Two years ago...

Wow, I can't believe it has been 2 years since we made that crazy trip from Guatemala to Atlanta, pit stop in Birmingham, then HOME with our beautiful girls. It has been a whirlwind. Our girls are so big. Fernanda is 4 years-5 months and Rosa is 2 years-10 months and Lily is 11 1/2 months old. What a blessing the last 2 years have been, overwhelming at times, but a blessing for sure.


Fern just started her 2nd year of Mother's Day Out/Pre-K and dance. She is an entertainer. She LOVES to dance, sing, play dress up, watch TV, dance, be a big sister, play with her babies, play games, color/draw, did I mention dance? She is such a joy. She is hardheaded, asks a million questions a day, loves talking about her birthday. The first thing she does every morning when she gets up is put on her tutu, crown and princess shoes, I think she really believes she is a princess, and she is! She tells me that she is going to go to Heaven with Jesus and wants all her family and friends to go with her. Anytime she or someone is sick or hurt, she wants to pray for them and always wants to be the one to say the blessing. She is so smart and says the funniest things, and she knows it. She knows everyone thinks she's cute and boy is she a ham! She can pose for pictures like a superstar! I am so thankful we have had a healthy year, I don't think she has been sick once this year. Fern has the BEST smile! I can't believe that she is so big!


Rosa just started her 2nd year of Mother's Day Out and her 1st year of dance. She is so funny and such a sweet girl. Rosa knows all her colors and can recognize a few letters. She loves to play with her sisters. She is always correcting my misspeaks, like if I call her the wrong name, she says, "I'm Rosa". Rosa is definitely a momma's girl, but loves her Papi so much and asks me every day where he is. She is mostly potty trained and is so proud of herself. Rosa will be having her tonsils and adenoids removed next month to help with sleep apnea, otherwise she has been healthy this year, only 1 ear infection. She has gone from being shy and quiet to talking to everyone. When we went to Disney World in May, she overcame her fear of the characters. She is such a big girl and tells me everyday she loves me the big whole world! She has picked up Fern's love of all ting birthday and tells me EVERYDAY, "my birtday coming up today, I want to have pumpkin patch for my birtday". How is it possible that she is almost 3?


Lily is my sweet baby! I cannot believe that in just 2 weeks we will be celebrating her 1st birthday! She is on the verge of walking. She has been standing for a few weeks now but just hasn't gotten brave enough to take that step. She now has 2 teeth all the way in and 1 more up top that has broken through the gum. She is a great eater, will eat almost anything. She says momma, but not necessarily directed at me, just out of frustration or exhaustion. She crawls everywhere and chases after her big sisters. If we leave her in a room, it's not long before she has caught up with us. She still has her paci and her "lovie", can't go to sleep without them. She sleeps through the night, only wakes to get her paci back in her mouth. I can see we are gonna have a time taking that away. She loves her sisters, gets so excited when she sees them. Lily lights up when her Papi walks into the room. She plays pat-a-cake and will "bonk heads" which is one of the first things I remember Rosa doing at this age. I have been trying to teach her a little sign language and I think she actually did the sign to eat yesterday. Lily is such a joy, almost make us want to have another, but I think we'll wait a while!

It has been a busy year, we went to Disney World in May and then to Gatlinburg in July/August. Here are a couple of pics from both trips. I love all my girls, am so thankful for them and can't wait to see what this next year has in store!

Yes, we're still alive

I am soooooo bad at keeping t his up, sorry. I think most of the readers are on Facebook anyway and I at least update there a little. Life is crazy, hectic. Lily is wonderful and we are enjoying her so much. Fernanda and Rosa are both such great big sisters. They love their baby so much and want to hold her and help feed her. We have had a few struggles with Lily in her short life. She was born with a Syrinx, so we are having to have that monitored yearly by a neurosurgeon, but weems to be ok for now so no worries. A few weeks after she was born, she developed a hemangioma on her back, actually right across the syrinx (although not related to it) so we will take her to a dermatologist in Dec just to have it checked out. And at one of her appointments, they thougth they heard a heart murmur so we visited a cardiologist, but all is well with that. Man little girl, you sure know how to make mommy and daddy worry!
We have also had a little trouble getting her weight up so we are feeding every 2 hours for now until she puts on the lbs...
Fern and Rosa have been troopers and have adjusted well to having a baby in the house. They love that all the grandparents have been coming over ALOT!
We sold our house and bought another one so we are moving next week!!! We are so excited but a little frazzled with everything going on. I told Bill that my New Year's Resolution is to do NOTHING- no adopting, getting pregnant, having a baby, moving, no getting sick or having surgeries (I hope), NOTHING!!! I just want us to relax and enjoy our new house with our family.
We had new family pictures taken a few weeks ago so I'll leave you with them...
And if I don't blog again before Thanksgiving (which is likely) Happy Thanksgiving, we are so thankful this year!

