September

It’s been awhile but we did go to Dragon Con.  We had an absolute blast with our friends.

We did discuss what happened in TN and then we moved on.  It was the best medicine!

We went to concerts, Balls, and a rave.  We had our Best. Con. YET!

We can’t wait until next year! Our tickets are bought and another of our friend’s from Seattle is also planning to go.  We’ve asked her to go the last couple years but it hasn’t worked out so next year should be great as well.

The unfortunate issue is Don picked up a cold and on our flight home it started to manifest.  A couple days later I was down for the count.  His was a head cold of a few days with a slight cough that cleared up within 5 days.  I got the lung infection of Bronchitis that had me way under.  When I first got sick I thought ok in a few days it’ll go as his has; that didn’t happen ( I haven't been sick like this in years - a couple days of sniffles but not down and out sick like this was!).  I got the cold and it started on day one as a sore throat and a head cold and by day two it was in my lungs.  I waited it out with over the counter meds and lots of sleep for a week but then it was clear it was more than a cold.  I went to the clinic and the doctor was worried I might have a severe case of Phenomena.  Luckily my X-rays showed it was just Bronchitis. A bunch of prescriptions later I was sent home.  So for the next couple weeks I took my steroids, Antibiotics, inhaler, cough medicine, and cough syrup and I was beginning to feel better.   So that was my September. 

I was fortunate to be better and was able to make my friend’s wedding.  I was thrilled to be a part of her special day.

Now it’s October and it’s a reminder that soon we’ll be a part of the National Last minute Hospital List for our agency.  Honestly I thought we’d have the paperwork by now but I guess it’s a couple weeks out so there is still time for the letter to arrive.

What is the last minute Hospital List?

It simply means we’re on the list for all the areas our agency is involved in (meaning where they have offices). It’s really just a finite second chance because they really don’t have that many last minute placements but it is something better than nothing and a hope for a future of becoming parents.

So I await that letter so we can be included in Last minute hospital situations. We are also not far off from the top 50 longest waiting families so again more hope of even more exposure in our wait.

Until then I look forward to friends and family days (yesterday was a friend game day and it was 13 of us so I can't wait to see how it happens the next few months!) and look forward to the holidays this year.  My brother and his family moved home in August so I can’t wait to spend it with them after 4 years away. I’ve really missed them and am looking forward to this year. Today they were supposed to come visit but something happened and they couldn't so hopefully soon they can come visit.

Our agency site

Fishing with dogs for the first time

I was going through some pictures today and came across the ones I took the first time we took the dogs fishing. It was also Don’s first time fly fishing and it was so much fun.

We drove out to our friends’ house then changed and headed to the river.  We kept the dogs leashed until we climbed down the bank to the river and Tucker dove right in after Don.  I really didn't expect that!  He was the one I thought would avoid the water, except to drink it from the bank.  Every time we take him to the beach he avoids the water as much as possible.

Parker sees Tucker swimming out towards Don and thinks sure let’s jump in and PANIC! He really freaked and turned immediately around and got out as quick as we could reach him.  My poor baby loves running in the waves at the beach but swimming isn't his thing. Tucker stayed with Don as I leashed up Parker and took him back to the car to dry off and rest.  Don said as soon as I left Tucker started toward the shore so he brought him back to me at the car and headed back out to fish. I've since bought the dogs Life Jackets for when we go out.

Fishing at the river is a catch and release zone so Don’s first catch got away without a picture but here he is holding a small second catch that day.

I don’t fish but love going fishing with our friends and Don.  Not only do they have fun fishing but I get to watch from the shore with a good book and just enjoy the beauty of the river and mountains.  I love to walk around taking pictures too. We can't wait to go fishing and camping with our future little one!

 On the way down to the river - He really blends in

 heading down river to fish

 Back in the car and drying off

that's the "it was horrible" look after the river

Don's experiment and the dog who ate a shoe!

Today was a good day of running errands, stopping in to see my favorite waitress I haven't seen all summer and cleaning.  Then Don calls and wants to make Sriracha from scratch.  Well OK I get everything we have at home out for him while he grabs the peppers and sugar from the store before heading home from work. Everything looks good and as it ferments over the next 7 days it's like a little experiment.

 Our mix   

Like I've said before Don likes Hot, spicy food, sauces, etc.  He puts rooster sauce on darn near everything.  I'm sure it'll be good but we will find out in 7 days once he cooks it, strains it and tries it.

