My First Hand Me Downs

Tagg, January 2009, 6 months

...from my brother. Sorry, girl! You thought you were out of the woods on hand-me-downs what with being the only daughter and having a mother with a bit of a shopping addiction. Not so lucky!

Sloane, January 2011, 8 months

My favorite Aunt Kris gave Tagg these darling jammies when they met him for the first time in January of 2009. Of course, I saved them thinking they might have some sentimental value...more for me, than him I suspect but whatever! Sloane has been wearing these same jammies since she was about 5 months, and a couple of weeks ago I realized she was about to grow out of them and we needed a picture! She can't even straighten her legs! So it's a little forced, sure, but I wanted a photographic memory of those jammies on my babies. Because every time I put them on and snapped them up and laid them down in their beds in those green p.j.'s, it felt like my Aunt Kris was here, giving them a big hug, and a sweet kiss, and one of her boisterous oh-so-joyful-I-love-you laughs.

And, let's face it...it's kind of perfect that NEITHER of them will bust out a freaking smile for the camera. Seriously? Seriously!!

The Star Quilt

When we met Sloane's baby mama and grandma today, they gave her a very special gift...a star quilt. Apparently it was supposed to be for Christmas but it took a little journey around the country to get completed. Well worth the wait!

Sloane's birth father is half Sioux and these quilts are a tribal tradition that started in the late 19th century when the tribes were relegated to the reservations, the buffalo herds had disappeared and the missionaries taught new ways to express their art through quilting. My mother is a quilter and I knew that there must be a story behind the design so I did a little snooping online and the stories are beautiful, and they make the meaning behind this lovely gift so much more rich and layered.

The triangular points of the star symbolize the quilter's reaching out from the middle star, which forms a circle. They reach out to loved ones, drawing them back to the sacred circle. When you are given a Star Quilt it is truly a gift of warmth and honor. Star quilts hold several symbolic representations of life, spirituality, and community for the Native Americans. It represents that it takes a community to make a whole.


The star quilt tells a story, just like the painted buffalo hides. The colors red, black, white, and yellow are symbolic to the Lakota. Black Elk is quoted as saying, “Black is for the west where the thunder beings send us rain. White is for the north, where the great white cleansing wind comes. Red is for the east where springs the light and the morning star. Yellow is for the south, where summer comes along with the power to grow.”

"Arise!  Arise!  Come see the morning star."  This centuries old call from the camp crier, as he rode through the Indian encampment, awakened the people to their day. For the Northern Plains Indians of the Dakotas, the sighting of the morning star still heralds a new beginning, a new day dawning.

And they sometimes hide little
messages in the fine needlework patterns
in the quilt. Found it!

I love that. Sloane's adoption was a new beginning for our family and for Bella and Jacob and all of us, as a community, will create a wonderful and whole life for her.

Apparently the women of the tribe often bestow these star quilts as gifts for a new baby, welcoming them to the family, so it's especially sweet that this one came from Bella and her mom and her mom's mom, and that they place so much value on Jacob's Native American heritage and want her to be proud of it and want it to be part of her. I love that Sloane gets to have some of this history and culture to weave into her life. We have a lot to learn, but it will be fun to do it together!

Of course, this also means I'm going to have to redecorate her room to match because it's so lovely. Great!

A First Anniversary

This might be the cutest picture ever. Look at those smiles!

Today we went to meet Sierra and her mom for lunch to kind of celebrate the one-year anniversary of our first meeting. They hadn't seen Sloane in almost 3 months and after a little rocky start where she burst into tears when we first walked into the restaurant, she was really good, as was Tagg. She chewed on Sierra's necklace, ate a whole piece of corn bread and showed off her new teeth.

It was fun to reminisce about our first meeting and catch up on everything. It's nice to know that a year later, everything still feels so "right."

 It was a beautiful day for January so we walked down to the Starbucks and had a coffee and took some photos to commemorate the event. Amazing to think that just a year ago, we were so full of hope and nerves and today it was like seeing family. We have this joyous, lovely little girl to adore every day and this special relationship.

She finally sleeps.
Good day.

Tagg made the most of the trip...in the water fountain. In January. In his clothes. He had a BALL! I guess I can no longer mock those parents who pack up a cooler and sit and watch their kids play in this fountain in the summer. We did walk straight down to Baby Gap and bought him some new, dry clothes (I'll bet that place makes a fortune off of water fountain-suckers like us). He changed right in the store and we cut the tags off, stuffed his wet clothes in a Gap bag and off we went. The lady was looking at us like we were crazy!

The water damage is done. Tagg's new threads...cute and on sale!

