Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Santa definitely came to our house and treated us very well. Our best present of all was of course this little angel right here....

*

My Grandma Montez and Aunt Queenie came over from California, so it was fun to celebrate Christmas morning with them. We opened our presents at home and then drove to Natalie's house to celebrate the rest of our day with our entire family. Carter had so much fun "opening" his presents...

*
Of course Kylee did too!

*
This is a little out of order but Kylee had her Christmas party at school last week too. Thank you Olivia for watching Carter boy so I could help celebrate with my girly girl! We had so much fun!

*

We took Kylee and Carter to see Santa and to look at some crazy lights around a couple different neighborhoods. Daddy and Carter stayed in the car while Kylee and I walked around. It was a tad bit cold and Carter was sleeping. But we still had so much fun as a family!

*

This should be a picture with Kylee and Carter sitting on Santa's lap, but we didn't feel like paying $30 for ONE picture!!! When did Santa become so expensive? Geez! We waited in line for 40 minutes just so they could sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Good enough I guess!

*

After celebrating Christmas day at Natalie's house with all our family, we drove to El Centro to spend some time with David's family....and to make one more VERY special visit with Carter's birth Mom.

*

We went on a hike to the Salton Sea. Definitely a Grandma Deede tradition when we are all there! Carter was super excited to go on his first "hike"....

*
And the highlight of our trip.....visiting with our amazing birth Mother! It was such a great visit and made us so happy to see her and Carter together again! We love her dearly and are forever so thankful for her and for her strength, courage, and willingness to follow the spirit and share sweet Carter baby with us. We love her and her family and are so thankful for the amazing relationship and bond that we have with them! We never knew adoption could be this wonderful!We truly are all brothers and sisters and are guided and directed by our Father in Heaven. He loves us all and I know that we will all be together, happy, as one big family in paradise!

*

We are looking forward to the new year and for all the exciting new things that we will experience together as a family of four! We can't wait to move back to our house in Queen Creek and to pick up where we left off with our ward family, dear friends, neighbors, and family. Life is amazingly sweet and I'm so thankful to be on this journey of life with the ones I love the most! Happy holidays everyone!

Carter update

Our sweet angel has changed so much! He is 6 weeks old today and is getting so big and changing everyday. He is smiling like crazy now and is really starting to show his personality. He coo's from time to time and just loves to be held! Here are some of the milestones he is making at 6 weeks old:

*Sleeping almost through the night (a solid 6-7 hours, and then another 3 after his middle of the night feeding)

*Loves his swing!

*Eating anywhere from 4-6 ounces each bottle

*LOVES to be on his tummy

*Starting to coo and smile!

*Knows voices and turns to find them

*LOVES his sissy! He lights up everytime she holds him and talks to him

Here are some pictures of just Carter boy!

Pictures with Carter and Mommy

Pictures with Carter and Daddy

Pictures of Kylee and Carter (best friends)!

Life is so amazing! I had two showers...one in Queen Creek and one in Peoria. I had so much fun seeing everyone I love and miss so much. Carter is such a loved little boy!! We absolutely can't get enough of him and he makes us smile daily. Sweet Kylee girl is in heaven with her new baby. If she had it her way, she would never put him down. Seeing them together lights up my life and brings me more joy than I ever could have imagined. I just love my sweet little family!!!

Carter Aaron Pew

A month ago to the day I posted my "pre-Carter" post....now he is here with us and somedays I still can't believe it. I have a more "intimate" blog that I journal in so I don't want to go into details of placement, his birth, etc....but I will post lots of pictures and summarize events that occur in our lives from here on out.

*

Carter Aaron Pew was born on 11/7/11. It was the most amazing Monday of my life! He came out weighing a healthy 9 pounds and was 21 inches long. He came out perfectly perfect and the most beautiful baby boy ever! We couldn't believe this perfect little angel was our son!

*

Here is the first picture I took of him in the hospital. He was just 8 hours old and perfectly fresh and gorgeous. He felt perfect and warm in my arms and he instantly filled that void that had been missing for the past 5 years. We were instantly in love!!

*

After he was born, we stayed in El Centro with David's parents until we were able to take him home with us to Arizona. Here is a picture of him on Grandma Deede's lap...looking all perfect and beautiful as ever!

