7 months

Wow, we've been home six months - our little guy is SEVEN months old today!

The time sure has flown. We did unofficial stats today, since he doesn't have a dr appt until nine months. He weighed 18 lbs even, and was 26.75 inches long. So he's roughly 40% in both categories.

He has a huge list of food he's eating- he's really taken to it and likes to be a big boy. He's crawling and gets around the room very fast. He's also very vocal. There are two teeth right now, but I'm pretty certain at least one more is going to pop out in the next few days. He looks like he's about to get a top front tooth.

We're still waiting. We called again today and left a message asking if there was anything we needed to do. We didn't hear back, hopefully we will soon. We were hoping for a July finalization day, but it looks like it's going to be August or later now. Ah well, it's out of our hands and there is nothing we can do.

The love we have as a family though- it's wonderful. We are so blessed to have this child. He truly is a special little boy and we couldn't imagine life without him.

Nothing new

We are still here in the waiting game. Hopefully we'll hear something soon. I'm going to call the lawyer's office again today for an update. We're ready to get this finalization over with and move on!

In other news - we have a crawler! And we have 2 teeth! This past week was a very big one with crawling, teething, and many more developmental milestones. It was like all of a sudden -boom - there he goes!

One step closer

Mark and I took a trip to the lawyer's office yesterday and dropped off the fingerprints. The secretary was so happy so see us. She loves Mark, and the feeling is mutual. He snuggled right up to her and just gave her the largest smiles. It was so cute to see.

As for updates, we're waiting for Mark's lawyer's report, our lawyer needs to find out if we need another criminal check (we had one when we did the ICPC) and then we should be able to get a date from the judge.

Now, things change all the time, so who knows? But we sure are hoping we can wrap this up soon!

6 month stats, finger prints and a photo contest

Mark had a great 6 months appointment last Thursday.

I was a bit surprised at some of his stats though, since he's growing out of his 3-6 month clothes and now wears 6 mo and 6-9 month.

He's 17 lb 1 oz (40 %) , 25.5 inches (20%) and his head was 50% (I forget the #, it's written down on a paper in the diaper bag)

He's above in most of the milestones and got the all ok to eat boiled potatoes, boiled carrots, bread, crackers and finger food. And should be drinking from his sippy frequently. Though she said that it needs to be a hard plastic sippy (like the playtex ones) not the soft spouts (like the nuby) and she doesn't want him to do a straw sippy that much. (there goes the search for a bpa straw sippy ) He's very sociable, wanted to stand (I think it's due to the jumperoo he got last week- he's been "standing" a lot more. Overall, it was a good appointment .

On the adoption front: nothing new to report. Late Wednesday afternoon our lawyer's office called and suggested we go get finger prints. We still don't know if we need them or not (we were able to qualify and do all the ICPC stuff without it), but they figured it can't hurt. So this morning Mike and I went to the League City PD and got them done.

Mark is entered in a Simply Cute photo contest on the simplytoimpress.com website. If you have a chance, please go vote for him, and spread the word. It's this picture of our cutie:

6 months

He's 6 months old today!!!

Wow. 6 months! I am so proud of that little boy, and so much in love with him. I still pinch myself daily that he is our little guy. He is truly the love of our lives.

We had a 6 month birthday party for him, and my sister took semi-pro pictures of him . I can't wait to see them.

It's hard to believe that just 6 short months ago we were holding that tiny little baby boy in our arms. 6 months. Wow.

Happy Father's Day

When we were at church today the senior pastor stopped by to shake our hands. It was just Mike and I as we'd put Mark in the nursery (for the first time). As he welcomed us, he said something about - you have a little one, don't you? We said he was in the nursery. He then said Happy Father's Day to Mike. He asked if it was Mike's first one, and Mike said yes. He then said "then it's an extra special one for you". We both smiled.

It is a very extra special Father's day. One that's been a long time coming. Mark and Mommy made sure that it was extra special full of little surprises for Daddy.

And we hosted a cook out for everyone. Mike's parents, my parents. both my sisters, their spouses and their kids all came. We had a fantastic time.

Happy Father's Day to those who are fathers, those waiting to become fathers, those that will be fathers, and those who helped make others fathers.

And most of all, Happy Father's Day Mike!

new pictures

If you follow along A Day In The Life of Mark, there are some new pictures. I know I'm very behind, so I'm posting the most recent pictures first. Enjoy!

His own lawyer

We got a call this week from our lawyer. Apparently Mark has to have his own lawyer to represent him. So we are waiting for her call so she can "meet her client". Our lawyer is going to talk to the judge next week to see if the home study has been accepted or not. We're still "in the system". Hopefully something happens soon!

