In March, Owen turned 6 months old. He slept ALL the time and was so quiet and calm. Liam was 2 1/2, and was beginning to talk like an adult. Liam, Owen and I flew down to Kentucky to show off Owen to my sister and her family. It was very scary for me flying with 2 kids by myself, but I survived. It wasn't the best experience, but we made it.

Next was the Louisville Zoo

Ben and Liam were best buddies...the whole day they kept calling eachother "best buddies"and giving eachother hugs! I hope they are always this good of friends.

Liam trying to read a map...

Elephants...

Owen slept through almost all of it...I feel bad I didn't take more picture of him, but he was asleep most of the trip to the zoo....

Gorillas

We went to the Science Center in downtown Louisville....

Aren't these eyes just perfect?

Cowboy Ben

Liam getting all wet...

then drying off...

Owen watching the kids play...

Anaconda...

My favorite cowboy...he is just so cute!

SURPRISE

My sister Jen's 30th Birthday Party

About a month before Jen's birthday, I called her husband Matt and we figured out a plan to surprise Jen for her 30th birthday. Matt volunteered the help of one of Jen's best friends, Becky, and together we planned an American Idol themed party. Becky was great! She did everything that I was not able to do living locally. Matt was in charge of getting Jen out of the house and back for the party.

Here is Meg and Liam peeking out the front door waiting for Jen and Matt to pull up!

So, what is Liam holding in the picture? Well, imagine unexpectedly walking into a house full of people, each person holding a picture of your face over their face; you walk in to seeing 30 of your faces all over the room....surprise....ya, that was just something my little sister Kaity and I planned for the party. We thought it would be so funny! So, I made each face personally!

Jen still has some somewhere....

Matt and Jen (and baby Jake)

Liam

Best couzins...

American Idol birtday cake...

American Idol Wii karaoke...

Jen's solo...

The party was a success!! We had a ton of fun and she definately was surprised, or at least she acted like she was! Meg was so excited to be a part of planning and decorating for the big day! She reminds me often that she keeps secrets well, and she definately does! I think it is so neat for her to make memories like this. I still remember planning my mom's 30th birthday party with my sister Jen and my dad. Jen was 10 and I was 8. My dad asked us to make a cake for my mom's surprise party, but we ran out of frosting. I remember my dad mixing peanut butter into the frosting so we would have enough....I don't know why that detail sticks out to me so much, but so many of my mom's friends kindly told us how good the cake was. It just makes me laugh!

Later that night, Liam got a hold of my camera. I found these pictures (along with many others) the next day...

I guess he was attempting a self-portrait...

and he made sure to snap a shot of his baby brother sleeping too...

Park....

It was March, but it was perfect weather to go to the park. Owen LOVED the swings...he would get a huge smile and kick his legs every time he would go back.

Brothers...

Me and Owen...

Aren't his lips just so kissable...I love them!

Ben...cowboy again.

Funny story about Ben. He pushed Liam down at the park this day, and Liam was so upset by it. His mom gave him a time out...he said sorry to Liam, and it was over and done with.

It is now 6 months later and Liam tells me this story at least once a week. We will be playing with playdough, or sitting in the car, whenever he wants a little symphathy, and he tells me, "Ben pushed me" and I will ask him, "he did? when?", then Liam will go on, "in the park....and his mom made him sit in time out..." I tell him Ben is sorry, and then its over with....but Liam just won't forget about that story. I don't know if it a good sign of a great memory, or a bad sign that he is holding grudges....I guess we will see....
I love this picture...

Ben and Zac

(I think I reason I don't have more pictures of Ben and Zac together is because they are like oil and water....really, they do not get along at all...at least in this picture, they have a tree between them so no biting or hitting happening here...)

Ben

So that is the end of my Kentucky trip photos....

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This picture is supposed to represent Owen rolling over for the first time...He rolled over one way from back to front at 6 months old.

It also represents how much Liam adores playing with his little brother. He is an amazing big brother to him and loves to play with him and entertain him!

Silly Faces

I was doing my make-up one day and Liam was wanting me to put some on him...so here is Liam's make-up....

He asked me to do it every day for a few weeks after I did it this time...he loved it...

