HE'S HERE!

Our son was born at 11 am on August 4th, completely healthy, weighing 6lb 1 oz and measuring 19 1/4 inches! He is unbelievably gorgeous, with big brown eyes and silky, loose black curls. The hospital staff were very kind to us and gave us our own room with him, in which two important things happened: we fell in love with him and we kissed regular sleep patterns goodbye.


He's amazing. So far, he has strong likes and dislikes, just his his momma. :) Likes: being swaddled, his "I love grandma" pacifier, and sneezing. Dislikes: dirty diapers, having his diaper changed (ironic!), and the dark. What a cutie!


I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Better go grab some breakfast before the little guy wakes up!

More Waiting...how ironic

Just a quick update--we're in Arkansas impatiently awaiting the arrival of our son! We had lunch with our birthmother yesterday, which was great. She has all the signs and symptoms of labor without actually BEING in labor. Argh. I have this horrible feeling that a month from now I'll still be languishing in Arkansas in the vain hope that he will arrive. But, my logical mind says that this is simply not true! He cannot stay in the womb forever! I will be changing poopie diapers soon enough.


It's too bad that my emotional mind pays no attention whatsoever to my logical mind.


We'll let you know once something happens!

Aren't you glad the title of this post isn't "WAITING?"

We got the call!!!!


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!


Ahem. Let me try to compose myself. Today about 1pm we got a call from the Arkansas American Adoptions office saying that we had been matched with a birthmother who is due in a couple of weeks with a little boy! We will speak with her by conference call next week and then meet her in the delivery room! We'll stay in Arkansas for 6 days, at the end of which the adoption will be finalized. Whoo! No ICPC or long finalization wait!


Excitingly, the mother is already having contractions, but they're not sure if they're the "real deal" or not. So it could be anytime in the next 2 weeks!


So, I'm going to pack a duffle bag with baby stuff so that's ready to go, and when we get the call that the mother is in labor, we'll throw some clothes in another bag, grab the car seat and Pack N'Play, and book a last minute ticket out to the heartland. That's the plan anyways. So, from actual activation to match, we waited less than a month. Not bad at all!


Welp, I'm so excited that I can hardly sit still, so I'm going to sign off. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.........!!!!!!!!

Still WAITING

Here's a glimpse of Baby Mae's room! Can you tell we're ready, like, NOW, to get our little bundle of screaming, pooping, hopefully sleeping joy? After researching the Peruvian situation for a week, we finally came to the conclusion that it was impossible, so we reactivated with our domestic agency. They were very glad to have us back, and told us that in the 2 weeks total that we've been activated, we've been shown to birthmothers 6 times, which means that there's plenty of activity going on over there. No word on whether any of those are still making up their minds or not, but it's still encouraging.





We've been doing a lot of work on the house while waiting, and the green dresser at the top and the blue one above are evidence of that. The green one is a baby dresser that has serviced several babies in my family, while the blue one above was an awesome score from the side of the road. Go Mr. Mae! And a big thanks to Mark and Britt for volunteering their truck to help us get it back to the house. It's a great, well-made piece that Mr. Mae painted blue. Mabel's House, this one's for you!





Mr. Mae also revamped our original dresser, fulfilling my dream of having furniture with glass knobs.





Sigh. I love it so. Our whole bedroom is so light and airy in watercolor shades of green, blue, and yellow.
In garden news, my sunflowers are looking great...





Finally, the best, our friends Tim and Stacy bought us a crib!





Isn't it beautiful?! I never thought I'd have a picture of my husband putting a crib together. Life is crazy!

Just a quick hello

And we're safely back from Costa Rica and have successfully wrapped up the school year. Well, except for poor Mr. Mae, who is teaching summer school throughout the month of June. The freedom is exquisite. Last night I went out on the town ON A SCHOOL NIGHT and slept til 10. The 2 facts are possibly related.


Anyhoo, a quick adoption update. The homestudy is DONE and will soon be in route to the adoption agency. We had our big interview with our adoption coordinator today, and she basically said that, even though we're not officially activated, we're close enough that we could get a phone call in the very near future. Of course, there's always the possibility that we might wait 6 months to get Baby Mae, but the adoption people think that, given our preferences about an adoption situation, that's unlikely. WHOO!


So, coming up: a big Costa Rica post complete with pictures, and pictures of my handmade diaper bag, blanket, and knitted hats. Stay tuned!

Woot!

Thank God, the homestudy was a success! Our social worker was very nice and made everything feel really relaxed. She even told us that if she heard of an expectant mother or available newborn, she'd let us know (she does a lot of adoption networking with lawyers, etc). Yay! All in all, we would prefer to adopt in South Carolina (the termination of rights period is like 24 hours and we'd be able to come home right away). Of course, if our agency calls and says that they have a baby in Utah for us, it's not like we're going to pass on it.


In addition to being homestudy approved, we are also the proud owners of a package of newborn diapers, bottles, and 5 onesies. Mr. Mae keeps pulling out the onesie and marvelling that anything could be so small. It looks like it's made for a chihuahua or something. Cra-zy.


Well, I better go slog my way through the penultimate day of school. I've got an English III exam to write, Great Gatsby papers to grade, and textbook inventory to procrastinate about. Yay.

Happy Anniversary to Ivy!

Yesterday (Sunday) was the 2 year anniversary of my blog! Amazing. It boggles the mind to think that I started this blog as a way to journal our preparations for moving to Charleston to start my new job, and here, 2 years later, Mr. Mae is working at the same school with me, Charleston feels like home, and we're preparing for a baby. Wow.


Okay, enough reminiscing and back to the present! From my perspective, prom went well. "From my perspective" means that no one snuck any dirty music onto the sound system, no one did sexually suggestive dancing, and no one got pregnant (at least while they were in the building). Whew. I am really feeling the effects of not having a proper weekend though. The symptoms of noweekenditis are as follows: crankiness, uncertain wardrobe choices, and a tendency to show a movie rather than lecture. However, the antidote is in sight---this is my last week of teaching! There are technically 2 weeks left of school, this week and exam week, but we'll be in Costa Rica during exam week! Some other piteous creature will be administering my finals. Of course, I'll still have to grade them...


Adoption report: today we're getting fingerprinted for the FBI, getting forms notarized, and mailing off our profile pictures and captions. Then, cleaning up the yard and organizing the kitchen. Then, collapsing into bed, with or without supper. Sorry Mr. Mae. I rewarded myself for all my hard work by looking at the baby aisles in Target. Eeeeeeeee! Can't wait!


Anyhoo, thanks for reading, y'all, and giving me a reason to keep this blog around for these 2 years. ...and many moreeeeeeee.....