Happy Birthday, Grandma!

My mommy sent you a card but Columbus Day messed it up! (I told her to send the card on Saturday but she forgot.)

The first picture is me when I'm really tickled by something interesting - Mommy making a face, Elmo, etc.

The third picture is how I like to try to undress myself in the morning.

I'm learning to walk.

I went to play at my friend's house today and he had this cool push toy. My friend's mommy took a few videos of me, and in this one I don't fall over!

Also, we got an email from my birthdad today. Isn't that cool?

I'm a Big Cousin!

Up until a few days ago I was the youngest of five cousins. Now I have a baby cousin! I'm a big boy. I can teach my new cousin lots of stuff about being a boy.

My new computer

We both have new computers! Baby's is bilingual, though, so a little more unique than mine. He really loves to open and close it.

This little story has nothing to do with computers, but it is a heartbreaking little story about a boy and a girl. We took Baby to our church's Friday Fun Spot tonight (one Friday a month for $2 childcare) and put him down on the floor. There was a little girl in an exersaucer and Baby pulled up to stand on it and was watching the little girl. Well apparently he looked menacing because she burst into tears. Then he started to cry and looked so forlorn that I started to cry. It was heartwrenching. I thought my baby's feelings were hurt because he was trying to make a friend and she cried. That just breaks my heart. Watch, the two of them will grow up, fall in love, and get married, and I can tell the story about how the three of us cried in the Friday Night "Fun" Spot the first time they met.

Dedication

Our sweet baby was dedicated to the Lord today. That means that we pledged to God that we would pray for Erik and raise him in a Christian home so that when he is old enough he can decide for himself to ask Jesus Christ into his heart as his Lord and Savior.

Mr. Baby was sick with some sort of virus this weekend, so he was a little subdued, but he was an angel. He kicked his legs as Randy held him during the dedication and he grabbed our pastor's tie and microphone as Dr. Bowman held him for the prayer. It was a beautiful ceremony and we feel so blessed to be this kiddo's parents. Praise God!

Tee hee - Paris Hilton is funny.

This girl, I'm telling you, she's enthusiastic.

I admit I am a People Magazine junkie. Well, I don't subsctibe, but I do buy the mag when I travel and check the online site.

Recently Paris Hilton said that Nicole Richie would be "the best mom ever." I thought, huh? Ever? LIke better than any mom that ever was? I knew it was an exaggeration, but it struck me as being very silly. So today I went back to ol' people.com and saw that Ms. Hilton is taking acting classes because, "I'm going to make sure I do the best job ever." Really? Like even a better job than Nicole Richie will do as a mom? How are both these things possible at the same time?

Cute Paris, thanks for the laugh. I was feeling stressed this evening but now I'm just so glad to be me.

Person-first language

I'm into language. It "bug's" me when people misplace "apohstrophe's" when the point is to pluralize the word.(Apostrophes imply posession, otherwise just add the s, man.) I cringe when I hear preposition problems like "Where did you get that at." (Where implies direction/location, you don't need to add the prep.) But the worst of all (yes, I know, don't start a sentence with the words and/but/or, although they can get you very far. (Oh yes, and 'or' and 'far' don't rhyme)), is the lack of person-first language, especially on professional documents.

I was over at Christine's and she posted about a CDC report about the prevalence of autism. You can visit almost-Kansas for that report, because I'm just going to address the lack of person-first language.

"A person with autism," is much better language than "an autistic person." The latter implies that autism is the most salient and important descriptor for that person. A person with autism has much, much more in common with anyone else in the world than he has differences. He was conceived in the same way, he was born, he is a human being with thoughts and feelings, etc. An adult with Down Syndrome has DS. She is not a "Downs adult." It kills me when I hear about a "Downs baby." What is that?

Anyway, just think about this. Mull, stew, ponder, you get the drill. Autism, just for example, means many things. Some people with autism don't communicate verbally, some are articulate. Some people with Down Syndrome get married, some live with their parents. Probably some get married and live with their parents. People without Down Syndrome do that, right? No diff.

