Adopting Baby M

101st post!

2009-05-23T21:46:00.002-04:00

who knew?

liam has been very busy learning new words, singing new songs and making his first trip to the ER. he was limping tuesday night, still limping wednesday morning, so i took him in. they xrayed his leg, and he's just fine. whew! he was an excellent patient though!

the wait for #2 is so different from our first wait, when i started this. i'm still, anxious, but for completely different reasons. but we still wait.....

it's hard to believe that 2 yrs ago this weekend we got the call that liam was on his way. at 5am sat. morning of memorial day weekend, our phone rang. by that evening, we were in another city with liam settled in in the NICU, still intubated. we were SO thankful for the ronald mcdonald house. liam's picture is supposed to be in their next newsletter. waiting to see it!

vacation!!

2009-04-29T12:40:00.003-04:00

we are on our first out of state vacation! while we miss our dogs, we know they are having fun with their new best friend who is staying with them.

liam has become an expert on all things beach. he has his shovel and digs in the sand. he knows the water is called the ocean, and we've finally convinced him that the beach of full of sand, not dirt. we got to ride a bus yesterday, which was also terribly exciting.

liam is having a great time with his grandparents too. he pawpaw bought him a kite, which was not overly successful at the beach, but liam didn't mind.

our printed portfolios are now at the agency, so we are completely ready to go. just waiting. and waiting.

spring is finally here!

2009-04-17T22:15:00.002-04:00

still very busy. liam had his first non-check up visit to the pediatrician. he had periorbital cellulitis, which ended up being not too big of a deal (at the 24 hr check up, we were told we could have been on our way to the hospital.) but the augmentin was almost worse - severe tummy problems then a horrible amoxicillin rash! only my child would get such a thing.

the new portfolio is FINALLY finished. the printer didn't have the little bindy thingees (which you would think they would have plenty of.) but the portfolio has been done for a little while, so we have been available online for about 2 weeks now. maybe 3. we've already had 2 "excitements," one of which we didn't get because we live in the "wrong" state and the other because the situation is too unstable at this point. oh, and our other excitement is that the state lost my fingerprints. the hwy patrol and the FBI has seen them, but our agency has not. bill's got through with no problem. go figure.

liam is really starting to enjoy school. he talks non-stop about his friend emma. he, actually, just talks non-stop. he loves to label things - mom's car, dad's truck, liffey's ball.

we went to the baseball game with grandma, grandpa and puh-la (his favorite friend paula.) his grandpa gave him a glove and he talks about it all the time. he also talks about running the bases after the game.

we also had fun at our first flyball tournament of the year in oklahoma. plenty of space to run around for liam! and he had his friend puh-la and beth in the camper too, so that was an added bonus.

looking forward to a laid back weekend....

xmas picture and more news

2009-02-22T21:25:00.005-05:00

as i've found out that there are at least 2 of you reading this :) i thought i'd post a new picture. this is one i took of liam at xmas time for the card. the evil grin is definitely fitting.

we've been busy around here. we went to the magic house with our friends a few weeks ago. liam had a great time. we went to his friends harper and jackson's first birthday party. that was lots of fun too. yesterday we went to the mardi gras parade. liam got a lot of beads!

our other news is that we are adopting again. we have resigned with our agency (see blinkie to the right.) we are waiting for the portfolio to be finished. we picked the cover design yesterday. hopefully the rest will fall into place quickly as this is the only thing holding us up from being shown to prospective birthparents.

18-20 months

2009-02-04T22:33:00.002-05:00

ok, i'm behind. not sure who still reads this anyway. :)

liam's 18 mo. dr. appt went well. he is back down to 30%ile for ht and 20%ile for wt though. he's a scrawny little shrimp!

he enjoyed xmas and seeing all his family. and i mean lots of it. we spent xmas day mostly at the firehouse with his dad. can't get enough of those firetrucks!

today was liam's first day at preschool. i'm sure he misses his old sitter, but she had some unplanned issues pop up. but his preschool was referred to us by another IF support group friend. liam is in class with her 2 girls. he seemed to be having a great time when we picked him up this afternoon. he'll be going 2 days per week.

liam is talking up a storm. he loves to watch "tools" (handy manny) and elmo. i'm trying to teach him about "old school street" - the real sesame street pre-elmo. i bought some DVDs which are way cool.

will try to post a new picture soon.

a picture from september...

2008-11-26T22:22:00.001-05:00

18 mo. old today!

2008-11-26T22:04:00.002-05:00

so many talents. he seems to learn new words every day, repeating (or at least trying to repeat) just about anything we say to him. he says please and thank you. he loves to look at his books. he loves to ride his bike and can even peddle just a few inches!

had an interesting conversation at work. a patient's mom asked about liam's adoption (after the - i don't remember you being pregnant when we were here last time - comment.) i hope she thinks more positively about open domestic adoption now. and although it came off not so great, her final comment was - i think it's great that you can love a baby that isn't genetically yours. i told her that i thought it was great that people can love their children so much that they give them to people who can't get pregnant. (her point was that too many people have kids who shouldn't. tell me about it.)

anyway, we have lots of fun things planned over the next few weeks, including a party with liam's friends from my old infertility support group. i hear the girls are starting to catch up to the boys in the hair department!

i tried to add a picture, but i don't think it worked.

17 mo. update

2008-11-19T22:10:00.002-05:00

i believe liam has finally put together a true 2 word phrase. contrary to what all my textbooks say, it was not mommy sock, but, WAIT FOR IT, liffey flyball. yep. liffey trumps me again. oh well. he had fun that weekend because his friend from one of the area teams gave him double stuff oreos all day sunday!

and a huge milestone for liam is that he actually peed in his potty! he did it sunday night, maybe by accident, but tuesday night was definitely on purpose. he jumped out of his bathtub to run to his potty. he likes to fart on his potty too. :)

i got to visit with our adoption social worker today. i heard bits and pieces about babies that have been placed and families that have grown. she also got to hear about how no one at my work likes liam. hahaha.

2nd halloween

2008-11-03T20:56:00.002-05:00

liam was a giraffe for halloween. since he didn't care about trick or treating last year, we didn't go. this year we went back to the neighborhood where i grew up and liam had fun walking all over the neighborhood and seeing all the other kids. he said thank you at every house except 1, where he just said bye bye.

new words are popping up every day. yesterday he repeated OH MY after i saw the condition of his high chair after he ate dinner. :) he will sometimes say bless you after someone sneezes.

on sat. night we joined his godmother for her birthday celebration. liam had a fun time hanging out with all his "aunts and uncles." we all had a good laugh over the story of "are you going to tell him he's adopted?"

new blinkie

2008-10-20T22:14:00.005-04:00

our social worker sent us the new blinkie over to the right. hope it shows up! :) november is adoption awareness month. this week is an exciting time for me because a dear online friend is finalizing the adoption of her 3 boys - all biological brothers - from foster care. their family day is this friday. the boys are just excited to be going to chuckie cheese!

liam had a fun weekend - he inherited several of my old toys (and some from his uncle too.) he has already figured out how to use the "power tools." he is also obsessed with his KEYS, one of his new favorite words. oh, and he gained 2 lbs in 5 weeks! up to 23 lbs finally.

what could have been

2008-10-20T22:14:00.001-04:00

happy 2nd birthday sweet angel.

barkin' in memphis

2008-10-14T22:24:00.002-04:00

liam made his 2nd trip to memphis for the national flyball championships. i think he had more fun this year because he kept saying BARK BARK, doggie, ball and flyball all weekend. :) he played with his friends and watched lots of flyball. liffey is proud to announce that her teammates won their division and she got to play flyball with other little fuzzy dogs just like her! i think liam was a little confused as to why there were so many liffeys running around. :)

a new word every day!

2008-10-06T21:53:00.002-04:00

liam seems to be popping out a new word every day for the last few days. yesterday was "alright?" after he fell down and today he told liffey "GO." he also repeated big bird and moon yesterday.

on saturday we went to a dog event, and the first think liam said when we stopped the car was "flyball?" he got to see some of his flyball friends though, so that is always fun. i got out his sidewalk chalk, and he seems to like drawing with that. he is not as gifted at drawing as he is at talking just yet, but he'll get there. :)

trying again for a picture....

