Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc.

I posted the pictures in a separate post because I have not quite mastered the art of pictures and words without getting it all wonky. So to save my sanity and actually get this posted in a timely manner it is sans pics.

Christmas was absolutely amazing at our house. Mackenzie spent the day opening (and then playing with) Avery's presents and Avery spent her time trying to eat paper...which isn't abnormal since she has reached the stage where everything goes into her mouth! I had a moment at Christmas Eve service where her adoption really sunk in for me. I realized that Avery was seeing for the first time what she would see every Christmas for the next 18-ish years of her life, surrounded by her family, singing songs of worship and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Yeah, it got me.

New Years Eve was relatively quiet. We hung out at the house with our friends and put the girls to bed relatively early. New Years Day was even quieter. It's tough to believe that it is 2012 already!!! 2011 was a pretty awesome year and I pray that 2012 lives up to it :@)

Speaking of awesome things, if you look to the right you will notice that one of our little tickers has been updated. We got the phone call just before Christmas that we had gotten one of the grants that we applied for making our adoption fully funded!! God is Good!! When we started this process we had absolutely no idea where that money would come from but God had it all planned out. He called us to adopt and we listened. Looking back I can see His hand in every step of our process and it is amazing. So, reading that you may assume that our fundraising is done, but that would be wrong. We feel that God is calling us to continue raising funds to help others that are also called to adopt. We are still working out the details on the who and the when, but look for info soon on the Second Annual Pighetti Dinner and Silent Auction probably in April.

I'm still working on my resolutions but when they are ready I promise to share them here. Speaking of things I'm still working on, our Christmas cards is on that list as well. I bought them, but have yet to address them...or write them out...or take them out of the bag that I brought them home in... Oh well, better luck next year I guess, or maybe I'll send them out by February :@)

Post again soon!
~Jeny

Picture Post!!

Avery's Birthmom...

We met with Avery's birthmom this weekend. It was our first time seeing her since the day we brought Avery home. It felt a little shy at first, but we all warmed up quickly. It was so great to see her and to see her with Avery. We got to spend almost 2 hours with her just hanging out and catching up. I've been emailing with her and sending pictures when I have new ones, but it was really great to see her in person and watch her with Avery. I'm looking forward to watching this relationship grow :@)

I had 2 parenting firsts last night...first off I officiated my very first dolphin/whale wedding. Yep, Winter the dolphin and Shamu the whale tied the knot in a quiet ceremony in our living room...complete with stuffed wedding cake and paper sprinkles. I've been told that I performed weddings when I was Mackenzie's age also so it's easy to see where she gets it from :@)

The other first was that I had to google Mackenzie's homework to make sure it was correct...It was a truly humbling experience.

"Mommy, what's a rhombus??"
"Ummm.....a shape?"
"What kind of shape??"
"Ummm....where's my phone???"

Hopefully she got it right....not looking forward to first grade...

Post again soon!
~Jeny

Picture Post!!

Here are some recent pics...enjoy!!!

Forever Family!

As of 9am this morning, Avery is officially ours forever!! It was way quicker that I imagined. Our lawyer asked us a few questions, the judge signed some papers and we were done. Knowing my personality, I figured that I would cry at some point, but there just wasn’t any time! We were in and out in less than 10 minutes. I’m still trying to put into words exactly how I feel, but words are eluding me today.

In other news, Christmas has arrived at our house. We decorated and put up the tree Thanksgiving weekend…in addition to rearranging most of our house. The tree is amazing this year, way to go DJ!! Avery’s room is finally done also and she has actually slept in it a couple times. One of those times she even slept through the night!!! Woohoo!!!

Sorry this is so short, Pictures to follow!

Post again soon!!
~Jeny

Two Months!!

Well, we made it to two months old already!!! Hard to believe, but the time has just flown by! It's overwhelming just how much she has changed in that short amount of time. She had her first set of shots and was a very cranky baby that night :@( Aside from that night, she is a very happy baby. She has a smile that lights up her whole face and melts your heart :@) She's starting to coo and make silly little noises. She likes hearing her name and loves her sissy. If she hears Mackenzie in the room, she will literally bend over backwards to see her. It's amazing to see the two of them together - just so sweet!!

I'm happy to announce that she is sleeping through the night!!! Woohoo!!! The first time she did that I woke up feeling like a brand new person. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! She started just in time for mommy to go back to work :@( I went back this past Wednesday and leaving her that first day was rough. The next day was better though. It was much easier to adjust to having her in school than it was with Mackenzie. It helped that the ladies at her school were so excited to finally get their hands on her. She's at the same school Mackenzie was at for VPK and is at for after-school care so she is able to pop in and "check-up" on her. Avery's first day wore her out!!! She didn't nap too much that day, and came home and slept 4 1/2 hours straight! She's adjusting a little better, but still just cat-naps through the day, she's entirely too nosy to let activity go on around her!! (She gets that from her sissy!)

The week before I went back to work we got some time with my mom. I'd like to post some pictures of Nana with her granddaughters, but I realized that over the whole week we didn't get a single picture (except for those couple silly ones on my cell phone that I would be dis-owned for posting :@) Oh well, we are heading up that way next week so I will make sure to take plenty of pictures then.

This past weekend Mackenzie had her very first ice skating competition. She did great and I am so proud of her!! She had two events, stroking (literally just skating around the rink) and compulsory. For the compulsory event they had a little routine that they practiced that was adorable. I am most proud of the fact that even though she admitted later that she was a little scared that she still held her head up high and brought home the gold! It was also a great teaching moment afterward to remind her that when we are scared, God is there to give us strength. I am amazed at how quickly she is growing up and what a wonderful little girl she is growing up to be. Today she asked me "Mommy, so how is work going?" It was the grown up way that she asked it that just floored me and brought a little tear to my eye.

Here are some updated pictures of my little princesses :@)

At Seaworld with Shamu!

Love my girls!

Happy the class pet got to go ice skating with us!

Seriously, it doesn't get any cuter than that!!

Post again soon,
~Jeny

So we have been down and out with a nasty cold for the last week. Avery got it first, poor girl, and then was kind enough to share it with mommy. So far only the two of us have had it and I have my fingers crossed that it will stay that way. We are both on the mend just in time for some fabulous "fall" weather here in central Florida. It's been the kind of days that remind me just why I endure the nasty muggy summers.

Avery is growing well. It's hard to believe that she is 6 weeks old today. She is spending lots of time awake now and smiles at us a couple times a day now. We're getting better with our nights now. The last week was rough because of her cold. We had a few days where we got very little sleep because every time we would lay her down she would start coughing and wake herself up. You could tell the first day she truly felt better because she slept pretty much the entire day waking up only to eat. So glad she is finally better though :@)

Her room is starting to come together. We have taped it off and have bought the paint. Hopefully we will get to paint it this week and then we can finish putting the room together. We are doing purple on the top, brown on the bottom and a lime-green chair rail. Her nursery set is elephants. Here is the link for it:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11632544&fromRegistryNumber=47064006&product_skn=773823

In other news, we have our "Match Meeting" on Friday for the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program for our mentoring through the Beta Center. So excited to be starting it finally! We hung out with the girls there yesterday. It's amazing to think that the last time we were there Avery had JUST been born and we didn't even know she existed yet. The girls loved her!! They were really excited for us and that means the world to me. It's been great getting to know all of them and spending time with them.

Well, that's about all I've got for now.

Post again soon!
~Jeny