A nice day

Josh has been at work for the past two days, so we have been adjusting to being at home without him. Monday I was mainly feeling yucky some more. But I was out of library books, so we did manage a quick trip into the big city for book and to get Josh's glasses fixed.

When we were in Arkansas, I called our wonderful pediatrcian and made an appointment for Ashley. When we got there yesterday, they were like 'who?' Yah, we weren't even in the system. So we went back today. After more than an hour wait, Ashley got checked out. She is 95% in height, 75% in weight and 85% in head size. All good. She is doing fine. We did get a referral to the developmental experts who will get us a speech person, and referral to an audiologist - to make sure everything is fine in the ear department. She did get three shots but seems to be doing ok. We had a lovely day at home - lots of snuggling and playing stickers on the floor and, of course, playing with Kellie, Lola, Mallorie and Abby. I was feeling VERY hot and yucky at the doctors - should I have asked him for some drugs for me too? Everyone had lovely naps and we took a walk in the snow.

Wednesday Uncle Jason and Auntie Heather are going to come play with us for New Year's. I think my main goals for next year have to do with being a good mommy and being calm. I'll get some pictures for tomorrow!

Sick day

I have a YUCKY cold. So Ashley and I stayed home from church and napped and Ellie and Josh went off to be social. That's about it. There was a lot of laying around today and TV watching. Ashley likes to snuggle and watch TV - and she doens't complain about the channel! (unlike Ellie who wants to only watch cartoons). Ashley is really sweet. Tomorrow we are going to the doctor - and she will get some shots - I predict more TV watching and snuggling in store!

Snow

Ashley and Ellie had a fun time in the snow today.

Ashley LOVES the little car (which doesn't work - good thing there was so much snow it couldn't move anyway!) and Ellie took a little swing.

Here they are exploring the front yard:

Josh is SUCH a wonderful hubby - when I get stressed out he gives me a hug or a pat or tells me its ok. It is great. The last few weeks have been very nice - I really like hanging out with him!

Josh has been really good about signing with Ashley and today she signed "More Cracker" and "Candy" and "Thank you." She's doing great! She and Ellie like to follow each other around. Ashley is standing up for herself a bit more - today she started literally pushing Ellie around! It was cute. They will also play in separate rooms for a bit now. We also did crafties today and it was fun.

A day at home

It snowed and was nice and cozy today - but we did run some errands, mainly to get Josh's glasses fixed (Ellie broke them the final night in the motel when she wouldn't go to sleep until 11:20 p.m.) and some snow boots for the girls.

Here is Ashley -enjoying her first ever snow! Ellie dumped some on her head as a way of initiation? Really, she does have a coat and snow pants, this is just after we got home and we wanted to play outside for just a few seconds:

It went pretty good!

Here are some more random pictures from our time with Gwynn. Here is Gwynn, her cute boyfriend Alex (he is a computer programmer) and Ashley.

Here are the two cute girls!

And here is Gwynn during her last night at work!

We met some of our friends today and they were all SO happy for us and Ashley - we are so glad you joined our family Ashley!

Christmas day

Ashley got up at 6 a.m. (I think she is still on the home time-zone) and climbed into bed with us for a bit. Then she and Josh got up, and Josh unloaded the 534 presents from the car to under the tree (sorry purists, we didn't wrap anything this year). We opened and played with our toys.

Now we are lazing around. It is VERY windy - all day - here. I had to go out and rescue the play kitchen and top of the sand box from the pit next door (there is a big hole for a home next door, and I am afraid if things blow it in, it will be REALLY hard to get them out). It is suppose to snow 6 to 10 inches by tomorrow.

Ashley and Ellie LOVE playing together. They are often chasing each other around, or doing what the other one is doing. There have been fairly few yellings over toys. Ashley is TOO tall for the island and has, unfortunately, wacked her head a few times on the corner. Poor baby. She has been eating very well and was happy to take a 2.5 hour nap - Josh had to go wake her up, so she could sleep tonight! Ellie DIDN'T want to take a nap, but Ashley crawled into her bed at 7 p.m. and started crying -so we put them both to bed - at 7:30! Yah! A very busy and fun day at home at last.

It is SO WONDERFUL TO BE HOME!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

Thank you for all of your wonderful comments over the past 13 days- they have been really awesome and it is wonderful to know so many people care about us!

