Blogging By Numbers
1. Yes, I am still here. I have read a lot of blogs of people who are adopting and as soon as their adoption is complete, the blog disappears. Not me. I am stuck here for life. Besides, we might even be foolish enough to some day (some day far in the future) pursue adoption again so I will keep blogging. If you haven't noticed, sometimes I even blog about things other than adoption too! I'm sure there will be more of that.
2. Do not fear, we had dessert on Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law specifically asked my friends not to bother with dessert because my mother-in-law was baking us a cake. It was quite a fabulous cake with her fantastic chocolate icing too! Silly me made a joke about not getting pumpkin pie on an earlier blog which apparently created all this upheaval and everyone thought I wasn't joking and I was really an ungrateful jerk. It turned out well though since my mother-in-law, in a HUGE effort to make sure we were not without pumpkin pie this holiday season, stayed up really late one night and baked us a pumpkin pie. The moral of the story is that me being a jerk paid off. I got cake AND pie!
3. Greg decided that we needed a new way to display pictures on our website. I don't know about this new way yet. We have taken a TON of pictures but until I figure out where he went, you will have to wait for me to post more pictures of my absolutely adorable family.
4. The kids got colds. First it was William and he was thoughtful enough to share his germs with Marcus. Somehow Greg and I avoided full blown colds. Friday night William was miserable and ended up sleeping in bed with us. I was always one of those people that couldn't ever think that there was a good thing about cosleeping at all. Then I actually educated myself on it and discovered that it is something of great benefit, particularly for adopted children who need that little boost of bonding. William ended up getting some sleep Friday night so that made me happy. What didn't make me happy though is that the few times we have had the "family bed", I have gotten no sleep. As much as I want to bond with my child and as fabulous a feeling it is to have my little guy cuddled up with me, in the long run I don't think that cosleeping is a good idea for our family. I just cannot be a happy, alert, and good mom when I don't have any sleep. This set up a rough time on Saturday night because William wanted again to sleep in our bed. It broke my heart and went against everything I have ever read concerning adoption, but instead of responding to his "need" to be held, Greg was left with the task of rubbing William's back until he finally fell asleep. I couldn't participate in this activity because I was crying myself (and SOOO tired). The good news is that William hasn't fought going to sleep since. Knock on wood.
5. Our first visitors came on Saturday - my mother-in-law (with a pumpkin pie), father-in-law, and sister-in-law. We were happy to see that there were people in the outside world. Unfortunately, William was still somewhat sleep deprived and Marcus was getting the cold so neither kid was all that friendly to our guests. I didn't even get a single picture of William being held by his extended family.
6. My parents - our second set of visitors - came on Sunday. William was feeling much happier and I did get some photos, but I just don't know how to share them yet. My mom also picked up this gift for us. I had seen chairs I wanted to get the kids but they haven't been in stock for so long. The chairs we are giving the kids though look so much more fun! I can't wait to play with them. Thanks mom for finding these for us.
7. By Monday I was going crazy and needed to get out of the house. I hate grocery shopping but the activity seemed appealing for once. Marcus is kinda famous at our local grocery store. Everyone knows him and loves him. For this reason I was not looking forward to seeing all of the employees of the grocery store and needing to explain a million times where this second kid came from. Greg and I were at the grocery store around 8:30am, which meant that no one was there, including any of the employees that know Marcus. William was content riding in the cart and checking out the sites. We were able to find one of those massive carts that has two seats attached for kids and get both boys on there. All was well, although I don't foresee anytime soon that I will be making a trip to the grocery store with both kids and no Greg.
8. I didn't talk about it at all but I went through some PAD (post-adoption depression) when Marcus came home. It lasted a couple of weeks and when we finally started to get into a routine it was a thing of the past. I was really dreading this first month with William at home expecting that this huge change in our lives would trigger another case. I really think I am going to be okay though. I wasn't sure for a few days there and I had a few moments of no patience and knowing I was really not being a good mom/wife/person. A lot of that I attribute to my lack of sleep because after I got rested, I felt like a new person. I also made an important decision. I really haven't been doing much around the house (only have cooked once, laundry is piled up, the place is a mess, still haven't unpacked a single thing from our trip). All of that was kinda looming over my head. Yesterday I made the decision that until I am ready to decide otherwise, the only things I need to worry about right now is taking care of my kids and taking care of myself. Once I made the conscious decision not to care about anything else, it has really made a difference. I feel like I can be a good mom to both of my kids.
