Introducing....

Mr. P asked me not to post his name or exact birth date (if we were friends on facebook or instagram all of the info is there.)  We will just call this guy BDP and let you know he was born in the middle of September.  He is healthy and we are sooooo happy to have him.  His birth mom said that it was a rough delivery and they almost had to do a C-section.  He weighed 8.6 lbs and his birth mom is petite, he almost didn't fit.  We got the call that it was time to pick him up and we hurried and found places for our other 3 (we had our foster baby at the time) and we were off to SLC to pick BDP up.  I want to give all of the details of how we got him and his birth but I haven't asked his birth moms permission yet.  I truly love and respect her and want to make sure she is ok with me telling her story.

DC loves his baby brother and so does Jay.  Sometimes I think they love him a little too much.  (Have you read the book Of Mice and Men?)

Changes

I really should update this more often.  The last time you heard from me I mentioned that we were adopting a new baby and also had a foster son.  Well our new baby is here! He is ours (I'll devote an entire to post to him next!) We also still have our foster son Jay and we love him more and more everyday.  We go to court very soon to learn what the next step will be in his case, I'll keep you posted. 

In August (a month before our baby was born) we got a call from DCSF saying there was a brand new baby at the hospital that needed to be placed somewhere until things got sorted out.  Of course I said yes and within 2 hours a caseworker was dropping off the most adorable sweet baby.  It was a bitter sweet experience.  I bonded INSTANTLY to that little guy and it nearly ripped my heart out to have to say goodbye.  We had him a little over a month before he left and I enjoyed every second with him!  Having two babies for a minute there was really fun actually, crazy, but fun!

Our house has been total chaos.  Kids are a huge adjustment!  Sometimes I laugh because I have gotten everything I ever wanted all in the span of 2.5 yrs.  Mr. P and I have only been married for 2.5 years and them within the span of 15 months we became parents to 3 wonderful boys.  Life is happening so fast!  I waited a long time for it all and so now that it's coming, theres no stopping it. I still haven't learned the art of "letting things go," I drive myself nuts trying to keep my house in order and clean all of the time.  People kept telling me I was going to have to learn to let it go, but I just can't.  LOL.  I am getting better though, I only vacuum every other day now and I do let the laundry pile up a little bit.  That's progress right?

Mr. P works a TON, like 60+ hours a week and he works mostly nights and so I feel like a single mom at times.  Thankfully he sees the need for a nanny and so I am BLESSED to have help 20-30 hours a week.  I am still working part time and so it's nice to have someone here in my home with my kids instead of me having to take them somewhere. My kids are happy when I get home and so we hope we can have Kiley for a long long time. :)

On a totally different note, I finally had carpal tunnel surgery.  I chose to do my right hand first and my left hand will be done next month.  It was a wonderful decision and I am so glad that my hand doesn't ache anymore, my hand doesn't fall asleep constantly anymore, and I can hold my babies without my hand killing me!  A BIG thank you to my mom and dad for coming out to help keep my house together while I recovered.

It's also been a year since we got the mini-van.  I still don't love it with all my heart like I was hoping, but we couldn't live without it.  A year ago when we got it I never thought in a million years that it would be full so fast! 

Anyway, enough for now....

Kids Update

I have been hesitant to post an update on whats been going on because I didn't want to say too much before I felt absolutely confident in what was going on.  As previously mentioned we found a sweet  baby boy to adopt who is due in September.  I would love to go into detail about how we found him and what is going on but I want to respect his birth parents and so I won't say too much until I ask their permission.  I will say however that we are good to go!!  The birth father is willing to sign his relinquishment of rights within the next few days and the birth mom couldn't be more on board.  We are thrilled to welcome this sweet baby boy into our family. We are also blessed that we will be able to have another open adoption and this new baby will have the love of all of his parents and siblings. 

We have also been blessed with a foster son who is 4 years old.  Due to privacy laws I can't post any pictures or say his real name.  So we will just call him Jay and you will just have to take my word for it that he is DARLING!  He does well with DC and is a great fit for our family.  As of right now the goal is reunification with his family.  That means the state is working hard to help his parents succeed and do the things they need to do to get Jay back.  The reason the state placed him in our home was because they wanted him somewhere he could be adopted should it end up not working out with mom or dad.  We are on Jays side and want what is best for him whatever that may be.  I would love to think that we are the best thing for him, but he loves his family and they love him.  I am trusting in the team that works for Jay to make the best decision for him no matter what it may be.  And if that choice is for him to go home then we will be happy for him and be glad that we were able to love and keep him for as long as we had him.  However, if the decision is for him to stay with us forever then will gladly keep him forever.  Until the decision is made (November 2012) we will just love him and support him AND his family. 