After a 25 hour (one time zone change and a closing of I-80) trip, we made it to Logan to spend the day with Josh's family. Usually when I am in Logan, I'm like "Yah, stores! Let's go shopping!" I went to Maceys to get some food for the holidays for us and I was thinking " I never want to go shopping again!" It was crazy and I was SO tired of NOT being home!

Anyway, we had a delightful day with the Herrons. Ashley did pretty darn good for meeting so many new cousins, aunties, uncles and a grandma and grandpa. They were all THRILLED she is part of our family and they love her already. Auntie Danell did a great job of hosting us once again. We all got to play games and win prizes!

At 8 p.m. I announced, that although we had driven half way across the country to play with them, I was going home to my own bed. They all agreed it was a wonderful idea. I drove home and our bed is WONDERFUL!! The girls slept all night in their own room. A good night was had by all.

Introducing....Ashley Herron!!!

Here we are!!

It took our attorney an extra hour to get to the courthouse because of the ice. But it all happend very nicely and Josh and I both teared up during the judge's speech about saving a child and how she will have a great home, and how no present he would get this Christmas will compare with the gift we got. All the ladies at the courthouse were so happy for us. As we did the final filing, the clerks came over and helped the girls make necklaces out of paperclips - one said "can they just stay and play until 4:30?" Here is a picture - Cute!

YAH!! We are off! See you in 23 hours!! Love Ann, Josh, Ellie and Ashley Herron

Tuesday, court day

We just had breakfast and are going to get the girls dressed. We did a practice run to the courthouse yesterday, we're in courtroom B.

I'll try to publish a picture of the finalization before we leave. Wish us safe traveling!

Monday, day 10

An emotional day all around.

We got up and packed (finally) and went to see Gwynn. It is so hard to see someone making such a hard decision and be to brave and selfless. Ashley loves her so much.

Then we headed off to Little Rock - to the 'zoo with no animals.' Did we mention it was like 20 degrees here? More details and pics to follow (I have just a few minutes on this connection).

Got to hotel. Am very happy to NOT have to put toddlers to bed in a hotel for many many months. Everyone FINALLY went to sleep. Tomorrow is the day!!

Here are some pics from the zoo:

Ellie liked pushing Ashley around (symbolic of the future? I hope not!) This is where Josh said: "Great, a zoo with no animals." Because they were all inside because it was SO FREAKING COLD!

But check out the TIGER right behind Josh's ear. Ellie announced here that she did not like tigers.

Ashley and Ellie check out the giraffe and vice versa:

Sunday, day 9

Ugh, I will be SO glad NOT to be living in a hotel anymore. Let's count some reasons:
1) your jeans actually get dry in your home dryer
2) your own bed - need I say more? And all the blankets you could want to keep you warm.
3) your kids can sleep in THEIR beds
4) bedtime you control, and if they cry a bit, it's ok because there are NO neighbors next door
5) what YOU want to eat morning, noon and night. Can I tell you how good a simple boiled egg and toast is sounding right now?
6) your own TV - with hello - DVR!!!
7) places for everything
8) more than five outfits to choose from
9) not having to wrestle two toddlers in a restaurant everytime you want to eat (or you could spend 45 minutes picking pickles and french fries out of your car seats and wiping up ketchup stains- your choice).
10) home sweet home

Let's review why we are doing this:
1) a blessed, sweet, precious daughter of God to join our forever family

It totally it worth it.

First thing the girls wanted this morning was to play with their new 'cell' phones:

Then we went to breakfast, like we have every morning for the past 9 days. Here is what is looked like:

Today we drove up to se Bentonville - yes - home of the Evil Empire #1 (D.isney is #2) W.al-Mart! Everything but the fast food restaurants, and the local W.al-mart, was closed. Drove to see some old mill thing (not as exciting as the brochure looked). Drove home. Uncles left. Did some wash. Took Gwynn out for dinner. Kiddos asleep in 7 minutes. Blogging. Might go walk a bit on the treadmill in an attempt to leave the 'fatty-fast-food-eating-parts of me in Arkansas.'

Picture:


Tomorrow we are going to drive to Little Rock and see a few sites (but NOT the zoo if is is only 9 degrees) and then to a hotel near the courthouse in Conway. After our court date, we will change clothes and hop in the car for the short 21.25 hour trip to Logan to join Josh's family for their Christmas Eve party. I am packing four different suitcases for these various events. All is good. We will keep you updated. One more day!

