The Adventures of Little Dude

Wow. I just want to say that there is nothing better than being a parent. I used to think there were other, better, things to do, but now I realize, parenting is the best experience. Why? Because Little Dude just tried to stand up in the tub so he could get to the faucet and inspect it. You should have seen the amazement on his face, the fascination with the falling water. Figuring out the faucet was just a joyful experience for him. I want to live every day with the joy and wonder he sees in everything....that is the first lesson I have learned from my child.

We had a WONDERFUL Easter in Ohio with extended family. Our cousin Monica was the cantor for our Easter mass and it was like hearing an angel sing. I swear no one was singing along because we all wanted to listen to Monica! It was just so beautiful I wanted to cry. She is a wonderful, amazing, thoughtful 14 year old. I will have pictures of Grandpa, the cousins, and the lovely snowfall we received Easter Sunday posted soon.

Bill and I have come to a decision about Adoption: We are going to do it; however, we are going to wait to start the process once Little Dude is about 3, then we might get a toddler/3 year old, around the time he is 4 or 5. We are going to start reading some books suggested by A Special Family. (Thanks!) That way we will feel pretty informed and "ready" for the responsibility and work the adoption process will take. Also, I think we are leaning to international adoption from Lithuania (Bill's Grandfather was born there). Our name Zeren is Lithuanian and I found out if you can prove you are of Lithuanian background then you get priority in adoption and a much cheaper price for completing all the paperwork and legal fees on their end. NICE. Also, the wait period for a girl is 6 months -12 months a boy is 9 months -18 months. Every so often I will give you guys an update and I will let you all know how the books work for us!

Little Dude has become so mobile that I now have to put him in his crib if I need to do laundry, take a shower, or do any other chore that might get me away from his play room (our living room) for more than a few seconds. The other day (April 5th) I took a quick shower, as usual, and left Little Dude busy with his toys on the floor. Though he has been mobile, he has not been very fast and still stayed put if enough distracting toys were around. That day; however, I got out of the shower and couldn't hear him . Knowing that he usually babbles up a storm, I rushed into the living room, dripping wet and wrapped in a towel, trying to find the reason all was so quiet. He was NO WHERE to be found. I looked everywhere in the living room, but couldn't find him. Next I searched the kitchen, but still no Little Guy. At this point I started having flash backs to a Lifetime movie where a kid had been kidnapped while the mom was showering. Silly, I know, but I was scared!! I started calling for him (like a 7 month old would answer?) But then, yes, I heard a babble. Coming from my room. Soooooo, I went back into our bedroom and looked around. No baby. Where was he? After standing there for a moment and making a pool on the carpet, I heard another babble, coming from THE CLOSET. Yes, he had rolled/crawled from his play area in the living room, through the kitchen, down the hall, into our bedroom, into our closet and was enjoying the chewy quality of my sandals. WHOA. So, now, he throws a tantrum whenever I have to do something where I won't be able to keep an eye on him because I put him in his crib(I think he thinks its bed time and is protesting the early hour of it) Does anyone have any ideas on what to do? Anyways, the adventures keep getting better! Now, I'm off to take a nap!

Thinking about Adoption....

OK, here is a run down of all the new stuff that has been going on:



We celebrated my Mom's birthday on the 31st, which was very fun! We also met Lisa's new boyfriend, Robin. He is SOOOOO nice! So, we had quite a fun day hanging out in the Mountains with all my family and Little Dude got tons of attention from Grandpa. My Dad LOVED using the food processor to make meals for Little Dude and Little Dude LOVED Grandpa for all the tasty treats! We are making plans to go camping at some point this summer with Grandpa and Grandma at Big Creek, which is only an hour away from our temporary home, so in case it just isn't working with Little Dude, we can get back to the house pretty quickly. If anything, it will be a fun day cooking out in the woods and hiking with the Grandparents! It is amazing how, now that I am a parent, my relationship with my parents has taken on a much better and deeper connection...I must say I am loving the new depth to our relationship and theirs! Here is a pic at Mom's big day:

My Mom is so pretty! I hope I look that young when I am older! I think I have a pretty good chance since most people don't seem to believe I am old enough to have been married 3 years and have a child...looking like a 12 year old is finally working in my favor now that I am 1/4 century old....heehee!!