Dr. Pushpa

In March, Dr. Pushpa from the Marshall Islands came to visit us in New York. She is from Nepal, but works in the Marshall Islands at the hospital. We got to know her well through our Attorney over there and even went to her house for dinner. We had kept in touch and she called us when she got to the US to take her Medical test to become a Doctor over here. She was in Oklahoma, but bought a ticket to come see us for a week. It was so awesome to have her visit. We did A LOT of shopping, brought her to Niagra falls, and she taught me how to make real chicken curry, which is one of my new favorite foods! She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met and her stories are so intriguing!

I really miss her and hope she comes back soon!

More Liam photography...

A day at the park with Daddy...

Owen was in the Baby Bjorn all bundled up...he was not used to the cold NY temp's after being in the Marshall Islands his whole life! He is just so precious!

Pancake Day...

I saw on Rachael Ray's cooking show one day a neat way to make pancakes. You take an old Ketchup bottle (cleaned) and put pancake batter in it. You just draw your pancakes into the pan, and wa la...I made Liam pakcakes with his name....He thought they were so neat, he didn't want to eat them....it took some convincing!

Hoping to post April through Semptember soon!!

We went to Washington, DC with my sister Jen and her family over Memorial Day. We were still living in NY when we went, so it was about a 5-hour drive for us. Jen found us an awesome hotel and we had a great time! Unfortunately, halfway through the trip I dropped, and broke, my camera at the Zoo, so I don't have too many pictures...

They aren't in a perfect order like my sister's blog...but here is the basics...hey...at least I am blogging again, right?

Liam and Ryan

Kwajalein is in the Marshall Islands. The Japanese occupied the Marshall Islands until WWII, where the US Military defeated the Japanese and took over.

Washington Memorial

White House...we watched this helicoptor take off and land like 20 times...

Museum of Natural History

Ryan and his buddies.

Liam copying the skeletons..

Most of the kids...Owen is in the back seat, and Jake is in Jen's arms...

My cute husband and baby...

My awesome stroller...

All of us at the ZOO....this is the last picture my camera took before I dopped it!

We had an awesome vacation with Jen, Matt, Meg, Ben, Zac, and Jake! I wish all our vacations could be this much fun!

I have been collecting my favorites of Liam's artwork for the past year and it has been piling up on my refridgerator doors. (I remember when I was a kid, my dad would save all our schoolwork and stuff and bind it all together into a book; I still have the one from my 3rd grade year.) I wanted to keep all of Liam's adorable pictues, so scanning them seemed like the most practical way to do so! I absolutely love watching him develop his skills and coodination while drawing and writing. He went from scribbling to drawing little people...he is so cute! Here are some of my favorites!

Most of these pictures are of his Daddy. His favorite things to draw are his daddy, himself, and dinosaurs....yes, he LOVES dinosaurs.

Liam has such a strong personality lately and does the funniest things. I thought I would post a few things so I wouldn't forget about them...


He is adament that his straw has to match the color of his cup/yogurt/drink. He will flip out if he has a red Dannimals yogurt and I give him a green straw.


He sings along with every single song we hear. He like repeats the last word and mumbles the rest. The other day I was out to lunch with some friends and the song "Poker Face" was on the radio, and he was totally singing it....kinda funny. But once he hears the song once, he like totally knows it.


He has the greatest memory ever. He will tell me everything his cousins Ben and Zac have ever done to him over and over again. We were at my sisters about 6 months ago and Ben pushed him down at the playground. We will just be going about our normal day, and he will come up to me and tell me, "Ben pushed me down on the playground" and get sad about it and I will have to tell him that Ben is sorry and that he got a time out for it. Its really the same stories over and over, that one about Ben and then about Zac telling him "no".....


He has such an amazing imaginationand can play with his cars/train/toys forever by himself! He has the funniest conversations between his toys.


He LOVES nursery and just started preschool last week. I thought he would have a hard time with it, but he was so sad when I came to pick him up...he wanted to stay and play with the kids!


He is SUCH a great big brother and will do anything for Owen. He plays so well with him and just loves babying him!


Anyway, these things have been on my mind. He is growing up so fast and I wanted to write down some things since I have been so bad at blogging!

I was so excited to hear from our Attorney in the Marshall Islands that he had Owen's Birthmother in his office and they were looking at my blog! They asked if I could put some videos of Owen up. (I have really been behind on my blogging and didn't realize that I didn't even have videos of him up yet) I am really excited for Glorina to see him!

Liam

Liam and Owen

This is Owens Bubu...his great-grandmother. She was Owen's primary caregiver while his birtmother was in school. She came along to the doctor's appointment with us. He was so attached to her and she was the most loving person I have ever met!

