Calling All Dads...

Chris and I wanted to let you know about a wonderful book giveaway at bookdads.com

They are offering an opportunity to win a copy of A Day With My Dad At The Beach by Lance Waite. The book is about a little girl who gets to spend time at the beach with her father. It's a delightful rhyming book about enjoying togetherness between fathers and children. Please check it out and put in a submission for their contest. The contest ends on Wednesday, December 31st and they will announce the winner the following Day. Good Luck!

New Postings

Hey everyone... sorry for the delay. I've updated the blog with information from the past couple of days (well, since Dec 2). As you are all aware, things have been a little hectic here. Just keep on scrolling down :)

Hope you all enjoy!

~ Paul

The crib is complete... for the moment.

Now we just need to pick up the dresser/changer this week.

That baby has one heavy head!

Not ours! (just didn't want you to assume that she's been born yet)

Have you ever played wii for hours at a time? Oh, I'm not talking about just any wii game... I'm talking about wii sports - track and field. 100m dash. I'm talking about table tennis. Wii Playground's tether ball and dodge ball. Oh yeah... you know what I mean. Swinging your arm at full force to beat your opponent. When your done, nothing. no pain. nothing out of the ordinary. you go to bed and you wake up. everything is fine and dandy... but you go to pick up your toothbrush and then you realize. yep. you've got...You know the feeling. It hurts so bad that you have to call in sick to work the next day. Yep... you got it bad. Take that feeling and multiply it times 10.

That's what you get when you hold your nephew in your arms for 20 minutes without a boppy. Mason's head rested on my arm while he feel asleep. It rested on a muscle that I never knew existed. my arm went dead. no, seriously... dead. Episode of Fox's HOUSE, where they diagnose some wierd medical disease kinda-dead. I was the biggest wuss! For a good 2 hours after he left my arms, I couldn't move mine.

Folks... this doesn't look good for me!

Aww... you shouldn't have (but we're happy you did!)

Cathy, Diane and Mary Cay... you're the best.

These three wonderful women threw us a shower in NJ today. Do you see the look of sheer surprise on my face???? lmao.

As I've said before, and I will say again... Chris and I truly have the best set of friends around.

Okay.. there are a couple pics that I need to share: What is up with scary cardboard baby?!?!

You GOT TO love the diaper cake!

And the real cake:

And then there was the gift that brought on tears:

Surprise!!!! (No, really) Surprise!!!

Today, Chris and I got up at the crack of dawn to get ready for a board meeting - getting only about 5 hours worth of sleep was difficult (but I'm told we need to get used to it - ugh!).

Having no urge to sit through a 5 hour meeting, I ended up leaving after our first 1 1/2 hr working committee session and decided to leave Chris there to suffer (but in the good "i wanna give back to the community" type of suffering).

So I headed home, threw a load of laundry in the washer, a load of dishes in the dishwasher, and took out three loads of garbage to the community compactors. We had two messages on the machine, one being Fred, who asked if I could go to the cemetery today to help him lay a wreath on Colleen's grave. I called Fred and he asked if I would be available around 12:45 to head down the street and I told him I would be more than happy to go with him to visit Colleen and help him lay the holiday wreath down. He then said that because of the winter weather, he's been stuck in the house for the past several days and would love to go out to lunch at our restaurant, and that he was craving stuffed pork chops - and after he mentioned them I too started craving them.

So, at 12:45 I showed up at Fred's house and we headed down the road. We were at the site less than 5 minutes and then headed back to the community and he suggested that we just ride to restaurant together instead of me picking up the truck and driving separately. Once we got to the Top Of The World, I headed straight to the bathroom to wash up (The pins that I used to hold the wreath down to the ground had been sitting in the back of the truck's cab and were rusted and I had that yellow-orangish crap all over me). After washing up, I headed around the corner into the dining room to see approx 30 ladies (and their husbands along the side) sitting in the back yelling "surprise!!!". I guess it's the pregnancy hormones (or the fact that I'm fabulously gay) but I started to choke up and cry. There were gifts, food, cake, balloons, and pink-crap galore and I received more hugs that I knew what to do with.

Chris, 30 seconds later, walks in to another round of "Surprise"[we were supposed to walk in together, but they didn't plan on me leaving the board meeting early and when I did, Kathi called up Fred and he called to get "plan B" in motion]. The ladies had tons of games planned as well as tons of food (and wine) and I couldn't believe the amazing support system that we had in place. These wonderful women - mothers/aunts/grandmothers, etc - got together before their own "Women's Club" holiday party to help us celebrate the little ones arrival.