For Easter we are taking a road trip to Ohio to see Bill's Dad and family! Yay! I am super excited because Bill's Dad is fun and he is SUPER excited as well to see Little Dude! Also, our cousins all live next door to Phil (Bill's Dad) and they are just the greatest kids ever. Our youngest cousin just turned 3, so I am happily anticipating playing with all the kids and watching Little Dude with them. He loves the older kids in MOMS Club, so I can't wait to see what he thinks of his second cousins. Is that their relationship? Or is it Cousin twice removed? Or is that the same? I dunno.........something like that! :) On the other hand of the trip though, this will be the first time we have boarded Eddie.....I am scared he will think we have left him. (He is from the pound, so I don't know if he will feel like he has been abandoned again) BUT...I already have a goody bag of treats, toys, leash, and his food all packed for him so he will have familiar stuff around him. I would use the vet's food, since it is part of what I am paying for during boarding; however, I am scared he will have an upset tummy since he had one the last time we had tried changing his food....and the last thing I want is for him to be miserable while we are gone. So, I will report back how he does after our trip. I did a lot of research in picking a boarding vet, so I am confident he will get tons of attention and love....perhaps he will not want to come home....hahah!



Rain occured the day we wanted to go to the zoo, so we decided to put it off for another weekend. I can't wait to go...I really hope we can get there the sat. after Easter! One of the commercials had a baby panda on it....so I am assuming one is there and I want to see it! lol!



I have gotten into scrapbooking, but I have also discovered it is an expensive hobby....so I am now part of a scrapbooking club and we all share our tools...yay! I am making a scrapbook of Little Guy's first year. I will let you know if it continues to go well and if I finish it!



OK, now that we are caught up on the latest going on, now to the topic of this post: ADOPTION. I have the growing feeling that I want to adopt a child. I know I have Little Dude, and he is only 7 months (tomorrow! wow!) However, talking to many of my friends that are adopting, as well as a pro-choice friend (who for some reason seems to feel that giving a child for adoption doesn't mean he/she will have a good life), has made me want to give a good life to a child that needs it. I am starting to do some research on adoption, domestic vs international, infants vs children, etc. and I would love some input from people that might be going through adoption or thinking about adoption themselves. I have been looking at Bethany Christian Services, simply because I have 2 friends using them and I don't know what agencies my other friends are using. Bill and I have talked about it a little, but tonight I am going to talk to him about it in more detail. I have also learned that adopting is a little cheaper if it is done through Foster Care....which is actually another thing I have thought a lot about doing. I am a stay at home Mom and why not share the love and time I give my child with another that needs love, attention and stability? The only hard part would be letting the child go, esp if it was back to a parent they had been taken away from in the first place...but again, I have not looked into that option much more than talking to an online friend doing it. What do you guys think? I am not seeing many cons to the whole Foster Care/Adoption idea....in fact, all I can see are pros. Well, maybe a con would be the cost, but perhaps instead of going on a trip of Europe, Bill and I need to give a home to a lost child....Hmmm.....it is something to think hard and pray hard about. I am serious though, I just have this yearn to bring home a child that needs us...perhaps it is just the post-pregnancy hormones going crazy....but I just keep hearing a voice (not literally, that would be baaaad) telling me a kid out there somewhere needs our help.

The end of swim class

Here is our swim class! Left to right: Tracey and Owen, Missy and Ben, Mary (the instructor) and Little Dude, Rhonda and Nick, and Marlee and Isaac. Today was our last official class, but all of us moms are going to continue to meet at 8:30 am to swim with our little guys and then work out together. It has been such a fun group, we just all couldn't let it end!

Here is a pic of the others doing some swim kicks. Isn't our gym pool nice? There are two more outside and a fun baby pool!

This is my beautiful sister, Lisa. She came to see us Monday and it was SUPER fun hanging out with her. I love her new haircut too....now that Little Dude is pulling my hair, I am tempted to cut mine short too...it looks so cute!

Here is Little Dude with his Easter Bunny from Granny! Isn't it amazing how big he is in his car seat? When we brought him home from the hospital, he was almost to little for it!

Here is a nifty gadget made for shopping carts. It covers the handle, so he can't lick it the whole time you're in the store, and it adds nice soft cushions for him to sit and lean back on, so the ride is all comfy for him. He loves it and it makes shopping easier now that he is sitting up pretty well. Also, I am a germ-a-phobe...so this helps with my paranoia. :)

Little Dude trying his first bit of pizza. It is just crust with tomato sauce, but he LOVED it. I have a feeling pizza nights will be a must for him!

Here is another picture of Little Dude sitting up so well. It was such a cute picture I had to post it.

