Court Date

Not even 8 months old and Sienna has already been to court.

Don't worry, it was a good reason. She hasn't turned into baby clepto (although there are random toys that keep mysteriously showing up in her diaper bag). :)

Every December (usually) the Kent County Circuit Court saves up all it's adoption finalizations for one day. That day was Thursday, December 15.

Although I didn't necessarily feel like going to court it actually turned out to be a very neat thing. The judge stated that he loves working on this day because most families who come through his courtroom are getting torn apart...on this day a family was being made. He read a poem about adoption and then signed all the paperwork with his "adoption pen" (an outrageous pen with bows and jingle bells, it was quite hilarious). Finally, he came down and presented us with our paperwork and Sienna with a little teddy bear.

Seeing all the other families that were there, coming together in celebration was very cool and I couldn't help but feel eternally blessed.

Dan and I celebrated 8 years of marriage that week as well. Needless to say, I think that year 7 was our favorite. :)

Okay...a real update

Life has become even more busy since my previous (real) update in August. Perhaps "busy" is not to right word. "Exhausting" fits better.

Why?

Well, shocking as it was to all of us, I got pregnant.

Yeah.

Really.

Baby #2's due date?

April. Yes...April. You know, the same month Sienna was born.

Siblings born less than a year apart!

Craziness. I think that God has a sense of humor. :)

Other than that bit of news and the exhaustion that comes with being pregnant, being a mom to a 7 month old (!), and working....things have been great.

My extra free time has recently been taken up by researching adoption/orphan care ministry. I feel like this is something that our church should be involved in...so I've been doing a lot of research about it. Nothing concrete is in the works as of yet...this is just something I have been thinking and praying about.

Reading up on the orphan crisis makes me so thankful for such a beautiful family. The word family is so intimate. It is people who stick by your side, who love you no matter what...and it doesn't just include those genetically related to us....it has grown to include friends (like 5th brother Mike & his FIANCE, Adrianne!!!), our beautiful daughter who is such a treasure, and our birthparents. We have been so blessed.

Truly....

...life is blessed.

(I can't update without showing off pictures of Sienna....she is growing soooo much! She does something new every day and is definitely developing a goofy sense of humor. Her new favorite thing: "kissing" which consists of chewing on people's faces. Normally that wouldn't be too bad...except for her two teeth!!!)

Update...

So...I've been told I need to update.

Here you go:

UPDATE!!!

;)

Sorry....Bottles and laundry are calling me...as is my pillow.

Mmmmm....pillow....

Babies, babies everywhere!

It seems that no matter where I look I am surrounded by pregnant women. There are so many people on Dan's side of the family that are pregnant...and all are due within 4 months of each other.

Normally this wouldn't bug me. I have a BEAUTIFUL daughter who was meant to be in my life and I couldn't be more happy.

However, a couple weeks ago my doctor told me that I was "infertile." This does not mean that I could never get pregnant...it just means that it could take longer than the 2 year mark that "normal" people get pregnant in. We have been trying for 4 years and we haven't stopped trying yet. We would love to have a brother or sister for Sienna to play and grow up with.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am just a little jealous. I remember hearing our birthmother talk about feeling Sienna moving around and kicking, all the while wishing that I could experience that as well. Because of this, seeing all the pregnant women experience what I didn't has been difficult.

That being said, if we ever do get pregnant we want people to know that it would be, in every sense of the word, our SECOND child. We have had people ask us if we wanted a "child of our own," and while well meaning, we believe this is the wrong way to think of it. Sienna was meant to be part of our family and is one of our own. A biological child would in no way be more special or somehow be more "our own" just because it would share our genetics. Sienna is our firstborn and we love her with all of our hearts.

I mean, come on, who couldn't love this precious girl?!?!

Say "Thank You!"

I have decided that you never REALLY know how much your parents love you until you become a parent yourself.

You don't realize how often you cried for absolutely no reason, your parents trying everything to make things "all better."

You don't realize that when you were a baby, your parents counted how many times you peed to make sure you weren't dehydrated.

You don't realize that your parents HAD to have a sense of humor when you go to the bathroom, RIGHT AFTER they changed you (or sometimes during the changing. Guess what? Poop shoots!).

You don't realize that after countless sleepless nights, they still love you and put your needs in front of their own (like eating, who needs that?!?!?!).

You don't realize that many parents have longed and prayed for you...some waited longer than others, some became parents in "different" ways, but in the end, they love you with all of their heart.

So this Father's Day, give an extra hug to your dad (and your mom!). Tell him how much you love him, and say thank you!

And thank you to the father's in my life!!! We love you!