*
Napping on Daddy's lap while we play card games. He just melts into our chest and in our arms! Oh I love him so much!!

*
A week after Carter was born, we were given the ok to leave the state and take him home to AZ! Getting that phone call was like waking up on Christmas morning. I was so excited!!! We were finally going to start our adventure as a family of four!!

*
We have now been home for a week and a half and every second has been pure bliss. He is such a good baby! He eats very well, sleeps really well (hasn't given us too many rough nights so far), and he is so alert and happy when he is awake. He is almost smiling!! Oh he is just perfect!

*
These pictures pretty much sum up what I have been yearning to have for my family for the past 5 years. Kylee absolutely ADORES and loves her baby brother. She loves reading to him, holding up his musical and flashing toys for him when he is sad, feeding him, helping me with anything I need for him, and much much more. She is in heaven with her new brother!

*
While in California, Natalie came down and took newborn photos of Carter. They came out absolutely amazing!!! He did such a good job and cooperated so well. These are just two of many shots. I'll be sure to post the rest later!

Words can't express what Carter has been for our family and for me personally. He lights up our everyday lives and reminds us everyday of how much our Father in Heaven loves us and is aware of us. We are beyond blessed to have him as a part of our family and can't wait for the day when we can be sealed to him for all time and eternity. We love him so much and we absolutely love our sweet birth mother! This has been the most spiritual experience ever for our family. It has strengthened us in multiple ways and brought us closer than I could ever have imagined. Carter completes our family!! He is our pride and joy and we can't get enough of him!

Pre-Carter post...

As I'm sitting here this morning reflecting on everything that has happened in the past 6 months....and thinking about what is about to happen in the next few days, I can't help but express some feelings for journaling purposes.

*

Today is Tuesday (3 days before we make our way to California to await the arrival of Carter Aaron Pew). I've been busy making sure Kylee will be taken care of, rides are arranged for her activities, play dates are set, clothes washed, outfits arranged, notes and letters from us written out for her to read every morning.......tears of realizing how much I'm going to miss her while we are gone, and how much I'm going to miss the one-on-one time we have had for the past 6 years. Nothing can compare to the excitement we feel as a family to be bringing Carter into our home and lives for eternity....NOTHING!! But the realization of things changing around here is starting to show. Kylee is extremely clingy to me and doesn't want me to leave her room after we say our nightly prayers. She seems to only want me lately for everything. She has said that she doesn't want to go to school and just wants to stay home and have a Mommy-daughter day. She hears me say...."Kylee, you can do 'this or that' by yourself....you don't need me to do it for you. You are a big girl. Once Carter comes, I won't be able to help you with these little things all the time". (Given these "little things" are small tasks such as hanging up her towel after her shower, helping her clean her room, organizing her book shelf, etc). These are things she needs to do herself anyway. She has been spoiled her whole life because Mommy has been able to be there for every little tiny detail in her life. But despite her moments of sadness, she is the most excited little girl to be a big sister soon. She wants to help with every little thing, and she will be the best helper I could ever ask for. She is going to love Carter more than she can imagine.

*

My heart is already open and has loved Carter from day one. I never imagined what sharing my heart and love with two children could possibly be like. But I now understand that it is possible and very real. Kylee will always be my baby and I am so thankful for the 6 years I have had to give her 100% of all I have. I will continue to give her all that I have, but now I'm going to be giving all I have to sweet Carter boy too.....so even though the love will be the same, things are going to be changing.

*

As I think about what it's going to be like in California and all that is going to be taking place, I can't help but be extremely overwhelmed with the spirit, with gladness, with pure joy.....but yet with such a heavy heart for our sweet birth mother. I love her more than words can express. She has changed my life in more ways than one. To me, she is the most amazing woman in the world! She knows what she is doing is the right thing to do for both her and for Carter. It will make both their lives better in the end. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. She loves Carter more than words can say. I'm so thankful his birth mother and I have such a unique and strong bond so that I can always have amazing and wonderful stories and examples to share with him as he grows up. He will know that he was loved from the second he was created and that he has more people that love him than most people do here on this earth. He is such a lucky little man! I love that he will never have to question where he came from. He will always know that his birth Mom is the most amazing woman who loves him more than anything.

