Am I crazy or what?

On October 22nd I got a call at work from my husband and he told me to write down a phone number and so I did. He then proceeded to tell me there was a sign on the side of the road for Chocolate lab puppies and that I should call them. So, I called the breeder and she had 4 puppies left. One was a little girl.

I went to look at them that afternoon and came home with a puppy. Talk about a spur of the moment decision? Philip can’t give me any grief over this one since he is the one that called me and encouraged me to call. Her name is Gracie. She is 15 weeks old and weighs about 25 pounds.

It is a little hectic around the Buster house. We went from having one dog to 2 dogs and a child. The quiet days are over. The first few weeks I really doubted the decision to get Gracie. However, we are all getting used to it in now. She gets easier as time goes on.

Bailey and Devin are adjusting well to having a little puppy in the house. Devin & Gracie will play with each other. They chase each other around the house. Gracie likes to jump on Devin which has been a little problem. We were all playing outside a few weeks ago and Gracie decided she wanted to play with Devin and tackle him while he was running across the driveway. Devin ended up face first into the pavement. He cut his forehead pretty bad. The good news is he didn’t need stitches or anything. At first, Bailey would just tolerates Gracie. Now, Bailey will play with Gracie. It helps keeps Bailey active. Those of you who know us well know that Bailey is not the most active dog.

Here are some photos. Enjoy.

Gracie's first bath

My first day home

Can you guess what we are thankful for this year??

I don't think I have to even answer that one. We are so happy to have Devin home with us where he belongs. We are so fortunate that we got to bring him home when we did.

Devin's first Thanksgiving with us was amazing. We took Devin to Grandpa's house. After that we went to my nieces and had turkey dinner with my family. Devin did really well considering he was in a car for a good portion of the day.

Here are some photos of this very special Thanksgiving!!!

Pictures

Playing around outside. I just stole mommy's straw from her drink!!!

Eating some Cherios at SeaWorld

Daddy, Me, & Uncle Tim at SeaWorld

being silly outside!!!

Brandy started to clean me up from eating Spaghetti and I ended up playing in the sink!!

This is too much fun!

15 months old!!!!

It is hard to believe our little one is 15 months old. He turned 15 months old yesterday. He is growing so fast. He has been home for almost 6 months. Our baby is turning into a little man.

In the beginning of October we finally got Devin’s social security card. We applied for it in August and it took them 2 months to get it to us. This was the final step in Devin‘s adoption. When we came back from Guatemala we had to go through a re-adoption process. This process is basically a court process that we had to go through for the U.S. to recognize Devin’s foreign adoption. Once this process was done we applied for a Florida Birth Certificate. So, we went through the re-adoption, legally changed his name to Devin Jacob, got his Florida BC, got his U.S. Passport, and got his Social Security Card.

This is what Devin has been up to lately:

1/ In September he cut 4 teeth (his canine/cuspids) so he currently has 12 teeth. Now we just have his 1yr & 2 yr molars left. I think he is starting on his 1 year molars now. They are kind of bumped up and he has all the signs of teething.

2/ He will waive bye-bye

3/ He is starting to copy things that you do

4/ Once he was a little over 12 months we weaned him off the bottle. So, he only drinks out of a sippy cup.

5/ Devin is starting to get a little fussy about what he eats. He doesn’t really like you to feed him anymore. He will only eat food he can pick up and eat himself. We are starting to give him a fork and spoon. He is really not too sure what to do with it.

6/ He loves to be outside. We bought him a swing for his birthday and he loves to swing on it. He also loves to go outside and see the horses. He is fascinated by horses. Although, when you get close he is not sure whether to touch them or not.

Happy Halloween...

Lastnight we met up with some of our friends and their children at my nieces house. My niece lives in our old neighborhood. Of course the day before Halloween Devin gets a cold. So, needless to say trick or treating did not go over very well. Devin was not feeling well at all. Not even half way through the neighborhood Devin and I went back to my nieces and hung out so Devin could run around because he was not being very co-operative. Devin was a little monkey for Halloween. He looked so cute.

Pumpkin that Brandy bought Devin

Brandy & Devin carved these pumpkins

I just want my mommy!!!!

Poor little man......

Devin was circumcised last Friday. At his age it is a surgery. I was so worried about him going under anesthesia that I almost did not go through with it. We had to be at the hospital by 5:30am and his surgery was at 7:30.

The surgery went well. He had a tough time coming out of the anesthesia. It took him close to an hour to start waking up. We couldn't see him until he woke up. When he did wake up he was thrashing around and crying. He was so disorientated. I don’t know if he was in pain or just didn’t know what was going on. Daddy had to hold him until he calmed down.

After we got home on Friday we just laid around watching his T.V. shows. By Saturday, Devin was back to normal. You wouldn’t have even known he just had surgery. The only problem we were having was bleeding. The bleeding seemed to subside by Sunday night.

