The paperwork was just filed with the state of CO....

Had to include this shot... Todd's holding Mercer on his arm. I think I'm fond of this b/c it reminds me of my dad telling me that he was able to hold my head in his hands... and with my legs outstretched they just touched the inside of his elbow. I was smaller than Mercer 5 lbs 1 1/2 oz -- and my dad is 6'-5" so I was shorter / my dad's arms were longer.... but it's such a great picture here! Also, I love Todd's expression. He's been so great with him!

We got a call this morning saying that the paperwork went to the state agency to begin the ICPC process (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children). Our social worker in Georgia says it will take 2 - 3 weeks before we'll be home now that the paperwork has begun. The social worker here in CO, however, says she'd be surprised if it took more than a week. Surprisingly, she works on a lot of Georgia cases (they all come from that consultant who we're working with). I think she says she's done 3 or 4 cases so far this year with adoptive parents from Atlanta... in fact, she was at the hospital yesterday with a birthmother and a couple from Atlanta who were placed with their birthmother in a timely fashion (unlike ours!)... we're so happy with where we're staying that she's trying to talk to that couple into coming to this extended stay hotel so we can meet them. They had a baby boy too -- and Todd really just wants to have something to compare Mercer to... to see how long these fingers and toes really are compared to another infant!

Mercer had his first pediatrician's visit this morning (the social worker set it up). The nurse measured him... 19" (she stretched him out & marked it on the paper that was on the table) -- but she said these measurements will be all over the place for awhile. Then, she took him to the station to be weighed. He put on a show! As Todd was taking his diaper off, he shot up a stream of pee about 2' high which went up & back over him onto the scale behind him. The nurse had a pretty chipper attitude as she was wiping down the scale with Windex. I'm sure it's not the first or last time that will happen! The measurement that they recorded was 6.3 lbs -- but in the photo, it clearly says 6.1. Don't know why the discrepancy?

The doctor inspected him and said that the area of the circumcision was healing very well and that his umbilical cord looks good too. (the dark piece of his cord will fall off, but he didn't say when. i don't know if I want to be around for that -- maybe that will be on Todd's shift ?!) All-in-all... a great bill of health so far. The doc said that the hospital records will be sent to their office. We haven't seen anything... so I hope we get a copy of them as well as the birth certificate, footprints, etc. We are supposed to see a pediatrician pretty much right when we get back to Atlanta too -- and will want to be able to transfer all of this stuff to them.

We went through a number of diapers and wipes while there b/c Mercer (or shall I call him my little "mustard dispenser" was going CONSTANTLY while the doc was checking him!) And here's a pic after Todd's dressed him and Mercer is content.

Chunky Mustard

[warning: some of the content of tonight's blog may not be suitable for those with weak stomaches]

I don't have much to blog about today except that we're either tired... or delusional... or have that halo effect that I've been reading about regarding newborns.

Reason I think "something's up" with us is because we are finding the silliest things hilarious about Mercer. ie: his HUGE LOUD BOOMING burps after he eats.... the shooting streams during diaper changes... and the chunky mustard being shot from his tiny little bum hole when we change his diaper. (we now have to watch it at both ends). I think I was reading that something to do with the "fresh air" of taking the diaper off stimulates his bowel function. I probably shouldn't talk about his poo (these will be great stories when he's 17 and wanting to take someone to the prom!) -- but the many stages of poo are quite fascinating.

For the past couple of days I've thought he is a little tiny play-dough factory... you know... you put it into a form and you squeeze it out into pasta noodle looking things? now, the color is quite bright yellow and the consistancy is more fluid but a little chunky... and it shoots out quick!

It's a challenge to get the diaper on and off quickly. To try to do it before he soils a clean diaper with the voracious force of a missle and/or before he shoots a stream of pee all over the diaper, his clothes, the blanket that we have down on the floor for his changes (yes - he misses the diaper pad that we change him on, of course)!


What did we do today? I got a nice work-out in at the hotel gym after breakfast. We retained an attorney early afternoon. We went to babies r us to buy a frame for the carseat & turn it into a stroller (may sound weird, but I think it's the "smallest footprint" option that we can do and which will work for the plane ride home / through the rest of his days in an infant car seat) Honestly some of this bothers me in terms of how much stuff you go through & then get rid of shortly after. As an added bonus with getting this frame thing - I think that it's less stuff to cart around / may actually be easier on us when we do take an infant carseat / stroller somewhere.

After that trip to the store, we continued into downtown Colorado Springs & wandered around (this is SO "us" as we love to check out the townscape of any city we visit). There's really nothing to post picture-wise except me in front of this cool metal and rock sculpture that I wanted to snap a shot of - but since this is Mercer's trip - we had to get him in the shot. He's in the baby sling (which is partially covered by a blanket). Sorry you can't see him; it was too chilly for us to take him out! But you can see the moutain range in the background. It's everywhere you look... beautiful!

