Eight months - Cute Kid!

After our adoption was final, we wanted to have official family pictures taken.  We scheduled an appointment for an afternoon I had to take off work for a doctor's appointment, and everything was set.

Let me paint the picture of the afternoon, and you too will be AMAZED the boy still had smiles in him!

Monday, Aug 15 started out a normal busy morning, Jake to the day care and me to work.  Then, Jake had a doctor's appointment at 1:30 (just 30 minutes before a bottle, not a good idea).  This was a follow up from an ear infection, and as soon as we sat down on the doctor table, Jake turned into Mr. Grumpy Gills, and cried and cried and cried!  After a clean bill of health, we sat in the waiting room having his bottle.  YUM!  He was fine then. 

We then went to the grocery store, mind you it's about 111 outside, so it's HOT, and we shop for about an hour and wait in line for about a hour (no not kidding) and then RUSH home and bring all the food in, unpack all the cold stuff, leave all the not cold stuff out because now we have 10 minutes to get ready for a photo shoot!

We get there and have to change the boy's clothes and his diaper, and then, we put him down on the big white sheet for the photographer and this is what happened.

BEST PHOTO SHOOT EVER!!!

The one above is entered in their Cute Kid contest.

I told them if we enter it will be No Contest, but they allowed it anyway.  :)

Adoption is Granted!

July 22, 2011 at approximately 9:45am, the adoption of our son was FINALIZED!!!  We got up early, drove the family across town to the new and beautiful Fort Bend County Court House, and patiently waited for our court session to begin.  And, it was over so fast we hardly had time to think about it!

It was such a nice day and a great experience! The judge told us we were some of the first adoptions in the new court house, and July 2011 had five Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, something that would not happen in another 800 or so years!


The judge called another case before ours so luckily we got to see how the proceedings went before we were called, which was second. The judge really enjoys Adoption Day, it's a happy day in a court room!

Here we are waiting outside the court room

AND, Daddy making Jake laugh just after they told us to take any loud and disruptive children out of the court room :)

Raise your right hand and repeat after me...

Adoption is GRANTED and Jake, here's a teddy bear from the judge!

The newly officially formed Family!  Happy Family Day!

Here we are with our Lawyer, Nice and Happy Day!

If you are thinking about adoption, and you live in the Houston Area (or Texas for that matter)  I would suggest you check out AIM Adoptions. AIM Adoptions Web Site  We were not featured on the site as waiting parents simply because we were not waiting long enough!!!  It was such a fast and successful experience!  Check it out!

One step closer

Today was our 5 month visit from the Agency.  It was to make sure we were doing alright, and that we had the house baby proofed.  MAJOR thank yous to my Mother-in-law, Linda for helping out so much this weekend!  The three of us thank you very very very ...100 times more... very very much!!!

So, our next step is a final court date which will be sometime after June 15th, hopefully in July at the latest, but we shall see!  I'll keep you updated!

More later...

UPDATE!!!  UPDATE!!!
We just sent the check to the Lawyer, and earliest we can get a court date is June 24th, but the schedule has to be open and the Lawyer has to be available, so if so, we may get in that day!  If not, the next available date would be July 8th, as they only do proceedings every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month.  Wish us luck!!!

We would like you to meet...

Yesterday wa a pretty good day.  it was a LONG day but all turned out well in the end!  We went to Beaumont to pick up our son.  Here we are waiting for all the paperwork to be signed.  It only took about 30 to 45 minutes, but it felt more like 2 days!  

Here we are after the baby was discharged by the doctor and we were heading to the Elevatory.

Here he is all cozy in his car seat ready for the long drive to his new home.

After we got home, Dean was able to hold him

And, introducing Jacob Dean Ashish Audirsch

Merry Christmas!!

News, and More News

First of all, thank you all for your prayers.  Please keep praying!  We have until 12:30 tomorrow (12/17)!

We had a fun day of visiting friends at work, shopping, and going down to the hospital.  My mother is in town and she helped me do some much needed shopping for all the necessities, like onesies and blankets, etc.  Then we picked up Dean and headed to Beaumont.  That sure is a long drive! 

We were able to visit with the birth parents as well as our social worker.  My mother was able to meat them as well and hold the baby.  He is even more handsome than he was yesterday!!!  Dean and I were able to talk and visit and cry and hold the baby for quite a long time today.  It was an emotional day today.  He is really a beautiful baby!  Head full of dark hair!  You can almost not tell where his eye brows stop and his hair starts!  I promise to post pictures soon.

