I've thought about blogging our recent adoption loss multiple times and I just couldn't do it. Maybe my emotions will hold today.
First of all, I never actually posted about the adoption opportunity that fell in our laps. I won't go into much detail to keep privacy and confidentiality between us and the potential birth mom we were working with. But basically, we had a situation fall into our laps through a friend of a family member. The expectant mom (M) was interested in making and adoption plan with us instead of the abortion appointment she had previously scheduled. We were elated and very, very excited to be welcoming another baby in October.
However, at about 17 weeks, some complications arose and by 19 weeks, they had escalated to a point where the expectant mom's life and health were in danger. A decision had to be made and due to her family circumstances and her (and baby's) overall prognosis, baby had to be delivered at just 19/20 weeks.
Hearing that news was the worst thing in the world. The news that a baby that would hopefully be ours had now passed away was heart wrenching. Additionally, we still had many concerns for the M's health and her safety.
We've kept in contact with her and she's kept us updated on her health. It turns out that the baby had actually stopped growing a few weeks prior to the delivery. Baby was deprived of oxygen and was not going to make it, regardless of the other complications that led to an early delivery. After some severe post-delivery, I'm happy to say that M seems to be on the mend and doing ok now. Please pray for her, as this entire pregnancy and delivery has been extremely challenging in many ways and she could certainly use prayers.
Again, I'm not trying to be cryptic, but we feel as though many of these details are not ours to share, especially publicly on the internet.
We're just trying to go about our lives with as much grace as possible. It has affected us deeply and we are very sad and emotional about it still. As I said, we were incredibly excited to be adding another baby to our family. We want another baby, but I guess we will have to continue to wait. We're thankful for the outpouring of support and prayers. We're also very glad we hadn't yet told the kids. We were waiting until we knew if it was a boy or a girl. We still don't know and I'm glad this all happened before we told them instead of after.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Easter 2015
We had a really wonderful Easter as a family! And since it was also Anthony's birthday, we really did celebrate like crazy! Here are some pictures of our day!
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| Waiting patiently to find Easter Baskets! |
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| Family picture |
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| Best buddies (and cousins) on the trampoline |
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| Go cart fun! |
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| Me and my mini-me, my niece Gianna! |
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| Ready to find eggs! |
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| Lots of kiddos |
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| Great grandma with the great grandkids that were present (or willing to be in the photo) |
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| Outtake... Yes, that's Anthony and Cici with bags on their heads |
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| Anna and great-grandma with their annual lollipop together! |
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| Birthday boy crashed after the party |
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| Lunch time! |
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| Checking out their haul |
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| Anna and Aunt Julie |
Monday, May 11, 2015
Family Vacation
We decided to take a little vacation over Spring Break this year, especially since it fell on Jeremy's birthday. So Thursday-Saturday, we booked a hotel and planned some fun things to do in St. Louis while we visited my sister.
Thursday morning, we got up early and drove down there. We went to the zoo first. The kids were very excited. It was pretty chilly, 40s mostly and cloudy, but the nice thing is that there were hardly any people there. Anna really wanted to see the giraffes, her favorite. Anthony was excited about everything until we actually saw the animal and then he was petrified. Mya wanted to see zebras. And Agnes wanted to see everything :-).
Then we checked into the hotel and Anthony and Mya went down for a nap. I took Agnes and Anna with my sister, Julie, to go see Cinderella. The big girls loved it and it's so fun to have kids old enough to do special things like that with!
After that, we went to dinner on The Hill, the Italian neighborhood where Julie lives. It was a super yummy, authentic Italian dinner. Behaviors from my children weren't the greatest, but the food was delicious :-).
We headed back to the hotel and put our swim suits on and swam in the world's smallest hotel pool with about a zillion other people... And then it was bedtime. The kids were very excited to use their sleeping bags and sleep in the hotel. Jeremy ran out after they were asleep and got us some gelato.
