We had a nice Thanksgiving.

We didn't travel this year -- it's the first Thanksgiving we've spent at home, ever.

We had neighbors over (and their two children too) for lunch. I admit -- I ordered a pre-cooked turkey breast and a couple of side dishes. Todd made sweet potato casserole. I made cheese cake pumpkin pie. Our neighbors brought mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pie too! We ALL ate more than we should've, but it was oh so good.

We didn't have anything "festive" for the table -- so I bought two packs of cloth napkins in gold and cayenne and used some to drape the table, some to use as napkins. The dining room was totally transformed for 20 bucks. (I already had the glass pumpkins; I got the napkins to match them.) At each end of the table sat their kids (they ate off of plastic -- but it went with the china we used). Mercer drank a bottle, then played in the dining room in his exersaucer and ate some sweet potato puffs.

After our guests went home, Todd and I walked up to the square. The weather was gorgeous (in the 60s). This is the first time I have walked all the way to the square in a long time -- since before the surgery. (I only got clearance Oct 31st... and since then Mercer was sick / I was sick / the weather's been bad.) It was GREAT going up there. We love our square!!

On the way up, we stopped at a home-town bank for a photo that I've been wanting to get for awhile. Mercer in front of a chicken sculpture. There was a fund-raiser for a local organization that had artists decorate the "Little Chicks of Marietta" (much like the Cows on Parade event that was up in NYC, Chicago, and Atlanta). This is modeled after the Big Chicken -- a 4 story KFC which is "historic" and serves as a local landmark here. This is one of my favorite Chicks b/c it speaks to an industry that was prevalent in Marietta during the war: building bombers at Lockeed-Martin.

We continued up to the square. It was empty. No businesses were open... and there were only a handful of people up there. We took some cute pictures of M on the train that's usually swarming with kids. They usually crawl all over it. But - we had free-reign of the train. Check out these great photos!

We rounded out the day by feeding Mercer his "Thanksgiving Dinner." (Earth's Best Vegetable Turkey Dinner.) He only ate half of a jar of the baby food, but at least he got to partake in the festivities sort of. It was a nice Thanksgiving, indeed.

Mercer woke up this morning around 4:45... I laid in bed for awhile, then just decided -- what the heck -- I'll go shopping. Places were open early. I completely steered clear of the mall, so the store I went to really weren't that crowded. There was one line I stood in (with about 10 other people) at 7 am. World Market had chances for the first 100 people at each location to get a game piece for a National Wildlife Expedition (valued at $20,000 each). That's really what got me up and out shopping. Just the chance to win one of the three trips they were offering(I was laying in bed calculating the numbers -- the odds were less than 1 in 10,000.)

Oh well. we didn't win. I did get a nice blown glass ornament, though as a "parting gift."

I had some time to kill before World Market opened. I went to a neighboring store / wandered around / found all sorts of great things for our nieces and nephews. I made a rookie mistake (first time at home for Thanksgiving... first time at home to shop on Black Friday): I hadn't planned on going to that store / I had to go back home... grab my coupon / go back out to the store... but it was worth it. I got probably 1/2 of my shopping done at this one store. yay!

"Little M" is 9 months old today

He's beginning to stir this morning, but I thought I'd try to blog quickly before our day begins.

He's 9 months old today -- hard to imagine that 3/4 of a year ago -- we had no idea that we would be chosen to call this sweet baby our own! Oh how different life was 3/4 of a year ago!!

Yesterday, we went to a "National Adoption Day" brunch held by our adoption consultant. She has placed over 80 families with babies this year... and said by the end of the year -- she's targeting over 100 families. (I didn't realize this, but she has families along the East Coast... there are several from NC, FL, and even a couple she worked with from Michigan.) Mostly people from Georgia were at the event yesterday, though, and only about 1/2 of the families that she worked with were there.

They had a bunch of tables set up in a church fellowship hall, a buffet at one end, and about 1/3 of the space was a play area for the kids. Yes -- she's done this before!! Setting up the play area was really really smart. All of the babies were younger than 1 year... so there were lots of things for them to do -- on the floor. Mats, bouncy chairs, exersaucers, etc. There was even a little tiny rocking horse that Todd put Mercer on for a minute. There were older kids there too -- siblings. In fact, one family adopted a baby (who's now 11 months old) and then got called back out to Texas by the birth mother to see if they wanted to adopt his older half sister. She's 2 1/2 years old. They did, of course. She was the oldest "adoptee" present. Pretty cool! The youngest babies (there were a few) who were around 5 - 6 weeks old.

