Three

Hard to believe, but our tiny baby girl is now a 3 year old. Still tiny, but a 3 year old none the less.  It’s unbelievable how much she’s changed over the last year.  So independent – insists on doing everything herself and helping mom and daddy with their chores as well.  She pretty much gets her self ready for school each day.  It’s hard to imagine going back to the baby phase with such a big girl running around and potty trained. Madeline is developing a very strong sense of humor – very dry and frank – it’s absolutely hysterical.  She knows where everything is and just how it’s supposed to be done.  

 

We celebrated her birthday by a big family party at Grandma and Grandpa Webb’s house.  Unfortunately both Uncle Matt and Uncle Bert were indisposed that day, but other than that it was all our people in one house.  We are moving Madeline into a new bedroom to make way for baby, so all the Grandmas and aunts joined together to pick up some room items.  Madeline picked the bedding herself, with my approval.  I wouldn’t have picked pink, but it’s pretty cute.   Additional gifts included Barbies, Barbie's convertible and a jewelry box.

This ridiculous face is becoming her official picture pose. Ugh.

Instead of having a party for our Indiana friends, we decided to keep it low-key this year. (Read: Heather does not have the time or energy to clean the house.)  Instead we will be venturing to the Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati with our good friends, the Harless family! 

Madeline and Evan: The first time all winter they've been allowed in the same room.

Next time you're on Amazon....

Not going to lie - adoption costs a small fortune.  There are lot of valid reasons why this is the case, which I will not go into here.  There's no doubt that the financial aspect of this adventure has been the hardest thing to grapple with.  Needless to say, the Long family is in full fledged financial lock down.  We are attempting to filter every possibly penny we can into our adoption fund.  We have already been immensely blessed in the last few weeks through a very unexpected gift from friends and some awesome work opportunities.  Even little things like my car repair being covered under warranty and my beloved Sonicare toothbrush miraculously fixing itself have proven to be blessings.  But we know we're going to have to step it up with some creative fundraising ideas. 

So here's a SUPER easy one that you (and everyone you know!) can help with.  The next time you feel compelled to buy something from Amazon, (and who doesn't? I've bought my entire Christmas list from there 2 years running!) please access it through our nifty little link on the right side menu.  A portion of your purchase will go straight into our adoption fund. How ridiculously easy is that?

A few details:
-We will not know who is purchasing, so don't be afraid to load up on neon spandex undergarments or whatever else strikes your fancy!
-You must log in through our link each time you access Amazon in order for the next purchase to count.  Please bookmark us!
-If you put something in your cart but then check out during another session, that will not count :(
-Please feel free to pass this along to your friend, family, coworkers, Facebook feed, Twitter, etc. The more the merrier!
-If you want to post to your blog, let me know - I can get you a cool looking link.

Thinking Ahead

Disclaimer: We are not actually selling our child.  She looked super cute with this sticker though.

If you're anything like me, you spend the dreary winter months trying to get your house cleaned up a bit. Cleaning out closets, geting rid of items that are no longer used, etc.  If you happen to stumble across some items that you're not sure whether to sell or donate, please consider passing them over to the Long family for a massive garage sale in the spring.  We are going to attempt a sale during our neighborhood garage sale and are asking for anything you are willing to pitch in. 

 All proceeds will go directly to our adoption fund. 

 Think about it - no need to bother with your own sale. Most of my friends have to group together just to have a reasonable inventory for a garage sale anyway.  No hauling stuff to Goodwill.  And it all goes towards a great cause.  If you are interested, please let me know!   

(Random side note: first incident of toddler shoplifting this weekend. At an Autozone.  Really? )

Building Our Family...

Well...I accidentally jumped the gun and put my ticker up, so I guess it's time to spill the beans....given that Madeline is almost 3 and I'm almost done with grad school, people have been inquiring as to whether there will be another baby Long arriving shortly...

After much research, prayer, discussion, prayer, waffling, prayer, raw anxiety, and prayer...

we have decided to grow our family through adoption!

Most people who know us realize that this has been on the table for a long time.  We originally thought we were going to be adopting locally, but God has really been pulling my attention toward the need for international adoption for the last 9 months or so.  After a whole heck of a lot of research and soul searching (I can say confidently that I have a better understand of what it means to wrestle with God these days...), we have decided to adopt a baby from Africa.  I will be posting a lot more about this over the next few weeks.  We just applied to our agency last week (which is when the ticker begins) and we are hoping to have this wrapped up by the end of the year, but if there's anything I realize about this process, it's that I'm completely out of control of most things.

Someone once told me that adoption is not for the faint of heart and I think they might be right! 

Christmas Take 2

So we had to wait several weeks before attempting Christmas with my family again, primarily to make sure Evan wouldn't be exposed to anything nasty.  So MLK weekend, we packed everything up yet again and headed to Ohio for Christmas Take 2.  You can only imagine my joy when we woke up Saturday morning with Madeline puking and running 103 degree fever. Oh happy day.  So we were once again banished away from family, with the exception of my parents.  We did manage to exchange gifts and here's a few decent shots...

Barbie car. She loves this thing.

Giant mound of presents. Must be the Webb family Christmas!

Why do I keep getting all this doll stuff? I don't know, but I like it!

Quit making me smile grandpa! There are giant boxes to be unwrapped!

The world's biggest dollhouse.

Christmas - Take 1

I think I may have jinxed our Christmas celebration this year with my complete lack of spirit during the early Christmas season.  After some mad last minute shopping (thank you Amazon prime!), the Long family was all packed and ready for a nice long weekend with the family in Ohio. The car was crammed full of gifts, luggage, and dogs. Our last step was to put Madeline in her pajamas for a nice long car ride. Imagine our surprise when we realized that the case of dry skin she had on her face had turned to a full fledge rash on her hands.  A quick stop by the urgent care center confirmed what we had already discovered on Wedmd - a seriously disgusting, highly contagious virus called Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease! Not to mention two screaming ear infections.  And we didn't have a clue.  In the 3 hours it took us to get out of the urgent care center, the nastiness has spread to her legs and bottom.  And there went our Christmas plans.....

Pictured here with the beautiful, scabby, raw mess that covered her body. 

We were officially banned from venues with children, so no Christmas with the Webb family.  I did skype in for dinner and presents though.  Fortunately Brad's side does not have any other children, so we did manage to spend a nice long weekend with his family. 

Santa

I was wrong about pictures with Santa.  Brad did manage to snag this beauty.

Santa = fail

Finally got the new Michael Buble Christmas album.  Inserted it into my cd player while still in the Target parking lot.  CD player consumed cd.