Anthony actually was running a low grade temp Wednesday night and all day Thursday but since he's getting molars in, we didn't think much of it. Well, he slept horribly on Thursday night. Friday morning, he woke up with a higher temp and a runny nose. We decided to go ahead with our plans and he primarily would spend time in my carrier.
So we went to St. Louis' big children's museum, the Magic House. A foster care license gets your family in for free, so we love it there! It's huge and wonderful and the kids had a blast. Except poor Anthony who whined and snuggled on my back the whole time. We spent the whole morning there and had some lunch at their cafe.
Then it was naptime for all and my sister had to go sleep since she worked the overnight shift at the hospital that night.
We went downtown for dinner after naps and had a delicious dinner at the Spaghetti Factory after driving by the arch (it was too cold to get out). During dinner, Anthony's temperature spiked again. It went up to 105. So instead of visiting Union Station after dinner, we headed back to the hotel where the girls got on their pjs and watched a movie and Anthony and I headed to Urgent Care. Turns out, he tested positive for the flu and had an ear infection. After an hour there and some time at the pharmacy, we got back to the hotel. I got the pleasure of sharing a bed with the sick little guy and we tried to sleep as best as we could.
Saturday morning, Anthony woke up feeling great after two doses of meds. His temp was down much lower. However, Anna woke up with a temp. Hers was only about 100, but she NEVER runs a temp, so I knew something was up. She was coughing and complaining of a headache too. So Jeremy took her to Urgent Care while I packed up the room. She didn't test positive for the flu, but they gave her the tamiflu anyway.
We decided that it was best to just head home instead of sight-seeing that day. We figured that we had unknowingly infected enough of St. Louis. We spent the rest of the weekend lounging at home and watching movies. All the kids feel better this week and all symptoms of colds/flu are gone. Luckily no one else seems to have caught what Anthony and Anna had.
Basically we've now learned that if we plan a vacation, someone will be sick. Guaranteed. We had lots of fun family time and it was a nice break, especially after our long kitchen debacle. It was enough to recharge us and we came home to beautiful weather and hints of spring.
Thursday morning, we got up early and drove down there. We went to the zoo first. The kids were very excited. It was pretty chilly, 40s mostly and cloudy, but the nice thing is that there were hardly any people there. Anna really wanted to see the giraffes, her favorite. Anthony was excited about everything until we actually saw the animal and then he was petrified. Mya wanted to see zebras. And Agnes wanted to see everything :-).
Then we checked into the hotel and Anthony and Mya went down for a nap. I took Agnes and Anna with my sister, Julie, to go see Cinderella. The big girls loved it and it's so fun to have kids old enough to do special things like that with!
After that, we went to dinner on The Hill, the Italian neighborhood where Julie lives. It was a super yummy, authentic Italian dinner. Behaviors from my children weren't the greatest, but the food was delicious :-).
We headed back to the hotel and put our swim suits on and swam in the world's smallest hotel pool with about a zillion other people... And then it was bedtime. The kids were very excited to use their sleeping bags and sleep in the hotel. Jeremy ran out after they were asleep and got us some gelato.
Anthony actually was running a low grade temp Wednesday night and all day Thursday but since he's getting molars in, we didn't think much of it. Well, he slept horribly on Thursday night. Friday morning, he woke up with a higher temp and a runny nose. We decided to go ahead with our plans and he primarily would spend time in my carrier.
So we went to St. Louis' big children's museum, the Magic House. A foster care license gets your family in for free, so we love it there! It's huge and wonderful and the kids had a blast. Except poor Anthony who whined and snuggled on my back the whole time. We spent the whole morning there and had some lunch at their cafe.
Then it was naptime for all and my sister had to go sleep since she worked the overnight shift at the hospital that night.
We went downtown for dinner after naps and had a delicious dinner at the Spaghetti Factory after driving by the arch (it was too cold to get out). During dinner, Anthony's temperature spiked again. It went up to 105. So instead of visiting Union Station after dinner, we headed back to the hotel where the girls got on their pjs and watched a movie and Anthony and I headed to Urgent Care. Turns out, he tested positive for the flu and had an ear infection. After an hour there and some time at the pharmacy, we got back to the hotel. I got the pleasure of sharing a bed with the sick little guy and we tried to sleep as best as we could.