She asked the crowd to raise their hands if -- once they were approved for their Home Study -- that it took over 12 months to be placed with a baby. No one raised their hands. It took less than a year from the time they started 'til they had added a little bundle to their families. She continued to ask people to raise their hands: less than 12 months... less than 9 months... less than 6 months.... less than 3... less than 1... less than a week? A few of us raised our hands. Actually I asked "how about if you were placed with a baby before the Home Study was approved / but by the time you got on the plane it was done?" There were three couples there (including us) raised their hands -- who it all happened very very quickly to! She's aggressive, but gets the job done!

There was one set of twins there. There were several couples from Colorado (their babies were born in Denver). But the couple we met in Colorado Springs the week Mercer was born (shown on our blog back in Feb) were not there. They were signed up to attend, but for one reason or another they didn't make it. There were several babies born in Utah, Nevada, Florida, etc. There were lots of stories about how they "got the call" and off they were to another state for this big journey... the "looks" they got for taking a several day old baby to a restaurant (yep - we got that look)... the "oddities" of raising a baby in a hotel room for a week or two (yep - we had that experiences too!).

The consultant showed a video of photos that parents had sent in. I suppose she only used digital photos that were emailed to her instead of scanning in printed ones sent because the only photo she had in the video of Mercer was one we emailed her while we were in Colorado (one of Todd feeding him when he was teeny-tiny). She then took a group photo -- which will be posted on her website. I'll put a link on the blog once the photo makes it up to the site. Currently, last-year's Adoption Day party attendees are still on there.

It was a good event overall and we're glad we went. It was the highlight of our week. We did other things too this weekend -- going out Friday night, stopping by a friend's house who lived a mile from the church we were at yesterday, attending a pot luck last night at a neighbor's house, etc... but the Adoption Day party was definitely a unique experience!! Since we've had our "fun" already, the rest of the weekend will be spent cleaning house (oh -- the dishes and the laundry never seem to end anymore!) and FINISHING some baby-proofing things.

I have a video to post to the blog of Mercer in his crib... standing... walking along the rail. Time to lower the crib to the lowest setting, now. And his crawling is getting better. Time to get that baby gate up at the kitchen because there's a step he's already headed straight for. When we have him up on the bed or the couch -- he doesn't seem to have any concept of "down" yet... he'd crawl right off trying to grab something on the floor... if we'd let him. He'll learn!

We made it through the weekend safe and sound

The previous two weekends, Mercer was sick. So, we were really relieved when we made it through this past weekend without a hitch.

We had a pretty good weekend and actually did a bit of socializing. Friends over Friday night for a pot luck. And the house was filled with laughter. I LOVE that Mercer got to hear good hearty laughing throughout the evening. Saturday, we went downtown to a club to celebrate a friend's birthday. A neighbor came over to watch Mercer. This was the first time we had a "baby-sitter" really. We have gone out a couple of times when my mom or Todd's mom was in town... but this time... I filled out the little form that lists emergency contact numbers / the pediatrician's number / his date of birth / etc. wow.

I definitely feel like an adult. Seriously. Filling out that little form.


The weekend was filled with some work too. One thing we did was go take a tour of an environmental high school near Atlanta. It's a project I worked on -- brainstorming green features with the team before the design was done. And - now - it's built. We took some shots of Mercer there specifically because we haven't uploaded pics in awhile. He had fun playing in the grass -- and -- of course he tried to eat some.


Speaking of eating... Mercer's mastered eating some little finger food. Organic-O's (like cheerios) and these little sweet potato puff things that are supposed to melt in his mouth. We had tried off and on for the past several weeks to introduce these things and each time he was horrified by it. But Sunday we think he "got it." It's cute watching him work on his hand-eye coordination and put these little things in his mouth.

His crawling is getting a little better. He still does a little bit on his belly -- but most of it's up on his hands and feet. And - he's starting to pull himself up on furniture to a standing position. Including inside his crib. It's weird to set him down in there to go wash your hands after a diaper change and come back in / he's standing up! It doesn't last long. He really doesn't have any balance yet -- so if he lets go of the rail -- he tumbles. Luckily, it's soft in the crib. Our hardwood floors, however, are not so soft. He's already taken a spill from this standing position and (thankfully) seems pretty resilient.

He's also picked up on us saying "uh-oh" a little. He's said it several times on Saturday, but not so much on Sunday.

