Such a Sweet Day- About our Son’s Adoption Day

This morning Lucky woke up, as usual, around 5 am.  J got up, got him some milk, changed his diaper, and brought him into bed with us with the sincere hope he’d fall back asleep.  Often this doesn’t work, but today it did.  He typically snuggles really close, as in an inch from your face, but today he slept with one hand on his dad and one on his mom.  I couldn’t think of a better way to start adoption day. 

After an hour or so, I got up and headed for the shower.  As I headed back into our room, there was J perched over Lucky just staring at him.  He looked so peaceful with his head full of curls snuggled up to my pillow and his arm clutching it.  I lay there on the other side taking in not just the beauty of watching a child sleep, but of watching my child on his adoption day sleep.  The past months just filling my heart with love and pride.  I look up at J and say, “These are his last few hours as a Gibson.”  No sooner had I said it, the enormity of it hit me.  The day is here.

Becoming a parent has been a journey.  It’s had days where I thought I wanted to just run away and cry.  Those days make me question what I got myself into.  Had I simply idealized and built up my desire to be a parent around some theoretical angel child?  Then, he will do something that will make my answer so abundantly clear.  It’s in that answer, that I realize that all of the years, all of the pain, the tears, the trying, the failing, the waiting, waiting, and waiting were, for me, worth every single second.  It’s the hardest work I’ve ever taken on.  My child is not a saint, but he’s my angel, even if horns prop up his halo. 

Today is a pivotal day for Lucky, and I hope that one day he looks back with great pride at all we weathered to make him a Winks.  I’m just so lucky and thankful.

To be continued…

Shopping and Chocolate

What more could a girl ask for right?  I love this blogger for making my day today! I came home to a box filled with Smarties (the Canadian kind), my new love Cof.fee Cr.isp, and some other delicious goodies!  I’m excited to send a box of somethin’ somethin’ back to her in a few weeks!

Today our city has a HUGE children’s consignment sale.  I didn’t go for the kid’s clothes though.  Nope.  I went for the maternity wear.  I scored a ton of great deals.  All of the clothing was gently worn, modern, and exceptionally reasonable.  I averaged $4 an article of clothing.  Not too shabby!  All in all, I was happy to have saved a bundle. 

So, excited about tomorrow.  Must go and distract myself now…

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is Lucky’s adoption day.  I am excited, but I I’ve felt he’s my son since the very second they put him in my arms.  The instant I looked at his tiny face, I felt love, tears, and a bursting pride.  He was my son right then and there.  Since then, he’s had me hook, line, and sinker.  I am so thrilled that we will soon share the same last name, s.ocial se.rvices will mostly be out of our lives (they come for four post placement visits supposedly,) and the pediatrician will no longer call me Mrs. G.  Mainly I’m just happy that nobody will be able to take away our son.  He’s been ours since he was five weeks old, and now he’s seventeen months old.  Tomorrow, legally he will be ours, and you will never see happier faces on the courthouse steps tomorrow!

Now, I just ask you…Why oh why did my son have to walk into a wall three days ago?  I mean square into it.  He was looking at me, and walked into the corner.  Big ‘ol bruise on his face.  Yep, just in time for adoption day!

12 Weeks

There are moments in your life where you simply can’t believe what is the reality of your life.  These are some of the most pivotal points in our life.  Often they bring sorrow, but sometimes they bring great joy.  Today is one of those days.  We’ve made it to twelve weeks. 

While there is nothing magical about today, there is certainly something special about it.  Today we take our hopes and dreams and let them course through our bodies.  We allow ourselves to believe that this is definitely real and definitely happening.  We allow ourselves to plan and experience this pregnancy like people who have never known the pain of recurrent losses, the heartache of years of trying, and the fear of losing all we hold so dear.  Today is a miracle in my book.

Oh, we have much further to go.  Our next mini-hurdle is 20 weeks, and then the point of viability.  However, today we ignore those hurdles and head out to celebrate with a family dinner.  It’s a beautiful day today!

Just Not Much to Say

I’m just kind of quiet over here.  I’m breathing, still nauseous, and hating food.  I’m still busy chasing around Lucky who climbs on everything now.  Although this is quite handy if your cell phone is ringing in another room.  He will go and get it no matter where it may be.