Busy, busy, busy

Just when I think I have finally gotten the hang of this mothering thing, I go and get myself sick. Dan has been awesome and has sacrificed a lot of sleep to try to get me healthy again. Although this morning he did tease me about my horrible immune system. Apparently Sienna's is better than mine as well!!!
Other than being sick this week, things have been great. I love being a mom and I don't think I could love this little girl any more than I already do. I was asked at our recent Memorial Day picnic if I ever get surprised by the fact that I am a mom....Like, do I forget that there is actually a baby in the house. I don't....probably because I have been anticipating this moment for such a long time.
I love being part of the "Mommy club" and I can't remember what in the world I used to talk about before Sienna. Granted, I do still have people asking me insensitive questions like, "How long do you have to see the birthparents?" or "Does it feel weird raising someone else's baby?"
I don't want to go on a huge rant here but I want to dispel a few myths about open adoption with us:
Each adoption is different. We have a great relationship with our birthparents. We love, respect, and pray for them and we see them every week. We don't "have" to do meet with them at all. We choose to because we WANT to! We want Sienna to grow up know who her birthparents are. We want her to know what an incredible gift she was and how incredibly loved she is by ALL of us! They are not just going to go away. We don't want them to and they don't want to. They will be at events (like her upcoming baptism) and we want them to be. Without them, there would be no Sienna. :)
I'm hoping to keep up a little more with the blogging now that we are on more of a schedule. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures of this beautiful girl!

Adjusting to Perfection

When you have a newborn, you quickly realize how little time you have for other things. Life lately has consisted of staring at Sienna, sleeping, eating when we can, and showing off our daughter. I'm not complaining at all. I LOVE it!!

Little time is left for blogging. However, I have mighty aspirations of finishing the re-design of the blog this weekend AND getting pictures done for her birth announcements!

So, as you wait for that here is a little taste of what is to come:

Sweet Sienna

I will update about the hospital story later. I don't have enough energy or brainpower to do that right now. For the moment I thought I would let you all know our schedule so you can come and visit! Many of you have been waiting and praying and we can't wait to see you!

This week:

Tuesday - In the afternoon (We have our first doctor's appointment in the morning).

Wednesday - Late morning/early afternoon. We are seeing our birthparent's that night so we won't be available.

Thursday - Anytime!

Friday - Anytime!

Saturday - We have a wedding so we won't be around...

Next week:

I'll let you know for sure but pretty much every day works!

See you all soon! I know there are many people who are anxious to see this precious little one!

Sienna Noelle

Sweet Sienna was born Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 7:24am.

She was 8 lbs. 14 oz. and 22 1/4 inches!

She is also the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. She is such a good little girl and sooo alert! We haven't brought her home yet...maybe tomorrow.

It really will be a glorious Easter!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Update

No baby today...she is stubborn.

The inducement is scheduled for Thursday.

Day 369

Could today be the day?

The day I have waited not just 9 months for...but YEARS for?!?!?

The day where I get to hold my daughter in my arms?

Our birthmother has her appointment at 2:00 today. This appointment will determine whether they induce today...or Thursday.

Please be today!

This morning I am trying to think of last minute things to get done: Laundry, vacuuming up Sam hair, going to the recycling center, showering...

By the way, I think all of your prayers are doing the trick because I actually slept surprisingly well last night.

Please continue to pray for our awesome birthparents, Dan and myself, and our baby girl.

We'll keep you up to date!

Stay tuned...

Impatiently Waiting...

We aren't the only ones waiting impatiently for Baby Girl!

Day 364

Well, today is the day that Dan picked for Baby girl to come. Normally, I don't like Dan to be right but in this case, I'm fine with that! In an effort to distract ourselves while waiting for her Dan and I have been going to town on our house. On Tuesday Dan built and put in our kitchen island. It looks AWESOME! I have so much more room to cook! What is super-cute is that Dan made one side more deep so that baby girl's high chair will be able to fit under it. Dan just needs to sand it down, stain it, and put the poly coat on it. Here is a picture of it so far: Dan has also been working on covering up the ugly wood paneling that has been in our living room. Dan thought it looked fine but finally agreed to cover it up when he had our house appraised and the appraiser said, "With all the work you have done on this house I'm surprised you didn't cover that up." Haha! Score! It already makes our living room look so much brighter! Dan just needs to sand the last coat, apply primer and paint. Needless to say, Dan has been very busy. I have been cleaning up after Dan's messes..and waiting impatiently for our baby. Who knows, perhaps today will be the day that I finally get to hold my child in my arms...

Day 357

Well, Baby Girl still hasn't decided to come out yet. E has just made too good of a home for her. Truthfully, I'm hoping she waits until at least tomorrow to start because I woke up today feeling horrible. I think the anticipation and lack of sleep is just getting to me.

We do have more guesses to add though:

Aunt Deb - Sunday, April 3. Weight: 8 lbs. 8 oz.

Lindsey D. - Monday, April 4. Weight: 8 lbs. 6 oz.

Shannon - Tuesday, April 5 at 10:40pm. Weight: 7 lbs. 15 oz.

Bonnie - Friday, April 8. Weight: 7 lbs. 5 oz. 20"

Day 356

In the spirit of March Madness (and perhaps because his bracket is doing so poorly) Bryan decided at staff meeting yesterday that we all needed to place our bets as to when Baby Girl will be born.

So...here we go, Baby Girl will be born:

*Trisha - Wednesday, March 30 at 8:57pm. Weight: 7 lbs, 8 oz.