Oh well, we'll try to do better tomorrow regarding photos.

Friday, we have a pediatrician appt at 8:15... I'm having a girl's afternoon with the birth mother around 2... and in between, we need to begin working on lodging for our "move" to Denver on Monday. Oh yeah - this was also just completed within the last hour: Todd's flight home on Wednesday was booked. : -( but, so was a flight for my amazing / stellar / terrific friend Susan to come out here on Wednesday. : - ) She's going to come out here to hang with Mercer and me... and to help out / help me get some zzzz's.

Enjoy that parting thought: chunky mustard. Boy these are the precious moments, huh? (and - as Mercer gets to be an adult... these bodily functions will definitely NOT be cute!)

c

pictures!

We did get some good shots today. Check them out!

We gave Mercer his first bath (well, for us. They gave him one at the hospital, but it was our first go at it.) He did so well. He was very attentive... and he didn't get upset like we thought he would. We gave him a sponge bath (b/c he still has his umbilical cord / we're not allowed to bathe him 'til it comes off -- eewwww!) He did cry, however, when we washed his hair - but that was at the very end of the bathing process per a step-by-step guide we were reading on how to bathe the little guy.

You can see how we're doing some things in an unconventional way... we don't have a proper place to bathe him, so we laid out waterproof pads on the blanket on the floor and got bowls of warm water (from the hotel kitchenette) in order to wash him. Todd had to keep running back and forth with new bowls of water b/c they didn't hold the warm temp for long. Todd likes this picture because it gives a good perspective on how small he is. No - I'm not hurting him... I am washing his chest. Notice how attentive he is. He was this way through most of the bath. I couldn't tell if he liked it / disliked it / or was just contemplating the whole event.

After the bath, we met the birthmother and social worker again for lunch and an outing to a nearby park called "Garden of the Gods." We did the stuff at the welcome center and then went for a drive through the actual park which consist of the rock formations in the background. Danielle said that she likes to hike -- and so do we -- so we made plans to come back when Mercer is older and hike around this park. It's a pretty place and would make a nice outing for a return visit.

We got to know her a bit better and we felt like we connected more with her on this visit. I am planning to have a "girl's outing" with her Friday afternoon and we're going to meet her and her father on Saturday.

Once we returned back to the hotel (after a shopping stop), we returned to find a fruit arrangement (looks like a flower arrangement, but is made of fresh fruit - yum) and a teddy bear that Todd's brothers and sister (and Mercer's cousins) sent. We couldn't resist a shot of him on our hotel room couch with the teddy bear because the bear is bigger than he is!

And... one final shot that we thought was cute... it kind of reminded us of that movie Christmas Story where the kid was so bundled up they couldn't move their arms. I found this great thick / plush / warm "bunting" (I think it's called) at a kid's consignment store and had to have it. He's really too small for it, but we put him in it anyways since we'd be walking around the park. Honestly, his arms are curled up inside of the gray suit... and his legs go about 2/3rds the way down. The device he's laying in is a snuggle nest co-sleeper. This is his make-shift crib. (yes - it's also on the blue multi-purpose blanket!) It was designed for putting in the bed with the parents, but Todd says he tosses & turns too much / he'd be afraid he'd squish him. Also - it's in the living room of our suite - which helps us sleep in shifts.

Tomorrow (Thursday), we don't have anything planned. We are excited to just "be" and bond as a family.

Candice

We met the birth mother today.

It's around1:30 am here (3:30 am back at home)... and it just dawned on me that we've only known Mercer for about 28 hours. We're beginning on day 2 for us (day 4 for him) -- and we're making it through so far!! We've had a request (per the comments on the last blog) to add more pictures. For some reason most of the ones we took on Tuesday were blurry, but I have one here to add that is pretty clear (except the hands and feet look like they're in motion as Mercer was rolling over). I think he felt a little "exposed" b/c we took off his gown and snapped a few shots with him in only his Onesie. I wanted to show the world how little he really is! Skinny little legs and arms (although you don't see them too often as he's still very curled up)... and those fingers and toes... yes, they are SO long! Someone said he could play piano or basketball with those long fingers. (Did I mention earlier that the birth father is 6'-10" ?!) Todd - thinking about baseball, of course - said he could make a good pitcher & really control the ball with those fingers. Oh - I envision hours upon hours of the two of them throwing a baseball around!

We'll try to get some better pics Wednesday and post them probably late Wednesday night!


