ANGEL BABY

Check-up

We had Jada at the Doctor on Saturday for acid reflux. We have opted to give her the medication the doctor prescribed. She just looked way to uncomfortable to me--more like in pain--like when you go to the state fair and eat way too much of the deep fried crud and then feel like you're going to die later kind of pain. Or like when you take a handful of pee pee treats (aka M&M's) everytime you go into the kitchen and later on you can't understand why you feel like you are bloated and have gained 15 pounds in one day. Anyway. . . she is doing much better--and I am completely satisfied with our decision to give her the medicine. Our little Jada isn't so little anymore. . . she weighed 8lbs 9oz---WOWSERS!! The doctor said that the acid reflux probably promted her to want more food as a reflex to not feeling well. She's a girl who knows how to get what she wants!!

I am impatiently awaiting my delivery of Bum Genius 3.0 one size diapers--due to arrive tomorrow. If we weren't already in debt with the adoption. . . we for sure are now with my diaper purchase!! I was getting completely disgusted with the amount of diapers filling up our garbage can!! AND--quite frankly--the fact that diapers at Sam's for Jakob and Jada were $60. We returned them--I hope Jakob likes these. . . because he is going to wear them too. Maybe it will prompt him to use the potty more often. He is starting to take his own poopy diapers off himself--yes, use your imagination--it is gross! haha!! AHHHHHH, the life of having two kids--I WOULDN'T CHANGE IT FOR THE WORLD!! :0) This is about all I have time for. . . so I hope you enjoy it!!

Full Term

I think pretty much everyone who reads my blog has heard the big news already. If not, you are in for a big surprise. This is the story you always hear about happening to somebody else. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it could happen to us. Craig and I were planning on attending my 20 year class reunion this past weekend. I procrastinated registering just because I had a feeling that something would come up and we wouldn't be able to go--but I finally registered on Tuesday and paid for it through paypal. While getting things ready, I also tried to email our social worker our plans of getting away for the weekend with all of our contact information--the power went out for a bit on Tuesday while I was writing my email so I finally got around to it on Wednesday. Our social worker acknowledged our email on Thursday at about 1pm and let us know we had one mailer taken in June. I was going to call Craig and let him know, but we have had so many mailers taken that I decided not to get excited about it anymore. Two and 1/2 hours later, our social worker called and said, "Hi Jodi, it's Michelle--I'm so glad you didn't leave yet." And I replied, "Oh my, I better sit down." :0)

I had a conference call with her and a birthparent counselor and was told that we had been chosen by her and a birthparent (birthmom did not want to pick the parents, but gave the social worker all the things she valued in a family and what she wanted and we were a match. The social worker then read our profile to our birthmom and she liked what it said.)

So, anyway, our baby girl was born on Wednesday (July 30th) at 7:29pm and we were told she would be discharged on Friday! SHELL SHOCK!! She arrived home around 3pm. Jakob was sleeping so we had some time to adjust (like 2 hours.) We had no idea what to expect. Jakob is an amazing big brother. He already loves his baby sister and helps out whenever he can. He likes to help feed her and put her pacifier in her mouth. He knows where the pee pee and poo poo come out and says "uh oh" if he sees spit up on her mouth. He pats her head, rubs her tummy and tickles her feet. I could not ask for a more perfect family!! :0) We have decided to name her Jada Leila Carmen.

We are still in legal risk--which means that yes, Jada's mom can change her mind. Nothing matters to us right now. Jada is already a part of our hearts and our lives no matter what her first mom decides. Love is love.

For now, I ask that you pray for Jada's first mom. She needs your prayers the most. May she feel peace with her decision and find support for the many emotional days to come. I will personally pray that she find the strength to become a bigger part of our lives. We love her more than she will ever ever know. At first it sounded like she wanted a pretty closed adoption, but we have since received her email and permission to send her pictures through it of all of us. We pray that she will write us back.

