3 months

I'm not sure were all the time has gone. Our little angel turned 3 months yesterday. She is changing and growing like so much these days. She learned to bat at things about two weeks ago. Now she is very good at it and is working on grabbing onto her toys. She is trying to bring them to her mouth but usually gets her fingers in her mouth and not the toy yet. She will play for 20-30 mins in her play gym kicking her legs, cooing and batting at her toys. She is constantly sticking her tongue out...I think she realized she can does this and move it around more. She loves to look in the mirror at herself. She also loves to sit up and watch what is going on around the room. Her sleep patterns are getting longer, though she has had some nights where she has woken up every few hours. I'm thinking she is having a growth spurt and that those will soon stop. She has slept up to 12 hours but averages 11 hours most nights. She seems to play hard and sleep hard! She is having a little seperation anxiety at times but that is not her fault. Mike has started his new job so during the week she only gets to see moms smiling face therefore she is a little anxious when she is around everyone else. After a day she gets over it and is fine the rest of the weekend. Hopefully this living apart deal will end quickly...otherwise we will have a mommas girl on our hands. She continues to do well in the car for our long car trips. She now has a toy on her carseat which she loves to play with. It seems to keep her occupied while she is awake in the car. She is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothing. A few 0-3 months pants still fit and she can also wear some 6 month stuff. She gets warm easy so not too much layering for her, especially when traveling...she gets hot in her carseat!

Goodbye 2009

The end of the year has passed in a blur of excitement. 2009 brought many things I did not expect....some good....some I could have done without. When all was said and done I ended up where I never thought I would be....and I am so thankful. I saw a few other blogs where people did 2009 in 3 words and thought I would give it a try.

January - excited about skiing

February - overzealous about match

March - becoming more realistic

April - overcome at ultrasound

May - it's a boy!

June - day to day

July - hope mixed w/doubt

August - fear, hope, stress

September - saddened by loss

October - miserable, sad, questioning

November - excited, stressed, blessed

December - joy, blessed, amazed

There you have it. What a year. Here I sit...looking at my little girl...amazed at what this year has brought me. Here's to 2010 and what they year has to bring us!!

Merry Christmas!

I haven been wanting to write several posts but have lacked the time to sit down and devote myself to this task. Everything is wrapped and packaged up for the car ride home, P*nske truck is loaded with moving boxes to store at our parents house during our move and the house is spotless for today's showing. Hopefully I will have a little more time to devote to this blog while visiting my family next week. We got her pictures taken at Target last week as our first family photo shoot to welcome her home. In the meantime my baby girl turned two months old on Sunday!! She had her two month appointment on 12/22 and weighed in at 13 lbs 6 ounces and 23 inches! What a growing little girl we have on our hands! She is smiling more every day and starting a little chuckle which is so cute. She continues to sleep through the night but does wake early in the morning but is able to fall back asleep on her own. She got meet Mimi and Pappy last weekend for a quick visit since a snowstorm hit resulting in them leaving earlier than expected. We are so totally in love with this little girl...she has turned our world upside down with that cute smile. We have had continuing contact with the birthmom and we feel very blessed to have her in our lives. She is so open and realistic with her expectations and feelings. I am pleasantly surprised that is has been so easy for all of us. We often email and chat on facebook....which seems the easiest for all parties involved. We are talking about a visit after the holidays....when ever she is ready. She mailed me all the hospital stuff....footprints...name card...she said that she knew we would be in her life forever and that she felt that we should have them. Words can't explain how thankful we are of her and our little angel. I get tears in my eyes everytime I think of the gift God has sent us. Truly amazing!

Busy as a Bee!!

I have found that the holidays always seems to be a busy time. Now add....new baby & moving across state into that equation and ta da...you have my life! I would like to say that I have been enjoying every minute of this transition stage but I must admit that I have reached my breaking point several times during the last few weeks. Maybe the time the "stager" came to the house and rearranged my entire house to get it ready to show. Seriously not the time to do that right now.....she is lucky I was nice and didn't say bad words to her. :-) But alas, we are fine and managing through bonding with our little angel, putting our house up for sale, looking for a new house, learning how to be parents, keeping the house clean for showings, getting ready for the holidays, packing boxes, going to baby showers, visiting with family and friends and somehow I am managing to write this blog post! We are still smiling...and we continue to feel blessed! My book group and one of my jobs threw a shower for our little one. It was soo touching that so many people have showered us with gifts....this little girl isn't going to need anything!
We are getting pictures done today which I am excited about. We are not going to do a Christmas theme since she is so little. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

That's my life in a nut shell! As always, I will leave you with a few pictures!

Openness

How do you define openness in adoption? I am lucky to say that we are venturing down this road early and I do hope it benefits all involved. I think about our little one's birthmother often...how she is doing....is she getting through this...does she want to hear from us? We exchanged one email between our first meeting and placement day...initiated by her. I'm glad she emailed...I didn't want to be the first one to initiate that contact. I can't imagine how hard this is for her...I felt I needed to thread lightly. Now that we have had placement I decided to send her an email without pics....just to check up on her and tell her how the transition went. I told her to ask when she wanted pics. She responded that day and said go ahead and send them. Her strength is amazing...I'm not sure I could be so strong in her shoes. So I've decided that openness is whatever you make it to be and whatever is comfortable for all parties involved. I know some close to me look at me and say....are you sure...is it too much...will she interfere. All I can say is that I don't know what this life will bring me but all I can do is what feels right. And this openness with our daughter's birthmom feels right.

Placement and First Day Alone!!

When I have some time to sit and reflect on yesterday I will write a longer post. We had a wonderful day...it was emotional...it was powerful...it was humbling. There were tears by all, but it was a happy time for our little daughter. She slept through the whole thing. We had one blunder....I forgot to put back the card into the camera...so we couldn't take pictures! Luckily....everyone had cameras....so we will still have pictures of the placement.

Our little angel is heaven sent! She is so content and happy. She is starting to really interact with us....some smiling...some babbling. I love it! I was nervous for this transition. We are taking her away from everything she has known for the past 6 weeks and putting her in a new environment. I was nervous she wasn't going to sleep at night ( she was sleeping all night at her foster home). I was nervous she would start crying more ( she cried little at her foster home). Well...guess what....she slept all through the night!! I put her down at 10-10:30 and I heard at 6 am cooing and babbling. At 7am she still wasn't crying but I couldn't wait to go see her!! She was happy as a clam as I changed her diaper and then we sat in the rocking chair during her bottle.

I feel so very blessed. I know why my last match didn't work out. He already had other plans for us. Here are a few pictures at home!!

Blessed

There are no words to describe the day we have had. God has provided us with a true angel. We are gratefully blessed.

A picture journey of our day.....I know that's what you really want.