Thankful (and Not)

Lots of my friends do the Thanksgiving Facebook thing where every day they post something they're thankful for. I don't do it because I totally judge some people for what they post (half joking) and figure they'd do the same to me. (Should one be publicly thankful for alcoholic breakfast drinks? That's a common one.)

Anyway, yesterday I finally got sick for the first time post-Felix. And I mean sick. I left work around 1 and ended up with a 103 fever before I asked my mom to take me to urgent care. (Take Advil and stay hydrated, doc said.) My dad picked up Felix from daycare and played with him all night till I was well enough to head home with him. My parents fed us and entertained us and I even got to eat the first lefse of the season. Thankful!

I'm much better today, but when Felix slept in 2 1/2 hours longer than usual, I knew he might have caught it. He's been a bit feverish all day, but surprisingly easy to keep content.

Trimmed a little above the ears and snipped
the crazy long hairs off the top for his baby
book - he was born with those. I think anyone in
a boy band would kill for hair like his.

As is typical for someone in recovery mode, I've had bursts of energy throughout the day, followed by massive headaches. During those bursts of energy I cleaned the kitchen, gave Felix his first haircut and made a new gingerbread truffle recipe, which leads us to the "not thankful" portion of this blog.

I am NOT thankful for gorgeous blogs with simple, delicious-sounding recipes that turn out to be disasters. I knew going into the truffles that the proportions sounded off, but even with significant adjustments (I quadrupled the main dry ingredient, gingerbread cookies), they turned out like sticky blobs of raw cookie dough. Absolutely disgusting. I left a comment on the blog, but I doubt the author will choose to publish it. I think I'll have to swear off blog recipes from now on - this happens too often. "Here's a beautiful photo! Quick, someone make up a recipe to go with it." (First world problems, I know.)

Don't let the photography fool you.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a nice Thanksgiving week! If I'm 100% tomorrow, I'm going to treat myself to a gingerbread latte.

We Are Official!

Today, National Adoption Day 2012, we finalized the adoption. Woo hoo! I'm looking forward to a few things now: Getting Felix an updated birth certificate (I chose the "adoptive" mother option; no sense in rewriting history), getting him a social security number (and eventually a passport), and sharing our information with the Dept. of Health and Welfare in the hopes of getting in touch with some (much) older half-siblings who were adopted by an Idaho family years ago.

Yes, the adventure is just beginning.

Felix wanted to help sign the papers.

Family and legal friends after the hearing.

All Boy

Real men stop to smell the roses.

Felix is 6 months old today, and he’s coming up with new games all the time. He’s already breaking out of his baby shell and turning into a little boy. Here’s a little rundown (mostly for my enjoyment later).

He loves to make noise, usually by banging a toy against whatever he can reach. Rattle on bathroom door, teether on car seat, spoon on bowl (homemade drum).

He started launching himself off my lap, backwards and upside down, doing an assisted back flip onto the carpet, where he smiles with pride.

When I put him in his Johnny Jump Up, he bounces and spins till he bonks his head on the door frame. (I stuff a blanket behind his head now.) He even tries to bounce and spin in his stationary Exersaucer.

He’s also amped up his flirting a bit. He’s always been good at the “eye contact-smile-look away” move, but now he’ll hide his face in my chest and pop back up to see people’s reactions when they’re talking to him.  

We started solids a couple of weeks ago (he loves everything but peas, so far), and he’s still waking up to eat once or twice every night. He can down full 6-oz bottles, so I believe he’s really hungry and not just waking up out of habit.

He can also sit on his own for a decent amount of time, and he’s started pushing up onto all fours when he’s on his belly. 

He weighs 18 pounds and still has big chubby cheeks and a good milk gut. Oh, and I started using the sign for “milk” a couple of weeks ago, and his fingers definitely flinch when I ask “Do you want milk?” It’ll be pretty cool when he can sign back!

That’s about it for now. On Friday we’re finalizing the adoption and on Saturday, we’re going to a pajama cookie party with Mr. and Mrs. Claus in the mall. (And probably starting some Christmas shopping while we’re there. Sneaky mall planners!)

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!