2008-09-29T22:27:00.003-04:00

top picture is liam with his finger up his nose, which he finds quite funny. bottom picture is at steak n shake, with another new skill!

another busy weekend

2008-09-24T22:05:00.003-04:00

friday night, liam got to go to his 2nd balloon glow. he met us with his friends, aunt, uncle and cousins and had a good time. he saw fireworks for the first time. he spent most of his evening, however, pointing at the medical helicopters flying overhead.

on saturday, he went apple picking. he was rather unimpressed with it all, but he liked eating apples - but only his grandma's apple. he had fun playing with his cousins again.

on sunday, he helped paint his flyball friends' house (he helped by NOT helping.)

and today, he had that 10% reaction to the measles shot - looking like he's covered in measles. that's MY kid alright. :)

new things every day

2008-09-18T21:47:00.003-04:00

this week, liam moved his dad's kitchen chair and climbed up in it so that he could look out the bay window in the dining room. he said "right now" for the first time. he climbed into the bathtub, all by himself, fully clothed. he says moo and baaa. today, for the first time, he said MOO when someone asked him what a cow says. he figured out how to buckle his high chair buckle.

his parents as teachers lady told him that he was ahead in both motor and language skills (he's a genious!) he went to the pediatrician the next day and has jumped back up to the 50%ile for ht (31 inches) but even with a wet diaper is not quite 22 lbs and is down to 10%ile for wt. that explains why his pants won't stay up! the dr. said that "that sometimes happen when they become more active and burn more calories." uh, liam, active? noooooo. (can you hear the sarcasm??

and tammy - he DOES try to stick his finger up my nose too. :) the dr's i work with think he might have a future as an ENT!

oh, and liam had a close up on the jumbotron at the NFL game on sunday afternoon! he's famous.

world traveller!

2008-09-09T23:09:00.002-04:00

ok, covering a few states traveller, but still, it's been busy here!

we took our first family vacation over my birthday 2 weeks ago. everyone went, including liffey and lincoln. we took the camper and just had a relaxing time - shopping, swimming, reading, fishing (well, liam and his dad did that) and going for walks.

we came home for 4 days then left again for a flyball tournament. we had a great time with our friends, at a fun tournament with fabulous weather. liam wore his new team shirts and really likes to watch flyball.

he has also learned to sign help and yummy (which he started tonight.) he loves to "talk" about flyball. he practiced saying all sorts of things this weekend. however, his favorite new activity is sticking his finger up his nose.

more and more new things!

2008-08-18T22:35:00.002-04:00

oh, so many new talents. we have been working with liam on sign language. his favorite sign is "more" because he gets more food. next is "milk" because when he's thirsty, he wants his milk! "eat" is good because he says that when he feeds his food to his dogs and they get to eat. yesterday he signed "water" for the first time too. he is exceptionally brilliant, if i do say so myself.

he is also very verbal, talking up a storm all the time. his new favorite word to say is flyball, which he got to say a lot this past weekend at the tournament. he behaved himself very well, saying hi to lots of different friends while we were busy running the tournament. he is OBSESSED with flyball boxes - i think he wants to be a boxloader like his dad and his friend jeff.

he is still a dancing fool, along with a kissing fool, considering he kissed his little girlfriend at the sitter's today!

i will see what i can do about getting a picture uploaded soon.

trip to the zoo!

2008-07-01T09:31:00.002-04:00

even though bill and i apparently ate some bad food at the zoo, we had fun while we were there on sunday. it was liam's first trip there, and we think he really enjoyed it. of course, we also think that he thought - look, a dog with a long neck; look, a dog with a long nose; look, a dog with long legs; look, a dog that can swim. :)

he did a lot of pointing to the animals and "talking" about them. we'll definitely have to go back again soon and try to make it into the children's zoo next time.

liam has turned into a dancing and kissing fool too! he loves to give kisses - even sometimes his idea! and he dances all the time - sometimes without music. but pretty much every time he hears music, he wants to dance. we'll work on the lack of rhythm later. :)

happy birthday liffey!

2008-06-30T15:57:00.001-04:00

happy birthday to liam's "big sister" liffey. she is 7 yrs old today.

i'll write more about our fun weekend later. ate some not good food i think....

1 yr check up

2008-06-25T09:33:00.003-04:00

after a few scheduling problems, liam finally made it to his 1 yr pediatrician appt. he is 21 lbs 6 oz and 29 1/2 inch long, putting him in the 25%ile for both height and weight. he is a bit of a runt, but then again, so am i. :) he was 50%ile for head circum., proving that he is a genious! ha.

he has been busy lately - we went to a flyball tournament the first weekend in june. we went to the baseball game on father's day. it was hotter than we could imagine, but liam didn't seem to mind at all. i did, however. :) we went to a big family reunion on bill's side of the family. it was fun to meet so much extended family and hear more family stories.

more plans coming up for the summer: more flyball, camping with friends and a week long camping trip with the 5 of us in the camper. looking forward to it!

new sitter

2008-06-06T10:45:00.002-04:00

liam started at a new sitter this past week. he is around boy's close to his own age and LOVES it. he is doing things (like eating more big boy types of food) that he sees the other boys doing and playing with all sorts of fun toys. the new sitter just kept saying - he's so smart and so cute (well, let's just state the obvious here.) :)

i took it as a good sign when i went to pick him up the first day, and, when i walked in the door, he smiled at me and went right back to playing. i hope things continue to go well.

more beautiful babies!

2008-05-29T15:25:00.001-04:00

check out my friend sandi's blog. her beautiful daughter was born on may 26th (hmmm, that date sounds familiar....) :)
and another online friend gave birth to her daughter on tuesday, after about 200 weeks on bedrest (or so it seemed.) another beautiful little girlfriend for liam!

first birthday weekend

2008-05-28T16:44:00.002-04:00

liam had a GREAT birthday weekend (and thanks to my friends who posted messages here!) his party saturday was lots of fun, even if the weather forecasters were completely wrong. liam had fun playing with his friends and loved his presents. it took a little while to really get him going on his cake, but he seemed to have a good time once he really tasted it.

on sunday, we took it easy, bought some flowers and a new little tikes slide and napped a lot. he LOVES the slide. loves to climb up one side and slide down the other. he even tried to say geronimo when he went down the slide!

on his actual birthday, his grandpa, 2 grandmas, aunt, uncle and cousins came over to celebrate with him. he loves hanging out with his cousins! (who teach him things like using pots and pans as drums.) he also got a quick call from his birthmother, who sang happy birthday to him while i chased him around the kitchen with the phone.

how lucky we are to have liam in our family!

1 yr ago monday....

2008-05-23T10:51:00.002-04:00

at 5am, we got a call from liam's birthfather was "liam's on his way!" we rushed to get out of the house and on our way!! we got a call at about 6:30am that liam was born at 5:45 with apgar scores of 6 and 8. the scores concerned me a bit, but they had gone up, so that was a good sign. we got to the hospital by about 10am. after watching him there for a bit, he was transferred to the NICU at a bigger hospital. he spent 5 days there, just being cranky. :) (i would be too if i wasn't allowed to eat and had things shoved up my nose, down my throat and in my arm!)

we were so greatful for the ronald mcdonald house. what a wonderful thing to have them there.

happy first birthday baby boy!! i hope our first birthday/adoption finalization party tomorrow will be lots of fun.

1 yr ago today

2008-05-16T10:21:00.003-04:00

we got the call that would change our lives. i was testing a patient when my cell phone rang. i saw it was our s/w and finished the test as fast as i could so that i could call her back. after getting the info on liam's birthparents, i called bill. he was in his truck and almost drove off the road. then i told my friends here at work - the first was a fellow adoptive mom. we called our s/w back that night and accepted the match.

another new link

2008-05-12T15:01:00.002-04:00

i just added another friend's adoption blog link. tammy also went through the all the hoops there are to go through to become a mom.

mother's day was fun. we went camping and had a good time. liam gave me a shirt that says - i love my mom, with a picture of one of his cheesy smiles on it. :) while we were gone, we got veyr nice phone calls from both his birthfather and birthmother wishing me a happy mother's day!

mother's day

2008-05-09T13:29:00.003-04:00

this is not my first mother's day. it is my 3rd. my 1st two were spent without a living child. his name was frederick, and he watches over us. i miss him very much and thank him for finding liam. last mother's day was just days before we found out that liam's birthparents had picked us to be his parents. i have already thanked his birthmother for making this mother's day so very different from the last two.

and to all my friends who went through infertility to become mothers and all my friends who are still waiting, i will be thinking of all of you this weekend especially.

new summer look!

2008-05-08T16:30:00.001-04:00

5 yrs ago

2008-05-07T11:32:00.001-04:00

yesterday actually (i was too busy to post yesterday.)
the tornado/straight line winds hit our home and area. definitely something we will never forget.

not 6 teeth....