We were pretty busy setting up our US Embassy appointment, getting passport photos done for Owen, and getting ready to apply for his passport, but we did it and every step was a step closer to getting Owen.

Later that day, we were in our apartment unpacking and cleaning and our Birthmother knocked on our door and asked us to babysit Owen while she went and met with the Lawyer. She handed him to me and left. I was more than excited at getting alone time with Owen for the very first time. It really was the best thing that could have happened. I gave him a bath, cut his finger nails, and took a million pictures of him. Ryan and Liam were in awe of him as well. It was just such a weird feeling to have the baby you are going to adopt, but know that he is not mine yet. I was worried that his birthmom would be offended if I changed his clothes, or cut his fingernails. And I was too scared to get too attached because she still had another day that she could change her mind and decide to parent. We had him for about an hour before she came back and got him.

Here are some of the pictures I took that afternoon...

Me and my two boys for the very first time!!

The happiest mom ever!!

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Day 3

December 9th, 2008

Court 2:00 pm

I woke up super early again as I couldn't sleep again with all the excitement of finalizing our adoption as well as the confusion from the time change. The day consisted really of just a lot of waiting since our court was not until 2:30 pm.

We met the lawyer at 9:00 am to go over our dossier and the questions we would be asked in court. Court was a lot more intense than Liam's adoption and we really had to think about our answers to the questions we were asked.

We picked up our birthmother and Owen before court and brought here there with us. There were some hangups with our contact from the adoption agency promising to pick up our birthmothers family and not doing it, so thanfully we were early enough that we had time for someone to go back and get them. They were all dressed so nice. They made me a flower lei again for my head, and I wore it throughout court. They were so kind and welcoming to us all and saw this day as a day to celebrate us joining their family.

Before court:

Owen and his two mommies...

This is by far my favorite and most emotion picture of Owen and his birthmom. It is just so sweet and intimate to me as he buries his head in her shoulder.

The courtroom - before the judge came in. I love the picture behind the judges stand. The Marshall Islands flag is up there as well.

This one is my other favorite picture. It just has so much emotion in it for me.

Court was over faster than we thought. Our birthmother went up first. The lawyer asked the question in English. The translator translated it into Marshallese. Glorina answered in Marshallese, and sometimes English, and the translater stated what she had said back into English. They do this to make sure she fully understands what is going on.

The questions we were asked were interesting. They asked me about my infertility, Ryan about his job. The judge even asked Ryan during court if he would consider the Marshall Islands for Wind Energy. He then granted our adoption, and we were done!! Owen was ours.

We took pictures downstairs under the courthouse while we waited for them to process our adoption decree. These next pictures are some of them...

Owen's Bubu, his birthmom's Aunt Glorinda, and Owen

Glorina's Aunt, Glorina, Bubu, Glorinda holding Owen, Liam and Me

(Ryan was taking the pictures, so he wasn't in any)

The cutest little boy was playing in the dirt below the courthouse. I took a picture of him and scared him. He started crying...sorry kiddo...

After court, we rushed to the birth certificate office so that we could overnight our papers the same day to the US Embassy in Manila, Phillippines right after our US Embassy appointment the next morning. The birth certificate office was crazy. They had all their documents in cardboard boxes sitting on shelves...no computer files at all. They could not find Owens, so we had to come back the next day.

We brought Glorina and her family out to dinner at a local restaurat called Dar. Attorney Benjamin came along and we had a great time with them. The food was really good! Liam was having a hard day. A lot was going on and he was pretty cranky. It must have been hard for him to be in another country, adjust to the time change, and get a new baby brother all at the same time.

Owen and Bubu at the restaurant.Glorina was great at making Liam laugh. She played with him for most of dinner.

Big brother....finally!

Owen and his birthmom!

After dinner, we went back to Glorina's home. Where she lived was a transition home from families from Jaluit (her Island) that came to Majuro. Many families lived there and there were tons of little kids that I completely fell in love with! We thought it would be the perfect place to donate all the stuff we had brought from our clothes drive that I did on my blog...

we ended up with way more than I expected and I am so thankful to everyone that donated items or money to us to be able to touch these childrens lives! I especially want to thank Chan Cunningham from Utah who arranged a clothes/item drive in her church there and mailed us 14 boxes of stuff to hand out while we were over there! It was just so amazing and the best feeling to be able to give these people these gifts!

