so tired...so tired..so tired but DONE!

I have finally finished the adoption photo album. I tried to include everyone but it just wasn't possible. I had to limit the number of pages because I need to print 20 copies!! We love all of you, whether we included your photo or not.

:)

2nd in home visit

Well, my little minions were more like themselves this time around. Liam even got a timeout. Seth was...well...he was 2. :)

Apparently, she neglected to send me a 28 page questionnaire. It sounds like some sort of in depth autobiographical task. 28 pages....tweeeeeenty eeeeeeight paaaages. I don't think every detail of my life would fill 28 pages. I wonder if it's a bunch of "What if...." situational stuff. Short essay....28 pages of short essays about us. WOW. I pity the person who has to read it. I can't imagine we'll end up writing "Best Seller List" caliber essays. I keep telling myself maybe 28 pages isn't as long as I think it is.

It is.

(time to go...the minions are howling)

Family Photo Album

I think I am going to post the final family photo album online for anyone to download. I have to send 15 printed albums to the adoption agency to send off so that version may be a little smaller than what I post online. I'll definitely get at least one or 2 photos of all of our family and closest friends. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress. If you haven't sent me pictures please do so soon because I hope to have the album done by our 2nd social worker visit, which is in 2 weeks.

I got home from work today completely exhausted. Not long after sitting down, Liam and Seth decided to run around in a circle. Seth was chasing Liam and they were just running and laughing. It was just about the cutest thing ever. As I watched them I thought, "I bet adding a 3rd child to the mix increases the collision rate drastically." hmm.

I wonder if you can love someone you haven't met yet...probably so.

:)

From Heavenly Angels to Minions of Satan in 10 Seconds

Both Liam and Seth were absolutely perfect while Janice was here. Liam was polite, spoke to her in a clear voice, and even said please and thank you. Seth was nice to Liam. No one fought over toys and they both ate dinner without any complaints.

Not 10 seconds after she walked out the door there was screaming, fighting, and fits over blueberries and yogurt. It's 8:15 and Seth is still pissed off about something.

All I have to say is thank you for saving it all for 6pm.

1st Social Worker In Home Visit

Well, tonight's the night! Janice will be coming over tonight at 5:00. Hopefully, I get to my house before she does. We have no idea what to expect with this visit. She's already us a bunch of questions about our families, job, hobbies, etc... I don't have much left to tell her. Of course, we still have outstanding paperwork. Last week was insane and next week will be worse. The whole house, except for Liam, has been sick. We are all just now starting to feel human again.

I'm so busy with my Chemistry class I can barely see straight. My 1st quiz is Wednesday night. ugh.

PM Update:
She's gone now. We all survived. Quite uneventful actually. She came in, chatted with us, took a tour of the Bradley facility and she was gone within an hour. She reminded us about our outstanding documents.

She'll be back in 3 weeks.

...and her name is Janice

Our 1st face to face with the social worker!!!! In my mind, we were getting ready to meet the anti-Christ sent from a far away land to judge our intentions and parenting skills. I imagined a bitter woman with a doubtful glare ready to wag her disapproving finger at me at any moment. Luckily, the world in my mind is not the one we actually live in.

Thankfully, she was late for our 1st meeting. The time spent in the car waiting for her to arrive was just enough time for me to be nervous, second guess myself, panic and then recover quite nicely. By the time she arrived I had it all under control....at least that's what I like to tell myself. Shannon told me not to get all worked up over the mountains of paperwork, requirements, and face to face meetings. In her usual awesome friend way she said, "Don't even get all worked up over it all. You'll see....you'll get all worked up and in the end when it happens it will be anti-climactic at best. You'll be nervous and worried about the meeting and once it's done you'll think, 'was that all?'"

Yup. She was right. Leave it to Shannon to put things into perspective for me.

Janice turned out to be a normal person. WHO KNEW??! So we emerged from the meeting with no battle scars, no wagging fingers, no judgmental stares...just normal, pleasant adult conversation. Oh, and of course there was Seth, swiping the papers off the table, writing on my arm and leaving a trail of raisins all around the room....but that part was to be expected.

1st Visit with the Social Worker

Well, the time is almost here!!!! Our adoption social worker has called us and we have an appointment scheduled to meet with her on Tuesday Morning!!! This will be our 1st of several face to face meetings with her. I'm really hoping she's a nice lady.

Don't You Need to Buy a House 1st??

Actually, no. In this state owning your home, or even being married, is not a requirement for domestic adoption. We've decided to stay in the house we are renting for at least another year. We are just going to continue saving money until we see the house we want to buy. We definitely want to stay in the same area where we live now so instead of hunting, searching, and stressing out about finding a house and wondering how much we want to pay monthly we are going to stay put for now. We also have the option of buying the house we are renting but there's no rush. We love our neighborhood and since the boys will not be attending public school moving is one less thing to worry about. All we want to do is continue saving money, plan some family trips to NY and FL, and enjoy the time with our children.

We've Decided to Adopt...in about 1 year

Yes, yes I know...adopt? WHAT?? Why? As many of you know, we've discussed adoption for a few years now. Well, now that we are a bit more financially stable, we've sold our house, and Liam is getting ready to start pre-school in the fall we've decided it's a good time to begin the year long process. We are hoping to eventually find a boy around Liam's age, preferably younger but older than Seth. We'd love to have another child but we don't necessarily want to start over with diapers and bottles for a third time. The price of quality infant daycare is also nothing to laugh at. We've discussed that fact that 1 month of infant daycare is the same price as 3 months at Liam's private school and we've decided we'd much rather reinvest that money into private school for all the boys or put in their college funds.