Adoption Fundraiser - Coming to and End

Just a quick reminder that our t-shirt fundraiser will be closing the end of February 2012...by the first weekend of March.  :)

 

http://www.adoptionbug.com/lamannasadopt/

For those of you that have already purchased a t-shirt in support of our adoption fundraiser...THANK YOU!!  And don't forget to send a candid photo of you wearing the t-shirt so it can be included into Daphne's Adoption Scrapbook.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support...love to all.

 

Daphne - One Month Old

1 month old.

How could this be baby girl?

Cannot believe that time is flying by this fast...

Mommy and Daddy just want to bundle you up and keep you little forever...

And at the same time, we love to watch you grow.

To watch your personality unwind right in front of our eyes.

To watch you as you discover life.

To just watch you.

We could do that forever.

Sit there. And Stare.

You woke up this morning so adorable...we gave you ten million gazillion kisses and told you 

how much we love and adore you.

We LOVE you baby girl. so. so. much.

So much has happened this past month. Let's take a look...

Feeding: You continue to eat about every 2-3 hours during the day and sometimes 3-4 hours during the night...definitely a growing baby!

Weight: 

At birth: 5lbs 7oz

One Month:  5lbs 13 oz; last doctor visit (on 01-25) you were gaining an ounce a day! Dr. visit on Friday of this week will tell us more.

Length:  

At birth: 16.9 inches

One Month: 17.3 inches

Diaper Size:

Newborn and you are going through about 10 a day...depending.   :)

Clothes Size:

Newborn, but some brands of 0-3 months fit as well!

Hair Color:

At birth: Very dark

Month: still pretty dark and it looks like it might stay

Eye color:

At birth: Very dark blue with a hint of charcoal gray

One Month: think they are here to stay, those baby blues! but not sure yet what version of blue they will be...

You are constantly staring at everything around you. The lights. The fans. The walls. You name it, you are just taking it all in. You are more alert.  You love to snuggle, and would rather be sleeping on mommy or daddy than anywhere else. We are enjoying these precious moments that you are small enough to sleep on our chests, with your sweet little head nestled under our chin.

You are a unique, beautiful, precious jewel, and we are so happy to call you our daughter.

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!!