haircut

B has come so far with his SPD and haircuts. He has grown from me having to hold him down while he screams and punches me while Josh uses the clippers, to tolerating them while I hold him, to him just needing me to stand by, to asking Josh for a haircut, to what happened yesterday. He ASKED if he could go to the salon where our friend works, for his first real cut. We were shocked.

He was so excited, until it was time to go. Then he got super nervous. When it was his turn, he freaked. Cried, hid his head, went back and forth between the chair and the wait area, sat on my lap, got off my lap... After 10 minutes of this he decided he could do it, as long as he was on my lap. He refused the cape but changed his mind after the hair was making his neck itch. He was scared out of his mind, but he did it. And by the end, he had a smile on his face and didn't need my lap.

We conquered a hurdle. I'm so proud of him. :)

perfect

B-man was staring at his little brother tonight and told me, in an awe-filled voice, "he is the perfect one for us, isn't he, mom?"

Yes, my sweet boy. You BOTH are the perfect ones.

two months

Little b turned two months old last week.  I think I've said this before: Boy, how time flies.

Length / Weight: 23 inches, and 12 lbs, 1 oz.  The scale had actually settled on 12 lbs, 1.5 oz, until he peed all over the dr's floor.  Then it re-settled at 12 lbs, 1 oz. :)  23 inches is true, also.  He laid so still for that!  His head is 40 cm, and all of those stats are exactly in the 50th percentile.  A perfectly symmetrical boy!  While we're talking about the doctor, he had his shots while there.  He did NOT like them.  I felt so bad.  We came home and he took a nap, but then cried for a good portion of the evening.  Tears and tears falling down his cheeks - I cried right along with him. :(

Eating: We had a period there where he would projectile vomit all over... the reflux meds have dramatically decreased the crying while eating, but the spit-up/vomiting didn't go away.  So we put him on Similac Sensitive and that helped a ton.  After his 2 month appointment, we started adding in breast milk to the formula.  We're up to 2 oz of breast milk, 2 oz of formula.  We'll see how it goes.  He's still eating on average every 3 hours, except for one longer stretch at night.

Sleeping: Little b is a pretty good sleeper!  While I was home on leave, he'd sleep for a good chunk of the morning, then take a shorter nap in the afternoon.  He usually eats for the last time around 9 pm and we've gotten some 5 hour stretches of sleep in there!  This morning, he was up at 3:00 and that was it until 6:30.  We can deal with that!

Wearing: Quickly moving out of 0-3 month clothes and into 3-6.  We thought the size 1 diapers were getting small too, but I've noticed lately that if he doesn't WIGGLE while getting his diaper changed, they fit much better! :)  They're not going to last long, though.

Miscellaneous: Smiles a lot now!  Josh said he laughed on Sept. 12 (yesterday), also.  I haven't heard him - I can't get him to do it!  Josh said it happened while he was blowing zerberts on b's belly.  He still LOVES to be swaddled to sleep and when he can't settle down, we put the swaddle me blanket on and he is instantly calm. His pacifier - won't take it any more.  Sucks a few times and then will spit it out.  He has found his fists though.  He had a couple days where I thought he was going to suck them completely off... that has settled down a bit but he still does suck them sometimes!  He still loves taking baths. He doesn't cry and actually gets some coos out during them! He also loves to be in his swing!  He'll talk and talk and talk and talk and talk to his fish on the swing.  He also loves to talk to his blue monkey on the floor gym!

Today was his first day at daycare.  He did great, despite having to change clothes not once, but twice because of blowouts!  Oops. 

six

He's six today.  I have no idea how that happened, since he was just born last week.  He's the light of my life, my buddy, a boy who makes me laugh every single day, my smartie, my athlete, my sensitive one, my one who cares so much about others. And I love him with everything I am.  Happy Birthday, my sweet B-man.

kindergarten

My B-man is starting his second week of kindergarten today.  What an amazing first week he had.  He LOVED it!  His favorite things from the week:

Recess
Riding the bus to the high school after school, to meet daddy there
Science experiments
Gym
Music

post placement visit 1

We had to go get Josh's windshield replaced on Friday.  Before we dropped it off, we had some time so we stopped at WCS to see if Carol was there so she could see little b.  She was gone though - she was with her son who just had his wisdom teeth out.  The lady working was named Kristy so she talked with us and said she'd let Carol know she missed seeing us!  I asked if she would also ask her about our first post-placement visit because I thought they were at 2, 4, and 6 months and I wanted to know when it would be.  Kristy said it's actually usually 1, 3 and 5 month visits so everything is ready for Court at 6 months and didn't know we hadn't had a visit.  So she would call Carol.

