Big Brother Lincoln

Lincoln was already in bed the night we got home so he got to meet his little sister the next morning. He was interested at first and wanted to hold her, but only for about 2 seconds. Most of the time he wants to know where she is, but doesn't want anything to do with her. Especially when she is in my arms and he wants to be. A little jealous at times, but I think they will have a lot of fun playing together as she gets older!

 He is a good helper when he wants to be!

 These pictures took forever to take and required candy bribery.

Some turned out cute, but most looked like this:

 Baby toes!

Maya Jane

It has been a crazy couple of weeks! On Tuesday September 23rd, we got the call that mom was in labor!  Her due date wasn't for a week and we weren't expecting her to go early since she had just had an appointment on Monday the 22nd with no progress. Glenn hadn't even packed yet!

Glenn had just gotten to work so he wrapped up a few things, I called my girlfriend and she picked up Lincoln and we were off!

We got to Delaware around 2 pm and baby girl had been born while we were on the road at 11:07 am. We had gotten a phone call and were told she had a lot of hair, but we didn't know much else!

When we got to the hospital, we were told to wait for the social worker and then she had us wait even longer. It was a little agonizing knowing our baby girl was in the hospital and we just had to wait! The social worker met with the birth mom and then we had to sign a bunch of paperwork and finally we got to go meet her!

We walked in to the room and they placed her in my arms almost immediately! Hi, stranger, nice to meet you! She was 6 lb 11 oz and 18.5 inches. A little peanut.

The next 2 days were not what we had anticipated, but we didn't have a lot of expectations going in. We had a hotel room, but as it turns out, only Glenn stayed there. I stayed in the hospital room with our baby girl and the birthmother. Taking care of a little one comes back to you pretty quick, but it would have been nice to have Glenn there, too.

Everyone was discharged on Thursday afternoon and we took our baby girl back to our hotel. We couldn't go back to Virginia until all of the interstate paperwork had been approved. Somehow, we got a phone call on Friday afternoon that it was done. We were expecting a much longer wait, but they pushed it through quickly. We packed up the car and we were off!

Back home to my mom and a new big brother! Per Delaware law, birthmom has a 14 day revocation window. Meaning, yesterday, that period has ended and baby girl is ours. We still have a long legal process of making everything official, but Miss Maya Jane Smith is here to stay.

It takes an Army... er.... Navy

Glenn and I have been out of town for a few days and our friends and family have gone above and beyond. They took Lincoln without hesitation (actually they "fought" about who GOT to keep him) and mom flew in with a day's notice. They say it takes a village to raise a family but I think it's more like a Navy. No one quite understands the immediate support that a military spouse receives from her fellow spouses unless you are a part of the amazing club. Watch my kid so I can get a hair cut? Boom, done. Know someone who lives in San Diego? Boom, instant friend and resource. Where should I live in DC? Don't even worry about it. 

My little Navy took Lincoln, picked up my mom from the airport, helped her get settled and even made my mom dinner. Talk about the best friends ever. All while a few of their hubbies are gone for a month. 

They are amazing and I've got to think of some awesome way to repay them all. You are the best!

The Call

I wrote this post a month ago, but didn't post until things were a little closer. Like I said, not a for sure situation, but I wanted to write it and get my thoughts out when I was thinking them!

We got our "call" on Monday afternoon, August 11th! I was outside working on a project and still had my phone on silent from nap time so I missed our social worker, Kim's, call, but Glenn came out of the back door and said, "Kelly, it's Kim, we were matched!"

He put Kim on speaker phone and she gave us the details. We had read some of our birthmom's details and situation in a email the previous week, but she told us a few more things and more importantly, she wants to meet us! I feel like we didn't express our gratitude to Kim as much as we should have, but I think we were both in a little bit of shock. We have only been "in the books" for a month. This is only the second birthmother who has looked at our profile. It's been less than 5 months since we went to our first informational meeting with our agency.

We are headed up to Delaware next Thursday!

The last 48 hours have been a whole lot of mixed emotions! I'm so excited to hold our little tiny baby GIRL in our arms. But at the same time, she's not ours yet. We're nervous that the mom will change her mind (which she has every right to choose to do). I'm so anxious... I spent all of nap time yesterday organizing the basement and going through all of our baby gear and pulling out tiny clothes that didn't say "Daddy's Big Guy" all over them. I bought a changing table on Craigslist and I stopped at Target and bought some pink storage containers. I feel like I crammed about a trimester's worth of nesting in to one day!

Glenn and I spent Monday night researching all sorts of things - how to take care of ethnic hair, how to install a satellite so we can eliminate Direct TV to save some money since we will have TWO KIDS! Names! I've been reading our baby name book like crazy to come up with girl names that we both like.

I'm incredibly nervous to meet our birthmom. What if she doesn't like us in person like she did in person? What if we say something that upsets her? What if Lincoln is a terror and we look like bad parents?

We are meeting with Kim on Monday so that we can go over my list of questions and she can tell us what to do and not to do. Every situation is different so we will go over more of the details in person.

I'm obviously posting this after the fact since nothing is a done deal, but I wanted to get my emotions out so I have them for her in the future. Lincoln has a scrapbook showing every week of my pregnancy with him and I want her to have something similar. Her story is unique and special.