As for tomorrow, we are going to the hospital around 11am to meet her mother and grand mother.  They have come in from Florida today.  We are nervous about meeting them, but we are confident all will turn out well.

We are praying for the strength and courage for everybody involved to decide the best for this beautiful baby boy. And I pray for all the happiness for the birth parents and their family in this difficult time. 

This is REALLY REALLY Happening!!!!

So, you never now how you are going to react to great things that happen to you in life. When we found out we were picked for adoption, we were floored and cried and were so happy!!!  We have been planning for a day like yesterday but you never know how you are going to react when such a thing happens.  Here's the story...

I went on my lunch break and was going to do some lunch time Christmas Shopping when I called Dean just to say hi and how's it going and that it was nice out so he should get out some today.  Then, the phone beeped and it was AIM on the other line.  I told Dean I had to go and answered the call.  It was Denise, she said to call Jan on her cell phone NOW!  Well, guess what!  The birthmother was in labor and we are wanted at the hospital in Beaumont, you won't get there before the baby's born as she is 8cm already!  OMG!  I had to pull over to call Dean and told him all about it!!!  Then frantically called my mother who FREAKED out of course and started to head our way!

We got to the Hospital around 2:30pm.  She apparently went into labor at 1am that morning, but was sent HOME from the hospital at only 1cm.  By the time she got back to the hospital, she was in full blown labor, and he was delivered so fast they didn't even have time to finish the paperwork!!! 

The baby was born on December 15, 2010, 12:23 pm, weighing 6 pounds 10 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches long.  He's happy and healthy, and the birthmother is doing great!

So, we are currently in the "48 hour" window, which ends Friday at 12:30. Please keep praying forus.

I will post more when I know more as we are planning on going to the hospital this afternoon.

So far, so good!

Well, it looks like things are going quite well!  We are chatting with the birth parents via email and enjoying getting to know them a little better.  We are cautiously optimistic at this point and hope with all hopes that this goes on without a problem. 

I'm going to repost this picture...

Notice the white dresser is NOT the one we got from Babies R Us.

This dresser is very special to me.  When I was a baby and my family was just starting out, we didn't have much.  However, my father bought this dresser for me.  It was originally just a pink dresser.  My mother being the artist she is drew pictures of Raggedy Ann and Andy and glued them to the sides of the dresser.  She used the piggy banks on top of it now as a guide to what she wanted to draw.  I have had this dresser with me ever since!  When I was in high school, we repainted my bedroom and I painted this dresser white but made sure not to cover up the art work on the sides.  And, now it's proudly going to be used in my baby's room.  And, as our room is prepared for the baby, we are ready...

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.   -John 14:3

I hope everybody has a great day!  Keep praying for a happy, healthy baby and for him to grow up in a good home!  Give us the ability to continue our new relationship with the birth parents, and wish ALL the happiness in the world to them!

THAT was a pretty good day!

The meeting went REALLY well!  We feel pretty good about it all!  I'll post more later..

Okay?  Okay!  Love ya!

Nursery Time!

So, with the news from Nov 3, we finally got going on the Nursery!  Here is how the room started...

This is the room as it was our Guest Room.  Caribbean colors of blue, orange, pink and lime green!  Yes, that's a giant Dolphin Stuffed animal.  His name is OOPIE (pronounced oh-pee - long story...).

It took four people at different times durring a couple of days to get all the stuff out of the room!  But, we finally got it!

 The, I got FANCY and bought some stencil material for the cricut, found a GREAT grass shape on the Mickey and Friends cartridge and painted on the grass.  Love how this turned out!

 Close up of the grass

Once the grass was finished, we started on the clouds!  Linda came over to help me out. 

 So, the clouds are half finished here and even though the ones on the wall look like whip cream, I still LOVE THEM!!

 Then, Friday (11/12) we got our furniture from Baby's R Us, and they SO IKEA'ed us!  We had to put each and every piece together!  Amanda helped put this together...

 And, finally, we finished!  All the furniture is set up, the walls are painted, we have a stroller and car seat system, so we are ready to go!

And just as we finished, our social worker, Jan, called us to confirm we are still excited and ready to go to Beaumont on Tuesday!  So, we are so excited we can barely breathe! 

Keep praying!  I'll let you know when I know!!!

This is REALLY Happening!

So, I promised I would write more.  So, here goes.  This is a bit long, but it's worth it!!!

