Catch Up Blogging
I keep meaning to blog about some things and then it never seems to happen. Mostly this has just been an exhausting week. We have been busy, busy, busy but also it has been emotionally tiring as well. Here is the rundown.
1. Monday I had a meeting with my boss, a one-on-one meeting so we could discuss the progress I have made on planning this huge yearly training event that will take place in February. (I really haven't made much progress by the way.) Since I don't get much opportunity to talk to my boss in private, I felt that it was a good time to say something that has been bugging me. Chances are, come February when this big training event is supposed to take place, I will not be there. I will be at home with my boys on leave. I was going to wait until we got out of PGN to tell her that because then I would have a little closer idea as to when I would be leaving work, but the moment presented itself so I spoke. She said, "I was afraid of that." Everyone at work knows that we are adopting again so it wasn't that it was a big secret. It just seemed like most people, particularly my boss, were completely ignoring the fact that I would be taking time off to be with William. I feel better that I just said it right to her so there are no questions now.
2. My friend Val and I decided that today we would take Marcus to the zoo. I was a bit nervous because of Marcus's growing independence that he would be quite the handful at the zoo. Mainly I was concerned that being in the stroller the whole time wasn't going to cut it. Off I went to Target where I found this cute backpack/harness that I thought I would give a try. Marcus didn't seem to mind having a monkey on his back.
3. We took the plunge, cashed in our amazon.com gift cards and purchased our double stroller. It is about the only thing I somehow managed to not take a picture of this week. We took it for a spin - Marcus on one side and Hopkin Blue Frog on the other - and we have decided we love it. Besides, who could not like something that is black and gold? You can check out our stroller by clicking here.
4. During our test run of our new stroller we stopped at the park to play. When we learned that Marcus would be the little boy that we were adopting we ran out and bought him his first toy, a green stuffed frog that we named Hopkin Green Frog. As we received baby equipment, we had Hopkin Green Frog test it out for us since Marcus wasn't home yet. Right after we learned that William would be our son, we bought him a Hopkin Blue Frog. Hopkin Blue Frog has been sleeping next to me for a few months now. We figured it was time he got out to play. So, off to the park we went.
5. Marcus got another cold this week. I am happy to report that I did not get it. I think this is only the second sickness that he ever got that I didn't get. I started taking vitamins a few weeks ago and I really think they helped. I also sucked down a few of those Airborne things too. I did get some sort of sickness, like a mouth virus that gave me all these ulcers, a swollen lip, and a sore throat. I would take that any day over a cold that knocks me on the butt for 3 days. Go vitamins!!
6. Thursday I hit the lowest day yet waiting for William to come home. I really don't remember ever feeling that helpless and hopeless the entire wait for Marcus. The anxiety of waiting to hear something from PGN was eating away at me. I was trying to work but work was the last thing on my mind. I got in a good cry at one point and that seemed to help a little. I don't even have a clue why Thursday was any worse than any other day. On Wednesday William turned 9 months old. I can't believe he is 9 months already. Somehow Wednesday flew by and even though I was very aware that it meant William was 9 months old, it didn't really start to hurt until Thursday. And no, we still haven't heard a word from PGN. I did hear that two cases that were submitted on July 20 were approved by PGN on September 20. Our case was submitted on July 25.
7. I went into work on Friday and the first thing I saw was an email from our case worker. I asked her not to email me at work because I don't check my work email at home and I didn't want to miss an important email because it was sitting in my work email. She sent it on Thursday. I didn't see it until Friday. That made me mad. My anger only lasted a second though because I opened up a picture of my little baby. Seriously, is there any possible way to look at this boy and not have your heart explode with sadness because you are not with him?
I knew I should be so excited to get a medical update but mostly I was just heartbroken. I want to be with him so badly. He is there. I am here. There is not a damn thing we can do about it. William's foster family dressed him in one of the adorable outfits that we sent down for him.
I almost forgot to read the medical report because I couldn't take my eyes off of my baby's pictures. The medical report made me sad too. He is growing (up to 18 lbs 1 oz now) and developing right on target and I know I should be happy about that. But, I am missing it all. He sits unassisted. He is trying to pull himself up to a standing position. In a couple of the pictures you can see that he has his two bottom teeth. I am missing every bit of it. I showed the pictures off to a few people and every single one of them said the same thing, "When is he coming home?" The day I have an answer to that question will be the happiest day of my life.
