Wow!

Submitted by Adoption on Thu, 08/23/2007 - 2:29pm

We got another call from our social worker today! We have a meeting on Thursday with a birth mom AND dad! Birthmom and I are both going to school at State (already something we have in common). The sex of the baby has been pretty much determined. We'll see if the parents choose to tell us. The baby is due in January which would give us lots of time to get to know each other and prepare. They will be interviewing two couples, so we'll see how it goes! We would need to switch social workers if we are chosen because they are also working with Barb, but Cindy is great too.

Darren and I are over the moon right now! It's such an honor to be considered for such an awesome job.

What can I say?

Submitted by Adoption on Tue, 08/21/2007 - 9:58pm

The meeting went well. The mom spoke very confidently about her adoption choice. We all seem to feel the same way about openness. We don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl. She's meeting with a third couple on Monday. I can't image having to make the kind of choice she is facing.

In more general agency news, there are now 19 couples in the pool and there are also two other birthmoms looking at profiles. So there is a lot more going on this fall.

Happy 3rd Birthday to Me!

Submitted by William on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 2:17pm

I told my friends this morning that I would be 3 on August 20th. Then Mommy asked me if I knew what day it was and I said, "What?" (just like I always say). And do you know what SHE said? August 20th! It's my birthday! I'm three!

I already got lots of cool presents on Saturday at my party. All four of my grandparents were here and my two of my uncles - Michael and Joe! We grilled hotdogs and burgers. Then everyone sang Happy Birthday to me, I blew out my candles (I needed a lot of help from Michael because I was pretty mesmerized by the flames) and we ate cake. Mommy made a big, yellow dumptruck on my cake. I ate all the frosting! I told my friends that the cake was my favorite part of the party.

After we were done eating it, then it was time to open presents. I got a cool firetruck from Uncle Joe, a huge crane from Grandpa & Grandma Lanz, Rusty the train for my Thomas set just like I asked for from Grandpa Ron & Grandma Barb, and a book "all about John Deere" from them, too! Mommy & Daddy got me a bowling set, my own Diego field journal, a doctor kit, a new shovel like Grandma Barb's, and a HUGE bubble maker!

Tonight Daddy has to stay in the cities for some fancy dinner with his team from work. So Mommy is going to take me to Toys R Us to use my birthday certificate and we're going to go to a restaurant for dinner! Birthdays are fun!

First meeting scheduled!

Submitted by Adoption on Fri, 08/17/2007 - 2:36pm

We got a call from our social worker today! There is a birthmom who wants to meet with us! She is due October 1st, which is soon! We are very excited. She is interviewing two couples, so we're trying not to count our chickens before they're hatched. We'll see what Tuesday brings. Coincidentally, Darren took the day off today to work on the bunk beds. I am supposed to be working on getting ready for William's birthday party tomorrow, but I can't seem to keep my mind off of all the what-ifs. Hopefully the cake turns out!

Weekend with the Legatts

Submitted by William on Thu, 08/16/2007 - 2:26pm

We drove down to Luverne last weekend to spend some time with Auntie Dawn, Uncle Nathan, Tiernan and Caedmon. It was a long drive past lots of cows, fields and windmills. We all had fun visiting. My favorite part was the park and the gym. It was much less stressful to play there than to try to share toys in the apartment. But Tiernan and I had fun working together to build lego castles and playing pillow fight. Caedmon is a nice baby, but he gets on my nerves. He likes to pull my hair, climb on me and take my nukers. I spent a lot of time in my bed trying to calm myself down, but Caedmon liked to crawl right after me. That made me frustrated! By the time I got home I was very tired and ready to sleep a lot. It will be fun to see Teirnan and Caedmon again when they move into Grandma Barb's house soon. Auntie Dawn is going to come stay there when she has her baby. Mommy says there's a baby in her belly, that's why it's so big! I wish I had some pictures to show you from our trip, but none of the parents used their camera all weekend! Can you believe it? And we're all such cute kids, too! "Bummer. Maybe next time."

Adoptive Family Picnic

Submitted by Adoption on Thu, 08/02/2007 - 12:43am

We had a fun evening at Riverside Park at the annual Adoptive Family Picnic. It was neat to see all the families, some familiar faces and some new. William had a blast carefully decorating a visor which we promptly left sitting on a picnic table at the park. (Today he remembered it, saying, "My visor! Bummer.") He also loved the playground and running around finding a pinecone, leaf, feather, etc for the scavenger hunt. Thanks to Sarah B for the help with the pencil!

We got to see the social workers again for the first time in a couple months. We were starting to miss them. It sounds like things are starting to pick up a bit at the agency. 2007 has been slow so far, but they have two new families starting the adoption process and - even better news - they have birthmothers coming in again. We'll see if that translates into any new developments for us in the months to come.

William asked me the other day, "How do we know there's a baby coming?" I thought that was a very good question. I told him it was because the agency said they would look for a baby for us. We just don't know when the baby will come. It may be when he is three or maybe four. William turns three on the 20th, so we'll be celebrating soon! We sure hope this next year brings him a baby brother or sister!

Zoo

Submitted by William on Sat, 07/14/2007 - 11:16am

For playgroup on Friday morning, we went to the Little Falls Zoo! It was a beautiful day - sunny and in the 70s. The moms said that the zoo was small, but it seemed big to us kids. We were more than ready to take a break for lunch by the time we saw all the animals. My favorite animal was the turkey. Mommy couldn't believe it! She thought I'd like the sheep that ate out of my hand or the bunny that we got to pet. But no, I liked the turkey. I put a litte green apple that I found on the ground into its cage and it pecked on it. Mommy didn't even think it was cute enough to take a picture of, so you can't see it, sorry. Mommy's favorite was the baby bears. She liked to watch them play.