*

I never expected our adoption journey to end this way. If I could have planned and written it out the way I wanted it to be, I never could have dreamed of something this wonderful and absolutely perfect. Saying that I feel lucky and blessed, doesn't even begin to describe what I'm feeling. And I know those feelings are going to be magnified 1,000% once I hold Carter in my arms. Oh he is going to be so absolutely perfect in every way!

*

With so many emotions running through me, I don't feel like I'm making sense as I write it all out. But with each passing hour that brings us closer to our baby boy, I can't help but get these feelings out of me and on "paper". It helps me relax a little and to just breathe and take one moment at a time. I know that what David and I are about to experience is going to be the most spiritual experience of our lives. I know that all things are possible through our Savior Jesus Christ and I know that He will strengthen our birth mother through this process and that He will help us through this transition as well. I love my little family!

So happy!

I woke up this morning with so much gratitude. Maybe it was because of the amazing messages I heard at conference this weekend. All I know is that I have an amazing life filled with more blessings that I can count. I don't feel deserving of most of them. Somehow I was lucky enough to be born into the church and raised in an amazing family with siblings that I consider to be my best friends. I have supportive, loving parents who have solid testimonies of the gospel. I have an amazing group of friends who kept me grounded and "on the straight and narrow path" during my crazy teenage years.....and who are still my closest friends! I have made new friends throughout my life who have made an impact on my life in more ways than one whom I love dearly. I was blessed with many talents that I'm so thankful for and am happy to share those talents with others. I have coached the most amazing girls throughout the past 10 years and find great joy watching those girls excel. I have been blessed with the most amazing callings, especially with the youth and I find even greater joy watching those young women and sweet primary children grow and develop in the gospel....and in life! All these blessings and more have made me who I am today and I wouldn't change a thing. But the most amazing blessing in my life is my sweet little family, who is still in the process of growing.

I don't know what I did to deserve such an amazing man. I could never say enough about him and how good he is to me. He is the best father I could ask for and he works so hard to support our family....physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for him. I also thank my Father in Heaven for the family that came with David. I LOVE my Mother-in-law more than I could say. And all of his family has blessed our lives in so many ways and I love every single one of them!

How we got blessed with the most perfect daughter is beyond me! She was sent to us to be our angel and to teach us, guide us, and keep us focused on what life is all about. She makes us smile everyday and she gives us hope for our future. I don't know what I did to deserve her. She is so beautiful inside and out and impresses me daily with the things she is learning and can do.

I was blessed......YES BLESSED......with the trial of infertility after Kylee was born. This was always my biggest fear growing up when I was young because all I ever wanted to be was a mother. After we got pregnant with Kylee right away, I thought my fear was just that.....fear! But little did I know that it was going to be my reality. I didn't embrace it or want to accept it. I always had hope that something would work. I had many MANY ups and downs with it. But thankfully I was blessed with unshakable faith. Another amazing blessing that Heavenly Father somehow saw that I was deserving of. This faith has literally carried me through this trial. And just when I was about to give up, I was yet AGAIN blessed beyond my belief.

How I got so lucky to be getting this amazing TRUE angel will always be beyond me. Adoption was always something I talked about when I was young too. I would say...."as soon as I'm done having kids, I want to adopt a baby....just because". Little did I know that this would be my reality as well....but not JUST BECAUSE. This is the amazing way that Heavenly Father intended for me and David to expand our family. I embraced and accepted it, relying heavily on that faith I was blessed with. It was hard....it was extremely emotional. But somehow through it all, I was yet again blessed beyond belief with the most amazing birth mother who was going to be giving us her precious angel. Again....I can't stop thinking to myself "how did I get so lucky"? And by "lucky", I mean blessed.

*

This is why my heart is full of gratitude this morning. I woke up thinking about my life and how I got to where I am today. And because of everything I just said, I will forever be eternally grateful to my Father in Heaven because I know that none of this could have been possible without Him.

The thing that I'm most grateful for.........to have the knowledge that I am a daughter of my Father in Heaven and he loves me and wants me to be happy. With this knowledge, anything is possible!

FALL IS HERE!!!!

