That's Me!

"Mommy! You are a good lookener!" That's what Sasha said when she saw that I replaced the burned out lightbulbs in her ceiling fan.

I would like to agree with her but I'm not exactly sure what a "good lookener" is. The way she said it did make me sound like a superhero so I guess I should be honored to be one.

33 Weeks

This week our baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and measures 17.2 inches from the top of her head to her heels. Thanks to her recent weight gain, she's losing that wrinkled alien look. Most of our baby's bones are hardening now, but her skull is still quite pliable. It's actually in separate pieces with spaces in between.

Great Meeting

Everything was great. We all got along very well. R is a very pretty, smart and mature person. We have pictures of her and she gave us ultrasound pictures but we'll keep them private. We are probably going to meet one more time before the baby is born. She hasn't yet scheduled the c-section but said it will probably be the first week of January.

Thank you all for your support. Now, if you could just fast forward through the next 6 weeks, I would appreciate it!

Update

I just sucked down a large iced non-fat latte from Barnies. You DO NOT want to be around me right now, I might knock you down.

We are leaving in 30 minutes!


Matt, of course, is just as calm as can be. In fact, the jeans he is wearing today...are still in the dryer!!!

I've had my outfit mostly picked out for a week now.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

I've managed to put it out of my mind most of the day but just in case you didn't know, we're having lunch with the birthmother tomorrow.


AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Beautiful People

I have met many beautiful people in my life but Sasha's teacher could be one of the most wonderful people I've ever met. When I found out she was going to be the pre-k teacher at Sasha's gym, I put Sasha on the waiting list. Fortunately, they found a spot for her and I've been happy since the first day. Miss Nancy is so very loving but she also manages to keep my little wiggle bug under control. Sasha loves going to school every day and always runs to give Miss Nancy a hug.

I called this morning to tell them that Sasha would not be there because she is sick. Miss Nancy answered the phone and asked to talk to Sasha. She told her that she was sorry she was sick and said, "I love you. Feel better."

Do you think we could keep her at least through Sasha's 5th year of school?

Boo Hoo!

So, they don't need me anymore in the toddler room at Sasha's pre-school. I had so much fun in there. I am a little sad that I won't be there for the next 2 weeks as I thought I would be but to be honest, I have so many other things I can do to get ready for Baby Tree.

Oh! Uh! Wait! Oh poor baby!

I think these were the words that came out of my mouth as my poor baby vomited for the first time this evening.

I would like to thank the person who invented tile. Thank you Mr. Tile. You really make it much easier to clean up bodily fluids.

Vomit is really not that big of a deal for me, unless of course, it's me who is producing it. In my almost 10 year teaching career, I've had my share of experiences. If you'd like to hear more about them, keep reading. ;) I've had, really, a "throw up plague" in my classroom. For 2 weeks, almost every day, one child would projectile vomit and it usually happened as we were all sitting together. I've had a child throw up ON MY SHOES! ON MY SANDALS! BLUE! No, not blue sandals, blue throw up. Ok, I'll stop now but I do have more if you are interested.

Sasha is sleeping now. She has not gotten sick again but has also not eaten anything except a lollipop. She does not have a fever so I'm hoping this was just...a thing.

My little girl is growing up.

This morning she was going to the bathroom while I was getting ready. She got off the toilet, and said, "Mommy, I need my prize. I need my prize," and closed the door.


She "needed her privacy".

This is what happens...

Sasha's New Room
The New Guest Room/Office/Treadmill Room

...when you have too much room in your house. You end up with so much STUFF! When we bought our first house, it didn't take long to fill up the 3 extra bedrooms with who knows what. When we moved into our current house, we knew we would eventually have children and so we weren't worried about it being too big. We are moving Sasha to the bigger bedroom and will be using her current room as the nursery. The room we are moving Sasha to has been used as a guest room/storage room for the past 3 1/2 years. At one time, it was prepared for a child when we thought we would be adopting 2 from Russia but since we brought Sasha home, it has gone back to it's original use.