We're not getting as freaked out by his every sound, every whimper, every sigh. We are growing into things a bit more. Per the reassuring emails and comments on the blog, I guess we're going things ok so far. Figuring out a lot of stuff as we go along b/c we didn't have a lot of time to read up on stuff before his arrival. I did sound a little nervous in last night, but we've been reading our baby's owner's manual throughout the day and we're getting more comfortable with things. Yes -- there's actually a book out there called the Baby Owner's Manual and it's hilarious!! The chapter we've read several times so far is "programming sleep mode." It's written like an owner's manual for a stereo or a computer or something and has funny diagrams.)


We went to lunch with the birth mother at a meeting facilitated by the social worker. She is very nice, but oh so quiet. The social worker (since she came to the adoption agency a day before her due date) hasn't gotten to know her like she normally does with other birth mothers -- so we all aren't sure if she's reserved normally or if she's just got a lot going on through her head. We both imagine that this is such an emotional time that the latter definitely is at play to some degree. She held the baby throughout most of the lunch. Todd told her all about our Cumberland Island trip, as she is interested in hiking and camping.

We talked about how willing we are to having an open adoption, as this was a big concern of hers and her dad's. We talked about coming out here for visits (I'm thrilled b/c I LOVE it out here!) and potentially even flying her out for Mercer's 1st birthday. She's never flown.... so we'll have to talk about that one a little bit more as it gets closer. We have another facilitated meeting with her, her dad, and her 6 year old brother. The social worker actually suggests that I meet with her by myself at some point too and try to get to know her a little more. The social worker says that she opens up a bit more one-on-one and this is probably something we need. (It sure is nice having a "guide" through this part!)


I sacked out for 3 hours (yay!) while Todd folded laundry, fed, and changed his diaper. Todd's crashing now during my "shift"... and after I blog, I'm going to try to catch a few more zzzzz's while Mercer is dozing. We learned yesterday about swaddling. Today we were reading up on monitoring poo. Wednesday I think we need to tackle grooming (give little M a sponge bath -- maybe wash his hair -- and *gulp* clip his nails... scared to death to do that one, but I just bought some clippers today with a magnifying glass on the end).

Catch ya later. Thanks again for everyone's support and love. It's really great hearing from you.

A new morning....

Things are a lot different for us now! We spent our first night with Mercer. Amy, the social worker brought him to us at the hotel last night. She spent a couple of hours with us going through what has happened so far in his first couple of days, showing us what formula he uses & how to prepare it, how to change his diaper / clean his umbilical cord / take care of his little you-know-what b/c he was circumsized (sp?) yesterday.... and doing the paperwork requrired for us to take temporary possession of him during this period of time until things are finalized. What a job she has -- working all hours of the day / night. We were so grateful that she came to us so late (9ish CO time). I think by 11:30 -- Todd & I were "officially" on our own.



She said he was such a good baby... and he was. She was such a pro when he needed something, she could attend to him & keep him happy. I don't know that Todd & I are doing as good a job so far... but it's 5:15 here and he seems to be doing ok. He's not sleeping as solidly as we thought he would -- he wants to be comforted a lot throughout the night (and - heck - would you blame him?!) We laid him down once we were all settled in and we thought he would crash for a couple of hours, but he woke pretty quickly afterwards. We got up and fed him (he's on a 3hr schedule per Amy) and Todd took a turn sleeping while I held and comforted Mercer. After I got pretty sleepy, I laid him back down to see he would snooze a little, but he was a little fussy / Todd got up with him. All I know is a couple of hours later, I woke up and Todd has fed him, changed him, and re-swaddled him! I was so impressed... he's a pro at this already!



Here's one pic taken last night. We'll update with more today. We'll try to get an up-close shot w/ all of us. We are going to meet Danielle, the birth mother at some point today. (We thought the birth mother's name was Jenny, but that was someone at the agency....boy - Sunday afternoon and Monday getting here was so frantic and crazy, we mis-understood the name / we wanted to clear it up w/ those we had told her name to.)



We talked to so many people over the past day & a half and we are so thankful for all the love...so much love... that we've received from everyone. It is such a great feeling getting all of this encouragement and support. We have been bowled over. Seriously.



I have started something new: cry a little bit off and on b/c I'm happy. Not bawling, but tears welling up (and sometimes a little more) when I think about this gift.... when I read an email or listen to a voice mail.... when talking with some of you on the phone.... when looking down at Mercer's tiny little peaceful little face. I had never done that before until we got that call from Amy Sunday morning. thank you.



Candice



ps...Mercer is asleep in my left arm now as I'm typing. I'll need to check with Todd later to see if that's how he made it through those couple of hours while I was asleep. I'm afraid I'm going to spoil him right from the start, but oh how I hate to see his little face scrunch up and hear this little tiny but piercing high-pitch wimper! I'm already whipped, aren't I?

