Felix and the Pets

People often ask how my pets are doing with Felix, and some are surprised when I tell them they get along great.

My parents brought Jayda (dog) to Oregon while we waited for the ICCP paperwork, so she met Felix at the same time she met my friend's family of four, Chocolate Lab puppy Bella, rabbits and a giant fenced yard. Felix was probably the least interesting part of our time in Oregon, and the transition coming home with him was seamless. Felix first reached out to pet Jayda when he was about 4 months old - so cute! Of course, they're never left alone together even though Jayda is excellent around all children and babies.

I also have two cats, ages 9 and 10. They're mother and daughter and very different from each other. Luisa (the mama cat) is like a dog - she comes when she's called and greets people at the door. She's the alpha pet in every situation and isn't scared of anything. At each hotel stop on our road trips, she'd make a lap around the room before sitting in the window and ruling the roost till we hit the road again.

Monica is the opposite. She's a petite orange tabby who hides when someone knocks on the door and took a year to warm up to Jayda. She's extremely loving and gentle (while Luisa is known for her "love bites"). From day one, Monica has liked to rub on Felix's feet while I feed him, and he started petting her a few weeks ago. They have a very sweet relationship.

A few nights ago, Monica decided she'd rather sleep with Felix in his bassinet than on the bed with me. I kept tossing her out, but she'd jump in, curl up near his legs and start kneading his belly. Felix didn't seem to notice or mind, and we use a Snuza, but I was uneasy about the arrangement. The next day, I posted a question about it in my Baby Center online group to see what others were doing about their snuggly cats. Well, apparently I'm the dumbest, worst mom ever! Dozens of comments telling me that my cat has fleas! And ticks with "lime" disease! And her paws are covered in pee and poop and she'll put them in Felix's mouth! And she'll scratch and bite him, and smell the milk on his breath and suffocate him!

Filthy and vicious Monica with Felix in his bassinet.

Before I saw all the idiotic and rude comments, I decided to boot the cats out until Felix is in his own room (just to be extra safe). I took one of his fluffy blankets and set it outside my bedroom door, and the cats have been happy to sleep there at night. Surprisingly they haven't clawed at the door or meowed to come in.

After I saw the comments, I decided to do some research on cats and babies. I haven't been able to find a single documented case of serious injury or death caused by a cat (that wasn't later debunked). I'm sure it's happened, but it would have to be more of a freak accident thing than a happens-all-the-time-you-crappy-moron-mother thing. So there.

Our Lucky Number

Even though I've never been into lucky numbers, before Felix was born, I figured 10 must be our lucky number.

• Ten years after living in Mexico, I was chosen by his birth mom primarily because I had lived in Mexico.
• Felix was born 10 months after I announced my decision to adopt.
• Felix's birth order is #10.

It was always just a silly thing in the back of my mind, and then today I received our court details for finalizing on National Adoption Day. Our hearing is scheduled to begin at 10:10 AM. Really! I sort of feel like I should go buy 10 lottery tickets.

Happy Halloween!

You know you've had a successful Halloween week when you're sick of your costume! Felix and I were dressed up all day Saturday, then again on Wednesday. I work in a pet-friendly office, so even Jayda got to celebrate.

Felix loved his costume, especially the chewy hamburger.

The drive-in restaurant icon, in case you're not familiar.

I was a car hop (with real roller skates) and Jayda was a short order cook.

Here We Go

We’ve officially entered the mad-dash-till-January portion of the year. I made Halloween cookies for an early morning meeting three nights ago, finished our costumes two nights ago, last night we celebrated my dad’s birthday and carved pumpkins (which involved roasting seeds and pureeing guts for recipes later), we have a tortilla-making party tonight, and three events Saturday…and that’s all before Halloween officially happens. 

Felix with Grandpa on his birthday.

I’m also in the middle of two light freelance projects, including swapping web design for a photo shoot and helping design a book cover for a self-published book. Of course I love being busy and all these “commitments” are totally voluntary. 