We dropped off the suburban and while we were doing that Kristy called back and said Carol told her that if we could do it then, Kristy could do our visit at the office.  So back we went!  That was nice of them to do it yesterday for us.  We just had to tell her how much he weighs now, about his dr appts, his favorite toys (his swing, and the blue monkey on his play gym are his all time favorites right now!), how the adjustment has been, etc.  She told us that any time Carol forwards our birthmom an emailed picture that I sent for Carol to forward, or our set of pictures we sent last month, she will call Carol and let her know she got the picture and will discuss each one one by one.  :)  She said our birthmom gets very excited every time she gets pictures and it
makes her very happy that little b is where he is.  So that's good.  :)  Our next post placement visit will be here at home.

funny monkey

Little b loves this monkey on his play gym. This monkey gets a ton of conversation and smiles out of the little guy. Wonder why the monkey is so special in the mind of an infant! We love watching the interaction.

be still, my heart

I had a "I just had a heart attack but I'm proud of you for helping!" moment today.  Josh was at practice and little b was sleeping in the swing, so I got in the shower (one less thing to do in the morning, that way...).  B was watching cartoons.  He has always come and got me if little b starts crying while I'm in the shower.

I got out of the shower and things were quiet so I thought little b was still sleeping.  I got my robe on and came out to the living room, and to my surprise, the baby was no longer in the swing.  B had him in the boppy on B's lap, feeding little b a bottle, with a burp cloth slung over B's shoulder!  He was so proud of himself!  Apparently the baby woke up crying so B got a bottle that I had put in the fridge a short time before that, got the baby out of the swing (that's where the heart attack comes in), situated them on the couch with the boppy on B's lap, and fed him.  And not only that, burped him.  Twice.

The kid was MEANT to be a big brother!!!!  (But I told him that next time, a grownup needs to pick the baby up, just in case he wiggles all of a sudden and B accidentally drops him.  B agreed.  Phew!)

reflux

Little b earned a trip to the doctor this week.  He was getting harder and harder to feed - he would squirm, kick his legs, growl at the bottle.... at first it was just when he needed to burp, but as the days went by it got worse and worse.  To the point where he was crying while he ate, and projectile vomiting all over.  We'd go through multiple outfits a day, and a burp cloth could only be used once because it was so soaked.  I'm actually quite surprised at his weight because while I know he's not throwing up his whole bottle, it sure as heck seemed like it!

Stat check since we're talking about weight: He was 10 lbs, 10 oz when he was at the dr. He gained 7 oz in 6 days.  Holy moly.

I started suspecting acid reflux, and after a quick conference with some friends who have children that had it as babies, I called the doctor.  I wrote down everything I was concerned about, and he agreed with me.  So we started him on Zantac.  That stuff is NASTY.  Oh my goodness, I don't blame him when he was spitting it back out!  I brought it back to the pharmacy and they added flavor, but it didn't help.  So we've been adding it to his bottles.

I *think*, after 48 hours of being on the meds (twice daily), he is feeling better!  We've had almost two days now without any crying while he eats!  And his burps are back to normal.  And he's managed to keep on the same outfit, for two days in a row now!  (Not the same outfit both days - two different ones - but they've lasted a whole day. :)  )

I'm so glad the little guy feels better! It was so so so sad to see his little lip stick out and his eyes meet mine with tears in them!  :(

shower

This is me and my two boys right before we left for the baby shower our friends threw for us.  I'm the luckiest mommy in the world.  Look at those two.  How in the world did I get lucky enough to be the mommy of TWO perfect, beautiful children?

lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!