I can not tell you the amount of items we received - and not only did we show off every item, but we also had to announce the items to help the ladies in their baby shower "Gift BINGO" game that they were playing. The little one has a new outfit for every day of her first 365 days she's here. In addition to the clothing, we received a car seat and the additional cradle for the car, a high chair, hand-made crocheted blankets, scrapbooks and frames, musical mobiles, boopies, dolls, playpen, garden gyms, diapers and wipes, laundry hampers and gift cards... the list really does go on and on. Currently, Duncan (dog) and Gossip (cat) have no place to walk in the living room as we have 8 huge boxes of items taking up floor space (come on people, I'm too tired to carry this stuff to the nursery). In addition to the amazing items our community gave us today, FedEx and UPS delivered our diaper bad and changing pads (Thanks Melanie and Pete!) , additional wipes (no name on the packing slip), a cute sleeper, sleep sacks and onesies (Thanks Cupcake-Bill).

The one thing we continue to tell our NJ and TX friends is the love we have for our community and the friends we have made here. Never in a hundred years would we expect the amount of love and support for the people here when we first selected to build our home in PA. We are truly, truly blessed to have the friends and the relationships that we have!

The only complaint of the day... no stuffed pork chops (thanks for getting my hopes and my appetite up, Fred!) hahahaha.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Today Chris and I drove back up to New York to visit with our bio-parents. The drive took much longer than expected because of the winter weather that hit. Silly me... I took the word of our weather man that said the storm would pass and only leave us with rain - not the snow and sleet that actually came.

On the way up, Chris and I finalized the baby's name. We had the first name down, but ended up toying with middle names for about 5 hours and found one that we both agreed on. Thank God that's over with!!!

Once we arrive in their town, we called to let them know that we were down the road and they met us outside and we headed to Denny's (which, BTW, they have FANTASTIC new pancake puppies... like hush puppies, but battered and sprinkled with yummy goodness!)

When our birth monther got into the car, she had a pillow for Duncan... something our vet asked that they provide - a blanket, pillow, old shirt... something with Sara's scent on it so Duncan could get used to it and help him adjust to the baby. She also had a memory box that we'd talked about decorating together. She opened the box and took out a small rabbit. It was her childhood toy that her mother had made for her. She asked us if we could put it in the baby's nursery. The funny thing is, the theme of our nursery, How To Hug A Porcupine, has a similiar white rabbit in it.

We got to Denny's and she took out her journal and turned to her page that had two questions written in pencil... oh God, I think I know where this is going.


"So, what are your thoughts on a post-adoption agreement?" I choked on my pancake-puppie.
This was the question we'd been waiting on... but assumed that the lawyers were going to handle it - and the tried... they really did, but when they initiated the conversation, she wasn't ready for it, and we totally understood the time that she'd need.

Recent changes in New York law have brought about a lot of challenges for everyone affected by adoption. In a nutshell, one of the new laws states that in a New York agency adoption, if there is an agreement between the adoptive family and birth family to stay in contact after the placement of the baby, that is to be legally binding, and this agreement must be approved by the court.

Chris took the lead in the conversation and we came up with an agreement that benefited all 5 of us. The agency requires pictures once a year... the relationship that we've created clearly goes beyond what many couple go through, and we told them we'd do them quarterly for the first two years and then, we'd meet to discuss where we're all at emotionally and physically. The same with face-to-face visits... we'd agree on twice a year (and hope that her friends and sister would come as well) for the first two years - the first meeting being at Friends In Adoption annual family picnic - After two years, we'd discuss and agree on future visits and the frequency of them. In addition, if our bio-parents ever want an update, all they have to do is ask.

That... was the easy question. Next came:

"So, have you two thought of a name?"

Oh My God... do we tell them? What if they HATE it!??!? What if they have something in mind - that we HATE?!?!?

"If you haven't... it's okay. We can come up with something... but if you had something in mind, that's fine too." Chris and I look at each other. "Well, it's funny you bring that up. It's something that we've talked about since you two chose us. We couldn't agree on anything until really today. On the way up here. We'd really like to name her xxxxx xxxxx. The name, for us, means xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Do you like? [beads of sweat start to trickle down my forehead]

"Oh... I do. That's one of the things we talked about - selecting a name with a meaning."