The more interesting thing is the dog who ate a shoe.  *SIGH* So back in July for some totally strange reason Tucker ate the side of my shoe.  Now my dogs aren't usually like that.  They tend to stick to their toys or bones.  Every now and again they get into something they shouldn't but this was beyond me.  I had just taken it off.  Well I bought a new pair of shoes. Fast forward to tonight and BAM! I hear a clink, clink of a dog tag and Parker isn't on his spot (he has a pillow on the couch) so I go find him in the bedroom eating the inner sole of my new shoe. GRRRR! Thankfully I caught him before he ate the shoe but good grief.  Why are my 8 year old dogs suddenly into eating my shoes? Of course I'll never know but it isn't how I wanted to end what was otherwise a pleasant day. So looks like I'm shopping at the outlet mall for shoes tomorrow because I don't know if inserts will work in half eaten Toms. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Open Adoption

I thought I was going to write about something completely different but it came to mind that many people don't fully understand what Open adoption is or how an agency can help you navigate it. So let me begin with we are with Independent Adoption Center  http://www.adoptionhelp.org/ and they are one of the first agencies that started the thinking on Open Adoption.  I am fully behind the open adoption for many reasons and the first and foremost is the benefit to the child and birth family.  We got super excited to learn that our child is supposed to have access to his birth mom/dad/family and they'd know from the start that they were chosen and not abandoned.  They'd never wonder why didn't they want me? Why can't I find my family medical history? Why!? That spoke volumes to us.  I can't express how excited we are to find that someone to match with and make a family, not just our family but the extended birth family.  I want our child(ren) to know that they came to us through love and sacrifice and the birth parents/family love them and want to know them as aunts, uncles, birth mom, birth dad, whatever. I can't wait to match and have said baby and get to arrange our meetings with the birth family.  I can imagine all kinds of gatherings and hope that one day they come true.
Now a lot of folks think that because you have an open adoption that you aren't the "true parents" and that isn't the case.  We are the parents, we do the 2am feedings, the doctor appts. the coach for whatever the child is into, we do the playing, feeding, discipline, etc. There is no doubt who the parents are and in open adoption it's a much more stable environment for the child.
As for the agency, if you're even considering an adoption plan please contact them, there is no obligation and they have a lot of information that can help you make a plan, even if you choose to parent they can help you find resources to get you started.
Open Adoption may not be for everyone but it is how we want to grow our family and parent. We can't wait to make our match and make a family through open adoption.

I helped with the birth of our friends daughter (about 10 mins old in this pic) and it's a treasured memory I hope to share with our birth mom someday.

As Fall tries to approach

It's been unseasonably warm for this time of year but Fall is just around the corner. The leaves have been falling for a couple weeks now but you'd never know it from looking at the trees. That means an almost winter leaf clean-up.
It's also time to dig up the Iris, divide them and get them replanted.

One of the many types of Iris in the yard

I also need to start pulling out the vegetable garden.  I'm hoping our eggplant and tomatoes make it another couple weeks but that'll depend on the weather forecasts. The pumpkins are still growing and I can't wait for them to ripen so I can make fresh pumpkin bread and curried pumpkin soup. Two of our fall favorites. The dogs also eat pumpkin with their dinner every night so they benefit from our garden too. I can't wait to share my love of gardening with our child.  It'll be so much fun to watch them plant their first garden with me.

One of the heirloom sugar pie pumpkins 

 A few of our ripe heirloom tomatoes and a wee eggplant emerging.

Making Apple Butter

I had 5 1/2 pounds of apples that I needed to use and so Slow Cooker Apple Butter to the rescue. Not only is it yummy but so simple to make. Peel and core your apples, add sugar, spice, and a bit of water to the crock pot and turn on high for 1 hour, low for 9 hours and remove the lid, puree with a stick blender and cook an additional hour with the lid off.  Sure it's a long process but it doesn't scorch, I don't have to constantly stir it and if I'd thought about it I'd have started it at night so it'd be ready when I woke in the morning and could finish it lid off and into the canning jars.  Next time I make it I will have to do that but as a night owl canning at 10 pm isn't a big deal to me.

Improptu dinner date

Don was able to get off work early and so we decided to head out to Thai food for dinner.  We order and Don's usual response is what is the hottest dish I can order.  Yep, Don has a heat meter.  Of course we have the yummy crab and cream cheese won tons but as soon as our food arrives Don tastes his dish and says meh, not too hot.  I tell him the heat builds but our heat sensors are very different.  I'm right the heat builds but is still not as hot as he thinks he was ordering. 
Don puts hot sauce on everything from Teriyaki, Mexican, Greek, Italian, and Thai.  oh and leftovers and boiled eggs are definitely getting the hot sauce treatment.  I like a good spice but a burn me spice isn't enjoyable to me and he loves it. I always tease him and he now realizes he can't be my heat meter as everything is much, much hotter to me than him.  So to my Scorpion, Ghost pepper lover, I love you!, Thanks for the dinner date.

A day with Friends who are like our extended Family

Today is another game day with friends.  When I say game people may think watching baseball or football but I mean actual board games.  We play with the family and a few other friends who drive up. This week I won't be playing but instead hanging out with my friend's wife and daughter(s).  They are playing a war game this week and I have no interest in war games (think super Risk).