The adoption update...

We met with our social worker today. She had actually finished our home study this morning, but we had to go in this afternoon & sign a few more things and take the packages with us... we have 4 packs of paper with 80 - 100 sheets of "stuff" in it for our COMPLETED home study. yay! That's a HUGE relief to have that document, for - without it - we would not be eligible to adopt.

Afterwards, we went to Babies-R-Us to return a few (yellow) gender neutral things (we had way too much yellow clothing!) and get some blue / boy clothes. While we were there, we got a call from the social worker in Colorado. Good thing we did b/c she informed us that he is tiny... she bought some preemie clothes and he is swimming in them. So - instead of buying a few extra 0-3 month sized clothes as planned, we got some preemie clothes!

Here are some details: He is 5 lbs 15 oz. 18" long. Healthy. Full head of hair. Eating a lot.

The birth mother signed the paperwork today rescending her parental rights. These papers cannot be filed until Friday morning, however, because of the laws in Colorado. After they have been filed on Friday -- they will take 2 - 3 weeks to process. (CO needs to do some stuff / send paperwork to GA / GA to do some stuff / send papers back to CO / CO to finalize the paperwork)

Once everything is finalized, we get the call that the baby can come back to Georgia with us. One of us must stay in the state the whole time with the baby... that will be me. Todd will stay a week (or hopefully more if he can manage with work). We are flying out Monday afternoon -- and -- if we get there early enough, we will pick the baby up Monday night. If not, we'll pick him up Tuesday morning / bring him back to the hotel with us. He will be in the care of the social worker Monday once he's discharged from the hospital instead of going into state care. She's been really great so far. We're looking forward to meeting her, the birth mother Jenny... and the baby boy -- who we plan to name Mercer. Mercer Groves. (Haven't settled on a middle name yet, but we've always liked the name Mercer.)

I think that's about all we have right now. We'll update as things progress.

It's all so quick, but we're ready. I'm doing lots of laundry... Todd's printing out some additional photographs to include with the home study and making lodging arrangements. Both of us will need to figure out what to do with work. We've called our employers and they all know -- but we still need to tie up some loose ends before we go.

c

We were chosen, but.....

the social worker who is working with the birth mother is being cautious because all of this has happened so last-minute and so quickly.

Supposedly the birthmother (located south of Colorado Springs, CO) was working with a friend of the family to do a private adoption and it fell through. She called an agency in Colorado on Friday who then called our consultant and asked if there were any families she was working with that would be a good fit. They called us at 4:45 Friday afternoon... we said - sure! - send the book. The social worker in Colorado called us on Saturday afternoon saying that the birth mother was in labor and that she was taking the profile books to her to review. She said she would call us with the birthmother's decision.

We got a call this morning that said we were chosen... and the baby was born yesterday. He is 5 lbs 15 oz. (We don't really have any more details other than that at this point.)

The social worker is heading back to the hospital to hang out with the birth mother a little bit more. The reason she's being cautious is b/c the birthmother wasn't 100% positive that she could go through with it -- although she felt pretty sure she could. The social worker wants us to wait 'til after this meeting at the hospital today before making our flight arrangements.

We've begun washing all of the baby gear that we've collected. We're meeting with our social worker this afternoon at 3 (yes - she's meeting us on a Sunday! She actually was working on our homestudy report this morning & said she finished it today. cool!). Afterwards, we're going to babies r us to return a few gender-neutral clothes and to pick up some sterilization bags (if they sell them) so that we don't have to buy and pack a bottle sterilizer on the plane. (We picked up a car seat from a friend last night... that was the 2nd to last thing I wanted to put in the ready-GO kit.) The only other thing I think that I want for the kit is a baby sling. I have been reading about baby wearing (how good it is for both the baby and mother)... and - maybe one of those frames that a car seat snaps into so that you don't have to get a big bulky stroller. Tomorrow morning at 8, we're signing all of the papers at a bank to switch over our Home Equity Line (we recieved word on Saturday (in an email sent Friday) that it was ready to go). This will be our financing mechanism for the adoption. Sounds like everything is falling into place.

Funny thing at yoga yesterday... I was talking to my teacher about yoga on the beach, about how relaxed I was, about our call Friday afternoon. She thought that I "knew" something b/c I was so calm. She could feel it. And - Todd & I went to a work party at my office (there were about 20 volunteers there trying to do some things to finish the building so it would be ready for our conference in March).... we actually got the call while we were working there Saturday afternoon about taking our profile book for review. We got such great comments from all of our co-workers too. They all hoped that this one would work out for us.... and I got to say "bye" to a number of them just-in-case. The phrase we were all using: "I hope I don't see you Monday." (meaning -- hopefully we'd be on a plane to Colorado!)