"Waitress... Check, please" before any other questions could come up :)

We headed to a small scrapbooking store close to her house to work on the memory box, but as we pulled up we saw the "For Rent" sign that hung on the front door.

So, we headed to Michaels about 20 minutes away. Once we got in, Chris talked to the manager and told him our situation... and he offered up his training room to the four of us. We wlaked up and down the aisles picking up papers and embellishments, ribbons and buttons, wood forms and stencils. We had a blast picking out items... not only did we buy supplies of the memory box and our scarbook pages today, but we made sure she had the supplies to do future pages for pictures that we send them. The employees at Micheals could not have been more helpful. We used their scissors and cutting boards, we went into their training box and took out the tools that we needs... and we able to have a fun experience and helped the four of us bond.

Below you'll see our layouts. The blue boxed will be replaced with pictures (they'r just a place holder).

Lions and tigers and diapers... oh my!

I know I posted on my coworkers in the past, and said that they are all nut jobs. I still stand by that comment... but they are nut jobs with HUGE hearts.

Today we had our monthly staff meeting, followed by our Secret Snowflake party. I ended staying up until 2:30 last night working on Jackie's gift (if you want the back story, continue reading... if not, fast forward to the black text below)

[A couple of us went to Jackie's house back in September during lunch time and as we were leaving, I hijacked one of her lawn ornaments - a ceramic frog. At first, we were just going to put the frog in the safe at work, and when Jackie would go into it - hahahaha... her frog would be there. But then we thought... how can we keep with joke for as long as possible? I know... why don't we take pictures of the frog all around town doing different things. Oh... better yet, why don't we take the frog to Fire Island with us and get picture of it there. And so we did. Pictures of the frog on the Suffolk County police boat, on a pool table, kissing the deer... we had a blast the entire weekend with it. The fun didn't stop there. It ended up going to Indianapolis, Albany, NYC, New Hope, the Poconos... as many places as we would possibly take it until on October 30th, Teresa and Kate (yes ladies, I blame you both, broke the frog). In order to keep the joke going even longer, we snuck back over to Jackie's house and kidnapped the second frog - side, side story - we actually went to the wrong house on her street and ended up crawling on our hands and knees looking for the frog. Then, we went on their neighbors back deck and I ended up running into a tree as we snuck back to the truck to leave empty handed... it was only as we drove away did we see the correct house we were supposed to be at and ended up laughing so hard I almost wet myself. To wrap that story up, we went to the house and grabbed froggy II.

How we were going to let Jackie know was to put a scrapbook together of the 300+ pictures of the frog and give it to Jackie at the holiday party. To make the plan work, I had to volunteer to put the Secret Snowflake gathering together to ensure that one of us had Jackie as our gift's receiver. One of the 'rules' of the gift giving festivities was that the gift had to coordinate with the receivers name (i.e., If your name is Debbie Downer, you could receive Dunkin Donuts coffee and mug, or a Drama on DVD. You get the gist) Jackie's initials are J.W., so I ended up doing the cover with "Freddy the Frogs Jounrney around the World to find his was home. I came up with a corny storyline about the frog being kidnapped and having to take odd jobs to buy a plane ticket to get home. Teresa got some great pics of the frog at the airport, and almost had her camera confiscated at Newark due to the fact that she was taking pictures in a secured location. Below you find a couple of the pages that I did... all in all, I was pretty impressed with the job I did. I used the Artemia by After Five Designs Freebies and quick pages.

After the holiday party, I went back to my office and continued to work. Then my coworkers started acting strange (again). They would walk back-and-forth by my office and just give me a look. Then Cindy came in and asked if I could help her with the goal setting sheet... and when I asked 'with what part', she responded with "just come to my desk and you'll see". I knew right then and there that they were up to something and then I was escorted to the board room.

The entire crew (minus Dan because he's a boy and boys don't do showers) was there, including Megan who left us a couple of weeks ago and Carol who is still on her maternity leave. They all went above and beyond... clothing, tubs, blankets, drying station, sleeping sacks, taggies, and butt paste galore (which brought on another conversation about our outing at Fire Island). We also got our "entertain me" set, blankets, gift cards, Dora the Explorer movie and the cutest darn bibs ever!

Chris and I can not thank you all enough! We can't wait for you to baby sit.

agree (ə grē′)

intransitive verb agreed -·greed′, agreeing -·gree′·ing
- to consent or accede (to); say “yes”
- to be of the same opinion
- to arrive at a satisfactory understanding (on or about prices, terms, baby name, etc.)
- to concur with your spouse not to share the name of your unborn child because, at this point, you could care less if your friends, family and coworkers like it or not and hearing their opinion - and we've learned from our experiences... you all have them - on the matter isn't scheduled on your calendar.