We've seen our fair share of animals in the past couple weeks! As I mentioned in the last post, we took the boys camping with my aunt and uncle.  Since we had to cancel our trip to Yellowstone becasue of the birth of little b, they called and asked us if we'd like to go with them in August and stay in their camper.  B was soooooo excited he could hardly stand it.  We had a great time!  B loved every single thing about the trip.  Camping in the pop-up camper, seeing the huge waterfalls, looking at the gyesers, and seeing the animals we saw.  The first one we saw was a bear, believe it or not!  It was right across the river from us.  We also saw hundreds of bufffalo, an animal that was either a very large coyote or a small-ish wolf, a cow elk that walked right past our picnic table at the campsite and down to the lake...  B cried when we left to come home. :)

We also got to see more animals this past weekend, on our annual trek to Denver to do school shopping.  We spent the morning at the Denver Zoo.  J's brother and his wife happened to be coming the same day, so we got to eat lunch with them and their kids!  What a fun surprise!  B absolutely loved the zoo.  Little b slept through it. :)  (These pictures were taken off B's camera - he took them himself!)



We got home just in time for Josh to begin football practice bright and early Monday morning.  We start in-service stuff next week and then the week after begins actual school!  And I will be the mother of a kindergartener! 

one month

My baby turned one month old yesterday.  How in the world did that happen?!  And what a big month he had.  He spent a week with us at grandma and grandpa's house with his aunts, uncles, and cousins...  my sister and her youngest came to our house to visit, my mom came to visit, we went to Casper to stay overnight and introduce him to the game of basketball (one of J's players was playing in the state All Star game for the South team), we had a steady stream of visitors at home, and we went CAMPING in Yellowstone for a weekend!  (another blog post on that topic.)

Stats:
Length / Weight: Unsure of length, but he was 10 pounds, 3 oz when I took him to the clinic to be weighed yesterday.  Holy moly, since he was 10 days old, we totally missed the 8 and 9 pound ranges!

Eating: Fantastic eater.  We were having to stop him at 3 oz because of bad spit up, but in the past few days he has just not been satisfied with that, so we are giving him 4 oz.  He sucks that down within 20-30 minutes and it only takes that long because we have to constantly stop and burp him.  He gets sooo sad when we take the botte away from him to burp!

Sleeping: Little b is a pretty good sleeper!  He's usually awake for a couple hours in the morning and a couple hours in the evening, and sleeps for the better part of the day.  At night, he'll eat about 10:30 and then only wake up once during the night, waking for the day any time between 5-6:00.

Wearing: 0-3 month, as newborn is getting quite small.  Had to move him to size 1 diapers last weekend.

Miscellaneous: Still isn't totally consistent in smiling but when he does, it melts my heart!  We have a big canvas print of J, B, and I from when B was 3 years old above our couch.  Little b loves to stare at it and has smiled at it, too.  He also LOVES to be swaddled to sleep and when he can't settle down, we put the swaddle me blanket on and he is instantly calm.  His pacifier - he could take it or leave it.  That's kind of nice! He loves taking baths. He doesn't cry and actually gets some coos out during them! He also loves to be in his swing! 

woo-hoo!!!

WOO-HOO!!!!!!  has become B's "everything's OK now" call lately.  If he's doing something he's afraid of but feels OK doing it, you'll hear his holler and we know things will be fine.

His latest call sign has been ringing around the neighborhood the past couple days.  He learned to ride his bike without training wheels!!  Once he got it, he totally took off and is doing awesome!  He is so excited.  And you can tell by his "WOO-HOO!" ringing out down the street. :)

answered prayer

We've had lots of visitors over since we came home.  I love that we're able to finally show off our new guy!  One of those visitors was a friend of ours, who also leads Children's Church at our church sometimes.  She told me that the last time she led Children's Church, she asked if any of the kids had anything they wanted to pray for, so she could start an order and they'd all pray together.  If you know my son at all, you know that he is NOT one to volunteer to say anything out loud with a crowd.   Never.

However, that day, he was the FIRST to raise his hand.  Our friend was shocked but told him he could start the prayers off.

His prayer?

"Dear God, please bring my family a baby."