Saturday, day 8

Good day all around.

Great talk about adoption with Gwynn - she is making a really hard choice to give her daughter a better life. Yah Gwynn! We will always love you and Ashley will know how wonderful you are and how much her birthmom loved her.

Started out the day with a trip with Gwynn to the mall - got some presents for Josh's folks. It was nice - and he bought me something! Then we went back to the hotel and tried to have naps - you probably know how that turned out.

Then the uncles showed up and wanted to play with the girls:


Have you ever been shopping with two toddlers and two uncles who would buy them ANYTHING at TWO toy stores? Let's just say the shopping exceeded my wildest imaginations. We'd say "I think the girls would like this" and right in to the cart it would go! CRAZY! Thank you uncles!

I don't think we will need any more toys for another 28 years. Here is a pic of everyone with the favorite present of the day: toy phones.

So after all that shopping, the boys wanted to go eat. Between the second store and the buffet place, Ashley fell asleep. No big deal, we figured. She would wake up. So we got her out and stood in line. We paid.

She's still sleeping. We get seated. Josh gets food. We switch kid around. I get food. She's still sleeping. Finally we figure, maybe we could put her in the high chair and she'd wake up and eat:

No luck. In the meantime, Ellie is showing the uncles how to eat ice cream:

We came home and went swimming, in hopes of tiring out the monkeys. No go, so after sleep attempt #1 and brothers and I head out to find Josh's presents. HEhehe - I got him TWO great presents! Now if we could just get home without anyone of us seeing any of our major presents (ha!)

Here is our cute girl:

.

Friday, day 7

First of all, happy 200th blogg entry to me!

Second, today we upgraded to a BIG room - it is AWESOME! Here is our last room - it was pretty small, smelly after 7 days and damp.

Now we have a luxury TWO room suite with a big bathroom and our OWN air conditioner! YAH! Our private bedroom: (if you look close you can see Josh 'remoting' in bed)

We have a hallway!

Here is the girls' room - check out their little bundled bodies - so cute!

Third, we finally decided a name (Josh picked it): Ashley Ann Herron - after both her mommies. We sent it in to the attorney. So now we call her Cheryl, Ashley or Ashley/Cheryl - take your pick for the next few weeks.

Fourth, today (after moving and deciding on a name, etc.) we went to Hot Springs, AR, the hometown of President Clinton. We went up a really big tower and you could see the whole town:

CUTE SISTERS!!

Then we walked around and saw the bathhouses. The hot (134 degree) water comes from 47 springs that flow out of the hills. The whole area is National Park land (actually, it is also the first national park in the USA). But it costs like $22 to soak, by yourself, in a big, hot tub of water. There weren't any like, play in a big hot pool with your family, so we didn't soak. Here are some pictures of the hot water:

Can you see the water coming out of the hill behind us?

Then we drove home. And swam a bit. And now everyone is in their own bed and their own space. Ellie talks in her sleep - things like "No, I want the PURPLE one!" Then she goes back to sleep. But Josh and I roll over and roll our eyes a lot.

Fifth, in response to your thoughtful questions: Yes, everyone seems to be doing well. Ellie, who got used to having Jacob as a playmate is doing pretty good. She still does have some sharing issues, or she wants to sit in the OTHER car seat, or wear THAT pair of jammies, but we try the distraction technique a lot. The other day we were walking somewhere and she said "I am walking on the grass with my sister!" It was cute.

Ashley/Cheryl is doing pretty good too, I think. She does cry a bit when she sees Gwynn and then when she leaves, but again, we try distraction and talk about how much her mommy loves her, etc. Today I put a little pink sweater with flowers on Cheryl/Ashley and Ellie noticed and (of course) said, "I want THAT one," well Ashley just looked at her and then started to take off the sweater and give it to Ellie. So sweet. (Ashley got to wear the sweater).

Josh says he is "doing good." He has been super sweet with both girls and really helping out. He is truly the best daddy ever. I really think it is a tribute to our marriage that we can spent 13 days RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER EVERY SECOND and still like each other. You all must be praying really hard because I haven't even hardly felt grumpy at all. Thank you!

I think it will be SO fun to have two little girls. It is just weird that they are the same age, but are so differet. I guess that is part of the adjustment. Tt is just hard now that we aren't at home, can't eat regular meals, have a regular schedule, etc. I mean it is WAY fun to be on vacation, but it is getting a little boring.