We ended up with the following items:

112 pairs of shorts

222 shirts

37 dresses

18 pairs of pants

10 hats

38 pairs of shoes

20 womens underwear

a case of ramen noodles

15 onesies

216 childrens books

box of candy and batteries

box of toiletries (tampons, soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc.)

Thank you again to everone that donated!!!!!!

We gave the items to our birtmother's Bubu to distribute. She said that she was going to make sure that each child only got one out fit, so that there was enough to go around. (We saw kids walking around the island in the clothes brought several times while we were there...she she did try to get them around)

They dont have electricity, but they were so excited to go through the items in the dark that evening. They had one candle that barely lit up the room. They were so excited to go through the clothes. It made me so sad to see how poor they were and how humble they are. They kept telling us "Kommol Tata" which means "Thank you very much" in Marshallese. I only took these 2 pictures because I felt uncomfortable taking more at the time...

These next pictures are some of the kids that I completely fell in love with! They live at the same place where Owen lived for the first three months of his life! Some of them are related to him. I just think they are the most beautiful children I have ever seen and they are amazing kids. Whenever we would drive up, they would run up to the car and beg for Liam...he played with them a ton and loved it!

This is Owen's birth family:

his great aunt, his aunt, his bubu, his birthmother, uncle, and grandmother.

This is inside where they live.

Liam and Glorinda

Boy looking through the window to see Liam...

It was pretty neat when we first walked into their home, their wall was covered in pictures from the Ensign. They had Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and other LDS Church pictures. It was just interested to see that they had all these and they were not even LDS, they are Protestant. They told us it was from the guy that lived there before them, but they liked it so they kept it up.

After we got home that night, this was our first attempt at a family picture on our first day as a family of four!! We tried and failed, but I just think they are so funny to look at.

Owen slept in his carseat that night because we didn't have a crib or anything else for him to sleep in at the apartment we were at.

That was the end to our first day with Owen!!!

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Day 4

December 10th, 2008

U.S. Embassy Appointment

We had a busy day planned as we had to get Owen's passport, finally got his old and new birth certificates, meet with the U.S. Embassy at 3:00 pm and get all of our papers together and to DHL by 5:00 pm. We enjoyed our first morning with Owen, and I again pretended to be a photographer and took a million pictures of him and Liam.

Owen on his first morning as a Waters...

Brothers!

Outside the U.S. Embassy. We couldn't bring the camera in, so we didn't get to take any photos.

The Embassy appontment went well. Our birthmother was there as well and she held him and was so happy to see him! Our laywer had met us at the Embassy to walk us through everything and later told us that he had a friend at the Marshall Islands Resort that would give us a great rate. That night, we left our dirty, cockroach infested apartment and moved to a decent hotel room with an Ocean view balcony for the rest of our trip. It was such a relief just walking into the hotel and it felt much more comfortable.

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Day 5

December 11th, 2008

Sightseeing

Since our paperwork was overnighted, all we had left to do was wait for our papers to be processed at the Embassy in Manila, Phillippenes. We went sightseeing and had a great time touring the island on our own.

Pictures from our drive...

Laura High School

shoes

Laura Beach...the most beautiful place on earth!! Seriously

Ryan and Liam

the Airport tower...

This is was the road looked like for about 20 minutes...just palm trees and ocean...

Liam and a coconut

Ryan and Liam at Laura beach

This is the very tip of the Island. It is just so amazing here!!

So, this is the end of Part two...just thinking that I have only written about 5 days and I was there for almost 5 weeks mean that I still have a lot more blogging to go!! Since I am done with my college, I think I will have more time to blog now!!

so, to be continued....

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

Last Saturday, Ryan was playing with Owen in the living room and he rolled over for the very first time...then continued to roll front to back and back to front...it's like he just realized that he knew how to do it and won't stop. I was so sad that I missed it, but glad that Ryan experienced it. Later that day, my good friend Bonnie was watching Owen and Liam while I went to a doctor appointment and he rolled over several times for her....I finall say him roll over the next day myself and he hasn't stopped since. He will lay on the floor and roll across the room to get whatever toy he is looking for. He loves his new found freedom and is so happy to be able to move himself.

Sitting up...

Owen has been what the doctor calls "tripod-ing" which mean sitting up by himself with his arms between his legs, like a tripod...for like a good few weeks. This week he started sitting independently, for like minutes at a time, which is so exciting. He still can be kinda off balance at times and fall over when reaching for something, but he is sitting up really straight without "tripod-ing" most of the time....its just so exciting!!!

