Randoms of Waiting

Taking things slow in finishing up our home study. No immediate rush, and we're not quite ready yet. Plus, the home study expires a year from completion. Not a large sum or effort to get it updated, but not being in a hurry we can wait a bit longer. Also waiting for some of the financial information (we'd pretty much forgotten about the retirement accounts from Spawar!), takes a bit of time.

We have however chosen a primary agency to work with! We will be signing with some smaller ones as well, but the large one gives us the best chance at adoption, most likely.

So we will now be working on paperwork with the home study as well as the actual agency who will (most likely) oversee the adoption & getting things moving along!

Birth & Marriage certificates

Richard and I need to have copies of our birth certificates & our marriage certificate.
So Wyatt & I went to San Marcos to order them up!

Line was maybe 15 minutes. Of Wyatt screaming.
At front another 10 minutes, but the woman helping us was super nice and kept putting stickers on Wyatt's arm & leg and giving him pens to color on the stickers with.

Birthday gifts

Birthday celebration with the Castiles was yesterday,
gift from my parents was offer to help with adoption costs (so very appreciated!) as well as an adorable jumper.
Gifts for me AND the baby girl!

3rd home visit

We got to have the third visit on my birthday.
Exciting times, and I was more than happy to get to complete part of this process on my 32nd birthday!

Started with the home inspection. That went well, showed Lori (social worker) the room that will later be the baby room (complete with baby onesie from J.D. and Andrea hanging on wall! She loved it!). Took her on brief tour of the backyard. Only thing to be fixed I think is getting a lock for the hot tub making it child-proof. Which we need to do anyways.

Visit with Richard was first, he got to do his in depth conversation with her. I took Brett and Wyatt out to lunch with Brendan while Lori and Richard stayed here to chat.

When I returned home, after picking Matthew up from school, she spoke with the kids a bit. Got answers from Brett like "the new baby can sleep in the crib with Wyatt." It went well :)

And then chats with me & Richard together. How we parent. How we will handle 4 children. Watched how we interact together. And how we handle kids fighting, since of course an argument happened between the boys over lego pieces...

And then she left!
3 hours today, it went well.
Waiting on the Dept of Justice fingerprints (other ones already came through, child abuse ones and FBI!), the rest of our financial statements, and doctor forms for us (need to make that appt).

Home Study visit #2

2 hours of LOTS of questions!
It was me by myself, Richard will have a separate one of the same next week.
At later points, talks with me & Richard together, actual inspection of the home, as well as talks with the kids.

Wyatt went down for a nap right before she arrived,
Brett went to his friend Lewis' house,
and Matthew was unexpectedly home sick from school (but kept quiet and very happy with new Lego set!).

Questions started with my childhood, relationships with friends, family, and of course Richard.

At one of the next meetings she will need to talk to the kids (well, maybe not so much with Wyatt), and that it was better to talk to them with adoption having been discussed. I had thought we might wait a while longer, seeing how we aren't planning on it actually happening for a while, hopefully sometime next year. So anyways, she suggested we tell them.

And after she left today I told Matthew. He was fine with it, as long as a sister doesn't like Hannah Montana (which would apparently be the worst thing in the world). And then when Brett got home, Matthew informed him. Neither was shocked. I suppose it seems entirely abstract to them, especially when I told Brett it would probably happen after he's already done with Kindergarten (even Kinder starting seems forever away for him).

Wyatt will just be happy to not have to accessorize with pink floral.

The (other) first gift!

Oops!
JD & Andrea actually sent two baby girl gifts!

I opened the package and immediately thought of putting them both on Wyatt. Since he's a bit larger than the onesie (and would have fought it), I didn't.

But there was an adorable headband too....that I saved to put on him (he was napping) for a photo!

Forgot to last night, but here he is (fighting it):

First baby gift!!!

Today in the mail our first pink baby gift arrived!

It was from....

ANDREA & J.D.!!!!!

Thank you!!!