Excel spreadsheets are wonderful

The nice thing about having a laptop is that we were able to set up a spreadsheet. Yep, we are now counting wet, poopy and combo diapers. Plus, we are also keeping track of feeding times and how much he eats. We'll take it in to our first pedi appointment when we see how much he has grown. It is interesting to see how he is sort of starting to get into a schedule, and he's also eating more.

A quick pic

Just wanted to drop this off. I am currently feeding him with one hand and typing with the other. Mommyhood is awesome =)

First night went well

Our first night "home" in our hotel room went well. He's such a doll. We're doing fine adjusting to parenthood. Both Mike and I feel like we've been a family of three forever!

The blog entries are going to be a little short for a while as we bond with our little guy. But I am keeping a journal for him, chronicling our first few days as a family together, our experiences, etc. And I promise to share it soon...

Things are going well

He's eating and sleeping like a champ! We're having fun with him and enjoying our bonding time with our little guy! It's hard to believe he is almost 2 days old!

Merry Christmas

Yep, that is three stockings you see hanging up in our hotel room. We are pleased to announce that Mark Garrett made his arrival this morning bright and early. He's doing well, as is his birthmother. From the get-go he's been hungry and eating like a champ. Both my boys are sleeping right now, and I do believe I'm off to join them!

Merry Christmas everyone! We sure do appreciate everything and everyone who has been following our journey.

Merry Christmas Eve

No baby yet, nothing new to report. But we wanted to say Merry Christmas Eve to everyone!

We're set!

We're set! We have representation here, and someone to help us navigate all the paperwork. Now, we just wait for the little guy to be born.

We're going to relax and enjoy today, tomorrow and Tuesday, spending time together and enjoying our time together. We bought some Christmas stockings and put them up in our room. And we bought some holiday treats, so we'll have a nice, low key Christmas here. There is talk that there might even be some snow flurries on Christmas eve or Christmas day. We're thinking of driving to Santa Claus, IN to check it out ;)

Happy holidays everyone! We'll let you know when the little guy is born!

*Sat Update*

So, no baby yet. We are however very close to having an agency represent us (as the lawyer) which should be ok. They'll take over from where our facilitator has been and do the Indiana part of the adoption. Once we are set with them, then it's just waiting for the little one to be born. Each state has its own way as to how they handle adoptions, so we need to make sure we do it correctly. In the meantime, Mike and I will try our best to enjoy our (hopefully) last weekend "child free".

Baby Pool

We thought it would be fun to do a baby pool, where people can guess what day the little guy is going to be born and his height and weight.



Have fun guessing!



As for us, we're settling in nicely, enjoying our last "child free" weekend. One thing I am super excited to do is fold all the little baby clothes. My friend Rosanna, and my sisters Penny and Holly were SO SWEET to bring us some newborn and preemie clothes so that our little guy would have something to wear. And my mom bought him the cutest little outfit! We washed them before we came, but didn't get to fold them nicely (we were kind of in a rush to pack ;) ). So I'm going to fold them today. Other than that, not much going on right now. That's ok- the excitement is going to start soon enough! (And we need some down time after the excitement and rush of this past week!) We'll update if anything else happens!

Appreciation

We want to take this time to thank EVERYONE who has been helping us as we try to find a lawyer who can represent us over the holidays. We believe we have found someone who is going to be able to help us. We're firm believers that everything happens for a reason, and that everything is going to work out.

Wow is all I can say. We have always appreciated our friends and family, and today made us realize even more how spectacular and awesome they are. We are very fortunate to have such a strong network of family and friends, what a perfect circle to bring our future son into.

From phone calls to internet searches, emails and more. Calls from all over the United States, one end to the other. Not to mention all the emails sent out. I'm so thankful for this day and age and the technology that is able to be used to get something so important done in such a quick amount of time.

The little one has not made an appearance yet. Hopefully he stays put over the weekend. We've taken up residence at a gotel and are settling in.

I've told Mike to look at it this way, we can enjoy the weekend realizing that it's our last "child" free weekend. Wow. Our last "child free" weekend.

Thank you EVERYONE for all that you have done, be it helping us today or keeping us in your thoughts, prayers or whatever. We appreciate it more than you can possibly know.