I should go for now. I'll update the blog when we hear more.

Another post today - Cumberland trip

I wanted to separate the adoption stuff (see previous post from today) from vacation stuff b/c I will ramble and ramble about our trip -- I'm sure.

On Sunday, we drove to south Georgia to stay overnight at a place that a bunch of my co-workers recommended. It's a hostel that has a bunch of treehouses in the woods. It was a nice place and we saw something that really blew our minds: they have a bunch of chickens in some open coops, but some of them hang out in trees. Yes - they fly up a few feet and grab onto a limb. Then they hop up to another limb climbing higher. There were about 1/2 a dozen of them in various trees at any given point of time. (My grandparents raised chickens... and this is something that I never have seen. Can't wait to show them the pic that Todd took!) We didn't get a lot of sleep b/c of two roosters that were "broken." They crowed at 1:30, 4:30, 5:15, 5:20, and 5:30. We were supposed to get up at 6:30 so we could pack up and drive the rest of the way (about an hour) to St. Mary's Georgia to catch the ferry over to Cumberland.

It started to rain as we were on the ferry. It began raining harder and harder 'til we were finally over to the island -- where it was a flat out downpour of rain as we were unloading all of our gear. Luckily, they have carts that you can take to your campsite, so we rolled our wet gear to campsite #9 with our "hosts" Dave & Christine and their two children Megan & Miles. Todd & I used to work with Dave; he and his family have been 4 or 5 times previously and know the island very well. We were fortunate that they were willing to share their annual trip with us. We really enjoyed their company.... their insight to the island.... and experiencing their relationship with their children -- who are great kids!

We were not able to rent bikes, so the sites we were able to see were within a 3 - 5 mile range from the campsite. We headed South on the first day & checked out the ruins of the old Carnagie family home. We saw one horse, but didn't stick around long (b/c we got a late start to the day) and headed back to the campsite to build a fire & make dinner. We ended up going back the following morning -- taking a path off of the main road to get there. We stayed for several hours, had a picnic lunch on the lawn, watched a group of horses, visited the marsh below the estate, visited the family cemetary, then took a boardwalk through marsh and dunes over to the beach on the east side of the island. We saw the same pack of horses, cranes eating fish in the marsh, and a deer. The island is so full of wildlife (especially of note are the wild horses). The island is partly developed but is mostly preserved. There are old family homes on the northern part of island, but not many. The majority of people on the island are campers or people who take the ferry over for a day trip. (We came over on the Monday morning ferry and there wasn't another 'til Thursday morning - so we saw a number of the same people here and there.)

The following morning, I went with Dave, Miles, and a neighboring camper (who they've met on previous trips) to watch the sun rise. Later, I went back out to the beach to do yoga. I only saw one person while doing it, so I didn't feel too silly out there. It is AMAZING how peaceful it is there... the only thing you really hear is the beach and the birds. Later, we all hiked to the middle part of the island -- heading north up the beach. We saw another camp site (there are basically 3 "areas" to camp on the island), hung out for awhile in a big field where we saw 16 horses in the distance, and then hiked back down a trail through the woods back south. We didn't see any wildlife on that trip (except armadillos) 'til the very end. A small pack of 3 horses crossed our path. They stopped. We stopped. Then they eventually passed. We were always trying to be respectful of them unlike some people we saw on the island who would approach the horses. Dumb move! You just don't know what they'll do -- or if they'll turn. (Dave & his family experienced this on a previous trip -- two packs fighting within feet of him and the fam -- which was pretty scary for them.)

We watched the lunar elipse on the beach that night. It was SO SO dark and we were able to see a zillion stars in the sky once the full eclipse was in effect. (Otherwise, we had a full moon while we were there & you could walk through certain areas without your flashlight). I don't think I've described where we stayed. We were inside a forest of live oaks with twisty branches that often would bend down and touch the ground. Walking from the dunes -- you'd enter into this cave-like hole to get into the forest. It looked creepy from the outside, but was very cool on the inside.

The following morning, Todd & I went to watch the sun rise (which one do you think is nicer? I can't decide!) and I stayed on the beach to do yoga again. As I was walking along the boardwalk to head back into the canopy of trees, I was actually sad. I would really love to be able to stay - do more yoga on the beach - relax - experience more nature & beauty - hike - etc. I knew that it would be hectic to pack up and get our gear back onto the boat, but we did it (and without rain!). We enjoyed a nice lunch with Dave & his family, then headed our separate ways. They headed to Savannah for the night to meet up with some other (former) co-workers. We went to Jekyll Island to check out a jobsite for a project that I'm involved in then head home. It POURED rain all the way back home... so - in a way... it was good that we did come home when we did. We will go back - for sure. Perhaps we'll charter a boat with Dave & his family and bring our own bikes onto the island. It may cost slightly more to do that than pay for the ferry ride and rent bikes -- but at least we'd be guaranteed to have them and know that we could make it to the top of the island. We WILL go back. It's an amazing place. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

A late-afternoon adoption opportunity!

