trying to keep my head above water over here :)
i'm about 3 steps behind on christmas. not too bad. trying really hard to take things slow and set small goals for myself everyday.

it's just really hard to add christmas chaos to an already overloaded mom's workload.

my house is disgusting, my van smells like a dirty diaper, i have a pile of christmas cards waiting to be addressed, i have a tree up with no ornaments (probably gonna stay that way), 13 gifts left to buy, about 25 gifts yet to wrap, 3 christmas songs that need practicing before 2 christmas events, and nowhere to hang stockings (oh stockings- add 'buy stocking for neiko' to the ever growing to do list.)
and also a little boy who has turned from 'good neiko' to 'be as bad as i can possibly be neiko.'

not quite sure what brought this on-
maybe an extra christmas busy mom
maybe the new babysitting job (same baby, 2 hours every afternoon)
maybe the after school gymnastics/vaulting change in our routine
maybe dad working more on the house lately
maybe all of the above....

i love him so much, but when he gets in these days long funks he is a FULL TIME JOB. every minute. and unfortunately i have 2 other full time jobs.....

better to just dwell on the progress, right?
and there is progress!
dave and i should have our own shower sometime in the next 2 weeks! YES!!!
my bathtub is officially functional!!
not counting today, no one peed their pants or in their bed for about 4 days!
tekoa and i have a 'cry in the morning, take a nap in the afternoon' system that is working beautifully!!!
ty and shaeya are busy working hard for me and behaving perfectly to earn "christmas points" that actually have no bearing on the quantity or quality of their gifts. they think it does and that's all that matters....(do not make me feel guilty about this, ok?)
and finally.... ADOPTION PROGRESS!!!!!
yes!!
over the weekend dave and i signed on with a lawyer in phoenix who is now working with neiko's birth mom to get her caught up with arizona laws and ready for termination of rights.
the next step for us is to travel with neiko to phoenix for a court hearing. this will be to terminate mom's rights and to grant us full custody. we have to stay there until paperwork goes through (maybe a week or so??) and then we come back and adopt from illinois. we are told we should be able to adopt him maybe 6-8 weeks after we get back.
so here we go......
please keep us in your prayers!!