8. We also found out what the issue was with our medical reports. Our old case worker sent us a medical report (with the date mysteriously removed) and told us it was from his July appointment. Turns out the report was actually from an appointment in early August. William didn't see the doctor in July for some reason and since he had an appointment in early August he didn't have another one two weeks later when he normally would have been due for his August appointment. Wow, I can't tell you how fascinating it is that we actually got an answer on this. Sure, it took a little while to get the information but we got it. Our old case worker would have just said over and over that she was looking into it until we quit bugging her about it. Our new case worker has asked us a few questions about our case which have indicated to us that our old case worker didn't keep a very good file on our case at all. So all that stuff is looking up. To see all of William's latest photos from his medical appointment/photo op, click here.
9. It turns out that both of our sons are part zombies. Oddly enough, this picture was taken of Marcus on Halloween last year:
We were hoping that he would be the only zombie. We were wrong. This picture was taking of William earlier this week:
You may be thinking that the camera just happened to snap at an odd time. You are only fooling yourself. They are zombies.
10. Greg and I started watching Heroes, a show that we missed when it first came out. This sparked the age old question, "If you had a super power, what would you want it to be?" Hands down I would want my super power to be the ability to finalize my adoption on my terms.
11. My friend Cara and I joke that we have parallel lives since it seems that many of the things we have done and been through even before we met were quite similar. Cara has a little boy Max that Marcus plays with sometimes. Max is 13 months old. Cara is also due with number two. I have said from the beginning that she is having a boy. It only makes sense since I will have two boys that she will also have two boys. Friday she found out that Max is going to have a baby brother. I am sure that there will be lots of playing in the dirt, eating bugs, and harassing girls in the future for all of our sons.
12. I finished the blanket I was making for William. Pictures will follow (if I remember). It is currently blocking on our living room floor.
13. Today was the big zoo trip for Val, Marcus, and me. Gone are those few wonderful days of fall weather and back was a day of too much sun and 85 degrees. I wasn't sure how long Marcus would survive today since we went to the zoo right in the middle of his nap time. He caught about 5 minutes of sleep on the way there and did amazingly well. First stop was the tigers who decided to come right up to the glass. Marcus was completely amazed by them.
We tried out the new backpack/harness a bit but it was so crowded and Marcus isn't capable of walking a straight line so it didn't last too long. Plus he is just so little that I was afraid he was going to get run over.
Every time we have gone to the zoo so far (this was Marcus's fourth trip) Marcus has fallen asleep in the aquarium. Today was no different. I decided to put him in my Mayan Sling when we got to the aquarium thinking it would be the best place for him so I could point out the fishies up close and personal. That worked for about 5 minutes. Then he was out.
He never falls asleep on me so I was loving it. I was not loving the fact that it was a million degrees in there (see all that sweat on me) and I had a sack of kid on me. (I just wanted to add that I LOVE my Mayan Sling. Even as he keeps getting bigger it is such a breeze to throw him in there. He loves being in the sling too. It is so comfortable to wear even though Marcus is over 25 lbs now and I have back problems. I have made a few of these for friends now and would be very happy to sew some more so if you are reading and interested, shoot me off an email at anniemwk6@hotmail.com. And yes, that was a shameless plug for me. It is my blog and I can sing the praises of myself and my sling making abilities if I want.) Mostly I was worried that he was going to get overheated. He did end up coming home with a temperature that seemed to have mostly gone down since he cooled off. He slept in the sling for about 30 minutes, missing the aquarium, polar bears, sea otters, and sea lions. He woke up in time for ice cream and to hit up the play area.
We went into the petting zoo area. He showed very brief (about 3 seconds) interest in a sheep and after that he was just excited to be free to run. I let him run around the area for a few minutes before I decided he was probably scaring the goats.
He fell asleep the minute we passed through the gates of the zoo and was so tired he barely moved when I moved him from his stroller to the car seat. Once home, he could barely keep his eyes open. We had a quick dinner, then it was into the bath and into bed at 6:40. He is zonked.