In Sasha's soon to be closet:
Many, many books that I have saved over my lifetime! Some are even from my father's childhood. Some are not approproriate for her until middle school. So...what do I do with them in the meantime?
2 King sized pillows and 8 regular sized pillows! I mean, really, who needs 10 pillows for goodness sake?
Puzzles, games, books, etc that all of our wonderful family and friends have donated to us in the past year. There is no way that Sasha could possibly understand the amount of THINGS she has.
A blow up mattress that "easily fits back into it's case". Uh, yeah right. It's been laying in the closet since we last used it 8 months ago!
Some games that have been confiscated from our princess due to misuse! No, you CAN NOT throw Lite Brite pieces around the house. And you certainly can not put them in your mouth!
Baby things that we have been stocking up since we submitted our profile. We wanted to be prepared for a possible middle of the night call.

I won't even get started on the items in the closet of our soon to be new guest room.

Those of you who have stayed in our guest room know that this was a very organized mess but now, where does it go? Do we really need to start using our attic? Yes, it's time. Look out Rubbermaid, here I come!

Happy 5th Birthday, Kristopher!

We spent a "wonderful" evening at a place similar to Chuck-E-Cheese. Sorry the picture is so blurry.

The rest of the pictures are with all of the Thanksgiving photos.

32 weeks

By now, our baby probably weighs about 4 pounds and is almost 17 inches long. Her hair and fingernails have grown in completely. Some babies have a head of hair already; others have only peach fuzz. Our baby is taking up a lot of space in the uterus, but those tight quarters shouldn't reduce her activity level. You may have heard that it's normal for babies to slow down later in pregnancy, but that's not true.

Officially, only 56 more days, probably less if R schedules a c-section.

Not much

We are happy to be spending Thanksgiving with my family in PA. It's cold but so nice to be "home". Sasha and her cousins, Jakob and Kristopher have been playing all day. Last night, we went to Kristopher's 5th birthday party. As we all sat at the table today, Didi and Pap realized that they need a bigger table....or a kid's table! Poor Juliana had to sit in her portable high chair on the floor. Next year, this time, we will (hopefully) have 5 children between the ages of 11 months and 8 years old around the table. WOW!

So when we went around the table today each sharing what we were thankful for, it was very hard for me to think of one specific thing. I said, "Family". At first, the word seemed to encompass everything I was feeling thankful for but on the other hand, saying only "family" didn't seem to be enough.

Like I mentioned last year, I am thankful for Sasha's birthmother. We only know her name but she really is one of he most important people in our lives.

I am also thankful for R, the birthmother who has chosen us to be the family for her baby. Even if the placement falls through, we will still be thankful that she had even considered us.

I am thankful for the possibility of Baby Tree. We are thankful that she is already occupying so much of our lives.

FAMILY really does say it all. Even though Sasha's birthmother and Baby Tree's birthmother will not be a physical part of our lives, they are still our family. These women MADE us a family.

Oh no!

What am I going to wear? I don't want to be too fancy but I don't want to be too casual.

Great! It's going to take me days to get ready.

The Big Day

We are having lunch with our birthmom next Wednesday!

Right now I'm so excited but I'm pretty sure that I'll be very nervous that day. Hopefully I'll sleep during the hour long drive to get to where we are meeting.

Handy Mommy

When you are the child(ren) of an avid reader and former elementary school teacher, you have a lot of books.

For the record, in my opinion, you can never have too many books and you can never be too organized.

Sasha's room was overflowing with books and I still have some I brought home from my classroom that I haven't even unpacked yet!

Enter Handy Mommy. With my bare hands, a screwdriver and a glass (or two) of wine, I put together this very cute bookshelf!

Family

Before I got out of bed to take this picture, Murray was snuggled up against me and Dudley was at my feet.

It makes it hard to sleep but it's so worth it. And, Baby Tree, there is certainly more room for you, too!

A Gift

When we meet with Baby Tree's birthmother, we want to bring a gift.