2008-05-05T17:08:00.003-04:00

we found 2 molars on sat. morning that have obviously been there for at least a few weeks! so the tooth count is up to 8!

and as of now, his words are liffey, lincoln, doggie, captain (his godmother's dog) and bye bye. bye bye has the hand action to go with it, but he doesn't really know that it means bye yet. he just repeats it and does the hand action. usually both hands at the same time!

one year ago today...

2008-05-02T10:07:00.001-04:00

we were told by our s/w that we were officially in waiting to be matched. i hunkered down for my 6-12 month wait. :o)

liam's advice for the day

2008-05-01T17:17:00.002-04:00

you can pick your mom. you can pick your nose. you can't pick your mom's nose.

2 more teeth!

2008-04-29T16:20:00.003-04:00

liam was crabby yesterday, so i checked his gums, again, figuring i'd see nothing, again. nope!! 2 more teeth were poking through the bottom gums. so after 4 mo, of no more teeth, we got 2 on the same day. i'd be cranky too. :)

and no sandi - we haven't fixed the toilet problem. i think our "fix" is going to be shutting the bathroom door! :o) we still have to deal with the dogs' water dish though....

more walking and more talking

2008-04-24T11:30:00.003-04:00

liam is definitely all boy. he loves to climb anything he can reach. he figured out quickly how to climb into the child sized chairs that i once sat it. he is taking more steps at a time, but he'd still rather crawl. and when we were outside playing frisbee with liffey, i told him to call liffey and he repeated something that sounded vaguely like liffey! he's the smartest baby ever.

we have tickets to the ball game tomorrow night. it will be his 2nd game, but i'm hoping we don't get rained out!

we renewed our home study last week. it is cheaper to renew than to redo, and since we don't know what the future holds for us yet, we'll renew.

not much else exciting going on. looking forward to a get together with our friends in a park. now that most of them are more mobile, it should be fun!

one small step for man.....

2008-04-17T12:16:00.003-04:00

liam decided yesterday that he had a bit of balance and could stand on his own, not holding onto anything, for more than 2 seconds. we tried it several times and one time i put out my arms, and he took about 3 steps right to me! i turned him around, and he walked back to bill. he was VERY proud of himself. we kept making him do it over and over again. :) he does look like a drunken sailor, but he doesn't mind.

we have a fun weekend planned with a party on sunday to celebrate liam's friend julia's adoption finalization!

10 mo. old!

2008-03-28T11:24:00.002-04:00

sorry for no new updates recently. it's been a busy month. the 5th was lap #3 for me. the 6th was bill's birthday and the 2 yr anniversary of our miscarriage. throw in the st. patricks day parade and a host of work issues, and that's my month.

but liam is a little monster now. he is crawling faster than most people walk. he was unimpressed by the easter egg hunt at our former college. he loved the toy shovel from aunt lynn better.

he has figured out how to feed liffey. this pleases both of them greatly. i expect liffey to weight about 200 lbs in a few months. :)

he can also climb the entire flight of stairs by himself (with his mom or dad hovering behind him.)

and we believe we have heard liam's first word. he said it tues. night twice and wed. night once. all 3 times he was looking at liffey and said ee ee. we have one incidence of it recorded, so i need to watch it again to see if i really heard it.

hope you enjoy the latest picture! it was from our evening out with friends and family for bill's birthday. yes - he went to another brewery. :)

9 mo. old and more fun sounds!

2008-02-29T08:27:00.002-05:00

liam turned 9 mo. old on tuesday! we are going to the ped. this afternoon for his 9 mo. check up, which here, includes a blood lead level screening (not sure if it is done everywhere, but when you live in a place where the EPA will pay for your soil and water to be tested, it's a bit more necessary.)

liam has also discovered his high pitched voice! low, growly voice was long ago, but the new high pitched one is apparently very entertaining too. lots of sounds - /m, n, d, p, f, w, g/ to name a few.

we are off to liam's friends' birthday party tomorrow. the babies all start turning 1 yr old now. first lily and olivia, then landon, then liam, then julia and of course the brand new twins harper and jackson have about 11 1/2 mo. to go. :) liam will be excited to see all the girls! (and landon's first word is umbob - sponge bob. not mom. not dad. sponge bob.) :o)

karin's blog

2008-02-19T13:09:00.001-05:00

i've added another link over to the right. karin is a friend i met on IVFC who was just a few months behind us adoptiong her son. feel free to check it out!

adoption thoughts....

2008-02-13T14:22:00.002-05:00

one of the great things about adoption (i think) is that liam will be able to grow up to be who HE wants to be, not who anyone else expects him to be. he is his own person, and not the product of of anyone's genes around here. if he wants to grow up to be a CPA (since neither i or my brother did!) and ski every winter, he can do that. but if he wants to grow up to be a mechanic, or pilot or senator, he can do that too. his genes are his own. he will obviously be influenced by us, and his birthparents are not that dissimilar to us. maybe he will be artistic, like his birthmother and me. maybe he will be more like his dad and birthfather. it's up to him.

while it's hard to look at his sweet face and see not bill or me, we are so lucky to know who he does look like. and so is he.

turn up the volume!!

2008-02-11T14:50:00.000-05:00

liam has been experimenting with whispering for several months now. this weekend, i think he learned how to TALK REALLY LOUD. we were in the car, and bill and i hear liam "talking" to himself then all of a sudden, it was really loud! i think he is impressed with his oratory skills.

bill, liam and i went geocaching on sat. afternoon. liam really likes to hang out outside. on sunday, while bill and grandpa ken went to the woodworking show, liam, grandma pat and i went shopping. liam got a valentines day present from his grandma - a build a bear dog in a fireman's outfit. liam is nearly as impressed with the box right now. oh well.

cheerio!

2008-01-31T11:58:00.000-05:00

or cheerios. last friday liam tried cheerios for the first time. not much of a pincer grip yet, so the fist into the mouth is his method of giving himself cheerios. has about a 50/50 shot at keeping them in his mouth, which of course liffey loves. he'll eat them anytime and seems to enjoy himself!

and with not so great news, liam had his first fever this week. luckily, aunt lynn was on top of it. we watched him and gave him baby tylenol (which he hates, still), and today his fever seems much better, but his cough sounds not so good still. but he's eating like a champion (as usual), so at least he is feeling good enough to eat!

cheese, glorious cheese!

2008-01-22T14:58:00.000-05:00

we gave liam some shredded mozzarella cheese last night while we were eating dinner. although he had some trouble figuring out how to pick it up AND put it in his mouth, he was upset when the 3 or 4 tiny pieces i gave him were gone. so i had to give him more. and more. and more. but that was mostly because half of it ended up in his lap instead of his mouth. luckily, his liffey was MORE than happy to clean him up.

latest updates

2008-01-15T10:10:00.000-05:00

liam has all sorts of new skills. he has started to "cruise" the furniture - getting from one end of the couch to the other without getting down to crawl. bill put together liam's "shopping cart" that he got for xmas, and within 1 week, liam has learned how to take several steps behind it instead of just 1 or 2 before falling on his knees. he still loves to bang on his "piano" and table he got for xmas. bill and i know all the songs from the play table, if anyone ever wants to hear them. :)

liam is having fun with his border collie friends marvin and silk visiting. he thinks they are pretty funny. marvin and silk think that liam is big enough to play with them and keep bringing him toys. so far, liam hasn't caught on.

on sat. afternoon, liam and i are off to our friends' baby shower. they are expecting boy/girl twins from a donor embryo cycle. liam picked out some of his favorite things to give to his new friends.

another friend's blog

2008-01-03T17:21:00.000-05:00

i just added a link to my friend sandi's blog. i met her online with other infertility vets. she is in the waiting phase of her adoption, which is not easy. please feel free to check it out and give her a little support.

thanks!

all i want for christmas...

2007-12-31T13:52:00.000-05:00

liam is working on his 2 front teeth! they started showing the friday before xmas.

we had a busy weekend last weekend - going to bill's family's party, going to my parents' house on xmas eve to meet liam's uncle chris and his girlfriend ani. then back up to bill's parents' house xmas day and back to my parents' house that afternoon. but liam got lots of toys and loves to play with them. he likes the ones he can stand up with!

the following day we went to the family NHL game. liam actually WATCHED the game (until he fell asleep.) i had a hard time feeding him when all he wanted to do was watch the game. and listen to the beer man, but i told him no beer, in case he has to drive home. :)

we also heard from liam's birthmother, and she is doing well, which is always great to hear!

first snow!