1. Monday I had a meeting with my boss, a one-on-one meeting so we could discuss the progress I have made on planning this huge yearly training event that will take place in February. (I really haven't made much progress by the way.) Since I don't get much opportunity to talk to my boss in private, I felt that it was a good time to say something that has been bugging me. Chances are, come February when this big training event is supposed to take place, I will not be there. I will be at home with my boys on leave. I was going to wait until we got out of PGN to tell her that because then I would have a little closer idea as to when I would be leaving work, but the moment presented itself so I spoke. She said, "I was afraid of that." Everyone at work knows that we are adopting again so it wasn't that it was a big secret. It just seemed like most people, particularly my boss, were completely ignoring the fact that I would be taking time off to be with William. I feel better that I just said it right to her so there are no questions now.
2. My friend Val and I decided that today we would take Marcus to the zoo. I was a bit nervous because of Marcus's growing independence that he would be quite the handful at the zoo. Mainly I was concerned that being in the stroller the whole time wasn't going to cut it. Off I went to Target where I found this cute backpack/harness that I thought I would give a try. Marcus didn't seem to mind having a monkey on his back.
3. We took the plunge, cashed in our amazon.com gift cards and purchased our double stroller. It is about the only thing I somehow managed to not take a picture of this week. We took it for a spin - Marcus on one side and Hopkin Blue Frog on the other - and we have decided we love it. Besides, who could not like something that is black and gold? You can check out our stroller by clicking here.
4. During our test run of our new stroller we stopped at the park to play. When we learned that Marcus would be the little boy that we were adopting we ran out and bought him his first toy, a green stuffed frog that we named Hopkin Green Frog. As we received baby equipment, we had Hopkin Green Frog test it out for us since Marcus wasn't home yet. Right after we learned that William would be our son, we bought him a Hopkin Blue Frog. Hopkin Blue Frog has been sleeping next to me for a few months now. We figured it was time he got out to play. So, off to the park we went.
5. Marcus got another cold this week. I am happy to report that I did not get it. I think this is only the second sickness that he ever got that I didn't get. I started taking vitamins a few weeks ago and I really think they helped. I also sucked down a few of those Airborne things too. I did get some sort of sickness, like a mouth virus that gave me all these ulcers, a swollen lip, and a sore throat. I would take that any day over a cold that knocks me on the butt for 3 days. Go vitamins!!
6. Thursday I hit the lowest day yet waiting for William to come home. I really don't remember ever feeling that helpless and hopeless the entire wait for Marcus. The anxiety of waiting to hear something from PGN was eating away at me. I was trying to work but work was the last thing on my mind. I got in a good cry at one point and that seemed to help a little. I don't even have a clue why Thursday was any worse than any other day. On Wednesday William turned 9 months old. I can't believe he is 9 months already. Somehow Wednesday flew by and even though I was very aware that it meant William was 9 months old, it didn't really start to hurt until Thursday. And no, we still haven't heard a word from PGN. I did hear that two cases that were submitted on July 20 were approved by PGN on September 20. Our case was submitted on July 25.
7. I went into work on Friday and the first thing I saw was an email from our case worker. I asked her not to email me at work because I don't check my work email at home and I didn't want to miss an important email because it was sitting in my work email. She sent it on Thursday. I didn't see it until Friday. That made me mad. My anger only lasted a second though because I opened up a picture of my little baby. Seriously, is there any possible way to look at this boy and not have your heart explode with sadness because you are not with him?
I knew I should be so excited to get a medical update but mostly I was just heartbroken. I want to be with him so badly. He is there. I am here. There is not a damn thing we can do about it. William's foster family dressed him in one of the adorable outfits that we sent down for him.
I almost forgot to read the medical report because I couldn't take my eyes off of my baby's pictures. The medical report made me sad too. He is growing (up to 18 lbs 1 oz now) and developing right on target and I know I should be happy about that. But, I am missing it all. He sits unassisted. He is trying to pull himself up to a standing position. In a couple of the pictures you can see that he has his two bottom teeth. I am missing every bit of it. I showed the pictures off to a few people and every single one of them said the same thing, "When is he coming home?" The day I have an answer to that question will be the happiest day of my life.
