Nothing much to report

Submitted by Adoption on Thu, 09/27/2007 - 1:52pm

After all the excitement of this past month, this is a really strange feeling to have nothing happening. There was quite a bit to think about immediately, but now things are pretty boring.

I started my medications last week for inducing lactation. I can tell they're working because I'm feeling a little PMS-y. I'll be on a birth control pill and one other medication for a couple months. This is to simulate the hormone changes of pregnancy. Then I'll stop the birth control pill, start taking herbs and start pumping. Hopefully I'll have a decent milk supply and even some stored by the time January rolls around.

I also went online and signed up for all the free stuff out there for new babies. I registered at Target and One Step Ahead just to get their free stuff. I have most everything we'll need except girl clothes but it was fun looking. I haven't gone crazy buying clothes yet, but I did buy one baby girl outfit before we were even chosen. It was so cute and it was only $1.75 on clearance!

I've started dreaming about "Michael's room" which we can now convert to the baby's room. I'm glad I procrastinated making curtains and a vallance for that window. Now I can shop for pink! And we've already designated the bottom bunk for Michael when he stays over. I'm still hoping William will change his mind and choose the bottom for himself, though. That's a long trip down when you need to go potty in the middle of the night! I don't need to worry about it yet, though, because the bunk beds only exist in pieces in our garage at the moment.

On Friday I called our birthmom, Dani. I had to tell her that her sister and a close friend of mine have a friend in common. It was a amazing that our news got back to me through this grapevine only two days after we were chosen! Then we talked a bit about going out for dinner. She was going to get back to me, but I haven't heard from her yet. This gives me way too much time to go round and round in my head about what she could be thinking. I'll probably call her tomorrow if I don't hear back from her sooner and just say, "How about Buca on Thursday? Can we pick you up?" It's so hard to know how best to approach her when we are just getting to know each other. But that's why it's so great to have these next few months before the baby is born and our relationship gets that much more complicated.

I'm getting a baby sister!

Submitted by William on Thu, 09/20/2007 - 10:31pm

Mommy and Daddy have been talking a lot lately about adopting a baby sister. While I was playing with my soccer ball, Mommy asked me if I was happy I was getting a baby sister. I said, "Baby sisters don't play soccer champion tackle." Mommy said that I was right, that my baby sister will be too little to play soccer champion tackle and that I will have to wait until she gets bigger. So for a while I'll still have to play those games with Michael or Emily from across the street. Mommy and Daddy like to play ball with me too when they're not busy rearranging the baby's room and reading baby magazines. I'm usually pretty patient. I guess that means I'll be a good big brother. I even asked for a baby girl and now that's what I'm getting. "Isn't that amazing?"

Even more exciting was our adventure today! The tornado sirens got my attention lots more than Daddy when he said, "You're going to be a big brother!" and I said, "Look at Blake's trucks!" I knew right away that there was a tornado and told Mommy we had to go in the basement. Mommy said there wasn't a tornado, only a tornado warning, and we had to go downstairs to be safe. We sat on the toilet in Daddy's bathroom for 15 minutes (which afterward I thought was pretty funny) and we read Where the Sidewalk Ends. Then I went back to my nap. By that time I was REALLY tired!

We're having a girl!

Submitted by Adoption on Tue, 09/18/2007 - 1:29pm

Our meeting this morning went better than we'd ever hoped! The first thing out of our birthmom's mouth was, "We'd like to ask you to be the parents of our child." What a surreal moment! We are so excited and couldn't have imagined a better match. We have until January to really get to know each other. I'll be totally finished with school and ready to focus 100% of my energies on being a mom, which I know I will need. It's going to be a shock to go back to having a newborn again now that William is so independent. It will be nice to have him around this time, for conversation and the great little helper that I know he'll be.

It was so odd to come back from that meeting and get right back to normal life. We felt like we should be going out to celebrate. But we had to go pick up William, get him ready for a nap, Darren had to get back to work, and I had to get back to laundry & dishes. So it's a jolt into reality. Maybe after I get a moment to breathe this will all sink in and I'll be able to process the awesome moment! Right now I'm still in shock. It's actually happened! We're having a baby! And we're gaining a whole lot more with her birth families, too!

Second meeting!

Submitted by Adoption on Tue, 09/11/2007 - 3:18pm

Cindy called today to set up a second meeting on Tuesday the 18th at 10:30! This is the second meeting with the birthmom who is due in January with a girl. We are very encouraged that she wanted to meet again to "clarify a few things." Hopefully this means ask us to parent the baby in social work-ese :) But regardless, it's a wonderful sign.

We've been thinking a lot about these birth parents. There have been so many things that I'd love to talk with them about. I considered calling the agency and telling them that they should let the birthmom know that she could stay with us any time she's in town for class, regardless of whether she chooses us or not. She mentioned that she has friends she can stay with but wasn't sure if the environment was really the best. Darren and I will have to discuss this, of course. But she's a really great person who I wouldn't mind helping out even if she asks someone else to parent her child. And for the birthfather we have a couple of tatoo and bodypiercing certificates that were never claimed from our trivia winnings in February. He's got several piercings and maybe he could get some new accessories. I've got to unload the certificates before one of us goes and does something crazy like get a PSD tatoo ;)

On a more serious note, I had a feeling we'd get a call today. At 1:00am this morning I had this strong feeling that we were being chosen. As I laid in bed, I wrote a poem. It's about how we have been chosen, but not by each other. We are both following God's plan that put us in each other's paths. It isn't about choosing. Infertility and unplanned pregnancy are not something that anyone chooses. And yet through a lifelong chain of events, here we are, being made into a family in a most unconventional way. I'm hoping that this poem was about this particular birthmom. No matter what, it gave me a great sense of peace.

