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I was stunned yesterday when I picked up the phone and heard our now-familiar SSA office case handler’s voice
I just wanted to let you know that we received Joseph’s birth certificate verification, so we’ll clear his application for approval. The card will be mailed to your home address. You can come by and pick up a print out of his number if you need it sooner.
Dan picked up Joe’s official number today. I have it in my hot little hands as I type (okay, well, it’s sitting on the desk next to me, but you get the idea). They even gave us the official certified copy of his birth certificate that they ordered (expedited, at their expense) because, once they verified it, they didn’t need it for their files. It’s a paltry bonus given the headache, but it’s really nice to have an extra and probably something they didn’t have to do, so definitely a thoughtful and appreciated gesture. I feel a thank you note coming on…which is saying something, given that I recently found a stack of half-written, half-addressed notes from last Christmas that never made it out the door (yet another major goof I get to beat myself up about).
I almost don’t believe it. After 4 months on this merry-go-round, we can finally stop and catch our breath. And amend our taxes. And open an education fund. And and and… An enormous burden has been lifted from my shoulders.
If I didn’t have so much to do now that I have this information, I’d stop and take a nice, long break and celebrate. But, I’m sick, and so are Dan and Joe (the little guy just finished up his course of antibiotics for an ear infection, which I suspect is not cured to boot). And I’m past a deadline at work, so I need to get the whip cracking. Plus, I have Halloween preparations on my plate: treats for Dan’s work, last-minute costume needs, and an entire meal for Halloween night when Nana and Noni P join us for Joe’s second Halloween. Photos coming soon…
Update: Joe’s social security card arrived before Thanksgiving. I don’t remember when, but it’s filed, safe and sound.
It’s been far too long since we’ve posted a blog entry. So, here’s the rundown of the last three months of life with the Lawrences.
Christmas in the Mountains. My family planned a last-minute vacation to the Rocky Mountains. Dad, Deb, four siblings, and Nonie flew out and met us at a cabin in Winter Park. I’ve been moaning about having a white Christmas tucked away in a cabin for years…since I was a teenager, and this year, I got my wish. You don’t know how BIG this is, since my family is all about tradition, and tradition with the Nuttalls means Christmas morning at Dad’s house with Nonie there, then we nap, then we go to Aunt Marlane’s house for dinner. It’s been that way…well, as long as I can remember. (Of course, I’ve been the black sheep for missing the occasional Christmas.) So we stayed in the mountains and it snowed, brilliantly. I relished in the quietude of the cabin for 4 days; Dan, Billy, and Daniel went snowboarding; it was Dan’s first time and he came back a bit tender. All of the kids (and Dad) went tubing on the last day. Fun! Joe loved the snow and got to wear his uber cute snow suit (thanks Plo!).
The Move. As soon as Christmas was over, we hustled back home to prepare for the move (the next day). But, we have a knack for poor planning when it comes to moves. We had a blizzard on our scheduled move date, so that threw life into a tizzy. Not to mention that we weren’t anywhere close to packed and the new house wasn’t ready to move into. The movers came a few days later. We still weren’t very ready. Dan’s bruised tailbone was bugging him too. We managed to get our bedroom and Joe’s room set up, but we were up to our eyeballs (literally) with boxes in the living room and dining room. We went back on the 31st to clear out the dregs of our stuff. Thank goodness we had a Uhaul trailer because it, the truck, and my car were full to the brim. We caravaned home like the Beverly Hillbillys and barely made it to the new house to see the ball drop. I definitely don’t recommended moving in the winter with an infant.
Visit with the G-mas. Right after we moved, Dan’s mom (Germom) and grandma (Noni P) came out for a visit for a few days. Really, they were here to look at assisted living homes for Noni P. We looked at a few and managed to squeeze in an evening at Zoo Lights, which is really cool (the zoo is entirely lit with colored lights). Good news: Noni P is moving out here! She’s working on selling her properties and relocating. We’re so excited to have her close by!
Health Setbacks. The day Germom and Noni P left, Dan threw out his back…badly. We went to urgent care the next day. They medicated him and told him to rest for a few days. Well, a few days later, Dan felt better, bent over to pick up something off the ground, and –wham!– he completely threw out his back. We got him to bed and there he stayed for about a week. He wasn’t much improved for a couple of weeks after that. It was rough. He’s been going to physically therapy and is now back at work, but he’s not supposed to bend or lift anything (not even Joe). In the middle of all of that, both Joe and I got really sick with the “4 week” virus that’s been going around. It lasted two solid weeks, then lingered. Joe also got an ear infection. He’s better now; so am I. We’re not sure about Dan, who might be coming down with something right now.
The House, Unpacking, and Remodeling. Well, all of the above set us back with the house. After a few weeks, I finally unpacked what I could and got all boxes into the dining room, so that at least the living room was set up. Thankfully our neighbors (angels that they are) had helped us paint. No, they painted, most of the rooms in our house before we moved in. We just have the mud room, the hallway, the sun room, the living room, and all the trim to do. At my dad’s urging, we hired someone to frame and drywall the basement. We probably couldn’t have managed it on our own even in stellar health, so that was a good call. It’s taken longer than expected, partly because we weren’t able to do all the prep work we had planned before hiring the job out, so the drywall guy has had to do a lot of our work (like moving a bunch of junk out of the basement, finishing projects we had started, and dealing with all the quirks and mysteries of a 90-year-old house). But that, along with other projects (plumbing, roof, appliances, etc.) drained our budget, so the remodel is coming to somewhat of a screeching halt…very soon. The drywall is a day or so away from being finished, then we can paint. We can probably do the trim, too, but the bathroom and floors downstairs will have to wait. Ditto with the kitchen and the major wood/room divider project in the entryway. Not to mention that Dan can’t really do much. His tools are in Greeley and he can’t load or unload them given his back situation. I’ve been trying to do little things, mostly electrical, when I can. Dan’s been doing some of that too, but there’s only so much we can do at the moment.
