well hello there...

Ummm... it has come to my attention that it has been 2 months since I've posted. What?! I'm surprised that I even remembered what my blog address was. My brain is usually done for by the end of the day. I can't possibly think of something to write that people will actually want to read. But, I guess I better fill you in on the past 2 months. My grandpa passed away last month after a 10 month battle with cancer. Losing both grandpas in 6 months is just not fair. It's been really hard. I think about him everyday and think "how can he REALLY" be gone. I know he is in a better place and know he's not in any pain. Tim's uncle also passed away a couple weeks ago, so it's kinda been depressing over here. But, Jaxson has definitely been the sunshine for us all. Even in your saddest moment... he can ALWAYS make you smile. Oh how I love that boy. Here's a picture of my grandparents meeting Jaxson for the first time at the airport last year. He was SO proud of Jaxson!

Jaxson is 19 months old and talking more and more. Everyday there is a new word he's saying. The new one today is bubble and it sounds more like bub-ol. So cute. Jaxson and Addy are still the best of friends. Jaxson would rather play with Addy over any of his toys anyday.

Ok... some fun stuff now. Most of you should know Jody, but in case you don't please go to her blog and to her etsy site here. She is going on a mission trip to Ethiopia this summer and is raising $$ for some AWESOME organizations. So, PLEASE go check out her stuff. It's cute! I have 2 necklaces and LOVE them! That's Jody in the picture below - how can you not buy something from that pretty lil face?!?!

And then Jody has this friend Kelly who I met last year when I was visiting. She is selling some cool stuff for their adoption. I am totally getting a tote... actually I think I'll get TWO totes and use one as a gift. So... go on over to her site and support them!!

Ok... that's all I got. All this posting has wore me out. Ha - just kidding. Well.. sorta.

Happy Gotcha Day!!

One year ago today we held our son for the first time. I can remember it so clearly. We were walking up to the gates at HH with our hearts about to pound right out of our chests. All of this love we've been holding in for so long was about to pour out... oh and did it ever!!

We've decided to always spend Gotcha Day together as a family. So, that's exactly what we did today. We went to breakfast this morning and headed to a children's museum in Milwaukee.


We drove...

We played with sand...

Took a little boat ride...

Played blocks with Dad...

Took a little break...

Made some music...

LOVE seeing my reflection and making funny faces...
peekaboo!

the star of the show... Jaxson!

Chillin...

Then we went home for lunch & a nap (umm a nap for mom too - I was pooped!) After nap we headed to the park for some more fun.

Jax LOVES to swing...

all smiles...

mommy stealing smooches....

have to go head first down the slides...

lovely :)

gorgeous eyes...

Then we ended the day with some snuggles...



and more kisses...

Jaxson, we love you SO much!!! We had so much fun with you today and thank you for all you have given to us this past year. We are so proud to be your parents and couldn't possibly imagine our lives without you. You bring so much joy to our lives!! xoxo

Oh that crazy day last year...

One year ago today... I woke up with my stomach in knots, a pounding headache, no sleep, a complete meltdown the night before... I went to bed knowing that a decision was made on if Jaxson would be our son. A judge was making this life changing decision for our family. And.... we had to wait. It was all too much for me when the moment came and it wasn't pretty. I went home from work at 9:30am to drown my sorrows into my pillow. Knowing that we were going to wait a few more days to hear the outcome was more than I could handle. Thankfuly, that call came shortly after I got home that we passed court. Hallelujah!!! Oh, I can remember like it was yesterday. Go read my blog post from last year here. I was reading my posts from March last year and I remember those crazy feelings swarming all over. Stressful but exciting. Can't help but smile. It does freak me out that almost a year has past. A year. 365 days. When did that happen? Did I sleep for like 6 of those months because surely I haven't been around for a whole year with Jaxson. Crazy.



Here are some pics from our happy home!



Mom... I'm not going to smile...







Umm... maybe I'll give you a lil smirk...







Nah... I'm not gonna smile







Just teasin... I LOVE to smile for the camera!!

Raise your hand if you love mommy & daddy!

My Ethiopian Cutie

don't you want to just smooch him!?!?

I'm a Mommy

Everyday was a struggle when Tim and I were dealing with infertility. I woke up thinking "I'm not pregnant" and was reminded several times throughout the day that I wasn't pregnant and then went to bed with the same thoughts. It was a very difficult time. Now... I'm reminded ALL day long that I'm a mother.