I'm so glad that prayer was answered. :)

never too early to smile at mommy

I know it's early for smiles. I KNOW.  But  honest to goodness, I got a deliberate smile today.  While in the bath tub, no less!  Don't most babies wait until they are older to smile, and don't most babies hate being in the water?  Not this guy!  He loves the bath, and he proved it by smiling big at me today.  His first smile, at just 2 weeks, 1 day old!  (I looked up when B-man first smiled, and he was 5 weeks, 6 days old!)

I just happened to be videoing it, too.  How lucky was that?!  And it's a good thing, because J and B were golfing, so nobody would have ever believed me since I had no witnesses!

ten day stats

Little b went to the doctor last week for a weight check, and to get him checked over by OUR doctor.  They look to have babies back at birth weight by 2 weeks old.  Little b lost 6 oz in the hospital, but he eats like a horse so I was interested to see if he weighed more than his birth weight!  Sure enough, he passed it!

7 lbs, 13 oz
20 1/4 inches long (up from 19 inches at 10 days?  I don't put much faith into newborn lengths - they move too much!)

He was healthy as could be and let everyone know how mad he was that he had to get naked and be bothered!

I have to take him back tomorrow for his 2nd heel prick.  They couldn't do it last week because he has to be 14 days old.

all because of one beautiful, strong, BRAVE woman

May 24, 2012: Phone call at work from Bethany, we were matched.  TOTAL and complete shock, as we hadn't even began our home study process with them yet!  Baby in another state, baby is Native American so we need to not only learn the adoption laws in that state, but the laws regarding adoption of NA babies, which adds a bunch of things to the laws of the state - including the tribe being able to come in and stop the adoption.

June 2, 2012: Baby boy born.  Birth mother wants us to name him and has her social worker send us pictures via text.  We're excited, but reserved!  Plan is to have the baby go into an interim home, which is similar to foster care but it's a family that works for Bethany, not the state.  The baby would go there until the court process was over (at least 15 days after birth since this is a NA baby).

June 3, 2012: Baby's birth mom is released from the hospital.  Instead of placing the baby in interim care, she decides to take him home so he's not with "strangers".  My heart sinks.

June 7, 2012: Paper signing day, to get the court process going.  What a totally crazy day this was.  I was honestly in my bathrobe with shampoo in my hair for two straight hours while I was on the phone.  Here's why:

While in the shower, my phone rings.  B-man comes running back to the bathroom with it but I missed the call.  I waited to listen to the voice mail.  It's Carol, the director of WCS, asking me to call her back.  I called Josh at school to see if Carol had called him in the meantime.  She had.  We were matched with a birth mom.

Two babies.  OMG.

We decided to go ahead and pursue both babies and if we end up with two, so be it.  Worry about cost later.

I called Carol to let her know I heard the news and let her know what we decided about both babies.  I also told her that the papers hadn't been signed on baby #1 yet and we didn't know what was going to happen.

While on the phone with her, the social worker from Bethany left a message.  Birth mom, when called to see if she was ready to sign papers, couldn't do it.  She needed more time.  She was going to have a NA ceremony of clarity over the weekend.  I tell her about baby #2 and she's so excited for us.

I called WCS back to let them know that the birth mom for baby #1 isn't ready to sign yet.

Then I get back in the shower, two hours later, to re-wash my hair. :)

June 9, 2012: We meet birth mom and birth dad for baby #2, along with Carol, for lunch.  I was so nervous I thought I would puke.  We brought birth mom a cute little bag full of pampering lotions and soaks and stuff.  Birth mom is soooo quiet.  Very hard to get conversation out of.  She only had one question for us: What church did we go to?  She was very pretty, very likable, just very quiet!  Birth dad was more outgoing.  Both of them have very awesome personal goals in life (which I won't post here - it's a little too personal to be posting about people that don't even know I blog) and chose us because we are teachers and would have a big brother for this little boy.  Another boy!!  Baby boy is due in just one month - July 9.  I was so worried about B having a restaurant-noise meltdown, so I came prepared!  Lots of new little surprises to keep him busy at the table.  Come to find out later - that really impressed the birth mom. :)

June 18, 2012: After birth mom #1 wouldn't return phone calls to her social worker, she finally called her to say she officially decided to parent.  We knew that in our guts, and really, while we were incredibly disappointed, the blow wasn't as bad because we have baby #2 to look forward to.

