Today, our dossier is on its way to D.C. & the Ethiopian Embassy!!

In 2 weeks, it should be in Ethiopia!!!

YAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

This basically means in 2 weeks, the official “wait” will begin. Wow…

I ordered another book, one recommended my our adoption agency. It’s Toddler Adoption: The Weaver’s Craft by Mary Hopkins-Best.

This one is a little more up-beat and half as thick as the first one. So I’m sure I’ll get through it faster. So far it’s very good, like the other. It has the same theme of how important it is to establish a connection and remember to allow the child to have their past instead of expecting them to “start fresh” which is a common error when people adopt. (that was a long sentence!)

All in all, it’s exciting to learn more.

Oh….a glitch in the previous paperwork…I about had a nervous breakdown! My agency emailed me last week and said 2 of the dossier papers needed to be redone.  *sigh* One is done and taken care of and hopefully I can pull my honey away from work long enough to get the other one done.  Soooo tired of paperwork….

I really do read books often. Daily. Just because they’re 10 pages long and 5 of those are pictures, doesn’t mean it’s not a book

But since there’s not much more we can do for the adoption right now, I decided to get a book with actual pages/chapters in it to read. It’s called Parenting the Internationally Adopted Child.

This book discusses the challenges that come with an IAC (internationally adopted child), such as dealing with their background (loss, grief & confusion) and ways to help the child cope and connect to their new family.

Some of the stories of the children are so scary and so, so sad. One was of a 2-year-old boy. He and his newborn baby brother went to live with their grandparents. Shortly after this, the grandmother died. The grandfather began to drink so heavily, he was incapable of parenting the boys. So this toddler fed and took care of himself and baby brother for about a year, until they were taken away. Can you imagine a 3-year-old taking care of a 1-year-old??? I look at Dean, who just turned 2 and it just seems impossible. But those survival skills kicked in for the boy and he did what he had to.

One of the biggest initial challenges we’re going to face is for the child to trust us and rely on us for care. It may sound simple enough, but when a child has learned to trust, and the caretaker was removed, time and again, the child just doesn’t know who’s going to be taken away and doesn’t emotionally settle in.

So, family/friends reading this….when the time comes, please don’t think we’re being snobbish when we don’t let you help with the child or encourage her to go to you. We’re just trying to build a connection, trying to let her know we’re the parents. Then it’ll go from there. AND, I encourage anyone who knows a family with an IAC to read the book.

So to raise money for the adoption, one of the things we’re going to do is hold a yard sale. Paul said I can sell what I want (Yay!!) so the baby boy clothes and all the baby stuff is going.

We told the agency we want a girl under 2, but are a little flexible, so I’m pretty sure we’ll get a baby that’s not quite a baby anymore

It’s going to be in May. We’re going to talk to friends to see if they have anything they want to get rid of…they can donate it to our sale. So far we have a friend donating a couch, and 2 others said they have stuff for us. This way we’re helping people get rid of things they don’t want anymore, and we’re getting help without asking for money…it’s a win-win!

It’s very exciting to see it all beginning to fall into place!

Today I started teaching Pierce how to write his name. We’re starting easy, just the first 2 letters, and adding a letter a day. I forgot how challenging it can be to teach a kid something so simple!

I’m not the type of person who pushes very early education…I think kids need opportunities to learn but they need to have time to still just be a little kid.

He was pretty excited to start, but after a few minutes got frustrated he couldn’t do it as well as he wanted and tried to quit. So, like a good parent, I bribed him

We’ve taught our kids when they’re done with a dish, to load it in the dishwasher. As soon as they understand language, that’s one thing they learn. Same with throwing trash in the trash can.

Dean loves watching me do laundry. He loves throwing clothes in the washer.

So today our darling 21-month-old decided to put a few ideas together.

He put a couple shoes in the dishwasher. Pierce’s shoes. He (Pierce) went to put a dish in the dishwasher and laughed and said, “Why did Dean put my shoes in here?”

Funny thing was, if I were going to put shoes in, I would have put them in in the same way he did.

Then I noticed a pink comb in with the silverware. Good place for a comb as well.

I just don’t know whether he meant to be funny (he’s a goofball) or if he really thought he was helping. It was cute, either way, and Pierce and I quietly put the shoes and comb in their proper places.

So after much thought, prayers and consideration, Paul and I have decided that we’re going to adopt!

We don’t feel our family is complete quite yet and trying-to-conceive hasn’t worked out. We’re in the process of picking an agency and we’re just hoping and praying we get accepted and can be on-the-way through the process soon. It’ll take a while, a “hurry up and wait” kind of thing, but we’re ready and excited.

Thanksgiving went well at our house. My sister, bil, and their 2 kiddos were a fun addition to our home this year.  Turkey thawed out and was the best one I’ve ever had, thanks to my sis and bil.

So now we’ve got the tree up and decorated, the Christmas decos out, and about half of the presents wrapped and under the tree.

Pierce woke up this morning and asked, “Is it Christmas yet?”

It’s gonna be a long month for that kid!!

My daughter got off the airplane at midnight and home about 2:30am. Lucky for me, dh is the dropper-picker-upper at airports. I don’t like the traffic and he doesn’t mind much.

So this morning Pierce went up and jumped on her to wake her up   He’s so happy his sister is home. And she’s happy to be home. There have been a few changes since she left (Dean’s walking, new swingset, the carpet ripped out on the stairs and some other little things) so he had fun showing her around. Gab said she felt like she was getting a tour of her own house and it was fun.

So our family feels normal again! It’s amazing how much difference one person can make.

Dean loves beds. As in nice mattresses and big fluffy pillows. He gets on beds and rolls around, laughing and is just generally hilarious.

Every night we put him in his crib. And you know how cribs are…firm, flat mattress, nothing allowed in the crib other than baby.

So every night he would wake up in his crib and want to come to bed with me. And I need my sleep. I’m pure evil without enough sleep. So I would take him to my bed where he’d snuggle up against a pillow and sleep very well. After months of this, I thought I had spoiled him.

I was wrong. He just loves beds.

We got a mattress, put it on his floor (put the crib away), put a side rail up (even though he’s only inches from the floor), put it against a wall with his toybox at the head and another wall at his feet. So he’s kinda boxed in but can get out easily.

The first 2 nights of this I went in when he’d fuss at night like normal. Except I layed down with him in HIS bed instead of mine.  He fell back to sleep and I went back to my bed.

The last 3 nights he’s slept all night, on through until morning. 8am. No waking up. Nothing.

So at 13 months, we’re done with the crib. When he’s a little better at climbing and not falling, we’ll set up the rest of the bed for him.  But for now, YAY!!!!!!!