Road Trip!

I'm getting behind on my blogging! Two weekends ago, Felix and I took a road trip to visit our friends in Baker, where we stayed after he was born. It was really weird to be back at first, considering how badly I wanted to get out of there last June, but we had a great time.

I decided not to stop at Felix’s birth hospital en route, mostly because I couldn’t remember any of the nurses’ names, and I only remember what one of them looks like because I have a picture of her with Felix. I thought it would be weird to walk in and not even know who I was looking for.

We did stop at a Love's truck stop, where I changed and fed Felix on our way home when he was 19 days old. I’m sure the people in the bathroom, then, wondered why on earth I was in such a place with a newborn!

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Bella and Felix.

Andrea and I got caught up with all the latest goings-on, played Yahtzee and DDR, went shopping, made nice dinners and drank wine. She's about to graduate from college and hopes to find a job back in Idaho - we can't wait to have them back!

Felix with his mama and original 3 nannies.

Looking at the Kindle with Mara.

No Slowing Down

I'm not sure why I thought I'd get a few weeks between each physical milestone. Once Felix figures something out, he builds on it almost immediately and keeps going. There were some new antics last night:

Climbed the stairs and pulled to stand on the baby gate blocking the cat food.

Rolled his bouncy chair and crawled out from under it to get out of nap time.

Short day at work today, then we're on the road to Oregon! I allowed about 20 minutes to pack up Felix's Pack N Play this morning, but much to my surprised it was nothing like the dreaded cosleeper and folded up in about 20 seconds. Simple pleasures.

Ten Months

My little boy turned 10 months old last week, and it hasn’t even been a year since his birth mom saw my profile. Sometimes I still can’t believe how fast it all happened.

Official 10 month photo.

He also had a well baby appointment last week and everything went great. The doctor’s first words to us always go something like this: “Felix! What a great name. I don’t have any other Felixes. And he LOOKS like a Felix! I’ll probably say that every time he’s here!” Then she goes on to rave about his health and marvels that he hasn’t been in for an illness despite going to daycare, and he giggles while she listens to his heart and looks in his ears.

With regard to stats, he’s just below average for height and weight, and in the 90^th percentile for head size. I realized that the infant bike helmets aren’t fitting not because of size, but because of shape. His head is wide from left to right, but kids’ helmets are an oval shape like adults’ helmets.

And the milestones keep coming fast. Suddenly he outgrew his Exersaucers at home and daycare, grabbing the edge and trying to flip himself out. So I sold ours on Craigslist, freeing up an insane amount of room in our living room. His bassinet sold at the consignment sale and I picked up a hiking kid carrier and a riding toy.

First scrambled egg with spinach and cheese.

Trying to get away from the grass without touching it.

Sleep-wise, Felix has made great strides recently. He no longer goes to bed with a bottle and routinely sleeps 6 – 9 hours. In the morning, the pets all follow me into his room like a little parade, and he smiles at them through the side of his Pack N Play. 

Sleepy Sunday morning peekaboo.

Unfortunately, my wine bottle lamps didn’t make the cut for Modern Art this year, but I’ve heard they have hundreds of applicants so I’m not taking it personally. We also moved my sister-in-law’s baby shower to June, so May isn’t looking as crazy as it was a few weeks ago. 

On a whim, I checked the IRS website to see if they could provide the status of my refund. Much to my shock and surprise, it had already been approved and the money direct deposited into my account! (More than 80% of adoptive families get reviewed or audited, regardless of whether they us a tax preparer.) We are now free from medical bills, the attorney’s remaining fees will be paid off this week and I hope to have the entire adoption loan paid off by fall.

And finally, this weekend we’re taking a road trip to visit our friends in Baker City, where we stayed right after Felix was born. I’m toying with the idea of stopping by the hospital where he was born on the way, to say hi to the nurses. It’s a really small hospital and many of them were long-time care providers for his birth mom, so I’m pretty sure they’ll remember us.

Crazy How Fast, Part II

Felix had a big weekend!

• Thursday he started pulling up to stand on every piece of furniture he could find
• Friday night his first tooth broke through (finally!)
• Saturday he started cruising
• Sunday he figured out how to fully climb stairs
• Sunday he also started throwing the ball to me when playing catch - sometimes rolling, sometimes an overhead toss

  

  Now where will I feed the cats?

  He's also developed a real interest in books. Part of our new go-to-bed-without-a-bottle routine involves more story time, so now he loves to grab books and chatter while flipping through the pages.

Winding down after hot springs with a little reading.

Another chapter after bath time.

And again in the morning while I get ready for work.