Knock, Knock... Who's there?

Santa!!!!!!!!!

What do you get when you tell your big brother, who just had a baby boy two months ago, that he should be expecting a niece any day soon?

An adorable bassinet that will allow us to do our "nightly rotation". Chris and I are planning to put the bassinet in the guest room so one of us can have a good nights sleep in the master bedroom with Duncan and Gossip, and the other one can be taking care of the little one.

Rock a bye, baby, Rock on!

Here comes the bride...

Wow... what a night! Chris and I, along with 110 of our closest friends and family members celebrated our marriage (the one we had before Prop 8 passed), as well as the upcoming arrival of our daughter. This was the first time in 12 years that Chris and I had members of our family together...

Well, needless to say, I'm extremely exhausted (as well as extremely happy to see everyone tonight) so calling this one a short blog. Will be posting pictures and stories soon :)

Prepping for the Reception

Chris and I are hosting a small open house / reception tomorrow and Cathy & Kyle (NJ), Adam (TX) and Rhonda and Jeff (GA) were [are] over to help us get ready for the festivities.

Santa-Simone dropped by the house again today, via UPS. We got tons of shiny silver boxes with glitter bows... I sense a glitter fight in the future :)

We (meaning every one but me) made cookies, peanut brittle, and other goodies while I out the finishing touches of the tree. Seeing that this was to help celebrate our wedding, we had to go along with the theme. :)

Santa just came a little early...

What do you get when you tell your big sister, who's dying to become an aunt again, that when you receive her neice you will be spending several days in a hotel (with the baby) waiting for the paper work to clear?

a BEAUTIFUL bassinet / changer / pack-n-play. Look out Residence Inn... here we come!

Introducing...

Our daughter's first picture on our blog. Currently, she's weighing in at 6lbs 8oz, and should be gaining about an ounce each day. Look at those little Angelina Jolie lips she has!!!

On the road again...

Just can't wait to get off this road again.
The life we love is miles away, still, but then,
We just can't wait to get off this road again.

On the road again...
Goin' places that we've never been.
Dodging truckers and those snowflakes 'round the bend,
And we can't wait to get off this road again.

Today... Chris and I traveled the 500 plus miles again to visit with our Bio-parents. The weather was far from on our side as driving white-knuckled in a snow storm is never a pleasant thing to do.

When we pulled up to the house, we saw our bio-mom standing on the porch waiting for us, but our bio-dad was no where to be found. She hopped in the car and then informed us that he wasn't feeling well and decided to go home (Chris and I instantly shot each other a glance hoping that his 'illness' wasn't a sign of not wanting to go through with the adoption, or feeling that we weren't the adoptive-parents of choice).

We asked her how yesterday's Dr's appointment went and she told us that her physician, who now sees her on a weekly basis, informed her that this would probably be the last visit she would be at. "What you talk'n 'bout Willis???" went through my head, but I dared not to say it - (hahahaha) So instead I asked "Doesn't need to see you again because everything is alright?" or "Doesn't need to see you again because you will give birth before next week's visit?" and very non-chalantly she said, "Yep... I'll probably give birth in the next 7-10 days."

"What you talk'n 'bout Willis???" came out of my mouth this time (There was NO holding that sucker in!!! Thoughts of "The nursery isn't done yet", "we have our reception this Saturday", "I haven't submitted a paternity-leave plan to HR" and "I'm only on Chapter 23 of 'What to expect the Baby's first year'" all went running through my head. Chris gave out a scared chuckle and said, "You do realize that we're headed AWAY from the hospital today... lets not have that water break just yet". We all laughed (and sadly, a little vomit came up in my mouth).

We headed a couple towns over and stopped in for lunch before heading to the Movies to see Twilight. At lunch we exchanged our recipe books and feel in love with the book that she created for us. I thought I was going above and beyond with my digital scrapbooking sheets I made (see post below), but she did her own little craft project as well. She handed us a book with a hand-drawn couple on the cover with a quote that was from a plaque that hung in her grandmothers kitchen. She cataloged her favorite recipes and we went though them all, talking about our excitement to try this one and bake that one. We were then told that our bio-dad went home, not because he was ill, but because her mother was driving him crazy and he needed to get away from the stress that was being created... that, and the fact that he too was in shock about the news that she would/could be delivering early.


