The Annoying One

Braden was so sick this past week that all he ever did was sleep, cry or cough.  He's feeling better now, though.  I happened to say something out loud about one of his annoying habits of throwing his food on the floor when he's done eating and Hailey blurted out, "I thought I was the annoying one!"  When he was younger she would complain that Braden never got in trouble and we had to reassure her that his time would come.  Oh, happy days....

He's Got the Look

Once upon a time Hailey looked at me like this.

I love these days of complete admiration.

I'm just soaking it up!

Hailey Cooks

One strategy I'm trying with my picky eater is to have her choose a meal once a week and help with the preparations. She wanted her favorite foods from one of our recently visited Chinese restaurants: Sweet and Sour Chicken and Egg Drop Soup. Everything turned out great although she couldn't help saying, "The Mandarin doesn't make it like this," or, "They don't have those in it!" Well, it's about exposing her, right? At least we are spending quality time together. Oh, wait. She complained about that at first, too. *sigh*

Measuring the broth for the Egg Drop Soup.

Cutting the green onions for the soup.

Chopping a bell pepper.

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Happy Mother's Day!

Make your own free greeting card

To my mom and all my sisters -

You are all inspirations!

Little Fingers

This is the job I dread.

I can't seem to keep on top of his sharp little fingernails and it's so sad when he scratches himself. The first time I cut them - I also cut him ... twice. : ( So I saw the new clippers with the magnifying glass and bought them. It doesn't work. He's too strong and wiggles too much that I can't also look through a tiny little circle to try to see up close. But at least I've gotten better and haven't cut him again.

All too soon these tiny little fingers will be leaving BIG messes.

So I guess I shouldn't complain about something so small....

First Laughs

On my first official day staying home I got

Braden's first official giggles !

A wonderful sign of things to come. : )

Countdown!

It's been only 15 years in the making...

2 weeks until I become an official, bona fide, genuine

STAY-AT-HOME MOM!

Plus 1!

Okay. Where to start? A couple months ago I took my blogs down. I had a few. A couple were for the sole purpose of advertising our willingness to adopt and share the journey. After a discouraging failed placement I took them all down. It just got so depressing.

So I thought I'd change my focus, baby steps, so-to-speak, to move on. The very day I set this blog up I got an e-mail from my adoption agency. It was a general e-mail to all their families, but it made me think I may need to make the official call to let them know we were done. But I couldn't muster the courage. All I've ever wanted was to be a mom. We've waited for almost 4 years. So this was Monday.

Tuesday I got a call from a caseworker to tell me about a birthmother that would like to meet us who was due on Feb. 6th. All along we were cautioned about the strong possibility of her changing her mind due to unique circumstances.

Wednesday we met her. At the end of the meeting she asked us if we would like to take the baby stuff from her home because it was making her sad. BIG step forward but still too hard to hope too much. We went home and prepared our daughter for a possible meeting with her next week since she wanted to see us with her.

Thursday I got a call that said her water broke and she would be induced! She wanted us there. We rushed to get ready for the two hour drive and at least a couple nights stay, dropping off our daughter halfway where grandma and grandpa picked her up.

She gave birth to a boy 2 minutes before midnight. Here is a short video of that first hour of his life:

We brought him home today! As we rounded the corner to our house I told my husband that our house is about to feel a lot smaller. Downsizing is still necessary but for such a different reason.

I'm amazed, stunned, grateful, and soooo happy.

What is it about letting go - - TRULY letting go, that makes things happen? You hear stories all the time about people getting pregnant once they've let go of the extreme desire and just get ready to move on. It makes sense because of the stress. How is it that it works in this case as well?

So here we go. 3 Heartbeats (which was so named because I was trying to convince myself that that is enough and that's okay)--- 3 Heartbeats Plus 1 amazing miracle!