I wake up to Jaxson's sweet little ramblings over the baby monitor.
I get ready for work while he is following me around the house and pulling at me to pick him up.
I drive to work in my car that has cheerios here there and everywhere.
I sit at my desk that has pictures of Jaxson plastered all over.
I get little text messages with pictures of him during the day.
I go in my purse to pull out my id badge and pull out a nuk instead.
I come home to screams and hugs and kisses everyday.
I talk about Jaxson's poop at dinner time with Tim.
I constantly trip over his toys all over the house.
There are little tiny socks to fold now in the laundry basket.

I have a heart that overflows with LOVE for this little boy!! I love being a mommy and love my little reminders all day long. That will never get old. Never.

a long overdue update... like way overdue

I'm ALIVE!! If any of you out there still check my blog (which I highly doubt) I'll give you an update on what we've been up to! It's been a month - yikes. Well, I'm happy to report that I have not had anymore dreams of pooping a hamster.

First off I'm still trying to figure out what happened to my baby because I have a little BOY in my house - no baby. He is growing up SO fast.

Jax is now the proud owner of 7 teeth (and more on the way)

Jaxson's favorite thing to do is to hang out in a laundry basket. He is way too cool to play with toys. His favorite things to play with are a spoon, a sock and a straw. Doesn't take much. He also loves to shut doors. If there is an open door it will be shut within seconds.

Jaxson said MAMA for the first time on 1/16!! He's been saying Dada since May, so I was getting quite jealous and ready to hear mama. And it was WONDERFUL!! He hasn't been saying it a lot, but we're working on getting him to say it more and more.

We also had our very good friends from Australia here for a visit so we enjoyed our time with them VERY much!

We got together with other families that have adopted or are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. Here are just some of the cuties that were there. (3 of the babies are from Hannah's Hope)

I finally broke down and gave Jaxson his first haircut this past weekend. It was getting out of control and I was feeling quite confident so went at it. The only place Jax would sit still was in the laundry basket of course. So, that's where I cut his hair. Hey... it worked. I do have a pic, but I'm too lazy to upload it right now so just close your eyes and imagine me cutting his hair in a laundry basket. Yep - it looked just like that. Moving right along...

Things in the Prust house are going well. We are very ready to be done with winter and have it warm enough to chase Jax around outside. I'm still struggling with the whole balance issue. It's really hard working fulltime, but it is what it is and I enjoy my time with Jaxson that much more. He is SO much fun. He is such a complete ham and cracks us up everyday. His smile is infectious. I am still amazed at how much joy this little human has brought to Tim and I. It's simply amazing. And to top off the mushy love fest I have going on here... Jax blew me a kiss this morning for the first time when I was leaving for work! Awww! Talk about having a hard time leaving. Ugh. It was tough. But, I'm hoping for another spit blown kiss tomorrow. :)

Analyze This

Alright. So, I have had some weird dreams and wake up thinking "where in the world did that come from?" But, the one I had last week has me completely stumped. So, for all of you who like to try and analyze dreams... try analyzing this one and let me know what you come up with.

So, I had a really bad stomach ache and went to the bathroom. I was sitting on the toilet... you know trying to do my business. I was having a real hard time... pushing and pushing. (Hey I'm just being honest with my dream here). So, finally "plop"... oh thank goodness. I take a little peak in the toilet (don't act like you don't look after you're done!!) and want to know what I saw???

This...

Yes, that's a Zhu Zhu Pet. I pooped a hamster. Now come one. Who dreams that they poop a Zhu Zhu Pet?!

Our Referral Day

Tomorrow is our referral day! One year ago we saw the sweetest little face we had ever seen. I just went back and read my post from 1/5/09 and couldn't help but get all anxious, excited and of course.... teary eyed all over again. I can remember like it was yesterday. We went into Christmas break at #1 on the boys list and #2 on the girls list. We have spent so many of our holidays sad and wishing we had a child to share it with, so I wanted that referral before Christmas last year more than anything. I knew when AGCI opened the Monday after break that our call would be coming, it just had to. And boy am I glad it did! I can't believe it has been a year, I really can't. This Christmas was amazing. Best Christmas Ever. Period. I fought back the tears several times just looking at Jaxson and thinking "wow - this is MY son". "This is MY family". We are starting OUR family traditions. Simply amazing. I remember thinking that this moment would never come... and it did, it's here and I'm living in it. I'm blessed beyond my wildest imagination. God sure did hand pick the PERFECT son for us.

