Jayden's Adoption Book

Here is the Adoption Book I made for Jayden. I love how it turned out! And I love that he will always know the story about how he became our son!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly offers exclusive photobook layouts so you can make your book just the way you want.



Here is Michael's book, if you want to look at it. And yes, they are very similar!

Our Foster Care Adoption Journey

Here is our Foster Care Journey video I made. Enjoy!

It's Official!!

As of today, July 31, 2017, it is Official!!

Let me introduce you to our son, 

Jayden Thomas Wolff!!

We are so excited to be finishing up this adoption journey! It's been a long time coming! 

Total days with our family: 469

Total days in Foster care: 748

1 Year with Baby J

One year!! It has been one whole year since sweet baby J came into our lives!! 

He has taught us a lot in the last year. We all had to learn how to be a family of four. Michael had to learn how to be a big brother. I had to learn how to be a mom to two boys and learn to prioritize each of their needs. 

It's been a good year, but it's been a hard year. I've asked myself several times "what are you doing?" And I've told God several times "I can't do this!" But with His help, we make it through each day and I get up each morning to do it again day after day. Baby j is not an easy child, but he is worth it! I will do whatever I have to, and go through all of it, to show him that I love him and give him the security that he needs! 

He has grown so much in the last year. Not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. He is talking so much more, eating so much, and trusting more and more people. For example, he doesn't scream the whole time in church nursery now. And when I pick him up, he has a big smile on his face! 

He is still going to speech therapy once a week, but is getting very close to "graduating"  and won't need it any more. Although his therapist loves him so much she doesn't want him to graduate. 

He adores Michael and wants to do everything he is doing, and be just like him! It drives Michael a little crazy, and then other times they play so well together! 

He sleeps so well! Every night he goes to bed at 6:30 (which is crazy early, I know!) and sleeps till around 7:30! And still takes a two hour nap each day! 

He will eat just about anything, if he wants to eat. But most times during the day, he just doesn't want to eat. At dinner he will sit in his seat and eat whatever we put in front of him. 

He loves to be outside and asks to go outside all day everyday! Rain or shine, he wants to be outside! 

Running, throwing a ball, jumping on the trampoline, driving his 4-wheeler, playing in the water, playing in the sandbox, riding his bike, playing in the dirt, chasing dogs, kicking a ball, playing basketball or baseball, he does it all!  

He is also obsessed with"big trucks" right now. A. If truck is anything from a back hoe, to a dump truck and everything in between! Construction sites get him very excited!! 

We have several trucks at home that he carries around with him. Love trucks!!

He has started singing along with songs a lot and it is so sweet! His favorite is twinkle twinkle, but also loves the wheels on the bus, roll over, and Jesus loves me. We listen to a lot of music during the day, and it seems to be rubbing off on him. 

Bath time makes him happy! So if we are having a bad day, we take a bath! And the saw he says shower is so cute,  "Showsher"!

He is becoming very independent and wants to do everything by himself. Getting in his car seat, getting dressed, getting his snack, etc... 

As far as the adoption goes, we are getting closer! Hopefully sometime in May is what they are telling us.  

It will be so nice to have his adoption finalized and not have to put something over his face and abbreviate his name. We are so ready to show him off!! 

11 Months with Baby J

11 Months! That is how long J has been in our home!! Almost a year!! He has come so far and made so much progress in the past 11 months!! 

I skipped last month kind of by accident, so here is a big update!

The first week of March was a big week for us. TPR happened, so now we are one step closer to getting to adopt him!! This is huge and we have been waiting since we got him for the court date!! 

He is growing so much in his vocabulary! He says probably 100 words, and can point out different objects with flash cards. He loves to do his flash cards! He is meeting all of his goals at Speech Therapy, and we are settting new goals. We are really trying to get him to say 2-3 word sentences rather than just one word at a time. He will get there, and probably sooner then we think! 

We have hit a nice groove during the day and he thrives on schedule and routine. He also does very well when he knows what to expect. The hardest times for him are when he is doing something and I stop him abruptly because we have to do something else. But if I give him a heads up, he handles changes much better. 