As for Mark, he's doing great! He loves to eat and play. We are currently rearranging our dining room to turn it into a play room so he has more room to scoot around. He's getting quite good at that. I think we'll have a crawler sooner rather than later. He's a pretty smart little guy.

where we are

I know I haven't updated much lately. We're still "in the system" as we wait to find out if the judge is going to accept our homestudy or if we are going to have to have a new one. It's a frustrating process, the waiting. And waiting. And not knowing what is going on, just waiting.

We've got to provide a home study every quarter to our agency in IN until finalization. We're at the point where if we don't hear something soon, we'll have to do yet another homestudy (this would be our fourth) and chances are, it won't count toward finalization.

It's frustrating, but what can you do?

He's ours, always has been, always will be. We just need to do one little thing to give him our last name and be able to get a birth certificate and social security #. But it's out of our hands as we wait. And wait. And wait.

I can't wait to start a blog on the adventures of parenting. But I want to wait until our "forever family" day is here and start fresh with that blog. So for now I'll continue to add sporadic posts here. Parenting is fantastic, and we love that little boy so much. It's amazing to see how he changes every day. I can't wait to share it with you soon.

5 months

He's 5 months today.

Wow.


Our life was turned upside down five months ago, and it was the best thing that happened to us. He's grown so much! Our "baby" isn't such a baby anymore.

He's got SUCH a personality. He always has, but now even more so. Several people at church today didn't believe that he's just five months. They figured he was older based on his actions, alertness and everything. He was just smiling, flirting with everyone.

He did pretty well at church today. Mark and Mommy (!) (I *still* pinch myself that I'm a mommy) had to leave during the sermon because Mark got a *tad* excited. We left before he decided to chat too much. While waiting for the service to end we went and checked out the church nursery. I have a feeling he's going to have to stay in the nursery soon. He's starting to get a bit to excited to be in church.

We have an eater. We tried cereal and apples this week. We were going to wait a tad bit longer, but we had some down time and thought we'd do it. And he loved it. He kept trying to feed himself, and got so excited every time he saw the spoon with food on it. We now are feeding him real food every night. And as I posted earlier- he loves to hold his own bottle (we put the sippy cup handles on there, and now he won't even let us feed him, he has to do it himself).

We don't have a DR appointment this month, but unofficially he is 16.4 lbs and 26 inches long. I'd believe it!

Updates

Well, my nephew is out of the hospital and is home. He is on his way to recovery.

Diana still hasn't had her baby yet. Hopefully soon!

Mark is doing FANTASTIC. He's growing like a weed, and it's amazing watching him every day. I can't believe the things he does and tries to do.

We started him on cereal, and he liked it quite a bit. Mr Independent likes to feed himself, even though he's only had a spoon in his mouth a total of 4 times! His sippy cup is compatable with his bottles, so we put the sippy cup handles on the bottles. He loves that he can feed himself.

And the latest on the adoption front - we are 'in the system'. We have petitioned for adoption, it's just a matter of if the judge accepts our home study or not. So, we wait. We can't wait until it is all over and done with! We're going to celebrate "forever family" day with a fancy dinner.

random weekend things

My friend Diana is due any moment with her daughter- she's past the due date, so the little one can come out now any moment! I hope she has an easy labor.... she is going to be a great Mommy!

This weekend I had a booth at the American Baby Faire at Reliant Hall. It was a lot of fun. While my sister and I worked the booth, Mark hung out with Daddy. The guys had a wonderful bonding time. I was so happy to see him when I got home each night. And tonight he just hung onto me, and snuggled with me for quite a while. It was so nice.

Also, please send some good thoughts to my nephew. He's been sick and got worse while traveling, but is on the road to recovery. He's out of town right now, and we can't wait until he comes back home. Hopefully it's just a few days. He loves cookies, so instead of flowers or balloons or anything like that I think I'll see if I can get him a cookie bouquet when he comes home.

A Mom Because of Her

Someone shared this poem on a yahoo group I am on and wanted to share:


A Mom Because of Her

The joy I feel today is somehow mixed with pain,
A title once hers, now offered up for me to gain.
You see, I became a mother in a not so usual way,
At the loving hands of someone else, I celebrate today.

I am now called Mother, because she made it so;
She sacrificed her role with love, and let her baby go.
Now cards and flowers are mine, and happy wishes too;
Will you remember her as well, or will you have no clue?

She too is still a mother, even on this special day
Though no longer in her arms does her baby lay,
But forever in her heart remains a love so strong and pure
And as I enjoy this day, I remember: I'm a mom because of her.

~Susan Reardon 2004

I promise!

I promise we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. We're here, and getting into the swing of things.

I'm trying to lay low until everything is 100% final, and we are so close we can almost taste it! We're waiting on our home study provider to turn in the home study that she did last month. Many people want it: the agency in IN, the judge down here, the court appointed lawyer for Mark, our lawyer, and us! That's pretty much the one thing holding us back right now.