She then pulled out a project that she was working on for us... a scrapbook of them- similar to our adoption portfolio that we provided them - so we could learn a little bit more about them and their friends and family.

We were in awe with the pages we saw. It was so creative and was also filled with favorite quotes that she tends to live her life by.

We then headed to the movies and were the ONLY 3 people in the entire theater, making it very easy to identify the seats that we wanted to the movie (she told us that she read books 1 and 2 of the series and was hoping that the movie did the book justice). Nestled in the center of the center row in the theater, we each had our large drinks in-hand and the gigantic tub of popcorn was placed in my lap. About a quarter way through the movie, she had to readjust herself and ended up propping her head on my shoulder. It was the most touching thing I have ever experienced.... and then I saw the baby start to kick. and kick. and kick some more. Please, please, please... not now I thought to myself. Thankfully, today wasn't the day she wanted to come out :)

After the movie, which she said she wasn't disappointed in, but only have the movie an 8.0 (Chris gave it a 7.6 and I an 8.4) we noticed that it was after three and she had her sonogram appointment. We offered to drive her straight there, instead of having to go home and call her Dad to pick her up. She said she'd be happy with us driving her there and what do you think we saw when we entered the waiting room? A Relay For Life award that the hospital got for best decorated tent. The employees thought I was completely nuts when I took out the camera and started taking pictures. I knew right then that any group that could win a RFL decorating contest could deliver our baby with ease (hahahaha).

Watch our Julia Childs...

because here we come!

Chris and I, in preparation for meeting our Bio-mom on Tuesday of next week, are putting together a recipe book for her. At our very first meeting, she told us that during the holidays she spends most of her time in the kitchen with her family baking. We told her that we too enjoy our projects in the kitchen (though, Chris more than me) and we decided to collect our favorite recipes and trade them.

Being that I'm on some super-gay crafty mission, I've decided to collect them and create a digital scrapbook for her. Some of the recipes I've included are Chris' Carrot Cake, meat stuffing (Jeff's favorite), pumpkin spice rolls, peanut brittle, pecan pralines, chicken marabella, pumpkin pie, bananas foster, and a few others. Below you can see a sample of the pages I created for her.

dis·agree (dis′ə grē′)

intransitive verb disagreed -·greed′, disagreeing -·gree′·ing
- to fail to agree; be different; differ
- to differ in opinion; often, specif., to quarrel or dispute
- to be harmful or give distress or discomfort
- to want to name your daughter a beautiful name and be told that it is to masculine.

Just a tiny bit of false advertising

~100% ultra premium acrylic
~Superior color definition
~Superior stain resistance
~Washable and scrubbable for easy maintenance

~Single Coat Application... maybe on white, but it took 3 coats to prime the walls :(

~Drys in 30 minutes (typo... should have said 3 hours)

P-Daddy's in the house...

What a great surprise waiting for me when I came into work today... Liam's mommy helped him pack up some of his favorite items for our little-one-to-be. In addition to the amazing items (I've heard WONDERS about Gripe Water) in the bag, Liam's mommy handmade the beautiful card you see above. Whenever you need something original made, no matter what the occasion is, KimBy Greetings is the way to go (with that being said, would it be a major faux paux to ask her to make me a "Thank You" card for her?).

Drop drop fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is

For the love of Jehovah. Today had to be one of the more stressful days I've lived through in awhile. Chris and I headed out to the baby stores to pick up our crib (thanks Mazhai and Fazhai) and to wrap up our registries.

First Stop - Buy Buy Baby. Chris and I walk straight to the furniture section. Chris and Leslie came here a couple weeks ago and found a lovely set, but then Chris went back to the store and found the most fairytale-ish (okay... I'll admit it, I just made up a word) set that reminded me of Belle and Beauty and the Beast. Once I saw it, I agreed that this is the one...

After realizing that only one of the boxes were going to fit in my truck, the day started to go down hill. This half-day outing to the stores has now just turned into a weekend adventure. After about 25 minutes of standing in the store, I found myself standing in the middle of the infant clothing section with tears streaming down my face.


It wasn't the fathers walking around the store pushing their strollers that look like they just aged 10 years because of the lack of sleep (i.e., Bill Clinton after being in office for 2 months - GWB didn't have this problem because he was on vacation 38% of the time he was in office)... it wasn't the crying babies who were either hungry and colicy or even the 101 employees - not Dalmatians - that kept asking, "Can I help you sir"... it was the sheer fact that I don't understand the need for a crib, a bassinet, a sleeper mobile and a vibrating pack-and-play. Does a baby really need 4 different items to sleep in?

