I can't believe that Matthew is getting so big. He is growing SOOOO fast! Today I put him in a 3/6month outfit and it fit him really good! The outfit also fit the weather today! BRRRRR!!!

Our poor little Matthew is getting his first cold. He has been crabby the last couple days and then yesterday he was sneezing a lot and started to get the rattle noise in his nose. Hopefully it doesn't last long.

Yesterday, we spent the whole day together as a family. It was so much fun! We just relaxed all day. It felt good after 4 days of Christmas parties and celebrating even though all our parties were lots of fun.

Another Christmas Celebration

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

The above picture is of Joanna's family!

Our cute family of 3!!!!!!!!!!!!

We celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family today at my aunt and uncle's house in Crosby. Matthew was passed around a bit. We had a great time and had lots of food to eat. A few of my cousins were there that I have not seen in awhile. My one cousin has a one year old girl and this was the first time we have seen her except in pictures. She is adorable and she just wanted to touch Matthew all over. Matthew cooed and tried so hard to talk to her too.

It did take us a bit longer to get home then usual because of the horrible roads! We are glad that we do not have to go anywhere tomorrow! We are having another Christmas celebration tomorrow but it is at our house. So tomorrow I am going to be very busy cleaning and getting everything ready! Hopefully Matthew can get back to his schedule tomorrow.

On Sunday, we are going to relax and spend some quality family time together.

Have a wonderful day!!!!!

Matthew's Presents

Matthew's Presents from Santa

What a wonderful Christmas it is! We had lots of fun opening presents. Oh course, Santa brought lots of noisy presents! Our BEST present of all was Matthew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matthew's First Christmas

MATTHEW'S FIRST CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to our wonderful family and all of our friends! Our little Santa "Matthew" is so adorable! We are excited to celebrate our first Christmas as a family of three!

PS Happy Birthday Grandma Lucy! We love you!

Feet

Look at Matthew's cute little feet that are so soft and so very ticklish! After he gets a bath, he loves when I massage lotion on his feet.

Matthew as Baby Jesus

He started to get a little upset at the end!

Matthew was a great baby Jesus!

Yesterday we went to visit Scott's godmother, Lori and her husband Kenn. We had a wonderful visit and the time just fly by when we were there. Lori and Kenn had a great time spoiling Matthew. Matthew was in a good mood and he talked and squealed a lot for them. Thanks Lori and Kenn for a wonderful visit!

Matthew is portraying baby Jesus in a nativity tonight. It was supposed to be outside with real animals but because of the weather we are having it indoors without the animals. I will take lots of pictures and will post them on the site tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! Stay Warm!!!!!!!

Daddy's Boy

Matthew sure is a daddy's boy. He is so happy and smiley when Scott gets home from work. Matthew even likes to listen to Scott on the speaker phone. When Scott is talking to him on the phone he studies the phone and almost always smiles.

Matthew must not have been feeling well yesterday in the late afternoon/evening or maybe was teething. He was fussy and spit up almost everything every time that he ate (or he would just chew on the nipple and let the formula run out of his mouth). He did good last night about midnight when he finally wanted to eat. He only spit up a small amount. He seems to be feeling better today!

He has discovered his hands! He always wants his hands on his bottle and will push it out of his mouth and then gets mad because it's not there.

He is so funny when he is waking up. When he first starts to wake up he is grumpy and squirms everywhere but once you put him on the changing table he instantly gives us a smile.

Pictures

Matthew is so adorable! I just love taking pictures of him!

We are just so excited about Matthew sleeping at night. He has actually put himself on somewhat of a schedule. He usually always wants to nap at 9 am and then again between 12 and 1pm. He usally gets crabby around 7:30pm and wants to eat and go to sleep.

Bath Pictures

Another great night!!!!! We went to bed about 10:30pm last night and Matthew slept until 5:00am this morning. I did have to give him his nuk a couple of times and turn his heating pad on because he was cold.

Sleep is getting better around here. The last 2 nights, Matthew has beening sleeping very good. On Saturday night, he went to bed about 9:00pm and slept until 3:45am and that was in his bassinet, and last night, every time we tried putting him in the bassinet he woke up so Scott slept with him on the couch. We fell asleep on the couch about 9:30pm. I woke up about 1:00am and went to bed but Matthew didn't wake up until 5:00 am. We will see how he sleeps tonight.

