3rd Month Bliss

Happy three months old baby boy!

So life here is wonderful and busy.  Some days I am so rushed I’m not sure where the time has gone.  Children to be fed and washed, diapers to be changed, toys to pick up and then pick up again, laundry piled up like a small mountain.  Some days I am overwhelmed.  Then I stop and talk to my baby boy, who smiles and coos and reminds me he is so beautiful and life is passing by too quickly.  Where exactly have 3 months gone?

In the midst of the chaos, I’m reminded to stop and stare.  Those little cheeks, that tiny dimpled toothless smile.  I love this stage where he can be cuddled and can’t get away…at least not yet.  He smiles and responds and his eyes follow us in recognition.  These moments go by so fast. And I’m not about to let them go by too quickly.  Not if I can help it.

Adoption Day

Last week was our baby boy’s finalization–the day the court legally recognizes our adoption and names us a “forever family.” I compare finalization (aka: adoption day) as the graduation ceremony of the adoption process. All the papers are signed, and the child is yours, but the state has to ratify it so that he becomes ours just as if we had birthed him. It is a celebration to end a long process of filling out forms, dreaming, preparing, fretting, and anticipating.

Both our children’s adoption days fall in January, so we’ve decided that from now on we will celebrate their adoption day each year in a combined celebration…a day to honor our family becoming one, a day to celebrate what adoption is and how God brought them into our lives.

It is a truly happy day and my heart is full of love.

A New Year in Adoption

I’m looking forward to this year.  I can’t wait to tell you more about our new baby boy, more about our adoption, and help you celebrate adoption no matter where you’re at…curious lurker, interested or potential adoptive parent, already an adoptive family or related to one.

For those who might be potentially interested, here’s a great way to find out more information.  I can’t say enough good things about Bethany Christian Services.  They are a great agency and help parents adopt thousands of kids from many different countries.  They have helped us adopt two children and our experience was very positive.  Even if you can’t go to the meeting they have a great website with a lot of valuable information.

Free Information Meeting at Bethany Christian Services

7172 Graham Road, Indianapolis

Saturday January 16, 10 am-12 pm

Learn about domestic infant, intercountry, embryo and older child adoptions as well as foster care.  Hear from staff and adoptive parents who will share their experiences and answer your questions.

See how tax credits, loans, and grants may make adoption more affordable.

Call 317.578.5000 or email bcsindianapolis@bethany.org

The Gift I Almost Didn’t Get

So here we are: almost Christmas. Where has the time gone? We’ve been through many nights of  very little sleep, days full of holding babies and helping a four year old with art projects and card-making and all the other little artistic adventures of preschoolers. I have thought of writing so many times, when my hands were full, when my to-do list seemed overwhelming, when another feeding called, when I collapsed into bed out of sheer exhaustion. I have had so little time and most of that has been spent finishing up the Christmas t0-do list, when I’d rather be writing or enjoying my baby.

Christmas is extra special this year despite the lack of time and sleep. New babies are a miracle and I can only imagine Mary’s joy at holding her baby. But it is not just our baby’s birth that’s a miracle, adoption is equally a sweet gift, an unexplainably beautiful journey, one that takes a difficult circumstance and turns it into something beautiful. Our birthmother almost chose abortion when she believed she didn’t have any other way out. Thanks to the work of a crisis pregnancy center, they talked her into choosing adoption. At our first meeting we met at that same pregnancy center and I remember walking in and looking at the hopeful faces of the people who worked there. I did not know at the time how they had been an integral part of our birthmother’s choice. I feel indebted to them. But even more I see the Lord’s hand in the whole process, leading our birthmother to us through a chain of people that I will never know, but always be grateful for. This is grace. And when I look in my baby’s face, I see the gift God has given me and I feel his mercy raining down on me. That’s what Christmas is about.

Sleep in heavenly peace…and have a wonderful Christmas.

1 Month Old

{First,  my apologies for not posting something earlier.  I have been trying to adjust to a new schedule; one that does not permit me much time on the computer, but lovely amounts of time spent solely with our new baby.}

We are enjoying the days here, even though life has taken a hectic pace of constant feeding and diapering of our baby. It is a good life and one I will remember with fondness–the little clothes, the baby grunts and scrunched up faces, the smell of lotion, the soft swirl of hair on the top of his head–all those memories in the early months of infanthood.  I am not getting much sleep, but I know that some day down the road I will forget the many hours I spent awake in the middle of the night and only remember the sweetness of holding a sleeping infant in my arms.