We can celebrate our differences without letting them define us. We're all human beings created by God, and what connects us is much bigger than the things that separate us.

Now watch those apostrophes, people, or I'll come after you. Knock, knock - grammar police...

We're helmet-free!

Yesterday we graduated from the cranial reshaping helmet. I was so happy. It really hasn't been a big deal since the first few weeks when it seemed like he'd be in the helmet forever, but it is SO nice to snuggle this guy's bare head. He's gotten a lot of kisses and nuzzles today. Here is a picture of the day he got his helmet off.


We also had a lot of tears today from bonking our head on chairs, the floor, the dresser, etc. I found Baby several times lying on his back crying like he'd lost his best friend. That helmet sure did protect this acive guy's head.

We're really happy with the results. Someone who didn't know that he'd had such bad plagiocephaly/braciocephaly wouldn't be able to tell me looking at him. (Especially wince most people have not idea what those words are.) I'll publish before and after pics soon, but the "before" pictures are on a different computer.

Thanks, Hailey, Dr. Bud and Hanger Orthotics!

Travel adventures.

For the weekend we went to visit my inlaws in the Fort Worth area - a four-hour drive from where we are (another hyphenated word - enough, already). On Thursday night we had dinner at some friends' house and had Baby Man out in the evening, which we try not to do often, but we had fun and he did great.

The next day we hopped in the car - you know, after about one hour of figuring out what to pack for the baby - and set off at his naptime. He did great on the trip up, with a stop at Wendy's on the way for some Cheerios and junk food for us (hey, I had a salad, give me a break).

Without going into all the details, traveling with a 10-month-old baby isn't easy. He did some car naps, extra visiting, slept in a new place, woke up to unfamiliar surroundings, missed his kitties and his toys, woke up in the middle of the night, etc. He probably sat in the car for 9 hours in three days, which isn't fun for anybody. As far as babies go he did great, but it is SO nice to be home.

On our car ride home yesterday we talked about all the things we were going to do today on Labor Day. Now that we're home I just want to sit around, surf, blog, and watch TV. I did make some rather yummy gingerbread pancakes for breakfast. Maybe that will be my task for the day.

Stray Cat Strut

This morning I awakened to a loud BANG! and some very strange meowing. A skinny, scary looking grey tabby had jumped our 8 foot tall wood fence/wall and was in our atrium. Chez was hissing at him with her bottle-brush tail as full as the dawn, and the banging was the skinny cat trying to jump back over the wall. He made it, too, which shows superfeline strength, in my opinion. That is a tall fence!

So all morning the cats have been going berserk. I think they are trying to get to all the food before "that other cat" does. I'm glad it wasn't our male cat out there fighting, because the last thing we need is another makeshift litterbox. The planters out there are quite fertilized already.

I have used so many compound words in this post I don't know what should be hyphenated, one word, or are words I'm making up.

I see a shadow out there...please, please I don't want another cat. Don't make me fall for this skinny dude. I won't.

Pregnancy update and a picture at the end.

It's hard to believe I'm now over 30 weeks pregnant. Over the past few days it's like this baby is a contortionist. There is some body part yet to be determined that keeps roving all over the place. Its favorite places are behind my bellybutton, up in my ribcage, or way the heck over to my right side. What is it? I assume it's a foot, but who do I look like, the Bionic Woman? I can't see through my own abdomen. (Nor can I really see much below it, if you must know.)

I haven't written much about pregnancy on this blog, if you haven't noticed. It's a precarious position to be pregnant after infertility and adoption. (Go see Thelma for a really great post about romanticising motherhood.) In a way I think I've tried to minimize the miracle of this pregnancy for fear that I would make adoption seem like less of a miracle or hurt my dear friends who are struggling with infertility. In turn I haven't posted as much recently because the main thing going on in my life right now is children. During the day I care for a 10-month-old alternating with napping to care for myself and a feetoos (I know a fetus is a baby, but I like to say "feetoos." Say it - it's fun.).

