4 Months!

Emily Grace turned 4 months old today! And what makes it even more special, is that it's on her big brother Zachary's 21st birthday. We have a lot to celebrate at our house!

A few of my favorite moments over the last month:

• We finalized her adoption! She is officially "ours"...hooray!
• We had our first family picture session on the same day we finalized. She was so good for the entire hour long session.
• Emily also had her first "school pictures" at daycare.  Randy found the sweetest outfit and she is smiling in all her pictures. The cuteness is just too much.
• She is sleeping in her crib AND through the night! So proud of my big girl.
• She is talking non-stop! Some mornings  I wake up and hear her chatting away. It really is the best way to start my morning.
• She's holding her head up on her belly and trying very hard to roll over and/or crawl. I can tell she gets frustrated because her body is just not cooperating with what she wants it to do! She ALMOST made it last night so I know it will happen anytime now. :)
• She is figuring out how to prop herself up and is attempting to sit up. She's managed to hold that pose for a few seconds while my mom was holding her.
• While she was "sitting up" on my lap last weekend,  she discovered her feet! She just looked at them and rubbed them for the longest time.
• She LOVES to watch tv (which I'm not crazy about). Anytime we are feeding or holding her and the tv is on, she immediately turns her head to see it. The other morning she didn't want to eat because her bottle was blocking her view of the Today Show. Oh, the drama!  And Randy has had to cut down on his "Walking Dead" watching when she's around. :) We have found that she loves the show "Disney's House of Mouse" but it's only on You Tube. It's such a lifesaver when we are in the car and she's fussy.
• She really enjoys our reading time and has started turning the pages. Not always the most coordinated effort but amazing to watch.
• She sucks her thumb and forefinger on her right hand. It's so funny and looks like she is trying to whistle.
• She's also figured out how to take her pacifier out of her mouth. She will grab it with her right hand, pull it out of her mouth, look at it for few seconds, and pop it back in!
• She is responding to her name. She will turn her head and look at us when we say "Emily". :)

We have her 4 month check up the week after Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see how much she's grown. I'm also excited about the upcoming holidays and celebrating them with our baby girl. Randy and I have already begun Christmas shopping and we MAY have gone a bit overboard this year. But I think you're allowed to for their first Christmas. It's like a requirement or something for new parents. I'm pretty sure I read that in the baby handbook. :)

*M

National Adoption Day

"Hey, I just met you and this is crazy but I'm your mommy and you're my baby."

 

 

Today is National Adoption Day! Currently there are 100,000 children in the US foster care system waiting for a forever family.  I recently heard that there are about 14,000 domestic adoptions in the US each year. 

 

I will never forget the moment I saw Emily. The picture above was taken just hours after we met her. She was so tiny and it was all so surreal. Fast forward almost 4 months later, and I can hardly remember life before her. She is center of our world.

 

I often think about the children out there waiting to be adopted. The children floating between foster care families. The children oversees in overcrowded orphanage. I think about the people that care for them, caseworkers, foster care parents, social workers.  I wonder what goes through their minds as they care for these children day in and day out.  I think about the birth parents. I think about the birth moms (and dads) out there without their sons and daughters. I wonder if they think of them often or if they are a distant memory. I think about adoptive parents and how they adjust after this major life event. I wonder how they answer the many (and often noisy and prying) questions about adoption.  Whoever they are and where ever they are, all of us are bound together by this one common experience.   People often say that kids who are adopted are lucky. But as their parents, we truly are the lucky ones.

 

National Adoption Day is a time to celebrate but not forget. It truly is a time to celebrate all the families that have been made through adoption. But it is also a time to remember that there are children still waiting for placement with a loving family. Not everyone is called to adopt.  But you can give your money or time to organizations and resources that help children in the foster care system. A mentoring program is a wonderful way to show a child that they are loved and cared about.  Visit http://www.nationaladoptionday.org/ and http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/ to learn more and find out how you can make a difference in the life of a child.

 

 

*M



Happy Adoption Day!

Things have been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to post about our adoption day!

We got up Sunday morning and drove to Lake Lure, NC. I love the area and it's just so beautiful this time of year. After lunch at one of our favorite places, we took Emily to the Lake Lure Inn (where we got married). The temperature started dropping so we only had time for a few quick pictures before we bundled up and drove to an apple orchard. On the way there, it started raining and Emily fell asleep. We grabbed some warm apple cider and a bushel of apples and continued on our way. Randy and I really enjoyed driving through the mountains looking at the leaves changing and reflecting on good memories. We've taken countless trips together to the mountains (it's one of our favorite places to go) and it was nice to be able to take Emily along and create new memories.

We drove from Lake Lure back in to South Carolina to Greenville. We checked into our hotel and settled in for the evening. Being at the hotel brought back so many memories of our first weeks with Emily in Ohio. It was nice to know that this time we only had to stay for one night! After changing into our pjs, Emily and Randy settled in to watch a little "Tangled". For some reason, Disney movies and music always calm her down when she is fussy. She is her daddy's girl, after all. :)

 

We woke up early the next morning to get ready for family court. I told Randy I was more nervous than I was the first time we went to the hospital to meet Emily. I think because we had known about the court date for  weeks instead of it being a quick, surprise trip to Ohio! We checked out of the hotel and made it to court with time to spare. I tried to feed Emily in the car in the parking lot in hopes of her lasting through the hearing without getting fussy. But she was tired and only took a little of her bottle before passing out. After walking through metal detectors we finally made it in the court house lobby and met the guardian ad litum. She was so nice and has adopted children of her own. She told us the story of her (at the time) young son who was confused by a discussion at school where babies come from. He wad adamant that babies come straight to your house because their daughter was brought to them by their lawyer and DSS case worker. :)  Our lawyer was out of town but we met his partner who was wonderful. They each had a turn holding Emily and agreed out of all the cases they've done over the years, that God just doesn't make ugly adopted babies.

 

Our time came to enter the courtroom so we made our way towards the doors. We were about to go in when the bailiff asked us to wait outside while the judge finished up from the case just prior to ours. The attorney was holding Emily while we waited and we were soon ushered back into the courtroom. Our lawyer walked right in holding a fast asleep Emily and walked right up to talk to the judge. Randy got such a kick out of the fact that Emily was "already approaching the bench."

 

 

The hearing got underway and we each took turns on the stand answering questions about our marriage and Emily. The questions were a bid odd (like "yes, we do understand that adoption is permanent." Are there parents that don't?!?!) but there were only a few and the hearing was over in a matter of minutes. We snapped a quick picture with the judge and we were done! We got congratulations all around and the lawyer gave us info about getting Emily's birth certificate and final paper work. That part was all a blur and I'm glad we have pictures to remember it by!

 

After a quick outfit change for all (in the car in the parking lot, no less!) we made our way to a local park. We had an appointment with the woman who photographed our wedding (and adopted mom to four!) to do do our first family photo shoot! The weather was beautiful, although chilly, and we got some great shots. I would show you, but I want to keep them a surprise because they are going to be our Christmas cards! But I will show you Emily after the photo session. It's such tough work being so cute.

 

The whole weekend was such a memorable one. Every day I am reminded how blessed I am when I see her smiling face. I knew I would love being a mom but I never in a million years knew how much joy she would bring us. And it's great that she is finally "ours" and offically a Branham!