The New Arrival!

Here are a couple pictures of our little darling. She is a good baby and like all babies has her nights and days mixed up. She gets up once a night and takes a bit to go back to sleep. The cats are getting used to her. CJ is starting to spend more time out from under the bed and even tried to sit on my lap when I fed her this afternoon. Nero curls up near her when she is napping and he walks the floor with me when she is fussy. He doesn't like it when she cries and so he tries to comfort her in his own way, he nudges her with his head and purrs at her. She's special because he doesn't purr for us! More later when I have access to internet again.

The Baby Shower!

These are pictures are from our baby shower. We had a great time and got lots of things that will be very helpful. We think we are ready which means we probably aren't! Amanda is at the hospital being induced and we are sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for her to call us as she gets closer to delivery. We thought that it would be easier for everyone if Kurt and I weren't crowded into the room and everyone was staring at everyone else for 18 hours. So we'll keep all ya'll posted. Be aware that while I'm home in Dec with Autumn I won't have access to the internet without lots of effort on my part by going to the library. So we'll have pictures posted here in Jan. See all ya'll in a month!

Fall Visitors

Kurt and Nero are discussing the visitors we recently had outside the apartment.

Kurt: "Hmmm.... roasted, fryed, broiled, baked, grilled, frikaseed..."

Nero: "let's ask Erica, what do you think?"

Kurt: "there are a lot of them, we could try lots of different ways of cooking them."

The Baby's Room

Here are some pictures of the baby's room. I covered the lamp shade with some fabric I had, isn't it cute?

Getting Ready

We have been getting the baby's room ready, I don't have any pictures to share yet because I just haven't taken any. :P I don't want the whole world to see my disaster area. I have some Curious George stick ups on the walls. We bought a cabinet to keep the diapers and other paraphernalia in. We have a stroller, 2 car seats, a changing table, a bed, some clothes, and a couple of bottles, oh yes, and 22 pacifiers. Think that's enough? Funny thing is that we haven't actually bought any pacifiers!

We are registered at both Target and Babies "R" Us. Both of which have online access to the registry, isn't that nice? I like it because I can get on and add things or change things without having to go to the store. After the couple of baby showers we'll figure out what we still need and then make mad dashes to the stores.

We have met with the birthmom a couple of times and we really like her. We are very comfortable with our relationship with her and look forward to getting to know her a whole lot better. I will be going to the ultrasound with her on Thursday Oct 19. I am really excited about that.

6 weeks and counting!!!

Pacifier Soup

We have been chosen to be the parents of a little girl who is due December 6th! We are floating up in the clouds. We chose the name Autumn Grace for her. We will get to bring her home from the hospital so we are getting a very new baby. We put up the bed this weekend. We are not going with the traditional crib but with a baby hammock. I researched it a lot before we decided but it should be a really good bed for her. If anyone wants to know more about it check out www.ambybaby.com We are also collecting things from friends who have baby stuff sitting around. This weekend we went to Target and Babies "R" Us and started registeries. Know that they are not complete and I'm sure that any veteran parents out there will know exactly what we forgot to put on there when they look at it. We didn't put many mulitples of things on as we didn't know how many of things to add. We figured this would be more of a way to get started and ideas of things we want and need. So have fun with it. We only have 2 months to get everything ready and already we realize that we are going to be scrambling but it will be fun scrambling and we'll be smiling all the way.



Here is my pacifier soup. Doesn't it look yummy?

M Go Blue!

We went to the Michigan-Minnesota game on Sat! My parents came up to go with us. Daddy likes the Huskers, Mom and I root for the Wolverines and Kurt goes for the Gophers. Kurt was out numbered. But we all had a great time. The Wolverines beat the Gophers 28-14! The Little Brown Jug went home where it belongs, YAY. We rode the train up and back and that was an adventure in itself as the ride up was rather like being a sardine in a can, the ride back was a little better and we got seats on that trip.

Mom and I decided that watching a football game live is more distracting than watching it on TV because there is so much going on that you lose sight of the ball and miss a play (usually a big and exciting one).

This last picture was taken before the stands started to really fill up. In our section there were about as many Michigan fans as there were Minnesota fans so there was always cheering and groaning going on at the same time.