At my last appointment I was a little over 28 weeks pregnant and by ultrasound the baby measured 3 lbs. 2 oz., and I can't remember how tall. Tall, I think. I passed my gestational diabetes test, which is great because I'm into ice cream and chocolate these days, on top of my milk cravings and fruity tastes. I've gained 20 pounds, which is on track for normal, and aside from a stomach-emptying hurling festival a few nights ago, I've felt really good.

The thing is, I'm not getting any smaller. It took me a long time to "show" because of my height and broad shoulders, but now there's no hiding. Now I'm thinking that 10 more weeks give me a lot of time to become gianormous. If I gain another pound a week for the rest of the pregnancy I'll be pushing 200 pounds at the end.

It's amazing how much 20 extra pounds will hurt your feet. I bought this fabulously expensive and not exactly glamorous pair of Birkenstocks to help with that, and I cannot say enough about Birkenstocks at this point. I put them on the minute I wake up and wear them all day long - around the house, at the store, and everywhere but 'cept the shower.

I think this picture is me at 28 weeks pregnant. We forgot to take one this week, but maybe we don't need to every single week. Here's the baby boy or girl that will double the size of our family in just one year. Yowzah.

Too big, eh?

Testing

Working on photo orientation.

"My Grandma" by Baby S.

My grandma had foot surgery today. When I found out I told my mommy, "Let's make a photo diary so Grandma can see what I do all day." My mommy said OK, so here it is. This post is very picture heavy, so if you don't think I'm cute, or you think I'm too cute, you might not want to look. Love, Baby

















1. I like to play in the hall, dangerously near outlets that my mom stuck little plastic things in.



2. I brush my teeth.



3. Next I terrorize my kitties.



4. I pull Punky’s tail. He doesn’t like it.



5. Subluxations are bad. My chiropractor gets me straightened out.



6. Time for a nap.



7. Yay, naptime is over.



8. Another nap? I don’t think so, mommy. (She put me right back down and I gave in.)



9. I can climb up on lots of things.



10. I liked my fresh peach the best.



11. Daddy comes home!!!



12. Big blue has a flat head.



13. I tickle the ivories after almost every meal.



14. Bath time. I like sushi.



15. Night-night bottle. (I’m embarrassed. You saw me in my underwear.)


Ain’t life grand? I love my grandma. Get well soon!

My first tag - awww......

The Rules: 1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts. 2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. 3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (**if you’re a non-blogger, you can email them!) 4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. 5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I can't decide whether I couldn't do without chocolate or french fries.

2. I've lived in 3 countries and 6 states (U.S., England, Scotland, California, Iowa, South Carolina, Colorado, Kansas, and Texas.)

3. I bought new shoes this morning - Birkenstocks. They are so comfortable I can barely contain my excitement.

4. Every time I go to Thelma's blog I want an apple.

5. I need to shower and wash my hair right now. It's 1:40 p.m.

6. I've had the same pair of Ray Ban sunglasses since 1999.

7. I took ballet lessons for 8 years and was a flower in the Nutcracker for 5 years.

8. When I was little I got a snowcone machine, a bicycle, and a puppy all for quitting sucking my thumb three different times. I finally quit when I was about 12.

I'm going to tag my HP aunties Thelma, Allison, Wendi, Judi, Melody, Niki, and Sarah, plus one more that I'll have to edit this post to add!

Hi, I'm new here.

Taking a break from my hea-vy posts to introduce to you my new computer. I shall call her Fran. Maybe not, but that's the first name that came to my mind.

I've graduated from the iBook G4, which I bought in my first year of graduate school at UT, to the MacBook. It's rather nifty. It has Garage Band which I've always wanted, and iDVD which will be very nice, indeed. I'd love to learn how to do more video editing. Remember "One Kirk Stuck?" I'll have to do another movie some day.