9. I never really understood all the times I have read about adoptive families just hanging out and "getting to know" their newly adopted child. I think I have probably even said the words myself but what did it really mean? I finally figured it out, mainly because I really feel like I am getting to know William. And it works both ways. William is getting to know us. I have kind of had this fear of the unknown with him. Like, will he cry if I do this? will he stop crying if I try this? if I say "no" will he totally ignore me? will he flip out if I pick him up? if he does cry how will I feel? After trying out all these scenarios several times at this point, I am starting to know what the answers will be. I can tell now when he wants to be held. There are two times during the day when he seems really cranky and nothing seems to help. I have figured out what helps. I feel like I am really getting to know him and the intensity and the amount of unknowns is starting to dwindle. We still have more things to figure out but we are certainly on an upswing.
10. I love watching Marcus and William together. Marcus is doing a great job of being a nice big brother. He still takes toys from William on rare occasions but his jealousy is much less than I expected. William is obsessed with Marcus and always wants to see what he is up to. Sometimes Marcus misinterprets William's curiosity and thinks his current game or toy is about to be invaded. Mostly it all goes well. Marcus is obsessed with William as well. Marcus has been doing a lot of mimicking of behavior so he is quite excited to have someone else to mimic. The other night we were on a parade to the bedroom to get ready for bath time. I was walking down the hall and Marcus was walking behind me. William was behind Marcus (curious as to what he was about to do) and was crawling after us. Marcus spotted him crawling, stopped, and Marcus started crawling too. I have some pictures of some other mimicking behavior between the two but that will have to wait. Another quick story though, while my in-laws were here, we will all eating pumpkin pie and drinking coffee and William was drinking some milk from his sippy cup. The milk was coming right out of the corners of his mouth, running right down the apparently non-absorbent bib, and landing on his lap. Marcus noticed what was going on and got to work at fixing the problem. He found a spare napkin from our pie eating, grabbed it up, and ran over to where William was on the floor and started mopping up his lap. What a great guy that Marcus is!
2. Do not fear, we had dessert on Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law specifically asked my friends not to bother with dessert because my mother-in-law was baking us a cake. It was quite a fabulous cake with her fantastic chocolate icing too! Silly me made a joke about not getting pumpkin pie on an earlier blog which apparently created all this upheaval and everyone thought I wasn't joking and I was really an ungrateful jerk. It turned out well though since my mother-in-law, in a HUGE effort to make sure we were not without pumpkin pie this holiday season, stayed up really late one night and baked us a pumpkin pie. The moral of the story is that me being a jerk paid off. I got cake AND pie!
3. Greg decided that we needed a new way to display pictures on our website. I don't know about this new way yet. We have taken a TON of pictures but until I figure out where he went, you will have to wait for me to post more pictures of my absolutely adorable family.
4. The kids got colds. First it was William and he was thoughtful enough to share his germs with Marcus. Somehow Greg and I avoided full blown colds. Friday night William was miserable and ended up sleeping in bed with us. I was always one of those people that couldn't ever think that there was a good thing about cosleeping at all. Then I actually educated myself on it and discovered that it is something of great benefit, particularly for adopted children who need that little boost of bonding. William ended up getting some sleep Friday night so that made me happy. What didn't make me happy though is that the few times we have had the "family bed", I have gotten no sleep. As much as I want to bond with my child and as fabulous a feeling it is to have my little guy cuddled up with me, in the long run I don't think that cosleeping is a good idea for our family. I just cannot be a happy, alert, and good mom when I don't have any sleep. This set up a rough time on Saturday night because William wanted again to sleep in our bed. It broke my heart and went against everything I have ever read concerning adoption, but instead of responding to his "need" to be held, Greg was left with the task of rubbing William's back until he finally fell asleep. I couldn't participate in this activity because I was crying myself (and SOOO tired). The good news is that William hasn't fought going to sleep since. Knock on wood.