Cousin Love

Last night, our niece, Emma, stayed overnight with us. She is 3 years old and she is really smart. Last night, Matthew was in his bouncy chair which was on the table and he started to cry. I was in the other room so Emma told me that she would give Matthew his nuk. I said that was fine, but I didn't realize that she had to get on the table to do it. She then said Auntie, he is smiling at me. When I came into the dining room, I found her on the table sitting next to Matthew and he is smiling and talking/cooing away to her. She was pretty proud that she got Matthew to smile.

Tonight was a fun evening. We had Matthew's birthmother and her family over for dinner. We had a great conversation over dinner. Birthmother's sisters love to talk!! Matthew did get a little grumpy when they were here but I think that he was really tired. He fell right to sleep after they left. Scott and Matthew are sleeping peacefully on the couch now.

Matthew is getting so big! He is starting to chew on everything and drool lots. We have this John Deere teether that is shaped like a corn on the cob and vibrates when he chews on it. He loves it!!!!

Matthew is 3 months old today! It is so hard to believe. Yesterday, we seen a one week old baby that was the same size as Matthew when he was born. It was hard to believe that Matthew had been that small. Matthew is drooling a lot today (Hope that doesn't mean what I think it means)!

Santa at Grand Casino Mille Lacs

We went to Grand Casino Mille Lacs today to have lunch with Grandma Lucy for her Christmas party. The party was in the event center. There was LOTS of food! Santa was there too! My mom (Grandma Lucy) wanted a picture of both of her grandsons with Santa. Matthew did great but my nephew Austin freaked out! My mom had to sit with him and every time he looked at Santa he screamed harder.

Last night was a wonderful evening. We had Matthew's birthfather and his family over for dinner. We had a great visit and they just couldn't believe how much Matthew has grown and how much he loves to talk. They bought Matthew a very cute Winnie the Pooh jammie set and chocolates for us.
Scott and I have learned that if we want to eat supper together that Matthew has to lay on a blanket on the table in between us. He is almost always happy that way. Whatever works, RIGHT?

Did anyone hear Matthew's name on the radio this morning? Scott and I made a pledge in his honor to the 15th Annual Radioathon to Prevent Child Abuse and we challenged all other adoptive parents. Every hour the local radio stations play this song that is sung by a little girl praying to Jesus about being abused. Every time I hear the song it makes me cry. I just don't understand how parents can abuse their precious children.

Have a great day!

Cute Baby

Our cute and happy baby. We are so proud!!!!!!!!!!

Matthew loves to be on his changing table. We get the most smiles and that is where he loves to talk the most. I think it is that he likes to be on his back except at night when he sleeps on us.

It sure takes a lot longer to get things done when there is a little one present. I still don't have all our Christmas decorations up yet. I have to finish by Friday because we are having dinner guests.

Matthew is going to be baby Jesus at the live nativity that we are having at our church on the 21st of Dec. after our children's Christmas program. I am really excited. I will be sure to post a picture.

Matthew is a wonderful baby even though he still does not want to sleep at night. We finally figured it out. He sleeps good from 8 pm until 12:30 sometimes we can hold him off until 1:30 in his bassinet. After that feeding, we just sleep on the couch and we can maybe get 3 to 4 more hours. I think that he is going through a growth spurt because he is starting to want 5 oz at a time. Last couple days he has been spitting up a little bit more than he has in the last few weeks.

Hope everyone has a great evening!!

Thanksgiving Pictures

Our happy baby on Thanksgiving! He has been so happy the last few days. Well he has always been a happy baby but he has been cooing and smiling a lot lately. We have been blessed with a wonderful baby! There are not words to express to Matthew's birthparents what a wonderful gift that they have given us.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

It's Matthew's 1st Thanksgiving. We are so very thankful for Matthew's birthparents and the difficult decision that they made. Oh the holidays! We are SO excited especially for Christmas. I put up our Christmas tree this past week and have the house almost all decorated. I will finish this weekend so that I can get the house cleaned up. We can sure tell it is the holiday season. Next week and most of December is a very busy time for us.

Matthew slept really good last night. We had to pick up a few things in town last night and he fell asleep while we were shopping about 8:30 and when we got home we just left him in his car seat and he slept until 2:30 this morning. After he ate he went back to sleep for a couple hours but then woke up fussing a little but Scott brought him out to the couch to sleep and he slept for another hour and a half. Maybe he is finally getting his days and nights figured out or maybe it is the new formula.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time Flies

This week has just flown by. So has this year. I can't believe it is already Thanksgiving next week. We have alot to be thankful this year. We can't THANK Matthew's birthparents enough for the wonderful and precious gift of life that they have given to us. Matthew's first Thanksgiving-we are SO excited about the holidays. This is the best holiday season I have had in the last eight years. When we were struggling with infertility I hated the holidays. I bought Matthew's first Christmas present last night. I also found LOTS more that I want to buy for him. I AM SO EXCITED! December will be a busy month for us. We are excited to include Matthew's birthparents in our celebration this year. We already have a dinner scheduled with Matthew's birthfather and his family. I still have to make arrangements with Matthew's birthmother and her family for dinner.

