Our little ROCK STAR!

I can rarely get a picture with Nate standing still since he is always on the go so I was absolutely thrilled when I got lucky with this super cute picture! He is such a ROCK STAR! And, we are VERY EXCITED to announce that he is now OUR OFFICIAL ROCK STAR! We received word from the State on March 24 that we were the ones chosen to adopt Nate and we are so honored to be Nate's parents!!! We feel very blessed that we have been given this opportunity to raise Nate and be his placement this past year and now we are super thrilled to know that we will be his Forever Family! We were nervous yesterday as we anxiously awaited the news but once it came, we went out for a big celebration! Dan and Marsha came up and we all went out to eat and showered Nate with lots of love, food, balloons, and a ton of stuff that Grandma just had to buy him!!! (Thanks Papa and Grandma! He is still playing with his dinosaurs!) It was funny too because it was as if Maverick knew something was going on because he was extra hyper when I brought Nate home from daycare! Maverick was bouncing off the walls and was super excited to see his buddy!

So, what happens now? Well, basically it is just a matter of filling out a lot more paperwork but hopefully we will get into court in the next 3-6 months to finalize everything...and when we do...know that we will be having a HUGE PARTY!

Thanks to everyone for all of your unconditional love, support, and prayers in this situation. Jeremy and I could not have dreamed that when we got married we would become instant foster parents to Nate and we certainly did not have any control over the outcome of this situation either. This whole circumstance has been out of our hands, but thankfully God's hands have been ALL over it. We have always wanted the best for Nate and are grateful for this amazing gift and responsibility. We want to thank each and every one of our friends and family who have helped us in so many ways and who have encouraged us with their words and prayers. There is a reason why the old saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child," and let me just say that we are RICHLY blessed with our amazing village. :)

On a funny note, I was telling Nate yesterday that we were going out to celebrate because he was going to be able to live with Mommy and Daddy forever! Then Jeremy piped in and said, "Well, not forever...only 'til your 18 son!" haha! Let's just hope these next 15 1/2 years don't go by TOO fast...

Adventures with Nater

Oh, where do I begin.

So, every day is an adventure with Nate. As many of you know Nate is a very sweet, sensitive, smart little boy, yet also very stubborn and strong-willed! Put all of these traits together and there is never a dull moment in the Dulin household. Let me just share a few recent stories with you.

We have been having some struggles at night with Nater. He is a GREAT sleeper and once he is asleep he is out, BUT, lately it has been very difficult to get him to GO to sleep! He will come out of his room 10-15 times at night without giving us any reason as to why he doesn't want to go to sleep. So, we have had a tough time trying to figure what is going on besides the fact that I have heard from many moms that this is a normal phase for his age. However, it certainly does not take the frustration away trying to deal with this constant night-time routine.

I received MANY wonderful comments and wise advice from other moms so I decided to try some of it out. One mom said, "maybe he is scared of the dark". Then my mom said, "get something to spray and say that he can spray all of the bad stuff away before going to bed". Both good thoughts so I went out and bought a nightlight and covered up our Febreeze bottle and wrote "Bye Bye Bad Stuff" on it. So, that night we gave him his new nightlight and I introduced the BYE BYE BAD STUFF spray. Nate was SUPER excited about his rocket nightlight and loved spraying the 'bad stuff' away. It all worked. At least for 10 minutes.

Not only was his room a VERY POTENT smell of Febreeze, he still came out of his room that night SEVERAL times. At one point I heard him come out of his room and go across into our room. I headed upstairs to see what he was doing and found that he had disassembled his nightlight, had the nightlight bulb IN HIS MOUTH, and was playing with daddy's ab-roller. Only Nate.

So, the next night, we had the same struggles. He continued coming out of his room and finally at 11:00 p.m. I was REALLY annoyed. I heard him come out of his room and I met him at the door. I was about to tell him to get into that bed when I saw that he was covered in something. I was totally confused...it looked like lotion but it wasn't. Turns out he had taken the whole tube of BUTT PASTE and had put it in his hair, all over his PJ's and on his face and arms. Yes, you read that right...BUTT PASTE! Jeremy and I were rolling. We laughed sooo hard and I had Jeremy run and get the camera. The above picture shows how we found him and I asked him if his face was frozen because he stood like that for about 5 minutes!!! We quickly put him in the shower but after 30 minutes it still was not all out. So, thankfully, one of my friends mentioned using baking soda with the shampoo and Jeremy got most of it out the next morning. Only Nate.

So, tonight. We have been working on potty-training for quite some time but like everything else...it is all in NATE'S timing. Some days he is great with the potty, other days he could careless, and yet other days he will tell us...but after the fact. Which is exactly what happened tonight. We were getting him ready for a bath and he ran into our room. I found him in our closet and he told me that he had peed. I thought he had peed in the closet but the closet just ended up being his hiding place because I found the pee...ON OUR BED. Again, ONLY NATE. I will be making a trip to the dry cleaners very soon.

I tell you all of these stories as I chuckle. Parenting can be sooo frustrating but it is the greatest adventure in the world.

Our 'boys'...

Well, it is now MARCH. These pictures were from February, but the fact of the matter is, it is MARCH already. Not only has the time flown by here in 2010, we are STILL waiting on the State to decide whether or not we can adopt Nate. First it was December, then January, then February, and now...well, maybe March? Who knows. We are trying our hardest to be patient while we sit around and wait some more. So, for those of you who have asked and wondered...NO, we still don't know anything yet! But, in the meantime, let me fill you in on some of the happenings with the Dulins!

First off, out of the blue, on his own...Nate started calling Jeremy and I "Mommy" and "Daddy". I have been "HONEY" for so long that it completely caught me off guard when I picked him up at daycare and he proclaimed, "MOMMY!!!!!!!" He then did the same thing to Jeremy as soon as we put him in the car..."DADDY!!!!!" We both thought it may have been due to the other kids at daycare seeing their moms and dads so we just assumed that he would go back to "Honey" and "Uncle Jeremy", but for the past few weeks he has been consistent on these new names. In fact, he says mommy and daddy over and over to us as if he is reassuring himself that that is who we are to him. I am still getting used to it and it melts my heart every time. At this point we are not going to deny him the right to call us this. Even though we have not gotten any word from the State, we have raised this child for over a year now, he is comfortable in our home and with us, and if he wants to call us mommy and daddy, then absolutely, he can call us that. It is his right as a child and we have to admit...we LOVE hearing it!

Now onto our other 'son'...MAVERICK! I am sooooooooo excited to announce that Maverick turned EIGHT on March 2! Not only is this cool because he shares Dr. Suess's birthday (I found that out on the radio), this is a huge milestone for him due to the fact that we did not think that we would get this extra time with him. It has been such a blessing to have Maverick around, he is such a sweet dog, he will always be my 'baby boy', and him and Nate are still good buddies. Hopefully the weather will start to get warmer as Maverick has really missed playing ball this winter. We are praying that Spring is around the corner and we will be able to spend some time outside playing!!!

Well, enough for now, I will post more soon!!!