Jada has already captured our hearts and has us all wrapped around her little teeny tiny fingers!!! We even got to meet Sabrina in person--finally--and eat her simply fabulous Mexican dish and lime pie (which, by the way, is already gone.) MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

It really is amazing how God has brought so many wonderful people and all the many blessings to our lives. We are so lucky and feel so loved!!

And, in case you were wondering. . . we didn't make it to my 20 year reunion!! haha!!

Oh, and I suppose you would like to see some pictures?

Milestones. . .

Jakob is amazing. . . simply amazing. Today I watched my son pretend he was taking care of a baby bird. He was trying to tell his daddy about the bird that hit the window while we were watching some T.V. Oh, and in case you were wondering, The Wiggles are so yesterday. . . it is now The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoon on the Disney channel. He actually asks to watch that show. He also is making choices. . .like giving away his green fruit chews because he doesn't like that flavor and asking for specific things to eat--like toast or yogurt for breakfast. It is so amazing to me to watch him develop his very own likes and dislikes. His words are coming like ants on watermelon. I know he has been a bit behind with all of the major milestones, but I bet by this time next year. . . nobody will even remember. That is so amazing to me.

The last few weeks have been crazier than ever. We've had visits from my parents, Craig's mom, and my sister and her friends. I found out just last week that this coming weekend is my 20 year class reunion (another great milestone)--so we have decided that we will be returning to my hometown to attend. I love travelling in the summer--you know the roads will be slow going with construction and traffic--but no snowstorms. I can't believe it is my 20 year class reunion already. I keep telling myself that it is not possible that I am "that old." I don't feel that old. I did skip first grade, if that gives me any leeway. Evidently "way back then", if you knew how to read in the 1st grade you were some kind of genius. I'm sure we will have the youngest child and probably the only ones wanting more. . . . but, you never know.

Jakob has been having issues sleeping, so I'm not worried about messing that up. He has decided that he doesn't want to be alone in his room. He is afraid of the dark and who knows what else. He caught a glimpse of ET one night as we were flipping through the channels. It was the scene where they had him all dressed up too--if he doesn't look creepy enough already, that's enough to totally scare a 2 1/2 year old. If you have ever slept with a toddler--you know a king sized bed is a must--and that we don't have. So Jakob and I were camping out on an air mattress downstairs. BUT, he was waking up around 5:30 or so when Craig was getting up for work. WAY TOO EARLY!! Especially when we haven't been falling asleep until after 10pm. So, I went and bought a twin air mattress that will fit into his room and things are much better--aside from the fact that I lose my late night freetime and early morning freetime. Oh, well, someday, Jakob won't want me in his room at all--so I'll take it while I can. Don't bother lecturing me on this one--I simply won't listen. It is amazing how many people just feel they have the right to tell you what you are doing wrong and how you are hurting your child (hmmm. . . by paying attention to their fears? I guess I don't get it.) Someone told me they were going to get me their book on the Ferber method--that has abandonement written all over it--in my opinion! Ummmmm, yeah, evidently she didn't read Nancy Verrier's book "The Primal Wound." This is after she told me she slept in until 11 am because she was tired from travelling all weekend--not getting the fact that sleeping in isn't an option at our house. . . duh.

I hope that I have never given out unsolicited advice. I may tell my own experiences, but I hope I always state that I feel that everybody is different and not everything works the same for each family. Trust your instincts. . . . always, and try not to second guess yourself. Or, only ask for advice from the people that you know are going to answer the way you want them too! haha!

Nothing new on the adoption front. Well, I guess I could mention that I spoke with a young woman on the phone who thought she was approximately 6 weeks pregnant. Her co-worker is one of my ex-boyfriend's longtime friends. Strange, I know. I gave her lots of information about adoption and talked about our experiences between our two agencies and how she should not feel pressured by anybody to make any one particular decision. I talked about our feelings on open adoption and why it was important to us and why I felt it was important for her to get good unbiased counseling. I also gave her Kaiti's name through myspace to talk to. I figured she would be able to help her more with the emotional aspects that a birthmother will endure throughout her life. So, I think both Kaiti and I have kind of found our calling on helping others. I really do think we can both be unbiased. I am so not aggressive and don't want to feel like a child was ever placed into our family under pressure. I don't know if it will go anywhere. . . but I think I gave her enough resources to help her get started on researching and thinking about what she would like to do. It felt good and it felt right. So. . . as you guessed, we still wait--so patiently.