I know it's the first day of Fall, but it doesn't feel like it considering it's still triple digits today. However, I am trusting the calendar and celebrating this day because I've been waiting for Fall to get here for a LONGGGG time now! This Fall will bring amazing weather, cute fashion (boots!!), it will take us one step closer to the holidays, and of course it means that Carter is almost here! We are about 5 weeks and counting until we welcome our sweet baby boy into our family. The excitement in our home is building more and more with each passing day. We are starting to buy more and more baby stuff for our little man, his crib is all set up, we got to go visit our AMAZING birth mother again and meet more of her awesome family.....it's just heaven over here and can't believe we are living our dream! I'm so thankful for all the online baby sales lately. I had a fun night the other night ordering away for our handsome guy. These shoes are just so stinkin' cute!

*

*
When we got home from our visit with our birth mother, we were surprised with the stoller I've been wanting! My sisters and my Mom knew we were going to go out and buy this when we got home from our trip so they decided to get it for us. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and love my amazing family!!!

*

*
The reason for our pure joy.....CARTER!!!

Our birth mother set up another ultra sound for us to go see how much he has grown and changed since our last visit 6 weeks ago. His cheeks are chubbier than ever and he was smiling SO MUCH again! He is going to be our healthy (aka...super cute chunky) and smiley/happy baby! Oh we can't wait to meet him and give him all our love!!!!

*

*

We kept Kylee girl home with my parents so she can save her "missed days of school" for when Carter comes. We missed her so much but we will miss her even more when we will need to stay in California for a while once Carter is born. So we saved her days so that she can stay with us for a few days during that time.

*

*

We feel so incredibly blessed and we love our babies so much! It's going to be hard for me to realize that Kylee isn't my baby anymore! She hasn't been my "baby" for a while now considering she is 6 and in 1st grade, but she will always be my baby to me. Always! But I think I need to stop calling her "baby". That is my main nick name for her. Not sure if I will be able to stop calling her that. It's just habit. I'm sure it will phase out when I start calling Carter "baby". I can't have two babies! Oh I'm sooooo excited to have two kids! I'm so excited to have a boy! I'm so ready. Bring on the sleepless nights, the poopy diapers, the constant spit up all over my freshly washed shirts....bring it all on! I can't wait!

*

BRING ON FALL!!!

Goodbye August

With August gone, that means a few things. 1 - Kylee is one year older, 2 - summer is nearing to an end, 3 - volleyball season has officially started, and 4 - it's one month closer to us getting our Carter boy! Bring on September and let's hope it goes by just as fast!

*

OUR AUGUST...

*

We had lots of fun as a family but we were also able to spend some time with our friends. I have talked a lot about my "girls" and how we have been close since grade school.....and I love that we still find the time to all get together! We had a BBQ at Heather's new house. Jodi left before we took this picture, but here's 5 of us (missing Christina and Jodi). We had a great time catching up with all our busy lives!

*
Onto Kylee and her recent happenings. I stayed with Natalie and Deron's kids for a few days while they were in New York. Some random fun....Kylee, Kyrstin and Dylan mattress sliding down the stairs. Oh to be a kid again!

*
Kylee's amazing writing skills! I love it!

*
Hat day at school. She was super excited to wear her dance recital hat!

*

We started Kylee in gymnastics this year. She has taken 2 years of dance and has taken a tumbling class, but she has never taken a real gymnastics class in a gym. She is loving it and loves having two of her friends from church there.

*

I've noticed something missing in my last few posts. I don't talk about David enough! He is the super hero Dad and husband behind the scenes and doesn't get a lot of "publicity"! Haha! But he is just that.....an amazing husband and father and Kylee and I don't know what we'd do without him. He works so hard to support our family and is the reason why we are able to have the amazing life that we have. I'll be sure to include him in more pictures so that he can be a part of my blog too. Haha!

Good-bye summer break...

Well, summer break is over and Kylee is officially a 1st grader!!!! Soooo much has happened this summer. I really need to update my blog more than once a month because I have so much to journal and so many pictures to post. I had to cut them down so this post won't get too overwhelming!

*

Since my last post, I spilled the beans and mentioned that we are adopting a beautiful baby boy! He is still "cooking" and won't be here until the end of October, but we are anxiously awaiting his arrival and preparing to welcome our little man into our lives. Everything with our adoption journey is wonderful and couldn't be better. I'll talk more about that later.