I’m counting down the days until both the adoption day and the cruise.  I’m tired.  Ready for a break. I guess my batteries are running low.

We did go to the aquarium in TN over the weekend.  Had a blast! 

Ok, off to continue reading what all of you have to say.

11 Weeks

Installing Baby 2.0

Dear Tech Support,

9 weeks ago I upgraded from Empty Womb 5.0  to Baby 2.0  and
noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance,
particularly in the home maintenance and energy applications,
which operated flawlessly under  Empty Womb 5.0.

In addition, Baby 2.0  un-installed many other valuable
programs, such as: Enjoyable Eating 9.5  and Full Nights Sleep
6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as:  Nausea 5.0, Exhaustion 3.0, and Food Aversions 4.1. Also Memory 8.0 no longer runs, and Toddler Chasing 1.5 simply crashes the system. 

Please note that I have tried running Zofran 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed, 

The Expectant 

Dear Expectant,

First, keep in mind, Baby 2.0 is an Expansion Package, while Empty Womb 5.0 is an operating system.  Please enter command: i’msoreadyfortheseonctrimester.html and
try to download Naps 6.2 and do not forget to install the Delegate Chores 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Baby 2.0 should then automatically run the applications Weight Gain 2.0 and Chocolate 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause the Husband 1.0 to default to Stunned Silence 2.5, Of Course You Look Beautiful 7.0, Fear 6.1. Please note that Fear 6. 1 is a very bad program that will download the I Miss My Pre-Expectant Wife Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Advice 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your systems resources.) 

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Romance 1.7 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Expectations 2.9.

In summary, Baby 2.0 is an amazing program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Dining Out 3.0 and Maid Service 7.7. 

Good Luck!
Tech Support

High Low

Have you ever seen that movie The S.tory of U.s?  In the movie they do the game high/low.  Each person says the high point and low point of their day.   I’m going to do this for the week.  Ready?

High:  Yesterday’s 4D ultrasound.  A picture up on the Pregnancy Page tab.  It was simply amazing.  I’m so in love with life right now.  Ok, except for the crappy nausea, food aversions, and exhaustion.  However, I’ll take it.  It’s worth it.

Low:  Having a horrible ear infection, taking seven days of meds, and having to go back to the doctor today.  Why?  The OB only treated my inner ear infection and not my outer.  That would be why I still feel like crap.  I felt a bit better as the inner got better, but the outer got worse yesterday.  Alas, that leads me to today’s low.  I just want to hear, feel better, etc. 

Not to mention, J is stuck working late.  I have a toddler who decided that napping at 5 pm is a good idea.  It’s not.  Ugghh.

Ready

I’m ready to feel the warm sunshine on my face while resting in a lounge chair poolside.  I’m ready to have nothing to do and all day to do it in.  I’m ready for a menu of options to eat, and to actually enjoy them.  I’m wishfully thinking that twelve weeks is some magical number that erases the major food aversions that ail me.  I’m ready to not have any laundry to do, no errands to run, no groceries to buy, and to linger in the warm air to watch a Caribbean sunset.  Yes, in just over two weeks I take a one week sabbatical from my reality.  It’s going to be difficult to leave my little munchkin, but batteries must be recharged to work at full capacity.

My ear is getting better. I finally got a full night of sleep last night.  It was simply beautiful.  However, we had to shift my mom’s birthday celebration to this upcoming weekend.  We’re headed out to Chattanooga, TN to go to the big aquarium they have there.  I love going there!

Now, I must tackle the nine zillion things that must get done this week!

Tomorrow I have my next ultrasound.  I’m beyond excited to see how the little one has grown!

In 15 days Lucky will have my last name.  While he has never known his name is different, in my heart I’ve yearned for the official change for some time.  Gone will be the days of the pediatrician’s office calling and asking for Mrs. His Last Name.  My heart and reality will officially be on the same page.  Who could ask for more than that?

As per Request

It was a day of father son pictures on a old dirt road by our home.  Here were the highlights.

Pictures

Walking with his dad.

The ride home from Sharah’s house.

The local outdoor mall.

With his Grandma at the mall.