5. Our first visitors came on Saturday - my mother-in-law (with a pumpkin pie), father-in-law, and sister-in-law. We were happy to see that there were people in the outside world. Unfortunately, William was still somewhat sleep deprived and Marcus was getting the cold so neither kid was all that friendly to our guests. I didn't even get a single picture of William being held by his extended family.
6. My parents - our second set of visitors - came on Sunday. William was feeling much happier and I did get some photos, but I just don't know how to share them yet. My mom also picked up this gift for us. I had seen chairs I wanted to get the kids but they haven't been in stock for so long. The chairs we are giving the kids though look so much more fun! I can't wait to play with them. Thanks mom for finding these for us.
7. By Monday I was going crazy and needed to get out of the house. I hate grocery shopping but the activity seemed appealing for once. Marcus is kinda famous at our local grocery store. Everyone knows him and loves him. For this reason I was not looking forward to seeing all of the employees of the grocery store and needing to explain a million times where this second kid came from. Greg and I were at the grocery store around 8:30am, which meant that no one was there, including any of the employees that know Marcus. William was content riding in the cart and checking out the sites. We were able to find one of those massive carts that has two seats attached for kids and get both boys on there. All was well, although I don't foresee anytime soon that I will be making a trip to the grocery store with both kids and no Greg.
8. I didn't talk about it at all but I went through some PAD (post-adoption depression) when Marcus came home. It lasted a couple of weeks and when we finally started to get into a routine it was a thing of the past. I was really dreading this first month with William at home expecting that this huge change in our lives would trigger another case. I really think I am going to be okay though. I wasn't sure for a few days there and I had a few moments of no patience and knowing I was really not being a good mom/wife/person. A lot of that I attribute to my lack of sleep because after I got rested, I felt like a new person. I also made an important decision. I really haven't been doing much around the house (only have cooked once, laundry is piled up, the place is a mess, still haven't unpacked a single thing from our trip). All of that was kinda looming over my head. Yesterday I made the decision that until I am ready to decide otherwise, the only things I need to worry about right now is taking care of my kids and taking care of myself. Once I made the conscious decision not to care about anything else, it has really made a difference. I feel like I can be a good mom to both of my kids.
9. I never really understood all the times I have read about adoptive families just hanging out and "getting to know" their newly adopted child. I think I have probably even said the words myself but what did it really mean? I finally figured it out, mainly because I really feel like I am getting to know William. And it works both ways. William is getting to know us. I have kind of had this fear of the unknown with him. Like, will he cry if I do this? will he stop crying if I try this? if I say "no" will he totally ignore me? will he flip out if I pick him up? if he does cry how will I feel? After trying out all these scenarios several times at this point, I am starting to know what the answers will be. I can tell now when he wants to be held. There are two times during the day when he seems really cranky and nothing seems to help. I have figured out what helps. I feel like I am really getting to know him and the intensity and the amount of unknowns is starting to dwindle. We still have more things to figure out but we are certainly on an upswing.
10. I love watching Marcus and William together. Marcus is doing a great job of being a nice big brother. He still takes toys from William on rare occasions but his jealousy is much less than I expected. William is obsessed with Marcus and always wants to see what he is up to. Sometimes Marcus misinterprets William's curiosity and thinks his current game or toy is about to be invaded. Mostly it all goes well. Marcus is obsessed with William as well. Marcus has been doing a lot of mimicking of behavior so he is quite excited to have someone else to mimic. The other night we were on a parade to the bedroom to get ready for bath time. I was walking down the hall and Marcus was walking behind me. William was behind Marcus (curious as to what he was about to do) and was crawling after us. Marcus spotted him crawling, stopped, and Marcus started crawling too. I have some pictures of some other mimicking behavior between the two but that will have to wait. Another quick story though, while my in-laws were here, we will all eating pumpkin pie and drinking coffee and William was drinking some milk from his sippy cup. The milk was coming right out of the corners of his mouth, running right down the apparently non-absorbent bib, and landing on his lap. Marcus noticed what was going on and got to work at fixing the problem. He found a spare napkin from our pie eating, grabbed it up, and ran over to where William was on the floor and started mopping up his lap. What a great guy that Marcus is!
posted by Annie and Greg @ 12:33 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Awwwww! I love the milk story. That is so adorable. :-)
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