2007-12-17T16:58:00.000-05:00

liam had another busy weekend. friday afternoon was our visit with parents as teachers. liam appears to be on track developmentally in all areas. we filled out the health hx info too, which is interesting to have to look up my son's health hx in a file, but thank goodness his birthparents were generous enough to give us copies of all their paperwork so we would have so much information for liam. friday night was xmas shopping, and liam did a fine job picking out lots of things for everyone!

sat. we got together with our friends from my infertility support group. liam got to meet baby julia for the first time. he thinks julia is very pretty. and he had fun playing on the floor with landon, lily and olivia. i think he likes seeing people his own size.

sat. night we drove home in the snow, and when bill got home sunday morning, we went sledding in the front yard. liam seemed to enjoy it, even when he did a face plant in the snow. he came up laughing! definitely his father's son.

sunday night we went out with landon and his family to celebrate both boys' adoptions being finalized. it's nice for them both to officially and legally be home.

hope you enjoy the pictures! (excuse the runny nose!)

it's FINAL

2007-12-12T15:14:00.001-05:00

monday was a big day for our family. we drove to columbia, through the freezing rain and ice, to finalize liam's adoption. i got extremely car sick, and it rained the first 2 hrs of the drive. not a GREAT time, but we made it. got to see bill's cousin tyler. we changed clothes there (into our "nice" outfits, which is funny because bill had to borrow pants from tyler when we were there for TPR.) next we stopped by the NICU to see one of liam's former nurses. she was happy to see him and how well he is doing.

court was fine. we both raised our right hands and sat on the witness stand. liam was more impressed with banging on the table. we took pictures with the 3 of us; steve, our lawyer; the judge and the guardian ad lidem (sp?) i tried to get them uploaded today, but i have the wrong cable. all my friends here at work say they are very nice pictures though. :)

we got the decree saying that we are his legal parents and that his name has been legally changed (only his last name changed.) apparently, it will be several months while the state gov't workers laboriously type up the new birth certificate. oh well.

6 month check up

2007-12-04T12:44:00.000-05:00

liam had his 6 mo. pediatrician appt. this past friday. he is 17lbs 13 oz and 26 inches long. he was 25%ile for height and 50%ile for weight. he seems to fluctuate between 25/30%ile then back up to 50%ile on height. so my guess is that at his next appt he will be back up at 50%ile. he seems to be doing very well overall. the dr. said his head shaking trick is just that - something he figured out he could do. my guess is that it makes him a little dizzy, and he likes that. he handled his shots like a pro again - crying until he realized the nurse was a pretty girl. :)

after that, we made a trip to grandpa ken's office where liam had quite a bit of attention. we also went shopping at the dreaded babies r us and got the baby gates for the house. bill installed them on saturday. i put in all the annoying electrical outlet covers. (bill says he hates safety, mr. fireman that he is.)

liam has also moved onto stage 2 foods, which includes meat. bill is happy that liam is a carnivore now (he's never gotten over lincoln loving canned pumpkin.)

everyone check out our agency website. the blog entry for this past week was about a comment i made to our social worker. she summarized my feelings well.

6 months old!!

2007-11-27T10:21:00.000-05:00

yesterday, liam turned 6 months old! what a big boy. he has 2 teeth, he can crawl, he can play with his toys and he can use his voice for fun things.

he had a big weekend leading up to that day. on thanksgiving we went to great aunt dot's house. he had lots of family telling him how handsome he is. we also did some "adoption education" with some friends of family members. i guess this is something that we will always be doing that fertiles never, ever think of.

thursday night we left for a weekend in branson with both sets of liam's grandparents and his aunt, uncle and cousins. he did extremely well in the car all weekend and just went along with the flow. he got to go shopping in the outlet malls and ride in a boat for the first time! liam, bill, liffey, lincoln and i all stayed in the camper, which was interesting the first night when it got down to about 14 degrees. but the campsite was nice, and we had a spot right by the river. i had fun finally being able to shop for my baby in branson. what a difference a year makes. that trip last year we were losing our triplet cycle, which was our last hope of ever having biological children.

looking forward to our court date to finalize the adoption!

fun at flyball!

2007-11-19T15:55:00.000-05:00

liam had another exciting weekend. this weekend we had a flyball tournament close to home. liam LOVES to see all his friends there, and he seems to like watching the dogs run! and of course, he loves to hear how handsome he is, which is what he hears all weekend from his friends. :) we are very lucky that he is so laid back and will go visiting from person to person while our teams are running.

and a little brag - liffey ran her fastest time ever - a 6.5 second heat! i am very, VERY proud of her.

an exciting weekend

2007-11-12T15:04:00.000-05:00

looks like liam's other tooth just couldn't stand it, and it has started to pop through! so hopefully we will have two handsome teeth in the next few days.

liam had a fun day yesterday. we went geocaching (www.geocaching.com), and the WHOLE family went. liffey and lincoln are old pros at it. this was liam's first trip. he seemed to enjoy himself, mostly because he was in his stroller and outside. we found several caches (and didn't find 2 of them!) hopefully as liam gets older, he will be more helpful finding them than he was yesterday. :)

could it be? maybe??

2007-11-08T13:22:00.000-05:00

after much speculation over the last month+, it looks like liam may be getting his first tooth. it is still even with his gum line, but there is a white line there now. i could feel it last night while liam was eating his carrots (carrots are GOOD!) and thought i saw something. it was definitely more pronounced this morning. so we will see!

he is EXTREMELY good at blowing raspberries after our instructional session the other night. he is starting to experiment with intonations in his babbling, along with trying different places of articulation (making different sounds, for those of you not in speech and hearing sciences.) :)

will be checking the tooth progress this evening!!

rocking and rolling

2007-11-06T10:22:00.000-05:00

well, he's been rolling for quite a while, but liam's newest trick is to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. he can move around on the floor already, so crawling is not too far into our future!

liam is enjoying his food more and more. he ate half a jar of green beans last night, instead of his usual 1/3. i think we'll be adding more and more "food" to his diet over the next few weeks.

liam went bowling for his godmother's birthday this past friday. he seemed to enjoy the cosmic bowling the best, with all the lights flashing and moving. on sat., we went to watch bill help with a fire training class. liam got to see his dad all dressed out in his bunker gear, complete with air mask. bill looked at liam and said - LIAM, I AM YOUR FATHER - through the air mask, but liam was COMPLETELY unimpressed by bill's darth vader impersonation. oh well.

5 months old!

2007-10-26T09:30:00.000-04:00

liam is 5 mo. old today. he seems to be enjoying his dinner of peas this week (visualize whirled peas.) :) i think we might try a fruit next. he also likes his new play yard that we set up for him - he can play on the floor with his toys without being kissed 27,000 times by the dogs. his favorite think to do, though, is play in his jumparoo. sometimes he looks like he's trying out for riverdance. it's pretty funny to watch.

liam got a very nice package in the mail from his birthfather yesterday. he managed to find a beanie baby with a "born on" date of liam's birthday! liam gave it a big hug when we took it out of the box.

liam also seems to like riding on my old rocking horse. he's still too short to ride on his own, but he holds onto the handles like a big boy while he rides. we do have the problem of wanting to chew on the rocking horse though.

he's been sleeping in his "big boy bed" for the last several nights and doesn't seem to mind. the monitor is on so we can hear him since he's not just outside our room anymore. we're trying to find a happy medium on the volume control though. :)

have a wonderful weekend everyone! thanks for reading.

new food!

2007-10-16T14:39:00.000-04:00

liam has been busy again. we were in memphis this past weekend for the st. jude's showcase of dogs. liffey played flyball with her friends. i'm trying to teach liam how to call passes, but i think his little fingers are too short for anyone to see. :) he had a good time visiting with his friends. it's so sad that NO ONE loves him and no one wanted to hold him or tell him how handsome he is. he even had someone from another team ask me if her dog could come pet my baby. you read that right. her dog was very sweet and tried buttering me up so that she could take liam home with her. her owner promised to come get liam if he was ever sent to the pound. :o)

and liam finally got to try some new foods. he had his first vegetable last night - sweet potatoes. he really seemed to like it, at least much more than he liked his rice cereal and somewhat more than he liked his oatmeal. he still loves to take a bath, too.

liam has his first cough. it is very sad to hear, but we've done great to get this far before his first cold. he's been around a lot of people lately, so we knew it had to come eventually.

liam might be moving downstairs to his crib at night sometime soon. he's outgrowing his cradle (he can hold onto both sides at the same time when he's not swaddled.) watch this space.....

and yes, i know i need to get a new picture posted! his comb-over was cut so he looks much more handsome now.