After we saw all the animals, we went to the playground and had a big picnic. Ella & Will's mom brought juice boxes and yummy sandwiches, my mommy cut up some fruit, and Aby and Connor's mommy brought my favorite crackers. It was a good lunch, but I didn't eat much because I wanted to go play! The playground was huge! The best part was the firepole. I went down it by myself and only needed a little help getting onto it. We played until 1:00! Then it was time to go home and I was hungry. So I had my Rice Krispie bar and lots of water in the car on the way home.

McKeever Family Reunion

Submitted by William on Mon, 07/09/2007 - 8:21pm

We had a fun time this weekend! We went to Park Rapids and stayed overnight in a hotel with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Barb. But first we stopped and had lunch at a cafe with Great-grandma and grandpa. And there in the street was a man with a macaw on his shoulder! That was "amazing!" After lunch we went to the condo where we met Daddy's cousins Gina and Griffin, their families, their mom Maureen & Jim. I liked playing with all the trucks that Colton brought. And Braden was nice. He held my hand while we walked down the stairs.

It was very hot outside on Saturday, so we got to go swimming in the lake. We went WAAAAY out in the water and I could still touch. I swam around all by myself with my inner tube. I liked it when Mommy would chase me and pull me! Brianna borrowed my pink inner tube and Tristan and the dads liked playing catch with the splash balls.

Then we went back and had lots of food. I kept eating chips until Mommy said, "No more chips for William!" That was funny. And then it was time for dinner, but I said, "I already had dinner." I still ate my hotdog, strawberries, and the carrots Mommy said I had to eat before I could have M&M cookies! We sat around after dinner while the grown-ups talked and I pretended Mommy was a garbage truck, dumping stuff in her lap and hopping on to drive to the next stop. The other mommies and daddies were trying to get Ava to take a few steps. I think some of the bigger kids went fishing on the dock, but I never saw them bring back any fish.

At night we went to the hotel to sleep. Daddy and Mommy made me a really cool little bed with chairs and blankets right next to their bed. I liked their bed best, though, because it was bounciest! I had a hard time falling asleep. I wanted to watch the cowboy show on TV. It was a good thing that I didn't fall asleep because Daddy and Grandpa Ron left and came back with ice cream! Mommy shared hers with me.

Once I fell asleep I slept really well! It was after 9:00 when I woke up. I watched a little Pooh and Handy Manny while Mommy and Daddy got ready. Then we went down to breakfast. I asked Mommy how many rooms there were in the hotel and she said "lots." I said, "Five?" She told me after breakfast that I could ask the lady behind the desk how many rooms she had. When I asked her, she said 62! I said, "Wooooow!"

Then we all got in the van and went back to the condo where the kids went swimming again, this time in the pool! The water was too cold for most of the grown ups. Daddy came in the pool, but barely got his shorts wet. I was swimming around and around the pool, all by myself with my inner tube!

When we got back it was time to eat again! I wasn't very hungry, but I ate my carrots so I could have a brownie! Daddy's aunt Maureen brings lots of good treats! Soon it was time to go home. We said goodbye to everyone. I hope we do that again sometime. I heard Grandpa and Daddy talking about buying one of the condos that was for sale. But they also talk about building me bunk beds, so I know how that goes.

Studying up for adoptive parenthood

Submitted by Adoption on Mon, 07/09/2007 - 7:35pm

While we wait to find out when our baby will arrive, we are trying to prepare ourselves. I've checked out stacks of books on adoption at the local library. And lately I've been studying up on breastfeeding the adopted infant. (Obviously this is Sara, the one with breasts, writing the blog :) ) I would really like to give my next child the same nutrition that I gave William, so I am trying to prepare myself for what will need to happen. This is another reason why we'd ideally like to have a couple months' notice before the baby comes. I contacted a wonderful lactation consultant at my clinic who was very supportive and gave me a ton of information. Apparently, to have the best chance of producing milk, you need to start preparing your body at least two months in advance. It is possible to induce lactation after the baby is born, but it is much more complicated and having a three-year-old running around would not make it any less so. Preparing my body to breastfeed obviously opens up an additional amount of risk that the birthmom could decide to parent, leaving me with breastmilk and no baby. But I know that there are plenty of parents out there whose babies need mother's milk and they can't provide it themselves, so the milk would never go to waste. I have trust in God's plan that everything will work out for the best in the end, just as it did when we had William. Now I need to contact my doctor (I'm not exactly sure who that is at this point) to make sure they will prescribe me the necessary medications when it is time. After that, it's up to the birthparents, who will hopefully contact us early enough, and also be comfortable with me breastfeeding the baby. I can totally understand why not many adoptive moms breastfeed! It has yet to be seen if I will join the ranks of the few who can.

Dry Day

Submitted by William on Sun, 07/01/2007 - 10:41am

I am so proud! Yesterday was my first dry day wearing underpants! It was my seventh day using the potty and Mommy went to work. When she came home I was still wearing the same clothes I had on when she left. And when it was time to put pajamas on, Lightning McQueen said, "Thank you for keeping me dry all day!" I thought that was pretty cool!

Then I put on my pajamas and went outside to sleep in the tent. We camped in our backyard for two nights. Mommy and Daddy thought it would be a good idea because I told them I was scared of the sounds I would hear when we went camping. And there were lots of sounds! It was hard to fall asleep because just as I would get sleepy someone would set off fireworks. The first night I slept most of the night in the bed that Daddy made for me but then I got cold and climbed in between Mommy and Daddy. Last night I slept in Daddy's spot all night and he slept in my bed. That was pretty silly! But I slept great - after the fireworks stopped! Next time we go camping, I think we'll stay in a quieter campground. And we'll cook on the fire and make s'mores just like we did at our house. It was fun!