What gift could possibly be good enough for a birthmother? What would you give someone who is giving you the gift of life?

No need to answer, I've already bought the gifts but it was really hard and if it weren't for our social worker's advice, I wouldn't have known where to begin.

Well, I don't want 14!

I was working in the toddler room again today. The head teacher and I had 14 children between the ages of 1 and 2 1/2. Many of them were....well...having difficulty today. We had 3 pee-pee accidents, many poopy diapers, and quite a few tantrums. At one point, I was holding a screaming 13 month old girl while a crying 12 month old was trying to climb up my leg for me to hold him, and a very happy 2 year old was asking me to read him a book.

But, I LOVED every minute of it!

Anything I can do to help.

Those of you who don't know my husband very well, will laugh about this. For those of you who do know my husband, you will understand why I did this. If there is anything I can do to help keep my husband relaxed and calm during those first few weeks, I will do it. Knocking him out has crossed my mind.

Before I try that, I signed us up for two classes at a nearby hospital.

Class #1: The Happiest Baby on the Block--You may have heard of this book/DVD before but this is an actual class that will teach you how to calm your baby using the techniques discussed in the book/DVD. Hmmmm...I wonder if they will teach me techniques on how to calm my husband. What about me?

Class #2: Baby Care--The basics like diapering, feeding, burping, etc. I am a little worried that this may scare Matt more than help him but I'm hoping for the best.

Whose husband do you think will ask the most questions?

Matt, I know you are reading this...I LOVE YOU, honey!

31 weeks! Wow!

Wow! 31 weeks. It won't be long, although it's going to feel like years to me.

Our baby measures about 16 inches long. She weighs a little over 3 pounds and is headed for another growth spurt (phew!). She can turn her head from side to side. Of course, she doesn't yet understand that this movement means "no," but you'll be surprised how quickly she picks up on that and other gestures after she's born(especially a little girl, right?). The fat layer she's been accumulating for the last few weeks has caused her arms and legs to fill out nicely.

Love

Ok so I'm cheating. Aunt Kerri Hope this is ok. I'm posting my thoughts as they come to me and not 1 per day until Baby Tree's birth like we planned.

I have heard so many parents who are pregnant with #2 say, "I just don't know if I can love this child as much as I love the first one". I could never understand this because I just can't wait to have another child in our life. Maybe it's from wanting a baby so badly and not being able to conceive. Maybe it's from being a teacher and loving (almost) all of my students.

Even Matt said it the other day as we watched Sasha dance on the cruise. And I assured him that as quickly as he fell in love with Sasha, will be as quickly as he falls in love with Baby Tree.

Of course we will love this baby as much as we love Sasha. And we will, of course love Sasha as much as we love this baby!

Are we there yet?

Not Real...Surreal

So, when we were first picked and processing everything, I guess I was just so excited that it really didn't sink in. I think I was more focused on the fact that a birthmother picked us.

Thanks to the cruise, now that I've calmed down a little bit, it just seems so surreal. Everytime I think that we might have a baby in a little over a month, it just feels so...well...surreal!

A BABY GIRL!

A BABY GIRL?

A beautiful, precious, sweet baby girl.

Dancing Queen Young and Sweet Only 4oror

Click here to see the wonder of Sasha

She danced for about an hour. Watch that leg go, kind of like you Pap!

Serenity Now!

My favorite part of the cruise was the day we spent at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. Matt stayed on the boat for some much needed rest. Sasha and I were planning on spending the day together at the beach. As we got off the tram on the island, we walked past where her "Disney School" was spending the day. She was so excited with all the toys and things going on there that she decided she wanted to go to school.

I did a little happy dance, signed her in, kissed her good-bye and made my way to SERENITY BAY. This was the adult beach. I fell asleep for about an hour, read my book and chatted with the lady next to me for another hour and drank my Conch Coolers. Ahhhhhhhhhh.....I hated to leave but alas, I got that guilty mommy feeling and left to pick up Sasha. But 2 hours of alone time in my favorite place with a good book is all I needed.