*Beth - Friday, April 1. Weight: 7 lbs. 14 oz, 20 inches

*Ben - Friday, April 1 at 1:35am. Weight: 10 lbs. 4 oz. (Ben is mean by the way...)

*Brenda - Friday, April 1 at 4:00am. Weight: 7 lbs. 3 oz.

*Marcia - Sat., April 2 at 3:00am. Weight: 7 lbs. 4 oz

*Linda - Sat., April 2 at 8:47pm. Weight: 6 lbs. 13 oz.

*Mom - Sunday, April 3 (I think she want her born on their anniversary). Weight: 7 lbs. 6 oz.

*Rick - Tuesday, April 5. Weight: 7 lbs. 1 oz.

*Dan - Thursday, April 7. Weight: 8 lbs. 2 oz.

*Bryan - Sat., April 9. Weight: 7 lbs. 12 oz. (Hopefully he is as bad at guessing this as he was at his basketball bracket). :)


If anyone else wants to put their vote in let me know soon!

How We Entertain Ourselves on a Lazy Saturday Morning...

Day 350

Why has it been so hard for me these last few weeks of waiting?

I will give you a couple reasons:

1). I can't listen to my body...I can't tell how Baby Girl is doing, or if it seems close. I have to wait for a phone call (and that is fine...it is just harder). There is progress though...E is dilated one cm already!

2). After years of waiting we are finally getting close to having a child and my arms are literally aching to hold her...

3). I'm afraid that I will wake up one day and find out my dream of being a parent is just that...a dream.

So bear with me as we near the end.

On a side note:

My cousin Carrie had her baby girl yesterday! I can't wait to see pictures and celebrate with her.

Also, two other women from my Bible study are due this week....I'm hoping we all have our babies on the same day. :)

Day 347

We have had a very busy weekend. Friday night Dan and I went to pick out our glider. For those of you who don't know this is like a rocking chair but better. Perfect for those early morning feedings. The nursery is nearly complete now...as you can see in the pictures below.





























































Dan still needs to install the closet doors....but at least this way you can see how many clothes she has! These have all been washed and are ready to go! I need to hang a couple more pictures or shelves...but other than that I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

It is so crazy to me how close it is. We meet with our birthparents last night (also, because I'm sick of typing and formulating sentences around "our birthmother/father," I will call our birthmother "E" and our birthfather "L"). E is getting very uncomfortable and her back is just killing her. We are all hoping that baby girl comes sooner, rather than later. Actually, I was hoping that this past weekend's "super moon" (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/) would suck Baby Girl out. No such luck though.

I'm so excited, and nervous, and scared, all in one package. I know I should be getting as much sleep as possible right now but I keep thinking that the phone is going to ring in the middle of the night and we'll have to spring into action. Already this child is wrecking havoc on my sleep schedule. :)

Tonight is my shower thrown by the high school/college girls and their leaders. I'll try to post pics of that and my other showers....if baby girl doesn't come before then!!!

Day 343

Phew! Not too much longer to go! Baby girl could be born any day now. I can hardly believe that I will be a mom soon! After waiting for such a long time, after so many dashed hopes and dreams, it is finally happening!!!

I talked to our birth mother last night and she said that Baby Girl is happy and healthy (and perfect...which, given our birthparents, isn’t a surprise). Although Baby Girl seems to be trying to stretch out her ‘home’ as much as possible. Our poor birthmother...she is a very petite person and now that Baby Girl has grown to a larger size it is getting pretty hard on her back (if you could all say a prayer for her that would be great).

Dan and I got the car seat this weekend and are going to get a car seat tech to install it later this week or early next week...and...the nursery is nearly ready. After two wonderful showers, two weeks in a row we are almost prepared! We really only need a couple more things before we are set (glider, burp clothes, and everyday onesies). I swear, this child has more clothes than I do already! Can we say SPOILED!!!

What is really sweet is that the high school and college girls at our church want to throw me a shower. How sweet is that? I know you hear (read) this all the time from me, but we are so very blessed and this child is already soooo loved. I can’t wait to see and hold her!

FYI – Two people were able to guess Baby Girl’s name...only one guessed it off of Dan’s silly (and confusing) riddle last week. Good job Dave & Tim!!!

Husband Guest Blog #2

So guest blogger Dan is back. It is only 3 ½ weeks away from baby girl’s due date. Everyone wants to know what her name will be. Now, Trisha probably doesn’t want to give more clues, however, there has been a massive security breach and a bunch of people have discovered her name. No one really guessed it except for Tim, but games are fun so I will give more clues. A person could easily discover the name by reading the following:

A woman had six necklaces. Each necklace has a pink bead at the beginning of each string. The women worked at a zoo with six pairs of giraffes. Now each of these necklaces belonged to one of the pairs of giraffes, but she could not figure out which was which so she asked the grizzled old janitor who had worked there for years. The man replied, “Show ‘em the first bead in the sequence, but remember to start with the first paira giraffes.”

Couldn’t be clearer.