Sweet moment

I love telling our adoption story.  People always ask questions and I'm more than happy to answer.  And it generally ends with tears of joy and speechlessness.  Today was no exception.

I dropped Jade (10) off at piano lessons this morning.  I then picked her up 50 minutes later.  Her piano teacher who, oddly enough, was also my piano teacher, came out to see Anna.  She started asking questions (of course after telling me how adorable she was and what pretty hair and eyes she had) about when we got her, if her birthparents had time to change their minds, how long we waited, etc...  So I shared the whole story about the fall through and Anna's surprise entry into our family and how wonderful and grateful we are, etc...  And then Mrs. E, the piano teacher, started to cry.  She said it was a very touching story and she's so happy for us.  She also thanked me for all of the help I give Jade with her piano, that I was a great student and Jade has had excellent lessons since she's been with me for the summer, and she gives the credit to me. 

It was incredibly sweet and reminded me once again, what a blessing Anna is (as if I need reminding, just look at her!) in our lives.  We're blessed to have gone on this adoption journey (that will hopefully continue for many years and have many more chapters).  We're very blessed to be able to share a little bit about adoption and make people more aware of how the system works and how special each and every child is.

New Van!

This weekend we traded in our 2008 R.AV4 for a 2006 Toy.ota Sie.nna!  Essentially, we ran out of room.  Our old car technically had 3 seats in the backseat, but we quickly learned that you could not fit 3 people back there.  Since I nanny and in the summer I watch 2 girls, I had Anna's carseat on one side, the 3 year old's carseat on the other side and the 9 year old was stuck sitting in between them.  She didn't complain, but it certainly was not comfortable.  She had to sit sideways in order to find the seatbelt and she had to climb over carseats to get in or out every time.  In addition to having two other kids with me all the time, we realized that with a carseat back there, we couldn't take other people with us really.  There just wasn't room. 

So we talked about it and did our research and learned that our car had a super high trade-in value due to the year it was bought.  That year was the height of the recession and very few cars were made that year at all.  So, there's a demand for that size car with that year and with only 30,000 miles on it, it was in perfect condition.  We'd taken good care of it and it still looked (and smelled) brand new! 

For the last few weeks we've been looking online a lot and had been to a few dealerships and test drove another van.  Then we found one that had everything we were looking for.  It wasn't too old, the price was right, and the mileage was average for the year.  So we went and test drove it.  And fell in love with it.  And realized that they were having a big sale last weekend and the price was $2,000 less than we'd seen online!  We liked the original price, this price was just too good to pass up.  So after careful consideration and lots of chatting, we decided to get it.

While it wasn't an even trade, it was very very close to even.  Our monthly payments dropped significantly, saving us money each month (something we've been working hard at doing).  In the long run, it hardly cost us any more to upgrade to a van and since driving it, we can't put a price on the space.  The girls love it today, Anna loves it because now she can see out the window, and I love that we're not all on top of each other.  And we can take other people with us places.  And overall, we just love it!

I don't have a picture yet, but I'll try to get one.  It's white and looks an awful lot like our old one, just elongated!  And no, we don't only like white cars, for some reason, everytime we shop for a vehicle, the one we end up with is white!

MYami

So hanging out with a 3 year old all day is quite entertaining.  And while it's also frustrating at times, you know, like after 15,000 questions that, with each answer, comes another question, usually "why?", it is also very funny. 

So today in the backseat, the Jade (10) asked Raine (3) if she wanted to live in Miami.  Raine said, "Why would I want to live in your ami when I can live in My ami?"  I thought I was going to pee my pants.

So later, we were talking about her cousins (who live in Miami) and I asked her again if she wanted to go to Miami.  She said, "Yes, I want to go to Your ami, what can we do there?"  So now she's asking everyone if they want to go to Ms. Karen's ami. 

Anna's eyes

This past Saturday was the Annual Adoption Picnic for the Diocese.  We went last year and had just finished with our paperwork and Home Study.  We were waiting to be licensed and hoping that for next year's picnic we'd have a baby to bring with us!  Well, our wish came true and we took Anna this year.  There were more people there this year and after we encouraged those from our Adopiton Support Group to come, there were like 5 couples from our area who showed up!  It was fun to see all of the kiddos and to chat with all of the people there, some who are waiting, some who are still going through the process, some who are waiting for a second, third time and others who adopted children years ago.  It's fun to hear everyone's stories and see all of the case workers.