Photo Booth - what's that? How do I use iChat? These are things I must know. One of my first orders of business is to download and send some pictures to my mother who can be quite pesky about that.

(As an aside, we are watching a Star Wars episode right now, and I wonder - was there ever a character as annoying as JarJarBinks? I think not.)

Fran says "bye" - she wants to play.

Childbirth education part II - **pg talk**

I started feeling better right before lunch. There is nothing like a feeling of physical health after I've felt sick. I chalked my body's behavior up to nerves and an excess of fiber and set out to face the rest of the day.

I can't remember now what we talked about right before lunch - oh, yes, relaxation techniques and pain management. "Hee hee hee hoo" and stuff like that, including a nice hand massage. "Wait," I thought, "What about my feet?" (Somewhere in my head I hear my husband saying, "Rub your own stinky, puffy feet," but he would never say that. Think it, maybe.)

There were 20 happy couples in our class, and there might have been one woman there by herself. This started me to thinking about K and how she might have felt in the hospital. Without going into too many details that are her story, because it's hers, she did have support at the hospital, hospital staff treated her like the mother, which she was, and she was the first and only to hold the baby in the first 24 hours.

But there her exclusive rights began to fade. What must she have been thinking as she watched the other moms with their babies? What must she have gone through every time she saw me standing there smiling at her and her baby? It was challenging for us at the hospital not knowing whether this would really be our baby, but I would have much rather been in our position.

Yesterday I used the word "relieved" to describe how it would feel in the hospital knowing that New Baby will be our forever baby. I don't think that was the right choice of words. I think a better word would be blessed. Perhaps we won't even compare the two situations at all, because they really don't compare. But the fact that a childbirth education class brought up all of these unexpected feelings indicates to me that they will come up again at the hospital.

Speaking of word choices, "guilt" wasn't the right word to describe how I feel about having a baby after infertility. So scratch that, but I'll have to come back to that topic tomorrow. It was a big day Saturday and I'm still processing.

Musings of a pregnant adoptive parent.

***Lots of pg talk, as evidenced by my title.***

We went to our childbirth education class yesterday, and it brought up all sorts of ideas and feelings. I was excited about it all week, but then I got nervous. Would I look stupid doing my "hee-hee-hee-hoo" breathing? Was I going to have to lie on the floor with my knees east and west? Were my pillow cases clean?

For the morning session, anatomy and physiology and the process of childbirth, I felt physically ill and had to leave the room several times. It could have been the fiber fiesta I held a night or two before, it could have been something I ate that morning, but it had never occurred to me that I would be squeamish about this. I've seen it, right? I didn't pass out in the delivery room or feel physically ill when Thing 1 was born.

At some point during the morning, as I was sort of reliving the birth of our son, I realized that unlike that time, we know that this baby will be ours from the moment of his/her birth. With Big Guy we spent the first few days of his life wondering if we would really be his parents. I don't begrudge the necessity of that, but it certainly was different than this experience. It will be a relief to be able to really bond with New Baby from minute 1 - before minute 1, actually. (Relief really might not be the right word, here. let me work this out and I'll edit.)

I have much more to say about this, but I need to try to get some extra sleep tonight. Tomorrow night is Girl's Night!

Stay tuned for the next installment about my emotions surrounding what K must have experienced as she gave birth to her first precious baby - our sweet son. Also, the guilt I feel as a parent preparing for #2 when so many precious women are still waiting for one dear child to love. I hated it when I thought about how my friends might feel badly about being pregnant or being parents when DH and I were struggling with infertility, but the cold, hard, slap-you-in-the-face truth is that I do feel that way. It's not pity guys, really, just understanding and compassion, I think. I love you.

More latah.

What not to say.

Let's revisit what to say and what not to say when talking about children with someone who doesn't have them (yet).

DO NOT say:
Adopt and you will get pregnant. (It's hardly ever true, although it might seem like it is. Only 3-10% of the time is it true.)

