An update - finally...

So I'm feeling pretty bad about how infrequently I post on this blog. I attached a great tool to our adoption profile (our other blog) so that I can see who visits it and where those visits come from. As a side effect, I get those results for this blog too. This blog had 40 hits in the last month! Which was down from the prior month. Meanwhile our adoption blog only had 1 hit :-( It's not like we are really hoping to adopt again right now, but we have this "old" situation hanging out there. Back in late January/early February on the same day as we got the call to be profiled for Colton, we also got an email from my sil saying that she had a friend who had a friend who was thinking about adoption. Our mom's quickly said, what if you get both babies. And we quickly replied that then we'd have two more babies. The odds were, of course, that neither situation would work out. That's just how adoption goes. You cast a wide net and hope something will work out eventually.

So it was on a Friday that we found out about both possible opportunities - one with our agency (Colton) and I'll call the other one a private situation. Well, by the following Wednesday we had been chosen to parent Colton. We couldn't have been happier. It was a very exciting and unexpected phone call - we still can't believe it! Then on Friday we got the sweetest email from this couple (the private situation) basically saying that they chose us too. The only thing was that they were just barely pregnant - maybe six weeks. We decided that it was just too much of a coincidence to let it go, so we replied that we were happy to get their email. We told them that we were expecting Colton any day, but that we would still be interested in their situation as well. We basically put the ball in their court figuring they were just as likely to say take a hike as anything else. Well, they didn't say take a hike, they said we still choose you! We were SO excited with two babies on the way. Our family would be complete!!! That weekend, Colton was born. We were also trying to arrange a phone conversation with this other couple. It was a very exciting weekend! I had several emails back and forth with the birthmom from this private situation and things seemed great. Then, all of a sudden, instead of a phone call, we found out that she had chosen a different option. I think it's my own fault for trying to solidify this connection through our friends - let's just say that I'm not sure that both bm and bd were on the same page here with how this connection was made. But honestly the whole thing sounded just too good to be true. We had pics of the birth parents and they are both absolutely stunning. They seemed to have the babies best interests at heart. They wanted an open adoption. It was a dream really. That's why I tried to make the connection - to be sure I was talking to the people that I thought I was talking to - a friend of a friend of a sil :o) Ooops!

So now, a couple of months later, I check out my stats on our profile page and I keep hoping to see that we have had a visit from the area where these birthparents live. The baby still isn't due for a few more months, so I guess you'd call it wishful thinking. I know we would be crazier than ever with a third little one, but not any crazier than parents of multiples. I don't have a very close connection to my sil's friend and she's friends with the bd not the bm. This means that any info I get is third hand and may only be one side of the story. It looks like bm plans to parent. I just hope that she's making that choice for all of the right reasons. If she changes her mind, we told her we'd always be an option. So until this fall passes with no baby news, we'll keep secretly hoping that we will have another new addition.

Tyler's 1st Birthday

It seems impossible, but Tyler turned one less than two weeks ago! I've been wanting to blog about it, but it's been a little busy around here. As you already know, Tyler's big gift was a baby brother! Surprise to everyone! Of course that makes for a fantastic birthday, but we had a lot of other stuff going on too!

Ty's actual birthday was on a Wednesday, so we celebrated with just us and my mom. We started the morning with presents from family. It's amazing how much better he has gotten at opening gifts just since Christmas. He was far more interested in it this time around. We had homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner, that's Tyler's favorite. My mom and I also made a little teddy bear cake that was super cute and let him eat it all on his own. He made a pretty big mess and Daddy had to give him a bath afterwards.

On Saturday we celebrated with more family and a lot of friends. We had an Elmo themed birthday party complete with a 4 ft tall walking Elmo balloon and a 5 ft tall walking Big Bird balloon. We rented a helium tank to fill these guys up and also filled up a ton of regular balloons for the party. Grandma made Tyler and Elmo cake and some Elmo cupcakes. The party goers had some time to color pictures of the Sesame Street characters playing baseball. Tyler LOVED the party. While he didn't really play with the other kids, he was very happy to play next to them (gotta love parallel play at this age). He was so happy in the living room filled with kids that he didn't even care about lunch. We had to pull him away from his toys just to eat! We had pizza for lunch - Elmo's favorite food. We also had chicken nuggets and mozzarella sticks. All easy food for the kids. There were Elmo juice boxes and Dorothy the goldfish crackers. I think everyone had a good time. It was so much fun to celebrate Tyler's amazing first year with so many loved ones. At just two days old, Colton was taking it all in and making plans for his first birthday party, I'm sure! Happy 1 year Tyler! We love you so much!!!!

Another miracle

Colton James

We always planned that once we were able to finalize Tyler's adoption, we'd start working towards adopting again. As many of you know, once we decided to start the adoption process last time around it took a year and a half before we were able to bring Tyler home. Many people cautioned us that it might take longer the second time. Very often birth mothers will choose childless couples over couples who already have a child. We braced ourselves for a long wait and decided that starting as soon as possible was the best way to assure that Tyler wouldn't be too much older than our next new addition.

