[x] So much to blog about, and so little time and energy to do so. The long and short of it? Bear and I are sick. Again. He has bronchitis, but is on some 'scripts for it so it is--knock on wood--it seems as though it is starting to clear up a little bit. I finally got in to the doctor's office today and will also start anti-b's tonight. Waiting to hear about the results of my chest x-ray this afternoon (I should get the results tomorrow afternoon). Fingers crossed it's not pneumonia. Again. I still feel fucking terrible. My fever is way down (which is awesome, of course), but the rest of me feels very much like a dishrag. Thankfully, I'm stocked on pulp-free orange juice from Trader Joe's and Ezekiel 4:9 bread. Throw in my multivitamin and I'm surviving. My lungs feel like they're on fire, though. Ready for this cough to knock it off already. Good grief.

[x] Took the kids to see Disney's Toy Story 3 on Ice this past Sunday. Well, the older two, that is. At first I was feeling very guilty about leaving Little Flower with grandma and grandpa (even though I knew she would have a total blast--and she did), but as soon as the sound started, I was SO happy we decided to leave her with my mom and dad for the afternoon. The sound was deafeningly loud and I think she would've been a little overwhelmed by the sheer sensory overload of it all. But the four of us had a blast, especially Bear. It was our first Disney on Ice production and it was fantastic--we had great seats and a great time. Even though I rocked a fever through the whole thing (nothing too terrible--101ish), I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Fantastic stuff!

[x] That same day--Sunday--Little Flower turned sixteen months old. Also? It was Bear's "A-Day" (Adoption Day); on 2.6.07, K.'s adoption of Bear was finalized. It was a nice way to celebrate something so special to our family. Beauty's adoption was actually finalized this month, too--but we celebrate her "A-Day" in December when she arrived from Guatemala and became a part of our family. <3

[x] Speaking of "A-Days", Little Flower has officially been a part of our family for just over a year now! I officially became a mother for the third time on 2.4.10. And since that very day, I've been blessed every.single.day with the sweetest smiles, the cutest coos, the greatest giggles...I am so, so lucky. So very blessed indeed.

This song NEVER fails to make me cry. I don't think I've ever heard it without getting teary. The gold dust K. and I hold is so very precious... ("...and the day that she came // I'm freezing that frame // freezing that frame..." <3)

While I'm certain it was late due to the massive amounts of snow we received, I made a little photo compilation book for LF's first mom in honor of this amazing day--a day that completely and utterly changed my life in the most incredible way. It is her love (LF's first mom's love for LF) that inspires me every single day to be the best mother I can be for LF; to know someone trusts you to care for and love her child as your very own...well, there is no greater love than that. I feel so blessed to not only share my life with LF but with her first mom and first mom's family as well, too. We are so very lucky indeed. <3

[x] Well, I had more to say, but I'm going to wrap it up here. I have a little bit of laundry to put away, and then K. is working the bedtime circuit so I can get some rest. He's been absolutely fantastic this whole time I've been under the weather and I am *so* grateful for all the extra weight he's been pulling around the house and beyond. I'm the luckiest girl in the world, I swear it. Between a rock awesome husband and three amazing kids, I don't know what I did to deserve such goodness and light. But I certainly am grateful for it, let me tell you. So very grateful indeed. <3