4 mo. pediatrician check up

2007-10-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

the little porker is 25 inches (50%ile), 15 bls 6 oz (60%ile) and his head circum. is also in the 60%ile. he didn't enjoy his 4 shots, but within mintues, he was smiling at the pretty nurse again.

that night we bought him a jumparoo that "aunt beth" found him on craigslist. he LOVES the jumparoo, just like his friends landon, lily and olivia do.

he tried cereal for the first time sat. night. he thinks we are raving lunatics for putting that stuff in his mouth! i think he'll like it more once he gets to eat something that tastes better.

another busy weekend....

2007-09-27T14:44:00.000-04:00

liam had another fun filled weekend. saturday liam and i met up with friends from our old infertility support group. he got to see his friend landon, who was adopted through the same agency as liam, and he got to see lily and olivia, his "girlfriends," with their moms, of course. we also got to see "aunt" carrie's belly with her twins (along with "aunt" susan's horse impersonation, which liam was laughing out loud at) and got to meet abbey, who is just starting the adoption process with our agency.

on sunday, liam hung out with his grandma karen while we did a flyball demo at a fundraiser. sunday night liam went to his first cardinal's game! they won, so liam must be a good luck charm (either that, or they didn't want to listen to him scream any longer.)

liam also started rolling from his back to his stomach last week! he is a man on the move! he turned 4 mo. old yesterday. he goes in for his 4 mo. pediatrician visit tomorrow. we're hoping that he gets to start cereal soon. i think the little porker will like it.

on the move!!

2007-09-17T16:39:00.000-04:00

liam started scooting across the floor last week. he's trying hard to figure out how to move better than that. if it was up to him, he'd be walking by now. he has to be able to see EVERYTHING. he loves to sit outside and look at the trees (glad some of them are growing back after the tornado!) :) he already likes to pet liffey and lincoln (especially very soft lincoln.) we are teaching him how to be very gentle with lincoln.

liam went to the balloon glow friday night. he liked looking at the balloons light up and didn't miss anything because his cousin andrew made sure to point out all the cool balloons. sat. night liam went to a bbq and had fun there (except when everyone laughed at his hair. but his hair is pretty funny last night.)

got good news that an online infertility vet friend is now a proud mom (yeah spike!) she had a very short wait from her match to her son's birth. gee, sound familiar? spike is the lovely person who sent liam his dog "rug" that he is laying on in the previous picture. she deserves this!

a local infertility vet friend is waiting for her potential birthmother to give birth next week. hoping to be able to sneak upstairs to take a quick peek - since she is scheduled to give birth at the hospital attached to our medical building!

and jenna - the one who appeared on oprah and the today show - is also matched. she's written on her blog about how nervous she is. i understand COMPLETELY.

what else - liam had his parents as teachers visit recently. it is confirmed that he is a genious. :) his 4 mo. pediatrician check up is next week. we're hoping to be able to try some cereal! he already loves to sit in his big boy high chair (mostly because he likes to bang on the tray.)

guess that's it from here!

more flyball....

2007-09-04T17:03:00.000-04:00

liam had 2 weekends in a row of flyball! he LOVES to go to flyball because he has so many friends there he can't keep track of them all. aunt shelly loves to hold and kiss him, aunt tammy loves to talk to him, aunt barb is getting more brave holding him while standing:) and aunt paula loves him even more because he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night anymore!

he can now roll over from his belly to his back. he has started to bat at/reach for things, including his liffey! (watch out liffey!) he loves to smile at everyone and loves to talk to himself. he's not real crazy about the long ride to iowa, but neither is his mom.

had a little issue with my life insurance co. today. they have a juvenile 1 time payment plan. when i called to get some answers to a few questions (like do you want his name or his legal name) they said (essentially) that i wasn't his parent and not qualified to purchase the policy. i assured them that according to the county courthouse where his guardianship hearing was held that i was indeed his legal guardian and had papers to prove it. i would either get the policy now or not at all. after a brief consultation with her manager, the rep was more than happy to sign him up. adoptive parents expect hurdles along the way, but this was not one i saw coming.

to end on a happy note, liffey and her teammates rocked the last 2 weekends playing flyball. liffey got a new title, as did several of her teammates. liffey posted her fastest racing time ever and had fun playing flyball with her friends (and against her friends!) hope you like the picture of liam, too.

liam update

2007-08-15T11:04:00.000-04:00

liam has decided that there are too many THINGS TO SEE to take time to eat. we're hoping the heat is aggravating this "issue" and that he returns to his normal piggy self soon. he doesn't seem upset by this at all, except when we try to convince him that eating only half of what he was eating last week is not enough!

we also brought out the exersaucer. he LOVES to sit up, look around and swat at the toys. he's still not very good at sitting up (the exersaucer is supposed to be for 3+ mo) but he can lean on it like he's at a bar, waiting for a drink. :)

we took a family dip in the not-hot hot tub. liam liked that a lot too. he also likes to watch liffey swim in her "pool." so many things to see! like his lamp! (he laughed at it yesterday.) and his wallpaper! (it has puppies on it too.) and, of course, himself in the mirror. :)

jenna's book & oprah show

2007-08-15T11:01:00.000-04:00

http://epilogue.inconceivablejourney.com/2007/08/14/ready-set-mail.aspx

that is a link to jenna's blog entry from today. she is sending a copy of her oprah show appearance (and i think the today show is on there too) to anyone who wants to see it. it will be passed from person to person to whereever it might go. i tivo'd the rerun of the oprah show. if anyone close wants to see it, let me know. if you are far away, go to jenna's website and sign up for the DVD train. jenna did an excellent job of representing infertility, and oprah was completely lacking in empathy. completely.

and just another plug for jenna's book - the empty picture frame. you can follow the link to her website or you can order it from amazon. for anyone who wants a first hand account of infertility treatment, from both a female and male perspective, it is an excellent book.

first non-flyball campout

2007-08-07T16:19:00.000-04:00

we decided to try out our camper on a NON-flyball weekend of camping. it was nice not getting up at the crack of dawn for a captains' meeting and the 2nd race of the day. :)

the WHOLE family went - bill, liam, liffey, lincoln and me. liam really seems to like being outside. liffey was excited because we went camping with our friends beth and dwayne, their 3 kids and their 3 dogs (marvin is liffey's hero!) bill has a new girlfriend though - blond hair, blue eyes and 2 yrs old. :) kyleigh kept giving bill "the look" all weekend.

everyone had fun on our little hike (which was more fun after we got in the air conditioned car) ,and we all loved the pool, even liam. bill was smart enough to bring our rollerblades. liam likes going anywhere in his stroller, so i just pushed him while i skated. bill took lincoln and didn't even have to do any work because lincoln just pulled him the whole way! lincoln LOVED it and wants to rollerblade more often. we'll have to see if we can find a place to do it again. liffey tried it, but she was too scared of the cars going by.

and yes, it was 100 degrees, but we have a/c in the camper! we're not as dumb as we look!!

swimming

2007-08-02T15:54:00.000-04:00

Liam went swimming for the first time yesterday. he has his very own teeny tiny pool that looks like a frog. he didn't like the fact that the water wasn't as warm as his bath, but after a minute or 2, he got over it and really enjoyed being in the water. he smiled and talked to himself a lot.

bill and i also (finally) finished the nursery. what most people don't think about is that most of the world has 9 mo. to prepare a nursery and that many adoptive parents won't do anything until the baby is home (imagine an empty nursery, just waiting...) so we put up his puppy wallpaper border and his puppy wall hangings. we moved out the things that didn't need to be in there too. he also got rid of the girly furniture (my old furniture) and got his uncle's old furniture. the changing table is due to arrive tonight!

and yes uncle, you wore a dress. i'm sure mom and dad have proof somewhere...

baptism pictures

2007-07-31T10:13:00.000-04:00

liam was not overly excited about having to wear a dress (or a GOWN as everyone pointed out), but it was the same baptismal gown that i wore, my brother and cousin wore, my mom wore and several other irish kids in east st. louis wore. :)

this is liam with his godparents, paula and paul (trying to keep things easy for him.)

first day at aunt lynn's

2007-07-27T11:26:00.000-04:00

tuesday was the first day that both bill and i were at work, so liam spent the day with aunt lynn. i don't think he suffered TOO terribly much, considering he was reportedly much happier tues. than wed. back at home with his dad. :)

liam LOVES being outside. if he is fussy, just going outside can cheer him up. he doesn't care if it's 95degrees with 95% humidity! he likes to stare at trees and the sky right now. maybe he wants to be a biologist like his uncle?