New pictures and news

Here is a quick update:


Little Dude is now swimming quite well and even going under water for brief periods of time. All in all, the swim class has been amazing and I recommend anyone with kids starting them early in the pool. We have learned all kinds of songs and activities in the water for making it fun and easy. Very Nice!


We went to a rodeo with some friends and it was great fun! One of the Bull riders had his shoulder dislocated too...ouch! They also had pony rides for all the kids too and our friend's little girl LOVE it! Our Little Dude was too little...maybe next year....


We are going to the Zoo on the 31st and I can't wait!


We are having a big BBQ at our house on the 24th around 3pm.


Little Dude is trying to get his knees under himself so he can crawl on all fours...wow.


We are going to a Seder dinner at church on the 26th


I am counting down the minutes until the Discovery Channel (one of my top 4 channels) has "Planet Earth" on. Also, the same night and time (8pm est) the Science Channel (another top 4)has "Mammals vs Dinos" on....its going to be a race of flipping between the two channels...now is the time I wish we had TiVo! haha! I am a dork, I know.


Since some asked, here are my (Michelle) top four channels, in no particular order:

1 Discovery Channel. I have been excited about "Planet Earth" for months
2 Science Channel. "Survivor Man" has me ready to face any natural disaster. "How it's Made" rocks and again, I have been excited for months about "Mammal vs. Dino". Also, I love all the shows about the old and new testaments from a scientific point of view...funny, but those shows make my faith seem even stronger and more clear...they are awesome.
3 Fox News. Of the news channels, they seem the least biased and I love Bill O'Reilly, he is great at making people look like idiots when they try to support some immoral thing they are doing. Also, it is the ONLY news channel that shows a right wing side as well as left wing..it is more right than left, but since all the others are waaaaaaay left, I like Fox News.
4 Food Network. Most awesome channel ever. I have dozens of recipes now and I am a faithful watchers of Rachael Ray, Giada DeLauentiis, Paula Dean and Sara Snow. I always check what they are cooking online and if it sounds good I turn the show on. It is great to watch while folding laundry and cooking dinner. Just ask Bill...he is loving my new cooking skills. He said he would've gotten me to stay home long ago if he'd know it would improve my cooking. :)


O.K., back to updates:


We have multiple friends adopting


We have filled out and submitted our part of the adoption process for two of our friends (reference, essay on character and ect) The process was a little stressful because we knew the adoption agency would carefully consider all we had to say in determining accepting our friends applications to adopt. After many re-writes and edits, I must say we sent in one kick-ass reference! Now they have a few papers to fill out and send off, then the waiting begins until they are matched. How exciting!!! Here is the agency our friends are adopting through. I am so happy for them and all couples who are adopting.


I am also esp. happy for the brave, smart women who loved their child and cherished life enough to give him/her to adoptive parents. There is no greater gift to the child or the adoptive parents or even to the birth parents than to support life and adoption. Simply because a "mistake" was made and you may not personally want to parent a child, it does not mean that you need to abort; there are so many loving people who long for nothing more than to raise and love a child. I feel like everyone should support adoption over abortion when at all possible. There is a new law in the works in South Carolina that will now have women seeking abortion look at their baby through ultra sound before aborting...what a wonderful thing they are doing. For those that want the choice, they still have it, but they get an INFORMED choice...they get to see the tiny fingers, toes and heartbeat. They get the chance to turn the idea of being pregnant into a real image and perhaps that will end in more babies being put up for adoption rather than murdered for mistakes they never made. You can find more info on this bill here. Also, any of my pro-choice friends out there are free to give me their point of view on this law. Since I am and always will be pro-life, I suppose I am biased; it would be fair to peacefully hear the other point of view.



Also on the topic of protecting our children, here is a great letter for senators and governor's voting on the National Sex Offender Registry that we should all send out. You can get the letter (or ideas for your own) from Oprah (yes, she rocks). You can also find your rep's mail addresses at: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Governors.shtml and your congress' addresses at: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/





On a different, happier topic, here are some new pics I have been promising! Also, one of my friend's from swim class had her husband drop by to take some pictures of all of us, so as soon as she sends them to me, I will post them! That solves my whole problem of how to get pictures in the pool without getting my camera wet! Yay!

This is a hat I knitted for Little Dude...he is all ready to cheer on the Wolfpack. The shirt he is wearing has a red crayon on it and says: "My favorite color: Wolfpack Red" Isn't that the most awesome? Yes, I thought you would agree.