Oh, and in case the K&K read this. . . I was garage saleing and met two people who each recently brought their girls home from China. They met through their program. It was approximately 3 years from start to finish. So, I will wait right along with you guys. Our days will come too! :0)

Tomorrow, you may not see me at all as I have to dye my hair for my class reunion!! haha!! I hope I don't wreck it. So far, I am liking my professional haircut that cost a fortune. I may even splurge on some decent shampoo--geez--what's gotten into me? Maybe I'm just trying to cover up all the stray hairs growing on my face and my own case of adult acne. With that--I should probably go buy some mascara too since my other stuff is probably 8 years old--it wouldn't be cool to get some funky eye infection--could you imagine? I wonder what people with expendible income spend their money on to get ready for their 20th year class reunion. . . .

TIME OUT!

As if we didn't have enough timeouts today, God decided to give me one with a power outage for a few hours. It's really difficult to explain to a 2 1/2 year old about not being able to turn on his music during nap time--but he survived--and I curled up on the couch to catch up on some reading since there was really nothing else I could do. It turned out to be a really beautiful evening and we all went for a much needed bike ride (well, Jakob rode in his trailer). We stopped at the water park so Craig and Jakob could get really cold. . . . and we met a single dad and his 14 month old daughter. Man, she was beautiful. She walked right up to me and held her arms out for me to pick her up--and with permission, I did--with great joy! What a sweetheart and a huge reminder of our longing to have more children. Jakob was even really sweet to her and didn't even mind that I was holding her (for quite some time too.) When we got home, I asked him if he wanted a little brother or sister--and he said--brother. We'll see, I guess. Only time will tell. Personally, I think he would enjoy either. I can't wait. . . . .

ADOPTION DAY!

Today, July 7th, is ADOPTION DAY for our family. Two years ago we finalized Jakob's adoption and became a FOREVER FAMILY! Here's some of the fun we had today celebrating at the zoo!

Jakob loves the flowers and would probably prefer to look at them over the animals any day!!

We got soaked. . . but the weather was perfect for the chilly water! We were able to recruit many others to join in our fun!!

Jakob ABSOLUTELY LOVED the butterfly garden. He did not stop yelling "Butterfly" the entire time we were in there. So much for a peaceful stroll for the other visitors. The workers were excited that he was so interested!! We will definitely have to go back with charged batteries so I can actually get some pictures of all the beautiful butterflies!! Don't you just love it when your camera batteries die?

Then we came home and ate lunch. He was so worn out!! When it was time for nap. . .Jakob went into his room and climbed into his toddler bed. I asked him if he wanted to take his nap in there and he said yes. So, I shut the door and he seemed to go to sleep after a little chitter chatter. I didn't dare open the door to see if he was still in bed. We will see where he ends up in a couple of hours. He is getting to be such a big boy--(heart goes pitter patter--*sniff, sniff*).

I couldn't help myself. . . but I had to peek in Jakob's room and he is sound asleep in his toddler bed. . . . so sweet! I didn't take a picture because I didn't want to wake him up. My little baby is growing so fast!

July 4th

What didn't we do over the 4th of July weekend? Here's just a glimpse of all the fun we had. . .

Watching the fireworks at Bloomington Fete with Grandma and Grandpa. (Mom and dad were there, but who needs them when Grandma and Gramps are there.)

Spending a little private time creating and destroying in my sandbox.

Dad, Grandpa and Grandma put up a fence while mom chased me around.

I spent a little quality time with Grandma in the hammock after the fence was done.

We watched our pumpkin patch grow right before our eyes!

And, I did a little swimming with Daddy! Thanks mom, for taking all the pictures!