I felt (and still kinda do) totally overwhelmed. Our forefathers didn't have all of these 'baby essentials'. They merely opened up the dresser drawer and laid down some bear/deer/rodent skin for warmth. If it was good enough for Abe Lincoln, it should be good enough for our child.

Well, I guess that will be easier said than done - Chris put the bassinet, a sleeper mobile and a vibrating pack-and-play on our registry against my objection. And the Boppy... don't even get me started. Jackie Kennedy was never caught walking around the Whitehouse with no darn Boppy and her kids (god rest JFK Jr's soul) turned out just fine.

Next Stop - Baby's 'R Us.

Let me start off by stating that the clothing line is much, much, much cuter here than at Buy Buy Baby (evil smile). Chris and I updated this registry, and I continued to feel overwhelmed, but Chris did find the cutest little outfit that will be her "coming home" garb. In addition to the pieces here, we also picked up the matching shoes, jacket, pants, t-shirt, and sweater. Let's just say, I don't think I will be getting that pair of Armani jeans I wanted anytime soon (is this what they meant by sacrifices??? because this stuff ain't funny!)




We also picked out the bedding that we will be going with. Here is the Mulberry design -

Beam me up, Dr. Spock!

Chris and I chose our pediatrician last night after reviewing all of our birth mothers medical records - all 30 pages - and Chris was able to set up a meeting with them today.

Based on all of the books we read - i know, i know... books tend to fill your mind with things that will not help you become a great parent - we asked the following questions to ensure that we made the right choice.

Pediatrician Background, Credentials, Experience
- How long has the pediatrician been in practice?
- Does the pediatrician have any areas of subspecialty?
- What hospitals does the pediatrician have privileges at?
- How soon after the baby is born will the pediatrician come to see it?
- How does the pediatrician feel about parents calling in after hours over "little things"?
- Is there a specific time during the day that the doctor will take phone calls?
- How many same-sex families are patients of the practice?

Office Logistics
- Is the office conveniently located for less travel time with a sick child?
- Does the practice have multiple offices you can visit?
- What are the office hours and are there any early morning or late evening hours for working parents?
- How long in advance must you book appointments?
- Are there any diagnostic facilities on site such as X-rays, blood work, etc.?
- What lab work can be performed at the pediatrician's office?
- Is there a specific time during the day that the doctor will take phone calls, and how does the office handle your phone-in questions?
- Does the doctor answer any general questions by email?
- How does the office deal with after-hours emergencies?
- Is there a 24-hour answering service that can connect you to a doctor?
- Who covers for the doctor when he/she is on vacation?
- Does the office mail out reminders for scheduled immunizations and checkups?

We're paper pregnant

Credits and links to Freebies:
My Digital Addiction - We're Pregnant Stick
Creative Delusionz Scraps - Puple Paper
Bluedream Designs - Pregnancy Paper Kit

I need the Cliff Notes on "Baby 411"

So I've taken on the crash course of digesting Dr. Field's and Brown's: Baby 411. It's close to 10:00pm and Chris and I are trying to get ready to meet the birth parents again tomorrow and I can't get through Chapter 3 on Abnormal Jaundice. What do you mean I may have a yellow baby for 5-7 days that I'm gonna have to stick under a heat lamp? I'm against tanning booths :) Can't they just make a pill that will turn the baby to a nice peachy color?

Chris is reading "An Adoptive Parents Guide" and just came across the chapter on potential RED FLAGS. I think we both stopped breathing when he read them. We've now entered into the high risk catagory. I'm sure we're going to be okay, and the process will go smoothly, but just seeing our situation in black and white in a book is a little scary. Looks like we'll be making a call to the agency tomorrow on our 4 1/2 drive to the birthparents house.

Wish us luck!

Drop cloths and brushes: $35.00
2 Gallons of Primer: $24.00
1 Gallon of Signature Iris Blossom Purple: $40.00
2 Gallons of Chef White: $32.00

Having her nursery ready when she comes home:
PRICELESS

We're Going To Be Daddies!

Thursday's Blog - Take 2.