*

I'm kind of OCD when it comes to my blog and I have to talk about thing in order from when they happened. Haha! So first things first! Christina turned 30! Just to explain, I grew up with an amazing group of friends....all LDS....and we have been each other's support group from day one. I don't know what I'd do without my girls. Well, Christina is the oldest out of us by a couple months so she has always been the first one to "get older". Well, we all knew this year was coming....but did it have to be here already? Ugh! We are all turning 30 this year and Christina was the first one to take the plunge. Those of us who were in town all got together to help celebrate her big day. Words can't express just how much I love this girl. :)

*

Kylee has been keeping busy this summer with her cousins. Since moving from Queen Creek, she has been making friends in our new ward but she has also had the chance to get closer to my side of the family. Kylee misses her Queen Creek cousins DEARLY, but she is also loving this time with her "West-side" cousins. She had quite a few sleep overs at Aunt Nanny's house and spent some quality girl time with her cousin Kyrstin and friend Landyn. She also has spent quite a few summer days swimming at Aunt Tera's with her cousins there, and spending some fun time at the Montez home with her cousins there. I don't have any pics of that but she has had the best summer with all of her cousins!

*
The highlight of our summer was going to meet our birth Mom in San Diego! We decided to make a little "trip" out of it and went up a few days early to see Grandma Deede and Grandpa Jiggs. It was Grandma's birthday so we were excited to spend the day with her while we were there. No trip to Grandma Deede's is complete without swimming!!! Here is Kylee and Daddy enjoying a hot and extremely humid swim!

*

After spending a couple days in El Centro, we drove out to San Diego to meet our birth mother. We couldn't wait!!!! We spent a great day with her and her family. We feel so blessed to be adopting from such a wonderful family. We don't know how we got so lucky! After spending the first day in San Diego with the birth Mom and her family, we went back and got to go to a 3D ultra sound with her. It was the most amazing thing I've seen!!!!! We got to see our little guy swimming and dancing on the screen. It was beautiful. Kylee got to see it too. We are so glad she was able to experience all of this first hand. It helps her understand where her baby brother is coming from. Here she is all dressed and ready to see her brother....

*
And here he is......our handsome little man! We have had a heck of a time trying to figure out what his name is. He is such a special guy that we knew there was a very special name that was meant to be his. So through much prayer and recommendations galore from everyone we knew, we found his name! Everyone....this is CARTER AARON PEW! :)

*

It was a great trip and we absolutely love our birth mother! She is amazing and comes from an even more amazing family. We feel so incredibly blessed!
*

*

Now onto our Kylee girl. She turned 6 years old on August 9th! Time is flying by and we love watching our princess grow and learn more everyday. With things being a little crazy this summer, we didn't have a big "blow out" party like we have every year. But we did have two small little celebrations. The first one was a joint celebration with my family. There are a lot of birthdays in August on my side of the family so we all celebrated at Natalie's house and had a fun time! Then we took Kylee out to Queen Creek to celebrate at Peter Piper Pizza with all our family and her friends out there. Kylee was so excited to see all her cousins that she hadn't seen in a while. They are all amazing and we miss them everyday!

*

Of course with Kylee turning one year older, that means my traditional birthday "picture" post comes with it! I try to find different pictures when I do this so I'm not posting the same ones every year. So with that...here is the growth and progress of our princess:

*

New born (2 weeks old)

*

6 months old

*
1 year old

*

2 years old

*
3 years old

*
4 years old


*
5 years old

*
6 years old

*
*

With summer break over, that means Kylee has started 1st grade! She started at her new school and she is loving it so far. She luckily has 1 girl from her primary class in her school class, and another girl from her primary class in the room next to her school class. So she gets to play at recess and eat lunch with both of her new friends. And I know she is making more new friends everyday at school. I'm so thankful she is a social butterfly and doesn't have a hard time making friends. We are so proud of her and the person she is becoming.
*

Here are some pictures of her first day of school!

*

We love you baby bear....more than you'll ever know! We can't wait for you to be a big sister (VERY SOON!!!) and know you will be the best big sister Carter could ever wish for. You are going to be the best helper ever. And Carter is going to be the most loved little guy ever! All our prayers are coming true this year. It's amazing to go through so many years and months of hardships and to finally see where all those tears have lead us. We can't believe how amazing it all is. We never expected it to be THIS good. Heavenly Father loves us more than we can ever possibly imagine. Life is so good! :)