Carter is 8

Eight years ago yesterday, I thought I might be in labor. Tim was working nights, so it was just me and Chandler at home. The contractions, weren't bad, but the weather was. After calling the doctor, a friend took me to the hospital and Chandler to grandma's. Tim was called and he met us at the hospital about an hour later. He didn't miss anything, except the nurses asking if I was a teenage single mother. (Nice, right? So what if I was, would you treat me and my baby different?)

Carter was born 2/17/2003 after lunch. He was a tiny little guy; 5 pounds 9 ounces. At the time (we did not know) he was born with a diaphragmatic hernia and a cleft palate. By a freak chance we found the hernia and it was taken care of when he was 2 months old; the palate-much later.

So tonight we will party like an 8 year old. We are making his dinner that he requested; bar-b-q meatballs, cheesy potatoes, corn, cookie cake and three types of ice cream.

Happy Birthday Carter, you will always be my tiny little boy with big feet! ;)

Paperwork

We hace officially hit the ground running with adoption paperwork. It is all very much hurry up and get it done. I had forgotten that urgency factor--what that felt like. We are excited and anxious to bring home Mara. I have been looking for resources for us. I have found the John Tracy Clinic in LA, they have a wealth of free stuff for parents. There are also a few books and videos I would like to have on hand.

Meet Mara

I would like to introduce you to Mara Min. Her bday is 6/8/09.


I saw Mara's photo on CCAI's waiting child page. Mara is considered to be a special focus child. Mara is deaf. She currently lives with a foster family in Hubei, China.



Because we had adopted from China in the last 12 months we were able to use the same dossier. We just have to have a new homestudy and immigration. All of our paperwork has to be in China by April.

We are all excited to have her join our family. Mia and Mara will be 5 months apart; virtual twins.

What's Up?

So I am a super bad blogger. No real reason I haven't posted. Life is in constant motion here. Let me give you the highlights:
*Wrestling season is underway. I will leave my opinions to myself.
*Tim turned 29 again.
* Mia turned 2.
* Mid Year and testing at work.
*SW came out for Mia's 6th month post placement. I should post pictures of August and pics of now. Such a difference, all positive.
*We are in email contact with Mia's nannies in China. I love having that connection.
*We are adopting again. Snuck that one in on you! More info about her soon.

She liked it!

Today was Mia's first day of Help Me Grow. Help Me Grow is an early intervention program for children up to age 3. They have home based services as well as a building you can go to. We opted for the building. She goes one day a week for 2.5 hours. It is a pre-school atmosphere. There are speech therapists, OT, teacher, and teacher's aide in the room of 8 kids. She was very quiet and mostly observed today. I asked if she wanted to come back and she said yes!

Mia is 2!!

Christmas 2010

What a great Christmas we had! Am I the only one that takes down the decorations on the 26th? I tell people I do, and they look at me like I have a third eyeball. Whatever, I like things to get back to normal. Please don't confuse that with neat and tidy. I compare my house to the house on Malcolm in the Middle.

We also booked it to Arkansas between Christmas and New Years. The boys are used to the drive and Mia did well. Can you believe I left my camera at home? UGH that was frustrating.

The pictures are from our time at home.