So excited!

Easter is coming, and it's going to be warm!!!

Living here in northeast PA, and even when I lived in MD, it was rarely warm for Easter. Coming from CA, it was a difficult adjustment to spend my Easter Sunday in a sweater and tights instead of one of those springy Easter dresses that everyone and their brother advertises this time of year.

The weather report is calling for temp in the 80s starting on Friday. I am so excited. I already went through my closet looking for spring dresses/skirts to wear next Sunday.

It's the little things...

Righting a wrong

My co-worker e-mailed me yesterday saying it was unacceptable that I had not updated the blog in a week, and had not sent her any more pictures of S. So I'm here to fix that.



Can you stand the cuteness???




I get these first thing in the morning when S is up and in a good mood after her first diaper change of the day. This is before she gets cranky for her bottle.

Enjoy!

Spring has arrived

I knew spring was coming when the "Nor'easter" we were getting last week consisted of rain and 40 to 50 degree temperatures. "Nor'easter" to me always means snow.

Then we got a warm spell. It's been at or near 70 for days.

The barberries are budding right outside the window.

I saw my first robin yesterday.

And all the neighborhood kids are out playing basketball and enjoying the sunshine.

Welcome spring!

Bath time

S had her first sponge bath Wednesday night. Pretty good idea for a 2-week birthday present.



Daddy was smart. He put the towel in the dryer before we got started so she had something warm to hang out in.



She was not impressed with the idea of a bath, as evidenced by her "Elvis lip"




We were smart and only got pictures of the happy moments before the bath.

She did fine, though. She just doesn't like being cold. Once we had her clean, dry, and dressed again, she was happy as a clam.

Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Back in January I posted about the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. And I really wanted their follow-up, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It took 2 months to finally find the darn thing.

While I haven't had a ton of free time lately, I did get a chance to make up some healthy bread. First was some whole wheat bread that I made a loaf and a cool set of rolls from. This week I made quinoa bread. Quinoa is a protein-rich grain, and putting it into bread gives it an interesting texture, kind of like having round sesame seeds in the loaf.

J loved it. He's so ready for the next round.

I'm eyeing the oatmeal maple bread. Doesn't that sound like a great breakfast bread?

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Kiss me. Yeah, right.

The festivities took their toll on our girl.

First post placement visit

We had our first post-placement visit with our agency today. Most agencies do 2 to 3 visits after a baby is placed for adoption to make sure everything is going well, everyone is adjusting, and to address any questions or issues that may arise.

Our main social worker came, along with another SW from the same office (she was here for our final homestudy visit) and an intern. Quite the crowd!

The visit was easy peasy. S had some mildly cranky moments before everyone arrived, but was happily having her late morning bottle by the time they came through the door. She was wide awake and eating like a champ when they first got here, and slipped into a formula coma shortly thereafter ;) It was the first time any of them had met her, and she charmed them completely.

We settled in and talked about how things were going. How she was eating and sleeping (big A+ on both of those), how her first doctor's appointment went, how we were adjusting to parenthood. We admitted that we lucked out big time with the easiest baby ever. J showed off his brag book that he's taking to work, and the videos we took of J and S "exercising" the other night. The ladies laughed so hard I thought they were going to cry. I can't wait to upload them to share. They are just precious.

We got some more information that the birthmom provided to the agency--what her life is like, her favorite things to do, personality traits, etc. It's a very special resource, and we can't wait to share it with S as she grows up so she can find out more about what a great birthmom she has.

After about an hour, everything was wrapped up and we waved goodbye to our social workers. They'll be back in May to see how things continue to go with us.

I forgot to get a picture of S with her social worker, but maybe we can work on that for our May visit. In the meantime, Daddy went back to work and S and I are spending the afternoon together. Life is good.

What's new in our world

It's been a little over a week since S came home to us, and a lot has been going on. Grandma came to visit this week to help me out while J went back to work.



She did a lot of cuddling, feeding, and walking around with S during her cranky times.




Aunt Irene made a cool blanket that is now essentially a permanent fixture in her Pack n Play.



Auntie Monica packed up all of cousin Grace's old clothes and sent them for our little girl. Check out this lovely purple ensemble.

J has given her a new nickname--Fisty McFist. Because she starts eating her fist when she gets hungry.

S has been continuing her trend of eating, sleeping, and pooping well. She's starting to have fussy times in the late evening, but nothing we can't handle. She has slept through the night (with one 4am feeding) 3 times so far . We are happy to be well rested!

This week we have our first post placement visit. I'm hoping to get a picture of S with our social worker.

1 week old today!

S turned 1 week old today. It's been a great week!

She spent most of the day doing this:


Our child is boring, and that's just fine for now. I'll take boring over screaming every minute of the day.

Once Daddy got home tonight, she was up and ready to rock and roll. That's what happens when you literally sleep the day away. But she is content, so we can't complain. Grandma is chatting away with her while she checks out what she missed in dreamland.