This is his St. Patrick's day outfit. It says "Little Good Luck Charm". Isn't his wild, red hair great?I LOVE St. Patrick's day and I cooked a bunch of Irish food and made everything I could green! Yay! You can find more info about Ireland's Saint and his good charities (also the fact he was once a slave in Ireland!) here.

Here are my two wonderful guys after a hard day of playing.

More busy playing with Daddy!

This is after a bath. Isn't his robe the cutest? Or is it him that makes it so cute? Hard to tell, I know...haha!! He normally has his bath in the mornings to clean up whatever poop/pee/spit up/drool happened during the night. Usually a combo of them...However, this day he decided to explode out of his diaper. Yes, I said explode. It was EVERYWHERE...up his back, down his legs...how did so much come out of something so little? So at any rate, this all happened while Will was home, so he decided it was a good time to take a pic of me and Little Dude together, since I am always the one behind the camera! I think we look quite nice too!

We went to a rodeo with some friends and their children as part of our St. Patrick celebration! (I know, not very Irish, but totally fun and American) This was Little Dude's first rodeo! He seems to like it!

Will, Little Dude, Jade and Cindy waiting for the rodeo to start. We got seats behind where the cows waited; it was so fun watching them play! As you can see, Jade loved the cows! Cindy is also expecting her second child soon! Cindy, her husband, Jim, and their daughter Jade are great friends and super fun to hang out with!

Well, that is about all we have been up to so far this month. We are getting ready for some weddings that are coming up; my cousin in Texas is getting married soon and we are super excited to fly down and see everyone! Then we have some friends getting married in Aug and another pair getting married in October! What a fun, busy year we are getting ready to have! I guess I better start looking at Travelocity soon! (I just want to add I LOVE the gnome in the commercials, I want one for my garden!) Bye!

Crawling and band things

OK, our little guy is starting to do the army crawl really well! WOW! Bill and I sat and watched him forever last night as he struggled to get his knees under him and get his body moving...wow. That is the only work that can describe watching him grow up. I can't believe he is the same little guy we brought home from the hospital only 6 months ago...it has gone by to fast! So, I guess my time is up for baby proofing...now that he is almost entirely mobile I better get on the items I had put off baby proofing!

In other news, we might be back in May...yay! It is not official yet, but I will keep my hopes up. The last trip home made me really miss our house, our friends, and our awesome neighbors. In neighbor news, I just have to say our friends, Alan and Amy, have the two most adorable children in the whole world. I miss hanging out and occasionally drinking wine with Alan and Amy...they are super fun and super nice I just want to say I miss them. The neighbors here are nice, but just don't compare to the great ones we have back home.

Anyways, little guy is getting another cold and has been quite cranky about it. He is sleeping right now, which is why I can finally get on here and update for everyone. Sadly, I am lazy and have not taken pics off my camera yet, so I don't have any new ones to update you with....sorry! I will get on it this weekend.

Band is going well, but honestly, right now band is a "hobby" for me. I certainly don't have the time to practice the way it's required to become a truly semi pro musician and play in symphonies or grand orchestras...I honestly barely practice enough to keep up with the local band I am in! However, band is a super fun and relaxing part of my week and I truly love it and all the wonderful memories picking up my instrument brings back to me. Speaking of memories, my long time friend, Michael, is in the Charlotte Orchestra! Check it out: http://www.charlottecivicorchestra.org/ I am super proud of him! He plays the clarinet. We went to high school together and have been good friends for almost 11 years...wow I feel old saying that! haha! Anyhow, everyone should make a trip to go see him play; the Charlotte Orchestra is AMAZING. Now that I know someone playing, Bill and I must get back to Charlotte to hear them!

Well, I guess that is all the update I have for now...I will work on getting pictures for everyone! Bye!

Little Swimmers

Well, the 4th was Little Dude's 6 month birthday...hasn't it gone by very fast? I can not believe how quickly the time has flown! He is getting bigger by the minute! On the 5th we started swimming lessons in a baby swim class at our gym. So far it has been quite a blast and Little Dude is enjoying it! Today, in fact, he went under water for the first time! Awesome! He loved it, even though I was really nervous about it. He came up smiling; so perhaps we have a fish on our hands! The other kids and moms are very fun too, though they are all at least 4 months older, but I am keeping notes on what the instructor does with them so I can remember and do them later this summer. Can I say that swim diapers are the most extraordinary invention ever? They dont come off and hold everything in...trust me...they work amazingly well! And we got some with Winnie the Pooh and Nemo on them...SO CUTE!!!!!! I will try to figure out how to get a picture of baby swim for you guys. I think I will have to get a one time camera for it because I am just to nervous about my camera getting wet! So, keep your eyes out for a pic...I will work on getting one soon!