It's so crazy how this works. Got a call about 20 minutes ago (at 4:45) to find out if we would want our profile sent to a birthmother in Colorado who is due tomorrow. TOMORROW. if she doesn't have the baby over the weekend, she will be induced Monday.

Yikes!!!!!!!!! but - the answer was yes - please send it. Don't know what's on my calendar for the week. Just coming off of vacation... and haven't looked at my calendar.... but that's ok.

We got a call on Tuesday about a situation, but we didn't call our consultant's office back in time. it was a "call us back immediately if you're interested" type of call. We were on Cumberland Island & didn't really have too much reception on the island. We called about 15 minutes too late. Maybe that was a good thing...b/c of THIS situation? who knows. I imagine we'll find out soon. Of course - I'll update the blog.

vacation pics and description on the way.

c

Friday before Camping Trip

The photo: Home sweet home for a few days! It's the tent we "splurged" on last fall. It's a Family-Sized tent (4 or 5 person tent... but most importantly... we can stand up in it. We need to pack tonight so we can do our final shopping tomorrow. (It's set up in the back yard here because we wanted to see if all of the parts were there before we got into the wilderness.) Did I mention where we were going?! Cumberland Island. I've been wanting to go there for years. Some friends of ours go fairly often, so we're tagging along with them. You have to take a ferry over to the island. It goes over Monday morning and the next ferry doesn't come to the island 'til Thursday. There are no cars. Probably very few people. Lots of wild horses. etc. SO EXCITED!!!!

We also found out about our latest adoption opportunity yesterday (valentine's day): the birth mother from Oklahoma chose another family. I had my physical earlier in the week and I went this afternoon to pick up my final paperwork and take to the social worker..... but..... she wasn't at the office this afternoon -- so it will have to wait 'til we get back. I think that's it for the homestudy on our end. Seriously. (Unless this doesn't pan out within the next few months... and we have to start doing some of the paperwork over again. (State of GA requires that it be updated every 6 months. Some of the stuff we stared in December, so it will be outdated by June.)

Finally - I'm about to place the order online for the custom-sized organic sheets for the bassinet that my grandpa made. Had the custom chem-free mattress made. I got a couple of orders in that I had placed a week or so ago -- and have a number of org onsies (they are so soft) and a slew of org baby lotions and potions (burts bee, baby avalon organics, and earth's best products) after i placed this order, i found out that this stuff will last a long long time. I probably didn't need several different brands of diaper ointment AND shampoo AND lotion etc. I thought it would be good to get a variety / see what brands we and the baby liked... but looks like we'll be "trying" these things out for a year or more!

Oh well. That's ok. I've read (for the 2nd time) that the hospital will give you a bag of baby stuff... but that these companies have paid big bucks to get their products in there because parents have this thing called the "Halo Effect" -- they feel euphoria and anything that they come across in the first few days seems to become a permanent part of the baby's life. So the products that have lots of chemicals in them and diapers that have bleach in them, etc will get to stay at the hospital because I have PLENTY of natural products to take with. I guess there is some benefit to being over-prepared!

I should go / order the sheets / do some laundry etc. I don't think I'll post before we go on the trip. The next post should have some amazing photos of our trip!

for the birds...

Well, I don't know much about birds, but I know that I was drawn to the pond mid-day yesterday b/c of a group of cute ones that kept hovering & dipping in the pond and stream. I tried to look it up online to see what they were and this is pretty close to what I saw minus the red tips. (bird ID-ing is hard if you have no clue what you're doing!) maybe i'll get a book with lots of pictures so we can try to figure out what's visiting. That would be a fun thing, I suppose, for young children - when we have them - to engage with nature and learn about them. (I've got a lot of brushing up to do between now & then!)

There were maybe 10 of them hanging out late morning. I set a table up near the waterfall for us to eat lunch, but they were afraid, I guess, and hanging out in the big tree above. I was in the back yard all afternoon and saw them at the top of the stream dipping into the water later in the day.

I've never seen any like them before, so it was kinda cool to sit for a few minutes and watch them. Actually - I love watching how all animals interact with our pond and stream... dragonflies, squirrels, and birds are definitely drawn to the area.

