C Student

Being a working mom is a hard job. Being a mom alone is a challenge but then adding a full 40+ hours of work, friends, family and life on top of that and it's impossible to really do a good job at any of it. I used to be an "A" student in my life. I'd send cards in a timely manner, keep the house somewhat organized, be an attentive wife and generally be on top of things. Now, I'm a C student bordering on a D+ in all aspects of my life and I'm coming to accept it.

Some months I excel in some areas more than others but I'm coming to realize that good enough is going to have to be good enough - there are only so many hours in the day. Maybe this is what adjusting to new roles in life is all about - making room for those new roles and letting go of all of the rest. This new attitude is a work in progress but it is refreshing to realize one person can all do so much.

Life at Warp Speed

This summer went so quickly that I found it really hard to find the time to blog. Between work, vacations and everything that needed to be done around the house, I found no time to write.

I'm hoping that fall brings a little bit more quiet. I put the garden to bed yesterday and will be planting a ground cover and garlic this weekend; putting to rest an enjoyable, but time consuming, hobby. I've frozen or dried much of our bounty and look forward to enjoying it throughout the winter.

We've also been incredibly sick at our house. Daycare is certainly helping to build Nora's immune system. I've had strep, pink eye, a sinus infection and the stomach flu all within the last six weeks. Joel is on round two of strep this weekend after we all had the stomach flu last weekend. The illness in our home is beginning to wear on me as it happens exclusively on vacation or the weekends. It's been frustrating on many levels but particularly because I've had many friends have babies recently and I feel like I haven't had the opportunity to spend any time with them because my family is constantly infected with something. I know this will all pass and in a year we won't be quite as ill but I'm starting to get a little worn down by the constant string of bugs going through our house.

On a positive note, Joel is feeling a touch better and if he wakes up feeling up to it, we'll try to head off to a pumpkin patch today. I've been wanting to partake in this fall activity since we began waiting for a child, so, I'll be sure to post lots of great photos if the illness gods are smiling on us today.

Since I've been very delinquent posting photos for our vacation. I thought I'd include one from our recent trip to Costa Rica.

Nora's First Birthday

Nora's first birthday was on Thursday. The day itself was not remarkable, as sadly, I had to work. Luckily, Nora is too young to know any different and we made up for it with two parties this weekend which were both so much fun. It made me feel so grateful for the amazing people that we have in our lives.

I had some emotions on Nora's actual birthday that caught me by surprise. I found myself thinking about C and J a lot and the emotions that I was feeling on that day a year ago. We had so much anxiety and uncertainty in the hospital and I certainly did not feel like Nora's mom, really, at that point. I had the same bitter-sweet feeling that I had the day she was officially placed in our arms by C and J. Very happy for us and feeling sadness over the loss that C and J and, likely Nora, were feeling.

I'm not sure if biological moms feel an ownership over their child's birthday or if the first year is intense for them as well. Nora's birthday brought up a lot of unexpected emotion for me. I'm sure with future birthdays the feelings will be much different.. I'm sure as Nora becomes more aware of her birthday it will begin to take on new meaning. Of course, there are lots of birthday festivities that I'm excited to blog about but, this being an adoption blog, I thought I'd blog about some of the feelings I had on her birthday.

Luckily, I have C and J's email and was able to send them a not on Nora's birthday. I'm grateful for a good email exchange with C and J and I'm happy that we have a date set to see them again soon. And, of course, more than anything, I'm grateful for this first year of Nora's life.

Travel Advice Needed

I have been a really bad blogger lately- and a really bad a lot of things to be honest- but that will have to wait for a later post.

We're about to embark on our first air travel trip with Nora and I need advice from some seasoned mom-travelers. Here is our scenario (thank the Lord this is all the same time zone):

• Leave our home at 9:00 am
• Flight leaves airport at 11:20 am and arrives destination 2:44 pm
• Layover- 2:44 pm - 5:10 pm
• Arrive destination: 7:40 pm
• Go through customs, get rental car, leave airport: 8:4o pm
• Arrive resort 10:40 pm

This schedule makes me feel like I'm going to need a week on the beach to recuperate from our travel. I know it's totally do-able with some good planning, so, I'm counting on all of you moms to give me some expert advice on traveling with an 11 month old by car, plane and 4WD.

Thanks in advance for any tricks you might have!

The Call

One year ago today I received a call while I was at work to let me know that I was finally going to be a mother. Joel and I had been selected by birthparents to parent their baby girl that was due in September. I remember being filled with excitement and panic all at once and how we got to work right away on figuring out what needed to be done to our newly purchased house to get ready for bambino.

It's crazy to think that a year has passed since that initial introduction to our daughter, Nora. I look at her now and each day she looks less like a baby and more like a little girl. The time is moving so quickly, yet, I'm savoring each moment and each stage. I feel beyond blessed to have received that call and to have Nora as my daughter.

"Die" My Baby Tells Me

So, Nora is officially a chatter box and is trying to put together lots of combinations of words. Her favorite remains "hi". She likes trying out different sounds and syllables. Her new favorite word today is "die". She's trying out the "d" sound with "hi". The result is all day my super cute, sweet baby has been very distinctly saying "die, die, die."

She has a really cute high pitched voice and "die" is all that is being produced by it. I couldn't help cracking up this morning when she was happily playing with her toys saying "die, die, die, die" and then slowly fading into a really creepy whispery "die, die". I'm sure it will evolve into something else tomorrow but it's been pretty surreal running errands with her all day while she's been wishing me dead. Good thing I have a twisted sense of humor.

Big Girl!

There seems to be weeks where all is status quo with Nora and then there are weeks and even days where things change literally by the moment. The biggest, most exciting change (for me) came a couple of weeks ago when she FINALLY began sleeping through the night. I feel like an entirely new person now that I'm getting some sleep. And my baby who has never napped is beginning to take 1-3 one hour naps a day. This is heavenly and she's in such a better mood for it!

This week Nora has changed exponentially. Her army crawl has a lot of gusto and she'll actually grunt and laugh as she's chasing the dog at full speed (poor dog). She's also learned to sit up on her own. She does this through very unusual means. She's really really flexible and actually does the splits and then pushes herself up. It's pretty amazing. She's also beginning to (inconsistently) pull herself up on our couch. All these changes took place in a matter of days. One morning Joel went in her room to get her up and she was just sitting there.

She's so much fun and has so much personality. Her first official word (since I don't think she's using mama and dada in context) is "hi". She says hi to everyone and everything. She's also begun to say "wow" which is really appropriate for this little firecracker. The baby sign language hasn't really kicked in yet even though we've been using it fairly consistently; however, she has begun to clap which is soooo cute! She especially likes impromptu family dance parties in the kitchen. I think she thinks my dancing is hilarious (and it is).