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

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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!! 

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!

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!!

7 Months with Baby J and 22 month update

7 Months with Baby J and 22 month update

Well this post is very late! Thanksgiving vacation got me distracted, and then. Last week I was busy getting back to normal life. So here I am, 2 weeks late posting his update. So I decided to just combine the two. 

J has been doing great!! Sleeping great, eating great, playing by himself good, branching out to new toys for longer period of times, sitting and watching a show for a short period of time. 

He is just doing really well. Growing and changing all the time. He is getting taller and gaining weight still. 

He still doesn't say much, but he tries. Speech therapy is going well still and he loves Ms, Gina! He also loves books!! 

We spent a week at the beach during thanksgiving week and it was incredible! 

We had the best time and J did so well. He did great in the car on the way down and slept so good while we were there. 

The only thing that did not go well was our visit with Goofy and Donald Duck. They were at the resort taking pictures on thanksgiving. J freaked out!! Screaming and crying and holding onto me like they were the scariest things he had ever seen. So, needless to say, no pictures with the characters! 

So, this is a super short post, but I'll be back in a few weeks with the next month's update. 

Baby J is 21 Months Old!!

Baby J, you are 21 months old! You are getting so big and are so close to turning 2!
This month you did a lot of the same stuff as last month.So not much new to report.

You are sleeping great, now that we are putting you to bed earlier! You have even slept a few 14 hour nights!! Crazy! Also, your naps are getting longer too! Maybe you are having a growth spurt, or you just are getting more and more comfortable here and relaxing more. Whatever it is, we are loving the extra sleep you are getting, and I think you are loving it too!

You are up to 24 lbs! and 33 inches tall! You have grown 5 inches since coming home!!That means you are in the 29% for weight and 30% for height!! Way to go! When you came to us, you were in the 5% for both!

Food is still hit or miss, but that is a toddler thing, so I expect it. I just offer you lots of options, and hope you will eat something. You do love your milk (pediasure) and I'm sure that is why you are growing so much!!

You still aren't talking much, but your speech therapist says you are making good progress. She just wishes you would say more actual words. We will keep working on it. I started working with you to learn your colors, and it seems like a lost cause. You really don't have any interest in them.

We have discovered something that you like to watch on TV. ABC Mouse videos! They are on youtube, and you want to watch the same 5 over and over! I keep trying to add more, but you still just want the same 5. But these songs are helping you say a few more words. Like, "fell, bed, jump, over, (5 little monkeys jumping on the bed, 10 in the bed) so that's good!

Your favorite place to be is outside! You would spend all day outside, blowing bubbles!!

We love you more and more everyday and are so much fun!

6 Months with Baby J!

I say this every month, but I can't believe it has already been 6 months! J is doing great!

We have had a busy, fun month! We took A trip to Strawberry Hill to see the animals, and also took a trip to the pumpkin patch in Hendersonville. 

We are working on helping J to not be so grumpy and whiney and think the root of that is sleep, or in his case not enough sleep. So, he has been going to bed an hour earlier, but he still wakesup the same time. That extra hour of sleep seems to be helping! He is sleeping better and longer and is happier most of the day! He also taking better naps too! 

He is eating a little more these days, but still would rather run around then stop to eat. 

    (yes, he is drinking salsa from a straw!)

He loves when Lucy comes to play, and gets so excited when she gets here! He is going to miss her when she moves next month!

      (Yes, that is a pig, in my front yard!)

He had a checkup at the ENT, and actually had the start of an ear infection. We got some antibiotics and stopped it before it had a chance to bother him! 

He loved the cows at strawberry hill! 

He Loved all of the pumpkins! 

He sits for longer periods of time playing with one thing now. Still not extended periods, but longer than before. He really likes his little farm. 

When I am cooking, he has to be right next to me. So, he gets his little chair and brings it in to stand on. 

I also let him help with mixing stuff up! 

After making cookies, he sat right in front of the oven watching them bake!

He had a blast at the pumpkin patch! 

Riding the cow train. 

Checking out the giant bear!

Trying to pick up the pumpkins. 

Seeing how big he is!

It will be neat to see how much he will grow by next year!

His favorite person is Michael! He asks about him all day and is so excited when it is time to go get him from school. When I show him pictures of Michael drying the day, he yells his Name and laughs! He loves his brother!

He is in the terrible twos and it is wearing me out. Temper tantrums, throwing things, hitting, biting! It's a lot, but we are working through it all just one melt down at a time. 

He makes me laugh and brings our family so much joy!