He is definitely in his terrible twos!! His favorite word to say is  "no", but that is also his least favorite word to hear. He has lots of temper tantrums throughout the day, and we are trying to figure out the best way to deal with them. Sometimes it is time out on the stairs, sometimes is is timeout in his bed, and other times it is sitting with mommy till he can calm down. We have tried lots of different things, and are still figuring things out. 

He is eating great and gaining weight. He is up to 26 pounds!! He will eat most anything we give him for dinner. Breakfast and lunch, I give him a choice and he likes to just snack during the day. He is mostly wearing size 18-24 month clothes. One warm days we will out on shorts, and the ones from last year still fit just fine. He is skinny, but getting a lot taller! We will be moving up to size 4 diapers very soon! 

He loves "Didle" (Michael) and asks about him all day! "Where Didle?" I hear that all day long! 

He also thinks that Daddy hung the moon! Anytime daddy does anything or give him anything, he remembers and tells me all day. Like the other day, Andrew changed the light bulb in J's closet, and he pointed out all day, "Daddy! Light!"  He sure does love his daddy! 

He still loves any balls! Loves his basketball goal and baseball bat/tee/ball. We went to a football game on Saturday and he loved watching them throw and kick the ball! He loves to ride his bike and loves the trampoline. He still drives his car all over the place and loves to race michael on his go cart. Basically, if he is outside, he is one happy boy! He asks all day to go outside. All Day!! When we are on our way home from getting michael, he starts asking about playing outside. It is definitely his happy place! 

He had his first sleepover this month! I went out of town to a conference and Andrew had to work all weekend, so the boys spent a night with my parents and then the next night with Andrew's parents. He did great!! He slept good and had so much fun!! It was a big relief that he was well taken care of and happy while I was gone. 

We took a trip to the children's museum a couple weeks ago and he had so much fun!! He loved all of it! But especially loved the big playground. 

We love him so much! And he makes us laugh everyday! We are so thankful to have him as part of our family! We can't wait to make it official!! 

 

 

       

Baby J is 2!!

On January 26, our little J turned 2! We had a great day celebrating his birthday! This was our first birthday to celebrate with him!

 J and I went and picked out some balloons for him. He loved playing with them, and they are still floating around the house being played with!

When Michael got home from school, we let J open his presents! He got a new guitar which he loves!

He also got a basketball goal! Both boys love this! We've had to bring it back inside on cold days. He woke up the next morning asking to go outside to play "ball ball".  His two favorite things. Outside and balls!

(Just a side note, but since Daddy carried in the basketball goal, J thinks that it was from Daddy. So when we talk about his birthday, he always says, "Daddy, Ball ball!")


He is actually really good! I see many sports in his future!

We brought it outside and they played forever with it!

For dinner that night, we got pizza and I bought some little cupcakes!
His favorite thing was blowing out the candles! He did it over and over and over! Like 20 times!

The next day, he got to open his present his "Middle mama" sent him! Wow is he spoiled! But he loves his car, and rides it every day it isn't raining! He follows Michael around on his go cart! Two boys driving around the yard! (He also says daddy got this for him too, since Daddy was the one bringing it out of the garage!)

On Saturday morning, we had a little family party for him at Chick-fil-a. We did a jungle animal theme, because that is what he picked out!

Not the best picture, but as good as it gets. 

Here is the birthday boy ready to blow out his candle!

Proud Mama and Daddy!

J, we love you so much and are so proud of how you have grown! You are 2 years old now! 

You still don't say a lot of words, but you make sure we understand what you want/need. You still love going to speech therapy once a week. Ms. Gina is your favorite! We are trying to get you to start saying two word sentences. I'm sure you will start talking when you are ready.

You love Michael, and ask all day long where he is! When he gets home from school, you are so excited to have him home to play with! 

Your appetite changes on a daily basis. Some days I can't feed you enough, and some days, you don't want anything to eat. Cheese, yogurt, milk, hot dogs, spaghetti, crackers, cereal bars, and fruit snacks are your favorites! Any snack type food you will eat also. 

But you are growing and gaining weight. You are 33" and about 25 lbs. We go to the doctor next week, so we will get a definite measurement. 

You are able to play by yourself more and more these days, which gives mommy time to get stuff done around the house, other than when you are napping. 