So in early December we sent in our application to Adoption STAR (the Buffalo agency that helped match us up with Tyler). At about the same time, one of my STAR friends was over for a playdate. She happened to mention another agency that they had come across in their wait - it's called Family Connections - located in Cortland, NY. I got online and filled out an information request with this agency and they called me back within hours. They sent us some information and a week later we scheduled an appointment with them for January 4th. We knew instantly that we were going to choose to work with both agencies - hoping to double our chances of finding a match.



Within weeks we had a profile opportunity with this new agency, but unfortunately it did not work out. Another two weeks went by and we were presented with yet another opportunity to be profiled with this new agency (2/5). We were blown away. This agency is relatively small - they often only place 2-4 babies a year. On top of that, in the year we waited to be matched with Tyler, we were only profiled 3 times before Tyler. Here we were with two opportunities in as many weeks. Not even two weeks ago, on Wednesday, February 10th, FC called to tell us that we had been chosen to parent a baby, gender unknown, due any day. We were ecstatic!



We began preparing for the birth of our newest addition immediately. We knew that we might not have a lot of time. Amazingly, we got all of our ducks in a row and even had my parents down for a visit (which made a great babysitting arrangement for Tyler), when in the early hours of Monday morning (1 am on the 15th) we got THE call that birthmom was in labor. We got the car loaded and headed for the Cortland hospital. At 3am we received a phone call from our social worker saying that the baby had been born at 2:56am - a baby boy weighing 7lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long! It was simply amazing! We named him Colton James



We arrived at the hospital at 3:30am and were brought in to meet Colton and his birthmom. It was such a great experience to meet her face-to-face and talk with her for a while. After a couple of hours they ushered us out so that J could take a shower. Just a little bit later they brought J to her room and then they brought us and Colton to our very own room. It was such a great experience to be able to stay right at the hospital with Colton all day Monday and Tuesday. We were able to see J one more time before we left. She had been discharged on Monday, but she returned on Tuesday to say goodbye to all of us. She brought the cutest outfit for Colton along with a teddy bear. She also brought a birthday present for Tyler and the most beautiful care for me and Chris. Finally, on Tuesday afternoon we were discharged. We made the 2 + hour drive home where we've been ever since. What an amazing week we had!

11 months old

I simply cannot believe that Tyler will be 11 months old on Sunday. Where has the time gone? His growth and progress amaze me every single day. So here we are, planning an Elmo themed birthday party and actually beginning the process of adopting a second time. Meanwhile, a year ago, we didn't even have a child. It's just amazing how fast life can change.

Tyler continues to be a very happy and laid back child. He's so content to hang out and play most of the day. He's a great sleeper - which we are very thankful for. At the moment, he's getting close to his first steps. He's cruising along all of our furniture and he's even starting to let go from time to time. He's talking non-stop in baby babble, but on occasion we hear a word or two. He's had mama and dada down for quite a while, but kitty is a new addition to his vocabulary. Once in a while I think I hear doggie too. My favorite part of this stage is how obvious it is that he loves his mommy and his daddy. His little hand will reach out for you the instant you enter a room. It just melts my heart!

As for our next adoption, we anticipate a long wait, but you just never know. I think it would be amazing for Tyler to have a sibling or two who are close to his age. So, we have filled out the mounds of paperwork and we now we are waiting for our fingerprint clearances to come back - after that - it's out of our hands. We simply wait and see what the future holds for us! I have to say, I'm much more excited than I thought I would be. I really thought that for the next year I wouldn't think about it all that much, but I am. Maybe it's just because the paperwork is so fresh in my mind, but I really think it's that I just can't wait to get my hands on another little baby! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love everything about Tyler right now, but I also miss that itty bitty baby I was holding just 11 short months ago.

All I want for Christmas is Elmo Live Encore

After Tyler's finalization we headed out to the mall for a little visit with Santa. I was worried that Tyler would be scared of him and cry, but he didn't! We were the first ones there to greet Santa and there was no line behind us so we got to take a lot of pics. The hardest part was that they would only let you choose one for your photos for the photo cd :-( I had a tough time picking between this one and the one of him actually looking at the camera. In the end I decided it was pretty cute that he was looking up at Santa and so we picked this one. I think it will be somehow integrated into our Christmas cards this year. The tree goes up tomorrow - I can hardly wait!

Finalization - yay!

This morning we finalized Tyler's adoption! We waited a long 9 1/2 months for this day and I have to say, it was pretty anticlimactic. We arrived early, as our attorney had directed us to - you have to pass through metal detectors and the lines can be long. In our case, we didn't have to wait long. We were in the waiting area for Surrogate's Court at about 8:40 for our 9:00 appointment. We waited until nearly 9 when our attorney showed up. One of the Sheriff's who was working brought us back to the judge's chambers where we sat and talked about sports while the judge signed/initialed a multitude of paperwork. He explained the details of getting Tyler's amended birth certificate and social security number. We posed for a few pics and that was it. We were in our car and headed out by 9:15! What a great birthday present for Chris!