June 30, 2012: Meet Carol, birth mom, birth dad, and birth mom's dad for breakfast!  Birth mom's dad is super nice.  Immediately likable.  Breakfast conversation was much more at ease than our first lunch, which was a relief!  And the cherry on top: they gave us not one, but EIGHTEEN of this little guy's ultrasound pictures! Yes, I cried.

July 1, 2012: We are on vacation at my mom and dad's house.  My sister and her family are there, as are my aunt and uncle.  Perfect timing for a baby to arrive to meet everyone, right?  Baby didn't get that memo.

July 6, 2012: Head to my grandma's house.  We are staying there overnight before we head into Yellowstone for a few days.  Freaking out, because Yellowstone doesn't have cell service.  We subscribed to On Star so we had a phone of some sort in case baby came, but it wasn't working properly.  So we were wondering what to do.  We went to visit my BFF from college that night; she happened to be in town.  We haven't seen her in 8 years, since our wedding!  We were on our way out to her house when I get this text from Carol:  "Yikes! She is in the hospital.  Doctor is checking her.  I will be in touch soon!!!"  Of course, friend's house is in the country and doesn't have great service.  On the way back into town, frantic phone calls between us, my mom and sister, and Carol.  This is it!   Baby is on his way!

July 7, 2012: SOOO tired this morning - no sleep was had.  Got a text from our director at 5:12 am: "7 lbs 10 oz and healthy.  Born at 3:56! Talk to you soon!" So worried now that it's "real" - what if they change their minds, too?  Could I handle losing two babies?  Director calls about 8:00 and says to come on down!  We tell B that the baby has been born but we still have to wait a bit to see if we get to bring him home.  But that we need to go to the hospital, and that means we can't go to Yellowstone.  The poor kid cried.  And that made me cry (because crying every day for the past month hadn't been enough...).  He's been looking forward to this trip for a year!  I promised we'd go another time.  We get on the road - it's the longest 5 hour drive of my life, especially since we have to stop at every rest area because both Josh's and my nerves are making our bodies to into overdrive...  We drop B off with Josh's parents, who met us, and we head to the hospital.  Birth mom's dad met us at the door and brought us to the room.  I got to hold him first.  OMGoodness, what a beauty.  I'm not joking when I say he was born absolutely PERFECT.  Everything was perfect.  And his hair - oh, the hair!  It's long and lots of it.  He's not going to make it 13 months before his first hair cut like B did!  We spend a few hours at the hospital, but it's awkward because we are in birth mom's room the whole time.  When we saw B that evening, his first words to me were, "Hey mom!  Know anything yet? Do we get the baby?"  Melted my heart.  I told him we still have to wait a bit.

July 8, 2012: We spent only about an hour and a half at the hospital today.  Can't get over how beautiful this little boy is!  We wanted to give the birth mom and birth dad some space, (birth dad was at the hospital the whole entire time! He took great care of this baby.) but at the same time, I wanted to hold this baby to my chest and never let go - still terrified they will change their minds.  Director said birth mom and baby will be released in the morning, and papers to terminate parental rights would happen then, so we should not come to the hospital until she calls us to let us know everything is done and we can come pick up this baby!

July 9, 2012:  Another sleepless night.  And my stomach has so many knots, I can't stand up straight.  B is doing so great - totally on his best behavior, and wanting us to play so we could pass the time.  Director thought it might be around 10:00 when she called us.  I remember at one point, I looked at the clock and it said 8:24.  I looked again later, thinking it must be about 9:00, and it said 8:28.  Oy.  10:00 came and went.  More knots, but I was so hoping that the fact that we hadn't been called early was a good sign, because that would most likely mean it was a "they won't sign" call.  FINALLY, at 10:23, got this text: "Papers signed and she has left.  Please come."  I instantly burst into tears. Again.  I hooped and hollered.  I told B to go get on his new shirt that says BIG BROTHER, because we got the baby.  His eyes got huge and he cheered. He went running, shouting "DADDY! WE GOT THE BABY!"  I shouted for Josh to get the car seat - let's GO!  And we headed in to get our new son.  I texted my sister and told her to call my parents.  I texted our other siblings.  Josh called his mom.  (side note: best story I've heard so far is from my sister-in-law, who was in the waiting room at the chiropractor when she got the text that papers were signed - Josh's brother was in the room getting worked on and Beth shouted from the lobby that papers were signed!!!! Everyone looked at her weird. LOL!)  We pull into the hospital lot, had to literally drag B out of the truck because he was soooo overwhelmed and carry him in, walk into the hospital, walk to the room, and find our SON waiting for us with Carol.  I was finally able to become incredibly excited.  I held that perfect being and smelled his baby smell.  I put on his new "little brother" onesie to match his big brother's shirt (that phrase still gets me, every time!!), we sign custody agreement papers, we get a family picture taken (with B standing behind me because he's still very overwhelmed), and walk out of the hospital.  We walked in as a family of 3 and left as a family of 4.  So surreal.