on wednesday he got to meet liffey and lincoln's best friends - the VETS office. we only got to visit for a minute, but i think liffey and lincoln were jealous of liam when we came home.

last night he helped his godmother paula unpack her parents' moving van. OK, actually, he didn't do his share of the work and slept through most of it, but we'll cut him some slack this time.

busy 2 days

2007-07-23T12:44:00.000-04:00

yesterday was liam's baptism. he wasn't happy about wearing his gown, but his uncle wore it, i wore it and his grandma wore it. he had no choice. :) he expressed his boredom of the whole thing by yawning, repeatedly, through the entire ceremony.

today was his 8 week pediatrician appt. bill said that he did well but did NOT like the shots (liam, not bill.) he is 30%ile for height but 60%ile for weight (you should see his little pot belly!)

he has started sitting in his little bumbo seat, which a little help. he seems to enjoy it - he likes looking around. liffey likes it because he's an easier target to give kisses to. :)

our picture and testimonial are on the agency's website now! take a look!

completely off topic

2007-07-18T12:33:00.001-04:00

ok, just a little filler. another anonymous drive by story from a friend of mine....

we had the worst thing happen here last night. a guy came into our front hallway and pooped. how rude! he pooped on our mail! the strangest things happen in our neighborhood. we filed a police report for a poop and run but i doubt they will ever find the guy. only in our hood.

the incredible talking baby

2007-07-17T16:23:00.000-04:00

so the last 2 nights liam slept from 10:30 til 6:30 because he loves his mom so much. last night he was up at 4 (which is more like him), but when he went back to sleep, he felt the need to "talk" in his sleep for the next 2 hrs til i got up (at least.) grunt, squeal, grunt, sigh, on and on and on. if i wasn't trying to sleep, it would have been really funny. :)

and liam's latest stunt was to figure out how to get his thumb in his mouth and his index finger up his nose. very gifted child.

we finally got liam's fire fighter fountain set up on the front porch. he wasn't overly impressed by it, but then again, he's not impressed by much, other than a bottle and a binky. and a dry diaper. don't forget that.

tuesday afternoon ramblings

2007-07-10T16:46:00.000-04:00

i have tried to add a blinkie from our adoption agency to the blog. i hope it works. we were having some "technical difficulties" earlier.

my brother said that if you click on the little pictures of liam, you can actually get full sized ones. who knew.

lots of people have commented on liam's quick adoption. when i was chatting with some other infertiles on one of the bulletin boards i'm on, i realized that the entire adoption process took less time than it took to get a 0 beta (which i technically never got - we just stopped at 5) after my miscarriage. a beta is the pregnancy blood test that measures the amount of pregnancy hormone in your system. it should have dropped after we saw no heartbeat. it went up (a tiny bit.) CERTAINLY should have dropped to 0 quickly after the d&c. took over 8 weeks. we got liam quicker! other infertiles will appreciate the irony in that.

more pictures....

2007-07-06T22:24:00.000-04:00

by popular demand, more pictures of our little man. and yes, after 8 yrs of college i still can't figure out microsoft vista and all 3 pictures saved differently. don't ask.

the top picture was at his shower in illinois. the bib is from his fire fighter adoption lawyer (yes, he does both.) :)

the 2nd one was taken today of him sleeping in his swing that he is borrowing from his aunt lynn.

the 3rd one was taken last weekend in iowa at flyball. he is wearing his cardinals/pujols shirt that his uncle chris sent him from california. it was a little big, but he didn't mind.

and yes beth, we have to start them early in flyball, but i don't think anyone will beat sam's record of starting a dog at age 4. :)

liam's first camping trip

2007-07-03T09:45:00.000-04:00

well, we all survived. we made the trip to and from amana, iowa with 2 dogs (1 drugged) and 1 baby. we all stayed in the camper with our friend paula and her 2 dogs. the weather was great (which is unusual for a flyball weekend.) liam didn't seem to mind camping at all. he got to hang out with the team's other junior handlers who love hanging out with him.

liam got 2 fire truck books and his first pair of wigwam socks in amana. it was a very big day for him, but he seemed rather unimpressed. :) liam also wore his cardinal's shirt from his uncle chris. i got a few pictures, so i will work on posting those. he was not very cooperative yesterday. ;)

it's about time....

2007-06-23T20:45:00.000-04:00

i know, i know. i finally figured it out (i think.) or not. i did the exact same thing with both pictures and ended up with 2 different sizes. i'll try to fix it.

these were taken a few weeks ago. i need a few more recent close ups.

i'm trying to type and hold a tired baby at the same time. more later.

enjoy!

almost 4 weeks old

2007-06-21T19:39:00.000-04:00

sorry it's been so long since i've gotten an update up. this dial up connection at home gives me ulcers. :)

liam is doing well - his favorite activities are eating and sleeping (we just need to convince him to sleep when WE say he should. ) :)

he survived his first flyball tournament with flying colors - sleeping through the barking dogs and meeting LOTS of new aunts and uncles. :)

we've had a shower at the firehouse and a shower at aunt lynn's house. we also went to liam's friend landon's shower. landon was adopted through the same agency as liam (that's how we found our agency was from our friend richelle.) landon is only 3 mo. older than liam, so he already has a good friend.

we have another shower that my parents are giving this coming sunday. his baptism is scheduled for july 22nd. if anyone would like to attend, please give us a call!

i will work on resizing some pictures soon! (have i mentioned how much i hate microsoft vista?)

home!!

2007-06-04T22:12:00.000-04:00

well, liam progressed well in the NICU and all his test results came back fine (including his hearing screening.) :) tues. night we were allowed to stay in a regular hospital room with him and be his primary caregivers - but the nurses were right across the hall if we needed anything.

wed. morning we had our court hearing - all went well. his birthparents went first and bill and i sat outside with their boys and then we went in and testified. we had to do the whole - raise your right hand and sit on the witness stand, which i wasn't expecting. later that morning he was circumsized and after that was all done and followed up, we went home!!

liam has had a constand stream of visitors and has behaved himself quite well. he got a beautiful cradle made by his grandpa ken. 2 of his great grandma's have come to visit and the other called today to check on him. he had his first flyball practice yesterday and did just fine - sleeping like all good flyball players do. :)

liffey and lincoln LOVE liam. i was worried about lincoln, since he is so sensitive, but both dogs can't give him enough kisses and both have tried to climb into carseats, cribs, bouncers, etc. :)

liam had his first ped. appt. on friday and did well - no major problems and he's 50%ile or so for just about everything!

thank you to everyone for all the well wishes, especially all my IVFC friends, my pity party friends and my friends here in st. louis for all the support, help and gifts (hadley - lincoln is trying to find your cats in the box of clothes from gavin and george!) :)

a beautiful baby boy....

2007-05-29T07:06:00.000-04:00

we managed to get a picture of him into our email (don't ask.) :) this is a picture of him from sunday - probably when we were holding him for the first time. you can see his canula to help him breath and his hand wrapped up from the IV (which later got changed to a PIC line.) he loves to be held, and he loves to sit up and look around. we are off to the hospital later this morning. bill's cousin tyler is going to come meet the newest family member (since tyler lives a half of a block away from the hospital!)

oh, and he moved to his "big boy bed" last night, with no breathing support! his O2 levels were almost better than with the support. :) (he HATED that thing!)

latest liam update

2007-05-28T23:35:00.000-04:00

can't remember where i last left off, but yesterday liam was extubated and did well on room air with a nasal canula. he had some inspiratory stridor (it sounded like he was snoring when he breathed in) and he got some steroids for that because they figured it was from the trauma of being intubated. that is mostly resolved now. we got to hold him for the first time yesterday. he seemed to enjoy it and looked at us with his big dark eyes. the nasal canula was removed this evening and he was doing great - some O2 readings even higher than before! he HATES all that stuff on him.

the infection cultures that were started at the first hospital weren't showing any growth. he had a spinal tap today to test for meningitis and the initial test results are good. he will be getting his hearing screening sometime soon (i've already spoken to the audiologist.) :)

we got to feed him today and he is learning to be a little trooper! he got his first bath and also got to finally wear some clothes. he looked very handsome in his red, white and blue outfit in honor of memorial day.

my parents visited yesterday and bill's parents visited today. and yes, there was lots of crying. :) we will find out tomorrow if we can get a wed. court date to finalize the termination of parental rights. his birth parents are signing their forms tomorrow, but it is still revocable until the judge signs it.

we're taking lots of pictures but have a hard time posting them from here without a compact flash drive here. bill emailed a picture to aunt lynn, so bug her for it. :) i hear that between paul, lynn, the kids, paula and her mom, our house is quite the sight to see right now.