Student teaching

Submitted by Adoption on Thu, 09/06/2007 - 10:04pm

I had a meeting today about student teaching this fall. Now I want a January baby even more! It's going to be pretty busy! I always knew that a fall baby was a possibility and I would still be prepared to make the adjustments necessary. But it would be SO perfect to have a new baby in January! I'll be able to focus better on my student teaching which will start in full force the week of the 17th and go until December 5th. After all that work is finished and the holidays are past, I'm not going to know what to do with myself. A new baby in January would be so incredibly perfect!

I played phone tag with our social worker today. I was hoping to ask her a few questions, but her return message just said that the birthparents hadn't made a decision yet and we would get a call from the other social worker as soon as she did. (Since we have the same social worker as the birthparents, in this case we had to switch to Cindy. I guess now I know who to call.) I'm trying to take the angle that no news is good news! At least we can assume they haven't ruled us out yet!

Home from Arkansas

Submitted by William on Wed, 09/05/2007 - 6:16pm

We spent all day yesterday in the car on our way home from visiting Leah, John, Abi, Faith and Parker in Arkansas. I watched the Laurie Berkner Band (a name that I still can't remember) six times during the eleven hour car ride! Thanks to the Sobiechs for the birthday present!

Arkansas was lots of fun! We got to swim in the lake, go boating and I even got to fish for the first time ever. I caught a "wunker"! And if you ask me, Abi, Faith and I all caught the same lunker! Mommy and Daddy tell me I'm good at telling fish stories. Now when people ask me about fishing I'll have a real fishing trip to tell stories about!

Monday night we ate pizza at Fun City and climbed on the indoor playground. I kept asking Uncle John for more tokens to play the machines and get tickets. With my tickets I got a red racecar and a blue monster!

We got to meet their new dog named Bella. She was cute. Mostly she licked people a lot and followed Auntie Leah around. She also pooped in the house. But I'm still learning about where to poop, too, so I could understand. When I got home, I told Mommy that our Belle was all grown up! She seemed a lot bigger after all that time around a little dog.

A familiar story

Submitted by Adoption on Wed, 09/05/2007 - 5:55pm

We're still waiting. At least waiting is something you get really used to in the whole infertility game. We know these birthparents had another meeting, but we didn't know when it was going to be. We haven't heard anything yet and are anxious to know one way or another. We may have to call and bug the agency to see what's going on. We really liked them and thought we got along really well, but you never know!

We had a great meeting!

Submitted by Adoption on Fri, 08/31/2007 - 9:22am

We made it safely to Arkansas in exactly 11 hours. We left immediately after our meeting in a very good mood. The birth parents were great! We could have talked for hours. It's easy to imagine them as a part of our family. The birthdad was actually a swimmer in high school, like Darren! The birthmom really wants to finish college and have a stable life before raising children. They liked the idea that the baby would have a big brother. And the birthmom even said, "William could have a little sister!" She didn't think to bring the ultrasound photos, but they're fairly certain it's a girl! So we are hopeful that we will be chosen and have a new baby around January 11th. We'll definitely post as soon as we have any news. They seem like fairly decisive people, so we think we might not have to wait too long to find out.

The hiding of the blog

Submitted by Adoption on Mon, 08/27/2007 - 1:32pm

Due to the awkwardness of all that has happened this past week, we have taken our adoption blog off of our website's homepage. You can still get to it at the same location but it got too complicated to try to figure out how to say everything we wanted to say to family and friends and yet have it out there where birthparents would read it as well.

Basically, to catch you up, we met with a birthmom last week, have a meeting with another birthmom this week (and a birthdad, too, this time) and then we got a call from a friend about yet another birthmom who is looking on her own and we referred her to our site. After that third lead, we decided to take ourselves out of the running with the first birthmom. It didn't feel like a comfortable fit for us and we want a lifelong relationship that's healthy for everyone. But not wanting to hurt the birthmom, we would rather she think that we were chosen by someone else. She's a really great person and we know that she and her baby are the answer to someone's prayers. But seeing as we have been approved for 2 1/2 months and in one week we got three leads, we felt it was a sign that we shouldn't pursue an adoption that we weren't 100% excited about. The birthmom and the baby both deserve someone who is thrilled to be chosen, not someone who is wondering where these other leads would go.

So that's the basics in a nutshell. The rest of this week should tell us more. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive thus far. Feel free to tell others about our adoption blog, but I hope you understand why we felt it would be best to take it down from our homepage.

I have a new cousin!

Submitted by William on Thu, 08/23/2007 - 3:37pm

Auntie Dawn had her baby! It's a boy! His name is Brayan Blaise. He was born at 12:57pm. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. He was born at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They had to drive in the middle of the night through the fog to make it in time. I'll have my daddy put up pictures as soon as we get to meet him!