Matthew is doing awesome on his new formula. Some spit up but nothing like it was before. He usually only spits up if he drinks it to fast. We are pleased with this formula even though it costs a bit more. It only comes in liquid form so I make up the bottles the night before so all we do is pull them out of the fridge and warm them up slightly. We found out last night when we went out to eat that he does not like cold formula. He made some funny faces and would not drink it.

Matthew is so funny and he knows just how to get his way. Last night, Scott fed him about 10 but we didn't go to bed until 11 because we finished watching a movie. When we decided to go to bed, Scott went to put him in the bassinet and he instantly woke up. Scott laid him on our bed and we both heard him laugh (I guess he knows how to get his way already!!!!). We both thought it was so funny. Well Scott ended up sleeping with him on the couch. They went to sleep about 11:30 and Matthew didn't get up until 4:30 this morning. YEAH!!!!! He sure was hungry! Hopefully he sleeps good again tonight. He probably will because it is Scott's turn to get up. He only likes to stay up all night when it is my turn. HAHAHA!!!!!

Family Picture

This is our second family photo. This was taken the same time as his baptismal pictures. Our first family photo was taken when Matthew was only 2 days old. It was taken on the last day of pictures for our church directory by Olan Mills.

Hi Everyone. Just wanted to share a picture that we had taken at Sears. This photo is Matthew in his baptismal outfit and in the background is the blanket that his Grandma Sue made for him. It has his name, baptismal date and a bible verse on it.

Cousins

We had a great day today. It was the best Saturday!! We got to stay home all day and Matthew actually let me get some work done around the house which does not happen very often. The new formula that the doctor wants us to try seems to be helping. Matthew was really haming it up today and I actually got a few pictures of him smiling. I would have had more but I had the camera set on the wrong setting. This evening, we got to meet Scott's cousin's baby who is 20 days younger than Matthew but he is bigger that Matthew. It is amazing how the 2 of them look so much alike. Just to clarify-Matthew is on the left and Liam is on the right.

We have had a busy day today. Matthew went in for his 2 month check up today. He weighs 10lbs 9 oz and is 21 1/2" long. The doctor wants us to try a new formula to see if Matthew will spit up less. The doctor gave us a couple of samples of Similac Sensitive RS to try. The first was fine and NO spit up, which is good. Matthew also got some shots today:( I couldn't handle it when he started crying so hard after the first one that I broke down and cried with him. Scott said that he started to tear up too when he seen me crying. Matthew's poor little legs are a little swollen but they don't seem to bother him anymore.
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We also met with our social worker, Michele, today to get started with our papers for finalization. We will be able to finalize anytime after December 10. Matthew has to be in our home for 3 months before we can finalize.

Scott and I have also came to the conclusion that Matthew sleeps alot better at night if he is sleeping on one of us while we are on the couch or recliner. He will sleep anywhere from 2 hours to 5 hours if he sleeps on us. He can be sleeping really hard but the minute we put him in the bassinet or the swing, he wakes up and it is hard to get him back to sleep.

Pictures

Just wanted to share some pictures with everyone. He got this tummy time mat at one of his baby showers. We finally got around to taking some pictures of his Halloween costumes tonight. I know that I am very slow!!!! On Halloween he was the pea pod because I always call him my sweet pea. The pumpkin costume was from one of his aunts so I wanted to take pictures of him in it before he grew out of it. The pumpkin in the Halloween pictures was grown on his great uncle's farm.

It is hard to believe that Matthew was 2 months old on Saturday. He is just growing so fast. He loves to smile and he tries so hard to talk. His coos and all the sounds that he is trying to make are great. I am trying to get a recording of him cooing but when I hold up the camera he stops just like smiles. Most of the smiles that we get are taken with our cell phones.