Daddy's little girl

S ended up spending most of her afternoon with Daddy yesterday. Maybe it was because he knew he was going back to work today. Or maybe it was because I volunteered to take the night shift so he could get some sleep before going back to work.

They had a rocking good time together while I puttered around the house and made a Target run to print some pictures for S's birthmom.

Grandma is coming today. Hurray!

Babies and knitting

I have made a baby something for just about everyone I know. Yet when we got the call for our little girl, I didn't know if I had anything for her that I had made.

I went through my stash of completed projects and found 2 sweaters that won't fit her for a year, a sweater that won't fit her for another 3-6 months, a giant pair of crocheted socks, and one pair of newborn booties. Yes, with all the yarn and knitting I have, there is only one thing I've made that she can wear.

I guess I need to get busy.

First doctor appointment

S had her first dr appointment today. She's been eating, peeing, sleeping, and pooping like a champ, so we knew this was going to go well.

According to the doctor's scale, she's gained 8 oz since birth. Of course, it's a different scale and her clothes were on, but even I have noticed that she is fatter. She got a once-over and a clean bill of health. Her next appointment will be for her first shots (yikes!).

She's now hanging out napping with Daddy on the sofa. Cuteness abounds.

Lent = no meat FAIL for Dr L

As many of you know, we're in the season of Lent, those 40 days (plus Holy Week) leading up to Easter. I'm supposed to abstain from meat every Friday during this time. I stink at it.

Last year I was with my team from work at a major event in Florida. All the Catholics reminded each other Thursday night to avoid meat the next day. And all of us loaded up on bacon for breakfast Friday morning. The only non-Christian in the group was the one to remind us.

This year it seems that I forget this rule at lunch, but remember by dinner. Last Friday I was home sick and had leftover turkey piccata for lunch. At 2 I realized I had totally forgotten no-meat Friday, so it was minestrone for dinner. Yesterday it was a (delicious) chicken caesar salad from Wendy's. On the way to the hospital I realized I had screwed up yet again. Dinner was a grilled cheese sandwich (almost as good as Mom's) at Sonic.

I can't wait to see how I screw this up next week.

What a difference a day makes

See that post below? Adoption update, 2 situations fell through. Uh huh. Little did I know that J would be e-mailing me frantically on Thursday morning telling me we had a match.

Yep, that's right, we're parents! A little girl was born early Wednesday morning and her birthmom picked us to be her mom and dad. We met the birthmom, her mom, and our daughter (still getting used to saying/thinking/typing that) on Thursday night, signed a lot of paperwork reiterating that she would soon become our responsibility (yay!), tried to sleep, tied up some things at work, and went to get her Friday afternoon.

We love the birthmom. She and her mom were wonderful, warm people. And the birthmom is smart as a whip. We couldn't have asked for anything more. And of course have no way to express our gratitude for the amazing gift she gave us.

We brought our little girl home last night, with a pit stop at Sonic (she got her first bottle there), and are settling into brand new parenthood. Daddy has the magic touch. He hung out with her early this morning and she slept for 5 hours. Let's just say she was hungry when she got up.

Oh duh, I should post a picture!

Enjoy!

Adoption update

We had a couple of situations come up in the last few weeks. First was the out-of-state situation I mentioned in this post. I followed up today, and the young lady found an adoptive family in or near her hometown. So a very lucky couple will be parents in the next couple of weeks.

We feel really OK about it. I could tell from that first call that the birthmom was looking for someone closer to her. We're just happy to be considered.

We also had a situation come up through our agency. This was an emergency placement, which is when the birthmom decides to make an adoption plan after she has the baby, as opposed to a pre-birth adoption plan. It's a long story, but this situation fell through for us. Again, we're OK with it. We want a situation that everyone is comfortable with.

And because all of this has been happening of late, J decided we should be a tad more prepared in case The Call comes sooner rather than later. We're shopping for crib mattress, and more baby clothes so we have a stockpile. And since I love shopping, this has not been an issue.

And for even more news on the adoption front, J's coworker got a placement. She and her husband have been waiting almost 4 years for a match from China, which saw waits extend significantly after their earthquake. We are thrilled for this couple, who will be bringing their infant daughter home to the US soon. They had their homestudy done with our agency, and were the ones to recommended the agency to us when we were deciding on adoption.

So that's all for now. I'll post any updates when we hear something new.

Jonesing for spring

I was really fine with winter. Really. Even with all the snow, and being sick, I was fine with it. We hadn't had good snowfall in a while. I kind of liked it.

But a package came today. I bought some yarn from a gal who was destashing. And I got the most gorgeous skeins of bright spring green and a pink that's almost coral.

I have a vision in my head of what I want to make. A sweater, maybe a baby/kid sweater. Kind of a fair isle, or something with a floral motif up near the neckline. Mostly white, but with the pink and the green as great spring accents.

I haven't found exactly what I want yet on ravelry. But I haven't gone through my books yet either. I have been printing everything that might work. J thinks I'm going to break the printer at this point.

So bring on spring. I can't wait to have a project ready for it.