There was another exciting experience with a bird. There was a red bird (a cardinal, I think) trapped in our garage! I had the doors open all day b/c I was getting gear out for our camping trip (tent, cooler, folding chairs, etc)... and he must have flew in at some point. He was in there for hours. I'm assuming he flew out b/c by the end of the afternoon, I didn't see him flying around. I felt so bad for him -- but he had no clue I'd try to help him out... I'm sure he was just afraid of me.

We set up the tent in the back yard to make sure all the pieces were there, cleaned off a bunch of gear, and started packing a box of things to take with us. We'll need to run to REI this week and pick up a couple more things... but we're really excited about the (much needed) trip.

Well, I should crash. Todd woke up in the middle of the night coughing (4 am) and I got up to get him water / wasn't able to go back to sleep. I feel so bad for him. He's back to normal from his little surgery -- except when he coughs -- it hurts the incision on his stomach. And - as his cough from being sick last week lingers, I know it hurts him every time he coughs.

I made a vanilla steamer (milk puts you back to sleep, right?) and thought I'd look up that bird. I need to get some more zzz's before going to work today. Got a busy day ahead of me. I have a board meeting after work near the square and then I am going to go meet Todd's brother for dinner. He's flying into town to teach a class -- but Todd is heading out of town to go to his jobsite several hours before his brother's flight lands. Oh well.

re: ADOPTION stuff. We haven't heard anything about the situation in Oklahoma, but Todd & I started to look through agency applications this weekend. We filled one out & read / signed all of the paperwork... but we have to get certified copies of marraige liscense and birth certificates, MORE letters of recommendation, etc. Boy - I feel like we're tapping some people too much with these letters! Each agency also requests 4 - 5 copies of our profile book -- but there's 2 we're applying with this week & neither have an application fee -- so that's cool. We also have to include completed copies of our homestudy. I think that should be wrapping up this week after my physical Wednesday.

Great day today!

I started out making breakfast in bed for Todd today before I went to work. Yesterday afternoon, he had a minor surgery to fix a tear in his stomach lining -- which is actually a pretty common thing in guys. (his doctor found the tear when he went to get his physical for the adoption home study. he recommended going ahead & taking care of it before we adopted a child b/c todd would be out of commission for a little while recovering & wouldn't be able to pick up a child. He should be 100% back to normal by Thursday.)

Then, after he was squared away - I went to a meeting in a coffee shop near my office. I had a great meeting with a co-worker who I enjoy her company, then went to the office & reviewed some drawings. I went to a meeting this afternoon that was cut short b/c of a change in the project scope on the architect's end. So - on a gorgeous afternoon (64 degrees at 4 pm) -- I got to head home early! (I was really missing my convertible, though!)

On the way home, I stopped at a children's consignment store that I've been wanting to check out -- and loaded up on some nearly new clothes. Got some CUTE things from baby gap / old navy / carter's etc.
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I haven't really written too much about buying baby stuff, but I have been gathering a "READY-GO" package of things we'll need when we get that call to hop on a plane and potentially fly across country. Some friends are going to loan us a carseat and a neighbor is loaning us a travel baby sleeper thing (since we'll have to take something for the baby to sleep in for 2 - 3 weeks). I've got hybrid cloth & disposable diapers. I've got Burt's Bee baby products. I've been trying to get organic clothing and products as much as I can -- so I wanted to have this stuff ahead of time -- we may not be able to get the majority of it on the road.

I've been reading a book called "organic baby" and another called "green babies / sage moms" One of them was talking about particular items to buy organic (onesies which are close to the skin, the mattress, bathing products, etc)... and - if you couldn't get all of these things organic to buy 2nd hand (for clothing, carseats, etc). The chemicals that are in the products will more than likely be washed out or the plastics & such will have off-gassed.

It's inevitable that the baby will eventually be exposed to these things (unless living on a commune, I suppose).... but - I like the idea of trying to do the best that we can for as long as we can.
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I guess I was excited to get the really cute stuff at a great deal -- so that, alone, is enough to constiture as a good day! But - then, Todd & I walked up to the square to absorb the great weather / we met some neighbors at a coffee shop for some tea & a steamer / walked home.

Finally, I made dinner and we watched Shrek 3.

I don't think that there was really anything that wasn't pleasant today. I've really enjoyed taking care of Todd. Sounds weird, but it's been nice helping him out.

I guess that's all for today.


PS - we have another book out to a birthmother in Oklahoma. I'm feeling better because our READY-GO pack is almost complete and my meeting this morning was to inform my co-worker of a project so that she could take over for me if we get the call.

Yay.

c

Another blog?! So soon!!