It has been so fun having him around.  We get to do all sorts of fun things with him that DC is too young for.  We have gone fishing, colored, done sparklers, played at the park, done preschool preparation homework, had play dates, etc.  We are loving having Jay here and we are cherishing every moment. 

Happy Birthday DC!

Happy Birthday to our little man.  What a roller coaster year it's been!  We survived the NICU, adoption, colic, and adjusting to our new (yet wonderful) life.  DC is such a blessing to us and our lives would be empty without him.  As we reflect on the last year we have so much to be thankful for.  We are especially thankful for DC's  birth mom who made it possible for us to be a family, we love her forever.

It's hard to tell in this picture how much he has grown since December because I couldn't hardly get him to hold still for the May 2012 photo.

DC's birth weight was 2.14lbs

length at birth 15"

NOW:

Dc's weight is 21 lbs

length is 27"

Here are some photos from his 1 year birthday photo shoot

Magic Letter

While we were in Hawaii I received a phone call from a friend who had gotten our adoption letter in the mail.  She said that she had a potential birth mom for us to meet.  To make a long story short, when we got back from Hawaii we were able to meet this wonderful girl.  After my visit with her she told me that she felt good about us adopting her baby!  Yes!! Can you believe your eyes?  I can't believe it as I type it.  So far we have met with her 3 times and everything seems to be going smoothly.  The baby is due in September and she has been told it's a boy!  DC will have a brother!  We are excited, yet cautious.  Although we have been told its a done deal you never really can say that until papers are signed and that can't happen until after he is born.  But for now we are happy as we can be!  I am so grateful for these these wonderful women, without them I wouldn't be a mom.  More to come as it happens.....

Don't mention it on facebook, I don't want to put it in facebook land yet.

(Oh and BTW the this is a different birth mom than the one I mentioned in a previous post.  That sweet girl lost her baby a month ago.)

Hawaii!!

In the beginning of March our little family went to Maui along with my parents and our good friends Chris and Allie.  We had a fabulous time!

Here are some of our highlights!

DC got to play in the sand and in the ocean for the first time.

We snorkeled a TON!

We found many sea turtles and were able to swim quite close to them.  There was no zoom used in this photo.  (Don't worry we didn't touch them.  It's a $10,000 fine if you do!)

One morning we got up early and went to a known place where dolphins are often seen.  We were able to find a pod of 15 dolphins and we swam around with them for an hour.  It was wonderful to see them in their natual environment.

Maui sunsets are the best.

Letter to Family and Friends

I had business cards made with our contact information on them to give to our family and friends.  They are kind of like adoption pass along cards.  My project for this week is to send the following letter and a few of the contact cards to everyone we know.  What do you think of our letter?  Again, my husbands name has to be omitted due to his job.  (We need an adoption blog and I don't know how that's going to work when we can't show his face or say his name.... Don't worry though, should we find a potential birth mom we will be more than happy to show his face and say his name, but just in a more secure place.)

Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you may or may not know ***** and I have found out recently that the chances of us having biological children are less than 1%.  We have recently spent a lot of time and a great deal of money to have all of the necessary tests to come to this conclusion.  We were informed that the problem lies with both of us.  When we received the news we were left wondering what our next step should be.  After much prayer, thought, discussion, and soul searching we decided that we will not pursue any further fertility treatments.  Even with the best medicine and doctors  our chances are still very slim.  We feel good about our decision and are at peace with it for now. 

With that being said, we are on the adoption road again.  We believe that adoption is the way we will expand our family, it feels very right for us.   We were so incredibly blessed with our son DC through the miracle of adoption and we are hoping for another miracle.  As I’m sure you are aware adoption through a private agency is currently between $30,000-$50,000.  YIKES.  What you may not be aware of is that private adoptions without and agency are between $2,000-$6,000.  Not so bad.  The only catch is that when you go totally private you have to find your own babies, there is no agency to help you find available babies/children. 

That is where all of you come in to play…  We would LOVE it if you would keep us in mind if/when you hear of someone who is considering placing a baby for adoption.  We are open to babies of all races, ages, and even babies who are drug exposed. We are also open to open adoptions.  We have enclosed a couple of cards that would make the sharing of our contact information a little bit easier for you should you come across someone. 

Thank you for your friendship, love and support.  It means the world to us to have you in our lives.

Much Love,

Laura and *****