And thanks for following along with our journey!

"No one said it was going to be easy, they just said it would be worth the wait!"

No one said it was going to be easy, they just said it was going to be worth it.

That is a motto that we have been living by, and it is oh so true.

As for the road trip part, things are going well. We left a bit later than planned (but we wanted to tie up some loose ends, make sure the house was in ok enough order, and give Precious extra attention). We made it to West Memphis tonight, which is about 2/3 of the way. So we'll have a quick and easy day tomorrow.

Cell phone coverage was spotty sometimes, which didn't help much. We need to retain a lawyer in I for the ICPC (Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children) portion of the adoption. And it's not as easy as we thought it was going to be.

We fully expect to probably have to stay in I until the beginning of the new year. And we are prepared to do that, have the vacation time, etc. (Lucky for Mike, he was using 2 weeks for this year, then in January his vacation starts over again). We made arrangements for the mail, deliveries, care of Precious, etc. We figured we'd probably stay in the hotel with the baby, gazing at him and pinching ourselves that he is ours! (It's cold and flu season, so we are going to be a bit particular as to where we take our newborn. We're not going to be overly protective parents, but that's just common sense).

However, we haven't been able to find a lawyer to help us. We were referred to two of them, but they are about 200 miles away from where we are headed and are unable to do it right now. One is going out of town, and the other can't do 200 miles on such short notice during the holidays (totally understandable!). They both recommended us to another one in town, but he's got too much on his plate as he ties up his activities for the year.

So we have the call out to one more and are waiting to hear from him. He runs an international adoption agency, but is a family lawyer and is familiar with the ICPC. So hopefully he can either 1. help represent us or 2. recommend someone local who might be able to.

As we are here in the hotel, one major project we have tonight is researching and looking to see if we can find any lawyers in town or the surrounding areas that might be educated in and able to work the ICPC for us. We purposely drove further today so that we'd be able to go meet someone tomorrow if we need to.

Baby boy has not been born yet. Now, we find out that potentially some steps need to be done (and one of the three involves some paperwork going before a judge) before we can leave the hospital with our son. That's not even leaving the state, but being able to have custody of him and take him to the hotel. The courts are open on Friday, but not all of them are open on Monday (some only half a day!) and of course they are not open on Tuesday. So, if baby boy doesn't make an appearance tonight for sure, or possibly this weekend (and also if we don't find a lawyer who will represent us) ifi he is born before Christmas he will spend it in the hospital. We should be able to visit him, just not take him back to the hotel with us.

So, we're a bit unsure if we want him to be born now, or to wait until Christmas, (where it'll be easier to get through the legal stuff in order to bring him to the hotel with us!)

We're keeping faith, as we know that everything happens for a reason. As well, things happen in due time. So, we are confident that things will work out the way they are supposed to.

Anyway, that's the update! We're keeping positive and can't wait to meet our son! As I packed his luggage I brought an outfit over to Mike, and we gazed at it, realizing that OUR SON is going to fit in this tiny little outfit. OUR SON. WOW.

Thanks for following along with us!

The best road trip ever

As many people know, Mike and I love to travel two ways. One is cruise ships (I introduced him to that ;) ). And the 2nd way is to road trip. I've been road tripping all my life, it wasn't unusual for my parent to toss us in the back of the car on a weekend and take off to explore somewhere. We got to see tons of stuff, from Redwood trees to Plymouth Rock. And my love for road trips started there. As an adult in my twenties, I embarked on longer road trips, sometimes involving moves, once a trip to Clemson to see my sister play volleyball, sometimes trips to New Orleans to visit my other sister. I had to get away at least once every other month- even if it was just to go to a neighboring state, get out on the open road and stretch my "legs". I once went to visit a coworker in Dover, DE just because I wanted to hit the road. Mike is the same way. Before me, trips to Colorado were starting to become an annual event. He loved to get out on the open road in the miata. As we grew to know each other, we discovered we shared that love of road trips. And we've taken quite a few. In my quest to go to every state before I turn 40 (3 more to go!), we've taken several road trips (sometimes hitting 10 states in a week) where we drive all day. We jokingly call our 1st anniversary the Holiday Inn tour because we stayed at Holiday Inns in many different states.