Next month, I’m heading up a volunteer team to rake leaves for elderly and disabled people. This morning we were invited to a team leader breakfast in the showroom of a car dealership. It happened to be held about a block away from Felix’s daycare, so it worked out perfectly. I enjoyed a veggie breakfast burrito and coffee while spending a bonus hour with my sweet boy. Everyone commented on how cute he is, he played nicely, burped really loudly once (while the entire showroom was totally quiet), then dozed off for his morning nap. Yes, I am one lucky mama.

Also in November is another event with a local adoption group. I’m looking forward to getting to know the members better, in part because I still need help putting together Felix's birth story. Some parts are fine, some parts I’m not sure how to explain, and some parts I just don’t have answers for. I’m a big fan of Modern Family and this week, Mitch and Cam address the “who’s my mom?” issue with their adopted daughter. They know nothing about her birth mom, just like I don’t know anything about Felix’s birth dad, so naturally I just started crying and thinking about how I’m going to explain that to him. Yes, you have a bio dad. Yes, he knew you were coming. No, he wasn’t interested in sticking around, and no, I have no idea what his name is, where he lives, or even which country he’s in right now. Ick. I don’t like that answer. But I need to find a balance between bashing the guy (which the truth sort of does) and giving Felix false hope that if he finds his birth father at age 18 (which is a long shot), he’ll be this awesome superhero of a dad who was too busy saving the world in 2012 but is now willing to embrace him and make up for lost time.

Anyway, not to get too deep before a fun holiday weekend...I have a pumpkin cream cheese pie to make!

Our Big Adventure

Felix and I had our first big adventure together last weekend, flying standby to Minnesota for my cousin’s wedding. Overall we had a great time and Felix got to experience lots of “firsts”.

Felix turned 5 months in Minneapolis.

There wasn’t room on Thursday’s flight, so we headed to the airport to try again at 4 am Friday morning. Felix looked a bit dazed on his first cab ride, but was in good spirits overall. We made the flight (woo hoo!) and got to Minneapolis around 9:30 am. First plane ride: check! We were in the last row by the bathrooms and Felix smiled at everyone waiting in line. He tried to sleep but woke up and looked around anytime the captain spoke or the seatbelt chimes rang.

Over the next few days, Felix got to meet his 3 year old cousin Harvey, his great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and many of my cousins. Twice he rolled over on his own (for the first time) when no one was looking, and I’m still curious to know how he finally did it.

We went shopping, went out for nice meals, attended a wedding (first church service) and a wedding reception in a cave. He even got to hang out by the bar with some of the guys. 

On Sunday, everyone got together for the Vikings game and the most random assortment of potluck dishes I’ve ever seen. Everyone raved about how cute and well-behaved Felix is, and commented on his cheeks, eyes and hair. One aunt made sure I knew this is not a typical babyhood!

Watching football with Great Grandma.

Felix slept like a champ all four nights, even though we weren’t in the same place every night. This was a huge relief to me, since vacation is no fun when you’re not able to sleep well. 

Monday rolled around and things started to be a little less awesome. The previously wide-open flight home was now overbooked, and long story short, our only option was to buy a one-way ticket home through Phoenix, leaving Tuesday morning. So we did another back-and-forth to the airport early Tuesday morning and boarded without issue.

Shortly after takeoff, the pilot announced there wouldn’t be a gate ready for us in Phoenix. And what was supposed to be a 15-minute wait after landing turned out to be a 45 minute wait on a hot, stuffy plane with no updates from the captain and the flight crew MIA. Felix was crying and overall miserable the whole time.

I call this Sadness on the Tarmac.

When we finally got off the plane, our connection was already boarding. With Felix in a front carrier and my backpack, purse and stroller attached to other body parts, I ran like mad to make the flight. I was almost to gate B 12 when I heard the final boarding call…and gate change announcement to A 24, nowhere near B 12! So I started running back the way we came, flagged down a service cart and made it to the gate 90 seconds before the doors closed. (The gate agent had the nerve to scold me for being late, but I won’t get into that right now.)