You still love mommy the most, but Daddy is a close second. 

You are doing much better with the church nursery. I still have to go with you, but last week, you went by yourself for about 10 minutes. Maybe by the time you are ready to go by yourself, it will be time to move up to the 2 year old class. (In August)

You tried to climb out of your crib the other week, but I caught you while you were still straddling the railing. We made sure you knew that was a no-no, and I haven't seen you try again, and You haven't come down the stairs after we put you to bed, so I don't think you have tried again. But I know you will...

Mimi gave you money for new shoes for your birthday, so we went the day of your party to go find some. You walked in wearing a size 5 and walked out in a size 7! Sorry buddy, I'm sure your feet were all cramped in your old shoes!

Most of your clothes are size 18-24 months. But I know you are growing, because some of your pants are starting to get too short!  

This is my last monthly post, but will still be updating on the adoption, and how he is doing in our home post placement. 

9 Months with Baby J

Baby J has been home for 9 months, and unfortunately we are no closer today, then we were 9 months ago to adopting him! Maybe someone is reading this, hoping to get more information about foster care adoption. If that is you, my first piece of advice to to be patient! Everything goes SLOW. EVERTHING!! But we are persevering, and hoping that one day, he will share our last name, and I will finally be able to share a picture of his precious little face!

In the past month, J has experienced his first Christmas with us and his first snow with us! Christmas was so much fun! He loved all of it, except for Santa!

He also loved the snow! He loved rolling around in it, and jumping in it! He and Michael had so much fun playing on the trampoline in the snow!

He loves bath time! He will stay in the bath for an hour and just play and play! His favorite toy in the bath is a cup! It really is the simple things!

We also started watching a new baby this month, who is only 2 months old. J does get a little jealous when I am feeding the baby, but that's the only time. He likes looking at him, and talking to him, but when I am feeding him, he tells me to put the baby in his bed! It's going really well though!

J has decided that going pee-pee on the potty is the most fun thing ever, and asks to sit on the potty all the time! And every time he sits on the potty, he actually goes! So, I take him potty, but am not starting to potty train. If he thinks it's fun, then we will do it, and maybe by the time I do potty train, he will be really easy to train! He also loves to flush the potty! When anyone goes to the bathroom, he runs in, so he can flush when we are done. He also cheers for me when I use the bathroom, and says, "Yay!! Mommy!! Pee-pee! Candy!" (He gets candy if he goes pee-pee on the potty)

Michael and J have really found their groove as far as getting along and playing well together. I think Michael being home for Christmas break really helped. They have so much fun together and Michael is doing great playing with him. It took him a while to figure out what to play with him, and how to play with him, since he is so much younger. But they love jumping on the trampoline together, and J loves riding with Michael in his go-cart! I love watching them together. So many answered prayers!

"I still remember praying for the things I have now!"

Hopefully we will be moving closer to adopting him by next month, but if not, we will keep on going. In our eyes, he is our son, and we will move mountains to make it official!

Baby J is 23 Months Old!

So, on December 26, J turned 23 months old!

He is growing and changing so much! His little personality is so funny and keeps us laughing!

He eats great! He is back to loving yogurt, which is great! He also loves cheese! Anything I am eating, he wants to eat, so that is how I get him  to eat a lot of new things.

He loves books! He will sit on my lap and bring me book after book. I got him some new Sandra Boynton books for Christmas and they are his new favorites. He also got some new Thant's not my... books and loves them too!

He is up to 33 inches and about 25 pounds!

He is sleeping great! 13 hours a night. Plus naps 2 hours a day!

He is still not talking that great, but he tries. He calls Michael, "Didle". Flash is "Ash" and Molly is "Olly" He tries hard. He will get it one day. But for now, he talks enough to let us know what he needs/wants. We will continue with Speech therapy for another 3 months and then reevaluate.

We had a great Christmas, and he didn't miss a beat while opening presents! He knew exactly what to do. His favorite presents were a remote control car and lots of balls. He also got a trike that I thought he would love, but I was wrong. Maybe he will like it more when he can peddle it by himself.

He is playing independently a lot more often now. It is nice to not have to constantly entertain him, and see him happily playing in the play room by himself.