Meet Lily Anne...

Our beautiful daughter arrived at 7:14pm this evening. After arriving at the hospital at 5am to be induced, I never dilated past 3cm after 12 hours so Dr. Cimino decided to deliver her via C-section.
He came in to check me at 6:36pm and she was born by 7:14pm, it all happened so fast.
Lily weighed 6lbs, 15oz, and was 19.5 in long. She has a head full of wavy brownish blond hair. She has already captured our hearts.
After cleaning her up, mommy got to give her a quick kiss and then she and daddy were whisked away to the nursery for her checkups and a real bath.
Mommy got to finally hold her at about 10pm.
I can't believe that she is ours. She is a perfect blend of both of us. I can't wait to see what her eye color will be, but for now they are blue. She has long feet and fingers, not sure where she got those...
Here are a few pictures of the day & night.

Mom waiting on something to happen...


Dad getting ready!


Mom, waiting to hear Lily cry.


She's here!


Our first photo with her.


The grandparents are just a little excited, don't you think?


Mom finally gets to hold her!

One more update before the BIG day!

I had another doctor's appt Thursday and he said that Lily is ready to go and he will induce me on Tuesday morning! I can't believe that it is finally here. The first half of the pregnancy went really slow and then it sped up, now it seems like it is dragging again. So unless she decides she is ready before then, we will meet our daughter sometime on Tuesday. Until then...

quick update

tomorrow is the big day, we will find out if Lily is still breech (which I am pretty sure she is) and what day we will finally hold her in our arms.

Here is a picture of Fern on her first day of MDO. It was pouring rain and I had to get her and Rosa out of the car and into school so I don't have a picture of her in her classroom that day.



But, here is a picture of her with her teacher at the Open House.



And here is a picture of Fern and two friends on her first night of dance



A few weeks ago Mary Ellen came over and took maternity pictures. Here are a few shots she got that day.





Last week I had two baby showers. One was with friends we go to church with and the other was a group of ladies who also have adopted from Guatemala and a friend from the church we used to attend. Both nights we went to dinner and on Friday night, we also went to a movie. It was so nice to have a girls night out (ok 2 GNOs) with some really great friends!

Crazy Days!

I can't believe that we are about to have a baby! It is exciting and scary all at the same time. My due date is Sep 11th, but we found out last Thursday that our little Lily is head up. I have another appointment tomorrow (37 weeks) to see if she has turned (don't think she has) and if not, we will go ahead and schedule a C-section. That's not really how I imagined this whole thing going down, but I am thankful that there are ways to safely deliver a breech baby and that we know ahead of time she is breech. Our thoughts are that we will schedule the C-section for the first week of Sep, hopefully Sep 4th.
If we didn't have enough on our plate with 2 little ones at home and a baby on the way, Fern started MDO and her dance classes started up again this week. We weren't planning to let her go to dance this fall but she loves it so much we thought it would be a good distraction for her with Lily coming. She is going to MDO on Tuesday and Thursday and dance on Wednesday.
That's what's going on with us, so if you don't hear from me for a while, now you know why... One day I plan to do some type of photo collage of our summer, but who knows when I'll find time.
I will definitely update when Miss Lily Anne arrives!

Last Night of Dance Class and Fountain Fun

Some of Rosa's Talkin'

Rosa's Talkin from Melodie Schroder on Vimeo.

Wow, has it been that long?