I prefer games like Apple to Apples, Scrabble, or Talisman style games.  Our friend's daughters were both home and her two grand daughter's were there with us while dad played the game with the others (he's in the blue cap in the above picture).  We played a few board games, and played with the little girls and they loved playing catch the butterfly, run through the sprinkler and dress up. The dog even showed off her Batgirl costume for Halloween.

Playing with the butterfly net

playing dress up

I am Batgirl!

I ended the night at home with my baby in my lap eating his Antler while his brother, Parker, pouted because he wanted the one Tucker had instead of his own, which he was happily chewing on until Tucker started in on his.  

Welcome to a mini-meltdown and how it ends in laughter

Welcome to my mini-meltdown, don't worry it ends well.

So people always ask How's the adoption going?
Well there is no clear way to answer that question.  Honestly it's a hurry up and give your life over to waiting, advertising, bugging your friends and family to share your pages on social media and asking them to ask their friends/family to share us as well and constantly updating things with even the most mundane of daily life. Yep, Cleaned the house again today and watered the garden.
My phone is constantly in my hand or my pocket, I'm never ever without it after we missed a few calls 6 months ago.  Every time it dings I pick it up to see if we have a text or email.  I feel rude when with other people, even Don but I have to do it.  Believe me I wish I didn't but it is a part of the adoption plan. By The Way caller from Thailand stop calling at 4 am we aren't who you're looking for.

Why post so often? It helps a potential Birth mom have a glimpse into your life, even the everyday boring stuff.
Well it must be hard to wait. Duh!
How do you occupy your time? See the above first statement.
Then there is the adage that the wait is the hardest part and just keep living life because the right baby will find you.  OK, sure it'll eventually happen but not without all the pressure to do more, more, more because if you don't and someone else is you'll lose out.  Yep, certainly living life to the fullest when all you are thinking about is how to do more.
Seriously, the right mom WILL find us but it doesn't feel that way some days. This is when I need to step away, Breathe deep, and remember the following:

As always it's the friends who have no idea the day you're having who find that gem on You Tube and share it that brings back the laughter and reality that it's just a meltdown, let it happen and move on. Tomorrow is another day and the reality is expectant mom could find us tonight, tomorrow or in 6 months.

Our way to Adoption

When we first started talking about adoption, a friend of ours gave us a few books to read.  She is a birth mom and wanted to be sure she gave us the kind of all encompassing views and how to get started.  One of the books was 'Adopting a Child' which talks about all the different ways to adopt and gave agency resources in the back.  The others were 'The essential adoption handbook' and the 'Things every adopted kid wants to know'.  I honestly found it rather daunting a task looking for an adoption agency on line back then since most listed for our state in the book were no longer handling adoptions.  Then a friend of ours and his wife found IAC and told us about them.  We called for more info and chose to sign up for the weekend workshops. Really informative and they gave us two more books to read, one we choose and the other was on 'Open Adoption'.  We chose 'The Kid', which was great since it is a very candid view of a gay couple adopting from a homeless mom who drinks, etc. It really helped put some fears to rest and had us doing a lot of research into the effects of drugs and alcohol and general health of the mom and how we'd proceed.  Both books were a great look at open adoption and how to be prepared to talk about it with your family and friends as well as your child as early as possible and to make it a normal conversation. The open adoption plan is what made us jump in with both feet.  We want our child to know their birth parents and for them to become extended family if they want that close a relationship. I am really familiar with closed adoption, both my mom and dad were adopted as infants by their dads.  Neither of them to this day have any contact with their biological fathers and neither want any.  I think that sums up that a family is built on love, support and caring by those who raise you rather than your genetic make up.  Sure genetics play a role but it's how you are raised in becoming who you are that matters. We have friends who were also adopted and they agree wholeheartedly. I'm so glad we chose to go this route and can't wait to share our journey with an expectant mom and build a family through open adoption.

The five books we've read so far.

Seahawks vs Packers

So yesterday was the official start to the NFL season and we got to go.  Don's work has season tickets that get handed out to the employees and we were lucky to get opening day.  I love going to the games live rather than watch at home.  The reason I don't like football on TV is all the commercials, at least at the game during breaks it gives an opportunity to walk around and talk with others who also came that I may not see very often.  It's always great to see the kids getting so excited as they watch and learn the game. We can't wait for our little one to be able to share in our fun at the games.
We also enjoy going to baseball games and  always look to see if the local team is playing whenever we travel during baseball season.  One day we will have visited every baseball park.  We hope to also share our love of baseball with our child.  It's funny before Don and I dated I didn't like baseball.  His love and enthusiasm was infectious and as I learned the nuances I thoroughly enjoy the game now.  Some of my favorite movies are baseball or football related too but that's another post.
Have a great weekend