So I ended up leaving the office late tonight, preparing for a conference in upstate New York tomorrow. Around 7ish I call Chris who's heading back from the hair salon. Still no news from the agency. So sad :(

Every song on the radio makes me think about parenting/adoption/being chosen:

1) Jason Mraz, I'm Yours: I won't hesitate no more, no more, it cannot wait. I'm yours. Well open up your mind and see like me. Open up your plans and damn you're free. Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love. We're just one big family and it's our godforsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved.

2) Akon, Right Now: I haven't seen your face. I'll try to be strong... But the stress I have is washing with. Wont belong before I get you by my side, and just hold you.

3) Nickelback, Gotta Be Somebody: This time, I wonder what it feels like, To find the one in this life, the one we all dream of. But dreams just aren't enough, so I'll be waiting for the real thing. I'll know it by the feelin. The moment when we're meeting, will play out like a scene. Straight off the silver screen. So I'll be holding my own breath, right up 'til the end. Until that moment when, I find the one that I'll spend forever with.

4) Pink, So What: Okay, maybe not this one... but is has a catchy beat :)

In through the garage door I enter. Duncan jumps up on me and wants his kisses, and I roll my laptop case to the side of the couch. Chris is on one side of the couch, mail is on the other. I start debriefing about my day and pick up the piece of mail on top... a card with "Paul" written in black ink on the envelope. I open the envelope and continue to talk. Duncan needs to go outside. Card goes down on the pile. 2 minutes later, I come back in and continue to debrief. I don't even read the cover of the card, I just open the inside to see the words "You're going to be a dad" on the inside. Chris is teetering on laughing at me because my jaw has hit the floor with total confusion, crying because he's happy, and mad that I didn't even read the outside of the card that was a baby themed "Congratulations".

Apparently when I called earlier, Chris had lied to me (no surprise there). Chris was in the salon when he got the call... When he entered, he told his normal stylist that he may receive a phone call and if so, he'd need to take it right away - he did so because this place is known to tell their patrons to get off the phone because it ruins the 'spa-like' experience. When Chris was in the middle of getting his hair washed, the phone rang. Up he jumped with water streaming down his back. It was Barb, our social worker. She heard from the birth mother and we're a match! Chris was excited and gave Corrine the thumbs up and the salon went wild with excitement. Barb told Chris that she would call him back and leave the birth mothers number on his voicemail... we should call her up directly because the birth parents wanted to see us again. Chris went back to getting his hair washed when the phone rang again. Chris jumped up again, water continuing the stream down his back, only to find Barb telling him it was her, and he wasn't supposed to answer the phone - she was leaving the number on his voicemail. :)

After getting his haircut, Chris called the birth mother to tell her how excited he was, and that I didn't know yet and he was going to surprise me when I got home. She was happy that we (he) was happy and loved the fact that Chris was going to surprise me.

(fast forward)

So I open the card and Chris pops the cork on a bottle of champagne. We toast and I listen to his recap as I down the glass. After about 5 minutes, my stomach is in so much pain, I can't stand it. Chris thinks it's nerves... but I was in pain before i got home (I think it was the 2 large McDonald's Sweet Ice Teas I had on my commute).

I'm now laying on the ground, doubled-over. I move to the couch. Back on the floor. Then back to the couch. Chris offers to take me to the hospital because I'm in so much pain - instead I down a bottle of Pepto and three minuted later I could actually stand up.

I too called the birth mother and left a message for her telling her how excited I was and that we'd call her on Sunday with a day and time that we could drive back to see them.

So, the long and the short of this posting - We're Going To Be Daddies!

Email Exchange

10:30 am (email to work account from Chris) - Did you hear anything yet?

10:31 am (email to personal account from Chris) - Did you hear anything yet?

(I was in a meeting and not checking my blackberry)

11:23 am (email to work and personal account from Chris) - ????????

12:31 pm (I reply) Nope :(

12:32 pm (email to work account from Chris) - Should I call Barb to follow-up?

12:57 pm (email to work account from Chris) - ??????

1:11 pm (I reply) I don't think so... we don't want to be one of "those" people.

1:12 pm (email to work/personal account from Chris) - I can just do a, "hey, we're just checking in..."

1:13 pm (I reply) go for it

1:14 pm (email to work account from Chris) - I need her number :)

1:15 pm (sent number)

2:30 pm - I call Chris to follow-up, he left a message with Barb.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest

I work with a bunch of nut jobs!