MOMS club is great; we are loving the play dates! Little Dude is becoming quite social and quite fascinated with the other children! I'm glad he is already confident enough to roll away from me and play with other kids, though a little sad he is already showing independence. I did actually cave to some of the home made baby food recipes...avocado is now a favorite of our Little Dude's...though I love it so much too that I guess that is not a huge surprise. Since I don't have a food processor I have gotten away without to much scrutiny on buying baby food...but one of the mom's made a comment that kinda hit me.....there are not much variety out there in the land of baby food. It's the save 4 veggies, same 4 fruits and variations of those mixed with beef or chicken or turkey. So, on that thought, I have decided to make what I can and so far Little Dude has LOVED it...he has had avocado, cottage cheese, yogurt, cucumber and mashed potatoes. Amazing? And all things I can fix for him with minimal work or clean up.....as Borat would say...VERY NICE!

Also in other big news, we have a crib for Little Dude! Yes, I know, we had one back home but since it was a free used one, it was hard to get together and we did not want to take it apart for anything...so Little Dude has been sleeping in a pack n play since out growing his bassinet. The pack and play has been fine, except now he is getting up on his hands and knees every so often, so we were scared of him pulling up inside the pack n play and falling out. Yes, we know we can take the raised part out and use the big pack n play, but you forget how short I am! Ha ha! I tried a few times having him sleep in the big area and I ended up having to drop him the last few inches, which was a disaster if he was asleep and no so pleasant if he was awake....SOOOOOOOO Bill and I talked and decided it was worth the money to get a good crib, esp since the crib, the bassinet and pack n play (along with a lot of other great things, like an awesome breast pump and tons of clothes) were all given to us. Since we have not had to buy a single expensive item for him yet, we decided to get a good convertible one and let me just say it is AWESOME. It converts into the cutest toddler bed, then day bed, then full size bed. AMAZING. It is so beautiful too and will be a beautiful bed for him when he's older. Also, once we have a second child, one will have the crib, and the other the toddler bed; super exciting! I'm bringing up his crib bedding from home this weekend and really getting his nursery here set up right. I am super excited!

It is amazing how much it is feeling like home here now. I guess that happens after living somewhere for 6 months, but now that our time will be counting down from here til Aug and we have the possibility of going up to Virginia I am a little sad to think of leaving. Esp our church, it is wonderful and very active...compared to our little church back home, we selfishly wish we could take All Saint's back home, or to VA. Well, Little Dude is up from his nap and ready to eat...we are actually having chicken and apples (from a baby jar) so I better get going! Bye!

Baby Play Date

The first picture is from this morning, when I gave Little Dude his first taste of chicken. He insisted upon having the spoon, so I gave him an extra one to play with (the one you see in the pic) while I fed him. It was awesome-after I would put a spoonful in his mouth he insisted upon putting his spoon in his mouth....thus the mess started and just got better from there. It is a great picture though, don't you think? It really looks like he fed himself...hahaha!

Here are pics from Play Dates with the MOMS Club group! Our playgroup, Baby Bears, came to our house Tues. and it was tons of fun! I made Leigh Anne's pepperoni bread and everyone loved it-Thanks, Leigh Anne!! All the babies had tons of fun playing together with Little Dude's toys and all of us Moms loved sitting and chatting together!

I must say MOMS Club has been a great activity for me to keep busy with while at home with a baby! The club activities keep me motivated to get up and dressed and out of the house to go to new places, which is great, because being at home makes it easy to be lazy and not leave. The club is also making it easy to learn where stuff is located and gives me a whole group of resources to call on whenever I have questions. I have made some great friends in the club so far and as happy as I will be to go back home when Bill's job up here is over, I will also be sad to leave all the friends I have made here and the club.

Here also is a pic of Little Dude and his fellow friends at the MOMS Club Valentine's Party! from left to right: Little Dude, Devin and Taylor.

These three are part of the Baby Bears playgroup, along with about 4 other babies. The Valentine party was fun even though the babies just played on the floor. All the older children were cute to watch as they got all excited about their Valentines...so cute!! Tami, one of the moms, hosted the party and she did a great job of having all kinds of kid activities from the oriental trading company. The party was a hit with the kids...I'm taking notes for Little Guy's future birthday parties......