Whitscation 2010!

Jeremy and I finally planned a long-overdue honeymoon and went to Jamaica! We got the best of both worlds too...we got to spend time together but we also met 8 friends there to hang out with! We had a blast! We called the vacation "Whitscation" because it was all of our friends from Whitsbury Court in FL where I lived with my brother and Joshua.

Jamaica was absolutely beautiful and we we enjoyed every minute of our vacation! We stayed in Ocho Rios in the Grande Sandals Resort on the Rivera side. The weather was great, the drinks and food were fabulous, the water was perfect, and the excursions were SUPER FUN! We arrived on Wednesday evening and had dinner with all of our friends. Thursday we just hung out at the pool and beach and enjoyed lots of amazing food at the resort. Friday was our excursion day...we rode a zip line through the rain forest and then hiked up Dunns River Falls...AWESOME!!!!!! We were told that these were the best 2 excursions to do while we were there and we were so glad that we went on them! They were definitely must-dos in Jamaica!!!! (We would love to take Nate there when he is old enough to ride the zip line! Our little daredevil would LOVE it)! Friday evening we went to the Beach Party that the resort put on and Stephanie and I (there was another Stephanie on the trip) ended up having to dance in front of everyone! We looked quite silly but it is an experience we will never forget! Saturday was another fun and relaxing day by the pool and beach. Since we had 2 professional photographers with us on the trip, we all had photo shoots lined up for Saturday afternoon and then we ended the evening with a FABULOUS meal (and a couple of shots)! We had to get up early on Sunday morning to leave and spent all day traveling back to the states.

While we were gone my mom stayed with Nater. He was quite the handful but they did a lot of fun stuff while we were gone and there was no doubt that Grandma DeeDee spoiled her grandson! Ha! Even though we had a fun time in Jamaica we were certainly excited to see Nate. We bought him a Jamaican beanie hat and a guitar and he LOVED his presents!

All in all the trip was "IRIE MON"!!!!!!!

Nate and I's first DATE night!

Daddy went to the Royals Game one night with friends so Nate and I decided to go out! I told him that him and Mommy were going on a date and that there were some rules. #1, he had to hold my hand. #2, he had to help open doors. And #3, he had to call me a pretty girl. He was SUCH a gentleman and we had so much fun! We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner, went to MY GYM for some playtime, went to the movies to see "How to Train Your Dragon", and then ended up at a graduation party where Nate was quite the entertainer! We both were very tired when we finally got home but it was a memorable evening with my little man. He obviously remembered it too because several weeks later after waking up one morning, he told me that he needed to go on a 'date'. I said, "You do huh?" He looked at me and said, "You're a pretty girl Mommy". I could not resist...we went out to lunch and to Jumping Jax for a date that day. This crazy kid knows how to melt my heart sometimes! :)

Nate's transportation room!

We really enjoyed our townhouse, but we were so excited when we found a house to move into! We were needing some extra space and once again, God had perfect timing and had ordained the perfect place for us. I wanted to give Nate a whole new room and this is how it turned out! Jeremy helped me paint the base colors, I painted the murals, my dad made Nate's amazing new train bed, and my mom had the curtains made. Nate LOVES his new room, and we do too!

Fun with friends!!

I am soooo behind on blogging! So I will do my best to hit a few of the highlights over the past few months. We took advantage of the beautiful Spring weather one evening and headed out to my best friends house to BBQ with her family. This is just one of the many reasons it is nice to be back in the KC area...we are not far from the Harringtons!!! The boys had a blast playing, the dogs tried their best to eat Hudson and Nate's food (the 1st picture is the dogs eyeing the boy's smores), Rachel and I enjoyed some good margaritas and Bill and Jeremy caught up on sports talk. It was such a fun evening! We are blessed with great friends!!

Easter 2010

I just realized tonight that it has been awhile since I have blogged! My mind has been a bit frazzled as we are moving this weekend! No worries...no cross country move again...just a move to a house about 5 miles away from where we are now! We feel very blessed as this was an absolute GODSEND. God NEVER ceases to amaze me at how he orchestrates things. I just LOVE it when God SHOWS OFF!!!

I wanted to share some pictures from Easter! We had a wonderful Easter this year, and Nate got double the Easter Egg Hunts! He got one when we went down to Grandma DeeDee's house and another one when we went to Grandma and Papa Dulin's house. He IS a one lucky kid!

Nate loved finding eggs at Grandma DeeDee's house not only for the candy but because Lauren was there! (I tell ya...Nater really does like the older girls! LOL)! Lauren is my mom's neighbor and she came over and enjoyed hanging out with Nate, and taking him to her house to jump on the big trampoline! Then he found another great Easter basket on the hunt at Grandma and Papa Dulin's house! This is where he got the super cool bunny glasses...too CUTE!

We are so grateful to be loved by God SOOO much that he would die for us. Easter is NOT about the bunny, it's about the blood. It is an undeserving act of sacrifice and love and one that should not be taken lightly. It is fun to look for eggs and get candy, but hopefully we all took time to thank God for the awesome debt He paid for us and will hold onto this gift all year long.

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.