A lot has gone on!
He has started eating solid food! I was going to try Baby Led Weaning, but he just didn't seem interested in picking up food himself. He was very interested in bowls and spoons though, so we started him on baby purees and spoon feeding.
So far he has eaten carrots, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, prunes, peaches, and pears. He also tried some avocado. His favorite, by far, has been pears. He LOVED them immediately! Many of the veggies take a bit of getting used to.
The biggest news by far is that T's adoption was FINALIZED on February 1!
We had a fantastic day. We took the older brothers out of school and had lots of other family and friends meet us at the court house. The judge was fantastic and made a point to read a portion of our final recommendation from our home agency. It said, "We enthusiastically recommend Beth and Brandon for this adoption". I teared up and looked over at my amazing little boy. When he signed it and said that the adoption was approved it was surreal! After everything we went through, it was essentially over! We went out to eat afterwards to celebrate.
We had a fantastic day. We took the older brothers out of school and had lots of other family and friends meet us at the court house. The judge was fantastic and made a point to read a portion of our final recommendation from our home agency. It said, "We enthusiastically recommend Beth and Brandon for this adoption". I teared up and looked over at my amazing little boy. When he signed it and said that the adoption was approved it was surreal! After everything we went through, it was essentially over! We went out to eat afterwards to celebrate.
We have since gotten his updated birth certificate that shows his new legal name and our names as Mother and Father.
I can't really believe that it has been just about 7 months since we welcomed him into the world. I barely recognize the teeny newborn I see in photos, because now we have an active, vocal, amazing little boy. He is still very tall (28 inches at his 6 month appointment) and still pretty skinny (only 16.5 pounds at the appointment) and I am pretty sure his hair is about 5 inches long when you pull the curls straight.
He did have his follow-up echocardiagram and he still has the little hole in his heart (a VSD - Ventricular Septal Defect). Luckily, it is so small that we don't need to worry at all and no further follow-up is necessary.
Being a mother isn't easy though. There are days when I am so exhausted that I cry right along with him. He has become pretty dependent on me and sometimes pretty needy. It is an adoptive mother's dream to be this bonded to her child, but at 2am when he is screaming and reaching for you, it's hard.
Sleep has been the biggest struggle, but I'm hoping that someday we will get there. Everyone has opinions on what we need to do, but I think we have to figure out what works for us and for T.
Staying connected to my spouse is much harder now. We don't have much time to talk like we used to, but he is an amazing father. I couldn't be more lucky in that department.
Staying connected to my spouse is much harder now. We don't have much time to talk like we used to, but he is an amazing father. I couldn't be more lucky in that department.
Another little new tidbit - I am working toward going part-time at my day job. It seems right for our family at this point in time. I want to be with T as much as I can so that I can be the one to teach him things and watch him grow. We are lucky that we can make this possible.
I've also started my own business as an Independent Designer for Origami Owl. My experience with the company started with the birth of T (as a gift to his birthmother), so it's a wonderful thing to now be a part of it.
I've also started my own business as an Independent Designer for Origami Owl. My experience with the company started with the birth of T (as a gift to his birthmother), so it's a wonderful thing to now be a part of it.
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| http://bethbcharmed.origamiowl.com |
