It's been a month....

... since Isabella has come into our lives... she has been such a gift. 

We did not meet the birthmother, but we are grateful for the gift she gave us.  We are blessed this holiday season, indeed.

Everything happened so quickly.  I am not sure yet if I will take maternity leave, but my employers are being very flexible. (Plus - I didn't leave them high-and-dry on the projects we have going out the door.)  I'm working from home with occasional visits into the office.  Honestly, I need to continue working.  I recently went to reduced hours, however, which helps the "juggle."  It's not ideal, but maternity leave is for such a short period of time anyways... the overall goal is to be a family for the long-term.   Todd and I may be a little more tired these first few months because of the daily grind... but we'll get through with bags under our eyes & extra caffeine.  At some point (maybe 12 years from now?) we'll catch up on our sleep~  

Todd & I are happy.  Mercer seems to be happy.  Isabella seems happy too.  As mentioned, a couple of weeks ago, she was starting to smile.  She does it even more now & "on command" if we make silly faces at her.  In general, she doesn't cry out much (except when hungry she'll let us know).  She loves to be held and may "complain" just a tiny bit until we pick her up to cuddle.  She probably spends the majority of her day laying her head next to my heart or Todd's.   Spoiling her?  Maybe, but we want to hold her... stare at her sweet face while she's sleeping... watch her little lips crunch up when she squirms and stretches out her arms.   This is especially true as there was a tragic event that happened at an elementary school in Connecticut yesterday; it makes us want to hug on and love on our beautiful, innocent children even more.

There are so many things we do with Isabella that remind us of the early days with Mercer.  The first bath she took is in the tub that Mercer used.  She sleeps in the same pack-and-play that he did and I take a double-take often when looking over and seeing her there.  There are some of Mercer's outfits that I put on her... and I swear that (especially from the side)... I'm looking at him.  We've said this before, but it's worth repeating:  it is as if they were meant to be brother and sister! Thank you, God!  This "had" to have been divinely led!! 

Here's a photo comparison of Mercer (in blue) age 2 months... and Isabella (in the zebra stripe) age 2 weeks.  Uncanny, isn't it?!  The mouth is the main difference between the two.

We have not had as much time to blog.  With Mercer, we were in a hotel room 24/7 for the first 1 1/2 weeks of his life... we were mostly alone and our support group was through emails & the blog.  Now - we're at home and we've had a wonderful support group of people from church and the neighborhood -- bringing meals and little things for Isabella and big brother Mercer.  But, it's the holidays.  Also, we have a 4 year old at home.  I feel that we may be "slighting" Isabella a little in terms of blog-press... sorry (if she's reading this later).  We'll try to document as many "firsts" as we can~

At the same time, we don't want to slight Mercer either by focusing only on the baby.  We've been trying to pay a lot of attention to him.  He still gets the same amount of one-on-one attention (songs, reading books, etc.) during bedtime.  He got a special advent calendar from his grandma that he gets to open each morning & he's enjoying getting a new little toy each morning.  We're going to /doing things that he'll enjoy that "sister" is just too little to appreciate like going out & looking at Christmas lights, making muffins and cookies (and licking the beaters). 

He's been to a couple of parties without his sister as well.  In fact, he & I went to a birthday party today where he got to have his face painted.  This is a first for him.  He's always been too shy to get his painted, but the birthday boy went first.... so Mercer followed.  Here are a couple of pics of Mercer and his buddy Gabriel.  

The "big brother" photo above was taken at our neighborhood Christmas party.  Mercer and Todd ended up staying at the party late while Isabella and I came home early to finish our evening asleep on the couch.  Mercer stepped into their koi pond two times / had to change his clothes and shoes each time -- he was having such a great time running around with neighborhood friends! 

I almost forgot... it was also recently my birthday.  As mentioned, we have received an amazing gift:  baby Isabella and getting to see Mercer "step up" as a big brother.  Instead of doing gifts, we went out to breakfast at one of my favorite spots then stopped by a coffee shop that's located next to a river.  We got to sip on some coffee, chai, hot cocoa... look over the water... walk in the woods... and explore a new place that I've been wanting to go with the boys.  We weren't sure if we would be able to hike & hook up to some nearby trails along the river.  As it turns out, this place was not connected - but that's OK.  It was nice to get out and explore a new place. This was probably one of the most relaxing birthdays I've had in a long long time!  Here are some photos that capture the scenery of this beautifully-situated coffee shop.  I especially like the photo of Todd & Mercer down by the water.  I stayed up at the top with Isabella in the sling, as I did not want to "climb down" to the water's edge with her in tow.


UPDATE (Monday 12.17):  We were a little concerned about some rattly breathing that Isabella has had for awhile.  I took her to the doctor.  The doc said that she has a condition called laryngomalacia ("soft larynx").  It's pretty common... she's not concerned.  She says that in 90% of the cases, it goes away on it's own as the cartilage hardens.  And even if it doesn't repair itself on it's own.  At this point, there's really nothing that can be done anyways.  If Isabella is ever in breathing distress, we will act immediately, of course.  Let's hope that never happens! 

We noticed a little something / got it checked out / turned out to be nothing major.  Whew! 

Of interest:  while at the doctor, Isabella weighed in at 8.9 lbs / 9.0 lbs -- the scale kept moving back & forth as she wriggled.  Wow.  She's grown quite a bit in her first month with us!! 

Also today, we had our first post-placement home visit from the adoption agency.  The woman came over to visit with us.  It seemed that she really wanted a home tour & was interested in the renovation.  After showing her the "before & after" book / walking her around the house, she asked a few questions about Isabella, Mercer, my working part-time or full-time, etc.  She was not here long & went on her way.  She will have one more visit with us (likely in January) and the petition for the adoption will be filed.   According to the lawyer - tomorrow (12/18) the parental rights will be terminated in court.  The birthmother rescission period is over / the birthfather registry was researched and was clear.  All of this had to be done to take that next step with the state of Georgia and the termination could officially be done.  

We're not sure if this is how everything happened with Mercer's adoption??  Perhaps the process was different between Colorado / Georgia... or perhaps we didn't ask as many questions (or the right questions) last time.  All-in-all, things are progressing! 

I'll try to get another blog in before Christmas.  It may be short - but we'll post some holiday photos~