Dayton decided he wanted to write on my cake, so I found him the icing in the tube that he could write with.  I came back to some wonderful looking cakes too!

Dayton did this one for me.  I think that is pretty awesome for the first time someone tries to write with icing!  He is 10 years old and takes life very seriously, so there is no picture of him with the cake.  lol

Denzell iced this cake so wonderfully.  He is 16 and is much more cooperative about pictures.  He's a teen and though he takes life seriously, he's still not nearly as serious as Dayton.  lol

I had a wonderful birthday!  How could I know with this crew of 13 wonderful kids to enjoy??  I just know that when my next 5 are in my arms, every day will be even happier.  Getting to watch each of them on their first birthdays home will be EXTRA special.  :)