Seems like there has been a lot of stuff going on in the past week with Mercer. I texted the birthmother about the crawling and pulling up on stuff. She said "That's so cool!" Cool... oh I don't know... I think Mercer is about to rock our worlds!! (Have I said that before? It's going to be SO different from this point forward!!) Does that mean that he moves from baby to toddler once he's mobile? oh. so much change!

goodnight.

A couple of videos were added of Mercer

I wish I could say that Mercer was feeling better -- but he's got a "double whammy" -- some sort of stomach bug. Lots of throw-up Saturday morning... which has moved to the opposite end of the spectrum (the "d" word) Saturday night / Sunday / Monday.

His croup is basically, gone, though. He has a little bit of a residual cough. So do I - have a little bit of a cough (I got "adult" croup (basically a sore throat) like the doctors said I would get since I was confined with him. Unfortunately, I think Todd is getting it / he's not feeling well today.)

I really want our household to be well. I am going to try to research some stuff to see if I can (naturally) help build up Mercer's immunity system... and prevent this ICK from entering our house to begin with! ugh.

I really can't think of anything going on. b/c of Mercer not feeling well, we really haven't done much. (We did go to a friend's house, however, and cook together... made homemade pizza appetizers, she & her sister made homemade ricotta cheese to put in homemade pumpkin ravioli, another homemade ravioli dish with chicken, ham, and spinach, AND homemade apple pie. It was quite the feast... and quite chaotic with three of us in the kitchen and the guys watching the kids for much of the evening. We're trying to socialize but not spend a lot of cash (we used to go out to dinner as a form of socialization - but since we're not going out as much... we don't want the good times to end!)

It was fun -- but I think we shouldn't try to make SO many things all in one night!!

Here's what you were waiting for... right?! Seeing Mercer crawling a little bit. Oh -- in week or two -- he's really going to rock our worlds once he's mastered crawling! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2AsfirsefM

And another video from the neighborhood Halloween party: http://www.youtube.com/user/ToddGroves The "puppy dog" is Henry -- who was on the blog this summer. He's one of the boys on our street also born in February. Jackson - the "teddy bear" - is 1 year old (a few months older) and is Mercer's friend from the next street over. Good times.

I'm glad that Todd & I voted last week because Mercer...

... Mercer went to the ER Sunday / spent Monday in the hospital / we couldn't take him out today (Tuesday). [Another long blog, but I wrote a PS at the end - which I think Mercer will appreciate one day.]

The little guy seems to be ok now, but Sunday night we noticed that he was having difficulty breathing. His chest was "retracting" -- basically sucking in because of lack of air. We called the on-call nurse who told us to take him into the bathroom for 15 minutes and run a steamy shower then take him straight to the E.R. At 10 pm +/- off we went (it's only 1 mile away, luckily).

They determined that he had croup and administered a breathing treatment and a steroid to open up his throat. He didn't seem to respond, so they observed him and administered another breathing treatment. We waited in the E.R. for more observation.

I had heard of croup before, but didn't really know what it was: basically it's a cold... but instead of lodging in the chest... it lodges in the throat. It's particularly dangerous in small children because it constricts the airway / their airways are so small. If interested, this "moderate to severe" definition seems to fit the bill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup
One thing that's pretty cool: there's a device that wraps around the baby's big toe that can instantly read the amount of oxygen in his blood instead of taking blood and sending it off for results. Mercer's oxygen level dipped down to 96% when we checked into the E.R. Not dangerously low, but not good either. He had lost some oxygen.

Around 2 or 2:30 am Monday, Mercer was transported to a Children's Hospital here in Atlanta. I rode with him down in the ambulance. (The medic who rode in the back of the ambulance with us took a cell phone pic (cheesy, I know, but she offered!)... as soon as I can figure out how to get it out of my phone I'll post it.) I checked Mercer in / and they hooked him up to some machines in order to observe him. He did really well throughout it all and finally fell asleep around 4 am. I crashed about 4:15 and woke a couple of times before Mercer woke up promptly at 7:30. (He ALWAYS eats at 7:30 am -- so it didn't surprise me that he was wailing for food!)

He and I hung out all day in the hospital room. I did leave the room to get some lunch with Todd in the hospital cafeteria, but Mercer was "confined" and was not allowed to leave the room at all. People coming in were wearing masks and gloves. It was a little daunting -- but it dawned on me / I learned later that we were in a Respiratory ICU wing of the hospital... and there are some kids there with some very serious diseases. It was as much for his protection as it was theirs.