Tomorrow my brothers are coming to play with us. Also, we get our new pictures. Also, my school vacation starts (two WEEKS!) after I get everything graded tomorrow morning. Happy weekend!

Thursday, day 6

Welcome Gwynn! We finally got her our blogg address and hope she joins us regularly for updates (and sends us some pictures!). Great news! At 8:45 a.m. on Dec. 23 we will be in Judge David's courtroom to finalize our adoption! We will go to Conway, AR (where the courthouse is) to spent the night the day before and we can leave for Utah right after!

Today was very historical. After breakfast we went and got our new family pictures taken. Cheryl was pretty good, given the attention and expectation of star-dom. We got some great pics and will pick them up/post some tomorrow.

Then we went off to Miss Laura's - the only bordello on the National Historic Registry. Here is a pic of me and Josh in the 'entertaining room.' Each month the ladies had to be examined by a doctor ($5/ you had to pay it yourself) in order to keep 'entertaining.'

And here is a pic of the bathtub that was later installed in the house. Apparently very fancy.

Here is Ellie admiring the player piano (first in Arkansas - don't know if this is the original).

We next went to the official Fort of Fort Smith. The fort was built in about 1817 to help control fighting between the Osage and Cherokee (different tribes of Native Americans), and later between the Natives and the white settlers. It was also a 'stopping' place along the Trail of Tears.

We stopped by Judge Parker's courtroom. He was a remarkable man who served as judge in the territory for like 26 years and was VERY fair and just in a time that was no so fair nor just. He sentenced over 200 men to be hanged (also four women) but never went to the hangings because he thought it was unfair to not have an appeals option. He said the certainty of punishment was the deterent, not the severity of the punishment.

Here is a replica of the hanging station.

Interesting side notes: eventually deputy sheriff's were hired to go into Oklahoma and arrest fugitives, etc. If you caught one, you earned $2, if you caught one and killed him, you only got $1 and had to pay the burial costs also. The jail here (which you can go see) was so horrible they called it "hell on the border." Here are some pictures.

We had lunch at a playland place and all enjoyed naps. After swimming and dinner in our room we are lounging around a bit. I need to write an op-ed piece for the paper. Any ideas?

Here are the cute girls sound asleep:

Wednesday, day 5

Wait, are we on day 5 or 4? Anyway, today is Wednesday. Apparently the ice storm was so 'huge' that the courts are still closed in Little Rock and we can't get a confirmed court time. But our attorney told me 'This judge really likes doing adoptions, he told me once 'I love adoptions so much that I would come in on a Saturday to do one!'" So we are pretty sure he will work us in.

Today all the girls got their hairs cut in prep for our photo shoot tomorrow. Josh asked if we could just get a digital copy of all the photos and the guy was like 'ah, yah, sure, it will probably cost more." We're like more money for what exactly? The digital memory we are providing? Anyway, I think it will be good for Gwynn to have some cute pics of her and Cheryl and a new family pic of all of us.

We had Mexican food for lunch - Cheryl REALLY likes beans and rice. Then we had nice naps. We are really getting slacky here, naps all the time, no cooking or cleaning - nice! We bought Gwynn a digital camera as a present from our family to her - she was really touched. Then we looked at books and had pizza for dinner. Now the plunkos are in bed and Josh and I are computering.

I am glad our house is still there. How was the linger longer? I am sad we are going to miss the ward Christmas party - but I am sure it will be a great success. We are still having small debate on Cheryl's name. I want to change it - Josh isn't so sure. Her name now is Cheryl Ashley. We have down to change it to Cheryl Ann. But I think Megan Ashley would be really good or every just keep it all and name her Megan Cheryl Ashley. Long, but has all the same information in it. Comments? Cute pictures tomorrow!

Tuesday, day 4

Yah, it was so 'iced' in today that the courts were closed, so we still don't have a confirmed date/time for our adoption finalization. Ah! But really, who wouldn't want to do an adoption the day before Christmas break? It is the ONE really happy thing you get to do as a judge! Anyway, we'll keep you posted.

Today we lounged around. Seriously, we won't know what to do when we have more than 250 square feet to play in. We went to pick up Gwynn and I knocked and knocked on her door - but she was totally alseep. A couple of hours later she called and we went and picked her up. She and I took the plunkos to the mall while Josh programmed something. We had cookies, played on the playland, got the girls some more clothes, etc. I bought her a pic of Cheryl and her, one of those sketch-picture things and she was so touched. It is great we can do small things to make her happy. We tried to go see Santa, but both girls though he was too scary - so no Santa pic.