8. We also found out what the issue was with our medical reports. Our old case worker sent us a medical report (with the date mysteriously removed) and told us it was from his July appointment. Turns out the report was actually from an appointment in early August. William didn't see the doctor in July for some reason and since he had an appointment in early August he didn't have another one two weeks later when he normally would have been due for his August appointment. Wow, I can't tell you how fascinating it is that we actually got an answer on this. Sure, it took a little while to get the information but we got it. Our old case worker would have just said over and over that she was looking into it until we quit bugging her about it. Our new case worker has asked us a few questions about our case which have indicated to us that our old case worker didn't keep a very good file on our case at all. So all that stuff is looking up. To see all of William's latest photos from his medical appointment/photo op, click here.
9. It turns out that both of our sons are part zombies. Oddly enough, this picture was taken of Marcus on Halloween last year:
We were hoping that he would be the only zombie. We were wrong. This picture was taking of William earlier this week:
You may be thinking that the camera just happened to snap at an odd time. You are only fooling yourself. They are zombies.
10. Greg and I started watching Heroes, a show that we missed when it first came out. This sparked the age old question, "If you had a super power, what would you want it to be?" Hands down I would want my super power to be the ability to finalize my adoption on my terms.
11. My friend Cara and I joke that we have parallel lives since it seems that many of the things we have done and been through even before we met were quite similar. Cara has a little boy Max that Marcus plays with sometimes. Max is 13 months old. Cara is also due with number two. I have said from the beginning that she is having a boy. It only makes sense since I will have two boys that she will also have two boys. Friday she found out that Max is going to have a baby brother. I am sure that there will be lots of playing in the dirt, eating bugs, and harassing girls in the future for all of our sons.
12. I finished the blanket I was making for William. Pictures will follow (if I remember). It is currently blocking on our living room floor.
13. Today was the big zoo trip for Val, Marcus, and me. Gone are those few wonderful days of fall weather and back was a day of too much sun and 85 degrees. I wasn't sure how long Marcus would survive today since we went to the zoo right in the middle of his nap time. He caught about 5 minutes of sleep on the way there and did amazingly well. First stop was the tigers who decided to come right up to the glass. Marcus was completely amazed by them.
We tried out the new backpack/harness a bit but it was so crowded and Marcus isn't capable of walking a straight line so it didn't last too long. Plus he is just so little that I was afraid he was going to get run over.
Every time we have gone to the zoo so far (this was Marcus's fourth trip) Marcus has fallen asleep in the aquarium. Today was no different. I decided to put him in my Mayan Sling when we got to the aquarium thinking it would be the best place for him so I could point out the fishies up close and personal. That worked for about 5 minutes. Then he was out.
He never falls asleep on me so I was loving it. I was not loving the fact that it was a million degrees in there (see all that sweat on me) and I had a sack of kid on me. (I just wanted to add that I LOVE my Mayan Sling. Even as he keeps getting bigger it is such a breeze to throw him in there. He loves being in the sling too. It is so comfortable to wear even though Marcus is over 25 lbs now and I have back problems. I have made a few of these for friends now and would be very happy to sew some more so if you are reading and interested, shoot me off an email at anniemwk6@hotmail.com. And yes, that was a shameless plug for me. It is my blog and I can sing the praises of myself and my sling making abilities if I want.) Mostly I was worried that he was going to get overheated. He did end up coming home with a temperature that seemed to have mostly gone down since he cooled off. He slept in the sling for about 30 minutes, missing the aquarium, polar bears, sea otters, and sea lions. He woke up in time for ice cream and to hit up the play area.
We went into the petting zoo area. He showed very brief (about 3 seconds) interest in a sheep and after that he was just excited to be free to run. I let him run around the area for a few minutes before I decided he was probably scaring the goats.
He fell asleep the minute we passed through the gates of the zoo and was so tired he barely moved when I moved him from his stroller to the car seat. Once home, he could barely keep his eyes open. We had a quick dinner, then it was into the bath and into bed at 6:40. He is zonked.
posted by Annie and Greg @ 6:46 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Your kids are so beautiful! The zombie pics are hilarious... aren't kids just so goofy? I am looking forward to meeting you all in person someday! Jill
Wow. 13 blog posts in one! I feel gifted. Mind if I use your zombie baby photos as templates to carve my pumpkins this halloween?
Hugs- William will be home soon. Praying that you hear from PGN asap!
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