Here I am, coming to you in the blogosphere from my new computer! My trusty ol' IBM think*pad was becoming increasingly crippled, and so my sweet husband surprised me with a new computer this past week. I am so thankful for a geeky husband who can take computers apart and put them back together -- he kept that little IBM running for a very long time! It took a few days to get everything transferred from the old to the new, but I am back in business and faster than ever. Woo hoo! (The computer, that is. Momma isn't as fast as she used to be.)
The biggest news for the past two weeks is that Luke has changed before our eyes and is adding new skills to his repertoire, AND we successfully passed our interrog--err, I mean, investigation from the Court in order to finalize Luke's adoption on April 18th.
First, to tell you about our visit from the court investigator. Our adoption journey has been full of surprises, some good, some really difficult to cope with, and some that have left us just shaking our heads and saying, "Seriously?" Such is the case with the court investigation. We received a letter in February from our attorney stating that the Court had appointed a court investigator to file a report recommending for or against the finalization of Luke's adoption. No problem, we thought. We've got a current home study -- this should be easy peasy. We received a packet from the court investigator with a list of ten items that needed to be completed before her visit to our home, all which were completed in our home study. However, after she called to verify that we had received the packet, she said that the home study is irrelevant to the Court, and that we would need to complete all of the items again. SERIOUSLY?!!!! Don't get me wrong -- we would do ANYTHING for our precious son! If walking on coals was on the list, we would do it! It just seemed ridiculous and redundant (not to mention expensive) to require us to do things that we completed for the home study.
Of course, we complied and had everything completed by her visit on the 15th. Her name was Andrea, and she was very nice. I just found myself annoyed with the whole experience. Tom and I had to hash through the nitty gritty of our infertility journey which subsequently brought our hearts to adoption. Then we had to hash through our adoption journey. Then she had to inspect our home from top to bottom. We had to prove that our smoke detectors worked. She had to walk through every room of the house, including the basement (which is a disaster). She wanted to know about our animals and their temperament. She was even in the master closet! What really got me was when she wanted me to open all of Luke's drawers to prove that I had adequate clothing and diapers for him. She saw both cloth and disposable, so I had to clarify that we use cloth when we are at home and disposables when we leave the house. In the kitchen, I had to open up my freezer and show her my frozen breast milk to prove that I am feeding him. JUST LOOK AT HIM FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!!!!!!!! Does he look like he misses any meals?!! Let's just say it was a looooong 3 1/2 hours for me. My sweet Tom helped me keep things in perspective -- "It's all for our boy honey. Just smile and jump through the hoops." So I did. I jumped through the hoops for my beloved son. Let's move on and talk about him, shall we?
Of course, we complied and had everything completed by her visit on the 15th. Her name was Andrea, and she was very nice. I just found myself annoyed with the whole experience. Tom and I had to hash through the nitty gritty of our infertility journey which subsequently brought our hearts to adoption. Then we had to hash through our adoption journey. Then she had to inspect our home from top to bottom. We had to prove that our smoke detectors worked. She had to walk through every room of the house, including the basement (which is a disaster). She wanted to know about our animals and their temperament. She was even in the master closet! What really got me was when she wanted me to open all of Luke's drawers to prove that I had adequate clothing and diapers for him. She saw both cloth and disposable, so I had to clarify that we use cloth when we are at home and disposables when we leave the house. In the kitchen, I had to open up my freezer and show her my frozen breast milk to prove that I am feeding him. JUST LOOK AT HIM FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!!!!!!!! Does he look like he misses any meals?!! Let's just say it was a looooong 3 1/2 hours for me. My sweet Tom helped me keep things in perspective -- "It's all for our boy honey. Just smile and jump through the hoops." So I did. I jumped through the hoops for my beloved son. Let's move on and talk about him, shall we?
Luke has found his voice and likes to make noise . . . sometimes very impressively high pitched noises.
"Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?" (From an old TV show for you young whipper snappers!)
Sitting in the Bumbo seat helping momma cook dinner.
He is very close to rolling on to his belly!
Love the hands in these three pictures -- always constant motion!
Fun Facts About Luke
Fact 1
Luke has changed a lot in the last two weeks! See the rest of the facts!
Fact 2
Luke can hold his head up really well now and is enjoying the Bumbo seat more. He's not so steady controlling his trunk, but when you're a big boy, it's going to take a little while to build those muscles up.
Fact 3
Luke gets time laying on both his belly and his back every day. As you can see from the picture above, he is getting very close to being able to roll over from his back to his belly.
Fact 4
Luke is starting to recognize his surroundings and the games we play together. For instance, we have a lot of fun when I change his diaper. The instant I lay him on the changing pad, he starts kicking his chubby little legs, his eyes get big, and he starts smiling and "talking" excitedly. He knows momma is going to start playing her tickling and kissy games.