He has a lot more interest in TV! Not that we want him watching TV all the time. But if it gives me a chance to take a shower without little eyes peeping through the curtain constantly, I'm happy! He loves a show on Netflix called Little Baby Bum. It is just nursery rhymes, but he loves it! Michael has also introduced him to Curious George, and he likes that too!

It is great that we live in the south, because the weather is mild, and not too cold. J would be outside all day long if possible!

He is so fun, and makes us laugh all the time! We love you baby J!

Christmas card 2016

I sent out two different Christmas Cards this year. I’m always on the look out for free cards, and Shutterfly and snapfish never disappoint! And since I used our family pictures we took in July, I was ready to print my cards as soon as they offered a free promotion!

The first card was a tri-fold card with a letter written about our year. We had a lot to share this year!! I sent those to relatives we don’t see during the year and aren’t on Facebook to see updates about our family. 

The other card also had a little letter, but not nearly as lengthy and just mentioned the highlights!

I think both cards turned out great! 

Thanks Snapfish and Shutterfly!!

**Now that I can show Jayden's face, I figured I would post our Christmas card from last year! December 2017**

8 Months With Baby J

Today J has been home for 8 months! Here is what he has been up to:

He growing like a weed! When he came home he was in Size 12 month everything. Now he is in 18 month and some of those are even getting too short. We are having to move up ton24 month pajamas now. He has grown almost 5 inches!

He is eating great! Trying lots of new things and loving a lot. He eats the most during dinner and usually just snacks the rest of the day. But if he is eating a good dinner, I'm not too worried about how much he eats the rest of the day. He is drinking mostly milk, but does love juice! We limit his juice intake, and try to get him to drink water, but he isn't a big fan.

He is sleeping great! A few weeks ago, there were two nights in a row where he slept 14 hours!! Must have been a growth spurt. We can tell if he is having a hard time emotionally, because his sleep will be off. He will either not go to bed good, or not nap well. He had a major regression a couple of weeks ago, and for about 4-5 days he did not go to bed good and also did not nap good. We are getting back into a good schedule this week, so hopefully that will stick.

He is NOT a fan of Santa! We have tried twice, and both times he is not at all excited and starts crying. I'm not one of those moms that is going to plop him on santa's lap just to get a crying picture. I think that is just horrible.

And my boy has had enough trauma in his life, he doesn't need more. So both times I will hold him and talk to santa, but he still does not like it. But that is ok. Maybe next year...

He loves books! He will sit and bring me book after book to read to him. He really likes Sandra Boynton books, and so did Michael. They are fun, rhyming books with fun animals.

J loves going to speech every week, and has made a lot of progress. He still has a long way to go, but he will get there. He has started trying to repeat what we say, where as before he wouldn't even try. He is also answering my questions with real answers. Where's Michael? "School". Where's daddy? "Work".
Where is you milk? "Floor"
He has trouble remembering the word "yes". He always answers no, and I always say, yes? And if he means yes, he will say yes back, but if he means no, then he repeats the no. Our new goal is to try to get him to say 2-3 word sentences. He does that some, but with only a few select phrases. "Where's Michael?" "Where's J" "There he is."

He still loves to play with balls. He kicks them, throws them, and hits them with a bat. And any long stick like object can be a bat. He is also really getting into toy cars. Michael has loved cars forever, so there are a lot around the house. So he plays with the hot wheels race track a lot.

He loved peek a boo. He plays in the car, behind a chair, under a blanket, next to the Christmas tree, behind his hands, anywhere or anything he can hide behind he will.

He has turned into a little charmer with me. It mostly happens in the grocery cart, but has happened a few times at home. Anytime I have to tell him to stop doing something , mostly trying to stand up in the cart, he will look at me, say "mama" I'm the sweetest voice and then give me the biggest hug. And it works every time. He knows he's got me!

We are so excited about celebrating Christmas with J this week! We had prayed for two years for another baby to share Christmas with, and this year he is here!!
Thanksgiving 2014 we decided to adopt again and Christmas 2014 we told our families that we would be adopting again! 2 years later and our prayers were answered!!

We are so thankful that we get to be his family!!!

What a blessing he is to our family!!