And I'm ready to cry, we can't ever get her to send it to us. That's ALL we are waiting on right now. And we cant reach her. I know it's just one last minor thing, but it's a BIG thing and we could have been finalized by now. It's just a matter of all tihngs falling into place.

Being a parent is the most wonderful thing ever. And the most time consuming as well. And stressful about money, the future, etc. We wouldn't change anything for the world though.

Mark is the easiest baby ever. We are so blessed to have him. He's slept through the night from the get go, rarely complains, is cute as can be.

Mommy on the other hand, well she's a mess sometimes. I am so far behind on some things (like my thank you notes, I am so sorry), starting a new business, and trying to do inventory. But every time that little guy chirps for me, you know I am there. I can't help it- we've yearned for him, prayed for him, wanted him for so long. That everything else, as important as it is, falls second when he cries out for mommy. His smiles, his laughs, his conversations - all a welcoming distraction from everything else.

I'm getting there, there just arent enough hours in the day. But I wouldn't trade my life now for ANYTHING in the world.

He is just the joy of our lives. I can't wait until Friday, he has his 4 month appointment and we see how much he has grown. We're going to delay solids if it's ok with the DR. I've done some research and found that delaying can sometimes help reduce food allergies. And I want to do EVERYTHING for him that we can. He is such the joy of our lives.

Seriously, I could just sit and stare at him, play with him all day long. He is just, oh - words can't even begin to describe how much he means to us!

4 months!

4 months, WOW the time has been flying by.

We still pinch ourselves periodically that he's really here, and he's our son. We are so in love with the little guy, and so lucky to have him in our lives.

He is growing, both physically and mentally - and it's neat to see his changes. Our baby isn't such a baby anymore!

(almost) 4 month check in

I know I haven't been posting as much as I ought to. There really is no excuse. Adjusting to new parenthood has been fun, but some of the typical stuff has been forgotten or not done as much because all we want to do is marvel at this wonder we call our son. We still take pictures every day, and I hope to soon have the 365 blog updated.

I thought I'd give an almost 4 month check in, and tell you a little about what's been going on with him. We do this in an online playgroup we are in =) . It's a great way to keep track of how he's growing!

Name: Mark Garrett

Nickname(s): Sweet Pea, Puppy (because he whines and squeaks), The Boy

Birthday: December 25, 2007

Weight- birth: 6lbs 14 oz
now: guessing about 14.5 lbs

Height- birth: 20 inches
now: guessing about 25 inches

Clothing Size: solidly in 3-6 mo

Diaper Size: 2 in seventh generations, 3 in natures babycare

Breast or Bottle?: bottle (born free bottles - he uses the larger ones now)

How are they Sleeping?: He's been a sleeper since week 1.5. Goes to bed about 930, 10 (though he naps in the evening with Daddy while watching tv) and typically wakes up around 10.

Health: No issues at all. He had a little cradle cap, but it wasn't too bad and now it's gone. He's acting like he's teething, everything (especially his hands) go into his mouth. We have his 4 month shots the first week of May.

Milestones?: He loves to blow kisses and raspberries. He learned how to turn off and on the crocodile tears to work Mommy and Daddy. Holds his bottle, always tries to sit up, plays with toys (grasps to make noises, rattle, etc)

Favorite activities: he loves to "talk" and hear his voice, he's starting to like tummy time, cracking himself up while staring at himself in the swing, everything goes in his mouth

How is Mommy feeling: fine. I finally feel "almost" caught up. It's a lot different when you adopt, and you adjust differently. This past week is the first time I haven't had adoption/mommy brain quite as bad.

Anything else: we've been "in the system" since March 8, so we should get a court date for finalization any time now - they are waiting on our home study

PICTURES: (first born,Dec,Jan,Feb,March, and Now!)

first born (the first time we saw him and held him, he was about an hour old) :





December:





January - the 2nd pic is when he FINALLY made it to Texas:





February:





March:





April:

CHRISTENING DAY!

Mark was baptised this evening. It was a wonderful event. I'll post pictures tomorrow, one of my friends used my camera to capture some shots. Also, my brother in law took lots of pictures- he was the "official family photographer" this time :)

My parents and my brother are his Godparents, and we are so pleased. The service was performed by my brother in law's father, which was extra special to us.

It's been a long day- time to get the boy to bed!

Bluebonnets

My sister Holly took pictures of Mark in the bluebonnets today. Click on the picture to see a slide show.


Mark in Bluebonnets April 2008

Video/photo shoot

I got the pictures back and wanted to share them. I put them into a video montage and added some music -enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It cut it off a bit. You can see a bigger version here:

Mark Garrett, Our Christmas Miracle

Sneak Peek

Here are some sneak peek pics of Mark....

I'll be adding more later and to the photo blog- we've been taking his picture every day!