Sunday night we took the bandage off and that set Devin back a little. He was worse after that bandage came off than he was all day Saturday or Sunday. Once the bandage came off he screamed every time you would try to change his diaper. Monday morning was pretty bad also. You could tell it was really bothering him. Monday afternoon he started to get better and has been improving ever since.

We are very glad this is over and hope and pray he heals very quickly.

Devin's First Vacation

We went to West Palm Beach on the 26th of September for a week. We stayed at the Mariott on Singer Island which was very nice. This was our third visit to this resort, Devin‘s first. My mother is nice enough to allow us to use her timeshare every year. This time she went with us which was nice. Devin got to spend some time bonding with his Nanny.

It took Devin a few days to get used to being in a different place. He really didn’t have any problems sleeping. However, he was just really funny about everything else. For example, the first day we tried to take him in to the pool he cried and didn’t want anything to do with it. Keep in mind, we have a pool and he loves to go in the water. He was also very clingy. He did not want to leave our side. He didn’t even want to touch the sand at the beach. He would pull his feet up and cry when you tried to put him down in the sand. He has been to the beach several times and never had a problem with the sand. The longer we were there the better it got but it was a tough few days.

Overall, we had a great time. We just hung out at the pool and the beach. We really just spent the week hanging out together as a family. We did take Devin to the West Palm Zoo. He loved watching all the birds and the sea otters.

Here are some photos

Sea World

Devin went on his first theme park adventure last weekend. We went with the Sloan family to Sea World. Devin did really well. Of course, we picked one of the hottest days of the year. It was in the 90’s with heat index in the 100’s. We went to a few shows and to see some of the animals. He really liked looking at all the animals. By the time we got to the Shamu show he was very tired. He was falling asleep in our arms.

We got annual passes so we will be back again soon. The nice thing about having the passes and living close to Sea World is that we can go for just a few hours at at time rather than making an entire day out of it.

Here are some of the photos.

Pictures

How do you like my crazy haircut?

Bailey is so patient - Devin crawling over Bailey

Playing with my Wiggles Guitar - I love to slam it on the floor like a rockstar

Eating Rice Krispies with Daddy


Mommy trying out her new camera

A day in the life of the Busters...

Well, today Devin went for his second haircut. We should of known it wouldn't go good since he didn't want to take his morning nap. We let him lay in bed for almost 45 minutes and he did not go to sleep. So, we got him out of bed and off to the barber we go. On the way to the barber he was falling asleep. He cried or should I say screamed through the entire haircut. I literally had to hold him down for her to cut his hair. She couldn't even finish his haircut because he would not stop.

Yesterday Philip stopped by my work to eat lunch with me and I told him I wanted a new camera. I have wanted a SLP camera for a long time. Especially now that we have a little one. Philip was giving me a hard time saying that I didn't need one...blah...blah...blah. Lastnight when we both got home from work we decided to go out to eat. Philip told me to grab his work jacket out of the truck. I went in the truck and grabbed his jacket and guess what was underneath it?? A new Sony SLP camera. He really suprised me on this one. I didn't see that coming. What a good hubby. I taken probably 40 pictures in 24 hours. I will post some of them soon. Still trying to figure out the camera.

Devin is getting another tooth. He is cutting his canine on the top right. He has not been real cranky. He just drools a lot and chews on his fingers constantly. Every once and a while he will have a day where you can tell they are really bothering him. However, for the most part he is a real trooper.

Last weekend I decided to take Devin to Grandma's house and we were going to stay the night. That did not work out at all. He was great during the day but when it came time to sleep we had problems. Devin is so used to being at home, in his own bed. I took his pack and play and when it came time to put him down to sleep he cried and screamed. He was ok if I put him on the bed with me. As soon as I put him in that pack and play he was not having it. After trying to get him down for over a hour I decided that if I wanted to get any sleep that night the best thing to do was to take him home. So, I scooped him up at 9:30 pm and off we went for an hour car ride home. Of course, as soon as we get in the car he is right to sleep.

This is one of the very few down sides to not taking Devin to daycare. He is not used to being anywhere but his home... He doesn't really get to socialize with other children and he never sleeps anywhere but his own bed. Oh well, he will have plenty of time when he is a little older to do these things. Our daycare situation is only temporary until Brandy goes back to work. Brandy does a great job with Devin. She takes him to a park or playground a few times a week so he can play with other kids. The advantages of having Brandy watch him in our home definetly outweighs these few downsides.

Pictures

Taking a nap in the car... gotta have my blanket

Dad is feeding me my favorite.....banana pudding... yum

Playing at the mall playground

Always more fun to climb up the slide

Hanging out with Daddy

I am not sure what to think of my new swing?