It's  been one amazing thing to watch my B-man transform from an only child to a big brother.  He is AMAZING, just like we thought.  *So far* there hasn't been that hard of a transition.  He is more than willing to hold little b, feed little b, pick out his clothing, put in his pacifier, all of those things.  To see him get right up next to little b and say, "Hey there, little buddy, whatcha doin'?" melts my heart.  It's been a long time coming. :)

We asked Carol how we got so lucky to get such a perfect baby and healthy birth parents... she said it was completely because we waited so long.  Prayers are answered, and good things come with time.  We knew that with the birth of B - it took forever to get pregnant but we waited so long and got the perfect child.  How crazy it is that we were chosen to be the parents to TWO perfect children.  The roller coaster this adoption process is, is not fun.  At all.  So many ups and downs and heartbreak and wondering... adoption is not for the faint of heart, for sure.

All of this happened to US because of one beautiful, strong, BRAVE woman.  One who chose adoption over any other option.  One who chose us because we are teachers and had a sibling for this little man.  One, who even through her friends making fun of her for her decision, stayed strong so that our dream could be achieved.  And it wasn't just her - it was one beautiful, strong, BRAVE man, too.  They made this decision together.  And for that, we will be eternally grateful.

As our family of 4.

a champ

Jr. Golf.

Tournament.

Two days long, 3 holes each day.  Intense, I know.

I wondered at first why only 3 holes a day.  And then I was assigned to keep score for children that are not mine.  Children that do not have a daddy to take them golfing every day.

3 holes was plenty.

PLENTY.

The little girl in my group quit yesterday after one hole.  I don't blame her.  I'd be tired too if I took about 134 strokes in that one hole.  It was a good thing for her that we didn't count whiffs. 

Scores in my group (just my group, since I didn't keep score for anyone else) after day 1:

Brecken: 20
Kid 1: 51
Kid 2: Quit after one hole.

Day two was better - the little girl made it two holes before quitting.

Brecken: 27
Kid 1: 35
Kid 2: 47 before she quit after the second hole.

Today finished with a picnic at the park and an awards ceremony.  There were trophies for the winners in each age group.  There weren't a TON of kids in the 5 year old boy category, but my little man came away with the biggest grin.  So proud of that kid.

Today was the last day of golf lessons.  Next week: Tournament!

Summer has started off in full swing!  Josh just got to start this week, but the B-man and I have 2 weeks under our belts already.  We've stayed plenty busy...  B and I babysat for some friends who still had school and needed a babysitter.  B was such a good helper.  The two kids were almost 3, and 4 months.  He played with the older one ALL.DAY.  Man, they played hard!  He got her snacks, got her drinks, kept her occupied... which was great since the baby was a bit fussy and needed lots of attention.  B is such a great kid.

We've been swimming several times (including a swim play date with his friend and her mom), golfing, (we played in the school district fun scramble and actually took 4 putts of B's!), had my parents here for Memorial Day weekend, cleared out and organized the nursery (for our homestudy for Bethany that was done), organized B's closet, been to Cheyenne, all sorts of fun stuff.

B started junior golf this week, too.  He could hardly contain his excitement yesterday morning while waiting to leave for his first lesson. 

I always think in the summertime that I'll update this blog more, since I'm home.  But then we get super busy doing projects and fun stuff, and I seem to never have the time. Ha!