Thumbs Up

We HIGHLY recommend the Disney Cruise. We had a great time. Their children's program, not surprisingly, was wonderful. The water was perfect, we only felt the boat moving a little bit the first night. It turns out that it was turning around because there was a medical emergency on board. That's probably why it was a little choppy.

We only got to "meet" Cinderella. The lines to meet the other characters were so long. We ran into Goofy and Stitch in the hallway one evening. Sasha informed me that they were "just daddies dressed up." Needless to say, she wasn't too upset about not meeting any other characters.

The first night as we got dressed for dinner, Sasha asked, "Are we driving to the restaurant?" I guess she didn't really understand the concept of being on the boat.

Pictures Here

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

We are going on a Disney Cruise this weekend. We leave tomorrow afternoon! Sasha is going to have soooo much fun.

I just hope that "It's a Small World" is not playing the whole time! ;)

Our baby...

Your baby's a bit more than 15 1/2 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and fills out your uterus. Your baby is now able to distinguish between light and dark, and she can even follow a light source back and forth. Once she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light, but she won't be able to see anything that's more than a few inches from her face. Since you'll want to hold her close as much as possible, you'll be in the perfect spot for her to get a good look at you.

Update---Good Stuff!

A social worker had lunch with our birthmom today and loved her! This particular social worker hadn't met her in person before and kept telling our coordinator how much she loved her. She does want to meet with us and we are in the process of finding a date for a lunch. She shared some information with the social worker as to why she chose us over the other families so I feel a little better about that now.

And the most exciting news is that she is going to schedule a c-section for 2 weeks before her due date. As of her last doctor visit, her estimated due date was January 20 so...we're thinking the baby will be here in the beginning of January now!

Can you feel my grin radiating from the computer?

First time

Unfortunately Sasha had to come with me for a doctor visit today. Anyway, she was sitting and playing very quietly on the floor and the doctor said, "She's such a good girl. And she looks exactly like her momma."

For the first time, I didn't add a statement about how amazing it was that she looks like me and we adopted her. I just basked in the glory of my good and beautiful girl.

I can't wait!

I can't wait for our baby.

Today was my first day in the baby room at Sasha's school. When I was in college, I worked at a daycare and I started in the toddler room but, it's been a really long time since college.

I forgot how much I love this age. The youngest is 9 months but most are between 1 and 2. Even through their stinky diapers and runny noses, they are so cute and so fun. I just need to relearn the toddler language. Most importantly, thank goodness the head teacher doesn't mind changing diapers. :)

Oh! And... Go ME! One of our little friends was throwing a MAJOR FIT today (she was actually climbing the bookshelves). Well, no one else could calm her down and I went over and held her on my lap while she screamed. I knew she started crying when the music stopped so I started singing to her. And....(excuse me while I make room for my head)...she stopped crying.

The Whole Package

Still on the topic of why R would have chosen us over anyone else.

If it wasn't the pictures and smiles, what was it?

Was it because I was a teacher?

Was it because we already adopted one child?

Was it because we already have a little girl?

Was it because Matt likes sports?

Does she like Maltese dogs too?

I guess with this kind of decision, she probably liked the whole package. It was us and all of our family and friends that helped us find this baby. Thank you!

Smiles

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sasha.

Matt doesn't like this picture but I love this one.

Kristi and Aunt Laura are the poster children for dentists everywhere.

I couldn't fall asleep last night because I couldn't stop thinking about what made our birthmother choose us.

What was it in our profile that made her pick us? I got out of bed and found an extra profile so I could examine it closely. Most of you know that I obsessed for HOURS when I was making the profile.

Last night, I looked at every little detail in each picture. I read every page a few times.

My First Theory:

The first thing that stood out to me in almost every picture was the smiles. It wasn't just us either, it was all of you who are included in the profile (and you know who you are). Our smiles are so genuine. In some of the pictures, we look downright goofy!

Are we there yet?

So, according to my calculations, we hve 75 more days until Baby Tree's due date.