Here is one of the first pictures we saw of Jaxson

And here is our happy little family on Christmas morning

Note: as you know I made our blog private now. Tim has been wanting me to make it private ever since we came home because there are so many craziess out there and I just had been putting it off. Well, since Kristi has been having some crazy stalker problems I figured it was a good time to just do it. I feel much better knowing who is out there reading the blog. So, if you know of someone that would like to follow along, just shoot me an email at dawnprust@gmail.com and I'd be more than happy to add them. And my goal is to post lots more now in 2010 - so keep me accountable!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a blessed Christmas!!

Going Private...

Heads up! I'm going to make my blog private within the next week, so if you would still like to have access and keep up with us - just leave me a comment with your email address or send me an email at dawnprust@gmail.com.

Mr. Cover Boy

Check out who made the cover of the 2010 DOC Band Calendar. Woot woot!


And look at cutie Elias in March!!!

And Zoe as Miss August!!!

How cool is it that all these Ethiopian cuties made the calendar!! There were 3400 entries and had no idea these babies came from the same little home in Ethiopia. Love it!

Nerd Alert

I'm nerdy... let's just get that out of the way right now. I love browsing through the gadgets & gizmos at Bed Bath & Beyond and other kitchen stores. You never know what you might find and there are so many quirky things out there. Well, you will never believe what I found today. My new friend... Brown Sugar Bear. I will never have hard brown sugar again! Do you know how happy that makes me?!?! I get so frustrated when I'm baking and I go to take out the brown sugar and its just a brick. Now, I've tried putting a piece of bread in there, but I just end of with hard as a brick bread and hard as a brick brown sugar. So... I'm hoping that Brown Sugar Bear is the trick! Not only does it do that, listen to what else it can do...

~keeps cakes & cookies moist

~keeps raisins, coconut and other dried fruits fresh

~keeps licorice fresh

~keeps spices dry

~keeps salt dry

~keeps crakcers & chips crispy

All of that for a $3.99 Brown Sugar Bear. It's a good day folks... a good day.

P.S. I know what you are thinking... "did Dawn really just do a blog post 3 days in a row"?! Yes... Yes I did. That's how I roll.

Artwork from Ethiopia

I've been meaning to show you all this picture for ummm like 6 months now. So, today is the day. Here's the picture that we bought while in Ethiopia. I'm SO happy that we bought this canvas. It's a picture of the road to the U.S. Embassy. So, we thought it was meaningful & beautiful. We absolutely love it and I think it will be a great gift to give Jaxson one day.

Thankful

As usual, I'm behind on the blogging, so I'll catch up soon. But, seeing as Thanksgiving is this week, I thought it would be appropriate to do a post about what I'm thankful for.

1. I'm thankful for the 28 years that I had with my Grandpa. He is the strongest man I know and I am so proud of him. He will be deeply missed, but we carry him with us.

2. I'm thankful to have my other 3 grandparents alive and apart of my life.

3. I'm thankful for 2009. What an AWESOME year!! Jaxson has brought us more joy than we could have ever imagined. Ever.

4. I'm thankful for all of our friends & family. They have been such a great support system to us when we've needed it the most.

5. I'm thankful for the roof over my head. I often complain about how small our house is and how we need to get a new one. Then, I think of our time in Ethiopia. Do I really need a new house? No. So, I'm thankful for my itty bitty 1100 sq ft home that is packed full of toys and stuff and lots of love.

6. I'm thankful for my super comfy pajama pants that I'm currently wearing. Hey... not gonna lie... somedays I can't wait to get home from work and slip them right on. It's the simple things in life...

7. I'm thankful for my health, Tim's health and Jaxson's health. Cancer sucks. Too many people that I love and care for have strugged or are currently struggling with it.

8. I'm thankful for my husband. I knew that I hit the jackpot with Tim. He's wonderful, but once Jaxson came along, a whole new side of Tim came out that I didn't know. He amazes me everyday with his patience, love and compassion. He is the BEST dad. The look in his eyes when he looks at Jaxson melts my heart. The way he talks about Jaxson... melts my heart.

I'm blessed.

Birthday Boy!

Today was the little man's 1st Birthday! We spent the day just hanging out as a family, it was really nice and very much needed. My grandpa is not doing well, so stress & emotion levels have been very high. So... here are some pictures from our day...