thank you everyone. i need to get some sleep now. :)

welcome to the world

2007-05-27T07:28:00.000-04:00

sorry not much time. we are at the ronald mcdonald house.

liam joseph was born after less than 4 hrs of labor yesterday - weighing 8lbs 2 oz, 19 inches long. he required O2 and was doing well with sat. levels, but he was breathing rather quickly, so he was transferred to a NICU at a bigger hospital. he is doing well here - already last night he was on room air through his intubation tube. there are 3 main causes for his problem, but they think (or did last night) that his lungs are just a big more premature than he is.

we are off to the hospital to spend the day with him again. his birthparents are making the trip today to see him one more time since they didn't get to say goodbye properly when the ambulance came to transport him.

jenna's website

2007-05-25T08:56:00.001-04:00

our friends beth and dwayne added their story to jenna's website. i'm going there next to check it out.

i got jenna's book in the mail yesterday. i am very excited to read it. i'm sure she did an excellent job.

and just for fun, liffey's flyball friends marvin, silk and cassie joined liffey and lincoln as dogster pup pals. :)

as for adoption news, nothing really new yet. our s/w submitted the birthplan to the hospital, but i'm not so sure the hospital is excited or comfortable with an adoption. we'll all do the best we can.

nothing really new

2007-05-24T16:35:00.001-04:00

waiting to hear from the s/w (social worker) to see if she spoke with the hospital s/w about the birth plan. apparently they're not quite sure (at the hospital) what to do. i'm sure our s/w will get it straightened out.

sending more $$ out - this time to a lawyer. yeah! but good news today from a friend who just signed with our agency, so we'll wait to see how that pans out.

and for the smile for the day, liffey and lincoln's dogster pages. check out the rosette's they got today....
http://www.dogster.com/?81526
http://www.dogster.com/?81525

latest update as of tues. evening....

2007-05-23T10:33:00.001-04:00

i got a call from the BM that her dr's appt went very well yesterday EXCEPT for the fact that she is no where close to being in labor. :) she is ready to not be pregnant anymore! next appt is set for may 31st, but she is bound and determined to not make that appt.

names

2007-05-22T10:58:00.000-04:00

got this comment from scott...

So I took a quick survey and 100% of the people I talked with like the following names for the baby.
Scott Paul M*
Paul Scott M*
I leave it to you to guess how many people I surveyed and whom they were. Congrats, can't wait to see the new baby.

our birthmother has another dr. appt today!

u/s showed......

2007-05-20T09:15:00.000-04:00

our wonderful birthmother is carrying a BOY!! lincoln and bill are excited that the scales are tipping in their favor, but liffey and i will still run things around here. :)

i spoke with our BM on the phone friday night. she is very kind and considerate. she has a funny sense of humor, not unlike someone else i know. :)

we tried to get the lawyer situation figured out since bill and i didn't really know what we were talking about, but i think we got that settled. we were approved for our home equity loan and are waiting for the checks to come in.

we went to babies r us yesterday. the infertility (IF) vet in me still wasn't comfortable in there, but we looked at car seats mostly with a quick tour of the rest of the store. we'll have to have the car seat to bring him home. the rest can come later. we have a beautiful crib that we are borrowing from bill's friend hal. we used a famous barr gift cert. to buy him his coming home outfit and a few other little things.

WE ARE MATCHED!

2007-05-18T12:27:00.000-04:00

i got a call from our social worker (s/w) on wed. afternoon, in the middle of seeing a patient. when i was able to call her back, she asked if we'd like to be matched, and i thought about it for a while.... :)

2 weeks to the day that she told us that we were active, she told me that a birthmother had picked us! the birthfather is known and has also given his consent. they do not know the sex of the baby, but her ultrasound (u/s) was normal.

here's the bigger news - she is due june 4th!! 2 days after our 6th wedding anniversary. she is here in our state, so that should make things easier not having to do the interstate compact paperwork. the drive there should only be about 3 hrs or so.

not a whole lot of other news at this point. just trying to get things ready. we moved my old day bed out of liffey's room (she was confused when she went into her room this morning when i left.) we sealed the 2 log walls that hadn't been sealed yet (only 6 yrs behind.) :o) hopefully we will be decorating it as a nursery in the next few weeks!

watch this space

2007-05-17T15:28:00.000-04:00

things have been busy the last couple of days. just thought i would share another anonymous story for today.

guy called me up telling me he thought he had become lactose intolerant because he had a stuffy nose, and he had cereal with milk that morning. i had to explain what lactose intolerance was and that he had symptoms at the wrong end. he was embarrassed.

it's monday

2007-05-14T17:05:00.000-04:00

well, i survived another mother's day weekend. winery trips with single friends is a definite help. :) and i got to spend yesterday with just me and my mom. she brought me a rose for mother's day, which was very nice.

nothing new to report really. i sent our social worker an update for our home study. we got the results from the EPA saying that our water and soil tested low (normal) for lead, which is excellent news, considering how close we are to the old lead mines.

i think tomorrow i'll write up about what all we had to do to go through the application process for our adoption agency.

today's lesson

2007-05-10T13:03:00.000-04:00

for those of you still reading that i haven't bored to death, i thought i'd talk about why we chose domestic vs international adoption.

we looked into both several years ago. we looked at ukrainian adoption since bill's grandma is first gen. ukrainian american. (and still can speak it even though she denies it completely.) :) but it can be expensive with the travel and the children are generally older (2+ yrs was fairly common when we last researched it.)

international adoption gives you a bit more of a definitive timeline. it takes X weeks to get this paperwork in, X weeks to be matched, X weeks for paperwork in country to be completed, etc etc. but typically parents don't have much medical history (if any), and foreign countries can change their minds about rules (china just did it, russia is doing it and guatemala is getting ready to shut down altogether. of course, domestic BMs (birth mother) can change their minds too!) some countries have children in foster homes, and some have them in orphanages. developmental delays can happen in orphanages from lack of one on one attention, but most kids catch up quickly in an adoptive home with lots of attention.

domestic adoptions have really no known timeline. you could be chosen in a week; you could be chosen in year, or more. but typically, you can find lots of medical background info. often adoptive parents can speak directly to the BM. sometimes they are even there for the birth of the child! domestic adoption is the only way to adopt a new born baby and have them home with you within a few weeks. but, of course, you always run the risk of the BM changing her mind. good agencies help reduce this risk, but even good agencies can't control everything.

there are lots of websites out there with more info. just google domestic and international adoption.

2007-05-09T12:20:00.000-04:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18557471/

this is the today show's website for today's clip. 6 adoption myths along with a link to the video.

my friend marie commented that she likes my blog and jenna's website also, but that she doesn't understand all the abbreviations. i told her not to worry because i didn't understand them all either. i thought i might list some of the common ones in case i use them - out of habit, and because it's easier. :)

2WW Two-week wait
A/F Aunt Flo (your period)
ART Assisted reproductive technique
BBT Basal body temperature
BCP Birth control pills
BM birthmother
BFN Big fat negative
BFP Big fat positive
CD Cycle day
CM Cervical mucus
D&C Dilation and curettage
DE Donor eggs (not to be confused with donor embryo)
DPO Days post-ovulation
ENDO Endometriosis
ET Embryo transfer
FET Frozen embryo transfer
FSH Follicle stimulating hormone
H/B Heartbeat
HCG Human chorionic gonadotropin
HPT Home pregnancy test
HRT Hormone replacement therapy
HSC Hysteroscopy
HSG Hysterosalpinogram
ICSI Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection
IUI Intra-uterine insemination
IVF In vitro fertilisation
LAP Laparoscopy
LH Luteinising hormone
LMP Last menstrual period
LP Luteal phase
MFI male factor infertility
M/C Miscarriage
PCOS Polycystic ovary syndrome
PCT Post-coital test
SA Sperm analysis
TTC Trying to conceive
U/S Ultrasound

that is an edited down list i lifted from another site. i have learned about every single one of these things and i believe every single test/procedure listed has been done to us. hope this helps.

link to the today show

2007-05-08T10:10:00.000-04:00

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=80bf3332-575e-46ae-89c6-94d54958d9ad&f=00&fg=

this one worked for me. hope it still works. jenna did a GREAT job. the blocked tube lady was NOT a good infertility example.

today's show apparently talked about miscarriages. i will post a link as soon as i find it.

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=18f9641f-d84e-4b5e-b5e4-1cb326594be8&f=05&fg=rss

hope this one works too. this is from today's show. the woman featured was found to have a blood clotting disorder. didn't mention with one, but i have 2 of them, so it may be similar. this segment was fairly well done.

thanks!