Joe’s New Playmate. My work situation is in flux and I knew I was losing my bennies, so we found a family with whom we could share nanny costs. That started in January. The socialization is great for Joe, even if the 11-month-old girl he’s in daycare with kind of bullies him around and steals his binky and toys. Ha! I figure they’ll work it out on their own. Unfortunately, the other family needs more hours than the nanny can’t provide, so we got two weeks of notice this past weekend and we’re frantically looking for a new family to share nanny costs. So far, no luck because the hours are a bit weird (I only work about 15+ hours a week with the cutbacks). Keep your fingers crossed for us!
The Weed in General. Thankfully, Joe’s slowing down in the growth department. He’s 28 inches long and still just 18 pounds, 11-3/4 ounces (as of January 31st). The 12-month clothes fit perfectly even if we have a hard time finding big (wide) enough socks and shoes for his little Flintstone feet (he’s between a size 3 and size 4 in toddler shoes). Joe’s really close to being fully mobile. He’s almost crawling…definitely scooting and rolling to get to a desired destination. He’s pulling himself up to a sitting or kneeling position (we had to lower his crib). I also just ordered a slew of gates to install around the house and we’re frantically trying to childproof everything before the little guy really gets mobile. I think we have a week or so. The extra physical activity is probably keeping him stable, if not slimming him down a bit. We’ve also finally got Joe on a schedule both for feeding (three meals a day plus bottles) and sleeping in his crib — in his room — at night. But between the cold, the ear infection, and teething (but none have broken through yet), he’s a bit fussy at night and only sleeps in 4-hour stretches…after a diaper change, new binky, or sometimes a bottle, he goes right back down. So far, the transition has been relatively easy….certainly easier than I expected.
Progress on the Adoption. Several folks have asked if it’s “official” yet, so thought I’d set the record straight. We should have finalized in late November or early December, but that didn’t happen because of several delays (I won’t go into the blame game this time). But no worries, just an annoyance. In mid-January, our social worker came over for another visit (she had to update our homestudy because of the new house, and we had to sign some documents requesting a court date). She submitted the court documents and we finally got our date: April 25th. Yeah, it’s way out there. Apparently that’s the best that they could do. Joe will be 11 months old on that day. But then it’ll all be official. We’re quite excited. For those not familiar with the whole adoption thing, many adoptive families celebrate this date annually as “Gotcha Day,” the day it becomes official. It can be a pretty big deal. Stay tuned…we may be throwing a little shindig on the Saturday following his finalization.
That’s it for now. I’ll try to post more regularly in the near future.
Last week, I flew to California for work (which may explain the lack of blog activity here). I had given myself a little cushion in the schedule and I was booked on a relatively early flight. Or I should say overbooked. Since I had the time (and a laptop to keep me busy with work), I volunteered my seat and offered to take a later flight. (Truth be told: I had a crummy window seat and couldn’t talk the cranky gate agents into an aisle seat, so I was hoping for a nicer seat on another flight.)
I had to wait for everyone to board, then they finally announced that volunteers wouldn’t be needed. All volunteers except me. So, I figured I was fated for a later flight. No biggie. A minor price to pay for a free ticket. But, at the last minute, two passengers didn’t show up. Since they technically had already “given away” my seat, they handed me a free ticket, then told me to board the plane. Sure enough, a seat was available — an aisle seat. Woo hoo! So, in the end, I got a better seat on the same flight and a free ticket. The crazy thing is that I wasn’t even trying to “work it.” You can’t beat that.
OK, not really, but I did get some mildly exciting news today. After no raise for the past several years, I found out today that I’m getting a small salary increase! It’s only a drop in the bucket, especially since I work part-time. But the exciting news is that it goes into effect last October, which will throw a few hundred bucks our way from back pay (if the tax man doesn’t steal it first). Yippee! OK, it’s not going to cover the thousands of dollars that we have to come up with in the next several weeks, but it sure does ease the pain of some of those nickel-and-dime fees (not to mention taxes)! God is good.
Well, well. Where to start? So much has been happening. It is and it isn’t the “same ol’ same ol’.” But let’s start with the new news first.
Adoption
Back in November, Shannon’s Dad mentioned to a family friend that we were considering adoption. They knew someone who knew someone, and the ball starting rolling. We knew it was a long-shot, but we had to do some quick sleuthing. As we expected, this particular circumstance didn’t work out, but we got so far along in our investigations, we decided to finally commit to the adoption process — after nearly 6 years of trying to conceive. We’re currently in the midst of doing our homestudy (the “psych evaluation” with a social worker who will determine if we are fit parents). We’re also attending classes that cover a wide variety of really quite interesting topics related to children and adoption (attachment, development, etc.). Then we need to decide what kind of adoption we are going to do (international, domestic, private, foster, infant, older child, special needs). We’ve ruled out several options already. We know we want a healthy infant or toddler. While we’d love to consider international adoption because there’s more control, more choice, and more guarantees, the cost may be prohibitive for us.
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