His daycare provider thinks he's going to blast through the next few physical milestones, and I remember reading it's not unusual for them to focus on one area and  make a lot of progress in a short amount of time. However, my niece was the same at this age and abruptly shifted gears to focus on language around 1 year, not walking until 14 months.

Either way, I'm loving every minute of it, no matter how fleeting.

Crazy How Fast

Less than a year ago, I made room for a baby in my room. I cleaned out the closet, donated bags of stuff, refinished a rocking chair and set up a bassinet.

Tonight, that baby finished moving out. The bassinet was the last piece to go. I had been letting him play in it while I got ready for work in the mornings, but he (suddenly) pulls up to stand so reliably, it was only a matter of time till he toppled himself right out of it. I'm so used to doing a balancing act around all his stuff in here, I hardly know what to do with all the extra space!

The large semi-annual consignment sale is coming up next week and I love participating not only for the extra cash, but because it's a great motivator to really sort through stuff twice a year. As I posted on Facebook, I thought I'd get sentimental about selling his bassinet, but packing it up reminded me what a nightmare it always was - "portable" my behind - so I'm totally fine seeing it go.

Felix has been doing great in his own room. It's right across the hall and I can hear him breathing if I hold really still. My new goal is to stop giving him his last bottle in bed, so I feed him in the rocker and put him down awake and empty-handed. Most nights he's fine; some he cries for a few minutes. His teeth will thank me later.

I'm up! Now what?

Cousins

When I made my decision to adopt, my sister-in-law was about 4 months pregnant and we didn’t yet know the gender of the baby. I thought it would be nice to have kids close together in age, but didn’t get my heart set on the idea.

Fast forward to now and here we are with two little boys just 5 months apart in age. Hayden and Felix have taken turns poking, squishing, patting and smacking each other, and Hayden has made a regular habit of climbing into Felix’s car seat, bouncy chair, swing and walker, even if Felix is still in it.

Hayden has learned which items belong to Felix, which is pretty impressive at 14 months, especially considering they’re items that are similar to his, like bottle lids and cans of formula. This weekend he carried a tub of formula to grandpa so he could make a bottle for Felix. He’d already eaten, but grandpa went through the motions and made all the scooping and swishing sounds, then Hayden carried the formula back to my diaper bag.

I didn’t grow up near cousins and I was always jealous of those who did – it was like having built-in friends. Someone who’d always be up for a sleepover, someone who would always be on your side. I’m so glad Felix will have that.

Felix 4 weeks, Hayden 6 months. Both in their back-up onesies which both happened to be yellow.

We thought Hayden looked like such a tank next to Felix.

Giving kisses, September 2012.

Legally cousins! National Adoption Day, November 2012.

This weekend. "Eh, I'm used to it" says Felix.

Yay for March

We're fast approaching the one-year mark of all the exciting news I received last spring. From getting a call at work that there was a potential birth mother, to the drawn-out process of getting her my profile, and finally getting the news that she'd chosen me.

The first person to hear about any of it was a coworker. We shared an office and I stepped out to take a call from the attorney. I came back in, trembling a little, "They want to show my profile to a birth mom!!" Suddenly it was all so real. I always thought I'd keep everything secret, but I emailed my whole family right away, instructing them not to get excited.

Felix is 9 1/2 months and has learned so many new things in the past week alone. He can mimic actions, so he's started to wave hello/goodbye, give high-5s and play with his toys the "right" way, putting items into containers and pushing buttons to see the result. This probably means he's close to using his signs, too, which will be pretty fun. He can also drink out of a sippy cup with the no-spill valve in it. Any parent will tell you that's a huge win.

I think my favorite part about the weekends is having breakfast with Felix.

Mr. Bed Head eating his Morning Os.

We started this weekend with a full 8 hours of sleep for BOTH of us, which was a first. We had a packed day and have lots more on tap for this month - a big consignment sale, a hot springs day trip, an Easter egg hunt, mommy and me gym class, and Felix's 9-month appointment (obviously a month late). I'm also in the early planning stages of his first birthday party and my sister-in-law's baby shower, and waiting to hear if my wine bottle lamps have been accepted into an art show. All three events will happen within a couple of weeks of each other in May. Eeks.

On a side note, I continue to discover hurdles for working parents. The only baby gym class I could find for Felix's age outside business hours is at 8:45 am on a Saturday, 20 minutes away. And the big consignment sale no longer holds evening hours for the general public, which is ridiculous.

I'm not just whining about it these hurdles, though. I've started an LLC and paired with a fitness instructor to start offering evening and weekend stroller-friendly fitness classes (related to a previous rant). The logo and business cards have been designed, and we're very close to holding our first class. I really hope there's as much need for it as I think there is, and have to trust my advertising skills will allow me to reach the right audiences. Either way, I will take any luck you can send my way!