Stick with me - I get pregnant just standing next to my husband. (That one is never, ever true. Has that person never taken biology? Nor is it in the water. Sperm can't live that long, they don't travel through the water system, and they don't get to an egg by swimming down through your digestive system.)

You can have mine. (I don't want your children, I want my own children. By "my own," that means by adoption, too.)

At least you don't have to get up in the middle of the night a dozen times. (Never, ever start any sentence with the words "At least," or "Why don't you just...")

You need to relax.

DO say:
That must be difficult.

I'm sorry.

Can I buy you some very tasty chocolates or your dream home while you wait?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So, I can tell you it's very hurtful for people to say that you need to relax. That makes it your fault that you cannot get pregnant. After we adopted and did actually conceive and it seems like will carry to term, people said, "See, you finally relaxed and then you got pregnant." One person actually did say this directly to me, and several made the comment to friends as I was walking away from a conversation.

First, do they really think that having a newborn baby is relaxing? That's all I have to say about that. Second, doesn't that imply that each and every time my sweet husband and I "got romantic," as one of our nurse practitioners said (love her), in 4 years, we were never relaxed? I'm not going to go into these details for ya', but that's seriously dumb.

Message truncated - going to the airport to pick up K!

Guitars and keyboards

Baby is playing guitar with Daddy right now. We're thinking we might have a little musician on our hands! Both of us are musicians, and his birthparents are, too. It's neat to see this love of music coming out in this boy. When we finish lunch or dinner and walk by the piano, Baby cranes his neck and reaches out to the instrument to play. He loves the drums and tambourine, too.

The other thing this kiddo is interested in right now is the computer. His dad and his birthdad are both computer nuts, too. I'm currently typing with one shift key, because I let Baby play with it and he ripped the other one off. One time he even started a new browser window. He's so cool!

Beckhams

Who cares??????

Saturday laughs

Soul Train, baby! It is hilarious - the outfits, the music, the hair, the dancing - hilarious. It's funny to me because although I was too young to go out dancing in the 1970s, I was certainly old enough to go roller skating and remember dressing in a leotard under tight jeans with one side of my hair pulled back.

There's this one lady who I can only assume tried to dress like Judy Jetson in a red leotard with a space-age collar over black tights, with a sparkly headband and Crystal Gayle hair down past her buttocks. She keeps moving in and out of view, sidling across the stage waving her arms in a very disco-esque movement. Of course there are also the jumpsuits, tubetops, and matching his and hers outfits.

For a good laugh check out an old Soul Train one Saturday afternoon. This is what happens when you and your husband are too cheap to pay for cable TV past the basic package.

Dumb-dumb.

Why am I still up? I'm tired. We started watching "Lost" last week on DVD and it makes me feel very thirsty. I'm tired and thirsty. That's my July 12th update.

Happy Anniversary tomorrow, D & F!

Remember these guys?

Should we be worried?

Religion versus relationship

I started a topic on my online community about a book series that shall remain nameless so that I can avoid going through that again. Many people got hurt by the post, including myself. I absolutely did not mean to start a controversy. I was looking for some people with whom to look forward to the next book in the series. That's it. What I got was a full-blown controversy. For this reason and others, I've given up that group for awhile. It has been a lifeline for me over our years of infertility, and I'm sure I'll be back. For now, though, I wait.

But, I know that some of the people who read my blog are not Christians, that is, have not decided that they believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and to accept Him as their Lord and Savior. So I am going to blog briefly about religion versus relationship. If you don't agree with me, I understand that. I was not a Christian until I was 26 years old, so I have many years of skepticism experience.

When I think of religion I think of rules and regulations. If you are a Christian you have to do x, y, and z. But here's the truth. To be a Christian you have to admit to God that you have made mistakes (i.e. sin), and believe in your heart that you need a savior. No one is good enough, no not one (Philippians 14:1-3, cited in the book of Romans). Not even Mother Theresa! Our standard is God, not man or woman. Jesus was both, which makes him uniquely qualified to be that savior for us.

