Makin' Baby Blankets

It's a miracle...I can sew. My friend just started to teach me to sew last Fall. I don't do it really often, but often enough I have been gettin' the hang of it and feeling more comfortable. I moved on from making a couple aprons to baby blankets.

This is the first one I made last month. I thought it was hard to get the fabric all lined up. Even though to you sewers out there I am sure it is super easy, just two pieces of fabric sewn together. I like the cute little animals.

The second one, I have been working on this one this week. I thought it would be harder, but I gave up on trying to get the squares to all line up "right" and it was really easy. Now I just have to sew the back on. I am thinking about putting some quilting or liner between the layers this time to make a little warmer, fluffier blanket.



Couldn't do it without her...thanks Michele.

Sooo Cute!

My sister sent this message to me. Ellie is my little red haired neice, she will be 3 years old in August. (I am taking out the name of M. We aren't supposed to post name or pics of M in public places until we travel to pick him up.)
Here is her message:

Ellie is very excited about cousin M---! She talks about him often since she has seen me sorting through and packing up baby things for him. We had a party this weekend, and when the first guest arrived, she ran to the window to see if it was him. When I was driving her to daycare this week, she wanted to know if we were going to his house and she wanted to know if she could be his big sister...isn't that sweet?


So sweet, just melts my heart. Before our referral, I got a message that Ellie's older sister, Katie, was asking everyday if 'Aunt Sarah got her baby boy yet?'

Daniel's neices and nephews have been very excited to have a new cousin too. Recently Daniel got an audio message on his phone of a song, like a little rap song about M---, from them and a picture of the three of them (Henry, Lucinda, and Frances) holding up M's picture along side them.

It all makes us smile and feel warm and fuzzy inside. Thanks for all your excitement fabulous, beautiful neices and nephew!

Color

If you know us, you know who picked what colors for M's room.

Peace in knowing

Since we passed court on the 18th, I have been in over-drive trying to get ready. We had thoughts that we might get into the last travel group in June. We had seen families traveling to Ethiopia as soon as three, three and a half weeks after passing court. Of course, nothing was/is certain, but I felt completely unprepared to be going on a HUGE trip in a month or less, let alone to do that big trip with a new child.

When I would get anxious and tell Daniel about all the things we needed and need to do before leaving, he would say and I quote, "Readiness is a state of mind." Ahhh..okay, right. Has he ever traveled with a baby before? And shamefully enough, we've been discussing that he has never even changed a diaper in his life. What!!! Can you belief that? I don't know how you get into your late thirties without ever changing a diaper. Well, finally after asking him, frequently, if he was ready to travel and how he could be so calm, he says, "Well, if I was a single guy I guess I would be getting nervous, but I know you'll take care of everything." Well, that's true and I'll probably even have a little fun researching and shopping for bottles, formula, baby food and little clothes. (To give the guy credit, he does everything else around here...finishing up house projects, cooking, cleaning, yard work, taking care of me, and obsessively researching our travel options to Ethiopia.)

In my rush to try to be prepared, I finally painted M's room and really like the outcome. I have gotten a few more clothing items and washed the clothing I had been collecting from baby consignment shops. I have bottles, formula, diapers, wipes, baby food and cereal. We finally got the crib to our house from down the street (thanks neighbors!) and it is even upstairs in the appropriate room (but not put together). I have gotten some blankets and sheets.

So, now that I am feeling a little more ready and anxious to know...to know anything really, I had to contact our agency and ask for a little update. I hardly ever bother them with such things, as I know they are super super busy. I got a response that the June travel groups were full for the time being and that we should shift our focus to traveling in July (possibly..if all goes well).

So, now I will be preparing myself for July. I will slow down a bit with my preparations, and I will have peace with the little bit of knowledge that it's not next month, but perhaps the month after. There is still lots and lots to do, that's for sure.

The tulip I was enjoying earlier this month.
It would happily open in the mornings and close in the evenings for bedtime.

Seperate Rooms

A couple months ago the neighbor boy was over to our house. He went upstairs to get my big exercise ball. When we were up there I pointed out our guest room and told him, "That is where your grandma stayed when she was here." He looked at me like I was crazy. I said, "You remember your grandma stayed with us because we had more room." (They live right next door). He said, "Yeah, but where did you sleep?" I pointed to Daniel and I's room, and he said "But where did Daniel sleep?" I told him we both slept in the same room and his response, "Argg, I know how that is. I have to share a room with my sister! I hate it." That cracked me up.

