2 weeks (a bit early)

OK, Daphne isn't quite 2 weeks old as this blog entry is being typed...but we figured we had time now, so naturally we should do it now.  Because who knows what the next few days will bring or if we'll even have time to make an entry.

Our sweet girl is growing so much! She is staying awake for longer periods of time and eating like a champ - even if it dribbles down her cute chin into the folds of her neck. She has the most beautiful lips and nose that we could look at all day.  We keep looking at her in complete awe. She is perfect! We can't believe God choose us to be this beautiful baby girl's parents. I (Rachel) love watching her little facial expressions and even if it just gas; her smiles melt away my need for sleep. There is nothing better than leaning my face down to her head, as she sleeps on my chest, smelling her sweet baby scent as I lightly kiss her soft forehead.   And I (Adam) just love to look at her when she is awake or asleep.  I sometimes can't believe she is finally here with us after the long wait!!

Daphne is very good at letting us know what she does and doesn't like.

Likes:

• being wrapped up in the Baby K'Tan all snuggled next to mama
• napping on our chests
• car rides
• bath time - well, it is really not a bath since her cord has yet to fall off; and despite her wriggling around and many noises she makes...she does like her 'bathy time'
• being able to pee and/or poop on either of us during a diaper change

 Dislikes:

• diaper changes, unless she gets the chance to repeat the last bulleted item from above
• going to sleep at night...she much prefers to sleep during the day right now
• footed pajamas - at least the ones we brought with us; they are too big for her and her feet do not reach the actual foot part of the pajama

We know this time will fly by quickly so we are savoring every moment with our squishy, sleepy, snuggly, adorable, sweet baby girl. 

Life as a mama has been incredible. It's everything I (Rachel) could have dreamed of, and more! She's such a good baby, with such a good disposition. Sometimes, when I'm talking to her, or singing to her, I get so emotional that I just start to cry. I cannot believe that after all of this time, I am finally a mommy! I love you, Daphne Jane! You are my heart.

Daphne taking a stroll in the park while in the K'tan wrap

Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious (and then some)

::cue the song from Mary Poppins::

Because, I imagine that this word popped into Mary's head when she was at a loss for words, she couldn't figure out exactly how to explain things with all of her excitement.  So, yeah....supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Here's our attempt to provide you with an update...without going over the allotted character count that the blog allows:

Jan 1st 2012: 

We flew from Raleigh, NC to Sacramento, CA (by way of Charlotte and Phoenix); and US Airways very graciously bumped us up to First Class - at no charge! And, we didn't even have to slip the customer service rep a $50 or anything.  Imagine that.  We arrived in CA around 3:30pm (Pacific Time) and headed to the car rental place. We ended up at the condo around 5:00pm..just in time to get introduced to the owners and get the quick tour - before they headed out for their ritual of dinner at the parents. (Romer & Ed are the owners)

Jan 2nd 2012:
We both were still on 'East Coast' time...so we woke up around 7:00am (which would have been 10am Eastern) and started to get ready for the day - we wanted to take a quick drive around the area, get to know where some places were, etc.  Rachel turned to Adam (around 9:30am) and mentioned that we should contact our CA attorney to let her know we arrived and to see if she needed anything from us...right then (mid-sentence) Rachel's cell phone rang and it was Jan (CA Attorney).  She tells us that the birth mom was at the hospital last night and has given birth!!  I'm sorry... whaaaatttt!?!?  Can you repeat that, please?  We were both pretty stunned, shocked, and immediately hurled into panic mode.  We didn't have anything ready, prepared, researched..hell, we didn't even have the directions to the hospital printed out yet - I mean we weren't supposed to need those for another week.  Needless to say we headed right down to the hospital.  Hands shaking, hearts pounding, minds racing and emotions flooding.

There was a small hiccup when we arrived at the hospital and we had to sit in the lobby for what seemed like HOURS.  In all seriousness, it might have been 45 minutes.  Apparently the birth mom (and our paperwork identifying us as the adoptive parents) was supposed to deliver at another local hospital - but instead found herself closer to this one...Sutter Medical Center.  So, we had to wait until the social worker faxed everything from the original hospital over to this one.

We rode up to the 3rd floor, preparing to meet both our daughter and her birth mother in person!  Talk about 2 for the price of 1.  We stop by the nurse's desk and ask to be brought to the birth mother's room; escorted down the hallway, sweat glands in check, we see her room and here comes the moment we've been waiting for...

Birth mom is sitting up on the side of her bed...we knew she was a petite girl (woman, she is 28 after all) but she barely looked pregnant - just tired.  And, then...there she was...sleeping so soundly in the hospital bassinet just out of arms reach - we caught a peripheral glance.  We chatted with the birth mom for several minutes.  Asked her how the delivery went, how she was feeling, gave her the flowers we brought...and then she asked us if we wanted to hold her.  She asked us.  Happily obliging he scooped her up in our arms - we instantly fell in love.  At this point, the birth mom stepped out; one of the nurses came in and introduced herself and she asked if we were Baby Girl's parents....why, yes.  As a matter of fact, we are.  Now that had a nice ring to it.  She went over a couple of items with us and also gave us the pertinent information that every parent (and waiting family member/friends) are eager to get...her birth stats!