Yesterday we went to a meeting at our adoption agency, a support group for waiting parents.  It was nice!  We had a few snacks, learned what was going on with the agency, and were able to share stories and feelings and ideas about what all of us are going through.  We all were able to discuss openly what's going on in our wait and offer and hear advise from others.

The evening was winding down and people were beginning to head home so we waived to the social worker that we were heading out and she signaled for us to wait.  She seemed like she really wanted to talk to us, so we waited, even though we needed to be heading out to get home.  Once all the other couples left, she took us in her office to discuss what was going on.

Back in September, we received an email about a couple who were looking for adoptive parents for their baby.  We were asked if we wanted to be considered for the situation and we said yes.  We never imagined in a million years that she would pick us.  Yes, thats right, you guessed it, we have been PICKED!!  We were all so shocked and amazed as to what was happening.  To be faced with a reality of something you fantasize about is so exciting that I have no word to expalin the excellent feeling I'm having!!!!! 

So, the next step, we are going to be meeting the Birth Parents on November 16th.  This will be an exciting meeting.  I'm already nervous about it and not sure what to expect.  If this meeting goes well, meaning we are willing and they are willing to continue with the process together, Dean and I will be parents to their baby.  Here's the really shocking part.  She is due MID DECEMBER!  Yes, I said December!!!  We are talking about 6 weeks here! 

Here's a picture of us after we got home.  I couldn't stop crying all the way home!!!

This is a really scary and exciting time for us.  At this point, this is not a sure thing, but we are confident in our social worker and trust her judgment that there is a good chance this may be the one.  We hope with all hope that this is the right situation for us.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that this is the right situation for us.  And, if it happens to not be the right situation, pray for us to have the strength and courage to continue this journey.  We know we are going to find the just right situation for us and all involved!

God Bless!  Love ya!  I'll keep you Posted!!!

Do we really have to choose just ONE?

So, we have a free weekend finally!  What did we do?  Oh, nothing too exciting.  We went to IKEA to see what kind of couches and if they had baby furniture.  The couches were good, we got to look at some Kitchens, and they didn't have much in the baby furniture department for babies.  SO, we wend diving up 45 to Spring and The Woodlands.

We found Baby's & Kid's First Furniture!  Wow, what a place!  We had a blast looking around at all the furniture and getting ideas and such.  Here are a few we were looking at.

I really like the sleigh cribs!  This one has a safty gate on the front.  Looks nice!

This one is great, it's a 4 in 1 which is what we are looking for.

This was a weird looking crib!  No, didn't like it at all!

Dean really liked this plane.  He had a Big smile - COOL!

This is the one we liked the best.  It comes in a more natural finish which is what we are going to get.

So, there you have it!  The only weird thing about going crib shopping when you waiting to adopt, well, you are not pregnant and I would say every woman in there was!  So, everybody was looking at my tummy and wondering!  Ha!  Oh well.  We now know what we want and what to look for so we hope to get something soon!  We really need to clean up the room and get it ready!

Have a Happy Halloween!



Time for a Visit!

Today, we had our home visit.  We were really nervous and have spent the last two weeks getting the house ready for the big meeting.  We were a little worried when the social worker called and said she was going to be late, but fortunately, it all worked out for the best!  We had a great afternoon of discussing our lives with her, and she gave us great tips and things to consider for the next phase of the process.  We both felt it went really well.

So, what's the next phase of the process?  Well, most adoptive parents will say this is the hardest part.  We are now officially waiting.  Waiting to be chosen.  Wait Wait Wait.  We have turned in all our paperwork and our birth mother book and are ready to go.  So, to keep us busy while we wait, we are going to transform our guest room into a nursery!  Sorry, all visitors will have to sleep on the sofa bed from now on! We have to first get all the stuff out of the room that doesn't need to be there, and do some painting to get everything ready, then we will get the furniture.

Have a GREAT week!

What's going on with you?

Wow, been a while!  I cannot believe it's already October! So, here's whats up...

Adoption:  Sept 27 was our individual meetings, where Dean and I were interviewed alone with Jan.  We did it all in one day, and wow, that place is really busy!!  However, we both feel it went quite well!  And, I've already volunteered for the Christmas Party they have for the Birthmothers.  And, I'm gonna get people at work to help!  Hey, it's 8 hours of volunteer time!

We have turned in our Birthmother book.  It is so awesome!  I really love it and Dean was very proud of it as well.  So, now we are less than 2 weeks away from our Home visit.  We have a bit more paperwork to do and then we are ready and waiting!  Here's to Hope!