So for me Christianity is a relationship. Jesus is real to me. No, I can't see him or touch him (who do I look like, Thomas? John 20:25), but I believe that he is real, alive, and at the right hand of God. No other religious figure is alive like that. For a long time I believed in God but could not wrap my brain around Jesus as an actual God-man who literally walked the earth performing miracles. One day it made sense to me (made clear by God's Holy Spirit) and I became a Christian.

As I become more mature in my faith, and as I learn more about God through prayer and His word the Bible, God will teach me new things. I might be convicted to give up some things I am currently doing in order to spend more time with Him. I will do that because He convicts me to out of relationship with Him, not out of law (you must do this, you must do that, etc.). All things are permissible but not all are beneficial (1 Corinthians 6:13). These things might be TV programs, other media, or even church activities.

Some people are convicted not to drink any alcohol. Personally, I enjoy a beer or a glass of wine once in awhile. The Bible is clear on drunkenness, but I know that I don't have a problem stopping with one drink. Someone else may understand that they can't have one drink, because it might lead to drunkenness. So, personally, that person chooses not to have even one drink. There might be something else that I'm convicted of and feel that God is calling me to do, that he has not yet personally called another. That doesn't make either of us a "better" Christian. It means that we are in different places with our personal relationship with God.

The good news, that is, the gospel, is that I don't have to be a perfect Christian. In fact, it's impossible. If it were possible, I would not need Jesus. So while I'm out there on a limb, I might as well give you the whole shebang. It's OK if you don't believe the Bible, many of my close friends do not. I still adore them and don't feel like I look down on them. It is a choice, and I like choices. In the previous post I have shared the gospel with you. Skip it if you like. I'm just sharing something with you that I think is pretty neat.

If all this makes me sound religious, and that's the word you would choose to describe me, then OK. I don't have a problem with the word religious as long as I can suggest the word relationship as being more accurate. If you disagree with me and want to tell me so, do. Just consider that I can't read your tone over the internet. The worst thing that could happen is that I'll cry, feel rejected, and learn some more about God because of it. Maybe that's His point.

Love.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

(This post stems from the above post, "Religion versus relationship," in case it seems like it's comoing out of left field.)

According to the Bible, considered by many to be the infallable word of God, we were created to be in fellowship with God. But through Adam we inherited a sin nature, that is, we don't fully trust and obey God and so err.

Romans 3:23 states that "all sin and fall short of the glory of God."

Because of sin we are separated from God. This is what the Bible means when it says, "For the wages of sin is death...." (Romans 6:23a).

The good news is also in that passage. "...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans, 6:23b).

God gave his only son Jesus as the final sin sacrifice for our sins (Romans 5:8), and when we call on Jesus and ask Him to be our Lord and Savior, we are forever reunited with God (i.e. "saved").

Romans 10:13 states, "for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

I paraphrased some of this, but the basic information was taken directly from the Bible, with reminders from and the webiste http://contenderministries.org/romanroad.php.

This made sense to me one day in 1996 when I was 26. Although my ears had heard it before, my heart hadn't. Maybe you've heard it all before, maybe you haven't. It's the truth as I understand it, revealed to me by the Bible through God's Holy Spirit. On that day I prayed, "Lord, I know I have sinned against you, and what I'm doing on my own isn't working. Jesus, come into my heart and be my personal Lord and Savior." (Or something like that - it was over 10 years ago, after all.) And He is. I love Him for it.

Our poor yard.

Our city gets a jeer for a recent housecall. Our neighbors had a problem with their water that our lovely Fox Plumbing couldn't fix. So, out comes the city at about 4pm on a Saturday. Not to be ugly, but of course we thought, "At least it's not our water that's out." Famous last words.