In case you haven't already received this information from us - here it is again:

Date: 01-02-2012
Time: 12:46 AM
Weight: 5lbs, 7oz
Length: 16.9 in

Once birth mom came back into the room she asked if we had picked out a name...well, to be honest...we hadn't 100% decided on her name - I mean, we were supposed to have another week (or so), remember?  We both looked at each other and said, "Yes, her name is Daphne."

There was little time to chat with the birth mom, as she was tired (rightfully so) and wanted some privacy...so we were relegated to a 'teaching' room; which basically is a small room with a couple of sofas, harsh over-head fluorescent lighting and a phone to the newborn nursery - should we need it.  But, that was our little sanctuary...and it was all ours, whenever we wanted, for as long as we wanted...to enjoy our sweet baby girl. 

It is such a strange feeling to finally have something so precious that you've wanted so badly for so long.  And honestly, I don't think I have room to ever complain about anything ever again.

Life is full; thank you Jesus.

 

 

 

Family, Friends, Festivities & The Last Blog Entry of 2011

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We have thoroughly enjoyed this entire holiday season; not only because we were able to spend it with family (either in person or via Skype), but it is our last as a couple. We've been enjoying what the possibilities are for future holidays as we move to become a family of 3. We have taken everyone's advice: sleep now; read a book; go out to dinner (a lot); go see a movie (or 2); and so on.

We are down to our last several days in NC before journeying out to Cali...there is still tons to finish up before we leave - laundry, packing, other minor logistics, etc. As a matter of fact we just finished installing car seats in each of our vehicles. Check!

Nana (aka Norma, aka Rachel's mom) has been given the run down regarding the LaManna Lodge here in NC...since she will be staying with us for the next couple of months after we come home with the baby. We are excited that she will be holding the fort for us while we're away.

We also have HUGE THANKS to send out to several of the women in Rachel's family who pooled together their time and talent to put together this amazing Baptism Gown for our daughter. It came from an idea that Rachel had several years back; she wanted to turn her wedding dress into a baptism gown for any future children that might come along. After searching for the 'right' pattern and Googling many sites, she finally turned to her family to see if there were any takers for this mission. Luckily, these awesome ladies and their sewing knowledge were able to make it happen. Many, many thanks to Aunt Ellin, Great Nana (Leah), Amy and Norma for taking a pattern and turning it into a family heirloom.  Believe me when I say the photos don't do it justice. Enjoy the photos!

Rachel's Wedding Dress

Great Nana, Amy and Aunt Ellin pressing the fabric

Aunt Ellin sewing skills at work!

Cutting Rachel's Wedding Dress

Measuring up!

Making the cut!

Just about finished!

We have not taken photos of the finished gown, but know that a lot of love (and time) went into making this a very special garment for our daughter on her baptism day.

Wishing each and every one of you a Happy and Blessed New Year!  See you in 2012!!

35/35 and an update

Our birth mother is 35 weeks along and has 35 days remaining -- Thirty-five days!  WOW.

The past several weeks have been nothing but getting ready for Baby Girl LaManna.  Some of which includes (but is not limited to) selecting pediatricians, visiting day care facilities, and finalizing all the logistics for us to head out to California on Jan 1st, 2012.  Because, not only are we preparing for the hopeful arrival of a little one.  We are also planning for an impending one to two week "vacation" after the baby is born.  Because this will be an interstate adoption, we have to stay in the state where the baby is born while all the paperwork and legal stuff clears.  It takes ten days to two-ish weeks.  And of course, this little "vacation" will start, oh I don't know, sometime between Jan 1st and Jan 20th (or perhaps, god forbid, the end of this month).  Because, in case you didn't get the memo....babies can't read calendars.  They can't be bothered with pesky due dates, they come when they are ready.  And sometimes, they decide to start making their grand exit in the middle of the night.

There's nothing left to do really, except wait.  And if there's one thing we've gotten good at during this process, it's waiting.  (And paperworking - is that a word?)  This is a different kind of waiting though, than the waiting that came before we were matched.  That waiting felt theoretical, with no end in sight, and no real idea what would happen before we got to the end.  This waiting feels definite.  One way or another, this baby will be born.  The waiting will end.  We are excited, without a doubt.  But we are nervous.  Anxious about what it will all be like, how it will all happen. Anticipating the actual birth?  With all the many words that are tucked away in my brain, I still don't have the words to describe the anticipation involved in this.

Our lawyer in California contacted us Saturday night to let us know that she was filing paperwork at the hospital where the birth mother plans on delivering.  This is normally 'routine' paperwork letting the hospital know that first and foremost this is an adoption.  She has provided our names and contact info to that hospital so (1) they know who we are and know why we are there, (2) we can get fitted with those high-tech hospital wrist bands once the baby is born.  There is also a section for the birth mother's wishes/wants.  More specifically does she want to hold the baby after birth, or stay on the maternity floor and who she wants in the delivery room during birth...well, our lawyer gave us the surprising (yet, amazing) news that the birth mother would like Rachel to be in the delivery room with her!  We are at a loss for words at how wonderful a gesture this is...and we know that it is also something that could change - depending on how delivery goes; but for right now, we are on Cloud 9 and could not be happier!!

Thank you for your continued support, thoughts and prayers!  Let the countdown begin...

Adoption Fundraiser -- Reminder

** Reminder **

Our t-shirt fundraiser has roughly 90 days left before it gets closed.  Click the link on the main page of our blog and check out the shirts.

A big THANK YOU to those that have already purchased yours....don't forget to send us a photo of you wearing the shirt so we can include it in the baby's book!