Our Adoption Story

We started the process of adoption in May of 2007 with Lutheran Social Service of MN(LSS). We entered their infant/open program, which we created a profile of ourselves and that profile is entered into the Waiting Family Books. These books are looked at by birthparent(s) in order for them to select families that they want to meet. We had several birthparent(s) look at our profile and take copies but nothing seemed to be happening. During our wait, we told our families and friends about our adoption process. On July 16th, 2008, a friend of ours from our church called and asked if she could give someone our names and number. Of course I said YES! I also dropped off a profile to her so that she could give it to them. On July 18th, we got the call that the birthmom and her mom had liked what they had heard and read about us and that they wanted us to be the baby's parents. The baby's due date was October 1st. We were very EXCITED! We had the birthmom and some of her family over for dinner that night. I made lasagna, which come to find out is the birthmother's favorite meal. We spent several hours getting to know them. When they left about midnight, Scott and I looked at each other and said that this feels so right and that they felt like family already. During the evening, the birthmom told us all about the birthfather and she said that he didn't want anything to do with the situation (WHICH we later found out NOT to be TRUE). Birthmom wanted us to be involved with the pregnancy so we were able to go to ultrasounds, doctor visits and even be in the delivery room. We tried to get together with birthmom as least once a week to get to know her. During one of the visits she said that she got some papers in the mail from birthfather. The papers were from the Father's Adoption Registry, which means that the birthfather WANTED to be involved in the process. After our birthmom met with the birthparent social worker from LSS, the social worker was then able to call the birthfather to set up a meeting for us to meet him. But before the social worker was able to schedule the meeting we found out that Scott's sister, Kyra and the birthfather's aunt were friends, which made us a little nervous to meet the birthfather. Well we had our first meeting with him and his mom and everything went GREAT! The following week we had them over so that we could do a cooperative agreement and they could see our house and to get to know us better. We were able to share with the birthfather and his mom the ultrasound pictures that we had and they were greatful that they were able to see them. Then on September 8 at 6:45am while I was on my way to work, the birthmom's mother called and said that birthmom was at a friend's house and was being taken to Lakewood Health System in Staples to be checked because she was having contractions. I told her that I had to make some calls but we would be there as soon as we could. I made some calls and then picked up Scott from the job that he was working at. We quickly stopped at home so Scott could get a change of clothes. We got to the hospital at 7:45am and the birthmom was dilated to a tight 3cm. When the on-call doctor came in to check her at 8:45, the birthmom was going to ask if she could go to Brainerd to delivery but the doctor wanted to check her first. At which time she was dilated to 5cm and the doctor told her that she had to stay. The crazy thing is that the on-call doctor was the doctor that we had used for our infertility. Our son, Matthew was born at 1:18p.m. Being able to be in the delivery room was the most emotional experience that we have ever experienced. Throughout the hospital stay (the hospital gave us our own room at no charge because they had never had adoptive parents stay there before), we spent time in both our room and our birthmom's room and we all had LOTS of company. When Matthew and birthmom were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, it was so hard on all of us. I cried all the way home. I am not sure if I was crying for the birthmom or if I was crying for how happy we were. We have had several visits with the birthmom and birthfather since Matthew's birth. We even got pictures of both of them with us at Matthew's baptism. We never really realized what type of a relationship we would have with a birthmother/birthfather. It is amazing how both the birthmom and birthfather and their families feel like they were meant to be a part of our lives.

Smiley

Here a picture that Scott took of Matthew at 4:00 am this morning. This is how he is almost every night, but usually it starts at 2am. If Scott is sleeping on the couch with him, he sleeps great. On Thursday night, Matthew slept on Scott for 5 hours the first time and 4 hours the second time but last night, Scott decided to sleep in bed but Matthew had other ideas. Scott finally brought the swing into our bedroom and that is where Matthew slept for a short time (about 1 1/2 hours).

Pictures

Sleepless Nights

We can't remember our life without Matthew. Matthew has been a wonderful addition to our family. Even our cat has adjusted well, which is surprising (for those of you who know our cat, Sophie). The one thing that is hard to adjust to is the sleepless nights. Matthew thinks that it is playtime at 1 or 2 in the morning. Last night during his 1 am feeding, he was smiling and trying to talk. That was already the third time this week. The worst night was Sunday into Monday. He ate about 11 pm Sunday night and went to sleep at 12:30 am but was up at 1:30 am and decided not to go back to sleep until 6:30 am. Scott and I work well together with sharing the overnight feedings. We are excited to share with all of you the fun and trying times of parenthood.

Introducing the Buresh Family

Introducing the Buresh Family-Scott, Joanna & Matthew. Let me start out telling a little bit of how our family was created. Scott and I started dating while still in high school in 1994. We were married on Sept 12, 1998. We struggled with infertility for almost 8 years. God had a plan for us to adopt. We were selected as adoptive parents in July 2008. Our son, Matthew, was born on September 8, 2008 at 1:18pm. He weighed 5lbs 14oz and was 20" long. We are creating this site so that our families and Matthew's birthparents and their families can see the exciting and wonderful changes and events that are happening with our family.