Happy New Year!

Well, I'm only three weeks late getting the New Years blog up. I think that means I've broken a resolution! Or maybe that I never started any. Hard to tell!

We spent the night at Mark and Jenny's which was awesome. We had a ball playing with the kids and trying out our new Wii games. Dance Party is a riot. I'm not sure the video of us ladies rocking our Ke$ha is worthy of prime time, but watching Nikelle and Tagg mimic the dance moves behind us on the pool table is priceless!

Tagg managed to make it all the way to midnight, with a certain amount of encouragement from Nikelle who ran laps with him around the living room till midnight, after the dance party! Where do they get the energy?! Sloane didn't quite have that kind of staying power, thank goodness! And for some crazy reason, me and Tiff who are usually the first ones to sneak off to bed were on a tear that night. Must have been all the Wii-drenaline or something but we just kept going and going. Jenny finally called it at about 3:30...no more Wii, girls! Your babies are going to be up early! She was right. Like clockwork, they were wide awake at 7:30am. Luckily they were both up for family nap time that day! A pretty great way to start the new year!

Sloane snoozed through her
first New Year's Eve but she got kisses
from mommy and daddy and big brother.

Tagg's still learning how to "cheese."

Tagg & Nikelle take a break
from running laps in the living room.

Nikelle loves baby Sloane.

Perfect Christmas

christmas - part one (the harmers' house on Christmas Eve)

Sloane's big gift to us is
learning to crawl. She's
mastered laying to sitting and
is just minutes away from the
full crawl. Watch out people!

Santa Baby...hurry down the chimney tonight! Sloane had two cute Santa outfits for Christmas. I bought one (obviously) but so did Scott! So this is the one she wore to Christmas Eve festivities at his parents' house. Tagg and his cousin Ashley dove into a few presents on Christmas Eve after the traditional ham and potatoes dinner, then they put reindeer food out (oatmeal with sparkles) and lured Rudolph into the back yard. Tagg totally knows all the words to Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer, his favorite Christmas carol, but he wouldn't sing louder than a whisper so we don't have any good video...bummer!

Tagg got a bunch of Lightning McQueen stuff including a car that he got to race with Ashley. He gave Ashley a princess outfit and a Purplicious book (her favorite color) and he and Sloane gave photo books to Auntie Leese and Grama and Bompa.

christmas - part two (our house, Christmas Day)

Tagg woke up late on Christmas...8:30 and we had to wake him up! Scott and I went to bed at 1 and woke up at 7:30 mind you. I suspect that will change as he gets older! Nana and Papa and Aunt Tiff came over at 8, packing cameras and mimosa fixin's. He was a little grumpy at first but then realized that Santa had come and ran downstairs. I wish I had a real picture of the awe on his face, but I'll keep the mental picture forever.

The basketball hoop was a huge hit. He was working on dunks and long shots from the get go, with a little help from Papa. Not bad for a kid wearing Lightning McQueen jammies that were about 4 inches too long! Tagg's baby family sent so many darling things for Tagg - clothes, a Cars Etch-a-Sketch that he adores and a new WVU jersey. They also sent Sloane a cute outfit. How awesome is that? I'm always so amazed by the love and generosity that these families share with us.

Sloane seems to have acquired my penchant for clothes and shoes...with a little help from her birth mom! She sent a cute pair of Ugg boots that Sloane may be able to wear in a few months and a gift certificate for Tagg. Again...how adorable! Even her grandma sent some artsy stuffed animals. It's a great reminder of how incredible these relationships are. We hope the kids cherish it as much as we do.

christmas - part three (the harmers' house)

We headed off to the Harmer homestead around 11 for Bompa's famous breakfast - monkey bread, french toast, bacon, eggs, sausage and veggie sausage which he accidentally bought because he didn't have his glasses on. Not bad tasting but the texture was...ick. It's kind of funny but Bompa's breakfast tastes a little different at a real table with real silverware. I'm not gonna lie, it was awesome but I think I like it better at Lake Powell!

The Girls.
Kayla (5 mo), Ashley (4 yrs), Sloane (7 mo).
All smiling in one photo!

I am trying to keep the "let's wear Xmas jammies all day" tradition alive and cooking but I am meeting with some resistance. Apparently I need to buy Scott some less gay pajamas and not go anywhere public all day to make this work. Come on! I think it's cute...and comfortable! Of course, neither baby was interested in performing for the camera at all but at least it's captured in pictures - squirming, screaming, the works! And, for the record, Scott cut about 4 inches off the bottom of his pajamas when we got to his mom's...no worry about how jagged or crooked or wrecked they were. That should probably tell me something!