I hope this is the beginning of our story as a family of 4!

Two More Weeks

We found out on August 11th that a birthmother had chosen us and we are going to be placed with a baby girl! Our adoption wait was only 5 weeks. We were baffled and kind of in shock when our social worker told us.

A 3D Ultrasound of baby girl at 36 weeks.

The last month has been busy busy. We've been transitioning Lincoln to a twin "big boy" bed so that we could move the crib to the other room for baby girl. We took down all of Glenn's Navy pictures from the office/guest room and adding lots of pink so that it is now a nursery/guest room! We left the guest bed in the room for now while we are in this house since that is probably only another year. That's another post though.

I've been getting the more gender-neutral newborn and small baby clothes out of the basement and thanks to several friends, she's got lots of newborn clothes to wear. Good thing lots of friends had baby girls in the last couple years!

We still have some things we will need- like a double stroller and another camera for the monitor- but those major purchases will wait until baby girl is home and then probably several weeks after that. Although a birthmother has picked us, it is not final or binding in any way. In fact, she has 14 days after the birth and signing of the paperwork to change her mind. We'll celebrate after 14 days. :)

We get a lot of questions since adoption isn't super common so I'll try to answer a few.

Where is the baby from?
Wilmington, Delaware. We will travel up to Delaware when mom goes in to labor and will stay there until all of the paperwork is approved to bring her back to Virginia. Probably at least a week. If you have any hotel connections, please let us know. We'll be staying in a hotel near the hospital until she is discharged and then probably to a more affordable hotel.

What do you know about mom? 
We met her a few weeks ago and got to know her a little bit. She is very young and not ready to be a mom.

What about dad?
We don't know much about dad, including his medical history. He isn't in the picture and is no longer in Delaware.

Will the baby know her mom?
Yes, we are working with an open adoption agency and will continue to send pictures and letters of baby girl to her birthmother until she is 18. We will try to meet at least once a year so that baby girl knows her birthmother and where she came from.

Do you have a name picked out? Do you get to name the baby?
We have been discussing different options. Our family names, perhaps part of the birthmother's name? We haven't decided yet. The birthmother has the right to name the baby and that is what will appear on her original birth certificate, but when we finalize the adoption (which takes about 6 months) we can put our chosen name on her birth certificate which will appear along side our names.

The next couple weeks will be a waiting game. We are packing bags and enjoying time as a family of 3! Baby girl will be here before we know it!

Grayson Sanford Valone

Lincoln has a new cousin! He was born on Saturday morning 9/13 at 5:58 am CST!

7 lbs 20 3/4 inches of baby goodness!

He's at home with mom and dad now! I hope his first night went well! Can't wait to meet you Grayson!

I think they look like cousins. L on top. G on the bottom. 

Target Inspiration: Elephant Art

Saw this in the wall art section of my local Target. I think it was $29.99. 

Made this today for $0 with stuff I had around the house:

I whitewashed a piece of plywood with old ceiling paint and the edges are painted pink with leftover spray paint. Glenn nailed the 80 nails in for me. They don't all match but I like it that way. I just printed the first picture and he hammered right thru the pic. Easy!

Can't wait to hang it up tomorrow!

Obsession

My kid loves ketchup. He would put the tasty red sauce on most things but here are a few favorites:

- Grapes

- Banana bread

- Sautéed fish

- Blueberries

Here he is with a cookie in one hand but chooses to eat plain ketchup instead. 

I guess he really is mine. I've been known to say, "I feel like ketchup. What can we have for dinner that goes with ketchup?"

Saving Water

I snagged this free barrel from work before I quit and it's been sitting on the side of the house for a month. We've had some cooler weather and not so busy weekends so the hubster helped me out and hooked it up! 

It took some wandering around Lowes to find the right parts and cost about $50, but after 2 moderate rainfalls it was full. Probably should have done this 2 years ago and at the beginning of planting season. 

It would nice if it was another row of cinder blocks high but we were worried about the 450 lbs tipping when it was full.  I can still fit a watering can under the spout, it's just not super easy. I also got a soaker hose that can reach the herb/veggie garden. That will be the best option I think. 

Should be perfect for next summer!

Blueberry Picking

I saw an article in the paper in July about local blueberry picking and thought, "Lincoln LOVES blueberries!" So 4 mamas and 4 babies drove out to Pungo and checked it out a few days later.

There were blackberries too which were much easier for L to pick.

By the time we got to blueberries, the kiddos were a sticky mess (mostly Kai) and had full bellies! Wear purple or blue shirts if you go next summer.

Chivalry is not dead. 

Lincoln loved the wagons and the golf cart most of all, not surprised. He's obsessed with anything with wheels and shouts, "Tuk!" from the backseat of the car at every truck or van or large vehicle we see these days.

We came home with $5 worth of really delicious blueberries and blackberries. At $1.95 a pound, you can do the math. Lincoln was not so helpful when it came to picking the berries, but super helpful when it came to emptying the buckets.

We had some sweaty, sticky kiddos and a few nasty diapers in the coming days, but it was a success! I'm excited for apples and pumpkins in a few months!