I guess missing the meeting with our CEO and COO raised some red flags, so when I came in this morning and was quizzed on how sick I actually was (okay... poor excuse, but I couldn't not just show up to the meeting without sending my team an email expalining why I wasn't going to be attending the meeting).

Some thought my leg would have been amputated, some claimed that I was on a job interview, and many claimed we got a baby. I guess I blew my excuse when I ordered chili cheese fries at lunch - something that a sick person just doesn't order, unless they want to hug the porcelain god.

Today's the Day.

So much for going to bed early! We found ourselves both staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m., too anxious to actually sleep. We were completely ready by 8 a.m. this morning and waited around the hotel until 9:30, and then traveled a couple minutes down the road to meet Barb, our social worker, and the birth-parents. Our meeting wasn't until 10:30, but walking in circles in the hotel room had started to grow old - for both of us. We waited in the lobby of Denny's and were able to at least get something to drink. I received a voice mail message from Barb where she was just checking in and stated that she was pulling into the birth-parents house and would be at the restaurant in about 15 minutes.

10:20 a.m., in walks Barb and the young engaged couple and our stomachs drop. We all say hello and head to the table and state, "Don't know about you two, but we were up all night and are beyond nervous, " in which they laughed and said, "Same here!"

[what was discussed, and information about the birth-parents isn't our story to tell, it would be our daughters... if we are selected]

The meeting, from our perspective, went great! We were able to see the sonogram pictures and showed the couple additional pictures of our family and friends, along with our home and our travels, and after about two hours of talking it was time to wrap it up. Barb told the couple that she would give both parties a few days to talk and see if the matches were right and then we'd go from there.

As we were leaving the restaurant, the birth-mother gave us a hug and stated that the meeting went better than she expected and that she would love to see us again. We walked out into the snow that was falling and headed home.

About thirty minutes into the 3 1/2 hour ride home, we received a call from Barb that said she thought the meeting went great and we should be hearing something from her shortly.

Let the waiting game begin!

Agency Holiday Party

Today we traveled to Albany for our adoption agency's pre-holiday party. In the picture in our case-worker supervisor, Mary. It was a great opportunity to see the staff, meet with other parents-in-waiting and hear the status of their journey and see pictures of the construction on the agency's building. It was also great to see other couples who attended the agency's "Getting To Know You" weekend in Vermont with us last August when we first considered Friends In Adoption as our agency of choice. Many of them signed on that weekend (we waited until January) and have already have had a placement... others signed on later and are in the process of receiving their postcards and having meetings with birth-mothers. It was tough not to talk about tomorrows meeting with a birth-mother/father because we didn't want to a) jinx it, and b) deflate someones hope whose portfolio was also being reviewed by the same birth-couple.

After the party we headed out to our hotel where we waited... in complete nervousness. We watched the National Rodeo Associations finals that were taking place in Vegas and are planning to going to bed early in preparation for the big day. Wish us luck!

A Match Made In Heaven

During lunchtime today I decided to give Duncan a bath and groom him - a task that is always a joy. When I came back downstairs I noticed my 'message' light flashing on my blackberry. Scrolling through the call log I didn't recognize the number that called and debated on whether or not to pick up the message. I was supposed to be off today, and ended up working all morning, but on a project that was fun so it was worth it. Deciding not to let the message go unanswered, I called into my voicemail. I heard Barb, one of the caseworkers, on the line stating that she'd been trying to reach us (Chris was in the office on a conference call and didn't switch over). She stated that she had an 'opportunity' to present to us and that we needed to call her as soon as pobbible. Needless to say, I bolted into Chris's office with misty eyes and told him to get off the phone - not sure if I said, "Now", "Immediately", or to just "hang up". I called Barb back, on her home line and her cellphone and left messages. Chris and I listened via speakerphone to the message a couple times. An 'opportunity'... only one thing that this could be - the portfolio that went out several days ago. We must have been matched.

Barb called me back about fifteen minutes later and told me that the birth parents, who reviewed ten couples, ended up both choosing us as the couple they would like to meet, and as soon as possible as the due date is less than 6 weeks away. Needless to say, I will not be making my meeting on Monday with our CEO and COO, but I'm sure they will understand :)

Barb sent us over the medical, social and family history of the engaged couple and we reviewed it and are very happy with the information that was provided. Chris and I both cleared our calendars for Monday and we're planning on heading up to New York state to meet Barb and the couple for breakfast. Funny... meeting for breakfast when I can tell you right now, my stomach will remain in knots until after the meeting and I can almost guarantee you that I will not be eating.