1st week with Baby

There’s nothing like a baby in your life to put things in perspective.  The essentials of life are all I am striving for in these busy first days: enough sleep to function, a shower helps me feel human, and food gets on the table because of the goodness of others.  I’m enjoying just holding him these days, remembering how quickly my daughter flew through the early days of sleepiness, on to fussiness and teething and moving around.  These days are special, but it’s hard not to look around the house and see all the work that needs to be done.  I am trying to be forgiving to myself.  I can’t get much done.  It’s not a bad thing. Because in the end, what I’ll always remember is not how dirty my house was, but how much I loved holding my newborn baby.

Adjusting to home…

We’re finally home.  It’s so good to finally be a family together…

Here is Baby S ready to head home in the outfit made especially for him by his Aunt Emma.

Don’t let this face fool you…he really does like the sweater.

E is enjoying being the big sister and playing Baby S during the few moments that he’s awake.

E is practicing being a big sister by singing a made up song to calm down her little brother.  She is singing, “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you…”

We’ve started working on his GQ pose.  I think he’s got it.

These shots crack me up.  They look like he’s a politician reminiscing about his 3 decades in politics.  “So I said to Nixon…”

“And we both had a good laugh about that…ha, ha, ha…”

“But seriously…Nixon, thought that…”

“And I said…”

But, I think he’s really going to be a singer…check out these lungs!

Up, up and away…

Our beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, boy.  We love you.

Hello Silas Scott Ira…!

We are proud to announce the arrival of our son, Silas Scott Ira…!  He is 6.3lbs and 19″ long.  After a 7 hr labor he entered the world at 1:53PM today with singing lungs, big feet and his fist in his mouth.  (Looks like he’s going to fit right in with our family)  Right now, he’s eaten twice and slept quite a bit so we’ll see how the night goes!  We’ll be at the hospital until Sunday afternoon and then head home to adjust to our new family of four.

That is all on the condition of everything going according to plan.  Tomorrow our birth-mom will sign the release forms making everything official so while we are overjoyed today, there is always the possibility that we go back to square one if things don’t turn out.  That is part of the up and down roller-coaster ride of adoption.

But until then we are going to focus on what we have.  Here are a few snapshots of the momentous day…

Here he is…4 min old!

6.3 lbs!

Mama is washing him off from the hard day.

Asleep…and secretly giving his gang sign.

Isn’t he beautiful?

Softly sleeping.

Our beautiful, little boy.

Feeding #2!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying and supporting us through this whole process.  After asking for Baby Si and waiting so long, we believe he is a true gift from God.

At the hospital

We’re at the hospital and the contractions are now a few minutes a part.  They are going to break her water soon and hopefully things will go quickly after that.  Even though it took a little longer to get to sleep last night, I did have a decent half night’s sleep.  The birthmom could only sleep for an hour and a half because she was nervously anticipating today.  I had my coffee and now I’m ready to cheer on the birthmom in labor.  Prayers for the birthmother and baby are much appreciated.  We are excited, nervous, hopeful and about to burst with joy.  Hope to update soon with more news!

Life is about to get crazy

Today I found out the time of induction: 6:00 AM–which is so much better than the original time of 4:30 AM.  At least 6:00 AM is morning time, whereas 4:30 AM is still the middle of the night and not yet a decent time to be awake, unless you are over 75 and take at least two naps a day.  That is just my opinion.

The bad news is that the doctor said it could be a long labor–possibly 24 hours long because she showed no signs of progression since last week.  I’m not sure what to make of all that, but no creature should be in labor 24 hours.  And on top of that she can’t eat the whole time.  So she said she is going to eat a bag of chocolate doughnuts before she goes to the hospital since she has no idea how long it will be until she gets to eat.  Here she is, this little petite thing, eating a whole bag of doughnuts at 5-ish in the morning before going in for a potential 24 hour labor.  Now that might make me sick, but apparently not her. I guess I won’t give her my gift basket of snacks and treat until after labor, or we might really have a problem.

So I’m packing and wondering how it is possible that my whole world is going to turn upside down in a day and yet feels so completely normal today.  It is unreal to think I will be in a hospital delivery room tomorrow cheering on a girl I’ve only been in contact with for two months who’s about to deliver our child. Weird, huh?  Sometimes adoption is like that.  But so is living life.  That’s what makes life exciting.  When life is only normal, we miss out on the extraordinary.

Adoption is an extraordinary adventure.  I can’t wait to share it with you.