I think he may be on to something though. Daniel had a cold this week. After a night of no sleeping because he was coughing and clearing his throat and generally sounding pathetic, I moved into the guest room. I must say, we both have enjoyed having our own space! It's nice to sleep in the middle of the bed and read as late as I want without grumpy remarks about turning the light off. We haven't had to fight (jokingly) about the middle of the bed and who is over the line. (And believe me, we've measured!)

Well despite the separate sleeping arrangements, I still managed to get his germs. So I guess I'll stay in the guest room, so he doesn't have to listen to my sniffling and coughing.

He has a family!

We are told that our adoption case was approved in the Ethiopian court system. Holy Cow! We are shocked and thrilled and just can't believe it.

We are wandering around the house looking at each other in disbelief.

We are his and he is ours. Amazing!

In the next 15 hours....

...our adoption case will (possibly) be heard in the Ethiopian courts. Our court date is scheduled on Tuesday, March 18th. Right now it is about 2:45am Tuesday morning in Ethiopia. Hopefully all those involved in getting our case through the court system are resting peacefully, so they will be clear and focused when they awake. It will be a busy day in the courts, there are many cases scheduled for the day. My heart beats fast when I think that it could be the day...

My heart also beats fast when I see that some families that passed court on April 30th are leaving for Ethiopia on May 26th. Less than a month...oh my goodness.

Yeah...good news on the adoption front.

Hopefully, it is not premature to celebrate this step, as I don't have the paper in my hand yet. But I got an e-mail from USCIS today, stating that our application for immigration was approved and that we should be getting the paperwork in the mail next week.

Yippee! I will be checking the mail everyday, for sure.

Yesterday I Heard...

...the phrases, "your new adoptee" and "baby shopping".

It bothered me. I have read about and listened to other adoptive families discuss wording and phrases that they find inappropriate or insensitive adoption language. And I have always thought, 'I don't think that is going to bother me. I think they are being too sensitive.' But then yesterday, these words came out of peoples mouths and I found myself shocked for a second and taking a deep breath.

I took these phrases away from their context and from people that I know mean no harm, but still it affected me in a not so nice way.

I guess I understand that these people haven't been sitting in classes about adoption for months like I have. They haven't spent the past few years reading, researching, and learning about adoption. They haven't spent just about every waking (and sleeping) moment thinking of this child...this child...who they will be, where they will come from, what they will be like. To them, this new and strange picture is "my new adoptee", not my child. I guess I can't fault them. I know I need to educate them, but it's hard when I am taken off guard and holding my breath.

I can't blame them, can I? I have trouble saying "my child", "my son". It's not official yet. We still have to pass court for this to be legal on paper. But in my heart this is our child. It's like when I got married, though. I couldn't call Daniel "my husband". In fact saying such a thing would reduce me to laughing and giggles. I had to get used to "having a husband". I have to get used to having a child, to having a son. It may seem more real to others, and to us, if I had a growing belly to see. But rest assured, this child is real, he won't be our adoptee, he will be our son.

As for the phrase "baby shopping". I just hope I never hear that phrase again.

Dropping the baby!

Yesterday, Daniel and I were in an all day Baby and Toddler Care class for adoptive families. We had to get there early to pick out a baby, diaper it, dress it, and pick out a carrier to carry our baby around in. We were instructed to take care of our baby throughout the day (8 hours). The most interesting part of all that was getting to try out different baby and toddler carrying devices.

The day went really well, I thought. The nurse speaker was great and the information throughout the day was very helpful. We got to meet more families in the process of adoption and a few more couples that are adopting children from Ethiopia.

In the last part of class, we had a young woman born in Korea and adopted into an American family come and talk with the class. She is also an adoption professional that works with an organization in the area. We were all divided up into different groups during an exercise she had us doing. During this time, I hear a loud crash and thud, and the group catching their breath and ohhh-ing. And what do I see, but my baby on the ground! My husband had dropped our child onto the ground. When I got our baby back his head was turned halfway around. Daniel assured me he was fine. Hopefully, practice makes perfect....