Time is FLYING!!! I cannot believe that baby Schroder, who we are pretty sure is going to be Lily, will be here in about 5 weeks. Bill has been so busy with school this summer that we have not had time to do anything to get ready for her so this weekend is it! We had a yard sale this morning to clear out the garage some, made about $100, not much, but hey it paid for the paint we bought for the nursery.
We really thought that we would have sold our house and have moved by the time the baby arrived, but alas, we are still here so we decided to go ahead and get a room ready for her. We are (actually my mom, Bill and Dane) in the process of painting our office Milk Chocolate. We figured it is a good neutral color so it can easily be converted back to an office when we get ready to sell it. We have a baby bed, since Fern has moved to her big girl bed, a changing table and a rocking chair. I think it should be enough for now and hopefully in the next few months we can get our house on the market and find a bigger one for us.

Fern is getting ready to start school (3 days a week at Mother's Day Out) and her dance classes. She loved going to dance so much over the summer that we gave in and are sending her this fall as well. She dances ALL the time- walking across the parking lot, getting ready for bed, in the bath tub, anytime, anyplace. She also loves to sing. She will sing (at the top of her lungs) for hours-just any song she can think of or make up...

Rosa is preparing for her role as a big sister and middle child. She loves babies, we'll see how it goes when she has to share mommy with someone else. She is talking up a storm. She says- thank you, sister, NO, I don't know, outside, book, baby, flower- lots of other things I can't think of right now, but her vocabulary is expanding daily. She is working hard on putting sentences together.

We have some cute pictures I need to post, but have not taken them off the computer yet.
Wednesday I am having maternity pictures taken with the girls, so hopefully I can post those soon.

Hopefully I will get around to posting again before Lily gets here, but we only have 5short weeks, so no promises!

One year already...

I intended to post this on Friday, but we had a full day. Friday, July 3rd marked the one year anniversary of my arriving in Guatemala to be with our girls. It was a bittersweer trip. I was finally with our girls, forever, but I had to be away from my family and friends and everything familiar.
Here are a few pictures of then and now...

Me and Rosa-the day I got to Guatemala, she was 8 months old.



Me and Rosa-one year later, she is 20 months old.



Fern and Shyrel- the day I got her in Guatemala, she was 2 years and 3 months old.



Me and Fern- one year later, she is 3 years and 3 months old.



Me and the girls on July 4th, missing our Papi...



Our whole family, including Baby Schroder on the way.



I can't wait to see what our family looks like in a year from now!

Trying to catch up...

Fern is loving her dance classes. She loves tap, when we got her shoes, she put them on and wanted to wear them for the rest of the night. Here are a few pics from her first night at dance.

What an imagination

For weeks now we have been talking to Fern about the baby in mommy's tummy. I wondered if she really understood and I'm still not sure if she does. Today, however, she brought her baby bottle and blanket over to me and laid the blanket on my stomach and stuck the bottle up to my stomach to feed the baby. It was too cute, she is going to be such a big helper to me when the baby gets here.

A glimpse into the work God is doing in Guatemala

Here is a picture of Bill and a little girl named Gloria. The mission team went to Hermano Pedro, a hospital for the handicapped and disabled. Most of the patients there lay in cage like beds all day. This day, Bill got to hold this little girl. It was a very moving experience for him. Here are his word "I don't really have the words to express how thankful I am to God for allowing me to experience this. I was not looking forward to this part of the trip having foreknowledge of this place, but my time with little Gloria has blessed me beyond belief."

I am so thankful to have a husband with such compassion for others. He has such a huge heart, always wanting to help others. I often find myself discouraging this, feeling like his family deserves his time. I am thankful I serve a God who speaks louder than me and puts me in my place. I am thankful for a husband who listens to God. We are so blessed!

Please continue to pray for the team as they minister to the "least of these" in Guatemala. Bill, I love you and am so proud to call you my husband. Thank you for loving the people of Guatemala, you are setting an amazing example for our girls and I pray their heart for their country will one day be as big as yours.

It's just me and the girls

As I type, Bill is boarding a plane to Guatemala for a 10 day mission trip with 26 others from our church/the Madison area. Please pray for safe travels, good health, opportunities to minister to the people of Guatemala, and their safety in general.

One of the ministries they will be working with is Amor del Nino, which is the children's home Fernanda was in. I am so excited for the opportunity to give back to this amazing ministry, as Bill and I are forever grateful for the care and love they gave Fernanda. She is such a well-adjusted little girl and I owe that to the care she received from Steve and Shyrel and the nannies.

