Mary Joyce's First Haircut

Mary Joyce got her first official haircut today. (Mrs. Heidi trimmed the ends once awhile back, so that would be technically her first haircut.) Her hair was growing out rather shaggy on the front and sides, so Mama decided it was time to take the leap and cut it. (Yes, for those who are wondering, we are planning on growing it out. We just want it to do so as evenly as possible. :-) )

Anyway, we went off to Mrs. Nancy's shop, and Mary Joyce did a great job. We had to wait a little while, and she spent time watching and looking at everything going on in the shop. When it was her turn, she sat in her daddy's lap and was a very good, brave girl while she got her trim. Katherine, as you can tell from the picture, was unimpressed with the whole situation. :-)

(By the way, Mary Joyce was smiling right before the camera clicked on that last picture of her. Don't you just love digital camera delays?)

Nice Award

I was nominated for this award by my travel mate and friend (and fellow blogger), Kim. Her blog is Born in My Heart. Thanks to Kim, and I could say the same thing about her.

Here is a description of the award:

"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."

I nominate:

1. Angie at A Mother's Place

2. Jen at Waiting for our Mei Mei

3. Karen at Our Journey to Kaelie

4. Julie at Chasing LIttle Kacey

5. Heather at Our Little Ladybugs

6. Dana at Shealin's World

7. Vicki at Poma Family

***And another thanks to Kim because this forced me to learn how to do links on Blogspot. Hopefully it will work. :-)

3 Weeks Old

Being 3 Weeks Old is Exhausting!


My big sister tried to share her juice with me. :-)

Here are a couple of Katherine pics from this week. I'll have to cut this post short, though, as its subject is demanding attention, and this 1-handed typing is very slow. :-)

Our Little Girl is Growing Up

This picture of Mary Joyce was made on the first Sunday we took her to church in Georgia, so it was probably made in early October of 2006.


This picture was made yesterday with Mary Joyce sitting in the same chair.

It is funny how having her in the same chair in these two pictures makes it even more obvious how much Mary Joyce has grown. Our baby girl is becoming a little girl right before our eyes. She is starting to look more and more like a 2 year old every day. Sometimes when we look at pictures of the other girls in our travel group, Chet and I comment to each other on how much more some of the other girls have changed than Mary Joyce, but then you look at pictures like these. That's when I start to realize that she really has changed a lot--we have just witnessed her growth daily. And yes, she still has a personality that is bigger than she is. :-)

Showered with Diapers

Our wonderful church family gave us a diaper shower for baby Katherine this past Sunday afternoon. As you can see, it doesn't look like we will have to purchase any diapers for quite awhile. We are very thankful for everyone's generosity. This is a huge blessing for us, especially since we have 2 children in diapers right now.

Oops! Mommy Brain Strikes Again!

I realized earlier today that I posted that Katherine was exactly 2 weeks old yesterday. She was actually 2 weeks old on Monday. "Mommy Brain" is in full effect around here. :-) Oh, well...

2 Weeks Old

Katherine is 2 weeks old today. Here are a few pictures. ( I apologize for the lighting on the first one. Our den is a dark room, and these pictures were made this evening.) She is growing so much already, and is changing right before our eyes.

I Haven't Disappeared :-)

For those concerned that I've dropped off the face of the earth, I am still here. :-) We are adjusting to life as a family of 4 with a newborn and a very active 20 month old toddler. Let's see if I can catch up a little...

As Chet said, Katherine's delivery actually was very quick, although the labor beforehand was not much fun. We actually ended up having to leave church after Sunday School on the 5th because I was having mild, but regular contractions. Just like a preacher's kid, isn't it? ;-) Anyway, they had us leave the hospital and come back later Sunday afternoon. They basically did the induction a day earlier than originally planned.

The last 2 weeks have been spent adjusting to having a second child and trying to physically recover. I spend a lot of time feeding the baby, and when I'm not feeding her, I'm trying to spend as much time as possible with Mary Joyce. We have also had family for the last 2 weeks, and their help was GREATLY appreciated. Today was my first day home with both girls while Chet was working, and it went pretty well. It looks like getting into a routine will be easier than I thought it was going to.

There are some frustrations--I had a good number of stitches after the birth, so I am limited on physical activity right now. I can't lift anything heavier than Katherine, which means that I can't pick up Mary Joyce right now. Chet has to get her in and out of her crib and high chair, and has to deal with a lot of the day-to-day caretaking for her. It breaks my heart when she holds up her arms to be picked up, and I can't do it. I just bend down and hug her or walk her to a chair where she can climb into my lap. The next few weeks are going to be long ones.