We share a water line with our neighbors, I guess, and the city went a-diggin'. Not only were we out of water most of the weekend (we were spared Sunday morning), but the city completely dug up our front yard.

Granted, our landscaping wasn't gorgeous, and we had some work to do, but Houston (not our city), we have a problem. For one, we had some shrubs that we planted soon afte we were married. Randy wanted to buy some a little larger, but I had this romantic idea that we'd buy smaller ones and watch them grow as our marriage grew. They're now gone. Also, there is a gorgeous live-oak tree on our neighbor's property that the workers hacked and hacked away at its roots.

After all the digging, until 3am on Sunday morning and midnight on Sunday night, there was no problem.

Introducing, our new front yard.

Hurt.

I like people. I like "good" people and "bad" people. I like people who have made mistakes, and even people who keep making them. Everyone makes them every day. It's called sin, and thanks a lot, Adam, we got it from you (although we would have gone there ourselves eventually.) Right now I do not love Christians. I can understand why people find us judgmental and unyielding.

I try very hard not to be like that, even when I disagree with someone. I know that not everyone thinks like me, and that's OK. When that attitude is not reflected in the other person, though, I find it hard to accept.

I'm very tired. I also already had chocolate cake so I don't think ice cream is going to fix me this time.

I miss my family. I haven't seen them in a long time.

I've temporarily given up something that means a lot to me. For right now and for various reasons it's not right for me. Not that it isn't right for someone, but not for me right now.

This is rambly, but that's fine. It's VBS week and I'm tired.

Happy Birthday!

My dear husband (DH) turned 44 today. Doesn't he look young? I baked a cake. Don't I look like Martha Stewart?

Happy Birthday, Randy!

Head shots

Baby's been in his little hat for a month now. He's doing really well, and the results after just two weeks were already noticeable. I doubt he'll have to wear it past four months, but I'm really just making that up.

Here are some pictures before, after 2 weeks, and after a month of 23 hours a day in the helmet. Pretty nifty, huh?

Happy Anniversary! (10/12/06)

Here we are the night we got the call about our baby! It was our 4th anniversary.

Blast from the past

Last year when we were just about to have our adoption profile shown to expectant moms considering adoption, we went to England. Here is our last dinner in London.

The end.

"One of those days" by Amy

We had some doctor's appointments today. The first one, chiropractor, was at 11:45. The last time I had an appointment for that time we were in and out of there in about 5 minutes. Not so, today.

Baby is catching on to this separation anxiety thing. He was very fussy at the chiropractor, which is uncharacteristic of him. He'd squirm in my arms, but when I put him down on the floor, he'd cry. We had to wait for about 20 minutes, too, which didn't help.

Our next appointment was for 1:00, so we were going to eat lunch and then run errands. Somehow I got the bright idea that I would just carry Big Brother in my arms, along with my purse containing his bottle. Who do I think I am, an octopus? Well, I'm not, at least not today.

So I order my bagel (Hi, Whitney!) and figure I'll feed him first. He was still fussing, so I figured he was hungry. He had a hard time with his bottle, and it is hard for me to feed him in a regular ol' chair (which happened to be in the middle of the restaurant). So he's crying, dribbling milk, I don't have a burp rag, and I'm hungry and hot.

Because I was trying to be the above-mentioned octopus, I decided to go get Baby a high chair, which I'm going to carry in one arm while carrying him in the other (no, I don't drop the baby as a part of this story, you can relax). Somehow I got to the table without dropping either item. Baby sat in the high chair and happily played with his new burp rag - a paper napkin.

So I'm trying to be all cool, this well-adjusted mom having a light lunch with her child, and I finally began to relax and eat my lunch while BB chews on this napkin. (Can you see where this is going?) The next thing I know, my baby has ingested some of the napkin and is coughing on the verge of choking.

Can I remember the CPR process for choking? Maybe.

So, he coughs the whole thing up, along with a mucosy mound of partially digested formula.