For some reason, I felt the need to report that I feel like an adult today. I'm still very much a kid at heart... but I did something very "responsible" & that's what qualifies me - in my mind - as adult. (Not to mention the things I already do such as owning a home / holding down a job / pursuing adoption are all very "adult" things to do of course! But it just feels different.)

I voted in the primary today. I've never done that in the primary before... just in November during election years. (For those who know me -- they may be shocked b/c I am so NOT a political person!!) I was at home early (came home sick from work) and felt the urge to go vote. Don't know 100% why I felt compelled to do it - but I did.

ON AN ADOPTION NOTE -- as an update to yesterday's post -- I found out from our consultant that we aren't eligible for this particular situation in Utah. The social worker needs families who are ready to go right now & they need to have a completed homestudy in their hands by the end of the week. If we scrambled (the scenario would roll like this: I went & sat in a dr's office tomorrow and had a physical "on demand" AND if we were able to get the results of the bloodwork & other stuff back right away.... then got the paperwork back to our social worker right away.... then she finished it in a day.... then fed-ex it out.... we'd make it in time. but - all 3 of those steps likely have more than a 1 day turn-around (getting the appointment. getting the test results. getting the social worker to drop everything else she has going on).

This one was just not meant to be (again). It will happen. I'm ok with it.

Funny as I was trying to go to sleep last night -- I'm playing out all the stuff in my head. Birth mother's due date Feb 22. If she went into labor before then -- we'd be on a remote island camping (we're going to cumberland in a week & a half!!). fortunately, we would be able to get cell service to receive the call and would be able to get an emergency flight off the island (we checked -- the island has both cell and emergency services if needed). but then we'd have to pack up everything and drive back home before making flight arrangements.

Clearly - my mind was racing as I was trying to fall asleep. Todd was more rational: we just wouldn't go on the trip b/c we would need to be ready to go when we got the call. (he's so level-headed. I'm trying to figure out how to make it all work!) ugh.

Oh well. I should go. I'm going to take a nap for awhile. (Because naps are an "adult" luxury.) ; - )

A bit under the weather...

Hard to say if we picked up some ICK from our flight to Chicago or the flight to Ohio... or ICK in the hotel in Pennsylvania... or ICK from relatives at the funeral who were sick... or ICK on our flight to Charlotte... or ICK on our flight back to Atlanta. But - Todd & I got knocked down over the weekend! It's the first time that either of us could recall that we both got sick at the same time. I kept thinking -- what would it be like if we had a kid and were both sick? I wasn't feeling as bad as he was, so I suppose I would've taken care of the fam? (Like saying ICK almost as my favorite decription of miscellaneous substance: SCHMOO) Picked up SCHMOO on flight to Chicago.... or SCHMOO from the hotel... etc. Still works!

We made it back with no problems, really (since we were re-routed through Charlotte the next day). When we got home, we both took a nap. Later, I went for a walk up to the square with a couple of neighbors, hung out in the outdoor courtyard of the local coffee house, and then walked home. Todd & I both went to bed early that night, slept for 12 hours, and hung out in the house all day Sunday. We blew off a Superbowl party b/c we didn't want to pass any ICK (or SCHMOO) around -- just in case.

Both of us are on the mend now, thankfully. After the news of the prospect in Denver and Arkansas not panning out... finding out about Todd's aunt passing... and being hit with the flu (we think) - it wasn't a good week, honestly.

I'm optimistic that things will look up this week. We were contacted with another opportunity (a birthmother in Utah), but aren't sure yet if we're qualified b/c our homestudy isn't 100% done yet. (I had to post-pone my physical b/c of the funeral last week. It's scheduled next week -- but the birthmother is due in two weeks!) I may have to figure out how to get a physical in the next day or two pending a discussion with our consultant tomorrow.

I should crash now. -- Candice

Stuck in PA because of snow...

We've had a nice visit with all of Todd's family. They're such a large, warm, loving group of people. The service was yesterday at a Greek Orthodox church that they were members of. I'd never been to a Greek funeral. It was different than any I'd ever been to. It's so interesting to see the various rituals that different cultures & religions have. We couldn't understand most of what the greek priests said, but, it seemed comforting to his family to know that she was receiving blessings as she was passing from this life to her next.

We were supposed to fly home this afternoon (we'd be on a plane right now on our way to Chicago), but b/c of snow & delays... our airline cancelled their flight. They're re-routing us through Charlotte NC tomorrow before we make it home.

On our way up, we went through Chicago and it was 2 degrees. 2! (and we had to walk out onto the tarmac to get to our little commuter plane) 2 is cold. thankfully, it was only for a short time!

I should run. Time to go eat (again). Lots of food. Lots of family outings this trip. Big, loud, good-spirited family outings!