Now, we are about to embark on the biggest road trip of our lives. The best road trip of our lives so far. The road trip where we go to meet our son. Wow. Our son. It's so wonderful to say that! We can't wait to meet him. So, as we head off for the first leg, we're hoping to hit Memphis in time for dinner. We're going to maximize our daylight as much as possible. Thanks for joining us on our journey, we're glad to have you along!

thoughts

While we are more than estatic and over the moon with our "Christmas miracle", there are a few people that we don't want to forget. We're sending lots of prayers to the birthmother (and her boyfriend) as she goes through the birth. I know some of her history (and won't divulge it) but even without knowing her I am proud she made the choice she did (not even to choose us, but to go through with the pregnancy and set up an adoption plan). I also am praying for the other couple that wasn't chosen that their little one arrives safely in their arms sometime soon. I know it's not easy to be the one not chosen.

We're hoping there's room at the (Holiday) Inn...

Yep, we're matched. We found out today. The birthmother is due tomorrow, and if the baby hasn't come by Christmas she'll be induced at 8 AM that day.

We're heading off on Thursday (we are driving) - because we need a day to get everything together. I suspect we'll be there longer than normal since there is a little thing called "the holidays" that may delay the ICPC (all the legal paperwork) and stuff.

The birthmother doesn't want us in the room, and that is ok with us. We'll be in the waiting room, then get to see our SON in the nursery =)

We hope to be back by the end of the year, though it might be 2008 by the time we bring our son home. For everyone local, be prepared for a cookout some weekend in January. We want EVERYONE to come meet our son and celebrate with us! We'll have more details when we get back.

Please send good thoughts and prayers, karma, whatever you can muster to our birthparents as they go through this, our son as he is born, and us as we travel to meet him.

We are cautiously optimistic (as sometimes things can go wrong) and will tell everyone (and shout it from the rooftops!) when the paperwork is done and we are headed home.

If we don't have your email address (or address for that matter) PLEASE send it to us at mikeandlizadopt @ yahoo.com . We want to make sure everyone is included!

Love, Mike and Liz

Tis the season

I was chatting with my adoption coordinator today, and she mentioned that they were in need of maternity jeans in all sizes for birthmothers. Now, we usually donate a portion of our profits from www.WorthTheWaitBoutique.com to an adoption related organization (usually them). So, I decided to spend that money on maternity jeans.

I'm now on the lookout for EUC, NWT or NWOT maternity jeans. I posted on several of my message boards, and am also bidding on some at ebay. On my message boards I told them that I'd be willing to pay (and have them ship to the office) or I'd be willing to trade some of my product we sell on our website. My goal is to get about 20 pairs of jeans. We'll see how that goes!

One of our favorite places, Dinner Creations, sent out in their weekly newsletter that they were doing the "adopt a family" for Christmas. They had a sibling set of 2 teenage boys and a preteen girl. Plus they are donating to the Friendswood police Blue Santa program and are doing "donate a dish" for a single mother with 4 children (she's expecting #5). We decided to get each of the kids a Walmart gift card and then donate a few Noah's Ark Animals (one to the preteen girl, one to the Blue Santa program). We'll donate a dish too.

It's something we want to do, and we are glad that we are able to help out in some small way this holiday season.

Better today

I want to send out these virtual flowers (carnations of course, my favorite ;) ). To thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and emails the last few days. I don't know what hit me, it just did. And it made me very sad. But today is another day, and I am feeling oh so much better.

As someone said "the best way to approach the holidays is to enjoy your family as it is now". And yes, Mike and I will be doing that. If something "extra" comes along, well that's just lagniappe. We are very fortunate that we are able to spend the Christmas holidays together.

Mike only has one full week of work left for this year. Because we'd been saving his vacation until we got "the call", and it's "use it or lose it", next Monday is his last day of work this year. It'll be nice to have him around the house. He plans on relaxing, catching up on tv- and boy does he deserve it. He works hard!

Of course I don't plan on being 100% as productive as I usually am (how could I be with my sweet hubby in the same house), but I'll still be able to keep things going ;)

Well, off to do some work. Lots to do!