Do you remember that I was sitting in the middle of the restaurant? Well, the single guy at the next table, calmly eating his lunch, witnessed this whole gruesome mess. When I assessed that the threat to my child was over, I put my head down on the table and started to laugh cry. I couldn't decide which to do. He said, "Can I get you some napkins?"

"Yes, please," our heroine said meekly.

Ack! A relaxing lunch, indeed!

When we pulled into the parking lot of the orthopedists office (helmet check up), I saw him get into his car and drive away. This could not be good. He got called away to the hospital and we had to wait for 30 minutes past our appointment to see a different specialist. This is where the story gets anticlimactic. Baby was pretty cool during the wait, smiled at the nice ladies, and fell asleep in the car on the way home.

A day in the life!

It's a surprise!

We've decided (well really, I decided) not to find out the sex of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Our file knows now, but we don't!

I've always sort of pictured hearing, "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" and being totally surprised. With everything we know about conception and pregnancy after infertility and treatments, I want to be innocent about this one thing.

Today I think it's a boy because when I was feeding Baby #1, Baby #2 was kicking him in the butt. I'm not sure a little girl would be so aggressive! Recently I've thought girl since many people say, "I think it's a boy," and I like to prove people wrong. So, who knows.

My nephew said we should name the baby Larry if it's a boy, and my friend Connie thinks LuLu for a girl. We're honestly not sold on either of these names, but in the meantime Baby Larry or Baby Lulu it is!

Thanks for asking, Liz!

How about this, Grandma?

Picture updates

I really was on a roll there with the blogging, wasn't I? Here are some pictures to spice things up a bit until I have words again:

Sorry about the sideways picture. I'll fix it someday!

It's final!

Whoopee! We had a great morning at the courthouse. Remember the expectant mom we spoke with before K who chose another couple? Well, we finalized with her baby's adoptive family. It was a special treat. Baby got a teddy bear that he loved immediately, and now he is rolling all over the floor in excitement. The only problem is he can only roll one way so he's stuck.

Here are a few quick pics! We're so pleased.

Some comic breaks from our process:

On the way here DH realized that he had left his dress socks at home. He was slightly frustrated about it, but I couldn't stop laughing because I just pictured him walking into the courthouse with no socks. So Miami Vice! So at 9:45 we stopped at Kohl's for some new socks! I was sent in to get them because I had to use the facilities. As I stared at the socks on the wall I lost my color vision. I had to ask a fellow last-minute shopper, "Are these blue?" I had to ask the clerk, too. They were blue enough.

We got to the courthouse without issue, although on about 4 hours of sleep, and somehow found our way to the correct room. We didn't know the judge's name but fortunately saw the other couple on the way in and followed them. When we went to testify (Karen, you'll especially appreciate this) our attorney asked if we'd crossed state lines with the baby. Randy said, "No."

I thought, "What? Oh gosh, yes we did, oh no, what do we do?" The question wasn't phrased correctly. I decided to try not to worry about it. Then she asked, "Is there any criminal background in either your or your wife's history that would cause an issue in parenting this child?" Well DH was still thinking about the previous question and didn't hear, so he hesitated for a few seconds.

"Could you repeat that?" he said.

"Uh-oh," I thought again, "Is there something I don't know?" This time "no" was the answer. Survey says..."Good answer!" (And true, by the way.)

So next I answer a few questions and the attorney said, "Do you agree with the previous testimony?"

Um....Well....Uh....

"We did travel out of state to Colorado for the holidays," I said sheepishly. Oh man, have I just accused my husband of perjury? Are we going to be taken downtown? Wait, we were downtown - was this the end?

The question should have been, "Have you taken the child across state lines for the purposes of this adoption?" The other couple verifies that the question was worded differently, too. I'm not in trouble with my husbadn for clarifying!

What is a formal proceeding without a little humor, right? It's fun to laugh about this now, and maybe we lent some comic relief to a family courtroom in which all cases are not adoption finalizations.

Thanks for tuning in!