We were excited to see Sr. Anna again.  She's a sister in the same order as the Sisters at the Newman Center.  She was appointed the head of Catholic Charities just a few months ago.  Funny story about her, the Sisters from the Newman Center had shared our story with the sisters in their order.  They had been praying for us when we were waiting, when we were identified, and when our first adoption fell through.  They were elated when we brought Anna home and continue to pray for us today.  Sr. Anna was moved by our story and in a meeting with our caseworker (she didn't know it was our caseworker) she was explaining about this couple who had recently had a fall-through adoption and after just a fwe weeks, had received a phone call about a baby girl and picked her up a few hours later.  Our caseworker laughed at the sweet Sister across the table telling her about HER case!  She couldn't believe the amount of prayers we had for us!  (And it's certainly no coincidence that her name is Sr. Anna... and that when Jeremy's brother was in Rome, just a few days after we got Anna, he stayed at Hotel Anna, he couldn't believe it when he got there!)

So anyway, we met Sr. Anna officially at Holy Thursday Mass and she instantly fell in love with Anna.  We've seen her a few times since, and each time she just can't get enough of her.  She calls her "Annita" meaning "little Anna".  She said that was always her nickname, and she always wondered why because she said she's never been a little person.  She also always calls Anna "edible."  She says she could just eat her up!

At the picnic, she came up and ignored everyone else there and went straight for our Anna. 

Sr. Anna Pia and Anna

Okay, so I didn't really intend to write that much about Sr. Anna, but we just love her and we're so grateful for all of her prayers and the wonderful work she does as the head of Catholic Charities.  We look forward to seeing her whenever we come to adoption events, or events at the Newman Center, or all over the place really.

What I really wanted to write about was Anna's eyes.  All of the adoption case workeres were at the picnic (these are the case workers that deal with us, the adoptive parents).  One of them is a newer adoption worker who was an intern when we did our Homestudy.  She works in another town as the adoption worker and we found out that she actually went with the Birth Mom's Counselor to get the surrenders signed when R, Anna's birth mom, signed them.  The case worker was really excited to finally meet Anna.  I was excited to hear more about R and the case worker quickly said that Anna, without a doubt, has her birthmom's eyes.  I was SOOO excited to hear this.  I've wondered who she looks like, but most specifically where she got her beautiful eyes from.  It's always the first thing about her that people comment on.  They're big and brown and absolutely beautiful.  I can't really explain it, but it was so fun to hear that.  R has to be just a beautiful woman.  I hope I can meet her one day.  If not, at least I know where Anna gets her gorgeous eyes from.




Cooking with Anna

Baking cookies with mommy and daddy!

She always gets serious when we pull the camera out...

"Ooh, yum, can I eat that?"

She just love to sit on the counter while I cook/bake.  She watches every move and plays with her spoons.  And no, she's not always this serious, just on camera!

Party in my crib!

Well, not mine, but Anna's...

Let me just start by saying she's not your ordinary baby.  She just surprises us each and every day because she definitely does NOT act her age.  She consistently reaches milestones about 2 months in advance, and each month when our caseworker comes out and has to screen her with her develoment checklist, she's equally as surprised.  I'd say we're in for it when she decides crawling is a good idea.

So last night, after having our air conditioner replaced and the house finally cooled off, we put her to bed like usual.  We have weaned her off of the swaddle blanket and she just sleeps in a sleepsack.  She didn't really seem to care and is still an excellent sleeper.  I don't know what it was about last night, but she decided that laying still was no longer good enough for her. 

I got up multiple times and she got up once (other than her usual feeding time at 5).  Each time she was at a different end of her crib in some random position, often rolled onto her side or almost completely on her belly.  She's 3 months old.  Too young to be doing all of that moving.  We decided she had a party and only invited us when she needed food! 

So needless to say, we're glad we put in that breathable bumper pad and took everything else out of her crib, including her quilt that I used to tuck in around her legs.  And we quickly realized that we can no longer leave her on any elevated surface even if we're right there...  She's a mover!  Not only does she roll over and scoot on her back, but when she's on her belly, she tucks her knees under her, pushes up on her hands and shoves herself forward.  She has no desire to stay put and I don't know that it helps that I have two bigger kids (3 and 10 years old) around every day now.  She wants to go, go, go with them!

It's just going by way too fast.  When did she stop being a newborn and start being a baby?  A a mobile one at that?  Anna, please stop growing so fast!

Hot, Hot, Hot

Well, since we skipped spring and all and went straight to August temperatures, we quickly realized that our air conditioner has bit the dust (unfortunately faster than we originally anticipated, we thought we could make it through the summer, boy were we wrong!).  And of course, it couldn't have happened at a worse time.

Unfortunately, our final adoption payment is due in just two months. And our court fees in about three.  And we just paid off the bill from when the guy came to fixed said A/C a few weeks ago, and obviously didn't.  And we have about a billion weddings/showers coming up.  And well, seeing as how we don't regularly poop money, we are a little overwhelmed at the moment!

And I'm a sissy about the heat!  And unfortunately, so is Anna, and I just don't see how we can sleep in the basement for the summer.  Oh man.