After a day of observation, he was released. Once home / after visiting the pharmacy, Todd took Mercer duty and I crashed at 5:30 pm!! I could have slept all night, but did get up for a couple of hours before going to bed for real. I slept in Mercer's room because I was worried about how he'd do through the night. Every noise he made had me jump up (Todd too -- he was listening & watching on the baby monitor which resides on his night stand)... it wasn't until about 6:15 this morning that I actually got Mercer up and into the steam shower again. It sounded like he was having breathing distress. We have a nebulizer here at the house from when Mercer was 3 months old & had a respiratory infection. We gave him an at-home treatment and waited until we could administer his steroid this morning.

Basically, croup is not treated with antibiotic b/c it's viral. It has to run it's course through him... and relapse is definitely a possibility. We had a follow-up with Mercer's pediatrician this morning. Again, he sounded good, however, the doc agreed with something I was concerned with: why did the hospital prescribe the steroid in the morning instead of before he went to bed?! This doc wrote a different prescription for the same steroid with "modified" instructions for evening and morning administration. I haven't had time (in all of this rush) to research what this treatment does to him... but at this point... keeping his airway open is most important to us!

I need to run - it's late - I'm going to sleep in his room again, but expect that I'll sleep better than last night. You know -- through it all -- the little guy is happy... playful... and really doesn't show sign of not feeling well. He is such a good baby. I am SO glad that I had received my 100% medical clearance on Friday and was able to spend this time with him Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I feel that I really got a chance to (strongly) bond with him again.

Good night.
Candice

PS -- I began this blog shortly after Barack Obama was announced as winning the presidential election. I know that blog readers are of varying political parties... and Todd / I are not "in your face" about politics... so we don't really talk about it publicly.

But we do want to share with Mercer that we are excited for him... excited for the possibility that lies ahead of him... excited that a new path has been paved for him in the future of this great country. Mercer is bi-racial and will hopefully be of a generation that will not see prejudice. He will hopefully see opportunity... fairness... hope.

we had a Happy Halloween

My Halloween started on Thursday. I had a girl's night outing. "crazy Candace" down the street had us over for awhile then we all hopped in the back of a couple of pick-up trucks from the guys on the street that were filled with hay... for a hay-ride up to the square.

It was really fun! They dropped us off and us girls went on a ghost tour. We were pretty obnoxious, of course, and felt sort of bad for the others on tour -- but I think everyone had a good time. (Some of us stayed on the square for a few more hours at a local pub and walked home afterwards.)

Some people went all-out on the costumes. Mine not so much, but I was happy that I picked it up for under $4.00 at the Goodwill store -- a little straw hat and a stick horse... both of which can be passed down to Mercer to play with in a couple of years! I had boots on too and would "gallop" around making a clickity clackety noise.

Even though I didn't get much sleep, I got up (at a reasonable hour) and went to Mercer's daycare Friday morning. They had a little "party" in the toddler room and we went over / hung out while watching them make Halloween crafts. For Mercer and the other couple of infants -- there wasn't much they could do. The only "craft" that involved them was getting paint on their hands and making hand prints on a card. It was messy - of course - but cute. I also caught some video of him trying to crawl..... he's SO close!

I had my doctor's appointment Friday afternoon... and got the "6 week" ALL CLEAR. So, I can go back to normal ("ease" into things). I baked some witches finger cookies (but forgot the green dye so they look more like human fingers in a bowl.... ewwwww) THEN we started with Halloween festivities once Todd got home from work. Dressed Mercer in his costume and headed up to a neighbor's house for a kid's party. This annual kid's party is the real reason why we got the costume (we didn't take him trick-or-treating or anything). There are so many kids in our neighborhood. It is pretty cool to see all of them piled into one yard playing! We came back and passed out candy, glow bracelets, bubbles, and Halloween pencils -- which kids actually really like. We ran out of those before candy. The evening concluded with going to a bon-fire at a neighbor's house. It was a good day!

He slept in this morning and is taking a long nap today. Guess yesterday wore him out?

We caught some video of him this morning "crawling." It's a little bit of a scootch / an "army" style crawl on his belly -- but mostly his knees were under him and he moved forward a few steps. Yesterday, when we were at the kid's party, we ran into Henry and his parents (one of the February boys on our street). He's been crawling for awhile -- and his parents said it was "cool" the first day to see him crawl, but you get over it after the first day.

We know that crawling changes a lot. Todd's working on safety-proofing the house today. Outlet plugs / cabinet locks / safety gate at the step at the kitchen... I know there's more we should do. I suppose we just figure it out as we go along?!

We'll post some footage of crawling soon!