Mary Joyce is going to be a good big sister. The jealous moments are becoming much less frequent, and her favorite new word is "bayba." (Her version of "baby.") She loves to give her sister kisses, and would really like to pick her up, although that is not an option at the moment. She also says "uh-oh" anytime Katherine cries or loses her pacifier. It is really sweet to watch.

I have included a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. I'll do another short post with pictures of Katherine from today.

What a week and a half!

Katherine is eleven days old, and what a whirlwind it has been. She's been going to the pediatrician, and everything is fine. She eats.

and eats.

and eats.

and eats.

and, well, I think you get the idea. She "cluster feeds." Basically, she pigs out for a while, then sleeps for an extended period of time, then pigs out again. The advantage is that we have actually gotten a couple of good nights sleep this far.

Mary Joyce is turning into a pretty good big sister. She has had her jealous fits, of course, but over all, she is handling it real well.

We were very blessed to have had grandparent assisstance ever since the delivery. Dusty's parents were here until the Friday after the delivery, and then my parents came down the next day. (Dad flew back on Sunday, but Mom has been here since, and is leaving tomorrow morning (August 18)). They have made this transition SO much easier.

She's here!

Katherine has made her appearance. She was born at 7:36 AM, weighing in at 7 lbs, 6 oz, and is 19 inches long.

The delivery was extremely easy, and Dusty did an amazing job. From first push to actual delivery was about 35 minutes! I was floored. I cried like a baby when she came out, and again when I held her for the first time. The only thing I can compare it to was when I held Mary Joyce on Gotcha Day.

Pictures are forth coming.:)

Chet

PS: Who do you think she looks like? Anyone care to hazard a guess?

And We're Off...

Here is where things stand on the baby front. I was having contractions all through Sunday School, so we called the doctor's office, and the midwife on call got word back to come on into the hospital. Chet and I left church, stopped at the house long enough to get my bags, and headed to the hospital. They checked me for awhile, and while this was basically too early, they decided since they were going to check me in tomorrow night anyway, and since I am so far past my due date, they are going to check me in at 4:00 this afternoon and proceed with the induction.

We are back at the house right now, winding up some loose ends, but we will post as soon as we have baby news and internet access.

Non-Stress Test

We went to the hospital for the Non-Stress test this afternoon. That is basically where they hook the expectant mom up to the heart beat and contraction monitors for about half an hour to make sure that the baby is strong, and will be okay, should mom have to be induced. The good news is that everything looks great with Miss Katherine. I am also having some contractions, but nothing regular enough to make us go running to the phone to call the doctor.

More good news--this was our first experience with the hospital's Labor and Delivery ward, and we were very pleased with what we saw there. The staff was friendly and professional, and they did everything they could to make today's experience go smoothly. (And as far as I know, they had no idea that they were working on their nursing director's pastor's wife. ) Seriously, though, this is one of the top rated L&D wards in this part of the country, so God has really blessed us there. We also heard good things about my doctors from the nursing staff. That is great news, since it was kind of a short-notice patient transfer.

All of this to say, Miss Katherine still isn't here, but she should be within the next few days...

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, we first saw the pictures of our precious Mary Joyce. Our wait had seemed endless. When we started the adoption process, there was about a 6 month wait from LID (log-in date) to referral. Six months came and went. We ended up waiting almost 13 months for our referral.

The day itself was nerve-wracking. We knew that our group's referrals had arrived at the agency out west that our agency partners with because one of our travel mates had already received her referral information on the 31st of July. That just made us more anxious. We were in pretty constant communication with Barbara and Tina at our adoption agency, as well as with Marsha and Jeremy, the other waiting parents in our group that were with our same agency. The end of business arrived on the first, and we figured that it would be the next day before we heard anything. Then the phone rang. (If I'm remembering correctly, we were about to walk out the door to go out and eat to get our minds off of the wait for the call.) It was Tina, and she said, "This is your call." Needless to say, our supper plans were put on hold as we went back to the computer room to officially take the call.

Tina gave us our daughter's information. While we were on the phone, she emailed us Mary Joyce's pictures. Wow! What an emotional experience. We were seeing our daughter's face for the very first time. She also sent us some basic medical information at that point. Somehow, when the info was sent from the partner agency to our agency, the babies' names were left out. We had to wait for a day to find out that our daughter's Chinese name was Tong Min Hao.

Of course, after the conversation with Tina, we immediately called and emailed everyone we knew to let them know our good news. What a special day!





Our little girl is such a blessing to us each and every day. It is amazing to watch her grow and thrive. It is amazing that God has entrusted us with the gift of being her parents.

When I think of how long we waited for our referral, I think about our friends, Jen and Mike, and Karen and David. I think about Angie and Milledge, and Heidi and Rich. The wait is long. The wait is tough. But the wait is so worth it in the end. (((((Hugs))))) and prayers to those who are awaiting your referral day.