Then we dropped Gwynn off at her house and came home for nap/lay down time. After a while the girls and I went to the pool and they played and I read. Then we got our jammies on and Josh went and got my FAVORITE - Long John Silver's fish and crunchies for dinner. Yum! I went to throw the trash away (so our 250 s.q. wasn't stinky) and ran the girls up and down the hallways a bit. Let's just say the Cheryl was pratically BEGGING to get into bed and go to sleep! And Ellie - she was out like a light 15 minutes later. Ah, silence!

Yes, I did get ONE matchie-thing - these jammies:

As we were doing laps in the hallways, a woman was going into her room and looked over at me, and in a nice way, commented to her hubby - 'man, I bet she is twice as tired as I am!' Cute! Good thing I have such a WONDERFUL, completely helpful and totally nuturing hubby to help me out - it wouldn't be possible without him. I think he really likes the 'girls' - makes him a complete daddy.

My brothers John and David said they would come visit us this weekend - so that will be very nice. Here are some pictures from our days of rest, leisure and child-chasing.

Monday, day 3

Guess what! I went a WHOLE day without saying "hurry up" once! It is nice to be on vacation and seriously have NO time worries.

We went down to the Crater of Diamonds - the only open-to-the-public diamond mine!
http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com/

Since it was raining and COLD we didn't actually DIG for diamonds, but we checked out the park and bought a bag of dirt that COULD have a diamond in it. When we get back we are going to have a "Diamond" party and introduce our new diamond, Cheryl, and give all our friends a chance to hunt for their own diamond - fun! Who wants to come?

Girls at the diamond mine (very cold and muddy this day) - the diamond fields are just visible in the background:

OK, so it WAS 70 on Monday and it dropped 50 degrees by Tuesday and it iced all day. People here were FREAKING out. Really - we were driving back to the hotel and the four cars in front of us were driving - seriously - 15 mph on the highway. Josh was going crazy! It wasn't even snowing, just like one thin layer of ice. Apparently it never does that here and only snows like 1 inch, once a year. Schools were cancelled all over. We saw several slide offs and two cars flipped over, on the various roads when we got back to Ft. Smith - crazy!

Here is the ice that froze on our car on the way home:

This where we got lunch:

We went to see Gwynn at work and have a waffle last night. It is so tough for her - she is such a good person! Please pray for her heart to be comforted.

Today Josh is going to do some work and the girls and I are going to the mall. Also to buy more clothes for them. Two kids the same size means either LOTS of laundry or LOTS of clothes. Hum. Pictures coming when I find the camera.

Sunday, day 2

Well, if we are on day 3 out of 11, I think this will be OK. Thank you to everyone who sent us emails and left nice blogg comments. We are very grateful for your support and prayers and nice words. Today we got up and went to the nice Ft. Smith First Ward for sacrament meeting. And as Josh said as we drove away, "Well it wasn't a COMPLETE disaster." Having two is WAY more wiggling than one. I think that is one way a toddler is different than a baby. A baby may cry or be unhappy about something but usually you know (sleep, food, diaper) what to fix.

After church we ALL enjoyed like a two hour nap time. Then we picked up Gwynn and went to the park and played - everyone had fun...and did I mention it was 70 degree outside? Not kidding, we all went playing in short sleeves. Very nice. Sorry for all that snow in Utah. Then we went out to dinner and took Gwynn home (she is going to work at 9 p.m.). Now we are just playing and reading stories. Tomorrow we are going to drive up and see the Ozarks.

Gwynn and Cheryl swinging:

Mom and Ellie on a BIG slide!

Cheryl does NOT speak very well (yet). She sort of 'talks' in sentences and does the inflection of a question, but we think now it is that she mumbles all her words, because sometimes you can hear a word or two come out. Anyway, we have noticed an improvement in just a few days with talkative Ellie.

What is the biggest challenge out there adapting to two kids? Anyone can feel free to give input.

Saturday

We are just hanging out today. It was NICE to sleep. Everyone had a pretty good night once we got to sleep. Here are some pictures:

The Herron girls: (Cheryl does not normally look scared - I think it was the flash)

Daddy and Cheryl:

First storytime:

They have street cars here and the only bordello listed on the National Historical Registry - interesting!