Fact 5
Luke's favorite direction is UP! He likes to be held vertical and rarely let's us hold him horizontal. He likes to be picked UP, not put down. He is content to lay on the floor playing for very brief periods of time, and then he wants UP!
Fact 6
Luke has found his thumb! What a relief! He has been sleeping fitfully the last few weeks because every time his binky comes out of his mouth, he wakes up and cries. The problem is that he is the one pulling his binky out of his mouth. This past week, I decided that I wasn't going to give him the binky to sleep with -- he was going to have to learn to comfort himself. My plan worked and he found his thumb! Hooray!!!! His thumb is always available, a binky isn't, so this is a great thing. Tonight when I laid him down to sleep, his right thumb immediately went in his mouth, so it seems that he's got the hang of it. I don't care how long he sucks his thumb. I've raised enough children to know that he won't go off to college sucking his thumb. And his teeth will be fine.
Fact 7
LUKE IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!
Taking his binky away and having such a positive outcome empowered me to try to eliminate his 3:15 a.m. feeding. Every single night at PRECISELY 3:15 a.m. Luke wakes up whimpering and thrashing in his bed. Tom always gets up and gets his bottle ready and then brings him to me to be fed. Tom was out on a trip Thursday night so I was on my own. When Luke woke up during the night, I looked at the clock and it said 1:15 a.m. and I said to myself, "I don't think so." So I rolled back over and went to sleep and so did Luke. When he woke up at 3:15, I said "I don't think so" again. And surprisingly, he went right back to sleep. I suppose that means that Tom and I have been too attentive to him, lol! We tried it again Friday night and he woke up, but went right back to sleep. Last night, he didn't even wake up! I put him to bed at 9:00 p.m. and he woke up at 7:00 a.m. AWESOME!!!!!!! I woke up feeling like a million bucks this morning!
Praying that I feel like a million bucks tomorrow morning too. I don't anticipate the littlest of our boys keeping me up tonight, but the big boys have a couple of their friends spending the night. It's been a loud one so far!
Fact 1
Luke has changed a lot in the last two weeks! See the rest of the facts!
Fact 2
Luke can hold his head up really well now and is enjoying the Bumbo seat more. He's not so steady controlling his trunk, but when you're a big boy, it's going to take a little while to build those muscles up.
Fact 3
Luke gets time laying on both his belly and his back every day. As you can see from the picture above, he is getting very close to being able to roll over from his back to his belly.
Fact 4
Luke is starting to recognize his surroundings and the games we play together. For instance, we have a lot of fun when I change his diaper. The instant I lay him on the changing pad, he starts kicking his chubby little legs, his eyes get big, and he starts smiling and "talking" excitedly. He knows momma is going to start playing her tickling and kissy games.
Fact 5
Luke's favorite direction is UP! He likes to be held vertical and rarely let's us hold him horizontal. He likes to be picked UP, not put down. He is content to lay on the floor playing for very brief periods of time, and then he wants UP!
Fact 6
Luke has found his thumb! What a relief! He has been sleeping fitfully the last few weeks because every time his binky comes out of his mouth, he wakes up and cries. The problem is that he is the one pulling his binky out of his mouth. This past week, I decided that I wasn't going to give him the binky to sleep with -- he was going to have to learn to comfort himself. My plan worked and he found his thumb! Hooray!!!! His thumb is always available, a binky isn't, so this is a great thing. Tonight when I laid him down to sleep, his right thumb immediately went in his mouth, so it seems that he's got the hang of it. I don't care how long he sucks his thumb. I've raised enough children to know that he won't go off to college sucking his thumb. And his teeth will be fine.
Fact 7
LUKE IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!
Taking his binky away and having such a positive outcome empowered me to try to eliminate his 3:15 a.m. feeding. Every single night at PRECISELY 3:15 a.m. Luke wakes up whimpering and thrashing in his bed. Tom always gets up and gets his bottle ready and then brings him to me to be fed. Tom was out on a trip Thursday night so I was on my own. When Luke woke up during the night, I looked at the clock and it said 1:15 a.m. and I said to myself, "I don't think so." So I rolled back over and went to sleep and so did Luke. When he woke up at 3:15, I said "I don't think so" again. And surprisingly, he went right back to sleep. I suppose that means that Tom and I have been too attentive to him, lol! We tried it again Friday night and he woke up, but went right back to sleep. Last night, he didn't even wake up! I put him to bed at 9:00 p.m. and he woke up at 7:00 a.m. AWESOME!!!!!!! I woke up feeling like a million bucks this morning!
Praying that I feel like a million bucks tomorrow morning too. I don't anticipate the littlest of our boys keeping me up tonight, but the big boys have a couple of their friends spending the night. It's been a loud one so far!
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