Once on board, Felix took one look at his surroundings and started to melt down again. Thankfully I got him to sleep pretty quickly and the rest of the flight was okay. Back in Boise, we headed to my parents’ house so I could catch up on work, see my dog (who had chewed through her travel kennel) and watch the presidential debates.

Then Felix really went off the cliff. For whatever reason, he became entirely inconsolable. Back arched, grating screams/cries, didn’t want toys or food and wouldn’t sleep in his swing. Even taking him outside to look at trees only bought me a few minutes. So we skipped out on the debates and headed home. By the first stoplight, he had fallen asleep and he slept the rest of the night.

All in all, I’m glad we went and I’m glad so many relatives got to meet Felix. I printed lots of pictures to include in the update I’m sending his birth mom this week. I hope she is comforted by seeing how many people love him to pieces.

P.S. There's a good chance Felix's fussiness this week has also been caused by teething. We may have some pearly whites to show off soon!

Tough Decisions I Never Had To Make

Snuggling with Sophie, his teething giraffe.

We’re coming up on the one year anniversary of my home study being complete, and also its expiration date. I never in a million years guessed I’d be sitting here with a nearly 5-month old to mark the occasion! 

Earlier this year, I started mapping out a plan B in case I wasn’t matched with a baby before my home study expired. I would have had a lot of tough decisions to make: Should I pay $400 to have my home study renewed with the agency I don’t really like? Should I start from scratch and pay $1,600 in fees to switch to another agency? Should I reconsider foster care? I still had a roommate at the time, so that would have involved asking her to leave. And regardless of my choice, I would have had to redo my health physical, criminal and background checks, financial assessment, etc.

Depending on how much interest there had been in my profile, I was already brainstorming new Facebook ads, a possible overhaul of my parent profile and new ways to network. (That must be the marketer in me, constantly planning ahead in case one campaign is a flop.)

Thankfully, I never had to work through any of that, and I don’t need a current home study to finalize the adoption. We have just one post-placement visit left, then it's nothing but court dates and finalization - hopefully on National Adoption Day. So looking forward to it!

Typical October Weekend

The weather has finally dropped from the 80s to the 60s, so it's almost feeling like fall around here. Felix started the weekend with a hayride through a pumpkin patch with his daycare, and apparently he smiled and giggled at every little bump.

Yesterday, Felix, Jayda and I joined a team from work for See Spot Walk in the park. Hundreds of dogs and their humans participate to raise thousands for the local humane society. It's a fun event and a hilarious exercise in People Really Do Look Like Their Dogs.

Doing his best puppy dog impression.

After the walk, we headed to my parents' house for brunch and football before picking up my niece and going shopping for Halloween costume parts all afternoon. At some point I became the costume maker (and cake baker) in the family, and this year's Lava Girl order was the most challenging yet. Thankfully, Natalya is young enough that pretty much anything I come up with is "perfect", but I'm not sure how many years of wiggle room I have left. I finished late last night and can't wait to see it on her.

Felix's support group for tummy time and rolling over at brunch
on Saturday.

Today I started Felix's Big Boy costume, and I hope to put together some overalls by tracing a pair that currently fits him. He's in serious drool mode, though, so I'm not sure how long the "BIG BOY" iron-on transfer will last. I'm actually thinking about putting it on a white bib and letting that be part of the costume.

My dining room table will look something like this for a few more weeks.

And if that wasn't enough activity, we drove all around town trying to find clothes for my cousin's wedding in Minnesota next weekend. I ended up with a cute dress (under $20!) and Felix will wear a sweater vest he already has. I couldn't justify buying a dress outfit that he'll outgrow before Thanksgiving.

Speaking of growing fast, I really can't believe how fast Felix is growing. People warned me all the time "they grow so fast!", but it seems like every few weeks I remove heaps of too-small clothing from his room. And when I go through it all, I usually find diapers and clothes I totally forgot about that we have to hurry up and use/wear or miss out entirely.

On Thursday we're flying standby to Minneapolis, so wish us luck! I'm so excited to introduce Felix to extended family.