HOW IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO WAIT THAT LONG??????

Last night, I had my first baby dream. She was in a bassinet and she was waking up every 2 hours to eat. When she didn't wake up at exactly 2 hours, our cat (we don't have a cat by the way) would wake her up for us. I also remember that I was not tired at all (like that will happen).

Christmas Cards

Orphan Sponsorship International was founded in 1999 by Nick Hindman, after a trip to Russia where he worked with orphans in a summer camp. They are having a Christmas Card fundraiser. The artwork on the cards is done by some of the OSI children. It's only $12 (including shipping) for 15 cards with envelopes. All proceeds go directly back to the children.

http://www.orphansponsorship.org/christmas/index.html

I had never heard of this organization before but the information was posted on one of my highly responsible foreign adoption websites.

Practice

On Monday, I will be working at Sasha's school in the "baby" (walking age) room. YIKES! They needed someone to sub for a girl who will be on maternity leave and asked me if I would do it. I will be working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 9-12:30 and then I'm sure I will want to come home and nap!

With 6 kids, I guess I'll get plenty of practice changing diapers!

Pretty Amazing Stuff!

Baby Tree is at 29 weeks.

Your baby is growing rapidly now. This week he weighs about half a pound more than he did last week (about 2 1/2 pounds total) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is getting bigger to accommodate his growing brain — which is busy developing billions of neurons. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that your baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester. Every day, about 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in your baby's skeleton, which is now hardening.

What's Next?

For those of you who are wondering what happens next. Matt and I have more paperwork to complete (nothing like what we had to do for Russia, though). The Social Worker has another visit with R (the birthmom) on Wednesday. At that time, she will decide whether or not she would like to meet us. If she does, we will just meet for a dinner some evening.

Once all of our paperwork is signed and we have met (or not--whatever the case may be), we wait....tick tock tick tock.

As far as when the baby is born. Our agency recommends that we only visit the baby for an hour at a time in case the birthmother changes her mind. R has 48 hours or when she is discharged from the hospital, whichever comes first, to sign consent. Once she signs consent, the baby is ours. She can not, nor can anyone in her family, contest the adoption to get the baby back. (I know all the made for tv movies show those types of situations.)

We know that you are all very excited for us. At least we think you are! ;) We are very excited too but we would like to request that no one sends anything to us until after we have the baby home. We will have the necesseties to get us through the first couple days. Don't worry, Baby Tree will not be lacking for anything! Imagine how hard it would be if we had pink booties and bows laying around and the adoption fell through.

Also, please don't be offended if we don't share personal information about R and/or her family. We just want to protect her privacy. All you really need to know is that R is a beautiful person for making an adoption plan for Baby Tree. Most importantly, we are so honored to have been chosen to parent this child.

We are due in 2 1/2 months!

The birthmother who looked at our profile last week, chose us to parent her baby.

We just wanted to let everyone

know that our baby girl is due on January 17!

For now, until we bring her home, the baby will be known as Baby Tree (remember Sasha chose that name months ago).

Monica, Nipples, and Best Friends

Did I get your attention? The smarter Sasha gets, the more amusing her comments become.

Monica:
We were looking at a magazine together and saw a picture of a menorah. She asked me what it was. I said, "You know what that is. We celebrated that holiday last year." She said, "Oh yeah, it's a monica." Get it? Hanukkah + Menorah = Manukkah

Nipples:
She asked me if her cup was a bottle or a regular cup. I told her it was a regular cup with a straw in it. I said, "Bottles have nipples to make it easy for the babies to drink." She said, "Nipples like you have on your face." Get that one? Nipples...i.e. Pimples! (By the way, just to set the record straight, I didn't have any pimples/nipples on my face at that time!)

Best Friend:
We were sitting down to eat dinner tonight and she put my silverware at the seat beside her. She said, "I want you to sit beside me because you are my best friend." Ahhhhhhhh so cute. I wonder if she'll say that 10 years from now. Fingers are crossed.

Halloween Encore

Video Here