Please pray for us as we wait for him to come home, it will be a long 10 days, but I am trying to plan things for us to do each day so we don't go crazy. Fern starts dance classes on Monday so that gives us something to look forward to.

Pictures only

Me and the girls after dinner at Rosie's



Bill and the girls looking at some cows, they came right up to the fence.



Rosa being silly after bath time.



Rosa's attempt at hiding her broccoli




Belly pics, whose tummy is bigger?



Rosa wants in on the action.

no pics this time

I know most of you wanna see pics of the girls when I update, but I don't have any tonight. Just wanted to share a few things the girls are doing these days.

Fern: She loves to dance and sing. She is such a happy little girl and wants to play ALL the time. She has apparently watched a little too much Dancing with the Stars because her dancing looks a little ballroom-ish, it is too funny. I will have to get some video of it to post. We have signed her up to take dance this summer, that should be funny. She is so smart and every time we get in the car she asks where we're going and if I am on the phone she wants to know "who is it?" If she asks to do something or go somewhere, and I say later, she tomorrow? She is such a good mommy to her babies and makes sure they are well fed and get enough sleep and lets me know that I need to be quiet because her baby is sleeping. We are working on learning her colors, I guess she should already know them, but for some reason, she just hasn't gotten it yet. She does know that the paint on her toenails is orange. I guess I will have to paint them a different color each week and maybe she will learn her colors that way. When I ask her what she wants to eat, she says chicken minis at chick-fil-a, a girl after my own heart! She is being kinder and kinder to her sister everyday and sometimes I even see her give Rosa a kiss for no reason. I think that now that Rosa is getting bigger, she can actually play with her so she's not so much of a pest. I am so thankful for the events that led us to her and thank God for entrusting her with us. We will be forever grateful for our beautiful bundle of joy!

Rosa: She gives the best kisses EVER! She loves to say bye and give kisses as she runs off to play. She is getting so big. We moved the high chair out and got her big girl booster seat so now she and Fern sit beside each other at the table. She is a climber. She climbs into her chair and then up on the table before I even realize it. She always wants to play with the big kids. Rosa loves shoes. She has a pair of crocs that someone gave us that are about 2 sizes too big. She puts them on every morning and wears them all day. She loves playing in water. I can't wait till we can take her swimming, I think she will love it. She loves her big sister although she now outweighs Fern. Rosa has quite the vocabulary now, although I am the only one wo can understand it. She does say a very clear NO! Even though I didn't understand why things happened the way they did during our adoption process, I am so thankful that God chose her for our family. She is such a perfect fit. We love our little girl!

Baby Schroder: We have opted to not find out the gender of the baby. We want it to be a surprise. I did, however, dream last night that it is a boy, so we'll see. I can definitely feel the baby moving now and Bill got to feel it the other day too. Most of the movement is at night when I am laying in bed and especially after I have eaten something sweet. My belly must be getting quite big because Fern told me the other day "mommy, your tummy is BIG". I told her it is because the baby is growing bigger in there. I hope she never tells anyone else that their tummy is big or asks if they have a baby in their tummy... I go to the doctor this week for another checkup. I will be 23 weeks on Thursday. We are more than half way, so hard to believe. I know that it won't be long before I am heading to the hospital. We are going to try to take childbirth classes this summer, if we can fit it in with Bill's school schedule.

That's about all that's going on with us. We stopped on the side of the road today to let the girls see some cows and I took a few pictures, but I was really far away so I'm not sure how they will turn out. I will post some if they are any good.

Mother's Day weekend

Just a few photos of our Mother's Day weekend. When I got out of the shower Saturday, the girls greeted me with T-shirts that said I sparkle for mommy, too cute. They both gave me a bag of Wal-Mart brand peanut butter cups, MY FAVORITE, and a card. It was such a special day!

The girls eating breakfast before church on Sunday



Photo from our dedication service, not the best photo of us on stage, maybe we can get a better one to post



Our little family



I told Rosa to go get me a diaper and this is how she came back. I laughed so hard, Fern could not miss out on the fun so she had to go get one too... Notice the pull up on her leg too. She does this over and over all day!