Our Newest Addition... Meet Marcone!

We have a new addition to our family: Marcone from Brazil.

Marcone Franca Da Silva

I have been wanting to sponsor a child (either through World Vision or Compassion) for several years, and Seth and I just finally got around to talking about it and deciding on doing it. You know how when life is really crazy, you're only able to take care of immediate needs (like groceries) and you can't get to higher-order things (like sponsoring a kid)? Kinda like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs... Well, we've just been having so many major life changes over the last several years that we couldn't get ourselves to make this desire a reality. Until now.

I finally have felt confident enough in my routine as a SAHM (plus Georgia Mae) that I have started tackling larger-scale, more higher-order things, and this was one of the first on that list. Seth and I discussed what factors we would use to search for a child, and decided on using: 1) Austin's birthday, 2) boy, and 3) from the southern/central Americas region. I did one search, and came across Marcone's cute face. I knew in an instant that he was for us. That funny smile and those big eyes sold me in an instant!

We received our World Vision packet in the mail approximately one week later, and I was ecstatic! I poured over the materials, often re-reading things several times--especially the part regarding the rules for sending him stuff. I must admit that one of my more selfish desires in wanting to sponsor a child was so that I could send letters and care packages to someone on a fairly regular basis. (Most of you know that I love sending cards ... aka 'love' in the mail to people.) And what a more appreciative audience than a super cute baby thousands of miles away!?

I mailed our first letter to him this morning! It was a blast writing to him. I talked about all sorts of things, giving a background on our family, and asked equally as many questions. I know he can't read it yet, heck he can't even speak yet, but I am praying that someone will hold onto these notes from us so that he'll have them when he's old enough to appreciate them. I plan to send pictures of us in the next letter, but didn't have any sitting around, so I colored something for him instead. 

I SO look forward to our first return message, but the materials tell us not to expect it for several months. They do encourage us to keep writing to him, though, which is good because I bought a bunch of Brazil stamps this morning, and hope to write a note of some kind on a monthly basis. And once Austin's able to put a writing utensil to paper, I hope to encourage that passion in him as well--to paint something or color something, etc. Eventually writing letters back and forth to one another. I pray Marcone and Austin will develop a connection across the miles that will last a long time.... like forever.

our first letter to Marcone included this Elmo that I colored

Making Baby Food: Sweet Potatoes

Here's how I make Sweet Potatoes for Austin:

-wash the potatoes

-puncture several times with a fork, all over--up and down the length of the potato

-wrap in foil

-bake at 400 degrees for an hour on a cookie sheet

-once cool, unwrap, cut, peel, and cut into sections

-blend in Magic Bullet

-freeze in cubes

-reheat as needed

This is actually one of my favorites to make as it's so easy to cook them. Other foods that I make are harder because I have to monitor the stove the whole time, but these are easy to cook, easy to blend, and I get a large quantity of food for the effort.

Here's what they look like after cooling down and being unwrapped.

Then I cut them in half.

They peel right out of their skins once completely cool (and well-cooked).

I hack sections off with a spoon and drop them into the Magic Bullet container.

I add some water and blend.

Those five potatoes were huge, so I got four full trays out of the effort. (These are just regular ice cube trays though I know they make trays especially for making baby food. I just couldn't justify the price of those when these work just fine for me.)

I put foil over the top of the tray, label them, and stick them in the freezer for 24 hours.

This is what they look like straight out of the trays.

Then I put them in labeled freezer bags to store in the freezer. They're ready to use whenever I want one.

It's that simple! The worst part about making his food, right now anyways, is that it heats up the house, and when it's 105 outside, the last thing you want is something heating up your house. Except for that factor, I love making his food. It's a lot cheaper than buying it all the time, and I know he's getting exactly what I want--pure food rather than a bunch of preservatives/chemicals. I highly recommend making baby food if you're so inclined. It takes a smidge of practice, but comes easily to me now and is time well spent.

Austin's Serious Lower Lip

People always comment "Austin's such a good baby. All he does is smile!" Well, that's not exactly true, and I finally have proof!

When Austin first starts crying, there is usually a display of a major pouty lower lip. Then he launches into tears and a frown and the whole works. I have yet to catch this on my camera, though, so I could never prove to people that he did in fact have meltdowns. And then, last week, my friend Christina was in town, and I challenged her to catch a picture of it with her super fancy camera. And she did! (Thanks Christina!)

Here's how he looks when he's in full meltdown mode. ... It's proof he's not always smiling. :-)

Spofford Bday Celebration, Austin presents #1

It's a good thing I married into the Spofford Family. Rather than some other family, I mean. 

I LOVE birthdays. They are my number one holiday! I don't mean my own birthday, but anyone's birthday! I love the decorations, the presents, the cake, the celebratory atmosphere, the everything. And, in the Spofford Family, we celebrate birthdays a lot. A lot, a lot. Here's the second Spofford Bday Celebration/Lake Day which was Austin's first birthday event. He loved opening presents, but he really loved the handles and tags on the bags!

chewing on a tag...

I love how he's looking so intently at the card!

All he wanted from this present was the green sticky note attached to the outside!

This picture captures his reaction perfectly. He was THRILLED with this gift.

Our official position on gifts for Austin is: "He can never have too many Books, Clothes, and Experiences. AND No John Deere. Ever." Some of Seth's family asked me for ideas just a few days before the event, so he got mostly books and clothes. YAY! And Gran didn't ask for ideas. So when he opened this toy, with its lights and sounds, he was ecstatic! Everyone pointed out his reaction as if to say that we shouldn't be so harsh on people giving him toys, but most of those people don't realize how much stuff he already owns that has lights and sounds. Most of which he rarely plays with (the above toy included). His current favorite toy is a wooden stirring spoon. So, we're sticking with the decision. (Thanks for your judgement, though.) I'm honestly really hoping that someone will be really creative and start a process of gifting experiences, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe it'll happen at one of his next several birthday celebrating events?

Austin's First Girlfriend ;-)

One of my friends/former coworkers from Georgia Tech, Christina, was in town last week for a conference her husband was attending. She and her daughter, Madison, were at our house several days last week, and I kept teasing Austin that he had his first girlfriend over to the house. (It's funny how the two babies he sees the most are both boys--Luke and Liam. And, having typed that, I now realize they both start with "L"!)

It was SO much fun to have them over, although I must admit that it was a bit exhausting at times! Having two babies hovering around the 10 month mark (crawling, cruising, and sometimes walking) is like having a room full of kittens or puppies! When one was into one thing, the other goes across the room to get into another thing! We had a blast; it was especially great to spend so much time with another SAHM--brainstorming all variety of issues we are each struggling with. It felt like I was able to push a reset button on myself. I was exhausted physically, but totally-blissed-out mentally.

We went to Susan's for lunch, and having three babies around was c-r-a-z-y!

It took three moms to get this picture: one on camera duty, one putting them in place, and one trying to direct their attention to the camera. Madison looks great, while the boys looks, well... something. From L-R, Luke, Madison, Austin

On the way home from Susan's, they both fell asleep. It was too cute not to take a picture!

They seemed to enjoy the changing table the best. They would spend all day pulling diapers out of the box if we let them! (And Georgia Mae would spend most of the day standing at the door --she's not allowed in--because she'd want to join us.)

I love this picture.

Naked babies = too cute! We did try to get a picture of them while wearing clothes, but Austin went into full meltdown mode, so nothing turned out well. I guess we have blackmail material now, though. ;-)

Thanks for coming to Dallas, Christina (and Tim and Madison), and thanks for spending so much time with us. It. Was. Awesome! Come back soon!!!