The Girls. All smiling again...and Tagg.
Refusing to be part of the moment.

The kids all got treated royally (again!) at Grama and Bompa's Christmas. My favorite gift? The calendar Sandy made of the whole family - complete with all the birthdays and a Lake Powell trip countdown! Very cool! Tagg's favorite gift? Cars Band-aids. Sloane's favorite gift? Wrapping paper, and anything Tagg had.

christmas - part...ah, who's counting (the comptons' house)

We got to Mom, Dad and Tiff's about 2pm with 2 snoozing kids in the back of the car. Of course, our kids don't "transfer" at all so they promptly woke up and it was off to the Christmas races! The house smelled like turkey (mmmm!) and there was a Wii tournament in progress.

Sloane and Harper were dressed in identical outfits. It was so funny - totally unplanned, swear! But they looked so cute in their little twinner outfits! They even puked on them the same! At one point, Sloane was officially Christmas and pictured out. Done! So done!

Marc, Dad and Scott entertained the kids with Jingle Bears while we finished up a lovely dinner. We had a fabulous time opening presents - more stuff than those kids will ever appreciate! Mom and Dad got the kids a very, very generous donation to their college savings accounts in addition to some fun things and Marc & Becky went overboard as usual. Some day, I aspire to be that good at gift giving. The skull Xmas pj's for Scott? The Blindside replacement DVD for me? The princess scooter toy for Sloane? All perfect and awesome.

In the spirit of our family tradition, we got ornaments for the kids - one for every year - but mom and dad got them, and so did we. I like the eclectic Christmas tree where every ornament has a story. Makes me feel like I'm home!

So Christmas...it's a lot of work, and a lot of money, and a lot of stress but it's more than made up for by the the joy and the memories and the sharing of love between family and friends. It's so worth every little bit of everything. As you can tell by the length of this blog post...too many great moments to leave out a single one! I'm a little sorry it's over but still basking in the glow!

Tis the Season!

The first big snowstorm of the season and we were so outside! Tagg loved it! Stomping in the snow in his new snow boots while Daddy shovels the driveway? Uh, yeah!

Sloane was not happy about being
left out of the snow activities!

We built a snowman - Frosty - who had two eyes made out of decorative black rock (apparently you need something with more texture to really stick), a nice hat, a carrot nose and an onion smile. Yep, that's a red onion carved into that snowman smirk!

So today, a few days after the Frosty-building experience and six "let's-fix-Frosty" events because the rain and the warm weather broke that beautiful snowman down, Tagg was standing in the front window looking at the sad remains of his first snow creation, looks at us and says, "Frosty's not looking too good, daddy." Awwwww...

We started cramming in the holiday fun, early. Made a gingerbread house with Nana and Papa and the family (Papa watched Sloane while Mommy photographed and tried to keep Tagg from eating all the candy decora and glue-like frosting). We jacked up construction on the roof and ended up with a sunroof...with some stale M&Ms cemented on for kicks.  That will probably be a bigger hit in a year or so but it was still kind of fun. Especially for Tagg (candy is always a hit).

Do not tell the kids, but this is kind of what Santa's
workshop looks like at our house on Christmas
Eve. It's all the family presents, really. ;-)

So I pulled a few all-nighters getting ready for Christmas - photobooks, Xmas cards, and present wrapping. Whew! Apparently I got bags under my eyes for the Christmas! And we didn't even have a lot of put-it-together stuff. I am so amazed by all the wonderful people I know who always have their gifts done early, wrapped perfectly and are just jack-wagons for making the rest of us feel inferior.

The Purple Christmas Tree

It was nap time...hence
the crabby face. Tagg perked up
when Santa coughed up the candy cane.

We went to help my mom and dad get their Christmas Tree on Saturday. Scott had seen this local tree farmer advertising on Channel 2 the other day. They had reindeer, a Santa, a hot tub and they flocked the morning stunt boy like a Christmas tree so we figured that would be a good place to try out. It was, as billed, AND the big giant tree my parents got was only 55 bucks! I call that a screaming deal for a real tree!

While we were there, we found...a purple flocked Christmas tree. I don't know why, but it spoke to me and we ended up bringing home this flamboyant purple-flocked Charlie Brown tree. It's all of about 4 and a half feet high. I think it's cool! It totally fits with all the vintage ornaments I have from my childhood...these shiny, jewel-tone balls with santas and reindeers. And vintage ornaments seem to be all the rage this year. I found a bunch to match for 70% off...woot-woot! I never bargain shop for Christmas stuff! See, that's why I love the Purple Christmas Tree!