And Thank you.

Some days are harder than others

And tonight is one of those "harder" nights.

I've been doing pretty well. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it's another holiday season and Christmas without a kid.

But sometimes I wonder, what is wrong with me? Why haven't we been deemed "fit" to parent? Why hasn't anyone decided that I will be a good mother? People tell me "oh, you will be a good mom", "your child will be lucky to have you" etc. All I want is to know what I need to do to change so someone will pick us. What is wrong with me?

I was at a party last night, and a friend asked "not to get too personal, but what is it that is taking so long? You should be parents by now". And at the cookie party Mike, with the kids -melted my heart. And I had a blast playing with them all- from my 5 year old nephew to my 1 year old niece- I even wore her in a Moby to show how it works. She loved it, it was so much fun. A couple times when she cried I was closest to her and picked her up and comforted her, with her snuggling against me.

A little while after the party I started crying. Why? What is it about us that people read our profile or website and say "no. they aren't it". Why? What is wrong with me? I love kids, was born to be a mom, and mike was born to be a dad. Why do people think we aren't it?

Ok, I'm crying again.

What is wrong with us? It's been over 17 months. Why aren't we good enough, what do we have to do to be good enough to be parents?

I'll feel better tomorrow. Things will be ok. Mike comforted me, reminded me that I am a good person, we are a great family. And we will someday be blessed with a little one. He tells me not to be so hard on myself. He's frustrated too, but he makes sure that I am ok, that I don't beat up on myself too much. He says it's a supply issue- there are just too many people like us who are waiting to adopt, and not enough children to adopt. Someday...

Well, it's just a low on the roller coaster. There will be a high eventually, it's just not today. We will be blessed some day. For now. we just smile and enjoy life the way it is.

I am looking forward to Christmas with Mike. He's going to be Santa for our nieces and nephews. They will enjoy it. And he has a good time playing the role too. Though he can't wait until it's our little one, and our child who is discovering the wonders of a visit from Santa. The first year we have a child and our child is able to understand who Santa is, Mike is NOT going to play Santa- he'll get to enjoy our little one as he or she has their first visit with Santa.

It'll happen some day.

C is for cookie!

Ah, I love this time of year. It's time for the annual holiday cookie decorating party. Each year I make tons of cookies and invite friends and family (and the kids!) to come decorate them. I provide the cookies, decorations, a cookie tray and snacks. The kids even help decorate my tree (I bought plenty of shatterproof ornaments). It's a ton of fun.

The party is this weekend, Sat and Sun. It used to be just one day, but it's grown so much that I do it two days. I hope I got the evite to everyone local - I switched evite addresses recently and am afraid I might have missed some folks. So if you have been invited before (and you know who you are ;) ) or are local and didn't get an invite- please come!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone, and getting a baby fix ;) And everyone loves getting together and getting to see how much the babies grow, and have fun. It's a great time.

My house isn't 100% perfect- but it's ok. It's homey :) We have all our Christmas lights up, and a few decorations up. Mike is going to set up the tree in a bit so the kids can decorate it. I'll add the breakable ornaments after this weekend.

I planned to have all my Christmas gifts done and wrapped so I could give them to everyone this weekend when they come to the party, but I am not 100% sure I'll be done. We'll see!

Back to work!

Meet Up

Click here to check out
The Clear Lake Adoption Meetup Group!

So, I started this group on meetup.com. I figured it might be nice to meet some other folks who are adopting too. I haven't been a very good group leader yet, but that'll change. I am determined to get it going. I think it could be very beneficial to all of us to share our stories, experiences, etc.

December already?

Wow, where has this year gone? It seems to have just flown by. It hasn't turned out quite as we expected (we'd figured we would be parents by now) but then again, does life ever quite turn out the way you expect?

Overall, life is very good. We're missing one thing in our life, parenthood, but that is pretty much it. There is always a chance we could get the call sometime this month, but we're figuing it probably won't be until 2008 that we realize our dreams of parenthood.

You never know though, stranger things have happened. Here's to a happy and fun December for all, and that all dreams for everyone are realized this December.