First tooth...

Owen's first tooth popped through today!! I felt his gums and his tooth was finally there. He has been teething forever it seems like and we finally have some progress. He is almost 8 months-old and the time is going by so quickly!! It is the bottom front left tooth...yay!!


Big-Brother...

Liam is just learning so much. We have been working on colors and numbers lately. He counts thirteen by himself, and then starts to jumble up the numbers afterwards...He has learned all his colors and is doing great with his shapes. He knows triangles, squares, rectangles, circles, stars, hearts, and is beginning to learn all the other shapes as well. He has known his alphabet for a long time and we have started learning his lowercase. He sings the ABC song all the time and loves to sing the "Owen Thomas" song to Owen when he starts to cry. I just love it! He says, "Don't cry baby brother, don't cry" and then starts to sing this silly song I made up and sing to Owen....to the tune of that Where is thumbkin song...

Owen Thomas, Owen Thomas, I love you, I love you, You are such a good baby, Just like your brother Liam, Go to sleep, Go to sleep.... I had made up the same song for Liam when he was a baby and would sing it to him, so he thinks its neat that both he and Owen have their own song. Sometimes I change it up a bit, but Liam sings it all the time to Owen. He also loves to sing Popcorn Popping, Daddy Comes Home, Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Wants me for A Sunbeam, and a few other of his favorite songs....I sometimes can't believe how much info that 2 year-old has in his head...he is just so smart to me.

We bought the game Memory for his Easter basket today and we played it as a family tonight. He was amazing at it. He was just so good at remembering where the cards were, I was pretty shocked. Liam is a little genious! It was really funny when he flipped a card over that had a picture of a chocolate-chip cookie on it. He said "mmm...these are my favorite" and rubbed his belly. It was so funny, Ryan and I both started laughing.

On the other note, Liam and Owen have become great friends/brothers/playmates... Liam loves to entertain and Owen loves to be entertained!! He absolutely loves to watch Liam dance around and Liam loves the reactions he gets from Owen. It's just such a pure joy to watch them make eachother laugh. It is just one of those mom moments when you look at your kids and your heart just fills with love and pure joy! I just love my boys so much!!

Dear Owen.

You have now been in our family for three months exactly; almost half of your life so far. You are the sweetest baby and are always full of smiles and laughs! You are just starting to sit up by yourself and love your exersaucer and jumperoo, your swing not so much though...you scream when I try to put you in there. You are extremely observant and love to look and be outside. You are absolutely adored by your big brother Liam and he LOVES having you as a baby brother. He begs me every single day to wake you up from your naps so he can play with you. He is so affectionate towards you and can make you laugh like no one else. You watch him with big admiring eyes, and I love to see the two of you laugh together.

Your mommy and daddy are so happy to be your parents and feel so extremely blessed to be able to have adopted you! We seriously are the luckiest parents ever for having you! You are so attached to your mommy and will not sleep unless you are touching her. As I write this, you are laying on my lap sleeping. If I put you down, you would start crying in about 5 minutes. But to be honest, I absolutely love every minute that I have with you and want you to stay little forever so I can hold and cuddle with you. You make the cutest noises and sighs when you are sleeping. My favorite is when I pick you up and you sigh a sigh of relief that I am holding you! It is my favorite noise!

We love you so much Owen and are so happy that it has been 3 months of pure joy that we have had you in our family!!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Today we went to the doctors office. After our appointment, I asked Liam to say goodbye to the doctor. He turned around, waived to her and said, "G'bye. Love you" which sounds more like "wuv you". It was so cute. He is such a sweet boy!!

He is also getting so observant of what is going on around him. After the doctor appointment, we went to the Parent Resource Center (like an indoor play place for kids). I was talking to another mom about her son's rainboots that he wants to wear every day. I told her that Liam was the same way, always wanting to wear his cowboy boots, every single day. Liam turns around, looks at her, and says to her, "yeah, like Ben" (his cousin in Kentucky that wears cowboy boots every day). He totally just chirped in on our conversation...I was just so surprised that he was listening, and really understanding what we were talking about. He is growing up so fast!!

On another note, Owen ate a full jar of carrots baby food tonight at dinner. He was so excited and cried if I did not shovel it in his mouth fast enough. He is so much fun!!