Scrapbooking:  well, I'm going to Croptoberfest on Oct 16th and cannot wait!  I had to miss the August crop, which is the first event from my CMC that I've missed in like 2 years!  Total bummer!!!  Howevr, I am almost finished with my Cancun album.  Hope to finish that at the crop and then I'm going to work on my brother-in-laws Disney album!  it's an 8.5 x 8.5 album, so it's a weird size, but it will be fun!

Crafts:  Being October, I'm all in the mood for crafts!  I made the cutiest candles the other day!  Next I'm going to do some pumpkin deorating!  Saw a really great idea online I'm going to try.  Once I get it all up, I'll post some pictures!

So glad fall finally decided to show up, it's been really cool in the mornings and only getting up to low to mid 80s.  YEY!

TTFN!

Adoption Seminar

Today, we went to the all day seminar where we heard from different people all representing different aspects of the adoption process.  We heard from a few birth mothers, adoptees and adoptive parents.  Some of the stories they tell you are so scary, like the birthmother deciding at the last minute they want to keep the baby, and stories from birthmothers that they completely regret placing their baby for adoption.  And, on  the flip side, we heard some really great stories.  One lady was pregnant with her 6th baby and decided she could not raise the child, so she decided on adoption.  We heard from two couples who had recently been placed and they had their miracle babies with them!  They had some good stories and tips and helpful hints for us, like what to expect when you visit the hospital after the baby is born.  How to prepare for the upcoming blessed event, and other tid bits we may need.  By the way, I think we will get a car seat as soon as we are chosen so we will have enough time to figure it out!  We heard both couples complain about putting in the car seat!  Guess I'm going to have to talk Dean into getting me a new car sooner, huh?

Here we are at the agency. 

There were 7 couples at the agency for the seminar today, and there are currently 8 couples currently waiting.  We have set up our next meeting, the individual interviews, in a few weeks and we have set up a time for the home visit in October.  Once that is finished and our book is complete, we will be ready to be selected!  Such an exciting and scary time!  Here's to HOPE!!!

The week and stuff

Well, last week was the last week we had to do anything to do with Dean's Hospital Stay!  He came home Aug 17th and was put on a home IV for a total of 14 days.  This ended Friday 8/27, and the nurses came and removed the PICC line and we are glad to put the whole big huge mess behind us and move along!

Thursday we are going to our Adoption counceling meeting we had to reschedule.  We are so ready for this meeting!  And, looking forward to the next step in the adoptions process.  I almost have our birthmother book finished!  We are attending an all day seminar on the 9th, so that should be interesting!

And, this weekend was the first weekend with NO iv so we ran some errands Saturday and smoked some Ribs today, just for fun.  Didn't go too well, came out a bit salty, and we couldn't get the grill at the right temp, so right now we are still in more of the error side of trial and error when it comes to great BBQ. We have made it our mission to make ribs and brisket so good that we could enter a cook off if we want to!  We just have to practice!  Football season is gonna be great!  Cooking in the backyard while listening to football and playing with the dog, sounds like fun, yes?

Here's a couple layouts from my 365 project.

Have a great week!  I know I'm looking forward to a two short weeks in a row!  Have a great Labor Day!

Well, here we go!

So, today we go to the first orientation for the Adoption process!  I am so nervous and excited!  I really don't know what to expect!  I mean, I kinda have an idea, but does one really ever know whats going on?  The last few weeks I've been chatting with a friend who just adopted a little girl earlier this year.  It was an international adoption and it took two years, but she and her family are so happy!  Its nice to be able to talk about this with friends and they get just as excited about it as I am.

We are going today from 9:30 to 12:30 so it's a good long afternoon of questions being answered.  Open vs. Closed, how long does it take, have we gotten thru the first round of checks or are we still on the bubble, so many questions and concerns!  I went out last night and got a notebook and a binder and dividers so I can keep track of all our notes and stuff so I'll have it all in one place when I start a scrapbook! 

Now, my mother and mother-in-law are starting to get excited too!  But, they are asking the kinds of questions they ask...what names have you picked out and when do you get started on the room!  Wait, what?  But, that's what they do best, and thanks to them, and all our friends, we have a HUGE prayer circle going for us today, which is the best part of all this!  So many people want this to go well, so I'm thinking it will!

I'll be sure to post more later about the meeting!  Wish us well!