Saturday morning, Anthony woke up feeling great after two doses of meds. His temp was down much lower. However, Anna woke up with a temp. Hers was only about 100, but she NEVER runs a temp, so I knew something was up. She was coughing and complaining of a headache too. So Jeremy took her to Urgent Care while I packed up the room. She didn't test positive for the flu, but they gave her the tamiflu anyway.
We decided that it was best to just head home instead of sight-seeing that day. We figured that we had unknowingly infected enough of St. Louis. We spent the rest of the weekend lounging at home and watching movies. All the kids feel better this week and all symptoms of colds/flu are gone. Luckily no one else seems to have caught what Anthony and Anna had.
Basically we've now learned that if we plan a vacation, someone will be sick. Guaranteed. We had lots of fun family time and it was a nice break, especially after our long kitchen debacle. It was enough to recharge us and we came home to beautiful weather and hints of spring.
Friday, May 8, 2015
Anthony turned 3
Our sweet son turned 3 on Easter this year! Seriously, time flies!
At 3, Anthony continues to be a complete charmer. He can seriously turn it on for just about anyone. He smiles his sweet smile and bats his eyelashes and no one can say no to him. He loves people and will do just about anything to make people laugh. He really is the sweetest kid I've ever met.
Anthony is obsessed with all things transportation. He loves cars, trucks, trains, planes, you name it. He's particularly fond of firetrucks, dump trucks, and any pick up truck, especially ones with a trailer on the back. He can name any truck and will correct you if you get it wrong. He reads about trucks, sings about trucks and pretty much only talks about trucks. If you want to have a conversation with our 3 year old boy, you better know something about trucks.
Anthony is very smart and focuses very keenly on details. He loves to watch Jeremy fix things or work in the yard. He will copy him exactly. He can often be seen "fixing" things around the house with his toy tools.
He has started to develop a little attitude. Although I have to say, it doesn't come close to any of my girls' attitudes :-). He's definitely 3 and showing us a little more of his sassy side!
We love our sweet Anthony. He can ALWAYS bring a smile to your face. He's known to come up to people and say "you look so beautiful today!" And he genuinely means it. We're so thankful for our kind, gentle little guy!
Anthony chose Spiderman as his costume this year (since dump truck wasn't an an option...)
At 3, Anthony continues to be a complete charmer. He can seriously turn it on for just about anyone. He smiles his sweet smile and bats his eyelashes and no one can say no to him. He loves people and will do just about anything to make people laugh. He really is the sweetest kid I've ever met.
Anthony is obsessed with all things transportation. He loves cars, trucks, trains, planes, you name it. He's particularly fond of firetrucks, dump trucks, and any pick up truck, especially ones with a trailer on the back. He can name any truck and will correct you if you get it wrong. He reads about trucks, sings about trucks and pretty much only talks about trucks. If you want to have a conversation with our 3 year old boy, you better know something about trucks.
Anthony is very smart and focuses very keenly on details. He loves to watch Jeremy fix things or work in the yard. He will copy him exactly. He can often be seen "fixing" things around the house with his toy tools.
He has started to develop a little attitude. Although I have to say, it doesn't come close to any of my girls' attitudes :-). He's definitely 3 and showing us a little more of his sassy side!
We love our sweet Anthony. He can ALWAYS bring a smile to your face. He's known to come up to people and say "you look so beautiful today!" And he genuinely means it. We're so thankful for our kind, gentle little guy!
Anthony chose Spiderman as his costume this year (since dump truck wasn't an an option...)
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| Birthday boy opening his new bike! |
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| Cars clings for his bedroom wall. He still thanks me every day for his new car stickers... |
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| Opening presents |
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| 100 Trucks. Right up his alley |
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| Birthday boy and his daddy, ready for Easter Mass! |
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