A Trip to the Zoo

We went to the zoo with our friends and their 2 boys. Kurt and the boys had a ball chasing each other, running down the paths. We all had fun seeing the animals, the boys showed us their favorite animals and we showed them our favorites. None of us had the same favorites. The tigers were out and about where we could see them and one of them put on a good show for us playing with some kind of something he'd found in his area. We saw moose, caribou, meerkats, wolves, prairie dogs, bison, camels, sharks, fish, turtles, a bear, a dragon (komodo), a huge snake that was looking at us through the glass, otters, birds and lots of other things. We all really enjoyed watching the baby Macaques running and playing. They picked on the adults a lot and the adults were very indulgent. A favorite trail at the zoo "The Minnesota Trail" is closed for the year for renovations so we didn't get to see any of the animals there. But we did get to see a new exhibit being constructed, there is going to be a Russian animal exhibit next summer and we are excited to see it.

Match Meeting

We are meeting with a birth parent today. We are so excited but also nervous and scared. I have no doubt that she is feeling the exact same way. It is an interesting experience being interviewed for parenting a child. What will she think of us as people, as a couple, as possible parents for her child? Will she wonder what we think of her? Of course she will. We know that just because we are meeting with a birth parent doesn't mean she will pick us but we hope that she does. She meets with more than one family so that she has some choices and that is a good thing. We hope and pray that she makes the best decision for herself and her child. We pray that this is the baby that God has planned for us but if it isn't that we are patient enough to wait for the baby that he does have for us. That is a hard prayer to say.

We have started collecting baby things and putting them in the room. We have been blessed in friends who have given us a few things to help us get started and we have been blessed by family who have offered there support as well. This baby, what ever baby, is going to be coming into a large family of family and friends who are so excited to welcome him or her. Well, pray for us and for the birth parent.

School Started

Well, it's been a while. School started last week and life has been just this side of crazy since then. And it didn't just start for me, Kurt also started his course work. He is working on a B.S. in Business Management and Internet Technologies with an emphasis in Visual Communication. How's that for a mouth full?! He is doing the work through the University of Phoenix-online. And thankfully his work will pay for it. I guess he wanted to see how it went for me first and decided that it wasn't too bad. ;)

I started in a new district and apparently a brand spanking new program (at least half of my job is new). Half of my job is to go into preschool classrooms and work with kids who need a little extra support. The other half of my job will be in the birth-3 area which is a new area for me. I have to bone up on the laws and criteria for that age group. Then they tell me that sometime this year the laws will change so I figure that will happen about the time I figure out the current laws. :P

Here are a couple pictures of Kurt and me playing 'Glen Lake Croquet'. This is just a fun way to set up the course, we set it up in an obstacle course fashion, trying to make it as hard as possible of course.

Not spoiled at all!!

While we are waiting (patiently) for news from our social worker regarding a possible adoption we have 2 cats at home who are not spoiled at all. They keep us entertained, warm on cold nights, and on our toes during their psychotic episodes. They are extrememly helpful and wonderful hunters.

CJ is very protective of his 'pet' frog.

My boys love to just hang out together.

Nero loooooves to be brushed.

He also thinks he's very helpful when it comes to sewing and weaving.

Here is Cap'n Jack (CJ the grey) about half his full size trying to play with Nero (orange).

Adoption Progress

We wrote a profile. What this means is that we created 4 pages of text and pictures to sum up our lives. This took many weeks and even more revisions. It is hard to decide what you think will attract a birth parent. This profile goes into a binder with other profiles from prospective adoptive parents. There are generally between 50-60 families in this book at a time. Birth parents then look through this binder and chose a couple of families to meet with. At these match meetings as they are called, both sets of parents talk with each other and decide if this is the best match for them and for the future child.

So at this point we are in "the book" and waiting to be called for a match meeting. As far as the money goes we will have all but about $600 in teh bank by the end of August. So far the money has been there when we needed it and we will rely on God for the rest to be there when it is needed.

At times we wait patiently and at other times we wait impatiently. We keep praying for the patience to wait for God to unfold this chapter of our lives in His own time and His own way.

Vacation

It was suggested that we set up a blog spot to keep everyone posted on our lives and our adoption. We will also have a website in the future but for now this seemed like fun.

We just returned from the best vacation at the family cottage in in Burdickville Michigan. This is about 20min W of Traverse City on Hwy 72. For those of you who map the state on your hand, it's in the fingernail of your pinkie.

The picture is of the area we visited and one that we'd never leave if the option was given to us! We played in the waters of Glen Lake and Lake Michigan, climed the dunes, watched lots of sunsets, collected some rocks, ate lots of cherries, got sunburned, and mostly just relaxed.

The lake in the background is Glen Lake which is split into 2 lakes: Big Glen and Little Glen. The cottage sits on Big Glen. We love everything about this area and Leelanau county. Pictures to come.