2007-05-08T09:25:00.000-04:00

thanks for the comments! i may need to borrow some of liffey's border collie friends because bill does NOT make a good herding dog. :)

and i think i fixed the link to jenna's website on the right. i had an extra http or something in there. and for those of you who can read french, marie's blog is about her life as a rugby player's wife. she is a friend of mine from grad school #1 and was a bridesmaid in our wedding.

i thought i'd try to catch some of you up on what we have done in the past. today i thought i'd share our story on how we found our agency.

i started looking into adoption several years ago, way before IVF because i was NEVER going to do IVF. ever. ha. and ha again. i sent away for info from several local agencies and some in texas, at the recommendation of someone from the infertility support group i attended. i also learned through my local friends that, except for the governmental agencies, all of the local agencies here in town had a religious requirement. there is 1 new agency that does not - only one - but she is very new and trying to get her agency going. when i was looking at the application forms for the other local agencies, every single one was discriminatory. no non-christians, no homosexuals, etc etc. that excludes too many of my friends. i also was not going to write a 1 page essay on how jesus is my personal savior. i passed theology in college just fine, thank you. all the agencies also require a referral from your pastor. that would be great, except no one at our church knows who the heck we are because we're not "from" there.

i researched some larger, nationwide agencies too. i've always been a little nervous about big institutions - like, say, a state university. :) in the end, we decided to go with the same agency a friend used. while i was getting ready for our donor embryo cycle, a friend started her adoption paperwork with this agency and was very happy with them. it is here in our state, but not in the city. they have no religious requirement. they help the birthmother (BM) become self supportive so she can take better care of herself after the birth. they advertise nationwide along with in state. they also work with a facilitator in another state. our social worker said about 50% of the BM's come from in state and 50% are from out of state.

so now we wait. we may travel to the next county to meet a potential BM (PBM) or we may travel to another state. watch this space.....

lincoln's ducks

2007-05-07T15:24:00.000-04:00

i hear that jenna was great on the today show. as soon as i get a link to the clip, i will post it here. she said my story made it on her website in time for the show. maybe someone will feel sorry for us and want to pay for our next cycle and our adoption! or not.

in the mean time, lincoln finally got to meet his ducks, face to face, in the yard.
they are defective ducks.
they think lincoln is their momma, and they were scared of water.
i'll try to get a picture posted of lincoln with his pet ducks following him around.

2007-05-04T09:47:00.000-04:00

ok, nothing exciting to report right now, so i have had an offer from an anonymous person of a story to post. this happened to him/her at work.

when i was going to a meeting last week with this one weirdo here.
it was all quiet in the car for about 5 mins or so
then out of nowhere he goes "hmmmm yip yip hmmmmm."
then silence.
i didn't know what to do.
so i just stayed quiet and turned away to look out the window.

please check out this website

2007-05-03T17:14:00.000-04:00

http://www.inconceivablejourney.com/default.htm

this was created by my friend who i mentioned was on oprah and is going to be on the today show. she did say that it would be in the 8 o'clock hour, but i don't know if that's eastern time only. (not up on my today show "stuff.")

i just sent my story to jenna, so if you'd like to read it, it might be posted there in a few days.

2007-05-03T12:02:00.000-04:00

got this off of one of my infertility chat boards. except for you fellow IF vets out there (IF=infertility and vets is our term for those of us who have been there, done that, still no success), the rest of you would be amazed at the incredibly stupid things people say to infertiles.

So, what do you think people would say to you if you were paraplegicinstead of infertile...
As soon as you buy a wheelchair, I bet you'll be able to walk again!

You can't use your legs? Boy, I wish I was paralyzed. I get so tiredof walking, and if I were paralyzed I wouldn't have to walk anywhere!I could just sit around and relax all day long...

My cousin was paralyzed but she started shaving her legs in the otherdirection and she could walk again. You should try that.

I guess God just didn't mean for you to be able to walk.

Are you sure you want to be able to walk? It is SUCH hard work!

Oh, I know exactly how you feel, because I have an ingrown toenail.

Sorry, we don't cover treatment for paraplegia, because it's not alife-threatening illness.

So... when are *you* going to start walking?

Oh, I have just the opposite problem. I have to walk everywhere I go!

But don't you *want* to walk?

You're just trying too hard. Relax and you'll be able to walk.

You're so lucky... think of the money you save on shoes.

I don't know why you're being so selfish. You should at least be happythat *I* can walk.

I hope you don't try those anti-paralyzation drugs. They sometimesmake people run too fast and they get hurt.

Look at those people hiking... doesn't that make you want to hike?

Just relax, you'll be walking in no time.

Oh do my legs hurt, I was walking and walking and going up and downthe stairs all day.

I broke my leg skiing, and was on crutches for weeks, and was worriedI'd have a permanent limp, but I'm 100% healed.

I'd ask you to be in my wedding party but the wheelchair will look outof place at the altar.

You're being selfish, not coming on the hike with us, and looking atall of my track & field trophies.

Don't complain, you get all the good parking places.

If you just lose weight your legs will work again.

If you would just have more sex, you could walk!

You don't know how to walk? What's wrong with you? Here let a real manshow you how to walk!

You are just trying too hard to walk. Give up, and then you'll walk.

Here, touch my legs, then you'll walk!

Everyone in my family can walk. It must be in the water!

Just take a vacation, and the stress-break will be sure to get youwalking!

When _we_ were young we only had to worry about having to walk toomuch.

And I bet a parapalegic going to a bookstore doesn't find books aboutparalysis stacked next to all the books on running...

"paper pregnant"

2007-05-02T14:51:00.000-04:00

well, it's official - we are WAITING. not that we haven't done that enough in the past 3 1/2 yrs, but that is usually in 2 week increments when we know the date we are waiting for. we have nooooo idea what date we are waiting for now. none. oh, i love being patient! :o)

i got my SHARE newsletter yesterday. SHARE is a pregnancy and infant loss support group. i like some of the things in their newsletters. thought i would share part of their cover article on surviving mother's day.

-acknowledge that you are parents.
-be gentle with yourselves. do only what you can handle. acknowledge that this day could be difficult and determine how you can comfortably spend the day.
-alert yourself to the most difficult challenges of the day, such as attention given to moms and dads at church. some parents have talked to their clergy about the importance of recognizing all parents at these celebrations.
-family gatherings may make you feel uncomfortable. discuss this with your family and let them know that you appreciate their love and support, but that you may not be able to attend of manage your composure throughout the entire day. assure them that these feelings will not be forever.
-remember your baby by lighting a candle, placing a rose on the alter or dinner table, or planting a tree or bush.

i was going to add something that happened to me, but i'll refrain so no one gets mad at me. :o) our son was only 7 1/2 weeks into the pregnancy when his heart stopped beating, but we sure loved him during that time, and since. our peach trees were planted in his, and his siblings', memories. they had beautiful blossoms on them this spring. who knew peach blossoms were pink??

2007-05-01T15:14:00.000-04:00

our social worker let me know that our final paperwork was rec'd last friday and that she was going to finish our home study write up over the weekend. then she will send it to her supervisor for final approval. thanks to everyone who sent a referral letter! we had twice as many as we needed. :) our portfolios were mailed on friday, so they should be in columbia by today i would think.

we had a fun weekend at flyball. our team finished first 2 days in a row! little liffey ran hard even though she was scared of the cars outside. she REALLY likes running with her border collie friends silk and marvin (she idolizes marvin.) :o)

everyone by sure to watch the today show the week of may 7th (next week.) an online infertility/adoption friend will be on the today show. there are supposed to be 3 parts to the story, and she is in 1. not sure which day yet, but she will be talking about her infertility treatments, i believe. she was incredibly brave and appeared on the oprah show, where her comments were edited down to half of what she wanted to convey to the world about infertility. oprah, and her audience, basically told jenna to "get over it." i will never watch oprah or buy her magazine again after her treatment of jenna. (and you all know how stubborn i can be!)

i figured i might share some of our infertility testing and treatment, since most of you got to miss it the first go round, while we are waiting for more adoption news.

hello everyone!

2007-04-27T13:12:00.000-04:00

hello everyone! i decided this was the best and easiest way to keep everyone updated on our adoption. this account doesn't show personal info like my yahoo acct does, so that is why i created this one.

the latest update this week is that our final homestudy paperwork was mailed to our social worker (s/w) on wed. today, we mailed our portfolios to the agency.

will update everyone as i have news, or just feel like posting!